[squiggs96]

I signed up for a three month program with the coach of our team. During race season he'll come out to races and watch us, ride in the pack (it's embarrassing that we are all going full out and he is just on a casual ride laughing at us), and then give us a debrief about the race. He'll also set up semi-custom off season training plans. We can also pay to do his customized program, which I started yesterday. He does baseline training, then gives customized workouts, meets with me once per week to review the week, goes over past training data, rides with me outside once per month, and goes over nutrition.

The first step was going to his lab and doing a ramp test like workout. It's five minutes on a trainer at a constant power with one minute rest in between. I was wearing a HRM plus sensors on my thighs, one on my right shoulder, and one on my right butt cheek. The sensors on me measure oxygen levels. It was really neat to see that as the intensity went up, my heart rate went up, and the oxygen was sucked from my legs, then as the intensity kept increasing it started being sucked from my butt and shoulder.

What he really liked was that even when my HR hit 175 I was very composed in the saddle. My form was still good. I wasn't rocking. I wasn't panicking and I held 175-180 HR for an entire 5 minute interval when most would have stopped. Where he thought I was terrible was in the lower ranges. He said my form wasn't good at all in it and I wasted a lot of effort. He said I haven't done enough training at the Z1 Z2 levels, so that is what a lot of my work will be in this program. He says my top end is exceptional but I have not chance to use it because I burn out before I get there and other racers will have way more left in the tank at the end.

We also went over my diet and nutrition. He asked why I didn't eat any fat. He kept asking me if I ate a bunch of different foods, but the only really fatty thing I eat regularly is cheese. I have iced cream a couple times a month, but that's it. We talked about how food fuels you for different activities, and my diet is really good for race days and peaking, but needs more thought into long term training. What I heard was I should eat way more ice cream and blame him when I get fat.

The goal of this program is to be in substantially better cycling shape at the end of May than I am now, maintain that through the summer, and hope there is a fall racing season. I am posting this here if anyone is interested on the process and to also hold myself publicly accountable. Also, in a more important way, this is why my Zwift and Strava rides will have so much less power than KTrain's rides. My coach told me to do less, so that's also my built in excuse!