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2008 - This could be the year
2008 is just like every other year, it could be a good year or mediocre - who can tell. This year I am stuck between two goals. My first is to be a top performing time trialer. I have two options - race within my category at cat 4 or my Master's age group of 45+. I currently am not the top of either group. This will be my 5th year of racing. I started in 2004 and have gotten better each year. Unfortunately, the competition has gotten tougher each successive year as well. The times that were winning TT's in '04 are not in the top 10 this year. Who knew? I have tried many things to improve over my few years of racing, self-training, training groups, supplements, improved equipment. All have their place, but none is the magic bullet I was hoping for.
This year, I have a systematic approach to my training. Foremost was the addition of a coach. In October of '07, I enlisted the help of Travis Sherman. Travis runs the Alabamacyclingnews.com website and Podium Finish Training services. He is a cat 1 racer and has been working with me to develop my fitness into the best form I can get. I have to admit, the first few months seemed to match my own self trained regime, but I have seen that his approach has added other items into my plan I had not. I also have seen improvements in power and stamina I had not seen in previous years. Bottom line - coaching works. I am also looking at my fitness maintenance in the form of better stretching, and bike fit. I visited with Nathan O'neill - 8 time Australian National TT champion earlier this month to get his help with my bike position on both my road and TT bike. He made some big changes. The results show that they are for the better. I am also planning to attend a TT clinic Nathan is running to get some additional pointers.
I am plagued with issues around my lower back and so far, the bike position changes have helped. I am adding in inversion boots to help decompress and stretch out my back a few times a week. It sucks to get old! If my personal funding can be modified - I would like to add a few improvements to the TT bike to "buy" some time that I don't seem to find through training. Last year I dedicated my entire season to the Master's race level. Admittedly, I was not that competitive with the cat 1's and 2's most of the time. I had my occasional moments and did okay. I peaked against them with a 4th place finish in Savannah. My finest accomplishments came in the Team Time Trail with my buddy Scott Matty. Tragically, Scott was killed earlier this year on a training ride and I will never have the benefit or pleasure of competing with him again. He was a good friend and a great riding buddy. Team TT is probably not on my agenda for the near future without my friend.
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