Training Schedule

This is actually pretty doable.

Everything I've seen says if you ride seven hours a week, you can get in shape for a century in 12 weeks.

Only problem is, I've got closer to 10 weeks. And have some catching up.

Here's the weekly training schedule I've adapted:

• Saturday: 1-2 hour ride with 30 minutes of hard effort
• Sunday: 1-2 hour ride at steady pace (65% Maximum Heart Rate)
• Monday: Rest
• Tuesday: 1-1.5 hour ride with hills
• Wednesday: Rest or 1-hour easy recovery ride or two miles on an elliptical trainer
  
• Thursday: 1-1.5 hours with interval training
• Friday: Rest or 30-minute easy recovery ride or two miles on an elliptical trainer

The idea is to create a pattern of 7 hours in the saddle every week as the base. But the Sunday rides will actually grow over time to work on endurance. Eventually, I'll want to do 45 miles in a single ride the week before the Tour de Cure.

Easier said than done. Lots of rain. Makes it hard to ride. I'll do cold. Rain's another problem. It's just plain dangerous.

So.

I'll shift rides from rain days to rest days or make up with elliptical training or spin classes.

I've been riding 20 miles at a time. I'll be working up from there. Checking the forecast, my training schedule starts Wednesday, April 2!

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My Kinda Training

Biking and beer!

The weather cleared up today and a friend asked if I wanted to go riding with her on the W&OD Trail. It was about a 10 mile ride each way.

And at the halfway mark, was the Vienna Inn (pictured).

It's a quarter block off the bike path -- and a genuine biker bar. As in "bicyclist" bar.

No leather. Lots of lycra. We bailed though when the in-line skater gang showed up. Looked like trouble brewing.

Thing is, while we drank beer, the weather turned. A cold front passed through. It was an easy 10 degrees colder when we stepped out of the bar.

Hell, it was a good 10 degrees colder than the Rolling Rocks we'd just had!

And we were running out of daylight. It'd been in the mid-50s when we set out at 4:30 that afternoon. By the time we got back to Arlington, the temperature had dropped to 39 degrees.

Glad for the Under Armor.

So.

We worked a 20 mile ride around three beers each. Not bad. Not really sure that counts toward training. But it was fun.

Donation!

Wrapping up the donations for the week, I'm two-thirds of the way to my fundraising goal -- which means there's a good chance I'll have to raise the goal eventually!

Thanks to Shiloh Woolman Torodov, Vicki VanArsdale, my brother Tim, cousin Randy Caldwell and to Jen & Sash Dow!

The Epiphany and the Ride

Seemed like a good idea at the time!

100 kilometers. 63 miles.

OK.

On Thanksgiving Day, 2007, I weighed 225 pounds. My waist was 38 inches. I could barely walk up a flight of stairs.

And I'd just had an epiphany.

I had a long list of things to do.

Part of list was to get back in shape. Part of it was to be a better friend to my friends. Part of it was to be better to strangers.

Home in Arkansas for the holiday, my brother threw me on a mountain bike and we rode 15 miles of bad, dirt roads and Ozark foothill highways. When it was over I was winded. I wasn't sore.

I bought myself a bike for Christmas. A blue, Trek 3-Series mountain bike. I've been riding every chance I get -- weather and daylight permitting.

By New Years Day, my weight was below 200. My waist was 32 inches.

I decided to ride a Century. That's 100 miles in a day. And to get there, I had to reach some other milestones. An obvious one was a "metric century" -- 100 kilometers, about 63 miles.

I started looking for charity benefits that could let me ride with a group for a cause -- part of that "better to strangers" part of the epiphany. I found the Tour de Cure.

It raises money for the American Diabetes Association. My mom has Type 2 diabetes. Since signing up, I've found a surprising number of friends have relatives with diabetes, too.

So.

I also get to do something to be better for my friends.