A New Year, a New Training Cycle

Happy New Year to everyone. I hope your holidays were full of peace, happiness, and time spent with people you love. For our part, Molly and I spent Christmas in Cabo, soaking up some much-needed balmy weather.

Our New Year’s was much quieter—at home with the newest member of our family, Oliver, a three-year-old beagle who has already made himself very comfortable.

From a training perspective, the period after El Tour de Tucson in late November marked the start of my off-season. That meant very light riding, mostly on the Peloton, and giving both body and mind a chance to recover. With the first week of the year, though, winter training officially begins.

My first major event isn’t until April 19, which gives me a solid runway to focus on base building before ramping up for the San Diego Medio Fondo, a 100k (62-mile) ride. I attempted this ride last year with very little methodical training and ended up with a DNF at mile 42. This year, the goal is simple: finish—and finish strong.

Here’s what training looked like this week:

Monday: 60-minute tempo ride with Zone 2 intervals.

Saturday: 60-minute Zone 2 ride

Sunday: 120-minute endurance ride in Zones 2/3

All things considered, not a bad start to winter training. That said, the truth is I skipped two weight-training sessions. One of my goals for this year is to better integrate strength work with my cycling, so missing those sessions isn’t ideal.

Still, I’m aiming for progress, not perfection. Week one was about getting back into a rhythm. The goal for week two is simple: when I write the next update, I want to be able to say I completed all of my cycling and weight workouts.

Enjoy the Ride.