What Passes For "Training".
I haven't done any real training in a long time.
Mostly what I do is ride around in team kit and hope someone mistakes me for one of my more talented teammates. It never works, but I'm hoping one day the right elderly gentleman squints just right into the sun...
If you don't have performance goals, you can at least have impersonation goals.
I've just been lining up in races whenever I can and riding as many hours as I can squeeze in. Either I'll improve or I'll grind myself into a fatigue-induced 'meh'. Maybe a little of both.
Any sort of real structure is out the window. Even a rough, "easy-hard-easy-hard..." framework isn't happening. Every day I see how I feel, kit up, walk outside, and let the ride sort itself out. If it happens that I have something in the legs, I go with it. If it doesn't feel like a particularly good day, I ride easy or cut it short. Nothing scientific or planned here.
I still track everything, and as long as I'm riding and resting like normal, the numbers haven't really changed. A longer than normal break for travel or illness is just about the only thing that's negatively impacted the squiggly lines in any significant way. They trend up when I ride more or harder, and go the other way when I don't.
I'm just not mentally or physically capable of doing much else these days. Mainly mentally, because it takes a whole lot of focus for me to stick to a training plan, especially during the summer. Sunny days are too precious to waste doing intervals, and wind and rain can wreak havoc on a workout. "Going with it" as a training philosophy may not be very effective, but I'm fine with that at the moment. Without long-term or even short-term goals to focus on, "training" just seems kinda flogging myself for no reason.
Of course, I fully recognize the folly of my ways when I get stomped on race day, but that shame fades. Getting older does have its benefits. Not many of them, but there are some.
Mostly what I do is ride around in team kit and hope someone mistakes me for one of my more talented teammates. It never works, but I'm hoping one day the right elderly gentleman squints just right into the sun...
If you don't have performance goals, you can at least have impersonation goals.
I've just been lining up in races whenever I can and riding as many hours as I can squeeze in. Either I'll improve or I'll grind myself into a fatigue-induced 'meh'. Maybe a little of both.
Any sort of real structure is out the window. Even a rough, "easy-hard-easy-hard..." framework isn't happening. Every day I see how I feel, kit up, walk outside, and let the ride sort itself out. If it happens that I have something in the legs, I go with it. If it doesn't feel like a particularly good day, I ride easy or cut it short. Nothing scientific or planned here.
I still track everything, and as long as I'm riding and resting like normal, the numbers haven't really changed. A longer than normal break for travel or illness is just about the only thing that's negatively impacted the squiggly lines in any significant way. They trend up when I ride more or harder, and go the other way when I don't.
I'm just not mentally or physically capable of doing much else these days. Mainly mentally, because it takes a whole lot of focus for me to stick to a training plan, especially during the summer. Sunny days are too precious to waste doing intervals, and wind and rain can wreak havoc on a workout. "Going with it" as a training philosophy may not be very effective, but I'm fine with that at the moment. Without long-term or even short-term goals to focus on, "training" just seems kinda flogging myself for no reason.
Of course, I fully recognize the folly of my ways when I get stomped on race day, but that shame fades. Getting older does have its benefits. Not many of them, but there are some.
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