That Was Then, This Is Now.

One year ago today my Chronic Training Load (CTL) was at 100. I was within a week of the end of two and a half months of riding in Mississippi, and was pretty much fried mentally and physically. Towards the end there I was finding it hard to ride the same old roads again and again. Even the new ones pretty much looked like the old ones. Thanks to the fitness base I received from riding 15 to 20 hours a week and the odd spirited group ride, I was in pretty good shape for an old man.
  
Today my CTL is 50. That sounds horrible, but when I started riding again it was 25. Ever since then I've slowly been rebuilding fitness, and the CTL squiggly line has been pretty much creeping upwards. Progress.
  
Historically my CTL has been in the 50s and 60s during the trainer season, so in reality I'm approaching where I usually am this time of year, except instead of my numbers dropping off as I shed fitness from the road season I'm getting better.
  
Last year my numbers dropped steadily for months no matter what I did. I'd kill myself on the trainer, pushing out a little more time than planned, and they'd just keep falling. It was demoralizing at times, realizing all of the fitness from countless roadkill-strewn miles would continue to leak out of my legs. 
  
This year the numbers are my own little cheerleading section. "Yay! You suck just a little bit less today!" It helps when you start at pretty much ground zero- anything is better than that.
  
At a certain point the progress will slow as my body adapts. I'll have to work harder and harder to move the CTL squiggly line. That's how it's supposed to work. Improvements in fitness take effort over time, until the day I'm released back to the road to realize that everyone is just plain faster than I am.
  
We'll see how this goes.

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