Big picture

I took stock. Below is an impression of my 2010 training spreadsheet. All went reasonably according to plan in week two, three and four but half way through week five my training derailed. The red bits are missed training sessions due to fatigue, generally not feeling well and lack of energy etc ... and maybe lack of motivation and a little lack of discipline at times, too.

But that's hopefully all behind now. To date I have a miserly 1120 km in my legs. According to my Annual Training Plan that I wrote in January I should be closer to 2500 km. I should be racing the Battle of the Border this coming weekend, too. "Should"! But no point dwelling on the "shoulds" and "ifs".

Alberto must have felt this way back in December when I raced the Tour of Bright and he was sidelined due to injury from his accident. We will be spending the weekend in a little beach house just across the Queensland border with friends and while I won't be racing I still look forward to an amazing weekend of free gym access, beach, social coffee rides and poolside cocktails. I can almost convince myself that this is not a bad alternative to racing four tough stages.

I re-visited my annual training plan yesterday, made changes that will get me back on track and in shape for the Queensland Road Championship and State Time Trial in August and September.
Growing confidence that ten uninterrupted "black" days in my training log are not a fluke, I now just hope for my strength to return as well.

This morning, and for the past few days, I struggled to hang on and up hills. My muscles feel weak and my hamstrings and gluts are extremely sore after each ride, especially for the low intensity effort. I would hate to know what my power output is at the moment so it's just well that my Powertap is not back, yet.

The good news are that I received an email from Trek in Sydney that they received a replacement hub from Saris. The hub is a new SL+, with 15mm axle and ANT+, which is an upgrade on my current 2.4. Only a few more days for the wheel to be rebuild and everything seems to fall back into place.