The Update

Wow, it’s been a busy month at the homestead. Igda and I moved into our new place in Alexandria on Sept. 30. We still haven’t unpacked everything but we are pretty well settled in. We are very happy with the home. I’ve been dusting off some of my home improvement books and taking a whack at a few repairs/upgrades. Nothing big, more or less replacing certain things we don’t like. Thank God Home Depot is so close. I’ve made many a runs there in the last few weeks.

I had forgotten how the seemingly easy home improvement projects can morph into a day(s) long projects. Nothing goes as planned. When you dive in, you’re bound to uncover something you hadn’t planned on seeing. Fun stuff. One of coolest things we did was have a flatscreen TV mounted over the fireplace in the living room this past weekend. Had to pay a guy to do that one but it turned out great.

I’m also loving the location as my bike commute is nearly perfect. After fumbling around for a few days trying out different routes to get to DC, I finally nailed it. Perfect commute which takes me about 45 minutes to get to the office from home. I also can add time and miles as I please by hitting Hains Point as much as I want since I pass by it each way. Sweet. Somehow I managed to put in close to 200 miles last week. I finally had to succumb to sending my training wheel with the Powertap back to Saris last week. I just couldn't get that thing to work right. So hopefully I'll get that back next week. Workouts just aren't the same. I like knowing and seeing whether I'm improving or not. No lies.

Onto my cycling. I hired a coach which I’m really stoked about, Kenneth Lundgren (www.eliteendurance.com). I’ve read a lot of his stuff on PE and was always impressed with his knowledge and approach. He’s out of New Jersey, but with the advent of the internet, he’s always a click away. There were a several key items which led me to him:
1) Experience
2) A successful bike racer in his own right
3) A plan for using commuting as training
4) New, fresh ideas to provide motivation for me
5) Tracks ALL workouts in wko. All I need to do is upload files daily. Perfect.
6) Accountability- For me this is huge. It keeps me ON plan and focused. I missed this last year by not having a coach.
7) Having a plan for peaking and building to that end.

So far, so good. Ken has me doing unique excercises in the gym which I think will help me push to another level. Right now we’re doing a prep phase and will be starting the foundation work in a couple of weeks time. I took a nice amount of time off the bike, but the fitness is coming back quicker than I expected. So with a little patience and consistent hard work, I’m really looking forward to 2010 race season. I’ve got my sights set on 2-3 peak races, but things may change over the next few months. Who knows?