Monday, August 9, 2010

One Base Phase Done - More to Come

I just finished up 4 weeks of endurance base building. For how long and sporadic I've been with riding my bike the past 6 months, it's nice to get back into a consistent groove, eat better, ride better, and most importantly feel better. I think I've mentioned this before, but regardless of all other things; the one thing that I know I must do to be happy is to maintain an aerobic base. That's not just happy when I'm riding my bike, but happy in general. When I'm exercising regularly and feeling like I'm in shape everything else seems to flow so much better. I sleep better, I am more mentally focused, I'm more dedicated at work, I'm more relaxed and tolerant with people inside and outside of work, etc.

So, the past four weeks have been a start at what I know I need to do regularly for the rest of my life. To be more specific, it's consistent riding and at least two rides per week that are long (3+ hour) endurance rides. Next up, starting today, is three or maybe four weeks of base phase 2. There will still be long rides, but there will also be some more intense riding.

I'm also going to try three week phases; two weeks of hard work, one week of recovery for a while. Normally you do four week phases, but in the past I've found that I'm pretty worn down by the end of three weeks of hard riding. So much so that I almost always get sick by the end of base phase 3, which leads to burn out and lack of desire to be active.