Training for Cycle Oregon Begins (with losing that winter weight)!

I was talking with my brother the other day about training for Cycle Oregon. It will be his first multi-day ride and he wanted to know what king of training schedule he should put together. I hadn't given it much thought, yet, since the ride is still over six months away. I've been putting in some decent miles on the indoor trainer -- 180 in January, 140 in February and 30 to date in March -- 350 total. Turns out that's 350 more than he has logged so I suppose it is time he starts thinking about what he needs to do!

I'm used to training for Ride the Rockies in June so typically hit the indoor trainer pretty hard during winter in Colorado, building aerobic and endurance base. Once I can get outside I start logging some long slow distance rides on real hills (there's nothing like the real thing to prepare for climbing a Rocky Mountain pass!). My goal in 2013 and 2014 was to ride 2,000 miles from January 1 to the start of the ride in June but the most I recorded was 1,863 in 2013.

Last year I didn't set a goal, deciding to devote some time to building core strength and I think it paid off. I actually felt like my body (back, shoulder, hips) held up better during the ride, which is one of the keys to surviving a week-long ride, racking up back-to-back-to-back long mileage days. So I plan to stick with that approach, not set a mileage goal and just enjoy riding this summer, mixing in core workouts and getting my body ready for seven straight days of riding.

That begins with losing the weight I gained over the winter (why do old guys get fat in winter?). I put on a few more than in past years this winter so have about 15 pounds to lose to get to my ideal weight. So I'm setting a goal to lose 15 pounds by my birthday on May 15. That may be a little ambitious but I like setting stretch goals!

Today I opened the MyFitnessPal app on my phone for the first time since last summer and started tracking my calories in/calories out. I like using MyFitnessPal when I am in training mode to make sure I am getting enough protein and other nutrients to fuel my body. I enjoy banking calories when I work out in the morning then paying attention to how I spend them throughout the day.

I started off this morning with 20 miles on the indoor trainer, earning 1,766 calories to add to my daily 2,720 leaving me with a whopping 4,486 in the bank! At 5:00 p.m. I still have 2,638 left. Speaking of which, it's time to go to the store and pick up some food for dinner :)

Ride on!

Daren