Did Santa deliver 300 watts?

In December 2020 I pedaled at 300 watts functional threshold power. I've trained toward this goal for a couple years and have been rewarded for my hard work. I might joke that the achievement of 300 watts was a gift from Santa. Or I might claim it was a just reward for my efforts on the bike. But I cannot claim sole credit for this achievement. Today I will share the more truthful story that acknowledges those contributors.

I've chronicled some major components in training that helped me move toward my goal. More importantly I've penned the acknowledgements where I was building on the work and support of others.

Time to train. My family has been acomodating and supportive. At least a handful of hours each week have been spent in the saddle. My family understood and supported this need.

Nutrition. My wife has remained a steady guide in monitoring my nutrition. She helped me maintain balance in diet and training. Her observations helped me realize when my diet and workload were not in sync.

Zwift racing. High intensity training through virtual racing on the Zwift platform has been key to my growth. Zwift racers transformed my stationary bike workouts. I no longer dreaded mind numbing 'over under' intervals. Zwift racing replaced those efforts with virtual races against humans that were also looking for a more interactive training experience. It was easy to forget the suffer of pedaling at and above threshold when competing for a virtual race win.

More Zone Two. In 2020 I chose to invest additional hours to training. With this change my Zwift training coach Adam suggested I invert my training paradigm. Polarized training https://www.evoq.bike/blog/complete-polarized-training-guide and associated research by Dr. Stephen Seiler has been a foundational improvement in my training.

Camaraderie. I was fortunate to have cycling friends who were happy to join me to pedal countless hours away at zone two intensities. The quality of the conversation made up for the long miles in the saddle.

Sweatfest. Zwift racing is good. Racing the Sweatfest series https://www.sweatfestracing.com/ is better. This group of online racers cranks the fun, the camaraderie, and the watts to eleven. Participating in their weekly races have motivated me to dig deeper and suffer more genuinely than I though possible.

Training strategy. Adam has educated me on training. He helped me ask and answer the little questions about specific training tools. He helped me ask and answer the long term questions regarding seasonal training goals. His knowledge and mentorship have helped me align all the variables into a successful training program.

Did Santa bring me a 300 watt FTP in December of 2020? He did not. Many would agree that 300 watts was not a gift but instead a reward for hard work. This cyclist knows that it took no less than a team of friends and family to achieve this goal. This cyclist owes my gratitude to them all.

 

Hours of pedaling to get here. Hours of chatting about training to get here. Hours and hours getting fitter with this guy. Adam.

Not Miserable

The realization of 'Not Miserable' occured while driving home from a long day of cycling with friends. My body ached of fatigue. My wits were not sharp. I was experiencing the affects of a near perfect day in the saddle. A boring drive allowed a contemplative mindset where I explored my own mood. I was not miserable.

As an adolescent I chased happiness as if it could be caught. Societal influence or naivete of youth allowed me to beleive happiness was a state that could be achieved and sustained. This mirage lasted just a few years. Disappointments in my life brought my assumption into question. Listening to the life stories of others confirmed my suspicion that happiness is fleeting at best.

Adulthood brought a more sober expectation. I thought it more wise to pursue, instead, contentment. Contentment did not come quickly yet the goal stayed with me past age forty. It seems possible that without a disruptive catalyst my pursuit might have persisted through today. It is also possible that I might have achieved contentment. I will never know. My catalyst arrived in the guise of a cancer diagnosis.

Cancer and the journey it entailed ticked neither the bucket for happy nor content. It did quite the opposite. My six months of treatments were rough. Luck was on my side and I emerged from the dark times to take stock of my cancer experience and my life. Some changes took place during this time of instrospection.

My sense of appreciation has been magnified. I appreciate the trips on which the vintage Vanagon lets me choose the end point. I appreciate my health and the health of my family.

My concept of well being has been stretched. Recovery from cancer treatments included days and months that fell into the negative end of the wellness spectrum. I explored suffer. I met miserable.

Those days were tough and there may be more misery in my future. Today I am not suffering and I am a tiny step wiser. Today I do not chase happiness. Today I do not pursue contentment. Today I appreciate not being miserable.

Not miserable seems a low bar until that bar requires a reach up.

Negative sentiment might accompany the adjectives which described me during my drive home from cycling. I was sore. I was filthy. I was exhausted. But I was not miserable. On that day, knowing where I've been, recalling the suffer, I found myself feeling content, even happy, with not feeling miserable.

 

Long shadows and cool temperatures did not deter a few Cyclopaths from a fine, fine day of riding, chatting, and photo taking.