The Best Laid Plans

What a great introduction for today’s discussion. A big thank-you to the poet Robert burns for his often-paraphrased words; The best laid plans of mice and men oft times go awry. 

Well that sets the stage for my past four days of toss the training plans out the window because lucky you, you came home from yet another business trip having caught a nasty cold. (missed that little tidbit in the joys of business travel post) Sinus infection that went quickly from the nose into my chest. And as my fellow competitive athletes know all too well, you can train when the cold is in your head/neck but once it drops into the chest – rest! 

To make matters worse, this weekend I had planned to join the Cycle of Life Adventures people in San Diego to do day one of their 2025 ride across America. Sunday morning they were riding from Pacific Beach to Alpine. A nice 40-mile hill climb with some 3,400 feet of climbing. Then spin the bike around to head back to the start for an 80-mile day. Sadly this cold made all of that unwise. The last thing I would want to do is risk getting any of the other riders or guides sick. 

So my training plans are now being recalibrated. Of course my Strava Fitness rating is plummeting. Along with it my VO2 max rating, although I am far less concerned about that at this time. The RAAM2CC route will require far more in the way of physical and metal stamina along with some increases in my FTP, functional threshold power. More on that in a later post.

Happy Monday! Finally kicking this nasty cold. A busy workday but I do now plan to be in the gym this evening to work on core strength, flexibility, and for me at 67+ years-old – balance.