Day 200

200 days in!  In reality, there are only about 100 days of riding in there.  From September to October, I was training consistently, 5 or 6 days per week.  Then in November that started to fall, down to about 3 days per week, then 2, and by December I was only getting in about 1 day per week.  Unfortunately, I'd underestimated my course load at school, and that early consistent training had put me behind a little too.  So I had to put school first toward the end of the semester and my training was essentially put in a holding pattern.  I'm sure I lost some fitness, but I probably benefited a little from the rest as well.  By January I was back at it, and apart from 10 days off due to illness, I've been training consistently for 5 to 6 days per week in the new year.

I've got just under 100 days to go, so the plan is to start introducing a little more intensity, but overall the focus will remain on long slow rides, since that's what I'm planning to do for 3 weeks in France.  My course load isn't really any easier these days either.  I've got finals coming up for the courses I'm in at the moment, then a couple of weeks to focus on the MCAT, then I'm back in class for a condensed summer semester of biochem.  The bright side is that this will be the last of the courses I need for med school!  The downside is that it ends a week before I leave for France, so my training will suffer.  I'd originally hoped to get up to 13-15 hours/week, but with school, I'm lucky if I squeeze in any more than 6.  I guess that'll just make things more interesting in France!

I also take some relief in looking back on my test stage from last year.  I set out around Vancouver on an approximation of that day's stage in the TDF (details and map).  It took around 8 hours for mountain stage of just under 200km.  Going by my other rides from last year, I can see a significant improvement in my fitness.  I expect to see diminishing returns this year.   Last year my threshold wattage went from around 200 to around 260 between April and July, so I'm hoping to reach something like 300W by July this year.  If I were to guess, I think that would shave about an hour off the same route if I were to repeat it (of course I'll have to, just to see!).

In terms of fundraising, in about 7 months I've managed to add about $200 to the pot, from 6 kind friends.  Word isn't exactly spreading, and the donations are not piling in!  But I can't complain, since I've been a little lazy on the donation request front myself.  I'm hoping to have a fundraiser before I go, so I'll have some details for that soon.  If you'd like to donate a little, that would be much appreciated, and you can do so here. 

As for today, I barely scraped together enough time for a short ride between school and work.  I even considered leaving the rice cooker on, but didn't want to find out what would happen if I flatted and took an extra ten minutes to get back!  19.02km in 42:55, for an avg speed of 26.6km/h, avg power was 163W (normalized 166W).

Anyway, if you're actually reading this, thanks.  Less than 100 days to go!