OK, since I last reported two weeks ago, I've put in 22 hours. Not bad! It's springtime, so yard work is in the air!

The breakdown is: 6 hrs bike, 12 hrs very heavy yard work (shovel, mow, dirt-rake, box-carry) at hard tempo. 2 half-hour rollerskis. 1 hour hard paddle. 1-hour Backyard Olympics run-thru, taking it easy, not even to establish a baseline, but it was a workout. I've only been able to fit one bout in!

Anyway, it still looks like I'm on course for my power goal. I'm on a laser-guided track that will be tough to beat!

I only face one major obstacle: Last week I brewed up 10 gallons of homebrew beer. A fine Pilsner, with crushed grains and triple-hopping. I took a vow then that I have to lose 10 pounds! I checked the scale after I did my bike race and I weigh 190! Oh no! Fighting trim is 170. Yikes.

I was curious about my weight after I got dropped like a potato in the bike race. So, yeah, I did the Kensington Road Bike Race 32-mile Cat 5 event. What a great event and fine course! It's the best around, which is why I did it. I was strong and fit. I just weighed too much for those big long climbs. I did half the race with the leaders, so that's not bad. Two years ago I didn't train and finished with the leaders! This year I trained, but got dropped. Why? FLAB! Two years ago I wasn't fit but weighed 175. Big difference! I can't get the power of my yout', but if I get close to the right weight, I'll be ready for the hills, come summer or winter.

I see Mike's report that the rollerski gang was out on the path during the race. I was wondering about that. But to spy on me, they should not have looked for the action-packed racers, but instead for the small suffering group. Still, I finished it. And not too far off the leaders. A group of us that got shed helped each other keep the speed high so we finished only about 5-10 minutes back. About a dozen did much worse.

I almost didn't enter the race. It was $42! It's a different world today, one that has left me behind in more ways than one. (I saw lots of dudes warming up on rollers for even the lowly Cat 5 event! And I was the only old style bike rider there.) But not all races can be that pricey. I might try another race at the end of the summer when I'm naturally ready to roll. Then they better watch out!

My testing protocol for my training will be as follows: I'll gauge my weight by the scale. And I'll gauge my power by my improvement in the Backyard Olympics. The events seem power-oriented, so I figure that should do the trick.

In general my Backyard Oly's are as follows: 

 1. situps, 
 2. pushups, 
 3. doublepole-bands (2 mins), 
 4. trail-run (5 min), 
 5. trail-sprint, 
 6. dips, 
 7. jump rope (1 min), 
 8. chin-ups, 
 9. vertical jump, 
10. broad jump, 
11. one-leg hops around house, 
12. boulder toss, 
13. spear-throw, 
14. box-jump, 
15. military-press/curls/rows, 
16. heavy-bag (3 rounds), 
17. rollerski (2 mi), 
18. bike (8 mi), 
19. paddle (2 mi). 

I just do everything I can think of one after the other and measure them. It's an hour (max) workout without the last 3 events, which add another hour.

I hope to do the Olys once a week. At least every other week. Then parts of them every day.

I'll do the NENSA Fitness Test from time to time, as a measure against National ski dudes.

I see at Google's Group:rec.skiing.nordic that the East guys are wondering if they'll kick the butts of the West guys in this year's Master's National's in Marquette. I think they're figuring all wrong. Where are the races? MICHIGAN! Who's going to win? WE ARE! The Middle guys are going to mop up. East, West: watch out! You're on our snow! I volunteer Mike to take them all on!

Jeff Potter

Jeff Potter runs *Out Your Backdoor * http://www.outyourbackdoor.com
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