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I have gotten several responses to my participation in the Blog Action Day and my support for the Refill not Landfill campaign. 

One of those responses came from Elizabeth from the Filter For Good campaign.  This campaign is about filtering your own water using one of those filter pitchers or a faucet attachment.  This works hand in hand with the Refill not Landfill idea.  You put your own filtered water in your own bottle and its as simple as that.  Almost everyone can do this.  This can reduce a lot of waste. 

I know as athletes we use a lot of water.  We live by it.  Our health and performance is dependant on staying hydrated.  I know I consume a lot of bottled water or at least I used to.  I took the Filter for Good Pledge for a year.  I honestly think I can do it for way longer and I think you can too.   So go to FilterForGood.com and take the pledge and do your part to eliminate some waste in your environment.

Last season was pretty much a wash for me.  I tore some ligaments in my shoulder in February when I slipped and fell on an ice patch in my driveway.  That set me back about 6 weeks.  Then I had a string of being sick combined with bad weather and scheduling conflicts that amounted to not being ready to race last season.   I had lost a lot of motivation to train. 

Then Ebby asked me to help out with the Sedalia Historic District Crit and the Otterville Road Race and that boosted my motivation to ride.  Then the Tour of Missouri rolled through the state and I was able to be in St. Louis for the circuit race.  That raised my desire to train and race even more.  Last weekend Matt and TJ both come home with 1st Place finishes from the OZ Midwest Fat Tire Series Mountain Bike race at the lake.  TJ clinched 1st Place in Series Points as well.  Now I am more motivated to train and race than I have been before.

In an effort to help keep myself motivated I am going to post about my training.  So if I get off track everyone will know.  I am also doing this so that someone that is trying to get started in bicycle racing can learn something and hopefully be motivated to try it. 

I am by no means a professional trainer and I don’t have an official coach.  My training regiment comes from the Carmichael Training System by Chris Carmichael who was Lance Armstrong’s coach through all of his Tour de France wins.  What I don’t get from the Carmichael books and DVDs, I get from Ebby.  Ebby is also not a coach or certified trainer but he has raced bicycles for a long time and knows a thing or two from just real world experience.

In up coming posts I will layout my intended training schedule for the next 4 weeks as well as what my average, max heart rate, average cadence, and time for an 8 mile TT that will be used as my baseline to build my training program on.  At the end of 4 weeks I will do the field test again and post the results.

So good luck next season, stay motivated, and start training.