This is a training log I began in February 2004 when I started my CTS program. For the first couple months of CTS training, I kept very detailed notes (see below). Then, my pace of life picked-up -- school ending, the beginning of summer camps, etc. -- and my web reporting slowed. That is *not* to say that my training slacked. I still do 100-150+ miles a week of training (except when I'm away at camp). CTS has made me a much, much better and more fit rider. And my Dad, who I ride with a lot, has gained sympathetically, as we chase each other on area roads and trails and in races around the region (see Race Log).

This summer, I have a number of riding events or programs. In July, I'm doing two weeks of mountain bike camp with Calleva. In August, my family is doing the Route Verte, a collection of trails around Quebec, with some nice river and rail trail rides and a few mountain runs.

Again, I am indebted to the kindness and generosity of my teammates in National Capital Velo Club, who have provided me this CTS opportunity and a great racing bike. Go NCVC!

Hello -- My name is Nathan Wilson. I am a 13 year-old NCVC junior.

I had the honor of receiving one of the CTS training memberships from NCVC. My coach is Ben Ollett. I started my training Saturday (yesterday) and today I did my field test. In case any of you don't know the field test consists of two three mile TT with a ten minute rest in between. My training goals are to become a stronger athlete and racer, to ride in as many juniors' races as possible, and catch podium (I got one last year). Also, I look forward to learning from the NCVC experts.

I had a fairly good first time trial considering the weather today. My time was ten minutes thirty-five seconds. My max heart rate was 198. However, since I did an intense 90-minute workout at Shepi's before the field test, on the second time trial I bonked and had pathetic time of 16 minutes! For the second trial, my max HR was 188. Well, at least I now have room for great improvement before my next field test. Right now I am riding about six hours and twenty minutes per week. I ride about 2 hours for each day's programmed workout -- that is on Saturday/Sunday/Monday & Wednesday. That is all the information I really have right now, but I will keep in touch via e-mail. Also I am working on getting a link so you can see my info on my web site (www.nathanjwilson.com).

Finally I really have to thank Shepi for getting me set up with the CTS membership. Also thanks for the hospitality at the spin fest on Saturday and Sunday.

After school I rode 90 minutes on the trainer, consisting of an hour of endurance miles and 30 minutes of tempo. Endurance is riding at 80-95 rpm cadence. Tempo is 70-75 cadence. My HR max was 166 for endurance, with an average HR of 152. My max HR was 168 for tempo; my average was 156. Tempo was really good because it allowed me to focus on my pedal stroke. I didn't feel any unnatural pain, but my upper thighs burned during the endurance miles. Watching the X-games on ESPN spurred me on. Later, I did a Pilates routine to improve my flexibility and balance.

Program: This is an endurance miles ride. Your Total Workout time today is 01:15:00. Try to maintain an average cadence of 80-95 during the ride. Nate: I went to get a pro fit at a bike shop so I did not have time to do endurance miles.

Program: Your MuscleTension Intervals task today is 3 intervals of 00:10:00 minutes each. The recovery between intervals is 00:07:00 minutes. Your cadence during these intervals should be between 50-55 rpm. Nate: I liked being really able to focus on my stroke. Cool like power pedaling. Avg HR 133 Max 144.

Coach: Glad to hear you got a bike fit. That's super important. Keep doing the Pilates stuff too, it'll help your strength and flexibility and allow you to ride in a more aerodynamic position.

Program: 1 hour endurance miles; 30 minutes tempo riding. Nathan: endurance miles, avg. HR 137; max HR 152. Tempo: avg. HR 175; max HR 182. Felt really comfortable on the bike (following Wenesday's pro fit ... a big improvement).

Program: 1.5 hour endurance miles; 2 sets pedal starts. Pedal starts are 4 10-second intervals with 5 minutes rest in between; you sprint as hard as you can from a stand still. Nathan: endurance miles felt really good, feel like I'm getting better for longer races. This is important since I'm moving up an age category this season -- into 13-15 year old. I felt good through the entire work out, with mild muscle burning. Endurance avg. HR 141; max HR 164. For the pedal starts, didn't clock HR.

Looking forward to first race at Jefferson Cup, March 28.

Program: 1 hour endurance miles @ 80-95 cadence; 40 minutes tempo @ 70-75 cadence. Nathan: endurance miles felt good, nothing outstanding, nothing bad. Tempo was my first long one of a big set I'm building towards. It hurt, had to work hard to stay in a very narrow heart rate zone. Mine zone was 172-175, even though the cadence was low, I had to use a small cog to maintain the HR. Endurance: avg HR 144, max 158. Tempo: avg HR 172, max 179.

Program: 1.5 hours endurance miles @ 80-95 cadence; 40 minutes tempo (skipped "for homework reasons"). Nathan: endurance miles felt extremely excellent to sit on a bike for an hour and half, sweating in my basement! (Hard ride; in my mind, I was gearing up the racing season). Endurance: avg HR 152, max 167.

No riding ... snowboarding, instead. Driving up the mountain to Blue Knob, we talked a lot about what it must be like to bike, to ride in the Tour de 'Toona.

Program: 1 hour endurance miles @ 80-95 cadence; 40 minutes tempo @ 70-75 cadence. Nate: Felt good to be back on the bike after a tough weekend on of boarding. Muscles, oddly, felt very stretched out, maybe from the snow abuse + hot tub. Endurance: avg HR 151, max 160. Tempo: avg HR 173, max 179.

Program: 1.5 hour endurance miles @ 80-95 cadence; 50 minutes tempo @ 70-75 cadence. Nate: Today was the longest workout yet and it felt really good. I felt the natural burning but it didn't really seem that tough but not in a bad way. By the way the Jeff Cup has no jrs. cat and the shortest race and I know I could race that at a jrs. pace but a cat 5 pace there is no way, so I will not be doing the Jeff Cup. Although I will be doing a good season opening race in Norfolk the weekend before. Endurance: Avg HR 147 max 166. Tempo: Avg HR 174 max 183.

February 21, 2004 -- Saturday

Program: none scheduled. Went boarding at Liberty and played in basketball playoffs. We got pasted :-(

February 22, 2004 -- Sunday

Program: 1.25 hour endurance miles. Nate: Rode with my brother and Zack Allison (new NCVC junior) and our dads on W&OD trail. It was my first day on the road since the field test. The weather was chilly but decent. The whole day I was very sore (hangover from Saturday's action?). I found maybe because the weather that my heart rate went way above my normal zone, with avg HR 172 and max 194 during the ride. Coach: There's a whole bunch of reasons why your HR may have been high. HR can vary quite a bit from day to day. Did you have any caffeine, like a Coke, or Sudafed or something before you rode? Did you feel like you were working really hard on the ride, or was it at a pace that your HR would normally be lower? Its not necessarily good that it was high, try to keep it in the zones, and keep me posted as to where its at. -- Ben Ollett/CTS

My brother had a really bad crash near East Falls Church metro headed east, zooming down that hill, losing it, missing a light pole and the bridge abutment, but dropping 6 feet into a ditch. Dad carried him out; luckily, a neurologist from Team Coppi stopped and checked him over. He's okay, but his bike needs work.

February 23, 2004 -- Monday

Program: 1.25 hour endurance miles; 20 min tempo. Nate: It felt really good like not to easy not to hard just the way a good ol afternoon ride should feel. Plus I stayed in my zones wahoo! Except for my max during tempo went a little bit over. By the way why is my HR zone for Tempo so small (172-175) I have no problem with it I was just curious. endurance miles- Avg HR- 162 max- 168 Tempo- Avg HR- 175 max 179.

February 25, 2004 -- Wednesday

Program: 1:40 hour endurance miles; 40 min tempo. Nate: Riding has been great. Todays ride was fine for some reason Tempo always seems to go by really fast? Solid today, now that we're a pretty good ways into this I'm reall starting to feel the benefits. I feel lighter like more comfortable being in the saddle for longer periodes of time. Also I just feel a lot overall better. I rode outside once since we've really started ( not field test) and was with a kid who is new to the team so I don't really no if I am but I have a gut feeling I am. We will really see in the Shamrock Crit. Also, one question. My avg for tempo always stays in the zone but my max always goes over, how big a deal is this? EM: Avg HR - 156 Max - 166 Tempo: Avg HR - 174 Max - 188

February 28, 2004 -- Saturday

Program: 3:30 hrs. endurance miles. Nate: Training has really been going great although I would like to be outside a little more but we have this nice warm weather spell. Hopefully it will stay a while. Just yesterday I rode with my dad (Jim Wilson), Burke Nash, Mr. Nash, Steven Gaudean, and Mr. Gaudean. Me, Burke, and Mr. Nash rode from Bluemont to Mt. Vernon and back. We did some high tempo climbs, and drafting down the river-side trail. My dad, and Avery (little brother) rode from Bluemont to Mt. Vernon, back to Alexandria. Finally Mr. Gaudean and Steven rode the Arlington Loop. Coming on the end of February with races starting I've been coming up with a few goals. Last year I attempted the Seagull Century but it was windy, rainy, and cold. Also I was wearing shorts. This wasn't prime conditions for my first century and I bailed out at mile eighty-three. So this year I would like to complete one century. My other goal and probably most important is to finish every race I enter and achieve at least three podiums this year. Now lately I've been doing pretty much only endurance miles and tempo. Looking forward into March I keeping the endurance miles but there are a ton of new types of workouts coming up. Also my workout times are lengthening intensely, for example 3.5 hours of endurance miles yesterday. I will let you guys know how the new stuff works out.

February 29, 2004 -- Sunday -- Leap day!

Program: 1:45 hour endurance miles; 16 min steady state. Nate: Another beautiful day, and a lot of work on Arlington trails. It was such a nice day out and I couldn't resist. Rode from N. Arlington to Herndon on W&OD trail. Saw a couple NCVC teammates; rode a few miles with a Cat 4. I am really starting to feel this training coming out. No pain. One really big hill (Custis from Rosslyn to Cherrydale) I always suck on, not this time. Spun the whole way, making it the fastest I've ever done it. EM: HR 163 avg., 171 max.

March 1, 2004 -- Monday

Program: 1:45 hrs. endurance miles; 0:50 Tempo Nate: Sick day :)

March 3, 2004 -- Wednesday

Program: 1:45 hrs. endurance miles; steady state intervals, 3 x 10 min. with 8 minute rests. Nate: Really good overall ride. I tried to take your [Coach Ollett] advice and take it easy but it was a super hilly ride but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Although I did do a really low stress ride yesterday. EM: HR 169 avg., 177 max. SS: IN1 - 179 avg., 183 max.; In2 180 avg, 189 max.

March 6, 2004 -- Saturday

Program: 2:30 hrs. endurance miles; steady state intervals, 3 x 8 min. with 8 minute rests. Nate: EM: HR 138 avg, 147 max. I rode this one on the trainer just because of logistics. Also I took your advice and just rode this one easy plus I was working pretty hard yesterday running. Solid ride nothing unusual. SS: IN1 - HR 181 avg., 184 max.; IN2 184 avg., 191 max.; IN3 - 182 avg., 187 max. Rode this one at Hains Point flat roughly 3.5 mile loop. Real windy on backside, also rain like bullets -- and lightning. Scared me to death. I truly know what hell is like. Crosswind lifted you off ground. But it was fun. (Same day, microburst flipped ferry boat in Baltimore Inner Harbor w/25 on board; several drowned. Question: If I do an excercise like this ( high cadence) on a flat terrain does it take away the purpose of the excersise?

March 7, 2004 -- Sunday

Program: 3:00 hours endurance miles; fast pedal, 2 interval(s) of 5:00 minutes. The recovery between intervals is 00:05:00 minutes. Nate: EM - HR 150 avg., 164 max. Three hours in the saddle no stops no breaks.... OW!!!! Although I had a really great ride. Watching Rockstar on VH1 helped me stay motivated. Also, I tried something new -- tell me if this is bad -- I set my eye on one number in my HR zone (today 150) and stuck it for the most part there, plus my avg came out to 150. FP - It was good not one of my favorite excercises but it was good. I didn't have my excellent motivation anymore because Rockstar was over and trainer=Zzzzzzz. But everything has been going great.