Now that I ‘know where I’m at’, after the race in Saint Tropez last weekend, I now need to figure out what I’m going to do to get where I need to be in late August, when Haute Route hits the reality button.
First, though, I must get through La Marmotte, which was my main objective of the year till I received my surprise entry into Haute Route Alps. Therefore, I give you the beginnings of my ‘3-peak’ cycling season.
You can see where I am right now on my mouse-drawn graph below. I’m hoping that my fitness will track the line as it’s drawn and I’ll peak for La Marmotte (July 4th) and then again for HRA (Aug 23-29). The sharp descent after August is me getting back into the beer. I’m starting to do some research into how to train for a stage race, as well as achieving a multi-peak season.
I have turned to the Grandaddy of Pain, Joe Friel, with a little Astana training idea thrown in (without all the drugs). This is the ‘crash course’ from the title, which I’ll tell you all about once I understand it myself. 
The Vicious Cycle 
Gerry: how useful has your power meter been so far? I think a great benefit is planning TSS for periodization and peaking
It’s been really great for interval training, Jan, that’s one thing. I have been following my TSS on Garmin Connect, but really only to confirm that my training is going in the right direction. I don’t have Training Peaks or anything better than GC, so haven’t gone deeper into the data.
Install Golden Cheetah–free and impressive. Strong learning curve but you can handle it! Much better than Garmin Connect for stats and trends and everything
Jan, I will do that, although I’m a little afraid of all that data!
And yes, completely agree re the power meter. I can’t even imagine how I trained with HR now.
Forgot: happy to hear you like the power meter. It is addictive, yes, but hard to imagine now training without one, no?
DLing Golden Cheetah right now…what kind of a black hole have I just been sucked into?
Start with the easy stuff you know, add over time…
Gerry, take the drugs, bro. Everybody’s doing it (LOL)! 😎
Jim, I like your attitude!
I intend to do a lot of flatlining.
Not by the looks of your bike rides these days, TP.
My knee tendons creak alarmingly when faced by a hill.