Carl sent through some interesting stats the other night. Basically it was everything we'd timed over the past 12 months both in racing and training. He did the same for Emily although her data only goes back to April this year.

Basically we're both getting faster. Not just a little but rather dramatically. For example in Round 1 (October 2008) of last year's Trek Summer Sprint Series my Flying 200 time was a personal best of 14.72 seconds on a calm day. That was only the second time I'd gone under 15 seconds and I was happy. By the last round in April 2008 I was down to 13.94 - the first time under 14 seconds. Last Sunday on a windy day I was down to 13.32 seconds, a new PB. I know comparing outdoor times is fraught with danger because the conditions play a big role but the times in training at DISC also reflect this trend. There's ups and downs of course, you can't set a PB every time you train but the trend is unmistakable.

If you would prefer to talk about speed rather than time then we are talking 48.91 kph in October 2007 versus 54.05 kph in November 2008. That's a speed increase of over 5kph which is very significant on the track.

Emily's improvement is also substantial. In April this year she set 16.1 seconds for a flying 200 at DISC which was not only a PB but gave her the state title very comfortably. On Sunday on a windy day at Blackburn she set 14.92 seconds. So her speed has gone from 44.72 kph to 48.26.

The above is a long winded way of saying that training really does work. Not just any training but structured, planned training with particular goals and outcomes in mind. The easiest thing to do is ride your bike a lot, throw in some efforts here and there and fall for the myth that if a little bit of something is good for you then a lot of the same something is even better.

We can do better of course. I'd like to build my speed endurance to a point where I can use my kick and speed at the end of a scratch race or in a handicap not just in a 3 lap match sprint. I'm sure we'll get there. We just need some structure and planning...

I bounced back remarkably well for an old fart after my crash the other week. Sure I was sore for a few days but I still put in a solid week's training and managed a three hour ride with Bev and Carl on Saturday.

Then on Sunday I returned to the location of my Waterloo and did the masters training at DISC. Let me tell you I was s#!t scared. I was almost trembling with anxiety/fear from the moment I got on the track. My legs felt like jelly. I couldn't hold a wheel. I couldn't wait to get off. I hoped and prayed we wouldn't be doing any "up high" stuff and sure enough I never once went above the blue line. In the 30 lap warm up and the 40 lap "take a lap" race I gave everyone a wide berth leaving enough space around me to drive a Mack truck through.

So the body may have healed but the mind hasn't been exorcised of the crash demons.

I'm worried about Thursday night....

Not sure this is even worth blogging but I impressed myself today during my training session on the Preston velodrome...

Was doing some 10 second max efforts every 2 minutes, jumping from about 25kph in a middle gear (big ring at front, about a 15/17 on the back). Managed to accelerate to 50kph in 10 seconds. Don't know if that's good or not but it felt good and I impressed the little kids who were playing in the infield.

Added some HCLR's and E3 intervals for a very solid 90 minute workout. It was my first outdoor ride in a month and it felt good to be out in the sunshine