I had an exercise goal today, and accomplishing it gave me a personal fastest record for the year.

This is a follow-up to this post, and I have to mention I beat that particular time by 30 seconds. The goal for today was to peg a certain speed at my near anaerobic threshold up a false flat, and do it 3 times. The false flat hurts; it's a 2 percent grade, and it's 1.5 miles long, which translates to about 5 minutes of agony at near threshold (if you're good at math, I've given you enough information to figure out how fast I wanted to go, hee). This year, I hadn't yet been able to hold the last session all the way through, which is what happened 3 weeks ago.

So, now I had another number I felt good about and wanted to see how that compared to the 2010 database. Now, I'm top 8, and averaging speeds on the flats comparable to the 2010 peak fitness. That's right. I am now as fast on the flats as I was in 2010 with 5 weeks to go before this year's peak fitness. The times that are faster than the one I recorded today were not seen until after 7 and a half months of training, so I'm 7 weeks ahead of the 2010 schedule. So, the question of whether I would have the same plateau at the end of 6 months as I did in 2010 has been answered. The 2013 plateau will mean faster on the climbs and faster on the flats.

I weigh about 4 more pounds than last year too, but just recently had to tighten my sandal straps again. That means even less fat and more muscle than last year. However, what I keep hearing in the back of my mind is Han Solo: "Great, kid! Don't get cocky!"