Tardy, tardy!

Hey, y'all... It has been a while since I've posted anything on my own darn blog. I apologize to those of you reading it... The last month or so has been very cool with lots of exciting coaching and cycling things going on. Here's a laundry list of them; send me a message at jim@JimCunninghamCoaching.com if you want to comment or discuss any of them:

1) Client and dad, Jim Cunningham SR. finally invests in an SRM power meter. He loves it! About time!

2) Team CTM (that stands for Carolina Triathlon-Metro Reprographics and you see why it's just 'CTM' now!) raced this past weekend and chalked up a 5th--Jim Taylor in the Pro-1-2 Donaldson Spring Series #1 race, and 2nd & 3rd--Sean Weddell & Rodney Dender in the Master's 35+ BMW Performance Center Series #2 race.

3) Kelly Patton (my wife), Chris Miller (client and work-horse extraordinaire), Jim SR. and I did the 'Myrtle Beach Marathon 100K' timed ride. Kelly finished 5th of all the women, Jim SR. & Chris were in the top 20 and in the sprint... Somehow I snuck off the front 20 minutes into the thing and stayed away for the next 2:26 stealing the fastest time on the day (295 watts Normalized Power--ouch!!!)

4) Jim Cunningham Coaching has added an additional coach in Sean Weddell! You can reach Sean at swimuk@yahoo.com. Sean is an accomplished swim coach at the collegiate level, Cat. 1 road racer with lots of power and tactical sense. After coaching a few cyclists for the past 1.5 years, Sean has secured his USACycling Club Level license and looks to make coaching his full-time gig once again as a cycling coach.

5) My team's website http://www.teamctm.com/ is really starting to rock! Check out the pod casts; they are well presented (kudos to Josh!) and you will learn much about cycling! Believe me, I did!

I'm sure I could list four or five more things but must stop here...

Happy training & racing!

Coach Jim

Busy, busy!

Man has life been busy the last few weeks! I realize as do some of you readers I have not written anything about the Upstate Winter Bike League since Week 5 or thereabout. My bad. The skinny--the last two were quite nice with good weather and fast attack zones. I managed to get third in the final attack zone this past Saturday, 2/2/08, after about 100 miles of riding (and also after one earlier attack zone where my team mates and I helped Jim Taylor place 1st!). Here's some numbers on those from the ever-reliable SRM Power Meter:


Sprint Zone #1 w short hills. Off front much:
Duration: 10:55
Work: 222 kJ
TSS: 23.3 (intensity factor 1.131)
Norm Power: 373
Distance: 4.458 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 1117 339 watts
Cadence: 31 124 96 rpm
Speed: 10.8 35.4 24.5 mph
Pace 1:42 5:33 2:27 min/mi
Crank Torque: 0 986 296 lb-in


Sprint zone #2; bridge to Andy, etc. hard to finish:
Duration: 16:23
Work: 290 kJ
TSS: 29.9 (intensity factor 1.046)
Norm Power: 345
Distance: 7.179 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 927 295 watts
Cadence: 30 133 98 rpm
Speed: 17.3 40.4 26.3 mph

Coach Jim

Dream Come True!

Thanks to Glenn Thrift (better known as Papa) I've secured my USCF Category 1 Upgrade. Whew-hew!!! Been knockin' on that door since 2006 and wasn't sure I'd get over the hump on that one. But it is done! BIG TIME Thank You to everyone that's helped me get there, starting with Dad, Jim Cunningham Sr!

Coach Jim

The Belgian Forty...

Wow, what a crazy ride to work this morning... Left home lit to the gills in the dark and dense fog at 6:30 a.m. During my ten-minute warm up I nearly piled it up while coming to a normally routine stop from the dew that settled on the road through the night. Oh well, move on I thought and leave those brakes alone! Shortly thereafter I started my 40 minute Level IV interval... I got it in but was exceptionally challenged by the bumps, potholes (is this Ohio?), cars and slippery turns I encountered... Worries subsided with about five minutes to go realizing I had this *&^$%#%&$^@! by the horns and it was smooth sailin'... I hope next time conditions are better or I'm on my Computrainer!

Coach Jim

Upstate Winter Bike League #4

UWBL #4 was awesome this weekend thanks to great weather and lots of riders. We rode 83 miles or so in just over four hours at an average speed of 20.7 mph. There were two official sprint zones, the first won by Greenville's own Rich Hincapie and the second by Boyd Johnson. Team Carolina Triathlon-Metro Reprographics holds the top spot in the Team Competition after Steve Sperry and Jim Taylor placed second and third in today's sprint zones respectively.

To add to the fun, UWBL #4 had a special guest in George Hincapie today. Looking fit and having fun, George idled along (compared to the rest of us) on his new Giant well-appointed with a Dura-Ace SRM.

UWBL #5 is next Saturday, January 12th and then it's off to Alto (Georgia) for an epic 120 fast miles on Saturday, January 19th.

Coach Jim

Positive Thought for these Cold Winter Days...

'Everyone has an equal opportunity to prove he has no equal'
--Demetrius Boa,
--compliments of Dan McNamara

Happy New Year!

If your 2008 training hasn't begun the time is NOW. Get motivated, get it together and get it done!

Coach Jim