Now THIS Is January!

Well, the cold weather has finally returned to Wisconsin and winter is starting to feel like, well, WINTER! My training the last two days has been pretty good, nothing exciting to report though, pretty standard training right now. Monday was a rest day on the bike although I did go on the trainer for 15 minutes just to loosen up the legs as they felt a little tight after the weekend, it felt really good to get the blood flowing and just get them warmed up. Last night I rode the trainer for 2 hours, 15 minutes shorter than scheduled but I'm fine with that because I had a busy night at home and had to get things done. Tonight is weights after work and then a ride of 1.5 hours with Muscle Tension intervals thrown in as well. Tomorrow will just be a 2 hour Foundation Mile ride on the trainer and Friday will be a rest day on the bike. The weather is looking like crap this weekend so it appears that I'll be riding the trainer but not sure for how long. I have a 3.5 hour ride scheduled but if I'm going to have to ride the trainer then it will probably be only about 2.75 hours. If I can get on the road somehow then I'd like to go out to Lake Geneva in the morning and ride a pretty sheltered route around the lake a couple of times. I have to go to a co-workers wedding at 2:00 so I have to ride early no matter what, whether it's on the trainer or outside. Sunday is looking just as bad for weather so could be a trainer ride as well. Well, I'll update more this week, until next time..........

Long Day In The Saddle....For January

After yesterday's ride of just short of 3.5 hours I rested up last night and woke up re-charged this morning for another ride on a beautiful January day......did I really say that? Well, considering our average temperature for January is 28 and it hit about 42 today with lots of sunshine in the morning and early afternoon, I would consider it a beautiful day. So anyway, I woke up, ate about 5 pancakes and let that digest for a little bit and then started the task of layering the clothes for what I hoped would be a ride of at least 4 hours based on my route. I took off from New Berlin and headed north towards Delafield and although the wind was a little on the gusty side it really didn't seem all that bad. I made it to Delafield and started to head East for a while before I was to turn South. Well, somewhere along the way I got to a road that I thought I was supposed to turn down but it wasn't marked with the same road name that I had on my map. Thinking that my map was incorrect, duh, I decided to keep going and figured maybe I'd run in to my turn down the road a little further. Well after about 3 or 4 more miles and no intersecting roads at all I just decided to keep going until I hit the next intersection and then I would head South. Well, I did that and was heading South and didn't recognize any of the roads I was on but I knew I was heading towards home so I kept on going until I finally hit a road I recognized. Eventually I met back up with my route about 30 miles later in Waukesha and made my way home. I brought plenty of food and water with me so I wasn't feeling too bad with the cumulative effect of yesterday's ride and the time I spent on the road today but I could tell I was pretty wiped out. The end result of today's ride was 4 hours, 15 minutes, which I'm really happy with as I don't think I did over 4 hours until July last year. My two day total of 7 hours, 35 minutes is pretty good for January as well, I'm glad I got the hours in this weekend as it looks like the weather is going to take a turn for the worse. Tomorrow is a rest day on the bike but I will be doing weights after work and I also have to do some housework before my wife kills me. With all the riding I did this weekend it took away from my housework because of course I can't just jump right in to working, I have to come home and recover after the rides, I don't want to stress myself too much! :) So a lot of time was spent on the recliner in addition to all the riding. Well, I'm pretty spent and one of the most important things to do after a couple of long days of riding is to get some rest, so I'm going to have some Sleepytime tea and hit the bed. Until next time..........

A Little Chilly

Today I did a group ride with 3 other guys starting at Transition Bike Shop in Pewaukee and we did a nice, easy ride of 3 hours 20 minutes and the wind sure made for a nice workout. It was definitely better riding with the group than trying to fight the wind by myself, thanks Aaron, Russ, and John!! We took a pretty flat route from Pewaukee out to Neosho and then back, and kept it at a pretty easy pace for the most part. I felt great when I got back and my dad called shortly after I walked in the door and offered to take the family out to dinner so that was the topper to a nice day. I had a great T-Bone steak, a double-baked potato, salad and some soup, everything that I think is essential to recovering from a long ride, um yeah, probably not, but oh well. Tomorrow I'll be riding from New Berlin to Delafield and back, should be close to 4 hours on the route that I'm taking. The temps will be about 40-45 and it's supposed to be mostly sunny and the winds will be about 10-20mph. I'm going to take it easy for the most part and just do it as Foundation Miles, no intervals or anything like that. By the end of tomorrow I should have just under 7.5 hours for the two weekend days, not too shabby in January! Well, I'm going to keep it short today, it's late, I'm tired and the wife wants to watch a movie yet. I'm sure I'll be snoozing on the recliner in no time. Until next time........

Need Some Sleep

I've been moving right along lately and feeling great with my training but today I'm a little tired because I didn't get a lot of sleep last night so I'm dreading my ride tonight just a little bit. It's not that I couldn't sleep last night, I just had a lot going on and chose not to go to bed early, but I definitely will tonight. I did weights yesterday after work and felt really good, it seems that the weight is too easy for the leg press and leg extensions so tomorrow I'm going to kick up the weight another 10lbs. to see if that makes a difference. I'd like to only be able to max out at 8 reps for each set but I feel like I can keep going for 10 or 11 at least so I definitely need to up the weight. After finishing weights I went home and ate some dinner and then jumped on the trainer for 1.5 hours and did 5 x 5 min Muscle Tension intervals. After doing weights my legs were warmed up and pumped for the intervals, so they seemed easy too, even in the 53x13. Tonight I have to do 2 hours on the trainer, just at Endurance Pace, and although I'm feeling sluggish and have a nasty headache I'm going to try to complete the whole 2 hours. I'll see how I feel after the first hour, I might just need to stop early and catch up on some of the sleep I missed yesterday. I hate to cut rides short when I'm not really sick or overtrained, being tired was my own doing last night, so I really should finish my whole workout. We'll see how it goes I guess, not sure......
Tomorrow is a weight day but a rest day on the bike. Saturday's forecast went from really good yesterday with almost no chance of rain to an 80% chance of rain now so my long ride most likely will not be outside now, which is disappointing. I've been spoiled lately I guess. It depends on how fast it moves through as they are forecasting most of the rain/snow mix for the morning I believe so hopefully I can still get out before noon. If it's a little wet still or just drizzling very lightly I will probably go to Lake Geneva and do the lakeshore route for 3 hours which is my scheduled workout for Sunday, but it's a very sheltered route so it might be better suited for Saturday's weather with the rain and wind. Sunday is still looking good so I'll probably move my ride to Delafield that I had scheduled for Saturday over to Sunday since that is a pretty open route and it appears it won't rain on Sunday. Soooo, as it looks I'll be doing hopefully 3 hours outside around Lake Geneva on Saturday and then 3.75 hours on Sunday to Delafield and back. Otherwise it's 3 hours on the trainer on Saturday and Sunday won't change either way. Not much else going on, my weight is still stable but I've started a plan to cut calories on light riding days, 2 hours or less, so that I can get rid of that extra 10lbs. Well, that's it....until next time......

Recovered Nicely

So after my long ride on Saturday I've recovered quite nicely and can't wait to do it again this weekend. After the ride I managed to eat a lot of food in order to replenish myself for Sunday's ride on the trainer. Sunday of course was really crappy and it rained for most of the day with a little break later on after it got dark of course. I popped in a movie and watched some TV during my ride of not quite 2.75 hours, about 2hrs 35 minutes. I just kind of spontaneously ended the ride at that point because I hit a commercial during the show I was watching and had to go to the bathroom so I figured I wasn't going to miss out on 10 minutes, especially after going 23 minutes more than scheduled on Saturday. I felt really good and had no problems, basically it was just an endurance ride, no specialty workouts or anything, all in all it was pretty boring! Oh well.....Sunday night I headed to my friend Jason's house for a New Year's Eve party and we had a great time grilling out some steaks and having a few beers. I stayed over of course, which is the safe and legal thing to do, and drove home the following morning with a little bit of a headache. Monday was a rest day on the bike and it was really nice outside and if I didn't have my last family X-mas party to go to I would have been tempted to ride. Family took priority though and I was at my step-brothers from about noon until 4:30ish so there was no time to ride outside. Today was a 2 hour ride on the trainer and I did 10 Stomps after about a 45 minute warmup and that felt really good as well. I can definitely tell I have more strength than last year due to my weight training regimen this offseason. Last year there was no way I could have ridden 2 hours yet after the 1 month of training I had completed much less do 10 Stomps. Tomorrow I am scheduled to do 1.5 hours on the trainer with Muscle Tension intervals and I will also be doing weights as well after work. Thursday will be another 2 hours on the trainer at endurance pace and then Friday is a rest day on the bike but I will be doing weights. Saturday and Sunday are looking great right now, sunny and 38 on Saturday and sunny and 41 on Sunday. I'll be doing about 3.5 hours on Saturday and 3 hours on Sunday, and I'm doing 2 new routes again, so I can't wait to get lost! Until next time.............

Who Needs To See Anyways??

So I woke up this morning at 7:15 for my scheduled 3.5 hour ride and I look outside to see some really dense fog, not exactly the best conditions to be riding a bike when the cars can't see me. But I figured what the heck, I'll ride anyways, I gotta die sometime. I ate my big bowl of oatmeal, got dressed, which took about 20 minutes to throw on all my clothes, filled my bottles and headed out the door to enjoy the misty, 38 degree weather. I headed out towards Pewaukee and ended up getting lost after taking a wrong turn. I was supposed to take a right on a road and ended up taking a left and going completely the wrong way. Only after about 5 miles when I was supposed to take another turn did I realize my mistake and by then I figured I'd just wing it and ride around. I figure there are two benefits to getting lost, one is that you get to ride on roads that you've never ridden before, and secondly you get to enjoy the aerobic benefits of riding for a lot longer than you expected since you can't find your way home. Good times, good times. So after I found a road I recognized I made my way home and ended up riding for 3 hours 53 minutes, not bad at all for a December day in Wisconsin. I definitely ate a lot when I got home, I was starving and probably had a little too much as my stomach was a little sick after everything that I crammed down my throat. Anyways, tomorrow is supposed to be a crappy day as it's going to start raining tonight and all day tomorrow so it doesn't appear I'll be riding outside. I'm going to get up early and clean my bike up as it got a little wet and muddy today and then I'll be riding for 2.75 hours on the trainer and probably watch a couple of movies. After that I'll do some housework and then take a nap to rest up for the nighttime festivities. I'm looking forward to some steak and just a couple of beers tomorrow night at my friend Jason's house and of course I'm looking forward to watching the Packers beat the Bears. Well, until next time.....Happy New Year!!

December or March?!

The weather lately has been great for December in Wisconsin, with temps ranging between 40 and 45 degrees during the day and we have absolutely no snow on the ground . Today it is supposed to be 40 degrees but I'll be stuck inside at work and tomorrow has a forecasted high of 41 degrees and I'll definitely be outside riding. The last few days of training have been pretty good with a roller ride of 1.5 hours on Wednesday along with the first weight workout in my Strength phase. The ride was just a casual ride on the rollers and I worked a bit on smoothing out my pedal stroke a bit more. The first day of heavier weights felt really good and was almost too easy but I'll see how I progress at this weight level, I may add 10 more pounds to each exercise after tonight's workout if it seems too easy again. The only thing that might keep me from adding more weight is a little pain in my left knee, I'll see how that feels after tonight and go from there. Anyways, last night was a trainer ride of 2 hours and I was going to do Muscle Tension intervals but decided to just do Foundation Miles due to the aforementioned left knee pain. It's better just to take it easy now so that I don't wreck the knee even more. It feels good this morning so I'm not too worried about it. As for today's plan, it's a scheduled rest day on the bike but I'll be doing weights right after work. Tomorrow like I said is looking good as far as the weather so I'll be doing a 3.5 hour ride from New Berlin to Pewaukee, down south to Muskego and Big Bend and then back to New Berlin. Should be about 65 miles or so, not too bad for the end of December!! Sunday there is an 80% chance of rain and possibly snow showers so I'm almost certain that there will be no outside ride. At this point it looks like I'll be doing 2.75 hours inside on the trainer at Foundation Mile pace.
Sunday night the Packers play for a possible playoff berth and of course it's New Year's Eve so there will be plenty of eating and some alcohol consumption as well. I'm going to do my best not to overeat but who knows how good my willpower will be after a few beers as well. Monday the Badgers play in the Capital One Bowl so that will be another occasion to eat and drink, but again hopefully not too much. I think I got over my weight plateau, at least the last couple of days, as I've lost about 3lbs over a week and I'm down to a stable 182 this week. I still have about 10lbs to lose but once I get in to the longer miles and get outside in March and April I'm sure it will just melt off. Well, I'll give an update after tomorrow's ride and hopefully Sunday, until next time........Happy New Year!

Staying Dry

If you read my last post from Saturday then you'll know that I fell in to a flooded river while trying to traverse a trail under a bridge. Well, Saturday night after I had warmed up a bit I was starting to feel a little under the weather and then I woke up Sunday morning with a nasty sore throat and head cold. I'm sure it wasn't related to falling in to the water as it wouldn't have come on that quick and BEING cold doesn't give you a cold. I'm sure it was something that had been waiting to hit me for a few days and I think all the shivering and trying to stay warm after falling in the water weakened my immune system enough to let the cold take hold. I tried to ride Sunday and managed about an hour before I was feeling too sick to continue so I decided to rest before we headed off to our X-mas festivities. Monday morning I woke up feeling a bit better after medicating myself Sunday night and it was a normally scheduled rest day so I didn't have to ride and basically rested most of the day. By Tuesday I felt really good again and of course had to come back to work and felt great by the end of the day. I had a ride scheduled for 2 hours and did almost all of that, 1hour 50 minutes, on the trainer with 10 Power Stomps thrown in as my secondary exercise. I cut it 10 minutes short because I didn't jump on the trainer until 8:15 and then by the time I was closing in on 2 hours my dog was bugging the heck out of me to be let outside to go to the bathroom. I jumped off the trainer at 1'50'' to let him out and by the time I got back in I just decided to forego the final 10 minutes as I was already cooled down and there was really no point in finishing 10 more minutes. So, anyways, I felt great overall and felt especially strong during my Power Stomps of which I was only supposed to do 6 but felt so good that I decided to do 10. Tonight I have a ride of 1.75 hours scheduled and also I'll be doing weight work. I kick up my weights tonight and jump in to the Strength phase of weight training where I decrease the reps and obviously increase the weight. I'll do this phase for the next 4 weeks and then go back down to the High Volume phase to allow my body to recover. After 2 weeks of the High Volume Phase I will do one more phase of Strength and then quit weights as most of my riding moves outside and all of my muscular work will be done on the bike. Tomorrow I have another ride of 2 hours (hopefully all of it) and then Friday is a rest day. The weather is looking iffy for outdoor riding this weekend but hopefully that will change before Saturday. Well, until next time.............

Flooding And Hypothermia

Today was not the best day to go riding outside, not because of the 40 degree temperature or the 20-30mph winds, but because all of the rain we've had in the last few days created some nice big puddles and overflowing rivers. Well, if I would have ridden on the road today that wouldn't have been a problem but I decided to try to keep out of the wind and take my ride off the road on to the Root River Parkway which is shielded by lots of trees. To keep a long story short, I ended up falling over in about 2.5ft of water trying to cross a flooded section of the river as the trail went under a bridge. I was about 50 minutes in to my scheduled 2.5 hour ride so with my feet, left leg, and left arm completely soaked I made a beeline home as fast as I could and made it to my front door in about 40 minutes. Both of my feet were frozen, my left leg was numb and my left hand was frozen around the handlebars. I quickly threw off all my clothes and filled up the bottom of the tub with lukewarm water and stuck my feet in the tub. It actually hurt a little bit as my toes started to thaw out, mainly because I think I could actually feel pain now as they weren't numb anymore. After about 10 minutes of doing that I was a little disappointed that my ride got cut short so I decided to quick jump in to some dry clothes and run downstairs to finish my last hour on the trainer. I went harder than normal without actually thinking about it because I think I was subconsciously trying to get as warm as possible and forget about the shivering. Soooo, it was a good day of training despite getting really wet in 40 degree temperatures and heavy winds and I got in my 2.5 hours (1.5 on the road, 1 inside). Obviously it could've been better if I didn't fall over in a river but then I wouldn't have had this good story to tell. Well, tomorrow is supposed to be sunny, about 45 degrees and winds of only 5-10mph so I'm looking forward to a long, dry, ride on the road. Our X-mas Eve festivities start at 3:00 so I'm going to hit the road at about 9:00 and do 3-3.5 hours, which is over my scheduled 2 hours, but how many 45 degree days do you get in December? I'm hoping for 3.5 hours but we'll see how much time I have after eating breakfast, I'd like to hit 6 hours over 2 days for the second weekend in a row. Gotta get those aerobic hours in while I can......Until next time......stay dry!

Change of Plans

Well, the weather for tomorrow doesn't look like it's going to be all that good so I'm probably going to change my plans again. It's supposed to rain tomorrow and for a bit Saturday morning I think so most likely I'll stick with my normal rest day tomorrow and then ride for 2.5 - 3 hours on Saturday afternoon and then 2.5 on Sunday morning. I found out we don't have to be anywhere for X-mas Eve festivities until 3:00 so that gives me plenty of time to ride. Saturday is going to be a busy day as we have to finish up some shopping and get the house cleaned but I'll definitely make time for a ride. The weather looks good for Saturday afternoon and definitely for Sunday so should be no problem getting in my rides outside.
Well, the last few days have been pretty good rides on the trainer, as good as they can be inside I guess. I swapped my Tuesday and Wednesday rides around and did my 1 hour recovery ride on Tuesday just due to time constraints and then did 1.75 hours on the trainer last night after lifting weights. I felt great doing weights yesterday and will be moving in to the strength phase of lifting next week starting with my Wednesday workout as obviously X-mas is Monday and I won't be at work to use the weightroom. The bike workout felt great last night as well as I did 5x5 minute Muscle Tension intervals to build power. Basically it's just 5 minutes of riding with the front wheel propped up to simulate a hill and then staying in the seat I push a 53x13 or 53x14 gear for 5 minutes, rest for 5 minutes and repeat. It's a great way to build power and muscular endurance. Tonight I will be doing the opposite with a 1.75 hour ride on the trainer with 6x3minute Fast Pedals which help build a fast, smooth pedal stroke.
Overall, I'm just absolutely filled with motivation to ride, no winter blues here. I know I have a lot of work to do before race season so I don't mind that we are still at least 3 months away from getting outside on a regular basis, I could use the time before the first race. My weight is still staying the same and I weighed in this morning at 183 so I haven't really lost anything but didn't gain anymore either, just staying steady. Well, that's it....until next time.

Rain, Rain Go Away!

Nice Weather....Too Bad.

So the weather has been great for December and it's been 40-45 degrees the last few days and is supposed to stay that way all week with the low temp of the week being Sunday with a forecasted high of 36. Too bad I'll be inside at work all week so I can't even get out and ride but there is hope for Friday as I have a vacation day scheduled. I'm on a scheduled rest week so I'm only supposed to do 2.5 hours on Saturday and 2 hours on Sunday. With Sunday being X-mas Eve I'm thinking I'm going to move my rides up a day and do 2.5 to 3 hours on Friday when the temp is supposed to be 45 and then do 2 to 2.5 hours on Saturday when it's supposed to be 38 degrees. Normally Friday is a rest day so it works out perfectly that I'll be on vacation and I can ride during the day and still do my normal Friday night dinner and beers (only 1 or 2 of course). I had a great two days of riding this past weekend with a little over 6 hours between Saturday and Sunday and it's going to be hard not to ride just as much this weekend but I'm sure my wife will have me busy preparing for X-mas so I might not have a choice. Anyways, yesterday was a rest day on the bike but I did do weights and today I'll be doing 1.75 hours on the trainer when I get home with some Stomps thrown in. Tomorrow is weights and a 1 hour spin on the trainer, Thursday is 1.75 hours again with Fast Pedal excercises. Friday and Saturday I'll do my plan above and then Sunday and Monday will probably be rest days because I'll be busy doing the family stuff for X-mas. I'll try to squeeze in a ride on Sunday though if I can, maybe an hour or hour and a half after all the festivities just to burn off some of the food that I know I'll consume in mass quantities. Overall I'm feeling o.k., I've had a toothache the last week or so and I went to the dentist today and all he did is take x-rays and re-schedule me for another appointment on Jan. 2nd. That means my tooth will hurt for another two weeks and hopefully it doesn't get any worse. It hasn't affected my biking but I've stopped eating Powerbars in favor of gels for the last week so it looks like I've got another two weeks at least of eating more of those gooey treats. As a side note, I think that gels must contain mass quantities of fat because I've gained 4 lbs. since last week and I'm sure it has nothing to do with the 2 days of family X-mas cookie baking that we did. I only ate like 50 cookies, that's what, like 5 grams of fat? It's gotta be the gels, I'll research it and let you all know, might need to eat a few more cookies as my placebo group. Until next time......

Windy And Weary

Today was a fairly long day on the bike, about 3 hours and 45 minutes from New Berlin to Burlington to Alpine Valley and then back to Burlington to my final destination of my mom's holiday cookie day. Unfortunately I had a headwind almost the whole way heading south so that made the temps seem a little more frigid than the 50 degree temperature. Add that to the lack of any sun and it made for a ride that was just difficult given all the hills I did around Alpine Valley and my 2 trips up Johnson Rd. used in the State RR. Don't get me wrong though, it was great to get out in the middle of December for a ride of almost 4 hours. My legs are definitely sore but overall I feel o.k.. I took my camera with and took pics of some of the hills I had to climb, most of them not too long but all of them very steep. Tomorrow is supposed to clear up with a little sunshine I think starting around 9:00 so I'm going to ride at about 10:00 for 2 hours 45 minutes tomorrow, and I'll make sure it's an easier route than today to give the legs a little rest. I'll probably head out to the Waukesha area and do a loop around there and then one of my New Berlin to Muskego loops. Well, I'm keeping it short today, pretty tired so I'm going to take a shower (yes, I'm still stinky from this morning's ride) and then go to bed at about 10:00 or 10:30. Here are the pics I took

Johnson Rd. from the State RR course.......

A nice double dipper on Hargraves road between Johnson Rd. and Alpine.....

Hwy. 120 heading towards Alpine Valley, to get an idea of how long and steep it is, check out the cars at the bottom and then look at the speck of a car at the top.......



Kniep Rd, super steep, check out the sign at the bottom in relation to the top of the hill, it goes up really quick....

Who Needs To Train.....

......not me! It certainly seems like that this week as it has been an extremely busy week for me, although most of the busy work is my own doing. I haven't trained this week as much as my schedule called for and it's leaving me a little miffed, but I have lifted a lot of weight off my shoulders by getting things done around the house that have weighed heavily on me the last few months....or basically since the summer when I stopped working on the house altogether to do all my races. That should all end tonight as I closed out a few things last night that should free up a lot of time. As an example I bought my wife a laptop for X-mas (an early gift) and of course I had to set it up for wireless access, add her preferred software (all licensed copies of course.. ;), move over her Itunes library, set up file and print sharing with our desktop PC, delete all the free-trial garbage that always comes on those things, and then finally test it all out. That took quite a while last night but now she is all set up and I won't have to do anything until she screws it up somehow in the next two weeks by downloading some game with spyware or something. Needless to say I didn't have much time to ride after that so I did a short 1 hour ride and called it a night. I also did my weight work yesterday as well so at least I got that completed. Well, today will be 2 hours on the trainer while I watch Talladega Nights with Will Ferrell, tomorrow will be weights again and a 1.5 hour ride that I'm doing to make up for missed time earlier in the week as I normally don't ride on Friday. Saturday is still holding out for temps around 50 and mostly cloudy so I'm going to do 3.5 to 4 hours and save gas in the process. I have a holiday get- together in Burlington so I'm going to ride down there from New Berlin and go out to East Troy and do some roads around Alpine Valley and the Johnson Rd. climb used in the State RR, and then head in to Burlington. Should be about 65-70 miles total, not too bad for December 16th! Sunday is supposed to be in the lower 40s I believe so I'll be doing my normally scheduled 2.75 hour ride but not sure where I'm going yet, hopefully I can get some other guys together for a group ride but we'll see. Overall I'm feeling good, it's still early in the year, the training year that is, as it's obviously not '07, so I'm not too worried about a couple of missed training hours earlier this week. My weight-loss is not happening as quickly as I had hoped as I haven't lost any weight since October and have stayed steady at about 182-185 but I think that part of it is the weight-lifting. I'm probably losing some fat but that is being offset by the weight gain of the muscle I'm building from lifting. Once I can really get out and do the long rides in the late winter/early spring then I should burn the fat without any issues. I'd like to get down to at least 173-175 by April and that should be good enough for me this year. I'm just a tad over 6ft so I don't want to get too much lower than that or I'll look sickly and probably would lose power as well. Well, that's all for now, until next time.........

A Little Overwhelmed......

It was an extremely difficult weekend for me to try to juggle my training and the housework that I needed to complete. Needless to say I didn't accomplish 100% of either task but I worked my butt off this weekend so I don't really have any regrets, it's not like I was just lazy and didn't feel like doing anything. I basically just didn't have enough time to do everything that I wanted to do, although I'm sure I could've done it all if I would've just skipped sleeping.....that's kind of necessary though. Anyways, here is what I did this weekend on the house....stripped, sanded, primed, painted and re-faced two whole cabinet bases along with installing all new hinges and knobs.....tore out my old kitchen supply lines (plumbing) and installed new lines, shutoff valves, and replaced some old copper and under-sink steel pipe with all new PVC pipes.....ripped off my existing countertops and installed new countertops.....my old sink and faucet went out with the old countertops so I also put in a new sink and faucet and along with that a new garbage disposal.....tore down all my old tile backsplash, spackled any rough spots and prepped it for my new backsplash.......and finally, I installed a new dishwasher. That was just the work on my house, I also had to do a lot of running around and had other things to take care of as well that cut in to the biking time. Needless to say, it was just a nutty weekend.....
So, on to the training info.....Saturday was a cold, windy day and not exactly riding weather but I managed to fight the weather right away in the morning and got out for a 3 hour, 20 minute ride and came back feeling pretty sore, as I think all my joints were frozen. I don't mind cold weather as obviously I can dress for it with all the clothes I have, but the wind is something different. Not only does it go right through you, but mentally it's pretty difficult to deal with when it is cold in the first place. I don't mind it in the summer, but in the winter it just makes me think that I should just turn around, go in to my basement, and sweat my ass off on the trainer. Well, sometimes I do just that when I'm having a weak moment, but this year I'm really trying to stick to my guns so that I can kick some butt next year. Having said that, Sunday pretty much sucked for riding even though it was the better of the two days only because I was so busy that I didn't have any time to ride as long as I wanted. I had to do some running around in the mid-morning and along with having no choice but to finish my kitchen if I actually wanted running water, I had to cut my riding short on Sunday and was only able to ride for 1.5 hours of my scheduled 2.75 for the day. Oh well, I got my kitchen done for the most part so I was really happy about that, and at least I have running water again. Today is normally a rest day on the bike but I will make up for some missed time yesterday by riding for an hour on the trainer and it is also a normally scheduled weight-work day so I'll be doing that as well. This week looks great as far as temps go, but it doesn't matter anyways as I'll be at work obviously every day. So, it's another week of trainer workouts and I'm really looking forward to Saturday now as the forecasted high is going to be 47 degrees!!! I'm scheduled for 3.5 hours so I am really looking forward to that ride, should be a good one. Sunday is supposed to be 34 degrees which is plenty warm enough to ride, and I have a lot of time now, so I'll have no problem getting in my 2.75 hours scheduled for that day. Well, until next time...........

Dang, It's Cold!!

So this morning it was 5 degrees with a wind chill of -13. It sure is hard to get out of bed on days like today, it makes taking a sick day sound like a good idea so that I can stay under the covers. Unfortunately I did come to work though, no such luck on staying warm in bed, oh well. I did check the Weather Channel and it appears that this cold spell will be short-lived though and tomorrow it will be up to 29 and Saturday and Sunday will be in the mid-30s, probably windy on Saturday though, but I can fight through that. There is no way I'm spending 3.5 hours on the trainer even if it is a little windy. Soooo, last night was a pretty relaxed night of training, I did my weight work and am feeling really good with that, although my knee felt a little loose last night and today, but hopefully it's nothing. After I got home I had a good dinner and then jumped on the bike for a quick 1 hour recovery ride. It seemed like I was only on for 15 minutes, piece of cake. Tonight I will be doing a 1.75 hour ride on the trainer with 7x12 second Stomps thrown in, and then tomorrow is a rest day but I won't be doing my regular weight work because I have a vacation day so I won't be at work to utilize the facilities. Saturday is a 3.5 hour ride with 6 x 3min FastPedal exercises thrown in and then Sunday is 2.75 hours of just Foundation Miles. Hopefully the weather cooperates and I can get both rides in with no issues, and by that I mean without freezing any limbs or appendages. I'm sure it will be a struggle Saturday with the wind chill and if it's too bad I can always do a shorter route outside and then finish inside if I get too cold. I don't predict any problems though. I also have a boatload of things to do this weekend around the house so it is going to be interesting to see how I fit this all in but hopefully I'll manage without stressing myself out. I'm still working on the plumbing for my kitchen re-model and my dad will be coming over Saturday to help with some electrical work for the new garbage disposal. I've got to make a trip to Home Depot as well today or tomorrow to get more valves for the supply lines and also to return some extra stuff that I don't need. It'll be a super busy weekend, can't wait. Yeah right! Until next time..........

Is It Spring Yet?

Needless to say it was impossible to bike outside for me this weekend as we got anywhere from 10.5 to 13 inches of snow on Friday depending upon what web site you look at. Normally the snow wouldn't stop me from riding but the problem this weekend was that most streets were unsafe to ride on because of the packed, ruddy, ice that was not completely cleared up yet. If there was no traffic on the road then sure it's no problem, but I don't trust drivers when they have to drive on that stuff and manuever around it, I'd like to live to see 2007. So, having said that, I had to do my riding on the trainer this weekend and as I've said before it makes for a lot of movie watching and some mind-numbing hours. Saturday I had to cut my ride short because we got our new countertops and dishwasher and I had to go get those and do some house stuff to get those projects started. I was scheduled for 3.5 hours but only managed to get in about 2 hours 50 minutes just because we had to do alot of running around like I said and there just wasn't enough time in the day. I felt good and it actually went pretty fast as I nearly made it through 2 90 minute movies during the ride. I did have to get off for about 2 minutes to make a pit stop because I consumed at least 3 or 4 bottles because I sweat so dang much when I ride inside, even with 2 fans. My knees felt pretty good after I fiddled with my seat height and cleats per my post on Friday, I had a little pain that went away after about 20 minutes and it did feel a little awkward but after a week or two my body will get used to it. Sunday I was scheduled for 2.75 hours and I completed the entire ride and my knees and overall position felt even better than Saturday, but mentally the last few minutes were pretty tough. I was closing in on a total of about 5.5 hours on the trainer over 2 days and although it doesn't sound like too much, it's still difficult to ride inside after having ridden outside the last few weeks. I obviously have to get used to it though because it's only December 4th and there are about 16-18 weeks left of this weather to deal with, but I know it will get easier as winter rolls along. This week will be 3 rides indoors on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday and then as of right now it appears that Saturday and Sunday will be outdoor rides. Saturday is supposed to be 35 and sunny and Sunday is supposed to be 34 and sunny. Hopefully the crews get out and get that ice cleared off the roads. I have a rest day on the bike today but it is a weight-workout day so I'll be doing that right after work today.
I also wanted to give an update on some team news.....we got our final look at the team kit that we will be going with next year and I have to say that it looks great! It's a nice combo of a muted gold (not shiny), red, and black. Our sponsor logos are well placed on the jersey and shorts and the overall design flows quite nicely. I have a pic of the design but I won't post it now, sorry, as I'm not sure if I'm allowed to do that yet. I'll definitely take some pics when I get the whole kit in a couple of months and post them at that time. If you want to get an idea of the gold color and the logo, visit our sponsor's web site (Wheaton) under my Links section. In addition to getting our team kit I got some info on some other riders that are joining our team and I'm definitely happy to know that we are getting some guys that are not only quality racers but also nice, respectable guys that I know I'll have no problem meshing with on and off the road. I'm definitely looking forward to a great season with the team in '07. Until next time.......

Uncomfortable....Not Any More!

I've been having problems lately getting comfortable on the bike, if you've read previous posts then you know that it's been driving me crazy. I've been experiencing left leg drop, right hip tilting forward and some left knee pain. I tried switching back to my old Sidis last night but the screws that I had weren't long enough to accommodate the cleats and some pedal wedges so I decided to make do with my Adidas. I finally figured that the best way to figure out what is causing my issue was to set up a video camera and tape myself from the back, front, and side to see what is happening when I pedal under load and when I spin easy. Maybe I was doing something differently or favoring a stronger leg or something when I used big gears, so I finally set that up last night. I watched the video and couldn't believe what I saw, and more importantly I couldn't believe I didn't really notice what was happening previous to seeing myself do it. Basically in my present seat position I was dropping my right heel big time on the downstroke and pedaling toes down with the left foot. It was so obvious that my right leg was longer than my left that I don't know how I haven't noticed that prior to yesterday. My seat height was basically set up in the middle of accommodating both legs..... too short for my right leg so I had to drop my heel to get the correct knee angle, and too tall for my left leg so I had to pedal toes down and drop my hip to reach the bottom of the pedal stroke. The hip drop on the left caused me to bring my right hip forward, also causing me to point my right foot in towards the bike, and my left foot away from the bike. My wife watched it with me and she was also thinking I was an idiot because she noticed it immediately as well and wondered how I didn't figure this out before. Soooo, after doing some measuring I had to go with 4 pedal wedges under the left cleat to lengthen it enough to measure up with the right leg. Once I had it set up so that each leg was even I raised the seat to alleviate the heel drop and sure enough, my left hip didn't drop, my right hip didn't go forward, me feet were straight ahead and I felt really comfortable for the first time in a long while. It was a good feeling to finally, well hopefully, figure out what was going on so that I can go in to next year feeling like I'm not unbalanced on the bike.
Anyways, last night I did ride for 1.75 hours on the trainer and did 7x12sec Stomps as well. Tonight is a rest day on the bike and because of our major snowstorm I'll be skipping the weight work so that I can get home and shovel. Tomorrow is going to be an iffy day as there still might be too much snow to ride safely but I'll do my best to get out on the cyclocross bike and I'll ride for as long as I can or until I deem it too unsafe to hit the road. I might have to do all or part of tomorrow's scheduled 3.5 hours of riding on the trainer, fun, fun. If I can even get away with doing half on the road and half on the trainer I'd be happy. Sunday is probably 2.5 hours on the trainer as it appears that it will be snowing again but we'll see if the forecasters are correct. Here is a pic of the wonderful snowfall (yeah, right!). Until next time..........

Java, Java, Java!!!

Sometimes I drink a little toomuchcoffee and it becomesaproblem and I can't controlmyselfbecauseI get all jitteryand hyperand then I can't sitdownandI haveto walk around but I thinkit's good formy cyclingbecause it helpsraise my metabolismand that has gotto be good right? well this morningI was feelingreally tired and had 4shots of espresso andsome coffeehere at workand holy cow am I freakingout, it's like I have a jet engine up my butt which isreally weird but it seems tobe true so thats what I'm saying. i'm glad my chair has wheels onit because then I can roll around and that's prettyfun and withthe jet engineIcan go reallyfast. mustnot comedown......
training has been reallygoodlately and i'm doingquite well instickingto my programthanks to the weather but unfortunately i've had oneday that went bad. saturday i woke up with the worst headache I've had in whileand I can't explainwhy I had it butit hurt like helland I was boundtothe bed until the afternoon. I thinkit was from lack of coffeebut I'm not sure, youknow, caffeine headache and all. anyways, I tried to get on thebikebut couldn't do it due to my headache so i had towrite off that dayof training to illness. sunday I made upfor it by riding just over 3hours even though I wasonly scheduled for 1.75hours. it was agreat ride and it felt goodtobe out that long, that makes 4 or 5 weekends ina row that I've done 3 or more hours at least once over the weekend. last night i didweight work and increasedmy weight and decreased my reps andI can definitelyfeel that i'm getting stronger everyweek. tonight is 1.75hours on thetrainer with some Stomps thrown in and tomorrow is weights and onehour onthe bike. the weather is taking a turn for the worse, rabble,rabble, so that sucks but i'mhoping that i can still get in my long weekend of training. i always havethe crossbike and can still do some crossand trailriding and of course there is alwaysthe trainer. i'm looking forward to getting out no matter what, gotta lose some weight and get down to at least 181 by mid-december, i'mat 186 right nowYIKES! JELLO,JELLY,PUDDING,LARD! ok then, so I'm workingonthat and hope to be down to 173 by Aprilif I can. i don't knowif i can get much lower thanthat without sacrificingsome power. ok bye! gotta go have some more javato burn calories, cause I heard it raises my metabolism, so that's cool. until nexttime..................

2lbs. Heavier

I made it through Thanksgiving dinner without eating too much and according to my scale this morning I gained 2lbs yesterday. Not bad. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being "Wow, elephants don't eat that much!!", I think I was at about a 6 yesterday. I did manage to get in a 1.5 hour ride on the trainer afterwards so I'm sure I burned off at least a 1/3 of the calories I consumed, well maybe. I feel good this morning and I'm sure part of it is the rest I got last night after sleeping soundly while I dreamt of giant turkeys and bowls of stuffing and mashed potatoes. Anyways, the last few days of my regeneration week have been going well and I feel great and I'm ready to jump in to my next training week. Monday, I did weights and it was a rest day on the bike, Tuesday I rode for 1.25 hours on the trainer at a leisurely pace. Wednesday I did weights again and rode for 1 hour on the trainer at Foundation Mile pace which is pretty easy. Yesterday like I said was 1.5 hours on the trainer with some Stomps thrown in to help build power. Tonight I will be doing weight work and it will be a rest day on the bike. It is my last day of weight work in the Transition Phase and I will be starting the High Volume Phase on Monday which means I'll be increasing my weight and will decrease my reps to about 10-12 with the same number of sets (4). Saturday is going to be 2.25 hours with 40 mins of Race Simulation and then Sunday is a 1.75 hour ride with some FastPedals thrown in to help build leg speed. I also have to have a second Turkey dinner on Sunday as well, as my wife's mother is having us over for a belated Thanksgiving dinner, I'll do my best not to eat too much. Well, I'll update again on Sunday after what I hope will be a nice weekend of riding outside again, until next time............

Ready For The Rest Week

I finished my cross bike and took a ride on it this weekend and it's pretty fun to ride through some grass and mud. If you've been following my posts you'll know that technically it's not a cross bike but really an old Pinarello road bike with cross tires. That is good enough for me to go out trolling in the mud and I took it out this weekend in the Root River Parkway and went through some fields and on some trails for a little fun. After I got home I took it through the yard and jumped some ditches and ran with it for a while over some brush piles. My wife snapped a picture of me running across the yard because she thought I was crazy.....in reality I'm just like every other bike geek. Anyways, I did 2.5 hours on Sunday for 6 hours total over the weekend and 10 hours for the week. I feel great and this week I will be ready to do my recovery week, which really isn't needed physically but mentally it's nice to take a little break on the bike. Basically my rest week means like 8.50 hours on the bike instead of 10. I'm feeling great overall and I'm just reeeeeeally looking forward to next year already. I think that if I train the way I want too and stick to my program of gradually working up to 18-20 hours per week that I will be able to do very well in the Cat. 4s to start and then the 1/2/3s after that. I feel stronger each week and I think that I can be back to where I was previously by 2008. Most of the articles I've read said that by the 2nd year most former elite racers can be back to top form, but I don't think they are accounting for the fact that most former elite racers now have lives and families to deal with. It's easy to get back to top form after 2 years when you can ride 20-25 hours per week but that's not feasible with a family and full time job. I think I can be really good next year and by 2008 I can be competitive in the Pro/1/2 category and by that I mean I can win races. I've done it before, I know I can do it again. Anyways, tomorrow I only have to do 1.25 hours (it is a recovery week after all) and then Wednesday I will do an hour and also will do weights. So, it's an easy week and I'm looking forward to the mental break, especially riding the trainer all week. Well, until next time.........


Is that Sven Nys....noooooo, it's just me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!