I Love The Trainer

I'm kidding.....I hate the trainer but it appears I will be on it for at least the next two weeks straight due to work and the weather so I'm convincing myself that I love it. During the week I work until 5:00 so obviously riding outdoors won't work and this weekend the temps are only supposed to hit single digits and maybe the teens for highs. That means that I'll be riding indoors this week, this weekend, next week, and then the first chance I get to ride outdoors would be next weekend, the 10th and 11th. Hopefully the weather will be nice that weekend as I'm sure I'll have major cabin fever and will have to ride no matter what the conditions are outside. So anyways, this week will be trainer rides consisting of 2.25 hrs tonight, 1.75 hrs tomorrow with Muscle Tension intervals, 2.25 hrs on Thursday with 40 minutes of Tempo and then a 1 hr recovery ride on Friday. Saturday is supposed to be 3.75 hrs outdoors but if I have to move it indoors I'll probably lower it to 3 or 3.25 just to save some of my sanity as I'll have to do it again on Sunday, which will probably only be 3-3.25 hrs as well. I did my weight work yesterday and felt great doing that and so far today my legs are ready to go for tonight's ride. Starting tonight I'm going to try to incorporate some more stretching on a daily basis before and after my rides and also will try to do some ab work on a daily basis which I normally avoid. I'm pretty flexible but I've been doing some reading and found some cycling-specific stretches that I'd like to try out so that's why I'm going to add more stretching to my normal routine. I still have knee issues occassionally and will try out these new stretches to see if they help alleviate some of the pain. Other than that, I'm happy to report that I have not yet gotten sick from my venture out in to the snow on Saturday, I was holding out hope that I didn't kill myself too much and weaken the immune system and it seems that I'm still 100% healthy. I've been taking Zinc and drinking lots of Green Tea since then so maybe that helped. Let's see, what else..... my weight is staying steady, still at 183 as of this morning but I can tell I've defined my muscles a bit more so I'm guessing I've lost some fat but replaced the weight with a bit more muscle. I think I can still lose about 8-9 more pounds to be at racing weight for this year which I hope will be 174-175, but we'll see, I'd be happy with 177. Well, that's it for now, until next time.......

Snow Be Damned....I Rode Anyways!

So I had a choice to make today to either test my mental toughness with 3.5 hours on the trainer or test my physical toughness by heading out on a 20 degree morning that called for snow and winds of 10 to 20 mph. So what do you think I chose? Riding outside of course!! I hate the trainer, I consider it a necessary evil and today I just thought that I'd rather fight the snow and wind than the boredom of the trainer. So I got up at 6:30, ate some pancakes with Blueberries and after letting that digest for a little bit I got all my gear together. Layer by layer I put it all on until I was sweating buckets inside the house, which meant I'd be perfect outside. I put on 3 tops plus a jacket, arm warmers, tights, leg warmers, shorts, two pairs of socks with TT booties over the shoes and neoprene winter booties over those. I also took my Camelback to keep the water warm, I hate it when my water bottles turn to slush. I headed out from New Berlin towards Mukwonago and then over to Waukesha and Big Bend before finally heading home. The first and really the only body parts to freeze during the ride were my toes in spite of the 2 pairs of socks and 2 pairs of booties. My face got a bit wind-burned but it really didn't feel all that cold. I didn't see any other bikers during the ride but saw quite a few runners, hmmmm, maybe they are hardier than bikers, at least I was out there representing us. Sooo, anyways, the grand total for today's ride was 4 hours and 1 minute, yes I was crazy enough to ride for 4 hours today in this crap!! I'm really glad now that I'm home to think that I completed my 2nd 4 hour ride already this year, like I said previously my first one didn't come until July I think last year. That's why I said 4 hours and 1 minute previously, I had to make sure I went over that 4 hour mark. All in all, I have to say that the cold definitely made the ride more difficult, I could tell that it sapped my muscle strength quite a bit as my body was trying to keep itself warm. I'm happy I did it though and now I have the rest of the day to do what I want, no worries about having to ride the trainer later. Suckers! Just kidding...seriously. Anyways, I got some great pictures when I got back of my bike because of course when snow hits metal and starts to melt in these temps it freezes pretty quickly. I also sweated right through to my jacket and by the time I got back it was frozen solid in the front, I had to pull it over my head and it actually stood on it's own. Well, tomorrow might be too cold and snowy, 16 for a high and I'm sure I'll have to test my mental toughness tomorrow instead. Until next time....

Still frozen after a couple of minutes in the house

Sweat + cold = frozen jacket standing on it's own.

Want some of this?!....riding ninja style...nice windburn!

I Like Scotch...yum, yum, yum

So I've decided I'm going to start drinking heavily, starting today, like right now...at work. If Tuesday was the day from hell, well, yesterday was the day from f***ing hell! I got stuck at work yesterday until 8:00 and by the time I got home, then ate dinner it was way to late to bike and still get to bed at a reasonable time. I was supposed to do 2 hours yesterday and 1 hour today but I'll do 2.5 hours tonight on the trainer instead to make up for missing yesterday. I'm not even going to speculate now on what I'm doing tomorrow as it's supposed to be about 25 degrees and snow is supposed to start at about 2:00. I could get up early and ride before the snow starts but it will be about 15-20 degrees in the morning so that might be too cold. Most likely I'll be stuck riding the trainer for 3 hours+ but we'll see. Sunday is out for sure as the high temp is going to be 16 degrees and some snow. We got so spoiled in December that this weather is just disappointing even though it's the norm for out winters. Can you all start driving around a little more so this global warming thing speeds up a bit! Well, that's about all I have to say for now, back to work, hopefully today is a short day and I get out of here at 5:00. Until next time.........

Arctic Air Mass??

So I look at the WeatherChannel.com tonight and it says that we have a big Arctic Air Mass hovering over us, that can't be good right? It's definitely going to be cold though but nothing unusual for Wisconsin in January, 17 for a high tomorrow and 9 for low overnight, I guess that is a little cold but it's not like it's below zero or anything. Saturday is calling for a high of 24 and some sun, so I might actually get in a ride outside but I'll definitely have to pick a sheltered route, which might mean trying Lake Geneva again. As I've mentioned previously it is sheltered with lots of trees for a good windblock, so it makes for a good route on bad days. Anyways, it's only Wednesday and still a couple of days until then so I'll just wait and see.
Sooooo, after working late yesterday and riding until late last night I didn't get much rest before I was up for work again this morning and I was pretty wiped out for most of the day. I did make it through the workday though and then did my weight workout with my friend Dave and then came home for a big plate of spaghetti. After eating dinner I got a nice second wind and was raring to go on the trainer, which you'll probably never hear me say again as I hate the trainer. Anyways, I did my scheduled ride of 1.75 hours and did 6x5minute Muscle Tension Intervals and that felt really good, no pains and I felt pretty strong. Tomorrow I'll be doing 2 hours on the trainer and I'll be doing 30 minutes of Tempo work during that time as my secondary workout. Friday I'll be doing weights and just a short 1 hour recovery paced ride on the rollers. I prefer doing the recovery rides on the rollers because I'm just going at a nice easy pace and I get to actually move around a little bit and without the need to do any secondary workout I have no need for the trainer resistance. It's great for the handling skills as well, I like to do my no-hands riding and standing up on the rollers and doing things like taking my shirt off while riding or something to build the bike skills. Not that I'd have to do that during a race, but you never know......
Well, it's obviously late and unfortunately riding late and staying up too long is becoming a habit I need to break pretty quickly....hopefully starting tomorrow, until next time..............

Lonnnnngggg Day

Today was a day from hell. Up at 4:50 a.m and off to work a bit before 6:00 and then I had to work until 7:00p.m.. Yeah, that sucks. That's what happens when the boss is off and I get to do all the work. Tomorrow morning it's back to work at 6:30, hopefully I'll be out by 5:00. Anyways, I'm keeping it short tonight and will update more tomorrow, it's bed time. Monday my knee was feeling better for the most part, it didn't hurt to much to bend it, only when it was completely straight and when I put weight on it initially to get out of a chair or something. I didn't have much pain during my weight workout Monday evening and to keep the knee loose I actually came home after lifting weights and rode for an hour just to see how it would feel. It was a scheduled rest day but I'm glad I rode anyways, just for peace of mind with the knee basically. Knowing that it was pretty much o.k. to ride on, I stuck to my scheduled workout tonight and came home after work and just ate a sandwich so that I could squeeze in 2.25 hours on the trainer. I felt great the whole time and watched Saw III that came out today, if you love gore, it's a good movie to watch. If not, then for the love of God don't watch it! Well tomorrow is weights and 1.75 hours on the trainer with Muscle Tension Intervals, more on that for tomorrow's post. I'm getting sleepy as I'm typing.....until next time.......

Disappointing Weekend

This weekend was pretty disappointing, actually probably more frustrating than disappointing but I wasn't happy either way. I was supposed to do weights on Friday after work but my boss was on vacation and I had to pick up a lot of the slack and just got hammered with requests at the end of the day and ended working late until 6:00. I was supposed to be home by 6:00 to pick up my son from his school activity but obviously that wasn't going to happen as I was still at work and hadn't even done weights yet. My wife ended up picking up my son, but she asked if I could just come home because no one had eaten dinner yet and if I did weights I wouldn't be home until 7:00 at the earliest. So anyways, I skipped weights and went home.
Saturday morning I was going to get out and do a 2.5 hour ride before my wife's grandparents 50th anniversary celebration but when I was outside cleaning up snow off the driveway I slipped on some ice and really tweaked my left knee. It bent under me and twisted in when I tried to catch my balance and hurt so much that I couldn't ride at all. I tried to test it after taking some ibuprofen and warming it up on the trainer but it just hurt too bad to pedal. I iced it, stretched quite a bit, and took ibuprofen throughout the rest of the afternoon and by the evening it was actually feeling pretty good. After the anniversary celebration we went out for a late dinner at about 8:00 with some friends and after a couple of beers with dinner there wasn't much pain at all. Today I used a hot pad on it in the morning to warm it up before jumping on the trainer in the afternoon and didn't have much problem pedaling at an easy pace but I didn't really try to push it at all. I rode on the trainer for 2.5 hours and by the time I got off the knee actually felt really good. I'll be doing weights tomorrow but I'm going to have to probably lighten the pounds a bit and maybe drop the reps if there is still any tenderness in the knee. Hopefully all will be good. Well, other than that, this is the last day of my Foundation Period in which I completed 16 weeks of just getting in some miles and doing some secondary exercises to prepare me for the Preparation Period which starts tomorrow. I am considerably stronger this year than I was last year at this time as I was only 1.5 months in to my comeback. My longest ride to this point last year was 1.5 hours and this year it is 4.25 hours so there is no question that my 2nd year back in to this should show better results in the first few races as I will be much better prepared. Well, it's late, time for bed, sorry for the lack of post for the last 3 days but it was a hectic weekend, until next time.............

OCD or Desire? A Little Of Both....

So as the clock ticks down, albeit very slowly, to my first race in April I can't help but feel that I'm not doing enough to be better than everyone else. I think part of the angst is that it's hard to come to work everyday and then only be limited to a couple of hours at the most on the trainer every night. Bike racers by nature I think have some underlying OCD, not in a manic way, but in a way that requires them to have a concrete training program, to watch what they eat, to get enough rest, to pay attention to their bike, etc.. Having never been a professional athlete in any other sport I can't say that we are worse than other athletes but from what I've seen we are pretty obsessive. I haven't been a part of any other sport where someone will buy a widget and then a week later they will buy a different widget because the new one is a whole 14 grams lighter than the other one. I know you are all smiling as you read this because you know it's true, it's what we do, we obsess over things more than is normal. I know I can't train like I used to, I have a job and family now but that underlying obsession has not changed over 10 years and I still WANT to train like I did back then. I tinker with my training program and my personal schedule almost every day, trying to make sure that I'm doing enough riding to be competitive and also enough with my family to accommodate their needs. Desire is the other part of being a racer....desire is what makes us ride in the first place, aside from the OCD that we develop once we START riding. I think desire is what makes me feel like I could be training more or that I'm falling behind even though I have no good reason to think that. I started riding again last year for those don't know and I did have some decent results; 4 top tens, a Silver in the State Crit, but I want to WIN this year and win a lot! Last year I knew I wasn't going to be good but this year with 16 months of riding under my belt I do expect to be good. I think part of my anxiety is that I just feel like I should be riding 3 hours a day now and 4-6 hours on the weekends and I can't do that. Almost everybody in my Master's category has the same issue as we all have jobs but I can't help but think that somehow they all are secretly training all day long and just telling me that they are working. That's my OCD talking...... :) So anyways, I have the desire to ride to win this year, it's just a matter of finding the time to train and to have faith that the training I'm doing is good enough, I guess I can't worry about what everyone else is doing. Although if anyone knows of a secret way to train, let me know......
Now to what I have been doing. This week is a regeneration week for me as next week I start my Preparation Period when I will be increasing my time on the bike and also I will be starting my Tempo workouts during this period. So the last few rides have been pretty easy, Tuesday I did my ride on the trainer for 1.5 hours and it was basically at endurance pace. Last night I did weights and then rode for 1 hour and did 4x5 minute Muscle Tension intervals. I love rest weeks, 1 hour seemed sooooo easy. Tonight I will be doing 1.75 hours on the trainer with a secondary exercise of Fast Pedals and tomorrow will be weights but a rest day on the bike. Saturday and Sunday will be rides of 2.5 and 2 hours respectively and that will end my Foundation Period. Well, that's it for now, until next time...........

3 Months To Go

3 months from today is the first race of the season in Madison and I'm itching to race now but will definitely benefit from the next 3 months of training before then. Yesterday I didn't quite get in the time I wanted on the trainer, as I wanted to do 4 hours but only finished 3 hours just due to time constraints around the house. Sometimes you just have to make sacrifices for the good of the family and forego the cycling, yesterday was one of those days and I'm sure it won't be the last one this year. So anyways, like I said, it was 3 hours of just Endurance Miles, no secondary workouts and all in all it felt really good but I was a little tired at the end because I think I'm just worn out in general. It didn't help that I had a wedding on Saturday night and consumed quite a bit of Jameson Irish Whiskey and was probably a bit dehydrated so some of it was my own fault that I was sluggish. Today I did weights after work and felt really strong doing that and actually contemplated cycling tonight just because I have quite a bit of energy right now. Unfortunately I still have some work to do around the house, namely some shoveling of the driveway and also cleaning the basement so that I have a nice work area for my bike stand. It's just stuff I have to get done so that I'm not worrying about it later. Tomorrow is going to be 1.75 hours on the trainer as I'm kind of dialing back my hours this week for a Regeneration week as I can tell I'm getting a little worn down. So basically I've cut 15 minutes to an hour off of all my rides this week, with the big cut being on Saturday when I'll only do 2.5 hours instead of what has been 3.5 to 4 hours. Next week starts my Preparation Period after resting a bit this week so my hours will go up over what I've done the last few weeks. Basically I'll keep doing Endurance rides but will introduce Tempo workouts as my secondary work during the rides and will increase the reps for the Muscle Tension workouts that I'm already doing. After a few weeks I'll then throw in Steady State Intervals as well as Power Intervals. So, basically just 5 days of shorter rides this week, but I will still be doing my secondary exercises such as Fast Pedals and Muscle Tension but will just do less of them. Well, that's enough of that boring stuff for today, until next time..........

Winter Is Back

Well, the weather here has returned to the normal Wisconsin winter that we've come to know and hate, er, I mean love. The forecast is calling for 2-4 inches of the white stuff overnight and another couple of inches tomorrow but right now there is only a trace of it on the ground and the roads are a bit wet so it's not too bad. I don't think I'll be hitting the road today though, as it's still pretty cold and probably wet enough to deter me from trying to slide around on the road bike. I'll set up the trainer today and watch some movies and football and down about 8 waterbottles as I need to recover some fluid that I lost from the wedding I was at last night. I'm scheduled for 3.5 hours today but I'm hoping that I can squeeze out 4 on the trainer as tomorrow starts a regeneration week and I'd like today to be a hard day. The last few days have been pretty good and yesterday I did manage to squeeze in a 3 hour ride before the wedding and felt really good. I'd like to get at least 7 hours in again this weekend to match last weekend's total but not sure if I'll feel good enough to get in 4 hours, especially after the drinks I had last night. I can tell I'm a bit dehydrated and probably need to drink quite a bit of water before I ride so I'll definitely be doing that this morning before hitting the trainer this afternoon. Other than that, tomorrow is a rest day on the bike and it also starts my regeneration week and the last week of my Foundation Period before I move on to the Preparation Period in 2 weeks. Well, have to keep it short today, gotta get some fluids in me and take care of some housework before I start riding. I'll update tomorrow, until next time.......

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......