Thursday, February 19th, 2009
REST DAY!
TOUR DAY CALIFORNIA:
All I can say is Boonen looked "le pissed." Also, please note the Cavendish "suck it" victory salute.
Armstrong on Cavendish; "kid's fast."
I know I'll never be that fast, but I would not mind being half that fast.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
pain cave
Wednesday, February 18th, 2009
Ride time: 1 hour at 145bpm (I was scheduled to ride 1:15 but was late for work. I rode to work and back twice today, so I guess it isn't as bad?)
100 sit-ups, stretching.
food:bagel, cream cheese, coffee, a veggie wrap, and some Clif Shot recovery right after my ride. I got a good night of sleep last night, despite having to get up earlier than normal.
So I live in the basement; My bedroom is there. I train in the 2nd basement, and I play nerdy video games online in the basement. Lance trains in his basement; in a dark room with lots of speakers to make it noisy and scary and God knows why. I quit watching videos during my training rides and started just listening to music in the basement. I watch the time less and less, and now when I get to my target HR I just ride and listen to music in the basement. It's much more meditative and mentally easier. Conversely, I have to watch my HR more closely, because my imagination gets into picturing race courses I'll be riding this year, and it makes my HR jump significantly. Gehling called the basement the pain cave, which is occasionally accurate.
Living in the basement is improving my crazy to weight ratio (Gehling has a good rage to weight ratio). We were talking ratios the other day, like the oft-discussed strength:weight, and I came up with one that's actually useful: gear-inch range to body mass index. More useful ratios to come.
Living in the basement is improving my crazy to weight ratio (Gehling has a good rage to weight ratio). We were talking ratios the other day, like the oft-discussed strength:weight, and I came up with one that's actually useful: gear-inch range to body mass index. More useful ratios to come.
Does anybody use The Stick? I have in the past and am thinking of getting one.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
a party, rest days, and back at it.
Saturday February 14th:
I was supposed to ride 2 hours at 138-160, but instead visited my grandfather in Antigo, WI for his 85th birthday party. It was totally worth it and I had a blast. I saw a cousin who I haven't seen in three years or so, and my grandfather is one of my favorite people in the world.
Sunday was a scheduled rest day. Oh, unless your name was Fabian Cancellara, then it was GO TIME!
Monday I had a LONG day at work, but the 45 minutes at 138-160 BPM felt good. I stretched and did 100 sit-ups. Something is happening with my stomach that has never happened before: it's looking toned.
Tuesday, Fabruary 17th:
2 hours at 145 avg. and a high-cadence workout.
My legs felt good, my head was in it, and I stayed hydrated.
Food: french toast, American fries (yeah, I know, I know), coffee, Penne Rose with Feta, Oatmeal squares, chocolate soy milk. Tons of water.
I had a health screening for my insurance today and didn't realize they were going to draw blood. For those of you who wonder about blood donation and cycling: read this article. Now if I could find out if my planned tatto will give me any problems.
Regarding ATOC stage 3: WTF happened with Cav and Gorgeous George? For as good of a job as Cervelo did of leading out Thor, High-Road did an equally poor job.
I'm ordering Avid Matchmakers for my Procaliber. If it were possible, I'd get a G2 SID WC with pop-lock. If one exists, I know where to look.
I was supposed to ride 2 hours at 138-160, but instead visited my grandfather in Antigo, WI for his 85th birthday party. It was totally worth it and I had a blast. I saw a cousin who I haven't seen in three years or so, and my grandfather is one of my favorite people in the world.
Sunday was a scheduled rest day. Oh, unless your name was Fabian Cancellara, then it was GO TIME!
Monday I had a LONG day at work, but the 45 minutes at 138-160 BPM felt good. I stretched and did 100 sit-ups. Something is happening with my stomach that has never happened before: it's looking toned.
Tuesday, Fabruary 17th:
2 hours at 145 avg. and a high-cadence workout.
My legs felt good, my head was in it, and I stayed hydrated.
Food: french toast, American fries (yeah, I know, I know), coffee, Penne Rose with Feta, Oatmeal squares, chocolate soy milk. Tons of water.
I had a health screening for my insurance today and didn't realize they were going to draw blood. For those of you who wonder about blood donation and cycling: read this article. Now if I could find out if my planned tatto will give me any problems.
Regarding ATOC stage 3: WTF happened with Cav and Gorgeous George? For as good of a job as Cervelo did of leading out Thor, High-Road did an equally poor job.
I'm ordering Avid Matchmakers for my Procaliber. If it were possible, I'd get a G2 SID WC with pop-lock. If one exists, I know where to look.
Friday, February 13, 2009
professional-caliber bikes for professional-caliber riders
Friday, February 13, 2009.
Ride time: 2 hours (scheduled 1.5 on the trainer, BUT I RODE OUTSIDE) at 150 BPM.
100 sit-ups (I can almost do all 100 in one go) and stretching.
It was chilly, and I wore gloves that were too light, but it felt great to get out on the Procaliber. I dig it. This bike is fast and I am already learning a lot about suspension tuning.
I found that riding outdoors was way easier than riding the trainer. I guess that momentum plays into that. Maintaining 150 BPM for two hours wasn't very hard when I was actually going somewhere.
Other than riding, I've been feeling pretty good. Mentally, I've had a few really hard days in the last few weeks, but I've been sleeping better and on a more regular schedule. I started wearing running shoes at work instead of flat Vans slip-ons and my hamstrings feel better after a day of walking around.
Tomorrow it's off to The Bear's house (my grandfather) for his 86th birthday. WOOT! Antigo, here I come.
Ride time: 2 hours (scheduled 1.5 on the trainer, BUT I RODE OUTSIDE) at 150 BPM.
100 sit-ups (I can almost do all 100 in one go) and stretching.
It was chilly, and I wore gloves that were too light, but it felt great to get out on the Procaliber. I dig it. This bike is fast and I am already learning a lot about suspension tuning.
I found that riding outdoors was way easier than riding the trainer. I guess that momentum plays into that. Maintaining 150 BPM for two hours wasn't very hard when I was actually going somewhere.
Other than riding, I've been feeling pretty good. Mentally, I've had a few really hard days in the last few weeks, but I've been sleeping better and on a more regular schedule. I started wearing running shoes at work instead of flat Vans slip-ons and my hamstrings feel better after a day of walking around.
Tomorrow it's off to The Bear's house (my grandfather) for his 86th birthday. WOOT! Antigo, here I come.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
a recovery week is a hard week for the brain
So riding this week wasn't too intense:
Monday: 45 minutes at 150 BPM and 100 sit-ups with stretching
Tuesday: 1 hour at 150 bpm and stretching.
Wednesday: REST DAY! I had a beer.
Thursday: Rest day! no beer, but video games and a haircut.
But I've been thinking seriously about a few things:
1. Conditions don't matter.
-For a long time I've let the weather set my mentality for a race, which is bad. World Cup DH racer Sam Hill taught me that course conditions don't matter. He got 2nd in Champery after half of the field ran the course on dry conditions and he raced it in a downpour.
If he can kill it when he's on worse conditions than others, I have no excuse for my performance when we're all on the same course conditions. Granted, I don't respond well to cold weather, but I have some ideas for working on that. Longer, slower warmups and better clothing layers.
Also, I need to play to my strengths. I enjoy training on the MTB more than on the road, so I'm going to up the percentage of my training I do offroad. The rigid Superfly was fun, but I'd feel pretty beaten up after two laps. I've gotten my handling back to where it once was, so I'm switching to a Gary Fisher Procaliber. The suspension will help me descend and I'll get better traction on climbs, which is where I am hoping to kill it this year.
Monday: 45 minutes at 150 BPM and 100 sit-ups with stretching
Tuesday: 1 hour at 150 bpm and stretching.
Wednesday: REST DAY! I had a beer.
Thursday: Rest day! no beer, but video games and a haircut.
But I've been thinking seriously about a few things:
1. Conditions don't matter.
-For a long time I've let the weather set my mentality for a race, which is bad. World Cup DH racer Sam Hill taught me that course conditions don't matter. He got 2nd in Champery after half of the field ran the course on dry conditions and he raced it in a downpour.
If he can kill it when he's on worse conditions than others, I have no excuse for my performance when we're all on the same course conditions. Granted, I don't respond well to cold weather, but I have some ideas for working on that. Longer, slower warmups and better clothing layers.
Also, I need to play to my strengths. I enjoy training on the MTB more than on the road, so I'm going to up the percentage of my training I do offroad. The rigid Superfly was fun, but I'd feel pretty beaten up after two laps. I've gotten my handling back to where it once was, so I'm switching to a Gary Fisher Procaliber. The suspension will help me descend and I'll get better traction on climbs, which is where I am hoping to kill it this year.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
no sweat
Saturday, February 7th
ride time: 1 hr 15 @ 145 bpm
stretching.
I'm not riding with plain water ever again. The difference between it and accelerade or something similar is too great to ignore.
On sleep: I've been sleeping much better thanks to both the obvious effects of, and the white noise of a humidifier. I've also started reading a bit before bed and I think it helps my mind calm down a bit. And calming down is something I don't do much.
ride time: 1 hr 15 @ 145 bpm
stretching.
I'm not riding with plain water ever again. The difference between it and accelerade or something similar is too great to ignore.
On sleep: I've been sleeping much better thanks to both the obvious effects of, and the white noise of a humidifier. I've also started reading a bit before bed and I think it helps my mind calm down a bit. And calming down is something I don't do much.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
not easy, just less hard
Thursday was a rest day, and I needed it. I threw my legs up and played video games all day. I ate lots of healthy tasty food, and drank a ton of water and massaged my sore legs.
Friday was scheduled to be harder than Tuesday (and Tuesday didn't go well).
Ride time: 2 hours at 138-160bpm and a cadence exercise.
My legs felt better than they had on Tuesday, and I made it to about the 1hr 15 mark without feeling sore or tired. My joints felt better than they had previously. Then at the 1hr 30 mark I did 5 sets of 1-minute high-cadence spinups with 2 minutes of rest in between. After the first two I remembered that I can really ramp it up when I focus. My pedal stroke is not where it was last year at this time, but these workouts will help. After the last one my legs were pretty tired, so I spun it out the last 15 minutes.
100 sit-ups and some good stretching.
Immediately following my workout I had some Clif Shot recovery (french vanilla, which tastes delicious to me) while I was stretching and doing sit-ups. I also had accelerade in my bottles during the workout instead of just water, so I felt way better than on Tuesday.
It wasn't an easy workout, I was just smarter about it this time so it was less hard. The biggest difference this time was that there was no doubt in my mind that I could do it.
Friday was scheduled to be harder than Tuesday (and Tuesday didn't go well).
Ride time: 2 hours at 138-160bpm and a cadence exercise.
My legs felt better than they had on Tuesday, and I made it to about the 1hr 15 mark without feeling sore or tired. My joints felt better than they had previously. Then at the 1hr 30 mark I did 5 sets of 1-minute high-cadence spinups with 2 minutes of rest in between. After the first two I remembered that I can really ramp it up when I focus. My pedal stroke is not where it was last year at this time, but these workouts will help. After the last one my legs were pretty tired, so I spun it out the last 15 minutes.
100 sit-ups and some good stretching.
Immediately following my workout I had some Clif Shot recovery (french vanilla, which tastes delicious to me) while I was stretching and doing sit-ups. I also had accelerade in my bottles during the workout instead of just water, so I felt way better than on Tuesday.
It wasn't an easy workout, I was just smarter about it this time so it was less hard. The biggest difference this time was that there was no doubt in my mind that I could do it.
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