Calm after a storm

Woah, hey, it's been busy!

Work has been super busy, which is good. It's also been really fun lately, which, combined with being busy, is really good.

Training has gone well, and I've been hitting the mountain bike trails since Spring has arrived early in Wisconsin. My first time out at Jim's trails I set a new personal record lap time. Ba-Zinga!

I'll have a new tumblr posting soon from the team blog.

We're at the dress-rehearsal point of the season. A few of us have done a race or two, and it's almost time to start the big show.

I might race a criterium if time permits. Otherwise, Iola will be my first race.

Either way, Trek Store Racing is kicking into full effect this year.

No time to blog; gotta ride.

almost time to ride outside

This weekend it's supposed to get above 40. That means I'm going outside. Time to put the road tires on the road wheels and ride the...cross bike for a while. Maybe I'll put the CX tires on and ride some rail trails.

Noteworthy News:

-Geof says he's riding the Hater. I hope he can turn off his survival instinct.

-JHK and Irmiger have a company I would patronize were I to own my own home.

-Those kids my shop sponsors are having a pretty big deal race in a few months. I hope those other kids I used to hang out with will come make a good showing.

-My racing season schedule is coming together nicely. What I once thought was a restriction imposed by my job has proven to create a nice two-peak structure. I won't be racing between the end of June and the middle of August. I will, however, be training.

Current training:

Weight steady at 156.

Flexibility noticeably improving.

Power going up while RPE going down.

Diet maintaining. Volume control has been good. (Volume of food, not volume of my voice. It's like my caps lock button has been stuck on for the last week.)

Sleep has been okay. I've been going to bed at 11 and getting up at 7 for a year or so, and changing that has been a bit difficult. I'm trying to go to bed at ten and get up at 6. We'll see how that goes. Early morning training sounds like a lot of fun.

New challenge at the shop: The employee who commutes to work by bike the highest percentage of shifts worked between March 1st and September 1st wins a big fat prize. It's a good one, too. Right now I'm at 50%, but I'm only two days in. Today I'm going to bump that 50 up to 66.6.

fortunate timing of a recovery week

I had a low training load week, which was good. I had a high-workload week at my job. I was tired and busy. Although my sleep pattern has been steady, I've felt tired. Perhaps the quality of sleep I've been getting is low. The last few days I've tried stretching and relaxing for at least half an hour before bed. So far it's been helping.

I can't wait to get outside and ride. New music has helped on the trainer, but I think I need to bundle up and do some riding once the temp gets over 30.

the squirrels have gotten into my head

This update will be brief, and focused on clear evidence of how my fitness has been coming along.

Cardiac drift over a time of 1.5 hours has decreased drastically in the last few weeks. This means my base is where it should be.

Top-end, short-duration wattage has dropped, and mid-line, middle-time wattage has gone up. I'm a time trialist, not a sprinter, so this is also good news.

Flexibility has increased. I can, for the first time in my life, see abdominal muscles. This is hilarious, in some ways. Mostly because I'm not trying to get a six-pack, but a strong core. This is all due to greater time spent stretching and training my core.

Weight has been steady at 156, which is where I was at the low-point of last Summer. If I can, I'm going for 150, but that is a pretty low-priority goal.

I've added some more protein to my diet. Dr. Maria Stewart noticed my diet was lacking, which I missed.

I ordered my road bike last week, though it won't be here for a while, and I'm planning on doing my first spring rides on my CX bike. I also have a singlespeed 29er I'm excited to train on. I think it will help with braking efficiency and building some core strength.

my knees, a freeze, and poppin' wheelies

I put some Ultegra pedals on my CX bike for trainer use. Immediately my lateral right knee started freaking out. Brought the seat up 5mm and my knee really started tweaking. Dropped it back down and continued my workout. Saturday my knee felt sore, so I took the day off the bike. I'm going to take a look at the cleats today (Sunday) and perhaps reconsider the saddle fore-aft. Dang.

Riding outside when the temperature is below 30 degrees isn't an option for me; While living in the Mpls/StP. I developed some nice frostbite damage in my hands. I miss riding outside. Even just the commute to work would be nice, but numb hands and shooting pain after 15 minutes in the cold is a poor choice.

There's a nice new challenge at the shop: whoever commutes by bike the highest percentage of days worked between March 1st and September 30th gets $500 in store credit. I know Geo is the master of that, but I think I could give him a run for his money, as it were. I think it's time to pop a wheelie.

Oh, did I mention I now own a GF Rig?

Friday 2-11-10

Thursday, Feb. 11th

Breakfast: Wheaties, OJ, Americano

Lunch: Spaghetti, carrot, apple, plum

Dinner: Salad with feta, calamata olives, tomatoes, cucumber

Workout: 1 hour at tempo

Feelin good on the bike. Been doing more stretching and more core. Also, the diet is on track to drop some weight. Lighter dinners, no snacks after dinner.

Friday, Feb. 12th

Breakfast: cinnamon scone and black coffee. Water.

Lunch: spaghetti, pica de gallo, chips.

dinner: pretzels, spinach, Capital Island Wheat.

Workout: 1.5 hours zone 2. 2x 20-minute at zone 3.

I had a long, difficult day at work and pretty much buried myself in this workout. My legs are tired, and I went a little harder than I should have at some points. The legs were shot with about ten to go, so I cut it short and spun it out.

My focus wasn't there, but the ride really helped quiet my brain. I foresee a good nights sleep.

Tuesday 02/09

Breakfast: Oatmeal, coffee, OJ, apple.

Lunch: PBJ, carrots, broccoli, water.

Ride: 1 hr at tempo with 30 second accelerations every ten minutes.

stretching, crunches, some yoga thing that works my back and abs.

Weight: 160.

Sleep: Good. 8 to 9 hours, nightly.

Nutrition has been really good lately. Just gotta dial back the volume a bit and start losing the weight the right way. Previous weight loss was just water weight.

I really need to go ride somewhere warm.