busy!
Busy riding! Since my last post, I've been riding a good amount. I'm psyched with how my fitness is coming along, despite only really riding 1hr at a time. I've ridden the MTB a little bit more too which is great variety. These next few days though, I'm going to try to do at least 2-2.5 hours MINIMUM per ride. I've got 3 more kidless days to ride, so, I'm going to take full advantage of it.
More soon!
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Thursday, August 22, 2013
Friday, August 02, 2013
Nice!
Work ended earlier than expected yesterday, and Wyatt had a late-day playdate. As such...I got to ride!! I ended up doing about 65 minutes or so with 1 or 2 of the local "big climbs". Ended up with 680ish KJ which is great! I had one issue though, and that was that I felt like I was going to vomit the whole time. I had a GIGANTIC burrito for lunch and it was just a huge-ass rock in my stomach. I barely had to eat any dinner...for real.
Today was a good ride too. Did some tempo intervals to keep the engine revving. 2x10 with a 5 minute rest in between. In a few weeks I'll ramp up the intensity and put some harder work the day before, but for now, these shortish sessions + my weekend "longer rides" will net me some good gains. Of course, on today's ride I hit some more construction on Mt Sinai Rd. However, THIS time it was in the middle of the freakin' climb!
Today was a good ride too. Did some tempo intervals to keep the engine revving. 2x10 with a 5 minute rest in between. In a few weeks I'll ramp up the intensity and put some harder work the day before, but for now, these shortish sessions + my weekend "longer rides" will net me some good gains. Of course, on today's ride I hit some more construction on Mt Sinai Rd. However, THIS time it was in the middle of the freakin' climb!
Thursday, August 01, 2013
Down and out
So I haven't been riding since Monday due mostly to feeling really crappy & sick. Everyone in the house has been under the weather with some form of sickness (cold, or fever bug) for the last few days, and it was my turn to get it.
It's quite alright though, as my calendar at work has been extra nutty as well, and it's already hard enough just eating breakfast with the 2 kiddos in the am. However, I'm hoping to re-institute the pre-work dirt ride in the forest once the string of rainstorms starts to slow down! I'm also going to put my shims back IN to my shoes. Even though Monday was rather uneventful, the last few days I've had soreness and pain in my right hip and ankle issues on the left. I've gotta find those longer cleat screws though...they're tough to come by!
I am feeling better, so hopefully this weekend allows me to get out both days. We'll see though!
More until the next ride.
It's quite alright though, as my calendar at work has been extra nutty as well, and it's already hard enough just eating breakfast with the 2 kiddos in the am. However, I'm hoping to re-institute the pre-work dirt ride in the forest once the string of rainstorms starts to slow down! I'm also going to put my shims back IN to my shoes. Even though Monday was rather uneventful, the last few days I've had soreness and pain in my right hip and ankle issues on the left. I've gotta find those longer cleat screws though...they're tough to come by!
I am feeling better, so hopefully this weekend allows me to get out both days. We'll see though!
More until the next ride.
Monday, July 29, 2013
Shimless self promotion
So this weekend was a super fun weekend on the bike & off. We had a great time as a family doing fun kiddo things like riding the city bus, going to the park, and going out for breakfast. Great times!
Saturday, I opted not to ride as Amy was not feeling well...I think she got the funk that I had, and now her body was gettin' down P-funk style. I hung with Wyatt most of the day, while mom napped with Marlowe, and Wyatt and I played a whole lotta trucks. It rained late in the day on Saturday, so Wyatt and I went out and did some food shopping so we could get some "exercise". We parked at the far end of the lot, walked all the way down to the Dollar Store to get a new bucket/etc for the upcoming beach trip, and walked all the way back to the grocery store to run around. Yeah...when it rains, the supermarket makes a great playground!
Sunday, I opted for a mountain bike ride. I'd made some cleat changes and WOW. I had ZERO issues with any part of my body during, or AFTER the ride. I'm so psyched I found that article! I was having a good ride in the forest, and decided to do the Inner & Outer Loops which take about an hour total (including to.from the house). The trails are tighter than most of the others, and also very dynamic when it comes to direction changes (i.e. there are a lot of turns!!). I was attempting to really nail the cornering techniques I learned with Lee McCormack earlier in the summer. I was doing well, until I decided to look down breifly and check my leg extension on the downstroke to see if I needed to raise or lower my seat as a result of the cleat reposition. WHAM. My left hand and fingers got crushed between the brake lever and a tree, and the handlebars swung back and absolutely SLAMMED my freakin knee cap. I about collapsed on the trail I was in so much pain. It's the kind of pain that you get when you don't quite know if you've broken something, but are pretty sure you're going to throw up either way. I was able to finish the ride, and the more I rode the more it loosened up. Phew. Crisis averted, for now at least!
As I was heading down the last descent of the trail I heard a huge BAM. I figured it was just a rock that came up and hit my downtube. Later, I found that I'd lost 3 freakin' crank bolts!!! I had to hoof it all the way home and couldn't even coast as it was all uphill. Garr!!
Today's ride was pretty plain. It'd been 4 days since a solid road ride, so, I just kinda "rode". My body still felt "meh", but overall, the ride went well. I opted to pull ALL shims out of my road shoes and make a simliar adjustment to my road cleats as I did to my mountain cleats. So far, it worked fine. I'll know more tomorrow if I'm sore or not, but, my bruised knee seemed to be the only thing that really was a problem.
The rest of the week is 100% iffy. I have long all-day meetings coming up Wed-Friday, and tomorrow Amy is working so I'm on work & kid duty.
Saturday, I opted not to ride as Amy was not feeling well...I think she got the funk that I had, and now her body was gettin' down P-funk style. I hung with Wyatt most of the day, while mom napped with Marlowe, and Wyatt and I played a whole lotta trucks. It rained late in the day on Saturday, so Wyatt and I went out and did some food shopping so we could get some "exercise". We parked at the far end of the lot, walked all the way down to the Dollar Store to get a new bucket/etc for the upcoming beach trip, and walked all the way back to the grocery store to run around. Yeah...when it rains, the supermarket makes a great playground!
Sunday, I opted for a mountain bike ride. I'd made some cleat changes and WOW. I had ZERO issues with any part of my body during, or AFTER the ride. I'm so psyched I found that article! I was having a good ride in the forest, and decided to do the Inner & Outer Loops which take about an hour total (including to.from the house). The trails are tighter than most of the others, and also very dynamic when it comes to direction changes (i.e. there are a lot of turns!!). I was attempting to really nail the cornering techniques I learned with Lee McCormack earlier in the summer. I was doing well, until I decided to look down breifly and check my leg extension on the downstroke to see if I needed to raise or lower my seat as a result of the cleat reposition. WHAM. My left hand and fingers got crushed between the brake lever and a tree, and the handlebars swung back and absolutely SLAMMED my freakin knee cap. I about collapsed on the trail I was in so much pain. It's the kind of pain that you get when you don't quite know if you've broken something, but are pretty sure you're going to throw up either way. I was able to finish the ride, and the more I rode the more it loosened up. Phew. Crisis averted, for now at least!
As I was heading down the last descent of the trail I heard a huge BAM. I figured it was just a rock that came up and hit my downtube. Later, I found that I'd lost 3 freakin' crank bolts!!! I had to hoof it all the way home and couldn't even coast as it was all uphill. Garr!!
Today's ride was pretty plain. It'd been 4 days since a solid road ride, so, I just kinda "rode". My body still felt "meh", but overall, the ride went well. I opted to pull ALL shims out of my road shoes and make a simliar adjustment to my road cleats as I did to my mountain cleats. So far, it worked fine. I'll know more tomorrow if I'm sore or not, but, my bruised knee seemed to be the only thing that really was a problem.
The rest of the week is 100% iffy. I have long all-day meetings coming up Wed-Friday, and tomorrow Amy is working so I'm on work & kid duty.
Friday, July 26, 2013
Time out!
Today was a forced rest day. My body was way achy from the mtb ride (more on that shortly), and with both kids being sick recently, I felt like I was getting a fever. I had some vertigo, a pounding headache, and just plain ole general malaise. Bleccch. I woke up this morning feeling much better after a few aspirin, and just opted to rest. I also got a last minute call re: Chiro/Art appointment that I decided to take in order to rearrange my body.
It'd been almost 6 weeks since I'd ridden my mountain bike, so I had some serious out of whack anatomy from the different positioning. One thing I noticed was that my ankles, calves, and most specifically peroneal muscles were KILLING me. My mtb shoes are a little bigger than my road shoes but that's to accommodate winter socks. I'd made the mistake over the past few years of wearing shoes too small and ending up with bruised toes. Damn they hurt. So, anyway, these shoes don't have any shims or anything on them, and I wanted to see if any of these pains were caused by this, or, anything else that I could correct. I dig a little creative web-searching and found this article on cleat positioning and injury. Sure, ti's for look-style road cleats but the overall concepts made enough sense that I have opted to try to make some of the changes myself.
Furthermore, I talked with the Chrio/ART guy this morning and he confirmed the suspicions I had regarding my cleats being too far forward. So, this weekend will see some positioning changes with the cleats, and maybe a saddle shift forward or something. I'm really interested in seeing if the shims on my road shoes are still needed though. For that, I'm going to try to schedule a fit with a local fit guru.
That's all for now. Just drinking a lot of water and trying to rest.
It'd been almost 6 weeks since I'd ridden my mountain bike, so I had some serious out of whack anatomy from the different positioning. One thing I noticed was that my ankles, calves, and most specifically peroneal muscles were KILLING me. My mtb shoes are a little bigger than my road shoes but that's to accommodate winter socks. I'd made the mistake over the past few years of wearing shoes too small and ending up with bruised toes. Damn they hurt. So, anyway, these shoes don't have any shims or anything on them, and I wanted to see if any of these pains were caused by this, or, anything else that I could correct. I dig a little creative web-searching and found this article on cleat positioning and injury. Sure, ti's for look-style road cleats but the overall concepts made enough sense that I have opted to try to make some of the changes myself.
Furthermore, I talked with the Chrio/ART guy this morning and he confirmed the suspicions I had regarding my cleats being too far forward. So, this weekend will see some positioning changes with the cleats, and maybe a saddle shift forward or something. I'm really interested in seeing if the shims on my road shoes are still needed though. For that, I'm going to try to schedule a fit with a local fit guru.
That's all for now. Just drinking a lot of water and trying to rest.
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Yes been a few days...I know
The last week or so has been super hectic so I haven't had much of a chance to post, and I've simply been far too tired!! Let's recap from last week.
Last week marked a good bunch o' rides. Friday, I did an easy stroll. I forgot to start my phone, so Strava didn't record anything. It wasn't anything too special...just a little spin to wake up the legs. My plan was to try and just kill it over the weekend with 2 solid rides.
Saturday was rough as Wyatt was wayyy sick, and had a birthday party in the morning. I got barely any sleep on Friday night, so, I had to kinda move things around so I wasn't going to be riding my bike like a zombie. Couple that with the fact that it was like 1000 degrees outside, I just opted for something a little more on the mellower side. It was still a nice ride, just not what I had planned.
Sunday, I woke up a little sore and decided that I was going to try to just go for a nice hard sweet spot sorta ride. I had a great ride, and burned a good amount of Kjs in my ride. I was definitely way tired & my legs were throbbing afterwards.
I woke up Monday with the plan of taking the day off, but, had an offsite meeting come up for Tuesday. With that monkey wrench now thrown in, I decided to just ride again on Monday. Yeah, I was sore but it wasn't as bad as I thought. In fact, the IF for the ride was pretty good, considering the TSS of the previous two days. So, I just went for it. Then I started wondering if my FTP was set too low as I was able to easily nail the wattages in previous workouts, and, was riding stronger than I thought outside of my pre-set zones. We'll see in a few weeks as I'll be retesting when I can.
Yesterday marked the first time in almost 6 weeks that I was able to ride my mountain bike! It was awesome. I felt really good both technically and aerobically, so the "training" is doing good things!!! It rained last nigh, so, not sure if I'll be able to dirt it up again anytime soon. It was still way nice to get out though.
Today Imma hit some more intervals w/Z3 in prep for maybe a rest day over the weekend. However, just got my schedule for next week and with the limited # of free days, I might just ride through it!
Last week marked a good bunch o' rides. Friday, I did an easy stroll. I forgot to start my phone, so Strava didn't record anything. It wasn't anything too special...just a little spin to wake up the legs. My plan was to try and just kill it over the weekend with 2 solid rides.
Saturday was rough as Wyatt was wayyy sick, and had a birthday party in the morning. I got barely any sleep on Friday night, so, I had to kinda move things around so I wasn't going to be riding my bike like a zombie. Couple that with the fact that it was like 1000 degrees outside, I just opted for something a little more on the mellower side. It was still a nice ride, just not what I had planned.
Sunday, I woke up a little sore and decided that I was going to try to just go for a nice hard sweet spot sorta ride. I had a great ride, and burned a good amount of Kjs in my ride. I was definitely way tired & my legs were throbbing afterwards.
I woke up Monday with the plan of taking the day off, but, had an offsite meeting come up for Tuesday. With that monkey wrench now thrown in, I decided to just ride again on Monday. Yeah, I was sore but it wasn't as bad as I thought. In fact, the IF for the ride was pretty good, considering the TSS of the previous two days. So, I just went for it. Then I started wondering if my FTP was set too low as I was able to easily nail the wattages in previous workouts, and, was riding stronger than I thought outside of my pre-set zones. We'll see in a few weeks as I'll be retesting when I can.
Yesterday marked the first time in almost 6 weeks that I was able to ride my mountain bike! It was awesome. I felt really good both technically and aerobically, so the "training" is doing good things!!! It rained last nigh, so, not sure if I'll be able to dirt it up again anytime soon. It was still way nice to get out though.
Today Imma hit some more intervals w/Z3 in prep for maybe a rest day over the weekend. However, just got my schedule for next week and with the limited # of free days, I might just ride through it!
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