Good week on the bike, managed to get close to 200 miles in (and only one 5 mile run, but my achilles is feeling a whole lot better...). Was out for 40+ with Kimball, Cort, Jim, Vic, and GFG for a cold and windy morning ride on Saturday. It is the first time I'd ridden with Steve on the road and the notoriety is well-placed. The guy was on a 'cross bike (with knobby tires mind you), and pulling at 20+. Animal!!! Cort, Jim and Vic are to be highly commended for riding from H2O-Town all the way to Stow (about 25 I'm guessing?) into a stiff head wind to join the MRC crew for our 40 mile "spin" and then all the way back home...they must have done between 70 and 80 miles all told which is just awesome. I followed Saturday up with a pre-Easter 50 mile solo ride and got smoked on the way home by the same headwind that the Watertown boys faced on Saturday....just with no one to help out!!! All in all I am pleased thus far. Cort's advice is to try and get no less than 3 centuries in prior to the Harpoon B2B ride in June, so I need to map those out this week, get them on the calendar and commit to them.
On Satuday I took Meghan out on an indoor climbing trip--she just got her first harness and she really is enjoying it. We had to "rock out" to Hannah Montana all the way there and back...I wonder what music I was into when I was 7? I highly doubt it was anything as cool as Ms. Cyrus that's for sure. Megger knows all the words to all the songs....and insists that I have it on my iPod (which I do....). Perhaps the funnier aspect is her 3 year old sister, who is quickly coming up to speed on the lyrics as well.
Y'day we were all out to the 413 for some Easter fun--spent a wonderful day with my folks and the kids got to enjoy all the "goodness" of Easter....while I'm not a deeply religious sort you just have to wonder....what exactly does a candy carrying adolescent rabbit have to do with the Ressurection??? Did he live in the ground beneath the cross? I never did quite get that-maybe I should have paid more attention in CCD???
Monday, March 24, 2008
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Well the roads were in great shape today, so I opted to take the road bike out (I had been riding my 'cross bike with road tires on it through the winter) and MAN what a difference. So much smoother....I felt more at one with the bicycle and smoother through my route. I have a really sweet road bike, one that I'm not worthy of, but whatever. It's a custom built Seven Odonata that I got before the kids were born (back when we had a few pennies to rub together), and it's just such an awesome ride. Managed to ride about 35 at tempo pace (which I'm pretty sure for me is about 80% max HR, but I could be totally wrong on that....need to check that to be certain). In any event, I averaged about 18.5 MPH with a HR running between 80 and 85%. I think that's probably too hard for this part of the season but I was having fun and it felt good. I can get back to the slow and steady tomorrow!
On the school front we had our group presentation last night, and I was pretty pleased with the outcome. There were definitely some stressful moments toward the end (I just hate leaving things til the last minute) but the group pulled together and delivered a quality project. My Saturday class (Wireless and Mobility Business Strategy) is going to be a lot more work than I had planned on, but the class seems to be filled with a solid group of people. I had taken an earlier class with this professor and she knows her stuff so I'll be better off for the workload in the end. Only about 7 weeks to go until graduation-I'm totally psyched to finish up. It's been a pretty long grind, that's for sure. But it'll ultimately enable me to move on in my career and get to doing something more interesting and fulfilling personally. While I generally really like the people that I work for and with, the job in and of itself is pretty dull. I'm excited to try something that will make me think more.
Looks like the weather is going to suck tomorrow so I'll probably get a run in. I was getting some pain in my achilles the last few times out, so decided to take a week off from running and I seem to feel better. I'll plan to go for an easy 50 minutes and try to find some dirt to run on...I think the pavement is starting to bite back a bit since I've only been running on it since I started running in the first place.
The Wells Ave crit series started up last w'end, and I wasn't able to race (due to the aforementioned school project). We're heading to the 413 for Easter this weekend but probably not until about lunch time, so if they're having the races, I can probably swing it. I'm pretty nervous and anxious to try road racing but it'll be fun!!!
On the school front we had our group presentation last night, and I was pretty pleased with the outcome. There were definitely some stressful moments toward the end (I just hate leaving things til the last minute) but the group pulled together and delivered a quality project. My Saturday class (Wireless and Mobility Business Strategy) is going to be a lot more work than I had planned on, but the class seems to be filled with a solid group of people. I had taken an earlier class with this professor and she knows her stuff so I'll be better off for the workload in the end. Only about 7 weeks to go until graduation-I'm totally psyched to finish up. It's been a pretty long grind, that's for sure. But it'll ultimately enable me to move on in my career and get to doing something more interesting and fulfilling personally. While I generally really like the people that I work for and with, the job in and of itself is pretty dull. I'm excited to try something that will make me think more.
Looks like the weather is going to suck tomorrow so I'll probably get a run in. I was getting some pain in my achilles the last few times out, so decided to take a week off from running and I seem to feel better. I'll plan to go for an easy 50 minutes and try to find some dirt to run on...I think the pavement is starting to bite back a bit since I've only been running on it since I started running in the first place.
The Wells Ave crit series started up last w'end, and I wasn't able to race (due to the aforementioned school project). We're heading to the 413 for Easter this weekend but probably not until about lunch time, so if they're having the races, I can probably swing it. I'm pretty nervous and anxious to try road racing but it'll be fun!!!
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
OW!
The last couple of runs have been somewhat frustrating....I'm up to about 5-1/2 miles now and I'm out about 40-45 minutes. Adding some time and distance each week was fairly easy the first month or so, but the last couple times out I'm just spent coming back in toward the house; my achilles have been feeling a bit tight as well, though I suspect that is the pavement telling me to find more dirt to run on...will keep at it a bit and hopefully it'll pass.
On the bike front, I'm learning a lot from the guys in the club...this past weekend's ride was fast, but only really brutal for me on the climbs. As this is really my first year of somewhat structured riding it's important to try and remember that this year is about building a base-as Bruce mentioned, can't frost the cake before it's baked.
On the school front, I have a friggin' group project/presentation due this coming Monday and an all day class on Saturday so this week is going to be really busy. I'm planning to ride to and from class on Saturday so that will give me 50 for the day, and then hopefully I'll get out for another group ride on Sunday.
On the bike front, I'm learning a lot from the guys in the club...this past weekend's ride was fast, but only really brutal for me on the climbs. As this is really my first year of somewhat structured riding it's important to try and remember that this year is about building a base-as Bruce mentioned, can't frost the cake before it's baked.
On the school front, I have a friggin' group project/presentation due this coming Monday and an all day class on Saturday so this week is going to be really busy. I'm planning to ride to and from class on Saturday so that will give me 50 for the day, and then hopefully I'll get out for another group ride on Sunday.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Training has been slowly building in volume these past couple of weeks, and I'm happy that I'm getting outside more-riding indoors just really gets dull!
I've continued running through the winter, and I'm up to a little over 5 miles. My running sessions have been as much at base heartrate as possible, though when I'm going up hills it's pretty difficult to keep it low. Overall it's been pretty interesting to feel the body adjust to this addition to training. The first few times I was out hurt really badly-I mean I could barely walk afterwards. Now it takes about 5 minutes to warm up and then I'm on sort of a familiar easy pace. With spring coming, it will be a challenge to keep running twice per week but I'll really try. It's all about building base fitness through springtime and this is adding to it.
On the bike front, I managed to get 3 hours of base mileage in on a wet and chilly Saturday. I went out and did the Concord-Carlisle loop twice then spun home. The only soul out there was a guy on a TT bike in the rain--that's pretty hardcore!! On Sunday I was out with a bunch of the masters riders from MRC and it was fast as hell--again. I was better able to keep up overall, but the pace on the hills is frustrating. I always thought I was a decent climber based on an ability to drop other friends, but with these guys I'm the one bringing up the rear...I guess my "other friends" are just slower than me!!
I've continued running through the winter, and I'm up to a little over 5 miles. My running sessions have been as much at base heartrate as possible, though when I'm going up hills it's pretty difficult to keep it low. Overall it's been pretty interesting to feel the body adjust to this addition to training. The first few times I was out hurt really badly-I mean I could barely walk afterwards. Now it takes about 5 minutes to warm up and then I'm on sort of a familiar easy pace. With spring coming, it will be a challenge to keep running twice per week but I'll really try. It's all about building base fitness through springtime and this is adding to it.
On the bike front, I managed to get 3 hours of base mileage in on a wet and chilly Saturday. I went out and did the Concord-Carlisle loop twice then spun home. The only soul out there was a guy on a TT bike in the rain--that's pretty hardcore!! On Sunday I was out with a bunch of the masters riders from MRC and it was fast as hell--again. I was better able to keep up overall, but the pace on the hills is frustrating. I always thought I was a decent climber based on an ability to drop other friends, but with these guys I'm the one bringing up the rear...I guess my "other friends" are just slower than me!!
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