Sunday, December 30, 2007

3+

We got a solid 3+ hrs today. We had a good, strong crew and rolled it fast. It was good hard ride that would be a respectable pace/time in the summer, so it’s really good in December. It made me feel really good about my form and training. (not getting dropped by Ryan Shanahan is good this time of year [any time of year] because he never slows down. I rode good on the hills and took my share of pulls.)
We (Lindsay and I) had a great christmas with my family Saturday. Amongst a lot of great things, I got a weight bench for my basement, which I wanted because I’m doing lifts on one of those big balls right now and I’m afraid the instability could result in a dumbbell on the face. I also got Nikki Sixx’s book "The Heroin Diaries," which I have had a hard time putting down. Nikki is the founder and creative mind behind Motley Crue and for a number of years was completely strung out on heroin. He kept a diary and this book is his diary, published. It has interludes from both him and people that were around him at the time, and being a huge Motley fan, I’m very into it.
New Year’s Eve tomorrow; we’ll likely stay in.
Happy New Year!

Friday, December 28, 2007

to OK and back

Well….Lindsay and I made it to Oklahoma for the holiday and are back now. The weather sucked going there, it rained the whole time and I saw the sun for maybe 10 minutes of 13 hrs. Plus once we got on the final 3-4 hour stretch the temp dropped significantly and the wiper blades froze, leaving me a 1-2" line through which I could see.
The weather cooperated while we were there though, it was a little chilly by their standards, but in the mid 50’s. I took a bike, so I got in a few rides, which was nice. What was not nice was (at least) 2 dogs at (almost) every other house to chase me.
It was also nice that this was the first Christmas Lindsay and I have spent together since we’ve known each other. People think that’s weird, and it probably is, but we’re weird.
We made it back in just over 11 hours thanks to better (not good, better) weather and figuring out that hwy 46 runs directly between Terre Haute and Bloomington. I would have I70 to I465 to hwy 37, which is ~2 hrs between Terre Haute and B-town, hwy 46 shaves an hour off of that. I drove the whole way both ways, so it was awesome to come up shorter.
Shorter workouts due to unfamiliar territory and sitting in a car all day have ruined my hours for this week, but that’s the way it goes for an amateur. On the plus side, I came back with a dozen eggs from Lindsay’s mother’s chicken’s butts and a paper grocery bag ~3/4 full of freshly harvested pecans. And I got to ride a 4-wheeler at Lindsay’s grandmother’s farm; wwwwhhhheeeeeewwwwww!
We are going to my parent’s on Saturday (which is my normal day off working out), then we are planning a 3 hour road ride Sunday. The weather so far seems doable, so we’ll see. I’m 3 or so hours down this week, but I assure you I’m not riding 6 hours Sunday to make it up ("they" say you can’t make up a missed workout anyway).
P.S. I made the whole trip w/ no hot sauce. This was a task, as I use hot sauce (or some sort of heat) on just about everything. Lindsay’s mom is food-heat-wimp though, and doesn’t keep hot sauce around. "They" never said anything about not being able to make up for missed hot sauce, so I should double up the Tabasco on my farm eggs!
Happy New Year and stuff.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

The suspense is killing...YOU!

I’m sure you’re wondering if I got out Sunday or not. I did. I got in my 3 hrs (2:50, actually). I rode my MTB out the snow covered rail-trail, then to Wapahani MTB Park where I rode few abbreviated laps, then back in. The key was the snow. It made riding very hard and very slow. This would normally have been about half of the time it took me Sunday, but the resistance workout was great. I wasn’t cold at all. However, every time I spun my rear tire out and had to unclip my foot, my cleat would freeze solid in ice and make clipping back in very difficult. I felt like an absolute beginner.
Today I ~planned~ on riding road outside, but it was 23* when I would have had to leave, so I bagged outside and rode 2:15.00 on trainer. It’s not as good of a workout, but you gotta do what you gotta do. We are now ~planning~ on riding outside Thursday.

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Week ain't over yet...

Today could be the deal breaker.
I had a good week though. I have everything in I need to, but that leaves me 3 hours to do today and it’s 28*, ~4" of snow on the ground and ~20-30mph winds. I’m not ruling out riding outside yet. I may fire up the cross bike and ride it on our un-paved rail-trail. I may even go out to Wapahani MTB park and see what’s up there. Something to knock out some hours. I can pull a long trainer session, but would rather not.
Tuesday was (is) my hard(er) long(er) ride day and I got out this week. I went out to the Morgan Monroe State Forest and rode the loop, but did an extra interval up the Bean Blossom climb to get in more seat time. So I rode out to the climb, went up it, turned around at the top, went down, then rode up again, then completed the loop and came in. It was a good workout. I was wet afterwards, but not too bad. (Bean Blossom is 1.5 miles, and gains ~340 feet. It took me ~6.5 minutes each time to get up it.)
Next week will be another full week for me, but week 4 in December will have travel interruptions as Lindsay and I are going to Oklahoma for Christmas. We leave Sat the 22nd, but since Saturday is my usual day off, it won’t effect anything. We come back Wed the 26th, so I will miss that day. I will take my running gear and my cross bike w/ me to OK, so I will get in some workouts, but the quality may be lower due to unfamiliar territory. Point is, next week has to count.
And I have my January schedule written in pencil (can make changes), so after the holidays I can get going on that. It’s similar to December, but I added a long ride (to make 3) and added a short run. It has me working out 7 days/week and doing 10 sessions between am’s and pm’s, but I need to commit to it; it’s only 4 weeks.

Sunday, December 09, 2007

Week 1 (in review)

I had a really good workout week. I got in everything I needed to, and didn’t fudge on any of it. I lifted two days and was sore, but did my other workouts anyway (it’s easy to talk yourself out of workouts when you’re sore). I think the key to being able to run the day after the first lift session of the year was spinning for 45 minutes on the rollers in the evening following the morning lift session.
Today was the scheduled Bloomington Underground Cyclocross Race #2. It was raining and in the mid 30’s, so they cancelled it. To my knowledge, this is the first ever cancellation. We’ve raced in far worse conditions than 30’s and rain, but oh well. Only two two others showed up anyway, so it wouldn’t have been much fun. I went and rode my cx bike alone for ~1.5 hours in the rain after learning of the cancellation to get in some hours. It poured really hard for a while and my water proof Cannondale clothing was totally water logged, but I was dry (the stuff works). It cleared up some later in the day so I bused out some dry clothing and hopped on my "rain" bike to get in MORE hours. I rode road for another ~1.5hrs to get in my scheduled 3hrs for the day. It wasn’t too bad really and I’m really glad I got out.
Week 2 starts tomorrow; oh boy!

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Suck it up Buttercup

I had three good reasons to extend my week off to a week-and-a-day off Monday morning.
1)I was out late (~1am) at The Knitters concert in Indy, which was an awesome show.
2)My alarm got unplugged and I over slept by ~.5 hr.
3)It was 26* outside and I had to run ~5miles.
But this is hurt time; time to train, no excuses. Time to suck it up, Buttercup. So I did. And I rode 2.5hrs on trainer today. I need to keep this up through December, then up the bike time over Jan/Feb. I have two-a-days scheduled for two days/week, for a total of 2 runs/week, 2 lift sessions/week and 4-5 rides/week. Weeeeee!
I have a new "B" bike I built for trainer riding and not so good weather riding. That’s not to say it ‘s a bad bike; it’s not. It’s a Cannondale CAAD9 w/ Campy Centaur. This bike is all aluminum. Everything that can be metal is metal.
I also sold my Giant TCR at the Hilly 100 and built a new one of those too. I got a 2008 TCR Advanced frame and built it up a Campy Chorus. It’s sweet. It’s my "A" training/race bike though.
There’s supposed to be snow tomorrow. We’ll see.
B-Town CX #2 this weekend. Then road ride afterwards (at least that’s the plan, we’ll see how I feel).

Thursday, November 29, 2007

So far this week off 2007 I've...

Worked on my TT bike (which hasn’t been ridden in months), cleaned BOTH bathrooms, ran cable to the downstairs TV (and nailed the splitters to ceiling joists) and did dishes.
I also got a new litter box, which is a pretty cool one http://www.omegapaw.com/RollnCleanReg.html . My liittermaid electric box crapped out on me and they wouldn’t warranty it (2 yrs old), so I had to go to the drawing board.
I’m looking forward to getting back training next week. Monday is an ~5 mile run, then standard sit-up routine. I need to incorporate a few back exercises into this mix, since I hurt my back in Sept. That put me out for a week and I still feel the effects of that to this day. I really don’t want a repeat of that injury.
I’m going to go see The Knitters play in Indy Sunday evening, so that should be a good send off to "planned week off 2007," which is far better than "forced week off 2007 due to back injury/ MTB crash."
Slayer-adam

Monday, November 26, 2007

I'm back baby!

…for now at least. We’ll see if I get too bored again, and don’t want to put the time into bogging.
I had a pretty normal/typical summer/year. I guess the biggest deviation form ‘normalcy’ would be that Lindsay and I bought a house here in B-Town. It’s a nice bungalow style I guess, maybe a square ranch, I don’t know, but built in 1920. It’s 90th B-day is around the corner. We’ve been living here since late June/early July I think. Winter weather is here, and it’s cold, but the furnace seems to work fine, if you’re not to frugal to turn the thing up that is!
On the riding front, again, pretty typical. I rode a lot, raced a lot, etc. I have a touch over 5,000 miles (5,112 according to my watch) and a touch under 400 hrs (383) for the year so far. I started my annual ‘week off’ today, so next week it’s back to cross training w/ weights, running and biking. I want to have a good 2008 because I feel like my 2007 was mediocre at best. I was competitive, but I don’t think anyone was afraid of me.
My 08 plan is to focus on road racing and do just a couple MTB here-and-there. I started cycling as a roady in college, but have been pretty exclusive racing MTB for the past several years; I just want a change of scenery.
So I plan to train hard this winter, even indoors, which is my weak spot. I tend to just go through the motions indoors, but our house has a full basement, in which we have set up trainer, rollers, exercise ball, chin up bar, T.V., etc, so I have a "facility" of sort to train.
Well, it’s cold and 38*, I have to get dressed to get to work. I haven’t had out my rain gear for while, so I have to dust it off for the commute.

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Is it breaking???

The weather, that is. It is finally out of the teens or single digits in the am! Honestly though, this has been a great winter, as winter goes. I have ridden outside more this winter than any other. If the few week cold snap is all we get, I’ll be happy w/ the winter. We got our big storm, which was an moderate ice storm and about 4" of snow. W/ the rising temps (pattern change?) and some rain, will make for flooding in a few days.
I have ridden trainer more and more since I posted last, but I rode my CX bike on the road this past Sunday (2/18). You couldn’t really have ridden a road bike, too much snow/ice. But the cross bike was perfect. I only rode about an hour, but it was 20* or so, so I’ll take that. I‘d rather ride outside for 1 hour than trainer for 2. I can hammer on hills and keep steady between for an hour or so and get a better workout. I am going to ride trainer today, despite the mid 40 temps @ 8:20am, because I want to take this week easy. My butt muscle(s) are bugging me more the past few days and I have been training really consistent, so I want an easy week, but not off. I start road racing in, like, 3 weeks. Then in about 4 weeks it’s off to the Great Smokey Mountains for training camp.
I am getting a new MTB frame sent to me form Giant to replace my cracked one. Actually, they’re sending me a new front triangle and I am reusing my rear triangle (swing arm). I hope to have this all ready later this week or next, although MTB riding will be off the horizon for a solid month or so (wet season).
Welp, gotta get my butt on the trainer while Saved By The Bell is still on.

Sunday, February 11, 2007

More of the same

No reason to bore everyone w/ tales of inside riding. Just suffice it to say I’m trying to get in 10hr/week, but my average for the year is ~8.5/week.
We rode MTB outside last weekend again in the single digits. It was awesome. In the places where there wasn’t snow, the trail was dusty and dry. Just like a hot July day, only really cold. It was a good ride, but I noticed some very early stage cracks developing in my carbon MTB frame. I had to send it back to Giant before I can get a warranty frame sent out to me, so I am sans MTB right now and likely will be for 2-3 weeks realistically. That’s the way things go. My MTB has not had it easy. It has been raced very hard for about 3 years.
Today (Sun 2/11) Danny P came down form Indy and he, R.S. and I rode the Hoosier Hills 60k route. It ended up being a little over 40 miles, about 42. It was a really good ride w/ two or three really good climbs. I’ve been here about two years and have never done these rides (there’s a 100k too). We rode it pretty hard and I felt really good. R.S. rides hard year round and is super fast no matter what, so to feel good after a ride w/ him in Feb is a good thing. I took some good long pulls and climbed well.
Looks like another cold snap and some bad weather is headed our way, so more inside training!
I can handle it. I have my sessions set up so they go by fine. I turn on the "electronica dance" music channel on the digital cable and do my intervals. It works. Plus my bike needed totally cleaned off after riding outside today from all the wet/salt/sand on the roads. It’s kind of a pain anyway.
Take care/stay warm and those of who drive, drive careful.

Sunday, January 28, 2007

The coldest one yet:

Training, training, blah, blah. Lots of inside riding. Boring. But today we went and rode 2.5 hrs MTB at Brown County St Park. The trial was nice and frozen, so it was almost like riding hard packed dirt. It was really good riding condition. The temp reached all the way to 11*. It flurried a time or two, but it was a really good ride. We had 6 people in our group, which split onto just two (Dan P and I) as it usually does MTBing. I know 2.5 hrs @ 11* sounds insane, but once your hands and toes go numb (what I cal the initial shock, ~10-15 min), it’s fine. There’s not a real danger, as long as you have enough layers.
CX worlds was today and an American almost won. Jonathon Page led a lot of the race and looked like he had it wrapped, but he just didn’t have it in the end. 2nd best in the world probably doesn’t feel too bad though.
Riding MTB today got me amp’d to ride later. And if it stays cold and frozen at BCSP, we’ll keep going back.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

2006 by the numbers

It’s a couple weeks into 2007 and in 2006 I:
Raced 29 times.
That’s
11 cyclocross (and I do count the B-Town Underground races)
6 road races
10 MTB races (including 1 - 24 hour race)
and 2 road time trials.
I rode 6,282 miles and logged 423 hours.
423 is not enough hours. I’m going to try to up that number to around 600 for 2007.
29 races is a lot for a normal schmo like myself. It’s makes it seem superhuman to think that the big pro guys race this much in each major tour. Some guys do this 3x per season, plus other races. I do in a year what they do in a month; and they do it way faster. Na, them guys aren’t on drugs.

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Still at it

I’m training as always, but I just haven’t felt much like writing. I’m on a blog hiatus, and I’m not sure when it’ll end.
I did get snowed on for about 30seconds this morning while riding my cx bike. I expected bad weather so I rode cx, but as I was headed in the sun came out. This (great) weather is freaking me out.
I had my few days off and went to New Orleans for my brother’s wedding. It was a nice wedding and we took in as much of N.O. as we could in two days. We walked Bourbon St two nights in a row and had some good southern Cajun food. It was Lindsay's first time there (and my second), so it was cool to absord the local flare.
As I said, it may sparse, but I’ll write again sometime; Just bored w/ it.