Long Steady Miles

Well today was dodge the rain day, but we did get out for 3.5 hours today for some long EM miles. We headed south into the wind to Brownsburg, and then back up to Lebanon, Whitestown and back home. I didn't have that snap in my legs today, they felt the burn all day and a little sluggish. I think the work this week has taken a toll on my body. It was pretty windy today and by the end of the ride I really wanted to get off the bike. My back was a little sore and my legs were definitely feeling the work. Rest and recovery are the name of the game tonight, and hopefully I will be up for the ride tomorrow.

Ride Stats
Time 3:30
Dist: 60.1 miles
Avg HR 143
Max HR 173
Avg Cad 94
Max Cad 130
Avg Spd 17.1
Max Spd 34
Morning HR 53
Kcal 2560

A Crazy and windy evening

Well let's start in reverse tonight, from my trip home then back to the ride. To make a long story short, I decided to around this POS van doing 30 in a 45 on the way home heading up through Whitestown, b/c I thought it might be faster. Well it went from 45 to 25 with no warning, and guess what, there was a cop sitting there waiting for me. So I got pulled over, and just before the cop came up to the window, the lady I passed pulled up next to me with her window down, and yelled HAHA. Anyway, the guy was pretty cool and let me off with a verbal warning, so all is well that ends well. Now back to the important stuff, the ride today. I set out doing some EM miles and with SS mixed in, two intervals of 10 minutes a piece keeping my HR between 170 and 173. The wind was strong out of the East tonight, so it was a decent side wind. I cranked it up in a 53x16, and headed north starting this SS about 40 minutes into my ride, when I hit 170 it was surprisingly easy to peg my HR and I held it at pretty much 171 and 172. It wasn't too difficult but became very annoying at the end, I was starting to tire a bit. I really practiced scrapping the mud off the bottom of my shoes today, and I noticed my speed went up and the load off my thighs was gone, however it was wreaking havoc on my hamstrings. So I was sitting in the low 170s and my speed was in between upper 22 and upper 23's, the same speeds I was running in my TT with a HR much higher. I guess that shoes how much better I can do when I focus on smooth strokes. However by the end of the ride my quads were quite tired and I felt like I had been mashing all day, but I think it was b/c I was turning a much bigger gear than I usually do, and not spinning it up today. Overall, the ride was pretty good, even though by the end of it heading back south, the wind had turned almost dead out of the south it seemed, and it was tough into the wind. Now its time for recovery, and lots of hydrating. Ride Stats below:

Time: 1:32
Avg HR 145
Max HR 173
Avg Cad 90
Max Cad 115
Max Spd 30.6
Avg Spd 18.1
Morning HR 51
Kcal 1106
Strong wind out of the east tonight about 12 mph.

Prep for the fit test

The day after the wedding I went to yesterday, had me feeling a little sluggish this morning. But after I showered I was feeling pretty good. I drank a lot of water last night before I went to bed and a lot before my ride this afternoon. I set out to do some power intervals in preparation for my fit test tomorrow. A 20 mile loop up to Cicero and back, with three intervals of 30 seconds each and 3 minutes rest between. I did all three intervals in a 53x18-17 and my HR was able to elevated and then return into my recovery zone within my 3 minutes of recovery. I finished off the ride with EM miles and taking it easy within my zone. The wind was pretty stiff coming back south, so I wasn't moving very fast, but nonetheless my legs felt pretty good. MY HR was a little high I thought, but I felt fairly good from an overall standpoint.

Ride Stats
Dist 20 miles
Time :1:11
Avg HR 145
Max HR 185
Avg Cad 91
Max Cad 140
Max Spd 32.5 mph
Avg Spd 16.5
Kcal 887
Morning HR 54

Fast, Chaos and Carnage

Today was the first CIBA ride of the year. The St. Patty's Day ride over off of 161st and Spring Mill in Westfield. The temperature today was not to bad, much better than yesterday. At 1pm it was about 42 degrees with 5 mph wind coming out of the WNW. There were probably 80 people at the ride, and of all different riding levels. So we left out in a large group, asking the faster people to leave first and the sociables to leave after. The group started out with about 40-45 riders in the front group, and it didn't take long for the pace to pick up. We cruised at about 20 mph out of the gate for the first 3 miles or so. Then once we started heading back north the pace got a little faster and a couple people fell off the back. I was sitting in the middle of the pack about 20 people back off the front, just trying to find that drafting pocket.

I found it hard to move from wheel to wheel too often, but found a couple of guys I bounced back and forth between for a while. Once we crossed over SR 32 headed north the pace moved above 25mph, and the group was about 20-25 now. It didn't take long to shed a few more riders as after about 1-2 miles of 25mph+ we were now down to about 15. Rotating through from the back to the front, I found myself briefly up front pulling for about 5 seconds before the next person rotated through, at this point we were doing 27-28, and I was really starting to feel it. I moved to the back of the rotation and went into hanging on mode. Through one more stop sign, which helped me lower my HR and catch my breath a bit and we were right back on it. I noticed that sitting in the back of the pack was like a slinky effect. A gap would open up between somebody and everyone behind would quickly try to close, then close to fast, touch the breaks and have to jump back on it again. So it was up and down, and I knew the back was not the place to be, but we were moving so fast, I couldn't move up. I held on for as long as I could, but ended up getting dropped around mile 21 of 38. So I got dropped and there were about 15 people still in the first group, being dominated by two teams, one with Roark all over their jerseys, and the second was the Indiana Hand Center. Shortly after I got dropped, 5 guys picked me up from behind and we began moving a little faster ,but not like the front group. Clipping along at 23-24 I was feeling a lot better. It amazed me how when in the fast group a 4-5 beat drop in my HR made me feel so much better. And that's where it all went bad. Moving along with these 5 other guys I was up front going into a right hand turn, I moved out to the left to take the corner and try to avoid some of the gravel in the turn. Right as I dove into the turn someone cut me off from the inside and I clipped his back tire and went down sliding across the road. What really pissed me off is that they didn't even stop. So I tore my right leg warmer, f'd up my bike and the hoods, and was bleeding from me knee. I picked myself up and dusted myself off, the bike seemed to be OK other than some cosmetic things and I rode home. I was about 6 miles from my house so I rode the marked route to a mile from home and rode in. Not too happy with what happened, but oh well live and learn I guess. Busted my computer off my bike, found it and stuck it in my back pocket. These are the ride stats to that point of the crash.

25.6 miles
Avg Spd 22.9
Avg HR 176
Max HR 194
No cadence
Morning HR 53
Kcal 1107

Recovery Thursday?

I had a recovery ride for tonight for an hour outside. But I did it on the trainer tonight, so I only ended up doing 40 minutes. And even that was pretty boring. My legs felt a little loaded when I first started, but felt good after about 10 minutes into the ride. HR was pretty low today, nothing special, just turned it over in a small gear 39x18-17-16.

Ride Stats
Time: 40 min
Dist 11.5 miles
Avg HR 115
Max 147? Hr monitor acting up
Max Spd 20.8
Avg Spd 17.3
Cad not working
Morning HR 53

Just another Recovery Monday

So today was my first weekday out with day light savings time hours. It stays like here until about 7:45, and its only march. Well I headed up to the south park of Eagle Creek tonight, around 56th street. And did a recovery ride. 1 hr long. I felt a lot stronger today, and more rested..even though I didn't get much sleep. Tonight was just a recovery ride, and it felt pretty good. I hit a max of 146 bpm, only b/c I got a little turned around and found myself on a very busy street. So I was hauling ass to get off that road. Other than that I felt pretty good, and found a new place to ride that was pretty wide open, west of Eagle Creek. Tomorrow is EM miles, we will see how it feels.

Ride Stats
Time 1:03
Dist: 16.2
Avg HR 120
Max HR 146
Avg Spd 15.8
Max Spd 25.5
Cad not working
Morning HR 53
Kcal 535

Recovery Sunday

Most people, at least my age, spend Sunday recovering from a hangover, today I spent it recovering from my ride on Saturday. I went out and hit up a recovery ride today. I felt pretty good, my legs felt solid, my HR was fairly low. IT was a great day today, sunny and mid to upper 50s, and really no wind at all. It hit up the Cicero loop today 20 in and back in about 1hr 20 min. Hopefully this week will bring good training, and possibly a good race on Saturday.

Ride Stats:
Time 1hr 20 min
Dist 20.0
Avg HR 118
Max HR 143
Avg Spd 14.9
Max Spd 25.5
Cad not working
Kcal 640
Morning HR 54

All Amp'd up..for a let down

Well it was Saturday today, and it was the first nice day in over a month to get out and ride. It got up to mid to upper 50s this afternoon, and was pretty warm this morning. Greg and I set out for a 3 hr ride, with intentions of doing a little climbing. We went southwest down to eagle creek, to do fishback and some other hills. For some reason my HR was very high right
from the beginning, my legs felt heavy, and I just didn't have that pop that I normally do. When we had finished I was definitely wiped out, and I am still feeling that way tonight. This was definitely the first time I have seen the effects of too much training combined with not enough sleep from the past few weeks. We ended up doing 3 hrs and just about 50 miles. I definitely don't have my climbing legs yet, and I hope I can find them soon. Climbing to the top of the hills today, I noticed I would get to the top and have nothing left once I got there to punch it up and keep on going. I was a bit sluggish today, and it was definitely a disappointment. I need to get my HR monitor, HR strap and cadence fixed, so I can get back to a normal schedule...tomorrows ride has been scrapped and replaced with a 90 minute recovery ride tomorrow. Hopefully going into next week, I will feel much better.

Ride Stats:
Time 3hrs 5 mins
Dist: 49.5
Avg HR 147
Max HR 186
Avg Spd 15.7
Max Spd 29.8
Cad not working
Morning HR 54
Kcal 2360

Another Day in a long week

Well it was another long day in an extremely long but insanely fast week. Finished up hour 48 at work for the week, and I still have another day to get through. I feel like I have been going nonstop for the last 3 weeks, and there is not end in sight. Anyway, I felt pretty good all day, and when I got home from work I had 90 minutes with 25 minutes of tempo mixed in. So I got on the trainer, yet again. (When am I going to get off this thing) and started to ride. My HR was pretty low, coinciding with my morning HR today of 52. However, my legs were just burning for some reason. It took 30 minutes for the burning to go away. But my HR was never too high, right where it usually is. I was still able to turn the pedals over in the upper 90's, I am assuming, b/c I still don't have a cadence sensor right now. So I got my EM miles in and started into my long Tempo ride. I had trouble keep my HR in the zone today. I had it pegged at 164 for almost 5 minutes straight, it didn't fluctuate a beat, then it started to go up a bit and I backed off a hair, and then it would plummet down below my zone, I played this battle for about 5 minutes before I got it steadily back into my zone. I peaked up at 170 and dropped as low as 158. For the most time I had it in my zone, but i played this battle for a while, and a little bit more as the ride went on. I think b/c I dont have cadence it was making it hard to keep my hr in the zone and my cadence somewhere around 70-75. I have noticed that I can peg my HR and my cadence with in a beat up or down of each other, but it has made it hard since my sensor stopped working. Anyway, I am calling it an early night, and going to try to catch up on some much needed sleep.

Ride Stats
90 min
Dist 31.2 miles
Avg HR 145
Max 170
Avg Spd 20.8
Max Spd 23.8
Cad not working
Morning HR 52

Don't ask

Today sucked. I woke up tired, and with a Resting HR of 60. I haven't had a resting HR that high in I can't remember. SO what the told me, is maybe I have not recovered, from the weekend and work on Monday. SO I went to work with intentions of coming home and riding after work. And that's when it all went down hill. Instead of leaving work at 5 or 6..I left at 7:30. So after 12 hrs of work, I got home about 8:15, and was pretty tired. I decided not to ride tonight, b/c my resting HR might have been telling me I was tired, and by the time I did get home I was pretty tired, my eyes and head hurt and I got distracted helping with other things. I think this was a wise decision b/c I haven't hit that point yet where I have had to tell myself to stop b/c my body was telling me too, but I think today was the day. I will definitely ride tomorrow, hoping my resting HR will be down when I wake up. I am going to bed early tonight and going to try to get in no less than 8 hrs.

More Tempo Day 3

Today was my third day of Temp in a row. I really wanted to get outside but that didn't happen. The winds were still blowing at 20+mph, and it was snowing on and off all day today. SO my schedule called for 3 hrs outside, or 2.5 hrs with 30 minutes of tempo in the middle of that. SO I got on the trainer and got it on. When I first started, my HR started a little high right away. It is usually in the upper 90's when i first get on the bike for the first two minutes, today it was around 108. I noticed my legs had a good amount of burn in them as my warm up went on, and I started to slowing raise my HR within my 15 minutes of warm up. After my warm up I got into my Endurance Miles time frame, with the intentions of doing 1 hr of EM miles. As I was 40 minutes into the entire ride, all of a sudden it was like something hit me, the burn in my legs was gone (I had been in a 39x14-13 once i hit my EM zone), and my HR dropped a few beats, but my speed increased and even though I didn't have cadence today, I could tell my cadence had risen. It was like out of nowhere, I could tell I was pedalling very smoothly and I felt great all of a sudden. So I finished out my HR of EM, for a total of 1hr 15 minutes, and I got into my Tempo. It consisted of two 15 minute intervals, pegging my HR in my Tempo zone of 162-166 bpm, with 10 minutes of active recovery in between sets keeping my HR in my EM zone. I didn't have cadence again, but I tried to keep it between 70-80 rpms or at least what i thought was that. I did both 15 minute intervals in a 53x12-13 @ 2-3% grade. I really noticed how smooth and easy it had become for me in both intervals, I felt strong, and I didn't feel like it was taxing my body at all. The one thing I did notice by the end of my second interval was the tops of my quads above my knees were getting a little tired, I could feel the work I had been putting on them. Overall it was a great ride, and the stats are listed below. I felt really really strong, and I will see how I feel tomorrow, I am scheduled for 2.5 hrs of EM.

Ride Stats:
Time: 2:10
Dist: 44.2 miles
Avg HR 148
Max HR 170
Avg/Mx Cad: Sensor not working
Avg Spd 20.4
Max Spd 26.0
Kcal 1556
Morning HR 54

Tempooooo

So today was a very busy day at work. I didn't get much sleep last night probably another 6 hrs. But when I woke up I felt fresh and ready to go. I think that has to do with taking Wednesdays off. Anyway I had 90 minutes on the trainer tonight, with 40 minutes of endurance miles and 20 minutes of tempo. My morning HR was 54, I thought a little high, but no big deal I felt pretty good when I got up this morning. Got home from work about 6:15 and ate dinner first, only b/c it was ready when I got home. So I got on the bike and did my work out, 20 minutes of tempo really can get to you. With no cadence sensor, I had no idea if I had it pegged between the appropriate 70-75 rpms. But I think I had it at a max of 82 and maybe a low of 68. I kept it pegged between my required 162-166, with a max of 168 for a short while and a low of 161.

Ride Stats:
Time: 90 minutes
Dist 28.46 miles
Avg HR
Max Hr 168
Avg Spd
Max Spd 23.8
Cadence, did not have
Morning HR 54
Kcal 1082

And then I have to do it all over again tomorrow.

Fast, Faster and Fastest Pedal

Today was pretty much a normal day, didn't want to get out of bed, but nonetheless, I headed off to work. I got home and headed down to the trainer, asking myself is this ever going to end and when can I get back outside on a regular basis. Anyway, I had fast pedal tonight, with no cadence sensor, b/c for some reason it is broken and I cannot figure it out. Hopefully it just needs a new battery, if there is even a battery in it. So I spent 1 hr and 30 minutes on the bike tonight, and hit 4 intervals of 3 minutes each with the cadence, with 5 minutes rest between each set. The rest of the ride was 33 minutes of Base miles, and 15 minutes warm up and then again for recovery. NO cadence tonight, but I know I was over 105 rpms. The goal is between 105 and 120 rpms, I found that i could peg it between 19.5-20.5 mph and I knew I was somewhere over 105. Doing that for 3 minutes was a challenge. I noticed towards the end of each 3 minute set my HR was in the upper end of my zone around 158-163. I'll monitor this and hopefully it will not rise the more I do them.

Ride Stats
Time: 1:30
Dist 27.2 miles
Avg HR 135
Max HR 163
Avg Sp 18.13 mph
Max Spd 23.6 mph
Morning HR 53

Rain, Wind, Sleet, and Snow

Absolutely horrible ride today. Worst I have ever had. I should have stayed in on the trainer this morning. But i felt too good after yesterdays windy ride, to stay inside. It had been raining all last night and a little this morning. So I didn't think I was going to get outside. But about 2 this afternoon I saw a little peak of sunshine out by my house and it had not rained for a while, so I thought I'd give it a go and get a 2 hr ride in. Well it quickly turned disastrous, and utterly brutal out there. I got just about 8 miles away from my house, after fighting the driving wind heading West and Southwest, when It started to mist and rain a little bit. So, OK, no big deal I can handle a little rain, but as soon as I thought that the wind picked up gusting well over 30 mph, and it became very hard to keep my bike up right. I was literally riding leaning over to keep the bike upright from the wind. Anyway I only got out for an hour and ended up soaked and cold . I did hit about 29-30 with the wind at my back trying to get home as fast as I could.

Ride Stats
Time: 0:59 min
Dist 15.2 miles
Avg HR 153
Max HR 182
Cadence, not working
Max Spd 30 mph
Avg Spd 15.25
Morning HR 53
Kcal 645

Wed Nes Day

OK quick write up. I felt good today. HR was low ..51 this morning. I could feel the work I did from yesterday in my OLP drill, in my Hip Flexors today. Today was 1 Hr 10 min with muscle tension included.

Ride Stats

Ride Time: 1hr 10 min
Dist: 21.03
Avg HR 131
Max HR 163
Avg Cad 83
Max Cad 103
Avg Sod 17.02
Max Spd 23.8
Kcal 754
Morning HR 51

Tuesday's Gone with the wind...

Well up and off to work for another 11 hr day. But surprisingly the day goes by pretty fast when you have a lot to get done. Anyway, I got home today and felt pretty good. In fact I felt good when I woke up. Resting HR this morning was 51. OLP Drill tonight, not really looking forward to it but did it anyway. I had a pretty sharp pain in the front of my left knee tonight, but after about 20 minutes of riding it went away. I'll monitor and see what happens tomorrow.

One thing I noticed tonight was that my pedal stroke with both of my legs in the OLP drill is much much smoother than when I first started doing this drill. I can get through the entire interval with almost no irregularities or jerks in my pedal stroke. Now I just have to be able to get through then entire minute from a strength standpoint.

Ride Time" 1:15
Dist: 20.8 miles
Avg Spd 16.64
Max Spd : 24.1
Avg HR 131
Max HR 162
Avg Cad 92
Max Cad 107
Morning HR 51
Kcal 795

Another Manic Monday

Got up and off to work this morning. Morning HR was 53. At work tonight until 6pm tonight, and not too bad overall. Anyway to make this short, went off to the gym tonight and got in an upper body, and hard ab work out. Then I came home and got on the rollers for 30 minutes tonight and did an easy spin, in hopes to work out whatever tiredness I still have in my legs to be fresh for tomorrow.

Ride Stats:
Ride Time 30 minutes
Dist: 8.4 miles
Avg Cad 91
Max Cad 98
Avg HR 115
Max HR 125
Avg Spd 16.2
Morning HR 53

Another Garage Day

Well, its officially been three weeks since I last rode outside. I'm starting to get really sick of the trainer, and my motivation is slipping a bit. But hopefully the weather coming up this week, will allow for some time outside this weekend.

Anyway, I went over to Greg's this morning and did 1hr 40 min on the trainer with Tempo as my focus again today. My motivation was pretty bleak, but I got through it just fine. Morning HR this morning was 53. I noticed that i had a lot of trouble getting my HR up today and rode mostly in my 130's zone. Even though my HR was having a bit of trouble, my legs felt fairly heavy and tired today. I'm hoping with some proper rest and a recovery day tomorrow, I will be refreshed and ready to go on Tuesday. Had some slight discomfort in the fronts of both my knees today. Haven't had any in quite a long time, we'll see if it continues.

Ride Stats:
Ride Time: 1:40
Dist: 31.6 miles
Avg HR 134
Max HR 167
Avg Cad 88
Max Cad 102
Avg Spd 19
Max Spd 23.8
Kcal 1054

Getting stuck in a snow bank...why not

Woke up this morning with a new 2 inches of snow on the ground and probably got somewhere between 2-4 inches again today, i really hope this all goes away soon. Anyway, went over to Greg's and got in 1 hr and 40 minutes today with a focus on the fast pedal. Morning HR this morning was 53. Focused on the fast pedal after my endurance section of the ride today. My body felt pretty good, and my pedaling felt smooth. Except during the fast pedal, I felt a little out of control sometimes, trying to focus on smoothing out my pedal stroke. Mostly sitting in a 108-115 cadence for each interval.

Ride Stats
Ride Time: 1hr 40min
Dist: 31.7 miles
Avg HR 133
Max HR 156
Avg Spd 19
Max Spd 24.1
Avg Cad 92
Max Cad 126
Morning HR 53
KCal 1054

Getting Busy

Well today was my first day back at work after all the snow, and it was a good first day in the office. After an 1 hr and 25 minute drive home from work I got on and did the tempo ride tonight. HR this morning was a low 52. Tempo ride stats are below...this is a short posting


Ride Time: 1:15
Dist: 22.25 miles
Avg Cad 85
Max Cad 111
Avg HR 139
Max HR 170
Avg Spd 17.8
Max Spd 24.6
Kcal 867

Legs felt a little loaded half way through the tempo ride. I was switching between a 53x12 and a 53x13-14 at 2% grade for most of the time to try and keep my cadence between 70-75. I had a little trouble pegging my HR today in that 4 beat window, today it was more like a 6 beat window, but for the most part I had it in the zone, dropping a little below every once in a while but I was able to get it back up and hold it. Overall, even though a little hard today and annoying, it was a good ride overall.

"To give anything less than your best, is to sacrifice the gift." -Prefontaine.

Another Snow Day

Well since most of central Indy today was still under a snow emergency, I had another day off of work today. So I got to sleep in a bit, and felt great once I got up. Went outside and dug ourselves out of the snow again, and the drifts were so high they were waist deep on me. Had some fun in the xterra trying to get out and sliding around, then I hit an early ride on the rollers for about 35 minutes.

My legs felt pretty good and my resting HR was low at 52 this morning. I spun around for 35 minutes and got off, getting ready for my work out tomorrow. And probably a long drive to and from work.

Ride Time: 0:35 min
Distance: 9.26 miles
Avg HR: 121
Max HR 130
Avg Cad: 89
Max Cad 99
Avg Spd 15.87

Snow Day

Snow day today, didn't have to go to work, but I am thinking I will have to go tomorrow. So I got a little extra sleep today, and I felt great when I woke up. Resting HR was 51. Shoveled the driveway a total of three times today, we have an insane amount of snow and its just blowing and drifting all over the place. Anyway I got 1 hr and 15 minutes in on the trainer this after noon and did some OLP Drills, they still suck.

Ride Stats listed below.

Ride Time : 1:15
Distance : 22.98 miles
Avg HR: 140
Max HR 168
Avg Cad 92
Max Cad 130
Avg spd 18.4
Max Speed 24.1
Resting HR 51

I found that my left leg is more efficient during OLP than my right leg. And my left leg can turn about 5-10 rpms higher than my right leg. Need to practice to get both at the same efficiency, and be able to go the entire minute with out really hurting.

And then there were two...

Went over to Greg's again this morning, on another frigid day, with the plan of doing 1 hr 45 minutes, with some base and muscle tension combined. I noticed that my HR was a little high this morning, sitting at about 57 bpm, and I thought it was from yesterdays work out and all the walking I did at the mall in the afternoon. We started the ride and I could feel a burn in my legs, but noticed that my HR was staying pretty low, but it seemed like I was working harder than my HR was indicating. A first sign that I may have recovered cardio wise, but not muscle wise in my legs. Well the ride today consisted of:
15 minute warm up
50 minutes of base miles
20 minutes of muscle tension
15 minute cool down

I propped up the trainer about 4 inches off the ground and did both muscle tension intervals for 8 minutes, in a 53x13 gear @ 55 rpms with 9 minutes rest between the 2 intervals.

We'll see how my legs feel and I recover tomorrow, after my first day of work at my new job.

Time: 1:45
Dist 36.7 miles
Avg HR131
Max HR 160
AVG Cad 89
Max Cad 110
Avg Speed 20.9
Max Speed 28.2
Morning HR 57

A crowded garage

So I went over to Greg's again this morning to ride on the trainer, and this time we had some more company. 7 of us lined up in his garage riding for about 2 hours. It really does make the time to go faster. Anyway, my ride today consisted of 15 minutes of warm up 1hr of endurance miles and then 20 minutes of tempo riding, pegging my HR between 166 and 170. At the end of that 20 minutes my legs were pretty loaded up and and my hamstrings were pretty tired, but I think that it was a great work out.

Time 1 hr 50 minutes
Dist. 35.33 miles
avg hr: 145
max hr: 171
avg cad: 89
max cad : 111
kcal 1329

If it doesn't warm up soon......

So today was my last day at my old job, and I am pretty excited about starting my new one next week, I am hoping it all goes well. Anyway cutting the the chase, I jumped on the trainer tonight and did 1hr and 15 minutes, focusing on endurance miles and one leg pedaling drills.

I've decided that I don't like doing pedalling drills b/c its hard, and shows how "unsmooth" my pedalling stroke is, not to mention how tired it makes my hip flexors. But if I stick with it, it will get better I know it.

My legs felt OK tonight, but even though my HR was below my peak the entire time, it felt like I was doing some good work along the way. I really think it was the two drinks I had the night before that still were playing an effect on my system. I had a couple beers with some guys from work last night, and I think that effected my HR even through tonight. But after my workout I stretched and drank my recovery drink, showered up and I felt really good. So maybe I just needed to work that crap out of me before the weekend

PS I put a new bottom bracket in today, and I possibly felt a difference. :)


Time 1 hr 15 minutes
Distance: 17.7 miles
Avg Cad 90
Max Cad 108
Avg HR 136
Max HR 156

15 minute warm up
30 min of endurance miles
20 min OLP drill
10 minute cool down
Below Zone: 23 min
In Zone 52 min
Above Zone: 0:00

A better day today

OK, so I actually woke up on time this morning and felt pretty good. HR this morning was 51, about the lowest it has been I think. Anyway, I rolled out of bed about 20 after 6, went outside and shoveled the driveway and halled the trash down to the corner and got ready for work. The day went by fairly fast, and after work I headed over to the bike shop, picked up a couple tubes, and some gel packs and headed home. I changed the flat on my bike and geared up for my work out that I missed yesterday. Tonight it consisted of the muscle tension ride...15 minute warm up, and then 4 intervals at 4 minutes each with 8 minutes of recovery between each set. the goal is, with the Trainer elevated 4 inches off the ground to simulate climbing, and turning the pedals over in a very hard gear, turning around 55 rpms. So after my 15 minute warm up I geared up for the first set....and it follows below....

Interval 1: 4 minutes
I put it in a 53x13 and started turning it over, and it was still pretty easy, so I added 3% incline to the effort and rode it for 4 minutes. My AVG Cad was between 54-59, and my HR only hit 140, I know this isn't a heart rate based work out, but I didn't feel like I was getting what it was intended to do....so I rested with active recovery for 8 minutes and started the next set.

Interval 2: 4 minutes
This time I was back in the 53x13, elevated the same height obviously, and this time I put it on a 4% incline. This time I could feel more resistance in my pedal stroke and I was sitting pretty stable at 55 rpms, + - 1 rpm. However through out the 4 minutes again my HR only reached 151 this time, and during my recovery my HR was dropping well below 120 bpm....8 minutes active recovery, spinning in about a 39x16 at around 75-80 rpms

Interval 3: 4 minutes
This one was more of the same as set two, but I was putting an even harder concentration on my pedal stroke, to see if that effected my cadence and/or my HR. 4% incline, 53x12-13, and I noticed my cadence was a bit higher in this set running between 55 and 58 rpms. I held this for the entire set, and toward the end about the last 90-100 seconds I could feel my legs loading up a bit and feeling a burn in them my HR got up to 155.....then 8 minutes active recovery again, same as interval 2.

Interval 4: 4 minutes
This was the last set, and I wanted to see if I could push myself harder and keep the same cadence up. So I put it back into a 53x13 and this time I took it up to a 5% incline. I was able to turn this for the first 2 minutes, at that point my legs were loading up pretty good, they weren't hurting too bad, but my cadence had dropped to 50 then just below to 48 and I couldn't quite get it up to 55 again. So I down shifted to a 4 % incline and finished out at 55 rpms. This time it was a much harder effort and my HR was up to 170. Each time I recovered very well between each set, and at the end I rode a 15 minute cooled down ride and finished up.

Overall Stats:
Time: 1 hr 10 min
Dist 17.3 miles
Avg HR 125
Max HR 170
Avg Cad: 72
Max Cad 100

Not happy about it

Well today pretty much sucked. Very bored in my last days at work. Got off early b/c we were getting "hammered with snow" I don't consider 5-6 inches getting hammered...and I think people need to learn how to handle a little diverse weather and figure out how to drive. Anyway, I got home and spent a good hour shoveling off the driveway, and back porch and a path for the dog. Then I got sucked into helping my brother with some homework projects. Anyway, I had to put my bike in the garage last night. b/c we were moving some things down in the basement. So I put some air in the tires tonight, brought it into the basement, set it up on the trainer, and went upstairs to change my clothes. about 20-25 minute later I went back down to the basement and got on the trainer. MY intention tonight was to do a work out Greg gave me to focus on. 15 minutes of warm up then muscle tension drills...trainer raised about 4 inches off the ground turning a big gear at about 55 rpms for 4 minute intervals 4 times with 8 minutes rest in between. Well I got about 3 minutes into the total ride, and heard a noise that almost made my heart stop. the tube in my tire blew, and not only did it just blow, it blew part of the tire right off the rim. I about died it was so loud and out of no where. My theory is with the bike being so cold and putting air in the tires then riding it 25 minutes later, the change in temperature caused it to blow. Or I had a pinch in it from changing it on Sunday, but I doubt it, b/c I rode it last night and it was fine. So I am pretty pissed about not getting my work out in tonight, and I didn't have a spare tube, b.c I just changed a flat on Sunday. So after all that, hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Pretty simple day

Well today was probably one of the coldest days this winter by far and to top it all off we lost power sometime last night. So I woke up freezing and got to take a cold shower this morning and about an hour late. Made it through a really boring day today. As the last week at this job I don't have any new projects to work on, and its going to be a struggle to make it through the entire day. MY legs didn't feel to bad today, going up and down the stairs a lot. So I got home and went over to the gym. Did a fairly lite work out tonight with the upper body and lower back. Focused mainly on chest press, biceps triceps and a major focus on abs and lower back today. MY main concern however was my ride after my work out. I went home and rode the rollers for 30 minutes tonight. Kept my HR in my recovery zone and just spun my legs over. Surprisingly even though my legs felt good at work today, I could feel the work I had put on them over the weekend. Not showing that they were really tired but I could feel some burn in the first 10 minutes of my ride.
Time 30 min
Dist 9.7 miles
Avg HR 121
Max HR 130
Avg Cad 92
Max Cad 100
Avg Spd: 18.8
Max Spd 20.1

Cabin Fever

I think I am getting Cabin Fever, and its only been a week of freezing cold weather. I don't think I can take it much longer. The forecast for the up coming week....Cold, Colder and don't bother. Anyway, got up this morning and headed back over to Greg's for another wonderful day on the trainer. Go going with the intentions of doing 1.5 hours. But only ended up doing 50 minutes, b/c I got a flat on the trainer and had to change it. I was going to do a tempo work out with Greg for the last 20 minutes of the ride, but that got cut short. Anyway , I could really feel the work I had done yesterday in my legs. THEY WERE a little tired and a little heavy for a while but I worked through it. I was also pretty uncomfortable on the seat today. Getting numb quite early, and I had to get up and climb to relieve some of the pressure. Hopefully I can get this fixed. Anyway, ride stats are below


Time 50 min 21 sec.
Dist 16.7 miles
Avg HR 135
Max HR 166
Avg Cad 93
Max Cad 111
Avg Speed: 20.04
Max Speed:23.5

Stuck in a Garage

Well, it was freezing today, no way riding outside was even a thought in the front of my mind. So I went over to Greg's and rode in his Garage on the trainer with him and George. IT really made the time go by faster. We rode for 2 hours in a base miles zone. This was the first time I had a long ride on the new seat to see how it felt. I really want to get it outside to see if it is any better. Two hours on the trainer is tough. I did go numb multiple times and needed to stand up and simulate some climbing to let more circulation to get through. Overall the ride was pretty good. It doesn't look like I'll be getting back outside until next weekend at the earliest. Temps next week will be extremely cold.

The ride today consisted of:
2 hours
Dist. 35 miles
Avg HR 141
Max HR 166
Avg Cad 93
Max Cad 108


I felt pretty good throughout the entire ride, not discomfort in my knees at all until the last 20 minutes I got a little discomfort in the front of my left knee. But nothing to worry about, very minor. I felt that my pedal stroke was a little different today with the new positioning. I also noticed that if I really concentrate on pulling my foot through the bottom of the pedal stroke it becomes much smoother. When I do not concentrate on that, I notice that by rogue memory I am looking for the bottom of my pedal stroke before I begin to pull through, and it makes it a little choppy and I notice I hit the bottom quite frequently. I will try to make a more conscious effort to pull that through better and smooth that out. Hopefully that will come naturally with some more practice. Well, time to get some good rest tonight to do it all again tomorrow.

GO Colts!!!

A little movement...can go a long way.

Well this write up is going to be pretty short, b/c its late and I want to go to bed. Had a deathly boring day at work today, and then headed over to George's to work on my bike positioning....we put on a new seat, well an old school seat, but its new to me. We changed the seat height a little bit and my positioning of my cleats. I noticed a difference in my pedaling stroke, and saw the difference on how I could be too far back behind the pedals. Anyway, after that 2.75 hr adjustment, I came home and jumped on the trainer and hour. And it went something like this.

10 minute warm up
40 minutes of base mile riding
( With in that 40 minutes I did one leg pedal drills, 1 minute each, with each foot, 3 times.)
10 minute cool down

Time: 1:00
Distance 16.7 miles
Avg HR 135
Max HR 162
Avg Cad 92
Max Cad 104

My legs were a little sore later in the day from sitting around all day. I think it was a little bit of lactic acid build up from the leg work out the other night. Nothing to worry about though, I don't think it effected anything, and I will see how I feel in the morning.

"We're Kind of like 7 11......

.....We're not always doing business, but we're always open."


Today was a pretty boring day, nothing to exciting going on. Nothing to do at work today, and it basically felt like an eternity. I'm just dragging out my remaining days in this position before I move to my new job in the middle of February. Anyway, I finished the day, came home and was super hungry again for some reason. So I grabbed a light dinner, and headed off the the gym. Tonight was a leg work out. Leg press, Calf Raises, Hamstrings, Lunges, Leg Extensions.....and then home to the rollers. I kept my leg workout pretty basic tonight, nothing too heavy, and worked on form and exploding through the rep. After my work out I came home and got on the rollers for 40 minutes. I kept it easy for the first 10 minutes, and then began to pick it up for the next 25 minutes, with a light cool down the last 5 minutes. I kept my RPM's pretty high tonight in a fairly easy gear. Mostly in my 39 x 16 and a little in my 39 x 15. My AVG Cadence was 98, and my Max Cadence was 115. Avg HR was 130, and my max HR was 146. Distance was 10.02 miles.

My weight work out was strictly lower body consisting of the following:
Leg Press.
1 set @ 135lbs 10 reps
1 set 185lbs 12 reps
2 sets @225lbs 10 reps
1 set @ 185lbs 10 reps

Calf Raises-done on the Leg Press Machine
3 sets 15 reps @ 185lbs

Hamstrings
1 set 12 reps @ 105 lbs
2 sets 10 reps @ 120lbs

Lunges:
2 sets 16 reps w/ 20 lbs dumbbells
2 sets 16 reps -no weights.

Leg Extension
2 sets 10 reps @ 75 lbs
2 sets 10 reps @ 90 lbs

More of a Hodgepodge day

Well today started off with the potential to be pretty good. That was for the first minute I was awake..then not so much. Woke up at 6:30 and felt pretty good. Started to take my HR rate, with the counting method again...and then the next thing I knew it was 6:55, and I apparently had fallen asleep while taking my HR. So I got up frantically and rushed to work, not getting my HR this morning. But I did have about 7;75 hrs of sleep, and felt pretty good. After running all over Indianapolis today, and not getting home until after 6. I grabbed some dinner and ran to pick up my HR strap, and then headed to the gym. I did an upper body, abs, and arm workout today with 30 minutes of cardio at the end. I feel pretty good, and now that I have my bike back, I plan on hitting the trainer tomorrow for a good work out. So 999,999 things done today and just one more to go.

Ultimately a Recovery Day

I woke up this morning feeling pretty good. I took my HR by finger and time this morning instead of with my HR monitor, and found it to be around 54 bpm. My legs felt pretty good, no achyness, or tiredness in them as the day went on. I was up and down the stairs today a number of times and they felt pretty good. One problem though was I had an awful headache most of the day, and for some reason could not get enough water. I drank 7 bottles of water from the time I got to work until the time I left. And still have had another 3 glasses since I have been home. MY headache is gradually going away, yet I am still fairly thirsty. I decided to take the day off and hope this headache will go away, and hit it hard tomorrow. Goal tonight, is to get plenty of sleep and prepare for tomorrow's festivities.

Carmichael Fit Test7:

Today was my second fit test, over at Greg's. I wasn't necessarily looking forward to it, but I knew it had to be done to record progress and where I am in my training. I really made sure I hydrated last night before this test. Drinking about 1 gallon of water, and plenty of water early in the day today to get ready. I was bitterly cold today, and I was glad this would be done in a heated garage, b/c the wind and cold was brutal. Anyway, I got over to Greg's, and got my bike set up on the trainer and started my warm up. The warm up consisted of 10 minutes spinning warm up, 1 minute sub max effort. 2 minutes recovery, 1 minute sub max effort again, 2 minute recovery and then 5 minutes of additional warm up before the first effort.

I got about 2 minutes into the first effort and thought there was no way I was going to be able to finish this out. My legs were burning and I knew it would be difficult to keep that intensity up. I think if you are able to zone yourself out, it makes it a little more tolerable. With about a quarter mile to go I was hurting pretty bad, but tried to dig deep and push it out. I finished with a better time and results than compared to the first test I did back in November.
Time: 7:38
Max HR 193
Avg HR 188
Avg Cad 99
Max Cad 113
Max Sp
Avg Sp

After the first test I had 10 minutes of recovery until my second effort. Which I don't think is enough time, b/c by the time the recovery was over, I was still a little dizzy and did not feel like I could get a full deep breath in. But nonetheless I was off and suffering very early into the ride. I had difficulty in getting my HR up to where I was in the first test. And found myself stuck in the mid 170's for quite a while. I eventually moved into the low 180s in my HR and found a small second wind a little more than halfway through the test. My time was a little slower then compared to my first test and my HR a little lower, but it was an improvement over my second test the first time. I did notice that in the second test, I was doing a bit of rocking and i noticed I was back and forth on the trainer for a short while.
Time 8:03
Max HR 188
Avg 179
Max Cad 106
Avg Cad 95
Max Spd
Avg Spd

Saturday Morning Ride

Went out this morning with the intention of doing just a little over an hour in preparation for my fit test tomorrow. IT was cold this morning and the wind was out of the west at about 16-18mph. Woke up a little late this morning and took my resting HR (54) and got ready for the ride. I decided to ride in this morning instead of drive, and as soon as I got out on the road, I thought I was going to need more layers. The wind just cut right through you today. One my way to the park, I was heading directly west for the first 5 miles, directly into the wind. I was working pretty hard to keep going and my HR was in the upper end of my base miles zone...about 154 bpm. After getting to the park, we headed out and I stayed up with the front group until my HR started to rise, then I shut it down for a while. Today's goal was just to prepare myself for the Fit Test tomorrow. Just before breakfast we got some wind at our back, and I hit 3 short 30 second all out sprints, with 2 minutes rest between each, to get my body up into my upper anaerobic zone. My max HR for those was 188, and my max speed was 33.7. After those 3 I shut it back down, ate breakfast with everyone and then rode the last 3 miles home. Hopefully I will be ready for the test tomorrow. Plan for the rest of the day...HYDRATE, HYDRATE, HYDRATE.

Dist: 22.4
Time : 1:30
HR Avg: 142
HR Max" 188
Cad Avg: 88
Cad Max: 139
Avg Speed 15.5
Max Speed: 33.7
Kcal 1056

Midweek Trainer

Started the day off on a good note today. I actually woke up this morning on time and I wasn't dead tired. So I took my resting HR (56). And got ready for work. Normal day at work today, no additional stress or anything, and the usual boring day. I felt pretty good all day though. I had a little back pain today, and I am not sure why, it was in my lower back and hit me shortly after lunch. But left by mid afternoon and I felt fine again. Finished off 3 bottles of water by the time I left, and headed out to run a few errands. I got home and intended to do 90 minutes on the trainer. However, I got side tracked, helping out with some homework and other things, and I only ended up doing an hour on the trainer. I warmed up for 10 minutes, keeping my HR below my 130 ceiling. Then I picked it up for the next 40 minutes. Since I have gotten this trainer, I've played around with a few things it has including the power output meter. Half way through my endurance section, I thought I'd see how high I could take the watts before peaking at my 164 base. Turns out during both times I did it, I peaked at 700 watts for about 5 seconds or so, and the second time was 689. I also noticed that my watts for the rest of my ride were higher than the last few times ranging between 235 and 250 for the most part, as compared to my 200-220 the last ride I did. After that hour I felt pretty good, but it was getting pretty late, and I needed to do some other things, so I ended my ride.

Time 60 min
Distance: 19.62 miles
AVG HR 133
Max HR 167
Max Cad 143
AVG Cad 95
Max Spd 32.1
Avg Spd 19.6
Max Watts 700
Avg Watts ~between 235-250

Recovery Ride

Got up this morning with about 3 inches of snow on the ground, and I decided that a recovery ride on the trainer would be the best idea. So I rode for about 45 minutes today. I felt pretty good from yesterdays long 3 hr ride. Although when I got on the trainer I could feel a little tiredness in my legs. I rode in a recovery zone with my max HR being 140, and my average being 124. 45 minutes, and 14.65 total miles. Took in plenty of fluids, an entire bottle of accelerade and some endurox after my ride. Stretched and iced my knees, and hopefully the upcoming week will bring good news and some good training/riding.

Saturday's Ride

I slept in this morning for the first time in a long time. Greg and I decided to ride later in the afternoon, since it was so cold today. So we headed out @ 3:00pm, for a 3 hour ride today. It was Sunny, but pretty cold. Fortunately the wind was not very strong out of the North. By the end of the ride, it had switched to the ENE or almost due east. I tried some feet warmers today to keep my feet warm. They didn't seem to be working for the first hour, and my toes started to get cold. But later in the ride i started to move my feet around a little bit and the warmers started to work. I think they needed a little friction to start getting warm. By the end of the ride, my feet were pretty warm.

Today was probably the best ride I have had since we started our base miles training. Every 3 hour ride I had done prior to today, I would get fairly tired and my knees and back would hurt by the end. I felt pretty strong going out today, and that proved to stay the same through the entire ride. My HR was low all day, even when I was pulling out front. At one point today we were moving about 24 mph, and my HR was sitting at 127bpm, which is below my base zone and into my recovery zone.

I tried playing around with some different positions on the handle bar, to try and get used to the new stem length I have been riding with. I found that when I would ride in the hoods and my elbows bent at 90 degrees, I feel like I am cutting my breathing off, and I cannot take as deep of breaths as I need to take in. Also I noticed I tend to go numb in that position with too much pressure from the seat. It wasn't too uncomfortable, but after a while, I needed to move to change my position.

Also, I didn't have any pain in my knees for the entire ride. Towards the end I had a little bit of tugging at the front of both my knees. I think its pretty evident that I have patella tendinitis. I took some Ibuprofen before the ride, and iced them when I got home. I think right now that is about all I can do for them, and hope it gets better. By the time we pulled back into Greg's neighborhood, I was still feeling pretty good, it was just about dark outside, and I felt like I could go another hour. Overall the ride was great. Hopefully I will start to see the same results on other rides in the future. Today's ride makes me more of a believer in the training I am doing, and I hope to see even better results in the future.
AVG HR 137.
Max HR 166
Time 2:54.07
Time in Zone 2:15
Above Zone 0:1.45
Below Zone: 0:38
Distanace 49.0 Miles
AVG Speed 16.9 mph
Max Speed 33.8 mph
Max Cadence 144
Avg Cadence 89
Kcal 1954

Another Trainer Day

Well today started off with a bang. I woke up at 7am, 45 minutes after my alarm was supposed to go off, that I never heard. Since I woke up in a fury, I didnt get my HR this morning, but oh well, I felt pretty good nonetheless. Running late, I had to by pass the morning coffee stop in order to get to work on time. I had a meeting this afternoon, and then I was supposed to meet Greg for about a 2 hr ride after work. Well 10am rolled around and I realized I forgot my cell phone at home. Great. I feel like something is missing when I don't have it with me. So I went to lunch, and during lunch I realized that 1. I had forgotten my cycling shoes and 2. I also forgot my HR monitor. Well this was turning out to be a great day. Fortunately my meeting went extremely well. So I got home and jumped on the trainer for an hour. nothing special just kept it simply. 16.87 total miles, including a little warm up and cool down.

Max Speed 24.1
Avg Speed
MaxHR 153
Avg HR 137
Cadence 94
Max Cadence: 113
Overall Time 1:04.23

Now lets see how the weekend fairs out. Looks like it could be pretty cold.

Felt pretty good all day though, knees didnt bother me. (THough they seldomly do only being on the bike for an hour..ususally happens longer into the ride.) Legs felt strong and, the trainer wasnt that boring. Still not completly comfortable with the new stem length. Tend to go numb after sitting..but maybe that happens when being on the trainer and not moving around much either. ANd I feel a good amount of pressure when on the trainer and putting my arms at 90 degrees on the hoods. Lot of pressure from the saddle.

Well, hopefully I'll get some good riding in this weekend.
Go Colts!

Starting on the Trainer

January 17, 2007

This is the start to my cycling blog, the intent of this blog, is to track my cycling progress and work out data.

Tonight was my first night trying out the new trainer. I got on for 90 minutes, and varied my efforts to make the time go by faster. I felt pretty good before the ride, and my legs felt pretty strong. I wasn't intending to ride tonight, but I didn't get home from work until much later, and so I decided to forego the weight room, and ride instead. I got my new ipod loaded up with songs, and set up the trainer in the garage. It's a wind/magnetic trainer, and so it tends to be a little loud, and riding in the basement was out of the question. So I cranked up the music and started my ride.

I warmed up for 15 minutes and gradually raised my HR to the upper end (130) of my recovery zone. After 15 minutes I i gradually increased my HR and raised my cadence in a slightly larger gear. For the next hour I rode with my HR in my Endurance Miles zone, and did some hill simulation and high cadence simulation to make the time go by a little faster. After an hour I cooled down for the final 15 minutes. Overall the ride was pretty good, once my legs got warmed up they felt strong and my HR remained fairly low in my zone. The only thing that bothered me, were the front of my knees, no pain, but more of an annoyance pulling feeling in each tendon in the front of both of my knees. So after the ride I took some IBproferin and iced for 20 minutes. I plan on continuing this and hopefully the discomfort will soon go away.

Ride Stats:
Time: 1:30
Distance: 25.52 miles
Max Speed: 26.5mph
AVG Speed: Approx 17 mph
AVG HR: 138 bpm
Max HR 160
AVG Cadence 94
Max Cadence 144
KCal: 1086 approx.