Yesterday I headed over to M College to check out their cycling center and meet with Dean P, who is the coach and man in charge of their many time national championship cycling program.
The cycling center is awesome - a couple of rooms filled will drool-worthy equipment, training tools, and way skinnier than I'll ever be 18-20somthing aged cyclists. Despite that, it wasn't an intimidating scene. Sure, I'll be the older fatter guy, but bike folks generally seem to be fun (much like beer folks) and I'm there with the same goals as everyone else: get faster.
I met with Dean and we talked about what I was looking for out of this experience, and as of today he's sending me daily workout programs with a goal of starting racing in May. He mentioned as many as 20 races this year, which seems like a lot, but I do trust him (as he said - "we've developed guys here that went pro after graduating") and I think it's going to be an awesome experience.
And so.
Today:
45 minute trainer ride at recovery pace (easy)
Add 3 x 6 (5) sub LT efforts (zone 3 -- a perceived effort of 5-6 on a a scale of 1 being super easy and 10 being maximum)
3x6(5) means three six-minute zone 3 intervals with 5 minutes off between.
As of lunch:
1,493 calorie diet. You may eat about 803 additional calories today.
* * * * *
You can count on this blog getting very boring now.
This weekend we worked at the BIG winterfest, pouring beer, carrying around ice, etc - and then afterwords drank some really nice aged beer at a very nice home. Then Ted bought us dinner. I guess. All I know is that I didn't pay for it.
Birthday over. I await your (late) checks.
Showing posts with label cycling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cycling. Show all posts
26 January 2009
14 May 2007
Hey! I still ride a bike.
A lot of tasty discussion going on over at IndyStar because of a letter to the editor titled If a Monon biker hits me, I'm filing a lawsuit.
While I'll admit that I've rode decently fast on the Monon before, I'd like to think I'm not sneaking up on anyone just to run them over. Once I scared a lady with a dog. Cyclist shouldn't be flying down the trail, she's got a point... but going as far as stating that she'd sue everyone under the sun might be taking it a bit too far.
I also find it hard to believe that she and her 8 month pregnant daughter we knocked over by cyclists without the cyclist being jumped and beaten to death... I guess no one else was on the trail?
Anyway... bad apples, right?
While I'll admit that I've rode decently fast on the Monon before, I'd like to think I'm not sneaking up on anyone just to run them over. Once I scared a lady with a dog. Cyclist shouldn't be flying down the trail, she's got a point... but going as far as stating that she'd sue everyone under the sun might be taking it a bit too far.
I also find it hard to believe that she and her 8 month pregnant daughter we knocked over by cyclists without the cyclist being jumped and beaten to death... I guess no one else was on the trail?
Anyway... bad apples, right?
19 February 2007
blah explosion
Gina left to visit her parents Friday evening, so I was left home alone for the weekend. Here's what I did:
1) Played Winning Eleven 2007. I'm using Club Brugge - in tribute to Brugge Brasserie, I guess. That's not very interesting.
2) Watched more of Season 3 of The Wire - I still don't quite get why the show gets such fantastic reviews. It's a good show, it's not a gold wrapped chocolate bar directly from the hands of Jesus*
3) Went to Key Cinemas and watched the 2007 Academy Award nominated short films (live action and animation). A good way to spend 3 or so hours, but the films were disappointing compared to my earlier Academy Award short viewing experience (The 2005 Shorts - available on dvd).
4) I did enough laundry to kill a horse.**
5) I went to spin class Saturday morning. It's fifty minutes of misery - at minute thirty I always feel like I'm going to vomit. And then the feeling passes and I finish up strongly.
Gina has taken the class with me and she did well. This should serve as nice prep before I can get back on the bike - hopefully sometime this week?
6) I cooked - Friday night I prepared a Sea Bass (bought from work) in a bath of whole tomatoes, olives, garlic, white wine, olive oil... I'm forgetting something. The recipe came from a recent issue of Men's Health. This was probably the best thing I've ever made myself. And I'd like to think I make some pretty tasty stuff. Now all I need to do is nail the presentation. The plate was a bit messy.
Sea Bass is incredibly fatty - but it's good fats, I guess. I'm sort of relearning dieting, thanks to a bunch of different resources - this Chris Carmichael book, Men's Health... more focus on whole foods, a divorce from foods with high fructose corn syrup (which is found in EVERYTHING EVER), a return to ice cream, peanut butter made out of just peanuts... as a result of this new strange philosophy we just gave away two bottles of ketchup. And a bunch of Nutrigrain bars.
I'm still eating too much chocolate.
Saturday, inspired by this post on the fat cyclist blog, I decided to use the crockpot to prepare a chicken curry dish that I made off the cuff - chicken breast, chicken broth, whole tomatoes, apples, sweet potato, white wine, an onion, a bunch of curry powder - a sort of cornucopia of things that taste well when roasted... this ended up tasting like nothing, really. Sometimes experiments go nowhere, I guess. Next time I'll try to find some sort of recipe to steal from first.
Sunday I went out to pick up my contact lenses and decided to pick up a Papa Murphy's pizza. If you're a pizza person (and who isn't?), I can't recommend Papa Murphy's enough. Ten bucks gets you a fresh made pizza with real ingredients that you can cook up in 15 minutes at home. I recommend the Cowboy pizza: Pepperoni, Italian sausage, fresh mushrooms, black olives and herb & cheese blend. And enough fat and calories to ruin any exercise you put in at spinning class.
Call me Mr. Excitement, I guess.
Back to spin class tonight.
* * * * *
*assuming this would be a good thing
**I'm well aware that this doesn't make sense.
1) Played Winning Eleven 2007. I'm using Club Brugge - in tribute to Brugge Brasserie, I guess. That's not very interesting.
2) Watched more of Season 3 of The Wire - I still don't quite get why the show gets such fantastic reviews. It's a good show, it's not a gold wrapped chocolate bar directly from the hands of Jesus*
3) Went to Key Cinemas and watched the 2007 Academy Award nominated short films (live action and animation). A good way to spend 3 or so hours, but the films were disappointing compared to my earlier Academy Award short viewing experience (The 2005 Shorts - available on dvd).
4) I did enough laundry to kill a horse.**
5) I went to spin class Saturday morning. It's fifty minutes of misery - at minute thirty I always feel like I'm going to vomit. And then the feeling passes and I finish up strongly.
Gina has taken the class with me and she did well. This should serve as nice prep before I can get back on the bike - hopefully sometime this week?
6) I cooked - Friday night I prepared a Sea Bass (bought from work) in a bath of whole tomatoes, olives, garlic, white wine, olive oil... I'm forgetting something. The recipe came from a recent issue of Men's Health. This was probably the best thing I've ever made myself. And I'd like to think I make some pretty tasty stuff. Now all I need to do is nail the presentation. The plate was a bit messy.
Sea Bass is incredibly fatty - but it's good fats, I guess. I'm sort of relearning dieting, thanks to a bunch of different resources - this Chris Carmichael book, Men's Health... more focus on whole foods, a divorce from foods with high fructose corn syrup (which is found in EVERYTHING EVER), a return to ice cream, peanut butter made out of just peanuts... as a result of this new strange philosophy we just gave away two bottles of ketchup. And a bunch of Nutrigrain bars.
I'm still eating too much chocolate.
Saturday, inspired by this post on the fat cyclist blog, I decided to use the crockpot to prepare a chicken curry dish that I made off the cuff - chicken breast, chicken broth, whole tomatoes, apples, sweet potato, white wine, an onion, a bunch of curry powder - a sort of cornucopia of things that taste well when roasted... this ended up tasting like nothing, really. Sometimes experiments go nowhere, I guess. Next time I'll try to find some sort of recipe to steal from first.
Sunday I went out to pick up my contact lenses and decided to pick up a Papa Murphy's pizza. If you're a pizza person (and who isn't?), I can't recommend Papa Murphy's enough. Ten bucks gets you a fresh made pizza with real ingredients that you can cook up in 15 minutes at home. I recommend the Cowboy pizza: Pepperoni, Italian sausage, fresh mushrooms, black olives and herb & cheese blend. And enough fat and calories to ruin any exercise you put in at spinning class.
Call me Mr. Excitement, I guess.
Back to spin class tonight.
* * * * *
*assuming this would be a good thing
**I'm well aware that this doesn't make sense.
09 January 2007
here we go again
I've typed out a schedule for my life again...
This is the same schedule (adapted from here) that I worked off of training for last year's RAIN ride where I finished 216th of 855 finishing riders (1200 or so registered) (links to an excel document).
This year the schedule sure seems like a lot more work. I'm sure Gina, who is planning on her first ride this year, is thrilled.
The schedule worked really well though, even in last year's 90-some degree weather, so I'll stick with it. Maybe by then I'll have a new bike. Because that's just what I need.
I wondered how I'd feel about riding RAIN again this year, but just seeing that registration has opened has me pretty excited. I guess that means I enjoyed myself. This year I'm considering finishing and then adding on another 40 miles, just to get my double century ride badge... it's not very often that you're that close to 200 miles, so it might make sense to attempt.
Now if I could just get more of my friends involved...
* * * * *
and that's how you go from 235 to 183
Man I'm excited.
RAIN SCHEDULE – Strength to Spare
Week Mon. Tues. Wed. Thurs. Fri. Sat. Sun. Weekly
Easy* Pace* Brisk* Off Pace* Pace* Pace* Mileage
5/7 - 5/13 16 19.2 22.4 Off 19.2 64 24 164.8
5/14 - 5/20 16 20.8 24 Off 20.8 70.4 27.2 179.2
5/21 - 5/27 16 24 24 Off 24 76.8 28.8 193.6
5/28 - 6/3 17.6 25.6 30.4 Off 25.6 84.8 32 216
6/4 - 6/10 19.2 28.8 32 Off 28.8 94.4 35.2 238.4
6/11 - 6/17 20.8 30.4 36.8 Off 30.4 102.4 38.4 259.2
6/18 - 6/24 22.4 32 40 Off 32 113.6 43.2 283.2
6/25 - 7/1 25.6 32 43.2 Off 32 120 43.2 296
7/2 - 7/8 27.2 32 48 Off 32 120 51.2 310.4
RAIN WEEK (7/ 30.4 32 48 16 8 Easy 160 294.4
2435.2
RAIN WEEK is always a little off schedule due to the ride being on a Saturday.
This is the same schedule (adapted from here) that I worked off of training for last year's RAIN ride where I finished 216th of 855 finishing riders (1200 or so registered) (links to an excel document).
This year the schedule sure seems like a lot more work. I'm sure Gina, who is planning on her first ride this year, is thrilled.
The schedule worked really well though, even in last year's 90-some degree weather, so I'll stick with it. Maybe by then I'll have a new bike. Because that's just what I need.
I wondered how I'd feel about riding RAIN again this year, but just seeing that registration has opened has me pretty excited. I guess that means I enjoyed myself. This year I'm considering finishing and then adding on another 40 miles, just to get my double century ride badge... it's not very often that you're that close to 200 miles, so it might make sense to attempt.
Now if I could just get more of my friends involved...
* * * * *
and that's how you go from 235 to 183
Man I'm excited.
26 December 2006
the suit guy was right
I went back to Illinois for the holiday, and brought my suit along - because now that I've got a suit, I really have no reason to wear it.
Sunday I got suited up, buttoned up, took a look in the mirror, and thought "oh boy".
Back on the bike for me. I quick weighing at home last evening confirmed that I'm carrying about 10 extra pounds. It'll sneak up on you just like that.
The only question I have is was I ten pounds lighter when I bought the suit? It was only two weeks ago... seems unlikely. Was I impulsive? Probably. That's how I make major purchases.
In any case, the coat fits well, as long as I don't button up.
Idiot.
I celebrated my suit issues by eating something like 2 cinnamon rolls, then like 3 sausage cheese pastry things for breakfast yesterday, and a chicken breast, fettuccine, two pieces of lasagna, and two pieces of tiramisu for dinner last night. We had an Italian Christmas, and I ate like Fat Tony.
Tonight I'll be sweating with Coach Troy in my living room.
Sunday I got suited up, buttoned up, took a look in the mirror, and thought "oh boy".
Back on the bike for me. I quick weighing at home last evening confirmed that I'm carrying about 10 extra pounds. It'll sneak up on you just like that.
The only question I have is was I ten pounds lighter when I bought the suit? It was only two weeks ago... seems unlikely. Was I impulsive? Probably. That's how I make major purchases.
In any case, the coat fits well, as long as I don't button up.
Idiot.
I celebrated my suit issues by eating something like 2 cinnamon rolls, then like 3 sausage cheese pastry things for breakfast yesterday, and a chicken breast, fettuccine, two pieces of lasagna, and two pieces of tiramisu for dinner last night. We had an Italian Christmas, and I ate like Fat Tony.
Tonight I'll be sweating with Coach Troy in my living room.
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