Cold Thoughts

Today had a rough start to it. For some reason this morning when I woke up I felt aweful. Actually I felt like I was really hungover and that sucked if I'm going to feel that way I really wish I had had the fun that went into getting that way. It was really bad. I barely made it to work and then barely made it through my one hour lecture without throwing up. I had to sit and give the lecture which is odd for me since I've never done that before and I tend to move around a lot when I'm giving lectures. Luckily for me as the day went on and we went into the lab portion of the day I started feeling better and by the time I got home from work tonight I was feeling ok and went decided to go ahead and get on the trainer. I still wasn't feeling 100% so I did a hour of steady tempo at the top end of my ownzone on the new monitor. I don't think I could have made it through another heavy interval session. The legs were pretty sore and I need to ease back into the training instead of hurting myself. I mean I'm not going to hurt myself until the practice cross race this weekend and the 2 days next weekend.

I've been thinking a lot lately about what gear I need for riding outside this winter. I still want to try to get outside as much as possible. I know I need more gear than what I have right now. I got some new bellweather leg warmers tonight which should help alot but I still need to get a new set of gloves. I'm kind of leaning towards the PI Lobster gloves and kind of just get something that I can use in February. I also need a new winter riding coat. Of course I like the new Twin Six wool jerseys or I could just wait and order a team winter jacket with our team gear. The problem is the team stuff won't be in until sometime in January. I'll have to figure it out or tough it out amd I'm sure there is other things that I'm going to need.

100% awesome

Now I need to get some sleep got a long day at the college tomorrow.





Harp

Training and thinking of Cross

I finally feel that I'm caught up enough on work that I can get a good training block in this week. I had to teach a class at the university last night so I used that as a recovery day after a couple of good rides this weekend and got in 2 different training sessions today. This morning I did my core workout. That is going to hurt tomorrow. It's going to be nice when I get myself used to doing them again. I feel like I'm going to be pretty sore tomorrow. When I got home from work tonight I hit the trainer for a set of heavy intervals. I kind of struggled through the intervals. It was a workout that I used to do on a regular basis. I need to keep up the training to get myself back to where I was so that I can then start improving.

As for the cross racing after a couple of rides this week I really am kind of enjoying the bike. I'm thinking avout doing a bit of practice with some folks this weekend hopefully. I think this look like it should be a good time and put me in the pain cave for a while. I'm not sure if I'm going to do both days or not but definetly one.

I'm kind of surprised that I was able to get through this post. I've had a problem with a tooth that got a cavity that then got infected and I've been taking some pain killers and feel a little off so hopefully it doesn't read to bad. Know I got to get to sleep.

Harp

Heartrate and Cross

These weekly post it seems are about all I've been getting in lately. Hopefully I can get things back on track with both the blog and the training. I think I've got things pretty well caught up as I can and things can at work and get back to normal.

I'm really ready to get the training going again and am going to try being a little more structured this winter. I got in a new heartrate monitor/cycling computer this week. I got the polar cs300.

I'm still trying to figure it out but it's got a lot of cool features and some easy upgrades I can add to it as I move on through training like adding a cadence monitor etc. I have only used it a couple of times so far. The other nice thing is since I can wear it as a watch and mount it on a bike with 2 different settings for 2 bikes I can mount it to my road bike and wear it on my wrist for when I'm on my mountain bike( for some reason I don't like having a computer mounted to my my mountain bike) I can know keep track of my time, distance, speed etc. Like I said I think it will really help me have a bit more structured of a training plan. To add to that structure I'm thinking about using a coach. I'm just trying to figure out when.

I also had a new surprise today. It looks like I'm going to race again this season. I was working at the shop today and was hanging out chatting with the owner and we started talking about the local cross race that also serves as the state championship. Anyways he asked me if I was going to race it. I said I wasn't sure I had been thinking about it but I wasn't sure if I wanted to do it on my mountain bike. I mean I'm probably going to get smoked pretty bad and being on a mountain bike would only make it worse if I had a cross bike I could use I definetly would. So he then offered up the Surly Cross Check that is one of his many personal bikes that fits me perfect to use for the race. So it know looks like I'm going to be cross racing in a couple of weeks. Which means the next couple weeks of training for me is going to be on a cross bike with a lot of practice dismounting and remounting.

I took the cross bike out today for a ride through wilderness. With it's flat tight and twisty track a lot of people have said that it is a blast on a cross bike. They were right. The speed was awesome. It took a while for me to get used to it. Not having the full suspension and just the difference in bike geometry took a while to get used to but once I got the feel for it it was good. I still prefer the mountain bike but the speed is nice.

Today was also my first real cold weather ride of the season. Mid thirties with a nice wind was rough and a reminder that it is early and I got a while to go. The ride out wasn't bad but when I was on my way home and facing the wind it was a bit chilly.

Not sure what tomorrow has to offer yet. It's not supposed to be as cold and windy with a bit of sun but we are celebrating the kids birthdays with my wifes family so I got to work a bit of time in around that.

Harp

Almost Free Weekend

Like I said in yesterdays post I pretty much had the weekend off and free from work except for the 5 hours I pulled at the shop and like I said a good chunk of that time was spent working on the bike. I got my front brake running smooth and noise free again. The rotor had been rubbing up against my the brake pads and making a nice annoying sqeeky sound. It really drove me nuts on the ride into the shop.

After I rode home from the shop I hung with the fam for a while and then geared up and headed out for a ride through wilderness. It felt great to be out on the trails again after a couple of week absence. Today was the first time in a while I really pushed it on the mountain bike in the woods. Actually I think it is the first time I've ridden at a high pace since my last race on Sept. 27th. It felt really good. The legs felt good and loose but I could tell I wasn't going at the same speed I was a month ago. I stopped to put let some of the pressure out of my tires (fine for riding home from the shop but way to much for the trail) and a fast rider was coming up as I was getting going again and he went around and I tried to grab his wheel but I just didn't have enough to stay with him for long. This felt a little odd for me. I'm not used to getting dropped on my home trail. Probably for the best. Reminds me that I need to get back to training regularly and get back into better form.

I had a good 1 1/2 hours on the bike plus the time riding back and forth from the shop. Not a bad day. Tomorrow I'm planning on heading to Branched Oak for some real trail time and get a bit of climbing in while we are still getting the nice temps in the 70's.

Harp

Weekend Off

After reading my last post a couple of times I really realized that I've been whining again. But it doesn't matter cause I don't have to work at the school or at the Links. I got to pull a small shift at the shop (most times I don't consider it work since what I'm mostly going to be doing is working on my bike) but other than that I'm not doing anything but riding. I didn't even bring any school work home with me (which is unusual for me). I'm just going to ride as much as I can and spend the rest of the time hanging with the kids.

I got to go get my stuff ready for a early morning spin before I go into the shop. I'm going to try to get a real post together this weekend.

Harp

Sticky Note Hell

This is what my office looks like. Probably not much training this week. Still trying to get caught up at work from all that I've had going on the last couple of weeks. Most of these "reminders" (several are stacked on top of each other and on the rest of my desk) came up today from the 3 hrs I spent in my office in between lab classes. Looking like better weather later in the week. I'm praying for some trail time.

Harp

Maybe Training

In my mind I want to dive back into training but my work schedule is fighting me on it. It seems like I still have a bunch of stuff piling up that I got to finish this week so training is still going to be a bit off and on.

I did have a good day on Friday though. I was up before work to do my core routine. I haven't done that for a while and it was pretty rough. I remember right before the season started I was going through the workout with ease and was going to change it up to make it a but tougher. After not doing it so long it hurt and yesterday and today I'm really sore. I was so sore yesterday that I was having a hard time moving around the kitchen at work. When I got home from work on Friday I had time to head out for a quick 20 mile ride on the road bike. It seems that it is that fall season when the road bike is going to see a lot of action. I really pushed it on the ride which I'm sure added to my soreness. I didn't have a chance to get anything in yesterday. I went to the Nebraska-Baylor game with my uncle and then was at work at ArborLinks the rest of the night. I was probably to sore to really do much of a workout anyways.

Today after I woke up and noticed that it was really windy(25-35 mph with gusts of 40+) so I decided to go out and ride in Pioneers Park. I took it pretty easy and did a few intervals but mostly I just tried to stay at a nice easy pace and stretch out the sore legs. Hopefully pretty soon I'm back to normal and these workouts don't cause me so many problems.

Now it's off to get ready for work and try to get through this week. Later.

Harp