Monday: Rest day.
Tuesday: Spin Class 950 calories.
Wednesday: Nothing.
Thursday: Thursday Night Light?!! aka "Hanging with the ACE Team" 720 Calories.
Friday: Nothing
Saturday: 57 Miles Mission Beach to Carlsbad and back.
Sunday: Really bad sinus headache and general tiredness killed my normal hike/walk workout. Consequently just did a little light walking around the Hillcrest farmers market and around town.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Walking pays off
Today we took our mileage up to 45 miles which is an all time high for me. We had 8 riders in our group today with a two newish people joining in. Both were absent last week but had ridden with us before. The pace line was a little choppy this week as we all continued to get used to riding with each other. Some of the riders were uncomfortable being so close to the person ahead to be able to draft effectively so we had a problem staying tight in a group. This is pretty bad because we end up with a gap between sets of riders and waste a lot of energy since there are now essentially two pace leaders.
The route was pretty much the same as last week starting in Carlsbad and riding South into San Diego and then turning around and coming back.
Check it out:
We did Torrey Pines one more time today and once again, I was very strong and passed all the other riders in my group to finish first again. Speaking later to Christine, she had a similar experience where as soon as she hit the incline she was able to separate from and pass from the rest of her group. We both have really strong legs and a lot of endurance from our time on the walk team.
We spent the last 10 miles rotating riders in the pace line. The leader would drop back and once they were "on" the back of the line, the new leader would set the pace for about 30 seconds before dropping back. Repeat. It was very good practice.
I'm really looking forward to next week's ride. I hope we do 50-miles.
The route was pretty much the same as last week starting in Carlsbad and riding South into San Diego and then turning around and coming back.
Check it out:
We did Torrey Pines one more time today and once again, I was very strong and passed all the other riders in my group to finish first again. Speaking later to Christine, she had a similar experience where as soon as she hit the incline she was able to separate from and pass from the rest of her group. We both have really strong legs and a lot of endurance from our time on the walk team.
We spent the last 10 miles rotating riders in the pace line. The leader would drop back and once they were "on" the back of the line, the new leader would set the pace for about 30 seconds before dropping back. Repeat. It was very good practice.
I'm really looking forward to next week's ride. I hope we do 50-miles.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Training Log February 25 - March 3
Monday: Another lunch meeting and no working out.
Tuesday: Spin class with the Team. 690 Calories. Highlight was the 10-minute standing climb. Yow. Talk about burning in the quads. I was feeling a little tired and thought I might skimp out after 5-minutes or so. I had done the full 8-minutes the week before. I rode next to my Mentor Lisa tonight and she challenged me saying that I couldn't stop until she did. What the hell, we both made the 10-minutes. Felt good except for the cramping in both calves 30 seconds after I stopped. I've been cramping a lot lately. Going to have to figure something out. Other exercise of note was the Team Spin. The group is divided into three parts and each part pedals as fast as they can for 20 seconds in their easiest gear. The next 40 seconds are easy spin while the other parts of the group do their sprint. Repeat 2 more times. I got my cadence up to 177 rpm which I hear is pretty good. It doesn't sound very hard, but believe me, it is.
Wednesday: Nothing
Thursday: Spin class (Thursday night light). 695 Calories. This was a scaled down version of Tuesday's class. The coaches don't want to poop everyone out before Saturday's long mileage. Did another 10-minute standing climb and this time my calves didn't freak out on me. I think I could have gone another few minutes so I can really see improvement in my bike fitness level.
Friday: Nothing
Saturday: Big Ride. 45 Miles. 2920 calories!
Sunday: A little cross training to stretch out the legs. 6-mile hike at Iron Mountain in Poway.
Tuesday: Spin class with the Team. 690 Calories. Highlight was the 10-minute standing climb. Yow. Talk about burning in the quads. I was feeling a little tired and thought I might skimp out after 5-minutes or so. I had done the full 8-minutes the week before. I rode next to my Mentor Lisa tonight and she challenged me saying that I couldn't stop until she did. What the hell, we both made the 10-minutes. Felt good except for the cramping in both calves 30 seconds after I stopped. I've been cramping a lot lately. Going to have to figure something out. Other exercise of note was the Team Spin. The group is divided into three parts and each part pedals as fast as they can for 20 seconds in their easiest gear. The next 40 seconds are easy spin while the other parts of the group do their sprint. Repeat 2 more times. I got my cadence up to 177 rpm which I hear is pretty good. It doesn't sound very hard, but believe me, it is.
Wednesday: Nothing
Thursday: Spin class (Thursday night light). 695 Calories. This was a scaled down version of Tuesday's class. The coaches don't want to poop everyone out before Saturday's long mileage. Did another 10-minute standing climb and this time my calves didn't freak out on me. I think I could have gone another few minutes so I can really see improvement in my bike fitness level.
Friday: Nothing
Saturday: Big Ride. 45 Miles. 2920 calories!
Sunday: A little cross training to stretch out the legs. 6-mile hike at Iron Mountain in Poway.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
sTorrey Pines Part Deux
Another big ride today. Just a hair under 40 miles. We started out in Carlsbad and rode to Del Mar and back. The B3 group consisted of 6 riders, down from the largish size of 12 from the week before. The groups are starting to even out. I was happy with my decision to stay with this group another week. The members of this group are all pretty strong riders and it seems that we are all getting more confident riding with each other. We had a minimum amount of "inchworm" syndrome this week. Inchworm syndrome is when the length of the pace line contracts and expands as each rider's pace changes. It makes it very hard to stay 12 inches off the back tire of the person you are following in a pace line to be able to draft effectively. Everyone rode a very consistent pace which made it a lot easier. I got some good tips from Coach Jay about how to maintain good drafting distance without braking so much and wasting energy trying to catch up.
We did the Torrey Pine thing again and this time riding through the gnats was terrible. There was no way to get through it without getting some in your mouth or nose. Nasty. Riding up the hill was harder for me this week than it was last week. Probably because I didn't get enough sleep.
I made some nutritional changes this week. One thing I did was use an electrolyte supplement in my water bottles. I drink a lot of water but I seemed to always be dehydrated. I think what was happening is that the electrolytes were being flushed out of my body with all the water I had been drinking and all the sweating. I also remembered some of my marathon training and ate a small salt packet 20 miles into the ride and felt instantly better. I also made sure to bring food this time and experimented with a couple types of energy bars. Overall I felt really good at the end of the day and definitely could have kept going.
The changes I had made to the fit on my bike were all great. No sign of foot numbness or knee trouble. The new pedals worked like a charm and I got a very satisfying click every time I got on the bike.
In other news, check out my kickin' new Captain America bicycle jersey.
Hell yeah...
We did the Torrey Pine thing again and this time riding through the gnats was terrible. There was no way to get through it without getting some in your mouth or nose. Nasty. Riding up the hill was harder for me this week than it was last week. Probably because I didn't get enough sleep.
I made some nutritional changes this week. One thing I did was use an electrolyte supplement in my water bottles. I drink a lot of water but I seemed to always be dehydrated. I think what was happening is that the electrolytes were being flushed out of my body with all the water I had been drinking and all the sweating. I also remembered some of my marathon training and ate a small salt packet 20 miles into the ride and felt instantly better. I also made sure to bring food this time and experimented with a couple types of energy bars. Overall I felt really good at the end of the day and definitely could have kept going.
The changes I had made to the fit on my bike were all great. No sign of foot numbness or knee trouble. The new pedals worked like a charm and I got a very satisfying click every time I got on the bike.
In other news, check out my kickin' new Captain America bicycle jersey.
Hell yeah...
Friday, February 22, 2008
Re-fit
Who says we don't have real weather in San Diego? It rained today. Actually it's still raining. Had to cancel my usual ride my bike to work day. Even with the weather, I still had some bike stuff to do. I had scheduled another appointment at Ye Olde Bike Shoppe, aka TrekStore San Diego, to check the fit of my bicycle. I had already been previously fitted but something was just a bit off. On the longer mileage, I had been feeling just a twinge of knee soreness. I had also felt some numbness in my feet. Nothing dramatic during the lower mileage but I was worried that it could turn into a bigger problem on the longer rides.
It took about 3 minutes in the store to figure out what was going on. It appears that I had my clips too far back on the shoe. They are supposed to be at the ball of your foot so that you get good power with each stroke. Mine were too far back, so I was basically riding on the arch of my foot. This resulted in me dropping the heel of my foot too far at each down stroke which was annoying my knee. Whip, zip, slam, bang, a few minutes with the alum wrench and I was good. Of course, now my seat was too far up so we had to spend a few minutes playing with that.
One other thing, I had been having trouble with my right pedal. My shoes wouldn't fully clip into them. We tried a bunch of things and then determined that it was a problem with the pedal itself. They replaced my pedals then and there and now I get a very satisfying click when I step in. Now, I'm ready to ride tomorrow in Carlsbad...
...if it would only stop raining!
It took about 3 minutes in the store to figure out what was going on. It appears that I had my clips too far back on the shoe. They are supposed to be at the ball of your foot so that you get good power with each stroke. Mine were too far back, so I was basically riding on the arch of my foot. This resulted in me dropping the heel of my foot too far at each down stroke which was annoying my knee. Whip, zip, slam, bang, a few minutes with the alum wrench and I was good. Of course, now my seat was too far up so we had to spend a few minutes playing with that.
One other thing, I had been having trouble with my right pedal. My shoes wouldn't fully clip into them. We tried a bunch of things and then determined that it was a problem with the pedal itself. They replaced my pedals then and there and now I get a very satisfying click when I step in. Now, I'm ready to ride tomorrow in Carlsbad...
...if it would only stop raining!
Monday, February 18, 2008
Training Log February 18-24
Monday: Nothing
Tuesday: Spin - 860 Calories.
Wednesday: Nothing
Thursday: Spin class canceled due to rain so we spun at home to the Spinerval dvd. 1260 calories of butt kicking.
Friday: It rained all day and I did nothing. So sad.
Saturday: 40 miles and 2550 calories later and I was ready for pancakes.
Sunday: More rain and lazy. My one day to rest and boy did I do a good job.
Tuesday: Spin - 860 Calories.
Wednesday: Nothing
Thursday: Spin class canceled due to rain so we spun at home to the Spinerval dvd. 1260 calories of butt kicking.
Friday: It rained all day and I did nothing. So sad.
Saturday: 40 miles and 2550 calories later and I was ready for pancakes.
Sunday: More rain and lazy. My one day to rest and boy did I do a good job.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
The Torrey Story
This week's big Saturday ride was supposed to be another session at Fiesta Island to practice pace lines without traffic. Apparently, there was some sort of triathlon time trial thing going on we had a last minute change of plans and had to hit the road after all. I decided to move up a group to the B3's. The group was 12 people with most being pretty experienced riders.
The ride was 2hrs 50 minutes and we rode 28.6 pretty hard miles. The highlight was "Torrey". There is a 1-1/4 mile stretch of road running along side Torrey Pines State Reserve that is a 1900 foot climb and it is all uphill. While not the most feared climb in San Diego, it not a hill to be trifled with and is usually spoken of in hushed tones. Our route first took us down the big hill and then we did a U-Turn to climb back up it. Going down was a blast. No paces line were in affect as everyone just screamed down the hills. I was doing just a hair under 25 mph on the way down. About halfway down the hill, something started hitting my face as I rode by. We were right near the ocean and there was a pretty strong wind blowing in so I assumed it was sand. Get to the bottom, and everyone is talking about it. I look down and see dead bugs splattered on my arms. We rode straight through a swarm of gnats, sand fleas or whatever they were. Good thing I ride with my mouth closed.
The ride back up the hill was adventure on it's own. I started out as pace leader as we headed back. We had actually gained a little elevation after the steep drop so the way back up to the top started with a downhill. I hadn't realized what exactly was going on so I tried to maintain a good pace leader speed. As soon as the downhill hit, people started flying past me. Whoops! I tried desperately to get into a higher gear so I could crank down the hill. To much, too fast as I throw my chain. Went from first to last in about 20 seconds. Frown. Chain is really locked up but I'm able to get back on the road in about 2 minutes with help from Coach Jay. It was a blessing in disguise as I get some nice one on one time with the Coach. As we start up the hill, he gives me some climbing tips. There's the standing climb, the seated rocking climb and one other I can't remember anymore. Next thing you know, I'm caught up the the last rider. I keep cranking. My fitness is pretty good right now with all the marathon training and with my rides up and down Fairmount avenue when I ride to work so I start passing people. I'm so glad I elected to get the triple cog set rather than the double when I bought my bike. Those baby gears really make a huge difference when climbing. All of a sudden, I'm at the top and I've caught all but 2 of the riders. Felt pretty good.
The ride back was pretty uneventful except that I made a huge mistake by not bringing any food with me. I stare jealously at the other riders eating everything from power bars to Oreo cookies. I won't make that mistake again. Energy started to wane pretty quickly but I made it back ok. Spoke to Coach Jay and we agreed for me to stay in this group for at least another week. While I'm a strong rider, my biking skills still need some polishing. The entire ride I tried to hold myself back from going out too fast but I think I was still too eager. At this mileage I've got the stamina to handle it, but I was pretty tired immediately after the session and pretty sore the day after. If I'm going to complete a century ride, I really need to learn to hold myself back.
The ride was 2hrs 50 minutes and we rode 28.6 pretty hard miles. The highlight was "Torrey". There is a 1-1/4 mile stretch of road running along side Torrey Pines State Reserve that is a 1900 foot climb and it is all uphill. While not the most feared climb in San Diego, it not a hill to be trifled with and is usually spoken of in hushed tones. Our route first took us down the big hill and then we did a U-Turn to climb back up it. Going down was a blast. No paces line were in affect as everyone just screamed down the hills. I was doing just a hair under 25 mph on the way down. About halfway down the hill, something started hitting my face as I rode by. We were right near the ocean and there was a pretty strong wind blowing in so I assumed it was sand. Get to the bottom, and everyone is talking about it. I look down and see dead bugs splattered on my arms. We rode straight through a swarm of gnats, sand fleas or whatever they were. Good thing I ride with my mouth closed.
The ride back up the hill was adventure on it's own. I started out as pace leader as we headed back. We had actually gained a little elevation after the steep drop so the way back up to the top started with a downhill. I hadn't realized what exactly was going on so I tried to maintain a good pace leader speed. As soon as the downhill hit, people started flying past me. Whoops! I tried desperately to get into a higher gear so I could crank down the hill. To much, too fast as I throw my chain. Went from first to last in about 20 seconds. Frown. Chain is really locked up but I'm able to get back on the road in about 2 minutes with help from Coach Jay. It was a blessing in disguise as I get some nice one on one time with the Coach. As we start up the hill, he gives me some climbing tips. There's the standing climb, the seated rocking climb and one other I can't remember anymore. Next thing you know, I'm caught up the the last rider. I keep cranking. My fitness is pretty good right now with all the marathon training and with my rides up and down Fairmount avenue when I ride to work so I start passing people. I'm so glad I elected to get the triple cog set rather than the double when I bought my bike. Those baby gears really make a huge difference when climbing. All of a sudden, I'm at the top and I've caught all but 2 of the riders. Felt pretty good.
The ride back was pretty uneventful except that I made a huge mistake by not bringing any food with me. I stare jealously at the other riders eating everything from power bars to Oreo cookies. I won't make that mistake again. Energy started to wane pretty quickly but I made it back ok. Spoke to Coach Jay and we agreed for me to stay in this group for at least another week. While I'm a strong rider, my biking skills still need some polishing. The entire ride I tried to hold myself back from going out too fast but I think I was still too eager. At this mileage I've got the stamina to handle it, but I was pretty tired immediately after the session and pretty sore the day after. If I'm going to complete a century ride, I really need to learn to hold myself back.
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