In Pasadena for one of Christine's events. She is currently running the inaugural Pasadena 1/2 Marathon. Actually, it is more of a re-inaugural as we were in town last year for her to do it and it was canceled at 4am the day of the race due to smoke from nearby wildfires.
My plan was to sleep in this morning to recover from a stressful day yesterday that saw me riding 50 miles with my Team, fighting with my convertible soft-top, that all of sudden stopped opening in mid-use, rushing to the Amtrak train station to catch the train and finally losing my wallet somewhere along the way!
4:15 am: the hotel phone on the desk rings, but somehow the one on the bedside doesn't making me have to get out of bed to address it.
4:30 am: The real wake-up call from the hotel
4:45 am: the follow-up wake up call.
6:00 am: the alarm clock goes off! Leftover setting from previous occupant
6:10 am: it goes off again! I guess I didn't turn it off correctly when fumbling in the dark and I just hit the snooze.
6:15 am: My cell phone alert goes off. I had put Christine's race in my calendar and didn't turn off the default 30 min alert.
7:30 am: cell phone rings...wrong number
I give up! Showered and now time to head out to the finish line.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Team Ride - 03/21/09
The day started out with a pancake breakfast as a reward for filling out the recommitment forms and agreeing to complete the program. This is good, what was bad was having to be there ready to eat before 6:30am. Very early start but those fresh flapjacks, crispy bacon and freshly sliced fruit were sure tasty.
Great team ride today. We had most of the gang ride today with the exception of Tammy who wasn't able to make it. We also added a new face, Mary and had the pleasure of having Coach Jack ride with us. This made for a pretty big group (Kent, Jeff, Natalie, Joan, Susan, Mary, Kirsten, me, mentor Tom, and Coach Jack for a total of 11 riders.
We started up the coast, rode inland through Rancho Santa Fe before looping around and making it back to home base. Here's a map of the route.
Rancho Santa Fe is a beautiful area of San Diego, with orange orchards, a nice lake, horse ranches and million dollar homes. The route was very scenic and nicely rolling and a great place to ride.
With the rolling terrain, the lesson for the day was momentum. Momentum is the friend of a century riding cyclist. The concept is simple...pedal on the downhills to pick up speed so that your momentum carries you a significant way up the following hill. You don't even have to pedal very hard. A very common mistake that inexperienced cyclists make is not pedaling on the downhills, instead electing to coast and rest. The only problem is that, resting at that time just means that you have to work that much harder when you eventually get to the uphill.
I kept harping on this from the back of the paceline but I guess the message wasn't really getting through and it looked like a few of the riders were working too hard on the climbs. Cycling is a team sport, so if one of the riders tires too quickly it slows the whole Team down. I decided that is was best to just demonstrate what I meant instead of trying to explain it. On the next decent sized downhill, I make a move from the very back of the pace line, pedaling and picking up speed and just blow past everyone, huffing and puffing on the uphill. Point made.
Oveall, the group continues to make major strides and are really starting to gel as a team.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Thursday night light? Right....
Thursday night spin class is supposed to be more of light workout so we can save the legs for the longer mileage Saturday sessions. Not today! Coach DJ (aka the sadist) was out sick on Tuesday but came back today with a vengeance.
The majority of the workout was more big gear work to build leg strength and endurance. Then we followed up with those damn interval sprints. 20 seconds "on" at 140+ rpm, 20 seconds back at 80 rpm to "recover", repeat ad naseum. Hmm, naseum sounds a lot like nauseated which is how I felt after the second set of those, when the intervals went from 20 seconds to 45 seconds.
I knew I was having a tough workout when I got to 90% max heart rate and looked down to see a puddle of my sweat beneath my bike. Well, it didn't kill me so that means it made me stronger, right?
Nix the plans to ride my bike to work tomorrow. Unplanned rest day tomorrow to be ready for the extra hill work planned for this Saturday.
The majority of the workout was more big gear work to build leg strength and endurance. Then we followed up with those damn interval sprints. 20 seconds "on" at 140+ rpm, 20 seconds back at 80 rpm to "recover", repeat ad naseum. Hmm, naseum sounds a lot like nauseated which is how I felt after the second set of those, when the intervals went from 20 seconds to 45 seconds.
I knew I was having a tough workout when I got to 90% max heart rate and looked down to see a puddle of my sweat beneath my bike. Well, it didn't kill me so that means it made me stronger, right?
Nix the plans to ride my bike to work tomorrow. Unplanned rest day tomorrow to be ready for the extra hill work planned for this Saturday.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Recommitment
Today I turned in my recommitment forms again promising to raise the $1500 I pledged for this season to participate. 25% of my fundraising pledge was due today ($375) to secure my spot on the Team. I got a late start on fundraising this season with the overload of work so it was a mad scramble, but I got mostly there falling just $20 short. The remainder of the money and anything in excess of the $1500 goes directly to the cause.
The recommitment deadline is the last chance to back out. The recommitment money is used to pay for the race entry, event jersey, the pre-event meal (Pasta Party) and end of event meal (Victory Party). Essentually, it's when the Society has to shell out money for me to participate. Up until that time, I've essentially only agreed to just train and any money I've raised, goes to the Society. By signing the recommitment forms, I've agreed to personally pay the balance if I don't hit the $1,500 pledge by the end of the season.
I am also personally responsible to pay for my own travel expenses, including airfare and hotel costs for the event. In this case, with both Christine and I traveling, this amounts to almost as much as I've pledged to raise . It's a decent hit to the pocketbook but all in all it's worth it. I'm contributing to a meaningful cause, enjoying the comaraderie of my Team and get to ride my bike around beautiful Lake Tahoe.
The recommitment deadline is the last chance to back out. The recommitment money is used to pay for the race entry, event jersey, the pre-event meal (Pasta Party) and end of event meal (Victory Party). Essentually, it's when the Society has to shell out money for me to participate. Up until that time, I've essentially only agreed to just train and any money I've raised, goes to the Society. By signing the recommitment forms, I've agreed to personally pay the balance if I don't hit the $1,500 pledge by the end of the season.
I am also personally responsible to pay for my own travel expenses, including airfare and hotel costs for the event. In this case, with both Christine and I traveling, this amounts to almost as much as I've pledged to raise . It's a decent hit to the pocketbook but all in all it's worth it. I'm contributing to a meaningful cause, enjoying the comaraderie of my Team and get to ride my bike around beautiful Lake Tahoe.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Fabulous Forty
Quite the butt-kicking crosstraining workout at Rehab United tonight. I've decided to do at least one night of cross training since I've been so cycling specific with my exercise lately. The workout tonight was called the Fabulous 40. It was essentially a circuit work out with some pretty funky exercises.
The stations were
Airplane Push-ups - This requires you to raise one arm up and over your body at the top of each push-up.
Bowler's Squat with dumbbells - Start standing straight up with dumbells in hand, move your right leg back behind and across your body while simultaneously crossing your arm with dumbbell in the same direction but in front of your body.
Box-Steps with weight - One foot on a 2 foot high box the other on the floor. Drive bottom foot up to the box top while lifting the weight over your head.
Swimmer's Something or other - lay belly on large ball for balance, and do the freestyle arm stroke while holding 10-lb weights.
Cross the body X-Chop: Start with 20 lb medicine ball at hip, step back while driving the ball across your body and over your opposite shoulder.
Wall Ball Toss - Stand with your side to a wall with a medium weight medicine ball at your hip. Drive the ball at the wall by twisting your body trunk, catch and repeat.
3-way Lat Pull downs - grab the resistance band cables and walk back to get some good tension. Drive both hands down and left, down and center, down and right. That counts as one!
The workout was called the fabulous forty because; you guessed it, you have to do each one 40 times...per arm or leg! This means that you have to do 40 reps of the boxsteps with each leg. Some were very tough, particularly the airplane push-ups. Others like the box steps weren't so bad for me because of the overall good condition of my legs from the cycling. It was hurting a lot of people though.
The workout was very interesting because of the diversity of the stations but also because they allowed us to be free form and split up the workout however we liked. My general strategy was to try and do 1/2 the reps at each station at a time. I had to do two of them over three sessions because they were hard for me, airplanes and the swimming one. Guess that means I need to start paying more attention to my upper body when working out.
The stations were
Airplane Push-ups - This requires you to raise one arm up and over your body at the top of each push-up.
Bowler's Squat with dumbbells - Start standing straight up with dumbells in hand, move your right leg back behind and across your body while simultaneously crossing your arm with dumbbell in the same direction but in front of your body.
Box-Steps with weight - One foot on a 2 foot high box the other on the floor. Drive bottom foot up to the box top while lifting the weight over your head.
Swimmer's Something or other - lay belly on large ball for balance, and do the freestyle arm stroke while holding 10-lb weights.
Cross the body X-Chop: Start with 20 lb medicine ball at hip, step back while driving the ball across your body and over your opposite shoulder.
Wall Ball Toss - Stand with your side to a wall with a medium weight medicine ball at your hip. Drive the ball at the wall by twisting your body trunk, catch and repeat.
3-way Lat Pull downs - grab the resistance band cables and walk back to get some good tension. Drive both hands down and left, down and center, down and right. That counts as one!
The workout was called the fabulous forty because; you guessed it, you have to do each one 40 times...per arm or leg! This means that you have to do 40 reps of the boxsteps with each leg. Some were very tough, particularly the airplane push-ups. Others like the box steps weren't so bad for me because of the overall good condition of my legs from the cycling. It was hurting a lot of people though.
The workout was very interesting because of the diversity of the stations but also because they allowed us to be free form and split up the workout however we liked. My general strategy was to try and do 1/2 the reps at each station at a time. I had to do two of them over three sessions because they were hard for me, airplanes and the swimming one. Guess that means I need to start paying more attention to my upper body when working out.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Training Log 03/16 -03/22
Monday: scheduled day off
Tuesday: spin class at the Leukemia and Lymphoma offices. The ACE coach was sick today so I spun with the main team. I don't know what was up today but I had zero energy. I was able to make it through most of the session with no issues but failed miserably at the standing climb part of the exercise. The legs felt dead tired. We were only standing for 10 minutes, which I usually have very little problem doing. I think I need more sleep and am still dehydrated from this weekend.
Wednesday: Fabulous Forty workout at Rehab United.
Thursday: Brutal spin work out.
Friday: Unplanned rest day.
Saturday: Team ride
Sunday: Sightseeing walking
Tuesday: spin class at the Leukemia and Lymphoma offices. The ACE coach was sick today so I spun with the main team. I don't know what was up today but I had zero energy. I was able to make it through most of the session with no issues but failed miserably at the standing climb part of the exercise. The legs felt dead tired. We were only standing for 10 minutes, which I usually have very little problem doing. I think I need more sleep and am still dehydrated from this weekend.
Wednesday: Fabulous Forty workout at Rehab United.
Thursday: Brutal spin work out.
Friday: Unplanned rest day.
Saturday: Team ride
Sunday: Sightseeing walking
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Eating Well
I can't remember the last time that I actually cooked something at the house. Anything I do cook is rarely no more complex than a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast, or nuking some Lean Cuisines for lunch. The only home cooked meals I get nowadays are the ones that Christine makes one to two nights a week. My new schedule has me eating dinner out M, T, W, Th. We also usually go out to a nice dinner either F or Sat. Sunday is usually eat at home day.
I've always had an idea that it would be nice to start cooking a little, maybe a meal a month. I'd find a cool recipe that sounded interesting and make the attempt. I'd buy whatever obscure cooking implement that I would need to complete the recipe and thereby build up my kitchen equipment over time. Maybe, I'd make a French dish to go along with a mini French film festival at the apartment and invite some friends over.
A few months ago I subscribed to Eating Well magazine as part of a school fundraiser for my little cousin, Adriana. There were no cycling magazines so I just picked this more or less on a whim. I have been browsing through the magazine looking at recipes over the last couple of weeks and decided to make the attempt tonight.
The two recipes I chose were
Asparagus/Radish Salad
Orange Glaze Chicken
We made a trip to the local grocery store and picked up the ingredients. Luckily, Christine has a pretty well stocked kitchen but we still had to pick up things like ground ginger, raisins, almonds along with the main ingredients.
I thought that these were relatively simple recipes but they ended up being more complex than I thought. One of the challenges, was figuring out when to start each of the parts. I'm sure cooking is more art than science, but I approached it like an engineer. I gathered all the ingredients, made a mental flow chart and tried to logically decide what needed to happen first.
First up with washing and chopping the vegetables as that could be done and set aside with no loss in quality. I thinly slicked the asparagus stalks, retaining the heads. I washed and cubed the radishes, I peeled the oranges, removing the pith, and cut in to wedges. I chopped and diced the almonds, and scallions.
I set that aside and made the flour, salt, pepper mix for the chicken. I then got the large sauce pan going with oil on medium temperature. Hmm, I'm going to need to steam the asparagus for a minute and then put them in ice water to keep them crisp and stop them from continuing to cook. Water boiling, use Christine's fancy bamboo steamer thingy. Oil is hot enough in the pan, dip the chicken in the flour mixture put in the pan, cover. Whoah, asparagus is done. Drain, put in the ice water...flip the chicken. Man, this is getting complicated. Lower the heat on the chicken. Time to start making the salad dressing. Damn, where's the Srirachi sauce...flip the chicken. Should I start boiling the noodles? Not yet. Baby, what does zest the orange mean? Chicken is browned, set it aside, pour the cup of white wine (no more, no less) into the sauce pan bring to a simmer. Where are the raisins? Whoops, forget the cinimmon stick. Ground cinimmon it is, then. We have just enough honey. A bit more salt. Time to put the chicken back in, cover. Time to boil the pasta! Mix in the asparagus, radish into the bowl with dressing. Flip the chicken. Getting close. Christine, set the table. Pasta is done, chicken is done, garnish the chicken with the orange slices, almonds.
Somehow everything is done at the same time, and we sit down to eat. Serve! And...it is delicious! The chicken is tender, there is enough sauce leftover for the pasta, the salad is spicy enough, there is just the right amount of cinimmon in the chicken. We have a nice sit down dinner at home. Success.
Afterwards, Christine gets to repair the disaster I've made of the kitchen. It was actually a lot of fun and is something that I'd like to do a few times a month.
I've always had an idea that it would be nice to start cooking a little, maybe a meal a month. I'd find a cool recipe that sounded interesting and make the attempt. I'd buy whatever obscure cooking implement that I would need to complete the recipe and thereby build up my kitchen equipment over time. Maybe, I'd make a French dish to go along with a mini French film festival at the apartment and invite some friends over.
A few months ago I subscribed to Eating Well magazine as part of a school fundraiser for my little cousin, Adriana. There were no cycling magazines so I just picked this more or less on a whim. I have been browsing through the magazine looking at recipes over the last couple of weeks and decided to make the attempt tonight.
The two recipes I chose were
Asparagus/Radish Salad
Orange Glaze Chicken
We made a trip to the local grocery store and picked up the ingredients. Luckily, Christine has a pretty well stocked kitchen but we still had to pick up things like ground ginger, raisins, almonds along with the main ingredients.
I thought that these were relatively simple recipes but they ended up being more complex than I thought. One of the challenges, was figuring out when to start each of the parts. I'm sure cooking is more art than science, but I approached it like an engineer. I gathered all the ingredients, made a mental flow chart and tried to logically decide what needed to happen first.
First up with washing and chopping the vegetables as that could be done and set aside with no loss in quality. I thinly slicked the asparagus stalks, retaining the heads. I washed and cubed the radishes, I peeled the oranges, removing the pith, and cut in to wedges. I chopped and diced the almonds, and scallions.
I set that aside and made the flour, salt, pepper mix for the chicken. I then got the large sauce pan going with oil on medium temperature. Hmm, I'm going to need to steam the asparagus for a minute and then put them in ice water to keep them crisp and stop them from continuing to cook. Water boiling, use Christine's fancy bamboo steamer thingy. Oil is hot enough in the pan, dip the chicken in the flour mixture put in the pan, cover. Whoah, asparagus is done. Drain, put in the ice water...flip the chicken. Man, this is getting complicated. Lower the heat on the chicken. Time to start making the salad dressing. Damn, where's the Srirachi sauce...flip the chicken. Should I start boiling the noodles? Not yet. Baby, what does zest the orange mean? Chicken is browned, set it aside, pour the cup of white wine (no more, no less) into the sauce pan bring to a simmer. Where are the raisins? Whoops, forget the cinimmon stick. Ground cinimmon it is, then. We have just enough honey. A bit more salt. Time to put the chicken back in, cover. Time to boil the pasta! Mix in the asparagus, radish into the bowl with dressing. Flip the chicken. Getting close. Christine, set the table. Pasta is done, chicken is done, garnish the chicken with the orange slices, almonds.
Somehow everything is done at the same time, and we sit down to eat. Serve! And...it is delicious! The chicken is tender, there is enough sauce leftover for the pasta, the salad is spicy enough, there is just the right amount of cinimmon in the chicken. We have a nice sit down dinner at home. Success.
Afterwards, Christine gets to repair the disaster I've made of the kitchen. It was actually a lot of fun and is something that I'd like to do a few times a month.
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