It's not that I don't enjoy some good company on my rides and runs every now and then, but for the most part, the bulk of my training is solitary, and that's the way I like it. I don't know if it's because I made my first running breakthrough alone in the dreary Boston winter, or if it's because I'm forging my way as a cyclist alone on the River Trails in the wee hours of the morning... but I run/bike/think alone.
The hardest thing to adjust to with cycling is the formation of de-facto packs of strangers. There's usually low traffic in the morning, but on the weekends, there's a high probability of running into some sort of consterning riding situation. I think why this happens in cycling but not running has something to do with the draft effect and the pack mentality... which clearly I do not have.
Looking back, the riding buddy from last week was really fantastic because he was logical and serious and had the same agenda as me, ie. get to Seal Beach as fast as possible. The pulling/drafting ratio worked out really evenly, and I didn't feel too bad because I was working harder on the pulls than I normally would have alone.
Unfortunately most people are not orderly group riders. This weekend I saw and experienced a whole bunch of annoying scenarios... ranging from people who just latch on to you when you pass them and just draft and never pull, to people who speed up and slow down erratically, and people who are weirdly aggressive about getting in front but then slow down in front of you.
I'm not above sitting back and drafting in dire situations... but in normal circumstances, I really just want to make it on my own. Just go ahead or let me go... I've never had this problem with runners and haven't quite figured out exactly what the psychology is, or how to gracefully extricate myself from these situations.
Sunday 04/26: 78.3 miles, 4:34:33 (17.1 mph), Seal Beach the short way. A pretty awesome ride that went so smoothly it was like the opposite of last week--no snake, no crash, no crazy riding partners, no extreme dehydration. Much more even splits this time, 2:14 out and 2:20 back. Felt pretty good even at the end. I'm actually really excited about that 17.1 avg. It's a big jump from last week, and this time it was all on my own.
I actually then immediately drove to Irvine and rode 25 additional miles today, but they were with my friends from work, and probably too slow to be considered training. There were some nice big hills in there though, and some nice ocean views. We also had a really delicious frozen chocolate dipped banana as a snack in the middle and the most delicious Vietnamese food ever afterwards!
Monday 04/27: Off, semi-planned rest day. Felt like I should take it precautionarily, plus, I got home pretty late from my Sunday adventures, and probably would not have woken up on time. It seems like things are defaulting to the two off day system, but I feel like its worth it to do the higher volume on the weekends.
Tuesday 04/28: 44.2 miles, 2:52:34 (15.4 mph), 12 x RB laps plus bathroom detour. Ouch... my first really bad ride. I guess this was kind of a wake up call in terms of cumulative fitness. My legs actually didn't FEEL tired on Sunday or Monday, but they felt terrible today. In addition, I had cramping in both thighs and L calf... it took about 3 - 4 laps of crawling (think cycling equivalent of 10 minute miles) to finally get my legs loosened up enough to be able to put ANY power at all on the pedals. It was ugly. Things got progressively better after that, but I still felt "off" the entire ride, just tired and weak.
I've only abandoned one ride in my life, and the thought did cross my mind that I might have to consider that with this one if my legs didn't loosen up soon. It was pretty discouraging. It may have been prudent to cut this ride short anyways, but I ended up pedaling through all 12 laps in my frustration... and also to get my average at least over 15 mph. It just felt like such a letdown after a great ride on Sunday. I've decided to feel out tomorrow's shorter ride before making a decision about scaling back for the rest of the week. Bah, humbug!
Wednesday 04/29: Off, unexcused absence. I came home on Tuesday in a foul mood and went to bed immediately at 8:30 pm, yet somehow I still couldn't wake up at 6 am. Guiltily dozed for an hour until it became too late to do my ride, so I went back to sleep for another hour and didn't feel that much better when I did get up. Craptastic....what the hell is wrong with me?
Thursday 04/30: 46 miles, 2:43:35 (16.8 mph) Peter's Short Long Loop. It was emotionally critical for me to have a good ride today, and somehow I managed to pull it off. The inner tube that I patched with duct tape was auspiciously intact this morning, which I took to be a good sign. Nonetheless, I felt kind of weak and uneasy in the beginning, and the wind was tough on the middle section, but I felt really strong coming back from Encanto which was encouraging. I think I just have to chalk this week up to an unplanned down week and try not put too much stock in what happened.
Friday 05/01: Off, shots. Ate a whole bunch of weird things towards the end of the day and felt a little bit barfy. Really wish I had a scale.
Saturday 05/02: 63.6 miles, 3:38:40 (17.4 mph) Rosemead Crossing via Encanto Park with a detour to the base of the 39 on the way home. Felt really strong today, I guess I'm "well rested" thanks to the unplanned off day. I did feel like I quashed my demons from Tuesday though (fingers crossed!) It was kind of gloomy today, the winds were pretty brutal on the River Trail, really hoping that it won't be like this tomorrow for the long ride!
Training this week: 232 miles, 13:49:22
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Week 3: Clothing (04/19/2009 - 04/25/2009)
When the weather turned hot, I ransacked my room for my mesh cycling jersey and found that I had left it in Denver--calamity of the world! For a person who owns exactly 2 jerseys, of which exactly 1 is for warm weather, this actually is a calamity...
Not wanting to do my long ride in the heavier jersey, and feeling like I've adequately demonstrated my commitment to cycling frequently, I decided to make a new purchase.
As it turns out, however, women's cycling clothing is 1) ugly and/or 2) expensive. Lots of pastel colors... and patterns... eeeeeeeee. Fortunately, I found a nice mesh jersey that's mostly white, and decided that for $70 less than the black pair, I could deal with a light blue pair of shorts that were on sale. They do go with my bike, at least... and I suppose I am a girl.
Sunday 04/19: 78.7 miles, 4:47:34 (16.4 mph), Seal Beach the short way. Wow, this was an epic ride. Other than the fact that I suddenly rode 30 miles farther than my other rides, I also crashed at one of the gates, AND I saw the largest snake I've ever seen outside of a glass box... it was towards the end of my ride, so I just had my head down trying to get home as quickly as possible, so I almost rode over it. I screamed like a little girl, swerved and then pedaled furiously away, visions of it jumping up and sinking its fangs into my calf swirling in my head. It wasn't a cute little garden snake... it was a thick, dark, squiggly thing about as thick as my wrist. Glaghghalghalhga....
Otherwise, I took it easy for the first section up until the Rosemead crossing, after which I somehow acquired a riding buddy for the rest of the way down to Seal Beach. So, the 16.4 mph is probably a bit inflated, but I did my fair share of pulling. The plan was to just go easy and at my own pace, but somehow the competitive instincts just took over. I didn't want to be the weak link. We must have been averaging 21-23 mph... it made the time go by a LOT quicker. I arrived there in just over 2 hours.
Unfortunately, the other guy was going home to Seal Beach, vs. I still had the return journey left. I admit I felt a little bit defeated seeing that I still had 39 miles left to go... but I had a gu and felt better. It was hotter and windier on the way back, but I was still crunching along at a decent pace until I ran out of water, missed a crucial water fountain and the last 30 minutes quickly turned into the last 45 minutes. The last few miles were really brutal, but I made it!
Monday 04/20: Off, unexcused absence... the alarm went off, and my entire lower body felt not at all recovered... then I rolled out of bed and realized that my right knee, hip and shoulder were now all sore and bruised over from yesterday's fall. I decided to call it a rest day and go back to sleep. Then I woke up and felt really guilty for not having ridden.
Tuesday 04/21: 44.2 miles, 2:44:21 (16.1 mph), 12 x RB laps with short bathroom detour. I did my penance for yesterday's unplanned off day... 12 laps of the RB, 7 of them without my ipod (it died) ... sooooooo boring. I felt pretty good though, went real easy, but got a little ansty towards the end and did a few a little bit faster. It was really hot already by 8:30 as I was finishing up, but I felt good.
Wednesday 04/22: 35 miles (rounded in honor of Brain's engagement!), 2:04:47 (16.7 mph), Encanto Park to a little ways up the 39 and back the same way. Some better temperatures! A nice day and calm winds, I felt inspired to go just a little ways up the 39 but I had to cut myself off, to avoid becoming even more late for work. 2 hours feels so short now, I was starting to get the same guilty feeling that you get when you only run 5-6 miles and it is NOT a recovery day. I felt really strong today though, especially on the way back, and I'm slowly approaching some decent avg. mphs. Still a ways to go, but it's good to see the progress.
Thursday 04/23: 45.8 miles, 2:46:00 (16.5 mph), Peter's Short Long Loop. I was pretty encouraged that this was as fast as it was, because I felt pretty awful in the morning. My L calf was cramping, and I just felt tired and worn out. Had trouble waking up, and felt pretty droopy for the first hour or so. Started feeling better after going real easy for about 80 minutes. I had to revisit the place where I saw the giant snake... fortunately it wasn't there, but the baby rabbits were out in force--so cute! Then I ate a large quantity of fruit and salad before ruining it all with 1.5 donuts and some candy.
Friday 04/24: Off, shots. In addition to not riding, I ate a lot of cookie dough and icecream at work and felt kind of ill. Things are not looking good on the weight loss project... though since I don't have a functional scale, I don't really know what the damage is.
Saturday 04/25: 58 miles, 3:29:12 (16.6 mph), Rosemead crossing via Encanto park and back the same way. This was a perfectly fine ride, from the functional standpoint.... but for some reason there were just a lot of irritants. I was having really terrible luck with the traffic lights, cars were really pissing me off, and then I ran into this disgruntling riding situation on the River Trail, with 3 other people who were intent on riding RIGHT in front of me. With the winds picking up, I really didn't want their draft, so I kept trying to go around them... but every time I would get some distance, they would go around me and then slow down again.
Unfortunately, I just couldn't seem to achieve a breakaway, and eventually I tired myself out trying to attack and just let myself be dropped, which at least fixed the drafting situation. Nevertheless, I felt irate and crappy about myself about not being able to achieve the breakaway... and had to fight my instinct to tack on an extra 5 miles to soothe the inner demons. Instead, I sped off back home, full of irritated energy to propel me.
Training this week: 261.7 miles, 15:51:54
Not wanting to do my long ride in the heavier jersey, and feeling like I've adequately demonstrated my commitment to cycling frequently, I decided to make a new purchase.
As it turns out, however, women's cycling clothing is 1) ugly and/or 2) expensive. Lots of pastel colors... and patterns... eeeeeeeee. Fortunately, I found a nice mesh jersey that's mostly white, and decided that for $70 less than the black pair, I could deal with a light blue pair of shorts that were on sale. They do go with my bike, at least... and I suppose I am a girl.
Sunday 04/19: 78.7 miles, 4:47:34 (16.4 mph), Seal Beach the short way. Wow, this was an epic ride. Other than the fact that I suddenly rode 30 miles farther than my other rides, I also crashed at one of the gates, AND I saw the largest snake I've ever seen outside of a glass box... it was towards the end of my ride, so I just had my head down trying to get home as quickly as possible, so I almost rode over it. I screamed like a little girl, swerved and then pedaled furiously away, visions of it jumping up and sinking its fangs into my calf swirling in my head. It wasn't a cute little garden snake... it was a thick, dark, squiggly thing about as thick as my wrist. Glaghghalghalhga....
Otherwise, I took it easy for the first section up until the Rosemead crossing, after which I somehow acquired a riding buddy for the rest of the way down to Seal Beach. So, the 16.4 mph is probably a bit inflated, but I did my fair share of pulling. The plan was to just go easy and at my own pace, but somehow the competitive instincts just took over. I didn't want to be the weak link. We must have been averaging 21-23 mph... it made the time go by a LOT quicker. I arrived there in just over 2 hours.
Unfortunately, the other guy was going home to Seal Beach, vs. I still had the return journey left. I admit I felt a little bit defeated seeing that I still had 39 miles left to go... but I had a gu and felt better. It was hotter and windier on the way back, but I was still crunching along at a decent pace until I ran out of water, missed a crucial water fountain and the last 30 minutes quickly turned into the last 45 minutes. The last few miles were really brutal, but I made it!
Monday 04/20: Off, unexcused absence... the alarm went off, and my entire lower body felt not at all recovered... then I rolled out of bed and realized that my right knee, hip and shoulder were now all sore and bruised over from yesterday's fall. I decided to call it a rest day and go back to sleep. Then I woke up and felt really guilty for not having ridden.
Tuesday 04/21: 44.2 miles, 2:44:21 (16.1 mph), 12 x RB laps with short bathroom detour. I did my penance for yesterday's unplanned off day... 12 laps of the RB, 7 of them without my ipod (it died) ... sooooooo boring. I felt pretty good though, went real easy, but got a little ansty towards the end and did a few a little bit faster. It was really hot already by 8:30 as I was finishing up, but I felt good.
Wednesday 04/22: 35 miles (rounded in honor of Brain's engagement!), 2:04:47 (16.7 mph), Encanto Park to a little ways up the 39 and back the same way. Some better temperatures! A nice day and calm winds, I felt inspired to go just a little ways up the 39 but I had to cut myself off, to avoid becoming even more late for work. 2 hours feels so short now, I was starting to get the same guilty feeling that you get when you only run 5-6 miles and it is NOT a recovery day. I felt really strong today though, especially on the way back, and I'm slowly approaching some decent avg. mphs. Still a ways to go, but it's good to see the progress.
Thursday 04/23: 45.8 miles, 2:46:00 (16.5 mph), Peter's Short Long Loop. I was pretty encouraged that this was as fast as it was, because I felt pretty awful in the morning. My L calf was cramping, and I just felt tired and worn out. Had trouble waking up, and felt pretty droopy for the first hour or so. Started feeling better after going real easy for about 80 minutes. I had to revisit the place where I saw the giant snake... fortunately it wasn't there, but the baby rabbits were out in force--so cute! Then I ate a large quantity of fruit and salad before ruining it all with 1.5 donuts and some candy.
Friday 04/24: Off, shots. In addition to not riding, I ate a lot of cookie dough and icecream at work and felt kind of ill. Things are not looking good on the weight loss project... though since I don't have a functional scale, I don't really know what the damage is.
Saturday 04/25: 58 miles, 3:29:12 (16.6 mph), Rosemead crossing via Encanto park and back the same way. This was a perfectly fine ride, from the functional standpoint.... but for some reason there were just a lot of irritants. I was having really terrible luck with the traffic lights, cars were really pissing me off, and then I ran into this disgruntling riding situation on the River Trail, with 3 other people who were intent on riding RIGHT in front of me. With the winds picking up, I really didn't want their draft, so I kept trying to go around them... but every time I would get some distance, they would go around me and then slow down again.
Unfortunately, I just couldn't seem to achieve a breakaway, and eventually I tired myself out trying to attack and just let myself be dropped, which at least fixed the drafting situation. Nevertheless, I felt irate and crappy about myself about not being able to achieve the breakaway... and had to fight my instinct to tack on an extra 5 miles to soothe the inner demons. Instead, I sped off back home, full of irritated energy to propel me.
Training this week: 261.7 miles, 15:51:54
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Week 2: Interruptions (04/12/2009 - 04/18/2009)
Ah, the two off days--bad memories of last year... *shudder*
I suppose it's for the best though, Week 2 is kind of the macroscale of Day 2, seeing as one is quite a bit more tired, but not very much more fit. I'm feeling a bit wiped out, but it could be as a result of my time at altitude, or perhaps sleep deprivation.
Cycling is strange in so much that the effect of cumulative fatigue seems to be much less than with running. The great thing is, you can train yourself into the ground, and still be mostly okay to go again the next day. I think this sort of increased license to roll out the miles with reckless abandon is very soothing to my training deprived, neurotic soul.
Sunday 04/12: 35.5 miles, ~2:20, Laps around Washington Park and random loop around the city with Peter in the rain. It started drizzling as soon as we got out the door, and progressed into some pretty heavy rain at the end, but it honestly didn't bother me that much. It was kind of soothing in a dreary sort of way. Felt pretty tired today, basically worked out that the only way to go a semi decent pace was to hang onto Peter's wheel for dear life, and even then I felt like I was working pretty hard. Ate some delicious delicious cupcakes before and afterwards.
Monday 04/13: Off, traveling. Debacle at the airport this morning, and then budget meetings were scheduled late into the evening, so I missed the allergy office hours entirely. Sadly, this will mean that there's a second off day coming this week :(.
Tuesday 04/14: 45.7 miles, 2:51:10 (16.1 mph), Peter's Short Long Loop. Slept in until 5:30, but it was going to be a big day at the office, so I went on this longer ride anyways to shake out some nerves. I thought I'd feel good after the day off, but kind of like with running and off days, I felt a little stiff and out of sorts. The middle hour felt really blah, then started to feel a lot better towards the end.
Wednesday 04/15: 37.6 miles, 2:27:10 (15.2 mph), 10 x RB laps. Wow, this is not a good week for waking up on time. Slept in until 6 am, and honestly felt like I was still asleep for a good portion of this ride. Perhaps as a result, the laps went by fairly pleasantly, but there was a pretty unusual headwind on the uphill side, which I determined to be the cause of the slowness.
Thursday 04/16: 33.9 miles, 2:07:07 (16 mph), Encanto Park to North end of River Trail and back the same way. An exceedingly pleasant ride! Sunny but not too warm. Wind was acting up again, which made the going tough in the beginning, but on the flip side it was kind of neat to be hurtling along effortlessly at 25+ mph for a few miles on the way back. Felt well rested and not tired for the first time in a few days.
Friday 04/17: Off, shots. Got some much needed sleep after staying at work late yesterday to work on my presentation for today. All in all my off days worked out fairly auspiciously, so I will cease the complaining.
Saturday 04/18: 51.2 miles, 3:10:58 (16.1 mph), Peter's Short Long Loop Extended to North end of River Trail. Slept in until 10:30 (!) and kind of got blind sided by the newly uncomfortably warm weather. Apparently this rendered the water supply situation inadequate, and I was feeling pretty parched and exhausted the last 40 minutes or so. Oooof. I made it home though, and drank the entire water pitcher in the fridge.
Training this week: 204 miles, 12:56:25
Goals: I'm not finding this function very useful with cycling, primarily bc I have no real training plan, so I'm not going to set these anymore.
I suppose it's for the best though, Week 2 is kind of the macroscale of Day 2, seeing as one is quite a bit more tired, but not very much more fit. I'm feeling a bit wiped out, but it could be as a result of my time at altitude, or perhaps sleep deprivation.
Cycling is strange in so much that the effect of cumulative fatigue seems to be much less than with running. The great thing is, you can train yourself into the ground, and still be mostly okay to go again the next day. I think this sort of increased license to roll out the miles with reckless abandon is very soothing to my training deprived, neurotic soul.
Sunday 04/12: 35.5 miles, ~2:20, Laps around Washington Park and random loop around the city with Peter in the rain. It started drizzling as soon as we got out the door, and progressed into some pretty heavy rain at the end, but it honestly didn't bother me that much. It was kind of soothing in a dreary sort of way. Felt pretty tired today, basically worked out that the only way to go a semi decent pace was to hang onto Peter's wheel for dear life, and even then I felt like I was working pretty hard. Ate some delicious delicious cupcakes before and afterwards.
Monday 04/13: Off, traveling. Debacle at the airport this morning, and then budget meetings were scheduled late into the evening, so I missed the allergy office hours entirely. Sadly, this will mean that there's a second off day coming this week :(.
Tuesday 04/14: 45.7 miles, 2:51:10 (16.1 mph), Peter's Short Long Loop. Slept in until 5:30, but it was going to be a big day at the office, so I went on this longer ride anyways to shake out some nerves. I thought I'd feel good after the day off, but kind of like with running and off days, I felt a little stiff and out of sorts. The middle hour felt really blah, then started to feel a lot better towards the end.
Wednesday 04/15: 37.6 miles, 2:27:10 (15.2 mph), 10 x RB laps. Wow, this is not a good week for waking up on time. Slept in until 6 am, and honestly felt like I was still asleep for a good portion of this ride. Perhaps as a result, the laps went by fairly pleasantly, but there was a pretty unusual headwind on the uphill side, which I determined to be the cause of the slowness.
Thursday 04/16: 33.9 miles, 2:07:07 (16 mph), Encanto Park to North end of River Trail and back the same way. An exceedingly pleasant ride! Sunny but not too warm. Wind was acting up again, which made the going tough in the beginning, but on the flip side it was kind of neat to be hurtling along effortlessly at 25+ mph for a few miles on the way back. Felt well rested and not tired for the first time in a few days.
Friday 04/17: Off, shots. Got some much needed sleep after staying at work late yesterday to work on my presentation for today. All in all my off days worked out fairly auspiciously, so I will cease the complaining.
Saturday 04/18: 51.2 miles, 3:10:58 (16.1 mph), Peter's Short Long Loop Extended to North end of River Trail. Slept in until 10:30 (!) and kind of got blind sided by the newly uncomfortably warm weather. Apparently this rendered the water supply situation inadequate, and I was feeling pretty parched and exhausted the last 40 minutes or so. Oooof. I made it home though, and drank the entire water pitcher in the fridge.
Training this week: 204 miles, 12:56:25
Goals: I'm not finding this function very useful with cycling, primarily bc I have no real training plan, so I'm not going to set these anymore.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Week 1: Fat (04/05/2009 - 04/11/2009)
I've been waiting... patiently. In the beginning, it's easy to make gains--or rather in this case, losses:
I thought that if I waited a week or so to weigh myself again, I'd see a marvelous drop--must more satisfying than seeing a slow trend downwards. Not only have I been riding consistently, but I've gone cold turkey on Cupcakes and second dinners. Things are looking better around the middle, and it's already gotten easier to cram my fat ass into jeans every morning. So, it seemed as if it would not be a matter of IF I had lost any weight, but... how much.
Around midweek I broke down and weighed myself again, and by golly my eyes buggered out: I've gained 1 pound! Is it possible that at this juncture, the muscle gain is outpacing the fat loss? I mean, there's got to be SOME fat loss, right? Ho, hum. Something about delayed gratification. I suppose for the time being, being fat must remain part of my newly mobile identity.
Sunday 04/05: 25.13 miles, 1:35:44 (15.7 mph), 6 x RB laps. What a difference a few days makes. It was windier and yet warmer than I'd like, but there was a significant improvement from the first two days, especially on the slightly uphill side. Was feeling pretty good, so I tacked on an extra lap, but on this extra lap, holy moly, I got my ass handed to me by a 75 year old asian man who had (I kid you not) a clear plastic bag full of chinese food tied to the back of his seat!
Monday 04/06: 41.58 miles, 2:37:23 (15.8 mph), Peter's short long loop backwards. Started from where I dropped off my car at the shop, so that cut about 4 miles, but they were pleasant downhill miles, so I didn't feel too bad. I was a little anxious about increasing the mileage, but this ride went really well! Started out easy, but picked it up along the way and felt great through the end. # of bees that flew into my mouth: three.
Tuesday 04/07: 28.37 miles, 1:47:03 (15.8 mph), 7 x RB laps. Feeling a bit uninspired today, so headed to the RB. Started out feeling a little bit on the tired side, but then felt better. On lap 6, I had to push a little bit to stay ahead of another female cyclist. We passed each other back and forth a few times, but I think I won this round, because she dropped way back on lap 7. I kept up the pace. It was a lot easier than I imagined. It felt good to go a little faster and touch upon some competitive instincts. Also, finally made it up that little hill on the way back w/o granny gears... eeeee, the climbing is definitely worse off than the flats.
Wednesday 04/08: 32.73 miles, 2:04:17 (15.8 mph), Encanto Park to North end of River Trails by Highway 39, back on Huntington. Ahhhhh, the wind, you rat bastard... whether it's slowing down my 2 mile repeats at the track, or impeding my progress on the bike... no, you can't just leave people alone now can you? I really thought I'd get my first >16 mph reading today, but ran into some nasty headwinds/crosswinds after Encanto Park, which rapidly quashed down my efforts. Otherwise it was a pleasant ride.
Thursday 04/09: 45.7 miles, 2:49:12 (16.2 mph), Peter's Short Long Loop. One day late, but just as awesome! Started out real easy, so I wasn't sure what the time would look like, but felt great and rode strong. Went a little crazy on that end part between Caltech and home, because I wanted to beat the clock (< style="font-weight: bold;">
(Brain, see below for some fabulous non significant figured approximations :))
Friday 04/10: 37 miles, 2:30-ish, Peter's work to home via a little ways along Deer Creek Canyon. Took the train to go collect Peter from work, but got lost along the way, so we ran out of daylight... so I didn't get to climb, but I went a short ways up a hilly side street which was really neat! Overall, this was a pretty difficult ride. Rolling hills are my worst suited terrain and there was plenty of that, so I got tired pretty quick. I also felt like I maxed out my HR at several points to keep up/catch up with Peter. Felt really dead on the way home.
Saturday 04/11: 53 miles, 4:30-ish, Deer Creek Canyon to High Grade Road, maybe 7 miles of climbing. A pretty epic ride. It was really hard from the beginning bc of the strong winds, but surprisingly things were calmer up in the mountains. There was some really wonderful mountain roads. Had to bail a little earlier than I wanted, bc the gearing on this bike is much harder than on mine, but was pleased to have made it even so far. I'd like to go back sometime, this is a great road.
Coming home was the scariest experience I've ever had on a bike. It was gusting heavily, and I was being blown about horribly--at one point, dangerously close to oncoming traffic. I think the amount of adrenaline alone kept me pedaling into the wind, despite the terrific effort it took to move forwards. Thankfully it was smooth sailing the last 10 miles home when the wind was safely behind me. Felt pretty good when I got home, and made delicious delicious pizzas :).
Training this week: ~263 miles, 17:53:39
Goals: 175 miles (25 per day?) I really don't know how to goal set realistically for riding...
I thought that if I waited a week or so to weigh myself again, I'd see a marvelous drop--must more satisfying than seeing a slow trend downwards. Not only have I been riding consistently, but I've gone cold turkey on Cupcakes and second dinners. Things are looking better around the middle, and it's already gotten easier to cram my fat ass into jeans every morning. So, it seemed as if it would not be a matter of IF I had lost any weight, but... how much.
Around midweek I broke down and weighed myself again, and by golly my eyes buggered out: I've gained 1 pound! Is it possible that at this juncture, the muscle gain is outpacing the fat loss? I mean, there's got to be SOME fat loss, right? Ho, hum. Something about delayed gratification. I suppose for the time being, being fat must remain part of my newly mobile identity.
Sunday 04/05: 25.13 miles, 1:35:44 (15.7 mph), 6 x RB laps. What a difference a few days makes. It was windier and yet warmer than I'd like, but there was a significant improvement from the first two days, especially on the slightly uphill side. Was feeling pretty good, so I tacked on an extra lap, but on this extra lap, holy moly, I got my ass handed to me by a 75 year old asian man who had (I kid you not) a clear plastic bag full of chinese food tied to the back of his seat!
Monday 04/06: 41.58 miles, 2:37:23 (15.8 mph), Peter's short long loop backwards. Started from where I dropped off my car at the shop, so that cut about 4 miles, but they were pleasant downhill miles, so I didn't feel too bad. I was a little anxious about increasing the mileage, but this ride went really well! Started out easy, but picked it up along the way and felt great through the end. # of bees that flew into my mouth: three.
Tuesday 04/07: 28.37 miles, 1:47:03 (15.8 mph), 7 x RB laps. Feeling a bit uninspired today, so headed to the RB. Started out feeling a little bit on the tired side, but then felt better. On lap 6, I had to push a little bit to stay ahead of another female cyclist. We passed each other back and forth a few times, but I think I won this round, because she dropped way back on lap 7. I kept up the pace. It was a lot easier than I imagined. It felt good to go a little faster and touch upon some competitive instincts. Also, finally made it up that little hill on the way back w/o granny gears... eeeee, the climbing is definitely worse off than the flats.
Wednesday 04/08: 32.73 miles, 2:04:17 (15.8 mph), Encanto Park to North end of River Trails by Highway 39, back on Huntington. Ahhhhh, the wind, you rat bastard... whether it's slowing down my 2 mile repeats at the track, or impeding my progress on the bike... no, you can't just leave people alone now can you? I really thought I'd get my first >16 mph reading today, but ran into some nasty headwinds/crosswinds after Encanto Park, which rapidly quashed down my efforts. Otherwise it was a pleasant ride.
Thursday 04/09: 45.7 miles, 2:49:12 (16.2 mph), Peter's Short Long Loop. One day late, but just as awesome! Started out real easy, so I wasn't sure what the time would look like, but felt great and rode strong. Went a little crazy on that end part between Caltech and home, because I wanted to beat the clock (< style="font-weight: bold;">
(Brain, see below for some fabulous non significant figured approximations :))
Friday 04/10: 37 miles, 2:30-ish, Peter's work to home via a little ways along Deer Creek Canyon. Took the train to go collect Peter from work, but got lost along the way, so we ran out of daylight... so I didn't get to climb, but I went a short ways up a hilly side street which was really neat! Overall, this was a pretty difficult ride. Rolling hills are my worst suited terrain and there was plenty of that, so I got tired pretty quick. I also felt like I maxed out my HR at several points to keep up/catch up with Peter. Felt really dead on the way home.
Saturday 04/11: 53 miles, 4:30-ish, Deer Creek Canyon to High Grade Road, maybe 7 miles of climbing. A pretty epic ride. It was really hard from the beginning bc of the strong winds, but surprisingly things were calmer up in the mountains. There was some really wonderful mountain roads. Had to bail a little earlier than I wanted, bc the gearing on this bike is much harder than on mine, but was pleased to have made it even so far. I'd like to go back sometime, this is a great road.
Coming home was the scariest experience I've ever had on a bike. It was gusting heavily, and I was being blown about horribly--at one point, dangerously close to oncoming traffic. I think the amount of adrenaline alone kept me pedaling into the wind, despite the terrific effort it took to move forwards. Thankfully it was smooth sailing the last 10 miles home when the wind was safely behind me. Felt pretty good when I got home, and made delicious delicious pizzas :).
Training this week: ~263 miles, 17:53:39
Goals: 175 miles (25 per day?) I really don't know how to goal set realistically for riding...
Friday, April 3, 2009
Week 0: Beginnings (03/29/2009 - 04/04/2009)
It's like in Running with the Buffaloes when Mark Wetmore tells the injured guy... I'll get you in shape when you return--just, don't get fat.
The guy got fat. I got fat too.
Nuts. But alas, one must begin somewhere, even if it is 20+ pounds overweight despite still missing a good amount of muscle mass out of my left calf and thigh. Somehow all of that stuff still doesn't quash the excitement of The Beginning. I guess this is the honeymoon phase of training, when motivation is still high, and your eyes blink open with glee at 6 am when your alarm goes off after 4 hours of sleep. The truth is that I just can't wait to get on my bike. I know this won't last forever, so I'm enjoying it now.
START: Cyclist for a year*
*Not sure about the exact time frame for this. I know I need a break, physically and mentally from running. It will be at least until September.
Thursday 04/02: 21.85 miles, 1:29:54 (14.5 mph) 5 x RB laps. I discover just how incredibly out of shape I am. Went really really slow and in small gears to minimize pressure on the navicular, but my heart still felt like it was about to explode in my chest by the time I got to the RB. It actually settled down after a lap or so, but it was still tough. Felt wonderful afterwards though. Good to be back.
Friday 04/03: 21.97 miles, 1:32:32 (14.2 mph) 5 x RB laps. I started out with aspirations to do SIX whole laps today, but that was quickly abandoned after realizing that the second day back always has and still does suck. You have no additional fitness, but you ARE more tired bc of day one. In cycling, your rear end is also worse for the wear. Oh, well. Everything felt a little more under control than yesterday though. Feet are also feeling good. I'm thinking it was also a good call to cram my old orthotics into my cycling shoes too.
Saturday 04/04: 26.84 miles, 1:41:26 (15.8 mph) Encanto Park, back on Huntington. 100% awesome. Perfect temperature, sunny, felt much better all around than yesterday. Rode a little bit less conservatively, and was pleased with the results. I'm not sure if I'm a fan of the portion of Huntington past Santa Anita Track, but this loop was so much more entertaining than RB laps, or even the out and back version of this ride. Felt just a little bit guilty towards the end because I did not feel appropriately tired, and going back on Huntington is a slight cop out due to the fact that there are significantly more traffic lights.
Training this week: 70.66 miles, 4:43:52
Goals: 60 miles, if I can do 20 miles per day without pain, I'll be pleased.
The guy got fat. I got fat too.
Nuts. But alas, one must begin somewhere, even if it is 20+ pounds overweight despite still missing a good amount of muscle mass out of my left calf and thigh. Somehow all of that stuff still doesn't quash the excitement of The Beginning. I guess this is the honeymoon phase of training, when motivation is still high, and your eyes blink open with glee at 6 am when your alarm goes off after 4 hours of sleep. The truth is that I just can't wait to get on my bike. I know this won't last forever, so I'm enjoying it now.
START: Cyclist for a year*
*Not sure about the exact time frame for this. I know I need a break, physically and mentally from running. It will be at least until September.
Thursday 04/02: 21.85 miles, 1:29:54 (14.5 mph) 5 x RB laps. I discover just how incredibly out of shape I am. Went really really slow and in small gears to minimize pressure on the navicular, but my heart still felt like it was about to explode in my chest by the time I got to the RB. It actually settled down after a lap or so, but it was still tough. Felt wonderful afterwards though. Good to be back.
Friday 04/03: 21.97 miles, 1:32:32 (14.2 mph) 5 x RB laps. I started out with aspirations to do SIX whole laps today, but that was quickly abandoned after realizing that the second day back always has and still does suck. You have no additional fitness, but you ARE more tired bc of day one. In cycling, your rear end is also worse for the wear. Oh, well. Everything felt a little more under control than yesterday though. Feet are also feeling good. I'm thinking it was also a good call to cram my old orthotics into my cycling shoes too.
Saturday 04/04: 26.84 miles, 1:41:26 (15.8 mph) Encanto Park, back on Huntington. 100% awesome. Perfect temperature, sunny, felt much better all around than yesterday. Rode a little bit less conservatively, and was pleased with the results. I'm not sure if I'm a fan of the portion of Huntington past Santa Anita Track, but this loop was so much more entertaining than RB laps, or even the out and back version of this ride. Felt just a little bit guilty towards the end because I did not feel appropriately tired, and going back on Huntington is a slight cop out due to the fact that there are significantly more traffic lights.
Training this week: 70.66 miles, 4:43:52
Goals: 60 miles, if I can do 20 miles per day without pain, I'll be pleased.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
01/04/2009 - 01/31/2009 Summary
So you know its not good when you have about 1 week's worth of material to cover the entire month of January... but in the interest of not creating 4 ridiculous short separate posts, here's a summary. Assume all of the days in between were spent being a fat, depressed, blob of lameness...
... by which I mean that it's really hard to get up at 5 am and feel enough motivation to go ride in the pitch dark and 40 degree weather, knowing that the sun won't come up for another 2 hours. But I did do it once (ironically the very day that I was told I could no longer cycle), and it actually wasn't bad at all... which means that I'm still actually pretty lame for not having done it the other 17 days. Go figure.
Sunday 01/04: 18.6 miles, 1:13:40, A few easy RB laps with Peter before taking him to airport. Didn't get up early enough for a real ride, but it was nice... Felt pre-emptively unhappy about the end of vacation though... Went on my good bye run today as well, Huntington/Marengo in a slow 1:07:35, it was just supposed to be a few miles to make sure the right things hurt for the Dr's appt tomorrow, but it felt good to be out there... and I knew this was the last one for a really long time. So, I went... and it was a nice, peaceful run. The funny thing is, my foot is ironically feeling relatively calm these days.
Saturday 01/10: 2 hours, skate skiing with Peter in Colorado. My first day on skate skis--man was this hard. It took me a really long time to learn the basic motion of it, and I think I never quite learned how to not fall down frequently. It was also really tough with the 9,000 ft altitude, so I had to stop to huff and puff every 30 seconds. Once I got the hang of it towards the end, it was pretty fun!
Sunday 01/11: 2.5 hours, skate skiing at some different place in Colorado. It was pretty stormy and scary on the mountain roads today, but the skiing was actually really awesome. I felt 100% more proficient than yesterday, and probably covered 3 times as much distance than yesterday. Learned how to manage an uphill, and also to go without the poles for a little bit. The only part that I really hate is downhill. Most of my crashes were going downhill, which I suppose is some improvement over yesterday, where most of my crashes were on completely flat ground.
Saturday 01/17: 46.9 miles, 3:31:07, Couple of miles past Red Box on the 2 and back the same way. Life as a weekend warrior continues, due to lack of ability to manage the morning rides. Felt really cooped up, so hammered this ride from the get-go. Managed a respectable and much improved over the last trip pace through Clear Creek, then slowed down to make it the rest of the way. Legs actually felt great, I backed off of the pace because my HR was going crazy, but this felt like a really manageable, awesome ride. First time past Red Box on the 2, and saw some gorgeous panoramic views of the mountains beyond... Just felt really happy to be on the bike.
Sunday 01/18: 60.8 miles, 4:37:46, GMR back on EF/39 with KB. A sweet ride with an awesome gal. This ride actually felt really really good, probably due to a fantastic pancake breakfast beforehand. Took it really easy, felt a little huffy-puffy on the climb but it wasn't bad at all. The descent was scary but it was so great to be out that way again, and the kind of tired parts were not bad at all due to the good company. Felt pretty enthused and encouraged that I'm not in completely horrible cycling shape despite the large amounts of inactivity recently.
Wednesday 01/21: Really consterning ride of indeterminate length and some duration between 2 and 2.5 hours along River Trail in Denver. Took the vintage white bike out for a spin on a rare non below freezing day in Colorado. Had aspirations to find a nice road into the mountains, but got just horribly, horribly lost along the way. Bike paths are really confusing with no signs and lots of side trails and illogical turns. A nice man pointed me in the generally correct direction but I finally gave up and turned back without finding the road after I came upon one too many cryptic intersections and an icy tunnel filled with mounds of snow and deep water. Got lost twice trying to find my way back. Felt disgruntled bc of the directions and because I have absolutely no idea how far I went.
Wednesday 01/28: 46.6 miles, 2:49:17, Peter's (Short) Long River Trail Loop. A bittersweet victory, and my last training for a really really long time. On this morning, I did wake up, put on 4 layers, and embark into the darkness of a 40 degree morning on my bike. It was really surreal to be out there in the empty dark streets, but not in a bad way. It was calm and soothing and nice, though my eardrums were hurting from the cold for the first 30 minutes. Definitely felt like I was in worse shape than the weekend that I did Red Box and GMR, but I still felt decent. Rode hard, and kept up a good clip... but faded fairly signficantly on the stretch home on California. I guess, to be fair, a stiff headwind picked up once the sun came up towards the end. I felt really happy to have done this ride, and confident and excited that I could get up tomorrow and do it again... little did I know, I would not get that opportunity.
... by which I mean that it's really hard to get up at 5 am and feel enough motivation to go ride in the pitch dark and 40 degree weather, knowing that the sun won't come up for another 2 hours. But I did do it once (ironically the very day that I was told I could no longer cycle), and it actually wasn't bad at all... which means that I'm still actually pretty lame for not having done it the other 17 days. Go figure.
Sunday 01/04: 18.6 miles, 1:13:40, A few easy RB laps with Peter before taking him to airport. Didn't get up early enough for a real ride, but it was nice... Felt pre-emptively unhappy about the end of vacation though... Went on my good bye run today as well, Huntington/Marengo in a slow 1:07:35, it was just supposed to be a few miles to make sure the right things hurt for the Dr's appt tomorrow, but it felt good to be out there... and I knew this was the last one for a really long time. So, I went... and it was a nice, peaceful run. The funny thing is, my foot is ironically feeling relatively calm these days.
Saturday 01/10: 2 hours, skate skiing with Peter in Colorado. My first day on skate skis--man was this hard. It took me a really long time to learn the basic motion of it, and I think I never quite learned how to not fall down frequently. It was also really tough with the 9,000 ft altitude, so I had to stop to huff and puff every 30 seconds. Once I got the hang of it towards the end, it was pretty fun!
Sunday 01/11: 2.5 hours, skate skiing at some different place in Colorado. It was pretty stormy and scary on the mountain roads today, but the skiing was actually really awesome. I felt 100% more proficient than yesterday, and probably covered 3 times as much distance than yesterday. Learned how to manage an uphill, and also to go without the poles for a little bit. The only part that I really hate is downhill. Most of my crashes were going downhill, which I suppose is some improvement over yesterday, where most of my crashes were on completely flat ground.
Saturday 01/17: 46.9 miles, 3:31:07, Couple of miles past Red Box on the 2 and back the same way. Life as a weekend warrior continues, due to lack of ability to manage the morning rides. Felt really cooped up, so hammered this ride from the get-go. Managed a respectable and much improved over the last trip pace through Clear Creek, then slowed down to make it the rest of the way. Legs actually felt great, I backed off of the pace because my HR was going crazy, but this felt like a really manageable, awesome ride. First time past Red Box on the 2, and saw some gorgeous panoramic views of the mountains beyond... Just felt really happy to be on the bike.
Sunday 01/18: 60.8 miles, 4:37:46, GMR back on EF/39 with KB. A sweet ride with an awesome gal. This ride actually felt really really good, probably due to a fantastic pancake breakfast beforehand. Took it really easy, felt a little huffy-puffy on the climb but it wasn't bad at all. The descent was scary but it was so great to be out that way again, and the kind of tired parts were not bad at all due to the good company. Felt pretty enthused and encouraged that I'm not in completely horrible cycling shape despite the large amounts of inactivity recently.
Wednesday 01/21: Really consterning ride of indeterminate length and some duration between 2 and 2.5 hours along River Trail in Denver. Took the vintage white bike out for a spin on a rare non below freezing day in Colorado. Had aspirations to find a nice road into the mountains, but got just horribly, horribly lost along the way. Bike paths are really confusing with no signs and lots of side trails and illogical turns. A nice man pointed me in the generally correct direction but I finally gave up and turned back without finding the road after I came upon one too many cryptic intersections and an icy tunnel filled with mounds of snow and deep water. Got lost twice trying to find my way back. Felt disgruntled bc of the directions and because I have absolutely no idea how far I went.
Wednesday 01/28: 46.6 miles, 2:49:17, Peter's (Short) Long River Trail Loop. A bittersweet victory, and my last training for a really really long time. On this morning, I did wake up, put on 4 layers, and embark into the darkness of a 40 degree morning on my bike. It was really surreal to be out there in the empty dark streets, but not in a bad way. It was calm and soothing and nice, though my eardrums were hurting from the cold for the first 30 minutes. Definitely felt like I was in worse shape than the weekend that I did Red Box and GMR, but I still felt decent. Rode hard, and kept up a good clip... but faded fairly signficantly on the stretch home on California. I guess, to be fair, a stiff headwind picked up once the sun came up towards the end. I felt really happy to have done this ride, and confident and excited that I could get up tomorrow and do it again... little did I know, I would not get that opportunity.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Week of 12/27/2008 - 01/02/2008 (Cross Training Week 1)
Home, Sweet Home...
On Sunday, I flew back from the freezing east coast, to clear blue skies and warm 70 degree sunshine. From my car, I could see the mountains, clearly with no smog. It was beautiful. How could anyone want to be anywhere else?
I can't really remember a day where I was so excited to go cycling. No matter that I'd slept probably all of 4 hours, or that I was stuck in traffic at... 3 pm on a Sunday, none of this mattered because I just could not wait to get home and get on my bike. Which I did, without unpacking, I just dumped everything on the floor and got out the door in record time. Maybe something about being indoors under 3 feet of snow for a week... makes a person a little bit nutso.
Sunday 12/27: 27.8 miles, 1:40:40, something like 7 laps around the Rose Bowl. HR was going crazy, something like 160 or 170, not sure if because I'm extremely out of shape, I'm extremely sleep deprived, or I'm extremely excited about riding today. Didn't breathe hard, but felt like I was working a lot harder than I'm used to. It was really fun though, and the lap times were not horrible. Wanted to do 10, but ran out of both warmth and daylight. Got home in the dark and my feet were frozen solid for an hour and a hot shower afterwards. Eventually they warmed up though, and expressed their immense displeasure at being frozen.
Monday 12/28: 57.4 miles, 3:54:07, River Trail to where it splits, and then back home the same way. Had Clear Creek planned for today, but as soon as I got on my bike my legs began complaining loudly, so aborted and headed out for a flat ride instead. Yikes this was a tough ride even so--first, my L IT band had seized up after yesterday's ride, and I had to keep stopping to stretch it out. It was okay after the first hour. Second, I was feeling pretty strong after that, so I ambitiously went a fair ways out, and then catastrophically ran out of energy at about mile 45. Ate a gu, felt better for about 20 minutes, and then felt terrible again. Seriously had to crawl home for the last 5 miles at like... 10 mph. Got home and could not stop eating food for about 3 hours afterwards. Man, my body is not used to exercise....
Tuesday 12/29: 44.7 miles, 3:21:45, Angeles Crest to Clear Creek + 3 or 4 laps of the RB. The good thing about cycling, is that you can beat the crap out of your body on one day, and it will still basically ride okay the next day. Started today a little bit worse for the wear after yesterday, but I was excited and determined to do my first day of climbing. It was... really really really slow... and my HR was off the charts around 175 (normally for this rather mellow climb it is like, 155, but oh well) but I made it, and that was a moral victory for today. Did some laps around the RB to raise my average speed for the trip, and realized that I actually wasn't super tired out, I was just really unused to climbing. Picked up Peter at the airport and informed him of my plans to ride 3 hours a day. He seemed unenthused and then fell asleep... something about jetlag.
Wednesday 12/30: 45.7 miles, 2:58:17, River Trail Loop (out the weird way, and back the usual way) with Peter. Had to drag the boy unit out of bed, but we made it on this shortened River Trail ride, and it was really great. Felt really good, kept a better pace throughout than the Monday disaster. I think I went pretty hard on that last stretch home, because this time I had the energy left, and I had to stamp out the memory of pathetically trudging home.
Thursday 12/31: 28.9 miles, 2:23:27, Verdugo/Chevy Chase plus some Art Center Loops with Peter. Felt awful, awful, awful. Got a late start, felt unmotivated, and just horribly tired. I think I had hoped for another shot at Clear Creek, before the good weather ran out... but I felt so terrible even on the flats that I decided to push that ride off until tomorrow and do a more local ride. This ride was just really hard... I couldn't climb competently at all, and I felt really bad. Peter showed me some new routes, but I was so tired and delirious at that point I don't really remember how to get there anymore.
Friday 01/01: Run (55:57)/Swim (~800m). It's weird.... but I have really bad luck with training on holidays or signficant days. Typically birthdays, Christmas, New Years... it just doesn't turn out well. Today I felt supremely unmotivated, no stores were open for breakfast, and I just felt like there was nothing as unappealing to do as go and exercise. I think most of this was because it wasn't sunny anymore. I don't think of myself as seasonally affected, but I really hate cold and dreary.
Anyways, I did not want to exercise, but I got guilted into exercising by the boy unit. So I ran Huntington/Virginia starting from the house and ending at the gym while he ate breakfast and did core strengthening. Run was pretty miserable. Running felt weird after all of this time off, my foot still vaguely hurt, and my legs felt heavy and unwieldy. I felt really sad. Swimming at the gym with Peter cheered me up a little bit. We didn't get too much quality exercise in, but he taught me how to do a flip turn, and I swam a little bit. Only managed 2 successful flip turns, and those were still pretty shaky on the distance and timing, but it was fun!
Saturday 01/02: 47.3 miles, 3:30:41, Big T back on Clear Creek. A really nice ride. I bundled up as much as possible to deal with the unappealing cloudy cold weather, but it turned out really well. Felt strong on the way out... but struggled a bit with the climbing again. I'm not sure why it's been so tough, when I first started riding, all I did was climb... and I hated the flats they tired me out. It was fun to do a ride I haven't done in a long time. Felt pretty decent all in all, maybe the day off helped.
Training this week: 251.8 miles, 17 hours 48.5 minutes. Not a bad week, now if only every week were vacation... and I had 3 hours a day to ride.
On Sunday, I flew back from the freezing east coast, to clear blue skies and warm 70 degree sunshine. From my car, I could see the mountains, clearly with no smog. It was beautiful. How could anyone want to be anywhere else?
I can't really remember a day where I was so excited to go cycling. No matter that I'd slept probably all of 4 hours, or that I was stuck in traffic at... 3 pm on a Sunday, none of this mattered because I just could not wait to get home and get on my bike. Which I did, without unpacking, I just dumped everything on the floor and got out the door in record time. Maybe something about being indoors under 3 feet of snow for a week... makes a person a little bit nutso.
Sunday 12/27: 27.8 miles, 1:40:40, something like 7 laps around the Rose Bowl. HR was going crazy, something like 160 or 170, not sure if because I'm extremely out of shape, I'm extremely sleep deprived, or I'm extremely excited about riding today. Didn't breathe hard, but felt like I was working a lot harder than I'm used to. It was really fun though, and the lap times were not horrible. Wanted to do 10, but ran out of both warmth and daylight. Got home in the dark and my feet were frozen solid for an hour and a hot shower afterwards. Eventually they warmed up though, and expressed their immense displeasure at being frozen.
Monday 12/28: 57.4 miles, 3:54:07, River Trail to where it splits, and then back home the same way. Had Clear Creek planned for today, but as soon as I got on my bike my legs began complaining loudly, so aborted and headed out for a flat ride instead. Yikes this was a tough ride even so--first, my L IT band had seized up after yesterday's ride, and I had to keep stopping to stretch it out. It was okay after the first hour. Second, I was feeling pretty strong after that, so I ambitiously went a fair ways out, and then catastrophically ran out of energy at about mile 45. Ate a gu, felt better for about 20 minutes, and then felt terrible again. Seriously had to crawl home for the last 5 miles at like... 10 mph. Got home and could not stop eating food for about 3 hours afterwards. Man, my body is not used to exercise....
Tuesday 12/29: 44.7 miles, 3:21:45, Angeles Crest to Clear Creek + 3 or 4 laps of the RB. The good thing about cycling, is that you can beat the crap out of your body on one day, and it will still basically ride okay the next day. Started today a little bit worse for the wear after yesterday, but I was excited and determined to do my first day of climbing. It was... really really really slow... and my HR was off the charts around 175 (normally for this rather mellow climb it is like, 155, but oh well) but I made it, and that was a moral victory for today. Did some laps around the RB to raise my average speed for the trip, and realized that I actually wasn't super tired out, I was just really unused to climbing. Picked up Peter at the airport and informed him of my plans to ride 3 hours a day. He seemed unenthused and then fell asleep... something about jetlag.
Wednesday 12/30: 45.7 miles, 2:58:17, River Trail Loop (out the weird way, and back the usual way) with Peter. Had to drag the boy unit out of bed, but we made it on this shortened River Trail ride, and it was really great. Felt really good, kept a better pace throughout than the Monday disaster. I think I went pretty hard on that last stretch home, because this time I had the energy left, and I had to stamp out the memory of pathetically trudging home.
Thursday 12/31: 28.9 miles, 2:23:27, Verdugo/Chevy Chase plus some Art Center Loops with Peter. Felt awful, awful, awful. Got a late start, felt unmotivated, and just horribly tired. I think I had hoped for another shot at Clear Creek, before the good weather ran out... but I felt so terrible even on the flats that I decided to push that ride off until tomorrow and do a more local ride. This ride was just really hard... I couldn't climb competently at all, and I felt really bad. Peter showed me some new routes, but I was so tired and delirious at that point I don't really remember how to get there anymore.
Friday 01/01: Run (55:57)/Swim (~800m). It's weird.... but I have really bad luck with training on holidays or signficant days. Typically birthdays, Christmas, New Years... it just doesn't turn out well. Today I felt supremely unmotivated, no stores were open for breakfast, and I just felt like there was nothing as unappealing to do as go and exercise. I think most of this was because it wasn't sunny anymore. I don't think of myself as seasonally affected, but I really hate cold and dreary.
Anyways, I did not want to exercise, but I got guilted into exercising by the boy unit. So I ran Huntington/Virginia starting from the house and ending at the gym while he ate breakfast and did core strengthening. Run was pretty miserable. Running felt weird after all of this time off, my foot still vaguely hurt, and my legs felt heavy and unwieldy. I felt really sad. Swimming at the gym with Peter cheered me up a little bit. We didn't get too much quality exercise in, but he taught me how to do a flip turn, and I swam a little bit. Only managed 2 successful flip turns, and those were still pretty shaky on the distance and timing, but it was fun!
Saturday 01/02: 47.3 miles, 3:30:41, Big T back on Clear Creek. A really nice ride. I bundled up as much as possible to deal with the unappealing cloudy cold weather, but it turned out really well. Felt strong on the way out... but struggled a bit with the climbing again. I'm not sure why it's been so tough, when I first started riding, all I did was climb... and I hated the flats they tired me out. It was fun to do a ride I haven't done in a long time. Felt pretty decent all in all, maybe the day off helped.
Training this week: 251.8 miles, 17 hours 48.5 minutes. Not a bad week, now if only every week were vacation... and I had 3 hours a day to ride.
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