Week 1: Wednesday (08/02/2009 - 08/08/2009)

If last week was vacation, this week was like Monday morning. Oh, so hard to get up....

Firing up the training engine again after an awkward length of time away can be tough. The momentum is against you, and you're never happy to accept that your fitness just isn't as it was. There's something about a few weeks that makes you feel as if there should still be more there.

Thankfully the tide turned on Wednesday when I picked up my shiny new Liquigas team bike, the newest addition to my growing family. Not only is it inspiringly beautiful, but I'm totally motivated to train hard to decrease the Fred Index!


Sunday 08/02: 43.8 miles, 3:27:40 (12.6 mph) Angeles Crest to Red Box via the RB with Sarah and Ian. I was a little bit worried after yesterday, but the pace was mellow and I felt pretty good. Really fun, great to catch up with Sarah. Still feeling a little bit out of sorts though, HR was pretty high and weird things are sore.

Monday 08/03: [Running] 22:14 in the am, 8 laps around the North Field. Running is still sucking. I've decided to do it every other day in addition to my cycling workouts, but so far results are poor. 20 minutes just feels like plenty, and I finish drenched in sweat. I just don't remember it being THIS bad... maybe part of it is that running around the field is extra un-rewarding, but I suppose I'll keep doing it for a few weeks to protect my new foot bones.

Tuesday 08/04: Unplanned off. Ugh, so the waking up on time lasted all of one day. Due to a miscommunication about when I needed to attend a work function, I thought that I didn't even have time to squeeze in a few laps at the RB, but in retrospect that would have been totally feasible. Bah, humbug.

Wednesday 08/05: 33.7 miles, 2:16:35 (14.8 mph) Angeles Crest to Clear Creek. Woke up late again and ran out of time to get to Red Box, but at least I got out there at all. Feeling a little better, I went a bit harder than usual, hammering a few miles at the top. It felt harder than it should have, but I was pleased that I could even climb at a halfway decent pace at all. It's hard to quash down the instinct to hammer when I feel weak... even though it's completely ass-backwards to the reasonable course of action which is to take it easy. I'm just really impatient about fixing the out of shapeness, and feel like I should try harder.

I was supposed to run again in the PM, but instead I drove to Pomona after work to pick up my shiny new bike :)

Thursday 08/06: 37.5 miles, 2:17:32 (16.4 mph) 10 x RB laps. Argh, yet another ride shortened by the inability to wake up on time. I guess it turned out okay, because I didn't feel very good for the first few laps. Not exactly sure why... I just felt kind of weak and tired. HR was okay though, and things got drastically better (by about 30 second per lap) after lap 4 or 5.

Friday 08/07: Off, shots. I was supposed to run in the PM, but I was at work pretty late and came home grouchy and exhausted. Mojitos at Ian's and installing a compact crankset on the new bike was just what the doctor ordered. (I really can't remember ever being so unmotivated about running).

Saturday 08/08: 90 miles. ~6:30-ish? GMR to GRR to Baldy Village, then some of the way up to the Ski Lifts with Ian. Got a late start due to the festivities yesterday, but thankfully it wasn't too hot. I was determined to debut the new bike today, and was excessively pleased! The campy shifters are pretty neat, and it rides so smoothly and climbs so well. The 34/25 turned out to be pretty grueling for the Ski Lifts, I'm usually suffering in my 31/25, so I didn't really approach this with the expectation of making it the whole way. I think I made it to about 1.5 miles from the top though, and turned around when Ian came down the other way (he made it to the top). Other than this segment, it was a pretty mellow ride, which was great and I finished feeling tired but not wiped out. Overall this was an excellent maiden voyage for new bike. I'm still getting used to the compact double, but I think I like it. I'm also glad that I can still do these rides, I was getting pretty worried after GMR last week. What a difference a week makes!

Training this week: 205 miles, 14:31:47, totally decent for a first week.