Well today at the morning computrainer class we entered the over under phase. The way they are broken out to me makes it easier on you mentally than the past couple of weeks of longer rides at threshold or as close as possible.
The set was the usual 14 minute step warmup. I can defiantely feel the last two minutes in the quads when you are at 105% of threshold but really does a good job of getting you loose.
The main set or the over under set was 3 minutes at 10 to 20 watts below threshold followed by 2 minutes at 10 to 20 watts above threshold, do this for 23 minutes ending on the under. We took a ten minute break of easy spinning and did it again. I took the full ten minutes at the end of the second set to spin the legs out as I think this really helps compared to just jumping off the bike and heading out as a lot of people do. The over under's take a lot out of you but the easy spinning at the end really seems to let the legs recover.
This morning Landon started his classes at the Y so we quick hit Dunkin for some coffee and headed out for his classes. It started out with toddler sports, which today was basketball. This was fun for me I haven't shot hoops in over a year, I do miss the Sunday morning games with the guys at Glenbard South but with all the IM training just no time.
After basketball Landon had his "messy hands" class where they painted with their feet. Amy stayed with him for this so I went and got my run in for the day. On the plan was 45 minutes, I ran the first 30 minutes at an 8:00 pace and kicked it up to 7:30 for the last fifteen as surprisingly the legs felt good. I could have gone longer and faster but with a long run on the schedule for tomorrow didn't want to burn them out.
Overall I am feeling pretty good and happy to have nothing else on the schedule for the day.
Looking forward to the ribs in the oven for dinner and relaxing this evening. Time to start studying up for March Madness. Got to win the pool this year, could use the extra grand on something cool I am sure.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Biggest Loser..you betray me
It is well documented I am addicted to the Biggest Loser, blah blah blah. I have mentioned this fact many times before. It is the only reality TV show I will watch.
A couple of weeks back at the end of the show when the do the whole catch up with the contestant that has been voted off they mentioned that he was training to do an Ironman. This they said was a 1.2 mile swim, a 56 mile bike and a 13.1 mile run. To all the non triathlon folks out there this is a half-ironman, I thought this was an innocent mistake. I doubt that now.
At the end of the show last night, the newly voted off contestant was show completing a marathon. The time the said that he completed this in was 3 hours and 53 minutes. A great time, especially for someone that was over 400 pounds not so many months earlier. I started thinking damn what training plan was he on. Well turns out all is not true, actual time was 5 hours and 53 minutes and he didn't actually run the whole thing.
Here is a link to the story,
http://blogs.kansascity.com/tvbarn/2009/02/the-biggest-los.html
Don't get me wrong I think it is great that this guy is out there with his wife running and trying to better himself. The part I hate is that NBC does not report the facts correctly and in my opinion diminishes the accomplishments of those at are truthful. I think this also provides false hope for individuals who are trying to better themselves on their own. Finishing a marathon at any pace is an accomplishment but falsely lying about his time to better the show is shameful.
What a joke.
A couple of weeks back at the end of the show when the do the whole catch up with the contestant that has been voted off they mentioned that he was training to do an Ironman. This they said was a 1.2 mile swim, a 56 mile bike and a 13.1 mile run. To all the non triathlon folks out there this is a half-ironman, I thought this was an innocent mistake. I doubt that now.
At the end of the show last night, the newly voted off contestant was show completing a marathon. The time the said that he completed this in was 3 hours and 53 minutes. A great time, especially for someone that was over 400 pounds not so many months earlier. I started thinking damn what training plan was he on. Well turns out all is not true, actual time was 5 hours and 53 minutes and he didn't actually run the whole thing.
Here is a link to the story,
http://blogs.kansascity.com/tvbarn/2009/02/the-biggest-los.html
Don't get me wrong I think it is great that this guy is out there with his wife running and trying to better himself. The part I hate is that NBC does not report the facts correctly and in my opinion diminishes the accomplishments of those at are truthful. I think this also provides false hope for individuals who are trying to better themselves on their own. Finishing a marathon at any pace is an accomplishment but falsely lying about his time to better the show is shameful.
What a joke.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Seat and Swim TT
Well my new seat came yesterday so I am anxious to try it out today. I have a 70 minute ride on the schedule today and going to try and get it in at lunch. I am guessing it may take a couple of weeks to get the seat broken in.
Last night was the usual monthly 500 time trial at swimming. This has gotten a little off on the schedule but I am always anxious to do it as it gives you some type of number on if progress is being made. I ended up doing it in 6:48 which is 13 seconds faster than last month. Considering last month I went the same time as the month before I am glad to see some improvement.
It is starting to warm up today I think it is in the 30's, so looking forward to getting a run in outdoors. I can feel Spring coming, one more month of this crap and we should be able to start getting outside on the bike? Let's all hope.
Last night was the usual monthly 500 time trial at swimming. This has gotten a little off on the schedule but I am always anxious to do it as it gives you some type of number on if progress is being made. I ended up doing it in 6:48 which is 13 seconds faster than last month. Considering last month I went the same time as the month before I am glad to see some improvement.It is starting to warm up today I think it is in the 30's, so looking forward to getting a run in outdoors. I can feel Spring coming, one more month of this crap and we should be able to start getting outside on the bike? Let's all hope.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Weekend Update..non SNL Version
This weekend was Amy's birthday so my mom came up for the weekend to watch Landon and do some shopping. We opted to go to dinner for her birthday with just the two of us. We were going to invite our friends to go with but since it had been quite awhile since just the two of us went out we decided to make it a low key event.
Landon was fine staying with Grandma as since she got her two new puppies in November she may be his most favorite person in the world. I don't think his mother realizes the damage she is doing by not letting Landon and I get a dog. We will wear her down eventually, the thing is I am not giving in to a girly dog I want a mans dog.
Below are a couple of pics of the puppies and Landon playing with them. The kid wore himself out this weekend playing with them. I don't think he let them out of his site since they showed up on Friday and left today on Sunday.
On the training front, I took the new road bike for test run on the Computrainer class on Saturday. This was a tough class we did the usual 14 minute step up warm up than 3 times through the following set: 15 minutes as close to threshold as you can hold, 2 minutes at tempo (30 watts lower than threshold) followed by 8 minute recovery. This didn't feel all that bad but man the new seat on my bike was killing me. About minute 10 into my set I could really feel it in my ass, I hope the new seat that I ordered is a lot better and shows up soon.
Landon was fine staying with Grandma as since she got her two new puppies in November she may be his most favorite person in the world. I don't think his mother realizes the damage she is doing by not letting Landon and I get a dog. We will wear her down eventually, the thing is I am not giving in to a girly dog I want a mans dog.
Below are a couple of pics of the puppies and Landon playing with them. The kid wore himself out this weekend playing with them. I don't think he let them out of his site since they showed up on Friday and left today on Sunday.
On the training front, I took the new road bike for test run on the Computrainer class on Saturday. This was a tough class we did the usual 14 minute step up warm up than 3 times through the following set: 15 minutes as close to threshold as you can hold, 2 minutes at tempo (30 watts lower than threshold) followed by 8 minute recovery. This didn't feel all that bad but man the new seat on my bike was killing me. About minute 10 into my set I could really feel it in my ass, I hope the new seat that I ordered is a lot better and shows up soon.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Got A New Ride
After selling my old gigantic Felt road bike I am once again back in the club. I picked up my new Pinarello FP2 last night, it is a 60cm and I had the Ultegra-SL switched out with a mix of SRAM Force/Rival. Also thanks to Drew at Endure It! I had the stem switched out to a MOst carbon all for no additional cost.
Going to give it a go tomorrow at the morning Computrainer class to see how things feel. Looking forward to comparing how I feel on this setup compared to the Cervelo P2C and can't wait to get both bikes outside once this dreadful winter is over.
Still waiting on a few things, I ordered a ProLogo Choice saddle in black and some Ultegra pedals.
The plan is to mix up the riding. Ride the Tri bike on the weekends for the long training rides and to use the road bike a couple of times a week for the trainer sessions. I also plan to use the road bike to ride to work when I can, as I have done it on the Cervelo and is not find to tri and ride aero with a 30lb backpack on.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Hump Day
This morning was the usual Computrainer class and man my legs were hurting. We did some heavy sets, 6 x through the following set: 2 minutes at 90% of threshold, 1 minute at 10% above threshold, 2 minutes at threshold, 2 minutes recovery. The strange thing about the set is I actually felt better on the last one than on the first one, I think this is mostly mental as you know you are done at the end. Either way I hope these two a week Computrainer classes are working as my legs have been toast lately.
Monday I did the usual masters class and nothing big there. Coach Chris figured out how to set the clock to restart on the interval which kept me from having to do math in my head which is always a struggle, so that was a nice change of pace. I think I added it up that we got 2900+ in Monday night. Overall swimming felt pretty good.
Tuesday called for a 90 minute ride and a 60 minute endurance run. The legs were still a little heavy from Sunday's run as I think I may have pushed them to the limit on the run. In order to break up the monotony of riding in my basement I went to Endure It! and rode the Steelhead course for 90 minutes. This is the first course I have done in over a year, besides the TT so it was good to mix things up. I think this time of year with the weather up and down as it has been the body is ready to get outdoors on the bike. We have been hitting the trainers hard since November, the bike trainer is worse than a treadmill in my opinion.
Last night I went for a 60 minute run outside. I ran the prairie reserver again and heading south was straight into a head wind with some sleet but coming back felt great. Overall the run was average, over 7 miles and a pace of 8:05.
Last night I managed to eat about three quarters of a Lou Malnati's pizza, topped it off with some cookies'n cream ice cream and hit the sack. Maybe it was the quanity of food that went in my mouth past seven last night that explains why I was dragging ass this morning. Oh well.
Monday I did the usual masters class and nothing big there. Coach Chris figured out how to set the clock to restart on the interval which kept me from having to do math in my head which is always a struggle, so that was a nice change of pace. I think I added it up that we got 2900+ in Monday night. Overall swimming felt pretty good.
Tuesday called for a 90 minute ride and a 60 minute endurance run. The legs were still a little heavy from Sunday's run as I think I may have pushed them to the limit on the run. In order to break up the monotony of riding in my basement I went to Endure It! and rode the Steelhead course for 90 minutes. This is the first course I have done in over a year, besides the TT so it was good to mix things up. I think this time of year with the weather up and down as it has been the body is ready to get outdoors on the bike. We have been hitting the trainers hard since November, the bike trainer is worse than a treadmill in my opinion.
Last night I went for a 60 minute run outside. I ran the prairie reserver again and heading south was straight into a head wind with some sleet but coming back felt great. Overall the run was average, over 7 miles and a pace of 8:05.
Last night I managed to eat about three quarters of a Lou Malnati's pizza, topped it off with some cookies'n cream ice cream and hit the sack. Maybe it was the quanity of food that went in my mouth past seven last night that explains why I was dragging ass this morning. Oh well.
Monday, February 16, 2009
TOMRV
Today I signed up for TOMRV. The Tour of the Mississippi River Valley. This should be a fun but challenging ride. It is a two day ride in June leaving from Bettendorf, IA (where I grew up) on Saturday, June 13th riding 106 miles to Dubuque, IA (where my wife grew up) and returning back to Bettendorf on Sunday along a different route. The mileage back is 90 miles compared to the 112 on Saturday.
This should be a great ride for a couple of reasons. First the course, it will have hills guaranteed a major change to riding around Naperville. Second the logistics, can stay at my parents Friday night, stay at the in-laws on Saturday and a quick two hour drive home Sunday night. A total of 200 miles in a weekend, great training!
Right now it is just me going. If anyone is interested in tagging along and letting me sit in their draft let me know.
This should be a great ride for a couple of reasons. First the course, it will have hills guaranteed a major change to riding around Naperville. Second the logistics, can stay at my parents Friday night, stay at the in-laws on Saturday and a quick two hour drive home Sunday night. A total of 200 miles in a weekend, great training!
Right now it is just me going. If anyone is interested in tagging along and letting me sit in their draft let me know.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
A Bike, A Swim and A Run
Well the weekend started off early Saturday with the usual computrainer class at 6:00 am. These classes are tough even though they seem quite easy when you hear the workout. Starting in February we have been doing much more holding at threshold for a period of time followed by a tempo recovery. These really start to hurt considering most peoples threshold just increased a week earlier at the TT testing.
This week the workout was as follows,
Usual step warm up,
3 x through the following
5 minutes at or above threshold
2 minutes at tempo (30 watts or so below threshold)
5 minutes at or above threshold
2 minutes at tempo (30 watts or so below threshold)
2 minutes at tempo (30 watts or so below threshold)
8 minutes of recovery
This doesn't seem all that bad but trust me it is harder than it looks.
Yesterday I also had a 2500 swim on the schedule, usually I would swim early morning but since I had the computrainer class already on the schedule I went around 2:00 why Amy and Landon took a nap. I had a the lane to myself for the first 500 than some a-hole got in my lane. He may a real nice guy but as a lane partner he was an a-hole. He was trying to do a backstroke but was more of a hybrid between a butterfly and backstroke. Picture the arm stroke of a butterfly but on your back and not having a clue where he was going. So I ended up getting smacked in the head, not once, not twice but three times. After the third time, I politely asked him to either do a stroke that would not smack me in the head or find a new lane. He ended up leaving. Felt a little guilty at first but got over it relatively quickly.
Had nice 2500 workout that went quick.
500 warm up
400 (25 left arm, 25 right arm, 25 head up and 25 swim)x4
6x100 on the 1:45
2x500 with only a 30 second rest
Overall the swim wasn't that bad besides the fact I hate doing swim workouts on my own but seemed to fly by.
Today on the schedule was a 90 minute run outdoors. I decided to run the Springbrook Prairie Reserve loop twice, ended up being 12.3 miles and took a little over 90 minutes. The run felt pretty good, I didn't wear the fuel belt and was at about the max distance I can go with no liquids but was very satisfied with the time.
For the duration of the run I averaged a 7:40 mile. First lap was at 7:35, second lap 7:45. Half the path had water on it and the other half was frozen but real uneven it really got to my feet towards the end but felt great to be outside. Below is a picture of what a mess it was on the path but I will take it over running on a treadmill for 90 minutes any day.
Was a satisfying weekend considering how much the week sucked. Felt great to get in some quality workouts that didn't feel like I struggled the whole time.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Make Up...and strange swimming.
Well today was suppose to be the rest day for the week. Since I opted to go to bed than to ride last night after swimming I needed to get my 90 minute ride in today. I opted to watch Miri and Zach Make a Porno while I rode so the time went fast but was kicking myself that I didn't suck it up and get it in when I was suppose too.
This week overall has just been off, not sure what the deal is but for some reason just don't feel like I can get in the groove. I always look at the next weeks training plan as a fresh start so looking forward to getting this set over with. Maybe after a nice dinner tonight and a relaxing evening things will pick up this weekend.
Last night at masters was completely opposite of Monday night. We have different coaches on different nights and the workouts are usually completely opposite. One coach prefers a lot of sets on the interval, almost all free. The other coach is more into the drill, kicking and different strokes. This does not work well for me, I am a one trick pony I like freestyle and have no desire to do anything else and I also prefer to breathe on the right only. I tried the bilateral thing and not for me. This does not mean that all of that is bad, just means I suck at bi-lateral breathing, long kicking sets, head up drills and medleys. I prefer one stroke and breathing one sided. Probably just because I suck at all the rest.
So the quick wrap up is I was taxed after swimming and had no desire to bike, was wiped physically and mentally. Opted for a recoverite shake, reading some runners world and going to bed. Feel a little refreshed today so hopefully I will have a little something in the tank for tomorrows computrainer class. If it is anything like last week it is going to hurt a little.
This week overall has just been off, not sure what the deal is but for some reason just don't feel like I can get in the groove. I always look at the next weeks training plan as a fresh start so looking forward to getting this set over with. Maybe after a nice dinner tonight and a relaxing evening things will pick up this weekend.
Last night at masters was completely opposite of Monday night. We have different coaches on different nights and the workouts are usually completely opposite. One coach prefers a lot of sets on the interval, almost all free. The other coach is more into the drill, kicking and different strokes. This does not work well for me, I am a one trick pony I like freestyle and have no desire to do anything else and I also prefer to breathe on the right only. I tried the bilateral thing and not for me. This does not mean that all of that is bad, just means I suck at bi-lateral breathing, long kicking sets, head up drills and medleys. I prefer one stroke and breathing one sided. Probably just because I suck at all the rest.
So the quick wrap up is I was taxed after swimming and had no desire to bike, was wiped physically and mentally. Opted for a recoverite shake, reading some runners world and going to bed. Feel a little refreshed today so hopefully I will have a little something in the tank for tomorrows computrainer class. If it is anything like last week it is going to hurt a little.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Today All Around Sucked
Today's suckiness started with my usual 5:30 computrainer class. From the start I was sluggish and the legs were not feeling it from the warm up until the time I abruptly quit due to a flat.
I run a training tire during the winter to keep the wear and tear down on the regular tire. The trainer tire is suppose to last longer and is a bit more solid than a normal tire. The problem I have seen all winter is that they seem to poke holes in tubes a little easier as well. With the amount of tubes everyone seems to go through running a cheaper normal tire might be a better option.
I managed to last from November until now without a flat. Come Saturday after four hours of riding, the tire blew. No big deal, I checked the tire and rim for anything that could of been the culprit but no luck. Yesterday Landon and I replaced the tube and remounted the tire (Landon just likes to mess with the pump and manages to get grease all over his hands but whatever the kid loves to play with tools and stuff). I managed to ride last night for 90 minutes and made it through the warm up (15 minutes) and two thirds of the main set and than all of a sudden the tire went. WTF?
So I decided to leave the bike at Endure It! and have Drew take a look at it. Why it's there decided to go for a tune up as well as the cables could use some tuneing. I have a 90 minute ride on tap for the morning so we will see what happens. Nothing like 90 minutes at 5:15 watching some Mike and Mike in the morning. It is time to start studying up for March Madness so multitasking?
Since it is still nice out for February (high 40's/low 50's but with rain more or less all day) I decided to suck it up and head outside for my run at lunch, on tap was 30 minutes at 7:00 minute pace with another 15 minutes after that. I felt like crap the whole time, it wasn't really the legs but more the side stitch. Not sure what was going on? The whole thing was a struggle but managed to will my way through it. Not going to lie though, it hurt.
Really looking forward to the rest day on Friday as this week has been a killer on the training front and work front.
I run a training tire during the winter to keep the wear and tear down on the regular tire. The trainer tire is suppose to last longer and is a bit more solid than a normal tire. The problem I have seen all winter is that they seem to poke holes in tubes a little easier as well. With the amount of tubes everyone seems to go through running a cheaper normal tire might be a better option.
I managed to last from November until now without a flat. Come Saturday after four hours of riding, the tire blew. No big deal, I checked the tire and rim for anything that could of been the culprit but no luck. Yesterday Landon and I replaced the tube and remounted the tire (Landon just likes to mess with the pump and manages to get grease all over his hands but whatever the kid loves to play with tools and stuff). I managed to ride last night for 90 minutes and made it through the warm up (15 minutes) and two thirds of the main set and than all of a sudden the tire went. WTF?
So I decided to leave the bike at Endure It! and have Drew take a look at it. Why it's there decided to go for a tune up as well as the cables could use some tuneing. I have a 90 minute ride on tap for the morning so we will see what happens. Nothing like 90 minutes at 5:15 watching some Mike and Mike in the morning. It is time to start studying up for March Madness so multitasking?
Since it is still nice out for February (high 40's/low 50's but with rain more or less all day) I decided to suck it up and head outside for my run at lunch, on tap was 30 minutes at 7:00 minute pace with another 15 minutes after that. I felt like crap the whole time, it wasn't really the legs but more the side stitch. Not sure what was going on? The whole thing was a struggle but managed to will my way through it. Not going to lie though, it hurt.
Really looking forward to the rest day on Friday as this week has been a killer on the training front and work front.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Masters Set..nice
Well back to the grind after the recovery week. We did a pretty straight forward set at masters last night and for some reason the longer the set the better I feel. I kept feeling stronger through the 10 200's which may have been a bit of the recovery from last week or just one of those nights were I felt good in the pool. Anyways I will take it as the good days come as much as the bad days. I was doing the first five of 200's on the 3:15 interval and the last five on the 3:10 with the tenth one all out which ended up at 2:55. Overall I was pretty happy with that. I definitely wanted to make sure I did not get slower through the set. The complete workout is below, really liking the progress of being able to get in 3000 in the hour.
Warm up
400 Free
200 Pull
Main Set
10 x 200 on the same interval throughout with 10 seconds rest, I tried to negative split these in sets of five.
200 Kick
Cool Down
200 Free
3000 Total...If I did the math correct.
Today brings a 90 minute tempo ride(need to fix the flat first, trainer tire blew at the end of the ride on Sunday) and a 60 minute interval run.
Warm up
400 Free
200 Pull
Main Set
10 x 200 on the same interval throughout with 10 seconds rest, I tried to negative split these in sets of five.
200 Kick
Cool Down
200 Free
3000 Total...If I did the math correct.
Today brings a 90 minute tempo ride(need to fix the flat first, trainer tire blew at the end of the ride on Sunday) and a 60 minute interval run.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Tempo Run
Today wasn't nearly as a nice as yesterday but was still not to bad outside. I decided to scrap the ride on the schedule for today and insert a tempo run instead. After the additional riding yesterday at the ALS ride I needed to get out and stretch the legs.
Once again I was burdened with a couple of pages from work last night so was up two or three times, nothing major but more of annoyance than anything else. In not the so distance future I will be completely off the on call rotation at work which will be a nice relief and hopefully just in time for race season. With three straight days of non solid sleep I was a bit sluggish this morning. I woke up with a bit of a head congestion probably caused by the mix of the weather changing, the lack of solid sleep and the abuse on the bike I put the body through yesterday.
First thing in the morning we decided to go to Einsteins to get some coffee, bagels and let Landon run around downtown since it was still somewhat nice out. This let me push my run back to the early afternoon.
I decided to do a nice temp run and see where the legs were at after the long ride yesterday. The pace was good but the heartrate was a little high. Overall the run felt good, besides the dodging of the ice and the occasional puddle I was happy with how everything felt.
Distance: 5.12 miles
Pace: 7:22 per mile
Heartrate: 165 bpm
I just looked at the plan for the week and I can already tell it is going to bring a little pain!
Once again I was burdened with a couple of pages from work last night so was up two or three times, nothing major but more of annoyance than anything else. In not the so distance future I will be completely off the on call rotation at work which will be a nice relief and hopefully just in time for race season. With three straight days of non solid sleep I was a bit sluggish this morning. I woke up with a bit of a head congestion probably caused by the mix of the weather changing, the lack of solid sleep and the abuse on the bike I put the body through yesterday.
First thing in the morning we decided to go to Einsteins to get some coffee, bagels and let Landon run around downtown since it was still somewhat nice out. This let me push my run back to the early afternoon.
I decided to do a nice temp run and see where the legs were at after the long ride yesterday. The pace was good but the heartrate was a little high. Overall the run felt good, besides the dodging of the ice and the occasional puddle I was happy with how everything felt.
Distance: 5.12 miles
Pace: 7:22 per mile
Heartrate: 165 bpm
I just looked at the plan for the week and I can already tell it is going to bring a little pain!
Saturday, February 7, 2009
A Whole Lot of Riding
First, the weather today was unreal. I think we were in the 60's, after being locked in the artic for the last 4 months with no let up this was a nice relief.
The down side is I spent 4 hours indoors on my bike today.
The day started about 4:15 with getting paged for work. The alarm was set for 5:15 for the Computrainer class this morning so there was really no point of going back to sleep. So I toook care of the work thing and pretty much laid in bed until about 5:05.
This month I opted for the 6:00 Saturday Computrainer classes as we signed Landon up for a couple of classes at the Y and I should be able to still get class in, followed by a run and be able to take him to class. So this morning was a bit of a new routine as I had been riding at 8:00 on Saturdays since December.
Class was tough. We did the usual warmup followed by 2 sets of 3 minutes on at or above threshold and 2 minutes active recovery 5 times through. This may not sound bad on paper but considering we just retested our threshold this week trying to stay at or above that number was a bit of a challenge.
Got done with class at about 7:45 and had to get home as Amy and I signed up for the Cycle for ALS to support the Balzeman foundation. This is a great cause and a great story. If anyone wants more information check out http://www.spinforals.com/.
I ended up riding for about 2 hours on the trainer, this was going to be an easy ride but I wanted to keep my cadence up so I tried to stay between 95 and 100 RPM's. The 2 hours flew by and it was a great time. Over the two hours rode 45 miles according to the Garmin, not sure how acurate that is.
Overall was a great day and got in the longest cycling of the year. On tap tomorrow is a a nice run, hopefully outdoors as I am so done with the treadmill.
Here are a couple pics of Landon at the indoor ride today.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Road Bike..maybe?
So a couple months back I sold my road bike, a 2003 Felt F-65. It was my first road bike and the bike I used for the first year of Triathlons. Honestly I never thought the bike fit me all that well. It was a size 63cm and a very big bike at that. I really felt stretched on it.
So I have been throwing around the idea of getting another road bike. This is for a couple of reasons. First it gives you something else to ride besides the Tri Bike all the time, even though I love my Cervelo P2C, it would be nice to mix it up over the summer. Second is I would like to have something a little more practical to ride to work in the summer. Riding in the aero position with a backpack is not the most comfortable thing to do.
So here are the requirements, would prefer something the fits better. Shouldn't be a problem as I will probably get it at Endure It! and they have that part covered. Second I am leaning towards aluminum as I think you get more for your money and it is not like I am going to be racing it. Lastly I would also prefer something with Shimano Ultegra or SRAM Force or better and of course the look of the bike never hurts.
So where does that leave me? Well I think I am going to be between the Cervelo S1 and the Pinarello FP2, they both come as a complete bike build with Ultegra SL and they both are about the same price.
Here is what I am looking at:
So I have been throwing around the idea of getting another road bike. This is for a couple of reasons. First it gives you something else to ride besides the Tri Bike all the time, even though I love my Cervelo P2C, it would be nice to mix it up over the summer. Second is I would like to have something a little more practical to ride to work in the summer. Riding in the aero position with a backpack is not the most comfortable thing to do.
So here are the requirements, would prefer something the fits better. Shouldn't be a problem as I will probably get it at Endure It! and they have that part covered. Second I am leaning towards aluminum as I think you get more for your money and it is not like I am going to be racing it. Lastly I would also prefer something with Shimano Ultegra or SRAM Force or better and of course the look of the bike never hurts.
So where does that leave me? Well I think I am going to be between the Cervelo S1 and the Pinarello FP2, they both come as a complete bike build with Ultegra SL and they both are about the same price.
Here is what I am looking at:
Cervelo S1 (only color, matches my P2C)
Pinarello FP2 (Red)
Pinarello FP2 (Red)Pinarello FP2 (White)
I am really not sure which way I am leaning currently as they each have their advantages but it will probably come down to which one fits me best.
Recovery Week in Review
This week was suppose to be a recovery week. For some reason I think the recovery week brings it own challenges as your body is not use to the multiple days off and we all know everyone is a creature of habit.
So on paper this was a recovery week, in reality not so much. I did two time trials this week mainly because they were previously scheduled.
A little background, I signed up for a individual TT at Endure It!, a 16 mile course ride all out. Sounded like fun at the time and should break up the monotony of the regular indoor clasess and the boring the winter brings. Come to find out that this is also the week of threshold testing, should of saw it coming as we test the first week of the month. Note taken look beyond next week.
The upside of both of these is I did much better than I really expected on both. The 16 mile TT finished in a little under 46 minutes with an average of 266 watts. Was very satisified with that and had absolutely nothing left in the tank at the end.
Monday and Tuesday were completely off, not even swimming. So Wednesday morning was threshold testing. Was told I could go ahead and do it if I wanted to or not my call. As I had just done a TT on Sunday, but I really wanted to see where I was in a true comparison from the previous two months. With having the prior two days off the body felt good. I ended up testing at 283 watts, up from 270 watts in January and up from 256 in December. Very happy with the progess, I really think to see the progress you need to be doing two classes a week. Will we see if 300 is in the cards before we hit the roads this spring.
The rest of the week has been pretty normal, Wednesday had a quick 30 minute run at lunch followed by a normal masters class on Thursday. Masters I felt a little off though, even though my times were still around normal the body just felt off. Not swimming for a week does that to me but usually by mid to end of class things are coming around. We did a ton of kicking which I hate and could defiantely feel the legs from the TT's.
This weekend should be fun. Tomorrow starts with the Computrainer class at 6:00 am, and I am doing a indoor ride for two hours to help support the ALS Spin-a-thon from 10 to noon so that may hurt a little. The plan for the two hours is nice and easy and enjoy the ride. Two hours on the trainer is like riding for four outside in my opinion so .
Sunday I am hoping to get outside and run as it is awesome here. Sunny in the 30 and 40's and maybe 50 in the near future. If that is the case I am going for at least a 60 minute run to enjoy the weather and enjoy being off the treadmill.
So on paper this was a recovery week, in reality not so much. I did two time trials this week mainly because they were previously scheduled.
A little background, I signed up for a individual TT at Endure It!, a 16 mile course ride all out. Sounded like fun at the time and should break up the monotony of the regular indoor clasess and the boring the winter brings. Come to find out that this is also the week of threshold testing, should of saw it coming as we test the first week of the month. Note taken look beyond next week.
The upside of both of these is I did much better than I really expected on both. The 16 mile TT finished in a little under 46 minutes with an average of 266 watts. Was very satisified with that and had absolutely nothing left in the tank at the end.
Monday and Tuesday were completely off, not even swimming. So Wednesday morning was threshold testing. Was told I could go ahead and do it if I wanted to or not my call. As I had just done a TT on Sunday, but I really wanted to see where I was in a true comparison from the previous two months. With having the prior two days off the body felt good. I ended up testing at 283 watts, up from 270 watts in January and up from 256 in December. Very happy with the progess, I really think to see the progress you need to be doing two classes a week. Will we see if 300 is in the cards before we hit the roads this spring.
The rest of the week has been pretty normal, Wednesday had a quick 30 minute run at lunch followed by a normal masters class on Thursday. Masters I felt a little off though, even though my times were still around normal the body just felt off. Not swimming for a week does that to me but usually by mid to end of class things are coming around. We did a ton of kicking which I hate and could defiantely feel the legs from the TT's.
This weekend should be fun. Tomorrow starts with the Computrainer class at 6:00 am, and I am doing a indoor ride for two hours to help support the ALS Spin-a-thon from 10 to noon so that may hurt a little. The plan for the two hours is nice and easy and enjoy the ride. Two hours on the trainer is like riding for four outside in my opinion so .
Sunday I am hoping to get outside and run as it is awesome here. Sunny in the 30 and 40's and maybe 50 in the near future. If that is the case I am going for at least a 60 minute run to enjoy the weather and enjoy being off the treadmill.
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