Little Longer than Expected

I planned on doing a 2.5 hour ride today but apparently my memory doesn't serve me too well, and the route I chose was more along the lines of 3 hours. Good ride today though. 5x5 minute efforts at about the same level I put in on the intervals with David on Tuesday. For about the last hour I kept a pretty good steady pace although I began to fade a bit toward the end.

Other things of note: I want a power meter! According to Joe Friel, without one, I'm simply training blind.

Yesterday: More gym time and an endurance ride with David Ansel. Ride time was around 2.5 hours all to spend maybe thirty minutes on a new road. Only so many places to ride in Starkville, MS. Looking forward to visiting my parents for a few days in Brandon, MS to get in some rides on some different roads.

Today: I planned on hitting up the mt bike or cross bike this morning, but I woke up to rain in the middle of the night. When my alarm went off it was still raining! WTF?! It wasn't even supposed to rain so I was undecisive on what to do. Finally I decided to get a little dirty. And the results.

And the shoes

Obviously I was wearing toe covers. And for breakfast... Honey Wheet Bagel covered in Skippy's Natural with Honey! Strawberry preserves on one and Nutella(pretty sure God's gift to man) on the other with a banana(probably another one of God's gifts).

Legs are feeling the work today. It's probably a combination of the rides and especially the weights. Hopefully it'll pay off.

4x5 min

That was it for today. 4x5 minute work sets with around 6 minutes of rest between. David Ansel had to do a little more, but I was going to ease into them. Despite really sore legs from the weights I felt pretty good. Probably went a little harder on the efforts than I should have, but that's ok. I'll pay later! ha. Total ride time was right around 3 hours

New Season!

Yesterday was the start to a brand new season! I got in around 3.5 hours on the group ride at a fairly easy pace. I hadn't done anything athletic for a week so I didn't expect to feel too great. I was also hopping back on my cross bike which had been set aside for the better part of 8 months. On top of that, I had new S-Works shoes with cleat placement based on a wild guess. Not only did I feel awkard, but my sit bones were sore too. Either way I got in some good miles.

Today I spent some time in the gym. Squats, lunges, bench press, lat pulldown, standing row, seated row, straight leg dead lifts, and the ab roller rounded out the routine. Joe Friel suggests weight training to all athletes so I'm trying to be open minded and have a real go at it. I used to really enjoy lifting weights, but I sort of dropped it when I got more into endurance sports. I tried to ease into it with lighter weights and higher reps per Friel's suggestion. Sort of embarrassing bench pressiing 95lbs, but I gotta keep my ego in check.

I followed that up with an hour spin on the trainer doing some spin ups and single leg drills. Nothing too hard.

Tomorrow it's steady state intervals with David Ansel. We'll see how well my legs hold up to that after that workout today!

So much for being more consistent. Anyway, an easy ride on the agenda today. I am at home visiting my parents so I decided to hit up the Ridgeland trails. Wish I had known it was going to be so wet. I couldn't get in a groove at all so I only rode for about an hour. Some days are just a little off. Anyway, I'm off to Morgan Hill, CA tomorrow for BG Fit class... should be fun riding S-Works bikes, and I'll learn a lot.

Off Week

My blog posts have been sporadic at best... Gonna try to get more consistent from now on. As far as this past week goes: Pretty much all of my workouts have been lackluster. I need to get better about planning things out so that I don't have days where I'm trying to do hard intervals on crap legs.
So today was pretty much resting besides some time in the gym. Good workout today on my chest, tris, shoulders, and core.
I used to never have "injuries" but lately this and that has ached, felt sore, or tight. Also, my back has bothered me some on the Mt Bike. To rectify this I'm trying to get in the gym more, and after this next week in the mountains with David I'll begin trying to get to the trails more often.
Weights and some pedaling drills tomorrow!

Finally got the new Specialized Tarmac outside today! Weather wasn't great with temps in the 40s and an annoying mist most of the ride. Joined David Ansel today for his training ride. Both of us felt pretty good during the ride despite the weather. The route was around 80 miles in a bit less than 5 hours. Love the bike! Before the ride I switched tires from the S-works Mondo to the Armadillo Elite Roubaix tire. Its a 23/25c tire making more compliant and the Armidillo technology helps against flats. Also a bit heavier : (

It's rest day today. Legs, especially quads, are very sore today after yesterday's lackluster trail run. So I'll leave you with a picture from the mt. bike ride Sunday.

Down time today... Spent some time in the gym. Planned on a swim as well... something I really need to work on for the upcoming tri season... but the pool was closed.
Product Review: Pearl Izumi Streak Running Shoe

At only 8.8 oz its pretty dang light and has a fast feel to it. I definitely like the feel of a nice light shoe like this compared to a heavier trainer. It has a fair amount of cushioning... maybe enough for me to do a marathon in them. The cushioning does seem to wear out somewhat fast though. Although, I must admit I have been using them for at least a couple of months and may have put more miles on them than I realize. Anyway, they are nice shoes and I'll probably buy another pair, but I'm going to try to find something with a bit more to them for longer runs.

It's been pretty chilly here lately. Temps in the 20's in the morning, and I'm just not down with that. Since its not often we have weather that cold I don't really get tired of the trainer. Obviously, I'd rather be outside but the trainer is alright, and I can get a really good, specific workout in. So that's where my "riding" has taken me lately... not much farther than in front of the tv.
As far as the workout this morning... 3x20 minutes at "sweet spot." I'm definitely still learning where my sweet spot is and what my body is capable of. Probably need to go into this workout a bit more rested next time. I followed it up with a 20 minute run(sweating horribly indoors transition to 26 degree chill outside!). Caught a side stitch about ten minutes in... trying to figure out what's causing that...?
In regards to the picture: Figured I'd fill readers (if there are any) in one of my bikes. Specialized Tricross Expert. It's lots of fun and very versatile. I've learned to really like the Sram shifters and even went with Red on my new road bike(new bike you say? more tuesday!).