35 miles, not too chilly or hilly

ebruary

I rode the out and back Issaquah loop (35 miles) today. No bonking, no cramps, no chills. Drank enough and ate some flat bananas at the 3/4 point. Speed was a bit variable but better than last time. I was stronger up the Mint Grove hill attaining a "blazing" speed of 10 mph at the crest. 

I re-painted my Limar aero helmet with the new spray paint for plastics. see photo. My intention is to look less like a dork and more like Lance. I have a long way to go on that front...

All in all I'm making good progress for the last day in February

Weight =180.4lbs

30 minutes on the trainer

half hour on the trainer with two moderate intervals plus some weight lifting. I ordered wheel covers!

Weight=181.5lbs

2 days off

weight=181.4 lbs

Thank Heavens for Snapple!

35 mile ride to Issaquah and back. Excellent route. Nice wide bike lane on the east side of lake Sammamish. Goes almost to Issaquah before bike lane ends, I don't understand the thinking there, but Its nice as far as it goes.

I was cruising along nicely from 20-22MPH. Some moderate hills were a chore but do-able at low speed. I sipped on Snapple in my water bottle to keep my energy up...but still bonked a bit going through Redmond on the way back. Stopped for another Snapple and that gave me just enough pep to get back to Woodinville. In the last 5 miles I was cramping up a bit, I got chilled, put on my packable jacket to grind out the rest of the way. I am experienceing rather extreme "Recumbent Butt" which has not plaged me before... Obviously the quick ramp up and increased road miles did it to me.

I tried a pedialyte/snapple cocktail for a homebrew sports drink. Tastes pretty good and has the right mix of electrolytes and carbs for me. We had a bottle of pedialyte left over from one my son's illnesses, so I gave it a shot.

Hill climbing part 2

Went for a 23.75 mile ride today, sunny near 60F. I was moving along at a 21.5 mph average speed from Woodinville to Redmond, but I was slowing down for lots of trail traffic. I was above 22mph for long stretches. Then I climbed the microsoft hill again.This time it was alot more comfortable. My pace was still slow, but it hurt less and I was not winded and burnt at the top.
On the way back to Woodinville, a racing cyclist passed me, so I gave chase, caught him and rode ahead again. He attacked and put about 300 yards on me which I slowly reeled in to about 70 yards before I turned off at UW Bothell. Rode the hill there and came home.

I added a few carbs to my water to help put the zip back in my workout.

Weight 182.8lbs

30 minutes of Indoor Training

Hit the indoor trainer for 30 minutes today, felt a bit more zippy but the lack of carbs has definitely impaired my energy. I'm gonna try D-ribose for boosting my workout energy. On the bright side I dropped another pound...

Weight= 183.4

20 minutes on the Indoor trainer

Nice and easy for 20 minutes to loosen up the tight muscles.

weight=184

Le Miserable

Tested my new 47 t chainring climbing the MicroSoft hill today. The Surly stainless steel ring worked very well , my legs not so well. I was suffering "lead legs" climbing and even on the flats. I clearly needed another recovery day from the strength training. The carb restriction diet is also likely a contributing cause of the lack of zip in my legs. Anyway the 27.6 gear inches seems adequate for most hills, although this in no way makes me into a hill climber again. A mountain biker climbed the hill with me passed me and put about 400 yards on me before I reached the summit at overlake. That was depressing...

17.67 road miles, (1 mile of climbing)

Day off/ sore muscles

My hamstrings feel the pain from the last workout.

Weight=184.4 lbs

Armstrong workout

I ran through an abbreviated lance armstrong workout Saturday. 30 minutes on the indoor trainer followed by step up weight sets 20 reps and some (10) un-weighted sqwats. That was not so bad at the time...

Weight 184.4

Energy is raging wildly up and down with carbs restricted to less than 50g per day. This is reported to be normal side effect of carb restriction.

Friday Day Off

No riding or training today.
Weight =184.4lbs
Day 3 of Protein Plan

30 minutes of Indoor Training

30 minutes on the indoor trainer. 4 sets of intervals. I followed that with light upper body weightlifting. Hard workout for indoors...

Second day of high protein/low carbohydrate diet

Weight: 185.4 lbs

2 rest days, 1 indoor training day

2 days off, followed by 30 minutes on the indoor trainer yesterday (feb 9). Rollerbladed while my son rode his bike for one hour.

STP 2010 Training Begins!

I have begun training for STP 2010.

Some stats to start off:

weight : 186.4

Outdoor miles: 18.97

I rode my standard Woodiville to Redmond ride. Lots of traffic on the trail today. Warmish (54ºF) partly sunny. I was able to move along slightly faster than 20mph for most of the ride with surges to 23mph. I ride one small hill and it was all I could do to get over it with my current gearing. I'm working on getting my low gear down to 28.9 gear inches which should be low enough for climbing almost any hill. I will also be working on getting my mass down below 170 lbs. (my college racing weight was 160-165 lbs ) around 175lbs I feel pretty zippy, but below 170 lbs I'm "loaded for bear". Lungs felt good today considering it was ride #1 of 2010. This will be something I watch closely because last spring allergies had me really struggling to breathe.