Training Ride 12/31/12

Last ride of 2012!  What a year!  I accomplished all my goals, how about you?

Training Ride 12/30/12

2012 almost done.  This was a cold ride and well windy.

Training Run 12/28/12

Training Ride 12/27/12

Training Ride 12/26/12

Training Ride 12/25/12

Training Run 12/24/12

Perfect weather.  Maybe even a bit too warm.  Took the opportunity to do 7 fun miles.

Training Ride 12/23/12

Happy Wintersday!

Training Brick 12/22/12

Holy fuck its cold.  37 when I left the house to bike and it warmed up to 42 for my run.  All told I was slow, but what do you expect when its freezing with wind chill and a 20mph wind is howling.

Training Run 12/21/12

Training Ride 12/20/12

Last 4am ride of 2012!  Bring on vacation and pleasant rides!

Training Ride 12/19/12

Cold ride, about 20 degrees less than yesterday.  Hard to type with numb fingers.

Training Ride 12/18/12

WTF time trial bike?

Training Run 12/17/12

Training Ride 12/16/12

Wet and rainy.  So of course I did 60 miles and arrived home soaking wet and ruined.

Training Run 12/15/12

A bit too wet outside to ride, so I went for a 10 mile run.  That was my longest run ever and I'm sure I'll pay for that effort.

Training Run 12/14/12

Another run crushed.  Long day ahead at work.  Dread impending.

Training Ride 12/13/12

Weather finally came through and let me ride.  It was foggy and damp but goddamn so good to be out there turning the pedals.

Training Run 12/10/12

Training Ride 12/9/12

Another day another half century.  Went fairly hard today, it was fun.

Training Ride 12/8/12

Pretty challenging ride today.  Warm and no wind, normally thats a good thing but today did feel like a grind.

Training Run 12/7/12

Steamy five mile run.  Weekend looming.

Training Ride 12/6/12

Week of wet, cold rides over.  Unless this weekend is wet and cold too.

Training Ride 12/5/12

Training Ride 12/4/12

Training Run 12/3/12

Weird run, must be a bit dehydrated.  I got a bad side stitch about 3 miles in, which rarely happens to me.  Not sure what that was about.

Training Ride 12/2/12

Nice half century today.  Went really hard and pushed as fast as I could in a few sections.  Great, invigorating ride.

Training Ride 12/1/12

Kick off December with a beautiful ride out to Fellsmere and back for about 70 miles.  It was warm, sunny and no wind.  That is the best. 

Also, congrats to my sister for finishing a half marathon today.  Epic!

Training Ride 11/30/12

Took a very much needed rest day yesterday.  Back to the grind today with a strong 5 mile run.  Doing some mileage tomorrow on the road bike.

Training Ride 11/28/12

Could not force myself to do 35 miles so as a compromise I went 25.  Seemed fair.

Training Ride 11/27/12

Much warmer this morning, not gonna lie it was a huge bonus considering how much waking up at 4am blows.

Training Run 11/26/12

Starting off a normal week with a run.  I will miss vacation.  Only a few more weeks until Wintersday.

Training Ride and Run 11/25/12

Did another brick today.  Weather was perfect, great day to be alive and outside.

Training Ride 11/24/12

Felt really beat on this ride.  My quads are super sore, no doubt they need a rest day.  I'll see what I can do, but it won't be tomorrow.

Training Ride 11/23/12

Legs were surprisingly sore after my running effort yesterday, but it was still a wonderful ride today.  Perhaps a bit on the cool side, but after the sun came up over the tree line it was perfect.

Vero Beach Turkey Trot 5k

My first running race.  Not bad!  Who knew I could break the 7 minute mile mark?  Certainly not me.  I can't wait to see when the official results are posted, I'm hoping I did good in my age group.  It was pretty fun, though I'm not sure how excited I am about future running races, I'd rather bike honestly.

Training Ride 11/21/12

Here we are.  No work thanks to thanksgiving, so I took the opportunity to do a half century on a sunny, cool but windy day.  Nothing to complain about, because I could have been at work.  This was better than work.

Training Ride 11/20/12

So here we go with my first/last pre-dawn ride of the week.  Holiday = no waking up at 4am.

Training Run 11/19/12

I wasn't sure I would be physically good to go for this run after yesterday's brutality.  Somehow, I did it.  I'm great?

2012 Horrible Hundred

What a ride.  Was great to ride with the UCF team.  We stopped at all the SAGs which may make it sound easy, but when we were going we hammered.  Awesome ride, cannot wait for next year.

Training Ride and Run 11/17/12

Did my first brick today.  Good workout!  Horrible Hundred tomorrow.  Let's do it.

Training Ride 11/16/12

Signed up for the Turkey Trot yesterday.  Time to pimp up my runnining.

Training Ride 11/15/12

Half way through the month.  Cannot wait for the HH.  

Training Ride 11/14/12

Must have rained overnight because the roads were hella wet.  Made for a less than ideal ride, but you do what you have to do.  HH on Sunday!

Training Ride 11/13/12

Dialed back the mileage a bit as I'm trying to take it easier before the HH.  I am really bad about giving myself rest days and tapering.  This will be a challenge.

Training Ride 11/12/12

Felt a bit sluggish on my run this morning, probably due to going hard on the bike this weekend.  Going to taper this week and maybe find some form prior to the HH.

Training Ride 11/11/12

Even though I got rained on, today was a significantly better feeling ride.  Why, I am not sure, I just go with what my legs tell me.

Training Ride 11/10/12

One thing I'll say for this ride is that it was warmer.  I got a headwind both ways so it was super slow and hard.  Ugh.  Do what you gotta do.

Training Run 11/9/12

Cold this morning, but that's not such a huge deal when you're running.  

Training Ride 11/8/12

Another cold day, this time rather windy.  Took the TT bike out again to the inlet and back.  Thank god I can swap between the two bikes, never get bored.

Training Ride 11/7/12

I took the TT bike out tonight after work to get out some aggression.  It worked, I pushed fairly hard.  It's a bit cold but definitely good.

Oh, yeah... I hit 10k miles for the year.  I don't want to tell you how many hours that is.

Training Ride 11/6/12

This is it.  Tomorrow I hit 10k.  Reap it.

Training Run 11/5/12

Great morning for a run, so I felt obligated to do so.  Winner.

Training Ride 11/4/12

Today the weather was picture perfect, sunny, cool and no wind.  The spoil was my left knee was causing me some pain at the top of my pedal stroke and put a damper on the whole ride.

Training Ride 11/3/12

Cold freaking ride this morning.  I think 47 when I left the house, which sucks.  Caught up with the Palm Bay Ride on Grant Road and stuck with them for about 15 miles, quite a workout.

Training Run 11/2/12

Pretty sweet run this morning with the cooler temps.  I enjoyed the briskness of running in the cool air, keeps you fresh

Training Ride 11/1/12

The final run into 10k miles begins today.  I have a renewed vigor and desire to achieve.  Horrible Hundred soon.  This month will be epic.

Training Ride 10/31/12

Some rides are better than others.  This was a great one for a wide variety of reasons.

Training Ride 10/20/12

A great day for a ride.  The wind continues to be brutal but felt more manageable today for some reason.  I dunno.  What I do know is I hit my monthly goal which I did not think would happen after Sandy kept me off the bike for so long.

Training Ride 10/29/12

Glorious weather perfect for an afternoon spin.

Training Ride 10/28/12

Absolutely gorgeous weather.  Not a cloud in the sky and high 60's low 70's.  You can't ask for better than that.  Only negative was the wind, it was a tad breezy but to complain about that on a day this nice is splitting a very fine hair.

Training Run 10/27/12

So Hurricane Sandy is killing me.  No bike since Wednesday due to hurricane force winds.  But you can still run in wind, so I did.  I went super long today and broke the 7 mile mark for the first time.  win?

Training Run 10/25/12

There is a tropical storm off shore creating 30-45mph winds today.  That's a bit much to bike in, but OK to run in... so...

Training Ride 10/24/12

Pretty rough ride.  Insanely windy and I had stomach cramps the whole time.  Brutal.

Training Ride 10/23/12

Rest day yesterday, back to the grind today.  Did a fun ride up to Wabasso and back, a little preview of next year minus the intervals.  Tried to break my own strava record over the bridge but I haven't uploaded it there yet.

Training Ride 10/21/12

Fun little ride.  A cold front must have come through because it was in the 50's when I started this morning.  I had to put on arm warmers.  But it turned out to be sunny and nice.  Good things.

Training Ride 10/20/12

Nice half century this morning.  Legs felt pretty good.  Longer tomorrow.

Training Run 10/19/12

I took Monday off running to rest so today was a wake up call.  A good hard run.  Who knows maybe a 5k this winter?

Training Ride 10/18/12

Week of pre-dawn rides over.  All in all it was way easier than it should have been because of my lack of sleep.  I generally function horribly without lot's of sleep so this was rather strange.

Training Ride 10/17/12

I felt pretty weak today, but sometimes when the legs aren't good you have to just shift to a harder gear and force yourself to do it.  

Training Ride 10/16/12

I'm in the home stretch towards 10k miles for the year.  It's been hard, and I'll have a lot more to say about it in the future.

Training Ride 10/14/12

This was rough.  Windiest day I can recall riding in for months.  I am absolutely brutalized after what felt like a headwind in all directions, and not a light one either.

Training Ride 10/13/12

Fun ride with the Panera crew.  Was a bit somber with Keith's passing last weekend, but we still got after it.  I didn't feel on top form, but I managed to stay with the fast guys.

Training Run 10/12/12

Nice 5 miler to book end the week of pre-dawn efforts.  Panera Ride tomorrow (supposedly fast guys show up now, we'll see) and then a 70+ miler Sunday.

Training Ride 8/11/12

Closed out the week with a 40 mile spin.  Trying to get things going before the weekend rides.

Training Ride 10/10/12

Good ride this morning.  I was super tired but about halfway through I felt all the cob webs were out of my system and I felt alive.

Training Ride 10/9/12

Back at it.  Horrible Hundred next month and I'll need to start building up to it.

Training Run 10/8/12

A little sore from yesterday's race, but I pushed myself to get this run done.  I'm rapidly approaching 10k miles cycling for the year and I'm super excited about that.

2012 Tour de Vero

Super fun race and very fast.  88 miles in under 4 hours is heavy pushing.  I did well, finished in the second group of 4 riders behind the first group of 8 or so that go away at the 65 mile mark.  Pics to follow.

Training Run 10/6/12

Nice 10k run this morning.  Got side stitches at the 5 mile mark that slowed me, but all in all a good time.

Training Ride 10/5/12

Another wet one, but not nearly as bad or demoralizing.  My last tune up ride before the Tour de Vero.  Tomorrow I'll take the day off the bike and get a run in, but for the most part I'll be resting and getting stoked.

Training Ride 10/4/12

Terrible Ride.  Went to do my usual south route, got rained on so I turned north to do bridge repeats to dodge the rain.  Did a few repeats when the rain started there, too.  So the whole ride was a wet abortion and was completely un-fun.

Training Ride 10/3/12

Rained out yesterday, going to try to make up for it Friday.   Today's ride was a bit sluggish, but that's usual for being out so early.

Training Ride 9/30/12

Closed out the month of September with a nice metric century down to Jensen Beach and back.  I felt incredibly strong today, my legs were electric and I had a ton of pop.  I hope this form holds up, since next weekend is the Tour de Vero.

Training Ride 9/29/12

Hey all.  Took the TT bike out today to try a 40km simulated time trial.  I've never done one at this distance and as this is the measuring stick for time trials I needed to do it to see how I am.  I finished it in 62:51 which is about .3mph off a one hour pace.  The goal is to break an hour so I'm not satisfied, but I'm not disappointed either.

Training Run 9/28/12

Taking Monday off running was very clutch, because the soreness and knee pain that was starting to creep in was totally gone today.  I guess even machines like me need to take breaks.

Training Ride 9/27/12

Another week of morning rides in the books.  This was a brutal week but I'm ready for the weekend rides, weather permitting.

Training Ride 9/26/12

Oh look, another fun ride in pitch blackness.  Job done.

Training Ride 9/25/12

Five days left in the month.  Grind grind grind.

Training Ride 9/23/12

Weather finally improved.  So I destroyed the Grant Ride and was rather happy with my form.  A north wind is a rare treat.

Training Run 9/22/12

Ran my first 10k.  I'm sure all you runners are laughing at my time, but I'm just happy to have done the distance for the first time.

I should also mention for the record that the roads were still wet from the rain so I couldn't bike.  I am desperate to ride tomorrow.

Training Run 9/21/12

This month is flying by.  Taking a weekend off to rest seems a lot bigger than it was, but we'll see where I am at the end of this weekend.

Training Ride 9/20/12

Did a few extra miles this morning to close out the week.  Hopefully the weather holds up this weekend so I can get some strong miles in.

Training Ride 9/19/12

Another day where I really felt some juice in my legs.  I hope I can keep this form up for a while.

Training Ride 9/18/12

First ride in a while, felt really good.  Tour de Vero coming up soon, time to get the engine tuned up to top form.

Training Run 9/17/12

Took another rest weekend for my birthday.  Time to get back on track, Tour de Vero coming up soon, and I need to be close to my peak.  Back to reality starting today.

Training Run 9/14/12

Closing out the week with a nice 5 miler.  I have to say that I've really enjoyed running and it's working out even better than I expected.

Training Ride 9/13/12

Super stiff NE wind this morning so I took my north route.  It was a nice change of pace, can't wait for the weekend festivities.

Training Run 9/12/12

Too wet to bike, so the running shoes came out.

Training Ride 9/11/12

Training Run 9/10/12

The right way to start off the week is with an invigorating run.  

Training Ride 9/9/12

Great ride today.  Strong west winds (a rarity here) which made some sections easier than normal while others were much harder.  West winds usually bring bad thunderstorms, so maybe a nice thunderstorm nap is in order this afternoon.

Training Ride 9/8/12

A metric century this morning on one of my favorite routes.  Operating on less than 6 hours of sleep and no breakfast put a damper on my speeds, but just the fact I got out of bed to bike was a miracle in and of itself.

Training Run 9/7/12

Hello baggers.  A nice 5 mile run to book end the week.  I am excited for a weekend of nice long bike rides and, ofcourse, football.

Training Ride 9/6/12

Nice ride this morning.  Went a few extra miles because I'm not bike commuting so I needed to do a little extra work to keep up my program.

Training Ride 9/5/12

Another strong day.  Either I'm coming into really good form or that rest week I took is paying off.  Regardless, I'm stoked be feeling so strong.

Training Ride 9/4/12

Felt really fast and strong today.  Can't stop won't stop.

Training Run 9/3/12

Great run this morning.  Happy labor day!

Training Ride 9/2/12

Absolute scorcher today.  One of the hottest rides so far this year.  I was deep in suffering by the end.  But the end is here, so let me at some ice water.

Training Ride 9/1/12

Two weeks since my last ride of this length, so this was a real wake up call.  My rest weekend was nice, but busting ass for four hours is nicer.

Training Run 8/31/12

Closing out August with a nice 5 mile run.  All in all a great month.  Made really good progress on running, and enjoyed a rest week from cycling to recharge for the big events coming up in the fall.

Training Ride 8/30/12

After nearly a week's rest, I'm back.  I really needed the time off the bike after going so hard this year.  Hopefully the rest will recharge my legs for the big events I have coming in October and November.

Training Run 8/24/12

Unorthodox time for me to go on a run eh?  It's going to be an unorthodox weekend.

Training Ride 8/24/12

Felt great this morning.  Maybe it was switching back to the road bike or the extra sleep I got, but man I felt like a million bucks out there.

Training Ride 8/23/12

Another TT ride.  This time mostly because I was too lazy to take my road bike off the rack.  I think I have the TT bike out of my system now.

Training Ride 8/22/12

I haven't ridden my time trial bike in a very long time and you really forget how fast it is.  I didn't even push the pace super hard and my average speed was still noticeably faster than my road bike.  All in all, a super fun ride.

Training Ride 8/21/12

Super fun.  Oh wait.  I tore my tire on the ride and then had to hoof it home about 3 miles.  Made for a really shitty morning.  The saving grace will be when I get to spend $80 at the bike shop on the new tire.

Training Run 8/20/12

Set goal: accomplish goal.  I wanted to do 5 miles by August 25 and I did, just a few days early.  I'm very stoked and I hope things continue to get better and better for me from here on out with running.

Training Ride 8/19/12

Another rather fun ride.  The heat hasn't been quite so scorching this weekend which definitely makes the last  hour slightly more tolerable.  In any event, I knocked out some miles this weekend since next weekend is gonna be really light.

Training Ride 8/18/12

Super fun ride out to Micco and back.  Weather was hot and I got a rare west wind which is nice when you go far west as Fellsmere.  Tail winds on the ride home are the way to go all day.

I-95 Overpass on Micco Road

How do the new Kysriums look?

Training Run 8/17/12

Mission accomplished, 4 miles in the books by my August 25 deadline.  A fine run and I felt good.  Perhaps not very fast but speed only matters in a race and I'm not going to run in a race anytime soon.

New Wheelset!

Hey everyone!  My Soul wheels crapped out on me last week as I mentioned off hand once.  So my new wheels are here and ready to rock.  Can't wait to take them out Saturday.

Ksyrium Equipe M10 Wheelset

Training Ride 8/16/12

I've felt slow this week so I made a conscious effort today to push it a bit harder this morning and it worked out.  You only get what you earn.

Training Ride 8/15/12

Was getting bored of the Ft. Pierce route so I changed it up.  Mildly frustrating ride due to the rain last night making for wet roads, but I did what had to be done.  Only one more day of this 4am stuff this week.

Training Ride 8/14/12

Man, I was slow this morning.  I need to crank it up.  My legs have felt heavy lately.

Training Run 8/13/12

Pushing the distance a bit further this morning.  Took it nice and easy pace-wise in order to prevent a blow out or anything.  My program is going very well indeed.

Training Ride 8/12/12

Whew, that was rough.  My legs were still tired from yesterday and I was definitely on low power today.  Glad that's over with, bring on the recovery.

Training Ride 8/11/12

Scorcher.  Insanely hot, but at least the wind wasn't too bad.  I hadn't gone over 80 in a while and I was due for it.  All in all, a pretty great ride.

Training Run 8/10/12

Sup my childrens.  Did a nice 3 and a quarter miles this morning to get my legs woken up.  Ready for the weekend's bike rides.  

Training Ride 8/9/12

A nice way to close out the week of rides.  My road bike wheels died yesterday so I had to go back to my old Aksiums.  They are pretty solid wheels for training rides but man they are ugly.  In any event, the UPS driver will no doubt be bringing me some newer prettier wheels sometime soon I'm sure.

Training Ride 8/8/12

Another strong ride.  No drawbridge to slow me down today, either.  Going to take the road bike into the shop for some work, so maybe TT bike tomorrow?

Training Ride 8/7/12

Really good feeling ride this morning, I felt super strong.  One of those rare rides where it feels like you have the wind at your back in all directions.

Training Ride 8/6/12

Cracked 3 miles, and progress is good.  My self imposed August 25 deadline to get to 4 miles is looking incredibly doable.  Set goals for yourself.

Training Ride 8/5/12

Pretty solid ride today.  I felt really strong even after the mega effort I put in going over the bridge trying to get the King of the Mountain on Strava.  If I had had another banana or two I could easily have kept going for another hour and a half.

Training Ride 8/4/12

Hey all.  Great ride this morning.  Was going to do 70+ but there was a threat of rain according to the forecast so I settled for a metric.  The rain never panned out so I guess I'm SOL but either way it was a fun ride.

Training Run 8/3/12

A nice way to close out a work week: a good invigorating run through a pretty neighborhood like the VBCC.  Anyway, getting close to some decent mileage, probably do a 3 mile run Monday.

Training Ride 8/2/12

I decided to go an extra 4 miles and get to work a bit late, which is to say not as early.  Was good.

Training Ride 8/1/12

Starting off August with a nice ride.  Nothing special.

Training Ride 7/31/12

...and that's a rap for July.  1,181 miles is a new record for me.  Would have liked to hit 1,200 but it would have involved skipping a rest day and at this point I do need those rest days.

Training Run 7/30/12

Distance increasing.  Pain is gone.  Things improving.

Training Ride 7/29/12

Almost a wrap on July.  Did a really nice ride to Jensen Beach and back.  The weather was beautiful and tons of people out riding, which I like to see.

Training Ride 7/28/12

Sixty-six miles of glorious hills in Clermont this morning.  I cannot describe how fun this was, nor can I describe how difficult it was.  All in all I'm cooked.

Training Run 7/27/12

Slowly increasing my distance.  I felt really good so I put a bit extra into my speed today.

Training Ride 7/26/12

Another week of pre-dawn rides in the books.  Hit 1,000 miles for the month and pushing on.  I probably won't hit 1,200 this month but that would be super nice.

Training Ride 7/25/12

Pretty good ride this morning.  Listened to Geektime on the iPod during it, and I pushed myself to have a bit faster time than the previous few times on this route.

Training Ride 7/24/12

A bog standard Tuesday ride.  Nothing especially noteworthy other than I was pleasantly surprised how dry it was considering the rain that rolled in last night.

Training Run 7/23/12

Good morning.  Fresh week.  I went on a nice run today around downtown Vero.  Not quite as fast as Friday, but "you have to get slower before you get faster."  Or so I'm told.  Once my legs are used to the endurance/distance then I can work on getting faster over that distance.  

Training Ride 7/22/12

Super fun ride down to Jensen Beach and back.  Thanks to water management laws, the ride is infinitely more fun on Sundays than Saturdays.

Training Ride 7/21/12

Killing it.  A nice metric century this morning.  Legs felt good and I pushed it super hard up the 17th street bridge to see what Strava has for it.

Training Run 7/20/12

Skipping running Monday was smart.  Whatever knee trouble was dogging me disappeared and I got a nice strong run in today.  2 miles, continuing to stretch my distance and a moving pace under 8 minute miles is an improvement over last week.

Training Ride 7/19/12

Another week down, and it went quick.  The miles are piling up and I'm on pace to have a super good month.  This weekend might not be as crazy as the last one mileage-wise because there are some things I have to get done besides cycling, which sounds a bit crazy I know.

Training Ride 7/18/12

I was supremely tired this morning, but I had to find some inner strength to get me up and going.  My goal today will be to get to 5:00 stress free and then come home and sleep as soon as I stuff food down my gullet.

Training Ride 7/17/12

Early morning ride back again.  My legs feel good but after 4 hard days of riding in a row I'm just not feeling the snap in them anymore.  My Friday rest day is gonna be excellent.

Training Ride 7/16/12

No work makes me a happy dude.  Took the day off as an opportunity to grind out some miles.  I definitely need a rest day after a ton of miles, but I don't have one coming until Friday.

Training Ride 7/15/12

Halfway point in July.  As bad as yesterday's ride was, todays was great.  I felt fast and strong, and the weather didn't involve me getting rained on, which always improves the mood.

Training Ride 7/14/12

Really hard ride.  Got rained on, got splashed by tidal waves from redneck monster trucks.  Had to back track and add an extra 10 miles to the ride to avoid a giant wall of rain at Fellsmere.  It was infernally hot, and I went through 6 bottles of water and I'm still cooked down to nothing.  All that said, better than being at work.

Training Run 7/13/12

Hmmm, much slower, much more knee pain.  Disheartening.

Training Ride 7/12/12

A little preview of next year.  Not as long a distance as my AM rides, but a pile of intensity.  Three sets of tabata intervals (20 seconds at max heart rate, 10 second rest x8) and a nice Strava KOM on the bridge going eastbound.  This year I'm dedicated to endurance with my big race being the 100m Horrible Hundred. Next year I'm going to be ramping up the intensity and power in order to increase my time trialing and criterium ability.

Training Ride 7/11/12

Much better today.  Legs felt stronger.  Still not 100% but I'm making progress.  Yesterday's rest was highly productive.

Training Ride 7/10/12

Fairly hard ride this morning.  Not sure why, still feeling worn around the edges and I need to get some good form.

Training Run 7/9/12

Slight knee pain again today that started creeping up on Friday, hence the slower times and lack of a distance increase.  Not bad enough to sideline me, but not pleasant either.

Training Ride 7/8/12

Fun ride today.  Not as hard as I've been going lately, mostly because I feel a little chipped around the edges.  My knee has a very slight pain, as does my left bicep and my shoulders.  None of them are particularly bad, but all together I just feel less than 100%.

Training Ride 7/7/12

Woo what a ride.  Hot as hell but sunny and nice with very light winds.  Had a crash on IRD due to a negligent homeowner, but the only thing hurt was my pride.  All in all a rather hard ride, and I can't wait to shower.

Training Run 7/6/12

The plan continues.  1.85 miles and still feeling good.  2 Miles Monday.  This is good.

Training Ride 7/5/12

Week of AM rides is closed out.  My new dietary regimen is in good form.  Hopefully shedding the extra pound.

Training Ride 7/4/12

Happy Independence Day.  No work means I got to take a rather enjoyable metric century.  It was hot and a bit muggy, but there was little wind and the sun was shining.  Happiness.

Training Ride 7/3/12

Yesterday was an eye opener.  I won't really bother you with the details but I've tried something for about 8 months, and it isn't working so a change is in order.  I'm not happy with the results I've been getting from that experiment and it's time to go back to what I know works.  My activity will be the same, but my nutrition regiment is getting a shake up.

Training Run 7/2/12

The slow increase in distance and speed continues.  I'm excited to see where I plateau, but I hope it isn't anytime soon.

Training Ride 7/1/12

New month new possibilities.  Started off with a 70 mile jaunt to get things started the right way.  152 mile weekend is a lot and it's where it's at.  I'm kinda loopy right now I think I need a shower to lower my core temperature or something.

Training Ride 6/30/12

June over.  Not as much mileage as I was planning on.  Between some travel costing me weekend rides, a beta testing weekend, and a tropical storm costing me a weekend day my mileage was probably down.  But it was still a good month.  Kinda crazy to think of a 1000+ mile month as a "down month," so I won't.  July should be great.

Training Run 6/29/12

My slow increasing of distance is going well.  Up to 1.5 miles and no knee pain.  I am happy with my running progress thus far.

Training Ride 6/28/12

Tropical Storm Debbie is gone and there was almost no wind this morning and most importantly no rain.  I'm excited to close out the month of rides on Saturday and start a new one Sunday.

Training... run? 6/27/12

Supposed to bike today.  Tropical storm Debbie said nah.  It was wet and incredibly windy, but that sort of condition will shut down a bike ride but not a run.  So I went out for a nice run, slowly increasing my distance up.  Putting The Plan into motion...


P.S. You can see I'm getting better, as my pace is now below 8 minutes per mile.  Again, The Plan.

Training Ride 6/26/12

Thanks for small miracles.  Rained all day yesterday and will rain all day today.  But at 4am - 6am there was no rain, and the roads were dry.  Hopefully this trend keeps up tomorrow.

Training Run 6/25/12

Run a mile, and no hurt legs.  This is becoming good.  

Training Ride 6/24/12

It was pissing rain on me basically the entire ride.  It never poured or even drizzeled, per se, but it just lightly sprinkled for nearly 3 hours of non-fun.  OH WELL.  Putting in the time is what matters.

Training Ride 6/23/12

So there was a lot of rain on the radar this morning and the forecast was for thunder storms, so I planned to ride 40-50 miles or until there was a threat of rain coming.  As I was going I realized it probably wasn't going to rain until later so I changed on the fly to a metric century, hence the weird route.  I would have gone further but I didn't bring any food and 60 miles is about as far as I can go before eating becomes mandatory, because bonking isn't fun or productive.

Training Run 6/22/12

After my last attempt at running I seriously hurt my MCL so I decided to put away the running shoes for a while.  I felt that I should give it another go today, but instead of trying to be awesome and run a long distance I would do the sensible thing and run a mile or so, and keeping doing it until I built up my running ability enough to go longer.  So I did a mile today around Troy Moody Park.  Pretty fun.

Training Ride 6/21/12

Nice ride today.  A bit on the wet side from last night's rain but can't have everything perfect.  Actually, you can have everything perfect, you just can't have it perfect always.

Training Ride 6/20/12

Interesting ride this morning.  There was a line of storms to the south moving north towards us.  When I turned around at the inlet it was clearly raining just a bit to the south, so my whole ride home was a race against the squall line, which I made by a few minutes.  I'm pretty good at this weather predicting game.

Training Ride 6/19/12

Let the games begin with another week.  Took the road bike out freshly tuned up from the shop on the weekend and it was as smooth as butter.  I didn't feel as strong as I did Saturday morning, but I felt happy, which is good in and of itself.

Training Ride 6/17/12

Road bike in the shop.  Took the TT bike on a very hard half century ride.  50-60 miles is the longest I could imagine riding this thing, I don't know how Iron Men do it for 112.

Training Ride 6/16/12

Really strong ride today.  Four and a half hours of hard riding.  My legs felt insanely strong, and I had no trouble elevating my heart rate.  This was one of those days I wish was a race day so I could have put the form into action.  I snapped a pic of myself while in Sebastian.

New UCF kit looks rad

Training Ride 6/14/12

Another week of dawn attack rides closed out.  I went really hard this morning for no specific reason, but I'm always glad I did.  Got my new UCF kit yesterday, can't wait to take it out this weekend and look resplendent.  

Training Ride 6/13/12

Fun ride, despite it being dark at 4:30AM.  Even if you don't bike or run, just do some exercise first thing after you get up and you'll see how much better your day is.

Training Ride 6/12/12

June really is flying by, we are almost halfway through and it feels like I'm just getting started.  This was my first 4am ride in a long while, and I did not miss it.  But I'll say this: biking at 4am is infinitely better than not biking at 6pm because it's raining.

Training Ride 6/10/12

Took an unplanned rest day yesterday, so I felt like brutalizing myself today with a very long, hot, and hard ride.  Mission accomplished.  I feel dead right now.

And now, a pic from today.  

View from the cockpit and engine

Training Ride 6/8/12

I took the TT bike out for a half century today.  I've done the road bike the last three days and I have about 150 miles to do this weekend so I felt like I needed the TT bike to change the pace.  I pushed it rather hard especially for the 3 miles on Indian River Boulevard when I was pushing at 40km TT pace.

Training Ride 6/7/12

Today was interesting.  I'm not a huge fan of this route due to lot's of traffic lights, but a cool thing happened.  At mile 40 or so I was feeling awful and ready to stop.  But somewhere around mile 50 my legs felt great again and I was a fresh as new.  Usually in endurance sports you don't get a second wind, you just slowly grind down until complete exhaustion, so having this feeling is really rare and great.

Training Ride 6/6/12

Wet and nasty.  Drizzled essentially the entire ride.  I wanted to do 50+ miles but making it up to the inlet would have required riding into a wall of water which wasn't hugely appealing.  In any event, I might try to get a run in later on today as it's national running day.  Did some tabata intervals in my ride today, those seriously burn.

Training Ride 6/5/12

Back in the saddle.  Chicago was nice, but I was so happy to ride again.  No work for me this week so I'm taking the opportunity to do 50ish miles per day, and living like I'm retired.  Don't let boring people tell you you'll be bored if you retire.  

Training Ride 6/2/12

I went hard.  The last hour and a half were at 160+ BPM heart rate.  That's my crit race pace heart rate, and crits usually are only an hour.  So it was a mammoth effort.  Time to pack my bags and fly out for a few days.  When I come back, June begins in earnest.

Training Ride 6/1/12

Happy June everyone.  I normally don't ride on Fridays but I'm going out of town this weekend so I wanted to get the month started out right to avoid digging myself out of a hole later.  I should get a ride in tomorrow morning before my flight, so I really won't be missing too much.  Today's ride up to the inlet was great.  It was super windy but it didn't seen to affect me in the bothersome way that wind often does.  Surfer John was out riding but we weren't going the same direction; too bad because I like riding with a guy that can push me to the limits of my ability.

Training Ride 5/31/12

Last day of May.  Almost didn't ride this morning.  It rained until midnight and I assumed the roads would be too wet but at 4am when I scouted the road it looked dry enough so I went.  Something to be said for small miracles.  Anyway, month of May is in the books and I logged over 1,100 miles.  That's a lot of riding for sure. I'm ahead of pace to get 10k miles this year, and I'm stoked to smash that goal.