It's All for Downhill Training

1/31/10

Last day of the month and I spent it shoveling snow. A total body workout. No need to ride the bike because I am whupped.

1/30/10

After visiting with a couple of mental patients (Off the Front and Twister), I worked out with a shovel for an hour or so and then hit the rollers for an hour with 30 minutes of high tempo. I knew I didn't have time for a long session so I went with higher intensity.

1/29/10

Back to basics and a good PT strength workout. It definitely helped, so I will keep up with these workouts.

1/27-28/10
Work (both my non-profit jobs) has left me much like a bowl of gruel, no flavor and a nasty texture. Additionally, both my knees ache. Forty five minutes on the rollers, with fifteen minutes of tempo was all that I could manage. I am going to try to go back to a strength workout and see if I can gain some strength and get past this pain thing. Scotch therapy may work as well.


1/26/10
The legs still feeling the effects of the last two days. However a one hour E ride on the rollers seemed to loosen everything up. Although I will continue to pay the work price for my four days of play. If time allows maybe a little bit more effort for tomorrow.

1/25/10
So there is a price to pay for everything. Monday was a travel day so I did not get any chance to stretch the legs and spent most of the day sitting. Great recovery you may think, but not so. By the end of the day I was so stiff and sore I felt like 102 instead of 52. It was to the point where I was back to working at not limping. The day before was still well worth it.

1/24/10
Five months to the day after surgery I won the king of the mountain award today. An epic powder day spent skiing whatever the mountain could dish out. I got lucky and was able to hook up with an instructor from last year, nicknamed: Boomer! The two of us skiied until they closed the mountain. Burning quads and lungs, but unbelievable fun. Funniest moment: I lead out over a crest only to launch into space off a ledge. To my surprise I land it, but Boomer thought I was dead and comes flying around looking for my body and does a face plant from the shock of seeing me upright. He is an phenomenal skier so it was priceless to be able to give him the BWR once over. See you gents next week!


1/23/10
More quad work at altitude. Confidence in the knee keeps rising. Although that is with a brace on. Storm now dumping snow so tomorrow should be epic powder.


1/20-22/10
Two full days of skiing done and the legs are feeling the strain, but in a good way. Only one mishap with the knee and it was minor stretching pain. Despite an invite to go thrash some backwoods snow, I passed out of an abundance of caution. Otherwise I am skiing at full speed. Lots of fun and good muscle work ready to be converted to aerobic upon my return.




1/18/10
Two hour E ride with Young Gun and Off the Front, until Bill decided that he was going to ride up and down ONE hill fifteen times. Oh Billy, Billy , Billy. Enjoyed the ride and conversation. Now to take some time off the bike and cross train on the slopes. Make mine a double black diamond please!


1/17/10
Up at 4:00 am to drive to the eastern shore of Maryland for a long day of indoor field hockey. Maybe Jeff will get this, but it is a powerful feeling when you see one of your children do something amazing. Today I saw my daughter Meghan make several jaw dropping moves that even had the other parents going wow. Sure it's pride, and a little bit of vicarious living, but it's also seeing someone push to their potential. [I love it when my kids get that channeled anger thing going both academically and athletically.] For what it's worth it makes the long day worthwhile.


1/16/10
As I said to my riding mates today (Bill, Greg, Jack and Joe) if I only had a stiff, light fast bike I wouldn't be off the back... uh unfortunately I do have just such a bike. Bill called it a surge ride. I call it a hold on by your fingernails. The second intense effort of the year as well as the second intense effort since August 10th. I think I'm ready for some downhill. Thanks to the guys for another great ride. A mental refresher to go with the physical exhaustion.


1/14/10
Made it to the park for an outdoor ride and ran into "off the front" Bill. As I was explaining to him that training has become just another pain in the ass to get done, I got suckered into chasing him for 4x10 LT's. The power numbers were not so bad and the knees felt fine after getting warmed up. Someday I will have to teach Bill how to ride a SMOOTH LT, but that will have to wait until I retire and I guess for now that will have to wait too. Tomorrow is 23 x 6-7 year olds at my daughters birthday party. Now that's a workout!

1/13/10
Decided to give the legs a rest and the palate a treat with a wine tasting dinner. Thursday calls for warmer weather and perhaps a chance to ride outdoors!

1/12/10
Hmm, that rest day thing has got me flumoxed, AGAIN! Tried to do the PE3's and just did not have it in my legs. One failed attempt at the intervals was enough to say enough and and ride E for an hour on the rollers. I will let the legs tell me what they want for today's workout, maybe PE3's or maybe just some tempo. Possible 50 degree weather will require an outdoor ride if work permits tomorrow. [That and the wine tasting party tonight.]

1/11/10
Revised PT workout with more core and upper body work added and some flexibility routines dropped. I would do it all, but that would entail a full three hours of workout time and I just don't have it. Looking forward to Thursday and the hope of getting outside for a ride. Meanwhile back in the basement Tuesday.

1/10/10
Group indoor ride thanks to Jinksy. Two hours of high E, 150-170 watts at 85 rpm all day long. But today was only a two hour ride. Great motivation having team members there to chat with and to make sure I did not quit early. Now to finish de-decorating for the Holidays.


1/9/09
PE3 x 3. Just did not have the stuff to finish that fourth PE3. The hardest interval is the high cadence LT. I just can't push the watts at 105-110 rpm for 3 minutes. The mechanics of my pedal stroke at this stage of recovery is a limiter. It was good to get some work in though.


1/7/09
Although I wanted to join bill on his excellent adventure, I have the wrong moniker, so I trained inside on the rollers. Ten minute tempo warm up followed by three 5 min LT intervals. The first two LT's went fairly well. I was able to settle in with my now patented 85-88 rpm cadence. The third interval ended up rather ragged, but completed. I then was able to see a teammate demonstrate the firepower of a fully operational armorer. Ken was way beyond impressive and I very much appreciate his tuteledge.

1/6/09
I got nothing but a headache from pounding my head against the wall of others ignorance. Work no play today.

1/5/10
I jumped right into the training program with PE3's. Although the plan was to do 4 sets, time and discomfort held me to 3 sets. The knees (both) complained but I was able to push through until the third set when the right knee just did not want to cooperate. Not severe pain but a wierd feeling that made me think that it had enough. That and family duties shut down the workout, although I am still not sure which one was the excuse. Clearly I have a long way to go to be race ready and even further to catch up with the rest of BWR. [The knee feels normaly stiff as of the next morning so no damage and an indicator of what can be endured without damage.]

1/4/10
At least for this evening Greame means squat on my street. Cyclo-core workout for the first time and it felt, well, easy. Not to say what I may feel tomorrow, but for today I would have to say I need to modify the work to match my PT workout. Encouraging! [1/5 -legs and core feel fine this morning. Hope to get on the bike this evening.]


1/3/10
Indoor field hockey tournament from 5:00 am until 3:00 pm, followed by reverse tree wrangling and attic box loading. At least I looked at a training schedule today!

1/2/10
After consultation with my personal goad/trainer I aimlessly rode the rollers for 1.5 hours while watching James T. Kirk match wits with KAHN!

1/1/10
A littel bit of this and a little bit of that. Loosened up on the rollers, and then did one minute of LT followed by tempo, with another minute of LT. This was more to test the knee and the cycling system. Although it did not feel "normal" there were no short term or long term pain effects. It also showed where my fitness may be since I was able to hold 360 plus watts for each of the minute LT intervals without a huge perceived effort. I am trying to focus on leg strength in preparation for my return to the slopes in 20 days.