Tuesday, November 29, 2005

logging the miles

So last night the weather man predicted snow for the SEattle metro area. Apparently the city's heat deflected most of the snowflakes - this morning I woke up to a damp road with no ice or snow. Those poor grade school students who were excited to have a snow day - the winter is young yet! It will probably come sooner or later.

Training wise - things are going well. Ryan and I went skiing on Sunday - although only a short jaunt. We did some skinning up the mountain and then skied the phat pow pow down the hill. Makiah went and had a blast. She is too cute.

Later today I head out for a 2 hour chilly ride. I'm supposed to put in 40 minutes of tempo riding - long and hard. I think I'll go down the south end - I'm not too excited about doing the bridge when it's this cold out. Come to think of it - maybe I'll just stick to the trail. We'll see.

I had a racing dream last night. I dreamt I was at the track riding my rollers in front of a large crowd. I was getting excited and ampted to do some Madison slings. Fun.

Saturday, November 26, 2005

It's a poor student that doesn't surpass the teacher

I think I'm partly exhausted from the phsyical effort itself this weekend and the other part is from mental exhaustion from learning so much. It's a good feeling to be this wrecked. My legs are hammered and so is my core. In the morning we practiced the Madison - a new skill for me on the track bike. It was scary at first but once we Ryan taught me how - it is super fun. And the faster the better. Great - another adrenaline addict move for this junky.

It was cold out today. The snow level is supposed to drop to 1000'. Brrrrrrrrr. That could have been another part to the exhaustion - burning that many more calories to stay warm. After we worked on the track for 1.5 hours we headed out for a road ride. I ended up doing an additional 2.5 hours. Wow - four hours on the bike today. I'm beat.

Last night we went out to the Hi-life in Ballard and then Madame K's for drinks with Josh, Stacy and Brent. Stacey and Brent bagged out early and the rest of us headed to Kells to meet up with Miller/Killer and some of his friends. We stayed until about midnight - it was a lot of fun. Tomorrow we're contemplating skiing.

Friday, November 25, 2005

turkey stuffin'

So I deprived myself of sweets with one exception - Thanksgiving pie. Last night after the gluttoness feast of turkey, stuffing and trimings I had a small piece of pecan and pumpkin pie, ice cream and pumpkin spice cake. MMMMmmmmm yummy. A sweet temptation that put me over the edge and thankfully back on the straight and narrow no sweets kick. It was a good break but I'm convinced life without the constant sweets feels better.

Ride wise - the training is going well. We had dry weather the past 10 days with fog. Today the rain is back - so I'm even more thankful for those non-plastic boot wearing training miles. But I'm pretty sure it's going to be a while before the dry is back.

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

and the miles go up....

last night was the biweekly "check in call" with Rycoach. We talked about the hours I've spent on the bike for the past couple of weeks and found out that by the end of December I should be putting in close to 15. I've been averaging about 6-7 hours the past month - which has been nice, but I knew in the back of my head that longer harder hours were lurking.

When I told Ryan about it he got really excited and was completely supportive. Then he made a statement that he was going to up his training time also. It's so awesome having such a supportive, loving, caring hot husband. I can't imagine trying to do what I'm doing without that kind of love. Well - I'm off to put some time in the saddle. Later.

Monday, November 21, 2005

Time in the saddle

This past week I put in close to 200 miles in the last 5 days. My toosh was a little sore - but I survived without extensive injury. :)
A recap of the week - Wednesday. Did a long night ride around the north end of the lake. Felt solid on the hills and it felt really good to be out. The moon was out - making it easy to see and be seen.
Thursday - Computrainer night. I also did some lifting in the morning. My body was tired when I went to pedal indoors and I ended up doing a light exercise. The legs felt heavy due to the previous night and not drinking enough water, coupled with lifting heavy weights.
Friday - skipped work. :) Went on almost a three hour ride to Mercer Island and home. We practiced hamstring sprints - which will essentially make my pedal stroke more fluid. Felt solid on the bike - although still a little tired from earlier in the week.
Saturday - did a mellow ride with Leif. We rode a flat ride out to West Seattle - mainly just spinning the legs out. It felt good to be outside and I ended up severely overdressing. Got home later that night and didn't feel like doing much else. ; 0 Except going out for sushi.
Sunday - late start. Headed out to North Bend to meet Ryan. My legs felt fantastic. Apparently I got enough sleep, hydration - not to mention sushi from the night before. It only took me 2:45 to get out there - not bad considering I did about 2500 feet of climbing over 42 miles. I got there at about 3 and hiked up the mountain to meet them at the crag. A nice way to loosen up the legs and round out the weekend.

Overall the legs are feeling stronger and stronger. The weight training has definitely helped my overall fitness and cutting out the sugar has made a huge difference. I've been sleeping quite a bit more than usual though - which I think is a result from the lack of sun and might be mild depression.... not sure what the dealio is on that one yo.

Thursday, November 17, 2005

Riding by moonlite

Kele totally inspired me to brave the dark hours of the night and ride. She mentioned that she would get off work at 6 and then ride for 4 hours till 10 a couple nights of week. Apparently that was all the motivation I needed to finally get to Gregg's and buy a light for some riding. Last night I braved the darkness and headed out to do a 3 hour ride around the north end of the lake. It was a great ride - and the moon was out giving some extra light along the way. I managed to avoid really busy streets and stuck mainly to back roads and trails. It was excellent. By the time I got home, I put in 45 miles of riding. Nice!! I look forward to more riding in the dark.

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

persistent cough

I'm finally coming to the realization that the wheeze I got from Burnaby has developed into a chest cold. It's starting to come out of the lungs though - and my coughs are getting a little more productive. Hopefully this illness will be gone soon. It doesn't help that I'm headed on a 40 miler after work today in the cold. But it seems like the past couple days when I don't have enough energy to exercise, as soon as I do I'm feeling even better.

On a side note - last night I went climbing with Ryan as a cross training exercise. The bouldering area is closed as they set new routes for this weekends bouldering competition so we climbed with ropes. I felt pretty strong but had no idea that later in the night I would be able to flash a 11a climb. That's some of the best climbing I've done indoors to date. It felt great.

My little sister leaves Sunday for Australia for a year. She met this guy over there last year about this time and fell in love. They've only been together in the flesh a little over a month. She's determined to get over there and see if it will work and spend some time with him. Good for her - but scary at the same time. I mean, she barely knows him. They've been developing a long distance relationship for a year via the Internet and phone calls. I'm curious what it will be like once they are around each other in the flesh for an extended period of time. I can't imagine being separated from Ryan like that. I wish her the best of luck.

Kaipo (my second cousin who lives on Oahu) ran away from home about 2 weeks ago. He's 14 years old and doesn't get along with Channing, his step dad. Kuulei is apparently a nervous wreck about the whole thing - and I hope that Kaipo gets things figured out quickly and back to school before too long. If there was something I could do I would do it in a heart beat.

Bope (my grandfather, dad's side) had difficulty breathing last week and decided to go get checked out at the hospital. Apparently the doctor discovered that he has congested heart failure and was put on medication. His feet are swollen and he's not feeling his normal self. I called him this morning and he said in all of his years of riding his bicycle he has not once felt this way. His doctor said he needs to decrease his salt intake - to which Mummer said she never cooks with salt and never has had to. However, once they took inventory of what they were eatting they discovered the Campbells soup and Ramen were really high in salt content. No more of that! Bope said how important it is to be active all your life and really do as many things outdoors as possible. He was proud of Ryan and I for being super active and said to keep it up. It's so important for a long healthy life. I just hope others in our family will realize this before their health starts failing.

Wow - I didn't realize how much family stuff is going on right now. I just hope everything works out - and it will. What will be will be.

Monday, November 14, 2005

whirlwind

Wow - what a weekend. Highlights include - Scratch race - I finished it. Out of 18 people that started, only 8 finished. I was one of the eight. Points race - stuck with it for all but the last 8 laps .... I just couldn't muster any more surges. I'm still working on the skill and endurance for those races. Then on Sunday my highlight was the Keirin - placed second in my heat. And although only the winner advanced, I was extremely happy with my performance. Then I had a really terrible elimination race - actually two of them. I'm still struggling with the miss n' out crash I had down at Alpenrose. In between the eliminations they held a chariot race - which I had a really good start and came close to catching one of the fastest guys in our group. It was great.
Due to my lame ass performance in the eliminations I almost didn't do the Win N out - mainly because I was tired and somewhat defeated mentally from being pulled right away in the other races. But I got fired up once on the track and pulled 3rd place out of 19 competitors!!! Not bad - I'll take that one to the bank for sure. Racing with the guys is definitely making me stronger. :)

Friday, November 11, 2005

up to burnaby we go!

waking up early tomorrow morning to head up north to do some track racing for the weekend. I'm super pumped - it's been over 2 months since I last raced and I'm excited to get the heart rate up there again!

Who knows how it will pan out with my fitness level though - I'm suspecting that it will have dropped off a lot compared to my peak fitness but I should still be able to hang because I have been keeping active and doing lots of cross training. I'll blog once I get back.
Peas

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

on the water

This morning Marcy and I volunteered to be in a double boat. She was in the stern and I was in the bow. Since she missed a week of classes she feels slightly uncomfortable on the water. She gets nervous and panics at the slightest tip of the boat. We rowed out to Portage Bay, followed by Tom and his megaphone ... and we listened as he told us one slap stick joke after another. Marcy had a hard time listening and rowing at the same time - often losing focus as he told us silly pirate jokes. RRRrrrrrrrrr.

I convinced her to have us paddle at the same time early in the practice - and she wasn't quite ready for it. Actually it freaked her out. I think her fear of being dumped into the water consumes her to a point where she stiffens up in the boat and doesn't want to get wet. I figure, what the hell - it's part of rowing... so if you go in, you go in. Her normal tendancy is to row stronger on her Starbird side - so we had a meandering boat through the cut. Then she started wigging out - letting that frustration leak out and consume her physical action. Then she started saying I was going too fast on the stroke - to which I responded - I'm just matching her. All she needs to worry about is doing a nice slow stroke - steady and timed with dipping the handles square into the water. I also suggested we start with 1/2 paddle, then 3/4 then a full stroke and that seemed to ease her nerves. We then had some of the best rowing we've done together yet. It was great! I got a kick out of it because although she's 21 - you still can't take the whine out of her when she's frustrated. He he hee.

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

living proof!

It's been 30 days since I last tasted a refined sugar morsel. I did it! All in the name of will power and determination. So what's next you say? Beer. Yep - the yeast and hops have got to be eliminated... or at least brought down in moderation. It's not that I've become a serious lush or anything - but I'm having one a night and those are empty calories and sugars that should be savored rather than consumed daily.

So coach - what's next? You said there's this excellerated plan for some of your athletes - but for some reason we have an impossible time connecting on the phone..... I'm getting a little eager to find out what that entails.

Turns out our planned trip to Beaver Creek over Presidents weekend has been foiled. We even bought the plan tickets! Come to find out the condo is booked the entire week and that time is even more popular than Christmas. So we're trying to find either another condo or somewhere else to go. Lame.

Yesterday was legs day - I put more pounds on than before. It felt good but I'm a little sore today.

Thursday, November 03, 2005

Computrainer Thursday

Had an excellent workout tonight. Was able to maintain a decent wattage and high cadence without losing my breath on a hill interval workout. My legs felt fantastic - a testament to the gym work and taking time off ... not to mention the time spent away from sweets. It's making me feel fantastic!! I'm averaging about 152 during my morning weigh in - which is right where I want to be for the beginning of the off season. I'm feeling so jazzed and pumped for the upcoming season.

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

i'll be gone till november, i'll be gone till november. Januray, febuary march april may....

November was brought in with typical Northwest fashion - blistery, rainy and 48 degrees. Ah - winter is well on its way. There's talk of Crystal Mountain opening for the season this upcoming weekend. And mt. baker already has a 40" base with 3-4 feet of snow expected by next Tuesday. Time to break out the winter clothes and find out if my body remembers how to move on a pair of sleds.

It's been a mellow end to October - just shy of 250 miles for the month. A relatively slow month in terms of workout - but according to the rest of the racing community - an early start to the season. Most people took the month off - completely. But if you want to become a national champion - then you have to nurture that inner athlete and be willing to put the time and energy into the off season. So far so good - I feel like my motivation is solid - got on the track bike last night for the first time since early September and spun around on my rollers for an hour. It felt good - damn good. I'm looking forward to the race season. And considering New Years is just around the corner - racing will be here before we know it.