Saturday, July 26

Day - Saturday, 7/26
Ride Type - Indoor Training
Ride Distance - 14.56 miles
Ride Length - 00:45:00
Avg Speed - 19.4
Avg Cadence - 86
Avg Heart Rate - 137
Max Heart Rate - 147
Calories burned - 1341
Total Training Distance To-Date: 272.77 miles

Sunday, July 20

Not sure on any stats, but I did a simple 2 hour hike on Mount Tam today. It was gorgeous up there. Really foggy in the city and most of the way in the car up the mountain. But when we got to the trail head, we were just above and beyond the fog ring. Mostly flat, a little climbing, but hiking appears to be like biking is for me. I can probably just go and go and go as long as I eat and hydrate and have good gear. :)

Thursday, July 3

Ran at the gym for 30 mins. No stats, but was incredibly sweaty...

ALC7 Down, Time to Start Training for 8!

The ride was awesome. I rode 503 out of 545 miles. Not bad on a first effort. Naturally, I must go again so that next year I can ride all 545 miles. So time to start training and keep my general fitness level at least where it is if not continuing to improve. :) I'm going to combine my last two week's activities into this one post and then be better about routine posting.

Day - Sunday, 6/15
Ride Type - Road Training
Ride Distance - 20.0 miles
Ride Length - unknown
Avg Speed - unknown
Avg Cadence - unknown
Avg Heart Rate - unknown
Max Heart Rate - unknown
Calories burned - unknown
Total Training Distance To-Date: 20.0 miles
*Note - I didn't bring my computer but we did the Lake Merced loop - roughly 20 miles. :)

Day - Monday, 6/16
Ride Type - Weight Training

Day - Tuesday, 6/17
Ride Type - Weight Training

Day - Tuesday, 6/17
Ride Type - Indoor Training
Ride Distance - 11.3 miles
Ride Length - 00:45:00
Avg Speed - 15.1
Avg Cadence - 85
Avg Heart Rate - 123
Max Heart Rate - 133
Calories burned - 789
Total Training Distance To-Date: 31.3 miles

Day - Thursday, 6/19
Ride Type - Indoor Training
Ride Distance - 15.31 miles
Ride Length - 01:00:00
Avg Speed - 15.3
Avg Cadence - 87
Avg Heart Rate - 123
Max Heart Rate - 134
Calories burned - 1082
Total Training Distance To-Date: 46.61 miles


Day - Friday, 6/20
Ride Type - Cross Training - Intervals on Treadmill

Day - Saturday, 6/21
Ride Type - Weight Training & Cross Training - Intervals on Treadmill


Day - Monday, 6/23
Ride Type - Weight Training


Day - Tuesday, 6/24
Ride Type - Weight Training

Day - Tuesday, 6/24
Ride Type - Indoor Training
Ride Distance - 11.55 miles
Ride Length - 00:45:00
Avg Speed - 15.4
Avg Cadence - 87
Avg Heart Rate - 122
Max Heart Rate - 140
Calories burned - 818
Total Training Distance To-Date: 58.16 miles


Day - Thursday, 6/26
Ride Type - Indoor Training
Ride Distance - 11.83 miles
Ride Length - 00:45:00
Avg Speed - 15.8
Avg Cadence - 89
Avg Heart Rate - 124
Max Heart Rate - 136
Calories burned - 844
Total Training Distance To-Date: 69.99 miles


Day - Saturday, 6/28
Ride Type - Indoor Training
Ride Distance - 15.91 miles
Ride Length - 01:00:00
Avg Speed - 15.9
Avg Cadence - 90
Avg Heart Rate - 129
Max Heart Rate - 142
Calories burned - 1138
Total Training Distance To-Date: 85.9 miles

More Indoor, Please

To keep my awesome momentum for the week, I got up early (and I mean EARLY ) again today and rode Clyde indoors - more fat burning:

Day - Thursday, 4/16
Ride Type - Indoor Training
Ride Distance - 12.82 miles
Ride Length - 0:45:00
Avg Speed - 14.11 mph
Avg Cadence - 93
Avg Heart Rate - 124
Max Heart Rate - 134
Calories burned - 735
Total Training Distance To-Date: 861.97 miles

Keep On Truckin'

This morning, I woke up at the ass-crack of dawn (5:40am to be exact), met my neighbor/friend/tentmate/cycle buddy extraordinaire Danny, and we went went to Gold's and did cardio. I ran intervals for 35 minutes. I have decided to not keep those stats as I don't get the same level of detail and also don't trust those machines' calorie burning estimates as much as my heart rate monitors, but I since my monitor is part of my cyclocomputer, it won't measure calories if I'm running in place. :(

But I cross trained and feel good about it!!

Getting Serious

So I completely skipped a week of training and cross-training because I was busy, lazy and then had one of my oldest and dearest friends in town from NYC. So although I justified that laziness that week, now, with the ride only 6 weeks away, the time has come for NO slacking and much training and back-to-back rides, etc. Plus, I'm hoping to strip off maybe another 10 pounds of weight before the ride, just so I'm that much lighter up the damned hills. So when I cross train indoors on Clyde, I'm trying to concentrate on keeping my heart rate in the fat burning zone, because when I train on road, it mostly stays at the cusp if not fully in the cardio zone. No problem there, but I want to also take this opportunity to get a little leaner. :)

So I was a good boy - I mounted Clyde and rode him while I watched TV this evening. Here are my stats:

Day - Monday, 4/13
Ride Type - Indoor Training
Ride Distance - 11.72 miles
Ride Length - 0:50:01
Avg Speed - 14.1 mph
Avg Cadence - 89
Avg Heart Rate - 121
Max Heart Rate - 134
Calories burned _ 783
Total Training Distance To-Date: 849.15 miles

Running Wednesday

I was a good boy again and got up VERY early, met my buddy Danny on the corner and we were at the gym by about 6:20 this morning. YIPES. I ran a 45-minute version of my interval training, burning about 500 calories and covering 3.51 miles. I ran a total of 18 minutes. Not bad an accomplishment by 7:05 a.m., huh?

Chalk another one up for the Man

It was all about fat-burning tonight :)

Day - Monday, 3/31
Ride Type - Indoor Training
Ride Distance - 13.66 miles
Ride Length -1:00:00
Avg Speed - 13.7 mph
Avg Cadence - 89
Avg Heart Rate - 123
Max Heart Rate - 132
Calories burned - 892
Total Training Distance To-Date: 771.64 miles

The Resurgence of X-Training

So after my ass was handed to me on Saturday's ride... I was toast that day and Sunday. But I woke up at 5:30 (sometimes I wonder, WHY?) and was at the gym and on the treadmill by 6:00 AM today. I knocked out 30 minutes of intervals running - so ran for a total of 12 minutes. Not bad, considering I haven't done intervals on Clyde in almost 3 weeks and I haven't run in about 2 months, at a minimum.

I gotta step EVERYTHING up - not just mileage on the road.

Total mileage
Cross training

It's time. The ride is only 68 days from today. HOLY SHITE!

Cross Training in Tahoe

So this weekend, I went to Tahoe for a ski trip. I figured it would be total fun and also a great way to cross-train. The weather ended being totally bunk in SF (high winds, rain), so I wouldn't have been able to train on-road anyhoo.

But despite my doing awesomely well on the slopes, on run 7 or 8 on Saturday, around 1:30 pm, I crashed. A third fall to my right shoulder found me wincing in some major pain and feeling like I couldn't raise my right arm without howling in pain.

After a very cute ski-bound EMT came over and checked me out, I found myself being whisked down the mountain in a stretcher and headed for the ER clinic. Thankfully no bones were broken, but I separated my Acromio-Clavicular or AC joint. Not major by any means, but also not very comfortable either. My friend refused to snap a pic of me being strapped into the stretcher despite my asking, so I have nothing to memorialize that bumpy trip down the mountain. The weekend overall was still awesome, but I think I'll be off-road for 2-3 weeks while my shoulder heals. Guess me and Clyde and the Blackburn are about to get really really close. :(

Here's some pics of the AC joint.

Shameful but getting back on track

Shit it's been a Loooooooong time. Too long. But now that it's into Feb, no time to waste on procrastination and/or excuses of feeling ill, cold, stress from personal life, etc. I got up and did it, and if the damned rain will still stay away this Sat, me and two of the 'bos are going to do a 36 miler. It should really kick my ass, but gotta start back up somewhere...

Here are my stats for today:

Day - Wednesday, 2/6
Ride Type - Indoor Training
Ride Distance - 13.18 miles
Ride Length - 1:00:00
Avg Speed - 13.2 mph
Avg Cadence - 87.7
Avg Heart Rate - 152
Time above zone - 00:00:00*
Time in zone - 0:00:00*
Calories burned - 836
Total Training Distance To-Date: 438.7 miles


*I still haven't figured this out yet - I know - Lame! I'll do it later.

Running off Frustration

I hadn't done anything body-worthy in a week... and had been battling tummy trubs the whole week as well. I finally felt well enough to tackle some physical exertion and also had some frustrations I thought would mete out from some endorphin release, so I packed up Sat morning and went to the gym for an interval run. So glad I did.

Day - Saturday, 12/29
Run Type - Interval Training
Run Distance - 4.33 miles
Exercise Time - 00:55:00
Run Time - 00:20:00 (10 2-min intervals)
Avg Speed - 4.72 mph
Avg Heart Rate - 157
Time in zone - unknown*
Time above zone - unknown*
Calories burned - 660
Total Running Distance To-Date - 12.08 miles

*I had some issues with my equipment. i.e., dropping my 'pod, forgetting to lap my garmin computer, etc. so this is just lost for this workout. WAH!

Freaky Friday

I was inspired by my run on Monday and thought I would do it again today. I woke up at 5:45 am, lolled around too long as I am want to do in the mornings, then finally motivated to get out of my house by 6:45, on my bike, headed to Gold's SOMA. I climbed on the treadmill by 7:15 and ran intervals again. I did well - it was easier this time, so I ran an additional interval (9 sprints this time instead of 8 as on Monday).

I showered at the gym (something I HATE doing) and then climbed back on Clyde and headed to work. Around 6th and Brannan, by the 280 on-ramp, I took a screw in my rear tire and popped it. ARGH! I pulled over on 5th and Brannan and began the tube change. I got the tube in, and the tire re-seated and then used my CO2 cartridge to fill the tire - my first time. I pretty much wasted most of the first cartridge due to my mistake in use. WAH. Then with my 2nd and final cartridge, I got the tire inflated. But the tire was mis-seated at the valve point on the rim. I had to bleed about 75% of the air out to reseat it properly. Then I didn't have enough gas in the last cartridge to get me pumped back up. DAMN!

I tried calling a cab but they were busy and said it'd be a while, so I began to walk. At 2nd between Brannan and I think Harrison I caught a cab and had to take the front wheel and the seat post out to get it to fit in the trunk. I try to be good and exercise and the baby Jesus does nothing but shower hate and punishment on me. Why??? WHY??? :)

span >Day - Friday, 12/21
Run Type - Interval Training
Run Distance - 4.0 miles
Run Length - 0:50:30
Avg Speed - 4.8 mph
Avg Heart Rate - 156
Time in zone - unknown
Time above zone - unknown*

* My damned Polar 200CAD cyclometer BROKE on Wednesday, so I didn't have the benefit of my heart rate monitor today. I already bought a new one but it's a different make/model and I haven't charged and installed it yet. So the avg above is per the treadmill computer and I don't really trust it.

** I forgot to enter my weight until about 5 mins had passed, so this is slightly understated, but directionally correct.

At least I got something in....

We tried to get all the moving parts together for a ride late yesterday, but the overcast weather and time got the best of us and we just didn't do it. By the time we picked up my brother's rented road bike, it would have been dark about 20 minutes from the end of our Lake Merced Loop. So we bagged.

Luckily, yesterday morning, I did motivate with middle brother to Gold's SOMA and I put in a run. I haven't run in ANY capacity in quite a while. I am not surprised at how sore parts of my body are. What I am pleasantly surprised over is just how far I went and how well I managed on the intervals DURING the run. Clearly my conditioning on the bike is translating off of it as well - which is quite exciting. Without the biking, the run I did yesterday would have been something I would have had to work up to over a course of probably 4-6 weeks of running 2-3x/week. So that in and of itself is a small victory. I wore my heart rate monitor and took my cyclometer with me - and I ran intervals. I used the Carmichael interval hour I've used a few times thus far on the bike and modified it for the treadmill and then just put in what I could for as long as I could.

Warm up - 6 mins (3.8 mph, 2.0 incline)
Run - 2 mins (5.5 mph, 0.5 incline)
Recover - 2 mins (3.8 mph, 2.0 incline)
Run - 2 mins (6.0 mph, 0.5 incline)
Recover - 2 mins (3.8 mph, 2.0 incline)
Run - 2 mins (6.5 mph, 0.5 incline)
Recover - 2 mins (3.8 mph, 2.0 incline)
Run - 2 mins (6.8 mph, 0.5 incline)
Recover - 2 mins (3.8 mph, 2.0 incline)
Run - 2 mins (7.0 mph, 0.5 incline)
Recover - 6 mins (3.8 mph, 2.0 incline)
Run - 2 mins (6.5 mph, 1.0 incline)
Recover - 2 mins (3.8 mph, 2.0 incline)
Run - 2 mins (6.8 mph, 0.5 incline)
Recover - 2 mins (3.8 mph, 2.0 incline)
Run - 2 mins (7.0 mph, 0.5 incline)
Cool-down - 10 mins

And here are my stats:

Day - Monday, 12/17
Run Type - Interval Training
Run Distance - 3.75 miles
Run Length - 0:50:34
Avg Speed - 4.5 mph
Avg Heart Rate - 158
Time in zone - 00:18:11
Time above zone - 00:26:12
Calories burned - 766
Total Running Distance To-Date: 3.75 miles

It's a C-O-N-spiracy!!

So lots of different forces are conspiring to keep me off Clyde: Sick brother vomiting upon his arrival from Singapore (but thankfully he's better now!), holiday overeating early due to early family holiday gathering, then this morning, my buddy Liz's back is acting up so she had to bow out, plus it's a bit drizzly. None of these things are really avoidable or changeable, mind you, and I realize that, but it just all sort of sucks. I've been a bit bad this month. Better to slack in December than in May - only one month from the ride - I suppose...

But here's where cross-training comes in handy. I'm going to go off to the SOMA location of Gold's, check it out with my other brother, and run. Should be interesting. Perhaps I can begin to work in one to two days a week at that gym, leaving my house early, riding my bike, working out, showering for work there and then I'll only be like 10 mins from work, if that. That would be nice. Or maybe I could go during lunch? Who knows.

At any rate, the Singapore brother is feeling better and we are to go for a shorter bike ride this afternoon on the Lake Merced Loop (provided it doesn't rain again) - so I will mount Clyde at some point today... And I'll get back on him on Thursday as well for indoor interval training. I guess all is not lost.

Cross Train, Cross Train, Cross Train

One of the things I continually hear about is the importance of cross-training in preparation for the Ride. About how important it is to put in time in other physical endeavors beyond just my ass in the saddle of Clyde. So I'm trying to work that in early.

Today - I succeeded in spades. I went with my brother-in-law for a 9:30 a.m. class at Yoga Loft (<-- link). I gotta tell you - my chest and shoulders have always been a bit tight, making lunging twists opening the rib cage a bit challenging. Well, sitting on the bike and NOT doing much yoga have not helped. I have to get a plan to incorporate more yoga. A friend put it well last night pre-turkey. She was saying "spending all the time on my bike in flexion, I crave extension" which is very very important for balance for your body overall. YOGA YOGA YOGA. :)

And then me and my brother went to Sports Basement - which I LOVE - shopped a little and then went to John McLaren Park (<--link) in South San Francisco and knocked some tennis balls around for about an hour and 15 minutes. Neither one of us was as good as the last time we messed around but, it was more exercise, more time outside and some fun time spent with my brother. So all around- good!

So I feel like I successfully met my goal of cross training at least for today. Now I've got to go pack up my gear and get ready. I've rented ZipCar for tomorrow and will be on the road by 9:30 am headed to Mountain View. We have a ride tomorrow, rolling out 11:00 am for 33 miles. Should be a bit of a challenge, especially with my left knee cranking out a little bit post-tennis.