Nap time is over

Slowly, I'm waking up. This lil' doggie needs to get back into the swing of things. Gotta get back on the saddle and push those pedals.

I gotta get biking!

Hiatus

Just like a mid-life crisis, I knew a break from blogging was inevitable. The reason for this long stint was primarily because I was on holiday overseas for three weeks. And then I guess I lost the itch to post. And to workout.

Suckie.

So let me just go to sleep and perhaps the morning will bring about a better revived me.

Stay tuned for:
1. A dead blog on the verge of retirement or....
2. A miracle revival.

She's alive!

"And of course you can't become if you only say what you would have done. So I missed a million miles of fun." -- Song by Len (Steal My Sunshine).

No, I haven't been an idle triathlete. Well, maybe just a whole friggin' lot a tad. That is, been only on the bike side of things really. So much for a diligent attitude. Still, I've had my moments of obsession, whether in my spur of the moment workouts (unlogged, sorry) or in building up of an old friend—my 91' Cannondale. The frame is bent below the right seat stay after a pile on accident years ago (i.e., they and their bikes piled on top of me and my bike). Nevertheless, it's still strong and rideable. And I'm convinced she'll hold up, Captain. Thus, the rebuild from total naked frame ground up.

This is my 'spare' bike built from spare and new parts. It's for use on my indoor trainer and some outdoor rides. Also, I'm continuously experimenting with the setup as my sweet little 'Dale will hopefully evolve into a fixed gear bike. The bullhorn handlebars are already in the mail :-); I've installed a new cassette: 8 speed 11-28 (11, 12, 14, 16, 18, 21, 24, 28); and a threadless stem system is soon coming. Other future enhancements include Turbonium, force field and death ray, as usual. Oh, and windshield wipers and a cup holder.

Bike building sure is turning out to be fun.

Bloomin' Metric Bike Tour

"You can shine no matter what you're made of." --Mr. Bigweld (Robots)

Nuttin' but legs and lots o' hills. Did a 100k bike tour in Norwalk CT with three of my biking buds this past weekend. Heck of a lactic acid time! Either biking uphill or cruising down and hardly anything level.

Yeah I know, I've been pretty lax about my blog entries. Nonetheless, that doesn't mean I've been idle with my workouts. I've been on my bike trainer about 2 or three times per week doing either hill or speed intervals; each session about 1 hour.

Unfortunately, that's about it. No swimming, no running. And for a triathlete wannabe, that's not a good thing.

Perhaps after this Memorial weekend, my training sessions will perk up a bit.

The Devilman

"This is your life. Right now. It doesn't wait for you to get back on your feet." -- A Lot Like Love

I missed the NJ Devilman Triathlon this past Sunday. Suckie! I did it last year, but just didn't get my training ass into gear early enough this year to be ready for it.

Oh well, live and learn.

And it cuts like a knife

"My school colors were clear. We used to say, "I'm not naked, I'm in the band."" -- Stephen Wright

I swear it felt like I was sitting on an axe. Maybe even on a Henckel or Wüstof, the Santoku type. When I started getting back into the bike groove a month ago, I could feel my ass bearing a lot of unnecessary weight. It gave me saddle sores for the first week. I certainly needed to lose quite a few pounds to get my bones, joints and the rest of my body to a better comfort level.

But today's workout was a lot better. My butt's pretty used to my Tailbone saddle. Who gives a sh*t that it's not a performance seat. I like it. And it's plush enough to negate the necessity of bike shorts. When I feel I deserve it, I'll upgrade to a Fizik.

All aside, I'm finally organizing and charting my working routines. Microsoft Excel seems like a nice program for holding the data and converting it to graphs (still, I'm looking for something better). I'll eventually start posting charts of my progress.

Trying to get into the groove

“My wife was afraid of the dark... then she saw me naked and now she's afraid of the light.” -- Rodney Dangerfield

Well thank the Lords of Kobol* I did something today. (*Yes, I'm a Battlestar Galactica new series fan.) I did the bike trainer this morning and lifted some weights this evening.

As I'd said before in my last post, I need to be better organized at keeping track of my workouts this season. In previous years at the gym, I kept track on how hard, how fast and how long my sessions were, like on the treadmill. Then I'd just play the "top that workout" game on my next session where I would take it ever so slightly up a notch. And so on. That I enjoyed.

But this year, I don't know. I just don't feel like writing anything down. At least until tonight. And it's because I feel I'm lacking in tools to measure my performances. My cyclometer is a bit flaky; my swimming is...well...I just swim; and my running...frankly, I'm at a loss on how to accurately gauge my outdoor runs. It was soooo much easier at the gym with the machines; just press level 1 the first week, then level 2 the second week, etc; or enter 6.0 mph on the treadmill one day, then 6.1 mph the next day, etc. Nice small incremental improvements. But outdoors, how do you increase your running by 0.1 mph? This, I must figure out and get used to.

A different year, a different environment. A gym rat no more am I.

* * *

Workout--Thursday, 4/14/06:
Bike Trainer: 60 minutes, 12.70 miles
25 min: Warmup
23 min: Hill Intervals--

4:08 min, HARD (standing on highest gears,
pedal cadence to Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield)
3:26 min, Easy (recovery, sitting on lowest gears,
recovery to Love, love, love by Tristan Prettyman)
2:36 min, HARD (standing..., Unwritten...)
3:26 min, Easy (recovery...)
2:36 min, HARD (standing..., Unwritten...)
3:26 min, Easy (recovery...)
3:06 min, HARD (standing, cadence to Good Times by Tommy Lee)

12 min: Cooldown

Weights (my first day):
Bench Press: 45 lbs (bar only), 25 reps x 10 sets
Shoulder Side Raises: 13 lbs, 10 reps x 5 sets
Situps: 15 reps x 5 sets