Oh Yeah, The Gym Hurts -- Log

So i'm now on a 'real' training plan! Previously i'd just wing it, doing regular training rides maintaining a certain heart-rate, and throwing in odd excercises, but now i'm on a schedule.. Just about finished the first week..details below. (Mondays and Fridays are now my days off, i'll prolly try to update this those days now..)

If any of you are familiar with the Carmichael Training Systems, i'm on the "5 Day Advanced" program - woot! Since i'm aiming for a event in December, i'll be peaking then, and then rebuilding for the Provincials next June.

I've started going to the gym again too, and reminded myself of all the muscles you use in the various lifts that *don't* get used on-bike..! And that was just with light weight / high reps..! I'll be hitting the gym twice a week too.

I gotta wonder tho..obviously i wasn't straining the muscles i ride with, more like the stabilizers, etc.. Don't you end up gaining a bunch of unwanted muscle with these things..?

I've also been trying out the new Vega bars, and they're quite nice to eat on-bike. They're moist, and go down quickly and easily, and sit well in the stomach. A little higher in fat (Omega 3's tho) and protein than i generally want in an energy bar, but it feels good so far.. =)

I'm also moving into the new Vegan House in a couple days, found a nice 5bdrm house, but still am short on people..! If you know any vegan-friendly people in Victoria looking for a place, please lemme know!!

Let's crank up the history machine:

Mon (Oct 17th) - rest day!

Tue - 3hr EM ride, threw in a few sprints, fartliks, etc..

Wed - 2hr RR with a friend

Thu - 2hr EM, did the Up & Over for the first time in a while..everything is so much easier to ride now! These places used to kick my ass, now i cruise along quite happily.

Fri - Rest day

Sat - 3.5hr EM, went out with Sarah and Kevin, rode out through Metchosin, and to the end of Silver Spray, which was quite beautiful. Lots of hills tho...

Sun - 2.5hr BSide, last 'unfocused' ride for a while....now everything has a purpose....

Mon (Oct 24th) - First rest day in my new schedule..hehe..

Tue - 2hr EM + 6x3m PI (Power Intervals), PI's are all-out efforts, hard as you can go! 1:1 recovery time.. These were rather painful! I also had to cut most of them short, as i ran into intersections or construction..

I made a really neat discovery with these tho, after about 1min, i'd feel *really* gross...stomach turning, lungs aching, everything is totally 'off'...then by the 1:30 or so, it'd start to dissipate and i'd start to feel alright (tho not comfortable) and could maintain that. I believe that's where your body runs out of anaerobic ability, and kicks over to aerobic..there's a noticable loss in power there too.. This will be a helpful excercise for Pursuits. (And Kilo's, if i ever do them again. ;)

In the evening i also went to the gym, did a bunch of light-weight high-rep stuff, to familiarize my body with the motions again.

Wed - 1hr EM, legs were not happy from the gym

Thu - 2hr EM + 6x3m PI, legs still not happy, had a bit of trouble keeping my HR up. It would drop *very* quickly if i let the pressure off...very interesting.

The PI's didn't feel particularly effective, tho i found a stretch that allowed me to do them the full 3mins without interruption. My legs had *no* power, and tho i was pushing as hard as i could, i only hit 180bpm as my max HR, and during the PI's i was down in the 170-175 range (where last time i was well over 180 for them.) I'm guessing this won't be as much of an issue once i'm more accustomed to the leg workouts again.

Also went to the gym in the evening, more high-rep acclimatization.

Fri - Rest day, thank the Bejesuses...

For the weekend i've got a 2.5hr EM w/60min RS (Race Simulation), will likely jump into the BSide ride for that. Sunday has a 2hr EM...might have to skip it to move tho, will see..

Next week has more PI's on Tues and then High Speed Sprints on Thu, otherwise fairly similar to this week.

Here's what i've been listening to:

Had a Pixies marathon for the last week (all Pixies!), but now have a fun, high-energy mix. Will likely take Ween out tho, too many slow songs: * Electric Six - Fire - 03 * Gay Dad - Leisure Noise - 00 * Ima Robot - ST - 03 * New Pornographers - Mass Romantic - 00 * Pavement - Terror Twilight - 99 * The Postal Service - Give Up - 03 * Ween - Quebec - 03 (These are the albums currently in my Creative MuVo, 512mb MP3 player. I just set it to 'random' and soak up the tunes on my rides.. The MuVo is thebest flash-based MP3 player on the planet, btw! Click here for my top riding/training albums.)

Only Success Can Fail Me Now -- Log

While there's a heatwave over in Onterrible, Fall has sunk its teeth into the ground here, in the form of colder air, and liquid sunlight (aka rain.) We'll get our revenge however, i predict snow by Halloween over there!

A couple fun things to share, first is the new road shifters from SRAM (famous for 'Grip Shift' on MTBs) - which are looking and sounding pretty cool! Very few moving parts, which minimizes wear, and a rather unique shifting pattern.

Also, came across this somewhat amusing cartoon:


Here's my rainy day report:

Sun (Oct 9th) - typical Sunday ride with the BSide group

Mon - 3hr marathon recovery ride w/Sarah

Tue - more Ob repeats! 8 more 8.5min MT efforts, and 2.5hrs total

Wed - took it easy on the legs

Thu - pretty much mirrored Tue

Fri - legs begged for mercy, relented.

Sat - nice and steady 3.5hr EM ride w/Kevin and Sarah, sprint at the airport felt pretty good! Got up to speed pretty quickly, and just mashed the pedals as long as i could!

Sun - 2hr EM ride, started with the BSide group, did the water in reverse, cut off at Lockside, since i had to be back in town to organize a leafletting session at 1pm for World Anti-McDonald's Day. Gave out a bunch of Why Vegans. =)

This week is my 'unfocused' week, maybe do some fartliks or something like that..prolly just lay down the miles in general. Gonna set up an actual training schedule, aiming for the December event in Burnaby, plus do a mini-taper for the November racing. I'll post more once i hammer out the details.

Check it out, i've fancified my tunologies:

Now playing: Sloan! Every now and then i get the urge for Sloan, and besides a few Spoon tracks, we're looking at an all-Sloan extravaganza! * Sloan - Smeared - 93 * Sloan -Twice Removed - 94 * Sloan - One Chord to Another - 96 * Sloan - Navy Blues - 98 * Sloan - Between the Bridges - 99 * Sloan - Pretty Together - 01 * Sloan - Action Pact - 03 * Spoon - Gimme Fiction - 05 (These are the albums currently in my Creative MuVo, 512mb MP3 player. I just set it to 'random' and soak up the tunes on my rides.. The MuVo is the best flash-based MP3 player on the planet, btw! Click here for my top riding/training albums.)

(Note: Blog title from a Quasi song.)

Day for the Turkeys! -- Log

Ahhh.. Thanksgiving! We had a fantastic vegan potluck, and i am thoroughly STUFFED!! So much awesome food.. There were TWO (2!!) Tofurky's, a veggie pot pie, big gob of stuffing, mashed potatoes, mashed yams, salad, and more... Oh, dessert - we had several flavors of soy ice cream, chocolates (marzipan!), an apple crumble and of course pumpkin pie!

Well over a dozen wonderful people in our gathering, all doing their thing for turkeys, it was really sweet. (If you're not vegan, i helped design an leaflet and turkey-friendly holiday recipes, click here to find out more.)

I'm guessing i'll have lot of energy for the ride tomorrow. =)

Been an interesting week, back onto hills, so doing Observatory repeats. I actually really enjoy doing them. I must be nuts.

Anyway, Captain, here's my report:

Mon (Oct 3rd) - rest day!

Tue - fun day, it's now pretty cloudy with spurts of rain.. I managed to avoid it today. Went out, did 7 Ob repeats (~8.5mins each, so 60mins of solid Muscle Tension riding!) I got to the bottom after the 7th, and my body kept wanting to ride....! My brain wanted to head back, but i felt like riding some more...so i ended up heading away from town, and rode an extra hour, bringing it up to 3 for the day. Felt great!

Wed - rest day!

Thu - 8 Ob repeats, Kevin came along as well. It' definitely nicer doing them with someone else! Since MT excercises aren't supposed to be aerobic, it's pretty easy to talk, so makes for a good social form of training. He only did five tho, and took off after that, leaving me with three more to do. (Tried to talk him into 'one more', and i'd drop two..he's too much like a coach tho, and wouldn't let me off the hook..hehehe.. ;)

It got dark, and that was weird. It was misty the whole time, so the sides of the mountain just vanished...but then when it got dark, it was really creepy.. I saw a few deer, and was afraid of running into them... Had to whistle along with my MP3's..!! Luckily didn't encounter any cougars. I bet i'd taste good to a cougar. :
Finished the 8th, and it was fully raining by then. Oddly, as i left, there was a pack of riders in front of me (turned out to be the Thu night Russ Hayes group) - i caught them and drafted a few mins...was getting splashed, and they were going kinda slow, so i passed them and kept on my own pace. Dropped them tho.. Was glad to get home and get dry.

Fri - rest day!

Sat - 2hr EM ride with trackies. Had to keep it short, did a leafletting session, handing out the leaflets and recipes posted above at a popular grocery store. It's amazing, every year more and more people say they're vegetarian or vegan at these things. I'd say 15-20% of the people, at least...! Amazing!

I'll be doing the BSide tomorrow, and prolly try and do another ride on Monday, since people will have the day off. More Ob repeats on Tue and Thu. I should also start hitting the gym...maybe Tue or Thu night if i can get my ride in during the day. I wonder if i should limit myself to 8 repeats (~70mins) or keep increasing the amount.. Decisions decisions...

Also won't be going to Vancouver next weekend. Too many things making it not-worthwhile. Besides being really short sessions, i don't know anyone who can bring my bikes over (i don't drive), i'm really busy with work (just punched out SolarBC.org, got at least four more websites on the go, on top of my regular responsibilities), and i gotta find a house for Nov 1st.. Unfortunately there aren't too many opportunities to make myself visible to the people who make these decisions...i guess i'll just have to race well next year. =)

Those are the main riding highlights! Let's see what's going on musically:

Current Albums in the MuVo

Swapped out KM and replaced them with the new Supergrass, and tossed in some songs from Sonic Youth's new album 'Sonic Nurse'. I'm really starting to enjoy the Silver Jews album. "Time is a game only children play well, how can i love you (if you won't lay lie down?)"

* New Pornographers - Twin Cinema - 05
* Polyphonic Spree - Together We're Heavy - 04
* Serena Maneesh - ST - 05
* Silver Jews - Tanglewood Numbers - 05
* Sleater-Kinny - The Woods - 05
* Spoon - Gimme Fiction - 05
* Supergrass - Road to Rouen - 05

(These are the albums currently in my Creative MuVo, 512mb MP3 player. I just set it to 'random' and soak up the tunes on my rides.. The MuVo is the best flash-based MP3 player on the planet, btw!)

Legs So Sexy -- Log

Okay...this is a little fracked...but my legs look really good to me.

As in: if i were looking at my legs on someone else, i'd say 'hey, nice legs'.

I feel dirty just writing that. Ah well, it's my blog. No one's forcing you to read this. Yes, kind reader, you're here due to your own deluded facination. Quickly, hit the big X in the top right!! ;)

I never got around to blogging my leg-shaving experience. As some of my more loyal readers may recall (actually i think that's just me spellchecking..), i started doing the leg-shave thang last spring... It was a pretty wild experience! I gotta give women credit - it's a lot of work...and i'm quite lax. I shave about once a week, so i get a fair bit of hair between shaves.

The weirdest thing was wearing pants with hairless legs....suddenly that buffer of hair was gone, and it was pant against leg... I've come to like the feeling of smooth legs tho (well, i liked smooth legs before, but hadn't had them myself)...uh..i'll just leave it at that.

Still getting out on the bike a fair bit, it's getting cooler tho..riding with knee warmers of course, and got the arms on...the vest comes and goes. It's been starting to rain more too, haven't ridden in it yet tho, thankfully!

Lessee what i've been up to:

Fri (Sept 23) - 2hr Recover Ride w/Sarah, after those two days of sprints.

Sat - 3hr ride w/Sarah and Kevin, did the Malahat and Shawnigan again, quite nice.

Sun - BSide ride, no one seems to do the water any more, finished it solo with my MP3 player.

Mon - Rest day! Oh, me likey the no pain in the legs..

Tue - started a bit late, so just under 2hr EM ride, with 4 PowerStarts...getting dark early now, Kevin and i will be needing to break out the lights. =(

Wed - Rest day!

Thu - Wuss day! I was gonna head out for more sprints, but it was POURING all day! Actually got decent in the evening...but by then i was quite enveloped in a new website i was working on, and kept at it.

Fri - Went out and did six hard PS's over at the stretch of road going up to Durrance Lake, i'd do a PS, then roll (EM pace) down the road for 5mins, turn around, and repeat. Saw Andrea Brewer and Gina Grain out there for a photo shoot, Gina's back on the bike now, woohoo!! They're both gonna be at the track try-outs next week, will be nice to talk to them some more.

Sat (Oct 1st) - nice, steady 3.5hr EM ride with a bunch of trackies (including Kim!), did a few sprints.. At the airport, Kevin and Sarah blasted off at the intersection, i got stuck waiting for a car, and high-tailed it for a couple mins to catch them......David Mercier (ancient guy, he's like 400yrs old, but rides like he's my age!) was tight on my wheel... I caught them, and Sarah pulled off, and Kevin seemed out of it too, so i just kept the speed up, seeing if i could drop Mercier.... I was hammering at about 95%, saving just enough in case he tried a jump...i'm pulling for maybe 300m, and about 30m from the 'finish line', Kevin goes *flying* by!!! Crap! I don't have enough juice at this point for anything...waaah!

This day's lesson: never count anyone out!! Part two of the lesson is don't be afraid to look back, and see who's hanging on..... The smart thing would have been to look back, see Kevin, and ease-up..pulling everyone to the finish line isn't a smart idea. =P (Especially when you're not a tank..and i'm certainly not a high-speed tank...heh..)

Sun - BSide ride, just a few peeps out, cold and on the verge of rain most of the ride..we took a few shortcuts and kept it down to 2.5hrs. Steady pace tho, just as fast as Sat.

This afternoon Kevin came over, and we went out to the track's clubhouse to get our track bikes (our clubhouse has storage space for bikes, pretty sweet.) Nice to see the old beast again!

Task for loyal readers: what color bar tape should i get? Take a look at the pic below...the bike is orange, and it's currently got blue bar tape, but i'm wondering if a different color might be more fun...? Yellow?

Next week will be hills, i'll be heading out to the Observatory, most likely on Tue and Thu...fun fun! The following week has the Track Trials/Tryouts in Burnaby (Vancouver), for the World Cup and Worlds. Although i know i don't stand a chance on making any of the teams, i'm going for the experience, to see how i'm shaping up, and to get on the radar of some of the important cycling people in Canada.. It'll be at least a couple years before i'm anywhere close to being competative in my events, but you gotta start somewhere, as Andrea said.

To put this in perspective, i was emailing Kevin about this last week, and he wrote that the *fast* pursuiters are getting down under 3:35 4:15 in the 4km pursuit. To me, that's absolutely *nuts*!! That's averaging about 54kph..!! My (pathetic!) time from the Provincials was at 5:40....i gotta drop 2mins1.5mins..!!! Eek! (Note: Updated entry, times were a bit low!!)

I'm wondering if i can even do it...bearing in mind i'm still quite new to training/racing, and especially pursuit-style riding. Like, my current average speed would be down around 42kph average.. In a race, i can currently hit over 55kph, but it's very exhausting..i can't imagine hitting 55kph and sustaining it........ But maybe that's half the problem, eh? If you can't even imagine it, how can you attain it?

Well...watch me step out on a limb and try...



So...what color of bar tape will make me go fastest? =)

Current Albums in the MuVo

The minor theme is 'Recent Albums I Found Disappointing, but lets give them another spin', tho KM is always wacky (will prolly take it off soon), and Spoon is pretty good..to balance it all out is the 9/10 Polyphonic Spree - one of my favorite new bands, and also *fantastic* on rides, check 'em out! SM is pretty neat too, very much like My Bloody Valentine.

* King Missile III - Royal Lunch - 04
* New Pornographers - Twin Cinema - 05
* Polyphonic Spree - Together We're Heavy - 04
* Serena Maneesh - ST - 05
* Silver Jews - Tanglewood Numbers - 05
* Sleater-Kinny - The Woods - 05
* Spoon - Gimme Fiction - 05

(These are the albums currently in my Creative MuVo, 512mb MP3 player. I just set it to 'random' and soak up the tunes on my rides.. The MuVo is the best flash-based MP3 player on the planet, btw!)