Wetter Wonderland -- Log

So the rain has returned... We've been experiencing 'weather' the last week..eeep..

And in worse news, Clif appears to be making a Banana flavored bar...blech!! The fact they didn't have a banana flavor was one of their most outstanding traits!!

Also found this neat site called 'zoomed in food'...just check it. I especially like the pic on the left..hehe.. (Full size on their site. ;)

Had a nice string of 'holidays' there, hosted a small get-together and attended a couple as well, nice to see some people i haven't seen in a while.

Training has been good, i've actually started running a bit.. Last week i was somewhat dreading the notion of getting on the bike (despite it being a nice day), so i figured i really gotta mix it up. The run actually felt okay..!! I just took it easy, kept my HR under 175, and surprisingly my breathing didn't increase significantly..i guess i've gotten a little bit of fitness in me now. Besides mixing things up, this should also help strengthen the stabilizers in my legs...tho i haven't noticed that to be a problem any more. I'm also gonna look into doing some off-road riding, i really need to change things up a bit more.

Oh, my weight is back down around 151lbs. I won't discuss where the extra few pounds were..hehe

My race is coming up pretty fast...next weekend..!! I'm feeling as prepped as i'll ever be..hopefully i've gained some speed since my last race.. Oh, speaking of which, i did the annual Boxing Day TT on Monday, results below. =)

Tue (Dec 20th) - was actually a little sick this week...my nose would start to run while riding, and i wasn't quite as peppy.. Did a 1hr EM with 7x30s Speed Intervals. Was supposed to do two, and a longer ride, but decided to take it easy for the cold.

Had my get-together this evening, so took the night off the gym.

Wed - 20m run!!

Thu - 40m EM on rollers

Also went to the Rec Centre, and pounded the legs one last time before the race...even did some negatives on the Leg Press.

Negatives are where you do more weight than you can lift, and it's all about a slow eccentric motion, ie, the opposite of the push. I do one-legged presses on the Leg Press machine, and so i choose a weight that is 10-25% more than my 1 Rep Max, and use both legs to 'lift', then remove one leg, and let the weight down as slowly as i can...and repeat. The theory is that the eccentric motion can 'damage' more muscle fibres than the concentric, and so by doing this, you'll 'tell' your body to grow more muscle.

Also did more killer lunges..

Fri - rest!

Sat - 2.25hr EM w/Kevin, was a really nice day!

Sun - rest! Stupid holidays. =)

Mon - did the Boxing Day TT, which was pretty fun. A bit shorter than the Sydney TT, and a lot more hilly...tho not really hilly. It's about 14km i believe.

I was a little confused when riding, as usual, i just raced the course, and didn't bother checking it out beforehand..hehe.. (Besides, it was windy on the way out which slowed us down!) So as i'm pressing on, i'm waiting to see other riders (it's an out-and-back loop) but i don't...even tho i'm in the 8th position (ie, 8 people go before me.) I'm wondering if i'm even going the right way (which would be weird, since there weren't any turns!) and i finally see someone coming my way - woot!

I managed to catch and pass three of the people in front of me, and stayed ahead of the tandem. (Yes, there was a tandem! Pat and his daughter, speedy team!) I came in third, after a guy who actually brought aero bars, and the tandem of course. ;) This is also my first race riding for OrganicAthlete - woot!

Tue - 20min run - back at 'er..

Also did a light leg WO at the gym. Abs are getting stronger, managed to pull off two full sets of 15 hanging kickups...i've recently been able to do 15, and was stuck at 15/12 for a week or two.. I guess i'll have to start doing more than 15..heh..stupid progress! Or straight-legged kickups..ouch.

Got an hour lined up on the bike today...will likely do 30-40mins on the rollers instead, due to undesireable conditions outside. The rest of the week is quite easy too, 1.5hr tomorrow, 2hr on Sat and 1hr RR on Sunday. I'm excited to see how this proper 'build' will turn out...!!

Tunes, surprisingly, have remained the same. Am absolutely loving Angle Dust, and i can never get enough of Goo (she always knows just what to do..Goo Goo Goo..)

In the words of FNM:

And i'll tell them what my daddy told me: you ain't gonna amount to nothin'.

PS - I've also posted my Top Albums of 2005, aka Dave's Fave's, lemme know whatcha think! (Appreciating the suggestions as well.)

B*E*A*G*G*R*E*S*S*I*V*E -- Log

First, a fun video. It makes fun of many of the terms used in cycling, fairly funny! I wonder where they shot it? (Thanks Dag! (Right?))

Next, i finally got my Heart Rate Monitor back! Thanks to Reckless Cycles (via Norco?) i've now got a brand new SigmaSport PC15 (which is a step-up from the PC14 that died on me..and sorry for the link, stupid flash-based websites that don't let you link directly to a page, rather poorly thought-out if you ask me.)

Think it'll last a full year? Lets hope so.. It's pretty nice, and has about 14 new features to annoy and confuse....hehe.. I don't need three HR zones..i need just one! (And i can't program in just one....it only takes the 'low' HR of a zone, and makes up the rest!) Other than that, it's pretty swell.

Still pedalling like a madman, this week was pretty intense...legs were *hurtin'*. Mainly from the 50lb lunges...good way to nail the legs. I guess it's a good sign when your legs hurt when you ride - it means you're working out the right muscles at the gym..!

* Tue (Dec 13th) - 1.5hr EM w/6x30s x2 SI's, it was a nice day out, and plowed through my intervals. Got in a solid workout at the gym as well (Oak Bay Rec Centre, i've only seen one other cyclist i know there...and that was either this Tue or Thu..) Only 40lb lunges this day, but was enough...

* Wed - 1hr EM, nothing too exciting

* Thu - 1hr EM on rollers w/6x30s x2 SI's, managed to crest 170rpm on the rollers....holding it for the 30 sec. intervals...wowee..i was surprisingly smooth too. Hit the OBRC in the evening, and really smashed my legs off with the 50lb lunges.

* Fri - rest...much needed rest...

* Sat - 2.5hr EM w/Kevin, frosty day!

* Sun - 2.5hr EM, was *supposed* to be with the BSide gang, but Pat was the only other person to show up...i guess everyone thought it would be icey and would meet at 1pm instead. We rode through Esquilmalt and around the water, good ride. Was supposed to do a bunch of HSS's, but skipped it..me bad.

* Mon - today! I'll prolly sneak in an upper-body WO at home tonite...i was hoping to bench press my body weight (~150lbs) by the end of Dec, but i haven't been doing many benches, so this won't likely happen.. If i had someone to help with negatives, i might be able to swing it, but no burley housemates abound..

Oh...i hope i'm not becoming a fat potato...

A few weeks ago, when i was at the Crystal Pool, i weighed myself, and i was down around 148lbs. Since i've been going to the OBRC, i've been up around 150lbs. (Different scale..) Last week i crept up to 151lbs...then on Tues i was over 152lbs, and last Thu i was up over 154lbs...WTF is going on?? I'm pretty sure i'm not putting on any bodyfat...i still seem to be losing it...so i'm *hoping* this is all muscle. Still, i really don't want to put on too much weight...i guess the 'extra' will drop when i stop going to the gym, eh?

Training has been good tho, and i feel like i'll be pretty well prepared for Jan!

As for music, thoroughly enjoying my current mix, especially the Faith No More. (See last entry for the listing!)

Here's a "HA HA!" to those of you in snow, and a "WAAAAH!" to those of you in warmer climates, keep the rubber-side down. =)

(Log title is from...any guesses? ;)

Race to the End of December -- Log

So get this - i finally downloaded and processed the stats for this site, and get this:

* total visitors for November: 7,214
* average # of visitors per day: 232
* total unique IP's: 2,445

Wawawee! Where are all these people coming from?? And who are they? Are *you* one of them?? Anyway, i simply wasn't expecting numbers like that..i was thinking like maybe 2-8 visitors a day...eeep..the pressure..

On the food-side of things, i found a really good faux-cheese, Vegan Gourmet from Earth Island - it tastes pretty good (even straight-up) and melts really nicely!

My first experience with the Mozzarella flavor was one of my favorite tests - the grilled cheese sandwich, which it passed with flying colors! Next up was melted on spaghetti, and again was really nice. Also was a nice addition to a tempeh burger. I will invest in some more to try out on nachos at my upcoming Winter Salsa celebration. (Winter Salsa - haha - get it?)

I don't know if people who eat cow cheese will enjoy it, but as a vegan it was quite excellent...especially compared to Veganrella...which is somewhat infamous..

I also got a tasty new vegan toothpaste from J/A/S/O/N, the Tea Tree & Cinnamon stuff, nummers. I use almost all JASON stuff - shampoo and deodorant..Apricot flavor of course! Unfortunately i just checked out their website, and they're owned by the Hain Celestial Group, which if i'm not mistaken is owned by Heinz...aah well.

Training has been really good, the weather has been quite nice the last couple weeks with almost no rain, and even several sunny days! I've really gotten into a good upper-body routine, and i'm also following the Health for Life 'Legendary Abs' program. You can read some interesting files about it here, and 'Legendary Abs II' can be found here in PDF format.

I'm up to Level 2, which is really surprising to me, because i could barely complete Level A when i was working out more regularly last spring..i think i must have gained a bunch of overall strength over the summer..! It's a pretty good program tho, from what i hear (and feel!)

I'm working my way up to doing this four times a week, plus when i hit the gym on Tue and Thu, i do a couple sets of hanging knee-raises. (Up to 12.) For what it's worth, i'm starting to get a little definition down there as well..woohoo, i'll be all hunky for the summer! Too bad for all the hair on my back. ;)

I've also been mixing up my leg workout a bit more, i'm finding that in hard, seated efforts (ie, intervals and sprints) my legs were kind of 'wobbling' as i was applying pressure, especially at lower cadences.. (As i apply pressure downwards, my knees wobble a bit to the left and right...i never noticed this before.) I'm guessing it's the result of muscle-gain in my quads, but my stabilizers haven't been challenged/keeping-up in excercises like leg extensions, and so i need to do a few more excercises that require them...so i've started doing one-legged squats and lunges (which of course really hit the spot the first time i did them..haha)

Cracking open the logbook, here's what i've been putting myself through:

* Wed (Dec 30th) - 2hr EM

* Thu - 1hr EM, did it on the rollers, and watched *gasp* snow falling!! Maintained a nice high cadence over 120rpm with a 46x16 gearing on my track bike.

Hit the gym in the evening, typical session doing abs, legs and back.

* Fri - Rest-a-riffic!

* Sat - BSide ride, another nice day. Also did chest and shoulders at home in the evening.

* Sun - Cross-training!! Went for a snowy 3hr hike up to the railway tracks at Finlayson with some friends, good times!

The first pic is some of the salmon carcasses...there were a lot.. Next is one of the big trestle-bridges we crossed, it's prolly 60-100 feet above the ground..! Third pic, to the right, is me with my friends in the back - there are these little extensions on the bridge that you can stand on in case the train comes (which it did!) If you look very closely, you can almost see them on the left of the train in the second pic...

* Mon - and there was more rest...

* Tue (Dec 6th) - 1hr RR (Recovery Ride), i actually just tooled around town doing some errands. Did a workout at home in the eve, did my HFL Legendary Abs Lv 2, legs (1-legged squats and lunges) as well as tri's and bi's.

* Wed - 1.5hr EM

* Thu - 1hr EM w/OU's x 2, Over/Under intervals on the rollers, got some good high-speed intervals on (upwards of 155rpm), really worked a lot of 'smaller' muscles in my legs. Also hit the gym: abs, legs and back.

* Fri - rest is best!

* Sat - 2.5hr EM w/Kevin, nice day!

* Sun - 3hr EM w/45min RS, joined the BSide group, smaller gang but a really good ride.

* Mon - rested today! Also did abs and chest work (bench press and bench flys.)

The rest of the week looks pretty reasonable, go SI's (Speed Intervals) tomorrow and Thu..now in my Peaking section of training...January is coming quickly!

I've finally mixed-up my tunes again:

I'm enjoying a mix of the best 'alternative' rawk from the early 90's, this stuff is quite influential to much of the alternative stuff we're listening to now, you can't go wrong with any of this! Unfortunately i didn't have enough space for a few other bands, like Pavement, Belly, Sloan and The Vaselines...'95-2000 will be an even tougher choice...now i'm wishing i had more space. ;) * Beck - Mellow Gold - 94 * Faith No More - Angle Dust - 92 * Frank Black - Teenager of the Year - 94 * Nirvana - Bleach - 89 * Sebadoh - Bubble & Scrape - 93 * Sonic Youth - Goo - 90 * Throwing Muses - Red Heaven - 92 (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 isthebest flash-based MP3 player on the planet, btw! Click here for my top riding/training albums.)