8.27.2012 Nothing

I had planned to ride this morning, but I woke up feeling like I was fine and awake. Sat up in bed, turned the alarm off and figured I'd just lay back down for a minute before rolling out. Next thing I know it's 1.5 hours later. :( So, I had determined I was going to run in the evening after Meagan got home and she got her run in. As it would turn out, she took a pretty nasty spill while out on her run and bloodied her knee pretty good and incurred a grade 2 sprain in her left ankle in the process. Yikes, I hate that feeling of just getting in the groove of a good workout regimen and then getting injured! Thankfully she should only be out about a week or so and then she'll be up and moving again. :)

8.23.2012 Cycling

The Workout: Ride 65 minutes @ MI

I had my alarm set for 4:30 this morning. I woke up at 4 and decided to just stay up. Slowly, it's getting easier to wake up this early. Soon, I'll be getting up at 3:30 to get two hours of riding in before 6am.  Which reminds me, I need to get brighter lights.

I saw another cyclist out this morning and at first I couldn't tell by his light if he was a motorcycle, a car with one headlight, or a moped. Turns out he was just a cyclist with one BRIGHT light! I almost turned around and asked what brand it was, then I figured Amazon has enough good reviews, I'll just get on there and find one that's good.

The ride was good. The roads are completely different at 5 am. Empty and quiet. It's actually really nice to be out at this time in the morning. I much prefer it to riding at the end of the day. Well, a little less than 22 hours and I'll be back at it. I think I might ride and then go into a run tomorrow morning. I'm trying right now to get back into really good cycling shape for something I've got coming up. I'm not quite ready to spill the beans yet. Very soon though!

8.22.2012 Cycling

The Workout: Ride for 60 minutes @ MI

 I attached a bright flash light to the front of my bike this morning, just so oncoming cars and cars turning into traffic would have an easier time seeing me. I didn't expect it to make much of a difference in my ability to view the road, but it definitely helped in the areas where a street light was out.

I wasn't sure I would, but I'm enjoying these early morning rides. It's pretty relaxing... so relaxing that it's difficult to get on it and put in a hard effort. I'm sure that will get easier over time though. For now it took me until about mile 5 to really put much into the pedals.

There are quite a few runners out this early, but very few bikers. The only ones I've seen have been commuters. Ideally it's not a great time to be riding, but it's working for me.

8.19.2012 Running

The Workout: Just get out and enjoy the weather before it turns hot again.

I actually didn't want to or plan on going for a run today. Not until Meagan got back from hers and said the weather was beautiful. My legs were sore from yesterday's ride and my motivation was practically non-existent. However, getting out to just enjoy the weather seemed like a good idea.

I didn't have my headphones in, wear my HRM, or track my splits. I just wanted to run and more or less "enjoy the scenery." Not that there is a lot around here, but you get the idea. I didn't want to go hard or push myself.

So I just set out and below is the Endo info!

8.18.2012 Cycling

The Workout: 54 mile Group Ride

This ride went really well. I wasn't fatigued much from the ride the day before and it was a really great group of guys to ride with. The weirdest thing happened on the ride though. Ok, maybe not THE weirdest... but pretty strange.  I'll just say I've never experienced it on a group ride before.

There the 6 of us were just rolling along. We came upon a group of cyclists who were just clipping in and starting to roll out. There were maybe a dozen of them. They got up to speed just as we came along side them and both groups morphed into one. We went from a small group of 6 to somewhere close to 20 riders. Everyone just started chatting with one another like it was nothing. It's cool the kind of familiarity you have with other riders out on the road. It's one thing I really like about running and cycling. So, anyway, that group split off to go eat breakfast and we continued on our 54 mile journey.

I made a few big efforts during the ride that really taxed my system. It was good though, because I got to see how quickly I can recover these days.  The verdict? Not as quickly as the past, but not shabby for the time being. It will improve.

I learned one thing though on this ride and that is, if I want Endomondo and Glympse to track for more than about 2 hours I need to have an external power source plugged into my phone prior to heading out and during the ride. I had the computer on my back tracking time and distance so I was able to edit it accurately on Endo. The only thing I didn't update is the map.

8.17.2012 Cycling

The Workout: Ride for about an hour, see what kind of shape I'm in.

Yesterday I was invited to go on a 54 mile ride this coming Saturday. Naturally, I agreed! The problem was that I didn't know what kind of shape I'm in. Having only been on the bike twice prior to this ride I figured 54 miles could turn out to be a nightmare.

So, I planned to ride out to one of my favorite hills and back. There's a hill just south of 175th St on Antioch that is pretty short but is really steep. Once I get into more intense bike training I'll be doing a lot of repeats on it. The wind seemed to be going against me no matter the direction I was riding. It was a pretty intense effort for much of the ride.

It ended up going well though. I was hoping to achieve a 20 mph average, but just under 19mph isn't too bad. Looking forward to the ride on Saturday.

8.15.2012 Running

The Workout: Run 5 miles @ MI

Having ridden 17 in the morning I wasn't positive how I would do on the run. My nutrition was messed up because I'm not used to making up for a deficit from the get go. So, all day I had felt weak but couldn't ever really seem to catch up. The run was not a whole lot of fun. It's one of those where you just need to put in the time and the miles. Had the day not been so nice outside, I probably would have tried to talk myself out of it. If you can't tell, I didn't really want to go on this run, sometimes it just isn't fun and it's more like work.

8.15.2012 Cycling

The Workout: Ride @ LMI-MI for 60 minutes

This early in the morning I'm limited to areas around here that are illuminated with street lights. I have a reflective vest strap thing and an intense red blinking light in the back. Nothing up front. I have never ridden in an instance where I'd need forward illumination and even this early in the morning and when it's this dark... I don't really need one due to the streetlights. The only reason I think I'd get one is for oncoming or turning traffic to see me better. However, I was thinking about that and wondering if it would give me a false sense of security to think that they'd see this little flashlight bright thing coming down the road, most likely faster than they're assuming. Not saying I'm super fast right now, just noting that many people may not expect a bike to be going as fast they're capable of going. Plus, I think I might sometime rely on the thought that they can see me, which would be a really bad mistake.

Since I've been riding, a little over 10 years now, I've always ridden with the idea that I am essentially invisible to vehicles. So, I don't expect them to do anything for me. There have been a few instances where I've had some close calls, just because a motorists has done something exceptionally out of the ordinary, but that mentality I think has saved me from a number of accidents. I've put a lot of miles on my bike and have only gone down bad once, and that was my own fault, when I was new at riding... I couldn't take a corner well.

Alright, so that's enough for today. I've got things to be doing. Mainly... clean up a nice present our puppy just left us in the kitchen. :(

Here's the ride info.

8.14.2012 Cycling (not Spinning) CYCLING!

The Workout: Ride at any intensity for about 30 minutes. Just checking that all systems are a go on the bike.

It's been a really, REALLY long time since I've ridden outdoors. I've just been riding the spin bike inside getting ready for this moment, whenever it would finally get here. The stars all aligned and I got my new tires in the mail, found my puncture proof liners (I hate getting flats), checked and made slight adjustments to shifting, cleaned the bike, cleaned and lubed the chain then took her outside.

It was kind of weird for the first half mile or so. I've been riding on the stationary spin bike for so long, it was weird to feel the bike move under me. It only took a little bit to feel comfortable again, then it was mostly back to normal. I still felt a little unsteady. By the end of the ride though, I felt like I was about 95% back to completely comfortable.

The feeling of being outside and riding again was great. I'm glad I've got my bike back up and working and road worthy.

8.13.2012 Running

The Workout: Run @ MI for 30 minutes

This was one of those mornings where the bed is so comfortable that it takes a tremendous amount of resolve to roll out of it and step onto the cold floor. I really wanted to run though so it made the process a little easier. It was chilly out, only about 63-65F. It felt good though. I had a hard time getting into this run, my legs felt so heavy and I have a bruise on my knee from where I smashed it on Saturday. It's been hurting to go up and downstairs all weekend. A mile or so into the run I didn't feel it anymore, the bruise... my legs felt like the weighed 100lbs each and it was a conscious effort to lift them up and move with every step. I'm glad I was only going 30 minutes this morning. 

8.12.2012 Heavy Bag

The Workout: 30 minutes on the heavy bag

I was so drained today... allll day. I had planned on working out earlier in the day, but I could never muster up the energy. I took a 2 hour nap in the middle of the day, I don't know why I was so beat! So, the day was coming to a close and I really wanted to get a workout in. I finally felt good enough and I went down to the basement and knocked out 30 minutes of a good intense whole body workout. I hadn't done the workout in a while, so I'm sure I'll be sore in a few days.

8.10.2012 Running

The Workout: Run @ MI-MHI for 45 minutes

It ended up being a little more than 45, I finished up at 50 minutes. I knew I was getting close to another mile so I just wanted to end on an whole number. This route I'll save for days when I really want to kick my butt running. It was rather hilly up to mile 3. I wasn't expecting it this morning when I went out. I just wanted to take a different route. I think had I been on a little more flat terrain, I would have see my avg speed closer to 7:00/mile, maybe even in the 6's. I was feeling really good, the first 3 miles just really took it out of me.

I did run my best 10k time so far though! Not terribly impressive, but 44:11. Always improving.

8.9.2012 Spinning

The Workout: Spin @ LMI for 2 hours

The title about sums up this workout. Two hours in the saddle just turning over the pedals. While I was riding though, I heard the UPS man deliver my new tires for my road bike! Yay!

I'll be doing a 200+ ride on Nov 3rd for Race for Valor. So, I'm working on getting up to speed for that effort. It should be a good ride and for a great cause :)

8.8.2012 Running

The Workout: Run 5 miles @ 165-175 HR

So this morning I set out at about 5am. I was jogging along slowly and felt like I was laboring... taking short strides and I just got the feeling like I wasn't being very efficient. Then an image of the men running the 10K popped into my head and I remembered their very long strides. Duh! Fewer steps over the same distance equals less effort, simply speaking. So, I got out of my little shuffle and tried to mimic Mo and Galen. Long efficient strides.

I must say it felt really good. My effort was pretty low. I averaged 165 for the run, but I was churning out an average of 7:14 miles, with a fastest of 6:42. I know it's not spectacular, but I'm still improving. I've got a ways to go yet to even get back to where I was 7 years ago, but I'm on my way and this time I'm armed with greater knowledge of what I'm doing!

Yes, so 7:14's and my effort was on the medium end of medium high. I could have kept it up a little longer, but not the distance of a half. Not this morning anyways. For the half I've got coming up in November, this pace (hopefully better) should be attainable.

8.7.2012 Spinning

The Workout: Spin for as long as possible while Liam and Oliver are napping!

Mission accomplished. I got in 1 hour and 48 minutes and even got to catch up on some of the Olympics! Most notably I watched the men's 10,000m final. They appear to just be jogging along and a leisurely pace, don't you think? It looks like you might just be able to hop onto the track and jog with them.  That is until you see they're making a lap around the track every 60-70 seconds!

It was really cool to see Farrah and Rupp run and almost finish together. It's gotta be nice to have your training partner right there with you in one of the biggest races of your life, even if he happens to be competing for another country.  Which makes me wonder if Rupp slowed just a little... or maybe didn't try as hard as he could have so that Farrah could secure Gold for his home country. Just a thought. I saw him look around at the end to see if anyone was around, he seemed to let up a little and was content with Silver. Which is a very nice thing to do... if he did it. I don't know, it just made me think it was a possibility.

8.6.2012 A Cool HRM and No Workout

Still feeling terrible from the blown weekend. I really need to figure out how to handle nutrition on wedding day when we're responsible to cover a client's wedding non-stop all day long. There's really not a lot of down time to eat anything, since we're there to document the entire day. We can't afford to miss anything. Something's got to be done though, because this happens every wedding. Not as bad as this weekend, but I'm always working on recovering over the next few days. I'll get back at it tomorrow with a spin and a swim. So, here's the cool HRM. It's called the Alpha and it's a Kickstarter project. It's strapless and syncs with apps on smartphones such as Endomondo! I really want one! Check it out here!

8.5.2012 Running

The Workout: In a word? Terrible

I had been excited about this run all day Saturday as we were shooting a wedding. The weather in the morning was supposed to be nice and I was planning to do anywhere between 6-10 miles. The downfall of this run began Saturday when my calorie intake was abismal. I had a bowl of cereal in the morning with a piece of peanut butter toast... then, I didn't eat again until about 8pm. They served some awesome filet mignon, scallops, potatoes, and green beans. I ate a bunch to try and make up for the rest of the day, and I thought I had escaped the damages of the day.

In the morning I had a bowl of cereal and some gatorade to get ready. Then about an hour before I had a piece of PB toast. I started the run and felt ok, not good for about a half mile. Then my HR was up in the high 160's and I think I was running about 8:30's. I couldn't tell my pace because my GPS on Endo was jacked up, and the memory on my HRM was full so I couldn't track anything except HR at the time and see the stopwatch. It was a run that was destined for failure from the beginning.

I pushed through and at about 2 miles felt terrible. I was up in the 170's, granted I was pushing Liam in the jogging stroller, so maybe it was a little bit harder. It shouldn't have been like this though. I was light headed, dizzy, shaky, and pushing some precious cargo near traffic. I didn't feel right and I didn't really feel safe pushing him around. I decided to throw in the towel on this run and call in the backup. Meagan came and picked us up and we made it home and I proceeded to try and recover for the next day's workout.

Here's the run that I put in the info after the fact since Endo wasn't running right.

8.3.2012 Spinning

The Workout: Spin @ MI for 45 minutes

An almost typical spin. Except this time I set up the bike in front of our tv in the other living room and played Moder Warfare 3. So, while my legs were getting a workout... my fingers were as well. It was a decent way to pass the time on the bike. I did get just a little bit motion sick though, so there is a drawback!

8.3.2012 Running

The Workout: Run @ LMI for 40 minutes

Sometimes it's just difficult to get moving in the morning. This was one of those times. It was an enjoyable run. The moon was super bright and it was backlighting some scattered clouds, it was really quite pretty. I wished I had my SLR at the time. So, it was a nice leisurely run and one of those where you just put in the time.

8.2.2012 Running

The Workout: Run w/ HR @ 155-160 for 6 miles

Here I wanted to see what kind of pace I could maintain with my HR at 155-160 for 6 miles. I was surprised that my pace was 7:25. I thought it would have been slower. Perhaps it was the temp that made it a little better or the fact that I was feeling pretty good. Either way I'm happy with the results and can notice improvements over the time I've been getting back into shape.

8.1.2012 Spinning

The Workout: Spin 60 minutes @ LI-LMI

Just a pretty simple workout in the afternoon. Sat on the bike and turned the pedals over for a little over an hour. Watched some Olympics, got inspired, and sweated a lot :)

8.1.2012 Running/Cross-Training

The Workout: Stairs, Plyometrics, One-Legged Squats, Run.

We live right next to the Garmin world headquarters. There's a parking garage with a few stairs (I'd like more) and a parking lot with some large cylindrical sandstone... things, which happen to be the perfect size for some plyometric jumps.

So after warming up, I ran the stairs, jumped on the sandstone cylinders, did some one-legged squats, and just when my legs were about spent I ran a little bit.

Endomondo didn't quite know what to do with my stairs, jumps, and squats so I think it just paused or didn't track during that time.