Three more down...

Three more workouts down this week.  Tuesday's workout was a short easy spin of 45 minutes or so doing Spinerval Recovery and Technique. Most of the ride was a one pedal bonanza. I choose to spin my way through the whole workout in Big Ring/19 or so for the whole 45 minutes keeping my exercise HR at around 127 or so.  Wednesday was a longer aerobic base builder for 80 minutes with my heart rate in the 130's to 140's depending upon the interval.  Tonight was again an aerobic base building of 85 minutes where I kept my HR at around 120 or so.  I quit at the 1 hr mark, as I was just not into the workout much.  That was probably from running around Christmas shopping after school. 
Awaiting my Chicken in Garlic Sause combo with white rice....how nice!

outdoor ride in Marlborough with Nick...

Today I went out to Marlborough to ride with Nick.  It was a confortable recovery ride on our usual short 12 mile loop.  We didn't ride until later in the day, so time was a factor.  It wasn't that cold with my winter gear on, but by the end my feet were a bit cold.  It was good to get outdoors again after riding indoors all week, and the outdoor rides are much tougher. 

Took my R3 out for the ride, and again my rear wheel went out of true.  The same spoke keeps coming loose, and is half way into the rim.  I ordered 2 new spokes in both lengths, so I can change it if I need to.  I am going to bring it to CC tomorrow and have Sondre look at it.  I am hoping that I can resolve the issue.  It has been going out of round on every ride lately, and it worries me a bit. I have less than 500 miles on the wheels, and hope that is is not a constant problem.  I might need to get them retensioned, we will see.
Tomorrow is another indoor training day.  Long and slow.

Three days in a row...ouch!

OK I had forgotten how much three indoor rides in a row hurt the behind, but man!  Tuesday was a short 45 minute intense workout with big gears and high cadences in and out of the saddle.  Wednesday at CC was 2 hour Spinerval: Aerobic Basebuilder Compelation, ouch!  Today when I was sitting in my chair, I had a tough time just getting out of the chair, my sit bones hurt!  Glad I already had kids, man!  Today was a guest trainer session with Ron Mizzino at Newington Bicycle for about 1 hour 10 minutes of hill climbing sessions which I sluffed through.  I am going to be hurting tomorrow!  Hot tub in the AM again!
For now Celtics and Whole wheat Pasta with Chicken Sausage.

Abs, circuit training and a hot tub stretch...

An active day of rest consisted of a quick ab workout, 1 circuit of upper body weights on the nautilus machines, and then a hot tub stretch.  The best part of course was the hot tub.  Since it was not working last week after my indoor training session, it felt awesome to finally get a good stretch in. Now I should be ready to go hard again tomorrow night! Bring it on!

Wanted to get another workout in this week, so I put my Tommaso on the trainer and reach for Cyclo-Core's Cyclo-Climb Tuscan DVD (http://www.cyclo-core.com/ ).  Graeme or whatever, used echo on the voice track...not needed, but the workout was about 30 minutes total with warm-up and cool-down.  The climb was 21 minutes and used his Shoe scraper, knee trusts and scissors in sets to get you through the total time at big chain 15....I used 17-21 to keep my avgHR at 140.  Maxed out at 152 for the last 3 minutes of the ride at Big chain 15, felt like going up the Marlborough hills for sure at the end.  Maintained nearly 80 rpm avg during the climb, now my legs are rubber.  Great workout, but need a bit more, it's feels too short a time, might do it again after a 1/2 rest, but "I doubt it". 
Going to put on Football and eat homemade chicken soup with grilled ham and cheese...Yummy!

Spin Class...

Well after two days off, I went to spin class with Kathy at HealthTrax this morning, and it felt great!  I had big energy in my legs, and was able to power through most hill intervals, nice!  That makes it three indoor rides this week with next week hopefully being 4 or 5.  I need to make sure I maintain a moderate pace this winter through my workouts, and just be consistant.
Yesterday I stopped by Newington Cycle and found out they had started their indoor training two weeks ago.  Wish I had known, could have used that extra week, OH WELL.  This week will be Newington Tuesday and Thursday, and CC on Wednesday.  Thursdays training will be with a live trainer, always a great workout.  I love the live training sessions, as they motivate me to work a bit harder. 
Tomorrow will be a recovery ride while watching football.  Maybe a long slow ride of over an hour.  Burn those KCals.
Well the C's are on now, so cioa for now.

2nd indoor ride...

2nd day in a row of indoor training at Cycling Concepts was again terrific.  Felt much better during this ride than yesterdays, as I readjusted the fit to be similar to that of my Cervelo.  I still did not have my knee shaver pedal extenders on, so the was still some knees flying about the shop last night.  No pain in the knee or calf last night though, which is great! 
Tonight is the Christmas party at CC in Rocky Hill, so I won't be going to Newington Bike to train. I have mixed feelings about this, as I am tired, but am beginning to feel the positive effects of training on my body.  My legs feel great, as we are still aerobic base building.  Last night we did Spinerval Base Building 3.  Nice an mellow long sets of 20-15-10-5 minutes to 1:30 rest between.  Each set was about 70% HRMax, or below anaerobic threshold. Love to ride this way, although I know it will not really make me faster, or increase my Fitness as quickly, it just feels good to my body and legs. 
This begs the question: Why do I ride and train?  Do I train to improve, and punish my body?  or Do I train to enjoy the workouts and make my body feel good knowing I will not improve nearly as much or as quickly?  Hmmmm.  I think I will try to do a bit of both.  On days my body can work out hard I will do high intensity intervals, on days I feel tired I will work less hard and more aerobically.  A plan emerges.  Not sure if this is effective training, but at my age, any training is effective.
Well, I need a nap before going to the party...Night Night!

Indoor Training Begins...

Well, I went to Cycling Concepts in Glastonbury for my first indoor ride of the year, and it was great!  Felt some lag in my legs because I had to revert to spd pedals and my mountain shoes on my Tommaso, but I am changing that today.  I am replacing the SPD pedals with my Ultegra pedals with knee savers that will enable my knees to work better.  It also give me a better stiffer planform to push on.  The SPD's give me a hot spot under my arch, not good when indoors because you cannot stand and pedal as long.  I must also reposition the saddle to put me back in the correct riding position.  I plan to do this at the shop in Rocky Hill tonight prior to riding.
Felt awesome this morning upon waking up.  My legs feel good and strong as we did an aerobic base building workout with coach Troy and Spinervals.  I think I am going to buy the series for my brother for Christmas so we can ride in the barn on the weekends.  More base building till January, which suits me fine, as I have gained a few and need the longer sessons to burn more FAT!
After the workout last night, I wanted to go the HealthTrax to hit the hot tub for my usual stretch, but it was down til NEXT WEEK!  Man!   I hope this is not a trend for the rest of the year.  I need that hot tub!
C's are playing tonight, so I will go right home after the training session.  No Rondo or Shaq, and maybe no Nate either...GO Cs.

Winter Training Schedule...

Well it is that time of year again when I come inside to train.  Although I enjoy it almost as much as riding outside, and more than hills, I wish I could turn up the heat outside once in a while to get a good long ride in.  So here is my proposed winter training schedule: (I say proposed because I did not get to perform my fall schedule as intended)

Sunday:  REST  (Maybe a hot tub stretching day, or easy indoor ride at home)
Monday: Circuit Training and Ab workout - 4:00 pm - 5:30
Tuesday: Indoor Training at either Newington Bike or Glastonbury CC, depending upon Nick's schedule. - 6pm
Wednesday:  Indoor Training at Rocky Hill CC - 6pm
Thursday:  Either Cynergy or Indoor Training at Newington Bike
Friday: Spin class at 5:45am if I did Cynergy Thursday or Circuit Training Ab Workout if not.
Saturday: Spin Class at 9 am and Circuit Training After with Ab Workout.

Well there it is, A hard 12 week period awaits, and I hope it yields the same amount of gains as last winter.  If so, maybe I won't hate hills quite so much.