Pilates+

After Pilates Tuesday night, I did a circuit of Nautilus. If you think that Pilates is for girls, I encourage you to try it. True, there's only myself and one other guy in there.. and it's true, we spend a lot of time lying on our backs with our legs up in the air doing various acrobatics. But man does it blast your entire core, and quite intensely. By the end of the session, I can barely lift a leg or do a crunch. Wed morning I did a 30 minute spin, then around 5:00 dear wife calls and says a spot opened up in the 5:45 spin class at the YMCA. This was my first time there and I was impressed with the bikes (shown above). Wearing my heart rate monitor, I found that the HR shown on the Keiser M3 was redundant. Then I noticed that the HR on the display matched my Polar watch, spot-on. Then I realized that the spin bike's computer did not have sensors in the handlebars, it's designed to pick up my Polar signal. How cool is that? These things also had a very fluid magnetic resistance (in lieu of friction) and they displayed power and joules. At the end of the workout, it displayed average HR, Power and Cadence, which for me was 156, 180 and 95 respectively. Niiiiiice.. I can take that data and enter it manually into my Peaks software. Like it a lot. One thing I did not like was the saddle- too squishy, too large.. and the room we are in is too small, the bikes too close together. Spinning is something which women do more than the men, and I can't complain if some of the participants are, you know.. easy on the eyes..

Here's a link to the Keiser M3 spin bike website: http://www.keiser.com/m3/index.html

The first thing which struck me was the simplicity- look at the four bolts which secure the bike to the pedestal. I like the clean lines and the simplicity. Yoga tonight.

2006 Cyclonauts Criterium

This set of pictures in my Flickr account has a few good shots. Here we have Kyle Gates with the after-burners on in the 30+ Masters Race. Lots of familiar names in the results! I was jammed up behind a crash with only one lap to go. Lucky I didn't get taken down.

On the Treadmill, literally and figuratively

yesterday no riding- but we went to the Y after work and I did 20 minutes on the treadmill and did one circuit of Nautilus (no leg machines)
This morning on the windtrainer:
20:00 warmup
10:00 FT+10%
10:00 R
10:00 FT+10%
10:00 Cool down
Tonight: Pilates!
In spite of a careful diet with careful portions, I'm adding some muscle mass, but what better thing to replace fat with, than lean muscle? Keeping the Nautilus reps at 20-25 is probably a good idea. I don't understand how there is any health benefit (besides getting ripped) to lifting the whole stack of weights for 6-8 reps, yet I see a lot of older, taller, yet pear shaped guys doing this. I guess it's possible to be strong as an ox AND out of shape.

Sunday's 4 hour grind

This chart tells a story indeed! Don't let the speed fool you, this was H-A-R-D. It was also the first time I've been in a multi-rider up hill locomotive. I'm humbled by the way that older, more mature bike racers (translation: masters) take care of their fellow brothers. Many thanks to Todd B., who showed us how it's done, by doing it. I salute you and I salute Bill D who gritted his teeth and grinded it all the way home through the pain, without cracking. It was a great day if you ask me.

2009 Resolutions:

Pilates, Yoga, Nautilus, Repeat.

No 587: Last post of 2008

It appears that I'll be heading out of work early today. Need to make it to Providence bike to pick up some items before they close for the holiday/snow. I'll probably head straight home after that..
Bisikletci Murat wishes you and your family a safe and happy New Year.

2008 Season Recap

Data

The data for today's ride, compared next to the 3 hour ride I did two weeks ago:

1% of 8000

Your Hero did 1% of 2008's total mileage today, in a duration of 4:35. I'm a little worn out of course, but I'm very happy about my knees. Usually, at about the 2:15 to 2:30 point, the knees begin to protest, and by the 3rd hour, they're doing more of an LA riot than a protest. I can attribute today's pain free ride to a few things. See if you'll agree:
1. On Friday I did a one hour Level 1 YOGA session at the Y (awesome- I loved it and I'm going back for more.. Nega Coach will be proud- always preaching the importance of stretching)
2. The yoga was followed by two completions of the Nautilus circuit (Very light weights, 20 reps, focused on establishing settings and proper form) a light soreness today is accompanied by the positive sense of progress in the "structural fitness" department.
3. It's warm today! (56 right now) My worst knee pain occurs primarily on the very cold rides- when it's under 30 degrees.
4. Lately I noticed that my seat's a touch too low, primarily from observing my reflection in the window when I'm on the windtrainer. I hoisted it up about 4-5 mm and it feels so much better.
One other revelation of today's 80 mile ride- very cool that I did not cramp up even once during the ride.. But after I got home and leaned over to remove my booties, THEN I felt a nasty and breath-taking pinch in my hamstring. Data galore and possibly some other trivialities coming up later. Thanks for reading.

What if..

..every bike race team in New England were to contribute one gently used kit into a collection which is sent overseas and given to a less fortunate person to use? My team has already sent four full sets of Millwork One uniforms to Turkey this past season, two of which are being used by a racer who we fully support. Recently, I also sent five complete Union Velo Racing uniforms which were given to a few of the local upstart racers in Bursa Turkey. I think it's pretty cool that the roads and trails of Bursa, Turkey are populated with Millwork One and Union Velo uniforms.
If this idea turns your crank, please show interest with a comment, or write to me privately at reiscotools@yahoo.com. If a large number of New England teams participate, I'd like to start a new blog which covers this topic more appropriately. The idea is for every New England team to add one or more international riders to their team roster. Bike racing is extremely cost prohibitive for most poeple in Turkey. This idea will make our sport more accessible to more people. Think about it.
FYI, the next care package departs for Turkey on Jan 2nd (it's a Specialized Tarmac Expert complete bike), There will be plenty of dead air space inside of the bike box. Can we fill it up?

New Britain Criterium 2008 Redux

A new friend I made at the race this summer sent me these pictures from the 30+ race. I attacked with one lap to go and then fell apart completely with 1/2 lap to go, finishing nearly dead last. Whatever.. Cool pictures.

Adaptation: one leg intervals

Nothing does as good job of proving adaptation to stress, than a power meter. To wit, a week ago I did a set of one leg intervals. They were pitiful- 119 watts average, per leg. (Call this my untrained benchmark) Four days later, I was able to do two sets, same gear (39x19), separated by a 5 minute recovery (1 minute between each leg) Average watts were high 130s in the 1st set, low 130s for the 2nd set. Speeds and distance also way up compared to the workout. My next session of one leg intervals will be in the 39x17, and go 2 full minutes. The data of the 1st 90 seconds will be fun to watch. These intervals will increase in duration by 30 seconds every couple of weeks, until I reach 3:00 minutes. They are indeed evil as Brendan correctly pointed out. Those last 10 seconds really turn you inside out. Another interesting observation: leg is stronger than the right.

It's not too late..

..to buy a Likeabike Jumper in any of six colors and have it delivered to you in time for Christmas, as long as your location is within a 60 mile radius of Providence RI, or you are willing to make a trip to our location to pick it up. Go to www.weebike.com, there's a link in the sidebar where you can choose a color and make a secure payment via Paypal. If the recent blizzard has made it difficult to get out and find the perfect gift for the 2-5 year old in your life, please consider a LikeaBike Jumper. All colors are in stock locally in RI. Let's face it, if you're reading this, you probably spent more money on your road shoes, or pedals, or carbon handlebars than you will for this, the most top-shelf toddler bike on the market- the LikeaBike Jumper. All aluminum, rear suspension, Schwalbe tires, made in Germany. What's not to love?
This video is excellent!

On second thought..

I didn't expect the snow to continue into Sunday. Wishful thinking. It's not that cold out right now, but a family walk to the local Cumberland Farms to buy some Twinkies (for our son) was challenging enough- never mind trying to do it on a bike. Snow shoveling for the past two days has been quite an excellent set of workouts. Last night I did an hour on the trainer and two sets of 90 second one-leg intervals. It's rather interesting with the Powertap, seeing which leg is stronger and by how many rpms and how many watts. I'll show you later, if the mood strikes. Tonight I'm aiming for a 90 minute trainer session with a few Zone 4 efforts of 2-5 minutes each. Legs are freshly shorn. What a difference it makes- all mental of course. It's in line with the "looking good is feeling good" mantra. Looking strong is feeling strong, imho. Besides I plan to do some spin classes at the Y and I don't want to be mistaken for a newbie.

Winter Wonderland Ride on Sunday?

Are you interested and crazy enough for a three hour ride on slick wet icy roads this Sunday? Does your bike have full fenders? If yes and yes, reach out to me and we'll meet someplace on the roads of RI. Sunday. I promise it won't suck.

I hate Boston

Seriously.

Oral surgery

In the pain cave with sutures in my gums after a root evac
This sucks

One leg intervals

Do you want to discover which of your muscles have been "dead wood" all season long? Perform a set of one leg intervals on your trainer. Start out at 60 seconds/leg in the 39x19. This is harder than people realize. Add 30 seconds a week and as many gear inches as you can hold 90 rpm with. Later on, add sets (separated by 5 min recovery) You will find your abdominals and other core muscles becoming involved in the last 15 seconds of the effort.

Better to burn out than to fade away

I am saddled with a severe case of burn out at work. It's been a tough year for me.. A couple of very high end multi million $$ projects on Beacon Street for very wealthy and demanding people combined with very difficult architects and designers, has really taken it's toll. Being a punching bag for general contractors is not a satisfying occupation. I spent two weeks overseas "on vacation" this past May, tending to my father. Not exactly a vacation. That event took more out of me than I can even comprehend.. My coach was astonished that I had any good form at all this year, after what happened (losing my dad) The rest of my vacation time wasn't used for laying on a sandy beach or anything either. I went swimming all of twice, all year- at Narragansett Town Beach no less..
Long story short, I plan to take the day after Christmas off and the day after New Year's Day off. That means that after this weekend, it's 3 days work, 4 days rest, 3 days work, 4 days rest. Niiii-ice. But in order for this to happen without having a meltdown at work, I'm putting in a lot of extra time both last week and this week. Probably 70+ hours. It's little wonder that my heart rate's elevated..
How many hours/miles of base fitness can I add to the hopper for 2009? As it stands now, I will easily pass 8000 total miles for 2008 with just a few more three hour rides.

Glad that's over!

and glad I didn't wimp out. Did more climbing than I planned (2740 feet), missed my ride mates by a few minutes down at Route 3/102 (that was a buzz-kill), so I did my ride alone. This means that for 3+ hours I never had the benefit of a wheel to follow or a body to draft. Charts later... These are the rides which we will be comparing to similar rides of 12 months ago. Should be interesting to see where I stand.