easy stuff in the gloom

tuesday, feb. 10/2009

today was just an easy ride of 90 minutes. left at 5 30 pm with the lights on the bike. temps have been really favorable, as it was near 10 deg. when i left. i use these little but highly visible lights called KNOGS. awesome things they are.
i know the heavy rains they have called for have not showd up, but i imagine it will hit at some point.
i will post later today on my wednesday ride.

just rollin'.....

hi all,

had a beautiful 4 hr ride with the owner of THE HUB BICYCLE SHOP . got rollin' from his house about 1 30 pm and just drifted along west river road to the short, punchy hills that acentuate that side of cambridge. the sun was out for what seems like an eternity and a cool south breeze was in our faces heading towards paris, ontario. had some tire issues out on west alps road, but was soon fixed up in a jiffy. i could feel the previous days tension thru my quads as we crested some hills and knew that i had to keep this completely aerobic, zone 2 stuff for the duration. cliff is a great fellow who has an incredible passion for cycling in any aspect. to hear him croon about how magical the freedom of riding his bike into the sun on a cool sunday afternoon, made me realize that i am a lucky fellow to be enjoying this moment with him.
so, after 4 hrs of just easy riding, we departed onto our separate routes home. it was nice to have the wind at our backs from paris, and we were able to dream about our conquests for the season, who looks good now and who is going to fall apart later. all in all, a great day and just south of 90kms ridden. monday should be even better!!!!

NOW COMES THE THAW!!!!

hello, back from my trip to the caribbean. havent been able to post for some time so i will try to get all the workouts here in order since we arrived back on jan. 31.

mon easy 45 min spin zone 2
tues nothing
wed 90 mins with 20 reps of 30secs on, 30 secs off. 10 min spin then 8mins descending gear
42*23,21,18,17,16,15,14,13,12.......then recover
thurs 1 hr zone 2
friday 90 mins with 4 sets of 5*(40secs hard/20secs easy) with a 3 min spin between sets.
sat 2.25 hrs first hour at an avg.h.r. of 172, drove it hard!!!!!! and then took it down to
zone 3 for the remainder of ride. (136-155)

so thats it for the week. hope to get on more of a roll for the week coming up as the weather seems to be going up quite high. first race of the season is on april 10, good friday.

jmac

my garmin froze.....but its not frozen

got an encouraging call on friday afternoon, seems i have been hit up for a job interview for tuesday the 20th in toronto. its at another tool and die shop but seem pretty checked out from their website. i hope that it goes well, as it is a temporary position but the money could come in hand right now.

as for fridays workout, pretty simple as it was a recovery day:

75 mins h.r. zone 2 keep below 136

just watched battle star galactica for the ride duration. kieth sent me a meassage about joining a local bike store with their indoor rides, sounds like a plan as it would help with any problems on staleness and keeping things fresh. incredible cardio workout without the pounding of miles in the legs.

as for todays workout:

2.5 hrs computrainer course was really draggy at the end with ramps up to 3.5 to 6%, maybe 3 mins max at length, just real power climbs. was able to hold about 280-320 watts for most of them, but the legs are heavy from this weeks interval work. i have been just using the weekend computrainer ride as my main "hard" workout with the rest of the time just aerobic base building. now the intensity load is higher and my legs were feeling it at the end today because of the the 2 other workouts this week.

i wanted to download the garmin info, but the damn computer is froze.....or the computer was left on and it drained, but i just recharged it last night....so i dont know whats wrong, but i cant get to the info in it to download to view.

oh well......

stick to the plan, stan!!!

late night workout....like my good bud kelrock, i too have been let go from work. such a contagious disease this downturn. ended up having to fax a job application to a temp agency in milton, who r helping to replace workers at company that are in a strike situation...bad for them, good for me.
as i got back home from faxing the application at staples, i realised that i have to stay on track with the training because right now, its the only constant in a bad situation. but i also have to realize that alot of what has happened to me in the last year is not within my control, and i have to roll with the punches. I wish kieth all the best cuz i know what he is going through. it sucks but thats life......
so....here is last nights workout, indoors as usual, because its been hovering around -15 in the day and -30 at night....eeewwwww..

TOTAL TIME 90 MINS
30 MIN WARMUP
3MIN SEMI HARD INTENSITY
2 MIN REST
8 * (3 MIN HARD INTENSITY/2 MIN EASY RECOVERY)
10 - 15 MIN COOLDOWN

gotta stomp on the pedals and get the h.r. up to l.t. as fast as possible and then hold and control h.r. just a few beats below.....

keeping a log....seriously!!

monday january 12 2009

1 hr spin indoors zone 2 h.r. 116-136 not much fun, but important. all endurance.

tuesday january 13 2009

1hr spin indoors emphasis on zone 4 h.r. 155-175 lactate threshold
10 min. w/u
3min (semi high intensity)
2min recovery
4*(6min high intensity/4min recovery)
5-10 min cooldown.

this workout gives you 24 mins at a very high aerobic oxygen consumption.

so far, so good....today i am off to the y.m.c.a. for a start on the treadmill as it is -27 deg. right now and windless...if the wind picks up, watchout. as for todays workout, it is pretty simple.....

wednesday january 14 2009

90 mins spin indoors zone 2 endurance ride.

so it begins......

went over some sample training programs for indoor winter riding over the weekend. need a definite focus for about 12 weeks, something that has structure to allow me to come into the early eseason prepared right. i am going to try to race at a higher level this year, with the focus on trying to get into senior 1/2 race category and have a try with the pros for 2009. but first, i have to start in sen.3 and move up based on points and placings......should be a good diversion from the situation i find myself in right now. I find inspiration from my fellow blogger kieth kelly who has strong belief and dedication to his goal.

so i have started a 12 week program to gain the fitness and confidence needed to roll strong in april. there are 2 significant races in april......april 10, good friday road races, a tough undulating road course and the following weekend the Paris to Ancaster road/offroad race. as i will be riding the good friday race as a sen. 3, it will be shorter in duration and my start time will be late morning unlike the 1-130 start times for m-1.

i would die for legs like that above.....