The Weekend Wrap

So here it is, Monday morning again and I'm plugging away at computers on one of my school campuses. We had a pretty good weekend even if the weather never did live up to the hype. And I got two distinctly different and good workouts in which have shown me just how far I've got to go before my body is ready for the triathlon.

I also signed up for another race in about three weeks at the 2010 Sea Otter Classic in Monterey. I'm going to do the Cat 3 Cross Country starting at a bleary and cold 8 am on Sunday morning. I sort of pushed myself into it because I've always wanted to race at the Sea Otter and, because I'm a cheapie, I could get $10 off my entry (the offer for which expired at midnight last night). I've never raced mountain bikes before so this should be fun and it is the Sea Otter's 20th year so there's that too. I'm not quite sure how that weekend will work since I will likely have to camp out there or hit the road butt ass early on Sunday to make the start. But there is time to sort out the details now that the race is on.

I also did some additional tweaking on NorCal Bikers, added some Amazon affiliate links because I need to get some stuff at Amazon anyway and might as well generate a little side income from the process.

And for the workouts, I converted an 8 week training schedule into an Excel spreadsheet, then uploaded it to Dropbox so I could check it anywhere and then went a step further and uploaded it to my Google Docs so I can access it AND update it with workout data on the fly. Jay suggested going even further and importing into my Google calendar but I have a tendency to flip my workouts a day forward or backward so not sure if that'd work.

But I did get a good run and swim in on Saturday and then a good mountain bike ride in on Sunday. My legs were pretty worked after the run and swim but those sored-up muscles didn't infringe on my cycling at all. I'm well ahead of my training schedule at this point but still need to bring my running up by quite a bit.

Today is a scheduled rest day which is good since its also my big work day with a nearly full day at one school and then heading out to another school for a shorter day there.

My swimming is coming along pretty well overall. I need to work on my ability to keep going without needing to stop. But its good for now and I'm improving my technique and stamina each time I'm going out. I'm in the market for some better swim trunks since the board short style is like wearing a big ol' drag suit. No, I am not going for the banana hammock Speedo style. At least not yet. For now I'm going to get some square brief style trunks.

The one downside to swimming on Saturday is the little heated pool area got very crowded with people who seemed to screech almost constantly. It got kind of annoying.

The run was pretty good too considering I haven't really done much running since back in high school when I ran cross country for a couple of years. Then I discovered mountain bikes and was like, running is for suckers, biking is for me! Only now I'm having to learn how to run all over again. I'm working on my stamina, working on my stride and trying not to pound my shins and calves into cramped up jelly. Seriously, I've never had to deal with cramping in my shins like this and its rather painful. But it is coming along.

I fully expect to be on the starting line for the triathlon fully confident in my preparations for the race. Over the next few weeks I will start to work on my transition work and actually changing over from swimming to biking and then from biking to running.

On Sunday I got out and hit Nisene Marks for my standard (though awesome) ride. The trails had really dried out alot more in the last week since I was there. Still some sloppy spots but overall the system is in great shape and I did not crash into a pricker bush this time which always helps. On Sunday afternoon I took the kids out to the huge parking lot behind West Marine and they rode their bikes around the lot for a bit before Grady decided he wanted to try riding the hill that leads down to the slough path. And he rode up and down the gravel hill 20 or more times. He has really taken to riding without his training wheels and is fast as heck now.

The next step will be bumping him up to a bike with 16 inch wheels and getting Sully going on the little bike with the training wheels re-attached. And then the whole family will be almost ready to go bike touring together. I can't wait!

And last night everyone had a pretty low key evening. Sully passed out on the couch at about 7:30 and Grady put up virtually no fight when it was time to take him up to bed.

Another good weekend with lots of good exercise!

Making Time to Sweat

I've been making more time and more of an effort to get my workouts in when I can. This can mean a workout before 7 in the morning when the house is silent or it can mean a workout after 10:30 at night when the house is quiet again.

And I've been getting in after work rides with alot more regularity. If the boys are around then I'll usually take one of them with me now although Sully is tall enough to make riding with the Wee Ride a little more trouble than I'm happy with. I'll need to either put on a riser stem or figure something else out because riding with a helmet banging into my chest is less than joyous.

But the point is that I'm making time to get my workouts in and also getting time together with one or both of my boys. And let me tell you, pumping up the big final hill back to the house with an extra 100 pounds of kids and gear makes for a good little extra burn!

Turning a New (Old) Leaf

The partial cold I've been battling all week has subsided enough for me to resume my mostly normal activities. One of those things I've been blowing off for far too long are my workouts. For months I could blame it on my Bowflex residing out in the garage where it was just too far and too darned cold to workout. But a couple of weeks ago we reorganized the office to make space in there again so I could eliminate two of my biggest and lamest excuses.

And, without much fanfare, I got a pretty solid workout in last night, even surprising myself in how little overall strength I've lost over the last few months of non-workouts. I guess hefting two little boys is actually pretty decent exercise afterall. And I know I'm getting a workout when I hold one by the ankles and do standing tri-presses with them which they love and really fires up my arms.

Continuing the resurgent exercise kick and taking advantage of the fantastic late February weather we are having and combined with the fact that I'm only working at one local school today, I rolled out to work this morning on my bike. Not my mountain bike with lots of gears to break down hills, oh no, that would be too easy. No, I headed to work on my beloved cruiser, my beloved single speed cruiser which is great fun to ride but a bit of a slog uphills.

And, first thing in the morning, it was more than a slog. I felt my tired old legs complaining bitterly for a good portion of the ride. But that's fine by me, it isn't a long ride to work but it felt it on the long gradual uphills. And it took me as long to cool down as it did to get to work.

Nobody will make time for you to exercise and keep yourself healthy. You have to make the time for yourself. I'm hoping renewing my commitment to exercising and keeping myself healthy will help improve my sleeping abilities and my overall energy level while helping to whittle down on the middle-aged spread I've been fearful of. Also, it should help work off some of my frustrations and that'll make everyone happier.

At lunch I'm planning on attaching my camera to my handlebars and cruising around campus to make a short movie. But I still want a helmet cam.

A question though. Do I totally blow my carbon neutralization by riding my bike if I had some pretty horrific gas along the way?