Shoulders and Lunch Ride

Here's what I did in the gym this morning for my shoulder workout:
3 sets - front dumbbell raises
3 sets - alternating isolated machine press
3 sets - alternating side dumbbell raises
3 sets - rear bi-lateral delts (machine)

Each set was with a rep range of 30+ and was to failure.  There were times I couldn't breathe, but I would just pause and then keep going until I couldn't lift anymore.  I typically do 2 pressing movements, but I skipped one today...I know, slacker, right? 

I got more core training in as well for lower back and abs. 

For yesterday's lunch ride, I felt great but was literally disappointed with my calves blowing up like they did.  I thought they were actually going to hold up, but I guess with Vince, Todd, Eddie and Mitchell pushing the pace, it was just a matter of time.  The oddity was that when they did blow up, I felt great otherwise and wanted to keep going.  However, when both were locking up, it was just enough to keep moving forward.

For today's ride, I'm expecting that my legs should be good.  It's usually only the day of the leg weight training that they lock up like that.  We'll see.

Legs and Cycling Day

Today's leg workout continued to focus on speed and endurance vs. strength.   Calves, quads, hamstrings and glutes were all worked today with 3-6 sets per muscle.  Rep range was between 40-70 for each set, so again it's harder to get more sets in for the day based on this. 

For each exercise, I tried to emulate certain movements in cycling where I continued to use explosiveness so that it can hopefully carry over.  For example, leg extensions emulated the top of the stroke while leg presses emulated the down stroke.  Weights were fairly light and more comparable to my body weight or a comparable resistance as what I would feel when riding.  It may not translate exactly, but it does for me mentally.

For lunch today, I will be riding again and hope my legs hold up.  They typically blow up a lot sooner, especially my calves, when I ride on a day when I trained my legs in the morning.  I guess it'll depend on who comes out and what the route is.  Looking forward to it nonetheless.

Back Day and Lunch Cycling

I woke up feeling a little hungry after last night's ahi tuna dinner, but the coffee suppressed it and allowed me to get a good workout.  Today was back day, so here's what I did:

3 sets isolated high rows - alternating (machine)
3 sets cable pull down - alternating
3 sets of rows (machine)
3 sets of close grip pull downs
2 sets of cable pull overs

Rep range was in the 20-50 range again with speed of the movement the focus.  

Looking forward to cycling at lunch after a couple days off the bike.  BMC to come out and play.  Legs feel good, so I'm hoping for a good outing. 

Chest Day and Cardio

After a nice rest day yesterday, I got up and was anxious to get in the gym this morning.   Today was chest day, and I got my 5 exercises in.  Explosive high rep training seems to be paying off cycling-wise, so this continues.  I also got my core training on for lower back and abs, so overall a good training morning.

Today, I was contemplating on bringing my bike in, but instead I think I'll save it for the test of the week.  I'll try to get a lot of riding in starting tomorrow since I'll be off next week starting on Wednesday.  Hopefully, we'll get a good training ride this weekend as well.  For cardio, I'll just hit the elliptical at lunch and get some interval training.

Yesterday's Ride and Today's Rest Day

In line with other rides, I want to keep track of what nourishment worked in yesterday's ride.  I believe I had 3 honey waffles and 3 honey stinger gels.  I say I believe as I am not able to recall exactly probably due to the lack of oxygen from climbing up all those damn hills.  For drinks, I managed to have 3 ultimas (in the smaller planet ultra bottles) and probably a half bottle of water.  Lastly, I had probably the equivalence of 1.5 shot bloks.  I was on my last shot blok after the last hill so that one had to stretch out for almost 20 miles. 

Legs don't feel as bad as I thought, although I did feel like lying down in a fetal position after getting back yesterday.  They've felt worse, and now, the only thing I want to do is pedal again to get the blood circulating again.  However, it'll have to wait until tomorrow since today is a rest day.

I did cheat on my diet yesterday with a couple pieces of pizza, but it was worth it to be able to hang with the fellas after for some team time.  I did well after and did have a Met-Rx, which seemed to help a lot. 

Arms and Cardio (Maybe)

For today's arms, I alternated sets between biceps and triceps (vs. working one group at a time) to change things up.  I was only able to squeeze out 4 exercises (2 each) but the high reps continue.  It takes some time to get the reps in plus recover from the set since I get winded.  Good stuff.

I'm contemplating on skipping cardio at lunch today to save up for tomorrow's hilly ride.  I just won't know what to do with myself when I'm not training.   In the end, I may be do something mild so I can have enough to keep up (or not make the others wait so long).

A couple ailments worth mentioning:  wearing the arm strap again for the sensitive elbow and lower back still bugging me a little on certain movements.  Legs feel good though.

Shoulders, Recovery and Cycling

Got my shoulder workout in this morning and replaced one pressing movement with a lateral raise since lower back hasn't been feeling too great since yesterday.  I was afraid that the compression from the pressing movement would be too much.  Got my 5 exercises in and the high rep sets continue.  On my last set, I didn't feel like I got as good a pump as the ones before though.

As far as recovery this week, I'm feeling like I'm not doing too well in this area.  My back still feels pretty tight from Tuesday's workout, which I'm not sure if it's a good or bad thing.  My legs are still feeling the results from yesterday's training as well...especially my calves.  Is the intensity up this week, am I finally overtraining, or am I not getting the benefit of the new creatine yet?  I'll have to play it out and see.

I don't know how today's cycling is going to go given the above, but I'll give what I have and try and make the best of it.  I'm bringing in the BMC, so I'm looking forward to getting on this bike again. 

Brutal Leg Day and Cardio

After 2 weeks of not training legs (other than through cycling), I hit the gym this morning and managed to squeeze out a fairly brutal workout...brutal in the sense that I had a hard time walking after.  HA HA.

I again hit the high rep sets, and with legs, that meant sets upward of 35 to even 70 depending on the exercise.  My calves were still first, and I got two exercises in (seated calf extensions and calf raises) where I got a really good pump from them. I only managed one exercise for hamstrings, but hitting them with 35 rep sets had me gasping for air.  For the quads, I did leg extensions and this was where I was hitting reps of up to 70.  I followed this with machine leg presses also in the 50+ rep range, and after 3 sets, I was done.  The high rep ranges took up a lot of time to where I couldn't get any more exercises/sets in.

For lunch training, I'd like to bring my bike in but I don't think the weather will hold.  I'll probably just prepare to do cardio in the gym. 

On a dietary note, I had a hard time feeling full last night probably after yesterday's ride.  I also didn't feel so hot when I got home, fell asleep at one point and woke up with a headache.  I managed to just eat enough, but I was feeling a little empty when I got up.  The Met-Rx is hitting the spot this morning for sure.

Back and Hilly Lunch Ride

Got in my back workout this morning and had a pretty good workout.  5 exercises with 3 sets each with 20-40 rep ranges.  Still focusing on speed vs. strength so weights continue to be light.  I haven't been doing the drop sets as much given I've been getting worked as it is without doing so.  My strength isn't where it used to be, so I've been pretty much staying with the same amount of weights throughout my sets, but just going to failure.  Failure comes not from when I can't do a rep anymore; it's more from when I can't do another rep at the speed that I want to do it. 

Today's my first day on the new creatine.  Let's see if it works as good as the original monohydrate.  I took one before my workout and another one with my other vitamins before going to work.  That'll be it for me for the day and will be when I plan on taking them daily.

For today's lunch, Paul wants to do hills and since we didn't get to work the hills too much over the weekend, I'm up for some climbing to keep the training going.  I was going to bring in the BMC, but it was wet around my house and the R3 still had the aluminum wheels on.  I hope I got most of the dirt of the R3.

Chest and Cardio

Just came back from chest workout with focus on "slow" twitch, not fast twitch, still on.  I was mistaken as to the type which one does what since it's been a while, but I finally decided to look it up again and it's the slow twitch (Type I) that carries more oxygen and better for sustained energy.

I did a lot of reps again on the bench, and I may actually be getting weaker in that I tried to see how many I can do of my own weight.  It was not where it used to be.  However, I suppose that's to be expected.  I continued to hit light weights with lots of explosive reps though and got my 5 exercises in.  I was contemplating some drop sets, but it was enough to just bang out 30+ reps for each set.

Looks like crappy weather today, so I'll be in the gym at lunch for some elliptical.  I hope to kick it up a notch on the cardio, so I'll be hitting the intervals and hopefully stepping out of a puddle of sweat after.

Sunday Rest and Post Race Analysis

My daughter had an early game today, so there was no time to get in the gym this morning.  Additionally, tomorrow is Lisa's birthday, so my daughter came up from San Diego and we spent all spent the day together grabbing lunch, going shopping and then having dinner.  I took just a little break from the diet and had a beer today since we ate at Karl Strauss near South Coast Plaza.  Otherwise, I didn't eat too bad.  I know that the 26 mile race yesterday wasn't as much as what I was used to burning over the weekend calorie-wise, so I tried to watch my intake.  The beers yesterday didn't help.

As for the race yesterday, I looked at my Garmin stats and I was definitely not working a lot in the beginning and for a while.  I know I could have probably contributed to a better pace initially, but admittedly my confidence level was not there.  I didn't trust in the training and did not know how long I could sustain staying at the front.  One thing that I could remember from the information I read from a previous racer who blogged about it was that trying to get into the peloton after coming from the outside was difficult.  My thoughts were that I would get up near the front from the back, get a little worked, and then not be able to get up front subsequently getting hung out to dry.  Todd and Gary, however, proved that this was a better strategy since the turn up the hill was I think what made or broke the race.

Maybe the cars that caused us to have to line up single file before the turn won't be there next year, but in case it is, I'll have to remember to be up to counter any attacks on the hill.  Doing so after more than half of the peloton were ahead of me really did me in.  It was nice to be able to make my way toward the front, but too little too late.

On the way back, I also wished I could have pushed harder here and there when the group I was riding with was slowing down.   If we worked more efficiently, we could have improved our time significantly.  Next year, I'll have to read this blog again and remember these factors.  I hope if I'm as trained up or more next year, I'll try harder to work for a podium spot for sure. 

What was surprising was how easy it was to break away from those guys I was riding with toward the end.  It only got close to the finish because i was not sure how hard I was suppose to go up through the course in the parking lot.  Next year, I won't even look back. 


The water bottle I brought was barely used, so that added some nominal weight for the race that I don't know if I need to do next year.  I drank once and it was on the way out only because I could, but being in a tight group made it uncomfortable to do where I never did it again the rest of the race.  I never felt parched, didn't cramp, and can't say I can attribute anything to the absence of fluids.  The pre-ride Cytomax was probably enough.  One thing that factors in here though was how cold we were where we didnt sweat as much.  If the weather is the same next year, consider not bringing a bottle or even less water. 

Looking forward to 2012 already.

Arms and Rest Again

Today was suppose to be a full day of rest in preparation for tomorrow, but I need to make up arm workout from missing yesterday.  I did get to sleep in today and will do my arm workout at lunch at work.  It shouldn't be as good as working out at the nearby gym, but good enough to get some training in.  I'll probably be focusing on biceps and do some tricep workout subsequently.  I hope to get some core training also.

Diet-wise, I still ate clean last night with just chicken and brussel sprouts.  I'll have a little more calories today in anticipation of tomorrow. 

Pre-race Bike Jitters

So I took my R3 out today and had a great run on it, especially on the hills.  I wanted to see what it could do going up Ridgeline, and the acceleration with the lighter wheels on it felt really good.  My biggest concern this weekend is to not get dropped on the inclines, so today's ride seemed to validate the R3/Easton combination.  I still think I can accelerate harder on the BMC AND the Spinergys, but climbing seemed to favor the R3 today. 

One other thing I was thinking is that it may be damp, so the stopping ability of the Eastons are definitely better.  The Spinergys seem to roll really good, but the wet braking would have me checking up pretty good in the turns if it was damp.   The only concern I have with the Eastons are their ceramic bearings.  Since Shannon indicated they don't have a very good tolerance for moisture, I worry about using it for a damp ride.  Then again, all the bearings on both bikes are ceramic, so I'll probably sit out in inclement weather. 

Let's hope the R3/Eastons work out for me this weekend, but I'll have the BMC on standby in case I have second thoughts.  

Mr. Mom and Cycling

Lisa was sick yesterday, so I came home early and took care of the kids.  Since I wasn't sure she'd be okay this morning, I decided to stay home and fix the kids breakfast when they get up.  I did get up to go, but went back to bed after realizing Lisa may not be okay yet.  It turned out she's feeling better though, but I'll make up the missed arm workout tomorrow.

For today, I wasn't sure what I was going to do for training at lunch.  Originally, the plan was just to get in some cardio on the elliptical, but now I'm bringing my bike in instead.  I'll give the R3 one more run today.  I was feeling the absence of carbs during my ride yesterday, and it'll probably be more of the same today.  However, I'll start to load up on some starchy carbs tomorrow in preparation for the race on Saturday. 

Shoulders, My Weight, and Legs

So today, I decided to once again skip a leg workout to save up for this weekend's race.   Next week, I should be back on schedule.  I will be training them further by cycling once again today to further increase their conditioning.  They're getting more and more accustomed to cycling where they don't seem to balk as much after a training ride.  Let's hope for more of the same today.

I did get a shoulder workout this morning.  5 exercises (3 lateral movements - front, side and rear and 2 press movements - alternating and bilateral).  Also got my core workout done this morning as well. 

Big news:  I weighed myself yesterday after the ride and I was down to 159.  I have not been under 160 for a while now, so this is big to me.   I've been down to 160 in the last year or 2, but one difference is my waist is probably the smallest it's been for years.  I think the new training style with the emphasis on cycling is helping, but the biggest factor is my diet.  The fibrous carbs at night are giving me enough energy for the next day's ride, but not storing as much since they tend to burn more calories being digested than what they actually contain.  I told Lisa I can do this for a while, so let's see where it takes me in the next few months.

Back and Cycling for Cardio

Boy this time change is a bitch, but I managed to get up and have a pretty decent back workout today.  I got in my 5 exercises with 3 sets each plus my core training.  For some of the exercises, I was doing both alternating reps and bilateral movements to change things up and fully exhaust the muscles.  My core training seems to be coming up as well as I'm able to do more reps for both my back and ab exercises. 

For the cycling at lunch, my legs still feel good despite yesterday's ride.   I can't wait to take out the BMC and see how she feels with the Spinergys.  Tonight I decide what I race this weekend.

Solo Monday Cycling Trainer

GPS stats:  http://connect.garmin.com/activity/73096928

Well, I couldn't get anyone else to join me today, so I thought I'd see what legs may be like for this weekend's race and max'd out a solo Shady run. I was thinking if I could get them to detonate, I'd know how long and hard I can run for and be able to back down from there. Ironically, they never buckled...at least from a cramping perspective. I had to gasp a few times, but I managed to keep the pace up to the high 20s with a move avg a couple ticks over 21 mph. I'd say that's my PR for a solo run.

I took the R3-SL out with the Easton wheels, and the bike felt really good. The wheels have been feeling great since I last got the rear back from Easton. On the climbs, I kept the average on it up over 17 mph, which I thought was pretty decent. We'll see how the BMC feels tomorrow with the Spinergys on it.

One interesting part of the ride was when I saw a Moto Tab kitted guy on a Bianchi up ahead after Jeffrey where I chased him down and got beside him at the light on Laguna crossing Alton. He didn't say much, but once the light turned green, the guy just took off. I didn't think he'd be interested to let me draft, and today, neither was I. After the first light before the bridge, I started to accelerate and pretty much dropped him before the top. I kept on standing (for practice) and just didn't see him after a whil when I rounded Quail hill. I wasn't sure if he'd gone straight or what, but I figured he was gone. I got caught at the light at the bottom but once the light turned green, lo and behold Mr. Moto Tab was in between the cars rather than to the right like me, and he takes off again. He gapped me around the loop as I was trying not to have this black SUV take me out, but I started to close on him right before the last entrance up the bike trail. Once we started going, I stood and again broke away from him going up Shady. It was funny as 2 ladies were watching from the top on their bikes, and when I passed them, they told me what I great job I did. Cool.

Overall, it was a good training session, but tomorrow should be more intense with the Type-A's.

Weekend, Chest Day and Cycling

For my weekend ride, I had 2-3 Stinger gels, 2 Stinger waffles, and about 2-3 bottles of Ultima. I also had 1.5 shot bloks, which came in handy after about 70 miles into the ride.  This was not optimal as I think I could have used more calories during the ride.  However, it was good enough.  Avoided a hamstring and quad cramp, but just barely.

I took a break yesterday mostly because the kids had soccer games all afternoon.  I can't believe Shannon was going to work out legs yesterday.  It explains a lot though.  I did really well diet-wise though.

I managed to get up this morning despite this weekend's time change.  I got my chest workout in and the motivation for each set was the race this weekend.  Explosive moments continue until failure.  Got a good core workout after as well.

Looking forward to riding at lunch.   I hope others bring in their bikes.  Need to train up.  Not sure which bike will come out for the race yet.  I swapped out the wheels between the bikes, so let's see how each feel in the next couple days.  I should be able to decide by tomorrow.

Diet, Rest and Travel Day

Had some mad Korean BBQ last night, but kept the carbs fairly under control.  I can't say the same about the chicken and squid though as it was definitely more than I normally would eat at night.  It's okay as I'm just loading up on some extra calories for this weekend.

I did not workout this morning for the same reason...saving the calories for this weekend.  I'll be traveling up to Solvang with buddy, Shannon, and will hopefully have legs ready for tomorrow's beating.  I'm looking forward to the event. 

Arms and Hopefully Cardio

I actually got some decent sleep last night, so I felt pretty decent when I got up this morning.  The thought of getting up after was challenged by how it would feel good to stay in bed and sleep even more.  The neurosis prevailed and I was up for the morning.

I had a pretty good arm workout with the focus on biceps today followed by some tricep sets.  I pulled back a little in fear of getting hurt before the weekend (seems like my pre-race mode), but still managed to get some work done.  I was a little nervous after my first set of alternating curls (upwards of 30-40 reps each arm) had me cramping when I picked up to drink out of my water bottle. 

I am skipping the cycling today, but I hope I can squeeze in a cardio session with meetings booked throughout the day.  The plan is for something low intensity (fat burning) just to help roll into the weekend being as light as I can be.  

Shoulders and Cycling - Skipped Legs

With a century this Saturday, I decided to skip the leg workout as I normally do to let my legs be as fresh as possible for the ride.  I do plan on riding at lunch today to keep up the conditioning, but I'll likely back off tomorrow unless someone wants to go for a moderate spin.

For today, I worked the shoulders and actually had a pretty decent workout.  I wanted to push a little more today as I've been too cautious the last couple days to avoid injury before this weekend.  That got old so the intensity was up and the shoulders feel good.  I even did one ascending set (vs. drop) on the shoulder press, and I was worked.  

One thing to note is that I've been sticking with the fibrous (vs. starchy) carbs at night.  I've been eating a little more protein as a result, and this so far has not affected my energy during my workouts and rides...so far.  I think I'll stick with this as it does seem to be helping to reduce my bodyfat faster.  I'll carb up though for this weekend starting Friday.  

Back, Insomnia, and More Cycling

Sleep is still a problem (staying asleep, not falling), so getting up is a little more challenging than usual.  I'm awake when the alarm goes off, but I feel groggy from waking up in the middle of the night and staying awake or lightly sleeping after. 

I got in and got my back workout in keeping the movements explosive, but light.  I actually started out with some pull-ups today, which I haven't done in a while.  This was followed by 3 sets of alternating cable pull downs,  3 machine rows, 3 angled alternating rows, 3 sets of cable pullovers (for lats) and 90 reps of the lower back machine.  I missed abs today.

I did have to wear my elbow strap during my workout and will probably wear it throughout the day as well.  It felt good with it on.

Looking forward to cycling today with the guys.  Back of right knee still feels "weird" but I'm afraid to adjust anything before this weekend's race. 

Yesterday's Ride, Chest Day, and Cardio

Yesterday's ride was pretty intense, so I wanted to track the nutrition I used for it for future reference.  I had 1 Vanilla GU, 1 Honey Stinger gel and 2 Honey Waffles.  Since it was fairly cool, 2 24-oz bottles got me through although just barely.  Hopefully, this Saturday's century shouldn't require too much more. 

I didn't think I was that tired from the ride and was hoping to do more at home.  However, after uploading my Garmin stats, I crashed.  I think it messed up my sleep last night, but I still managed to get up and get to the gym.

I had a pretty decent chest workout today.  There are some movements that made me feel a little twinge in my elbow, so I guess the strap goes back on today and for the rest of the week.  4 sets of bench press, 3 sets on the pec deck, 3 sets of incline press (machine), 3 sets of decline press (machine) and 3 sets of cable cross overs from the bottom.  I also did abs this morning, but I skipped lower back.

For today's cardio, I contemplated on a little lunch ride but decided against it considering this morning's wet weather conditions.   I'll be hitting up the elliptical instead and hope to get some interval training on it. 

Rest Day and Diet

Today, I took the day off completely from exercise and training.   Although I didn't feel exhausted or anything nor was I feeling ailing like yesterday, I thought a rest day would be good in anticipation of the ride planned for tomorrow.  With Vince, Steve and Shannon coming out, better to save up for it.  One additional benefit of purposely taking a day off is how anxious it makes me feel to get out again.  Tomorrow should be a good day.

For my diet, I am still keeping it in check but I did have a sweet potato this evening with my chicken.  Plus, Lisa bought me some fig newtons, which seem to do wonders for the rides the day after.  Aside from the additional carbs, I did pretty good still keeping my intake in check. 

Lisa mentioned to me how she's noticing how much faster my fat loss is going now that I've been abstaining from starchy carbs at night.  The increased protein and fibrous carbs seems to be helping to tighten me up and without the loss of energy that I was fearful of.  I know at some point this catches up to a person, but the sweet potato tonight should absorb well. 

Arms and Sick Day

I got up this morning, and felt like I was coming down with something...throat hurt, coughing, runny nose, etc.  With the twins out sick for the last few days for this same reason, I probably got what they have.  It was just a matter of time.

I still managed to make it to the gym this morning during my normal time, but my workout was not super productive.  I worked my arms with focus on triceps (4 exercises) and 1 set of biceps (until they cramped).  After that, I knew I was done.   I still squeezed out both an ab and a lower back workout and got out of there.

I was contemplating last night if I should ride today,  but after getting home and getting showered, I decided to just rest for the rest of the day and work from home.  No more additional exercise today and I'll probably skip tomorrow as well.   Hopefully, I'll  be good enough for a Sunday ride.

Shoulder Day and Cycling

Super groggy this morning after taking some Xanax last night to get some sleep.  I usually get up from the alarm clock the first time it goes off, but had to wake up after httting snooze.  I could barely get up, but I forced myself.  Even a cup of coffee didn't help too much, but after the first couple sets, the blood was flowing and I was up.

For my shoulder workouts, I did 5 exercises, 3 sets each, and reps ranging from 20-30+ (until failure and/or where I couldn't breathe anymore). 

I also managed to get a lower back workout in, but ran out of time to get to the abs. 

Bringing in the BMC for today's lunch ride, and I hope my legs fully recovered from yesterday's workout and lunch ride.  I did pretty good yesterday on the ride, but my calves started to cramp up more than half way through the route.  Let's hope the twinge behind my knee is also gone. 

Sleep, Leg Training and the Knee

For the last few nights, I've been waking up in the middle of the night and not being able to get back to sleep.  Of course, I'm drowsy by the time the alarm goes off, so it makes it difficult to get up to work out.  I know it won't be long before this lack of rest is going to catch up, so I may have to do something different tonight to help.

At the gym, I managed to get to the gym and get some leg training in, which I skipped last week because of how it felt behind my knee.  Well, during some glutes (kick back) and quad training (leg press), I felt some discomfort again where I finally decided to call it quits rather than make it worse.  I didn't get to train the hamstrings because of this, but I had a good workout for my calves, and I got to do a lot of leg extensions as well.

Today, I'm bringing the R3 in and "save" the state of the RM for next weekend.  I'll probably bring out the RM one more time next week just to make sure everything is working well, but I'm looking forward to getting on the R3 again. 

Back and Bike Day

Yesterday, I started feeling a little twinge in my inner elbow, which means I might be having a recurrence of my plumbers elbow.  I may have to wear a strap again until it goes away. It impeded my workout somewhat this morning where I was a little nervous about hurting it more, but I managed to get through. 

I only got 4 exercises in this morning though as far as back,  but I got my core training in also.  I didn't feel like it was a very productive workout, but I'll take it considering I'd rather not get hurt before next week's century.  

Looking forward to today's lunch ride.