Intervals, AM Cardio and Arms

For yesterday's cardio session at lunch time, I decided to go ahead and perform more interval training on the elliptical.   I typically do it on interval mode, but my tempo usually stays consistent where my HR doesn't jump too much if at all.  Yesterday was different in that I kept having my HR jump up 20-30 beats every 60 minutes.  It was tough but provided a good workout. 

For today, I decided that it would be better not to ride at lunch time since I don't seem to be able to have any self-restraints to not push hard when I ride with the guys.  I probably need to work on this internally...HA HA.  Instead, I did my cardio in the morning and did 45 minutes of a light spin just to burn some calories and keep the blood flowing through my legs.  My hamstrings are getting better, but not yet 100%.  Tomorrow will be a FULL rest day, so they should be good for Saturday.

I'm going to do arms at our work gym during lunch.  My left elbow is still bugging me, so I'll have the elbow strap on.  I'm going to take it real light and just work the high reps.  Not looking for any gains today...just  maintenance.

Shoulder and Cardio Day

I sat in the car at the gym for a few minutes contemplating on whether I should just go back home and ride to/from work today.  I had planned on skipping legs to let them recover fully for this Saturday's ride, so I realized it didn't make sense to ride for this same reason.  Additionally, my legs are STILL feeling Sunday's bodyboarding session.   While I was able to ride during lunch yesterday despite, it was the adrenalin more than anything else that kept me going.  Otherwise, the same areas are still plaguing me with fatigue.

Other areas that are still bugging me include my lower back and my left elbow.  Both seemed to have improved over yesterday, but my left elbow did present a hinderance in this morning's shoulder workout.   During my first exercise, side dumbbell raises, it just bugged me where it didn't seem to feel like it was warming up.  I ended up actually switching exercises and moved to the machine emulating the movement.  Much better.

I also did alternating shoulder presses, front cable raises (which bugged my elbow again in the first set, but was actually fine in the subsequent sets), and rear delt machine.  I skipped another pressing movement today just to back it down a little.  I'll probably do the same next week.

I also got my core workout done.  My lower back discomfort doesn't seem to bother me when training lower back...go figure.  Abs...check 

For lunch today, which will be late given a scheduled meeting, I'll do an hour of elliptical at work.  No more cycling expected until Saturday but who knows...I may spin tomorrow.

Back and Interval Training on the Bike

This morning, it was tough to get out of bed.  I typically don't have to snooze, but I did do so once just to give myself another chance to get up.   That's the funny thing about not being consistent...it increases the likelihood of not following through.

So I made it in the gym and got my back worked out.  I did pull back a little just to make sure I don't get hurt before this weekend's ride; that and the fact that my left elbow still bothering me and my legs STILL feel like junk after Sunday's bodyboarding.  I did get 4 exercises in:  alternating cable pulldowns, machine rows, angled cable rows, and pullovers.  I also got my core training in with lower back and abs. 

For today's ride, I'm a little worried about my hamstrings, groin and inner thighs.  These are the areas that still feel worked from the weekend.  I'll try to get a good training ride based on how Vince suggests to perform the intervals, but I hope to not hurt myself.

Lunch Time Chest and the Latest

Although it may have seemed like I haven't trained since Friday, I'd beg to differ to the contrary.  Friday, I rode my bike into work with co-worker, Gary, where we met at the corner of Antonio and Oso.  We both carried a back pack, with mine loaded with food, a change of clothes, and other misc items weighing me down noticeably.  On the climb up Antonio Pkwy, I took advantage of the weight to get some extra training in and did a standing big ring climb all the way up.  Once with Gary, we pretty much lit up the way reaching almost a 21 mph average, which included some climbs up Felipe and CA.  While I had a Garmin malfunction, Gary had thought at some point during the route that his speedometer on his Garmin must be off.  This was because as he kept looking down, he'd see speeds between 26-28 mph.  This pace was probably not the best idea considering my Saturday ride, but oh well.

On Saturday, I had a good ride despite the above and was able to keep the training up.  I was intentionally trying to blow my legs up at the end, but they seemed to hold up pretty well.  I know the upcoming hill rides are going to be intense, so I didn't let myself be mentally hindered on a ride with probably only 3K vert and only 64 miles. 

On Sunday, I got to get in some bodyboarding at Del Mar with my brother-in-law, and the waves were pretty decent.  The initial sets were a little difficult to get through, so it made it a pretty intense workout just doing so.  Not being used to the movement plus being subjected to the cold made it tough, but the waves more than made it worth the while.  After a couple hours out there, I was definitely low on fuel, if not out of gas. 

Food-wise, I don't think I indulged too much, but I did have a lot of protein on Friday in the form of a Korean BBQ buffet lunch (lots of chicken!) and a seafood buffet for dinner (lots of sashimi!).  I did have some carbs, but nothing crazy.

For today, I tried to get back on my 2 workout schedule, but my legs were just not feeling too hot where I finally conceded to just 1.  I pretty much worked them for the previous 7 days in some form or another, so today they rested while I worked chest.  I got a pretty good chest workout at work managing 6 different exercises, plus I got a core workout in.  Since my hamstrings felt tight, I went ahead and did a 10 minute elliptical just to get some blood circulating through them.   Tomorrow, the 2/day returns. 

Shoulder day and Lunch Spin

For my shoulder workout this morning, my left forearm was again bothering me on the first set while performing side lateral dumbbell raises.  However, it was not too much of a factor after, and I was able to get a pretty decent workout despite.  In addition to the side dumbbell raises, I performed alternating shoulder presses, front dumbbell raises, and used the rear delt machine. 

Now for today's lunch ride, I was hoping to do something easier to save up for this weekend, but Todd's idea of easy was a BB PCH NPC Pelican Vista run.  I'll probably do it all except for Vista and will chill in the back of the pack...that's the plan anyways. 

Leg Day and Bike Talk

So today, I'm attending a management class all day where I won't be able to cycle at lunch time.  Bummer.  For my leg training, I pretty much blew up my calves, hamstrings, quads and glutes.  I did some high volume low intensity training to the point where each set just hurt.  Yesterday's lactate threshold training made me want to push each muscle to the point where I achieved a massive burn from this but then pushed beyond it.  Using lighter weights really helped to just keep going despite the acid buildup in the muscle. 

I hit 2 exercises on my calves with a rep range of 40+ and got to do toe straight, in, and out on one of the exercises to allow for hitting them at different angles.

For my hamstrings, I did seated leg curls and was in the rep range of over 70.  Pushing the lesser weight here was intense and really let me take them to the point of barely being able to walk. 

For my quads and glutes, I did leg extensions and a machine leg press with the latter letting me go real deep to hit the glutes.  The rep range here was also beyond 50. 

In the end, I was barely able to walk and while I was worried about my back (from lifting computers out of the boxes yesterday), it ended up working out.  I did stretch out my back beforehand, so all is well.

For yesterday's ride, I just wanted to mention how lowering the handlebars affected the ride.  For one, I was surprisingly still quite comfortable on it.  In fact, in some regards, even more so than normal.  I feel a little more compact (reduced frontal surface) yet without feeling like my breathing was constricted.  The reach to the hood seemed to have been extended though, which I actually like because it feels like I'm putting less weight up front resulting in less fatigue on my arms.  I'll have to see if this holds true on a longer ride.  One negative I saw was how twitchy my bike felt, especially considering the wind.  I'm hoping I just have to get used to it, but it does require a bit more attention on the fast turns.  And if the wind hits, even more so.  I'll keep it at this setting for a while and see how it works out.

Back Day and Starcrest Repeats

I got in the gym this morning and got my back training done.  My left forearm is still bugging me, but the straps helped to prevent stressing them out too much.  I'll have either a strap or a wrap on it later.

I did 4 exercises: reverse grip pull-downs, bi-lateral machine rows, alternating cable pull-downs, and machine pullovers.  I also performed my core training for lower back and abs.  After I had my abs lock up last week at the gym at work though, I'm a little hesitant to push the barrier on the number of reps. 

For today's cycling outing, the plan is to continue the training for the hill climbing by performing repeats  up Starcrest.  This was Vince's idea, and I'm for it given how much work it took to get up Baldy on Sunday.  I'm bringing in the R3-SL.

Yesterday's Ride and Today's Chest Day

After taking Saturday completely off from exercise, hitting Mt. Baldy yesterday ended up working out pretty good.  I probably should not have hit Friday as hard (original plan was to spin only but mixing it up with Hiroshi changed that), but it probably wasn't too much of a factor.  I'll respect the L'Etape more though and take it easy the last few days before.

For nutrition, I ended up having only 2 waffles and 2 gels only.  I also had 1 packet of Shot Bloks + 1 tab on a new one.  For hydration, I drank 2 21-ounce bottles plus 1 16-ounce bottle of water.   I think from a food perspective, I was right where I wanted to be.  I did carb up the night before (more than normal), so I think that helped a lot. 

For this morning, I woke up to do chest but decided to go back to bed and push it out to lunch time instead.  I will skip cardio today to let my legs recover a little more from yesterday.  They were quite achy by the time I got to the top of Baldy, but that went away on the way down.  They do feel fatigue now, so I'll rest them until tomorrow.

Quads and More Cycling

For today, I wanted to make up the leg training I missed on Wednesday, but I didn't want to do to much since there's some good training prospects this weekend.  I ended up only training my quads since they're the least likely to blow up unlike my calves and hamstrings. 

I did some squats on this sled at the gym (comparable to a hack), alternating leg extensions, and some leg presses with a rep count of 30-60.  I kept the weight low to where the intensity was not too high.  It was more to keep them accustomed to the movements with resistance than to build given how late in the week I'm training them.  I would have worked some core, but I had to take off and pick up some breakfast for the fam.

I still have my bike at work, so I'll be riding at lunch today.  I'm hoping it'll be fairly tame and will try to just get some spinning in to keep the legs fresh for Sunday.  With Noah is talking about doing a crit or the possibility of a hilly route with the others, I have to save some for either of these. 

Arms and Cycling

Yesterday, I skipped working my legs in the morning and anticipated to ride at lunch time.  However, my legs still didn't feel too groovy after Tuesday's ride, so I opted to workout my shoulders at lunchtime.  I had a pretty good workout at work getting 6 separate exercises in with 3 sets each.  I also did some core workouts, and during my ab crunches, my upper abs cramped pretty bad after the 80th rep.  I stopped after that and went to the locker room and took a shower, and they cramped all the way through.   I hate when that happens.

Today, I had an "okay" arm workout.  My forearm was acting up this morning and I wore my elbow strap to work as a result.  It sucks that I hurt it bowling from all things.  Why couldn't it be something more glorious like lifting a ton of weight?  HA  Nonetheless, I only managed to get 4 exercises in with the focus on triceps mostly. 

Today, I'm looking forward to getting back on the bike.  My legs feel a lot better this morning.  I hope the day of rest did them well.

Recovery and Today's Cycling

Yesterday, my legs still felt "heavy" (for the lack of a better word) in the morning when I was walking around, so I'm thinking those who chose not to ride based on having ridden on Sunday probably did the right thing.  I spoke to Eddie, who came out also, and he felt the same way.

This morning was suppose to be my leg day, but since I beat them up again yesterday, I thought it best to avoid training them.  Because I don't know if I fully recovered from Sunday with yesterday's ride to boot, I thought skipping a workout all together this morning was probably a good idea as well.  This hopefully will let me feel more recovered.

I will spin today for a lunch ride and will pull back regardless of who else comes out.   I still want to spin to keep the blood circulating and help the recovery process...hopefully. 

Back Day and Cycling

Got my back workout on this morning, and managed to get 5 exercises in along with some core training.  My forearm is still bothering me after last week's bowlfest with the family, but the straps helped to let me get through my workout.  Rep count is still high and focus remains with speed over intensity. 

I weighed myself yesterday and came in at 158.  This is up 2 lbs. from the last time, but I believe I was dehydrated when I weighed in at 156.  Since I just downed a whole bottle of water with my chest workout, I accept that the weight gain is probably more of my true weight than anything else.  Nevertheless, I hope to use it as my motivation to work hard during today's lunch ride. 

Yesterday's Ride and Today's Workout

Yesterday's ride was tougher than I expected.  Not having ridden a bike since Tuesday along with breaking routine had me nervous on the hills before the timed climb section.  Nevertheless, I don't think I could have done significantly better either way.  In fact, who knows if the "rest" beforehand did me good and helped me.  In the end, I'm happy with how I did and look forward to keep improving through the year.

For my ride diet, I was a little disappointed in how I did here.  I brought 4 waffles and 5 gels, and I had consumed all of it by the end of the ride.  I also ended up having a PB&J on one of the SAGs as I was starting to feel like I was bottoming out where I needed some immediate nourishment.  The ride was tougher than I expected with the extra elevation gain added through the change in the route.  Also, the headwinds on the way back was insane and the guys were always pushing the pace nonetheless.   My Garmin's calculations of the calories burned was pretty high, and it sure felt that way despite the slower than average pace we had done.  I'll have to re-think what to do for the L'Etape ride based on this.

For today, I was aching the night before where I opted to actually skip cardio and only do weights.  Since I was only doing one and not both today, I slept in and opted to train chest at work during a late lunch.  The change was good and I got a good workout performing 6 exercises with 3 sets each.  I also got a little ab workout as well, but cut it short since I was worked from the weights and the previous day of riding. 

Looking forward to riding again tomorrow.

Vacation Activities and Exercise

On Tuesday night, I went with my family and met up with my wife's brother's family at Big Bear Lake to go skiing/boarding the following morning.  With the kids taking classes, the wife and I were able to get some decent ski time in although it took a while to get the kids situated.  It was a little odd this year in that other than the knees and the quads feeling like they got a decent workout, I never felt like I sweated at all even going down some of the steeper runs.  I never felt out of breath, so cardio seemed to be up a lot this year. 

For Thursday, we wanted to catch some more action on the slopes, but the winds were 25-35 mph with up to 60 mph gusts up in the mountains.  It did snow as well in the afternoon, but it looked like it was going to rain initially.  With the weather not ideal, we opted to just take the kids to do a little luge action along with some go-carting.  We also went bowling for a couple games, which was my only source of activity for this day.  I did end up hurting my forearm (still wrapped today) as a result.

Diet-wise, I did okay and relied a lot on bars and shakes, but also had some regular meals.  Overall, I did okay here.  Hanging with my brother-in-law, I did have 3 beers (not the light ones either) both nights, so this was probably not the best thing for me. 

Yesterday, I was back, so I was able to get an hour cardio session on the stationary bike at the gym.  In the afternoon, I got in a shoulder workout.  It was a little difficult given the grip on my left hand (based on injured forearm) sucked, but I did the best I could.  I was in San Diego for the latter workout, so the change in atmosphere plus the fact that it was my old stomping ground let me push through.

For today, I'll be resting and preparing for tomorrow.  I'm really hoping my forearm doesn't play a factor when I'm climbing on the drops. 

Back, Yesterday's Solo Ride, and Today's Ride

For today, I was a little fired up to work my back as I felt like I took in some extra calories the last couple days...last night not being an exception.  I actually got a good sweat going, so I know I'm pushing the pace when this happens. 

I did an angled alternative reverse grip row, reverse narrow grip pulldowns (machine), wide grip pulldowns (cable), row machine, and lat machine.  I had drop sets, pyramids, and mostly high explosive reps.  I also got my ab workout in, but I didn't do lower back.

Yesterday I did a solo ride at lunch but took it easy and only did 17 miles.  It was the standard Shady Canyon Laguna Cyn bike trail CA loop.  It was nice to manage a pace based on rhythm than just keeping up.  It got windy on the bike trail back, where it was hard to stay in the 20s, but a 19.8 average isn't bad.

For today's ride, it doesn't look like a lot of people will make it out.  It should be a good one though.  Legs feel a little tired from the riding in the last couple days, but they should do okay today.  Skiing and riding the next couple of days should get them truly worked, but they'll have 2 straight days of rest before Sunday's Gran Fondo. 

Yesterday's Ride, Chest Day and More Cycling

For yesterday's ride nutrition-wise, I had 3 Honey stinger gels and 2 waffles.  I also had about 2 and half bottles of Ultima and 1 package of Shot Bloks.  I probably should have been eating sooner than I did.  At our last stop, I was worried I was going to run out of gas for the fast pace back so I actually had 1 waffle and two gels at this point.  I was also trying to keep from cramping where I kept making sure I had a shot blok in my mouth the whole time.  It ended up working out, but I shouldn't do it that way.

For today's chest workout, I got my 5 exercises in:  flat bench, incline press machine, pec deck, decline press machine, and low angle cable crossovers.  With the bench, I dropped the last set down and ended up doing 4 total, but I did 3 sets for the other exercises.  The rep range today was 20-30.

Since I have a short week with being on vacation Wednesday where I'll be skiing with the family, I'll go ahead and bring my bike in today and tomorrow.  I don't know who else will bring their bike in, but a solo ride will work for me if no one does.  My legs feel good and I need to get the miles up for this week. 

Arms, Overtraining, and Progressive Results

Today was arms day, and I was able to get 4 exercises in with the focus being mostly triceps.  I was able to squeeze out a couple bicep sets but realized that I promised to get the kids croissants this morning where I forgot my wallet at home.  I had to cut the workout short and did not get to train core. 

For lunch training, I think I'll back off the cycling a little and try to just do a fat burner cardio session.  I felt a little tired during yesterday's ride, and the heat did do much to help that.  I was a little surprised that my left calf started hinting that it may cramp on the way down NPC.  Fortunately, it didn't get to the same point as it did on Wednesday.  In the back of my mind, I do wonder if hitting the bike again today just to condition them further.  However, I'll take the safe route and not do so considering what we have planned for the weekend.

As far as the topic of overtraining, someone on Facebook was asking me about whether they thought I may be overdoing it going to the gym every day (M-F anyways).  My response was that from a weight training perspective, I don't believe it's overdoing it as long as different muscle groups are trained and that each muscle group is given adequate time to rest.  In my case, I only train each muscle group once a week.  The conditioning training is daily as well, but the premise behind it is that the more you do it, the better your body is able to adapt.  The trick is to separate the two workouts, which is why I train in the morning and at lunch time. 

Another topic to discuss was how buddy of mine asked about whether progress promotes more motivation.  For me, I get even more strict with my diet and regimented in my training when I see results.  I know progress is not inherently persistent and that continuing requires continuous adjustments.  The reduction of starchy carbs at night has helped a lot, but I also have to realize I need to carb up more on occasion so that I don't drop weight (lean mass) too fast.