Return to Leg Day and Riding at Lunch

Now that racing season is over, I finally got to work my legs again this morning.  Working them out during racing season just didn't make any sense to me since they would either affect my race day or working them out after racing would not be fruitful.  I have to admit, I was looking forward to it.

Surprisingly, my strength does not seem to have been affected negatively based on abstaining from the leg training.  Obviously, they were getting trained while on the bike, but I didn't think it would translate.   In fact, they actually felt a little stronger.  I not only bumped the weights up, but my rep range with the increased weight was the same as before.  I was doing 50-75 rep ranges and really got to blow up my legs.  My calves were on fire,  and my quads/hams were too.  Loved it.

I hope to ride my bike during lunch, but it's one of those rides that I expect my legs to pop given this morning's training.  It really isn't a matter of "if' as it is "when."  We're doing something more hilly today, so I'm sure this will not be one of my better outings.  I just hope to survive. 

Back Day and Hot Lunch Ride

It's nice to be back on track with the weight training this week.  Tuesday is my back day, and I made it in and got it done.  5 exercises and my core training (abs and lower back).   I reduced the amount of weights today to decrease the intensity and make the workout less anaerobic.  I focused more on just hitting the high reps without necessarily feeling like I worked the muscle to the point where they may grow.  Growth isn't bad, but it's just not what I'm looking for right now.

Today, the training day involves a flat route but with the likelihood that it'll be warm or hot.  This is actually ideal preparation for the OC Gran Fondo should the hot weather not go away by then.  Last year, it was really hot, so we need to be able to adapt to riding in this type of environment.  I hope we have a good turnout.

Weekend, Chest and Lunch Ride Again

Since I attended my 25 year high school reunion this last weekend, it was not exactly the healthiest for me.  I left early on Friday and Lisa and I took off for Harrah's Casino where it was going to be held.  f course, the first thing we do when we get there is hit up the buffet and it pretty much went downhill from there.  Alcohol consumption was high again both Friday and Saturday.  I did get a training ride in on Sunday at least, and when I got back on Sunday, I got a cardio session in at the gym (too hot and windy to ride).  I ate better last night though.

Back in the gym this morning and hopefully back on track.  I had a good chest workout with 5 exercises and some ab training.  I thought about picking up the heavier training again, but I don't want to suffer on the bike.  I'll stick with the light weights for now.

For lunch, I am probably going to bring my bike in to get back on since I haven't ridden since Friday.   I hope there are others who can come out with me so I can push a little harder than when I'm alone.  Maybe I'll hit up some hills today.

Back Day, Lunch Ride and More Carbs

Getting up early to go in the gym today was a lot easier than it was yesterday.  I had no problems getting up this morning although I did not sleep as soundly as I like.  Despite this, I managed to get a decent back workout with 4 exercises, high reps, plus my core workout.  Lisa came with me again, so it helps to not give me a reason to skip out...something that seems to be happening more than it had in the earlier months of the year.

For lunch today, I'm planning a light cardio session just to keep the fat off.  It should be very low intensity but still where I am able to work up a sweat. 

For tonight, I will take in more carbs.  For Monday and Tuesday, I had Met-Rx when I got home from work and a light (mostly protein) meal after that.  I'll carb up for the race tomorrow so I have enough fuel throughout. 

Alcohol, Morning Chest and Lunch Ride

So yesterday, I missed the gym after attending buddy's wedding on Sunday.  I was pretty hungover, and I couldn't get up until about 10 a.m.  I did manage to get into work where I was going to try and workout after, but I was dragging my ass the whole day where it just didn't happen.  Because I didn't work out, I reduced my carb intake pretty significantly.  This, too, was to compensate for all the alcohol I had the night before.  I'm such a freak!

I did make it in to the gym this morning, and Lisa came with me.  I got my chest worked out, and it was a pretty good one.  I got 5 exercises in with 3 sets each and I got my core muscles trained as well.  Good to be back.

For lunch, we'll be riding today and I'll see if the guys want to do the double back bay route or a Portola run.  Either way, I expect it to be a fast one.

Skipped Arms but Rode at Lunch

After last night's race, I didn't think I would be too tired where I did have plans to exercise this morning.   I woke up in the morning in time to get up, but as usual, I hit the snooze button to give me five more minutes before getting up to get ready.   For whatever reason, the snooze didn't come on and I got up a half hour later instead.  While I could have gotten a quick workout on, I decided to just take the morning off and skip my morning workout.  Three things helped me make this decision:  it was just an arm workout, I did get a great workout the night before at the race, and lastly, my wife bought a scale where I checked my weight and was happy to see I was still at 150.  Good enough.

I did get out for an early lunch ride with Todd and Gaylen, and we got a really good workout where I even felt like puking at the end.  I didn't have any lasting effects though, and I felt better after some lunch (Met-Rx).  Legs still feel good even now, but I'll let them rest and be ready to go out with S-Gary for our ride on Sunday.  I'll pull back just enough to have fun at Shannon's wedding.   It should be a good one.

Overtraining or Increased Conditioning?

Conditioning comes from the muscles being forced to become accustomed to a certain level of exertion.  In order to increase conditioning, that level of exertion also has to increase.  I get this when it comes to bodybuilding, but I'm not sure really sure how it works from a cycling sense.   Sometimes, when I beat my legs up and then beat them up some more, they seemed to become "conditioned" to it where they are just able to perform better.  However, when would it be considered overtraining?

For now, I suppose my take on this is that overtraining is a full body thing vs. a specific area like the legs or other body part.  When I feel exhausted and seem like I'm performing less, THEN I'll admit I'm overtraining.  I may sometimes believe this to be the case based on my diet (i.e. lack of carbs), but in some way, I'm trying to condition my body to do more with less, which in itself is a form of training as well.

As I mentioned yesterday, my legs weren't 100% when I got up, but I still managed to get a good lunch ride in.  I did fall off the pace of the front, but I think it was more related to how hard we went out than overtraining.  They definitely didn't feel very good this morning, but here's where I'm going to back off and let them recover hopefully in time for tomorrow's race.  I'll still do cardio at lunch today, but very low intensity and only to burn fat.

I worked my shoulders this morning, and because I could still get the intensity up I know I'm not overtrained.  I got 4 good exercises in plus my core training, so it was a good overall workout.

Staying the Course

After having an off week last week, getting back on schedule is tough.  I didn't make it in the gym yesterday morning since I was tired from my ride on Sunday where cardio was just out.  I did get a chest workout yesterday, so that should be considered being back.

This morning, I didn't hit the snooze button, so I ended up getting up later than normal.  I was so close to just calling it and saving my energy for my lunch workout (ride), but it is such a slippery slope when I don't follow my regimen. Both my diet and my exercise program suffers when I allow exceptions.  Even though I ran a little late, I still managed to get a good back workout this morning.  The key element was having a focus, and mine is my desire to keep getting better on the bike.  If I stop believing that I can, then what other reason would I have to keep trying?  Whether or not I can is a different story.

For today's lunch ride, I hope we can get some good crit training.  My legs do not feel 100% recovered, but sometimes that just means they just have that much more to get conditioned to which is a good thing.  Looking forward to a good ride.

What a Week!

The title speaks for itself.  This is probably the first week that I skipped as many workouts as I did in contrast with all the other weeks of this year.   On Wednesday and Thursday, I was just so out of it that it was impossible to make it into the gym.  The funny thing is I woke up both mornings but ended up getting back in bed just to let my body recover more.  The weekend had such a lasting effect on me that I think this was the first morning I felt pretty normal.  Thank you Xanax for letting me have a good night sleep last night.  At least I was able to ride both on Wednesday and Thursday, but my stomach felt pretty jacked after each ride (still unsure why).  I hope the bug in my system finds its way out soon. 

I got my back workout done this morning, but I wasn't sure which body part I wanted to work originally.  I was thinking of skipping it and just doing either shoulders or arms, but I went to my back just to offset my crappy chest workout on Tuesday.  Maybe I'll do a makeup workout tomorrow if I have time and get my shoulders done.  I'm bummed that I didn't get to work my legs this week since I didn't race.  Oh well.

For my lunch workout, I again plan on getting a ride in to make up some miles for this week.  I don't really know what route I'd like to take, but I'll see if anyone else is interested in going and we can decide from there.    Hopefully, it's not too difficult so that I'll have enough for a Sunday run.  Not sure what we're doing, but worse case scenario:  Como St + extra credit. 

Sick and Just Trying to Survive

Had a decent solo ride on Saturday, but ran out of gas 3/4 of the way down to San Diego.  Having lowered carbs the week before, raced on Thursday and trained on Friday, my fate was sealed.  What made it worse was how I took my training for granted and decided only to bring 2 gels and 2 bottles.  I ended up pushing hard going through Camp Pendleton since a triathlon was going on and there were all sorts of guys on aero bikes on the path down to San Diego.  I had a blast taking a lot of them down.  However, this and towing all sorts of guys down Coast Highway seemed to have gotten me to a weakened state much sooner than I expected.  This was made worse by me going after a whole team who passed me on Del Mar just so I can reel them in and pass them as we went up Torrey Pines.  In the end, I felt so depleted that it took a lot of coke and the magical coke slurpee to be able to fully recover. 

Going to the beach and hanging out for 8 hours (bodyboarding for a good portion of that having gone out 3 different times) also took its toll.  The end result was my legs felt jacked up since then and still haven't fully recovered.  Further, all that time in the ocean left me sneezing, achy, and with a mad chest cold where I couldn't make it in to work on Monday.  All I did was stay in bed and sleep.  I never had a recovery day like that before. 

Since my legs still hurt, specifically my hams, glutes, ankles, and shins, I skipped my morning workout and opted to just train at lunch.  I worked my chest, but with my legs and lower back not feeling 100%, it was mostly just a sustaining workout vs. gaining.  I could not get any intensity going and my HR was just spiking despite this.  I guess I'm still sick.

I want to ride tomorrow but we'll see.  If my legs feel good in the morning, its on for lunch.  Otherwise, I may end up doing a mild cardio but even that I won't say for sure until I know how my legs feel.  I just know my cycling is going backwards with not having ridden since Saturday.  I guess we'll see.

Last Night's Race, Arms Today and a Lunch Spin

Great team race last night with Shannon having an awesome individual effort.  The funny thing about it was that I didn't feel like I got a very good workout from it like previous weeks.   Defending didn't take too much toll (as I expected), and the sprint at the end wasn't really cardio as much as it was just muscling through the cranks.  I still need to work on that though. 

I didn't get too much sleep last night, but I still managed to get up and get a good arm workout this morning.  I hit the triceps harder than normal just because I've been saving them for the rides (off the seat climbing), so it felt good to get them worked.  I hope they don't cramp up during today's lunch ride though.  My biceps got a great workout also.  I didn't some core training and did lower abs vs. upper more today. 

For the lunch ride, I know Todd's going out, so it should be a good ride.  We need to make up for last night, so I'm sure we'll be doing some hills today.  Looking forward to it.

Shoulders and Cardio

I think I should have went to bed earlier last night as getting up this morning was a little tough.  Despite this, I was able to get a good shoulder workout getting 4 different exercises in.  One thing I was worried about today was not wanting to get bigger.   Even though my rep range is high, I still think they can respond to the high intensity at those upper reps.  I did end up lowering the weight on a couple exercises as a result.  I still managed to work up a good sweat.

I will be doing a very mild cardio at lunch time today.  After yesterday's ride, my legs feel a little fatigue (not sore).  I want to let them recover completely though for tomorrow night.  With a good night's sleep tonight, I should be good to go.

Back Day, Diet and Lunch Ride

After a pretty good night's sleep, I was able to get up feeling pretty rested and ready to hit the gym.  I got in and worked my back with 4 different exercises hitting the back from different angles.  The high rep explosive sets continue and until failure through most.  

My diet...after a weekend of not watching what I ate after the ride on Saturday, I'm now paying for it by reducing my intake especially in the carb department.  Met-Rx will be my dinner for the next couple days as it was last night.  If I'm not feeling too worked after Thursday, I may even continue through the rest of the week.  That's one of the problems when I come off...guilt comes around and I end up possibly even overcompensating.  Story of my life.   I suppose maybe next week, I'll weigh myself again and see if that gets rid of the guilt.

For today's lunch, we plan on doing a triple back bay run.  This means a high intensity ride depending on who comes out.  I'm hoping we get enough so we can get some good crit practicing.  Maybe I'll coordinate a breakaway for this one.  Hmmm.

Weekend, Chest and Lunch Ride

The weekend ride was on Saturday, and it was rather an intense one.  Although only 50 miles, the burn rate was pretty high.  As a  result, I took a whole day off yesterday from any physical activity.  The odd thing was my legs felt like junk where a spin would probably have done them some good.  However, maybe the recovery would be better for them.

I got in a good chest workout this morning with 5 exercises.  I also got my core training in as well.  After yesterday's rest day and a not-so-great diet, the intensity was rather high today.  I'm not sure if I burned enough calories still though.

For lunch, I was planning on doing some cardio in the gym but I'm worried I'm not getting enough miles in on the bike.  I changed my mind due to this, so I'm now planning to ride during lunch and see if anyone is available to join me.  Today and tomorrow will be my cycling days, and then I'm resting until the Thursday crit.  Should be good.