Back Day and Lunch Ride

I didn't sleep too well last night, but that's probably from having taken a nap when I got home from work.  I didn't even think it was a work day and was a little disoriented when my alarm went off.  Nevertheless, I still made it to the gym with Lisa this morning and got my back worked out.  I had a little trouble focusing feeling a little distracted with things going on at work, but I would regain focus every now and then and get a good set in managing to get a good sweat going.  I also did my lower back and lower abs as well. 

For lunch, I hope to get a good lunch ride in but my legs are a little worked after yesterday's 6.5 mile run.  They don't hurt too bad, but let's see if they can put any power down.  I may try and revert back to a high cadence run and keep building on this style of riding again since I don't think I do this enough.  It was really effective on my Sunday ride, so I'm hoping it'll be the same for today. 

Effects of Eating, Catching Up and Today's Training

I  missed Friday's blog since I started out at work early in the morning for a ride with some of the BRCM guys.  We had a good 30 miler and I had a pretty good outing despite having raced the night before.  The race was tough but ended up ending early due to a crash, so I definitely had a lot of legs left.  It was nice to be able to push hard again, so the food I've been eating is coming through in my performance.  I still want to work toward 145, but I just am taking a break given I don't like suffering too much on our rides.

I rested on Saturday, ate like crap, but then had a good outing on my solo ride down to Del Mar yesterday where I met my family to hang out at the beach.   The weather conditions were ideal, so I was able to PR and hit a 21.5 average.  I passed a bunch of people and not one latched on or tried to mix it up.  I felt good all the way down and didn't even suffer too much leg wear by the time I finished where I was still able to play with the kids. 

This morning, I made my way into the gym and got my chest worked out.  5 exercises done and then I hit my core also.  My chest workout was light and I even substituted presses with push ups.  It was a pretty decent workout and my focus again was speed.

For lunch today, I hope to get a run in to keep this cross training up.  I think Madison and I were going to try and PR our hilly lunch route, so we'll have to see how that goes. 

Back and Cardio

I felt pretty tired when I got up this morning and could have easily been persuaded to go back to bed.  As that didn't happen, I managed to get up and get in the gym to workout my back.  I only managed to get 3 exercises in (pull downs, rows, and pullovers) but they were high rep sets.  I also got my lower back worked out along with lower abs. 

Now it is my legs that are feeling pretty tired, but I do want to get a cardio session in today during lunch.  I may spin on my own but I'll consider other options as well since last week's attempt to spin with low intensity left my glutes feeling really worked. 

Catching up, Chest and Lunch Cardio

Let's see...it's been since Thursday when I last blogged, so what's happened since then?  First off, my Thursday spin session was suppose to be light as part of tapering for the week and in preparation for Saturday's ride.  I really kept the intensity down but for some reason, the effect of the spin was that my glutes were really worked where by the end of the evening (after a happy hour), they felt really tight.  They even felt tighter on Friday (especially when I went out for dinner and drinks with some friends) where I could barely sit down.  This was enough for me to skip all workouts all together on Friday just so I can have my body recover as much as possible.

On my ride on Saturday, I could still feel my glutes but they didn't end up being too much of a factor.  Surprisingly, neither did the alcohol...or at least I don't think it did.  No cramps, finished the ride with just a little more than 2 bottles, and only had 2 gels plus almost 1 package of shot bloks.

Sunday was a complete rest day. 

Yesterday, I got up to go to the gym, but went back to bed to get some rest based on Lisa's request.  I'm compliant.  I did get a 4 mile run in during lunch with some of the girls at work.  It was a good session with a good warm up pace for half of the ride and then running harder for the rest.  I didn't wear a Garmin, but I think I was doing sub 8 minute/miles in the end. 

Today, I got in the gym and got my chest worked out, and since we went out to eat last night, I worked my ass off today.  I got 5 exercises in for chest plus a lower back and ab workout.  Funny thing about eating real food is that I get so much stronger when I do.  What scares me is how much harder I train where rather than tightening up, I think my muscles respond to it by growing.  I don't want to get bigger, so it's not a good thing to have the extra energy in that regard. 

For lunch, I do want to get a ride in with the guys and maybe we'll do a flatter run today and get some high intensity training in to prepare for this Thursday's crit.  I hope the other guys buy in on it, but I'm open to whatever. 

Arms, Lunch Cardio and Mind Games

For this morning's workout, I worked out my biceps only.  I didn't want to workout my triceps since I'm hoping to save them for this weekend for my off-the-seat climbing.  They get pretty worked from being on the drops, so I want them 100%  I also worked my core with a set of lower back and upper abs each. 

For lunch, I will skip today's lunch ride and do something a little lighter instead.  I've been working high intensity for the last 3 days, so I'm going to taper a little and let my legs recover.

One thing I wanted to talk about in today's blog is the inner dialog I have during my workouts.  I'm not sure what other people thing about when they work out, but to give some insight on what I think about, a lot of the times I'm telling myself not to waste my time in there.  Sometimes, I have to stop and check myself to remember that I need to make each rep count, and it seems to renew my enthusiasm and push me a little harder.  I also think about what my big picture goals are and I think how others who have the same goal are probably working harder than me where it pushes me to do more as well.  Whatever it takes, right?

Shoulders and Lunch Ride or Spin

Still not doing legs yet since I have a big ride this weekend, so I did shoulders instead.  I did 4 exercises:  alternating cable overhead presses, side lateral machine, front cable raises, and rear delt machine.  I got a pretty good pump from keeping up with the explosive reps and focusing on speed.  No free weights today.  Cables and machines don't get enough credit, but they do work.  The intensity starts from the bottom of the movement, one can focus less on using other auxiliary muscles and apply all the intensity to the target muscle and it's easier to add or drop weight as needed, which promotes even more intensity.   They get it done.

I wanted to get a lunch ride in today since I've been off the bike since Saturday.  I skipped yesterday just because I didn't think it would be dry enough where it would be safe and/or clean...hate when the bike gets too dirty.  Ha ha.  I again jumped on the spin bike yesterday and worked the high intensity off the seat training, which I hope will help for this weekend.  If I can't get out today to get a ride in given it seems even more wet today than yesterday (at least at my house), I'll probably opt to spin again.  I don't know if I'll do the off-the-seat training again, but I may.  I'm hoping it will be dry enough to ride outside. 

Back Day and Lunch Ride

Unlike yesterday, I had my iPod this morning and was able to get a pretty decent back workout.  I was also able to focus where the movement for each rep was as explosive as possible, which I think helps with speed.  I got four exercises:  alternating pull downs, machine rows, standing angled close grip pull downs, and overhead cable pull overs.  I also did my lower abs and lower back.

For lunch today, I hope the light drizzle goes away and we can get a good ride in.  Yesterday, I had a hard spin and did work on some off the seat pedaling with really high resistance (so high that he flywheel overheated at one point and the crank ceased where I couldn't pedal anymore).  My legs still hadn't fully recovered from Saturday when I spun yesterday, but they actually feel even more tired this morning.  I'll try to take it easy so that they can recover more (try being the operative word).