Diet, Back Day and Lunch Cardio

I probably don't talk about my diet enough, but last Sunday I decided to kick it up a notch for a couple reasons:  1) I've been eating a lot of junk on the weekends where it just isn't translating to energy as well and 2) I think I can stand to lose more body fat.   The changes I'm making will be that I will no longer be eating fried foods again, I will avoid overeating after my long rides, I am giving up alcohol (for a little while anyway), and I will increase my protein intake on the weekends.  These are not drastic changes, but I hope it'll help me tone up more and translate to more efficient cycling.

I got a pretty decent back workout this morning hitting 4-5 different exercises plus my core training.  Speed was the focus and I kept pushing even beyond when I would typically stop.  My back feels worked.  Good deal.

For lunch, I am toying with the idea of bringing my bike, but I'll likely jump in today's spin class.  I would like to try out my bike again with the new wheels, but I may save it for tomorrow night's race.  I still plan to race just to get a good training session in even though it doesn't seem like anyone will join me.  In the end, I hope the training will help for the Bull Dog race coming up soon.

Restarted Weight Training, New Approach and Lunch Cycling

After taking some time off from the weights since last Thursday, I woke up this morning wondering if I should just one more day.  I really wanted to stay in bed, but last night, I was committed to return to the gym today, so off I went.  I started my workout schedule from the beginning, which means today was my chest day.  I had a decent workout, but I feel like I had a diminished breathing capacity.  Lisa had mentioned she noticed I was wheezing the other day when I slept, so I don't know if I have a bug.  I'm not showing any other symptoms though, so I'll assume it was just from being really tired from my ride on Sunday. 

Speaking of my ride on Sunday, I'm getting a little tired of coming up with excuses, so I won't.  I don't think I did very well, and I was spinning on my low gears more than I wanted.  I don't even want to try to figure it out, but I am trying to change my workout schedule where I will start taking it easy vs. going hard M-F.  Weight-wise, it'll still be the same, but the cycling will be high and low intensity.  Since races start this week, I'll also be skipping my leg workouts for a while. 

For lunch today, I hope to try out the new wheels/Power tap and see how they feel.  The roads are quite wet, but I think they'll dry out enough for a ride out with the guys.  If for some reason the roads are still wet, I'll jump in the spin class.  My legs feel better after I spun on a Lifecycle stationary bike yesterday for an hour. 

Trying to Train Less...For a Little Bit Anyway

After Wednesday's spin, not even a class led one since it was cancelled, I felt horrible.  Although I had a good solo session and sweated up a storm, I just felt like I was nauseated and almost went home after.  Seeing as how I've been taxing my body so much lately, and with my HR staying pegged during rides, I thought it would behoove me to find some way to not train so much.  I make it sound as though it's hard not to train, and the reality is, it is.  I love to train and it's easier to follow a routine than deviate from it when that's all I've been doing for a while.  However, since I've been unable to shake this "deep" feeling of fatigue, what I've decided to do was skip  my morning weight workouts and get more sleep.  That's what I've done the last 2 days.  I can't not be active though, so I did go on a lunch ride  yesterday.  The guys let me get away with a lower intensity ride, albeit  a BRCM lower intensity lunch ride is probably not really low.  At least my HR wasn't pegged again.

For today, I do plan on getting in a spin class, but the rest from this morning hopefully will make it less painful.  I'll try to take it easy in there as well. 

Although I know a longer rest session would be good, I'm feeling better already.  We do have plans to ride up Baldy on Sunday so hopefully, I'll be up to par by then.  

Leg day and Spin Class

Today I woke up hungry given my lack of carbs from yesterday.  I had to have a little blueberry almond snack with my coffee this morning just so I don't go into the gym feeling starved.  This seemed to work well for my leg workout as I had a pretty good one.  I was on a mission in there to push where my rep sets were fast and continuous.  I would blow up my muscle on a set, take some deep breaths, and then hit it again.  There were sets of 90 reps excluding the additional ones that I would bang out after.  I was pretty blown out once I finished and calves, quads, glutes and hammies were toast.

I know my legs will probably still be in recovery mode, but I do plan to join Madison's spin class today.  I may wear compression pants underneath to improve circulation and hopefully keep me from cramping during the class.  I'll bring water too.  Better safe than sorry.

Healing Back, Back Day and Lunch Ride

My lower back seems to be improving, although I still feel it's susceptible to being injured.  It didn't get in the way of my training this morning, which coincidentally is a back day.  I was able to do some rows even, but I did lighten up a bunch.  I also trained for speed today just like yesterday, and this will be the mode moving forward for a while.  Hopefully, it'll be helpful during race season.  I got 4 exercises done along with completing my core exercises.

For lunch, I'm hoping for a good run out.  My legs feel better than they did last week, so the shorter miles over the weekend probably helped.  I did work with Eddie yesterday in the spin room, but I'm hoping that it will not affect my performance during lunch.  I'm contemplating a hill route vs. a Portola run, so we'll see what the guys want to do and go from there.

Monday Chest Day and Lunch Cardio

Lately, I've been waking up in the morning where my lower back has felt like it's on the verge of going out.  However, I've just been very careful with certain movements where I think that's helped to keep it from doing so.  It even bothered me in yesterday's ride, but it didn't seem to have much impact other than discomfort in the beginning.  This morning was just more of the same. 

I still managed to get in the gym this morning despite how my back felt, but I definitely had my weight belt cinched up good.  I also made sure that I was breathing properly through every exercise.  During my chest workout, my focus was speed.  While I been working fast explosive moments for a while, I don't know if I always make a mental connection to ensure that I push or pull as fast as I can.  Today, I made such a connection and had a pretty good workout.  I did also do my lower back and abs despite my back issue where it doesn't seem to hurt anything.  In fact, it helped to keep the area warm so now that I'm at home, it feels okay.

For lunch today, I was contemplating on running again, but with my back bothering me, I don't know if that's a good thing.  When I used to run before, I had thrown out my back a couple times just because the pounding is so harsh to my spine.  If I don't spin, I'll be in the spin room.  I feel much better today vs. last week since I only did 40 miles yesterday (to rest), so I'm hoping for a better week cycling-wise.

Rested but Spun at Lunch

After yesterday's ride (and actually during), my energy level was not the same and I continue to drag my ass for the rest of the day...even leaving a little early from work just to rest.  I ended up sleeping with my compression pants (again), but when I awoke this morning, I just didn't feel good.  Not sick but just an overwhelming feeling of fatigue.  As a result, I opted to skip my arm workout and just stay in bed.  Rare, but it happens.   I know I've been training a lot for a while and to boot, my diet is pretty taxing, so I just decided I would skip and see if it would help me recover some.   I know it's not much, but I also have tomorrow (Saturday) to recover for the most part.  

I did jump in a spin class led by Lauren today and Todd and Eddie were there with me.  I actually couldn't hold cadence at some point because of the fatigue I've been feeling, but I did the best that I could.  I meant to take it easy, but I think if I do, Lauren notices and makes all of us suffer.  HA HA.  I dug real deep for today's class, but I'm not sure if it was really helpful or hurtful in the sense that it is still keeping me in the OT state.  I didn't care.  As bad as it is, what's more difficult for me is not being able to eat given I like to maintain a certain ratio of intake to expenditure.   Less training (which we already saw in me not going to the gym this morning) means less food.  Crazy talk considering my carb intake is probably a little too low (except on Valentines Day).  Now I feel like crap, but again, it's all downhill until Sunday's training ride.  Hopefully, I'll be in the 90+ percentile with regard to my energy level by then...at least I hope my legs to be.