Another set of power intervals. Accidentally miscounted and did an extra one. These are killing me. Also I really want the ****ing powertap back (still in the shop...). I am sore as ****.

Time: 1:30
Distance: 22.0mi
Avg Power: N/A
Avg HR: 141
Avg Speed: 14.6 (the slow parts of this were veeeeeery slow because between intervals I was barely pedalling)

Today was supposed to just be a 2 hour lazy ride, anywhere in my endurance range, i.e. 110 bpm to 145 or so, with most of the time in the middle. Went on a ride with some people from work, was quite a bit slower than I'd have preferred but you just go with the flow. The only time I felt frustrated were parts of the ride where normally it would basically be a race (I ride this route all the time and certain sections of it are typically done as fast as possible)

Time: 2:08
Distance: 30.6 mi
Avg Power: N/A
Avg HR: 120
Avg Speed: 14.2 mph

Having to cheat a little this week. I'm busy this weekend and probably won't be able to get 2 rides in, maybe not even 1. I was supposed to have M-Tu-W off this week but I did friday's ride today and will do thursdays ride tomorrow. Both of these are a little abbreviated (by 15-30 min) because of work requirements and the creeping of sunrise. Official sunrise here is now 7:35 which means about the earliest I can get out the door is 7:10. It's kinda sucky. In a few weeks it'll be cool enough to ride in the evenings and I'll probably switch to going to work early and riding after work. Then winter comes and it's never a good time to ride.

It was actually raining lightly when I went out this morning, and watching the sun rise was kind of freaky.

Time: 1:01
Distance: 17.1 mi
Avg Power: N/A
Avg HR: 141
Avg Speed: 16.8 mph

Today was a set of "over-under" intervals. I found these to be a bit finicky. It's 3 sets of 9 minute intervals. The 9 minutes is broken up into sections, "unders" and "overs", basically just 2 different power ranges. So you do 2 minutes of the "under" range and 1 minute of "over" then 2 "under" and so forth. I got tired of trying to keep track of it and just eyeballed it. If I had the bike computer set up a little better for it it would be a bit easier, but I didn't, so I sort of just estimated.

Generally today's ride was awful - I had an early meeting so I left my house when it was still pretty dark (with lights on at least) and again it was raining lightly. But anyway it's done now.

Time: 0:58
Distance: 16.6 mi
Avg Power: N/A
Avg HR: 145
Avg Speed: 16.6 mph

Ended up not being able to ride sunday between a combo of the weather and hte state of my back/knees.

Had an appt with my ortho doctor today, wrist is not getting better so he gave me a cortisone shot into the joint. Not supposed to do basically anything for 2 days, not that I'd want to because it hurts like hell - the first 24-48 hours the cortisone crystalizes and it hurts 5x worse than before. After that supposed to feel great for weeks.

Bike shop still giving me the runaround on my wheel. It's been what, 4-5 weeks? They keep saying it'll take 1 more week.

How can they justify having it for 4-5 weeks? Wasn't it their fault in the first place? Even if it's not their fault, I wouldn't be putting up with 6 weeks to rebuild a wheel.

The rim I ordered was apparently backordered. They kept offering me a free rental replacement wheel but also saying "but your new wheel will be ready in under a week" so I kept declining.

I called today and the dude alleges the backorder is over and my new rim ships tomorrow. I will be calling him again tomorrow. Every time I call they're like "bro, you don't need to call us, we'll call you when it's ready". **** you guys.

Also the guy who will fix it told me with a straight face, like he was doing me a big ****ing favor "when we get it in, I will move some time around and get it done as soon as possible, I'll make a spot for you". No **** you will, you made a spot for me already - 4 weeks ago.

Did the now-pretty-standard Steady State intervals, 3 sets of 10 minutes with 5 minutes rest in between.

Time: 1:20
Distance: 22.2 mi
Avg Power: N/A
Avg HR: 143
Avg Speed: 16.6 mph

Today was 60-90 minutes of "over-under" intervals. These are where you ride kinda hard for 2 minutes, then really hard for a minute, and repeat 3 times, then rest. I did 3 sets of those.

Time: 1:00
Distance: 16.6 mi
Avg Power: N/A
Avg HR: 145
Avg Speed: 16.6 mph

Technically was supposed to ride 2 hours today and 2 tomorrow but I'm doing the Livestrong ride tomorrow for 65 miles, which will probably end up being about 4 hours total, so I opted not to ride today.

Back feels a little tweaked but I think I'm going to power through unless it looks bad.

Today was the annual Livestrong charity ride (Lance Armstrong's cancer foundation). This ride, 2 years ago, is what got me started in cycling, I'd never gone further than about 20 miles (I rode 45, through very hilly territory), and not at any particularly high speed. That ride CRUSHED me. I literally thought I wouldn't finish it. At one point I had to stop and lay down on the side of the road. The bottoms of my feet ached. My ass ached. My legs ached. It was terrible. When it was over I couldn't stand for about a half an hour. I went home and slept the rest of the day.

Sounds great right? Obviously that's going to get anyone interested in cycling. I guess the way my nature is, I can't allow myself to be defeated by something that so many people do so easily (about 15 people from work did it, or more, much faster. My boss lapped me and finished 90 miles before I finished 45). **** that, obviously, so I started trying to ride a lot more and signed up for the MS150.

So here's my info for today, and for the last 2 times I've done it, just for reference.

Time: 3:52
Distance: 65 mi
Avg Power: N/A
Avg HR: 155
Avg Speed: 16.8 mph (god I really wanted to break 17 mph)

Can't find last years. I know I recorded it, so probably I just lost the GPX file and all that. I did 45 miles at something like 15.5 mph.

Year before (the first one):
Time: 3:44
Distance: 45.8 mi
Avg Power: N/A
Avg HR: Dunno
Avg Speed: 12.3 mph


I just noticed that this year and the first year took me nearly the same length of time, but this year was 20 miles further.

Another set of over-under intervals. I rode above the top-range of the non-interval part because I left a little late and there was traffic. It's easier/safer to ride a bit faster and you get through the bad parts faster anyway.

Time: 1:17
Distance: 22.2 mi
Avg Power: N/A
Avg HR: 145
Avg Speed: 17.3 mph

I still don't have this ****er back. I'm calling them again tomorrow. I am sure they are sick of my ass

Steady State intervals today, 3x10 with 5 minute rests. Piece of cake. Had the power meter back today and I decided to do the intervals like I usually do and look at the power results later. It actually matched up suprisingly well. I'm supposed to do the intervals at 194-203 watts. I ended up at about 220 watts for the first interval, 195 or so for the 2nd two intervals. So if nothing else the heart rate method was about on, for anyone who wants to do this without a power meter.

I beat my record up the hill to my house again by 5s, need 4s more to have the best time again. Damn you Kevin Correy!

Cold today and very windy. Wind was very brutal overall.

Time: 1:01
Distance: 16.3 mi
Avg Power: 180 watts
Avg HR: 141
Avg Speed: 16.0 mph

God, what a grind. Today was power intervals again, just 2 minutes balls out, 2 minute break. Do that 4 times, then rest 8 minutes, then do it all again. This totally sucks the will out of me. Windy again, although weather was nice, 60 degrees, sunny.

Oh and like usual I started the very first interval waaaay too hard (600 watts, when it should have been more like 300-350) and ran out of gas hard.

Time: 1:35
Distance: 24.1 mi
Avg Power: 150 watts
Avg HR: 147
Avg Speed: 15.2 mph

Today was just pretty much any old non-intensive ride I wanted to do. I went on a regular group ride that I hadn't done in a while (not since the summer)

Time: 2:39
Distance: 42 mi
Avg Power: 142 watts
Avg HR: 138 (this ride spends kind of a lot of time tooling around down town, which is not very taxing)
Avg Speed: 15.8 mph

When I got home, I had lunch and then I laid down and slept for a few hours. Didn't get a full night's sleep yesterday or the day before, plus riding 3 days in a row, felt reaalllly good to just lay down and nap, which I hardly ever do.

Nice progress, must be nice to beat your old Livestrong times so comfortably.

Was supposed to ride yesterday but it was cold and I couldn't get my lazy ass out of bed. Rode today instead. Probably going to skip tomorrow because I am going to be out super late tonight. Miiight try to sneak in a ride friday but whenever I do that sat/sun are kinda hell.

Today's ride was another "over-under" interval, where you do 2 minutes at a medium-high pace and 2 minutes at a high pace, then back to medium-high, rinse and repeat for 12 minutes. You do that 3 times with 6 minutes between each set.

I've had the power meter back long enough now to generate a little history. Riders are typically rated, in terms of power fitness, by watts/kg at various lengths of time. I have finally reached "cat 5 racer" levels... if I was a woman. (Category 5 is the lowest race category). I am still staunchly in the "untrained" level for being a man, and in fact my 5-second-power level is so low it's not even on the chart. It may help when I can get back to lifting weights. No cycling program expects you to lift heavy but they want you squatting at least 1.3*BW I think.

I'm not surprised my 5s power sucks - I spend zero time working on it. My 1 minute power is actually pretty decent - probably because for the last few years I have always sprinted as hard as I can up the hill to my house, which takes a little more than a minute. The power curve drops off a bit after that.

Time: 1:26
Distance: 24.1 mi
Avg Power: 169 watts
Avg HR: 146
Avg Speed: 16.8 mph

Interesting stuff on the power ratings. I'm just starting to incoporate stationary bike work into my training in preparation for hopefully getting a bike in December.

Do you know if the power readings on stationary bikes are genarally accurate?

Honestly, I have no idea. I do know that I have a (pretty nice, expensive) elliptical that I think is entirely full of ****.

Oh well, at least I'm using the same bike so I can track my own progress even if it's not accurate. Just looked into power meters for when I get my bike as it seems like a good idea, but wow they're expensive! I'm only planning on spending about $1k on my bike, and the cheapest power meter I found was about $1500.

Btw, I don't think you responded in Knight's thread, but I'm going to keep badgering you about getting into triathlon and joining me on an Ironman quest for 2014.

Check ebay - there are a lot of very gently used powertaps. I bought mine, in a wheel, for about $400

Ugh, I can't even think about it right now. I'd have to learn to swim.

2 hour ride with "power intervals" in the middle. These are full intensity for 2 minutes, then spin for 2 minutes, 4 times. Rest 8 minutes, then do it again. I hate these workouts with a passion, fortunately I know they're really good for me. The end of each interval it feels like you're drowning. I got a ****ing butterfly in my mouth today. Someday I'm going to swallow a wasp.

Usually at the end of the intervals I have another hour to go and sometimes question if I'll make it. I also start thinking about how I have 2-3 hours to do the next day and internally groan about it. But I usually recover after 10-15 min just fine and then the next day I'm over it and can enjoy the next ride.

Sadly I have to do this ****ty workout 1-2 times a week, like, forever. This is the thing with diet and exercise that really bugs me some times. You never like, achieve your goals and then relax. No, you have to do this **** again and again, forever.

Time: 2:15
Distance: 34 mi
Avg Power: 150
Avg HR: 149
Avg Speed: 16.0 mph

(Time and distance are a bit of a guess. I accidentally stopped recording for about 15 minutes)

Set some goals imo. The thing that's keeping me going and motivated on every session is thinking towards my goals. For example I have short term goals of doing some running races over winter, building up my bike base for when I actually buy a bike and get outside, and building up to being able to swim oly-tri distance. Long term I have several events in mind for next year. Every time I start to get fed up in training I think of one of these goals and it really spurs me on and makes me forget the pain.

Do you not like the idea of doing some races or other kind of events?

Oh, and btw I got a goal for you....

I don't really have any goals this year except to get into better shape. Last year it was to do the MS150, which I did, and I'm doing again this year. But I have no question I can do it, I could do it tomorrow, no problem. I'm a little afraid to commit to trying to race because I know it will be brutal and soul-crushing.

Maybe I'll try swimming this summer when it starts to get hot. Or possibly earlier, like in the spring. I assume spring/summer is probably prime triathalon season. I could probably do a sprint tri (that is, I could probably *finish* it, doubt I'd place in the top half)

I felt bad about badmouthing my biking so I gave it a good cleaning and lube job to make up for it.

That ****er better appreciate it.