My regular sunday ride got moved to saturday (and my semi-reg saturday ride to sunday). I drove to my office and rode in to the ride start and then back at the end, adding 10 miles on to the length. I like doing it that way. When I want to do longer distances, I'll probably park further away and ride in/back.

Time: 3:08
Distance: 48 mi
Avg Power: 160 (211)
Avg HR: 145 (HR monitor still busted, tbh)
Avg Speed: 15.4 mph

Regular-ish ride I do on weekends, from downtown out to Kyle, which is a place pretty much no one ever goes for any other reason.

Today was the Austin marathon, which I totally forgot about, and which once I got downtown I realized was between me and the start of the ride. So I tried to figure out where I'd be able to intersect my group on the route, rode to there (police let me cross the marathon route) and then rode the route backwards until I came across the group I ride with. Then I did the rest of the ride.

http://app.strava.com/activities/41338202
Time: 3:05
Distance: 49.5 mi
Avg Power: 144 (175)
Avg HR: ??? (I am wearing this thing again but it just conks out for no reason)
Avg Speed: 16.0 mph

*killer* headwind the whole way out. This is an out-and-back ride so that means there was not much in the way of cross-wind. The way back was glorious.

The ride there we averaged like 14.5mph. The way back we averaged something like 19.5 or 20, and no one was even breathing hard. So much fun. In several spots I couldn't go any faster because I was already at like 100+ cadence in my highest gear - which means I was probably going 30 mph+.

Edit: yep, I hit 34 mph on that segment. That's not a record or anything, but it's probably the fastest I've gone on something that wasn't a steep down hill.

Weight lifting time.

Exercise	Reps
Bench Press	65, 95, 125, 125, 120 all x5
HBBS	65, 105, 135, 135, 135 all x5
OHP	35, 55, 65, 65, 60 all x5
Deadlift	115, 145, 190 all x5

1.5 mile run, 10:20/mile, best 1 mile out of that was 9:50

Commute from home to work and back. No hilarity ensued.

Time: 2:28
Distance: 40.6 mi
Avg Power: 167watts
Avg HR: ???
Avg Speed: 16.0 mph

Today I beat my record for most miles in a month, actually. And there are 9 days to go, so I will probably smoke it by 200 miles (150%)

This is not true. I go to Kyle all of the time. Outside of the reason I'm usually there (family), two of my favorite places to eat are in Kyle:
1) http://www.texaspiecompany.com/
2) http://www.bordeauxs.net/

Imagine if it was a full-length month and not that weak 28-day one!

Well, I stand corrected. I would eat at someplace called the texas pie company, for sure.

In a few weeks I think they'll start organized rides out to San Marcos which go through Kyle, about 75 miles round trip. I wonder if I could convince the organizer to make one of the rest stops happen at the texas pie company. It's a little out of the way (we don't go into Kyle proper I think, just the outskirts)

On the Kyle ride on sunday, I didn't bring anything to eat with me, so I had a small pecan pie at the rest stop.

Lived in Austin 55 years. Never been to Kyle. Well, maybe drove through once I think. So, I guess I'm lying.

Now, Buda - that's a happening place!

And next month is going to blow this one out of the water too, probably. I'm aiming for 200+ miles/week. For feb I should break 600 miles, in march I will hopefully break 800. Also in march I think I might bike more miles than I drive.

If I'm reading that right, you're gonna do 600 miles this month? That's pretty intense - I'll be pushing it to get a third of that! I've gotta start doing some work!

Not really. Doing this kind of distance is counter-productive unless you're doing what I want to do this spring (A very long sustained tour) or if you're doing it as a base for actual cycle racing (which you'd combine with intervals and what not). It's a little bit of a step back because I wanted to focus on speed this year, not distance, and I am already losing some power in the shorter time ranges, because I'm not working it at all.

The MS150 should be an absolute breeze this year. That's a few weeks before the Tour du Rouge. If I'm ready for 525 miles in a week, then 150-180 in a weekend SHOULD be a piece of cake.

Tbh I don't really know what I should be doing. I'm still such a noob that just getting miles in is doing me the world of good, so I'm just trying to ride whenever I can.

Oh, and looking forward to hearing about when you start practicing running off the bike. That **** is not fun!

That's pretty much fine. Every training program starts with just riding miles. Most interval programs recommend you ride about 500 miles in a season before you even start them.

I think I might try that soon, for short distances. Maybe tomorrow. I was thinking I'd get my wife to leave my running shoes on the front porch and just pull up, change shoes, and run.

Dedicated tri bikes have you sitting in a different position that bikes meant only for cycling alone. Allegedly this is so that you exercise different muscles, or maybe the same muscles in a different way, so that riding doesn't impact running so much.

My aim now is to tack a run onto every bike ride. Did one on Sunday after a 3hr ride (long for me) and it hurt, even though I only did about 5 minutes. The impact of every footstrike was magnified in my quads and my lower back started to painfully tighten up at the end. Did another one yesterday though and it didn't seem so bad (still hurt though), so maybe you get used to it quite quickly. I prob had about 5 mins transition time too though on both of those, so cutting that down will def make a difference, and not in a fun way.

It's my rest day and I am eating uncontrollably. It's awesome. Getting ice cream on the way home imo.

Also I am sore as ****.

Drove in to work with my bike this morning (raining) but rode home. Had my shoes waiting for me on the front porch, ran about 1.25 miles. Wasn't hard to run, but the pace was slower than usual (10:14). Also I tore out some hair on my legs or rubbed it off or something. I have two new bald patches on my legs. I've never run in bike shorts before, obviously.

Bike:
Time: 1:15
Distance: 20.1 mi
Avg Power: 181 (205)
Avg HR: ???
Avg Speed: 16.0 mph

Run: 12:47, 1.25 miles

Sometimes when I do a hard workout I really Don't Want To Be Spoken To for like a half hour minimum. The boy and the dogs were buggin the **** out of me (he was watching something Really Annoying on youtube, the dogs were just Being Dogs). Then I had to do this phone meeting with the company I am moonlighting for, while still in the don't-****-with-me period. I am pretty sure I came off pretty crabby and I almost told someone to shut up.

So I might as well just get on some PEDs right?

Ugh... I rode into work this morning. I'd left my truck here last night and rode home. I left my keys at home so now I have to either convince my wife to come down here and bring them to me, or ride home tonight and then back again tomorrow get the truck.

Time: 1:10
Distance: 20 mi
Avg Power: 184 (205)
Avg HR: ???
Avg Speed: 17 mph

Good job on the running off the bike. Looks like you coped with it way better than I'm doing.

I read something recently that said cycling is the most important discipline because if you're a good cyclist you can be fresh for the run, but how good of a runner you are doesn't count for **** if your legs are shot from the bike.

Oh, and stop being lazy and ride home - you can't call up wifey on the Tour de Rouge!

Meh, riding home isn't so much the problem as the fact that I also need to lift weights tonight and then ride back here tomorrow morning to get my car. It's fine though.

It's ok, I'm just trying to make you feel bad cos I've done **** all today.

Leisurely ride home

Time: 1:22
Distance: 20.0 mi
Avg Power: 185 (200)
Avg HR: ???
Avg Speed: 15.0 mph

55 mile group ride. Nothing much to log because my HRM doesn't work and the power meter crapped out in the middle, prob needs battery replaced. Actually kind of pissed at the world atm - the people on the ride were being giant dicks today. This is officially a "no drop" ride and the guy that organizes it is super good about that. He cut out early today because he had something else he had to do and had someone else lead the ride. We also had about twice the crowd we usually have because it's nice out.

So right off the bat people are doing stupid **** like going through yellow lights at the front of the pack. This is idiotic and *******y because you know for sure you'll strand 3/4 of the group behind the light. Initially they'd wait for the rest but after a while they just stopped doing that and our group got strung out over like a mile, in several small groups. People also did ******* things like get to a designated stopping point, where we are literally supposed to wait for everyone and do a count, and they'd just take off without waiting.

The person who took over to lead the ride is slow as **** and literally couldn't keep up with *anyone*. So our "ride leader" ended up many minutes behind the last rider. There were several people there today trying out the ride for the first time who had trouble keeping up. That's another thing - this ride is supposed to be at a relaxed pace, i.e. a base miles endurance ride. Those people will never come back, I am quite sure this whole ride sucked ass for them and they think we're all *******s.

I spent most of the ride toward the back trying to keep between the people in front of me and the people behind me, so the ones behind wouldn't get lost, and I wouldn't get too left behind either.

Anyway, I managed to knock out 175 miles this week, which is the most I've done in a week ever by a good margin. Not too shabby.

No matter what you do or where you go, people will be douchebags.

Also, one thing I've noticed since joining the triathlon club is that a lot of people just have no idea how good they are, or how not everyone is at their standard of fitness. The first club ride I went on (Sunday morning "beginners easy pace ride"), they decided to take us up one of the biggest, steepest hills around. Luckily I was fine but there was a girl that had come along for her first ride with the club. The guy who brought her along was a multiple-Ironman and ultra runner and he just kept saying to her "oh you'll be fine, it's not that big a hill etc...". He led out at the front and set a pace that she had no chance of keeping up with so the first time we stopped to regroup she decided to give up and go back home. If she had decided to carry on with us up into the hills she'd have been a wreck, but the guy kept on insisting "she'd have been fine, these hills are nothing". Absolutely no concept of just because it's easy for him it's not easy for everyone else. Anyway, not seen her since, can't imagine she'll ever show up on a Sunday morning again.

I actually don't think these people "don't know". I think it's a form of bragging, basically, i.e. "this is no problem with me". I used to ride with some guys from work, I don't any more because their ego gets involved. But it's really not cool and it drives people away from wanting to ride more for fun.

One of the girls falling off the back sort of complained to me and another guy who stopped to wait for her. His response was basically "well, you'll be better at it next time"