Training Week

Taking a page out of Mark Fennell’s blog, I am going to try a weekly training update.  Not sure exactly why, maybe as a goad to make myself actually get out a bit more.  This week has been above average, so if you never see one again, just assume this is as good as it gets.

Monday- 60 min. steady lunch ride.

Tues- 60 min. tempo, hard…  Forking windy. +25 min run.

Wed- 60 min easy + ski @ night.

Thur- 60 min moderate +20 min run

Fri- 50 min. easy

Sat- 40 min run.

Sun- 140 min, rode up on the Provo bench.  Started on the BST for a bit, but with the snow packed and frozen, it was hard to go for long.  Flatted on the snow?!  Then, hit an ice patch and did a header into the snow bank.  Thought better of it, so I hit the road again and did some climbing.  Managed to flat again at ~40 mph.  Not so fun, but kept it right side up.

For comparison sake, I found some data from the same week in 2002  (the last year I remember being really focused on training):

Monday- Weights + 270 minutes steady

Tue- 40 min run +Circuits + 6 60-90 second hill sprints (total ride 90 minutes)

Wed- Weights + 300 minutes steady

Thu- 40 min run + Circuits + 90 minutes easy

Fri- Off

Sat- 270 min including Simi Ride- hard.

Sun- 450 min. including Como St. hard

Wow, I used to ride a lot.  I’ll try to throw in some of these comparisons from time-to-time.

Back in the real world, Haley seems to be recovering.  We are pretty much secluding ourselves from the world as much as possible until we leave for CA.  Less than a week and Christmas between now and then.  Stoked!!

Another Rough One

Haley was pretty much fine all day yesterday.  No appetite, but that’s to be expected.  Around 11:30 last night she started barfing again.  I don’t get it, but it’s definitely not so fun.  It wasn’t a real bad episode, but still once you’re in the clear, you’re in the clear, right?  Wrong!  More than a little concerned about Christmas and our subsequent voyage to Long Beach. 

On that note, I’ve yet to do any Chrismas shopping.  Might want to get on that at some point.  Luckily, Kelly and I pretty much don’t shop for one another.  “We are poor, but we are honest.”

Also, check out stolenunderground.com, Matt has changed his name to Le Rockafella Uno Tre and is relaunching his cycling career in France.  Oh yeah, and he’s got an ice grill, and by “ice grill”, I do not mean a winter bar-b-q.  If that doesn’t convince you to click, I can’t help you.

In my own cycling world, I am still aiming for world domination via the dream team.  Not whether, but when!!

Good and Bad

The evening started off so well… I got home from work and Jeff invited me to go to employee ski night at Sundance.  I was, like, his 15th choice, but, you know, free skiing, so I swallowed my pride and joined him.  For the record, this was our 2nd bro-date of the week as he came to our company holiday party/bowl-a-thon on Friday.  Folks may get the wrong idea about us. 

Anyway, it was rad.  I figured I’d be able to rent or borrow poles when we got there as I am still without, but I figured wrong.  I thought skiing without poles would be harder, but it wasn’t so bad.  Yes, I’d use them if I had the choice, but I could get down the hill alright.  We got 4 runs in.  I am digging my new equipment. 

Free loco cocoa and we were on the way back home.  This is where it got ugly.  No, Kelly, did not kick my ass for leaving her pregnant self home with the kids, although I would have deserved it. 

This is going to be a tough winter for her. 

Anyway, what actually happened… whatever Morgan and Jeff had like two weeks ago (we suspect norovirus), Haley got.  It was barf city pretty much all night.  Kelly is such a trooper.  I mean, she was not stoked, but she took care of Haley all night and told me to get some sleep as I had to work in the morning.  I mean, if you know the size and lay-out of our house, there’s not much sleep going on, but still.  Here she is, knocked up and all and I’m in bed.  Guilt is appropriate, but there’s no way Kelly was going to sleep. 

Making it even more a bust, Haley’s class was doing a “holiday” thing today and Kelly was supposed to come in and read a story.  Haley was super amped to have mom at school, meeting her friends, etc.  Poor kid!  Also, Kelly has a ton of Christmas stuff left to do and now today is pretty much a write-off.  I won’t deny it, she pretty much does everything for the Christmas prep for our fam-bam. 

Anybody, who stumbles on this blog today is going to think I am a total schlub.  Let’s see, left your prego wife with kids to go skiing, then went home and slept while she cleaned up barf all night.  Plus, she does all the work around the house and prep for Christmas. 

 ”Wow, you ARE a catch!”. 

Yes, it does not sound equitable, but I swear I’m not such a bad guy!! 

Anyway, assuming she stays on track with Morgan and Jeff, today should be a low-key recovery day for Haley and then she should be pretty much back on track.

Blah blah blah

Well, it is really, really, really cold here lately.  Readers around these parts have probably noticed, but for my out-of-state friend (except colder than thou Jared Nelson), yeah, really cold.  Like high’s in the low 20’s, low’s in the low single digits.  This is pretty much as cold as it tends to get here.  Knock wood.  In any case, I’m coping with it much better than in the past.  I’ll chalk this up to having a ski pass.  Something to look forward to helps.  I’ve been riding as much as possible, taking Burke’s advice to ride the cross bike on the road.  If the sun’s out and the wind isn’t howling, it’s reasonably pleasant provided you have adequate gear.  Luckily, I do.  I’ve still been running the dogs a few nights a week.  Even though the volume is pretty weak, I feel like my overall fitness is a lot better than in past years.  I’m down ~5 pounds from this point last year as well.  Fat daddy.

Really looking forward to the New Year’s Day ride, etc. at this point.

Anyway, off to brave the cold with Mr. Bender. 

Then, it’s the company Xmas  holiday party tonight.  I am going stag, as per.  Kelly would join me, but that would mean finding a baby sitter and bringing two cars to the big city (SL,UT to the uninformed).  Plus, she’s pregnant and we are going bowling.  Yes, bowling.  I hear that’s pretty much the dirtiest place you can stick your finger.  Yeah.

Good luck to any readers getting ready for cross nats in Bend, and if luck won’t help, there is still an alternative:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330386088555

Whatever…

I said below about not getting snow is no longer valid.

My new pre-breakfast metabolism kicker-off-er is snow shoveling.  Woken up each of the last three days to a few new inches of frosh pow-wow.  A few inches isn’t so bad, but as there has not been  a break, it’s begining to add up.  The commute has been hellish as everyone relearns how to drive on snow. 

At least, Sundance will be in good shape for opening day on Friday.  Looks like night skiing doesn’t start until the 21st though.  Boo.  Hiss.

What’s funny is all the so cal guys on FB/Twitter whining about how it’s only 40 when they go to train at 5am.  Gotta get your 30 hour weeks in December, so you can be ready to race 90 minute crits from Feb to June, and then quit for the year.  Sorry, that was not directed at anyone, just something I’ve noticed!

On a completely unrelated topic, Haley decided to ditch the first 20 minutes of school yesterday and hang out in the snowy field next to the school and look for horses.  I am making light of it, but seriously, she got off the bus and did not go to class.  You would think that 5 year olds would be directed the right way.  Instead she spent a half hour wandering around before getting cold and going in.  No one “found” her, she just wandered in.  What if she hadn’t?  I realize that she should have gone to class, but again, she’s 5 and I’m a more than a little concerned that no one directed her where to go.  Not sure more we can do beyond explaining to her that she needs to go straight into the school.

What’s crack-a-lackin.

Not so much.  The big storm that hit O-town for the cross race today seems to have completely avoided Pee-town.  I never thought this would bum me out, but I guess after 6 years, I am buying into this whole Utah thing.  I am pretty sure I’ll be over it by March.  Or Feb.  Possibly by the New Year.

On that note, went looking at ski boots with Jeff today.  For the unitiated, Jeff is my bro-ha-in-law.  He is 20 and has a full scruffy beard right now.  The sales guy asked Jeff if I am his dad.  Nice!!   I must be looking older faster.  Plus, I had Haley with me, which makes for a good span between kids.

Further to that note, does anyone have some ski poles they are eager to rid themselves of?  That is the last piece to my ski puzzle and I need to close that window in the next few days, so I can crush the world of night skiing from the word GO!!!.

Ripped the BST on the cross bike for a bit today.  Flatted and rim rode my carbon clinchers over to Racer’s as my CO2 was flat busted.  I am not recommending it, of course, but it’s not the first time and there was no damage.

Calling All Cars

First off, we will have a dream team for 2010.  That said, yes, I am getting desperate!  We have unparalleled industry support for 2010, but are well short of our projected budget.  I am asking for help securing title and supporting sponsors to ensure the continued success of this program.

The mission of the team is to identify talented young riders in the state of Utah and to allow those talents to develop their abilities at the highest level.  We need your help to accomplish this goal!

 2009 was the first year of the team’s existence, and we managed over 15 Pro 1-2 wins in 5 states, had over half of the development team upgrade to category 1, and one rider has moved on to the professional ranks and the US National Team.  The team’s average age was 24, including management.  

I can send a more detailed proposal to anyone interested and you can find more info at 12kdreamteam.com.

Any questions, hit me up at 12kdreamteam@gmail.com.

Something I never mentioned…

at least, never mentioned here.  We are having another girl!!  I will be in the pink palace like team rico. 

Anyway, our camera crapped out right before we left, and then we left the card for Haley’s camera in our desktop at home, so no pics this year.  The one below is fairly representative of my Sedona riding this year as well, except I managed to take the pie plate off my bike before the trip this year.

Mountain bikers get amped to see a cross bike on the trails.

Sedona

We’re not on a “cycling trip”, but this is a cycling blog, so with that in mind, I got in 90 minutes of sweet singletrack shreddination yesterday.  In shorts.  On the cross bike, of course.  I’d like to do more of this whole mountain bike thing, really.  It was unreal and it would have been pretty easy for me to keep going. 

It’s a little sad though as this is usually the only time Kelly and I go mountain biking and she’s too prego to make mtn. biking any fun.  So that’s a little bit of a bust because it’s pretty much a highlight of the year when we go.

Anyway, in the afternoon we went on a really scenic hike that followed the Oak Creek up in the Canyon.  It was ideal with pretty minimal elevation gain and the kids did great.  There was about 5 creek crossings and Haley managed to stay dry (save her feet), so that was a miracle in itself.

Otherwise, things have been pretty low-key.  Lots of time at the park, lazy mornings, out to pizza last night -when in Sedona, visit Picasso’s.

Today we are supposed to visits some Sinagua indian ruins, and we’ll see what other adventures await.

On the negative tip, the race in Vegas was cancelled, so that’s a bust.

The Season that wouldn’t Die

Not that I want it to, but for all my BLW in September about not being able to race as much as I’d like this year, I have found some pretty decent outlets for my athletic yearnings this fall.

With that in mind, I am trying to convince Kelly to stop in Vegas on the way home from Thanksgiving to race a crit.  Yeah, a crit in November.  Does the fun ever stop?!?  I’d link it, but I haven’t seen a link yet.  Email me if you want info.

It’s the same day we’d be driving anyway, and not THAT far out of the way.  I suppose I should save this type of “favor” for what is traditionally considered the “racing season”, but you know I am going to take what I can get.  And that’s a big “if I can get” right now as we have yet to really discuss this proposition.

  I prefer to “drop” this kind of news on the blog.

We’ll see.

Vegas baby.  That’s all I’m saying.