Cyclocross, season 1

Posted on November 1, 2010 by Thom

Just finished with the weekend I wanted when I first considered cyclocross: Halloween weekend. And it did not disappoint.

Mud, cowbells, cheering, beer, friends.

I raced pretty bad both days, but Saturday I was in the middle of a cold. Can’t recommend that — it was like breathing through a straw.

Sunday I felt better and I raced better, if a bit over-cautious. I want to work on my cornering in the next two weeks — those were the places that had me losing time.

Anyway. We hung out with some new friends, got muddy, got a little drunk, picked up a few new scars, and had a blast.

Hooky

Posted on July 29, 2009 by Thom

Played hooky from work a while back to take a long ride. Was one of my best days ever.

Sunny and hot. Went up and over Turner and Mountain roads, then had my first battle with Pete’s Mountain road. Hard. Steep. Plus I was running very low on water, and all the mega-mansions up there have gates. So no illicit tapping of the garden faucet for me.

Anyway, it was abou a five hour ride. Epic. Hilly. Hot. I’m still slightly sunburned on my arm. It’s a scar I’ll wear with pleasure.

Since then, I haven’t ridden much. But I have been swimming. That has been marvelous as well, if only because Portland has been in the middle of a Global Warming inspired heat wave. And our AC is dead.

If there’s one thing I need to work back into the rotation, it’s hitting the gym. My shoulders and back have been bothering me, and the cure is quite obvious.

But I have one more day of swimming ahead of me: tonight, I’m swimming up at Klineline Pond in Vancouver. My first open water swim in a while. With luck, it’ll be fun. Without any luck at all, it should be nice and cool!

So Sore

Posted on June 12, 2009 by Thom

Lifted twice this week with Lonnie. So sore. Took yesterday off, but plan to go back today even if work is hard. Especially if work is hard!

Did incline press and butterflies. That’s what really killed me. The weight I used for flies was hilariously light — 20 lbs. I didn’t struggle, but I sure felt it.

Incline press was better: 8 reps with 115 and I didn’t struggle too much there either. Nice!

Managing Exhaustion

Posted on June 10, 2009 by Thom

I’m not exhausted yet, but am definitely feeling more tired. I still plan to hit the gym today, however, because we’re doing a whole lotta nothing this weekend other than camping and drinkng.

Oh sure, there might be a little hiking too. But generally speaking, I expect rest. And naps.

And I think that’s the trick to staying motivated and energetic when re-starting a workout program: keep your eye on the rest periods. When you start to run out of energy, determine if you can push through to the rest period.

And then really rest. Do nothing. Put your feet up. Crash. Get intimate with your couch.

That’s one thing I’ll do wrong this weekend — in all likelihood, it will not be that restful. So I may need to take off the early part of next week to recharge. We’ll see.

Take care of swimming shoulders

Posted on June 9, 2009 by Thom

Did a short swim the other night. Not more than 1,700 yards I think. But it included a basically a 500, a 200 kick, and then a 1,000 free. Felt good to swim long like that. Really forced me to slow down, which enabled me to breathe every three strokes.

I also am trying to focus on staying on my sides longer, enabling a deeper pull. The trick is that I need to keep my shoulder blades pulled tighter when I do so. Otherwise, it kinda leaves the joint out there in a bad way.

I ended up icing the shoulder last night a little. Seemed like it helped, but it’s mostly preventative maintenance. No big problems to speak of.

Today, I lifted weights. Wow. My shoulder, neck and back muscles are not strong. Need to work on that. Gonna be sore tomorrow. Weight lifting is gonna make swimming hard for a bit, but I know it’ll pay off down the road.

Anyway. Good few days. If I take tomorrow off, it won’t be a bad thing. On the other hand, I won’t work out all weekend so I should push through Friday.

Day 2

Posted on June 7, 2009 by Thom

Oh sweet Jesus. My back already feels sore from yesterday’s ride. And it’s not even 9 am.

Definitely will be adding a few minutes of core work to my morning routine, or I foresee a bad week of hobbling around.

Oops

Posted on July 8, 2008 by Thom

Looking back on it, predicting a recovery day for today seemed a little fool-hardy. Especially since I can’t turn down a new dad with limited rides who invites me out.

And in hindsight, suggesting Kelley Point — a long slog on the best days — on a windy, 90 degree day maybe wasn’t too bright either.

I am pretty sure we both bonked. And that was before his six mile uphill ride home and my ten mile commute back to my refrigerator.

Everything hurts. Tomorrow MUST be a rest day.

Sent from my iPhone

Riding

Posted on July 7, 2008 by Thom

Rode for two hours Sunday, including going up Rocky Butte and Mt Tabor. Going up Tabor was awesome. I met up with some random guy, and instead of getting killed going uphill, I actually led him up.

Today, I went to the gym. Did lunges and leg-presses. Pretty good stuff.

Anyway. We’ll see how long I can keep it up. It seems in the past, something at work or at home has always screwed things up.

Tomorrow, I’ll bike in slowly. “Recovery day.”