Thursday - June 22

Run

18m 45s
2.00 miles
09m 23s /Mi

very easy run at the track

I've been asked to go swimming this weekend...... Um, ok... It seems so random for me...in much the same way that bar hopping would be random for me...

inspire me (3)

Wednesday - June 21

Bike

1h 10m 02s
20.20 miles
17.31 Mi/hr

1,031 ft elevation

Sport

Crossfit
17m 55s

"Barbara"

Five rounds, each for time of:
20 Pull-ups
30 Push-ups
40 Sit-ups
25 Squats

Rest precisely three minutes between each round. Post time...

I modified this WOD to three rounds; a) although I perform pull-ups in my strength training routine, I reached muscle failure by the end of the 3rd round; b) reduced squats to 25 reps since I have a century on Saturday and I'm expecting 7,000 ft + of vertical climbing.

inspire me (6)

Tuesday - June 20

Bike

32m 10s
10.36 miles
19.32 Mi/hr

Amphlett/Calif Dr.

Sport

Stretching
10m

inspire me (4)

Monday - June 19

Rest Day.

After these two mountainous centuries, Tim & I have been searching for a flatter one. It's sometimes discouraging to see these RRs on BT where people are finishing a century in 6 hours or less or with avg speeds of 17.85 MPH. You says to yourself, "what the fu**, man." Then, you read the RR and find that the century was completely flat. I find the long straight-aways with no turns and flatness to be outright boring, and that 100 miles of such flatness would become monotnous. Meanwhile, I keep reminding myself that we've chosen a couple of tough century rides, rides that are not predisposed to allowing exceptional speeds to begin with. I think if I'm going to ride the pancake flat stuff, I'd rather participate in a TT out in Winters, CA on a 25 mile course, rather than some la-la-la century.

If I ride the Sequoia next year, I am convinced I'll shave time off of this year's performance because I know the route and I know where I can pour it on (with or without) participating in a paceline and still have something left for the second hill climbing out of Santa Cruz. This year, I felt like I had to be conservative with my energy because I didn't want to find myself jumping on a sag wagon cause I had nothing left for the my climbs, nor could I live with myself if I had to push my bike up the hill, either.

Not long ago, a member of the Peninsula Velo yahoogroup announced that they were looking for other PV riders with whom they could go out and do hill climbing drills with on Mt Hamilton. I responded to the guy's post and let him know that I would like to join-in on the drills, and his reply to me was, "Well, let's see who else responds..." He hasn't followed-up with the group as a whole, nor has he contacted me. What's up with people? If you're goal is to round-up a group of specific people for this training objective, why did he bother to announce it publically and not just directly e-mail known individuals?

inspire me (0)

Sunday - June 18

Strength

Leg Ext: 3x12x50
Leg Curls: 3x15x50
Calf Press: 3x20x75
DB Bench Press: 3x15x40s
Rows: 3x15x70
Upright Rows: 2x15x45
BB Curls: 2x15x45
Tricep Push Downs: 2x20x40
Hammer Strength Crunches: 3x12x50lbs

Sport

Crossfit
08m 04s

Front Squat 3-3-3-3-3-3-3 reps

65, 75, 85, 90, 95, 95, 100

inspire me (2)

Saturday - June 17

Bike

3h 34m 53s
53.43 miles
14.92 Mi/hr

Rode from the house, out to the top of Skyline Drive via a climb up Old La Honda Rd (OLH Rd = 3.35 miles @ 1,250 ft climbing). I didn't take my garmin, so I dont know what our cummulative elevation was for the whole ride. Mostly just an easy ride - I was definately feeling those dead lifts from last night.

I just registered for next weekend's Giro di Peninsula. I'm looking foward to another century ride. Hopefully, this one will go a little faster, and I'm praying it will be well- supported like the Sequoia Century. I suspect the weather will be much warmer for the Giro overall - if today is any indication of what the weather will be like next weekend.

I felt pretty good about my climb up OLH Rd today. We ended up in the midst of the Peninsula Velo group today, and I hung-in there with the Pen. Velo guys on the climb portion. In fact, PV passed us up about 1 mile before we reached OLH Rd, but I caught them on the hill, so that felt really good. I ended up not riding with them today because i chose to train with Tim in preparation for next weekend's century. REEEEEEAAALLY though, I need to ride with other people - faster people - if I'm ever going to take my cycling to the next level. However, I can feel that I am much stronger after the Sequoia, which is evidenced by overall better times, and my hill climbing has improved dramatically, but I still feel like I have a lot of work to do.