It's just one of those days....

So I woke up this morning all gung-ho to get things done. Yesterday ended up being a write-off of a day and today I was gonna get up take the kids to school/sitters and hit the road bike for a quick run around Elsinore. I figured about 20 miles today and some good times. I was planning on following that up with a nice healthy lunch and some packing!

Instead I got up to a sick daughter followed by too much time on the computer followed by....well its still early but I figure I'm gonna end up on the Wii for at least an hour! With the ride snatched away I seem to be lacking the motivation to do much of anything.

I know I need some cheese with my whine but hey that is what blogs are for...right! ;-) Alrighty it's off to try and salvage this morning and see if I can't get a couple of boxes packed up. Here's a pic...just because!

Week in review...

Overall it wasn't a bad week to be honest. I got in a run, some rides and a bit of daddy daughter time. A downer/upper popped up at the end of the week with the decision for the family to leave the house we've been in for five years and move into an apartment. I also just got an interesting offer from an old friend that I don't think I'll be able to pass up.

I've got some pictures too.

I started the week out with a run that was nice. It was about 40 minutes and it was good to start the week off with exercise, especially when that was my goal.

Wednesday was spent with the girls since we were all out of work/school. We spent the day having goofy fun and visited the Lake Skinner playgrounds which they love. That is where I took a picture of them at.

Thursday I got in a 50 minute bike ride on the road. It was amazing how out of shape I am in when it comes to the road bike. I did what I consider to be the Farm Crit which consists of a 3.5 mile loop through the Farm. I did three laps in 50 minutes. I was going to push for a fourth but I had a date with my wife at noon and it was 11:50. To be honest though my legs were shot and I probably would've bonked half way through.




Finally on Sunday, unable to take watching the Chargers get beat by the Steelers, I took the Heckler out for a spin through the dirt roads around the house. It was a decent ride but I sucked wind a bit due to my poor shape and a head/chest cold I've been fighting off.






So the weekly tally was 2.5 miles running and 21 miles riding. Not great by the standards of a guy in shape but pretty good for a guy who had a three month lay off and who has been fighting off a cold for the past week and a half! I do apologize for the quality of the pics, they were take on my Katana cell phone. But I do love having pics on my blog!

Ugghhh

Man I feel like crude. I have this head cold that is really kicking my butt. I felt okay yesterday and got a nice jog in before work but as the day wore on I just kept feeling worse. Now I'm sitting here facing another 8 hours of work in the cold and not wanting to go in at all.

You know I sit here and I read the blogs of folks like Luke, Allison, and Kerkove and I boil with envy at their form, physique and ability to ride for hours on end while I sit here and feel as if I'm pushing myself with an hour in the saddle! I know that pushing much more than that right now could lead to injury but it can be frusterating...especially when you know you've done way more time on the bike in the past. Stupid school for getting me off my riding! lol Running for 35 minutes is a start but man I can hardly wait to get my times up into somthing somewhat close to 'epic'!

I'm supposed to ride tomorrow but I think with the kids off I'm going to spend the day with them which then leads me to the hard truth, I need a trainer! I could get a good hour spin in and spend the time with the girls instead of an either/or situation. hmmm

It's a new year...

So it's a Friday and I'm off...not only am I off but the whoe family is off!!! Crazy. So I slept in this morning and then ot up and hit the bike for the first ride of 09! It was a decent ride on the normal trails. Having been off the bike since about November I wanted to take it super easy just as I've been doing with the running. Nice and easy to regain the lost base fitness. So I kept it to about an hour...70 minutes to be precise.

I felt a bit off for the first mile or so but then settled in. I can't believe that I out of the whole 1000 acres or so of land I ride through I picked the one spot of dog poo to dismount on!!! Lucky me, so after cleaning it off the best I could I was back on the bike. The skills came back slowly and by the end of the ride I felt pretty good. I hit up VA hill but only rode the lower quarter and the upper quarter. The real steep middle section was a no go but gave me a good idea of where I stand in the over all fitness.

I tried to take a couple of pics with the camera so I'll upload those and see how they look. Hope everyone had a pleasant and safe new years!





Not bad. I'll have to keep doing this as I like Blogs w/pics!

The need to train...

So I've got it all set in my head, I've posted about and announced by 4 year goal to the world and now I'm stuck! I'm stuck by one thing and one thing only...my fitness level! I ran on Monday this week and Friday. Both runs pretty much killed my legs and both were only 30 minutes. I wanted to ride today so badly it hurt but I put it off. I told myself I was going to run twice this week and that's it. I don't want to injure myself and so I'm easing back into it...the problem? Well, my mind can still remember what I was doing at the beginning of the summer with 40 mile bike rides and 1 and a half runs. No way I can pull that off right now though.

So I made myself sit in the house and giggle with pleasure at the shlacking the Cowboys just took! I was supposed to ride tomorrow but I forgot about some obligations so it'll be either a 30 minute run in the evening or pushing the ride until Tuesday. So it'll hopefully be two rides and one run next week. And the opposite the week after that.

On to other issues. I'm wondering what people ride the most for endurance races/rides. I have two bikes that might be suitable. This one and

this one;


My problem is that neither of them are realy a pure XC machine but rather on the light side of AM and the Chameleon (the white bike) is really more in line w/4x racing right now. My other problem is that I think both bikes are to small. I think I need a large. So do I try to find a large frame and swap parts from the FSR or upgrade parts on the Chameleon and make it a true XC stud? I need to do some more research to see which will work out best.

Here's to good balanced training and the fun of researching bikes!!! :-)

End of year report...

So as the year wore on I let things like a serious bout of depression, school, nearly losing my job, family and just life get in the way of my dirt nerdom! I am a bit annoyed at how out of shape I've gotten. Through the past 3 month (school semester) I have gained 15 pounds and have nearly completely stopped working out. I have been seriously stressed out and so I set up my next semester to allow me some exercise time. I've also decided to set a few long term goals to keep myself somewhat motivated. I'd like to complete the following before I turn 40 (in 4 years);

1.) Complete a Triathlon
2.) Complete a 12 hour race - Solo
3.) Complete a 24 hours race
4.) Run a marathon

I've been bouncing around the various mtn bike disciplines and while I love jumping, 4x I really enjoy just riding long distance. I think I'm a closet endurance guy stuck in a Clydesdale's body!!!! lol. So as the year winds to a close I'm getting back on the wagon.
A few things I'll be avoiding this time around. 1.) Bodybuilder workouts, 2.)Bodybuilding diets, 3.)a years worth of workouts in 3 months.
This year I burned out and so I am going to try and avoid that this year by spreading things out and trying to mix it up a bit. The year however wasn't all bad, after studying my work out journal and a bit of math, here are a few stats for you!

1.) I rode 542 mile this year (the most ever for me.)
2.) I rode once every 8 days on average.
3.) I ran 114 miles this year
4.) I ran once every 12 days (another PR for me)
5.) That gives me a grand total of 656 miles all together (most assuredly a PR)

So from here on out I can only build on that. Right now I'm working on just getting out. My body is sore and out of shape so I don't want to get all gung-ho right away. So right this week I ran twice for 30 minutes each. Not much but I'll slowly add to that. Next week it'll be two easy rides and one run! I'll probably keep alternating like this for the next few months and throw in some body weight resistance training. The final ingredient will be a swim but we'll get to that when we get to it!

I guess that's about it as I wrap up my year. It's not been a horrible one but I've had better for sure. I'm hoping 09 turns things around a bit. I did learn I need my exercise/training so I'm going to do everything I can to keep that going. I'll also be getting a small camera so I can add some photo's to this! lol I wanna be just like all the other blogs!!!! :-)

Thanks you and Happy New Year to all!

It's been awhile...

I know, I know, it's been a while. To be honest my 'outdoor' life has sufered just as much as the rest of my life lately and I feel far more the couch lover than the Dirt Lover lately. For the past few months I've been wrapped up in school, finance issues, and work issues but I think I'm slowly coming out of that. I have a better grasp on my school schedule and a feeling that I can balance all things as I finish my first semester back w/at least an A in one class and possibly a B in the other.

Next semester I set it up so I am still with two classes but a bit more time available in and around school so that I can exercise/work-out/train (whatever you wanna call it). I am super interested in doing a Triathalon before I turn 40 and with 36 staring at me in the face I don't think I have a whole heck of a lot of time to procrastinate. As for racing in general, I desperately wanna do a couple of Southridge races again but I'm not sure work is going to be as flexible with it this year. A diffrent player is involved so we'll see.

Still up 15 pounds from 4 months ago it's time to get out and train again. I want to ride, to run and to do body weight resistance here at the house. This year it looks like I'll get in just shy of 52 rides for the year but that's because I was so into it at the beginning of the year. I'm looking for overall consistancy this year. No more 6 month gradiose efforts followed by 6 months of iffy 30 pedaling efforts. I need this, as I can handle so much more shit in everyday life when I feel healthy and have an outlet for my anger/stress!