Monday, January 26, 2009

Sicker than I thought

I thought I only had a cold, but I was wrong. I took it easy all day Saturday, hoping to feel well enough to go out & ride on Sunday afternoon. It turned out that I didn't really sleep much at all that night & felt even worse on Sunday morning. Early Sunday afternoon, I went to the med stop nearby to get checked out. It turns out I have a case of bronchitis. The doctor gave me a prescription for some antibiotics & some Tussin X cough medicine with codine. I was able to get some sleep last night & just took it easy today all day long. I'm feeling a bit better, but I told my boss I was going to take a sick day tomorrow just to give me one more day of rest. I'm hoping to be better by the weekend, so I can hopefully get back on the bike. I really do miss riding. Oh well, such is life, but I should be better here soon & back on track again. Thanks for reading.

Friday, January 23, 2009

I really hate catching a cold!!!!!!

I thought after the ride I was able to do on Monday I was on my way to feeling much better. Boy was I wrong!!!!!!!!!! This whole week has been a total wash for doing any kind of training. Instead of getting better, this cold has gotten worse. I'm able to survive the workday, but when I get home, I'm just totally drained. I was hoping this was going away, but it seems like I get tired sooner & sooner each day. I almost called sick into work today, but somehow I was able to finish the day. When I got home, I pretty much took a shower & laid in the bed to take a nap. I feel a bit better now, but still quite tired. Doesn't look like I'm getting much riding in this weekend with the way I'm feeling, besides the forecast for tomorrow doesn't look that promising anyway. Maybe with resting all day tomorrow, I might be able to get a ride in sometime Sunday for a bit. I'll just have to wait & see how things go day to day. Thanks for reading.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Weekend Wrap-up

This past weekend really sucked for doing any kind of workouts. I wasn't feeling well the entire weekend. I don't know if it was the flu or not, all I know is that I felt really rundown & tired the entire weekend. I just took it easy & rested. The rest was needed greatly. Yesterday I was feeling well enough & the weather co-operated enough to let me get in a 2 hour ride. It really felt good to be on the road again. My legs felt pretty good the entire ride. I had a headwind on the way out but the tailwind on the way back certainly was fun. I was supposed to be off totally, but seeing as I missed all weekend, I thought doing a outdoor ride was certainly a good way to make up for the weekend. Today was the 30 minute Recovery Yoga routine from Cyclo-Zen. The workout is getting a bit easier, but it's still challenging for me. That's about all I have for now, thanks for reading.

Friday, January 16, 2009

I'm feeling it still

My legs are certainly still feeling the workout from Tuesday. On Wednesday my workout consisted of warming up for 10 minutes on the bike, then doing Body Weight Conditioning Circuits #2 & #3, then it was back on the bike for 30 mintues, the first 10 minutes warming the legs back up, then 2 x 5 minutes in a big gear with minute rest between sets. After that it was 5 minutes at a high cadence with 10 seconds of super-spinning inserted in each minute in the small chain ring. The rest of the workout was just cooling down. Yesterday, it was just a totally bad day. Things started bad early at work & just stayed that way the entire day. By the time I got home from work, I was tired & really didn't feel like doing a workout. I feel kind of guilty about not doing it, but my mind wouldn't have been into it, so I would have really not gained anything from the workout. I possibly would have hurt something by not really paying attention to the workout. Today was a much better day. I did today's workout which consisted of doing Resistance Training - Funcitonal Circuit #3 from Cyclo-Core. That workout is challenging for me, it definately works my balance doing some of the exercises. The last part of the workout was doing Cyclo-Zen's Fix the Back Core Training Program: both the Strength & Flexibility workouts. I feel much better now that I was able to get the workout done. I was hoping to get outdoors & ride tomorrow, but the weather isn't looking that great to ride outdoors, so I guess it will be trainer time. I also got a surprise in the mail today. I received my Walz cycling cap for winning last month. I must say it really is a nice looking cap, especially with The Everyday Cyclist Challenge logo stitched on the side. I can't wait to show it to my friends. Thanks for reading & the comments, they really are a help to me.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Today was tough!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today was the other workout I dread doing besides the Ab & Core workout from Cyclo-Core. Today started out with the 45 minute Yoga Spin workout from Cyclo-Zen. The yoga parts of the workout are the easy part, it's the spin part that will flat wear you out. The harder the gearing got, the lower my cadence became. I tried to keep up a good quick cadence, but by the time you are in a 53 x 15 or 53 x 14, it's just flat out hard to pedal 100 + rpms in that gearing. As I was watching the spin part of the video, I noticed something each time they did a close up of the back of Graeme's bike. Maybe I was just delirious from the workout, but it seemed to me that each time they showed the rear wheel of his bike, it was in the same gear on the rear cassette. As I progressed to the harder gears, it seemed that Graeme was having no problem with a high cadence in the same gearing. I guess I was just suffering more than I thought I was during the spinning part of the workout. If anyone else has noticed the same thing, please let me know. If you haven't noticed that, I'll just chalk it up to my semi-insanity. As if the Yoga Spin workout wasn't enough torture tonight, the program called for one time through the Power workout from Cyclo-Zen also. That workout may only last 8 minutes, but it's certainly 8 minutes of pain, torture, & total agony. I actually was happy to be able to do all the exercises in that workout, but I know I'll be feeling it later this week. The workout ended with the cool down & stretching routine from Cyclo-Core. That certainly was a welcome relief after all that torture!!!!!!!!!!! I'm hoping to wake up tomorrow not too sore, but we'll just have to wait & see.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Catch up time

I'm sorry there hasn't been any posts since last week, but they changed my work schedule on me, so by the time I get home, eat, let the food settle for a bit, then do the workouts, it really doesn't leave much time for posting as often as I would like. I'm going to have to re-schedule some things so I can try to post more often. Last week I did pretty good following the workout schedule. The only workout I really had problems with was the ab & core bonus workout. I was sore from doing it last Tuesday, so when it came time to do it again on Thursday, my abs were still quite sore. I did the best I could, but had problems with some of the exercises. After that it was Body Resistance workouts #2 & #3. I was fine with them except for having to do more crunches. As if I wasn't sore enough from working abs on Tuesday, doing the same workout on Thursday, I had even more ab work to do with Body Resistance #3. Needless to say, I wasn't very successful completing that part of the workout. My abs were just too sore & I was planning on going for a long ride on the weekend. I did the best I could for that day. On Saturday I was able to get a nice long ride in. I was able to spend over 4 hours on the bike. After getting home & eating some food, I did the 30 minute recovery Yoga workout from Cyclo-Zen. Today I was able to get a Bowflex workout in & did about an hour spinning on the trainer. I'll do my best to update more often. Thanks to everyone who reads this & those who leave comments. Your comments & support are greatly appreciated, more than you'll ever know. Thanks again for reading.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Time for an overdue update

Sorry for no posts lately, but the new year has been quite hectic already. I was able to get in all the workouts for last week. It took some doing & sacrifice to get them all in but I managed somehow to get it done. I was able to get out & ride on Sunday with my friend Eddie, we just did a 2 hour steady effort ride, it was a good ride with a great companion. I've learned a lot from Eddie & take what he tells me in, whether it be good or bad. I trust him when it comes to cycling & racing, seeing as he's been at it for much longer than I have. I wasn't able to get a ride in yesterday like I wanted to, I had so much stuff to finish up after the holidays, that yesterday was the only time I was going to have enough time to get it done. Today was the workout I probably hate the most. Today started out with the Bonus Ab & Core Conditioning workout from Cyclo-Core. I'm always sore for a few days after that workout & I know it's really going to hurt seeing as I haven't done it for quite sometime. During the workout it certainly showed how far off I had gotten. After that suffering was over, it was time to do the Body Weight Resistance workouts #2 & #3 from Cyclo-Core. I managed to do the Static Body Pike exercise 3 times today & I was certainly feeling it the last time. I had to skip the Twisting Crunches & Standard Crunches from Body Weight workout #3 because my abs were starting to hurt already. I'm hoping to get some miles in tomorrow but it will probably be on the trainer. The forecast calls for 20-30 mph winds tomorrow. I'll just have to see what the weather brings & go from there. That's about all I have for now, stay tuned for more posts....