Hiking, Gutter cleaning and some exercise

I have heard that walking could be good for my injury so I took my son for about a 1.5 mile hike in the woods behind my home. After I got back I did some gutter cleaning. I was feeling pretty good so I decided to do some upper body, and core work and see how my indoor trainer would fee. I jumped on the indoor trainer for about 10 minutes at an easy pace. Then I did 15 minutes of easy high reps dumbell work, jumped back on the trainer for another 10 minutes, 15 minutes of core-work and 15 minutes of stretching. Went downstairs and did 15 minutes of massage with a foam roller. Now it is time to jump in the shower and get back into compression. Hopefully, those things and lots of water will be the answer to being ready to ride again tomorrow.

Compression tights-All day and all night

My hamstring is starting to feel better today. It is not 100% so I am not going to risk doing a lower body work out yet. I will do some upper body work and some core work today. More heat, compression and massage for the hamstring. If I am lucky then tomorrow I will be ready for a slow 1 hour ride.

45 minutes of massage and no relief

I had a great massage therapist who worked on my hamstring and IT band on my left side for 45 minutes today. Unfortanately, my hamstring is not feeling any better. This injury almost feels surreal at this point. I am hoping for a fast recovery and doing everything that I can think of to make it better. Rest, Ice, Compression, elevation, heat, massage, espon salt bath, advil, myofacial massage, using the stick for massage. It seems to just stay in the same painful state. Walking and riding my bike do not hurt but I am afraid they might make it worse. I hope that I will not be training free for too much longer. I guess I could continue to do upper body work and some core workouts. Even core stuff seems to use the hamstrings.

Injuries are buzz killers

I have a few injuries right now. 1. Hamstring Pull on left side 2. Right wrist issues from crash 3. Eyes are red and irritated probably from contacts. I guess this is part of gettng older. You get injured and it takes a long time to heal. Yesterday, I took the day off. I am going to do some core-work today and myofacial massage in addition to icing my hammy and take advil. I am hoping to get in for a massage tomorrow so that I can resume my workouts on Saturday.

My fingers are crossed that my hamstring will be healed quickly.

Pulled Left Hamstring

I think I must have pulled it on Saturday because that is when I first started feeling some tightness in my legs. Yesterday it was tight but not too painful. Today I woke up and it is definitely pulled. I am hoping a few days off the bike will help. I am going to take today off and tomorrow I will do some core-work and stretching. I am hoping that it will heal quickly. My first race is only 3 weeks away and I am looking for a strong showing.

Sleep was the answer

I have been feeling sluggish over the past week and thought maybe I have been overtraining. The good news is that I was feeling sluggish due to lack of sleep. Last night I slept for 10 hours and I feel awesome. Today I was able to hit my workouts hard!

AM workout
10 Minute warm up
40 minutes of functional stength workouts
30 minute mountain bike ride


PM workout
40 minute mountain bike ride
8 minute power yoga (5 times)
10 minute Core workout

Relax, Recover and stretch

Today I am going to work on some stretching and some taking it easy after 7 hours of riding this weekend. Tomorrow I hit it hard again.

AM.. 10 min warm-up
45 minute of strength building
20 min cool down 110 cadence z2

PM. 10 min warm-up
8 minute power yoga x5
3x30 spin ups
3x30 super spins
core work

The Weekend- New bike, Low body weight.

I ventured from my training program and am not liking the results. Cyclo-club programs are a lot about building strength, stamina, and efficiency. This weekend I did a 60 mile road ride on Saturday instead of doing my power work and am still feeling sluggish. I have learned the lesson and will not be venturing from my training program again.

I did a 2.5 hour mountain bike ride today which was OK. I still had tons of power in the hills and my new bike did well in the descents and over logs.

New bike is a 2008 gary fisher Procaliber which has been great with the exception of the shorter Bontrager stem so that has to go. New bike felt super light and stiff especially in rear with the carbon stays.

"The Drip" eating program has been amazing. I now am weighing in at 150.8 lbs with 8.6% body fat. I am looking forward to doing some strength building this week.

4 days off

Yesterday, I did 1.5 hours at an easy pace doing some one legged drills, box drills and float drills and then in the afternoon I did 20 minutes of core work.

I have been feeling tired for since Saturday so I think that I need some days off to rest and recover. A big part of my cycling plan entails listening to my body. My body is requiring me to take a little time off. I may so some yoga and stretching between now and Sunday but I am going to stay off the bike and trainer. Both my wife and son are sick and although I am not feeling sick I am feeling tired.

Saturday yoga Sunday- 2 hour Horse back and 65 mile ride

Saturday was an off day so I did 20 minutes of relaxation yoga. Sunday was my long ride day. I started off the day with a 2 hour horse back ride on my friend's farm in Crossville, AL. I have not ridden a horse in 11 years so I am sure that I will be feeling that tomorrow. Then a few hours late I began my 65 mile solo ride from Crossville, AL to Cedartown, GA. The last 25 miles were on the Chief Ladiga trail in Alabama which becomes the Silver Comet trail in GA. I felt pretty good but since I was solo and didn't know the route very well I took it pretty easy. I think I averaged around 19 miles per hour. The ride only had about 3,000 feet of climbing. It was a fun ride except for some of the treacherous highways.

8 minute Power Yoga 4x

Today I did the 8 minute power yoga 4 times through. Which consists of over 200 hindu squats, 4 times sitting in chair pose for a good amount of time, tons of hindu push-ups, bicycle kicks and twisting sit up position. My body is accustomed to these workout so in order to change it up I held heavier and heavier dumbells with each set of hindu squats. Other than that I did a little spinning. Tomorrow I am going to do some yoga and on Sunday a 3-4 hour road bike ride.

Darkness and a slippery creek

In the morning I did a 15 min warm up on the trainer and then about 20 minutes of some power increasing exercises like squat and press with some dumbells. In the evening I did just over an hour on the mountain bike. It started getting do dark that I couldn't see and I was still pretty far from the house. We decided to take a short cut through a creek. It was moving pretty fast and the rocks were covered with slippery slime. I was able to keep from falling over but Slid most of the way down the rocks. Tomorrow, I am doing the 8 minute power yoga 4x through and about another hour or so on the bike.

Sudden rain makes you ride fast

I did about 35 minutes of core work this morning after a 15 minute warm up. This afternoon, my night ride was cancelled due the the thunderstorms and possible tornados in the area. So I snuck out for a quick 1 hour mountain bike ride at the Line creek nature trails behind my home. When I was at about the furthest point the sideways rain started so I darted through the woods as fast as I could to get in before the storm hit.

Another Gorgeous Day in The Dirty South

Today I did my off the bike conditioning workouts in the morning after a 15 minute spin. This evening I did an hour ride with 6X30 sec power accelerations, 2X30 sec super spins and a 4minute, 3 minute, 2 minute, and 1 minute Zone 4 intervals in non preferrential gearing. Then enjoyed a 30 minute cool down as the sun was going down. Wrist is stil not healed and my left knee is feeling a little funky.

Nice Day= 3 rides

I started out my morning with my ritual of some stretching yoga, push-ups and headstand. My right wrist is still injured from the crash so I am having to do push ups and yoga moves using a fist instead of a flat hand. Then I did a 20 minute easy spin before breakfast. I headed out to Dasuset Trails at about 11am and rode for almost 3 hours. On my way home I saw lots of road bikes outside and since it was still light out I decided to do another 45 minute road ride. The weather was great and the ride was at an easy pace. I came home and did my Cool in 5 minute post ride stretching routine.

Beautiful Day In Georgia

I woke up and did my 30 minute high cadence spin on the trainer followed 25 minutes of some good core work. Around 3:30pm, I got to do my afternoon ride which consisted of 5 three minute hard intervals. After the intervals I did another 30 minutes of some easy spinning. Tomorrow is going to be a great 3-4 hour mountain bike ride at Camp Thunder.

Ouch!!

The weather was so nice today that I decided to put off my hard training day until tomorrow and just do a 45 minute mountain bike ride. I got about 10 minutes into the ride and crashed hard! Big Endo and then went down on some hard rocks. My right wrist and right knee are both injured. I should have ended the ride right away but finished the ride and went home for some advil and ice. Hopefully, my body will heal fast. I have a hard ride tomorrow, some core work to do and a super fun long ride tomorrow in the woods planned.

Back to work!

Today I woke up and did my morning exercises of some light yoga, followed by 25 minutes of high cadence spinning. Now I am heading into my office/bike training room for my afternoon workouts. I will do some light dumbell functional strength training after a 10 minute warm up. After the functional workouts then I will hit the trainer again for another 20 minute high cadence spin. This week has been great for recovery. Tomorrow' workout is faily easy as well.

Monday-Tuesday- Happy Days

2 days of rest in a row. I was hoping for an easier week as my body was screaming for some recovery and overtraining is not a direction that I want to go. Last night I did about 25 minutes of Recovery yoga and today I might go for an easy hike. This week will all be fairly easy with the exception of my Friday night ride.

Weekend Ridin' and trainin'

Saturday was a tough workout day. I started the morning with my 20 minute ez spin. In the afternoon I did a 10 minutes warm-up followed by 8 min power yoga 4x through. Interestingly, the first one was the hardest one. 8 minute power yoga entails 50 hindu squats followed by chair position and a little upper body and core work. After that I did a nice high cadence 45 minute spin followed by nice stretching routine.

Sunday- 4 hours of Camp thuder climbing and descending. It was great fun with the exception of breaking my chain. I will throw a new one today. I blasted a few of the longer climbs and did the best I could to stay up with my buddy Sean that descends like a champ.

I have a new bike on the way and am excited for it arrival. I am getting a new Gary Fisher Procaliber.