Day two of my self imposed rest and taper before Iowa. The full swim team was there this morning and I talked to the coach and the girl that had gone to the trials in Omaha. They both thought it was awesome.
And yes, my duck was back. Creature of habit. He did a few laps in my lane and then left, as apparently the commotion caused by 6 swimmers was distracting enough.
I followed the final blog post by the NYTIMES guy who did the Etape De Tour yesterday, and he finished the 105 mile ride in about 8 hours. 3 hours to do the first 60 miles and the rest of the time to finish up two major TDF climbs in the Pyrenees.
Will try and swim all week -- using the leg buoy, as I did today so I wouldn't tax my leg.
Monday, July 7, 2008
Sunday, July 6, 2008
my new friend in the pool
Woke up without any pain in the hamstring, which is good. Wonder how tyson gay feel this morning. His hamstring pull yesterday in the 200 meter was disasterous. Shame. It will be interesting to see if he can recover in 5 weeks for the olympics.
I had already decided to not ride for the day and week, and rest my leg, so I swam instead. The pool was clean and clear, which was great, as a lot of days they have the chemical balance wrong and its cloudy, although it's a "salt" pool now, as they switched a few years ago from straight chemicals.
I noticed that a duck had joined me for my swim today from the lake next to the pool, and I was not pleased, as I am not a fan of injesting even the small amount of water that I do while swimming with ducks in the pool.
I tried to shoo him away by splashing him, but that was, obviosly futile. Water off this duck's back.
So I swam, finished and was doing my post stretching exercising when the duck paddled over, hopped out of the pool and came over to sniff me out.
I thought it odd, but was unsure of what natural preditors ducks have these days.
Then the duck nipped my toe with his beak, so I sprayed him with my water bottle. He didn't like that. I finished stretching and walked out, with the duck waddling after me. I walked to my car and he still followed me, and did so all the way to my car.
Will swim tomorrow too,
I had already decided to not ride for the day and week, and rest my leg, so I swam instead. The pool was clean and clear, which was great, as a lot of days they have the chemical balance wrong and its cloudy, although it's a "salt" pool now, as they switched a few years ago from straight chemicals.
I noticed that a duck had joined me for my swim today from the lake next to the pool, and I was not pleased, as I am not a fan of injesting even the small amount of water that I do while swimming with ducks in the pool.
I tried to shoo him away by splashing him, but that was, obviosly futile. Water off this duck's back.
So I swam, finished and was doing my post stretching exercising when the duck paddled over, hopped out of the pool and came over to sniff me out.
I thought it odd, but was unsure of what natural preditors ducks have these days.
Then the duck nipped my toe with his beak, so I sprayed him with my water bottle. He didn't like that. I finished stretching and walked out, with the duck waddling after me. I walked to my car and he still followed me, and did so all the way to my car.
Will swim tomorrow too,
Saturday, July 5, 2008
The Hamstring Issue Returns
Had basically 2 rides today. The first 90 minutes was wonderful, and caught some nice wind riding across a one mile dam at 20 mph -- and the second 90 minutes I could feel my sore hamstring and decided to "coast" in pedalling softly.
And out there on the road I decided to shut down my biking for a week. My fitness level is pretty much where I need it to be for the RAGBAI, so I'll rest the leg and see what happens. The RAGBRAI starts in 2 weeks from tomorrow.
And out there on the road I decided to shut down my biking for a week. My fitness level is pretty much where I need it to be for the RAGBAI, so I'll rest the leg and see what happens. The RAGBRAI starts in 2 weeks from tomorrow.
Friday, July 4, 2008
Sandbagging
My favorite part of the ride today was mile 14, where there's a nice gentle downhill for about a mile (with one short hill in the middle) just before the 4 way stop at the entrance to my development; I asked my cycling partner to hammer it while I drafted him and kept asking him to go one more gear until he hit about 26 of 27 mph and we flew home. It was one great mile!
John had to peal off after our hour and I was going for another 2 hours. We'd picked up another rider, about 15 minutes into our ride, who caught us from behind and was content to draft us for the full hour, not wanting to ride ahead because he was unsure of the roads and just getting back on his bike after some years of not riding. He was certainly pleasant enough, although said little as John and I rode pretty much side by side for the hour with him right behind us. And he missed our hammering last mile dash as his drafting skills were not up to the challenge, or he felt uncomfortable doing so.
When John turned for home he joined me for the continuation of the ride, as I invited him along -- and he followed me and promptly sped up another 2 mph faster than the three of us had been going, and suddenly I was struggling to keep up. Mind you, if my leg was 100% I could have, but I couldn't see the point in risking injury -- so I kept my pace and forced him to slow up -- since I knew the way and he didn't. Thankfully he pulled off after another hour when he was in more familiar territory.
But clearly this guy had some decent ability. For a person not to have ridden in years, and just get back on the bike and do about 35 miles at 18-20 is pretty good, from my slow vantage point. He had told me that he was content to do 15/16 -- but he was clearly faster than that.
I finished today's 48 in good aerobic fashion, but can still feel the groin soreness and the hamstring soreness. Clearly doing 160 miles a week is not facilitating healing!
Today was the one month "anniversary" of getting back on the bike after my 2 month layoff. Getting back in shape.Slowly. And with the exception of the non-healing injury I'd say my fitness level is back where it typically is this time of year.
John had to peal off after our hour and I was going for another 2 hours. We'd picked up another rider, about 15 minutes into our ride, who caught us from behind and was content to draft us for the full hour, not wanting to ride ahead because he was unsure of the roads and just getting back on his bike after some years of not riding. He was certainly pleasant enough, although said little as John and I rode pretty much side by side for the hour with him right behind us. And he missed our hammering last mile dash as his drafting skills were not up to the challenge, or he felt uncomfortable doing so.
When John turned for home he joined me for the continuation of the ride, as I invited him along -- and he followed me and promptly sped up another 2 mph faster than the three of us had been going, and suddenly I was struggling to keep up. Mind you, if my leg was 100% I could have, but I couldn't see the point in risking injury -- so I kept my pace and forced him to slow up -- since I knew the way and he didn't. Thankfully he pulled off after another hour when he was in more familiar territory.
But clearly this guy had some decent ability. For a person not to have ridden in years, and just get back on the bike and do about 35 miles at 18-20 is pretty good, from my slow vantage point. He had told me that he was content to do 15/16 -- but he was clearly faster than that.
I finished today's 48 in good aerobic fashion, but can still feel the groin soreness and the hamstring soreness. Clearly doing 160 miles a week is not facilitating healing!
Today was the one month "anniversary" of getting back on the bike after my 2 month layoff. Getting back in shape.Slowly. And with the exception of the non-healing injury I'd say my fitness level is back where it typically is this time of year.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Etape De Tour
Swim was fine, although at 5:45 when the alarm went off I seriously thought about blowing it off and sleeping an extra hour.
But I swam.
Finished off Beethoven and a few Rossini overtures.
Read the ongoing blog in the NYTIMES about a recreational rider who has decided to train for 2 months for the Etape de Tour, wan annual event where amatuers can test themselves on a segment of the tour, typically one of the tougher stages (Etape). I believe they sweep the slower folks off as the real tour comes through in the afternoon. His blog is good and it's a stage I have always wanted to do, but figured my time would get me swept off. His ride is this Sunday, I believe.
Hoping to do 45 to 50 tomorrow and finish the week off at 160. And that will end my first month of training this year with week long totals of about 90,90, 145, 160 if memory serves me right. I will need to Excel this soon. That's about 500 for the month, which is decent. But only 2 more full weeks until Ragbrai, and I suppose I should taper off the last week.
But I swam.
Finished off Beethoven and a few Rossini overtures.
Read the ongoing blog in the NYTIMES about a recreational rider who has decided to train for 2 months for the Etape de Tour, wan annual event where amatuers can test themselves on a segment of the tour, typically one of the tougher stages (Etape). I believe they sweep the slower folks off as the real tour comes through in the afternoon. His blog is good and it's a stage I have always wanted to do, but figured my time would get me swept off. His ride is this Sunday, I believe.
Hoping to do 45 to 50 tomorrow and finish the week off at 160. And that will end my first month of training this year with week long totals of about 90,90, 145, 160 if memory serves me right. I will need to Excel this soon. That's about 500 for the month, which is decent. But only 2 more full weeks until Ragbrai, and I suppose I should taper off the last week.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Fastest Morning RIde
I'm almost 4 weeks back into my training and John and I had our fastest morning hour so far, riding pretty much side by side the whole way -- meaning there was no drafting involved on my part. The conditions were perfect, identical to Monday: no wind, no humidity and cool temps. We averaged 16mph. Behind him I might have done 17 or 18 today. With 50 on Saturday, 28 on Sunday and 30 so far this week I'm at 108 for the week and hope to do 50 on July 4th and end up with about 160 plus 2 miles of swimming.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Swimming to Beethoven
Actually the soundtrack to Immortal Beloved, so named because Beethoven penned a letter to a woman using that phrase. He was a solitary man with a bad temper, few friends, and constant stomach illnesses. He was constantly on the move, stole his nephew from his brother's widow in a long court case, and of course wrote some of the greatest music in history. He and Mozart are generally rated tied for first as greatest classical musicians.
The swim team was back this morning, although the coach and one of their girls is in Omaha for the Olympic trials. 200 meter breaststroke.
Was very dehydrated on my scale this morning at 56%. Either the scale is wrong or I need to hydrate more.
The swim team was back this morning, although the coach and one of their girls is in Omaha for the Olympic trials. 200 meter breaststroke.
Was very dehydrated on my scale this morning at 56%. Either the scale is wrong or I need to hydrate more.
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