You know that record I set last week for most flights of stairs ever completed in one session? Yeah, it's been bested. Today I did 19. Not bad if I do say so myself.
Sunday I realized how run down I was after four hard days and so yesterday I took it super easy and it paid off today. I'm not sure if I have taken enough time off but that should be evident by tomorrow or Friday at the latest. Anyway, today I felt fairly good again so that was nice.
"Listen to your body!"
"Know when to say when!"
"Be flexible, don't let your training schedule dictate what you do!"
"Take a rest every once in a while!"
Today I did none of these and it was repeatedly made obvious to me that instead of riding - up some steep hills no less - I should have taken the day off and hit the spa. Sometimes it's interesting how hard it is to recognize signs in yourself that would be totally obvious in others.
Another first (as in a new activity) for Martin. Yes.
Today I participated in the second event in the Fort Steilacoom Off-Road Duathlon series put on by 4th Dimension Racing (that also happens to promote the most excellent NW Epic Series in the summer). The long course (the short version included a 6 mile bike leg) consisted of 5 km run, 15 mile bike, 5 km run.
Fresh? Not so much. But that's okay, this has been a solid week and I'm good with that. Even so, my performance was not shabby.
There were only five us at Cycle University this morning but it was almost all of the stalwarts. As has been my habit lately, I setup camp next to Ryan D for motivation. As Martha used to say, "It's a good thing." And it keeps me honest.
Holy hate… I think today was the longest I have ever spent on this set of steps. And I still have two weeks to go! :(
It was emphatically driven home to me today that friends while working out can be essential so thank you Jim K for being here with me week in and week out. Stairs are hard. Alone they are sometimes unfathomable.
Best trainer workout of the winter season yet!
When I started on the trainer back in the fall of 2011 I was completing workouts at a threshold setting of 300 watts and today I started at 330 and finished at 350. Nice. Yes it was hard but for a change I did not lose focus and kept my RPMs up. Must be because it's my birthday. :)
What better workout to do on your birthday than a classic 2 x 20? One with hills.
I was a little tired this morning because I could not go to sleep very fast last night and then I woke up at 4 but the run felt good.
This was my first 'fast' run in ages. And by ages I mean months(?).
Weights also went well and today I realized that I definitely don't want to go any heavier than what I am currently lifting. It's not much but what am I trying to do? Just build some muscle endurance is all, nothing else.
In spite of the fact that I now have moon boots for running I was still a little sore and tight after yesterday's outing.
These new shoes are really helping my right foot. I feel like my stupid injury can finally heal up while I continue running. Nice. Of course I was expecting some soreness from a long run but these things have been remarkably effective.
I think I recovered pretty well from yesterday, bonus.
So when I got the email from Lane S that he was going to, "run 16 miles at about 7:30 pace with my friend John from college" I was like sure, I'm in.
When was my last run? Oh, about two weeks ago. And it pretty much killed me.
Whatever, nothing like getting in over my head. Again.
The University of Washington campus is HUGE. Not only is the campus big, each building has nooks and crannies especially the older architecture. And what else does old architecture have especially when it's situated on top of a massive heating/cooling/electrical infrastructure? Tunnels of course.
Here are some CAD files of said tunnels.
http://www.reddit.com/r/SeattleUrbEx/comments/ndh5e/redditor_posts_cad_files_of_uws_underground/
Here is a PDF of the tunnels.
Field trip anyone?
Tis the season for indoor cycling I guess. Unless you have lots more free time than I do.
Thanks to stalwarts like Ryan D and Tony B for showing up - company, especially good company - is SO important for these workouts.
New milestone for me today, I set my threshold power at 330 and never had to quit pedaling even once during the workout. Nice. Not such a big deal for some people but I seem to have a tendency to lose focus/get tired and stop pedaling for a few seconds at least once in a workout… Not today.
Okay, my legs are still flagging some but once I got going in the gym it was fine.
Late last night the precipitation started again but this time it was freezing rain instead of snow so there was a 1/4" crust on top of everything. The crust let people do stuff like this.
Good friends are good to have.
Seattle schools were shut down, the UW was shut down, Metro buses were running on emergency snow schedules; hell, even Cycle University was officially shut down. But we still showed up and trained.
Say hello to the (hilly variant) of the 2 x 20 workout.
Just in case you were wondering, although cycling and running don't seem to use the same major muscle groups, fatigue from one activity does carry over to the other. Yep, it sure does.
My first time up the stairs today was scary it felt so bad… After yesterday's workout it's no wonder. This was the first time I questioned my strategy of showing up early to get in some 'warm-up walkers' and almost went back to the car to sit down and wait from Jim K.
In the end I kept walking and in retrospect I guess it did help some… it's just that not much was going to help me today.
Like a lot of my teammates I did not get outside to ride yesterday as that is when the snow started falling in earnest here in Seattle.
Luckily one of our sponsors is Cycle University and they have a first-rate training facility.
I met Ryan D and Dean J and we did two 60-minute workouts. Nice.
And by nice I of course mean hard! I think this is the first time I have bonked on the trainer.
A friend of mine just got into the Dirty Kanza 200.
First of all, congratulations Paul, this event only accepts 350 entrants and this year it sold out in 2:38. Amazing.
Secondly, how cool is this race? That's rhetorical, it's freaking epic.
From the rider's bible.
"If you do not feel you are prepared to meet such a challenge, please stay home. (For your sake, as well as ours.)"
Woke up at 4. Not good.
Other than that today was a really nice ride. And by 'really nice' I mean the following.
Nice.
Today at Cycle University I started the trainer workout at a threshold setting of 330 watts and did NOT have to back off. Goal one accomplished.
And at lunch I was again able to finish the usual amount of reps in my core routine. Nice way to cap the work week I must say.
I had hoped to get in a quick run at lunch but no time. Rats. I find that some sort of easy cardio is essential when doing weights and intervals just to loosen you up so you can do it again. Oh well.
Except for the leg press which was very hard today everything felt fine. I feel like I'm giving my self the same amount of rest between sets as always but today I was barely able to do those last couple of reps for each of my leg press sets. The human body is fickle I guess.
The leg extension machine I usually use was out of order so I jumped over to this other brand. It was much harder. Curious actually as it felt almost exactly twice as hard as normal… so I had to cut my weight in half. Just one more blow to the ego. :)
Nice.
Even after a hard weekend and lots of leg busting work yesterday, today was still a good workout. I like that.
Thanks to Cycle University for their generous support and to my teammates for showing up and providing peer support.
Oh yeah, and I did my normal core routine today! By the skin of my freaking teeth but I did it. Martin gets a gold star.
Man, I was more than a little worried that this weekend had crushed my legs and that today would SUCK. It did not. Nice.
It did take me a bit to warm up on the stairs but once I did there was no fall-off as on some days and my time in the gym was not bad either.
Yikes…!
Today was my first day doing my core routine since 19 December. Not sure about you but when I take that much time off, especially when it comes to weak body parts, I can tell. Big time.
I had to decrease the time for the plank and the reps for some other exercises but I got through it. And hopefully I can be more regular now that the holiday break is over.
ASIDE - why is 'holiday' so often synonymous with lazy/unhealthy/fat? I suppose one could take a 'fitness holiday' instead of a 'holiday (read: break) from fitness' but most of us don't do that.
Just Tim F and me today. Which was kind of nice.
Man, after yesterday my legs were TRASHED. I rode down to Leschi to meet Tim and from the first pedal stroke as we pulled out of there I felt like utter dog doo. Heavy? Yes. Slow? Yes. Tired? Yes. Still chock full of lactic acid? Yes. Sweet, let's do this.
Oh man, this might not have been the smartest thing I have ever done.
After a solid week of training I opted to tag along with slow down a bunch of real runners. Good times.
I hooked up with Justin A, Bill H and freaking SIX OTHER GUYS; all of them bona fide ultra runners. Needless to say I was not able to keep up but they all graciously waited for me. Several times.
Gotta love it when the 'new guy' shows up and is in way over his head.
Since Wednesday's CompuTrainer session was not ideal in that my unit was experiencing some technical difficulties I went back again today. Plus, I used to do this workout twice/week anyway…
My unit had some issues once again but in the defense of Cycle University, this seems to be inherent in the system to some extent and having everything work flawlessly is a pretty high bar for CompuTrainer to step over. Unfortunately.
My first ride was aborted but my second was good.
Ah Howe Street… how do I love thee?
If you want a quality workout in a minimum of time, not much beats going up and down stairs for efficiency.
Having a friend there by your side is a HUGE bonus so thanks to Jim K for doing this with me year after year after year. Good times.
OMG… will wonders never cease? Martin "old skool" Criminale got a power meter. I know, I'm shitting myself. Today was my first time using it.
Say hello to stats, right? I mean you have to a numbers freak/nerd to want one of these things; can I get an amen? Whatever, we'll see how it goes. One bummer is I only got the hub because the price was fantastic and my winter bike has disk brakes so this is only usable on my summer ride. At least I can use my summer bike on the trainer.
Thanks again to Cycle University for providing their fantastic facility for this.
Had a good workout although my back felt suspect in the beginning. Solution? Get back to my core routine. In the meantime, I just did a warm-up set of squats. That was the ticket.
I felt much better today than yesterday… Apparently the college loser in me is still present as I drank much too much at our New Year's Eve party and paid the price yesterday. Laughable in retrospect, painful at the time.
So today I got in a fun ride AND Shelley and I went snowshoeing. Good times.
