It would not bother me near as much to ride in chilly wet weather if it hadn't been for the handful of sunny days in the 60* and 70*'s (kind of spoiled and softened me up). For the past several days the rain/drizzle/mist/cloudiness has set back in SWMO, but hopefully this week will warm up to the 50's (afternoons) and I'll quite my whining.
Watched several stages of Paris Nice and some of (still watching) Tirreno. Alberto looked pretty sharp and thought his team put him in the positions he needed come crucial times (although not really with him on climbs, but he doesn't need much help there). Interesting to see the team (Astana) Lance and Johan raped is producing more wins (not all AC) than Radio Shack (only 1 stage that I know of). I know JB is the master and he is only concerned with TdF, but as it looks early he might want to look at the Vuelta or TofCalifornia (last one said with sarcasm...) AC will have a stronger team at the TdF than last year (since only 1 teammate was riding for him).
Let's see, where did I leave off last blog...
Thursday I planned for a rest day as I had hit it pretty solid on the bike that week. I went up to SBU at noon and hopped in for b-ball planning to keep it light and easy, but the level of competition drove the pace and efforts immediately upwards and an interval session was underway. After work I had an intramural game at SBU (Ian went with me) and planned to play just a little bit, but ended up playing the entire game (short on players) so interval session #2 ensued. I was toast by the end of the evening. Not much went on at the casa that evening with Deb and the boys.
Friday the rain and chill dropped back in so I jumped on the trainer for 1:30hrs and had a true recover/easy spin ride while watching 'The Informant' (OK, but not that great of a flick). After work Deb and I took Ian to his game, while Jake finished up track practice (still not running) and then hung out with some friends. Ian's crew played their guts out and won in OT by two or three. The boys were on cloud nine (OK, maybe the coaches also...). After the game we grabbed a bite with my mom, dad, and Grandma Smith (she has made it to a ton of Ian's games this year). Back to Bolivar and not too soon afterwards to bed.
Saturday the rain/drizzle was still on us so I called it a rest day (much needed after Thursday's unexpected efforts). We spent the day taking apart a bathroom as new tile, paper, and fixtures are going in. Took some time in the afternoon to take everyone (Deb, Ian, Jake, and Andie) to see Alice In Wonderland (Ian was loving his 3D shades). Pretty good graphics and interested to see if majority of movies are now going with 3D technology; the acting/Johnny Depp hype was not that strong in my opinion, but still worth seeing at the theater. The rest of the evening included Jake and Andie handing out at the casa while Deb (she whipped up some Oatmeal Cranberry cookies - YUM!), Ian, and I did a bunch of nothing - relaxing at it's best.
Sunday we went to church services and afterwards Jake hit the trainer for a workout while Deb quizzed him for a big upcoming Spanish test.
Dale and I donned the rain capes and a couple minutes short of 3hrs later I returned to dry out. It never 'rained' on us, but a steady drizzle/mist kept everything soggy. Hard to dress for these kind of days as it hovered around mid/upper 40s, but with the dampness seemed cooler. We tried to stay on pavement, but knocked out a handful of miles on the Polk County dirt/gravel which put a brown coat on the bikes and us.
Ian and Deb spent the afternoon at the gym with some friends while I was riding, but later that afternoon E-ball as asking to go back (I swear that kid lives for IT and Deb and I have to keep the reigns pulled back constantly); we didn't go back. Instead he and I played several full court games of Nerf b-ball in his room. Several games of Scrabble were played and off to bed it was.
Jake hit the bike trainer at 5:15am this morning to help get adjusted to AM/PM practices coming on Wednesday; the day he thinks he'll give a try on his leg as the discomfort is gone.
I jumped on the trainer at lunch and got in a nice 8 x 3min efforts. Still chilly and overcast outside so all efforts at lunch were indoors on the rollers. I use rollers early on to help work smooth and higher cadence pedaling; I am well above 110 rpm keeping HR in the mid-160s (right were I want for this time of year) on efforts. After work I got back on the rollers for interval session #2. After finishing my first 10min effort my rear tire went flat (didn't have spare at office) so I rushed home, switched shoes, and took off on my mtb outside to finish up. The wind was much cooler than I expected (dressed way to lite), but quickly got into my last two 10min efforts and things warmed up quickly. By the end my legs called for No More!
Watched several stages of Paris Nice and some of (still watching) Tirreno. Alberto looked pretty sharp and thought his team put him in the positions he needed come crucial times (although not really with him on climbs, but he doesn't need much help there). Interesting to see the team (Astana) Lance and Johan raped is producing more wins (not all AC) than Radio Shack (only 1 stage that I know of). I know JB is the master and he is only concerned with TdF, but as it looks early he might want to look at the Vuelta or TofCalifornia (last one said with sarcasm...) AC will have a stronger team at the TdF than last year (since only 1 teammate was riding for him).
Let's see, where did I leave off last blog...
Thursday I planned for a rest day as I had hit it pretty solid on the bike that week. I went up to SBU at noon and hopped in for b-ball planning to keep it light and easy, but the level of competition drove the pace and efforts immediately upwards and an interval session was underway. After work I had an intramural game at SBU (Ian went with me) and planned to play just a little bit, but ended up playing the entire game (short on players) so interval session #2 ensued. I was toast by the end of the evening. Not much went on at the casa that evening with Deb and the boys.
Friday the rain and chill dropped back in so I jumped on the trainer for 1:30hrs and had a true recover/easy spin ride while watching 'The Informant' (OK, but not that great of a flick). After work Deb and I took Ian to his game, while Jake finished up track practice (still not running) and then hung out with some friends. Ian's crew played their guts out and won in OT by two or three. The boys were on cloud nine (OK, maybe the coaches also...). After the game we grabbed a bite with my mom, dad, and Grandma Smith (she has made it to a ton of Ian's games this year). Back to Bolivar and not too soon afterwards to bed.
Saturday the rain/drizzle was still on us so I called it a rest day (much needed after Thursday's unexpected efforts). We spent the day taking apart a bathroom as new tile, paper, and fixtures are going in. Took some time in the afternoon to take everyone (Deb, Ian, Jake, and Andie) to see Alice In Wonderland (Ian was loving his 3D shades). Pretty good graphics and interested to see if majority of movies are now going with 3D technology; the acting/Johnny Depp hype was not that strong in my opinion, but still worth seeing at the theater. The rest of the evening included Jake and Andie handing out at the casa while Deb (she whipped up some Oatmeal Cranberry cookies - YUM!), Ian, and I did a bunch of nothing - relaxing at it's best.Sunday we went to church services and afterwards Jake hit the trainer for a workout while Deb quizzed him for a big upcoming Spanish test.
Dale and I donned the rain capes and a couple minutes short of 3hrs later I returned to dry out. It never 'rained' on us, but a steady drizzle/mist kept everything soggy. Hard to dress for these kind of days as it hovered around mid/upper 40s, but with the dampness seemed cooler. We tried to stay on pavement, but knocked out a handful of miles on the Polk County dirt/gravel which put a brown coat on the bikes and us.
Ian and Deb spent the afternoon at the gym with some friends while I was riding, but later that afternoon E-ball as asking to go back (I swear that kid lives for IT and Deb and I have to keep the reigns pulled back constantly); we didn't go back. Instead he and I played several full court games of Nerf b-ball in his room. Several games of Scrabble were played and off to bed it was.
Jake hit the bike trainer at 5:15am this morning to help get adjusted to AM/PM practices coming on Wednesday; the day he thinks he'll give a try on his leg as the discomfort is gone.
I jumped on the trainer at lunch and got in a nice 8 x 3min efforts. Still chilly and overcast outside so all efforts at lunch were indoors on the rollers. I use rollers early on to help work smooth and higher cadence pedaling; I am well above 110 rpm keeping HR in the mid-160s (right were I want for this time of year) on efforts. After work I got back on the rollers for interval session #2. After finishing my first 10min effort my rear tire went flat (didn't have spare at office) so I rushed home, switched shoes, and took off on my mtb outside to finish up. The wind was much cooler than I expected (dressed way to lite), but quickly got into my last two 10min efforts and things warmed up quickly. By the end my legs called for No More!
Got back home, cleaned up, and sat down to some of Deb's homemade chicken enchillades. Jim and Linda (along with a couple of my nephews) were back in Bolivar so we all had a good meal together. Found package arrived from Nike for which Jake and I have been waiting. Background - Jake's XC coach let him know some time back that he hates the color pink so Jake immediately went out and bought a pair of pink running shorts and coach gave him all kind of crap. Jake continued to embrace pink at practices so for his birthday this year he and I got online at Nike.com and custom made some neon pink racing flats (LunarTrainer +) with Liberator blue and yellow trim (the picture doesn't do justice to how they turned out (pretty sweet considering pink is involved). Jake is waiting for his return to the track for his first wear. Jake has really been pushing himself on the trainer doing a tough set of intervals last night and is hoping for no pain on his light return on Wednesday morning. Looks like I am heading to KC this weekend for a Saturday morning 53 mile team time trial event. Keeping the training going throughout this week and plan to have Saturday's ride as a fitness check for the next couple events (next weekend is mtb'ing in STL and Tour of Hermann is not far behind).
It's been a while since I posted some CAT pics (he has no 'official' name so we pretty much stick with 'Cat') and although I continually say I don't care for him I actually get a kick out his presence (as one never knows where he will pop up). He loves sleeping next to people and lately splits his time between Jake and Ian's room. I was a bit surprised to walk in one day and find him on cyclingnews.com checking on Alberto's Paris Nice.
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