My favorite GPS logging website is Strava.com and the most recent challenge is the Rapha Festive 500. This challenge is to ride 500km (311 miles) from Christmas Eve to New Years Eve. Which is a lot of miles for 8 days. It's a pretty cool challenge and will certainly help get rid of some foolish eating which I did on Christmas Eve and Day. I also have the week off and figured this would be a good goal to accomplish.
Well, it's turned out to me much harder than I expected. The recent snow has limited the available roads (clear of snow) to ride on and worse yet, it got super cold this week. I rode on Christmas Eve and for the effort I put in I should have had 50 miles instead of the 25 that I actually accomplished. The going was slow and it was crazy cold. 12 degrees F, add in the wind and I only had 1 hand and zero feet that weren't froze when I got back home. The next day I went out for 45 min and only got 9 miles in and it was even colder yet. The worst part is how tired I was from those two efforts, the cold just zaps the energy out of you.
Wednesday I only did a Crossfit WOD, and then on Thursday it Snows again! This means I'm now riding indoors for the rest of the challenge. I got a couple trainer rides in the last few days, but if I was going to finish the challenge I needed some big days in on the trainer! So I bought some movies and psyched myself up for 5+ hours in on the trainer today. Well, this didn't work out so well. After the first movie, I got off the bike to rest and everything tightened up and my legs said your done. Refusing to beleive this verdict I got on the bike and thought I could work things loose again, but no dice. My legs are just overworked from everthing. Too much Crossfit and too much riding. Tendons hurt and there was just no way to continue.
At this point I'm unsure if I'll be able to ride tomorrow. If I can ride the next two days I will but really I just have too many miles left to try and get in, in the two days that remain. I'm basically only 50% complete.
I'm definately ready for a rest week, perhaps I'll start tomorrow or if possible on Tuesday. I'll see how things go tomorrow.
29 December 2012
Winter Training & Crossfit
After the Alpine Odyssey race in September, I officially started the off season and I was ready to get busy training for next year. I'm not sure why I'm more motivated this year, but it seems I'm finally mentally ready to put the hours in this winter and battle the cold weather. I've claimed for years, that I was going to train all winter, but really I was just never serious about it. This year is different though and so far things are going well.
The weather has been really nice and I've been able to ride outside a lot. We didn't start riding indoors on Tuesdays until November. We've braved some cold days on the weekends but really until the snow last Wed I've mostly been riding outside. I also switched over to base miles with only 1 day/week of high intensity, this will be a good plan through January.
The biggest news I have is that I started Crossfit in October. Depending on what information you read, you may hear things like "crossfit is dangerous" or "crossfit is a bad program for cyclists" This is a load of crap, and anyone saying such things is a complete twat waffle, YES, I just called some Carmichael Coaches Twatwaffles!
If you read the book, Weight Training for Cyclists, you will find that it pretty much prescribes Crossfit as what you should be doing over the winter for weight training. Actually, Crossfit is better than what the book recommends, but I'm not here to rant about this topic.
I do want to say how awesome Crossfit is! Absolutely, the best workout there is, no debate about it. Last year is when I first heard about Crossfit, not knowing much about it, I figured it must just be some trendy thing that would disappear eventually, or maybe at best just be another jazzercise place in a strip mall... Was I ever wrong, as more and more people I knew, and respected, starting drinking the Kool-aid I figured I better take a closer look at it.
I knew a few things when I signed up for foundation classes, First, doing something was better than nothing, next is was structured and I would not be able to slack off, and lastly, I knew it used the "bars" as I called it, but formally known as the Olympic Lifts.
Within 3 weeks I was hooked. There is no doubt in my mind, Crossfit will dominate the fitness scene as it continues to grow in popularity, and it's not going away! Not only is the workout fun, it's practical, and community is promoted equally to the workout! Imagine that, actually going to a place where you like the people there and they like you!
I could really write for hours and hours on how great Crossfit is. What I do know is that my clothes fit looser, I'm a lot stronger, and I have more energy than ever! I've always known in the back of my mind that only cycling was just not healthy enough for a balanced life, discovering Crossfit has certainly been a blessing in my life, not only just for my general health, but also for the great people I've met and look forward to seeing 3 to 4 times a week!
The weather has been really nice and I've been able to ride outside a lot. We didn't start riding indoors on Tuesdays until November. We've braved some cold days on the weekends but really until the snow last Wed I've mostly been riding outside. I also switched over to base miles with only 1 day/week of high intensity, this will be a good plan through January.
The biggest news I have is that I started Crossfit in October. Depending on what information you read, you may hear things like "crossfit is dangerous" or "crossfit is a bad program for cyclists" This is a load of crap, and anyone saying such things is a complete twat waffle, YES, I just called some Carmichael Coaches Twatwaffles!
If you read the book, Weight Training for Cyclists, you will find that it pretty much prescribes Crossfit as what you should be doing over the winter for weight training. Actually, Crossfit is better than what the book recommends, but I'm not here to rant about this topic.
I do want to say how awesome Crossfit is! Absolutely, the best workout there is, no debate about it. Last year is when I first heard about Crossfit, not knowing much about it, I figured it must just be some trendy thing that would disappear eventually, or maybe at best just be another jazzercise place in a strip mall... Was I ever wrong, as more and more people I knew, and respected, starting drinking the Kool-aid I figured I better take a closer look at it.
I knew a few things when I signed up for foundation classes, First, doing something was better than nothing, next is was structured and I would not be able to slack off, and lastly, I knew it used the "bars" as I called it, but formally known as the Olympic Lifts.
Within 3 weeks I was hooked. There is no doubt in my mind, Crossfit will dominate the fitness scene as it continues to grow in popularity, and it's not going away! Not only is the workout fun, it's practical, and community is promoted equally to the workout! Imagine that, actually going to a place where you like the people there and they like you!
I could really write for hours and hours on how great Crossfit is. What I do know is that my clothes fit looser, I'm a lot stronger, and I have more energy than ever! I've always known in the back of my mind that only cycling was just not healthy enough for a balanced life, discovering Crossfit has certainly been a blessing in my life, not only just for my general health, but also for the great people I've met and look forward to seeing 3 to 4 times a week!
27 December 2012
Too busy to blog?
This summer was a blurr, I don't recall doing anything but riding and racing. Great for fitness and fun, but not for my badly neglected blog. Last post I made was done while I was on vacation. Guess what I'm on vacation again!
So many stories and things I would like to blog about, but due to time at the moment, I'm going to give as super short highlight of a few events:
So that's pretty much sums up the past few months, which will have to be the transition into my recent undertaking: The Rapha Festive 500km Challenge #festive500
So many stories and things I would like to blog about, but due to time at the moment, I'm going to give as super short highlight of a few events:
- Finished my 3rd Leadville 100 MTB race in 10:31. 20 minutes faster than last year, but lots slower than I felt I could have done. I still feel I could have done sub-10hrs, but due to some poor training decisions 2 weeks earlier, I just wasn't ready for race day...
- Raced the Alpine Odyssey 100k Leadville Qualifier, had a good day on the bike and best of all, I QUALIFIED for the 2013 Leadville 100 MTB !!!!!!! This is awesome, next year I can focus on local races and getting upgraded.
- I also decided I was finally ready to train all winter! This seems like an elementary concept, but actually doing over the course of a winter has always defeated me. As I write this (27 Dec), I have been doing very well and keeping the hours up and getting lots of base miles in!
- Another key thing to do over the winter months is start a lifting program. I joined our local Crossfit Affiliate: Crossfit Heartland, right here in Grand Island, NE. Awesome program and wow am I getting strong and rebuilding all the weak areas/imbalances the bike creates!
So that's pretty much sums up the past few months, which will have to be the transition into my recent undertaking: The Rapha Festive 500km Challenge #festive500
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
