Ride on

Saturday – started the day with a yoga class then headed outside on my mountain bike. I have an old school mountain bike so there are no shocks which makes riding terrain a bike tough as I have to use my body as my shocks. I went with Chris who is an awesome mountain bike racer to moon lake park and worked on some trails there.  Chris helped me out by showing me how to ride over logs and what lines to take over rocky terrain. I completely wiped out once but when I was working on riding technical sections over and over chris was kind enough to catch me before I fell a couple of times. Or he was at least there in case I fell. Something that helps mentally. I did better riding the trails on the way out than I did on the way back so I must have picked up a few things. I am taking my mtn bike into the shop to get the handlebars moved since I don’t have shocks it would make it easier to keep the weight off my hands if they are in a higher position. If I commit to doing this I am going to need to get a new mountain bike with suspension and disc brakes.

Sunday – Started the day with yoga again then headed out on my road bike for a chilly 2 hour ride. I pretty much refuse to ride my trainer until I am absolutely forced too as I pretty much hate the damn thing! I got in 28+miles in about and hour and fifty minutes. I would have liked to do a bit more but I was pressed for time. My feet were like ice blocks when I got home but everything else was ok.

Monday – totally slept in this morning as I was up late last night. Crossfit  - warmup row 800 meters, then 10 pullups and backsquats 10 @45, 10 @ 65, 10 @ 95 . Wod was 5 rounds of

10 backsquats @ 95 lbs

5 pullups

Row 400 meters.

Time 17:25.

I was probably a little more tired from this workout than I should have been immediately afterwards. My knee is a little twitchy afterwards so I am doing to have to watch it a bit.  No real pain but if I overdid it right now that would be a bad thing. I am trying to proceed cautiously. I didn’t go too heavy on the back squats because of the knee. I was able to get through them without breaking the set.  Pullups are coming along too. I was getting the rowing done in about 2 minutes each round. Hitting up a yoga class again tonight. Gotta take care of the knee.

CFE website

A photo from my recent cross race made  www.crossfitendurance.com today. That was pretty fun!

water running - 10 minutes easy then 5 rounds of 4 hard 1 easy and a 10 minute cooldown.

crossfit - warmup 20 pushups, 20 squats, 10 pullups (strict with band) 20 kb swings increasing weight from 25-35. and 10 walking lunges! whoo hoo! i haven't been able to do them without pain since the spring! usually they hurt from the very first one so this was a big step hopefully in the right direction. i think i need to keep building on what i am doing right now. the real test will be when i add running on land back in. the water running has been helping so much and well as the yoga.  I really feel this knee problem was mostly tight hips and lower leg related.

Wod 5 rounds of
20 kettlebell swings @ 35 lbs
20 pushups
time 9:59

did some stretching afterwards. the lower kinetic chain is feeling it from the deadlifts yesterday!

yoga and some biking is on for the weekend.

Limestone cross video

Here is a video from sundays cross race. 

This has the whole race recorded. when you hear the music at about 8:30 minute he has completed one lap. 


wednesday - water running - 10 minutes easy to warm up then 10 minutes of 1 minute hard 1 minute recover followed by 5 minutes easy, 10 minutes of 1 minute hard 1 minute recover followed by 5 minutes easy, and 10 minutes of 1 minute hard 1 minute recover followed by a 10 minute cooldown.

Went to yoga class in the evxening.

thursday
Swim this morning - warmup 300, kick 100, pull 200, then 20 minute Time trial. I felt pretty good in the water today but my lap counting was horrendous. I know i had over 40 but that is as close as i can get it. Then cooled down with 100 breast, 100 back, 100 fly kick. 

Crossfit - i was looking forward to this one because i like deadlifts and toe to bar but i didn't do very well. I am just not in CF shape after so much time off.  warmup, 10 pullups, 10 pushups, 20 squats then  deadlift warmup of 95, 115, 135 with 10 reps each. Wod was AMRAP 20 minutes of 10 deadlifts @ 135 and 5 toes to bar. I got 6 full rounds and the deadlifts in the 7th. I probably went heavier than i should have. my grip was killing me on the deads and the hangs and afterwards. I used to be able to throw this kind of weight around much easier so i thought this was a good weight but i haven't done dead in so long i guess i was wrong. it will come back. I also did 5 sets of 10 floor wipers with a 45 bar. just for fun.

Had my ENT appointment today and I still have a sinus infection so I am on a stronger antibiotic for 3 weeks and then i have to go back. He also changed all of my allergy meds. I really hope this works this time. the only good news is that he didn't find any poylps. that's a relief since i don't want to do that surgery again anytime soon.

Hess Mess Race Video

Put the bike on the trainer this morning. I hate it! I know it’s a good thing but not a fun one for sure. Warmup 5 easy, 2 hard, 3 easy. Then a 15 minute TT followed by a 5 minutes cooldown. Tried to push some gear but watched the knee for strain. Did good and felt ok afterwards.

Crossfit – Front squats.  

BW x 5

45*5

50*5

55*5

60*5

65*5

70*5

75*5

80*5

85*5

90*5felt like work from here on

95*5

100*3 felt the form going so I stopped. Want to watch the knee.

This almost feel like rehab workouts because I want to work the knee but not overdo it. I am still being somewhat protective of it.  I wanted to work on connecting my kipping pull-ups so I did a set of 2 connected kipping pull-ups between each squat.

Got my vega protein bar order from veganproteins.com – check them out! I think they taste awesome!! Giacomo was also nice enough to send me some of the endurance bars to test out. If you’re looking for any kind of vegan sport supplement check on veganproteins.com they are the best!

Here is a video of the hess mess cyclocross race I did 2 weekends ago.  You can see me briefly in the prologue of the course before the guy passes me. But mostly you get to see the course and how fun cyclocross is.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8-hnTllnGM

Limestone cross at the kiln Race Report

It was 20 degrees when we arrived for the race. you can see how visibly frosted the race course was. Chris tried to convince me this was good thing but i knew it was going to be a tough day. We went and checked out the pit bikes since neither of us brought spare bikes. they had awesome specialied cru bikes with sram components and ipp wheels. I considered crashing my bike on the course just for the upgrade! Tried to stay warm before the race. Got on the course for a preview right before my race took off. I couldn't feel my fingers to shift! I felt like it was good course with some challenges but overall a good cross course.  At the starting line I was trying to bang my hands together to get some blood to them so i could shift my bike. my toes were also cold. but once we started racing I was ok. We started right on the course. I didn't get out as well as I would have liked. Overall most of the course was grass and mud. or should i say frosted grass and icy mud.  Those sections featured sharp turns, off camber turns, 180 turns up and downhill.  The sections near the pit had little dirt moguls which i just found really fun so i would speed up going through there everytime. There was a little forested section that had a steep uphills on loose terrain. But i got screwed there everytime. there was little log as your entered there and the riders in front of me would dismount to run the hill so i would loose all momentum as it was basically single track there so i had to dismount and run the hill too. i might have run it anyway but i never even got to try to ride it. there was also a steep loose descent that  i rode. i was hoping for the best because if you scrwed up there you were going into the trees.  then were was a big open steep hill that i rode partially and ran partially meaning when i was fresh i ran more of it then when i was tired. I probably should have toughed it out a little more there. the off camber descent from that climb was another one of my favorite sections.  There was only one set of barriers and i thought they were actually pretty low. not complaining about that! I was able to run over them easily. but where they were setup you came around a corner and hit them and them immediately made a turn off them so that was a little different for me. usually they are setup in a straight line section of the course. then you had to ride turn into and out of a pavilion, that was fun!  but right after it was probably the most technical section of the course where a bunch of racer/spectators would stand and drink and generally cheer/harass the racers. as I come out of the pavilion I hear them chanting at me "ride it, ride it, ride it!" meaning the really steep loose dirt hill with tree roots, rocks. etc. to slow you down as your trying to get up this grade. i was like nope! so my "fans" were like aaawwww!  I wish i could have ridden it but i didn't have enough speed coming out of the turns to make it. the descent was little rough coming out of there. They only other sketchy section was crossing the creek.  there was series of tight muddy turns onto the pedestrian bridge. but the way they banked if you screwed up and fell it was possible to go into the creek since there was nothing there to stop you. i slowed down enough there to make sure i was going to make it onto the bridge. the section of the course was really torn up by the time i was on it so those turns were super muddy and some slippage was occuring. On one of my later laps when the course was slickening I started to take some of the turns little wider to try to get some traction. One of the ladies behind me slid out on a turn and crashed right into my taking me off my bike. I lost 3 positions when that happened and i was only able to gain 2 back by the end of the race but that's bike racing. I finished in 6th for my category and 14th overall. this again showed me i need to work on my technical skills and get mountain biking so i can improve going forward. It was a fun race. Afterwards a little girl came up to me to meet me because i was her favorite racer. she was calling me the red racer because my bike is red. That was super fun. I stayed and watched some of the other races. One of the Elites was riding a KHS bike ( although a nicer one than mine)! Then took a yoga class at night. I felt tired during the race but i was fine afterwards. I  probably could have pushed it a little harder. I got stiff in the car but I felt great during and after the yoga. Totally tired getting up this morning. didn't get to bed on time again. Swim went well though. warmup was 300 swim, 200 pull, 100 kick. then 10 rounds of 100s on 20 seconds rest. they started at 1:30 for the first few. then drifted to 1:35 and finally 1:40.  I took a minute and then did 10 rounds of  50s on 10 seconds rest. I was pretty tired by the point so they were like 45-50 seconds. I did this workout by myself so i didn't have anyone to push me through it. Cooldown was 100 of breast and back stroke. Then some crossfitting. warmup was 20 thrusters with 10 lb dumbbells and 25 situps. WOD was 5 rounds of 20 Thrusters with 16lb dumbbells and 25 situps. took me 8:24.  I was able to keep going through this one at a good clip. went unbroken. probably good rehab for the knee. I probably need to go heavier with the weights net time but it it s good to ease the knee back into it. I went to wegmans grocery shopping tonight and I got a nice little christmas gift from them of a package of products, a generous gift card, and some coupons for free things throughout the store. yes i spend a lot of money on groceries but i still found that to be a nice touch from the store.

crossin

Tuesday night - i did my bike wod on the trainer and that was making my knee hurt a bit which is frustrating. I know it is from adding the CF back in but i hope this doesn't become an issue again. the wod was 5 minutes easy 5 minutes moderate and then 5 minutes of 30 seconds on 30 second off. 10 minutes of 50 second on and 10 second off and then 10 minutes of 40 seconds on 20 seconds off. followed by 5 minutes easy. I still hate the trainer!   sometimes i think it puts a lot of strain on my knee with all the starting against resistance. 

Wednesday did some water running in the morning. 10 minutes easy to warmup and then 30 minutes of 8 hard ans 2 easy with a 5 minutes cooldown. Also took a yoga class to get the knee back on track. I went to the doctor to get the results of my bloodwork and they were super awesome. which is hugely validating. I know i eat a healthy vegan diet but something it is nice to see it on paper. Especially as an athlete people think it can't be done but i insist not only can it be done. it makes your better. My cholesterol levels were great. My good cholesterol level was really good from all of the good fats i eat. Also my vitamin levels were great. even my iron level was 70 points higher than the normal range. proof positive you can get everything you need without the meat and dairy. Get your nutrients from the source not secondhand. Its all good that way. I know I spend a decent amount of time and money on the way I eat but it is an investment that is well worth it.

Thursday - the recovery day that yesteryday sorta of was really helped my knee. I swam in the morning. warmup 2  rounds of 100 swim, 200 kick, 300 drill and then a main set of 2 rounds of 100, 200, 300 on 20 second rest then 5  - 100s kicking with a board. 200 moderate. then 100 breaststoke and a 100 backstroke to cooldown.

back to crossfit - warmup 20 pushup, 20 situps and 20 airsquats followed by 75 burpee pullups. I did then in sets of 5 and took little breaks between those sets.  Got 2 nasty blood blisters. Im back to having ugly hands again. Registered to race at the mid-atlantic cyclocross regional championships.

  it is the final race in this series. Should be a tough but fun day.


Friday - some more water running 5 minutes easy, 2 minutes hard, 3 minutes easy then 1 minute on 1 minute off  then 2:1, 3:1 4:1 5:1 5:1 4:1 3:1 2:1 1:1 and a 5 minute cooldown.

Crossfit - 20 pushups, 20 pullups, 20 situps, 20 air squats followed by 80 air squats, 60 situps, 40 pushups for time. in 5:28. 

Saturday -  Took a yoga class this morning to open up a bit. Then took an easy 30 minute ride on my cross bike  with 5 - 30 seconds pushes. it was pretty damn cold in the beginning. it is going to be cold tomorrow for the race too. I've packed up my stuff and hoping for the best.
watched the ironman world championships on tv today. that always quite the show.

but here is a cute little interview about cyclocross in the states. Because this show is mostly about more cowbell!
http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/45583571/ns/sports-cycling/