Whoopsie

Note to self... when wearing a new jersey to a long bike ride (4+ hours) be sure to put sunscreen on.  You will burn!  Leaving you in pain for the next few days.  Not good. ;)  Lots of aloe and lotion to try and bring down the pain.  Dumb dumb dumb! 

Progress

Today was a trip to Clermont for a 50ish mile run through the hills.  I had some really great things that happened today but I am still feeling really slow on the climbs.  I will continue to try and improve.  One day I might be able to keep up with the group.

I know that it has been a long time since an update.  Things are busy busy busy here.  I have been working out hard, working at home a lot and working period.  I look forward to my weekends with the family and it is my time on the bike.  That is always fun. (I sometimes use that term loosely)

Only 3 more weeks until the Assault on Sugarloaf.  I think that I am ready.  The miles is the only thing that I am going to worry about.  60+ miles is not always easy.  But this isn't a race and I will have plenty of SAGs to stop at and try to stay hydrated and full of fuel. 

The best part of everything is that I feel great and I currently weight 187lbs.  Go me!  I still have a ways to go but I am getting there one step at a time. 

Picture Proof

I just looked through some old pictures of myself and I am just sick to my stomach. There is no way I will EVER look like that again. At my heaviest I was at 215 and that is just sick. When I started this journey I was 205 and I currently am hanging at 191. 14 pounds lost and more to come. Some proof of my journey so far.

Me at 210 pounds Christmas of 2008


Me at the beginning of my journey May of 2010


Me today, July 2010

The hills are alive with the sound of...

....cursing!! LOL

I am going out to Clermont this week for a training session with Coach D2 Cycling Center. I haven't been out there in about a month. But I haven't felt stronger than I do right now. This should be a good thing! The anxiety that I have had previously about the hills is a little deminished after the great week of cardio training I have had added with the best ride to date. I am really curious to see if any of this power will transfer over to making me a stronger climber. I am no Andy Schleck but I would settle for being back in the "autobus" with the sprinters just trying to finish the climb in the Alps. (Sorry for the all the Tour de France references. I am missing it already!)

So 7:30am on Sunday morning I will be leaving Winter Garden station for a 50 mile ride through the rolling hills of Clermont and Lake County. It is going to be hot but this is Florida afterall! :)

I hope that everyone has a great weekend.

Runnning post #2

Today was much better. I still am no fan of running but I felt better. I was able to complete 10 run/walk fast intervals. With a warm up and cool down included I was able to run/walk 2.1 miles in 30 minutes. I felt a lot stronger. I never realized that there was a technique to running though. Slowly but surely it is getting better. My arse is sore I am sure that I will feel it more tomorrow.

I have to thank my coworker Diane for being dressed out ready to go to the gym at our normal time. I have little to no desire to walk in the 100 degree heat to the gym to run for 30 minutes then walk back. But since she was ready to go I got it in gear and off we went. I always feel better once I am done. :) :)

I am working on putting together some before and after pictures for a photo blog. I can already see a big difference between the start and now. I cannot wait to see the difference in September when I am done with this phase. Then it is off to a new phase of training. I think the next one is going to be a century ride!!

ETA: No side cramps today! I focused on my breathing a lot today and drank a whole bottle of water. Coach, I know that you will be happy. :)

A great day

I wanted to do this last night when I got home from my Wednesday Night Ride with St. John Cycles but I was so exhausted that I had a snack and went to bed. Tired from working out hard and from pure excitment.

Yesterday I had a great day in the gym. The eliptical and I are becoming the best of friends. I did my 30 minutes then concluded with my upper body workout. The only thing that I would have changed was the atmosphere! The young guy next to me on the treadmill apparently was having a REALLLY good workout. He stunk! OMG it was awful. Now I ride with a bunch of guys. We all get hot and stinky but NONE of the men I ride with smell this bad. I swear he must have slept in those clothes that night before. Thank goodness he was almost done with his workout when I started mine. I don't think that I would have been able to handle it for very much longer. ;) Of course you all know that I smell like a fresh spring field when I am done working out. Never do I stink! LOL

Last night was a fantastic ride. So much fun! I knew that I was riding hard and felt great. I never really ever pay attention to the speeds we were going while on a ride. EXCEPT when I get dropped by the group. They just flat out left me off the back of the train when going around a corner. I was able to get out of the saddle and build my speed up to 23 but I still couldn't catch them. I was able to maintain a speed of 20mph all by my lonesome for about 2 miles. Oh well! I knew where I was going and I knew eventually I would catch back up to them. The best part of the ride was getting back to the truck and seeing that I had my fastest average ever (I averaged 18.7mph!!) and a top speed of 29mph. BIG smiles all around. I celebrated with a beer. ;) It tasted good.

Today is more running. My goal is to do at least 2 more intervals this week. I have been having a great week so far with my cardio so I know I can do this.

Feeling Good

I have to say that for the very first time I completley understand that high that people feel after a really good workout at the gym and why they can workout for 2 hours. I didn't want to leave the gym today but because I only have an hour for lunch and I walk 5 minutes to and from the gym I had to go. :(

I completed 42 minutes on the eliptical machine. Sweat dripping on my face and all. I was ready to keep going when the machine beeped at me that my workout was done. Does this actually mean that I am finally getting into better cardio shape? 42 minutes was unheard of before this and even walking into the gym today it sounded like forever. But I set the machine on level 6 with the hill setting and started out. It didn't take long before I realized that I was completely warmed up and I kick it up to level 7! Ya'll I feel awesome. I am ready to do that again (and I do tomorrow LOL.)

:) :) My smiles for the day :) :)