Crank this up!

Swim and Run day…

2009-01-12T15:48:00.001-08:00

Monday is coming to a close…I just finished playing Candyland with my 2 girls and am now updating this blog to show what progress I’ve made in training today…

Swim: I went to the Y this morning to swim at least 1mi…I ended up at 1.5mi total but felt like I could have done more. The problem was that lately, this particular pool is getting super slammed with people. You have have the pool blocked off for the water aerobics class and then only 2 lanes opened for lap swimmers. When it gets busy, like today, you have to swim in circles. Those that are slower, slow you down. My lane had 4 people going into my last .5 mile which really began to take its toll on me. When I completed 1mi, I forced myself on the last .5mi just to say I did it. I had a lot still in me but just couldn’t take the wait…I bailed.

Run: After work, I wanted to get in 2mi before dark, so I laced up and went around my neighborhood. I’m terribly, terribly slow at running. I’m hoping I improve this over the next couple of months because right now it is pathetic.

That’s it for today…tomorrow is bike day.

Keep on crankin’

Indoor ride today…bah!

2009-01-11T15:16:00.001-08:00

Intended to go for a longer ride today but instead had to ride indoors on the rollers…I really hate riding indoors! It just gets so boring. To pass the time, I watched Traitors starring Don Cheadle. Movie was 1hr 54min long and was decent enough to keep my mind of the b-o-r-i-n-g ride.

The rollers…well…they are rollers. I did round out the total ride time to 2 hours though. I started rollers this year and, up to now, had never been on them. If you’ve never tried them, well, they are a bit to get used to the first time up but once you get the hang of them they aren’t bad. I had not been on them in about a month though so the first 20min of today’s ride was a bit shaky but finally smoothed out for the remainder. They are nice to really hone your bike skills though.

Keep on crankin’…

A new year of challenges…

2009-01-10T09:06:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year!

With 2009 brings many new challenges for me in cycling. With these new challenges, I wanted to share these challenges and my experience by blogging about them here. I hope you find this peek into my pain this year entertaining.

A bit about how I got here though, first. Everyone knows the story, life gets in the way and everything else is more important than yourself when eventually it catches up with you in more ways than you can count. For many, this results in putting on way too much weight, having to go on medications, go through depressions, etc. At the end of 2005, that was me – I had skyrocketed up to 230lbs (80lbs overweight) and was severely depressed and frustrated with myself. I had carried this weight around, up and down but generally the same, for about 10 years. I was done! At the turn of 2006, I took on a lifestyle change and in those first 6 months dropped 50lbs! I started small, exercise wise. I always loved cycling in my younger days and that is where I automatically gravitated to when I started this venture. In the early-90’s I competed both in mountain bike and road cycling competitions so this just seemed to be a logical fit to get me back in shape!

Skip ahead 3 years and I’m still holding at roughly the same weight (179lbs) but am in the best shape I’ve been in years. I now regularly cycle, swim and run (not as much running as the cycling and swimming but it’s getting there). I closed out 2008 with 2,452 cycling miles! For 2009 though, I’d like to drop these last 25-30lbs and take on some bigger challenges over the previous year. So, I plan to take on a few grueling centuries (read, mountain-based centuries – wth was I thinking??), 24 hours of Booty (for the 3rd time), and, of all things, a triathlon!

Here is my schedule as it looks today:

White Lake Sprint Triathlon 2009 – May 3 (confirmed)

Assault on Mount Mitchell – May 18

Blood, Sweat and Gears – date to follow

24 hours of Booty – July 24-25th

Other events as they become known/available is also on my plan. There will be several local centuries with the Bee-Team that I’ll likely participate.

So, please stay with me with this journey of pain and let’s see how I fair at the end of 2009!

Keep on crankin’…