Shaved My Legs, But No Where to Go

So here I sit with perfectly shaved legs, actual road (like outside riding) tires on the bike, a (for me) clean bicycle, and I have no where to go.  As cyclists we all know that shaving one's legs is the equivalent to putting on a pretty prom dress.  Not that I have ever worn a pretty prom dress.  But, I digress.

 

Today sees the first of the Kenosha Velosport Training Races and my life has gotten in the way of my bike racing. What to do?  Guess I'll put the trainer tire back on the Powertap Wheel and shoot to do all three races I can next week.

 

Good luck the Emery's Third Coasters today.  I'll be pulling for you in spirit.

 

Coming soon...  How do you measure your performance?

 

Since I've posted about getting a power meter, I've gotten a few e-mails about how I track my training, etc., etc.  I have more than a few thoughts on the subject.  Rather than respond via e-mail, as soon as I get them straight in my own head, I'll post them here.

Sobelman's

Last night, a few of us crazy Team Emerys guys and gals went down to Sobelman's Pub & Grill. The food was fantastic and the company was equally great. Part of the discussion revolved around the racing calendar to prep for the Tour of America's Dairyland, the race I (and Chris and a few other guys) am targeting as my "A" race. Not only do I want to do well in each of the stages, but I want to challenge for the overall. It was helpful to get on paper what I need to do in the months of April and May to really prep for ToAD in June. Anywho, here's what I'm sure you're mostly interested in: a photo of my burger!

T Minus One Week

Today saw me actually make a group workout at the shop. Man, that is a much better workout place than my basement. When I rule the world, I will be able to make more of the group workouts. Anyway, as always, Coach Brent had a great set-up with Computrainers and all the fixings.

With less than a week until the Spring Training Races in Kenosha, it is just about time to put-up or shut-up. I have reason to believe that the team should be closer to the first rather than the second (nevermind we are seldom a quiet lot). We shall see. Stay tuned.

It's almost racing time!

As the season approaches (only 11 days until the first race of the season in Kenosha), I will also be posting more. While I have spent an average of 3 days a week at Emery's training with Brent, I do not have many interesting things to write about. One positive thing of note is that we seem to have around 8-10 people showing up on Tuesday nights. Who knows if that will continue once we hit the streets in about 7 weeks, but it is pretty cool for now. I am sure that there will be more interesting things to write about and discuss while the outdoor miles start to rack up.

For now, I have a few things that I would like to share. This past Saturday (Thursday for Kari), we completed our second power test. This power test was 15 minutes long in contrast to the 10 minutes we completed for the baseline session. First off, Kari did awesome! She went for 4.90 miles in the 15 minutes for an average of 19.6 mph on the CompuTrainer! What's even more awesome is that she went for 1.81 miles in the final 5 minutes for an average of 21.72 mph! She definitely did not try hard enough for the first 10 minutes! I truly believe that she will shock people come race season as long as she picks up on the mental aspect of the sport. As for my power test results, my goal was at least 6 miles in the 15 minutes; however, I was only able to get 5.75 miles for an average right around 23 mph. I was also watching my average power and it looked like I was averaging around 290 watts for the duration. While I do not have a fancy power meter like Chris to gauge all of my data, it is nice to see my data during my power tests. I am definitely looking forward to growing up and owning a fancy power meter some day!

Finally, for those interested, a preliminary race calendar and results from 2011 are posted. Keep checking back to see more races added and results posted! Also, if any of our readers are part of the team, please send me your race schedule so I can add them to the calendar and capture your results.

Happy Training!

I'm Back

Well it has been a while.

I would really like to think that there is a plethora of new stuff to discuss here. But, alas, there is not. I have generally been slacking both in life and in my training. Coach Brent Emery has had an exciting training program going all winter. But, in my slackfulness (That is a word. I declare it.), I have not made a single workout with him or the others of the group. I like I said, slacking has been the motif of the winter.

The image above is my “Training Plan for 2011”. I know, I know. Most of you, gentile readers, would have expected me to have graphs, charts, calendars, a bunch of flashing lights, a few dials, and of course one of those Frankenstein electric ball thingies around when I come up with my training plan for the year. Sorry to disappoint. This was done on a scrape sheet of paper (A child’s drawing of a boat is on the other side. Really) with a pencil on a Saturday afternoon. That piece of paper will be the skeleton for my training through the year.

Ben will be posting the race calendar here on the blog. So check the schedule out and come on out and join us. My calendar, as it sits now, is at the bottom of my training plan. Sorry for the lack of organization. This is, unfortunately, how my mind actually works. My race calendar is very tentative at this point. My wife is back in school and the kids have a bunch of stuff going on. So, racing will take a bit of a back seat for the year. Mainly, I intend to do some good training and enjoy it. I'll through a few races in just to keep a bit of an edge.

A couple of things an astute reader will note are that I am cutting my training for 2011 quite a bit. In the past (Actually for most of my life), I have been a more must always be better kind of guy. In 2011 I have embraced the idea of quality and intensity. Thus, a few new goals have entered my mind. I have promised my self to actually recover during recovery workouts and actually push my self during those other workouts. I will not workout just to workout this year. Well, we will see how that goes. For now, so far so good. I've been using this schedule since the beginning of January and have been quite consistent and I have seen some good improvements in my performances. Stay tuned.

To aid me in accomplishing the above goals I now have access to a power meter on the bike and will utilize my running pace as my "power" indicator while running. As noted at the end of last year, I actually started doing real swimming workouts again and will continue that. I will continue to collect heart rate data, but will not be displaying it while I train at all. By focusing on some different metrics, I hope to see some improvements.

So stay tuned for updates. I promise they will be more regular now.

Great Lakes Multisport Expo

While this is extremely late notice, remember that tomorrow is the beginning of the 2011 Great Lakes Multisport Expo at the Milwaukee County Sports Complex. Emerys Third Coast Triathlon, Cycling & Fitness will have a gigantic booth with loads of triathlon specific equipment and knowledgeable staff and volunteers. Come on down and join the party!

It's Resolution Time, Baby!

Seeing as how we are now firmly in the new year and I have not posted anything in over a month, I figured that I should take a moment to reflect on past accomplishments and ponder future goals. On the whole, 2010 was a pretty good year. I lost about 50 pounds (and have been successful at keeping it off since September), upgraded to Cat 4 on the road (not exactly what I wanted, but I will take it considering my limited racing), got closer with Kari (always good when trying to woo one's woman), managed to run my photography company in the black all year (I ended slightly in the red, as planned, for tax purposes), and continued to make progress on my dissertation among other things. There are definitely some areas that I would like to improve; however, 2010 was definitely a good year.

What is the best way to capitalize on my achievements in 2010 and grow them in 2011. I have been told that 2011 is the year of follow through, so it only seems appropriate to grow bigger and better this year. Here are some of my goals for the year in no particular order (I do not really believe in resolutions or change for the sake of change, but I am a huge supporter in goal setting, writing them down and sharing them with others - that'd be you).

For cycling, my goal is to upgrade to Cat 3. To do that, I have been establishing a base and following Brent's instruction at every turn. Why bother finding an Olympian to coach you if you are not going to listen? Just a thought. As the off-season progressing, I will publish more of my power results (first batch coming today) and map out the prep for coming races. My first race is currently the Kenosha Spring Training Crit Series on March 14th, and I plan to race as much as possible throughout the summer to get enough experience to upgrade to Cat 3 by September. While this is completely doable, it will take work.

For school, my goal is to finish my dissertation by the Summer, if not sooner. Even though I doubt I will spend much time in the field, I am not a quitter. I am passionately against quitting, so I will finish.

For my photography business, my goal is to operate another year in the black, but grow to recoup the totality of my initial financial investment along with purchase some new equipment with the profits. This will require that I am the lead for a couple weddings this year. If you know of anyone, I am fairly cheap and always willing. Check out my work here (I know that was a shameless plug).

For my marketing business, my goal is to grow it to where it brings in a couple thousand a month on an ongoing basis, so I will have more options in life while finishing up my degree and planning a future with Kari.

For my relationship with Kari, my goal is to get engaged sometime this year (I have a feeling she'll let me sooner than later) and start to work on planning for our wedding.

For general life, my goal is to read more and spend more time growing myself as a person. I feel this was an area of weakness for me last year; even though, I do enjoy reading.

For weight, my goal is to maintain my weight at 180lbs. I am very satisfied with my results from last year and Kari will not let me get skinnier.

I believe that those are all of my goals for the coming year. There are probably more, but those are the ones that are most important and in the front of my mind.

Now onto the interesting stuff, the results of my baseline power test with Brent. In 10 minutes, I covered 3.83 miles (an average of 23 mph). My average watts were around 300 for the 10 minutes, my average cadence was around 100 rpms and my average heart rate was around 180bpms. I did not do a good job of setting my Garmin at the beginning and end of my test, so I am just going off of the spreadsheet Brent compiled for me. It is definitely a good start point for the beginning of January with a few more months of indoor training until the race season starts. Guess who is excited?! Also, Kari did great! She covered 3.08 miles for an average of 18.5 mph. How awesome is that?!