Brief notes on this past week's workouts

Realized that I hadn't blogged the last couple of spin workouts, and I'm trying to do better! The short of it is that I sat down on the 17th and 19th of June, settled in to watch the Tour de Suisse, and did a spin while it was on. For the 17th, I whipped up a 40 minute Tempo (Zone 3) spin, with a warm up, stretch, and warm down thrown in, and realized that it's just a ton of fun to watch professional road racers crank in these events. It's quite inspiring to see that with hard work and dedication (including getting on the trainer when it's 110° F out) that goals can be achieved. Me, there's almost no chance that I'd ever get to race in the Tour de Suisse, let alone win a stage (and forget the Tour de France), but it's fun to think about while spinning ... otherwise, spins get BO-RING. Real quick.
I kept up a nice high cadence with high gearing, and since I don't have a heart rate monitor at the moment had to rely on perceived exertion. I didn't feel any burning sensation in my legs so I'm pretty sure I wasn't at my Lactate Threshold (LT; some people use Upper Training Threshold or UTT), I didn't feel like talking though I could probably have said two or three words if needed, and it felt like something that I could hold through the entire 40 minutes but not a whole lot longer. That's pretty much the Zone 3 criteria, so I kept things there, though I did drift a little up and down when I got excited about what was happening in the Tour, or was paying less attention like during commercials. Overall it went very well.
On Sunday, I again tuned the Tour for the final stage (an Individual Time Trial) and settled in for a Zone 2 spin with a warm up, spin, and warm down, originally planned for 1 hour 30 minutes. I had to cut it short, because I had some personal obligations to attend to, but did get in a 1 hour 5 minute spin. My exertion level there was quite easy to maintain, Zone 2 with a very short period in Zone 1 at the beginning. It was tremendous fun to watch the time trial, trying to keep a good cadence on the spinner on low gearing while not getting too excited about what was going on, something made worse when one of my favorite racers, Levi Leipheimer, rode a beauty of a Time Trial to win the Tour de Suisse overall on the final day. I did succeed, however, and it was a very good day!
As for the physical discomfort ... mostly, it's the feet. I hope someone reading this has some insights and possible solutions, but if it continues I may have to seek a physician's opinion because I'm really kind of annoyed with it. Anyway, what happens is I am fine on the saddle for the first ten to fifteen minutes or so. After that amount of time, often I start to get a numbness or tingling in my toes that gets annoying enough that I have to stand out of the saddle for a few seconds, and then it occurs over and over again througought the rest of the ride, no matter how long.
Now, as a paramedic, I know the symptoms point to a perfusion problem, and not a neurological one (if it were nerve-related, it would probably happen immediately when I either pinched/sat on/otherwise confined the nerve, and not slowly appear over time). The real question is going to be which vessels? And why? If it's a tamponade of the femoral arteries, that's a more significant problem than the tingling of the toes; that would pose a serious perfusion threat to the quads, calves, hamstrings, etc. and would make cycling a much more difficult activity. I suppose it's possible that it's a consequence of a too-high saddle (or, alternately, too low) with the popliteal artery being involved. In any event, if anyone has any ideas please feel free to pass them along.
Later today I will be doing a Zone 2 spin; I plan for it to be 1 hour 30 minutes, and I also am intending to make up the 25 minutes I had to cut out of the previous Zone 2 spin, and if I'm going to do a 1 hour 55 minute spin I might as well do two hours! I will be back in a few hours to report on that.

27/28 SEP 2010 workouts

Today's entry is brought to you by the letters R, P, E, and by the number 10.

Dual entry for the early week workouts. Monday's, a brief interval workout. Tuesday's, a 60' EM with a 45' T.

Workout 1 (Monday):
Warmup: 10' easy spin
Workout: 5 x 30" RPE 10 intervals with 2'30" recovery
Cooldown: 5' easy spin
Workout 2 (Tuesday):
Warmup: 5' easy spin
Workout: 45' Tempo spin (HR 143-159)
Cooldown: 10' easy spin

Workout time has been harder and harder to come by mostly due to the overtime I've been picking up at work, which mostly consist of working medical stations at the U of A football games. Regardless of that, I have still been able to crank out good Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday workouts for the most part. This week's Monday was a full-out RPE 10 interval set, but shorter than I really wanted (I intend to repeat this interval Thursday and crank out a full 12 interval sets). Today was an RPE 6-7 Tempo workout for 45' with an easy spin warmup/cooldown. Both of them went very well.

Early wakeup tomorrow for work to do a 30' recovery spin.

Sleep: 9/10 (good sleep. Finally starting to dream again, which I think means my sleep cycle may be getting back to normal.)
Fatigue: 0/10 (not fatigued)
Stress: 0/10 (no stress)
Soreness: 1/10 (slight quad soreness from yesterday's intervals)

23 SEP 2010 workout

Today's workout was a 46' simulated race, using RealRide's Race Day Indoor Training Cycling DVD, featuring Robbie Ventura.

Warmup: 10' spin-up, gearing from RPE 2, up to a 10 for 30 seconds, then down to a 4 for 3'.
Workout: 33' simulated race, variable RPE from 4 to 10. AVG HR 149.
Cooldown: 3' RPE 1–2 spin.

Well. For someone else who has raced in crits before, they probably won't find this as cool as I do. This dvd is an actual, recorded race, where Pro road racer Robbie Ventura had cameras on his bike, and other places around the course, and the main part of the training is the US National Criterium Championships, I think from 2006. I didn't finish the whole race (I'm not nearly in that good of shape yet), but I did do about half of it. I'll review the disc in a day or so, but for now know that it's a freaking butt-kicker of a workout. I mean, it's a full-on race, for crying out loud.

No workout tomorrow, on shift.

Sleep: 6/10 (shift yesterday was not bad but we only got two brief bouts of sleep, one 2h 30' and the second about 2'.
Fatigue: 5/10 (due to the lack of sleep)
Stress: 1/10 (very little stress)
Soreness: 3/10 (back is still sore from last weekend, but is improving)

"Race Day" ... the DVD

Recently, I ordered myself a copy of a DVD entitled "realRides presents Race Day with Robbie Ventura" ... it's a race-day DVD of a crit race Mr. Ventura did, presumably in 2006 or 2007 (the video is ©2007), and apparently uses bike-mounted cameras during a real, live, honest-to-goodness national-level criterium race with real pros and everything.

Which, of course, is why I bought it. Not that I have any illusions that I can race with these guys, not by a long shot (yet), but that it gives a sense of how they race, how the race plays out, and gives me something to shoot for as well.

I will pop this badboy in the DVD player later today, and run a workout with it, and I'll let you know how it goes.

21 SEP 2010 workout

Today's workout was an interval workout I found in Bicycle magazine.

Warmup: 10' easy spin
Workout: 30" all-out (RPE 10, Zone 5) spin against resistance with 2' 30" easy spin between intervals (RBI), seven sets (21' total)
Cooldown: 5' easy spin

Interval workouts are going to be the new mainstay of the workouts I'm going to do, and today's was a pretty brutal one. Warmup, then go at absolutely maximum effort for thirty seconds ... and relax for two and a half minutes, then do it again. Seven times. I tell you what, I was absolutely busting those intervals out. I could have done one, maybe two more, but as Coach Friel says, always leave a little bit behind when you're training. They were really good intervals though.

Tomorrow: getting up early to do about a 30' easy recovery spin before I go on shift.

Additionally, today I started getting serious about the food I eat. Yes, I had a jack-in-the-box burger for lunch, but I also went to the store and bought veggies (quite a lot of them, actually), whole-wheat bread (which I eat anyway), lean meat and fat-free cheese for sammys, healthful soups, lean-meat and bean based chili (Eating Right brand), and fresh fruits. Yesterday I had cooked up a batch of oatmeal (Bob's Red Mill Scottish Oatmeal) and saved them for breakfasts (along with some now thawed frozen blueberries) and a batch of short-grain brown rice to use as a carb base for take-to-work lunches/dinners. I've packed tomorrow's lunch already: two small sammys (I found these really cool sandwich rounds, whole wheat, 100 calories, and slapped a slice of ff cheese and turkey breast on them, with Smart Balance spread and mustard), a serving of the Eating Right turkey chili with beans, to which I added brown rice and snap peas (for early afternoon dinner), and a serving of organic lentil soup (for supper). Breakfast is also set aside: oatmeal with blueberries, a bowl of Kashi Honey Toasted Oat cereal with light soy milk, and another cup of soy milk to drink. Add a dose of Fish Oil capsules with each meal, and a banana for a snack, and I think tomorrow may be the most healthful day of eating I've ever had in my life.

Sleep: 8/10 (woke up briefly a couple of times during the night)
Fatigue: 0/10 (no fatigue)
Stress: 0/10 (no stress)
Soreness: 4/10 (lower back is pretty sore from an overuse situation from Friday, which is why I didn't do my scheduled run this week).

Forgot to test resting HR this morning. Will make sure to get it tomorrow morning.

It's been a while ...

I apologize for the delay, but it's been a bit busy lately and finding time to hit the blog has been tough. In addition to my normal shifts, I've picked up overtime shifts working on a medical crew for the University of Arizona Football games, and those are long, exhausting (but really awesome!) shifts that end in the wee morning hours of Sunday.

In any event, I have been basically getting in relatively short spins (60'–75' EM spins) just to keep my head in the game, as well as a couple of 2.25 mile jog/walks. Oh, and add in the five hours of work at the game, constantly walking (and, in one case, sprinting up the ramps and stairs from section 6 to section 204 for a reported cardiac arrest [wasn't really]), and carrying a 30# pack for half of that time. Good times :D

As I'm sure anyone following my blog has noticed, I'm constantly learning and adjusting my exercise/weight loss habits & goals based on what I learn. Just the other day (Saturday, in fact), I got a couple of new books that I'm reading (I shall review them in a new blog entry soon), and have yet again made changes to how I'm going to approach my cycling.

The first of these books is Ride Your Way Lean, by Selene Yeager. It's heavy on the intervals as a weight-loss tool, something I was already familiar with from previous bouts (usually on treadmills, though). I'm still reading through this book, and will get you a review as soon as I can.










The second is Endurance Sports Nutrition, by Suzanne Girard Eberle. It's not as much a weight-loss book as an all-the-time fueling guide for endurance athletes, which is my ultimate goal (to be able to compete in my age group in road and mountain bike events, eventually making my way to at least Cat 3, pref. Cat 2, in road cycling and Cat 1 in Mountain biking).

In any event, the intervals seem to make more sense for what I want to accomplish right now, and so my workout will be changing again. Later today I have a low-volume high-action spin scheduled, and will let you know how that goes, in addition to a walk/jog tomorrow morning and another spin in the afternoon.

Catch-up workout entry

Several workouts to cover.

First, from 11 SEP 2010: 60' EM on stationary trainer.

Warmup: 5' spin
Workout: 50' 00" EM spin
Cooldown: 5' 00" spin.
Estimated Total Calories: 800
Came home from shift and did a 60' EM spin on the stationary trainer. Basically just a keeping-the-flow-going workout, since I had another overtime shift later that day at the football game, and didn't want to wear myself out before that shift.

Second, from 13 SEP 2010 (rest day on 12 SEP): 45' EM on stationary trainer in the morning, with a 50' EM on stationary trainer in the afternoon.

Warmup: 5' spin
Workout: 35' 00" EM spin
Cooldown: 5' 00" spin.
Warmup2: 5' spin

Workout2: 40' 00" EM spin

Cooldown2: 5' 00" spin

Estimated Total Calories: 1265

Woke up in the morning, fueled/hydrated, and then did a 45' EM spin with avg HR ~130. Recovery during the day, then an additional 50' EM spin with avg HR ~132 in the afternoon.

Tomorrow will be a two-workout day as well; with a 2–2.25 mile run in the morning and a 75' EM with 45' Tempo spin in the afternoon.

Sleep: 9/10 (slept quite well)
Fatigue: 0/10 (no fatigue)
Stress: 0/10 (no stress)
Soreness: 0/10 (not sore)

Resting HR: 68

09 SEP 2010 spin

90' EM spin on indoor trainer.

Warmup: 10' easy spin
Workout: 70' EM spin (estimated 950 Cal.)
Cooldown: 10' spin.
Estimated Total Calories: 1200
Did a 90' EM spin instead of the "scheduled" 180' EM spin mostly because I did some calculating, and my increase in exercise hours from two weeks ago, through last week to this was quite high, more than 100% from the week ending 28 AUG to the next week, and another 75% on top of that for this week. Now, I know that fitness experts recommend no more than a 10% improvement from week to week, in any given area, and that people who are in the first few weeks can usually afford a slightly bigger increase from week to week but that's along the lines of 30%, not 75-100%. SO .... I'm cutting back a touch. I'm going to keep the two long EM workouts at 2h but make other ones 90' for now, then next week creep that up a little bit more.

No workout tomorrow, on shift.

Sleep: 6/10 (pretty good sleep for being on shift)
Fatigue: 2/10 (slight fatigue; didn't sleep all night !)
Stress: 0/10 (no stress)
Soreness: 0/10 (not sore)

Resting HR: At work, unable to check.

07 SEP 2010 spin

A 150' EM spin on indoor trainer, split into two workouts due to miserable night of sleep.

Warmup: 10' easy spin
Workout: 1h 35' 00" endurance spin (estimated 1396 Cal.)
Cooldown: 5' 00" easy spin.

Warmup: 3' easy spin
Workout: 45' 00" endurance spin (estimated 598 Cal.)
Cooldown: 5' 00" easy spin.Estimated Total Calories: 1994
Had a 150' EM spin on trainer planned, but spent the whole night tossing, turning, and generally unable to fall asleep. Split the spin up into two parts as above. Actually was a pretty nice spin overall.

No workout tomorrow (shift). Thursday's workout scheduled as a 3h EM spin, though I may cut that back to 90'–2h if this sleeping stuff persists (could be overtraining syndrome?).

Sleep: 2/10 (couldn't get to sleep, and when I did I woke up frequently)
Fatigue: 5/10 (mostly due to sleep issues, I think)
Stress: 1/10 (just the sleeping thing)
Soreness: 0/10 (not sore)

Resting HR: 63

05 SEP 2010 workout

120' Endurance ride (note: ride totals include warm-up and cool-down; this is exactly what the book The Time Crunched Cyclist says to do so I do it that way).

Warmup: 10' spin
Workout: 1h 40' 00" spin (estimated 1700 Cal.) @ EM HR (125-140)
Cooldown: 10' 00" spin.
Estimated Total Calories: 2200
Did a 120' spin of EM this morning. This was the first true endurance spin (or ride) I've done in many years, so I was a little apprehensive about it, but I owned it. This is also the first ride with my new Bellwether Axiom biking shorts. They absolutely rule, I will be reviewing them in a blog later today. Also tried my new Bontrager biking gloves, I will review them separately. Overall, had no problems keeping my HR in the right zone, and the spin itself was otherwise unremarkable.

Tomorrow is a rest day. Tuesday, a 150' spin in EM.

Sleep: 9/10 (slept very well. Woke up once, went right back to sleep)
Fatigue: 0/10 (no fatigue)
Stress: 3/10 (slightly stressed about the length of today's ride!)
Soreness: 0/10 (not sore)

Resting HR: 67

02 SEP 10 workout

Endurance gear-up for TCTP outlined in earlier blog. 90' EnduranceMiles (EM) spin with 40' of Tempo.

Warmup: 10' 00" of easy spin
Workout: 40' 00" of Tempo (T) spinning (HR 143-147)

followed by 30' 00" of upper-end EM (HR 125-140) (estimated 1331 Cal.)
Cooldown: 10' 00" spin.
Estimated Total Calories: 1700
Day two of this EM workout. Had no problems getting into a good HR, staying there is a little bit tricky but as I get more adapted I think it will be easier to keep within the ranges. Going tomorrow to buy a new pair of cycling shorts, hopefully they will help with some of the groin pressure that has been coming up during the spins.

Shift tomorrow, no workout.

Sleep: 7/10 (had a couple of late calls, but still managed to get some good sleep)
Fatigue: 2/10 (very little fatigue, mostly from the sleep issue)
Stress: 0/10 (no stress)
Soreness: 0/10 (not sore)

Resting HR: at work, unable to check

31 AUG 2010 workout

Endurance gear-up for TCTP outlined in earlier blog. 90' EnduranceMiles (EM) spin with 40' of Tempo.

Warmup: 10' 00" of easy spin
Workout: 40' 00" of Tempo (T) spinning (HR 143-147)

followed by 30' 00" of upper-end EM (HR 125-140) (estimated 1331 Cal.)
Cooldown: 10' 00" spin.
Estimated Total Calories: 1700
Day one of this EM workout, purpose being to crank up the "miles" and get the engine primed for the TCTP workout starting next week, and possibly to kick-start additional fat loss. Had no problems getting into a good HR, staying there is a little bit tricky but as I get more adapted I think it will be easier to keep within the ranges.

Shift tomorrow, no workout.

Sleep: 4/10 (couldn't fall asleep, tossed & turned, and then slept fitfully for about 4.5 hours)
Fatigue: 2/10 (very little fatigue, mostly from the sleep issue)
Stress: 0/10 (no stress)
Soreness: 0/10 (not sore)

Resting HR: (68)

29 AUG 2010 workout

Less a workout and more a test. Specifically, the Carmichael Training Systems (CTS) Field Test.
Estimated Total Calories: 1150
Today, I wanted to get a good sense for my current level of fitness and where I was in terms of my Lactate Threshold, as well as get a good baseline for directing further training. The short version of the CTS field test is this:

10' warmup, very light spinning

1' FastPedal (FP) (pedal in small gears as fast as possible without bouncing in the saddle)

1' recovery (easy spin)

2' FP

1' easy recovery

1' PowerInterval (PI) (Max intensity at 90-95 cadence)

2' easy recovery

1' PI

4' recovery

8': Slow to almost stopped, with dominant-side crank at the 2 o'clock position, in a smallish gear (but not too small). Crank up to 90-100 cadence, switching up gears over the next 45 seconds or so until putting out an effort that will be basically exhausting at the end of 8 minutes while continuing @ 90-100 cadence. Go until 1 minute left on the 8 minute clock; at 1 minute left, crank at absolutely full power and do not give up or slow down until the end of the minute. This is Round 1.

10' easy recovery

8': Round 2, exactly like round 1.

15' easy cooldown.

In each round, use HR monitor (and power monitor, if you have one) to record average and maximal HR for the round as well as average power. Also, record average cadence, RPE, and weather/course conditions. Use the highest average HR (and the highest average power, even if they are from different rounds) to determine the training ranges for the Time-Crunched Training System (TCTS).

My results: Indoor trainer, temp 80° F, RH 44%. Round 1: Max HR 177, AVG HR 161. Round 2: Max HR 179, AVG HR 163

Tomorrow: rest day. Starting week 1 of the TCTS Tuesday.

Today's weigh-in and measurements: Weight 232.5 pounds (BMI 36.36), waist 49", neck 19".
Sleep: 8/10 (Somewhat fitful, woke up a couple of times during the night)
Fatigue: 0/10 (no fatigue to speak of)
Stress: 0/10 (no stress)
Soreness: 0/10 (not sore)

24 Aug 2010 workout

Actually a pair of spins in zone 5a/5b.

Warmup #1: 5' 00" of spin-up
Workout #1: 20' 00" activity (estimated 407 Cal.)
Cooldown #1: 5' 00" spin.

Warmup #2: 5' 00" of spin-up
Workout #2: 10' 00" activity (estimated 204 Cal.)
Cooldown #2: 5' 00" spin.Estimated Total Calories: 714
Initially started out intending to do a 30' spin in zone 5a/5b, with an additional 30' in zone 2. Got on, got to almost the 20' mark and realized I was actually kind of fatigued, so I elected to get to 20' and cool down, then refuel, hydrate, and go back later. So I warmed up, repeated my zone 5a/5b workout for an additional 10' and did another cool down after.

No workout tomorrow, on shift.

Sleep: 7/10 (woke up a couple of times, did finally get pretty good sleep after the last time)
Fatigue: 4/10 (didn't feel fatigued at first, but did after started spinning)
Stress: 0/10 (no stress)
Soreness: 0/10 (not sore)

Resting HR: forgot to check!

16 and 17 AUG 2010 workouts

16 AUG workout:

30 minute zone 1 spin on trainer.

Warmup: 5' 00" spin
Workout: 30' 00" spin (estimated 296 Cal.)
Cooldown: 5' 00" spin.
Estimated Total Calories: 350
Knees were pretty sore Sunday night and Monday morning, presumably from the run on Sunday morning, so I switched it up. Today's spin was a recovery spin for 30 minutes in zone 1 with a five minute spin-up and -down. Knees felt better afterward, and also felt much better in the morning after I woke up.

17 AUG workout:

45 minute zone 2 spin on trainer.

Warmup: 5' 00" spin
Workout: 45' 00" spin (estimated 564 Cal.)
Cooldown: 5' 00" spin.
Estimated Total Calories: 618

Knees felt much better this morning than yesterday morning, still a little bit sore but not too bad. Spin itself was good, kept a good pace and kept HR in the zone 2 range.

Back to the knee pain. I've never had knee problems, not even while I was in the Army as a tank crewman. At first, I was kind of worried about it, then did some research and though about it; I believe that it's plain-old, ordinary, Runner's Knee, and that I'm feeling it for the first time because I haven't tried running (especially since I've been as fat as I have been) in years. I believe that as long as I keep losing weight, and taking it easy on the running for now, I will be able to go back to running full-steam in a few weeks. As it is, though, I'm going to shift the workouts back to the bike four out of five days per week.

Speaking of which, it's getting to be time for me to shift some things anyway, so here's the shifted workout plan:

Wed/Fri: probably days off, though I may start using the Body by Jake door thingy that Kevin has on the door at quarters for leg workouts (as long as Kevin leaves it up); if so, I will probably also need to add a third day (probably Mondays) to properly manage that process.

Thursdays: 45-55 minute zone 2 spin (weight loss!)

Saturdays: 45-55 minute zone 2 spin (more weight loss!)

Sundays: Zone 4/5a/5b run (30 minute minimum)

Mondays: 30-minute zone 1 recovery spin, possibly leg resistance exercises

Tuesdays: 10-15 minute zone 5a spin, additional 10-15 minute zone 4 spin, finish with 25-30 minute zone 3 spin.

Still, regardless of the actual workout plan, minutes, methods or whatever, the overriding goal is still to lose weight. So even though the plan at the moment doesn't really resemble a periodization training plan for competitive bike racing, it's not really supposed to, either.

That brings me to another point: I'd said in an earlier blog post that I was going to put up the weigh-in weight and some body measurements a couple of Monday's ago, and I still haven't done that. That's going to be next Monday (23 AUG), due to my having forgotten about it. *whoops* I can say that according to the Wii Fit (which I get on every day, even if I don't do any exercises on it that day), I've gone from a high weight of 244 to a current weight of about 236 pounds, which is about 8 pounds in 6 weeks. Though that's not quite as much weight as I'd hoped for, I haven't been keeping track of my calories eaten, either.

So, that's the next step in the progression. I have been doing a better job of choosing food, I believe, in that I choose whole-grain foods for carbs like 90% of the time, haven't had any beef, pork, or other red meat in a long time, I don't eat fried food hardly ever (I've had one serving of Lucky Wishbone chicken tenders in the past six weeks, and that's it), I limit my snacking to veggies, fruit (apples especially), or edamame. Most of my protein comes from legumes, and I eat smaller portions than I used to.

However, I am not discouraged, simply observing. I am committed to the exercise plan, and am working on the meal planning in the background (for now). The weight loss will come.

Sleep: 8/10 (pretty good sleep both nights, though it took longer to get to sleep than I'd like)
Fatigue: 0/10 (no fatigue)
Stress: 1/10 (new knee pain is a touch disconcerting)
Soreness: 6/10 (knees, esp. R knee, sore Monday morning, more like a 2/10 Tuesday)

Resting HR: (66)