Monthly round-up: December 2007

• 16 1/2 hours riding, 248 miles
• 4 hours running (approx.), maybe 24 miles
• probably about 8 hours weights and stretching

Monday ride

I didn’t plan on riding today as it snowed last night and I thought the roads would be ugly, but we only got about a half inch and it melted right away, so I got to go out after all.  Rode an hour, about 14.5 miles, HR 146.  It was windy, but the wind didn’t bother me — a benefit of being tucked in all the little hills of Connecticut is that the wind rarely hits you straight on for long.  Temps in the low 40s — a beautiful day, actually!

After the ride I lifted weights and did yoga for a while — I’m so weak (except for my legs) and so inflexible, but it’s so hard for me to keep up a regular schedule of weight-lifting and stretching.  So I’m trying once again to establish a habit … I know it will help with everything I do …

Weekly round-up: 12/24 — 12/30

Exercised six hours total:

• 3 1/2 hours riding
• 1 1/2 hours running (c. 6 miles)
• 1 hour yoga

I feel a little sneaky counting that hour of yoga, as it wasn’t a very vigorous class (I won’t be going back to that particular one), but I did have some sore core muscles the day after, so I suppose I can count it. This is a rather sorry week, but it was Christmas and we were out of town.

Sunday ride

Rode 1 1/2 hours today, 22.5 miles. It was in the 30s, which, now that I’ve done rides in the 20s, feels plenty warm — as long as it’s not windy. Wind changes everything.

I think this will be my last ride of the year, so with today’s ride I’ve done over 4,200 miles this year, a personal record. Last year I rode 3,700 miles. As for next year, I have no idea how many miles I’ll do, but if I take this tri stuff seriously, it may not be as many. That’s okay.

I got my running shoes yesterday, as well as a new pair of tights that will work for cycling and running both, so I’m all set to become a runner for real.

Saturday run

Ran for 24 minutes; I’ve been slowly adding time to my runs, working my way up to something respectable.  I have no idea how fast or how far I’m running, although I suspect it’s fairly slow, as I try hard to keep my heart rate within an aerobic range.  This time my avg HR was 151, still a little high for me, I think.  Eventually I’ll mark out some courses of set distances so I’ll be able to measure how fast I’m running, but for now it doesn’t matter.  I’m guessing I ran somewhere around 2 1/4 miles.

And now I’m off to go buy myself a good pair of running shoes … up till now I’ve been running in a pair of trail running shoes, which have worked fine, but they aren’t the real thing, which makes me a bit nervous.

Swim lessons?

I just wrote an email saying I’d be interested in swimming lessons with my tri club, although it probably won’t happen, as the scheduling won’t work out. But I’m still terrified — I haven’t done any serious swimming ever, and this would be getting in over my head, so to speak …

Update: it turns out there are other people who want lessons on the only day I can manage it, which means the chances I’ll be taking swimming lessons soon have increased by a lot.  I’m now really terrified.

Friday ride

I had an excellent ride today; it was about 38 when I left and 42 when I got home, sunny and calm. I rode for two hours, covering 30 miles. The new jacket Hobgoblin got me worked well; I rode with only a short sleeve t-shirt and a long-sleeved one underneath it, and was plenty warm. For rides in the 40s, it’s probably too warm, but perfect for anything below that.

My heart rate is higher than I’d like; I compared my average this time, 147, with other comparable rides I’ve done, and it’s maybe 5 beats higher than average. I’m not sure if this means I’m not fit, or if it’s my hyperthyroidism showing itself. The doctor says my thyroid levels are normal, but that doesn’t mean everything will be exactly as I was before I got sick. I’m not sure how much this matters either — perhaps it doesn’t matter much, or perhaps it means I’ll be at a disadvantage in my training. We’ll see.

Hello world!

I’m trying an experiment — starting a blog about my training. I’m thinking I might record more details about workouts online than I would on paper. This blog will be mostly for me, although if others want to follow the details of my training, that would be fine. So far, Bike Journal has been sufficient to keep all my stats, but now that I’m adding in running and weights, I have more details to record and need a new place.  Once I add in swimming, it will get even more complicated.  A blog is a good place to record more narratives about my training, if I decide I want to, whereas Bike Journal is not, and paper training diaries can be limiting.  Plus I like the idea of sharing the details with anyone who is interested.

So — we’ll see how this goes.  Details of future workouts to come …