The hill reps went fine. Hard, but fine. On my new bike I have a compact crank (50 teeth on the big ring and 34 on the small), something I've never used before but am experimenting with. The original cassette on the bike was a 12-27, something that would have been a bit too 'spinny' for me with even a standard crank, but with the compact it's just way too small. I got a new 11-23 cassette from a friend and put it on the bike yesterday before the hill reps and it seemed just about right. I'm still gaining back a lot of my power on the road, but this particular cassette is just about what I want to be on when I'm riding with the compact. It shifts smoothly and I don't get a lot of gaps inbetween gears. I'm not a huge math guy, so I can't give out exact ratios and whatnot, I just know that it feels just about right and just about what I'm used to.
For the kettlbell workout I went with something I'd done last week (see the 1-2-3-4-5 workout I posted last week) but scaled the weight down using two 16 kg bells instead of two 24 kg's. That's a HUGE difference and allowed me to save some energy and just work on my lungs and heart with that particular workout. Oh, and while I kept the 1-2-3-4-5 scheme the same, I did do the following changes (kind of on the fly):
Clean
Squat
Jerk
Burpee
Renegade Row
Pull Up
I like throwing the burpee and the pull ups in there to spice things up a bit and 'get away from just holding onto the kettlebells the entire workout. Part of the reason for doing it while holding the bells the entire time is to work on grip strength, but with only the 16 kgs of bells I used yesterday, I didn't really think it would benefit me much. Rather, I thought I could work in some other stuff and give the workout a bit more variety. Seemed to work out well.
I started this post this morning and now, by this evening, I forgot what the hell I was writing about and I'm too lazy to go back and actually read through what I wrote. Anyway, I finished the day off with a light, recovery-ish ride in the cold. I've really got the bug back when it comes to road riding, and it's been a great way to not only pursue my fitness and potential racing goals for the upcoming season, but also a wonderful new rediscovery of something that was very important to me. Yeah, riding mountain bikes will always be my number one, but there's a certain calmness that comes from just turning the cranks and riding in a straight line. Nothing is more fun than jumps, berms, roots, and rocks, but there's certainly something to be said about the smooth liquidity with which a road bike moves. The efficiency and the low hum that you get from your tires moving on the pavement. Again, it won't take over as number 1 in my eye, but it sure is a close second. Road bike, my friend, it's good to have you back.
The weather tomorrow is going to determine what I'll do for exercise. The forecast calls for snow overnight and if that's the case it would be great to get out on the mountain bike and hit the trails before it's gone. I'm not a HUGE fan of the snow, but riding in 2 inches of fresh powder is super fun-just as long as it doesn't turn to slush and mud. Either way, I'll find a way to ride or lift. Gonna be a good weekend.
I started this post this morning and now, by this evening, I forgot what the hell I was writing about and I'm too lazy to go back and actually read through what I wrote. Anyway, I finished the day off with a light, recovery-ish ride in the cold. I've really got the bug back when it comes to road riding, and it's been a great way to not only pursue my fitness and potential racing goals for the upcoming season, but also a wonderful new rediscovery of something that was very important to me. Yeah, riding mountain bikes will always be my number one, but there's a certain calmness that comes from just turning the cranks and riding in a straight line. Nothing is more fun than jumps, berms, roots, and rocks, but there's certainly something to be said about the smooth liquidity with which a road bike moves. The efficiency and the low hum that you get from your tires moving on the pavement. Again, it won't take over as number 1 in my eye, but it sure is a close second. Road bike, my friend, it's good to have you back.
The weather tomorrow is going to determine what I'll do for exercise. The forecast calls for snow overnight and if that's the case it would be great to get out on the mountain bike and hit the trails before it's gone. I'm not a HUGE fan of the snow, but riding in 2 inches of fresh powder is super fun-just as long as it doesn't turn to slush and mud. Either way, I'll find a way to ride or lift. Gonna be a good weekend.
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