2 hour 5 minute bike, slammed my freakin' foot!

Rode for 2 hours and 5 minutes on the 'cross bike after a very frustrating issue with the tires delayed my start time. Without going into detail, the beed on both tires (clinchers obviously) wouldn't line up with the rim. I actually blew out a couple tubes when instaling the new tires. Very pissed. Has anyone with a 'cross bike ever had this problem? I've never ever had an issue with beeds not lining up on my road and mountain bikes.

So after all the mechanical issues were up, I was out on the road only to find that my chain was desperately in need of lube. A quick stop at the bike shop and I was good to go. Other than that the ride was pretty uneventful until I endo'd in a pile of snow and landed on my head. Interestingly enough, I wound up slamming my bad foot somehow and I saw stars. I'm hoping I didn't do any further damage to it, but it does hurt really bad in a throbbing-not-so-good kind of way. I'm hoping to stay off it for the remainder of the night and with any luck I'll wake up pain free in the morning. Fingers crossed.

The 'cross bike is the coolest thing I've ever ridden. It's fast, nimble, and grippy as all hell. I got to ride on a dirt road with ice, snow, mud, and sand, and the bike handled just like I was on the tarmac. I'm really looking forward to doing my first 'cross race in a month!

90 min singlespeed bike, 30 min swim

Killed my training today. Got on the Meat Saw and churned out 90 minutes of singlespeed heaven. We have a decent amount of snow on the ground right now, and that made it much more fun to ride. I did about 50/50 road to snow covered trails and fire road. Had a great time and got in a lot of great strength work. Really enjoying the inclimate weather and the super cold teens and twenties temps we're having.

Swam this evening for 30 mins as well. I don't know if it was waiting until evening to swim, or if it was just that I was tired, but I sucked it in the water today. I felt good and fast like I have been, but my shoulders were sore and I didn't have any pep. I was planning on getting in an hour swim, but it just wasn't my day.

Tomorrow is a 3 hour base ride on my new cyclocross bike! Super psyched to get that thing on the road. It's always motivating to ride a new bike. I'd like to get out in the morning, but again, like today, I don't think it's gonna happen. Work is a little crazy now (being that it's the new year and everyone is all pumped up to get fit!-It'll last for 2 weeks!), and I probably wont get on the bike until midday. I guess that's ok as it'll hopefully be above freezing by then.

Run 20 mins

Felt pretty good running today, but I'm afraid I may have gone out a little too soon. I still have a little bit of soreness, not during the run, but in the hours after. I'm really going to have to wait until I have a week of no symptoms whatsoever before I run again. This is unfortunate, but there are good things that are happening here.

First of all, the run, although very short, felt super easy. I haven't lost fitness, I've just lost some of the running muscles I had before having to take this little layoff. I'm happy that my biking and swimming have "kept me in the game" as far as fitness has gone.

Also, I'm glad that it's getting better. This sounds pretty simple, but I'm happy that I ran 20 mins pain free, and that so far, I don't have any real pain or discomfort. I'm dissapointed that it seems to be tightening up, but it's just an indication that there's still some healing left to be done. Soon, if I continue to be smart about not pushing it, the whole injury will be a non issue and I'll be back to running on it full time.

I should be getting a cyclocross bike tomorrow, so I'll have some fun and cool pics to show from when it arrives. I've decided to get into that sport just because it looks like so much fun! I'll be doing a 'cross race in Maryland on February 7th and I'm really looking forward to it. By then the foot should be good and I'll be ready to have a blast. I'm hoping it will be muddy, cold, and gross-great cross conditions!

Sunday (continues)

Threw in the towel on training today. There are some days where you just need to take off. I'm not sure what the reason was for my feeling like crap, but whatever it is, it needs to be addressed. Trying to "muscle" my way through a workout today would not be a good idea for me mentally or physically.

I got on the trainer for 35 minutes and couldn't help but be mad the whole time. I was like a cranky 4 year old. I thought the endorfins would kick in and I'd be ok, but the more I pedaled, the more upset I got. Training is just not in the cards today.

I got off the trainer, took a quick shower, made a ham and cheese sandwhich (my favorite right now), and now just plan on relaxing for the rest of the day. Something is off with me either mentally or physically (or both) and I need to rest my body and mind before I dig myself into a hole. No biggie, just needed.

Sunday

Don't really feel like doing much today. This is why I hate the holidays. When I get off schedule from anything, it really has a great effect on my entire life, training included. I enjoy the chance to relax and see family, but I don't like getting away from my normal schedule. It changes the way I feel, and not always for the better.

Case in point: Today. I had a real hard time getting out of bed this morning, and generally don't feel like doing anything today. I felt like crap yesterday after training, and the feelings carried over to today. I'm not sure why though. I may not have fueled enough during trianing yesterday. I ate like a monster into the night, and I believe that the "bonk" may have hit me when I was done training. I've been a little neurotic with my diet lately (trying not to eat as much as my training volume has dipped resulting from my injury), so that might be a reason as well. All in all, things are F'd up at the moment.

With that I'm debating on whether or not to throw in the towel on training today. I don't really feel like it, I'm tired, I'm sore, and it's 19 degrees outside with occasional 50 mph winds. I'm usually up for a day like this and love the challenge, but I just don't know if I'm game for it today. A day of rest may be better than pushing things too far.

Or...maybe I just need to HTFU and get on the trainer and grind it out while watching movies and listening to podcasts. I don't know. What I do know is that I need another cup of coffee before I make any decisions...

3 hour ride

Ok, so I discovered 2 things during today's training. 1: I hate training indoors, and 2: riding on the snow really isn't that hard, and it can even be fun.

So I started today with an hour on the rollers. Nothing too bad, just constant base effort-keeping the legs movin and the heartrate low. Come to think of it, if I hadn't kept the legs movning I probably wouldn't be typing right now as I would have crashed off the rollers in my living room. I had to head back to work, so I only got the first hour in.

After work I came back, manned up, and went out in the 4 inches of new snow we just got with The Meatsaw (my singlespeed 29er mtb) and had a ball. I haven't ridden the "saw" in a while, and I forgot how much I love this bike! It's definately my favorite of all the bikes I have (latest count was 8) just becasue of the pain it inflicts. The thing is pretty damn light, built like a tank, and has never failed me. It's like the Hummer of bikes. Not that stupid H2, but the real deal, military issue Humvee. Bad ass! When I finally do an Xterra (hopefully this upcoming season sometime) I'm gonna get a bad ass 29er with some gears and rip the bike apart!

Apart from the fun riding outside, I got to dust off some of my mountain bike skills and fly around the local golf course. I don't think many of the golfers would appreciate how cool my bike is, or how much fun it is to ride on a snow-covered golf course, but I don't think they can catch me anyway!

So after the hour and a half I spent outside, I came back in to finish riding for the day on the rollers. Coming back inside to finish up sucks. I hate working out indoors, and this was like tourture. The final time I had left to get to three hours felt like an eternity. I will say though, that indoor workouts do have their place. It's ten times harder to ride for 5 hours on the rollers (which I did a couple times last year) than it is to ride outside for 5 hours. I think it's a combo of the constant effort (no traffic lights, descents, etc.) and the mental aspect of not going anywhere while riding.

I love getting outside for the adventure it presents. I try to make my long rides like a journey. Today was fun playing in the snow, and tomorrow will be more of the same. I'll probably ride for 4 or 5 hours outside and I'm sure that it'll feel like 2 minutes compared to the time spent on the rollers today.

Happy New Year!

Today was a big "zilch" on the training and big on the eating. Last night I drank a bit more than I wanted to. I've pretty much stopped drinking since I decided to train seriously, so the glass of scotch, 2 beers, and 2 shots I had hit me like a ton of bricks. Back in my college days this would have been the warm up, but now in my skinny triathlete days, this almost put me down. Now it was over the span of about 6 hours, but damn, I can't drink like I used to.

And, as we all know, getting drunk usually comes with a pretty nasty hangover the next day. Yeah, I definately forgot about that one. I haven't gotten drunk in so long I've forgoten what it's like to wake up with your head split in two! Either way, I had a good time last night with some great people. Ringing in the new year and over indulging along the way has got to have its place in life.

So today consisted of eating badly. I started with bacon, eggs, a bagel, and homefries covered in enough butter to cause a heart attack, then followed that up with a whole batch of chocolate chip cookies. I must have had at least 8 cookies...not good! I finished up with some sushi, so I guess the whole day isn't a total loss.

On the injury front, the foot is ready to go. I did some light jogging around the house and to and from the car, and didn't even have a "ping". I'm going to give it an additional week to rest though. I anticipated it being ready by today, but being that today is really the only first day that I truly didn't feel anything in the way of pain, I think it would pay to let it rest just a bit more. At this point, I'm certain that a week one way or another isn't going to matter much. Besides, my bike fitness and swim fitness are both very strong. I've really done a good job holding onto some fitness through this injury, and I'm very happy with that.