I Made My Goal!!!!!

I checked an old post to verify, and on January 19 I made a goal to be able to ride non-stop for an hour keeping cadence above 70 rpm. And, I wanted to be able to do it by the end of January. And I mean non-stop. I didn't want to stop pedaling for a second during the whole hour. That's actually one of the hardest things about riding rollers is the fact that you can't coast. When you stop pedaling, your wheels stop moving and you have to hold yourself up. I know it seems like a weird goal, but I thought it would be a good way to measure some kind of progress. Plus, it helps to break the monotony of training on rollers. 

Well, since Wednesday is one of my days for long rides (along with Saturday), and since it's the 30th of the month, I figured that tonight was my chance. And, long story short, I did it! You can see the graph below. That's my cadence in purple, and that's not average cadence. That's actual cadence, baby! The red is heart rate, and the little rainbow stripes are heart rate zones, so you can see that I kept it right in zone 3 for almost the entire ride (yellow=zone 3). You can see that I went a little over an hour. Anyways, I'm so excited. I know it's a small accomplishment, but I really feel like I've come a long way. I'm still afraid of running, but that will come with time. For now, I feel like I'm making progress towards my bigger goals. Now, I'm going to go rest my butt. 

Increasing Flexibility?

Lately I've noticed that it's a lot easier to put on my socks than it used to be. I have a ruptured disk in my lower back, and it's been a pain to put on my socks (especially the left one) for years. I've been stretching and riding a lot lately, and I really think it's increased my flexibility, because it hasn't really been a pain lately.

Also, I've noticed that it's becoming easier and easier to eat healthy. I was pretty miserable for a few days, but since I cut out junk food and stuff, I haven't really been all that tempted by candy and other junk. Anyways, just a few observations that I wanted to note.

More podcast reviews

So, I think I've come to the conclusion that there are way too many podcasts out there, and I enjoy listening to well done podcasts about things like video games than mediocre podcasts about triathlon.

In Transit 2: This is a podcast by two female triathletes that basically goes through their own personal experiences with triathlon, and it's a pretty good podcast, but not the best I've heard. It's worth listening to an episode, but I would listen to tri talk or JBST before this one. I think I'll unsubscribe.

Ironman Talk: Hosted by two triathletes from New Zealand. They're actually really funny, and the podcast is entertaining. It focuses on interviews with triathletes and news about ironman and half ironman races. It's fun to listen to, and I'll keep listening during long workouts. 

Maybe I'll have another review after my ride tonight. I was thinking about running, but it's a blizzard outside, so I think I'll just hit my rollers for a while. 

My first major bike repair

As I mentioned, I broke a spoke on my ride on Saturday. What's more, it was a rear spoke on the drive side, so I had to take off the cassette and everything. I was going to just take it to a shop and have them do it, but I figured it could be a learning experience. 

I borrowed some tools from a friend of mine, and got it all done today. I'm pretty happy because I figured I'd screw it up or something, but the wheel looks really true and everything. So, my training is back on. And, if I feel like getting really dirty again, maybe I'll go out and get my 50 mile ride on Saturday. 

Here's a pic of the wheel after I was done. I spend a while degreasing the cassette because I hope I won't have to take it off again any time soon. I just had to include a pic. It's so shiny.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times

I'm getting pretty good at those corny titles. So, I was considering going on a ride outside today, because the temp was supposed to be in the 30's. I told Carl last night, so he let me borrow his full-finger gloves, and I figured I had to go on a ride.

So, I kind of just wandered around Provo/Springville. At about mile 25, I decided I really wanted to do 50 miles, and I was stoked. My legs were feeling good, and I wasn't have any trouble breathing or anything. So, I went up to Hobble Creek Golf Course, and then came back down, and was going to go up past the MTC and loop back around to get right around 50 miles. Then I probably would have just circled the block if I was short of 50.

So, I was almost to mile 38, crossing the intersection on 900 East in front of the MTC, and broke a spoke. I got right off the bike, and sure enough, it was broken. Basically, I kind of tried to fix it for a few minutes (I don't know what I thought was going to happen), and then called Lacey to come pick me up. I think this was God's way of telling me I need to do more missionary work, or I need to go to the Temple more, since I was right in front of both. In the end, it was probably a good thing, because we had to leave for dinner pretty soon after. 

Here are some pics. The first is the route I took. You can tell I was kind of just wanderin randomly around Provo. The second is this cool snow sculpture thing of the ninja turtles. It was right on that street where you turn right to go up the canyon to Hobble Creek.

Good Podcasts

So, I listen to a lot of podcasts, and I figured I'd start writing about a few because I've gotten a lot of new ones lately, and I listen to them while I ride.

My favorite is the SMARTCast at JBST.com (search jbst in iTunes). It's by these two british guys, and it's all about triathlon training and stuff. It's actually really interesting and entertaining. They only put out an episode about every month, but they're worth the wait. There's lots of useful information.

My second favorite is probably The Fredcast. It's a weekly cycling podcast that talks about news, products, and training stuff. The news is a little boring once in a while, but I like to listen to it while I ride and wash the dishes. 

I also really like the tri-talk podcast. More triathlon related stuff. Good production value (which can ruin a podcast if it's crappy). 

That's about it. I'll mention others as I listen to them.

Feeling Good

I rode again tonight (1:23 active time), and I felt really good. I'm really getting tired of riding inside though. It really hurts your hands/feet/butt a lot more because you can't shift around too much. But, I've been feeling great lately during my rides. I wasn't even breathing hard at all, even though I was right in the middle of zone 3 (75% of max) for most of the ride. I cranked up the resistance/speed at the end of the ride until my legs felt like jelly, but I still wasn't breathing too hard. 

I'm scared to go running because I'm sure it will be a lot harder and stuff, but I need to soon. I think I'll try to drop a few more pounds, but I'm really excited to see how I do running. I'm going to take tomorrow off, and then just see how long I can go in zone 3 on Saturday. I'll probably get off once in a while to give my butt a rest, but I'm excited.

New Fan

So, I got a fan, and used it today for the first time on my roller ride. It was really nice. I noticed a few things. First of all, I obviously didn't get nearly as sweaty. Also, I noticed I had to work a lot harder to get my heart rate up than I did before. 

So, I rode for 1:28 half active time (about 1:53 total), and it was really good. I took a break about half way through and actually got off my bike. I had to adjust my cleat because it came loose, but I was glad for the chance to rest my butt and legs. I was keeping my heart rate in zone 3 for the whole workout, and I'm going to try that for the next little while. The strange thing is I really don't feel all that tired now. I was never breathing too hard or anything. I mainly stopped because my butt hurt, but my legs were getting pretty tired. I feel like I've gotten past that preliminary stage where any exercise is excruciating, so now I need to keep building my base. I have 44 days until my actual training schedule begins, but I feel like I'm making good progress. 

One thing I've noticed, as well, is that my heart rate seems to drop a lot faster lately when I stop pedaling or whatever. I think that's a good sign. At any rate, I feel like I'm in a ton better shape than I was before, and that feels good. 

Good Tri Book

I'm almost done with this book called "Breakthrough Triathlon Training" by Brad Kearns, and I've really liked it. It talks about a lot of things, but one thing is how you should have a few really long workouts every week (1 or 2) instead of 5 or 6 medium distance workouts. There are a lot of reasons, but basically it's so you're ready for the long ones, and so you're ready for the race because you only race for one day. Anyways, I'm going to be doing my long rides/runs on Wednesday and Saturday. Then I'll have Tuesday and Friday completely off, and I'll work as hard as I can on the other days. 

Also, he talked about how people are afraid to stay in the aerobic heart rate zone, even though it really helps you get faster and lose weight, so I'm going to stay completely in Zone 3 for now. I think I'll stick with cycling for the next month or so, because I think I need to lose a little more weight before I start running seriously, because I don't want to do more harm than good. I'll also be doing some swimming if I can get my butt out of bed and to the pool. 

Weigh In Jan 2008: 271

So, I'm going to weigh in every 3rd sunday from now on, because I go to my parents house and they have a nice scale. Anyways, I weighed in on Suday and I was 271. I'm going in the right direction, but I still have a long way to go. 

New Record!

So, I decided to get one last, good workout in tonight, and I rode my rollers for 2 hours. It felt really good. I watched Godfather 2 for about an hour and 20 minutes, and then listened to loud music for the rest of the time. The thing that makes me the happiest is that the total time was 2:03 and there was only 13 minutes where I wasn't pedaling, so I was actually pedaling for 1:50. I was usually between 60 and 70 RPM, but I got up around 100 a few times. I know I need to get the average cadence up, but I'm still a bit shaky. 

So, that put my weekly total up to 5 hours, and about 50 miles (not that distance means much indoors). 

My goal for this month is to get to where I can ride non-stop for an hour with cadence above 70 RPM. My actual tri training schedule doesn't start until March 8, so I'm just trying to get a good base. This month, I'm concentrating on cycling, and next month, I'll move on to running. I figure if I can get to the point where I can exercise for longer periods of time and keep my heart rate up and stuff, I'll be ready to start my actual tri training.

Rolling to Music

So, I've come to the conclusion that it helps me to listen to music when I ride. Last night I got on my rollers at around 9:30. It would have been earlier, but I had to watch american idol. Anyways, I was watching Steve Jobs' keynote speech at the beginning of my ride, and I just wasn't feeling it. Then, I put on some music (AFI, Thrice, Thursday, etc.) and it really helped me to keep riding and not get bored. I ended up riding for 1 hour and 10 minutes. It was a really great ride. So, now I have to start making some good riding playlists.

Spudman

So, I got signed up for Spudman, and Clint and Amy couldn't (stupid freaking active.com). I'm still hoping that they'll let them race, but it doesn't look very likely. For a while, I was considering just canceling my registration, but I think I'm going to do it. I really feel like I need a good goal, and I've really been looking forward to it. Even if I have to race alone, and there's not a huge fan section (my wife is due about 2 weeks before the race), I'll be there racing against myself.

Rolling along

I rode my rollers this morning for 45 minutes, with my heart rate 150 and 160 the whole time. I'm trying to keep my heart rate steady, and just put in the time until I get to a point where I can exercise regularly without feeling like I'm going to have a heart attack. 

I listened to music today, and I think it helped me to keep the cadence up a little bit. I don't know if it would work for hours on end, but it seemed to help for this ride.