dannyandeliza.com

It's no secret that I'm one of those guys that likes to have nice toys.  At the same time, I'm also one of those guys that agonizes over every dollar spent in pursuit of the best deal.  Lately, all I can think about are computer upgrades and bike upgrades...

Computer upgrades can be expensive, but I typically stay on the mild side of the price spectrum and stay well within my budget.  Bikes on the other hand?  The prices always seem to hover at the high end of my comfort zone and often go into the stratosphere!  Add to that my lack of physical prowess on the bike, and well...  It's hard to justify the spend.  Sure there are going to be wear and tear items.  I will need a new chain this season.  My situation with mixing and matching a decent tire with a horrible one should also be rectified.  For sure I'll need to get new bike clothes.  My bike however, is still far more capable than my abilities to exploit it are.  It's a constant reminder that I need to improve the "motor" and not the bike.

I've been taking it quite easy for the past week and haven't lifted or ridden.  A wonderful rest week.  It's time to get back into it though.  Armed with some new knowledge on off season training, I hope to load up on level 2 bike work this month and then make the switch to level 3 bike work next month.  After that, I hope to start doing some speed work in May and see what happens.  The weight lifting is going to be an ever present part of my fitness routine for a long time.  I've been seeing steady gains.  The coolest part of it all, is the addictive nature of seeing the pounds get added to the bar.

Ha ha!  Who would have thought the fat kid that played video games so much would turn into such a gym rat.  :)

It's kind of fun getting together with people that haven't seen me in a while.  They are probably some what shocked by two things.  The pony tail and the fact that I'm considerably thinner.  Just how thin am I now?  The picture above says a lot.  I can comfortably fit into 30" pants again.  Just over a year ago I was comfortably fitting into 34" pants!  I'm still pretty far from having a flat stomach and way way far from having a six pack.  The changes are huge though.  Other factoids are:  I can bench, squat, and dead lift my body weight.  I've seen my body weight drop 30 pounds from a high of 173 to a low of 142 while currently I'm around 145-148.  Happily the weight increase is from added muscle.

It feels good to feel good.  Eliza and I took a break this weekend and relaxed.  My body has been most grateful and is definitely reacting positively to the rest.  I always feel like I need to make up for the lack of fitness by pushing harder and faster.  But the fact of the matter is, my body is still not use to this much exercise and training.  Even with a year of cycling and about 1500 miles ridden last year, I'm not a butterfly in the wind but more like a leaner Dr Who adipose plushy with a pair of wings on it's back doing its best to look the part.

I'm pretty much on track to crack 3,000 miles this year in total miles ridden.  So far, I've got 240 miles logged.  205 of those miles have come from riding inside.  Yesterday I added another 20 miles or so to the goal. To keep myself from completely losing my mind, I've been watching anime to pass the time.  Guin Saga is currently in queue.  Thank you Netflix!  I may want to cancel our subscription every other day, but it's those days when I'm spinning for two hours that I am so thankful.  Ha ha!

On nearly all of my indoor rides, I've been keeping my heart rate way down and right around my lower lactate threshold (128bpm).  Not an easy thing to do as it is maddeningly boring.  I have learned some interesting things about my body though.

• If I sit up with a slouch and not hold onto the bars and keep pedaling, my heart rate will shoot up a good ten beats per second and stay there.
• If I sit up and straighten out my back and raise my arms above my head, my heart rate plummets like I'm taking a break.  Eliza's pretty sure it is the affect of gravity pulling my blood down and making it easier for my heart to pump it where it is needed.
• If I pedal at a very easy pace for longer than thirty minutes, my nether regions will go numb.  Crazy!  The tingly sensation is absolutely ridiculous!  However, if I up the effort I don't have this problem.  Weird huh?  This makes it quite difficult to balance a low heart rate and a numb feeling.
• If I pedal at a very easy pace my hands will go numb.  I didn't quite expect this.  At harder efforts, the numbness goes away.  Again I didn't quite expect this.  It does make some sense though.  At harder efforts my legs are doing much more work to support the weight of my body and my arms are pulling and not just pushing against the bars.
• I appear to have really poor breathing technique.  I take short but frequent breaths when I'm not paying attention.  When I force myself to take deep breaths my heart rate plummets.  I need to practice breathing deep and fast.

I can't wait for the weather and my schedule to start cooperating.  All this indoor riding is giving me cabin fever.  Sadly, I think I need several hundred more base miles to really get my body ready for faster riding this summer and fall.  The grind continues...

This past Sunday I donned my gear and headed out into the cold to get some real miles on my bike and body.  All told I rode about 35 miles in temps that ranged from 32-37 degrees.  Conditions were great with only a little moisture on the ground and visibly no salt.  Also, the air while cold had some humidity in it.  Each breath instead of freezing your airways was rather pleasant really.  I felt slow though.  Not sure if it's the accumulation of fatigue in my muscles from the lifting and indoor cycling, or if I've just gotten slower.  I won't really know until my next outdoor ride though because my Garmin Edge 800 lost all my ride data.  Gah!  Supremely annoying when the gadgets don't work as advertised.  Ah well...

I did end up wearing a lot of clothes, but I think I've found a happy place for rides in the 30's.

Under Armor Cold gear compression shirt.
Novara full zip cold weather long sleeve jersey.
Pearl Izumi convertible barrier elite jacket.
Novara cycling head and ear band.
Cutter knickerbockers.
Sugio Firewall LT gloves under Seirus Neoprene gloves.
Smartwool cycling mini socks.
Lake CX140 shoes.

My feet were ok, but my toes were cold, so I'll probably need to wear thicker wool socks.

My hands were frozen when wearing just the Sugoi Firewall LT gloves in the first mile of the ride.  These gloves I'm thinking are fine for days in the mid to upper 40's, but definitely not when it's in the 30's.  Under the Seirus gloves, they were alright though not ideal as there was a good amount of bulk in the fingers and they no longer breathed.  IF, I ride more in the 30's and lower, I'm seriously considering getting some road bike pogies from barmitts.com.  They are now available on amazon.com too.  I saw a cyclist ride by with them while in Evanston and had a huge rush of envy.  Warm dry hands on a cold day...  Oh how magical it sounds!

I wasn't sure if the baggy knickers were going to keep me warm enough, but I never thought about them during the ride.  Doesn't get any better than that.

As for my upper body, I'm not sure what I'm going to do.  What I wore worked and worked pretty well.  But I've lost a lot of weight and so my jacket doesn't fit well anymore.  I should probably replace it, but this three piece ensemble worked.  It wasn't too bulky mostly because the compression shirt does a great job at being a second skin.  Still, I think this setup could be improved with a Novara Headwind jacket in place of the cold weather jersey and the Pearl Izumi jacket...

We'll see.  Temps are going to dip back down again and bring the snow with it.  Hopefully I'll get to ride outside again in the next couple months, but it doesn't look like it.