How long till spring?

So I got my bike back, again. Guru had to repair the shell casing in the bottom bracket. So they gave me a new paint work up as well. It looks amazing. I will post some pics soon. As far as training goes it has been steadily progressing. My swim stroke is coming back to good form, I have been pretty please with my number on the bike. I am just sick and tired running in the damn cold weather! I don't know how I ever trained for the marathon in this stuff. I a such a warm weather person.

The past two weeks have been different b/c I am now working the morning shift and trying to fit in my workouts in broken sleep has been challenging. The one thing I notice is that I have adapted quickly, even though I slept like crap today. I now start my day and 1o pm. Go to work at 11:30 pm and finish at 7:30. The get to the gym for a swim or weights the in bed by 10 am. for 3.5-4 hours. then I get on the bike or run. Pick up the boys and get dinner ready. Spend time with the family. Now my wife puts all three of men to bed before 8pm. Then I wake up at 10pm and do it all over again. because I learned to function on little sleep with new borns I think this transition is a bit less stressful. I just can't wait for that warm weather to help lift the spirits as I walk to work when everyone else is going to bed. So be it.

Off to work

So last week I performed my FTP test. I couldn't decide if I was disappointed or surprised with my outcome. After an easy warm up I preformed on set at an all out pace that I could maintain for 20 Min. The result was an avg of 279 watts. It was nice to be able to use the software to look at the graph of my progression. The last 5 min I pushed 2 watts more per minute than I did the first 5 min. The point to taken from this, is I can now truly chart my workouts and focus on increasing the amount of spend and power I can push. Ultimately making me a faster cyclist.

Last week I also met Sara Thatcher of BodyTunning. I have always been dealing with the little nagging injuries that would either make me train less or not at the level I want to be at. Sara was able to point out some weaknesses that have had an impact on my performance and was able to prescribe some workouts for me to "rehab" those trouble spots and potentially making me faster.

With those two important parts of my training block taken care of I can now get ready for the up coming season with a better direction. So now it is off to work!

Time to set the bench mark!

So I have to say that using a powermeter is very informative. The other thing that it can provide is a benchmark for future training. I have to test my FTP. functional threshold power. This will let me see how hard and fast I can actually ride my bike. Fit Werx has provided me with a simple test that will rip me to the core in about 35 mins. Because of the test I will be able to truely take advantage of the information power can give a rider. I will let you know the results!

riding

I finally was able to get on a bike today. As noted before my crono had to be fixed and I am eagerly awaiting its return.

my friend Marty let me use his old rig to get some much needed trainer work. I have been looking forward to the trainer this winter b/c of the power meter. I had set my numbers for this winter off my last sprint race from 2009. I avg. around 260 watts for that race. So today I set up my workout and it went off with a bang. I am weighing in at about 197. My goal for the end of the month is 195. I am definitely stronger b/c my weights this winter.

For today I started with 5 min warm up and then a 5 min drills and then 5 min at 110 rpm's. Thought this would be a good way to get the HR up. My main set was 8 intervals. The 1st 4 were at 255-260 watts for 2 min with 1 min cool down. The 2nd 4 were at 300-310 for 2 min with 2 min cool down. I love the powertap b/c I was able to find the rhythm and just push. I hit my numbers and was feeling pretty good. The 2 nd set challenged me towards the end. I think I had a good say considering this was my 1st bike workout in 3 weeks. before that I had not been on it since Sept 22. I am counting the hours til I ride again!

4 MONTHS!

Four months have passed since the birth of my second son. It is so different the second time around and the two of them are so different. The best thing about babies is the innocence that surrounds them. They tend to have it rub off on whoever is holding them. Last night Seamus decided to test the patience of Mom and Dad. Teeth are coming and his belly needs more and more but after he finally decided to sleep at about 3:50 he transformed from the screaming red-faced 15 lbs of mayhem to the picture perfect angel resting with his "blanky". I think these are times that test us as parents so we can develop our own tolerance for each child in the certain ways so that we can raise them to be good people.

Four months has felt like four hours. The time flies and we are loving every minute of it!
Happy New Year!

Old Man winter

It is bone chilling cold out there today. I have started back into training again for the up coming season. I have decided to do the FIRMAN in Sept as a my A race. This is where I did my first half. I am also going up t Lake Placid to volunteer this year at the Ironman. Might be able to convince my brother to come along and maybe register?

Things have been frustrating the past few weeks. Christmas was great, the kids had a blast. Right before that I sent my bike into get tuned up and they found a crack in my NEW Guru Crono. Needless to say I was more than upset and kind went into a battle with Guru about what they were going to do with it. Bottom line is that they are going to replace the frame and add a custom paint. So, I am now without a bike and don't really know what to expect. Fit Werx will keep me posted.

Got back into the pool yesterday and it felt good to swim but man have a lost a little. No worries though, it is going to become my main focus for fitness this winter. Along with 3 swims a week I am going to work on my power output and try to build as much stamina as possible. With that I plan on good January and February. Hope it goes by as quick as Christmas did.

I saw this quote today and thought, wow! I hope I do not offend the person who said but I would like to post it...

As a child I prayed for the burden to pass; Now as a Man I pray for the strength to bear the burden.