blown up and slavaging the pieces

Soulard was a disaster to say the least. Dropped out only 22 minutes into the race. It's hard to race when the heart rate is at 185 after the first lap. De-hydration and the heat just made things too difficult. It definitely would have been a fun race, as the course was fast and exciting!!! I hadn't raced in 3 weeks prior to Soulard, so I also didn't have the race legs. In the meantime, I have raced 2 tuesday night riaces, plus the MO state TT championships. Those went fairly well. I was hoping to go under 1 hour, which I know I can do. I cramped at about 23k, and had to sit up for a couple minutes. My 10k splits definitely tell me I can go under 1 hour as they were: 15:35, 14:55, 17:26, and 14:30...better luck next time I guess.

The last couple weeks of training have been good, I should finish up July with the most miles I've ever ridden in a month, so that is a positive. Gearing up for the state crit championships, and then tour of KC. Should be exciting!!

Soulard and Training

Soulard tomorrow!!!..looking forward to racing again...I'll post the result obviously after it is over. Got in some great riding the last 2 weeks...well over 400 miles which is good. This past week I really made an effort to concentrate hard efforts on power output. I think this is where I'm lacking right now. I've got the great base, and the lactate threshold is better than its ever been...but I'm not really producing much power. So thats what the workouts have been geared towards lately.

Not much to report in other news. SLU still does not have a new athletic director. No one is even really talking about who could be the replacement. We did hire a new baseball coach, and rumor has it he has already gotten himself in trouble!!!..got job on that one.

Results to come soon!!! Enjoy the tour on TV!!

Back on the Bike

I took all of last week off which was nice. I don't think my body actually needed the day off, but my mind definitely did. I feel re-charged and ready to go!!

Sunday I got in a good 47 miler, followed by an easy 36 on Monday. Yesterday I did some hill repeats in the big ring for about an hour and got in 20. Not a bad little week so far. I wanted to do more yesterday, but we had a SLU athletic dept. meeting for Happy Hour. Since half our dept. has either been fired, or is not coming back next year, it was nice to go out and have a few drinks with some of them. You gotta love life in college athletics...you never know where you will end up.

Back from the Dead

So it's been 59 days since I last posted. Needless to say a lot has happened in those 59 days. From a cycling standpoint, I have raced 9 different times with very average results. I was preparing for Joe Martin as of my last post, and well lets just say that turned out to be a disaster.

I got down to Fayetteville alright, and was excited to get the racing underway. I warmed up great, and was feeling very confident as they staged us for the start of stage 1. They stage us, and turn us lose, and not even 1/4 mile into the race, I have 2 flat tires. That wouldn't have been too bad a problem, if the wheel truck had actually left the staging area when we did...not 3 minutes after us. By the time I got the tires changed, the peleton was no where in sight...I chased for the entire day, never even getting a sniff of them. Then 3 miles from the finish, another flat. I dropped out. That was the most disappointed I've ever been at a bike race.

A week later I was at it again at the Clarksville, MO time trial. That was a fun little race. I didn't ride as well as I could have, but I was still rather pleased. I struggled up a large hill in the middle of the course. All in all that was a decent result. 2nd in the 3s.

There were a couple of the tuesday night crits scattered in there, which are great tests of fitness...they really let you know where you're at.

I finished 17th at Winghaven, but feel I should have been in the top 10...I rode strong, but just didn't put myself in good position as we made the final decent. I guess you learn from your mistakes right?? Then this past weekend I went to Baldwin city. I was really pumped for the stage race, but it started out bad too!!! This time in a time trial. There were 2 hills at the beginning, so I went out conservatively, but for some reason never broke out of that rhythm. I was behind from the get go. The crit went alright...some dumb as fell right in front of me with 2 laps to go, and that put a small gap between me and the front end...a 16th place finish. The road race went great, was in the front the whole day...the whole race, except for the last 500m. Ended up 16th in that too. Since I've moved to STL, I just have not been able to get the results. Maybe I'm just having a bad year...I guess I just need to be patient and keep working hard, and the results will come. I've taken this whole week off so far, and will get back on the bike this weekend. The next race for me will be soulard...looking for some good results!!!

ugghhh!!! what's that??

I'm sore. My piriformis is very sore. I don't think I've ever riden to the point of soreness. I've had dead legs before, but never flat out soreness. I guess Sunday's forest park crit, and my ride last night really did it to me. It's good though, lets me know I'm working.

As for the crit, talk about fun and painful all at once. I'm pretty sure that was the fastest crit I've ever done, and definitely the longest. I can tell I haven't raced since dogwood, but I feel good. Tactically I was all over the map...one bad decision after the next. Not the best way to race, but I ended up 15th. I do feel I could have been better though. I'm looking forward to Joe Martin in 2 weeks. I feel I will do very well there.

In other news...to put it mildly, lets just say it's fun to be involved in Saint Louis U athletics. I know we've been taking a beating in the papers the last couple of weeks, but with the hiring of Majerus, there is quite a buzz in the office. I'm excited to see what this hiring will do for everyone involved!! We have the Atlantic 10 championships this weekend in Charlotte, North Carolina, so I'll be out of town and off the bike for a couple days. I guess I'll be on the stationary at the hotel. Oh well, not the best, but at least I won't be losing my fitness.

been away

So I've taken a week away from the blog, but not the bike. Last week I got 2 great workouts in, and then last night I got another good one in!!! I'm pretty stoked. I didn't quite get as much in last week as I'd like in terms of volume, but it was still a quality week. I had to take friday off as we were traveling to Nashville, TN for a meet. The meet was great!! We had a bunch of kids either set school records, or set personal records. So like I said, it was a great meet. We only have 2 more left, and the season will be over for us...thats when the real training for me will begin!!!!!

I'm looking forward to getting back into the racing this sunday at forest park. I feel I'll do very well. The form is coming. I'm still a couple of pounds over the fighting weight, but I will have most of those shed before Joe Martin which is less than 3 weeks away. I'm getting excited!!!

back on the bike!!

I took 4 days off the bike, and now I feel great. I've got the movitvation back and ready to roll. In all honesty though, physically I probably didn't need the break. Even emotionally, I probably didn't need the break. It did feel nice to not ride though. I had a great debate with myself all of last week while I was taking the down time. Typically at the beginning of May I've struggled with my form and needed some time off....so to avoid that I took some time off now. However, I've never had this kind of base before, so I don't know if I would have struggled in May. Either way, I took the time off, and I got back on the bike Sunday. I just went for an easy 1:17 so I just got the legs going again. Yesterday was more of the same, about 1:11 of ride time. It may not sound like a lot, and it really isn't but until school is out, it is hard for me to get much more than 1:45 a day in. I have to go recruiting tonight, so no world championships crit for me. I'm planning on racing the Forest Park Crit of the Tour of St. Louis. That means about I will not have raced for about a month. Damn near 2 months for a crit...oh well...I'll be ready. After the HS meet tonight I plan on doing about an hour's worth of TT work...nothing like big ring repeats!!!! If you've read Daniel Coyle's Lance Armstrong's War you'll know...thats "the shit that will kill them!!!!!" Gotta love it baby!!!

time off

I decided I needed some time off, and with the rain and cold this week it has been pretty easy to stay off the bike. I rode Sunday and Monday, but haven't ridden since. Mentally I've been stuck between a rock and a hard place. Knowing that Joe Martin is a month away, and I still don't quite have the fitness I want/need, I know I need to ride more. However I know from previous seasons that typically the first week or second week of may has been brutal for me. I do have a larger base than I ever have before, so I could probably ride until then with no problems, but I'm going to err on the conservative end. I'd rather take a couple days off now, than be feeling like shit the days leading up to Joe Martin.

In other news, I've had a busy week at the gym, which is good...I guess I can pay my bills this month!!! We cancelled our meet this weekend at Illinois, and decided to head over to Wash U tonight. I'm thinking we are going to have some decent performances. We need them. After looking at the Atlantic 10 performance list, we are no where to be found. That is very disheartening. Yesterday was the first day of the late signing period. We have some committments from some decent athletes, which is a good thing. I've also been in contact with a good recruit from the Dallas area. She is trying to decide between SLU and Vanderbilt. I think we will have a good chance of getting her!!! She would definitely help us out.

The most important news...I guess this is important news, at least that is what everyone keeps telling me, I don't see it, but I'll take their word for it....Matt Helbig of Big River Running Company has set myself and Thomas up with some chics from the St. Louis Marathon...I guess we're going on a double blind date at some point...apparently that is big news.

tv at work

So this is the first saturday that I've had to work, and it is also the first time I've had to close. I've never been in the gym at this hour, and it's actually quite nice...there aren't too many people here. So to pass the time, I put one of the TV's on the US Open Pro Cycling championships...not bad eh??? Get paid to watch cycling!!!

The workout the other night was slightly above average. It started out not so great. I warmed up, started doing the tamm hill efforts, and I was just tired. I produced power, but going into the wind, and the lck of sleep was hard. When I got over to Forest park for the 1:30 efforts, they ended up being a little shorter because I had a tail wind, which felt nice, but made the workout a little too easy. I then finished up with 2 x 2 mile tempo around a loop that starts at central fields. I hammered those, and felt great. The sections with the wind felt great, and the sections into the wind, I felt strong. But since the first part of the workout wasn't so great, I'd maybe give the workout a B-. What the hell is up with the weather???? The beginning of the week we were in the 70's yesterday and today in the 20's??? What the hell?? I rode last night for about 50 minutes and I was frozen by the end. I am happy with my week of training. I would like to get a short ride in tonight, but we'll see. I'm not going to feel bad if I take tonight off.

not important at all

Nothing really new to report on. The meet at Mizzou went great on friday night...we had a bunch of kids set some new school records. After a late dinner there was a group of us who did not get to bed until late, which sucked. The next day did not have a great start, as the times were slow. We had a girl run pretty well in the 400m, and I believe that when she runs a smart race, she is going to run pretty fast. Shortly after her race, it started to pour, and the meet had a 2 hour rain delay. Totally sucked balls, but what can you do?? I guess god didn't like track and field on saturday.


The training has been going well. Last week in only 4 days of riding I equalled my best week of the year in terms of milage. This week was off to a great start, until yesterday when I decided to take the day off. I was just too tired and really not in the mood to ride. I know that kind of attitude isn't good, but I needed some rest. So I went home and watched a couple of episodes of American Chopper. Talk about a great show!!! I watched a lot of it when I was living in Emporia, but then I pretty much stopped watching it when I moved back to utah. My brother got me the first 3 seasons on dvd, so I've been watching it lately. The no commercial thing is great. I'm hoping the weather holds off today, so I can get a workout it. I plan on changing the stimulus a little today. The planned workout it the following:

10-15 minutes warm up
4 x Tamm Hill HR @ 170
4 x 1:30 efforts HR @ 165-175
2 x 2 Mile loop (w/in forest park)
30 minutes cool down.

This should be close to 1:45 of riding which will be a good workout. This is the type of stuff that will make you fast, or at least make me fast. Even though the results haven't been so great this year, my confidence is very high. I'm really looking forward to Joe Martin. I'll probably take a couple days off just knowing that I tend to hit a rut at the beginning of May, but then again, I've never had this kind of base on me before either...we shall see!!!

meet day!

In a couple of hours we will be leaving for columbia, MO for the University of Missouri Relays. I'm pretty excited to see how we do this week. Just like most sports you see the most improvement from week 1 to week 2. I'm just hoping the temperatures stay where they are...it will help produce some fast times.

As for my training this week...it's been a good week, although short. I have to take today off. I took monday off following dogwood, and there might be a chance I have to take tomorrow off. I also took last friday and saturday off. So that means in the last 8 days I will have taken half of them off. However in those 4 days that I did ride, I have gotten in a good race effort, and another good interval effort. The other 2 days were just good aeorbic efforts. I was a little disapointed when I woke up this morning and really started planning on how I was going to ride today (that was my intention), but realized it just wasn't going to happen. I looked back at the training log from last year, and realized that this March in comparison to last March, I have riden twice as much this year. Even though the Joe Martin Stage Race is important, the important part of my season does come until June and July, so I am already way ahead of where I was at this point last year. I hope I can get a small workout in tomorrow morning before the meet, but we shall see.

Other than that, nothing too new or exciting to report about. Today is the old man's birthday, so I need to give him a call at some point today. Looking forward to the baseball season!!!...only 2 more days until opening day!!...GO BUCS!!!!

Fidel's world plus a bike race

Saturday, March 23, I spent the entire day at a track meet in Carbondale, IL. It was a fairly good meet, as we had some good performances. Our men's 4x400m relay set a school record with a time of 3:23.82, which is pretty good considering the same 4 guys ran 3:27.10 indoors. We also had some decent performances in the 800m as well. We also had some not so good performances.

Well after the meet, we drove home, were Thomas was waiting for me, so we could head towards springfield for the Dogwood RR. Because the meet ran late, we didn't leave the lou until about 9:30 or so. We had to stop to get gas in Cuba, Missouri and thats where the fun starts. Thomas pulls up to a pump. I get out, and not even thinking about it, put my credit card in. Well this lady comes up and says, I pre-paid $10 on that pump. I said, "Ok, but it took my credit card, and where is your car?" She apparently moved it forward to the station because she saw a friend and wanted to talk to her...heaven forbid she just walk up to her while her car is filling. So I go inside, where there are about 10 people just milling around, while alarms were going off. It was a shift change, and they were counting the till, and apparently when you take the till out of the register, alarms go off. So this lady and I explain the situation to the guy at the counter, and he gets his manager, because he isn't sure what to do. Well the manager comes out, and its this big fat lady; I kid you not, who had only 5 teeth. I explain the situation again, and she figures out what to do. I turn around and look at one of the 10 people milling around, and there is this guy standing there smoking a cigarette, with no shoes on!!! Talk about weird!! So I go outside fill the car up, go back inside (I had to leave my card at the register), but while I'm inside the guy with no shoes on, is fillling up at the pump next to us, and while he still has the hose in the car filling, he starts to drive off!!! Gas goes everywhere!!! Talk about an experience.

Thomas and I drove off, just shaking our heads. We stopped in Marshfield, MO for the night. The next morning we drove down to Bradleyville for the race. For me it went decent. I felt very comfortable up to the KOM climb. I told myself not to contest the prize, and just ride smartly. Well with about 600m left of the climb I thought I was in position to make a move, which I did and rode myself to the tail end of the leaders, but in doing so, I redlined. I had to slow to recover, and in the short 5 minute period they gapped me, and it opened even more as we turned into the wind. My back ended up tightening up and I really wasn't able to produce a lot of power from that point forward. I was able to keep the gap, but not close it. I finished 18th and about 5 minutes down...talk about frustrating. It was positive though to understand that, that was the longest I've been on the bike all year, and it wasn't the easiest of courses to race. I'm excited for the tilles park crit which is April 8. I look forward to getting some good training in before that race.

better luck next time

Why does it always seem that once you flat, you flat multiple times in a short period. On monday I had a rear wheel flat, and proceeded to have 2 more flats over the last 3 days. Provided I don't have one today or tomorrow, my guess is I won't have another for another 2 months. Do you think Ceasar's Palace will take odds on that?? I wonder what they'd be...4-1 sounds good to me. In other Vegas news, I just heard they tore down the stardust....thats too bad, it had quite possibly the coolest sports book on the strip.

I've gotten in some good riding so far this week, which has me feeling good. I'm looking forward to Dogwood on Sunday. I lifted on Tuesday, and the legs are a little heavy still, but like I said, I feel good.

SLU has our first outdoor meet of the season on Saturday, at SIU-C. It looks like the meet is shaping up to be a good one. I'm really excited to see how we compete. Our sprinters turned in some great workouts before spring break last week, and have had a couple more good workouts this week. It will also be exciting to see some new athletes compete for us, who didn't compete during the indoor campaign. We're going to have some new school records for sure. We are also going to be having some people compete in events for the first time in school history, so it should be fun. The meet update will come sometime next week, but you can always follow the billikens at www.slubillikens.com

thank god i'm italian

"..and the almighty said, don't fuck with the irish..." I'm not so sure it's a good thing to be taking life lessons from Braveheart. St. Patty's day in Saint Louis is nuts!!! I can only imagine what Mardi Gras is like in New Orleans. Now I understand my perspective could be tainted having lived in Utah for the last 1 1/2 years, but still...Yesterday actually reminded me of a Notre Dame football game...thousands of people wearing green and drunk...all by 10am!!!

I had 1 appointment yesterday at 9am, and when I looked out the window I decided I needed to ride the bike to work. There was no way I was about to drive and lose my parking space. So I get dressed, and shit balls it was cold....it started to snow. After my appointment, I rode home, dropped my stuff off and continued riding for about an hour or so. This is when I realized St. Patty's day is crazy...people were tailgating for a damn parade.

I got home, showered and had a small lunch, and waited for the mayhem to begin. Mike, Ben, and Jen (roommates) all ran in the St. Patty's day 5 miler, so I figured it would get started when they got home. Well the parade started at 12:30 and Mike didn't make it to the house until 2:15 or so. I just sat there...kind of. About 1:45 or so, Marcie Boyer (Head SLU Field Hockey coach), Melanie Hof (Athletic Trainer), and BIG Andrew (strength and conditioning coach) all walked in the house. No worries...I put the porn away by then ;) We started drinking, and then Brian Lyons and his wife, Margaret, along with their baby girl Lily showed up. Finally Mike Nelson showed up, and so did Joe Connelly, and pretty much the rest of the Big River racing team.

Well a couple of beers later, we all made our way to Tamm Ave...where I asked Mike, "Do they care about open containers today?" His answer was an emphatic, "Fuck NO!!!" So this clan of tiny male distance runners and female distance runners, and 1 small cyclist wandered the drunken street of Tamm. We definitely felt safe, as we constantly reminded each other (amazing how a little booze makes you repeat yourself endlessly) we could get in a fight because we had our muscle with us. Yes, our muscle was Big Andrew(6-8, 320), and Arlee Smith(6-4 280). Both Andrew and Arlee threw for Missouri Southern University. If fact they were both all-american throwers, one in the shot, the other in the disc. So they were our muscle. We managed to find a place to socialize and people watch. It was right in front of a house where the owners decided to put a stereo system on an outside balcony and play dance music. Somehow the techno just wasn't catching the Irish spirit..I don't know why? As our people watching continued, we played the "would you do that person game". Mike in his drunken stouper annouced to everyone he would do a woman with a mo-hawk, and I shit you not, 30 seconds later a woman with a mo-hawk walked by...and she might have the ugliest person in the world. Everyone in the group lost it, because we all thought the same thing!!

We ended up back at our place with even more people than we started, all of whom I had no idea who they were. The flip cup tournament started, right in my bedroom or the dining room...whichever you prefer. This lasted for most the night, until we went to Nick's Irish Pub, and continued with the drinking. I ended up walking home, because you guessed it...I had to open the gym. That's where I am now writing this. If any of this sounds like a drunken rambling, well it probably is. I can not tell if I'm still drunk, tired, or hung over. This probably means I am still drunk. Opps.

I do have to give a congrats to my roommate Ben who did win the 5 miler yesterday in a time of 24:00...he won by 55 seconds. Also have to congratulate Katie Sutton for winning the women's race. It was a pretty good showing for the big river running company!!

I guess I might try and ride later today...I might just sleep though too.

heavy eye-lids

I'm tired. I have opened the gym 8 of the last 10 days. I think it has started to catch up to me. I have 1 appointment tomorrow, which is good because I like money, but I would be nice to sleep in at least once in awhile.

Wednesday I didn't get to ride as much as I'd like but I still managed to get in about 1:22 of ride time. Yesterday I was almost completely worthless. I worked, went into the office and watch basketball all day. I even fell asleep in the office for a short period of time. We had a department lucheon and I had a HUGE piece of cheese cake. It tasted great!!! Unfortunately I felt it on my ride later in the evening. I only rode for 55 minutes, but shit....it was hard to manage just over 17mph.

Currently I'm sitting in a st. louis bread co. have a cup of the black magic. I'm going to head home, take a small nap, then hop on the TT bike for about an hour, then the road bike for about an hour. Then, after I enjoy my day off (since it has been spring break all week, I thought I desereved at least 1 day of fun; a taping of girls gone wild in mexico would have been even better, but no such luck this spring), I am going to head into the office so Mike and I can go watch the SLU baseball team play Illinois St. Now this should be a good day. Tomorrow, St. Pat's day, which means a drunken mess after my appointment!!! Thats all I need to lose the couple of pounds that I need to lose...oh well, I guess it's only once a year!!

no creativity

I just got done addressing and stuffing about 60 recruiting letters, so my creative skills are non-exsistant. I figured this would be a great break from the monotony.

I raced the Tuesday night world championships event last night. It went alright up to the 3 laps to go count. On the way up the hill, both calves started to cramp. I know I did not drink enough water throughout the day. In fact the frito burger and 5 root beers at Fitz's probably did not help the race effort at all. A group got off the front right away and were never seen from again. At one point, I tried to bridge the gap, but was hung out by myself, and that just wasn't going to work.

I'm going to try and get in a couple of hours this afternoon/evening. The fitness is coming around. I tried lifting on Monday, but the legs were just out of gas...oh, well.

opening day

Yesterday marked the season opener!!!! Talk about a race to open your season...the sylvan springs crit. I raced with the 1/2's (only a 3), which is always fun!! Any opportunity to race with the 1/2's I will take advantage of. I ended up in the middle of the pack, which isn't so bad. I'm definitely not as fit as I need to be, but I'm guessing neither is anyone else. That is the longest I've been in the big chain ring for lets see......oh....6 months!!! Needless to say with that little climb (more like a small bump in comparison to back home in Utah) and the lack of lactate training, the legs were heavy when we got the 5 laps to go count. Then to top it off trying roll around after the race, the left hamstring cramped..then about an hour later the right one cramped. Lack of hydration.

Enough with the whining though...it was a great day!!! Great temps, nothing but sun!!! Dogfish had a great showing as we had high finishes in all the races including a 1-2 finish in the 3/4 race!! I won't be racing again until the Dogwood RR on March 25. That leaves me another 2 weeks to get some great training in. I'll just be racing with the 3's so I'm expecting a high finish!! I'm not going to pull a Joe Namath and predict a win, just for the sheer fact that I don't want to look like Gilbert Arenas and predict 51 points and end up with 8.

That's it for now...more of the saga of life to come later.

for the birds

Some days you're the pigeon, some days you're the statue. Last night I was the statue. The workout totally sucked balls. I added an effort up Tamm, just to add a little more volume. Well the combination of not drinking enough water throughout the day, getting up at 4am and riding into the wind, put me into oxygen debt early. After 6 efforts up the hill I felt like puking, but managed to get over to forest park. By that time I was only 30 minutes into the workout, and I knew I was in trouble. I did my first 1:30 effort, which wasn't bad, but I felt my right calf starting to catch and cramp. I rode back to my start area for the second effort, which still felt alright, but the legs just could not produce any more power. I was frozen from under-dressing, cramping and starving. Like I said....I was the statue. I rode home and hoped in a warm shower. After a couple bowls of soup, and 2 water bottles later, I started to feel a little better. I was still not good, but better.

I woke up this morning to open wellbridge, and my legs were like crap. I'm still debating whether or not to ride a little tonight, or just take the day off. I'm leaning towards taking the day off. It is still early in the season, and Sylvan Springs is Saturday. I drove over to the course last week, and saw it for the first time. It looks like it could be challenging to say the least. Thomas and I were planning on doing a little pre-ride of the course today, but with the way I feel, and my schedule, I may have to put it off until tomorrow. We shall see. I'm just hoping that I will be the pigeon today.

are you kidding me????

I wake up this morning...shower, watch an episode of House, and then open the front door to run some errands, and what do I find on the ground???? That white shit that just won't go away!!! A week later, and I'm really regretting my comments about God's enthusiasm, or lack there of, of cycling.

I have to work tomorrow, so no froze toes for me. If the weather is anything like it has been the last 2 days, I'm fine with not racing tomorrow. So the season opener will be the Sylvan springs crit. I'm feeling pretty good, so I'm definitely excited. I got in just an easy hour yesterday. Not sure how easy it really was with the damn wind!!! I think I'll head over to wellbridge later this evening to get in a little bit on the stationary. I'm not going to be brave ride in this cold weather.

In other news, I was reading on the Utah Cycling Association website, that a crowd favorite, and Utah favorite, Nicole Evans will be making her professional debute this weekend!!!! She signed with TEAm Lipton. I last saw Nicole working out in the 24HR fitness gym I was personal training at before I moved. She's a great gal, and I wish her the best!!!

For all those racing tomorrow...good luck!!! Stay out of trouble!

I thought I've had bad days....

If you spend enough time around me, you'll learn my classic one-liner of, "I'm bad at life today." Well yesterday, Mike Nelson (Head Track Coach at SLU) was probably the worst player in the game of life yesterday. He went out for lunch with one of the professional runners he trains, and mid-way through their lunch a waitress comes up and asks if any of them own a red explorer. Mike does and immediately thinks someone hit it in the parking lot...but no, even better...someone smashed the rear window and stole a bag packed full of clothing and shoes. He calls the police, and of course there is nothing they can do about it. So about 1:30 or so he and I take the car over to his mom's where she can put it in her garage until he can get it fixed. Well Mike was heading out of town for the weekend, and I dropped him off at the airport in Lebanon, Illinois. His flight is delayed. Then delayed again....and again...finally I get a text at 1am that his flight originally scheduled to leave at 6pm is leaving at 3:30am. Well I come into wellbridge this morning and get a phone call from Mike at 5:15am. I ask, "please tell me you where you need to be." His reply, "I'm at Lambert airport." His 3:30am flight got cancelled, and as of 6am he still hadn't gotten a free ticket. I told him to sue.

What a day!!! As for me..all I was, was lazy. I didn't ride. I'll do it today. I did have a great workout wednesday evening. I did the same workout I did last wednesday...5 x tamm hill then over to forest park and did 5 x 1:30 efforts. I did add a couple of miles to the workout. It went even better this time around...which is great news.

work and weather

Sunday's postponement of Froze Toes really just threw me a curve ball. I had arranged to have the day off, which was great, then God decided he didn't like cycling. Bastard...I guess that isn't good to call God a bastard...scratch that one. With the new date for the 4th, there I don't see how I'll be able to make it to columbia. I have to work. Guess thats what happens when you call God a bastard.

The training has been going well...I got in 2 nice rides yesterday, plus a good lifting session. By the time I fell asleep, I was feeling it in the legs. Yesterday was an interesting day for sure.

I got my first pay check from wellbridge, but for this first pay period, they didn't do direct deposit. Well since I bank with Wells Fargo (they are all over the west) I never thought that there weren't any here. So I look online, and find one in Clayton. Well for lunch, Mike Nelson (head SLU track coach) and I decide to head over, so I can go to the bank, and get lunch. Well we get in the building, and we have to go to the 14th floor. First off that tells me something is wrong. Well we get in the elevator, and can only go to the 13th floor. Why, I have no idea. So we go to the 13th floor and try to walk up the stairs to the 14th. Well we get in the stairwell, go up a floor and the door is locked. So with puzzled looks on our faces we walk back down to the 13th floor, where that door is locked. Well we start cussing, because every door on every floor is locked. Yes...we walked down 14 flights of stairs. We open the bottom door and it opens into the back alley, where we see people going through the trash. So we walk around the building, talk to a security guard who swipes a card to get us up to the 14th floor, where I find out the offices are only coporate offices and I can't do any private banking in St. Louis with Wells Fargo. What a lunch period....you had to be there to see how stupid the whole thing was.

Anyways, big team meeting tonight...it'll be nice to meet some of the other guys.

my feet hurt

I've been standing now for the last 3.5 hours and my feet hurt. I haven't really pick up any clients yet at wellbridge, so I'm doing a lot of standing. I came into the gym early this morning and got an easy 35 minutes on the stationary. I then got a nice 15 minutes in the sauna...talk about a great way to recover. A couple of bottles of water later, and my legs were feeling great. This damn standing though...hopefully I don't feel the effects of it on Sunday. I know this isn't a very important race, but you always want to start the season on a positive note.

I won't ride again today, as I might be heading to Carbondale, IL to watch the Missouri Valley indoor conference meet. Can anyone please explain to me logically why Saint Louis University is not in that conference??? This Atlantic-10 stuff is garbage. Oh well not much I can do about it.

Too much Coffee!!!!!!!!!!!

A few too many cups of the black magic today, and I'm a little on edge. Not really on edge, but a little jumpy!! Got in a great workout last night, which has put me in a good mood. I did a nice little warm up of about 10 minutes then hammered up Tamm ave from manchester. I did 5 efforts of that not trying to fall below 15mph. From there I rode over to Forest Park, and did 5 x 1:30 efforts in the big chain ring. All in all a great workout. I was happy with both efforts. The total ride was only about 56:21 of ride time, but still a great workout.

I woke up this morning just a touch stiff, but after my client at Wellbridge no showed me, I hopped on the stationary for 35 minutes of some easy riding, then layed in the sauna for 15 minutes and got a great sweat on. Came home had a couple bottles of water, and feel great. Going to try and get an easy 45 to 50 minutes in this evening...I'm stoked for Sunday..the weather my suck, but I feel great!!!

...what a long straight trip its been....

Finally back in STL. After my posting yesterday, my flight to Washington DC got delayed another 2 hours for some mechanical problems. I got into DC about 2:30 and my friend and her husband managed to pick me up, which was good. We got to spend the afternoon watching pointless TV, and just hanging out which was nice since I hadn't seen them since thanksgiving. However on friday had you told me I would be spending Sunday night at their house, I would have thought you were absolutely off your rocker.

I got back to STL with no problems, but I am writing this blog from the office which means, I have yet to even make it home yet. The nice thing about boxer briefs...you can flip them inside out and its like a new pair!!! Besides that I am definitely going with the dis-shevled look today.

Of course there was no training to be done yesterday with all that mayhem, but holy hell...I get back and we have a heat wave...definitely want to get out for at least an hour or so tonight!!! I have to take advantage of this weather...more to come.

To hell with traveling!!!!

So here it is 9:53am eastern time...i'm sitting in the providence, RI airport, and the Billiken track and field team is getting ready to land in chicago, IL. No, no, no, I did not have a Larry Eustachy moment celebrating Mardi Gras and partying with Rhode Island sorority chic's (although, it might have been fun). United Airlines oversold our flight, and guess who got to be left behind....THIS GUY!!! So I will be boarding a flight to Washington DC in about an hour, and then guess what????...I get to spend the night in DC. What a trip. At least my best friend lives there, and I will get to hang out with them for a night. I wasn't going to be able to get into St. Louis until 10 this evening, so why not just make a small vaction out of it right??

As for the A-10 championships...there were a lot of great things!! Our men's 4x400m relay team scored the first points in A-10 history for the Billikens!! Props have to be given to David Whelan, Matt Alexander, Austin Critchlow, and Lucas Roethlisberger. Our women had a great meet as well. We even beat a team in our first ever conference championships! Xavier has to feel bad about their lives this morning...getting beat by a first year program. Actually their coaching staff shouldn't feel bad at all...they were in the same boat we are in, a couple of years ago, and he's a good coach, so they will be fine. Mad props do have to be given to the women's Distance Medley Relay team, as they finished a suprising 2nd!!!!! Where that came from I have no idea. Coach Nelson and I were just hoping to pick up 1 point in the event (8th place finish), but they all ran great! Ya'll better recognize Brigette Schutzman, Maddie O'Quinn, Roxanne Rodenborn, and Laura Coyer!! Awesome job ladies!

As for the training...I got a 30 minute stationary ride in saturday morning. I haven't logged it in my training journal yet, so off the top of my head I'm not sure of the milage or time on the bike this week. I'm guessing only around 85 miles and 4 hours...but thats a little more than I've been getting the last couple of weeks. I'm going to try to have a big front end of the week and a small taper for froze toes 1 week from today. At least thats the plan. More to come later as the chronicles of Jon continue.

i'm a traveling man

Off to warm and exotic Kingston tomorrow....Kingston, Rhode Island that is!! Ya, should be a great time. In my day job, which is coaching track and field, we have the conference indoor championships at the University of Rhode Island. It actually should be an interesting trip seeing as how this will be the first ever indoor championship for Saint Louis University. Updates will be sure to follow.

Training went well today. Obviously with the cold weather I was indoors. My trainer is in a storage unit in Kansas, so when I'm indoors its on a stationary bike, which really isn't that bad. At least I can get some useful information when I'm on the stationary. Definitely not information I would base my training on, but still it puts me in the ball park. Only rode for 45 minutes today. I'm slowly increasing the miles and the ride time. It was nice to finally see a flyer for froze toes. I'm definitely riding with the pro's/1/2's. As long as I stay smart, I'll be fine. The hip is starting to feel much better...amazing what a little flexibility will do!!!

Well off to Rhode Island..updates will follow...Happy Mardi Gras!!!

early...early...early mornings

So waking up at the ass crack of dawn is not so fun. Ahhh..the life of a personal trainer, trust me, what a tough life. Although in all honesty it kinda is rough, seeing as how I'm starting in a new gym in a new town. I guess I just have to be patient. The clients will come.

In cycling news, this right IT band is really giving me fits. I haven't been able to train the way I want to train, which is disapointing. With froze toes around the corner, and the race season almost here, early season injuries are not something I want to be dealing with. Fortunately this is only a flexibility issue, so I should heal up fairly quickly. My fitness in relation to where I was at this point last year is much better, so I am confident I can get through the early part of the season.

First Timer!!

Well this is a first...all I have ever done in the past is read these things, now I guess I'll start writing them. I've been trying to decide as to which direction I want my blog to go...I've read some that are not serious at all, and others that are serious all the time. I think I'll go with the mix.

A short introduction is necessary. I just moved to Saint Louis about a month ago, and thus far this is a pretty cool place. Although from a cycling perspective, its definitely not what I'm used too!!! Seeing as how I moved from Utah, where the sun is always shinning and the climbs are long (and steep)!!!! It's all good though, playing bikes is playing bikes. I'm looking forward to the new race season. I am a little concerned, since my right hip has been bothering me now for the last 2 months. It just does not want to get better. I've taken time off, and that really hasn't helped much. I hurt it cross training in november. I guess I'll just be on the advil for froze toes. A cross country athlete from Iowa State is quoted as saying "you better take that shit 'till your stomach hurts"...well that will be me.