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!!!!
Friday, March 30, 2007
Monday, March 26, 2007
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.
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.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
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
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
Sunday, March 18, 2007
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.
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.
Friday, March 16, 2007
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!!
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!!
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
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.
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.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
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.
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.
Thursday, March 8, 2007
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.
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.
Saturday, March 3, 2007
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 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!
Friday, March 2, 2007
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)