Today was a 2.5 prescribed ride in level 2. Kate and I slept in and got a mid day start. Our goal was to ride in to the woods a bit, go to town for a bag of coffee, and then ride home. We wanted to see if there was another route to the Forest Area known as Chicken Creek. We tried Google’s suggestion up Road 38 but it ends up hitting a private section that you cannot ride through.
Social Conscious Bandits
So we ended up riding to Road 40 and getting to the trail area. Today we rode a new to us section of trail. Rush Spur was a mellow bit of trail that kicks you out onto Road 41. From there we dive bombed into Mancos to the coffee from our local roaster: Fahrenheit Coffee. Since we were down there Kate got a soy latte, and I had an iced coffee. They freeze their coffee into ice cubes and then pour fresh brewed onto them. If you have leftover coffee cubes you can pour them into your water bottle.
From town its a 6 mile ride with two climbs, but its all paved and the weather was great. I hope your Saturday was a great one as well!
Well this post ended up feeling a little like a lecture. Maybe I am grumpy today. 😂 Happy Friday yall!
Fatigue and Training:
Fatigue can be described as a lack of energy or motivation, both physically or mentally. It can be caused by a lack of activity, and also by an excess of activity. Stress from work, personal life, and things like pandemics can also add to the cause of fatigue.
Unchecked fatigue can lead to serious issues such as injury or illness. Two of the best things you can do for treating fatigue are getting adequate sleep and nutrition.
If you have not been exercising regularly it may mean that you need to start moving and doing more in your day. If you have been exercising regularly it may mean that you need to pull back a bit and let your body rest and recover. Are you getting at least 6 to 7 hours of sleep a night? Are you eating a balanced diet with fresh/whole fruits and veggies?
However, we should not look at fatigue as a bad thing. It is more like the temperature gauge in your car. When everything is working as it should the temperature is in the middle of the gauge. When there is a problem the needle moves left or right. When we are groggy in the morning or moody this is our body telling us that it needs something.
There are a few working theories on what fatigue means for the body. In all of them fatigue is seen as a built in gauge for the body to prevent injury or illness from occurring. Keeping this in mind can help you understand how to handle fatigue and stay productive.
One purpose of having a training plan is to help avoid excessive fatigue. Holding back a little and staying rested can be better than having the best workout ever. Adding things like prioritization to the plan allows you to do this over the course of weeks and months. This can lead to bigger gains in strength and performance. </end lecture>
Workout details:
Back to strength training today with the recommended bodyweight routine. I will admit that my mind was not really focused on the workout today. I got a good nights sleep in but right now I really just want to be riding my bike. However the training program is setup with these strength days for a reason: to help me have good overall strength for staying comfortable on the bike for longer. Thinking about this helps me push through the workout, a little bit anyway. Music is the bigger help. Lots of drum and bass today, as usual.
On the pull up front I am feeling progress. I did 4 sets of 3 pull ups again. The goal is getting my chin above the bar on each attempt. The other goal is minimal movement from the rest of my body. I want these to be strict with no kipping/cheating.
So close to the weekend! What are your plans? I am gonna get a couple of bike rides in, naturally. Hopefully I will have all the equipment gathered to wax my bike chain for the first time. I hope to have a report on that shortly.
I don’t know about you but I have an addiction to my screens. When we hit to road we eliminated the TV screen but the laptop and phone still dominate our attention. I have been trying to practice just being aware of how much of my attention is focused on screens throughout the day. TLDR; its a lot.
My current focus is to get up and out of bed without looking at my phone. I can hit the stop button for its alarm clock but I cannot look at the screen until after I am up and moving. Even then I need to resist checking the news, twitter, email, texts, etc. My reasoning is that these are distractions from my own thoughts. First thing in the morning I should be taking the time to check in with myself. How do I feel today, physically and mentally? What big things do I need to accomplish today? Its way too easy to fall into the routine of following what your screen tells you to do. There is enough time for that later, but the morning should be your time to think about what you want to accomplish today. Then do it.
Workout Details:
Today’s workout in Training Peaks
Today we do 6 minute intervals 5 times with 3 minutes of recovery in between. The pace of the intervals should put my heart rate into zone 4 or perceived effort of heavy breathing with limited ability to talk. In other words we are going to go hard then rest then do that 4 more times.
Last week was a 4×6 so we are stepping things up a bit. Next week is a rest week with a Heart Rate performance test on Saturday. That will help identify how the training for 6 weeks has affected me. At the start of the 12 week training program I did a performance test which involves pedaling as hard as you can maintain for 20 minutes. From that you take the average heart rate and that is your threshold heart rate. You can do math to figure out your heart rate training zones or just plug it into the Training Peaks calculator like this:
These are my heart rate values based on the test I did April 7th 2020.
This then gives me a guide for my training. When I need to ride in zone 2 I know to stay within 123 and 136 bpm. Usually I aim for 130 bpm for Level 2 cause its easy to remember when I glance at my watch during a ride.
It would be really nice if Apple let you set these values in the Watch, but they don’t yet. (I have submitted a feature request on this, naturally.) Having them set in the Watch means it would vibrate and notify me when I am in the wrong zone. This is available in more specialized sport technology from Garmin. However with those devices you have to wear a heart strap which I am not a fan of.
Personally I don’t understand why Apple hasn’t just purchased Training Peaks at this point. The software fits into their goal of helping people track their health. In fact it does one step better than Apple’s system as it tracks fatigue. Fatigue is important to track as it can lead to over training which can become a big problem. Currently Training Peaks is free to use and $120 if you want all the bells and whistles. Apple could make it free software with every watch. This then gives coaches a broader base of users to work with on Training Peaks as well.
The workout was great and the route worked perfectly. I got a 20 minute warm up getting over to Road 40. Then rest for 3 min with 1 min of Zone 4. Then rest for 3 min then 1 min of zone 5. Then rest for 3 min and begin the workout.
The 6 min intervals were hard but not sprint, blow your lungs out hard. One thing that is interesting about training with a heart rate monitor is that often I can back off of the gas a little bit and still be in the prescribed Zone.
When we hit the road 6 years ago Kate and I had just completed our second of two half Ironman triathlons. We had trained with a coach for about 8 months. As a result we were in possibly the best shape of our lives.
Once we hit the road our workout volume dropped significantly. I tried doing some bodyweight exercises. However we mostly just focused on living in the RV and adopting Dazey and Enzo. As a result we lost our fitness.
Personally I noticed it most when getting up from working on something low to the ground. Or when grabbing pots out of the under sink cabinet. Kate would even mention that I sounded old with my groans and sighs. My back and knees were not feeling great.
Getting older means that the ‘use it or lose it’ mantra applies more everyday. In 2015 I hurt my knee pretty badly doing a relatively minor task. This required surgery and I ended up on crutches for a few months while my meniscus healed. Physical Therapy(PT) was brutal but I knew it was critical for my recovery.
The last time I had done PT was in University 16 years earlier for almost the identical injury, just on the other leg. Back then I took for granted my body’s ability to heal and recover. I did some PT but it didn’t take long to get back on my feet with full range of motion.
This time it took considerably longer to regain the strength but the flexibility part was the most frustrating. One goal was to be able to bend my leg till my heel touched my butt. When we started I was about 8 inches away. The therapist was really helpful here by giving me some encouragement. As the weeks went by I improved, but it took work everyday. Not just when I was at the therapist’s office.
After that surgery and recovery I started to realize how important staying in shape is. Beyond being able to bend down and pick things up without groaning and pain, staying in shape prevents injury.
6 years ago I did the St George Half Ironman triathlon. It was a pretty cool achievement that required months of training. Today I am not running anymore as my knees like to break too much. So I am focused on riding my bike to stay in shape and have fun.
My next goal is to race in an endurance mountain bike event, once this pandemic stuff settles down. I was hoping to either do a 12 hour event or a 100 mile event this year. Now I am focused on training and getting ready to race in 2021. My goal is not to win but to finish with a smile on my face.
In the meantime I am focused on the process of training. Compared to when I was young, I am learning to enjoy the training process. When I was in high school I hated workouts and just wanted to ride my bike or play soccer or ice hockey. Workouts weren’t fun, at least that was my mentality. Now I know how important training is for being prepared for an event or activity. Training also gives me daily routine and makes me feel more confident and comfortable during the rest of the day.
This post just touches the surface of what goes into my training. Currently I am using my Apple Watch to collect heart rate, distance, and speed data. I then upload this to the Training Peaks software to compare and analyze it with my training program. Currently I am following a training plan focused on athletes over 40. This has an adjusted focus towards recovery. So far I am enjoying the program and have been following it almost exactly for 4 weeks.
Workout details:
Today we are back on strength training. I did the recommended routine and felt good. This is the 3rd day in a row that I have not had coffee before my workout. I am mainly doing this to keep from waking Kate up in the morning. However I am also interested in seeing how it affects my ability to complete the routine. So far I have not noticed any decrease in performance or lack of enthusiasm.
My pull ups seem to be progressing. Today I did 4 sets of 3 reps. I used a neutral grip for the last 3 sets as it felt stronger. The entire workout looks like this:
Warmup – Various movements to get the body going. About 10 minutes. This is part of the workout I have learned to spend more time on.
Pull ups 4×3 / Squats 3×8 – 1 min rest between each set then do the other exercise. This gives over 2 min of rest between the same exercise.
Dips 3×7 / L-Sits 3x30sec – Same as above. My L-Sit is progressing and I currently try to pick up one leg at a time.
Rows 3×7 / Diamond Push Ups 3×7 – Same as above.
Core – Various things from knee ups, side lifts, supermans, etc. Mostly I still hate doing core exercises. Need to make this part more fun.
That’s what I have for today. I will get into the riding side of the training more tomorrow.
It got down to 36F last night so we brought the plants inside to prevent a freeze on them. We should have done the same with the water hose. Not a fun thing to wake up to. Nothing burst but there was no running water to start the morning with. Rather than sulk I hopped on the bike and got my workout done.
Reading:
Great writing makes remote work better. It saves time, reduces meetings, removes extrovert bias, and invites other perspectives.
You don’t need to write articles to be a better writer. Let every Slack message, email, and text be vehicles for you to improve.
Pretty simple workout today. Ride for 1 hour at the level 2 effort. I did an out and back up to my new favorite road to ride on: Road 40. There are a few things I enjoy about riding on Road 40:
The traffic is really mellow
The scenery is wonderful
The climb is mellow enough to maintain a Level 2 effort
The biggest challenge this morning was the temperature. It was cold. I ended up wearing gloves and a jacket. Still my finger tips were freezing.
Quick one for today. Work has been pretty busy and I have a lot of chores now that we are back on the land. See you tomorrow.
So far the writing in the morning habit is falling off the face of a cliff pretty well here. I am thinking about writing all day though so that counts for something, right? 😎
Watching:
In the past I have had bad calf cramps when running. After my last knee surgery I am not allowed to run anymore which solved that issue. However it was interesting to find out that electrolytes do not directly prevent muscle cramping. That was the second to last time I say cramping on this blog ever again.
Listening to:
Gonna find you.
Reading:
What the Happiest Countries in the World Have in Common – Among – “While rankings are based on several factors, including political rights and economic equality, these countries have a few key metrics in common: low corruption rates, universal public services, and great access to the outdoors.”
Workout details:
After yesterday’s very long bike ride I will admit I wasn’t the most excited about today’s workout. Fortunately it was a strength workout so I didn’t have to ride my bike. Sometimes my butt gets tired too. 😬
I did the recommended routine and did 3 sets of 3 pull ups. All were done with a wide pull up grip, no kipping and feeling more natural or something. It turns out that pull ups are just hard and you have to work hard to do them. 😎
The rest of the workout went well and I watered our yard for a few hours. The sound of the sprinkler ends up being a nice distraction while you are doing a workout.
Happy Sunday! I got some yard watering done and a big ride. Gonna sleep well tonight. I hope you enjoy the post.
Watching:
This guy.
Listening to:
Make time for yourself.
Breakbeat science at its finest
Workout details:
Not a bad view.
Today’s prescribed ride was for 2.5 hours. I ended up at just over 5 and it was great. Let me tell you more…
Go Kent!
As I mentioned in yesterday’s post I have discovered that riding up county road 40 and cutting over to road 41 and then continuing to climb into the San Juan National Forest is pretty awesome. I also mentioned wanting to go further today and making some type of loop out of it.
Just the start of things.
That is what I did and it was pretty epic. Just a little past where I turned around yesterday the road descends into a ravine which you then get to climb out the other side. That climb was the first time on this road that I’ve had to use the smallest chain ring on the forward set of gears. This gear is also referred to as the granny gear due to its magical ability to climb steep trails and roads. That’s probably not the reason why but it seems the least offensive.
Big trucks!
Anyway, once you get over that climb it pretty much flattens out and you complete the climb of a trail known as Chicken Creek Road. The trail is a road and it’s about 8 miles from the parking lot to the top. Since I started from my home it’s about 15 miles to the top. There is a junction and you can go deeper into the forest, return on a different road back to town, or drop in to Chicken Creek Canyon and come out at Jackson Lake reservoir on what is known as the Manco’s Spur. I wanted to ride some single track so I dropped into the canyon and that is when the adventure began. I was two hours out at that point and it would take 3 hours to get back home
Downhill’s aren’t necessarily relaxing:
One of the smoother sections of downhill.
Apple flavored apple.
On a paved or even most dirt roads going downhill is a time to relax and enjoy the view. Many mountain bike trails are built on challenging hiking trails. In the Rocky Mountain there are a lot of rocks. The trails here tend to be rocky. When you drop into a canyon you add the additional challenges of water crossings and roots. This trail has all three obstacles in spades.
Dont be this person!
It is still early in the riding season which means there is still a lot of water on the trails. The problem with wet trails isn’t that you get stuck in the mud. It’s that you create deep holes in the mud. When those holes dry they become a rough and rutted trail. So it is important not to go into mud and as a benefit you dont get covered in mud.
Tree jump! Um yeah how about no.
Did I mention creek crossings?
Cool section of trail.
Avoiding mud when there’s a lot of moisture cause the creek is running high means you are walking a lot. Add to that and the freshly fallen trees from last winter and there is a lot of tile spent not riding your bike. This meant that I ended up going down about as fast as I had gone up. On one hand that means I am going up at a decent pace. On the other hand it means I’m slow on this downhill. Oh well. My time for being the fastest has come and gone. These days I’m happy to be out riding with a huge grin on my face.
Over all I did 35 miles with 3000 feet of total climbing over 5 hours with plenty of stops for photos and resting. Before I rode home on the pavement I stopped by to visit some friends and steal some water. All from a safe distance of course.
If there are two things you need to maintain on your bike they are the tires and the chain:
Tires need air. Most pumps have gauges and generally your tires will tell you what pressure they should be inflated to. You should check this before every ride. Proper tire inflation will ensure a smooth ride and reduce the potential for a flat.
The chain needs to be cleaned and lubricated. Regularly. Compared to bearings in your wheels or the bottom bracket your chain is open to the world and all of its dirt. The chain is also one of the most used part of the bike as it is in motion whenever the pedals are moving. Finally it is made up of a lot of parts that are rubbing together causing friction and wear. Here is a nice overview of how to clean and maintain your drivetrain:
Workout details:
Long ride today, about 2 hours with some technical work. I opted for a new route that I have thought about doing a lot. Taking a right out of my driveway I went about 3.3 miles and took a left onto County Road 40. This climbs steadily to a trail system called Chicken Creek which crosses over to County Road 41. CR41 goes way up into the San Juan National Forest, which is what I did. The weather was perfect and I didn’t see any vehicles driving until I turned around and was descending.
I am at a loss for words how great this ride was. I felt like I could have just kept riding all day. If I had not made a commitment to help a friend I would have just kept going till I hit snow.
I will probably take the same route tomorrow and see if I can link up to Road 561 and come back into town by Jackson Lake Reservoir.
Big day, today! Its day 1 of the 100 days of blogging challenge. I have reached out to my coworkers to join me in writing a blog post everyday for 100 days. We start today, May 1st 2020, and continue till August 9th, 2020.
So far these are the other sites involved in the challenge: Jon’s Fitness Blog
As the challenge progresses I will be highlighting various posts from these sites and anyone else who takes up the challenge with us. You don’t have to do the full 100 but it’d be a lot cooler if you did!
We also have a step challenge happening for the month of May at work which I am participating in. To start that off I went for a leisurely 1 mile stroll before my morning workout.
Personally:
This is a good challenge as writing is a good habit to practice. While I keep a journal, what I write there is just for me. Publishing something for anyone in the world to see puts a little more pressure to make it something worth reading, maybe. My personal goal here is to make writing about parts of my life for others to read about into a routine. There is a chance I will also improve my grammar.
Professionally:
I work at a remote company and thought this would be a great way to get to know my coworkers better. Yes we have Slack for instant communication, but in the end Slack is a tool for work. Sure we post personal photos, share links, and talk about personal things, but that only happens when I am working. I have found that restricting Slack usage to working hours is an essential activity.
A blog post on my own website is a personal place that I feel comfortable sitting with anytime. In the morning I write about my workout and maybe a podcast or music I have listened to. During the work day I might throw a link into a draft to remind me to come back to it later. After work I sit for a few minutes here and there to have something ready to review and publish in the morning before work.
The snapshot of my life that is shared here is a more complete picture than the one I share on Slack for 8 hours during the work week. Having other coworkers do the same should help gain additional insight into who they are and what is going on in their world.
Format:
I have a rough idea of the format that these posts will take:
I start with some discussion about what is happening in my world in general.
There is a section of what I am listening to, from music to podcasts to audiobooks.
There is a section of what I am watching, mostly youtube videos related to cycling.
The final section will cover the workout I did that morning. (As an added bonus this helps keep me motivated to get those workouts done.)
This will evolve as the challenge progresses.
Whats happening:
Today is Friday so I am thinking about the weekend, duh. I will get in a couple of longer bike rides this weekend. I am also going to help out a friend by doing some work on her vegetable farm for a couple hours each day. I did an internship with her a few years back for one summer and that is what brought us to the area. Kelli is a great friend and it will be a nice distraction.
On our land we are getting plans figured out for adding drywall to our cabin. Once that is done we will install an off grid solar system so that we will have power for lights and appliances. There is an idea of maybe spending next winter here.
Grassland looking to the east.
I have also been watering the yard just outside our parking spot. We made a 60′ radius circular driveway and the center of that makes up the ‘yard’. Of course the rest of the land is just a huge yard but we aren’t trying to water all of that. There is also discussion of setting up Kate with an herb garden.
Listening:
This came up in my Apple Music feed during my workout this morning and I looped it at least 30 times.
Watching:
Learning blender for making a mockup of the cabin so we can play around with design ideas. This program is awesome and challenging, but awesome.
Workout Details:
Today is a strength day so I did the recommended routine again. Had a nice break through on the pull ups today and did 3 sets of 3 with varying hand grips. Did neutral, wide, and finished with reverse (aka chin ups). Felt ok about the Neutral ones, the wide ones started strong, and the chin ups were 100%. The rest of the workout was good but I lost motivation on the core exercises at the end. I did half of them.
68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice – “You can obsess about serving your customers/audience/clients, or you can obsess about beating the competition. Both work, but of the two, obsessing about your customers will take you further.”
Listening:
Open Source World – TED Radio Hour – Wide ranging conversations about Open Source. From Tim Burners Lee and the start of the World Wide Web vs Gopher, to Linux, to open architecture. Lots to cover here but a good reminder of where things came from to give us the ability to post to and read from a website like this one.
For today’s workout.
Workout Details:
4×6 tempo ride today which means we are working a bit harder.
Warm up: 20 min warm up to level 3 heart rate, 3 min at level 1, then 1 min at level 4, 3 min at level 1, 1 min at level 5, 3 min at level 1, and then we start the intervals.
Intervals: 6 min at level 4, then 4 min at level 1, 6 min at level 4, 4 min at level 1, 6 min at level 4, 4 min at level 1, 6 min at level 4, and ride at level 1 till total time hits 1 hour 15 min.
This was the first time I have done intervals on the highway in Mancos. It went very well. I made sure to use the hills for the hard efforts and then would turn around and ride downhill for the rest period. The weather was perfect with no wind and temperature in the high 40’s to low 50’s F.
Have a great day and see you tomorrow for Day 1 of the 100 days of blogging challenge!
