In Aesop’s fable, The Tortoise and the Hare, we are given a moral lesson about being consistent and humble. The hare in the story is overconfident in how fast they are compared to the tortoise. The hare ends up losing the race to the slower tortoise, who methodically continues along while the hare takes a nap.
As a kid this story frustrated me to no end. Why didnt the hare just run the entire course, win, and then take a nap? In many of the cartoon depictions of the fable the tortoise is portrayed as smug and that drove me even more crazy. The lesson I learned was to be fast and confident and only take a nap once your task was done.
Now I am older and still the real lesson eludes me: I ride my bike too hard trying to compare my times to other people on Strava. I rush through my work sometimes thinking that accomplishing my tasks as fast as possible is best. I cut off conversations that I think I have heard before.
My lack of understanding the lesson of slow and steady leads to overuse injuries, mistakes in workmanship, and bitter relationships. So I am trying to focus on slowing down in most aspects of my life. This week has been a recovery week for my bike riding. At work I am taking time to review my processes and document them as much as possible. In my relationships I am focused on the interactions as they happen.
This is not to say that I should always be slow. When a car is approaching me head on in my lane I need to be quick about moving out of the way. Those instances should be the exception though. If I am in constant danger then I need to reconsider my environment.
In the end slow and steady wins the race matches the idea that life is a journey, enjoy the ride. What do you think?
Got in a nice easy ride to town for a coffee this morning:
Today we are back in the gym, aka the living room, and doing some strength training. The prescription workout is for 1 hour of various exercises to strengthen the entire body. 2 sets of 20 reps per exercise is what is called for but I would lose my mind doing 20 reps of anything. It also calls for core work and stretching.
I mentioned yesterday that last year I did my bodyweight routine when doing these workouts. There are a few issues I currently have with the bodyweight routine:
It’s still cold here. It was 13F this morning and the bodyweight routine needs to be done outside with my pullup bar. Thats what they call a no-go for probably another month, or a third of the 12 week Training Program.
The bodyweight routine is the same workout every time. I have done that routine over 100 times at this point. I need some variation and there are proponents of using variety to get even more gains from strength training.
You need to track your progress on the bodyweight routine. The focus is on progression of strength by increases in reps and then altering the exercise to be more difficult, and continue. This means you need to count during the workout and then write them down. I use Google Sheets on my iPhone and its not a huge deal, but it is still one more thing to do.
Pull Ups are still my kryptonite. I have been working on my pull ups off and on for a few years now and while there has been some progression I am still in the 2 to 3 rep range and its frustrating.
The good news is that Apple Fitness+ workout’s solves all of these problems.
I can do them inside.
There is a lot of variety: The category of workouts are: HIIT, Yoga, Core, Strength, Treadmill, Cycling, Rowing, Dance, and Mindful Cooldown. There are 21 coaches many of whom teach multiple categories. The sheer volume of classes that Apple started with and continues to release is very impressive.
Tracking is done by my Apple Watch. Sure I can see the numbers while I am working out; it can be interesting to know what heart-rate I have when I am in total agony. A bigger benefit is that I can then send that data into TrainingPeaks and compare things to what my Training Program wants me to be doing.
There are no pull up bars, and therefore no pull ups in Apple Fitness+.😎
Today was the second day that I used the Fitness+ classes for my prescribed strength workout. There are no 1 hour long classes in Fitness+. The longest classes are 45 minutes but the longest Strength classes are 30 minutes. So I build a combination of classes to get my workout done.
On Monday I did a 10 minute Yoga class to warmup, then a 30 min strength class, followed with a 10 minute Core class, and finished with a 10 minute Cooldown class. It was challenging though never discouraging.
Most classes have 3 people in the video with the main coach and 2 coaches from other disciplines to the left and right. Pretty much always the coach to the left on the screen is doing easier modifications of the main move.
Today I changed it up and started with a 30 min Strength class, then two 10 minute Core classes, and closed with a 10 min Cooldown. This was a good challenge, and while I enjoy my Yoga I am also trying to adhere more closely with my overall Training Program. While some Yoga has a lot of strength work it is proportionally less than a specialized Strength or Core class.
In the Strength classes the coaches use light and medium weight barbells most of the time. We do not currently own any barbells so I have just been clenching my fists. We are in the market for some barbells so I will eventually have those, but for the moment it seems like a benefit to not yet have them. Let me explain.
The Strength classes are based around repetitive compound movements. You are squatting while holding barbells by your shoulders. When you stand up you also extend your arms up. You are working many major muscle groups at the same time.
Using weights allows you to push the upper body workout further and there are studies that show it helps strengthen bones and all types of good things. They also allow you to overtrain and injure yourself especially if you haven’t been working out with weights in a long time. Right now I can go through the motions, focus on my form, and let my legs get torn up first.
The amount of leg soreness from the Monday workout was still with me when I started todays classes. One good thing about working out though is that as soon as you start the soreness becomes a memory. (If it doesn’t then you are overtrained and need to take a break immediately.)
The Core classes were challenging but kept things changing up enough that you didn’t dwell on how out of shape things are. The Cooldown class is becoming my favorite. They are like Yoga but even more simple movements and then a couple of minutes of stillness and meditation at the end. It definitely helps calm the mind and reflect.
Then Kate and I went for a 30 minute recovery ride this evening just before sunset. A recovery ride is a really easy ride for letting the legs move and get the blood flowing. You get into a really easy gear and just let your legs fall over the pedals.
It’s been since last October that I’ve done an fitness or FTP test. After a good warmup you go as hard as possible for 20 minutes. Then use a calculator to figure out what your heart rate or power meter zones should be for training. This personalizes you training zones not just to your body but to your body at this time.
As we improve our fitness our muscles get stronger and more efficient. This applies to the heart as much as the bicep or hamstring. In aerobic training the focus is one getting the heart to maintain a high level of output while being as efficient as possible. Science has shown that training the heart at a percentage below maximum is best for improving the hearts capabilities.
If you are interested in this stuff I recommend researching Joe Friel. He wrote the book on this stuff and is a very successful athlete and coach. He created TrainingPeaks.com which is software for compiling your workout data and then analyzing it.
Personally I’m touch and go with this level of training. It has the ability to wipe out all the fun of bike riding. It also has the ability to make you into a jerk. Currently I’m back on the wagon because we have a house being built and this will help distract me from thinking about that too much. There are also going to be bike races this year and I’m thinking of doing some of them.
That said while I’m going to be following my workout routine I’m not going to be obsessed with it. I’m going to do my best to get all the workouts done first. Then I’ll try to hit the goals of each one.
One big change this year is that I’m using Apple Fitness+ to help me with the strength workouts. Last year I was using my body weight workout routine which works great but it’s too cold outside to do that just now. Instead I’ve started using the Functional Strength workouts in Fitness+ and let me say this: ouch.
I did my first class yesterday and I’m still sore. Turns out that you need to keep doing squats and deadlifts in order to be able to keep doing them. I was so sore this morning I was a little worried about being able to do the ride.
The good news is that once I was on my bike the magic kicked into gear. Sure it was 30F and I had pretty much all my cycling gear on but I was grinning ear to ear the whole ride. One thing I was taught years ago in sports was to smile. It throws your competitors off but also gives you a psychological boost. If you can smile then it can’t be that bad.
It is recommended that you try to do your fitness tests on the same route to reduce variations and try to keep the results neutral. My route starts on road 40. It’s about 4 miles from my house and gives me a nice warmup to get to it. Then I use road 40 to push myself as hard as possible.
It’s a nice route because it doesn’t have a lot of traffic and it is uphill. Another recommendation is to have a route that climbs a little so that the challenge is more consistent. There are a few sections you may call steep but in Colorado that’s just a hill!😂
At the top of my route you take a right into the Nordic Center parking lot and then onto the roads and trails of the Nordic Center. Unfortunately there is still snow in the Nordic Center so the top end of my route is not yet rideable.
So today when I got to road 40 I kept going on by. This gave me a nice downhill to spin my legs out on and further my warm up. A couple miles down is the turnoff for road 41. I turned around there and started my test from there. This gave me a few miles on pavement before hitting the dirt on road 40. It was a perfect call as I hit 20 minutes about half a mile before the Nordic center and had a solid effort.
Some instructions for a good fitness test is to go hard in the first 10 minutes but keep it back just a touch from full effort. Once you hit 10 minutes you reassess how things are going. Do you feel good or are you starting to wane?
If you feel good then you should continue what you have going and consider stepping things up a bit. Remember there’s still 10 minutes left so you have to do what you just did. You want to finish the test strong.
If you are starting to wane then consider pulling back a little. Give it a minute or two and reassess how that feels. Again the goal is to finish strong not spent. It’s only a 20 minute test so you should not be collapsing before the finish. After the finish?
We are still working on finding a builder for our custom home in Colorado. We are very close to making a decision. In the meantime we are thinking about all the different parts and peices that will make the home work. One of the most important parts is our solar power system.
The house is going to be tied to the power grid. So the solar power system will indirectly generate the power we use giving us a $0 power bill each month. That means we need to build a solar power system that is at least as large as all of the electricity our home will use. An extra complexity is that our local power company only allows us to have a system that is 120% of our overall usage.
So we used this online calculator for an off-grid solar system to get an estimate of what our home will use on day 1, plus we added an Electric Vehicle Level 2 charger. We figure that within 5 years we will have an EV and will want to be able to fast charge it at home.
Here are the numbers:
Appliance
Quantity
Watts
Hours On per Day
Watt Hours per Day
LED Bulb – 60 Watt Equivalent
25
13
6
1950
Fridge – 20 cu. ft. (AC)
1
353
4
1412
TV – LCD
2
150
9
2700
Laptop
2
100
14
2800
Router
1
7
24
168
Modem
1
7
24
168
Smart Phone- Recharge
2
6
3
36
Water Heater – Electric
1
4500
1.5
6750
Oven – Electric
1
1200
1
1200
Clothes Dryer – Electric
1
3000
0.5
1500
Clothes Washer
1
800
0.2
160
TV – LCD
2
150
12
3600
Blender
1
1500
0.2
300
Circular Saw 8-1/4″
1
1400
1
1400
Hottub
1
5000
6
30000
EV Level 2 Charger
1
11500
1
11500
System Calculation Results
Killowatt Hours per Month:
1,969 kWh
Peak Load:
30,404 watts
Sun Hours:
4.75 hours/day
System Size:
16.58 kW
Just a rough idea that we will need a 16kW solar panel array at some point.
This helps us understand that we will want to max out our south facing roof with 42 solar panels. At 330Watts per panel that gives us just over a 13kW system to start with. We still have the roof on the garage which could handle another 40 panels. So we will want to get an Inverter that allows for expansion.
The next step is working with the power company to get approval. Then figuring out if we want or can roll this equipment into the mortgage of the house.
Don’t assume someone has never done something before. Ask if they have.
Don’t assume that you know the best way. Ask for suggestions.
Don’t assume the sale is closed. Get a signature or charge the card.
The old saying always applies: “When you assume you make an ass out of u and me.”
Making an assumption can create unnecessary tension, misunderstanding, and potentially catastrophic failure. Taking a few extra moments to verify our assumptions can potentially save us tons of time. At worst we spend a few more moments getting to know someone better.
Kate and I have been in Virginia since the middle of December. We came out to spend the holidays with her dad, Bill. Its been nice to spend time together during the pandemic. Also since we are planning to build a house it has been helpful to live in one so we can think more about what we want to build.
Today was the last ride we will do before we head back to Colorado next weekend. The weather was a little warmer than it has been so I did not have to wear as much clothing as prior weekend rides had required. We also needed to ride into town to get some coffee as our supply had run out.
Route
One of my complaints about riding in the east, and US in general, is the lack of bike routes. The lack of any planning for non-car travellers, from cyclists to pedestrians, is only apparent to non-car travellers. If you are in a car then everything seems fine, unless you break down and realize there is little to no shoulder to pull off on.
No shoulder road, but good visibility here. High viz clothing and flashing tail lights are a necessity.
One of the worst sections of road is just outside Bill’s driveway. There is no shoulder and a blind corner with a blind rise a few hundred yards outside the driveway. Its a short section of road but it only takes one accident with a car travelling 45 miles and hour to ruin your day.
While the highway outside our land in Colorado has a speed limit of 65 mph, there is a 6 foot shoulder on each side of the road. It doesn’t seem like much but its like a 2 lane highway compared to some of the rural roads in Virginia.
One last ride to Willburg
Unfortunately as much as I dislike this road I dislike driving my bike so that I can ride on a bike path. Don’t drive your bike, ride your bike. So I put up with the sections of road that are a little scary and we got in a very nice and pleasant ride.
One of the many cool things about being in Williamsburg Virginia is that there is a lot of US history in a really small area. Yesterday we rode to Jamestown: the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. For better or worse…
Today we rode the same distance but visited Yorktown: the place where the English surrendered and the we won our war for independence. Kinda crazy to think about what went down in a few fields that I rode through on a beautiful sunny day.
The US National Park Service created and manages the Colonial Parkway:
Colonial Parkway is a 23-mile (37 km) scenic parkway linking the three points of Virginia’s Historic Triangle, Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Yorktown.
Yesterday we took a right out of the driveway and went to Jamestown. Today we took a left and went to Yorktown on the Colonial Parkway. 2 days, 2 bike rides, just over 35 miles each, and 99% of drivers were cool and the gang.
Just some scenery on the way to victory town USA.
It was warmer today which was nice. Still pretty bundled up with layers though. Its January in Virginia: as Bill Grass would say: “Well then Roger, I guess its time to take a spoonful of concrete and harden the fuck up. 😎”
The cold continues so my weekday rides remain at zero. Today we rode to Jamestown, VA which is the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. Its about a 15 mile ride from Bill’s house and is a great place to ride or run.
Today Jamestown is part of the Colonial National Historical Park and has a number of museums and visitor centers. The best part of the park though is Jamestown Island. The Island is uninhabited by people, but there is a lot of wildlife, including a lot of bald eagles. There is a road that circles the island in a one way route. So its a drive through a nature preserve.
The state of Virginia was pretty quick to respond to the COVID pandemic, for a state in the USA. Jamestown decided early on to close the island to cars so that people could walk, run, and cycle without fear of being run over. It was part of the governments attempt to encourage people to get outside and exercise safely. That made the ride even nicer.
The weather was chilly but with the sun out it was perfect. Tomorrow we ride to Yorktown.
When today started we had no plans to ride bikes. The weather was forecast to be wet and rainy. We prefer not to ride in full rain as it is miserable and dangerous. However the weather ended up being more of a drizzle so we suited up and rolled out.
Today’s ride was a much shorter loop to a local brewery. We got drizzled on a bit but it wasn’t too bad. The stop at the brewery was nice and included a Beyond Burger and Fries. We like to eat well when we ride. You can have a cliff bar but a burger and fries are so much nicer.
