Wednesday, June 18, 2008

A Week of Testing

The past week has been spent doing some light training and some testing. I've been steadily adding volume to the snatch. I did 2 different physical tests in the past 5 days.

Saturday I did a physical assessment the measured BF, HR stress test, strength (push up and situp) and flexibility. It turns out I am very fit. I should work on flexibility and lowering BF. I could have diagnosed those results without the testing. At least I have a baseline.

This morning was the semi-annual physical fitness test. I am pleased to say I improved again. It was even more pleasing because my GPP has not been tailored to the test at all.

I look back at the test from 1 year ago and while I dropped 2 pull ups, I ran more than 3 minutes faster and +2 min faster from the December test.
Run: 24:08
Crunch: 100
Pull up: 15
Score: 238

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

NEW BLOG

It is time to split this blog into two separate forums one specifically about strength training and kettlebells and the other about bicycles and randonneuring. The Tidewater Randonneur is the result.

The purpose of this blog is to discuss and promote bicycles and riding bicycles especially randonneuring.

If you read this blog for the bicycle chatter, please set your RSS feed and or link to the Tidewater Randonneur blog.

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Training Today:
Z neural warmup
Swing 32k - 50 reps
Snatch: 24k - 20l/20r, 15l,15r, 10l,10r - NO REST - 90 reps
Tabata swings - 32k - Tabata interval is 20 sec on, 10 sec off x 8 reps

Ride: 20 miles

Friday, June 6, 2008

T-20

Yesterday was a planned rest from the kettlebell mainly for my hands to recover a bit.

Of course I did some riding. The morning had a little treat for the Coho and me. The hilltopers were on their Thrusday morning training ride and they caught me at a stop light. I decided to hop in the group and see what happened; of course I was eventually dropped. The good news is that I hung with them for about 6 miles before I waived the people riding behind me on up. I was really happy with my performance on the ride.

I need to make it a point to ride with these guys for the first part of my Tue and Thurs ride. It will pay off!

Today started with another ride on the other bike. The speed is still there. I am feeling fast. Surely it is all an illusion; I can't be riding this well. I haven't ridden this well this year. Too bad I wasn't feeling like this a month ago. Of course, I did change some training on the bike a few weeks back. Looks like it is starting to do the magic.

Yesterday:
Ride 35
Pull up 2x12

Today:
Z
Swing 24k x 100
Ride 25

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

T-22d

My body and mind are quickly awakening. I think my ketttlebell muscles and joints have been dormant for a while. I feel them now. I'm not sore but my bones are sore. I may have become soft; if this is true, it will be short lived.

Today's training was quick, down and dirty.

AM: Z neural warm up
Ride 30 miles

PM:
Military Press: 24K -- 5 sets x 5 repetitions
Overhead hold: 24k -- 2 set of 30 sec ea. arm
Pull up - 2x12

Note:
The overhead hold is exactly what it says. Press the weight and hold it with your arm locked out; ensure your elbow is straight and your shoulder is rolled back in the socket. -- enjoy.

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

T-23d

I haven't done many snatches with the 24k in quite a while. It was absolutely necessary to test myself to see where I am and determine my exact preparation for the RKC II. I performed a snatch test this morning.

A summary of the rules for the RKC snatch test:
  • Resting position is in the up position, overhead.
  • Only 1 hand change is allowed.
  • My weight class determines that I must perform at least 64 reps to successfully pass the test.
Before the test, I did Z neural warm up.

Test: I performed 30 reps with the left and 30 reps with the right; total = 60

I have 64 in my grasp but chose to keep some in the tank. I admit some fatigue in grip and need some tricep endurance.

Based on this benchmark, I will use some assistance exercises to build endurance. Overhead holds and farmers walks are on the menu.

Training:
Z
Snatch - see above

Ride - 20

Evening:
Overhead hold - 32k - 30 seconds l then r.
pull up - 2x10

MS 150 Ride


The MS 150 took place on the Virginia Eastern Shore this past weekend. It is a ride consisting of 75 miles on Saturday and again on Sunday. We rode from Cape Charles, VA to Silver Beach, VA through mostly flat terrain and seaside villages.

The ride’s purpose is to raise money to find a cure for MS and each rider is responsible for raising a $250 minimum. What a great cause; like I need a reason to ride. One fact of note, one gentleman from Virginia Beach raised more than $22,000 by himself. BRAVO.

For this ride, I took the opportunity to try a few nutritional changes. The first is the pre-ride chow during the days leading up to the ride which resulted in a 6lb weight gain. This worked wonders. I’m not exactly sure why I have quit doing this during the past 8 months. I will definitely keep carb loading in the toolbox.



The second change was to chow intake while on the bike. The basic formula for this ride was ½ Cliff Bar every ½ hour. In addition, I ate many oranges and bananas at the rest stops. For the most part it worked but it isn’t perfect yet. I did eat 1 pb& j at a rest stop…made with Wonder Bread. It killed me; the bread spiked my blood sugar and the hot jelly sat in my stomach for about an hour.

Note: the ride did not have any coffee at any stops. I really could have used a cup of coffee at about 100k on day 2. They did have some Red Bull, I gave it a shot…not a good fuel. It is pretty much a gut bomb but I did feel alert for 20 min.

The first 8 miles went smooth without incident. I should say it is annoying maneuvering getting around all the comfort bikes with aero-bars. WTH! This theme would continue for the whole first day. At this point, I heard a SPRAAAANWNG from Greg’s bike. He lost a spoke. I pulled over with him and waited for the sag. They got him up to the first rest stop so another mechanic could look at it. I rode to the stop and waited for an hour for this process to get completed. This hour would haunt me later.

Broken Spoke

The wheel was good enough to roll but the mechanic was unable to replace either of the broken spokes which were on the drive side. We continued up the road and I explained the how wheels and spoke tension worked. For some reasons, his wheels were built with uber-tension in all of the spokes.



The last 30 miles of the first day proved to be a treat. The wind was whipping at 20 mph with gusts to 25 mph. We had the good fortune to spend 45 miles with it as a tailwind or cross wind. No more. The final miles were hard fought in the wind and heat. About 15 miles from the end, Greg lost a third spoke and I wouldn’t see him for a few hours.

Day 1 stats: 75 miles: 4.5 hrs ride time – 6.5 hrs on the course.

Lodging for the evening would be in my tent. The tent’s virgin outing would turn out to be a test for the gear. At 7pm, a powerful thunderstorm began to bring havoc upon the camp site. All of the gear in my tent was dry as a bone. It survived heavy rain that fell down, sideways “and it even fell up (F. Gump).” Interestingly, the stuff I left in my Berthoud bag was also dry! I am impressed.


Day 2 began with a leisurely pace for 4 or 5 miles. Then the pace picked up as a group passed. I hung with them until the 2nd rest stop. They were lollygagging at the stop and I needed to go. It is ok to stop for a short time. Often it is what the doctor ordered but the marathon 30 minute stops are for the birds. I want to stay warm and reduce the shock of hopping back on the bike. The route finished in Cape Charles and the reward was a cold towel and a pulled pork sandwich. MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.


Day 2 Stats: 75 miles: 4.5 hrs ride time – 5 hrs total.

Overall, this is a nice ride with fantastic support. It is some of the best support I’ve received on a ride in a long time. Of course the majority of my miles have been unsupported RUSA events.



The Coho Randonneuse was a joy to ride through the Virginia country side.





What is the fixation with aero bars? I can’t believe how many people use them on their bikes. It doesn’t matter what type of bike. Beach cruiser, hybrid, tri-bike….