Not much outdoor riding this week. The weather was generally pretty good last Saturday and I should have gone out right away after getting home from the XC meet. Instead I pansied out because of the wind and rode indoors late. Sunday the weather was better and with strong incentive from a planned trip to the OG for the never-ending-pasta-bowl I went out at 2 and hammered right at my limit. The wind kicked my ass pretty soundly on the outbound part of the route so while I was marginally slower on that 25 miler, my power was pretty decent **. That morning before the ride I had egg whites and a 100 calorie english muffin. I expended 977kJ on the ride and spent 75% at >155bpm. Finished at 3:25 but didn't get food until maybe 5. Felt a little sick/tired at the table so maybe I should try refueling sooner.

The rest of the week I had to settle for indoor training. For the most part I just went for saddle time with energy expenditures from 600 - 700kJ with only short intervals to break the monotony. Tomorrow I'll be in Utica most of the day with Iain at another XC meet and don't expect do do more than a short KK session. Right now I'm just hoping that Sunday gives me good enough weather to hit the road for a bit.

Finished week 10 at 216 and an average weight for the week of 216 (new data). Food control was on par with last week with no late night snacking or bingeing.

Didn't get as much weight training in this week as last. Have felt really good physically but still get the occasional twinge that freaks me out a little bit. At the XC meet I walked the course and measured it with the garmin (~2.8 miles). It took about 50 minutes to get around the course with the other guys. During the 4 races I walked/ran around to different spots to get good photos. I've really enjoyed being out on a couple of these courses and it makes me want to go do some hiking in the high peaks. I'm thinking once I start ruinning again I might look at trail running. With the Plotterkill and Thatcher so close it could be a good alternative to pavement pounding.

Shifting focus to indoor training.

Ok, summer isn't officially over until 9/21 but there is no denying that mornings are chilly, sundown is coming early and afternoons are rarely better than warm. I really love this time of year but it's only getting harder for me to get out on the road. Had a few days this week when I needed to cart Iain around to and from x-country practices so I had to settle for indoor riding. The upside is the transition has been more manageable for me. Rather than fight it I'm trying to embrace it. Since the space in the basement I've been using for the past 2 years doesn't get it done for me I decided to start reorganizing, which meant getting a new TV! Hah. Picked up a (sort of) cheap 26 inch LCD and a new DVD player and set them up alongside the power rack. After moving the KK and a fan I was right in business. I still need to clear out some clutter, hang the TV from the ceiling, run a 4 gang outlet, reroute the co-ax cable, put up a towel hook, hang an overhead bar and probably another couple of things to make things just right.

Having the space just a bit more comfy to watch a movie, have some better light and a bit more room has made things more bearable.

On the trainer I managed some solid interval work this week and I'm looking forward to getting out on some hills this weekend if the weather cooperates. I also got in some weight training at home after KK sessions and a bit at work in the afternoons.

Diet control was better this week than the week before and I ended the week (9) at 217. After resetting my goals at the end of week 8, I'm hoping to see a loss of 1.5 - 2 lbs per week although that may be too ambitious. If I can stay on track that would put me at 216 at the end of week 10. If I don't hit it that's ok too as long as the numbers trend down.

Month 2 done

This was one of those weeks when I hated stepping on the scale every morning. After hitting 216.5 last Friday, I bounced up to 220, down to 219 then back up to 222. Finished out this 4 week block at 220.5 which is a bit of a disappointment as it only gives me a net loss for the month of 6.5 lbs, total of 15 lbs this summer.

I ate pretty well all week except for a couple of bad desserts, but still have not done any late night snacking or binging. I have to remind myself not to obsess over minor ups and downs and stay focused on long-term goals.

On the bike, I put up a few encouraging rides including hitting a goal I set in my last entry. Saturday's 60 min peak power was 201w avg/212w NP. Cool that the entire ride was 25.3 miles at 18.6 (197w avg/211w NP). Followed that up on Sunday with 30.3 miles at 18.2 (191w avg/208w NP), 60 min peak power was 195w avg/212w NP. As far as ride performance is concerned, I can only be pleased with how I've felt and the results I've seen.

One minor bummer, pranged my front wheel so it needed to be trued and Dave P. found a crack in the rim propagating out from a spoke hole. The Bontrager 20 spoke rim is uniquely paired to that hub so it's not going to be a cost effective replacement. After this season is over its going to get retired.

I'll have to come up with some new power goals and recap my existing ones. I'm setting a 4 week weight loss goal at 8 lbs again and try to keep my ride volume over 7 hours.

Bring me the power.

Starting week 8 about 11 lbs lighter, I think. Went for a 90 minute ride yesterday afternoon and felt really good. The weather has been super all week, not too warm, not too cool, plenty of sunshine and breezes. Well, maybe stronger than a breeze at times. Just fantastic riding weather though. Had about two hours between the end of the ride before I had to open up the school. Fenced a lot last night and just got worn out so maybe this is all sweat loss this morning.

Power was pretty decent yesterday, 186w average for the entire ride. 20 minute peak and 60 minute peak were nice. Don't have WKO+ on this machine or I'd quote the numbers. Maybe I'll edit this post later and add the data. I'll add a quick word about the folks from Saris. I'm really happy with their customer service today. I bounced the PT CPU off the tile floor and fubar'd the 2 lower display lines. The regular cost of that unit is down to $99 from $350 and they'll give me $50 in trade on my original. If I had a wireless unit I'd upgrade to the new Joule 2.0, but I'm not interested in upgrading my PT yet. If I were, they will also give me a great trade in on my PT Pro. A new SL+ would only cost about $1,300.

Got a few workouts in this week of mostly squats, db presses, curls and pullups. Diet control has been good, although I did eat dessert a couple of times this week.

One of the highlights this week was a PR on my short out and back loop, finally completed in under an hour, (59:46) avg speed of 18.9 mph. So two new goals:

[1] complete at least the out and back or better at >= 19.0.
[2] complete any route with 60 min peak average power >= 200 watts.