Training, Mar. 26

I am still catching up on the training blog entries.

I was on the trainer on Sunday after riding on Saturday. I haven't been on the bike since.

Here are the stats from the HRM:
45:01.8
115 Avg. HR
128 Max. HR.

It was all recovery ride. I was working on my computer getting the sermon from church ready to put on the internet. I will post about that topic on my main blog.

Tags: training, bicycle, cycling, bike

Riding, Mar. 25 -- Silver Springs Shores

I was back on the bike this past weekend. I just haven't had time to post any information about the ride. This will be brief. It is late, I am out of town, and need to get to sleep. I just want to get caught up.

I rode in the afternoon and headed from my house out to the baseline greenway and then through Silver Springs Shores. I rode a pretty good pace, but wasn't trying to go too hard. I must have had a tailwind on the way out because I averaged over 17 mph, without trying too hard. However, I then had to fight a headwind on the way back, and it slowed me down considerably. Overall, it was a good ride. Out where I turned around to ride home, there is a rifle range. It makes you paranoid to be on the bike and hearing gunshots, particularly in rural Marion County.

Here are the stats:
Computer
1:35:30
25.00 miles
15.7 Avg.
28.4 Max.

HRM
1:38:18
155 Avg. HR
206 Max. HR

Here is the map from the GPS:


And this is the elevation chart:

Tags: training, bicycle, cycling, bike, Ocala, GPS, Silver Springs Shores

Training, Mar. 21

I was on the trainer tonight doing a recovery ride. The same one that I have put off for the last couple of days. This is supposed to be a low key week. However, I need to get into the habit of riding more times every week. I doubt that I will have time to ride tomorrow. I will try to ride on Thursday. I am not sure about Friday, but hope to ride 20-30 miles on Saturday. On Sunday, I may have to ride on the trainer as my wife will be out of town and I will have the kids.

So tonight's stats:
Time: 30:04
Avg.: 122
Max.: 138

I had the mp3 player on, but listened to several shorter programs. Some stuff from NPR, and some Key Life by Steve Brown.

Tags: training, bicycle, cycling, bike, NPR, Key Life, Steve Brown, recovery

Riding, Mar. 18 - Ocala to Gainesville

I rode yesterday to my mother-in-law's house in Gainesville. We were going up there to pick up the kids and watch the Gators' second round game in the NCAA tournament. Rather than riding in the car, I decided to get in my endurance ride for the week. You can see the route that I rode here, compliments of Google Earth:



The ride was great fun. I have ridden there before, but it has been a couple of years. I did not get in any really long rides last year. I had to recover from shoulder surgery, and was not riding much.

There was a headwind at some portions of the ride, but it was not bad. I like this route. There are some good rolling hills, but nothing that is too brutal. Here is the profile:



You can see that there are some hills as you come into Gainesville. In years past, I knew that I was always very tired riding through the middle of Gainesville. I always chalked it up to being fatigued from the longer than average ride. But now, seeing the profile, I am sure that the hills at the end had something to do with it.

I rode solo most of the way. As I came past Lake Wauberg, I was caught by a group of 4 other riders in a paceline. They were going faster than I was, but I felt like I could hang with them. I asked if I could latch on, they were happy to let me. It was really nice having some help to ride, after being 30 miles into the ride. My pace went from 15, riding solo to 21-23 riding in the paceline. As I began my second rotation onto the front, I realized that I was running close to Max HR, and was pushing very hard to maintain the pace of the group. As I rotated back and latched back onto the group, the effects of pushing so hard caught up to me. I decided it was better to drop off and recover for the final push through Gainesville. It was good to ride with the group and get the boost, but my legs were starting to toast because of it.

The paceline turned off of 441 shortly after Paynes Prairie, and I continued north on 441 into Gainesville. As I came up toward Tanglewood Village, I saw another cyclist turn onto the road. His bike was a full on touring bike. He had panniers on the front fork and on the back wheel. He also had a big backpack on. He looked like he was heading cross-country. When I caught up to him, he explained that he was a student working on his terminal project in urban and regional planning. He wasn't going on a trip, he was going to the computer lab to work on his project. We talked a little as we road. He was very friendly. It seemed like he thought I was old, because he kept calling me sir. Oh well.

Going through Gainesville, my legs were tired, but, they weren't as tired as the last time I rode this route. Two years ago, I could hardly turn the pedals as I worked through Gainesville. This time, I was tired, but I was able to ride.

Here are the obligatory stats:

Cyclocomputer stats:
3:12:24
Max: 28.0
Avg: 15.2
D: 49.09

GPS Stats:
3:12
Max: 28.1
Avg: 15.2
D: 48.9

HRM Stats:
3:15:55
Avg: 158
Max: 185
In zone: 2:05:11
Above zone: 1:05:57
Below zone: 0:044:37

This morning, my legs were very sore. I felt them with every step I took. As I made it through the day they got better. It helped that I knew that I am making progress toward being ready for BRAG. I had hoped to take a short recovery ride before it got dark, but alas it is already dark out. I will have to try to ride either on the trainer tonight, or tomorrow.

Tags: training, bicycle, cycling, bike, Gainesville, Ocala, hills, BRAG, GPS

Training, Mar. 15

I did a short recovery training session tonight.

I rode 30 minutes.
10 minutes recovery pace
1:30 right leg only
1:30 left leg only
1:00 right leg only
1:00 left leg only
15 minutes recovery pace

I listened to the FredCast Podcast while riding.

Tags: training, cycling, bicycle, FredCast

Training, Mar. 14 -- Erik Braun double shot

Was back at Cruise Intervals again tonight. This time I upped the intensity a little bit by trying to maintain a HR within the Aerobic Capacity range (167-172 HR) for 12 minutes. So this was an increase in intensity and in length. The reason for this is that I am increasing intensity for three weeks. Next week, I will drop back and take a recovery week before starting to increase intensity again. Apparently, this is the way to increase fitness.

First, let me say that this workout was a challenge. There were a couple times that I was feeling a little light headed on the bike. I was able to finish all of the intervals, and felt okay, but tired afterwards.

Now the statistics:

Warm Up, 10 min., 119 Avg. HR.
Cruise Interval, 12 min., 165 Avg. HR.
Recovery, 2 min., 150 Avg. HR.
Cruise Interval, 12 min., 164 Avg. HR.
Recovery, 2 min., 148 Avg. HR.
Cruise Interval, 12 min., 165 Avg. HR.
Recovery/Cool Down, 10 min., 136 Avg. HR.
Total Workout, 1 hour, 152 Avg. HR, 172 Max. HR.

During the workout, I listened to not one, but two sermons by Erik Braun. The first was on the Word of God, the Church's Ultimate Authority. This was really an extension of the sermon I listened to last week on worship. Erik and I agree that the teaching of the Word is not distinct from worship. Rather, it is one expression of worship. The Word of God is also an authority for both the church and for individual believers. The commandments and ordinances within scripture should be seen within our lives. He made a point that I really liked. The measure for all churches is the standard within scripture. No church meets this standard. The goal for churches is not to compare our church with their church. Rather it is to compare our church with the standard of scripture, to realize that we are lacking and to endeavor to improve in our areas of weakness. Very good stuff.

The second sermon was The Community of Believers. In this sermon, Erik discusses the need for churches to "remain in brotherly love." He jokes in the sermon that we should all live in Philadelphia, but that is a rather stiff application of the phrase. We should have fellowship, evidenced by love, meeting needs, prayer, and support. The gospel compels us to love our brothers, and to love strangers. That is pretty much everyone. It is obvious that the church falls woefully short of this standard.

Tags: training, bicycle, cycling, bike, Erik Braun, worship, Word, Community

Riding, Mar. 12 - Lake Weir

I rode back out to Grandpa's house again this weekend. I did the loop around the south side of Lake Weir. To add some miles, I added a loop on the north end through the Baseline Trail and through Silver Springs Shores. With the added loop, I wound up riding around 38 miles.

This time I had fresh batteries in the GPS. Here is the map:



Here is the profile. I think that you can tell that there were a few more hills this time. The biggest hills are still down around Lake Weir.



On this week's rides, I opened up the pace a little bit. Instead of trying to stay in the aerobic (132-145 HR) range, I increased it to try to stay under the Lactate Threshold (132-162 HR). I did get over the lactate threshold several times, especially on hills. Towards the end of the ride, I had a lot of burning in my legs from fatigue and was hard pressed to keep my heart rate low enough.

Here are the HR stats:
Time: 2:45:06 (HRM) 2:45:33 (cycle computer) 2:46 (GPS)
Avg. HR: 153
Max. HR: 175
Time in Zone: 2:08:30
Time above Zone: 0:29:55
Time below Zone: 0:06:41
Avg. Speed: 13.7 mph (cycle computer) 13.7 (GPS)
Max. Speed: 33.9 mph (cycle computer) 33.5 (GPS)
Distance: 38.05 miles (cycle computer) 37.8 miles (GPS)

I still have a long way to go to get ready for BRAG.

Tags: training, bicycle, cycling, bike, Lake Weir, hills, BRAG, GPS

Training, Mar. 9 -- Erik Braun

I spent 50 minutes on the trainer on Thursday night (Mar. 9). It has been busy since then, so I haven't had a chance to log the time until now (Monday night, Mar. 13).

The training was aimed at doing "Cruise Intervals." Now, just to be clear, I have not finished reading Friel's book yet. In fact, I have not had time to read it for a while. Instead, I have glanced ahead and looked at some of the workouts in the appendix. I have selected this workout because it focuses on a skill (Endurance) that I will need for BRAG. So, if anyone reads this who understands the dynamics of proper training, understand that I am trying to figure this out as I go. That said, Cruise Intervals involves working at a pace a little above lactate threshold for 10-12 minutes at a time. You then recover before repeating an interval. When doing these, the book says that you can go into superthreshold or even the aerobic capacity level of work. I tried to limit myself to working at superthreshold (163-166 HR).

So, here is the workout:

Warm up, 8 minutes.
Cruise Interval, 10 min., 162 Avg. HR.
Recovery ~2 min., 152 Avg. HR.
Cruise Interval, 10 min., 163 Avg. HR.
Recovery ~2 min., 152 Avg. HR.
Cruise Interval, 10 min., 161 Avg. HR.
Recovery/Cool Down, ~7 min., 136 Avg. HR.
Total Workout: 50 min., 151 Avg. HR, 170 Max. HR.

During the workout, I listened to a sermon by Erik Braun. Erik is the "senior" pastor of Four Oaks Community Church. Since he is younger than me, it is hard to think of him as a senior anything. I think that Four Oaks is one of the only redeeming qualities that I can think of in Tallahassee. Anyone who passes through Tally should stop in for church.

Erik was preaching on Worship. A very good sermon. Unfortunately, they no longer have a link for the sermon on their webpage. He gave the sermon on Sept. 11, 2005. He talked about worship as the ultimate commitment of a believer. You can find Erik's thoughts on worship here.

While I am giving Erik some props, you can find his blog here. However, not all is great at the blog. Erik has his settings so that he now moderates comments. While this keeps him from having comment spam, not every comment submitted makes it onto the blog.

Tags: training, bicycle, cycling, bike, Erik Braun, Four Oaks Community Church, worship, Joe Friel, The Cyclist's Training Bible

Training, Mar. 6

I was back on the trainer last night. I did 45 minutes total.

5+ minutes warm up
15 minutes at subthreshold pace
2+ minutes recovery at aerobic pace
15 minutes at subthreshold pace
7+ minutes recover at aerobic pace.

I listened to another Mars Hill Church sermon by Mark Driscoll. I am still trying to decide whether I am a fan or not. This was a sermon on church administration as much as anything else. It was from 1 Corinthians, where Paul says that he is a master builder. I think that he covered all of the points, but his sermon is not in the style of "classical" expository preaching, along the lines of John Piper. I plan on listening to one or two more sermons to see what I think.

Tags: training, bicycle, cycling, Mars Hill Church, Mark Driscoll, John Piper, Sermon, 1 Corinthians

Riding, Mar. 4 - Lake Weir

I was out on my bike today, on real roads for the first time this year.

I rode south, down around Lake Weir. I then rode out to my grandfather's house for dinner, where the rest of the family met me. The total ride was 31.86 miles. I had jerry-rigged my Garmin GPS to track the bike ride. Sadly, the batteries died around mile 25. Here is a map of the route, until the GPS died:



Here is the profile of the route, again up until the GPS died:



These imaages are both from GPS Visualizer.

The goal of the ride was to build endurance, with a few hills. I tried to stay within the Aerobic Pace. I did some riding at Tempo pace. On a couple of hills, my HR got way to high. Towards the end, I was struggling to keep my HR below lactate threshold, and had some burning in the legs.

So, here are the stats:

Distance: 31.86
Time: 2:22:09
Avg. HR: 146
Max. HR: 229
Avg. Spd.: 13.4
Max. Spd.: 33.6

Overall, it was a good ride. I definitely need to ride along the east and south edges of Lake Weir again as I train for BRAG. The hills are good, but probably not as big as I will face in Georgia. I still need to work on my endurance and my power.

Tags: training, bicycle, cycling, bike, Lake Weir, hills, BRAG, GPS

Training, Mar. 2 -- Mars Hill Church

I worked on endurance tonight. I rode for one hour at Aerobic Pace (131-145 HR). Avg. HR was 136 for the hour. I spent 55:10 in the target zone.

During the ride I listened to a sermon from Mars Hill Church in Seattle. I listened primarily out of curiousity. I have heard the name of the church several times lately, primarily in the blogs. I also found two other connections. I have been brushing up on my NT Greek. I have been doing this in part on the website zhubert.com. While checking out the site, I saw a reference that the creator of the site not only attends Mars Hill but is teaching New Testament Greek classes at the church. Now, I had thought that the church was probably like a lot of new churches, seeker sensitive and light on teaching. But, a church light on teaching wouldn't be likely to teach its members Greek.

The other place that I found it was when I set up a podcast for my church, Christ Community Church. Having found their podcast, I downloaded some sermons. I saw that the sermons were from 1 Corinthians and seemed to work sequentially through the book, which is a good sign for expository preaching, one of the best systems of good Biblical teaching. At some point, I need to put a post on my other blog site.

So I listened to the sermon and I am initially impressed. I have one more sermon on my mp3 player, that I need to listen to on my next ride. I will post more about it.

Tags: training, bicycle, cycling, bike, Mars Hill Church, Mark Driscoll, 1 Corinthians, sermon, Christianity

Training, Mar. 1

I finally got back on the bike this morning. I had a better offer last night, so I didn't ride. Instead, I got up early this morning to ride for a little while. I have been trying to wake up earlier over the last two weeks with the hope that I would be able to start training some in the morning, since evenings are so busy in my life right now. This morning it paid off.

I rode on the trainer for 40 minutes. I worked on riding at a Tempo pace. According to Friel, this is 89-93% of Lactate Threshold HR. This translates into a HR range of 146-153. This is one notch up from the Aerobic pace (82-88% LTHR; HR 131-145).

I did 10 minutes of warm up at Aerobic pace. (131 Avg HR)
I did 10 minutes at Tempo pace (150 Avg HR)
2 minutes Aerobic (137 Avg HR)
10 minutes Tempo (149 Avg HR)
8 minutes Aerobic to cool down (137 Avg HR).

I could have ridden longer if time permitted, but work does beckon.

Tags: training, cycling, bicycle, Cyclist's Training Bible, Friel, Tempo