Change of plans . . .

It's late . . . don't feel like writing much.  But wanted to say my plans have changed.  Done with P90X+ for now.

As I've said before, I am a member of Spinervals.com, a cycling training site utilizing training videos.  I had been trying to figure out what my off-season workout was going to be, and decided to do some bike commuting along with P90X.  But the other night, I got an email from Spinervals with information about their Super6 training program.  This is a 6-month off-season training program utilizing their videos along with a training calendar on TrainingPeaks.com.  I decided that following their program would be better than anything I could come up with.  I like the fact that it mixes in cycling workouts with the occasional day for some running, swimming or weight training.  Seems like it should work well.

Tonight was Day 1 of Super6, which was a Spinervals threshold test.  This is basically a 20-minute time trial effort.  I did this back around the end of February, so it was nice to do it again and compare my efforts.  In February, my total distance for 20 minutes was 6.36 miles with an average speed of 19.1 mph.  Tonight, my distance was 6.53 miles with an average speed of 19.6 mph.  That was a nice little jump.  I assume I'll be doing this test at the beginning of the next phase of the Super6 program.

I've also managed to get in a couple commutes lately, too.

I still plan to do some weight training and some P90X yoga, when it fits into the Super6 program.  But since I decided to join the racing team next year, I think I owe it to them to train right.

Some recent rides:

And I figured it was time to start tracking my weight again.  Been a while, and I've put on about 7 or 8 pounds.  I do much better when I post my weight every day, so here goes...

Today's weigh-in:   181.5

Couple rides, and more P90X+

Haven't posted in a couple days.  It was a pretty busy weekend, but managed to find some time tonight.

Saturday was supposed to be P90X+ Kenpo Cardio Plus, but we had a day full of kids sports, followed by an event for my wife's work out at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.  I just never found the time.

Sunday, I got up for a bike ride with Lifetime Fitness.  It's getting close to the end of road riding season, so I want to get in some rides when I can.  Finding routes in the area is a little more difficult with the recent flooding, but we were able to get in a decent ride.  Unfortunately, it didn't end very well.  I rode 7 miles to Lifetime, then rode about 37 miles of the route with the Lifetime folks, and then ended up crashing.   So close to the finish.  It was really annoying.  It turns out I had gotten a flat tire at some point, and didn't know it.  I had finished a small climb and was taking a right turn, and the bike just slid out from under me.  Turning on a flat tire doesn't work very well.  I went down hard right in front of a bunch of cars sitting at a traffic light.  I've got some serious road rash on my right leg and right hip, and a little bit on my right arm.  It's pretty painful.

Ouch.

I've got myself wrapped up in surgical dressing right now, trying to get the road rash healed up.  It stings a lot right now.  Hoping that goes away soon.


After my morning ride, my wife and son went to a Broncos Play 60 camp at the Broncos headquarters down south, so I decided to take my daughter for a bike ride.  I had been wanting to check out the Platte River Trail since the flooding a couple weeks ago, to make sure the trails were open and commute-able, so I could get back to my bike commuting this week.  We went for a nice 8-mile out-and-back ride on the trail and everything was looking good.  The river was definitely still running high, and there was a lot of damage (and garbage stuck in trees) on the banks.  Along the way, we stopped for a break at a picnic table, and watched the crazy whitewater.  This was definitely higher and faster than I've ever seen the Platte River running.  But it made for this great little video clip:

Like I said, I was supposed to be doing Kenpo Cardio Plus on Saturday, but never found  the time.  I intended to do it Sunday night instead, since that was supposed to be a rest day.  But after my crash and my second bike ride, I just wasn't feeling ready for a P90X workout.  So, I had to do it tonight instead.  I liked the workout.  Definitely better than the Kenpo workout in the original P90X.  But now I'm a day behind, and need to figure out how to catch back up.

P90X+ - Yoga X

An easy day today, thank goodness.  Well, easy is somewhat relative.  This was "easy" because I wasn't doing push-ups, pull-ups or insane core work.  But some parts of Yoga X can be pretty strenuous.

I've done this session a bunch of times before, back during my 12-week P90X routine a couple years ago.  But this is the first time I've done it since then.  I had forgotten how much I enjoy it, and how good I feel afterwards.  Sure, it's a long session at 90 minutes, but I don't really mind it.

The first 30 minutes or so of the session is the hardest, consisting of a series of vinyasa sequences leading into various warrior poses, among others.  It takes a long time, and is a little tedious.  And some of the poses require significant strength and balance, which I just don't have right now.

After that sequence, it moves into some balance poses, and then into some nice stretches.  After the stretches, there is a sequence they call Yoga Belly 7, which are a series of positions aimed at strengthening your core muscles.  My core muscles have already taken a beating this week, thank you very much, so I wasn't too happy with this section.  But it doesn't last very long.

Finally, Yoga X finishes up with some more stretches, and some relaxation poses, like Child's Pose and Corpse Pose (lay on your back, close your eyes, and don't move.  Awesome).

Because Yoga X is so freaking long, I really need to get to bed.  I'm beat.  Back to a hard workout again tomorrow night, unfortunately.

P90X+ - Total Body Plus (plus 4.5 mile run)

Another round of P90X+ today.  Not sure if I'm going to be able to stick with this.  It's really beating the hell out of me, and I'm getting really sore.  I've just been really uncomfortable, and having trouble doing normal daily tasks because my arms, chest and shoulders are hurting pretty bad.  Fortunately, tomorrow is Yoga day, so I get a little break.

After work tonight, I had to speed home to get the kids and drive my daughter to soccer practice.  My son came with us tonight, and we just bought him a new bike off Craigslist yesterday, so he was eager to ride it.  I decided to bring him with me so he could do some riding.  While my daughter was at practice, my son and I went for a run/ride.  He rode his bike with me while I ran about 4 1/2 miles.  We had a really good time, and he loves that new bike.  I'll post some pictures of him with the bike in a few days.



After dinner and getting the kids to bed, I headed down to the basement to crank out P90X+ Total Body Plus.  This was yet another pretty tough workout.  Basically, it's a mix of push-up, pull-ups, lunges and weights, in various configurations and combinations.  There is really nothing as simple as plain old push-ups and pull-ups.  I like the variety in this workout.  Like the other P90X+ workouts, you move quickly from move to move, with very little break or explanation between.  This makes the workout go really fast, but can be confusing the first time through.


That being said, I am not feeling all that great, and might prefer the original P90X instead.  The original seemed to have more focus on specific muscle groups, with longer breaks between each type of workout.  For the first three days of P90X plus, there have been a lot of upper body exercises each day, and ab/core work every day.  Although the general focus of each day has been different, they are still using a lot of the same muscles.  Three days in a row without recovery time is a little rough.  But we'll see how I feel after yoga tomorrow.

P90X+ - Interval X Plus (plus 4 mile run)

Day 2 of P90X plus today.  But first I started off with a 4-mile run during my daughter's gymnastics class.  I can't post the data today, since I forgot my GPS at home this time.  But after gymnastics, we came home and made a quick late dinner.  Kids finished homework and went to bed, and I squeezed in Day 2 of P90X+.

Today's workout was called Interval X Plus.  It's a pretty good cardio / plyometric workout.  This really seems to take the place of Plyometrics from the original-recipe P90X.  There are 15 moves, each done for one minute at a time.  Twenty seconds at a low intensity, 20 seconds a little higher, and 20 seconds all out.  There is no break between each move, which really keeps the workout moving.  Then, just when you think you're done, you take a quick water break, and do the whole thing again, in reverse order!

Overall a pretty good workout.  Unfortunately, after today's schedule calls for a follow-up of Abs/Core Plus, just like yesterday.  So, after that 40 minute workout, I had to tack on another 20 minutes of abs and core.  The workout was just as hard as yesterday, but at least I knew the routine a little better, which made it a little easier.

Tomorrow is Total Body Plus.  Stay tuned.

P90X+

On Sunday, I was supposed to participate in my last big organized ride of the year, the Good Sam Bike Jam.  This ride consists of a 100-mile, two 62-mile routes, a 45, 32 and 20 mile ride.  I was going to be doing the 100-mile ride with a bunch of people from my office, and a few others were going to be doing some of the shorter routes.  After a great time at last year's event, we were all looking forward to another great ride this year.

But Mother Nature had other plans.  As I'm sure you've heard, much of central and eastern Colorado has been slammed by massive rainstorms over the past week, causing unprecedented flooding throughout the region.  In addition to flooding, the rain has caused mudslides, rockslides, extensive road damage, power outages and more.  The devastation is really beyond description.  Roads have been washed away, making some towns completely inaccessible.  The Denver Post has a really good photo gallery.

Much of the damage from these floods has occurred in areas that the Bike Jam was supposed to ride through.  Initially, the organizers canceled the longer rides, leaving the 45 mile and shorter rides in place.  But after driving the route on Friday, they decided they needed to cancel the ride altogether.  While I'm disappointed since I was really looking forward to it, I completely understand.  There's not really any place to ride if the roads don't exist any more.

On Saturday, we had a little break from the rain, but the kids sports were all canceled.  So, I was able  to squeeze in a short ride.  This consisted of a 10 mile ride up north, a 10-mile time trial loop, and 10 more miles back home.  The time trial loop is pretty nice, but I got slowed or stopped at a couple stop signs, which was disappointing. I did the same route a couple weeks ago, 40 seconds faster.  I need to step it up a little bit next time.


With bike season slowing down, I don't need to focus as much on bike training, and decided to shift focus a little bit.  I plan to keep riding, just for cardio and general fitness.  And for fun, of course.  But I want to improve all around, so I decided to start a round of P90X+.  I did a full 12 weeks of P90X a couple years ago, and really liked it.  I mean, it gets a little boring after a while, but it's a fantastic program.  This time around, I decided to try the P90X+ videos instead.

P90X+ is a similar routine to the original P90X.  Three months.  Three weeks of one routine, followed by a "rest" week each month.  Each week includes some strength work, abs/core work, some cardio work, and some yoga.  Like the original P90X, there is a "classic" routine, with a mix of strength and cardio, a "lean" routine focused more on cardio, and a "doubles" routine that includes both a morning workout and an evening workout.

My plan is to do the "classic" P90X+ routine every evening after the kids go to bed.  Not the ideal time for a workout, but that's all I've got.  I also plan to supplement these workouts with cycling whenever possible, including bike commuting.  I'm not sure about the status of my usual bike commute at this time, so I need to figure that out before I start planning to ride to work regularly again.

Tonight was Upper Body Plus, followed by Abs/Core Plus.  Upper Body Plus is a series of exercises focused on chest, shoulders, back, biceps and triceps.  Rather than the individual moves in some of original P90X workouts, these seem to be more combination-type moves, working on a few different muscles at once.  And moving from one exercise to the next is faster than P90X, with less explanation of each move.  For the first time through, that meant a little extra time for me to watch and figure out what was going on before I actually starting the exercises.  I'm sure I'll get the hang of it in the next couple workouts.

After Upper Body Plus comes Abs/Core Plus.  This kind of takes the place of Ab Ripper X from the original P90X.  It's a 20-minute ab/core routine that you do after one of the other longer workouts.  While Ab Ripper X consisted of basically sitting on a yoga mat the whole time, Abs/Core Plus has a lot of variety.  Some yoga mat stuff, some pull-up bar stuff, some weight stuff.  The variety is nice, but moving quickly from one setup to the next is kind of tough, especially in a small space.  Once I get the routine figured out, I'm sure it will get easier.

Tomorrow is Interval X Plus, a cardio type of workout, along with another round of Abs / Core Plus.  Wish me luck.

I hope to get back on the bike again this week, but I need to drive to work tomorrow.  Maybe Wednesday.  We'll see.

Rain, rain, go away

If you live here, or you have been watching the news, you'll know the Denver/Boulder area has had a few days of insane rain.  Last night into today have been the worst.  Major flooding, building damage, road damage, dam failures, etc.  It's nuts.  Oh, and as of this writing, there are three dead and one missing.  HERE are some pics that viewers submitted to the local news channel.

I can't believe I was riding in 95-degree heat and blazing sun on Sunday, and starting on Monday, it turned around completely.  It had basically rained for three days straight.  And we are supposed to be getting more rain overnight.

On Sunday, I am supposed to be taking part in the Good Sam Bike Jam, a fundraiser for the Exempla Good Samaritan Foundation.  My office sponsored a team of 10 riders, and we actually have 11.  Most of us were going to be riding the century ride.  This would really be the last big ride of the year.  Unfortunately, due to the flooding in the area damaging roads and buildings throughout the region and some towns being evacuated and declared disaster areas, the plans have changed.  The organizers have gotten rid of the 100 and 62 mile rides, because they were going to be going through some heavily damaged areas.  So, it looks like we're going to be doing the 45-mile route instead.  Not sure yet, but maybe we'll do it twice.  The team is meeting for lunch tomorrow to discuss our plans.

With all this rain, I haven't been able to get out and ride since Sunday.  I was feeling like I needed to get on the bike again, so I hopped on the trainer for a 1-hour workout tonight.




 I was pretty happy with my ride tonight.  I compared tonight's workout to the last 3 times I'd done this particular workout, and was happy to see my average speed faster than the previous times.  I've included the comparison chart below.  You can click on it to see it larger.

Wacky W

Today I participated in the Wacky W ride.  This is a ride to benefit Douglas County Schools, with a 45, 62 and 100 mile route, along with a 6-mile family ride.  Last year, I did the metric century, 62 miles (100 kilometers).  This year, I opted for the true century ride.

I was feeling really good at the start, and was riding very strong.  I was skipping a few of the aid stations, fine with what I was carrying with me.  Or I made a quick 2-3 minute stop just to grab a quick Clif Bar and some Oreos.  By the time I got to the turn-around aid station, at about 57 miles, I was still feeling really good.  I took a little longer there, since it was starting to get pretty hot out.  I chatted with a number of people, ate and drank plenty, and had a bathroom break.  Then, back on the bike.

From that aid station, it looked like a lot of people took off in the wrong direction, while I followed the signs.  I was pretty comfortable that I was going the right way, and I ran into various signs and staff who assured me of that.  But when I looked at Strava this afternoon, I could see that a lot of the people went the wrong way, which actually cut about 4 miles off their ride.  Whatever, I was still feeling pretty good.

I headed back the way I came, passing the aid station at mile 76, figuring I had a pretty easy ride back.  Last year, on the first half of the ride, I was heading south on highway 105, climbing into a headwind, so when I turned around and headed back north, it was smooth sailing, downhill with a tailwind.  I was expecting more of the same today.  However, the ride north on 105 was into a headwind, making that section of the ride much harder than I was planning on, even though it was generally downhill.

I was starting to feel pretty miserable, a combination of a long day in the saddle, along with the increasing heat.  I slowly made my way to the last aid station, at 90 miles.  I was desperate for a break, and grabbed a lot of water and food, and took a chair away from one of the Campus Cycles guys that were on hand for emergency bike repairs.  I figured I'd take a nice rest, and eventually feel better so I could finish up the ride.  But it just never happened.  It was about 95-degrees, with sun beating down.  The shade was nice, but it was still hot.  I got up and walked around a little bit, but just wasn't feeling any better.  And the last 10 miles of this ride are really tough, with a thousand-foot killer climb up to Daniels Park.  If the last ten miles were going to be easy, maybe I could have made it.  But I really didn't think I'd be able to do that climb.  It was time to give up and call it a day.

So, I hung out for a little bit, and one of the ride staff came by in a car, looking for people like me that weren't going to be able to finish.  I threw my bike on a rack, and got a very comfortable ride back to the finish, passing all the riders I had recently seen at the aid station.  Watching them struggle up Daniels Park Road, I was glad I didn't give it a try.

I grabbed a late lunch of Tokyo Joe's at the finish, and plowed through a bottle of Gatorade.  Then, back in the car with an ice cold Coke for the drive home.

Overall, I'm disappointed that I didn't finish the whole ride.  Especially because I came so close.  But it was crazy hot out there, so whatever.  I have one final century ride coming up next weekend, and the weather looks to be significantly cooler.  Looking forward to it.

Here's today's ride:

Another commute, and a new run

Took the day off yesterday.  I knew I had a late meeting at work and was going to need to get home quickly to get kids to sports, so I had the car with me.  Today, I knew I would have some more time, so I rode to work again.  Just an easy ride today, no intervals or anything.  But I apparently got my PR on a segment called "Buttsmell Sprint".  Nice.  But I have to agree about the smell.  Definitely a stinky ride.


After getting home tonight, we had to turn right around and get kids to soccer and football.  I took soccer-duty.  I had a nice long running loop planned, but the weather was a little sketchy, and I didn't want to be too far away if it started raining and they canceled practice.  So, I stayed a little closer to the field.  Maybe I'll do a longer run next time.


After practice, things went a little crazy when my car wouldn't start.  I had someone come by to jump my car, but that didn't work.  Battery was just dead, dead, dead.  My wife had to come by and pick me up after my son's football practice.  First, we went home to grab a few tools, then she took me to the auto parts store for a battery.  Then we drove back to the soccer field to change the battery in the dark.  I got it taken care of pretty quickly, and everything worked like a charm.  Back to the auto parts store to give them my old battery while the wife and kids ran to Wendy's and picked up some dinner.  At this point it was probably 8:30pm, and we definitely didn't feel like cooking.  I had enough sense to get a caesar salad with grilled chicken.

Ready for another ride to work in the morning.

Couple more rides

I didn't end up posting anything yesterday, but I did end up doing another ride.  Since I did a nice trail-a-bike ride with my daughter on Saturday, it was my son's turn for a ride on Sunday.  He hopped on the trail-a-bike and we rode the smelly Platte River Trail into Denver, stopping at REI and grabbing a drink at Confluence Park.

Stopping for a snack at Commons Park

Then I got up this morning and wanted to get in another ride.  The Lifetime Cycle group has posted a few challenge rides lately, generally time-trial type of rides.  I decided to try my hand at a new 10-mile time trial route they set up.  Before I started, there were only three people listed on the Strava segment for this ride.  When I finished, I ended up in third place out of the four, just missing second place by 4 seconds.  But within a couple hours, the guy in fourth place had ridden it again and moved up to first place.  So, now I'm last out of 4 riders, which is disappointing.  I'm going to have to try again soon.