Monday minutiae…it is Monday, isn’t it?

  • My legs are killing me and I have a serious case of Farmer’s tan. I biked 48 miles yesterday and the wind (and sun) were out in full force. Yesterday was one of the few days where I really really wish we had air conditioning. In Cali apartments this close to the water usually don’t have A/C. I had the fan pointing straight at me and the minute I stepped out the air flow I started sweating, even at 8-9pm. I’m way behind on my yearly mileage target too. The good thing is if I wasn’t wearing a belt today I’d look like Snoop Dogg. My slacks are absolutely falling me off nowadays.
    I had Eggo instant pancakes for breakfast and I am a happy man…still dehydrated from sweating so much yesterday but happy regardless.
  • Yesterday I broke the handle on the toilet so I need to call the rental office. Til then I have to take the lid off and pull the chain manually which is kinda gross….it’s clean water but still kinda gross.
  • I’m making progress on breaking my carbonation addiction. I can easily kill 3-4 sodas a day without blinking an eye. Now every day I make myself drink 32oz of water BEFORE I can have a soda and another 32 oz before I can have a second. I’ll stick with this for a few weeks then make it 64oz, 96oz and eventually 1 gallon. Eventually by the time I’ve drank the required amount of water it will be bedtime and I won’t have time for soda. In the end I think I’ll just end up swapping my soda fetish for a Crystal Light fetish.
  • I’m thinking about getting a ticket for the AVP Toyota Hermosa Beach Open this weekend. It’ll be a good opportunity to take some pics and see some eye candy.
  • It would really suck to be this girl…not that she had much of a shot at winning anyway. The video is work safe but no guarantees about the web page itself.
  • The joke of the week:

Donald Rumsfeld is giving the president his daily briefing. He concludes by saying: “Yesterday, 3 Brazilian soldiers were killed.”

“OH NO!” the President exclaims. “That’s terrible!”

His staff sits stunned at this display of emotion, nervously watching as the President sits, head in hands.

Finally, the President looks up and asks, “How many is a brazillion?”

The latest object of my lust

well….other than Belle. Rolf Prima Vigor RS wheelset. Light weight, fast and dead sexy! At $700 they’re less than half the price of a pair of Zipp 440′s. When you ride as slow as I do it’s important to look good. :-)

vigor

Training week in review

This was a rough week at work so I missed a few workouts. That’s mostly an excuse but I’ll go with it anyway.

Monday
nothing

Tuesday
skipped

Wed
Gym workout
squats 5×5
front squats 3×8
leg press 4×10

Elliptical machine 20 minutes (basically I do enough cardio to make this workout last one hour in total)

Thursday
skipped

Friday
off

Saturday
45 mile road bike ride @ 151 avg HR, 171 max HR

Sunday
35 mile road ride @ 147 avg HR, 168 max HR

This was a shortened version of yesterday’s ride. My quads were still pretty sore from the day before so its good I cut it short. I’m trying to do 100 miles per week now so this wasn’t too bad. Monday off is just in time.
I really want to take a week off work and go for a 250 mile week. I think the most I’ve ever done in a week is 225 and that was including the MS 150 ride.

This can’t be good….

Last night roomie brought home beef & broccoli from the local chinese place. I just tried to give the dog some of the leftover beef and he won’t eat it. Ya think he smells a cousin in there?
In other news I just rode 45 miles and I still feel like a million bucks (before taxes). I think I’ll try another 40 tomorrow since I missed two rides this week.

Good week of training

Monday
1 hour road ride – hill intervals

Tuesday
30 minutes stationary
20 minutes treadmill

Wednesday – gym (easy day to limit soreness)
Leg extensions 4×10 (all warmups)
squat 5×4
leg press 4×10
hack squat 3×10
leg curls 4×10

Thursday
45 minute road ride

Friday
off

Saturday
off (translation = too lazy to get off my arse)

Sunday
40 mile ride @ 155 avg heart rate, 175 max
saw Mariano Friedick on the route

Never Say Die(t)

After a month of no weight loss (I actually went up 2 lbs) I’m going to try a real diet. I have not paid close attention to diet for more than 4-5 straight weeks in a long time and I’m too old for that.
I’ve determined that most days I’m only getting 100-150 grams of protein which never really bothered me because I’m not concerned with building muscle anymore. However since I am getting 2,500+ cals daily that must mean my fat and/or carb intake is way higher than it needs to be. I’m going to trying sticking to a 40/30/30 protein/carbs/fat ratio(I do 80% aerobic training now) for the next 6 weeks and see what happens. If the changes are good I will stick with it longer. Maybe I’ll hit 225 by the Tour de France start. :)

I also put in an hour of hill intervals on the bike yesterday. I used some big gears too so I should go a little lighter today. Tonight I think I will do the stationary bike for 30 minutes at 70-75% max HR then 30 minutes on the treadmill and finish up with ab work.

I got in some culture this weekend

Saturday nite I went to see an Oscar Wilde play called Salome at the Wadsworth Theatre. I got dragged to it by the roommate who didn’t want to go by herself. Yes, this is the same roommate that two weeks ago called me the biggest jerkass she’s ever met. Bigger than the ex husband that stuck her with two car leases than ran us (I say us because I helped pay them off) over $1,000/month for five years.  Who the hell leases a car for five years? Smaller jerks than me apparently. Don’t even get me started on the back taxes (which I didn’t help with).

One of the cool things about living in L.A. is you can go to just about any play at just about any playhouse/theatre and see Hollywood stars up close and in person. The star of this show was Al Pacino. However there were a few faces you’d know if you’re a big tv watcher. Geoffrey Owens, who played Alvin (the oldest daughter’s husband) on The Cosby Show was in it. It was directed by Estelle Parsons who was Roseanne’s mom on Roseanne. Also Roxanne Hart, who I recognized, I just didn’t know where from…turns out she was on Chicago Hope.

Anyway, the play was pretty good. I’m not sure if it was supposed to be a comedy or if people were simply laughing at Al Pacino’s lines because they were in awe. There was one part where I think he forgot a line and he improvised. That was funny.
In other news I rode 15 miles today. It totally sucked but it was nice to get out. Overall it was a good week on the bike. Next week should be even better.