baby steps back: eliptical trainer

Tendinitis has improved but I'm not yet 100%. Really need to get some
exercise so I went into the gym and tried the eliptical trainer. Turns
out those things are harder to user than I thought!

Anyway, got into a groove and was able to get my heart rate up above
80% but man was it boring! Now I know why those folks plug into the
tv feeds...

injury leads to (gasp) swimming laps

Lots of drama since my last post... Injury and the inevitable search for a substitute form of exercise. This injury was my left Achilles tendon and it got pretty bad before I got my chiropractor (and masseus) working on it.

Months later and we're still "stripping the calf" (read: intense painful deep tissue massage on a tender set of muscles) and things are getting better.

Got so desperate as I saw my three months of hard work fading away (losing some of the 15 lbs. I lost on the treadmill) that I even considered a personal trainer to set me up with a weight training schedule... In the end I signed up for a masters swimming class at a pool by my work. Hardest exercise I've done in a long, long, long time...

Might end up doing some elliptical trainer along with it to burn more calories. My form needs some work before I can really maximize my workout in a group laps setting. :-(

And then my buddy Jay Watson gets back on the bike for real (gasp!) and I'm tempted to fuck with my calf recovery just to burn some calories in a way I'm comfortable with!

We'll see what happens...

running 2009.01.24

Sat 2009.01.24 - 50 minutes (5-6 miles?)

did an easy run through downtown san jose. am not used to running on anything but a treadmill really... it was nice in it's own way but different, and i imagine my pace was not as consistent as it is on the treadmill (duh).

not knowing really how far i went brings up the issue of tracking my runs. i haven't even looked into that kind of gear really... have nikes now so i considered that Nike+ thing only to realize it doesn't work with my iPhone (WTF?!?!). a quick glance at "running watches" seems to indicate you can easily spend a few hundred dollars - sigh...

running 2009.01.23

Fri 2009.01.23 - 5 miles

my left achilles was still hurting but i had a hint that it might be getting better after only two runs NOT using my wacky asics nimbus 10 shoes with the tilted left heel cup (don't think it was the shoe design, just a defect in the left shoe). time will tell but i'm very hopeful. i'm also amazed that i'm no longer maintaining or gaining any blisters with my nike zoom vromen 3's (or whatever they're called). for whatever reason i never thought nike made "serious" athletic shoes other than basketball. thinking now it was clearly some wacky old bias i had...

did a "short" 40 minute run with my newly shortened 3 minute warmup and 5 minute cooldown. standard 10 minutes at 6.3 mph (~9:30 mile) then decided to just stick to my sustainable 7.1 mph (~8:30 mile). i noticed that longer strides seemed to stress my achilles a bit so i just took it easy. i also noticed that i can comfortable do a faster rate "shuffle" type thing with shorter strides and it is still comfortable. wouldn't work at 8 mph or above but it was interesting to try.

running 2009.01.22

Thu 2009.01.22 - 5.2 miles - "new shoes"

had a post i wanted to do but family drama makes me want to throw my computer across the room.

so i ran on the treadmill and the new shoes are nice. for now.

weight control plan #173: running

what is it with guys and their weight? i feel like this is the type of thing that only women worried about back in the day. well, it seems guys are more image conscious these days and i have a whole (poorly used) blog about it so go figure...

in any case i've been busy with work and the family. my riding has been neglected and i'm okay with that. it was a matter of priorities and i made a conscious decision to not ride if i couldn't ride as much as i wanted to.

well, now i've put on a few pounds (maybe 25!) and i just can't take it.

enter running.

i ran a bit in high school and here and there since then. i actually really like it - but i always get hurt. moderation in sports is not a great strength of mine and running - particularly as you get older - seems to require it for most folks.

so, i've been back out pounding the pavement, errr, uh, the treadmill (gasp!) and am really enjoying it. i started to lose some weight and feel better about my body. i've already collected a number of stories around it but, for now, i want to start "logging" my runs here.

i think a record will be good down the line so i'm starting now and i'll try to back-fill some of the startup stories and problems as i go.

got motivated to lose some pounds before the impending maui trip...

rode my cross bike in the hills of los gatos (st. joseph's hill and kennedy trail) last saturday for about two and a half hours. i was slow but heck, i put no pressure on myself and just enjoyed it.

then on sunday (father's day) we took an impromptu trip up to my sister's house in petaluma where i snuck out for about two hours and went to Helen Putnam Park which was tiny but still beautiful and good for a fatty like me :)



then on monday i rode in to work. felt beat down but just trying to burn calories.

rode in again today and was dog-ass slow. i've been eating less and eating better. less beer too. less calories at night. in the end i really think that was the biggest reason for my lack of energy to get into work in any reasonable amount of time...

but hey, this is not some optimized training regime, it's caloric WAR!

rode in again. got a late, late start and wasn't feeling particularly fast - not that it would make any real difference if i was.

it was a beautiful morning to be out on the bike. i needed some sun time and it was just perfect.

noticed a lot of folks out on foothill. turns out my late departure meant i was out there with a monday morning ride from Los Altos to Santa Cruz and El Camino. apparently a couple of local bike groups do it together.

there were some not-slow old guys out today...

rode in today. apparently it was ride to work day. yip-e...

some old dude with *plenty* of room decided it was best to drive by me as close as humanly possible without running my ass over. i caught up to him and said "buddy, give me a little room." he was all cranky and indignant. asshole. probably some old school crotchety guy that thinks bikes should be on the sidewalk. riiiight...

rode in today. jess took my briefcase in for me - and it's pretty heavy - but as i suspected it really made no effective difference.

i caught up with some older guy on a mountain bike on foothill. he was moving along at a pretty good clip. we hit a light and when it turned green we got rolling then i figured i'd take a pull at the front. when he saw me cruising by he jumped hard - but not to pass me - just to make sure i didn't pass him...

and we're on foothill which, though it has a decent shoulder, still aint the best place to ride CHIPS style - side by side. so i chuckle and let off, waving him forward saying "go ahead buddy." then he's like "no, no" and won't pull forward.

one reason i like riding to work on my bike is because i avoid jackass drivers who will speed up when they see you need to change lanes in front of them for whatever reason. this jackass took that strategy onto the bike. fabulous...

i just figured we could help each other go a bit faster, taking turns at the front. most people are down for doing that around here. clearly he wasn't thinking the same thing. well, we came to the little rise just before page mill (going north on foothill) and though he was about as strong as i was and a similar weight/build i figured i'd lay it on a bit heading up the rise - see just how strong he was. though i eased into it he still jumped when he saw me moving up and we did some lame-ass side-by-side drag race thing. near the end i got out of the saddle and he relented.

whatever mr. ego man on the mtb. i just wanted to work together to go faster...

rode in to work again. funny thing is i felt noticably stronger than i did yesterday morning. was just able to hammer more.

was i actually much faster overall? probably not. lights and such make it hard to compare door-to-door times. was i able to hammer more when i wanted to? yes.

which leads me to the biggest mystery of cycling: when will you have good legs and when will you they feel like they're filled with lead?

i have yet to hear of anyone that claims to know the answer - even the pros.

rode in to work this morning. it was nice. gotta do it more often ;-)

i enjoy the little bit of competition that goes on with commuters and non-commuters out for a ride. today i was more of the predator - and that always feel nice :)

didn't ride to work monday or tuesday like i had hoped to - but i did take my son to preschool in the burley trailer. only 15 minutes or so but still a decent little spin.

rode to work again today. it was nice... it was mostly dry with patches of sprinkles and downright rain.

i do love riding in the rain so it was nice.

ended up more or less dry by the time i made it to work (1:40 - 1:45).

as has always been the case i get cold after a decent ride - which is saying something 'cause i pretty much never get cold otherwise...

long story short i'm enjoying being back on the bike. no big goals of cross racing in the Bs or road racing in Cat whatever.

just being realistic about riding to burn some calories so i can put on my swim trunks in Maui and not feel like a total fatass...

rode in to work again today. nothing interesting to report :)

the wife has insisted that i get back on the bike.

apparently i'm just too cranky when i'm not riding.

i've always noticed a "mood shift" when i stopped riding for a bit - but in time i just felt normal. apparently i was just getting used to cranky as the norm :)

aaaanyway, last sunday (4/29/07) i swapped out the platform pedals with clips and straps on my once cross/mtb racer turned pure commuter bike and did about two hours out to los gatos, finding every bit of dirt path on the los gatos creek trail up to the lower parts of St. Joseph's Hill then took the fast route (streets) back home.

it was super fun really. i do love to ride...

then on tuesday (5/1/07) i rode to work in redwood city from san jose. it was about 1:40 and for a fat ass like me a bit of a ride :)

that was quite possibly more fun than the weekend ride. caught up (just barely) with a decidedly non-racy guy i'd seen on the caltrain bike car a number of times. i think it was a combination of me being fat and slow and him being pretty fast for a non-race type - but we ended up battering each other for 20 minutes or so. good times...

we'll see if i get back on my bike tomorrow to ride in again :)

oh, and my additional eating has probably outpaced my recent riding so who cares if i've bot a big white belly when i go to maui again this summer...

got out again today and kicked my own ass. these days all that means is 2:45 on the bike in the hot part of the day.

i did break a spoke and get a flat descending where there was nary a spot o shade to be found. that certainly didn't help as the "up shannon, down priest rock" ride would have pretty much kicked my ass anyway.

it was still a good ride. when i finally got off the mountain and back into town i stopped at seven eleven for more drinks and a snack. went to the ice box for a snickers ice cream bar and found a snickers ice cream fudge sandwich (the "bread" was a fabulous fudge cake). damn that hit the spot after melting in the sun and dirt...

fwiw the spoke broke on my front wheel - which is an 18 spoke white industriles LTA hub laced to a velocity fusion rim with sapim CXRay spokes. hardly a trail riding wheel for a nearly 200 lb rider. and i've done mountain bike races on it where, at the finish line, they'd ask if i was in the clydesdale class.

obviously i've abused that wheel for well over a year - probably two or more. wasn't meant to take such abuse but it did. honestly it's a testament to the wheel and the builder: Dave Thomas.

interesting thing is it broke at the nipple. i think i'll just throw on one of the spares he sent with the wheel and true it right up.

going to take a break tomorrow and try to ride in on monday...

yay for me, met this week's (modest) goal of riding to work two days. baby steps my friends, baby steps...

granted, i was able to meet it by riding thursday and friday (today) but hell, it's still two days.

today i figured i'd take a route other than foothill just to mix things up. heard a guy on the train in the bike car talking about how far south middlefield went so i looked it up on this fancy vta/google map mashup and decided i'd take san tomas to central which turns into alma - then bop over to middlefield and right into downtown redwood city.

should have stayed with foothill my friends...

on san tomas expressway i caught up with an older french guy on a carbon look with dura ace. he was motoring right along so i sat on for a bit. didn't even know i was there. eventually he notices so i take a turn on the front. we come to a stop light so i stop and he's hanging way back going slow. all of a sudden he flies by me charging through the red light as there are still two more cars in the protected left turn lane coming the opposite direction. lucky for him the first one was making a u turn so he did not get splattered like a grape all over the expressway...

when i get on central there's some guy that came out of who knows where behind me, trying to catch up. feeling a bit edgy i do my best to get rid of him before he can sit on. i'm riding pretty hard and just hammering myself up the occasional rollers - just to discourage him.

it was working too until i got stopped by a fucking light... he rolled up and mentioned i was setting a blistering pace. told him i'm just trying to get rid of my beer belly (so i can drink more beer). nice guy - been working at tellme.com for a couple of years - right next to where i used to work at friendster...

he suggested i get off central soon and get over to either foothill or middlefield so, of course, i go to middlefield.

what a piece of shit lame excuse for a road with a "bike lane." sure, the latter parts through menlo park were pretty nice but it was capped on both ends by crap ass crap of a road... foothill it is for me friends.

one last thing: as i neared redwood city i was just too hungry with no reasonable food at work so i stopped at burger king, ordered three items from the value menu and rolled off, eating them on the road. as my coworker said it was like a "feed zone" in a race - except the food was super crappy and it didn't come in a cute little bag. it sure hit the spot: rodeo cheeseburger, coke and a slice of "dutch" apple pie. dutch my ass - throwing some crumbly stuff on top of a slice of microwaved apple pie doesn't make it dutch in my mind...

well, didn't ride until today but hell, there's one more day left in the week so it's technically possible that i still get two ride to work days in this week.

my belly is grown much faster than my muscles.... have to remind myself that the whole "ride to eat" thing requires riding first and eating second. doesn't work if you just eat, eat, eat regardless of your riding smart guy ;-)

on my ride in to work today i was thinking that really, it's probably 3 hours of hard riding for every single day of indulgent eating. i'm nowhere near that ratio now but it's good to at least think of the numbers - even if i have no plan to try to limit myself based on that ratio...

today some older guy rolled up on me at a stoplight on foothill. he was nice enough - chatty. not uncommon really but generally people shut the fuck up and ride once the light turns green. not this guy, no. he wanted to chit-chat about all kinds of random crap while going 8 fucking miles an hour. hurts my ass to ride that slow for crying out loud... eventually i was like "i'm going to get back on it" and motioned forward - then just started to put the hammer down a bit.

funny thing was he could hang fairly well for an older guy. i'm in no great shape but i still know i can hammer reasonably well for a short period on the flats or rollers (one of the few advantages of being a bigger guy). well, after every stop he just tended back toward his "sunday jaunt" pace - but would stay on the back if i sped up.

oh, one more thing. i was in my occasional white trash drinking mode last night. for me that means i yearn for a forty to drink on the couch. preferably a magnum 40 if i can get my hands on one. i topped it off with a corona later in the night (helped two neighbors work on their bikes and that was my pay) and woke up with a bit of a noggin ache.

still felt pretty good really. my legs burned a bit under pressure but nothing too bad. i think i'm currently all about getting back in shape AND not taking stereotypically good care of my body. fuck convention i say :-D

finally got back on the bike today.

you know, the simple truth these days is i'm having a really hard time being consistent riding. it's not like i don't get the opportunity to ride more, i just choose to do other things (and sometimes feel a bit lazy).

today was a pretty nice ride really. started out like last weekend's ride but finished differently. took almaden, blossom hill, camden, hicks, kennedy, shannon and up the shannon fire road. last weekend i turned around near the top at the first super steep section.

today i rode up that first section and, when i made it to the second (much, much longer) steep section, got off. when i'm in this bad of shape (the mid-day summer heat probably didn't help) getting to my limit and pushing through it just feels like total crap. when i'm in good shape i can push through at my limit for quite a while.

but instead of turning back i just walked that last super steep section. i'm not sure i could ever ride it on my cross bike, even with a 34-29. i remember having a hard time most times on my mountain bike even in great shape...

anyway, walked to the top and rode on the ridge a bit. saw the priest rock trail and said fuck it, i'll ride down to lexington and back home down bascom/curtner. it was much, much nicer than riding back down shannon fire road. seems they graded that trail in the last year. not nearly as rocky and loose as it used to be - so descending on the cross bike was just fine.

my hands and forearms were a bit stronger after last weekend's descent of shannon fire road - where they burned like the devil and almost caused me to stop for a rest before i bailed from a lack of brakes or an inability to hold the damn bars :-D

the whole time i was scheming how to get some ice cold water for free in los gatos. decided i'd just walk right in the burger place by the park and add some ice and water from the soda machine. added some ice to my second bottle with cytocrack too.

that water was ice-fucking cold in a minute and tasted so damn good. drank a bit too much too quickly actually.

anyway, pretty good ride considering the size of my belly and the lack of form. my goal this week is to ride to work two days. every other day was my ultimate goal but i'm scaling that goal back a bit :-)