Beachbody Coach, Running, Insanity, P90X and My Personal Blog » General

April 3, 2010: Team in Training 60 mile ride

mark — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 15:13:13 +0000

Well, what do you know a new ride this past Saturday. I did like this ride a lot. It proved a lot of things to me for the last couple of weeks of training though.

We started our way at the Carlsbad Pointsettia Train Station. It was a new location to me but I remember riding by this train station so many times now on the last couple of rides we have had. Now we are starting here. I didn’t know much of the terrain at all on this ride. I remember seeing so many new things and sites I did enjoy on the ride.

We headed south for a small distance to go to the restrooms at the nearest Jack in a Box and talked a little before we took our morning ride. It is funny sometimes how we always seem to be the last group to leave but in the end we are always first. We followed Avenida Encinitas till we hit Carlsbad Blvd.

Onto Carlsbad Blvd and we headed north for a quite a distance and followed into S. Pacific Street. We then got onto the San Luis River trail that seemed like a large bike and running path that was single lane and had traffic coming both ways. There were a lot of people on this pathway. I liked it though. It gave a new scenery to look at and it proved a little tough with the headwind we were experiencing here. We did do a lot of changing here on the front. This pathway followed the 78 freeway east and we took this for a good distance till we got to College Blvd and made our way to N. River Road.

N. River Road was a different road. It seemed similar to roads in Rancho Santa Fe. There was a lot of rolling hills here. I remember going up and down a good amount of them. We followed it to Mission Rd and then back onto Old River Road and then to McDonalds where our SAG was stationed at. We met with the Ace Team riders. We were in Bonsal, I didn’t know of this area at all. It seems that doing all this training is great and has many new sights to see around San Diego.

After the SAG, I asked about our new path. We were going to be doing some climbing. I decided to keep a mindset of taking it easy on the hills so that I wouldn’t get an overall burning in my legs. I had to keep my heart rate down. We headed onto W Lilac Road and it proved to be a tough hill with different grades. At the top it intersected the 15 freeway on a bridge that I seem to drive by on the way to Temecula. I always wondered how to get onto it and now I know.

We took a break at the top and then rode down onto Old Highway 395. We were screaming down this hill at 40 mph max. As this road connects into Champagne Blvd, I knew I was in for it. This climb was a steady grade that was something around 3 miles long. I think it took me around 15 minutes to get to the top where we had another SAG. I was tired. I am glad the weather was nice or it would have been worse. We had a long rest and waited for one of the other team mates as he was having a hard time that day.

We eventually got going again and left him at the SAG and continued our way west again through Deer Springs Road. We continued our way through N. Twin Oaks Valley Road and followed that as we crossed the 78 freeway. We made our way and got onto W San Marcos Blvd. and continued to head west and get back to the coast. This area was nice. It was just some rolling hills and we got to our last sag with about 10 miles left next to a Carls Jr.

We followed San Marcos Blvd. till it intersected with El Camino Real and followed that and then we got onto Cannon Road where we saw our last hill of the day. It wasn’t too long of a hill but it proved to be steep and tough. I was burning my legs at the top with some standing and I knew that we were almost home. We crossed the 5 freeway and got back onto Avenida Encinas and got to the parking lot. It was a tough day.

I know now that I will be prepared next week for the ride. I know it will be tough but with some riding I will do this week, hopefully I can do better.

Get 30% off – Four Days Only

mark — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 23:19:54 +0000

Click here to get 30% off GAP, GAP Outlet, Banana Republic, and Old Navy

30 on 30: 4 days and counting

March 9, 2010: Spin Class

mark — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:33:31 +0000

This spin class was a little different. The coach that I have been doing it with is off to do his Solvang Century bike ride so our coach did it for us today. It was a small group but still good. I changed by bike a bit by lowering the seat to see if that would make me a little more comfortable but it really didn’t. All I think it did was put more pressure on my knee. I need to find some median for my pain threshold and comfort. The spin class was tough. I did push it a little bit to get a good workout. I felt really good throughout the workout but I wanted to get more out of it. The ILT were tough and I had to push through those but the other things we did were ok. I am probably going to skip the Thursday spin class because I am sore but it will be good though since I can take a break. Hopefully after the daylight savings time change, I can then ride home from work.

My and gf did an Insanity workout yesterday, Plyometric Cardio Circuit. That was tough. I am feeling sore but liking it a lot.

March 6, 2010: 48 mile ride

mark — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:30:20 +0000

Wow, what a great ride I had this past Saturday. It was new, exciting, nerve racking and adventurous. Many things were going through my head that morning as I knew we were going to partake in a long ride.

The train was a long ride to San Juan Capistrano but it was nice. We got to the train station early and I was hoping for warmer weather. I am glad that it wasn’t warmer though because it made great riding weather. When we finally got there we had a few things to talk about and we got to the restrooms before we started.

As we started rolling with the B3/C group which is right below the crazy ace team, I didn’t know too much about the ride and where we were going but I just followed along. I was just hoping that the rain wouldn’t come down at all during our ride and that we would stay dry throughout the day. I think we had luck on our side because we didn’t have any rain.

The ride was really nice. There were time where I would be out in front and I would get tired but I felt that I wanted to push as much as I could. I felt more comfortable with the team because we worked as a group and didn’t have to ride alone. I know how tough riding alone can get. I trained for a triathlon and that was tougher than this.

We had a mishap at the end of our ride in Camp Pendleton. Our mentor Sally, took a spill after hitting somebody. We had some communication issues and we need to communicate with the group what is going on at every minute of the ride to keep the safety of the group. Unfortunately that was too late.

When we got to Carlsbad the head wind that we experienced was crazy. I think we were fighting some 10mph wind or stronger. It felt tough to ride and we were constantly pushing through it.

When we finally go there I was glad. The parts through Carlsbad and south were tougher than the first half. We were home. We got back to the start in about 4 hours and I burned more than 2300 calories. I wasn’t too tired but I glad. The ride is below on the garmin website if you want to check it out.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/26262349

February 25, 2010: 4.5 mile run

mark — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 22:29:15 +0000

Wow, I never knew how tough running this distance at a pace that I normally would run would feel like after not running in two weeks. This run was tough. I felt rushed though. I would have liked to start earlier and stretch a little bit, but time was not on my side.

I drove home from work knowing I wanted to get in a run because it was early day for me. I told my gf that I was planning on running. We got home and were out by 5pm. I had to drop by my mom’s house to get my brother who was going to cycle.

We got to Miramar Lake around 530ish. I didn’t have a lot of time, it was going to get dark fast. I had to get out and go.

I started running and was going at a good pace. I felt like the first mile was ok. It was good. I stopped and walked for a bit and then got going again. The mile 2 was tough. I couldn’t keep my 9 minute pace and was slowing. As I got to around mile 1.5, I told myself to go some more but my legs started feeling tired. It was getting dark and I hate running in the dark without any lights.

I ended up getting to the 2.25 mile marker and turned around. I knew now that my pace was around a 10 minute pace. I was slowing down and couldn’t keep the pace. By the time I got to around a mile left, I felt spent and couldn’t finish. I was glad I finished but not in my performance. I need to get back into it.

Insanity Results Day 63 youtube video

mark — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 15:44:20 +0000

Feb 23, 2010: Spin Class

mark — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 17:37:25 +0000

Another day at spin class. I thought it was going to be a good day with a good workout. It seemed just the same as thursday workouts to me. We started and got into it and finished with the warm up when somebody to my left fell off their trainer and bike. Everybody just stopped and kinda watched while the coaches helped him. He was bleeding from behind his hear. He may have hit the next persons bike on the way down. I don’t know what he did to fall off. I think he seemed alright because he was able to get up and walk around.

My butt seems to hurt the most at the beginning and when I get home from the workouts. I don’t know how long this will take to get used to. I feel that I might be riding too much to not get used to it. I am wondering if I need to just rest more between rides. What do you guys think? Any tips.

Feb 20, 2010: Spin Class

mark — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:51:39 +0000

We were not able to get outside again for a ride this past Saturday due to the weather. I am beginning to think that we won’t be doing much cycling outside. I am kinda bummed because I wanted to get outside. We just did a spin class. I think my butt needs to break in faster though. The new seat helped and also did the new gel liner that I bought but it still doesn’t feel quite right.

I might need to get the seat at the correct angle and position. I hate to change anything on my bike because it might always change my cycling. It was crazy at the spin class because it seemed like everyone was there. We had about 30 or so people in the intermediate class and about 20 people in the advanced class.

I ended up going to trek after the spin class to get me some new livestrong bands and also to look around. I also picked up some chamous butter. I wonder if it might help at all. We will see!

Feb 17, 2010: Spin class

mark — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 19:12:44 +0000

Spin Class was good this day. I ended up getting a new seat but I don’t know if it will help. I bought it at performance bike. I bought a Forte Classic Saddle and tried it on the spin class. I noticed a slight difference but I hope it helps. My butt doesn’t feel any better really. Towards the end of the workout I was feeling sore in the butt. I think I just need to get some time in. I wish it were easier to do though. Performance Bike said that I could come into exchange it if it didn’t work well. I can ride for about 150 miles and see what it feels like. I will take that offer.

I went to REI the next day to get a Canari Gel Bike Shorts Liner. I hope it will help this weekend. It might rain this weekend, but I hope not.

February 13, 2010: First Team in Training ride

mark — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 17:53:34 +0000

I found a new love for cycling now with Team in Training. It is kind of weird though. I learned so much this past Saturday about cycling. We had some first discussions about what to do before each ride and also what to look out for. The most that I learned was when I was riding in a pace group. There are a lot of things going on when riding in a pace group. We have to learn to yell out commands to each other while riding.

There are some hand signals that we learn as well. There is this chicken wing thing we do with our right arm to signal the person behind us that we are coming off of the front to go to the back to rest. The person that is behind the first person is supposed to acknowledge them by saying “got it” then the first person can then look over their shoulder to check traffic then back off. Then each person behind them says “rider coming back” till the last person of the group says “last rider” to tell them that there is nobody left. Then when the rider goes to the rear, the rider says “rider on” and they message passes all the way to the front till the first person says “got it.”

We also learned the “pace” and “gap” words to use when somebody is falling behind and there is space between riders. The first one to use is “pace” because it signals the first person to slow down. “Gap” is used when there is a large gap behind.

It turns out that my bike has some issues. I have a wobble and the wheels need to be trued. I have a bad cable on the front shifter and I need a new tire. Man that is a lot of money. I think I need to find a new mechanic.

I was able to get in a run on Sunday for 5 miles with my gf. It was a tough one for here but we got through it! She wants to go every Sunday now so that is going to be something we do together!