Getting Some Motivation

Well I am about one and half months away from the first race of the season. Motivation is starting to pick up and the days are getting longer. Yesterday I went to train with some of my teammates at the training center that we are allowed to use for free. We had a really good turn out, their must have been fifteen to twenty riders. This made for a good stinky sweat shop, but you don't notice it unless you leave the room and come back. I rode for two hours and had a lot of fun doing it. My workout was not structured except for one part when my teammate Grant was doing some short high wattage intervals. When he would go I would go, I thought of it as if we were in a race and he was getting ready to pull me for the last time for the sprint! This was really fun and enjoyed it a lot. I haven't put any effort in like that in a long time. I did feel really good though!

After I rode with the team I went and rode some more with the Washington County Bike Club. Which they have been holding one indoor ride at the end of each month. This was the first one that I was actually able to commit to. We watched an old bicycle race movie, but I don't know which one it was. I put in an hour and half and was definitely was feeling tight. But, all in all at least I am getting some more time in the saddle.

Today I am going to ride outside! It is going to be about 17 degrees when we start and maybe make its way up 25 degrees. I am meeting up with three other teammates, Brian Petted, Ryan Pokorny, Greg Geiger. Ryan and I rode towards Brian and Greg and than headed west. We had a strong cold wind that was coming out of the west @ twenty miles an hour, which made it very hard for me to get comfortably warm. We rode out to the gas station in Slinger for a bathroom break and then headed our way back. Coming back was much more pleasant I could have rode with the wind all day. We practiced a little easy effort pace line, Ryan and Greg were new to this. We took around about way back and went through Ridge Run Park which is always really cool. There was a couple of times that I put in bursts of power, but nothing to long. After Ridge Run we rode into West Bend where Brian and Greg split off and headed towards Cedarburg and Ryan and I went home. I put in two and half hours in the saddle, very easy effort nothing really exerting. All in all a lot of fun!

Winter Training Motivation

I can't seem to get motivated for training. It is cold and gloomy and keeps my mood down for riding my bicycle inside. I don't get what is going on with me. I decided fall of 08' that I was going to race in 09'. I trained my butt off all winter wanting to do really well in 09'. I don't have a coach, I don't have a workout program, but I do have a team. I weight train 3 times a week that is somewhat consistant, but I do that with a team mate. I can manage to ride indoors for an hour easy, but trying to squeeze out two hours by myself is really tough. When I get together at Extreme's Saturday morning indoor training, I am able to ride for two hours easy.

In a way I don't want a coach, because I don't want my training to be that structured. But at the same time if I had a coach than maybe I would be more motivated. I would be doing different things that a coach plans, keeping the workouts structured and will hopefully not overtrain.

I am 7 weeks away from the my first race of the season which is just a training race. I guess I will keep doing what I am doing and maybe when the time gets closer I will get more motivated to train. If not, I will see how this season ends up and maybe hire a coach to help me out. Its not like I am not doing anything, but I know I was training a lot harder last winter.

I have training videos, and ipod, but still isn't enough to keep me motivated. I don't think that I am the only one out there with this problem. Hopefully I can get some nice weather and be able to get outside and ride. I can always manage to find someone to ride outside with me and put in some great base mileage. If anyone has some advice, I am open minded.

2010 Memorial Race Weekend?

I am in a little bit of a decision dilehma. There are three races in Iowa that I would love to do, but there is also a new three race series that is going to be held in Elkhart Lake. I hear a lot of great things about racing in Iowa and would like to check out all the hype. But, at the same time Elkhart is a lot closer to home. Do not know exactly what I want to do, and I know what my wife would like me to do. I am going to check with some of my team mates and see what their thoughts are and where they would like to race for that weekend. I think I will talk to some other people that have raced the Iowa races and see what kind of feed back I get from them. If I stay locally I will be able to drive back and forth and sleep in my own bed and will also cost me less money. If I decide to go to Iowa than I will need to get hotel rooms and eating out more and a longer travel which will cost more money. I like racing with team mates a lot more than doing the races by myself, so I guess I will have to wait and see what they want to do. Will update when the time gets closer and I know what I am doing. Later

Wisconsin Dells-Snowflake Festival

Two of my friends and my wife went to Wisconsin Dells this past weekend, to check out some snow sculptures. It was completely different weather this year than in the previous years. This year was much warmer, Saturdays weather with mist and Sunday with rain. We have been there when it has been -35 degrees and -10 degrees. This was kind of a nice change, not having to dress like an Eskimo to walk outside and check out the sculptures.

We arrived Friday night and stayed in the hotel for the evening. Saturday we slept in and when my wife and I decided to get out of bed we had some coffee and then went to the hotel gym. I normally do a long training ride on Saturday, but I did not bring my bike and trainer with us. So, I had to use what they had provided. I started by using a stationary bike that was the recumbent style. I could only ride that for so long before some of the muscles that don't get used from riding a regular bike started to tighten up on me. I decided to do some weight training and then I moved to the elliptical. My workout was very unstructured, but at least I did something.

After the workout we went to the room and cleaned up and went to breakfast. After breakfast we went and checked out some really cool snow sculptures and then went shopping at Tanger Mall. After the mall we went to a movie then to the casino where I won six dollars. I don't like to gamble so as soon as I get ahead a little I cash out. I walked away with six dollars more than I started with. Then we went out to diner and then back to the hotel.

Sunday we didn't stay long, we went to breakfast and then drove home. We had a great weekend and now it will be back to work tomorrow. I guess that is enough bumbling about my weekend for now. Later

New for me.

Hi to all that would happen to come upon this and thought that you would read what I have to write. I am new to this and thought that this would be an interesting thing to do. Last night I weight lifted with a fellow team mate of mine, his name is Patrick. We did a full body light weight short workout, which required not over exherting the body. This is our active recovery week, to get ready for a harder training week.

I currently have been weight training about 3 times a week and riding my bicycle about 3 times a week. Unfortunately my workout for the most part are not very structured and hopefully I will be able to have a good race season this year, only time will tell.

I am not going to be riding my bike at all this weekend either because I will be go to the Wisconsin Dells with my wife and some friends. I will be doing some running though to get some sort of cardio workout in. Well, I guess that is it for now! Later