April 30th, 2008

This morning, I headed out for my favorite 35 mile loop - cut through campus to 23rd, then down to Williston, over to Wacahoota Road, down 441 till you hit 234, then finish up on the Hawthorne Trail. I use up to Wacahoota for a long warm-up, generally, and then really go for it after that. This morning was one minute interval morning - six with four minutes of rest in between. It's the first time I've done proper intervals in about two months, so needless to say it hurt a bit, as it should. The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful, save for a couple of ladies barricading the Hawthorne trail just around a blind corner and sending me into the dirt.

This evening after work, I rounded out the day with a second 30 mile ride, just cruising at tempo. I hit a few hills around town, but didn't venture too far away. Finishing up, I could definitely feel that I'd ridden this morning. I didn't feel like complete crap, but I felt decently close to it - or at least close enough that when I found a Five Star Pizza advertisement hanging on my door when I got home, I gave them a call. We'll see how that works out.

Tomorrow's a rest day. Yeah, I know I say that a lot. I've got a bit of cleaning, sewing, and life to catch up on. As an added bonus, I don't work until 7:00 at night, so I've actually got all day to be productive (which we all know will never happen...).

Sugarloaf in three days! I've got a ride down there already.

April 29th, 2008

I found a sweet deal on some rollers, so I snagged 'em while I could. Granted, it's mid-season and anybody still rollers probably needs to be slapped, but hey.

So, instead of heading out on the road last night, I decided to give it a go. After a few close calls, I started to get the hang of it. I ended up riding for about an hour (hey, it was kinda windy outside, okay?) doing 3 minute intervals, spinning out in 53x11, and then resting (still on the rollers) for four minutes. I had a bit of fun.

I'm not looking forward to living someplace where riding rollers is a necessity though.

April 26th, 2008

I seem to have hit the on-a-day, off-a-day cycle again. After yesterday's ride, I was feeling a bit sluggish today. I went out for 55 miles with a fairly low average of around 19 mph. I completely petered out when I hit a bumpy, false-flat road around mile 40, but got a bit of a second wind when I turned onto a smoother road. I've got to stop letting stuff like that get to me, and learn to just push right through it.

Sugarloaf in one week! I'm starting to feel like I'm getting back on form again, and it should be a blast.

April 25th, 2008

Today, there was supposed to be a "Gentlemen's Race" on the Hawthorne trail at 3:00. Being the only gentleman I know, I suppose it's appropriate that I was the only person to show up. Instead of hanging my hat and heading for home, I decided to give it a go and race myself.

The trail runs (out and back) at just over 30 miles (30.32 according to my computer, to be exact). I ran the whole trail in a time of 1:22:12, for an average of 22.13 mph on a regular road setup. I've estimated my lactate threshold heart rate to be right around 180, and completed the ride with an average of 175. I'm not sure how accurate my estimate is, but I should be going into the Sports Institute at Shands to get that and my VO2 max tested soon, hopefully.

I felt pretty good, but was definitely glad when I could see the end of the trail.

April 23rd, 2008

40 miles solo today. It sucked. I won't even tell you what my average speed was. I just couldn't find a rhythm at all. I'm taking tomorrow off I think. We'll see how I feel. School is basically over for about three weeks, which is nice. I guess it's time to grab a beer.

April 22nd, 2008

I had planned on doing the Hipp ride this evening at 6:00. It's a big, fast group ride, and they do around 50 miles on Tuesdays.

I could feel myself starting to wimp out around lunch time. There's only one sure way to make absolutely certain you're locked into riding later on: call your friend Dan and ask him if he wants to go out for two hours or so at 5:30.

He did.

We ended up doing about 40 miles, and took a small dirt road near Micanopy that neither of us had ridden before. It was fairly wash-boarded for about a mile, but then spat us out onto the most beautiful one lane country road I've found yet for another two miles before hooking back up to CR329.

Once back on Williston Road, we hooked up with the end of the Team VetMed ride and hung with those guys for a bit. They seemed like a good group of people, and I'd never seen or met most of them before.

All in all, it ended up right at 40 miles, and just under two hours. I felt a little off, couldn't quite get in the groove, but I can feel my legs coming back to me. Just since Friday I'm feeling a whole lot better.

It Begins

Dear Michael Arena,

The following request to change your USCF category has been approved and processed by USA Cycling:
mikearena - 2008-04-21 16:14
Member: Michael Arena
License: Road Racer
Request to change category from Cat 5 to Cat 4


Well, I guess that about sums it up. It's time to start cracking down. My early season peak (that's what I'm calling it) has come and gone. I've spent four weeks off the bike, save for races the past two weekends that have hurt entirely too much. No more taking it easy.

I've got ten pounds to lose and some strength and endurance to build back up. It's starting right now!

Or maybe tomorrow. Sugarloaf is in a week and a half. Two months to Fitchburg.