Med Sea

Last night’s ride wasn’t horribly difficult, but it was… challenging??  Yes.  Challenging.  I wasn’t very motivated, so I told myself to ride at “whatever” for 40 minutes.  But as I got on the trainer, I really paid attention to my HR.  It was very slow to raise and would only do so when over-exherting myself.  So I just rode until my HR got into a comfortable endurance zone.  Once there, I heard my coach, Gary’s voice in my head.  So I reluctantly picked up the wattage to 250 and tried to keep it there.  I finished the last 5 minutes at 300 and then did a cool down to HR 100 bpm.

I am heading to a training camp in my old stomping grounds in a few days.  I plan on climbing and riding long hours to build up the base so I can do Gary’s scheduled workouts when underway again.

With regards to those, I tried one of his workouts on Saturday.  It sucked and I couldn’t quite do it.  I will be there soon, though.  Then I took Sunday off (had a lot of stuff going on on the ship).  Monday is my killer lifting/circuit training routine.  I still feel it today.  I really want to get punching power back.  That, and my leg power will return and I will be strong and slaying it by April.

Watch out!

Getting Slightly Easier

Hello all! Well, the last two rides have been getting easier and easier. My ass was hurting at first, but I am now virtually pain-free. It’s not chaffing, DZ Nuts is taking care of that. No, it’s more of a dull ache in my outer sit bones. I now realize that my body wasn’t used to riding and was complaining about having to do it. I beat myself into submission!  Ha.

I made it up to about an hour and a half last night. I nearly crashed. The ship took a big roll just as I was standing up and I almost went over the handlebars! Imagine. Having to dab on a stationary trainer. Not fun. Had I been on rollers it would have been lights out!  Last night I watched an episode of Burn Notice and finished off the second season of The Riches. I am sad they are off the air. Like losing an old friend. The night before last, I had to cut the ride short because I had a rear tire blow out!  Woah! When they go, they really go on a trainer. I wasn’t able to get in until late on the 18^th to change it, so I wasn’t able to ride. Tonight, I am very tired from the bigger seas we have and I don’t want to risk damaging my equipment. Besides, I haven’t shaved in a while and will do so tonight.

As I said, it is getting easier and easier to train. My coach, Gary Tingley, has me doing base mile work right now. On land, this would consist of 275-300 watt averages during a ride. Out here, on the seas, it is more like 250 watts. And that is hard for me right now! So to make the ride, and my butt happier, I now throw in 1 minute standing efforts in the 53x12 every 5 minutes.  Kinda fun, but the legs get pretty toasty afterwards. So it is worth it.

Here are some screen captures of my power files. Please disregard until they are respectable again in terms of interesting. I will also snap a few photos of my workout area so people have a better understanding of my situation.

Shawn-in the east Atlantic.

Ship Workout #2

Hello from Plymouth, England!

Let me tell you, it is hard to ride a trainer while floating in the rough waters of the Atlantic Ocean.  I promised myself that the first few weeks, I would try to get a handle on what my job on the ship was before I could begin riding.  I finally got on the bike a couple of days back and it was a wholly miserable experience!  First, we were in such high seas that I felt like I was either descending or climbing the entire ride.  Second, I am really out of shape and, to be honest, it hurt a little.  Even though I was only trying to average 250 watts during the workout.  And third, my ass is out of shape.  Or condition. Or whatever.  That is, my ass hurts a lot!  I am using DZ Nuts to ward off chafing and sores, but my sit bones are killing me!  It may be time for a new Specialize Body Geometry saddle.

I will have Gary post the images of my training up here and I will continue to update at least weekly.

Good luck to Floyd, Brent, and the crew at Tour of California.  Brent, I know you can take that TT!  Gary, good luck at Valley of the Sun.  Same goes for you… win that TT!

Later.

 

Update Uno

Hey all!

I sit here in Virginia, and it feels a little like Purgatory.  I went to the ship today, and they said "You might not get to bring your bike." "You won't be able to ride during port visits, because you have to have a "liberty buddy".  "You may not be able to work on your warfare qualification."  So, no riding, no racing, and no pin.  Sounds more like a "no-go" to me.  So these new developments beg the question... WTF am I doing here??  I will keep you posted.  Project Hour Record will go on!  I will prevail!

Shawn in Norfolk, VA

2009

Some pretty big and exciting and new things may be in the works for 2009, so stand by. Even though I am deploying for 7 months of the year. More to follow...