My back is still sore so I am struggling through that.  The weather outside is still nice, so I am really bummed out about this whole scenerio.  I do get to go to physical therapy tomorrow so hopefully that will help out a ton.  I am hoping they do something weird, something pops back into place and I am 100%.  I have decided that as long as the temp is good on Saturday, I am heading out on the bike, that is if things stay as they are now and don’t take a turn for the worse.

It now has been more than a week since I have been on the bike.  I am not liking this injury.  I can deal with the pain, but I can feel the fitness slipping away.  That plus I am putting weight back on because all I do is lay around and eat.  I am completely bored here in my house.  I really haven’t left it for a couple days except going to the hospital.  I have watched everything that TV has to offer and I am beginning to go crazy.

I sat on a bike this morning just for kicks, and while the back allowed me to sit there, as soon as I spun my legs on the pedals, my hips killed me.  It is such a shame as the weather is starting to turn warm for a little and I am missing this riding.  I hope I am better soon as I can’t stand it anymore.  Sure, I like sitting in the house, but this is getting rediculous.

I am currently laid up now not able to move. Not fun.

I haven’t been able to do much in terms of exercise in the past couple of days. From Friday until Monday I was traveling for work and that didn’t leave me with any time to do anything. When I woke up Tuesday morning, I knew I wasn’t going into work and everything was fine. Got up, did the dishes, did some laundry, cleaned the house a little and thought, hrm, maybe play a little xbox. So after a game or so on that, my back was a little sore. I tried to get up and couldn’t. I spent much of that night laying around thinking that maybe everything was just a little stiff and some stretching would help. Well it didn’t. There were a few times I actually collapsed because I couldn’t stand the pain of standing. I crawled everywhere I needed to go. I thought if I get a good night sleep, when I wake up, I will be sore but be able to go about my business. Wrong. I spent all day laying on the couch with a heating pad on. Today I thought was my day. Wrong. Got up and get ready for work. Certainly a lot of teeth gritting, but I was going to work. My boss sent me home. So day 2 on the couch with the heating pad. I can walk a little, its actually more of a hobble, and can do much more today than yesterday. If I wake up tomorrow and there isn’t much improvement, I will be visiting the doctor. At my locak hospital there is a walk in clinic that is for things that is not quite for emergency stuff, but still in more of a hurry than waiting for an apointment. I hope it doesn’t come down to this.

The real pisser of the thing is that the weather here has been GREAT for ridding. Yesterday the high was like 48 and today it was in the low 40’s. I always thought that if I was going to miss work, I would atleast do some riding. Tears are brought to my eyes for 2 reasons, the back and the temp and me not riding.

Yesterday I didn’t ride the bike at all.  We got roughly about about 25ish inches of snow or so.  So instead of heading to work, we went to the mountain for a fresh powder day.  Then when I got home, we started the shoveling the driveway 3 times through out the day.  I must say I am glad that Kelly did it twice, so when I got home, I did the third swip of it and made her path a lot wider.  Which not only means shoveling the 25 inches of snow we go, but that plus the snow she shoveled on top of it.  It was quite a good time.  I must say that I am more sore today than any day riding on the bike.  I now think that I am going all Rocky IV on this training program.  All the other bikers are using trainers and high tech products (like Drago), and here I am, busting my hump outside doing things outside.  ADREAN!!!!!!!!!!!!

Activity-Cycling
Distance-17.13
Time-1:03.04

Tonight I did the Spinervals #2 again this evening.  This workout has a difficulty of 9.1 out of ten, but I think it is way harder than that.  I have done 6 or 7 of the Spinerval dvds, and some of they are WAY more difficult.  Last time I did this workout, I couldn’t even finish the workout.   During the cool down, I had to just get off the bike and sit down.  Tonight I was able to finish the workout, but I thought I was going to throw up for about 25 minutes afterwards.  I guess that is improvement though, from not finishing to finishing…and that is what it is all about.  Improvement.

So tonight we are supposed to get a ton of snow.  I heard 15-20 inches worth.  I am doing whatever I can to jinx it as I don’t want any more snow.  I am ready for the snow to melt so I can get outside on my bike.  Sure, I do the workouts on the trainer, but sometimes its nice to just ride for fun and I won’t be able t do that until I get outside at some point.  Stupid snow.

I updated the goals page and I am feeling pretty good about what I see.  I am winning the milage with the bike, and I am .2 of a pound below my target weight.  Can’t complain about that.  The only problem is that I have to travel this weekend and that means a 130 mile drive each way to Boston.  That plus the fact I won’t be able to ride while in Minnesota, is going to hurt the mileage competition.  I am going to try and run a little on a treadmill, but the 10ish miles I run won’t help much, but it will help with the weight loss.  That is the good but bad thing about traveling on company dime, all the food.  We eat out every night at a Ruby Tuesday type of place, not that there is anything wrong with that type of restaurants.  I really do enjoy their food, but we tend to eat a lot of fries and such.  Its quite the American way.  This year of traveling I will need to be better about what I eat.

Activity-Cycling
Distance-15.94
Time-1:00.15

I almost went outside to ride today.  It was 33 degrees at one point, but I just didn’t feel like putting on the 15 layers I need to wear, and still be cold.  So I opted for riding inside on the trainer.  Sure it isn’t all that much fun, but it must be done.  Today I pulled out an older dvd and did the Carmichael Training Systems Hill Climbing disc.  I must say that I like the spinervals dvds much better.  I think they are thought out a little better with the setup and the intervals and such.  I really didn’t feel like I was “recovering” at all during the workout.  Nothing personal Chris, but Coach Troy is better at making videos.  Sure, your top athlete, Lance Armstrong, won the tour 7 times, but Troy is better at helping the average joe.

Activity-cycling
Distance - 22.17 (trainer) 1.62 (commute yesterday)
Time-1:23.51 (trainer) 6.32 (commute)

Yesterday I only commuted one way. It was simply too cold to ride. That plus my boss bought me lunch, so I didn’t have to ride home, and he also gave me a ride home after work. Not my choice, but he talked me into it. I guess when its about 5 degrees with the wind chill, I am easily persuaded.

Today I got back on the trainer and did the Spinerval #16 workout again. It is a good workout designed to be done at a lower hart rate and work on my aerobic system. The goal is to stay nice and relaxed while doing it. I am fairly happy with my results from checking my heart rate monitor.

The major peaks and valleys are the intervals.  So I work hard for a period of time, then recover and pedal easy for a period of time.  In the middle of the workouts, the spike is due to me standing and pedaling vs me sitting.  While standing you use a whole lot more muscles and is certainly less effective, but helps to stretch the legs out a bit.

Activity-Cycling
Distance-5.62 (commute) 7.43 (recovery workout)
Time-26.29 (commute) 30.58 (recovery workout)
I must say the legs are still a little sore from that killer workout on Tuesday night. I must have done something good (or REALLY bad) for the legs to still hurt a bit tonight. So I hopped on the trainer and just did a recovery workout to try and loosen the legs up a little. Hopefully it works because tomorrow would be a nice day for a workout, then Saturday recover, and Sunday is supposed to be in the mid to high 20’s so I might be able to get outside for a real ride. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

So the goal for a recovery ride is to keep my heart rate down around 55% of my max. The benefits of this are twofold. 1)It keeps my pace/effort slow and easy so I am actually doing a recovery ride instead of doing a workout. 2)At around 55% of a max heart rate is the point where your body burns more fat in comparison to protein and carbohydrates. This is extremely crucial for someone like me who is trying to lose weight.

I did not ride last night because the legs felt sore from the previous workout.  Plu I got caught up in the new season of Lost on tv. Darn tv always getting in the way of things.  In fact, they still felt sore this morning when I commuted to work.  Seems as if there will be another night or so of recovery on the trainer.