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35.83 miles - first ride home from work of the year!

Did 35.83 miles yesterday - great ride for the most part. I did manage to get a bit lost, which was funny, but not too bad. Of course it slowed me down. I averaged 16.5 mph, although my bike computer was usually reading between 19-21 mph. That increase in speed is due to a couple of changes that I've made to my bike. I shortened my stem to take some of the pressure off of my elbows (they would REALLY hurt when I rode) and got some new wheels. They feel much faster and are whisper quiet - no more popping noises while I'm riding, which is nice.

And I think the bearings are quite a bit better.

All in all, a good day.

This brings me to a grand total of 210.34 miles down, 2289.66 to go, and 91.59% remaining. 40 more miles until I hit 10% done. Whoo!

30.59 miles

Today was a total grind of 30 miles. It was supposed to be windy, rainy and snowy. But it was and just kept staying partially sunny. So I went for it, and managed to get in 30 miles, most of that dry. Except for about 10 minutes, where it rained, then hailed, then snowed, then rained again, then rained sideways, then stopped.

Moved pretty well, but my heart rate monitor was being fritzy. That was a big pain, I think I need new batteries.

Spin class today...

kicked my ASS! I'm gonna be feeling that for the rest of the week. Thanks a lot for that...

I know, academically, why working hard feels good. But sometimes, the more you push and the more it hurts (not in a permanent "Oh crap, I'm gonna be seriously injured for life," kind of a way, but more in a "Oh crap, this is what my limit feels like. What happens when I push a bit harder," kind of a way), the better it feels. I don't know if it's just that your body produced more endorphins, or if it's a mental thing, or what. I guess I don't really care. Finishing a hard workout, lying there sweaty with my muscles burning has a feeling that's not quite like anything else I've ever experienced. It's just a feeling of satisfaction and well being that I only ever get when I've worked my ass off. And it's good times.

Thursday Spin, Saturday Cycle

Totally spaced on recording this here, but did an hour of spin on Thursday (was really hard, and I worked my muscles really heavily) and did 30 miles on Saturday. The cool thing about the ride on Saturday was that I burned my previous average speed by over a mile an hour - and that was with traffic. So I was really pleased by that. Maybe, if I keep it up, I will be able to do the STP in a day...

cycling/rowing combo

I didn't have a chance to go to spin class today, but I was able to spin on my own bike and the cycleOps today. Went hard for 25"48', and ended up quite sweaty. After that, a simple and easy 1k on the rowing machine rounded out my workout. I focused, like my wife suggested, on stretching way out. So far out, in fact, that I need to make a mental note to move the stuff behind the rowing machine next time before I use it.

Additionally, I did some ankle strengthening exercises on the BOSU ball. I think that really shows how bad my balance is and how bad weak my ankles are. My goal was 1 minute standing on a single foot while still. I was nowhere near still, and only sometimes single footed. And while I only touched my other foot to the ground, it's not something I should have to do. It's definitely something to keep working on.

Another exercise I did on the Tour de BOSU was a sit/stand type of exercise I saw on youtube that looked interesting. In practice, it was not what I envisioned. It didn't work my abs as much as I thought it would. I would doubt that I will try it again.

Rowing Day - new PR

Did 5025m in 19:05, shaving 45 seconds off of my previous recorded PR. That's a pretty big chunk. My wife, however, said that I need to stretch out my stroke and really take advantage of my length. So that's something to work on, for sure. But it felt good - with the exception of the hope that I wouldn't vomit. I didn't, so that was a good thing.