Preparing for a 1000K Brevet
After a summer of bicycling, the Appalachain Adventure 1000K is fast approaching, and Felkerino and I will be riding it. Given that the Appalachian Adventure is a late summer affair, Felkerino and I […]
Spreadsheet Ruminations: Are You There, Legs? It’s Me…
Three months ago I ditched the spreadsheet I used to document my bicycle lifestyle, opting instead for a non-quantitative approach. There’s more to life than counting up the miles, I […]
Maintaining the Base: Weekend Back-to-Backs
As part of our preparation for an upcoming two weeks of summer bike touring in Colorado and to maintain the bicycling fitness we developed over the course of the brevets, Felkerino […]
Throwing Away the Cycling Spreadsheet
A funny thing happened to me at the end of April. Funny to me, anyway. I lost interest in tracking my cycling miles, and stopped caring about the number of days I rode each month. Instead of fighting that feeling, I’ve just gone with it, especially since this sentiment has […]
Springing Over the Edge
After a winter considered cold by many in the Mid-Atlantic—including me, who grew up in Iowa but has since become weak to the elements– Spring finally broke through. Lo’ […]
Goals versus Plans
In one of my 2013 roundup posts I noted that I had not written down any goals in 2013. However, I did make a variety of plans and spent a great deal of time making sure they came to fruition. I see my plans distinctly from my goals. For me, […]
2013 in Review: Goals, Mileage, Rides, and Runs
At the beginning of this year I committed to having a different kind of year than I had in 2012. At the end of last year I had started to […]
The Furlough, Fall Events, and a Marathon Taper
Taking the topic away from coffeeneuring for a moment, I wanted to post some thoughts about three separate, yet interrelated, topics: lions; tigers; and bears. Or really: how I spent my furlough days, the impact of the furlough on the fall event plans, and my marathon taper. It also gives […]
Fall Events and an August Wrap-Up
August passed in a herky jerky fashion. I had trouble getting into a rhythm with my riding and I ventured infrequently to the weight room. As a result my cycling miles were down and I probably have reduced my pushups capability for the moment. Who knows what miserable state my […]
2013 In Progress: Kept the Spreadsheet and Changed My Story
Now that we’ve reached one month beyond the halfway point of 2013, I wanted to take a snapshot of July as well as the year so far.
A Peak, a Valley, and a New Ascent: May by the Miles
May turned out to be an exciting month around the edges with a big blah and some good lessons learned in the middle. Numbers-wise, it looked like this: 1 Marathon 91 miles run 0 Brevets 485 miles on the bike 11 trips to the gym for general weightlifting workouts First, […]
Sweet Excess and the Post-Event Blues
Being a creature of habit, I did not take a day off after running last Sunday’s marathon. I stoicly made my way to the gym for a core class. It would be a perfect post-marathon workout, I thought, as it would not involve the legs too much and I could […]
Adios, Spin Classes
This past month I canceled one of my gym memberships. It’s sort of a long story, but I had maintained two gym memberships since switching jobs in October, and a cost-benefit analysis led me to the decision to keep only one. I was surprisingly sad to cancel my membership, but […]
A Case of the Rando-Blearies
Every year around this time, I experience the rando-blearies. Despite commuting and riding centuries-plus year round, when the temperatures rise and the sun lingers longer in the sky, I want to be out there even more. It doesn’t help that I’m married to Felkerino, my partner in all things bicycling […]
From Fun to Focused: an Update on the Gym
It’s been two months since I shook up my gym routine with a more focused workout plan. Since that time I’ve been trying (mostly successfully) to go to the gym twice a week to do my customized workouts. Outside of the gym, I’ve stayed active on the bike and somewhat […]
Becoming Vulnerable to Change
For the past several months, whenever I have ventured to the gym for a weight workout on my own, I’ve repeated the same routine. A routine that works the basic muscle groups, I have felt locked into doing it because it’s what I know and I was at a loss […]
