training
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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 maintained a pretty big base of mileage since finishing the Super Randonneur series with the D.C. Randonneurs. Despite not tracking my cycling miles, I still have a… Continue reading
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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 told myself. I want to explore it. Over the last three months, I have documented many rides with journal entries and taken photos along the… Continue reading
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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 and I have spent the past two weekends doing back-to-back Saturday and Sunday rides. This is not so difficult to do in June, where days have… Continue reading
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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 been growing over the last… Continue reading
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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’ how great it was to see the browns and grays of winter dissipate, replaced with greenery, pastel colors of cherry blossoms and the vivid hues… Continue reading
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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, plans are generally more concrete… Continue reading
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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 feel burned out, as though I had been doing the same thing over and over and not enjoying it. Felkerino and I agreed to back… Continue reading
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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 me an opportunity to post… Continue reading
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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 core is in (kidding… I’m… Continue reading
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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. Continue reading
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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, a peak: The first weekend… Continue reading
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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 continue steadily on my path… Continue reading
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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 I could not rationalize keeping… Continue reading
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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 and beyond. Oh, you are… Continue reading
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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 active with running. I logged… Continue reading
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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 for how to switch it… Continue reading
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Looking Ahead Without a Spreadsheet
As mentioned in a previous post, I track the miles I run and ride. I keep tabs on the number of days I do each activity. Bike ride? Check. Trip to the gym? Check. Miles ridden or run? Write them down. I usually take great pleasure watching the trips and miles add up over the… Continue reading
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Unintended Consequences of Not Setting Goals: A Century a Month
Lately, I have been mulling over the question of what we can accomplish even when we do not set specific goals. This is a concept I was first introduced to when I read an interview with Leo Babauta, the author of the Zen Habits blog. Babauta writes that goals foster inflexibility and turn activities into… Continue reading
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Benefits of Tracking the Miles
I grew up watching my dad, a runner, track his miles. He always took the time to note how far he ran, the day’s temperature, wind direction, and a few other details about his run. It seemed only natural, then, when I started running (and later riding) to keep a mileage log. I recently read… Continue reading
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I Get By with a Little Help from My Gym Friends
When I first started going to the gym, I did so because I wanted to strengthen myself for cycling. Then I wanted to strength train because I completely freaked out about getting older and realized the importance of weight-bearing activity. Later I continued my gym visits because I enjoyed the challenge to my body and… Continue reading
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On Bicycling and Other Pursuits: How Much is Enough?
The past couple of weeks I have not spent much time on the bike. Rather I’ve been catching up on things that went neglected while Felkerino and I focused on the brevets and our trip to Colorado for the High Country 1200K. It’s been a nice release to know that our big bicycling event for… Continue reading
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Spring Training Rides, Leaving the Pavement Behind
The past two weekends, Felkerino and I put the brevet cards aside to enjoy some excellent training rides. As you may know, I like to qualify weekend non-brevet cycling as “training.” It’s like a doctor’s note that excuses me from my household responsibilities. D.C. to Frederick, Maryland – 120 miles Two Saturdays ago, Felkerino and… Continue reading
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Big Bicycling, a Farm, and a PBP Party
This weekend Felkerino and I met up with our friend Alec for a final ride on the tandem before the big trip to Paris. For a nice change of pace, the day started out sunny with temps in the 80s. It was a well-timed reward for all the hot long days in the saddle this… Continue reading
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Back in the Saddle: 93-Mile Tandem Ride
Because we are wimps, Felkerino and I rode from home yesterday, rather than drive ourselves out to colder weather where our D.C. Randonneur buddies spent the day riding a 200K. Our route started in D.C. and took us out through Potomac and around to Poolesville, Maryland. We then decided to be adventurous and take White’s… Continue reading
Chasing MailBoxes 