Rome Wasn't Built In a Day

And neither is a cyclist's body. I'm doing my best, though, to lay the foundation as quickly as possible. My training progress has been decent. Not too strenuous - the life of a father, full time employee and new business owner is time consuming. However, I've been progressively pushing myself just enough to keep it interesting. I've found a new way to pass the time while riding - video games. With a 57 inch television and a Wii sitting 15 feet away from the tip of my ride, it certainly makes the training sessions interesting. And it keep the wild-man interested while daddy gets a workout in. Don't get me wrong, I realize that I won't have a tv and a Wii to pass the time on the roads, but it's helping to get my butt accustomed to sitting in that saddle for now.

I've been mixing up my training the best I know how. Although I've been doing a pretty primitive workout, the progress is satisfactory. I pass the time at my boring job with a pretty brutal pushup routine. I started with sets of 15 a few weeks ago, and I'm now up to sets of 40. I thought it would be a nice way to build some muscular endurance. I now ride 5-6 days a week, alternating between liesure, pace and brisk rides. While riding, every 4th minute I tighten the tension, get out of the saddle and grind it out for a minute. Now that my riding sessions are approaching the 30 minute mark, the 3rd or 4th standing sessions are really burning up my legs. I also get a nice brisk run in 2-3 times a week. Nothing difficult, just a brisk 2-3 mile jog.

My training partner (Val) has been out of town the last couple days. I'm looking forward to her return so I can get in yet another daily exercise routine. Hey, 5 minutes for 300 calories isn't that bad. I gotta get those endurance sessions in anytime I can.

So the not-so-distant plan is this: Val and I are entering the Myrtle Beach Bi-Lo marathon relay on the weekend of February 14-17th. That Saturday we will be running the marathon relay. We hope to have 5 people on our team (which will be sponsered by Gooch's Barbeque Sauces) so we can each get a decent run. Then, Val and I will be riding the 63 mile bike ride on Sunday. It'll be a good opportunity to see where we stand with our training, and it gives us something tough to work towards in a short period of time. I'm not expecting the ride to be too difficult since there aren't too many rolling hills at the beach. I'm sure the distance will be pretty challenging, though.

That's about it for now. As usual, thanks for visiting. More updates to come.

Loc

Let the Transformation Begin

Last night, I bought the first piece of equipment that will help Val and I cross the finish line at next year's Livestrong Challenge - a Star Trac V-Bike.

Upon getting the bike home and adjusting the seat and bars, Val and I were ready to give it a spin. Val put in a nice and brisk 30 minutes. I followed up with a brisk 30 mins with 4 minute climbing intervals (my bike lingo may be primitive, but I'll pick up on things as I go). Tonight, after softball, I'll be doing another quick 30 minutes, and I expect to be in fully intense riding sessions by early next week.

I've found one problem, however. With the bike being a spinner - fully mechanical, not electrical - I currently have no way knowing what my speed or cadence is. I'm not sure if adding meter to the wheel is going to work, or if it's even possible. So right now I'm only able to judge my riding sessions by my heart rate, my stopwatch, and the ever so reliable exertion scale method used when running.

Nonetheless, I will prevail. I'm not training to be competitive or anything. I just want to be able to safely ride the Livestrong Challenge.

As time goes on, I will keep posting on my training progress.

In The Beginning, There Was Code.

And it was good.

1st post, woohoo! This is it, folks. The Craig family has official joined the world of Blogs. Many fun things to come.

Let's see, what's going on right now?

We're starting training for a 100 mile bike ride in Portland next year to support cancer research. Check http://teamrigel.blogspot.com/ to read all about the one this past weekend. Team Rigel holds a special place in the hearts of the Craig family, and the cause they ride for has a lot of meaning to us. Can we make the ride? Right now - no. In a year - no doubt. For all the pain cancer brings - both physically and emotionally - a year of training is a sacrifice I'm willing to make.

The Craig family is also participating in a weight loss contest with some friends. Since Val is pretty much at her ideal body weight, I guess winning this thing is up to me. I have plenty of pounds to drop, so I accept the challenge.

Gooch's Wing Company officially received it's LLC status. Pretty soon my BBQ sauce will be a common household product, right up there with Heinz. Well, maybe not that big.

That's all you readers get for now.

Peace, I'm out!