Been some (food) changes 'round here: 5 pics

Lighter is always easier. Waist size is directly correlated with risks for cardiovascular heart disease. You can never be too thin or rich.
The theme for this blog for 2011 was going to be "Taking a year off." The reason for that idea was that I now work more than 60 hour weeks (mornings, nights, weekends). The stress is real and the lack of control that I have over my schedule is, well, very frustrating.
Whatever the challenges may be, I do, in fact, have a coping mechanism.
First of all, this is what the office life offers:

That is cake plus candy.  And there are also some delicious goodies in that foil package (i'm only guessing, I didn't go near it). This is what we all face in office life- sedentary emotional overeaters who want to share their misery with the world via extra fat calories.

So what I decided to do, in all of my brilliance, is to find a way to ride (riding to work with heavy heavy bag, at least 5 hours per week) and eat that promotes fitness. Let's discuss eating.  Here is a new lunch (pardon the cashews, they are banned for now).

This is an expensive option from Whole Foods salad bar, I think it was more than $10.  How heavy is broccoli anyways?  The foundation of my new "stress-coping-control-response" is breakfast.  Here is a photo from this morning, which has been the same since April 10th.

Coffee with no dairy or sugar, egg whites with Chervil (?) and ground up garlic sea salt and one plain piece of whole-grain toast.  Here is a typical lunch (actual photo from my lunch... is this weird?).

What you see here is boat-load of veggies (celery sticks, cherry tomatoes, carrots- all eaten first) over a bed of healthy tuna (add olive oil, capers, fresh lemon juice, capers, and other herbs).  And of course I do not eat any of this sh*t, at all:

Could you really do a whole blog entry based on pictures of things you eat and things you don't eat? 
I just did.

Day 6 & 7: Monster mountain climb, coffee with a Pro, pics, surreal experiences.

Check it out, some pro athletes are total d- bags.  But this blog entry documents how one Kelly Pro that I met out of the blue was very personable and another that I have known for awhile is a hell of a guy.
Day 6 was a total rest day; it ended with many beers by a gas-light "firepit."

It was the perfect way to prepare for a monster Saturday ride.  I got to chill with some good people not related to the cycling world.
Day 7 was planned as a big group ride up into the hills, going over the 1100 foot mountain pass into Lake Casitas and beyond.  When I got to the parking lot I thought we were meeting at...
I saw this guy:

and I was confused because I knew the kit and thought he was somebody else and neither of us knew where exactly where everyone else was.  His name is Jesse, he has been winning several different pro races in the last few years.  He was cool and agreed to be on my blog (thanks, bro) we had both escaped the east coast for some fun in the sun.  Onto the ride:  the Group was approaching: look closely on the left of the pic

The ride started cool as we went along the breakers, super surreal.

 I think each photo is click-able for a larger version.  We went along the beach area and then into the foothill area.

 We went through the cool beach town called... of course Summerland.  I took this shot doing a dangerous maneuver on the bike to get the group behind me, it kinda worked.

Some pro riders in this shot. 










Then I broke off with this guy (seen below) and went all the way back to town for coffee.

You can see us in the reflection (photo left), I am not a good photographer.
Tom and I were discussing life and all of its wonderful intricacies and tackling some tough global policy issues related to everyone.  It was a super-intense conversation.  In this photo he explains how people look different when you block out their surroundings.

Then we saw some real dogs.

Now on to the real monster part of the ride.  I broke off solo after some interesting directions from Tom.
I was a beast and did the famous Gibraltar climb.  I was out for so long and got to over 4000 feet, that I got really dehydrated.  I was about to get desperate.  I was ALMOST about to ask any stranger that I saw (and there were just about one per half hour up there) for any spare water- but you never know what those hippies are really drinking.  The elevation profile:

I was unzipped, mouth was cracking, semi-delirious. Still taking odd shadow photos of myself.
Then I got to the other side of the 4000 moutnain ridge with spectacular views:

After making it back down San Marcos pass, going very quickly, 50 mph ish.  I hit the Subway on the north side of town.  I then spent about an hour in the hot tub and pool.
Totals for Day 7: about 75 miles, about 5.5 hours.  Suntan.
Final Day 8 post finally coming later.

I miss you Tom!  Best of luck this year, see you in July.

Day 5

My body was getting locked up, like the tin man with no oil, the running mornings felt awful. So first thing on Day 5 was a 2 mile run on the coast. This was just to get loose so I could spend some quality time stretching. I stretched everything I could think of for more than 30 minutes. It worked, felt good.

I was able to get on the bike at 1 pm and I was feeling rested and ready to go. It was about 72 degrees. I did the route for the longer Saturday ride around here. It includes an 1100 ft climb, about 5.3 miles for about 32 minutes of uphill. Past Lake Casitas.
Over 4 hours, more than 65 miles. Stopped at Subway in the middle.

Training Camp: Days 2-4

So, day 1 was the ride in the ride I blogged earlier.  I will keep this post short.

Day 2: early morning: 6 mile run along beach.  nothing further. Huge mexican food dinner spinach enchiladas.

Day 3:early morning 4.5 mile run along beach; 35 mile ride with some efforts in there. Huge mexican food dinner, chicken burrito especial.

Day 4:  rest .  some beers, skipped dinner, eating disorder?
Weight loss is progressing well.  The picture below is part of the run route.

Training camp in Cali; pictures included, they tell the story so far.

Had the bike packed well. The TSA ALWAYS messes with it. Airline fees are out of control. 150 extra each way?! They tried to add the $35 second bag fee too.

Woke up to beautiful weather. Actually got up at 5am and did work until 8:20am, then it was group ride time.

Various groups met elsewhere and then a grand central meeting on the beach.

Central California has a lot of riders. Big group.  Today was "Sunday Worlds" a shorter faster group ride. 

Some famous bad asses too.

The group ride was "spirited" I guess, I didn't know the route and the hills so it was a challenge for me.  Those accelerations around tight corners and up hill are tough to manage.  I am fairly fit from cross-training (not cyclocross, I mean running and crap), but I was still working hard.
I added some miles to get over 60 for the day, and a tanline. Weather in the 70s.  This week should be full of training and fitness (when I am not doing real work which is the reason I'm here.  This is truly a work trip where I brought my bike; this is a close as I get to "training camp"  ugg).

Hello trainer my old friend, I've come to sweat on you again...

...the sounds of silence.  More like the whirring, buzzing, humming of an indoor fluid trainer and fan.  This was my Sunday, following a very enjoyable and spirited Saturday. 

Saturday kicked off the 2011 season with a fantastic team ride.  It may be the closest we get to a training camp this year.  I got in almost 70 miles and felt good.  I am starting to think that I am more fit now than I was during the race season.  Could it be that I need to adjust my in-season training to include some cross-training or gym time?  I think so.

Last off-season was an excellent POWER building experience.  I saw some awesome numbers.  However, The body weight went up due to a lack of planning.  Additionally, the training plan needed to be tweaked to match my strengths and weaknesses.  Specifically for muscles, my hip adductor complex is WEAK.  My hip flexors are also WEAK.  Those two areas are being moved to the begining of the gym routines; hit them while you're fresh.

Part 1. The "Half Full Tri" Bike Split: Heart rate and elevation data. The dehydration curve.

Howard County, Maryland is not a flat place.  A 56 mile time trial (ok, it was part of a tri) through the area was hilly.  Posted here is the heart rate and elevation profile.  Garmin data indicate about 4000 ft of up-down, up-down, up-down. (click on the graph, it is massive)

The temps were cool enough, however if you examine the heart rate you will see a general decline in heart rate over the 2 hour and 41 minute effort.  This is a mistake on my part for several reasons.

1. Better hydration the days before was needed.
2. Better hydration during the effort was also needed.
3. A negative split, or at least a steady effort, is what I wanted.

Lessons have been learned.