Spinning!

Had a great spin class this morning, as I definitely feel my ability to stay on pace with the class is progressing. Today, I was able to fully complete a couple of standing songs, pushing myself to not back down. I still was unable to the fast up out of the saddle and back down sets. But it felt good to do sustained amount of out of saddle spinning, at one point doing to full song intervals in a row! Hopefully I can continue this progress on Monday, and slowly build my core strength to the point where I can spring out of the saddle easily and fully complete sets of up-downs, maybe after a couple weeks.

Monday AM Spinning and PM Volleyball League

Well, it seems that spinning class is going to work out regularly for me, which is a good thing, as my running continues to be sporadic. This monday, Danielle got to come with and she actually enjoyed Deb's demanding class, as she is in good enough shape to keep up. I keep telling myself that if I keep going and working on improving each class, I eventually will be able to fully keep up w/ Deb.
Also, I've been playing in Court House's competitive volleyball league on Monday nights, for a few months now. We are about halfway through a twelve week season and my team though we started out slow, are really starting to gel. Last night we played really well as a team, win the first two games with a close margin and then really put it to them in the last match, going three and 0 for the evening which brought us to five hundred and a tie for third place. The top four teams make playoffs, so we are hoping to stay hot and possibly make some noise down the stretch. Although next week we play my brother's powerhouse team which is loaded with just the right amount of hitters and setters, with very few weaknesses. They've only lost one match and have a very comfortable lead over my cousin's second place team.

Training Update

Well, my plan hasn't quite worked. I have got back in the gym for strength training, twice a week. One thing on that though, I feel like I need to work on my core strength, a lot more to help me endure longer times on the bike.
The running has not happened, except for one attempt to run on the treadmill at the gym. For some reason, I just can't get into a natural rhythm of the treadmill, it just never feels right. Running at a constant speed just doesn't work for me. I must vary my pace more than most people. And my thought to run before work outside kind of got screwed up by daylight savings time, and it's an hour later til sunrise now. I guess I should strap on the headlamp and go anyway.
On the bright side, Danielle and I switched gyms, from Cardio Express to Court House Plus. It has considerably more equipment and various free classes and it is much cleaner. One of the reasons for switching was the Spinning classes they offer, which I attended two of this week. Monday morning was with the notoriously hard teacher. She pretty much rides her bike in the front of class, screaming at us to keep up the intensity, and increase resistance and spin faster and on and on for an hour. I definitely had trouble with standing for a while, my back starts to give out. This is why I am thinking I need to work on my core some more, to strengthen my abs and back so they can hold my weight while I pedal out of the saddle.

Training plan for march

Well so far for the off-season, none of my training regimens have stuck. But lets try again for March. I went over to the Belding property this afternoon and put on my cross-country skis for the first time in 3 or 4 years and did the three-mile loop. Unfortunately the snow from Friday had mostly melted and I skied an icy and sometimes bare path but still nice to get out on the skis again. Mainly I figured I could scope out the spot for morning training runs before work. It is only a five minute drive, and there are several options for loops of up to 3 miles, so it should work out nicely. I want to focus on running for the month, seeing as all I did in February was the Half-marathon, without any training runs. The plan is:

3 mile trail run, 2 mornings per week
strength training at the gym 2 evenings per week
one bike ride and one 4-6 mile run per weekend

I will make weekly reports, hopefully all complete!!!

More training woes, ramping up for Adk trip

Since I started the blog, I've been trying to get more of a training regimen going, as I have lacked a good routine since my preparations for the Nutmeg State Half-iron last September. Unfortunately, the only thing that has taken is my strength training workouts twice a week and swimming sessions with a Masters swim coach twice week, which end tomorrow and won't start up again until April. I plan to replace the swim morning sessions with a run concentration for the next 4-6 weeks, with the Colchester Half-marathon as motivation. Hopefully I can get out two mornings a week, one to do a long, endurance style workout, possibly doing a 8-9 mile route, and the other morning a shorter, fast tempo workout, probably around 5 miles. It would be great to add some mileage on the weekends, as a brick after a mountain bike perhaps. We'll see!!

In addition to training thoughts, I am preparing for a winter backpacking trip to the Adks. Danielle and I have never camped in the winter before, but we are going with Mark, a friend of ours that has experience and has tons of gear for us to borrow. Looks like we have to rent 0-degree sleeping bags from EMS, not quite ready to buy two winter bags at $400 or so a pop. Danielle needs winter pac boots or something to take care of her cold feet, and I am planning on using my new Asolo backpacking boots which I have been trying desperately to break in before the trip.
We have a pretty ambitious itinerary planned. Saturday the 16th we hope to be on trail by 8:30 in Heart Lake, climb Algonquin Peak, Boundary Peak, Iroquois Peak and then head down to Lake Colden to camp. Sunday we hope to hike up to Four Corners and then climb Mt. Skylight and back and then up Mt. Marcy and over to Grey Peak and then down to Feldspar brook for camp, hiking out to our cars on Monday.
I can't wait to go, been stoked about getting into winter camping for awhile.