Training Thursday, 2/28/08

Tonight was a late volleyball game (scheduled to start at 10:30 p.m.), so I decided to lay off the bike, weights, elliptical, etc. I don't even want to be awake at 10:30, let alone consider starting a volleyball match (and that's if everything is on time -- which it wasn't). Our match started a little rough -- I think I've got a slightly strained muscle in my upper abs, which was gettin' cranky as we started. Was a 5 vs. 5 match, which led for quite a bit of running (our setter probably ran a mini-marathon chasing down all our bad passes), but we ended up pulling out all three games, getting ourselves back in the upper end of the standings. Match didn't finish until midnight, so I'll be dragging a bit on Friday.

With February coming to a close, though, we're still doing well on our fundraising efforts for the American Diabetes Association. To date, we've raised $820 with seven cyclists on the Beats Running team, tremendous considering how early it is, and two of our cyclists haven't even started their fundraising efforts yet! Bodes well for a very successful charity effort. Allow me to once again thank you all for your contributions to this worthy cause, and for those of you who are able and willing to support us, we certainly appreciate it -- we're in need of sponsorships as well as more riders!




Nutrition:

• Breakfast -- large decaf coffee and a Fiber One chocolate/oats bar
• Lunch -- bowl of pasta/pizza soup (pasta, sausage, and some veggies in a red broth)
• Dinner -- shrimp scampi over fettucini (tasty little shrimps), tossed salad with Italian dressing
• Beveri -- a brewed adult libation

Training Wednesday 2/27/08

Tried a one-hour combination bike/running workout today. Started out with 30 minutes on the bike trainer, average heart rate 141 bpm. After the bike, immediately jumped on the elliptical for 30 minutes and did a high level interval set, average heart rate 162 bpm. Right calf started feeling a bit tight about 10 minutes into the elliptical, but stuck it out then did some extended stretching afterwards.

Nutrition:

• Breakfast -- large decaf coffee and Fiber One oats/chocolate bar
• Lunch -- turkey sandwich on wheat, pickle
• Dinner -- lemon chicken, rice, and broccoli

Training Tuesday 2/26/08

Got busy with homework this evening, never made it around to the regular workout. Wednesday will be difficult as well with an evening online class project group meeting -- maybe I have a couple of built-in "recovery" days here this week before volleyball on Thursday, then driving to see my folks on Friday night after work. I guess you do what you can and get back to it when you can.

My biking teammate who is doing the 100 miles with me wants revenge. He's added a caveat to his "sure I'll do 100 miles" statement... ;-) In July, he wants a partner for a sprint triathlon. I looked up a sprint triathlon to find out what it entailed. Looks to me like it's about a 700m swim, 20K bike, and then running a 5K. Coming from a family of fish, I was surprised to see my greatest trepidation has to do with the swim, mostly because I can remember doing a portion of an outdoor triathlon where I was the swimmer with some friends down in Austin, TX. The amount of contact and battering in the water was not something I enjoyed at all. Throw in that I haven't done laps in a pool in a long time, and it's a touch daunting, but I'm sure doable. Probably a good challenge for the summer after the century bike ride. I feel pretty good about such a short distance on the bike (that's WELL under an hour -- no worries there), and although I truly despite running, a 5K (3.1 miles) is certainly achievable, even for a klutz like me. Putting them all together, though, could be interesting.

In last fall's duathlon, the hardest part of the race was the bike to run transition. During training, when I really pushed on the bike, the transition to running was a bit awkward for the first couple hundred yards. Once I got moving it wasn't too bad, but it took a bit of getting used to. I'm wondering if there's a similar effect on the swim-bike transition. Do triathlon swimmers swim any differently (perhaps using more upper-body and trying to save their legs for the bike and run)? This will definitely take some more research (thankfully I have a couple friends/co-workers who have done this before and will hopefully provide some advice)!

Nutrition:

• Breakfast -- large decaf coffee and a Fiber One oats/chocolate bar
• Lunch -- got busy and completely forgot about lunch
• Dinner -- finished off the gnocchi in the fridge as well as the grapes, even dove into a bit of salad!

Training Monday, 2/25/08

Pretty standard day, took my lunch hour to go lift heavy things and then put them down. I much prefer the 'putting them down' part personally. Exercises included:

• inclined bench press
• bench press
• inclined dumbbell press
• chest press
• hack squats
• leg extensions
• leg curls
• tricep pull (rope)
• barbell bicep curls

Was up wicked early (wicked, in this case, meaning 4 a.m.), so I was a bit tired throughout the day, and took it easy when I got home. Spent most of the evening doing homework, along with a little bit of electronics repair work (fixed the digital camera!).

Nutrition:

• Breakfast -- large decaf coffee, FiberOne oats/chocolate bar
• Lunch -- turkey on a wheat/oat roll with lettuce, onion, Italian dressing, a couple chips, pickle
• Dinner -- hot dogs on lite buns with ketchup and relish, and way too many grapes (I know, but I'd been doing so good for the past two weeks!!!)

Training Sunday 2/24/08

Couldn't sleep well for some reason, so I woke up a bit tired. After breakfast and running a couple errands for Mrs. Beagle, I went down to the basement, put the bike back on the trainer, and started pedaling. Not as energized as I'd hoped, I only went for 70 minutes, but had a pretty decent workout during that time, doing some one-minute high gear intervals with two minutes of recovery after each. Got in a bit of a post-workout vacuuming, mopping, and running things upstairs and downstairs pursuant to my honeydew list in the afternoon, even if it doesn't sound as impressive as the biking.

Nutrition:

• Breakfast -- oatmeal with a touch of maple syrup, decaf coffee
• Lunch -- leftover clean up -- beef stew w/carrots, potatoes, celery; and pasta w/peppers
• Dinner -- gnocchi in red sauce along with a mighty big salad.

Training Saturday 2/23/08

After work on Friday, I spent most of the evening plugging away on a couple of assignments for my last teacher certification class. Took a break to have dinner with Mrs. Beagle, and, as Oscar season quickly approaches, we watched the Oscar-nominated flick "3:10 to Yuma." It was entertaining, but a little bit slow for my taste, although the final gun battle was a bit more to my liking. Amazing with ALL those bullets flying around, none of them seemed to land anywhere useful. After the movie, I skipped the workout in favor of cramming for my last teacher certification test, the Assessment of Teaching Skills -- Written, Secondary Level. After all that excitement, I could hardly keep my eyes open, so off to bed.

Saturday morning I got up dark and early, emptied the pup, got showered, dressed, and snuck out as quietly as I could for my trip to the testing center at SUNY Brockport. Although my entry ticket said show up no later than 7:45, at 7:40 the doors were still locked. They opened at 7:45 on the dot, and I was seated with all my materials by 7:50. In a flurry of activity and efficiency, the test didn't start until 8:41 a.m. Allow me to wipe the sarcasm from the screen before I continue... ahh, that's better. Anyhow, the test went fairly well (I think), and I got out of there as quick as I could, leaving my three sharpened #2 pencils behind for the afternoon session test takers.

As I got back in the car, I noticed my pager had gone off -- guess I wasn't going home quite yet. In to work for a couple hours, got some issues and people cleared up, then back in the car for the drive home. On the way home I noticed something very strange for February, however. The roads were clear, the sun was out, and the thermometer on the car read 28°F. And I'd be home by 3:30! This just called for pulling out the bike.

Grabbed a quick sandwich when I got home, unhooked the bike from the trainer, and got myself suited up. Wool socks under a pair of thick cotten socks, bike shoes, and thermal bike shoe covers. Padded shorts, pair of thermal tights, and a cycling jersey, followed by a cotton turtleneck, a wool over-sweater, and a bright yellow cycling jacket over top. Pulled on the balaclava, helmet, sunglasses, gloves, and I was good to go. Then I remembered -- the bike was in the basement on the trainer. Son of a puppy. Got half the stuff off, wandered downstairs, unhooked the bike, brought it upstairs, grabbed my keys, cell phone (just in case), and I was out the door.

Took a little while to get used to clipping in and out with the thermal boots on over my biking shoots, but I eventually got the hang of it -- this time without falling over in front of any neighbors. Then it was off on the standard 12-mile loop around Webster. First 5-6 miles went very well, as they always do -- heading west there's a very wide berm, the road's a couple miles from the lake, and trees protect you from the wind. Once I hit Irondequoit Bay and turned north toward the lake, however, I could see a definite change in the weather. Started seeing some patches of snow and ice on the road, as well as noticing more pronounced wind. Nothing too terrible, and the sun was still above the tree line, so I should have plenty of time to make it home before dusk hit.

Lake Road is always a little bit dark due to the large trees as well as numerous gulleys and dark asphalt, but by this time I'd been working hard enough that I was having trouble keeping my glasses from fogging over. The reduced visibility with the sun getting lower in the sky combined with the fogging made the faster downhill portions a bit dicey, but I just pulled down the glasses and looked over the top of them. Wasn't too long, however, before a thrill-seeker behind me decided to pass me on an uphill portion of the road with no berm by swinging blindly into the oncoming traffic lane. When I heard him coming around me, I immediately started looking for a bail-out spot to the right of the road, and as I crested the hill, I immediately took note of the pickup truck rapidly approaching in the oncoming lane. This was going to be close. I slowed down quickly and pulled out of the way as the truck hit his horn and slammed on the brakes. The car passing me JUST managed to avoid the truck and get back into the right-hand lane before the two vehicles became intimately familiar with each other. Whew! It certainly pays to stay awake on the narrow roads. The driver of the car that passed me didn't even slow down as it sped into the distance -- the truck on the opposite side, however, waited a moment to make sure I was OK (didn't ditch the bike or anything, but seeing as I was well of the road anyhow, I took the opportunity for a quick breather, glasses defogging, and a picture or two). We each then continued on, shaking our heads at the idiot who was in such a hurry he risked his (and our) lives to save 30 seconds.

Following the break, I continued to have trouble with my glasses fogging over, something I'm going to have to think about a bit more. After mile 10, some of the fingers on my right hand started going a touch numb, even with the gloves on -- I think perhaps in the previous excitement I forgot to keep wiggling them on occasion. Toes were just fine, however, indicating the overboots were performing as advertised. Got home, got everything put away, and hopped in the shower. Legs were a bit red and tingly (still need to find one more layer for my legs), but all in all, a nice day for a ride, especially considering how rarely we see the sun in the winter.

Ride Statistics

Distance: 12.59 miles

Average Speed: 15.6 mph (personal high for this route is 17.9 mph from last September)

Top Speed: 28.2 mph

Avg. Heart Rate: 160 bpm

Max Heart Rate: 182 bpm

Avg. Cadence: 73 rpm

Total Climbing: ~ 600 feet

Calories Burned: ~ 760

Nutrition:

• Breakfast -- small coffee and sausage biscuit w/egg (McDonald's -- I know, but I had a four-hour test to take...)
• Lunch -- turkey sandwich on wheat with pickles
• Dinner -- shrimp and pasta with peppers, onions, and green beans
• Snack -- Chex mix

Training Thursday, 2/21/08

Tonight was the first time in quite a spell we had all six of our regular players back on the court together at HotShots, and it certainly showed in the energy level. Our match was against a team that was struggling in the standings to begin with, and our excitement at being back together combined with some pretty good '80s tunes led to a bit of a route. Typically we find a way to play down to the level of our competition, but tonight we started off strong and finished without too big a loss of momentum. Scores were 25-8, 25-7, and 21-7. Nice to have the gang back together...

Nutrition:

• Breakfast -- large decaf coffee, FiberOne oats/chocolate bar
• Lunch -- turkey sandwich on wheat with lettuce, pickles, and Italian dressing, handful of chips, pickle
• Dinner -- cup of vegetable/minestrone soup, two sliced apples with caramel dip

Training Wednesday, 2/20/08

Chest was a touch sore from lifting yesterday, but not too bad. Jumped on the elliptical trainer after letting a big (but mighty fine) dinner sit for a while. Did a 30-minute pretty hard (Level 5) interval series while watching '24'. Turned into a tough half hour workout -- average heart rate was near 158 bpm, calories burned: 587 (according to the elliptical).

Nutrition:

• Breakfast -- large decaf coffee, FiberOne oats/chocolate bar
• Lunch -- "seven-vegetable stew," corn, and broccoli
• Dinner -- some very tasty chicken breasts, rice, and broccoli
• Snack -- popcorn

Training Monday 2/18/08

After taking Sunday off, I had planned to hit the weight room at lunch today. An unexpected but pleasant guest for lunch, however, quickly aborted that plan, which led me to the backup plan. I needed a good hard workout to start the week, focusing on legs. So when I got home, I headed to the bike trainer in the basement and pulled out the VHS of Spinervals 11.0 Big Gear Strength. I hadn't been able to finish this workout in the past, usually running out of steam late in part 4 or 5 of the 5x50s standing intervals in the bike's highest gear. Finished the whole workout this time, although I was getting pretty wobbly by the end of the off-bike lunge set (and that was WITHOUT weights). Average heart rate for the 55 minute workout was 149 bpm.

Also, we have another team member joining Beats Running in the next day or two, and traveling a significant distance to join us at that... Our ranks continue to swell!

Nutrition:

• Breakfast -- large decaf coffee, FiberOne oats/chocolate bar
• Lunch -- turkey sandwich on wheat with lettuce, pickles, and Italian dressing, handful of chips, pickle.
• Dinner -- casserole (noodles, peppers, onions, sauce, ground beef), a corn muffin, and a 0-calorie diet root beer.

Training Sunday 2/17/08

Took a day off to recuperate, as I was just low on energy in general and felt a tad 'off' most of the day. Fundraising continues to go well, as today I met the minimum donation amount needed to participate, and the team as a whole is also doing well. Of course, we'll continue our fundraising efforts in order to support the whole team and continue to assist the ADA. Thanks to all my contributors -- I appreciate the support, and the ADA will put the money to good use in the fight against diabetes!

Nutrition:

• Breakfast -- oatmeal with touch of maple syrup, water.
• Lunch -- Fajitas (steak, chicken and shrimp) with peppers, onions, lettuce, and tomatoes.
• Dinner -- Casserole (noodles, peppers, onions, sauce, ground beef) and a corn muffin.
• Snack -- popcorn

Training Saturday 2/16/08

Spent 110 minutes on the bike trainer, mostly maintaining an 80 cadence at a medium/high gear while watching the movie American Flyers (coincidentally, 110 minutes in length). Had to go refill the water bottles quickly about halfway in, but didn't do too badly for that long on the trainer (not the most exciting of training methods). Average heart rate was 144, average speed (take with a grain of salt -- based on trainer) -- was about 15 mph. Biggest issue was numb toes again -- it took 'em a while to gain feeling back afterwards, but they eventually did. AND, no soreness on Saturday morning.

Nutrition:

• Breakfast -- oatmeal with a touch of maple syrup, water, green grapes
• Lunch -- two small turkey sandwiches on wheat, pickles, vegetable/minestrone soup
• Dinner -- beef tips over pasta in a red wine sauce, garden salad with Italian dressing, dinner roll
• Other -- small piece of celebratory birthday cake

Training Friday 2/15/08

Spent 50 minutes on the bike trainer, mostly just stretching and moderate effort (~80 rpm) spinning in medium gear, with a couple of high gear standing intervals and a few low gear high cadence superspins. Pretty tired after a late night Thursday, so generally took it easy. Toes are still going numb on the bike after about 30 minutes (especially left shoe, which is a touch thinner) -- I'm starting to think that perhaps my feet swell up a bit as I'm working out and my shoes are too tight? Will have to research this some more, as I can't imagine 7+ hours of numb toes is a good thing when it comes time for the Tour de Cure ride.

Nutrition:

• Breakfast -- large decaf coffee, FiberOne oats/chocolate bar


• Lunch -- two small turkey sandwiches on wheat (a touch of oil) grilled on the panini maker, seedless green grapes, a pickle, and water


• Dinner -- chicken and pasta with peppers and onions (my concoction), along with a side of broccoli and some water

Dogs don't like crunchy snow...

Earlier this week we had some rather strange winter weather. Following deposition of a few inches of light, fluffy snow, we had several hours of sleet and freezing rain, covering our winter wonderland with a thin crust of ice and leaving the yard with a couple of inches of snow capped with a thin layer of ice that easily breaks. For most northern creatures, this is but a minor inconvenience observed from time to time in the frozen tundra of upstate New York. For our 12-pound Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, however, few things in life (with the exception of squirrels, tennis balls, and remote controls) instill more fear. In case you're thinking my dog's a wuss, please keep in mind, the squirrels in our neighborhood are rather fierce, many of them sporting tattoos and wearing leather chaps.

As man of the house, it's typically my job to take the dog out first thing in the morning (or so Mrs. Beagle has led me to believe). We have it down to a routine. Alarm goes off, I bundle up, call the dog, and we both stumble/trip/fall down the stairs and out the back door. She does her thing, then I return indoors for a nice hot shower, while she cuddles up with Mrs. Beagle before the second alarm clock goes off. Crunchy snow, however, is a daunting obstacle. Little 12 pound dogs think they can walk on it, get a few steps, then watch a leg spontaneously sink three or four inches while the remainder of the dog splays across the ice. Given the temperature of ice is somewhere below 32°F, it doesn't seem to be a pleasant experience.

Cricket, being a dog of reasonable intelligence (tempering our expectations based on size, of course), realized after her first trip outside in the crunchy snow several days ago that the great outdoors was no longer her friend. This has caused a remarkable improvement in her capacity to "hold it." The next morning when the alarm went off she burrowed herself to the foot of the bed under the covers in a desperate attempt to hide from her destiny. Despite her best attempts, however, nature eventually won and the very full, nearly bursting dog finally found relief by learning to navigate through the treacherous outdoor terrain by staying in tire tracks.

This morning in my delirium, however, I took her out back. No tire tracks. She was hesitant, so I finally placed her in the snow in an area that had been 'de-crunched' by my wanderings over the past couple days. She did her thing, but had to figure out how to get back in the house, as I left her in her island of 'de-crunched' snow and was watching through the window from the much more pleasant indoors. This would be a true test of courage. Would this 12-pound wet nosed quadruped sit and shiver in the middle of the yard, looking pitiful and hoping for salvation from an external source, or would she brave the fearsome crunchy snow and make her way back to the porch and up the steps into the house? Initially she opted for the former, but as help did not arrive, tension mounted.

Cricket weighed her options further, and confronted her challenge head on. Valiantly she ventured a paw forward, testing her weight on the icy layer, pulling it back. Analyzing the situation, she tested the ice again. Gathering her courage, the daring little dog took another step, and another. She was doing it. Our fuzzy hero was almost to the patio when it happened -- all four paws sunk into the snow at once and she landed with a muffled thud and minor squeak, flat on her stomach on the ice. But the Cricket remained undaunted. Boldly pulling herself out of the holes in the frosty snow, she made a dash for the stairs and scrambled up the steps to safety, snagging her treat on the way as she raced back upstairs to the comfort of sheets, comforters, and a flannel blanket.

We all have days littered with crunchy snow. Here's to the courage to venture forward, pick ourselves up off the ice when we fall through, and continue through our challenges until we receive our rewards and return to comfortable, safe territory.

Late-Breaking Update: Mrs. Beagle reports that upon taking Cricket out again later in the morning, Cricket, with but a modicum of initial hesitation, had no issues in again venturing out onto the crunchy snow. The fear has been conquered!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

So I started off today with quite a workout running up and down stairs at work from meeting to meeting (talk about a CRAZY day!!!), then home to tackle some homework before dinner. I was going to climb on the bike trainer for about an hour, but after reading an e-mail noting we would only have four players for tonight's volleyball games at Hotshots (and we're not off to our all-time hottest start this season), I figured I'd best leave the legs as energized as I can. I was right. With only four people (and, of course, our superb passing skills), we certainly got our running in. Took one game out of three against a team of six players, but had a great time despite the score.

Nutrition:

• Breakfast -- large decaf coffee, FiberOne oats/chocolate bar


• Lunch -- turkey sandwich on wheat with lettuce, onion, and Italian dressing; 1 cup chips, pickle slice


• Dinner -- two pork chops, scalloped potatoes, broccoli (popcorn)


• After vball -- Wegman's sports drink, lots of water, celebratory Coors Lite

I should note that Mrs. Beagle was extra special sweet tonight. Despite having a rough day, she had a travel pillow and bag (baseball motif) for Cricket, our dog, and I received a bag full of popcorn and a biking tie for Valentine's Day. What an awesome gal!!!

Fundraising Time

Wow, who'd have thought we'd get off to such a great start??? We're already 28% of the way to our goal thanks to some VERY generous donations by family and good friends, we have several months to go until the big ride... and we've even got a couple more prospective team members looking into joining the "Beats Running" squad, including another potential 100-miler! The more the merrier, and thank you so much for your donations!!!

Training Wednesday 2/13/08

Went to the gym after work to lift, focusing mainly on chest. Exercises included:

• inclined bench press
• flat bench press
• inclined dumbbell chest press
• hack squats
• seated leg extensions
• seated leg curls
• Cybex shoulder press
• Cybex rows
• and a set of abs.

Nutrition:

• Breakfast -- large decaf coffee, FiberOne oats/chocolate bar
• Lunch -- large cup beef vegetable soup w/barley; cup of herbal tea
• Dinner -- zucchini marinara appetizer; garden salad, Italian dressing; one dinner roll; lots of tasty little gnocchis; water

Another Century Rider!

Woohooie! Target (aka Lunchbox) has joined the "Beats Running" team and is signing up for the century with me. That should allow us to push each other during training, and I'm also looking forward to learning how to ride with someone else, how to draft, pull, etc. Thanks Target, looking forward to it!

So what's this all about?

I'm an engineer and part-time professor, a husband, a volleyball player, a rookie cyclist, and a student learning how to be a high school physics teacher. Yup, I agree, that's a lot. So when a recent Drexel University class assignment turned up to explore a field-component of multimedia and emerging technology in education, a light bulb went on in my head and said (in a rather scratchy lightbulb-ish voice),

"Why don't you save yourself some time, and create a blog detailing your bike training as you prepare for a 100-mile charity ride in June, which you can also use to satisfy part of your course requirements as you learn more about the technology?"

"Great idea," I told the light bulb, gently extinguishing its existence in my subconscious in a completely respectful and non-offensive, non-discriminatory, politically correct manner. The end result is exactly what you are perusing right now.

Last fall, my (then) fiance told me about a duathlon being held locally, consisting of a rather hilly 2-mile cross country run, a 10-mile trail and road bike ride, and a repeat of the 2-mile cross country course. Figuring it was something we could do together, we joined a local team coached by trainer-extraordinaire Frank (from Iron Butterfly) to train for several months before the big event.
Coming down the home stretch as a team!

An unintended outcome of the training, however, involved my getting hooked on riding my bike. I've never been much for running or jogging, but had a great time on the bike, and started biking longer and longer distances. My wife would join me for some of these, but I also had fun just hopping on the bike and going for a couple hours.

Realizing I needed something to keep me in shape besides my weekly volleyball game, and starting to get a bit long in the tooth to compete with the young whippersnappers in the weekend volleyball tournaments, I learned that biking was low impact, great for cardio, and also burned quite a few calories. I decided I was going to make it my "keep in shape" hobby, and struck a deal with the Mrs. If I biked several hundred miles in 2007 and completed the duathlon with her, I could purchase a basic road bike. We completed the duathlon together, had a great time, I picked up a decent road bike after some minor negotiations with the bike shop, and I set a goal for myself for 2008 -- I wanted to complete a century bike ride (100 miles in a day).

Initially, I planned on doing a solo century, figuring out a route that started and ended at my house, and just picking a day in the summer to give it a whirl. Some acquaintances from BikeForums.Net changed my mind, however, recommending I combine my goal with community service by joining in the American Diabetes Association's Tour de Cure to raise money to fight diabetes. Discussing it with Mrs. Beagle, we decided to start a team for this event, as we had family and friends from both our sides affected by this disease. She's wonderfully supportive in most all crazy things I push us into. Our next step -- recruiting.

We started off by running it past the fun and faithful volleyball team, not expecting a tremendous amount of support, but hoping a few would join us. To our amazement, the response was tremendous, and we had the beginnings of a large team already on the way. I should have expected such a response in hindsight -- the volleyball gang is really an extended family -- of course we pick and play amongst ourselves constantly, but we're truly blessed to have such great friends who have always been there when we've needed them. My brother-in-law, a great guy with an amazing sense of humor, also joined us right off. Our team, "Beats Running," was a go! Our next step -- fund raising.


And that, I think, is enough Beagle windage to set the stage for why we're here and what we're doing.