Strides For Students 5k 1st place overall

 August 10^th, 2013

                Hello all, it has been a while since I have posted anything. I am sorry I’ve had a very busy life. Baby appointments and whatnot, along with work and trying to train,  July 21^st-27^th I logged 15 miles, July 28^th to august 3^rd was 27 miles and august 4^th to today 8 miles, 5 miles on Monday and strides for students 5k this morning.  

Strides for students 5k

                I got off work last night around 11:05pm. Made it to bed around 11:20pm got about 6 and half hours of sleep. Set the alarm for 6am. Woke up ate a bowl of Captain Crunch and off to Morrison for the race. I arrived in Morrison around 6:46am. Picked up my packet and got in a light warm-up. 8am race time. Signal to go was activated and off we went. I took the lead immediately off the line. I looked back right halfway into the first turn 1 ¼ mile into the race. I had approx. 75 yd lead. The first mile was in 5:36. I then dropped into cruise control kept a 6:45 avg. till then line. ½ mile from the finish line I had a little stomach issues. Not accustomed to running this fast as I have been at or close to 7 min. miles training. I seriously need to start some speed work.  I was pleasantly surprised to cross the line at 18:22. But the feeling that I could have ran a 17:30 is going to nag me for a while. Anyway I was surprised I held the lead from beginning to end,  for my second overall title this year!.This year has been the ticket ive been waiting for with hardly any training i pulled off 2 awesome overall wins.  This is a nicely put on 5k that I will be back next year to defend my title at. Now for some more training these next couple of weeks to the Clinton half marathon Sept. 8^th, also I am anxiously awaiting the birth of my daughter Sophie. She is a cooking hopefully she will want to come out soon.  Till next week thanks for reading!

06.22.13

This past week has been a bummer. I was really looking forward to a 6hr day on tuesday the 18th but with winds and no motivation i struggled for 12 miles  00:44:00,. 17th was a little better 23.11 miles 1hr 14min 52 secs 18.52 avg mph. I was aiming for 150 miles for the week but once again no motivation. The 11th i reached a high for this year 2013 of 51.01 miles in 3hrs 14mins 12secs and the 13 i rode 22.76 miles 1hr 19min 14 sec. I started to seach for some motivation and my good friend Clinton is getting his road bike in a few weeks and threating to drop me in a ride and i found a site ultra cycling.com this is some awesome stuff. It has really hooked me good reading about riding 200 miles in ome sitting. I could be addicted in a few weeks lol. Well i hope to present you all some better news next week. Have a great week. P.s enjoy to pics

Galena Criterium 2013

Galena Criterium 2013

 Oh my!!!!!  I planed to ride 140 miles all week and i only got in 60 miles monday and tuesday combined! Lost all motivation to ride the bike!! ive been struggling with this issue most of the year. I was hoping i was going to get a easy shift on saturday to rest up before the race to feel rejuvenated.  But that went down hill when i set my alarm for 5am, and.....woke up at midnight thought it was time to get up, started to pour my cereal and i checked my phone and whoa  hold up it wasn't even close to time to get up! thats how nervous and anxious i get before new races. Went back to bed, and all too soon that dreadful noise..beep,beep,beep,beep!! i really need to change my alarm noise to something more upbeat or peaceful! pulled the bibs on, put sweatpants on over them, undershirt, loaded the bike, checked to make sure i had the bike computer and water bottles, wallet check, keys check. time to go! left albany around 5:!5ish am. talked to my wife's uncle and aunt on the way out of town, got about 5 miles away and discovered no jersey! Oh boy, NOT how i wanted today to go! turned around and hauled back to grab the jersey. got to fulton, Il around 5:34ish i think, Picked up my traveling buddy Jerry Rentz. ( this kid is a great road trip buddy)  and off we went.  got to Galena around 6:30ish. found the race venue. checked in and walked the course. This is where it started turn into the day from hell!! i received a couple statements about my seat nose being way down. Ive never noticed it. So i ran back to the car and adjusted it so it was more flat. felt way better i was slightly amazed! Started to ride the course, talked to a couple guys fro advice was told i should be ready to get beat up on by a bunch of 40 year olds!! and that started towards the back was the best option!. All to soon we were lined up like a bunch of sardines in a can.  Hence the picture!!

 Boom the gun went off and off we went on the first bike race of the year for me!! The pace was a fast 26mph into the first corner. Then it was like someone lit a rocket off out of the first corner the pace jumped to 30 mph, 29 mph where i was at the back. This was beginning to look like it was going to be a sufferfest of trying to stay on the back wheel of the rider in front. Round and round we went 5 laps in and yep i was in deep trouble not enough water intake, dry mouth and legs felt dead! then the nausea set in. i lost track the next couple of laps i was just trying to hang on the back of the bunch! the nausea got to be so bad i could continue to suck it up it was either get lapped on the next lap and puke ( knowing my luck in front of the grandstand!) or pull out and make a stab at a different criterium . I decided to take my self out of the sufferfest and try to spend a lot more time in the saddle and more intervals and practice crits. It was very disappointing to withdraw from the race, but now i have a good idea and some experience to bring into the next race in July!. Overall i was happy with how long i was able to stay in the race yes i would have liked to finish.  but im still happy i didn't bite the concrete ! Thanks for reading!!

06.02.13 Aprox. 6 weeks out

Well, I am 6 weeks from the 2 day Bicycle Blues and Barbeque Festival in Clear Lake Iowa, and 1 week from the Tour of Galena Criterium and i have a lot less miles then i would have liked to have by now. I'm not sure what it is i didn't ride a lot last year and this years been cold rainy and super windy. maybe thats why!! oh well i had a nice ride today rode into Clinton, Iowa and just explored. it was 33.25 miles in 2 hours and 2 minutes.  In a cemetery Please don't ask why i was in there in the first place, but i discovered a little loop de loop. no idea how long but has a nice uphill with a flat and fast descent only to climb back to the top. needless to say I took a corner to sharp and lost control and flew over someones grave... ekkkkkkkkkk!!!! atleast i didnt hit a tombstone lol. well i'm made a little plan for the coming weeks. A mini base, build and overload with a taper. Week 1 is 140 miles, week 2-4 is 190 miles and week 5 240 miles and week 6 is 100 miles. i am just going to throw random workouts into the mix during this weeks. i still haven't found a plan i like or a coach that i could afford yet. i'm nervous, and excited at the same time for these coming weeks and sundays criterium.The plan i wrote has me riding once a week over 40 miles. This the long endurance miles im hoping helps with the sprints and the 50 miles road race In Clear Lake. My total miles for the year are at 286.24. Well for this coming week here goes nothing!!!! have a nice night or day depending on when u read this. Thanks

So Far This Years Stats

So Far this years been a sort of crappy year. Haven't been doing a lot of anything, just trying to stay warm. i have 86.86 miles running and 252.69 bike miles. i've noticed that i've been going towards the bike more then the running shoes, because i can still work my scheduled shift at ashford walking and it doesn't take as much effort to complete the shift as it would if i was running. Yesterday,05.27.13, i went to the Quad Cities Criteriums. that was a blast enjoyed the races not a lot of attacking as i hoped but i still learned a lot from the sidelines. i'm looking at the galena criterium for the first bike race of the year! then trying to go to Clear lake Iowa for a 2 day race, Day one saturday is 7 miles time trial, followed with a criterium at 11:30 then sunday is a 48 miles mass start bike race. Oh Baby !!! i have a couple 12 hr 3rd shifts this week looking to ride saturday or on the trainer during the week hopefully. Well off i go to help the wife have a good day.!!!!

09/29/12 Ride with Pros Jeff Paul, Adam Bohach

                                     ^^Jeff Paul"s Bike^^^ AWESOME^^^
              Today was a highlight in my life! I was given the chance to ride with local Pro's Jeff Paul & Adam Bohach. The plan for today was to ride 80 miles (Two Rabbit ears of 40 miles apiece: http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/141653145 one of the ears). I didn't sleep very well last night due to the anticipation of today's ride. My food intake was not the best either; I ate a bowl of cereal and 1/4 of a plate of pasta.I arrived at the shell gas station around 11:40 am, bought a couple of Oat's n Honey bars, readied my bike and waited . . . Around 12:30 pm, they arrived in a cloud of dust. Quick introductions were made and off we went. Because the were familiar with the Quad Cities and not here, we rode right down main street of Fulton. All was good until we were about 50 yards from the stoplight and a truck pulling a boat was in a hurry and drove around us instead of waiting. When he merged back into our lane, the trailing boat almost hit Adam. Thanks to Jeff's quick shout, Adam survived. NOT GOOD!!!! Adam, understandably mad, threw his hand up at the guy. We ended up catching the guy at the stoplight and Adam, doing a favor to all cyclists, politely asked the man to be a little more careful around bikers. The man flipped us off while yelling at us to get off the roads, to ride on the bike trails, and at one point he said "Nice clothes retards". Made my day lol. If only he could fit in our size small jerseys instead of an XXL, maybe he could look as cool as us.We joined the bike trail, headed south towards Albany (my home training grounds) with a quick jog off the trail to Garden Plain, and a right on Benson Road where we encountered a strong headwind. As in all riding groups, the strong riders ride in the front with the weaker riders drifting off the rear wheels of the lead riders. Both Jeff and Adam cut the wind while I hung on for dear life to their wheels. 11 miles in, we had a constant average of 25 mph. If you are ever given the chance, ride with a group or a faster and more experienced rider. They will always be willing to lend you a little advice, you may overhear some valuable training advice, or bridge the gap from hardcore rider to average human. Adam mentioned that an athlete's success is dependent upon not only the training of his body, but also his relationship with his wife,family, and the balance of work and training. We joined up with Erie-Albany Road off Benson Road, took a left and shifted up in gears.That headwind turned into a powerful tail wind letting us reach 27 mph :) This is what I live for: flats with lots of speed. A couple of miles down the road, we took a left onto Fenton Road, Unfortunately, that tailwind returned as a headwind. Adam was powering through the wind like a pro, while I was struggling to hang on to his wheel, due to the lack of training at high speeds. I'm still in the 18 mph avg speeds. More training at higher speeds would increase this variable and result in faster times. Right after Fenton, I heard a siren from behind, real faint sounding. I looked back and there was nothing. Great, I'm hallucinating. Then it got louder so I looked back and there was a cop barreling down on us. A quick shout and everybody was single file. Whoosh!!!! He passed us and was over the hill before we knew it. Shortly afterwards, due to fatigue and me not paying attention, I dropped my water bottle. GREAT! Braking hard and not thinking about letting them know what happened, I returned, picked it up and there was no one in sight. Well now it was my solo time trial mode till i either catch them or they realize I'm not with them and they turn back. 3 miles of solo riding into a headwind sucks the strength right out of you, quickly. Luckily for me, they had stopped at the stop sign on Garden Plain and Fenton road. Laughing, I had to take the brunt of the jokes.. Oh well... Right afterwards we took off from there, Adam suggesting that i drop my head tube down which would result in a falter back and a less wind resistant body. Not too long after, I kept getting dropped. I was struggling and finally decided to let them continue on without me. I called my lovely, awesome wife and her friend to pick my sorry butt up. lol.
            Well to sum it up the day's ride ended great: 30 miles under 1 hour and 30 minutes. My time was 1 hr 29 minutes and 52 seconds. avg mph: 19.80. A new PR! Tomorrow I will drop my head tube down to reach a more aero-dynamic position. Wish me luck!!!

09/26/2012

Well today did not go as planed...i was planning on a 25-30 miles on the bike followed up with a 4x1 mile repeats. Water bottle filled, tires checked, headed out the door, made it about 3 miles away and found my first hill tried to throw a little power into it,. apsolutly nothing was responding, legs are dead tired from yesterdays 31 miles and working the night. Man i really need a new job lol. anyway i deceided to take the night off and rest. wish me luck hoping i can pull something togeather tommaro!!!