Gee, thanks a lot. Not one 'get your butt in gear' prod from any of you! There was some serious lack of motivation going on!
Got on the treadmill for a short run a few days ago, and finally got back on my bike Saturday for a hill training session. Just kept doing hill repeats for about an hour. Rode about 18 miles before coming home. I thought it was too cold to get out there, but it turned out to be a beautiful afternoon with warm sunshine and the wind wasn't too bad. The thought of spending an hour on my trainer was what pushed me out the door (hate trainers-SO boring!).
Den got on his trainer that night instead. He wasn't keen to go out in the cold. To each his own! Nice to have options!
Looks like the trainer will be the name of the game for the coming days. We got DUMPED on with snow yesterday. It started shortly after I got back from my bike ride, and didn't stop until Sunday night. It'll take a long time to get rid of all of this! (I think we got 10 inches!).
We'll have to work really hard to get out more times per week, and also add back in that long ride on the weekend. Lots of training still to do if we're going to be ready in time!
Monday, February 25, 2013
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Two weeks....
That's how long it's been since we've been on our bikes.
We've let life get in the way. Kind of ironic since we're training for a ride to one day beat cancer, and the thing that's most affected our training is the stress of wondering if cancer has come back.
Yes, it's an excuse. We should just get out there regardless. Probably even more so. Right now we're just going through the motions until we get some answers. Hopefully this week, but likely the week after.
Feel free to share some happy thoughts. We like the distraction. :-)
Thanks for your support to date. We have awesome family and friends.
We've let life get in the way. Kind of ironic since we're training for a ride to one day beat cancer, and the thing that's most affected our training is the stress of wondering if cancer has come back.
Yes, it's an excuse. We should just get out there regardless. Probably even more so. Right now we're just going through the motions until we get some answers. Hopefully this week, but likely the week after.
Feel free to share some happy thoughts. We like the distraction. :-)
Thanks for your support to date. We have awesome family and friends.
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
For shit's sake
Heard back from the doctor today. 2 spots on Den's lungs, and 1 spot on his vertebrae that need to be checked out further. Frantically trying to get old scans from Vancouver to compare them to.
Trying not to worry and stress, but it's not working.
Cancer sucks.
Should be doing some exercise/training but can't really do anything at the moment-too distracted. Poor Den trying to be 'normal' at work, while hosting meetings but really only thinking about this and being scared of the possible outcomes if it's come back.
Hate this. :-(
Trying not to worry and stress, but it's not working.
Cancer sucks.
Should be doing some exercise/training but can't really do anything at the moment-too distracted. Poor Den trying to be 'normal' at work, while hosting meetings but really only thinking about this and being scared of the possible outcomes if it's come back.
Hate this. :-(
Not about the training.....
Right now it's about the waiting. Waiting for the results of Den's CT scan.
Wondering what they saw on the scan that prompted them to ask if we had old scans to compare it to.
Hoping that it's standard procedure and maybe they just forgot to ask when he originally went in to go over his history.
Trying not to let the mind 'go there'.
Not wanting to test out the American medical system the same way we tested out the Canadian one.
Waiting, waiting, waiting. Hoping we get some answers today and a clean bill of health.
Hating that cancer has that power over us, and always will.
Wondering what they saw on the scan that prompted them to ask if we had old scans to compare it to.
Hoping that it's standard procedure and maybe they just forgot to ask when he originally went in to go over his history.
Trying not to let the mind 'go there'.
Not wanting to test out the American medical system the same way we tested out the Canadian one.
Waiting, waiting, waiting. Hoping we get some answers today and a clean bill of health.
Hating that cancer has that power over us, and always will.
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Uh oh....
Hit my first training snag. Ya 'snag'. That makes it sound like it's not my fault or something.
No workout Monday or Tuesday, and today I have a bunch of stuff to do and get ready before heading up to Steamboat for a few days. We'll snowboard Friday and Saturday, but what we really need to do is hit the bike. Sunday is calling for flurries around here, so maybe the trainer again? Boo! Not feeling so motivated at the moment...... :-(
No workout Monday or Tuesday, and today I have a bunch of stuff to do and get ready before heading up to Steamboat for a few days. We'll snowboard Friday and Saturday, but what we really need to do is hit the bike. Sunday is calling for flurries around here, so maybe the trainer again? Boo! Not feeling so motivated at the moment...... :-(
Sunday, February 3, 2013
The Wall
Since we started cycling here, we've heard many different groups of cyclists refer to "The Wall". It's a one mile climb, ending at a 12% grade. We didn't know those statistics, we just knew it was a little bit of brutal. :-)
We went on a training ride yesterday and our goal was to go about 40 miles. We ended up at 38, and although we probably could have circled around and did a loop of the neighborhood, we were pretty much SPENT by the end of the ride. Doing P90X leg workouts AND riding is taking it's toll. Oh ya, and we squeezed in some treadmill running too. The legs and butts are screaming at us. Screaming legs and butts are not necessarily the best way to START a training ride. But we both carried on and ended up doing just over 1,700 ft of climbing. Not bad for the beginning of our training. Believe me, our muscles felt EVERY foot of that!
Probably the worst part about climbing The Wall is that when you get to the top and feel elation of having completed it, you then need to start an additional brutal climb a few minutes later. On Saturday, we were blissfully unaware of what was to come, as our training partners only casually mentioned that we still had a little climb ahead of us. Little. BAH! It was brutal. In fairness though, our legs were already toast, and worst of all-we had an UNBELIEVABLE head wind (strong wind directly into our face for those non riders). It nearly had us standing still. To add insult to injury, once we got to the top and turned the corner, our 'reward' (aka: descent) was ruined too. The wind was now coming from the west, and it was so strong that it actually blew Den and I completely off the road TWICE! That gives you an indication of the strength. There was no shoulder for us to ride on down the hill, and it was a busy day for traffic with only a single lane going our way. It was all I could do to hold on to my bike-it was swaying and I was literally riding it on an angle, tilted with the handle bars left into the wind to try to stay on the road.
I'm not a scaredy cat in life. I jump in to most things feet first. I've never been scared on a bike before-even when careening down hills at 70 kph. In fact, you may even (usually) hear a 'woo hoo' from me. Not yesterday. It was the first time in my biking career (albeit, my 'career' is short) where I was completely, ridiculously scared. I continued to go fast (36mph/58kph), but only because I had to get off that damn road before I was flattened by a car. I *may* have had a few choice words for my riding companions when I finished the descent and got off that road. It wasn't their fault-no one could have predicted those winds (well actually, we probably should have predicted it since we just finished taking it in the teeth for a few miles), but with the lack of a shoulder, busy traffic day, etc. it was just the perfect storm. NEVER AGAIN!
The rest of the ride was wonderful. We enjoyed the most amazing sunshine, completely mild, dry temperatures, and it's always great to get out there and learn some new routes. We always enjoy our company too!
With that under our belts, we headed to the mountain again Sunday and continued to burn out our quad muscles. Another gorgeous sunshine day, and boarding with the kiddos. Perfect. I'm looking forward to next weekend, as we're heading to Steamboat Springs for the first time for a few days. Yippee!
We went on a training ride yesterday and our goal was to go about 40 miles. We ended up at 38, and although we probably could have circled around and did a loop of the neighborhood, we were pretty much SPENT by the end of the ride. Doing P90X leg workouts AND riding is taking it's toll. Oh ya, and we squeezed in some treadmill running too. The legs and butts are screaming at us. Screaming legs and butts are not necessarily the best way to START a training ride. But we both carried on and ended up doing just over 1,700 ft of climbing. Not bad for the beginning of our training. Believe me, our muscles felt EVERY foot of that!
Probably the worst part about climbing The Wall is that when you get to the top and feel elation of having completed it, you then need to start an additional brutal climb a few minutes later. On Saturday, we were blissfully unaware of what was to come, as our training partners only casually mentioned that we still had a little climb ahead of us. Little. BAH! It was brutal. In fairness though, our legs were already toast, and worst of all-we had an UNBELIEVABLE head wind (strong wind directly into our face for those non riders). It nearly had us standing still. To add insult to injury, once we got to the top and turned the corner, our 'reward' (aka: descent) was ruined too. The wind was now coming from the west, and it was so strong that it actually blew Den and I completely off the road TWICE! That gives you an indication of the strength. There was no shoulder for us to ride on down the hill, and it was a busy day for traffic with only a single lane going our way. It was all I could do to hold on to my bike-it was swaying and I was literally riding it on an angle, tilted with the handle bars left into the wind to try to stay on the road.
I'm not a scaredy cat in life. I jump in to most things feet first. I've never been scared on a bike before-even when careening down hills at 70 kph. In fact, you may even (usually) hear a 'woo hoo' from me. Not yesterday. It was the first time in my biking career (albeit, my 'career' is short) where I was completely, ridiculously scared. I continued to go fast (36mph/58kph), but only because I had to get off that damn road before I was flattened by a car. I *may* have had a few choice words for my riding companions when I finished the descent and got off that road. It wasn't their fault-no one could have predicted those winds (well actually, we probably should have predicted it since we just finished taking it in the teeth for a few miles), but with the lack of a shoulder, busy traffic day, etc. it was just the perfect storm. NEVER AGAIN!
The rest of the ride was wonderful. We enjoyed the most amazing sunshine, completely mild, dry temperatures, and it's always great to get out there and learn some new routes. We always enjoy our company too!
With that under our belts, we headed to the mountain again Sunday and continued to burn out our quad muscles. Another gorgeous sunshine day, and boarding with the kiddos. Perfect. I'm looking forward to next weekend, as we're heading to Steamboat Springs for the first time for a few days. Yippee!
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| Flying the R2S colours in Colorado! (unfortunately, not for long as it was too hot and had to come off) |
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| Elation! The wall is behind me (I had no idea what lurked ahead.....) |
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