Training Summary: 12/13 - 12/25

Freakin Christmas. Sugar Cookies, Alcohol, 8AM sunrise and 4PM sunset. All conspiring to make me about severely unexcited about anything besides sleeping, getting my drunk on, and being a glutton.

These days it's more about showing up than executing a specific plan, which is fine, because what goes down in December doesn't carry through to June, so there is no point in putting in long hours in the dark. I've actually been a lot more focused on (a) intensity, via 30x30s and hill sprints and the like, and (b) resistance exercises, specifically dumbell squats and single leg split lunges via the TRX. Basically, I'm going shorter, but when I go, I go hard. And then I try to top it off with resistance work to fry the legs. The macro goal here is to come out of winter with some mo-fo tree stumps for legs, so I can ride like the wind, run like a gazelle, and crack walnuts with my butt cheeks. Another goal (an experiment, really) is to see if exercising at a pace that makes me feel like hurling for short durations can keep the usual winter adipose layer at bay.

Here is the highlight reel for the last couple of weeks: p.s. there was swimming mixed in, but I forgot the pertinent details.

12/14/10:
14x30x30, 5.41 mi, between 6:00-7:30 on the interval parts, aggressive shuffling on the rest parts. Hilly out and back along W Mercer way. In the dark. Yay, Headlamps!
Did 2 sets squats, 2 sets single leg TRX split squats plyometric stylee, yo.

12/16/10:
3.24 mi, easy-peasy, because I was tired, and it was dark. Then into the dungeon for 3 sets of all leg exercises known to man. Legs hurt. Eyes Crossed.

12/18/10:
5.66 mi, 14x30x30, again between 6-7:30/7:45 mi, a little slower than last time. Must be the extra gut I'm carrying around.

12/22/10:
4.04 mi, did hill sprints up 'puke-worthy hill', the one that rolls by the Hajari's old house on the steep incline of W Mercer. Did 4 hill sprints after a cursory warmup. Goddamn, that hurt. Made me cry like a little girl. After that, did 3 sets of resistance exercises to fry the legs to completion.

12/24/10:
3.25 mi, chillaxed because I had more fun planned in the dungeon. Legs were hammered by the time all was said and done. Then went snowboarding with Kiran, which is mostly me working on riding backwards as he works on his turns. We left in the middle of a blizzard ?!? I've got to teach that boy some values, snow values, that is.

12/25/10:
21.5 mi, Southend MI Loop out and back, 17.5 mph average. My legs and back were cooked from yesterday, so after an initial hard effort to drop some wanker, I put it in 'easy lovin' mode and rolled out the rest of the ride. Right Knee, Left SI joint both feeling really...old today. Still, it's Xmas, and it was 53 degrees and dry outside. Fuckin-A-Bubba, that's what I call a good day to ride.