Great day today. Did intervals and some core work. Pushed hard on the intervals, got all 8 of them out, and man my legs were feeling it. I was having troubling walking up the stairs out of the gym afterwards. They were definitely torched. I cut my core work short because my core was pretty sore from Yoga yesterday. I did 3 sets of hanging leg raises, and 3 set of kettelbell windmills, which was plenty to torch my core. Core is feeling pretty worked right now. I may have a tough time at Yoga tomorrow. Knees have been hurting on and off throughout the day. Nutrition has been spot on today. I'm going start tracking everything in excel, but just keeping track of calories and protein intake. Trying to keep my protein intake pretty high to make sure my muscles stays on while I'm trying to lose weight. Took in 2345 calories today and 229 grams of protein. Great day, and looking forward to another one tomorrow. Cheers.

Interesting day today. Woke up this morning and was absolutely exhausted. Went to class and then to work. I had an incredible amount of pain in my right knee last night, I think it was just from standing, but regardless, it still hurts now, and my left knee is also in some pain. It think it is tendon or joint related. Not really sure where the pain is coming from, but it hurts a lot. I was beat when I got home from work, and actually fell asleep in my desk chair while I was reading. Woke up, and then laid back down and took a nap for an hour. When I finally woke up, I was still feeling absolutely beat. Not sure what the deal was. By about 7 my energy levels really picked up and I was feeling good. I went to Yoga. Class was good, and my knee pain seemed to go away for a while, but has definitely come back on this evening. I didn't do any weight work after Yoga because I was short on time, and have a ton of homework I need to get done. Nutrition was excellent today. Reformulated my plan, and I've added a few hundred more calories, and a lot more protein. I'm getting a good mix of foods that I like so hopefully I won't feel the need to cheat much. Really feel great right now aside from the knee pain, and I am looking forward to a good week of training. Cheers.

Update here for this week. I've definitely been lazy with this blog and I am really going to try and get back on it more consistent.

Tuesday: Great day of training. Did intervals and core work today. Started off a little easier on the intervals than normal to make sure I didn't gas out. This was my first full interval session in 2 weeks after getting sick. Felt great and got through all 8 of them. During the intervals my heart rate range was 165-184. Hit the core hard afterward and felt good and worked.

Wednesday: Got up early this morning and hit the weights before work. Had  a great weight session and pushed hard through the whole thing. Had a good set of front squats for 165x5 ATG. Overall was a good workout. Did Yoga in the evening. Had a tough time with this class. I think my body was just pretty worked, but I felt good afterward, and extremely relaxed.

Thursday: Intervals and core work again today. Did the tahiti intervals which were interesting. Was hard to find a good balance of resistance on the bike where I could actually get some rest while still pedaling in between. Did some core work as well, but a little less than usual because of how worked my core was from the last few days of training. Overall felt good and healthy.

Friday: Got out for a ride today. Rode for about 1.5 hrs. Really felt strong and powerful on the bike, and it felt great to get out on the bike for a decent amount of time. Was a tough ride because the ground was quite soft and was sapping the power from my legs. Was pretty beat afterward, but felt good.

Saturday: It was way too beautiful to go to the gym today. Went to my Dad's house to do laundry and I brought the DH bike along. I have a couple super short runs in the woods which haven't been touched in a couple years. I decided to rake one of them out and ride the DH bike a bit. Felt good to get on the DH bike, and although the runs were super short sprint runs, around 15 sec I was able to get a good feeling for the bike. Was actually pretty beat after doing about 6 runs, and raking/clearing for about 1.5 hrs. 

Sunday: Off day. Ate very poorly today. Surprisingly I am pretty sore today from the trail work yesterday. My shoulders, arms and torso feel a bit tired. My nutrition has definitely gotten a bit out of line. I have 4 more weeks before riding really starts, so I'm going to try and buckle down on the nutrition and try and lose a few more pounds. Overall a good week, and it felt great to get out on the bike. Cheers.

Update here for the last few days.

Friday: It was my birthday yesterday so I ended up going out last night. Drank for the first time in just over two weeks. Definitely got drunk, and got drunk easily. Got up early today but was just toast throughout the day. I slept on and off throughout most of the day. Nutrition was poor, I was in need of hangover food. No training because of the hangover.

Saturday: Felt great today, and my nutrition was good throughout the day. Lifted today and had a good session for the most part. I really gassed out at the end, and skipped one set of my deads and hammer chin super set. I was completely beat afterwards and am thinking I might not of had quite enough nutrients in my body. Otherwise feel good and recovered from yesterday.

Sunday: Non training day. Damn sore from the deadlifts yesterday. My traps, glutes, hams and lower back are all pretty sore, and my shoulders and core are pretty sore from the see saw press. Nutrition was not so great today.

Monday: Wasn't quite able to get the training in that I wanted today because of some scheduling conflicts, so I'm going to try and get my full weight session in on Wednesday instead. I attended a yoga class tonight, and then did my downsized weight training routine afterward. Shoulders, quads, and core got pretty worked in the yoga class. Was pretty happy with my weight session, power clean and push pressed 155x3. Nutrition was okay today, got good stuff in, but ate some food that was a little fatty. Feel good right now though and I am definitely ready for bed. Back to the intervals tomorrow. I haven't gotten a full interval training session in, in a couple of weeks now, so I really need to get through the whole thing even if the last few are a bit pathetic. Cheers.

Update here for the last few days.

Monday: Got back to the gym today and finally got in a full weight session. It felt great, and my energy levels we there which was refreshing. I still felt a little weak but felt that I've regained about 90% of my strength from the two weeks or so of being sick. Overall was good and hoping that I can get my training back in order.

Tuesday: I actually went out for a ride today which was quite interesting. Went to an area that has pretty low elevation and has a good amount of sand in hopes that it would be rideable. People have been snowshoeing and riding the trails all winter which had caused a real firm snow pack on the trails. Although the majority of the snow in the woods was gone there was a nice sheet of ice on the trails. Rode around for about an hour which was fun. Surprisingly the trails had pretty decent traction, just had to be careful in the corners. I went down a few times. Training wise I probably would have been better off going to the gym and doing intervals, but it felt great to get out on the bike.

Wednesday: I've decided to mix my training up a little bit, and tone down the strength training a bit. I will still be doing a full strength training on Monday and Friday, but my session on Wednesday is going to be reduced considerably. In place I am going to start doing Yoga. I did my first ever Yoga class today. It was tough, but I was able to do everything in the class. I definitely see how it will help in my riding, and overall strength/fitness, and there were some areas where I definitely found some weak points. My hip flexors were definitely a bit tight which I noticed right from the start. As well I found that I was getting some knee pain when my legs were contracted for long period of time. The pain wasn't unbearable in any situation but it was there. I'm hoping that the yoga will help resolve this. After the yoga I did a strength training session that I came up with based on exercise in James program.

Thursday: It's a beautiful day here and I really didn't want to go and train indoors. I decided to go outside and do hill sprints on the DH bike. Although it was nice and sunny out it was still a bit chilly and windy. I rode around two for 5-10 minutes just to get my legs and lungs warm and then went to a hill right next to my apartment. When sprinting I would say the hill is about 25-30 seconds. Now I don't know if it was the cold weather, or just the difference in doing sprints on an actual bike but I didn't last long. I got 3 sprints in. I would go up the hill, and then slowly carve back down the hill so I got adequate rest. In 3 sprints my legs felt like jello, my heart felt like it was going to blow out of my chest, and I had an enormous amount of pressure built up in my ears. I feel like I still have small remnants of this damn head cold and it was definitely a problem to some extent today. Regardless, I feel like this really showed the difference between the in the gym intervals and actually doing them on the bike. Another note, something that probably really sapped my power and energy was the fact the I did them straight up on the DH bike, low pressure in the tires, and soft suspension. I'm sure this sapped a lot of my power compared to do the intervals on the stationary bike and the rowing machine, but I think it is important to do this kind of training on the DH bike, as that is what I am racing on.

I will say as a note that my eating as been great and I think I am continuing to lose weight. Last week I decided that I wasn't going to diet anymore and restrict myself, and just concentrate on portion control and eating healthy. I been eating small "bad" things here and there but not feeling guilt about it, and overall I feel great and look leaner then ever. My weight has hardly been fluctuating at all, it has been staying between 184.5 and 186.5 Going to try and get two more hard days of training in this week, and then some good training in next week, and hopefully get out for a trail ride next weekend if the weather continues to be nice. Cheers.

Quick update here for the last two weeks.

Last week was my school break. Gym hours were minimal and I ended up getting sick. Only made it to the gym 3 times that week and my workouts were not feeling very good. Had a poor 3-4 days of eating as well.

This week I continued to be sick, and even today I still feel some remains of it. It is really pissing me off honestly as I want to get in the gym and train hard. I ate great all week, and I haven't had a drop of alcohol in 11 days. I feel really good aside from being sick. I made it to the gym 4 days this week but none of my sessions were very good. I cut them all short because of either a lack of strength and energy. After one session I felt really ill and depleted. I feel good for the most part today but my nose is still a it stuffed up. Hoping to get back on the full training schedule again this week. It has been gorgeous and the snow is melting fast as it has warmed up a bit. I'm going to go and try and get a trail ride in on Tuesday, hopefully the snow will be all gone.  Been eating well all week, and I feel flushed and healthy. My weight has been going in between 184.5 and 185.5 the last 4-5 days. Hoping my strength comes back and I am good to go this week for training. Got my Vivid yesterday, so my DH bike is finally ready to go. Going to get back on the daily updates tomorrow. Cheers.

Update here for the last few days.

Saturday: Seeing as I am on vacation and I completely spaced that it was Mardi Gras this weekend I decided to go out. Went out last night as well and had some drinks. Today was an all day drinking fest, lots of bad food etc. Obviously didn't train, but I think it was a good idea I as I was ungodly sore when I got up this morning. Going to take a few days off from training since I have been at it 5-6 days a week for the last 6 weeks.

Sunday: Worked most of the day, didn't eat well. Absolutely beat from all the drinking yesterday.

Monday: Got a good nights sleep last night. Feeling food again. I was absolutely shocked when I stepped on the scale this morning. Weighed in at 195. I can't believe what a few days of poor eating and drinking can do. It also amazes me how much excess weight your body can hold, that isn't body weight, but just waste. The middle of last week I was 185.4 so that's  a 10lb difference. I would say that is very possible that I gained an actual pound of body fat, but other than that it is just waste sitting in me. Nutrition today has been spot on, and I feel like I'm starting to flush out. Still a bit sore, took today off, and going to get back at the training tomorrow. Going to be a toned down week of training this week, and then I will hit my final 4 weeks after this one to complete phase 4 of James MTB program. Cheers.