Approximately seventy miles of cycling today. Okay, so I only intended it to be sixty, but I got lost on the way back from the beach and went a few miles up the Coyote Creek bike trail before I figured out that I wasn't in Kansas anymore, Toto. (I was suppossed to be on the San Gabriel River / Lower Rio Hondo trail)

Anyhow, the real good news is that my lower back felt better at the end of the ride than it did at the beginning!

No partner, though, he stood me up today. :(

So I'm starting the five-month Shape of Your Life training program designed in 2002 by Outside Magazine. It generally combines the best of both scientific understanding of fitness and empirical knowledge from a hundred years of experience in athletic training and coaching. It covers everything from muscle strength and cardio fitness, to nutrition and supplements, to recovery, flexibility, and agility. The strength element focusses strongly on core (trunk) strength rather than conventional bodybuilding.

I did the first two months of it last year, to build core strength and fitness before the main triathlon season.

This year I have apparently sucked both of my housemates into doing it with me! Hooray! (It's a lot of work, and a fairly difficult regimen to stick to without a partner).

Dave and I rode to the top of Mt. Wilson again this morning. We survived the descent, this time, having worn full-length outfits and carried jackets. It's amazing that it can be 65F in the sunshine most of the way up, then drop to ~45 in the shade next to cliffs at the top of the mountain. Sheesh.

Anyhow, a good ride today. Few stops, made it to the top in less than 2.5 hours, no significant knee troubles. w00t and all that, onward and upward.

It is pretty cool to gain so much altitude in a bike ride that your water bottles dimple inward significantly from the pressure increase as you descend.

I haven't been able to get outside to ride or run all week, due to the heavy rains in L.A. Maybe I'll have time to get to the gym tonight, but it seems unlikely, since I'm preparing for a flight tomorrow to give a presentation at Michigan State U.

After a couple of false stars re: scheduling, Dave and I managed a ride to the top of Mt. Wilson today. It's the first time I've been to the top since May or so, before my crazy summer work push.

I'm a little tired afterwards, but not too bad, and I'm jazzed that our plan to bicycle together twice a week through the winter might really pan out. It'd be great to train straight through the winter for once!

Went cycling with my high-school debate partner today. Had a good ride partway up Mt. Wilson, good exercise for the morning.

I'm hoping I can talk him into becoming a regular training buddy. It's so much harder to make yourself get out and do a regular training regimen when you don't have a partner ... becomes awfully easy to rationalize sleeping in.

The ride was good, but I definitely haven't been hitting it hard enough lately. This morning i weighed 167# (gasp), that's up almost 10 pounds from mid-july. I have been overeating way too often lately. Diet and training, diet and training...

UPDATE: I weighed myself again just before taking a shower ... the same time in the day I usually weigh myself ... and the scale showed 163. That's not nearly so big an increase over my july low of 157.

Hot Holy Shit in a Bushel of Blueberries!!!

Um, yeah. Anyway, I'm just in an awesome mood because of tonight's run results. Since the last few workouts were so intense, I went out for just a short run tonight. ~3.1 miles, maintaining an aerobic HR of ~175.

Anyway, I found that I had to run faster than usual speeds just to keep that HR going. That's good sign #1, it means my heart is finally getting stronger, and I can expect either my speed to increase or my HR and energy consumption to go down as I keep this up.

Then, I finished the 3.1 miles in 23:45. Including the time required to stop, wait for the dog to do his business, and clean up, plus three territory-marking stops. (The dog, not me). So, even with delays, my sustainable aerobic pace is now definitely under 8:00 min/mile.

That puts me in my best running shape since college. Maybe ever.

I can't tell you how !ecstatic! I am. Exuberant! Triumphant! I broke into the hugest grin of all time when I coasted up to the lawn, having just completed what felt like a nice, relaxed aerobic jog in under 8:00 per mile. HOT DAMN! My knee is finally holding together long enough to really put in the miles, and the results are starting to show. I've never in my life been able to put in this kind of consistent mileage without one joint or anothing giving in.

In related news, I'm posting so much about my training lately that I've made a dedicated category for it.

So, pace definitely improving. As a favorite blogger says about his goals ... Onward and Downward!!