I'm a working man! (EDIT 6/1)

So I did get a job, working for WIS, where I will be helping with inventory counting for multiple stores and such. The craziest thing about this job is the crazy hours! Since many of these companies prefer inventory counting to be done during non-peak hours, we need to do it like early morning or late night. So, some days I could be getting up at 2 or 3 am in the morning, going to work, then leaving to go to the store we're counting at about 4:00, could be anywhere from 1-3 hours of a drive, possibly more, then count for several hours, then drive back. the good thing is that if it is a morning job, we should be back mid to late morning, so I can just sleep for several hours and have the evening to train. There will also be nights where I may work from 5 pm to 3 am or something like that. What sucks is the driving pay... we don't get paid the first hour of the drive (company van, I think we'll be taking turn driving or something like that). My training starts on Monday.

I brought this up because now I can afford to pay for races, which I will most likely be doing my first race next weekend, the Cargas Criterium. About 1 hour 30 minute drive from my house, buy my race isn't until 1:20 (for once, in the afternoon!) so I don't have to get up AS early, but I would like to be there to watch several of the races prior to mine to get a drift of who doing what, and get an idea of the speed I should expect. When I am 100% sure that I will be doing this race (you know me, things can always come up) then I will post more about it sometime next week.

Happy end of May!

CORRECTION: The Cargas Crit is not next weekend, but the following weekend. Also, my parents were talking about going on vacation possibly that weekend, so I may not get the chance to do that race as well.

crap, not again...

Again, I will have to miss the PSU Harrisburg Criterium. I know, I know... I promised that I would be doing it. Well, I had a little problem this week with getting a job, in that I haven't gotten any calls or interviews yet, and so I have no money now and do not feel like using my credit card to register for the race. Not yet anyways, unless something happens like tomorrow morning I get a call from Ollie's or any of the other places for an interview and get the job before 8:00 PM, in time for me to register for the race. If that happens, then I will for sure registered, but the chance of that happening is around 100:1.

To your right (if reading this web-based and not using an rss reader like Snarfer that I use) will be an updated schedule of races I plan to do. "Plan" does not equal "will do", so I can't say for 100% that I will be doing these races. If any of you are a complete fan of me and would like to see me race, please email me or write on one of my recent posts and I can let you know for sure if I'm showing up.

On the weekend of July 12 and 13, there are two races within a 50 miles drive, a road race on Saturday (12th) and crit that I missed and wanted to do last summer on Sunday (13th). I think I'm going to consider doing both on that weekend, assuming I will have a decent paying job and can afford to pay about $50 for both combined.

Track racing starts next weekend, and I still do not have a track bike. Most likely I won't be getting one on time and probably not until mid/late June or early July. So, I'm going to get a late start on the track season and will have to just use this summer as a "Start-up" and then in the fall will be the collegiate track season I might do, and then next summer I will race for real.

Ending... my best friend FINALLY got a road bike. He still won't sport the spandex sports or pocketed jerseys, nor the clipless pedals and cleats, but I think eventually he'll come around. He does not plan to race like I do, but rather just ride for fun and fitness, while still trying to keep up with me. We'll see how it goes tomorrow, when we do our first ride together with his new bike, a used 58cm (tall guy) Fuji ACE.

new pic

As you may have noticed by now, to the right I put up a new profile picture. This was part of a team photo taken a few weeks ago at our last cycling meeting before the summer. Compared with last year's team photo, I look a lot better in shape. I still have some "chubby-ness" to take care of, but hopefully with the heart rate monitor and a solid training plan, I can lose the flab and tone up in the next three months before school restarts late August.

Couldn't ride today because of the morning rain and a banquet for my sister in the afternoon and baccalaureate for her graduating class several hours later. The weather was great in the afternoon and evening, which I wish I could have made time to ride. Tomorrow I'm supposed to do one hour of Active Recovery, but I think I'll do the two hours I was supposed to do today, with 15-30 minutes of recovery/cool-down. Lift on tuesday and back on schedule with my training plan.

On a sadder side, the Flyers lost to the Penguins (6-0) today in game 5 of the NHL playoffs and were eliminated. Next year... next year for sure.

My heart is beating

Several things... first, my biggest news for this post:

I GOT MY HEART RATE MONITOR!

ok, so that may not be big news to everyone, but it is certainly for me. I got it yesterday and immediately set it up and went out for a ride. I noticed I'm training better, like my average speed is higher, because I'm working harder to stay within a certain zone. My stats for yesterday's ride:

Time: 2:23:05
Avg HR: 149
Max HR: 178 (for the day)
Calories: 1250+
Fat: 71g

I know the calorie count is a little low for 2+ hours, but I really wasn't pushing myself too hard for my first ride with it. Also, I'm still recovering (even today) from a lifting session on Tuesday, my second one since I've returned to lifting since January. The range I set for yesterday's ride was 156 to 174.

Next thing... NO race this weekend. I've decided not to go to Syracuse because I forgot about other plans made for this weekend, and I've decided not to do the Union Grove Road Race because I didn't want to kill myself while still being sore from lifting this week. I'm lifting today again, but will be a light one.

Next... I plan to do the Thursday Night Training Series criterium this afternoon at 5:30 in T-Town. Today I'm not going all out, so I wouldn't be surprised if I drop within 4 laps. Again, I'm still sore from the lifting and do not want to go all out. I'm also going to be playing basketball tonight at 8:00 with the guys I've been playing with since I was 17 years old.

Finally... I'll definitely be doing the Penn State Harrisburg Criterium next weekend. Unless something more important comes up this will be for sure. I'll write about it next week.

Summer Plans

I've come up with some summer plans as far as cycling and fitness goes...

IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER...
1) Get to the top of the Haven Hill climb (from my house) in less than 19 minutes by end of summer (current Personal Record, 23:35 set on Tuesday, May 13)
2) Place top 10 in the Lehigh Valley Winery Criterium in Category 5, if I upgrade to 4 by then, place top 15 (In August)
3) Place top 5 in the Pottsville Cycle 17 race (non-USAC sanctioned race) with Kyle from Kutztown University (In July)
4) Place top 15 in the PSU Harrisburg Criterium (May 26)
5) Get into the 160s range for weight, and tone up like mad!

I just made all but one or two of these in my head in the last few minutes, I just wanted a reason to show off my Personal Record for the Haven Hill climb, and to set a goal of 19 minutes or less... then I thought of a few other goals as well... I'm sure I can reach the 4-5 minutes difference in the 3 months. It take about 10 minutes to get to the base of the climb, which I'm sure can be shortened up a bit with a bit more speed on the way there. So yeah, 19 minutes is definitely do-able.

This weekend there is a Syracuse Race Weekend with 3 stages; a road race, TT and crit. Kyle from Kutztown U. is going so I asked him if I could tag along and I'm waiting for him to get back to me. If I can, I may consider going with him. It will certainly be fun and challenging. The road race is a bit scary, with a wall-like climb according to the hill profile provided. Anyways, I'll post more about that. If I don't do that I might doe the Union Grove Road Race on Saturday...

we've gone through all 4 seasons at least 3 times in the last 2 weeks

In Northeast US, we've seriously had it all in the last 2 or 3 weeks. This morning I wake up feeling good and I have decided that I want to race. I get on the computer and check weather.com and see that right now it's not even 40 degrees... IN THE MIDDLE OF MAY!!! And by the time of my race (8:30), it won't even be 60 degrees.

Normally I wouldn't let this bother me, but the reason it is bothering me is because of my car's air control not working properly and I can't get heat or A/C at all. Sometimes no air even comes out. So, I would be pretty much freezing the whole drive there until the sun shines brightly in through my car's windows. Maybe AFTER the race the car would be toasty.

I've decided, only because of the weather, that I'm opting out. I'm pretty pissed since I've already paid my $25 plus the $2.70 bikereg fee and I'm sure I'm not getting my money back if I ask for a refund. Most places won't unless for a good reason (i.e. got injured the night before). I'd be laughed at if I say because it's too cold for my car to drive.

Next week is the Union Grove Road Race near Lancaster, I don't know if I'm ready to do a road race right now. Yes, I know I've done road races during the collegiate season, but I'm on my "break" right now. I'll look around to see if any other races are going on, usually the Hellertown Crit would be happening next week but that was canceled this year.

I'm going back to bed, getting up in an hour or so and then going out for a ride. Good night...

Envelope please...

After constant debating, I have just signed up for the BoB Rodale Fitness Park Criterium. My reasoning, I didn't want to do anything Saturday except maybe do a light ride, after having such a killer semester. I missed the New Bethlehem Criterium last year, and I guess I'm going to have to miss it again this year, which is this coming Saturday. Maybe next year I will get to do it.

The course is pretty simple, mostly flat with one sudden, quick climb with a slow downhill afterwards. This will be the same exact course as the Thursday Night Training Series criterium that I've done several times already. I didn't get to do it last night, I was quite busy.

I'm quite nervous actually, because I crashed in this last year during one of the training crits, and since this will be an actual race, people will be more aggressive. I'm just going to try and stay on the outside and towards the front for most of the race.

My race is at 8:30, so the only downside is I have to get up at 6ish and be out the door by 6:45ish. Results post on sunday night!

A Whole New Season

The collegiate season has ended over a week ago at Dartmouth, I'll be done with school for the summer on Friday before lunchtime. Staying on campus Friday night to hang out, maybe party, with my friends, and then going home Saturday. I can't wait.

This weekend, most likely, will be the start of my 2008 USCF season. There is the New Bethlehem Criterium on Saturday, and the BoB Rodale Fitness Park Criterium on Sunday. I'm debating which one of the two to do, or if I should do both or neither. I'd like to do at least one, and my thinking is that the semester is ending on Friday for me, and I'd like to have a day off from life in general. Just sit around, watch TV, maybe a short, easy bike ride on Saturday. Not have to think about a damn thing! That sounds nice, and then to start my season in T-Town at the fitness park, the same location for the Thursday Night Training Series that I've done twice already, and am debating whether to do it this Thursday or not, with a final Friday morning.

I need to sign up for either or both races by Thursday night, if I plan to do any. I'm going to sleep on it tonight and tomorrow night, and decide Thursday what I should do. Any inputs would be great! I will post Thursday or Friday what I've decided to do.