Back to basics

With the road season tied nicely in a bundle behind me, I had the most enjoyable weekend in recent memory. A few beers and a few burgers at Casa tRJ. A little Thai Food with the Doc and her family. Roughly 1 full pot of coffee from Saturday morning to Sunday morning. And the epic conclusion of LOST: Season 4. Now I'm caught up.

Not that the above doesn't really LOOK like a normal weekend for me.

The difference was in the feel. The absence of stress. The division of my weekend into pre-race jitters and post-race laziness. It was nice.

I took the opportunity to get in some pretty solid saddle time with Ben on a good hilly route out west Saturday afternoon and repeated solo down to New Glarus in the wind on Sunday.

Yesterday, I got back in the gym. The plan for awhile (at least until cross races start in late September) is to dial the hard bike workouts back (sprints, anaerobic intervals, criteriums) opting instead for long rides, force work, and some tempo some 20' @ just below threshold sessions.

But for now, it's back to basics. Endurance riding and some gym time. My lower back and stabilizing muscles have been feeling less and less solid, so it's time to start ramping things back up toward being strong and fit in an overall sense in lieu of a directed focus of being fast on a bicycle.

Workout

@ Gym

Warmup: Mobility complex, Goblet Squats @ BW, OHS @ BW (3 x 10) with good depth

Workout:

Deadlifts (conv): 5 x 5 @ 111#
Overhead Press: 5 x 5 @ 65#
Pull Ups: 5 x 3 @ BW
Push Ups: 5 x 12 @ BW

Stretching and some ab work.

Done.