January Review

So January has come to a close already for 2012, Wow that was quick. For the Month of January, It was primarily Preparation Phase, which is all about getting the body ready for the upcoming year. I think i was heading in the right direction and will hopefully benefit from the work i have put in so far. The major thing for me to achieve was consistency which during Cold winter months is very hard to do. As you can see from below, i completed 29 total workouts in 31 days.

January Statistics
262 km Total
Run: 43.38 km (11 workouts) 5hr 14m
Spinning: 69.96 km (4 workouts) 3hr 33m
Cycling: 120km (6 workouts) 7 hr 16m
Hiking: 6.98km (2 workouts) 3hr 19m
Walking: 21.37km (6 workouts) 5hr 3m

Total Workouts: 29
Days Off: 8
Total Time: 24 hours 26 minutes

Cycling Total Ascension: 732 metres

Penticton, BC
Coldest Day of Month: 18th Jan - Max Temp: -13.4c, Min Temp: -16.1c, 6cm snow
Warmest Day: 5th Jan - Max Temp- 9.3c, Min Temp: -1.4c
Windiest Day: 24th Jan - Max Gust - 85km/h
Snow Amount: 24cm for the month

29th January 2012 - Bike Ride, Okanagan Falls, B.C, Canada

Bald Eagle Sighting

After a run this morning, the weather warmed up, so i decided to take the opportunity to get out for a ride as well. Not sure why but i didn't bring my camera. I had my phone but it isn't as good as an actual camera. I've been riding long enough now that i should know to always bring my camera.

Today i happened upon a Bald Eagle sitting so close to us, that i'm sure he could see my eyes dilate from the excitement. I did happen to get some decent photos of the Eagle which wasn't too bad. After sitting for a while to watch and enjoy, i continued on to Okanagan Falls where i took Mclean Creek Rd and saw for the first time, Californian Big Horn Sheep. These guys were further away and would have been great to have had a camera.

Todays Ride-
44 kms
2 hours 24 minutes

Check it out on Endomondo or Strava

Another one

Found another Geocache on todays run. A quick search on the Geocache site found that a cache that went missing had been replaced so i took a run to go see if i could find it. Had a look around and found it. Didn't have a pen with me, totally forgot it, so i will sign it next time i'm down by the Rose Garden.
A quick overview of Geocaching from the Penticton Cycling Club.

GeoCache

Today I went for a look for some GeoCaches in the area and found 1 out of 4 that i looked for.
Fuzzy 56, Fuzzy Lakawana and Fuzzy SOEC were the caches that i couldn't find today. Hopefully i get them next time.

The one i did find was
Bridge to Ikeda
N 49° 30.225 W 119° 35.472
Link: Geocaching.com
Found it! - January 28th 2012

2012 Training Plan

You've Got Mail

Training Page

Check out the Updated "Training" Page. SO much easier to keep up to date on how my training is going. Excellent news for both you and me. You can also find this page in the Menu bar at the top of this page. Training

Austraya Day!!

So Yesterday was Australia Day.

YOU KNOW YOU'RE AUSTRALIAN WHEN:
You believe that stubbies can either be drunk or worn.
You pronounce Melbourne as 'Mel-bin'.
You believe that the letter 'l' in Australia is optional, and it's perfectly ok to call it 'Straya'.
You think 'Wooloomooloo' is a perfectly reasonable name for a place.
You're secretly proud of our killer wildlife.
You believe it makes perfect sense for a country to have a... $1 coin thats twice as big as a $2 coin.
You understand that 'Wagga Wagga' can be abbreviated to 'Wagga' but 'Woy Woy' cannot be just 'Woy'.
Beetroot with your hamburger...of course!
You wear ugg boots outside the house.
You believe that the more you shorten someone's name, the more you like them.
You understand that 'excuse me' can sound rude, but 'scuse me' is always polite.
You know what its like to swallow a fly, on occasion via your nose.
You know it's not summer until the steering wheel is too hot to handle and a seat belt buckle becomes a pretty good branding iron.
You know how to abbreviate every word, all of which usually end in "o": arvo, convo, garbo, lezzo, metho, milko, muso, servo, smoko, rego, speedo, righto, etc,....
You know that there is a universal place called 'Woop Woop' located in the middle of nowhere, no matter where you actually are!
And you can understand all of this, had a giggle, and tell all your Aussie and international friends. I love Australia! :-)

Clif Bars

A few days ago i purchased some more Clif Bars from London Drugs when they were on sale (below). As of yet, i haven't had a chance to try them out on the bike but today, i did try them during a run. I felt a little hungry during a run and stopped home for a Clif Bar (Peanut Butter) and it agreed with me. It settled the stomach which allowed me to continue on and run a little further. When the weather warms up a bit more, hopefully i'll get to test them on the bike. I did try the Lara Bars on the bike and they went well so i don't see the Clif Bars upsetting my stomach.

January Review...

The Last Few weeks of Training. This being my last week of preparation phase before i begin Base 1 training next week, i thought it would be wise to reflect on how i've done the last month. With the training plan that i wrote for myself, i have seen my consistency increase greatly with at least 3 or 4 workouts a week while averaging 5 hours a week. This might not seem much but is a huge improvement. My biggest gains in fitness will merely come from the consistent efforts i put into my training.

Base 1 is very similar to the prep phase but with an extra hour of work each week and more time on the bike. This however might be governed by the weather here. I don't really want to spend too much time on the indoor trainer. By mid to late February, i am hoping to start commuting to work when the days get longer and hopefully above freezing temperatures.

Wind Warning

Warnings

South Okanagan - including Penticton
3:34 PM PST Tuesday 24 January 2012
Wind warning for
South Okanagan - including Penticton issued

Wind gusts expected to reach 90 km/h late this afternoon through this evening over the South Okanagan.
Currently strong winds are being generated over parts of the southern interior ahead of the weather system. Wind gusts reaching 90 km/h are forecast for late this afternoon through this evening over the South Okanagan. As the system passes through the interior overnight, winds of 70 km/h gusting to 90 are expected to develop in its wake for the Fraser Canyon. The winds will abate through Wednesday morning. 

Todays Ride

Jan 21st 2012

Pitbull - International Love

 Music video by Pitbull Featuring Chris Brown performing International Love.
http://tumblr.com/Z8O_cxE-p99a

The worst of it

So up until now, winter has avoided us pretty well and we have been enjoying some above average temperatures that have been allowing us to get out and about. However today (18th January, 2012) has been the coldest of all with the high being at around -13c. Not only did we have the low temperatures, we also had some snow on and off during the day which has made the roads a little scary to drive on.
Coming into town today, i actually had a bit of a scare when i came up to a traffic light and the roads were a little more slippery then i anticipated and had my ABS on my car come on and had my car fishtailing a little. All this happened at a reasonable 30 km/h but when you have someone else in the car, you worry more about them then yourself.
Below is a picture of Downtown Penticton on the 17th January. Today the roads were totally white.

 

Sumac Ridge on the 17th January 2012

Summerland

Todays Weather

KVR trail

I have ridden the Channel parkway pathway a couple of times and never noticed a trail that diverted off the pathway and headed towards Summerland. I've day whilst looking at maps of Penticton, I noticed a trail one day that did this and wondered how I had not noticed this. Todays bike ride was planned to be a big one of several hours but the -5c temperature made it a bit shorter. Not wanting to waste a ride, I decided to go explore an area that I have not been and I am write happy I did.
Even on poor weather days like today, this is still an excellent riding route that has a steady 2% grade that goes for several kms. On a warmer day, I will venture out to see how far the grade goes for.

Training

Maps

Came across a great site for making maps.
Open Street Map

OpenStreetMap is a free editable map of the whole world. It is made by people like you.
OpenStreetMap allows you to view, edit and use geographical data in a collaborative way from anywhere on Earth.

28 Days Later...

So my training for the last 4 weeks has looked great. I have covered 292 kilometres for a total of 23 hours which is exactly where i wanted to get my monthly total up to.



If you remember from December 11th, 2011, i wrote,  

"Looking at my stats there is plenty room for improvement as i think i could get my 4 week hourly total up to 20-30 hours averaging 1 hour a night, 5 nights a week."

Since i wrote that, i have planned out a Training plan for the year and with the guesstimated hours for the year, i should easily get the 20-30 hours a month, if i stick to the plan. The plan has come from....

 

Currently i am in the Preparation Phase which is preparing my body for the year to come. The workouts in this phase are low in intensity with the majority being aerobic endurance workouts and usually in the form of cross-training, such as running or skiing. The total volume of this phase is fairly low compared to other times in the year. For 2012, i have 4 weeks of Prep Phase then i move onto Base phase 1 on the 30th January. Base 2 will start 27th of February, hopefully just in time for the weather to start warming up a little in March.