To Infinity and Beyond - Becoming a Better DopeyBadger (Comments Welcome)

Playing catch up so very belated bday wishes to G! Your SE picture on the globe cracks me up. I had to ride it as my final thing on marathon weekend before exiting Epcot.
I love the pic of G sitting in the chair at WDW with her birthday bow on...it's a real mood (is that what kids these days say?)
Totally agree with you on being wary of certain rides because of motion (I skipped Soarin this time because of a bad experience in DL during race weekend.)
Your park-hopping and FP switching is quite impressive. Why don't they give families medals after a WDW vacation?
 
Also ... I kinda can't believe it was your first time on Space Mountain, but I can also understand wanting to avoid it in certain situations. I rode it after the marathon and that was probably not my best idea. But it's one of my favorite rides, so I'm glad you finally got a chance to ride it!
I'm hesitant to ride WDW Space Mountain because it's so much rougher than the very smooth Disneyland version. I'll still ride the WDW version, but if something feels slightly off, I'll pass on it.

Thanks all around. It sounded like she felt she had a great birthday.
I managed to spend 2 birthdays at Disneyland as an adult. Lots of fun. Sounds like G had a great time there as a child. Loved all the pictures.

Thanks! Sometimes G can be just so natural at her Grumpy impression. :P
I told Grumpy that I felt like him around mile 20 of the marathon. He approved.

I feel similar about the dinner at Artists Point. The prime rib was just okay. Still glad I did it though because the Dopey photo after the Dopey Challenge was very much worth it.

Why don't they give families medals after a WDW vacation?
I wonder how my parents did it. Just today, WDW did send me a sketch of Mickey by Donald "Ducky" Williams. I've never had that happen before.
 
Playing catch up so very belated bday wishes to G!

Thanks!

Your SE picture on the globe cracks me up. I had to ride it as my final thing on marathon weekend before exiting Epcot.

It's one of G's favorites so we had to be sure to get it in with the rumored extended renovation/revamp coming.

I love the pic of G sitting in the chair at WDW with her birthday bow on...it's a real mood (is that what kids these days say?)

She was doing her "model pose" as she sat for the shadow character thingy. The CM doing the cut-out kept telling her to stop sticking her lips out because it would look weird in the shadow cut-out. She told him not to worry about it.

Totally agree with you on being wary of certain rides because of motion (I skipped Soarin this time because of a bad experience in DL during race weekend.)

Agreed!

Your park-hopping and FP switching is quite impressive. Why don't they give families medals after a WDW vacation?

Thanks! Decided to be way more flexible this time and it worked out well. Should definitely earn a medal for a 15 hour, 13.5 mile, 26,000 step park hopping day.

I managed to spend 2 birthdays at Disneyland as an adult. Lots of fun. Sounds like G had a great time there as a child. Loved all the pictures.

Nice! She did!

I told Grumpy that I felt like him around mile 20 of the marathon. He approved.

:lmao:

I feel similar about the dinner at Artists Point. The prime rib was just okay. Still glad I did it though because the Dopey photo after the Dopey Challenge was very much worth it.

Very true! Perfect place to get a guaranteed pic with him.
 


112 Days to Go! (On the Road Again) + Short Power Build - Mid-Vol - Week 1 + 80 Day Obsession Week 10


2/18/19 - M - 80DO-D56-Booty + Ramp Test (35 min; 42 TSS)
2/19/19 - T - 80DO-D57-AAA + 36 min Run @ Easy!!!!
2/20/19 - W - 80DO-D58-Cardio Flow + 34 min Run @ Easy
2/21/19 - R - 80DO-D59-Legs + Pierce (75 min; 91 TSS)
2/22/19 - F - 80DO-D60-Total Body Core + 30 min Run @ Easy
2/23/19 - Sa - Spanish Needle+1 (105 min; 113 TSS) + 80DO-D61-Cardio Core
2/24/19 - Su - Antelope-5 (120 min; 129 TSS) + 80DO-D62-Booty

Total Run Miles - 9.8 miles
Total Run Tim - 1:41 hours
Total Run TSS - 83


Total Biking Time - 5:35 hours
Total Biking TSS - 375 TSS


Total 80DO Time - 5:54 hours
Total 80DO TSS - 124 TSS


Total Training Time - 13:11 hours (PR)
Total TSS - 582 TSS (PR)


Monday

80DO Booty was a 2x15 makeup for the missed workout last week.

Series 1: Side Squat Hop Hold, Kneeling Lateral Crawl to Half Surrender, Single-Leg Hamstring Slide
Series 2: Single Leg Runner's Jump w/ Weight, Single-Leg Hinge, Slider Reversal Lunge Pulse
Series 3: Narrow Squat Rock, Front Lunge/Side Lunge, Side Lunge to Curtsy

Another bike training cycle starts, and thus another Ramp Test. One way to measure fitness gains is to evaluate a person's FTP (functional threshold power). The ramp test is pretty brutal in the one moment because it's a test to exhaustion. I did it on 11/25/18 at around 169 pounds and got a 213 (2.77 w/kg bw). I repeated it again on 1/8/19 at around 178 pounds and got a 220 (2.73 w/kg bw). The raw watts went up at 213 to 220, but so did the body weight. So when evaluated by w/kg bw the FTP went down. Although since I'm not actually riding outside I'm not sure how relevant w/kg bw is since I don't have to actually lug my body around. So now it was time for try #3. Except this time the deck was more stacked against me with an 80DO + cycling streak of several days on the legs including a workout just that morning. But I decided to just give a best effort and see what happens.

Screen Shot 2019-02-24 at 6.13.28 PM.png

It went well! I was able to hold a high of about 92-95 rpm throughout all the increases up to 299 goal watts. But once I hit the 312 watt goal it went downhill fast. I was completely exhausted and my legs were barely firing anymore. So I held as long as possible, and then I bailed. I finished with a 229 FTP value or at my current weight of 177.5 a 2.84 w/kg bw. So an increase of 4% from the last test or 7.5% from the first test (based on raw watts). So the gain from Test 2 to 3 was larger than the gain from Test 1 to 2. I like that trajectory! Watts/kg bw increased by 4% from the last test.

Tuesday

AAA was 3 x 10 and go through all moves before going to the top.

Series 1: Czech Press, Front Raise, Slider Windshield Wipers, Side Lunge Hold
Series 2: Bridge Pull Over, Camel Bicep Curl, Weighted Twisted Roll Down, Marching Bridge
Series 3: Bridge Bilateral Press, Tricep Kickback in Lunge, Weighted Knee Drops, Curtsy Lunge Pulse

It only took 135 days, but it was finally time to start running again. 30 min of easy running on the agenda. I bundled up. I put my new soft ankle brace on. I laced up my new Brooks Launch 6. And I headed out the door. It was nice to run again. But there was no heavenly choir singing. No epiphany. Just a man enjoying being able to run again. I paid close attention to the total time of the run and the instant HR. The goal was to keep the effort truly easy and the HR under 130 as much as possible. I'd say mission accomplished. I was super super sore throughout the run though. Not terribly surprising with a bike to exhaustion the day prior. The route appears it will be a massive decline to start and then uphill for the second half. And the splits reflected that as well with 10:02, 10:39, and 10:57 (avg 10:41). Misjudged the total time though as I ended up at 36 min to get back home. The HR average was 127. Glad to be back and have no inclination of ankle issues.

Wednesday

80DO workout Phase 3 Cardio Flow was 4 reps progressing though all the moves and then an entire run through 8 times. I was totally beat by the end of it.

Then, that evening was another run day. Originally the schedule was to run W, F, and Sa, but since Steph was headed to TX for a week it through everything off. So I opted for T, W, F instead. Still super sore, but I managed to get the run unscathed again. The pace was 9:46, 10:06, 10:44 (avg. 10:19) at a HR of 130 on roughly the same route. So about 3bpm higher for a gain of 21 sec/mile. Improvement or increased effort? Not going to worry really since it's super early in the process and I'm just going with the flow. But running still didn't feel natural, better, but not natural.

Thursday

Steph and I hemmed and hawed whether to actually do this one or to push it off. I had to drive Steph to the airport at 5:20am. Which meant we probably had to start the workout out around 3:45am in order to be able to finish it and be ready in time to leave. Steph said no, and I said yes. So we were up at 3:30am in order to get the workout done.

80DO Leg workout. Again, 3x10 all the way through.

Series 1: Side to Side Squat, Alt. Weighted Squat Jump, Figure 4 Squat
Series 2: Slider Side Lunge, Half Skater Lunge Jump, Low Rocking Side Lunge
Series 3: Slide Front Diagonal Lunge, Split Squat Jump, Buddah Squat
Series 4: Sumo Double Slide-in, Sumo Cross Jump, Goblet Sumo Squat

Welcome to the beginning of Short Power Build. The last cycling phase was focused on sweet spot training (in and around FTP). This cycle is focused on sprints and VO2max in prep for the 5k/HM run training to begin in April. Pierce is 6x4.5-minute sets of VO2max repeats where you'll ride for 15-25 seconds at 125% FTP and then "float" for 15-30 seconds at 88% FTP. 6 minutes of active recovery separate each set. I've done a workout like this before, but this one seemed much tougher. But I was able to complete the workout in full without adjustments.

Friday

80DO Total Body Core workout. Again a 3x10.

Series 1: Surrender to Shoulder Press, Quad Ped Crawl, Burpee Sliders
Series 2: Bent Over Row Tap Back, Squat Tabletop Row, Saw on Sliders
Series 3: Modified 1/2 Turkish Push-up, Side Reach Push-up, V Crunch to Scissor Crunch
Series 4: Runner's Lunge Curl, Static Sumo Hammer Curl, Slider Crawl Out
Series 5: Tricep Push up w/ knee tuck, Squat Hold Kickbacks, Weighted Windmills

Another run day! Steph was gone so my MIL stayed for an extra hour to watch G. I was out the door. The fatigue from the Ramp Test was finally going away. I could tell during the day I was feeling better and not so gosh darn sore and tight. So the run reflected that as well. Same HR as Wed (130), but a faster result at 9:15, 9:58, 10:18 (avg. 9:52). So about a 52 sec/mile improvement from Tues and 27 sec/mile from Wed. Headed in the right direction. That was the last run for the week.

That evening G and I played researchers with her new science kit!

IMG_2565.JPG

Saturday

Another brutal bike workout. Spanish Needle +1 is comprised of 5x10-minute sets of microbursts consisting of 15 seconds at 150% FTP followed directly by 15 seconds at 40% FTP. Recovery valleys between sets of bursts are just over 8 minutes long. Not sure I was ready for 150% FTP yet. Don't believe I've worked in that area yet. In the last two sets each I had to skip two total intervals.

80DO Cardio Core workout. A series of cardio HIIT moves and then a core move.

That afternoon we went to see Lego Movie 2. It was decent. Then that evening we went to Steph's Dad's birthday where G wanted to be Anna. I'd say I pulled off the pigtail braids pretty well.

IMG_2566.JPG

Sunday

The bike workout Antelope +5 was a 7x10-minute Sweet Spot intervals ranging between 88-94% FTP with 5-minute recoveries between intervals. Other than the internet going out on me a few times, no big time issues with the ride. I survived.

80DO Booty was a 3x10 all the way through then back to top.

Series 1: Side Squat Hop Hold, Kneeling Lateral Crawl to Half Surrender, Single-Leg Hamstring Slide
Series 2: Single Leg Runner's Jump w/ Weight, Single-Leg Hinge, Slider Reversal Lunge Pulse
Series 3: Narrow Squat Rock, Front Lunge/Side Lunge, Side Lunge to Curtsy

I'd say overall the week went well. Forayed into the 13+ hrs of training in a week and the highest TSS week yet. The end of the week definitely felt better than the beginning. Let's see if I can keep this train rolling. Hoping to introduce strides into next week's running based on how I feel.
 
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1) Back to running

:woohoo:

2) Pigtail braids

:woohoo:

3) Science selfie!

The kit didn't come with a lab notebook. So I got her all set up so we can record her hypothesis and observation to each of the experiments.

Hell yes to getting back to running!

:cool1:

Guess who's back...back again...Billy's back...tell a friend! (Sang to the Eminem song tune) :cool1: So excited for you!

 
G is adorable! Happy v belated birthday to her (I'm playing catch up).

So happy the return to running was pain-free!
 
Glad the return to running is going well and that you had a fun trip to Disney! I love that photo of the two of you as science researchers :)
 
Yay for running again! And G is super adorable as always! :)

Thanks!

G is adorable! Happy v belated birthday to her (I'm playing catch up).

So happy the return to running was pain-free!

Thanks! G says that her next birthday party will be Haunted Mansion themed. We'll see what happens. :hmghost:

Glad the return to running is going well and that you had a fun trip to Disney! I love that photo of the two of you as science researchers :)

Thanks! She's having fun with it. She's been itching ever since she got it to try some things out. Trying to stoke the fires of a inquisitive child.
 
We've been doing acid-base reactions. We tested whether the juice in a banana pepper jar was acidic, neutral, or basic. Not sure what's up next. I know it ends with an underwater color-changing volcano experiment though.
wait, is this in a kit?! do tell! We have made a snow-cano and which then became an ice-cano in the month of February. It was a blast!
 

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