Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Some midweek thoughts...


What a day. For those of you who don't live in the NYC area, what I would call a "weather" panic hit the area earlier today. I think most of the area received warnings from the local media indicating a crazy snow storm. Result? Office closes early. So, I came home a bit earlier than usual tonight.

Not sure if you're following, but Alberto Contador (yea, the 2010 Tour de France winner last year who had the rivalry with Lance) was suspended from cycling for 1 year, AND, stripped of his 2010 TdF title.  (For the full story, read this: Contador Stripped of TdF Victory).  With cycling being one of the most regulated sports, I'm just completely blown away that anyone would dose.  Then again, I think "who cares"? Is it really any different in any other professional sport? This also gets me thinking about Lance.  Did he dose too? He won, what, 7 TdF titles?  Can someone be that good w/o drugs?  Although he's accused of taking illegal performance enhancing substances, he's never tested positive (to date that is). So does that make him the greatest cheat, or is he simply the greatest cyclist (dare I say athlete) in history? And if he were ever determined to be a doser, then what of Livestrong? 

Training since Saturday has been good. Several P90X sessions: Shoulder and Arms (again), and Ab Ripper X. (Someone posted this video online. To watch, click here- Ab RipperX). Can't say enough about this routine. Tony's the man.  I wish I could do all of the other videos, but can't weight my right arm, thus anything that requires both arms- pushups, pullups, lots of the floor exercises, are a no go. But, in time I'll get back to working all of that into the routine.  2 of my favorite DVDs are Core Synergistics and Plyometrics. I digress....

Cycling this week has been good (so far). I've been using several videos that are absolutely awesome to watch.  The company who produces these videos is http://www.thesufferfest.com/. I've got three of them so far: "Local Hero", "Angels" and "The Hunted".  All offer a bit of a different experience. Definitely make the time pass by quite easy. This weekend I'll stack 2 videos back to back to get a longer workout in. While they aren't perfect, they certainly beat any other video I'm familiar with.  (That includes any of those Spinning workouts you'll find out there.) Let's not get me started on "Spinning" which I've had major issues with for some time. (I'll leave that for another discussion.)

The elbow is actually feeling a bit sore. Maybe cause I've stopped taking meds. But, the wound itself is where I'm feeling it. No surprise I guess. (Suppose I need to remember that when someone takes a scalpel to your arm, it's going to be sore no matter how nice it looks.)  Swelling is really reduced but still have a couple strange deadspots on the back of my elbow (i.e., it feels like certain areas are partiallly numb, like my nerves aren't firing on all cylinders.)  I'll give it another week before I start worrying.  Still wearing my robocop arm brace, which at least lets me wear real dress shirts.  But I kind of like the excuse of wearing short sleeve shirts in the middle of winter.

Finally, I just want to go on record to say I really appreciate my family & friends. Thank you.

Let me leave you with the new recently revealed 2011 Garmin Slipstream Team Jersey.  This is what the team will be racing in this year. You like? Dislike?

2011 Aero Jersey
Be back soon....

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