ALLISON MANN

In a good way, of course!

Sunday marked the final day of my first real 3-week block of training this year.  While the block started out a little frayed around the edges, it wound up completely awesome.  I somehow managed to put in one 14 hour week followed by two 15+ hour weeks on the bike, in pretty killer weather (except for the one rainy day), and felt great almost every day.  Sure I had some soreness and fatigue, but I was in a good mood, feeling positive and ready to go most days on and off the bike.

Stellar!

Weekdays in photos –

Monday: Back in the gym for core work and upper body lifting; amazing coffee; we bought a huge bag of very tiny locally grown avocados that we enjoyed all week; and I tried lifting heavy (ish) things – like 5gal jugs of water for the water cooler at work

Tuesday: Nice day for a ride with some intervals and a tempo session; good weather; and quad sleeves for post-ride recovery

Wednesday: Weather a little chillier late in the evening, after lots of work meetings, plus some anti-inflammatory dinner

Thursday: Wearing Justin’s jersey (oops); my foot’s looking pretty healthy and for that I am thankful; and the weather warms up a bit for our tempo ride

Friday: easy spin in killer weather; KALE; and enjoying wild halibut, veggies, and a little red wine before the big weekend.

I’ve spent the last 3 weeks eating really clean and healthy; very little sugar or alcohol, no bike food or nutrition, no grains or oats, etc. I got my weight back down where it should be this time of year (I was still flying “high” from last year of no training and little racing and not being very dedicated or committed).

In addition to really cleaning up the diet, a big focus for Justin and I has been getting 8.5-9 hours of sleep almost every night. I’ve been waking up largely of my own volition (instead of the alarm jolting me awake mid-dream). The only “problem” with this is Saturday night we got home late, so went to bed late, and Sunday I was still up at 5:30 am. But, I guess consistently getting up at 5:30 is ok; as long as I’m in bed by 8:30 at night!

Saturday we got up early to head over to OC for Rock N’ Road’s annual Sweetheart Ride. Yes, it’s a few days early for Valentine’s Day, but it’s the month of love, so roll with it.

I knew I had a big weekend on tap and have been struggling with energy at the end of long weekend rides, so I decided to go back to oats for breakfast and bike food on the bike and for recovery to see if it made any difference.

Hello there, oats. I missed you. Sort of.

We held up the group since it wasn’t as fast a trip across the mountains as we expected, but we were rolling at 8:38am toward the coast for a coffee stop in San Clemente.

ROLLING!

Nice day to be riding by the beach. It was crystal clear, warm, nice breeze.

Cruising through Dana Point (it was a campground/day use area, we were not spread out across the street on a normal 2 land road!)

The Sweetheart’s stopped for coffee and the Bikes for Boobs crew of four kept going south to join Justin and I for our 4 hour tour

I asked for a free water stop at a local park in Dana Point, and CHanson rewarded us with a 15-18% climb. Going UP?

At least the view from up top was nice

Bonk face, about 20 minutes from Laguna Niguel

Once we got back from the ride Justin and I slammed some calories before heading NE to Mission Viejo for part 1 of my bike fit!

I’m doing a blog on this, so look for it coming up soon. Can’t wait to finish the fit.

Grassfed steak, KALE, roasted cauliflower, and a little more vino to wash it down

Despite staying up late on Saturday, once 5 am rolled around, I was wide awake again. Got up, did a short yoga session, and got to making breakfast. I love oats and Nuttzo and granola. Mm.

I’ve been tackling my mountain bike workouts a bit differently since I found out how to “really” do them. Watch out Strava, I’m coming for you.

Rolling through some neighborhoods to get to some trails

Good amount of time on the dirt Tarmac’s (2~ hours, by and large on dirt!)

Moar dirt

Another gorgeous day

After speeding around to claim some Strava QOM’s we had a snack, then went back down the trail to introduce ourselves and chat with Rob towing his son Wyatt around. Wyatt likes the downhills (who doesn’t??)

GET SOME

Speaking of which, I cleaned everything at Vail on Sunday. I have never done that before. I cleaned 1 rock out cropping I haven’t cleaned since 2008, I cleaned a super steep fire road section I’ve never cleaned, and made all of the sections I’m about 70% on.

Why did no one tell me how rad hard tail’s are? No, really? Thanks for not sharing your secret fast people!

Love this bike.

2 hours on the trails and it was time to head back to watch the Superbowl.

Dirt path time

One last hill to climb

50 miles in 4 hours and we managed to walk in just as the National Anthem was being sung

Hangar 24 DIPA while downloading the training file. Tough weekend!

In stark contrast to 2011′s Superbowl feast (massive hamburgers, roasted sweet potatoes and broccoli, super stuffed and full) we had slow cooked pulled pork, bit of guacamole, and then some paleo medley (spaghetti squash, broccoli, mushrooms, mixed peppers, onion with garlic and ginger)

I even ate a cookie; or two.

I had a thoroughly amazing weekend. I surprised myself a lot really being able to ride well uphill and down at the end of a challenging 3-week block of training. I don’t know what the power #s will say next week, but I know that I felt energized and fast all weekend, had a total blast riding with good friends and Justin.

Life is good right now. Just gotta keep it rolling!

Back to healthy food and no sugar or alcohol this week. Gotta rest up so I can hit it again next week! I can’t wait.