James Pearl Thinks Blogging is Dead

[Norm]

On Sundays

It seems that Sunday in general is a good day to sit down and write something. I have been a little better recently at taking some notes about what to eventually write about. Here we are and I have some time. So I will regurgitate some of these items into a disconnected series of posts. Each section will be "On [something]" today.

On Lifting Things Up & Putting Them Down Only to Lift Them Up Again Shortly Thereafter

@taylor185 - I have been through my iterations of lifting things up and putting them down. I don't think I ever got to a 300 pound bench press but maybe I did. I honestly don't remember. The biggest problem with strength training is that I don't enjoy it. And for me, probably for many people, it doesn't stick if I don't enjoy it. I have started to look at the long game, the "rest of life" game and I am not sure how well I see picking up/putting down fits into that paradigm. I have started push-ups & crunches again every morning, M-F. It's a little something that actually helps wake me up while the espresso machine is warming up. Beyond that, I don't know how maintainable anything else is for me.

On Rock Climbing

@JimN - I am game. Not sure Julia would be up for it but you know, with her I think you never know. Once she got over the hump she would probably love it, but the hump here may be too great. Long-time readers will remember that she used to be afraid of squirrels when she looked out the front door, and now she goes on roller coasters at 6 Flags. So things change. But like you and D both mention, goddamn it's tough to find time to swing that. But we should try.

As far as heights, I will say that the ski lift used to bother me but now I don't care. So it may not be so bad as long as I have confidence that the ropes can save me if when I fall off.

On Book

@rottin' - no I have not released anything to anyone. That was going to be something I did, just print it up and hand it to D. I never did that but I should. What I am referring to is short stories. I have had some ideas and I want to find time (ha, ha ha ha) to write them. I'm not sure what I want to do with them but writing this year has been slow going. I burned that candle pretty hard last year and this year has started on fire already. Add in the heavy bike hours and writing is on a slight pause right now. It'll come back but I earned a break.

On Dave Taylor

I don't want to belabor this any more than we already have on the other thread but I will break this up into part 1 and part 2 here. I know Mitch & Iggy don't want me to write this stuff but the lever has been pulled.

Part 1 is a story from my childhood. My friend Rich has an older brother Jim. Jim had a van that Rich and I took to a Great White/Whitesnake concert once. The day before the concert, we had another friend spray paint the side of the van "Great WhiteSnake Tour" or something, with some image from the tour on the side of the van. At the time, we thought it was cool as hell and we were a pretty big hit in Philly that day. Ok, well a few Philly drunks gave us some free shitty beer. Anyway, it was awesome. Well when we got home, Jim didn't think it was very awesome. He was pretty pissed. That has nothing to do with this story but Jim later got pulled over by the police in a totally separate car when speeding in a pack of cars all going the same speed. When he asked the cop why he got pulled over and not anyone else, the cop asked him if he ever went fishing. Yes, Jim said, he had. The cop then asked him if he ever caught all the fish.

Part 2 is more pertinent to the story. And here are the 2 egregious things that have transpired that I am just gonna throw out there. The first is that when you put personal correspondence in a public place in this situation, that's a prick move. Not that what I said was bad, in fact people have said that even my direct words to him were fair. Regardless, when you do something like that you have burned a bridge that is really hard to repair. Second, and this creeps me to some extent, he started following me on IG. To try to throw me under the bus in an open form and call me out then follow me on IG is bordering on creepy territory that makes me uncomfortable. I blocked him on all social media.

I'll try not to mention this again on this blog.

On Winter Training

When you take pictures you have 2 main setting to worry about: how big is the aperture and how long do you let the light in. These 2 settings pretty much dictate how your pictures will come out. Work these 2 variables together to work on your picture taking ability.

In terms of winter training, I feel there are 2 main variables you need to worry about: total volume every week and long ride of the week. Your total volume every week should be creeping up as a general rule. Likewise, your longest ride of the week should also consistently creep up. At some point you will hit a max in 1 or the other. But you need to figure out what those are. For me, this past week the long ride was 2.5 hours which I did on 2 separate occasions. Next week is 3 hours, then 3.5, and so on. I am hoping to hit a 5 hour ride by the end of February though I don't know if that is realistic. As far as volume goes, I did 13:14 this week. I can inch that up to 14 or maybe 16 now and again. But 13 is a pretty high number and I don't really need to get much more than that.

You need to figure out where your numbers are. But for now, those are the 2 things you need to worry about.

On My Quote of the Day

Me to @seanrunnette when discussing my aims for the 2019 biking season:

"Crushing souls like Dr. Scholls, one step at a time."

On My Song of the Day

I don't actually have a song of the day but I love this song. For the record, I heard this 50 times at least before I saw the video. I love her voice. I also love this time period where more and more women are getting legit air time. So many great women singers out there these days. I also did not realize until now that the lead singer is Shaun White's girlfriend, or was at some point last year.

​

On Mitch and His Thinking

@Mitch - you are thinking, "He tagged me in this post, where the hell did he tag me?"

On the Week Ahead

The next 7 days consists of:

* A 3 hour ride at some point
* A flight to Minnesota, one night there, and a flight back the next day
* Stage 5 of the TdZ challenge
* Volunteering Friday morning & night for a swim meet for Julia's team
* A flight to Arizona
* Renting bikes and riding South Mountain in Arizona
* Likely 3 of 7 dinners this week with my boss in some form or another

 

[jShort]

I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but the training I am doing is completely different. Six, maybe seven hours total. Sometimes less. Lots of threshold intervals. Lot of recovering.
When I read this stuff, and hear from Utah that he is doing 10 hours a week, I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong. But I've been happy with the results the last few years so I'm not planning on changing.
I guess there's many ways to do the same thing.

 

[shrpshtr325]

I'm not saying it's right it wrong, but the training I am doing is completely different. Six, maybe seven hours total. Sometimes less. Lots of threshold intervals. Lot or recovering.
When I read this stuff, and hear from Utah that he is doing 10 hours a week, I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong. But I've been happy with the results they last few years so I'm not planning on changing.
I guess there's many ways to do the same thing.

i am similar to you when im training, shorter workout, higher intensity, there is a whole lot of research being done lately that support HIIT as equally effective as the 'old' (for lack of a better adjective) method of piling on time. Everyone reacts to a set training schedule differently if it works for ya do it!

 

[jnos]

Dumpling. Stupid Netflix movie we watched with the kids. Entertaining enough for a family flick.

Man, we turned dumpling off it was so stupid

I agree with both of these statements, but lean more towards @Norm. My wife is a therapist in a middle school, so I end up watch a bunch of movies aimed at the pre-teen/teen demographic. The movie was fine for watching while scrolling through Twitter, but it didn't have much depth.

Netflix has two types of movies/shows. Type one: Great Television/Movies that can vie for awards or critical acclaim (Birdbox, early seasons of OITNB, etc.) Type two: Let's figure out exactly what people want to watch based on our data. Doesn't have to be good, just has to check the boxes. I don't think there is anything in between these types.

 

[stb222]

This is not a probing question or a did on indoor training.

You may have mentioned it and I probably missed it, but I know you have had it as a goal before.
With the recent frozen trail weather returning, is it on your radar to ride outside?

 

[Pearl]

I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but the training I am doing is completely different. Six, maybe seven hours total. Sometimes less. Lots of threshold intervals. Lot of recovering.
When I read this stuff, and hear from Utah that he is doing 10 hours a week, I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong. But I've been happy with the results the last few years so I'm not planning on changing.
I guess there's many ways to do the same thing.

Two different ways to slice it I guess, I like the less hours approach too. Somehow not riding more than 90 minutes can prepare you endurance racing, can't explain that!

 

[Mitch]

On Mitch and His Thinking

@Mitch - you are thinking, "He tagged me in this post, where the hell did he tag me?"

Nailed it! The Amazing Norm.

 

[taylor185]

sometimes we have to do things we dislike in order to achieve the thinks we want.

I aspire to be a really good bike rider and find that strength training once a week is a game changer for my abilities on and off the bike. Luckily, I like moving heavy objects.

My version of @Norm 's lifting is mobility. I hate spending time working on mobility and stretching. Unfortunately, the more I ride, the more I need to attend to problem areas (hips, it band, glutes) It sucks, I hate every moment of it but in the end, it's work I have to put in to have a chance to achieve my on-the-bike goals. When I slack off and ignore it, I pay the price on and off the bike.

the core work is great but forget the pushups. Buy (or borrow from me) a few kettlebells and do 3-4 of the exercises I mentioned previously 1-2 times a week for 15-20 mins. Deadlifts, kettlebell swings, lunges or split squats and you're done.

 

[shrpshtr325]

sometimes we have to do things we dislike in order to achieve the thinks we want.

I aspire to be a really good bike rider and find that strength training once a week is a game changer for my abilities on and off the bike. Luckily, I like moving heavy objects.

My version of @Norm 's lifting is mobility. I hate spending time working on mobility and stretching. Unfortunately, the more I ride, the more I need to attend to problem areas (hips, it band, glutes) It sucks, I hate every moment of it but in the end, it's work I have to put in to have a chance to achieve my on-the-bike goals. When I slack off and ignore it, I pay the price on and off the bike.

the core work is great but forget the pushups. Buy (or borrow from me) a few kettlebells and do 3-4 of the exercises I mentioned previously 1-2 times a week for 15-20 mins. Deadlifts, kettlebell swings, lunges or split squats and you're done.

im interested in your argument against pushups, most (granted i havent done extensive research) of what i hear is that they are good for you since (if done properly) you are engaging your core arms back and chest, but im just a guy on the internet so i want more information if you have it to share.

 

[taylor185]

im interested in your argument against pushups, most (granted i havent done extensive research) of what i hear is that they are good for you since (if done properly) you are engaging your core arms back and chest, but im just a guy on the internet so i want more information if you have it to share.

I was coming at it solely from a time reduction standpoint. Pushups are great and I agree with the core engagement aspect. If I was designing a program for the time crunched cyclist, I'd axe though in favor of leg (and core) exercises.

 

[JimN]

im interested in your argument against pushups

They aren't fun.

 

[The Kalmyk]

sometimes we have to do things we dislike in order to achieve the thinks we want.

I aspire to be a really good bike rider and find that strength training once a week is a game changer for my abilities on and off the bike. Luckily, I like moving heavy objects.

My version of @Norm 's lifting is mobility. I hate spending time working on mobility and stretching. Unfortunately, the more I ride, the more I need to attend to problem areas (hips, it band, glutes) It sucks, I hate every moment of it but in the end, it's work I have to put in to have a chance to achieve my on-the-bike goals. When I slack off and ignore it, I pay the price on and off the bike.

the core work is great but forget the pushups. Buy (or borrow from me) a few kettlebells and do 3-4 of the exercises I mentioned previously 1-2 times a week for 15-20 mins. Deadlifts, kettlebell swings, lunges or split squats and you're done.

Sitting at you desk with a set of grippers can greatly improve your strength through the practice of irradiation. Do reps through out the day and keep them under 5 (ie. 7 sets of 5 over the course of 10 hours at work). I do this about 3 times a week at work using the Iron Mind Grippers. I have the trainer gripper up to the number two gripper. I could prolly move up to the 2.5 or the 3 gripper but just haven't ordered them.

 

[shrpshtr325]

I was coming at it solely from a time reduction standpoint. Pushups are great and I agree with the core engagement aspect. If I was designing a program for the time crunched cyclist, I'd axe though in favor of leg (and core) exercises.

i can see that, kettlebells require a more dynamic engagement of the core and supporting muscles, i should probably switch over to using them once a week but just havent gotten around to picking up a couple, will have to check garage sales i guess . . . (yes im a cheap mfer)

 

[taylor185]

i can see that, kettlebells require a more dynamic engagement of the core and supporting muscles, i should probably switch over to using them once a week but just havent gotten around to picking up a couple, will have to check garage sales i guess . . . (yes im a cheap mfer)

these are good: https://www.kettlebellsusa.com/kettlebells-usa-discount-kettlebells-for-sale?p=2

go with the paradigm pro elite precision steel competition. all weights have the same size and handle diameter. the 14-20 kg range is good. always buy a pair, not just one.

 

[shrpshtr325]

a pair just so you can do moves with both arms at once or is there more to it?

 

[taylor185]

a pair just so you can do moves with both arms at once or is there more to it?

that and the option for more weight. one 14kg might be perfect for single arm push press, single arm row or even a kb swing if starting out. but 14kg is too light for, say, deadlift. insert second kb and you're good to go for a quality deadlift. Similarly, one 14 kb is good place to start for squatting (goblet). in time you'll need more weight, so move to two 14 kg kb front squat

 

[shrpshtr325]

that and the option for more weight. one 14kg might be perfect for single arm push press, single arm row or even a kb swing if starting out. but 14kg is too light for, say, deadlift. insert second kb and you're good to go for a quality deadlift. Similarly, one 14 kb is good place to start for squatting (goblet). in time you'll need more weight, so move to two 14 kg kb front squat

ill have to take a stop at my local sporting goods store just to see what weight i should start at. . . . its worth a try to see if i like it.

 

[The Kalmyk]

that and the option for more weight. one 14kg might be perfect for single arm push press, single arm row or even a kb swing if starting out. but 14kg is too light for, say, deadlift. insert second kb and you're good to go for a quality deadlift. Similarly, one 14 kb is good place to start for squatting (goblet). in time you'll need more weight, so move to two 14 kg kb front squat

Are Turkish get ups part of your routine at all? To get the most out of them requires focus which is why I enjoy them so much.

 

[UtahJoe]

I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but the training I am doing is completely different. Six, maybe seven hours total. Sometimes less. Lots of threshold intervals. Lot of recovering.
When I read this stuff, and hear from Utah that he is doing 10 hours a week, I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong. But I've been happy with the results the last few years so I'm not planning on changing.
I guess there's many ways to do the same thing.

Well in my case...my winter riding is really all about not gaining weight.....I might be able to do your same routine and get the same results... For me, I generally hate doing hard workouts on the trainer....and doing them outside in the dark sucks also.....so 10 hrs is a nice round number i try to hit, but im not doing anything that I would calling "training". ...This week I only did like 8.5, but i also skied and hit the rock gym. @Norm is doing 3 hour rides on the trainer....that to me is amazing....I can do 2 now, but I thats about it.

As far as heights, I will say that the ski lift used to bother me but now I don't care. So it may not be so bad as long as I have confidence that the ropes can save me if when I fall off.

So what works for me with the rock gym is that I can let bob run around and climb stuff while I climb (badly)....But its a good workout and far more entertaining then weight lifting....especially when you are scared to death of heights like i am. Its a fun thing to do with the family, albeit expensive.

And when i take you to Utah, some of the lifts will probably scare you....some I have been riding for 30 years and they still scare me. Cant wait until I can be beamed to the top of the mountain like president skroob.

 

[taylor185]

Are Turkish get ups part of your routine at all? To get the most out of them requires focus which is why I enjoy them so much.

great exercise and something I don't do enough. my mid-exercise mantra: "don't drop the kettlebell. don't drop the kettlebell. don't drop the kettlebell."