wickedwords

Ride Length: 15 miles
Elevation: 0 (on trainer)
Where: Inside the house
How long: 87 minutes

Max speed:  14.8 mph
Avg speed:  10.4 mph
Miles for Week 3:  43
Miles for Year 2012: 98

Drat!  Haven't yet broken 100 miles for the year, but tomorrow should be the day.   I'm hoping that by August that 14.8 'max speed' will become my average, which would be fantastic.  I felt great at putting in 30 miles over the weekend, and I am looking forward to next month when I will be doing that in a day.  I spent more time than I should looking at potential bike routes, and am seriously thinking about commuting in a day or two a week when the weather picks up.  The problem is it's bad traffic all the way from home to work, so I'm not sure how to work around that.  Not to mention the whole *ugh* hills part of the thing.  But I'll figure it out.

Ride Length: 6.6 miles
Elevation: 0 (on trainer)
Where: Inside the house
How long: 38.55 minutes

Max speed:  17.9 mph
Avg speed:  10.1 mph
Miles for Week 3:  13
Miles for Year 2012: 68

Goal:  Speed Repeats

*Ugh* So hard to get on the trainer today.  The snow and cold made me want to just cuddle up with the cats in front of the TV.  I did get through the repeats I wanted to do, so that's a yay.  I was a little faster on my max last week, but I sustained a better average speed, so I guess that works out as well. Darn these slow incremental improvements!  I want to be faster with a snap of my fingers rather than having to work for it and sweat.

Ride Length: 10 miles
Elevation: 0 (on trainer)
Where: Inside the house
How long: 58.36 minutes

Max speed:  15.2 mph
Avg speed: 10.2 mph
Miles for Week 2:  30
Miles for Year 2012: 55

Goal:  Hill climb

30 miles for the end of week 2.  Not bad for getting back on the bike.  This whole thing is still pretty crazy, but two weeks and I am still doing it, so that is very, very good.

Ride Length: 5 miles
Elevation: 0 (on trainer)
Where: Inside the house
How long: 30 minutes

Max speed:  18.3 mph
Avg speed: 9.9 mph
Miles for Week 2:  10
Miles for Year 2012: 35

Goal:  Speed Work

warm-up: 5 minutes
Repeats:  (1 min @ 3.5, 16 MPH, 4 min @2.5, 10.5-11 MPH) - X4 
Cool down: 5 minutes
 
This is what I think is my most critical issue: I am darn slow.  I am not even up to the 'steady' criteria on the group ride descriptions, and I am barely into the 'leisurely' pace.  So I figure if I try to do speed repeats one day a week, that should help.  Just have to grow it over time.

Ride Length: 5 miles
Elevation: 0 (on trainer)
Where: Inside the house
How long: 31 minutes

Max speed:  12.0mph
Avg speed: 9.5 mph
Miles for Week 2:  5
Miles for Year 2012: 30

Goal:  Easy spin

warm-up: 5 minutes
25 minutes @10.5-11 mph
Cool down: 5 minutes
 
Just an easy spin today.  Nothing terribly awesome.  I'm going to try to repeat the pattern of easy/speed/endurance/hills when I use the indoor trainer.  Once I get outside, then it'll be whatever the terrain is.

Ride Length: 8.8 miles
Elevation: 0 (on trainer)
Where: Inside the house
How long: 60 minutes
Max speed: 12.5 mph
Avg speed: 8.7 mph
Miles for Week 1: 16.8
Miles for Year 2012: 16.8

Goal: Endurance

warm-up: 10 minutes
Repeats: 2 min @ 3.5, 3 min @ 2.5 - 6 times
Cooldown: 10 min

I know! An hour as an endurance goal. But we all have to start somewhere, and I haven't ridden since summer. It's a little astounding that the time goes so quick.  I'm hoping next weekend to get myself outdoors, but it depends on the weather and how confident I feel about riding that day.

Ride Length: 4 miles
Elevation: 0 (on trainer)
Where: Inside the house
Start Time: 7:30
End Time: 8:00
How long: 30 minutes
Avg speed: 8.1 mph

I signed up for the tour de cure again this year, with the goal of doing the 50 mile loop again, hills and all. To do that, I need to start from scratch. I twisted my knee in August last year, and finally, after some PT and several months of healing, it is back to good. (Or as good as it gets.) So here's day 1 of 2012, and it can only get better from here.

Also, I am thinking of getting a new bike! One built for this 50 mile rides I like to do, and maybe some longer stuff. I want to sign up for the ride up to vancouver, so I will have done the length of washington state. I'm thinking more of a road bike, but I like the upright setup I currently have on my hybrid. I'd love sources and recs for biking equipment. Things have changed a lot since I bought my last bike.

In the infinitely cool things list, I received not one but TWO adventure time stories. And if you guys aren't watching adventure time, then you do not know one of the cleverest shows on the air right now, next to venture brothers. The show itself is fast paced and smart, with bad puns and witty hijinx. It's set in a post-apolocypic earth, with Finn the Human and his best friend Jake the magical dog. There's a crazed, sweeny todd-like Princess Wildberry who, as a fruit, makes meat pies and uses meat to decorate her castle; the Candy people created by Princess Bubblegum, and some scary, evil pool toys. Seriously! If you are looking for light and clever PG rated cartoon fare, this is the place.

I, of course, fell for the genderswapped version of the main characters, Fionna and her best friend, the magical cat Cake.

So the first story I got Chop 'Til You Drop is a pure tale of adventure, much like the show episodes. With added zombies. I even forced my son to read it as he's a big adventure time fan, and he gave it a thumbs up too. It can be read by people who aren't fans of the show, and it'll give you a taste of what its all about.

The second story I got An Unfinished Manuscript deals with the meta aspect of the Adventure Time show, and the way that fans discover stuff about themselves when they start writing stories. It does require more indepth series knowledge than the first story, so I'm gonna put it in the paragraph below this though I am too lazy to cut it or white it out.

The Fionna and Cake episode had a tag that revealed that the Ice King, the nefarious antagonist to Finn and Jake, had trapped the two leads and forced them to listen to the genderswapped fanfic that he'd written about them. Which had some odd mary sue moments in it what with the Ice Queen and the slashy overtones, along with breaking down into terrible writing there at the end. It's a mashup of fandom, show, and fanfic tropes, and is fascinating -- as well as oddly thinky -- because of it.

Tomorrow I have set aside time to read my long SGA Santa story. I feel so bad for the author but I will be able to finish it tomorrow. I just have to crash tonight.

Oh. my. I am at BEARS! BEARS! BEARS! on my story. I wasn't able to write yesterday as work had a meltdown while I was at a doctors appointment (still looking good, yay!). So I still have that one last scene to do and I have promised myself I will get it done tonight. ::determined nod::

In other news, Ev received acceptances to two universities yesterday, western (or as he prefers to call it, the mages college at winterhold) and PLU, the college I graduated from. Since Western's his first choice, that's probably where he'll end up, but I want to get the financial aid letter first so we can compare costs.

Just in case anyone is interested, I do give blanket permission to podfic my work. You'll need to take collaborations up with the other authors, but as for myself, we are good to go. Please let me know about it when you're done.