Show us your.......newbie progress! [4 Sep 2012 - 4 Oct 2014]

[RWright]

Third week of structured training and beginning to see some results. I centralised all data into Golden Cheetah and I was able to extract some meaningful statistics. Basically since I'm training in specific HR zones on pretty much the same route I can judge the progress by the average speed. Base fitness on the Endurance rides in Zone 2 was 22.1Km/h first week, 23.1Km/h second week and today 24.2Km/h which is a nice trend to notice. Obviously I need more data but the results are good enough to keep me motivated and press on. I'm beginning to discover the science of sport and it gets me pretty excited TBH. I'm starting to wish for a power meter

One of the reasons I am dragging my feet on getting started with this type training. I am hoping to get time to learn about the heart rate zones and using them on my Garmin sometime in early August. My replacement Heart Rate Monitor (I asked them to send me the old style) seems to be fairly accurate so far.

 

[Mo1959]

Ah yes animals - wish my boy in my avatar was still here! Mind you he could eat for England. 1.2 Kg meat, 10 slices toast, a dozen small Bonios all the table scraps and whatever else his sad eyes could scrounge went past his big teeth every day. He wasn't a fattie either - he was a big muscly lad who was super fit - unlike his dad!

Parcel at the Post Office as I passed it to go and get some ice cream!

Thanks again.
Beautiful dog. Sorry he is no longer with you. A Weimaraner? I often meet a lovely one called Sam on my walk. He is always carrying huge sticks. Don't know how he doesn't damage his teeth the weight of them.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Thanks again.
Beautiful dog. Sorry he is no longer with you. A Weimaraner? I often meet a lovely one called Sam on my walk. He is always carrying huge sticks. Don't know how he doesn't damage his teeth the weight of them.

Yes - he was a Weim'; a big part of my life disappeared when he died in 2011. He was my mountain buddy and we logged over 200 mountain days together.

He was a solid climber too. In this pic' at the summit of Ben Nevis in 2003 he has his little lightweight walking harness on as there were big cornices nearby but he also had a proper climbing harness for tricky ascents.

 

[Mo1959]

Yes - he was a Weim'; a big part of my life disappeared when he died in 2011. He was my mountain buddy and we logged over 200 mountain days together.

He was a solid climber too. In this pic' at the summit of Ben Nevis in 2003 he has his little lightweight walking harness on as there were big cornices nearby but he also had a proper climbing harness for tricky ascents.

View attachment 26659

What a beauty. Dogs seem to love up in the hills. One of my ex-colleagues is a regular hill walker and her husband is in the Strathclyde Police search and rescue so they are great climbers. They lost their last dog a few months back but have a new youngster so I am sure she will be up in the hills with them again soon.

 

[Nomadski]

Always makes me incredibly sad when people talk about well loved dogs that have passed away, especially when there are photographs of them! The Weim looked like an awesome friend. Also a bit of a 'hero' stood there at the top of Ben Nevis with barely a care in the world! (Was your dog asking you where his promised treat was?)

@SpokeyDokey - Awesome gesture for the Moster, a gentleman and a squire!

@MaxInc - I too was quite interested in a power meter. Right up until I did a google search, hit the shopping tab, and selected the filter "Lowest Price First". I soon went back to looking for silly youtube clips of monkeys on surfboards. That science craic can turn you into a number cruncher, although if you enjoy that part of it that's great. I tried looking a little into all that but then realised at nearly 40 my time for shaving miliseconds by science is replaced by shaving minutes by losing my belly barrel!

@g0kmt - Sorry to hear about your incident but at least you serenaded 2 ladies over tea so it wasn't a total loss! Hope you and the steed are ok.

(Seem to be saying this a lot lately, guys 'n gals can you stop falling off your bikes please? Its much more fun vertical).

@stevey - Was there a lot of red on display? If there was then it could have been us, maybe cameras give a false impression of speed... I still think we should have gone up and down a few times, maybe pulling a few tricks, a bit like those pandas in the kitkat advert.

 

[SWSteve]

I think I have just lost my nerve Nigel since my loose gravel incident. I am paranoid about the stuff. They do that loose chipping thing up here ie tar with a layer of small chippings on top and the cars press it down. They never seem to come and sweep the excess off though.

It is very hard to avoid on the narrow twisty lanes here. There are usually two nice smooth 'rails' to use - trouble is if I get in one and go round a bend there'll be a car in them, I'll then go off line and end up in the gravel!

Not easy this biking malarky!

I was traveling on a road which is paved like this. It was done weeks ago, but on Sunday one of the chips was detached from the road, and the tar side was stuck to my tyre . Let's just say I stopped after say 200m to find out what was going on

 

[SWSteve]

@SpokeyDokey Yes thanks, I am fine, so is the bike.

I must admit I am enjoying this week off, with all this cycling :-) I am hoping to do another ride tomorrow, maybe try for 15 miles this time.

do it, you'll feel like a champ!

 

[SWSteve]

Yes - he was a Weim'; a big part of my life disappeared when he died in 2011. He was my mountain buddy and we logged over 200 mountain days together.

He was a solid climber too. In this pic' at the summit of Ben Nevis in 2003 he has his little lightweight walking harness on as there were big cornices nearby but he also had a proper climbing harness for tricky ascents.

View attachment 26659

That is a magnificent looking dog. I'm more prone to cats, the only dog I've ever 'known' is an Irish Wheeten terrier, but this is a dog I could get on with. He definitely looks in good shape.

 

[themosquitoking]

@stevey - Was there a lot of red on display? If there was then it could have been us, maybe cameras give a false impression of speed... I still think we should have gone up and down a few times, maybe pulling a few tricks, a bit like those pandas in the kitkat advert.

What tricks can you do? I might have been able to fall off in a comedy way.

 

[RWright]

Yes - he was a Weim'; a big part of my life disappeared when he died in 2011. He was my mountain buddy and we logged over 200 mountain days together.

He was a solid climber too. In this pic' at the summit of Ben Nevis in 2003 he has his little lightweight walking harness on as there were big cornices nearby but he also had a proper climbing harness for tricky ascents.

View attachment 26659

A lot of evenings I see one particular guy out walking, I see him more than anyone. He has two dogs that look like that one. They always seem well behaved. His are always on a leash except when I see him going down the stretch of highway bypass that hasn't opened yet. It is four lanes wide and maybe about 2 miles long with a big grass median. He lets them run out there. He wears headphones and one day I came up from behind in the opposite two lanes they were walking. His dogs saw me before he did and here they come after me, at full speed. I wasn't really scared as I knew they didn't seem vicious but it is still a little unsettling when you see two dogs that size coming at you at full speed. The man quickly noticed and as soon as he gave them the command to stop, they stopped immediately. I was thankful for that. Get a puppy and new climbing partner. I would think your previous dog would not want you wandering around out there all alone.

 

[themosquitoking]

That is a magnificent looking dog. I'm more prone to cats, the only dog I've ever 'known' is an Irish Wheeten terrier, but this is a dog I could get on with. He definitely looks in good shape.

Anyone want to take that?

 

[SWSteve]

Anyone want to take that?

What! He wasn't mine, he was someone else's.

The more I think, the dog may have been a girl

 

[themosquitoking]

What! He wasn't mine, he was someone else's.

The more I think, the dog may have been a girl

Was there any grooming involved?

 

[SWSteve]

Was there any grooming involved?

Not from me towards the dog, she would walk in when the grooming had been effective..

 

[themosquitoking]

Not from me towards the dog, she would walk in when the grooming had been effective..

They're always putty in your hands if you make a nice comment about their new hairdo.