Working

Putting in the hours in the name of the game to get things done at work, at home and on the bike.  It's been well over three months since the last post because of just that... work.  Work itself has been extremely busy with an increased amount of work with less resources to go around.  16 key enterprise-wide projects to oversee and ensure each and every milestone is hit and objective met prior to established due dates.  Not easy to do when your team consists of your manager, your two employees and yourself.  No worries though, the annual plan I developed is in motion and moving swiftly.  Now just to get through the onsite review with the Feds.

Work at home has been progressing well too, just slower than ever expected but we're almost done with the remodel of the upstairs bathroom.  With the help of my Pa we hung the drywall and I spent the next few weeks mudding the joints.  Only a few things to finish up and we'll have the bathroom usable again.  Remaining tasks are painting (second coat), caulk around the tub, tile the floor, put in the vanity and install the toilet.  Aiming for a few weeks out for wrapping it all up.  Amy and William are getting antsy to use the new tub and shower and are getting sick of the walk downstairs.  The hours of work put into this project makes you appreciate what all goes into the full remodel of any room in a house.

Cycling has been going well also with additional time being put in to up my fitness for a challenging year of racing ahead.  I completed my first power test of the year a few weeks and the results were quite surprising.  I didn't anticipate the higher than expected sustained power output but it did provide me with additional motivation knowing that I'm not in as big of a hole than originally thought.  I'm also using new software to analyze my workouts and applying new metrics to track my ongoing progress.  I'm looking forward to having a few months of additional data to leverage many of the interesting analysis tools that are provided.  More hours in the saddle and focused attention to each training detail are required for continued progress and my eyes on strictly focused on a few important goals.  Should be interesting to see how they play out.  Until spring is here and racing starts it will be just long and tiresome hours on the trainer in the basement in front of the TV.  Can't wait!

I also can't wait to see what William will be up to in a few months.  His 1st birthday is just around the corner (1 month from today) and he's already walking fairly well with significant progress each day.  It's amazing seeing what new things he's able to do each day.  Amy and I have already picked out William's birthday present.  He will be using it in no time and it will be fun to watch him speed around!  This next year is going to be a blast with many potential changes on the horizon.  I can't wait!

Base Building

Building is the key word here.  Amy and I have made some progress with the bathroom remodel and are currently at the point of getting the sub-floor put in with the help from my pa.  There was a significant amount of destruction that had to take place to get where we are at today.  That included taking down the remaining plaster from the walls and ceiling along with tearing up the floor.  Everything came out pretty easily except the flooring which I suspected the potential for asbestos.  That ended up with sending Amy and Willliam to her parents for the night so that I could complete the removal of the floor.  A few long hours of hard work it was out and the bathroom was completely gutted.  Next up is getting the tub/shower and putting the plumbing in.  Then it's off to dry walling.  Hopefully we'll have this thing finished in the next month or so!

Now to the base building.  I've began my training for the 2012 cycling season and starting from scratch.  Building a solid base or "foundation" is critical to ongoing training.  Cycling training can be depicted as a triangle with the base of the triangle being the greatest amount of training.  A well established foundation allows for more specific and intense training in the future.  All of my training has shifted to the morning hours, something that I've never enjoyed but now have to get used to.  Luckily, when I do have to train in the evenings I still get to be around William.  The picture below is what cyclists consider their winter "pain cave", or at least this is my version of it including necessary safety features for keeping William out of danger.  On the TV is the 2009 Tour de France.  I'll be training all winter to the last three years of TdF races which helps to pass the many hours that will be put in over the course of the next 4 months of indoor training.  William will also be around to keep me company and motivated.

There's an idea I've been floating around in my head over the last couple months that I never though I'd say after my junior year in college.  That's running.  I haven't considered running since I had Illiatobal Band Syndrome in my left hip during training on the UW-Platteville cross country team.  The pain that I endured that year completely shifted me away from running and moved me over to the bike.  Now, I am kicking around the idea of running a marathon.  This is quite a large feat to try an conquer mainly because I haven't run more than a few hundred feet at a time in over 6 years.  I'm thinking about doing the Lakefront Marathon close to home which is in October.  I'll have to commit by late March to make registration so there's time to thoroughly think this through.  Additionally, there's plenty of time to train.  I definitely will not be doing any running outside this winter nor will I be running on a treadmill.  Riding a bike on a trainer all winter is hard enough.

In other news, William is growing significantly and is in need of his first haircut.  I'm looking forward to Christmas to see William's reaction to all the lights and activities.  Amy's been doing well besides having a rough few weeks here.  She had a tooth ache that's ended up to need additional work to be completed.  To say the least, it's a painful process and I hope she recovers quickly after tomorrow's appointment.


That's all folks!

Awesomeness or Insanity

You make the call.  I stumbled upon this video of MTB downhill racing this evening while surfing the interweb.  The guys that do this are either some of the best riders ever or are all on the verge of insanity!

http://vimeo.com/9970489