Trying to out-last the sniffles

I’m not completely sure, but I think I feel a cold coming on.  That doesn’t make me happy obviously.  It is still too early to tell though which means I still have a window of opportunity to kick it before it flourishes if I keep powering down the vitamins.

 

I had intended to go for a small ride last night.  I hesitate to do much normal street riding around here because it is nearly a daily occurrence that you hear on the news that a cyclist was run over by a vehicle.  Drivers here simply do not pay attention to anything but their cell phones.  However, I did manage to find a decent route very close to where I live that has almost no traffic.  Nearly half of it, in fact, is in an alley.  It is a small half mile circle around a playa lake so the scenery isn’t too bad either.

 

I didn’t end up going though.  I got home from work and changed clothes in anticipation of going.  I sat down to watch a little television to wait until most of the “drive home” traffic had abated.  Around 6:30, I got up and started preparing to ride… and discovered that a hard cold front had blown through in the hour I had been home.  The wind was howling outside and the temperature had dropped from about 60 degrees to below 40 degrees.

 

Needless to say, I chickened out.

 

I ended up doing a mostly bodyweight leg strengthening and muscle endurance workout instead.  I did a circuit of 3 sets of 5 exercises with a 30 second rest in between each circuit.  The circuit consisted of:

 

25 bw squats

25 (each leg) side lunges holding 2x 30 pound dumbbells

25 (each leg) front lunges holding 2x 30 pound dumbbells

25 leg extensions on the bowflex with 100 pounds of tension

25 leg curls on the bowflex with 80 pounds of tension

 

Afterwards, I did 5 sets of 60 second planks with a 30 second rest in between.

 

All in all, it was a fairly light and easy workout that only took about 30 minutes.  Once I was done, I felt really guilty for not getting out on the bike and chastised myself for taking things so easy since I had hardly even built up a sweat.  Oddly enough, however, I’m freaking SORE AS CRAP today.

 

Which is odd in a way.

 

I’m not sure if I’ll get any exercise in tonight.  It all depends on if I fight off this cold or if I’m still feeling like crap this evening.  A guy from work wants to try to plan a ride Friday evening immediately after work this week because he won’t be able to ride on Saturday, so I want to be well enough to do that.  I’m still planning on riding on Saturday as well.

 

One of my goals is to eventually purchase a road bike.  I love my mountain bike and I really love the trail riding, but I unfortunately can’t do it every day.  The trail system is simply too far away and it gets dark way too early here right now.  Being still new to this, I have enough troubles surviving the trails in the daylight.  I’m not about to try a night ride… not yet anyway.  Plus, I really want to do both to supplement each other.

 

I’m just impatient.  I have this long list of supplies, equipment and gear I want to buy, but I want it all right this second.  I hate having to save up and buy things slowly.  I guess it gives me something to look forward to though.