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Endurance - Blog Posts
Announced today, March 9th 2022, intrepid expedition team Endurance22 in the Weddell Sea, carrying The Explorers Club flag, uncovered the resting place of Ernest Shackleton's ship Endurance. Find out why this discovery's’ timing has such a poetic twist!
The whole Castrol Toyota team posing before the 1995 Kenya Rally.
Mirage M6 (1972) with Gulf livery
#Sebring 72 #Mirage #Gulf
TRICOLORE BY XTR (2024)
CUSTOM DUCATI 749: RADICAL DUCATI’S 7½ SPORTIVA
Dare you to move
"Everybody waits for you now. What happens next? Yeah, what happens next? I dare you to move ... Like today never happened before." sings Jon Foreman. Dare you to move was and probably still is a great hit but there's more to it, than just radically high sales.
There are neccesarily times, when we're on the floor, or just struggling to find our way. This is how we live. Searching for the right thing to do. But what do we do in these times? I believe there's nothing we could possibly achieve on our own, we need someone to dare us to move. That first step, with which every journey begins, is the one, that we are incapable of making.
I've been all about surviving lately. I worked hard, so that I wouldn't fail on tests, I never went out with friends, so that I could save time, I relaxed only on one day of the week, I've even neglected my meals. My one and only goal was to last until the big romantic turn, which I've been waiting for for ages now, would come.
Turns out, this was a very futile attitude because now, after months of merely enduring, I'm left with no success. I was hoping to get a literary agent, or an editor, or something to get published. Actually, I was quite confident about it. I know my novel is good, and I believe it's the best I could do, or even beyond that. But it just didn't happen. Those, who replied, were sadly giving negative answers. I've kept my hope, saying I have like four more answers to come, one of those will surely be a contract offer. But it's been a long time now and yet, the mails have stopped to come.
What do I do now? This is what I kept asking myself in the past couple of days. My studies are at the lowest level, which suffices for staying in. My book most seemingly is not very good at selling itself. There is no miraculous benefactor, who would support my career as anything.
I've been thinking, maybe I should really concentrate on my current studies and get a diploma as an engineer - it pays well. But then, I want to be more than that. Free. Of course I'm not getting a degree in philosophy, or arts but still... Something else. I'd love to keep working on my book and write new ones. I want to travel, make acquintances, act memorably, and always remain myself. I just have absolutely no idea how to do all these without making sacrifices I wouldn't wanna. Naturally, I'm ready to give up things but I was referring to relationships I'm not willing to damage.
And suddenly, just now, I see clearly, that there's so much potential. So many things I used to believe in just a couple months ago. Why is my faith in them fading? I'm at the contradiction line. If I make one more step in the direction of this surviving-lifestyle, I'm done, I'm going against everything I am and want to be. Here's the trick: I have the motivation. There's someone, who says: I dare you to move. He picks me up, He's doing it even right now. Despite how I see my present state, I know there'll be deliverance, so I aim for that. If I'm true to my beliefs, to my past decisions, there's always redemption and restoration. I can't wait for tomorrow to begin :)
Missing Midnight
Why couldn’t I live any longer in the blue light
Drinking it up like a lycanthrope at midnight
Now an owl among the eagles in the harsh sunlight
Wishing for cover for my burning plight
Half lidded eyes forced to endure the yellow hue
Begging for the return of the midnight blue
To burst into a fleeting flight feeling anew
Akin to a bat chirping happily as they flew
Why couldn’t I live under the shining moon
Dancing in it like a vampire humming a heartless tune
Forever an owl among the eagles in the hot afternoon
Desiring to be a silken moth in a comfy cocoon
I shall endure the seething glare of the sun
Never giving them the joy of becoming undone
For I absolutely refuse to get up and run
Even if the eagles love to make fun
Adding Zone 2 | Training Journal Entry #1
A bit of housekeeping at the beginning.
What? My cycling training blog, as the name suggests. Old school blogging style, personal journal of my cycling training.
Why? To keep my thoughts, track my journey, maybe be helpful to others on their cycling journey
Who? I'm a husband, daddy of two, founder of a software company, 37 years old, based in Germany. When it comes to cycling, I mostly ride gravel. I started to take cycling up as a sport about 2 years ago (in my teens I rode road). So far I haven't participated in any competitive events but am interested in doing so next year if my other commitments allow me to do so.
Current status
I've been training on/off with Trainerroad for almost a year now. This year I had several multi-week breaks due to sickness, mostly long-lasting coughs.
I restarted a plan from Base 1 3.5 weeks ago, so I'm currently in Base 1. I decided to give the low-volume sweet spot base plan a try this time around. For now, I don't train for a specific event. I'll pick some goal events in 2024 a bit later. I'm currently just interested in improving my fitness and building a solid base I can utilize next year.
As often suggested by the TR team, I started to add in Zone 2 endurance workouts. I did a 90 Min, 49 TSS, 0.57 IF workout (Little Park) on Sunday. I realized that the power targets TR prescribes (between 50 to 59% of FTP) are barely touching zone 2 (Coggan has it starting at 56% of FTP up to 75%, Inigo San Millan at 55% [but allegedly tends to favor training on the higher end of Z2]). Also, my heart rate didn't reach my zone 2.
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Finding out your Zone 2 HR zone
There are different ways how HR Zones are defined (Jeff Winkler has a good overview here). The simpler way is to go of your max HR but the approach people like Seiler recommend is to use your HR Reserve (HRR) which is your Max HR (MHR) minus your Resting HR (RHR). If you take this approach, Zone 2 is as follows
Zone 2 minimum boundary = 61% HRR + RHR
Zone 2 maximum boundary = 70% HRR + RHR
In my case with a MHR of 186 and RHR of 46 that leads to Zone 2 lying between 131-144 bpm.
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In the Little Park workout, my maximum HR was 129 and the average was 120. All that is to say, I am monitoring the TR endurance workouts and might have to make them a bit harder. Today, I have scheduled a 2-hour, 72 TSS, 0.6 IS workout (classified by TR as "Stretch") which has power between 55-65% of FTP which I think should do the trick.
Of course, overall I have to be mindful of the general training load and stress. Famously, the TR plans are quite high in intensity. While adding Z2 volume is the safest way to go, even upping volume at lower intensities ought to happen mindfully and with a keen eye on the body's response.