Winter life recap

There's been a whole lot going on in the wonderful world of "Keep Moving Forward" that have kept me busy and away from a computer long enough to not post any updates.  But alas, as it is a rest week again, I'm back at it, letting the world (or rather my two readers - HI Tim!) know what's been going on.
So, as I shot out in the last post, I was chosen to be a member of the Powerbar Team Elite for the 2012-2013 multisport season.  I'm floored to have been chosen for this team and stoked to represent such a great company (and of course get some delicious product) and I'm not kidding when I say I use it daily.  Below is a shot from a trainer ride a few weekends ago.  That wasn't all I ate...

But on the other front's in my life (and to stray away from all things multisport for a minute, this year has been crazy busy!  Kim and I moved in together a few weeks ago and that's been going really well.  We have gotten settled a bit and are finally figuring out where all the light switches are and in what drawers and cupboards our most used items are located.  All in all, it's been fantastic as I get to see her MUCH more often than I did when we lived separately.

One of the cool things about the new place is that we now have a spare bedroom that has been converted into what we have dubbed as the "training room" and it houses our two bikes which live permanently on the trainers during this time of year and also a bike tree with 2 spare bikes on it (my TANK and her mtn bike) along with a bed and also a flatscreen TV that's mounted waist high.  Why waist high?  Because it's the perfect height when you're tucked down in aero of course!  And if you watch as much TV on your bike as us, then it's absolutely perfect!

In regards to training, I've been staying busy, hitting about 20 hours a week average for this last block and taking the opportunity of the off-season to work on my weakness which is bike durability and bike strength.  I've started a weight lifting routine aimed to increase leg strength to increase the power that I can apply to the pedals.  I did a test earlier in the year that found out that I'm a weak cyclist and the leg strength needs to be increased. (bike strength=bike speed and increased power)

But on the other side of the coin, I've also been running a lot less (think 3x30mins a week) and POUNDING out the bike miles.  I'm feeling stronger and even though we moved apartments the last rest week that I had (thereby negating any rest that I would likely get that week) I'm hoping that after this rest period and next block, I will see some big gains on the bike.  I've done some racing and have a season planned out so far around some big things happening in 2012 (Grand Canyon hiking trip, our wedding, honeymoon in Costa Rica, Great Range traverse) so things are looking up. 

I'll shoot up a race report shortly for the winter adventure race my buddy Tim and I did, but until then friends, feet up and take that recovering seriously!  Cheers.