Sunday, December 27, 2009

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays, from me to you..

I caught the flu, and I have been sick for two weeks. Although I never had a diagnosis of swine flu, I am positive that I caught the horrid virus. It has not been a fun ride and it wreaked havoc on my body, so I have not been working out.

Today will be the first day I start back again, just going to go the gym and take it easy. I feel like today the fevers are gone, and strength is a bit back up.

I will post more as I get back to feeling somewhat normal again.

Peace! Angie

Monday, December 7, 2009

beginning to feel like Christmas...

Home Sweet Home (no snow yet):
This past weekend, we loaded up the kids and headed to Regensburg to the romantic Christmas market in Regensburg at the Thurn and Taxis Palace.
Taking a break to sip Gluehwein (a hot mulled red wine with spices, orange juice, sugar) and kinderpunch for the kids (the non-alco version):
They were brewing it right there!
The big pretty tree, love the pretzel on it!
Fun to be had by all:
The monkeys might have had too much kinderpunch:
We had a lot of fun, Regensburg is a short drive from our home, via the autobahn. It was really busy, but we had a great time. It was REALLY cold though, but that's what Gluehwein is for!!
We all ate a lot! My favorite thing was the footlong (at least) wurst in a bun with a yummy sweet stone ground mustard. mmmmm!!

Other Christmas market in old town Regenburg:
Random sights:
This week starts a very busy week on the training front. I have about two more weeks, then some time off, then I go on a two week intensive, dietary and physical, long, long rides.

Im really excited for this season coming up. Justin and I are dueling it out over which races we are doing and who's doing what. There are just so many races here, every weekend you can travel to race. I hope that this is my year to cut teeth!!

Hope everyone is staying warm and enjoying the upcoming holiday season!! --angie

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

training plan

"i know im not going to the olympics, but i did sleep at a holiday inn last nite..."-angie koppa 2008

so, can u fake it? nahhh,,,not really. you cant fake fitness baybee, if we could, we'd all be rockstars, or in my world, olympians...but you can aspire, be the best you can, whether that is beerpong nationals or a worldcup mountain bike race in germany,,,YOU CAN DO IT!!!

anyway, Justin has his coaching cert underway with usa cycling, so I thought i would give the guy props for the great coaching he as given ME all these years. One thing i figured out with a coach is that, One: you need to do what your coach says. Since I have a problem with authority, this hasnt always worked out so well.--just kidding, but at least give 60% to conformity otherwise, suffer the embarrassment lata..So, pick a coach that is going to keep you motivated and that you like, because if you dont like them all that much, that wont get you too far (and if they are hot, it really helps too, and he's hot!).
Next thing is that you have to remember WHY you might need a coach in the first place. Me, I get unmotivated, A>D>D kicks in and angie just goes into lala land, so having someone motivate and keep you in check is kinda important, especially when you know that you could have solid results with the proper training, which comes to the next point, training. How much, when to rest, what to eat, what do all these heart rates mean, how do they correlate to me and my training?????? am i getting faster? what to do in the off season..etc.etc.

its very helpful having someone give you a schedule, you just do the work. then you see the results, then you are happy :)

some coaches cost a gazillion dollars, i think Justin is very affordable--but i wont go into that ;)

tictactoexoxox angie