Team Skidmore T-Shirts and a Late Workout

I spent an afternoon helping Nate at Corrigan Screen Printing and Awards make Team Skidmore t-shirts!! It was so cool to see how the logo makes it onto the shirt. Disclaimer: all details from here on out may be a little off, I didn't take notes! First the image is burned via UV light onto a screen that is held in place by a frame.

After 5-6 minutes depending on the size of the image the screen is removed from the light. Chemicals are then sprayed on it and the reaction with water helps leave a "negative" of the image on the screen. It's sprayed a few times to remove the rest, then it has to dry. This entire process can take up to 5 hours.

Next the screen is placed in a special holder and then lowered down on a small platform.

Every screen is tested before it goes into production in case there is a pin hole or an imperfection. The ink is like goop and never really dries, so if need be it can be left in the framed screen for a few days.

The ink is pressed onto the shirt with a giant squeegee using moderate hand pressure.

If there are multiple colors, individual screens need to be made and the shirt goes under each color separately. If it's white ink on a black shirt it needs to be screened twice so it stands out. After the image is hand pressed onto the shirt, the shirt goes on a conveyor belt through a heated dryer. Then the image on the front goes through the same process with a little more attention to alignment. Nate did 70 shirts front and back in under one hour! And he was distracted explaining the process to me, letting me try and being asked questions from his secretary about other orders and business.

Thanks for letting me help Nate!

I didn't get home until 6:30 and was frustrated since my workout was going to start late. But things happen and I just told myself to relax and roll with it. Workout for the day: 12.4 mile TT (time trial) with 15 min warm up with 3 x 3 PI's (power intervals) with 5 min recovery in between with a 15 min ride home as my warm down=total time 1:20. I had to eat enough that would get me through my workout but that meant my workout would start even later. I made a quick pb and nutella sandwich, took a gel, changed quick and headed out the door. I had to go all out for 12.4 miles after warming up with PI's (power intervals) 3 minutes super hard to get my body primed for the hard effort ahead. I did this same workout last week and completed the course in just over 35 mins. I didn't feel super great so totally wasn't feeling it. I went for it anyways and pushed through! Had to stop a few times for traffic but I beat last weeks time by a whole minute! Spun home and arrived at 8:15pm. In order to be fresh for my next work out the recovery process is vital and takes about 20 mins. I lay on the floor and put my legs straight up for 5 minutes, this helps reduce lactic acid build up. It's what makes your muscles sore the next day, well more specifically, the hydrogen ion in the lactic acid.  After my legs have almost gone tingly, I mix my recovery drink and start the stretching process which is also very important! After that I have to upload the data from my bike's Power Tap to a program on my computer. This is where my coach and I can analyze it. It also simultaneously uploads the data to my online training log-Training Peaks. After that I go in and log exactly the details of what I did and add how I felt during the workout. Because I'm using the free version of Training Peaks I cannot add future workouts. Steve emails me a seven day training schedule but I cannot pre load it in T.P., but if I were to buy the next level of TP I could do this and my post workout routine would be much quicker.

As a result of posting Team Skidmore t-shirts on Facebook my friends were all asking for them. I had to take some time to answer their questions. After chatting for a while, the clock read 9:30pm and I still had to make dinner. If I wasn't training I would just pour a bowl of cereal and hit the hay. That's not nearly enough for me so I needed to cook something healthy. I made hamburg with rice and stewed tomatoes. It was so good! Had a few Team Skidmore things to finish and climbed in bed at 10:45. Way to late considering I had to be up at 4:15 for an hour of swim training followed by a full day at work and a 1 hour road ride and a 30 minute run after work. It was a long day!