Target: Cramping

Interesting ride today (Weds).

The ride started just fine, we planned on a long flat and fast ride, although the hills are always present.  We rounded the few mandatory hills in order to find ourselves on some great country roads.  The weather was definitely cold, wet, and had a strong headwind for portions of the ride.  I'd planned on it being cold, as we were doing a lot of work on the flats, and that usually means lots of airflow, therefore cold (of course at the speed I was going, we didn't exactly get airflow). But the wind and rain definitely kept things colder than planned.

After awhile my back started getting really tight, and I enjoyed stopping to stretch a bit.  Unfortunately, as soon as we'd start, I'd start getting sore again.  Also, my glutes (butt) was on fire, it seemed I was overusing the muscles, to compensate for a tired lower back from some workouts earlier in the week.  This of course is tough, as your butt muscles are pretty small, and they build up lactic quite fast.  I think of Rudy from Ironman: Kona who's a double above the knee amputee, and only has glutes to ride his bike over 100 miles.  Yeouch!

So trying not to cry or whine like a little girl to Campy about my sore rearend, and back, and legs, and shoulders, and cold fingers, arms, and knees.  I would try to space out my complaints to at least every 45 minutes at the most frequent.  But I knew he could tell somethings were wrong when my speed dropped even lower than we started.

Finally, as we were headed up a hill I felt it.  The moment I'd been waiting for, another LEARNING OPPORTUNITY.

Now let me define learning opportunity.  It means, I just screwed something up bad enough to learn a lesson from it.  If I'm not too busy crying like a baby, then there's an opportunity to learn something useful to never, NEVER do whatever it was again.

That's what happened next.  I stood on the pedals to climb a hill, again with HR down in the 150s, much lower than my normal pace at 160-168max.  While standing both right and left quads cramped up, more like a stabbing pain.  It wasn't locked up solid, but definately like a knife cutting into the muscle tissue.  Not the most pleasant feeling.  So I immediately plopped back into the seat, and told Campy.  The next 15 minutes I spent trying to figure out what to do next, "Protein, ok 2 gulps of Sustained Energy" "lower cadence (is it even possible?)" "gels, no" Then the glutes started to cramp, along with an increased pain in the back.

Finally after awhile, Campy recommended some Ibruprofen, and he had some suppliments from Hammer (still need to find out what those were too).  Being the good student, I remember him telling me a story about how "only old guys have Ibuprofen in their saddle bag".  Wanting to someday be an old guy, I did as he suggested.  Aha! Ibuprofen, some unnamed suppliments, and a few swigs of Nuun later, and I was feeling GREAT!  Yes, really.

Back pain was mostly gone, glutes hurt less, legs hurt less, muscle cramps were gone.... life was good once again, except for the continual rain and cold.

While we were out in the boondocks of Duvall, we encountered my first Road Rage to cyclists person.  It was a GMC truck Washington plates A96186A that decided it was a brilliant idea to come within 3 inches of Campy as we rode along, for no good reason.  Zero oncoming traffic, tons of room to go around, and no warning he was coming.  Not being one to hide his love of those that jeopardize his life, Campy begins shaking his fists at the other driver, and apparently that was enough to cause the driver to throw his truck in reverse, and try to run us down.... seriously?  So we bail off the road aiming for the drainage ditch, and forthwidth call 911 to report "Assault with a deadly weapon".  I always thought that seemed somewhat excessive, until a raging idiot tried to do it to us.

Mission accomplished, cramping muscles recovered. I learned my lesson, definitely, definitely eat enough protein after working out, get good sleep, and lots of Omega 3 & 6. Also, pack along some Ibuprofen so you can get to be an old guy, as long as road raging idiots are kept far away.  Thank you Lord for no injuries today!

Notes:

• -Really tight back may mean upcoming cramping, or poor nutrition somehow
• -Eat right during training, loads of protein and nutrients, and lots of rest
• -Bring along extra clothing!
• -Carry the concealed weapon

Fueling For The Win

Fun ride, nothing terribly exciting to learn today

Another long ride today (Thurs), it was a rainy day going across I-90 to pick up some additional Sustained energy.  But payoff!

No bonking, cramping, or any other problems!  A very successful day.

Used Sustained Energy, Hammer Gel, and Nuun

Target: Bonk

Training ride on 3-24 with Campy:

6 hours total, 86 miles. At hour 3 I bonked.  Best possible training at that point.  I had been pushing a hard ride in the beginning with HR at 172-178 and ate not enough calories using a inferior fluid replacement drink.  I then made the mistake of diluting the half full bottle at one of the water stops instead of just dumping it and starting over.  After I realized the mistake it was too late, and I was getting hungry... uh oh.  So chomped a certain energy bar, and about 30 minutes later, I wanted to hurl all over the road!  Funny thing is these bars didn’t used to do that to me, but I think the high HR cut off my ability to digest well, and liquids were the only thing I could handle at that point.  So at this point the goal was well on its way.  Who knew... it's so easy to screw up your nutrition, yay!

Since this is the primary reason for some of these long training rides, I started trying to put back the pieces of the puzzle.  Of course while you're thinking your way through the plan, the brain can only think of one thing, "I'm really hungry and want to throw up all at the same time leave my legs at the rest stop in favor of a painfree fresh pair".  So I determined that the legs need to stay attached, food will have to improve, and take it slow.

I used a sampler of a higher end fluid replacement, and sipped that aggressively to get it in.  Ate a gel, and slowed down HR to 145-153.  The slowed pace and better food intake started kicking in, and over the next 1.5 hours I was able to get the energy back.  Popped a caffeine gel and finished my fluid replacement drink just as we started back towards home.
On the way back I got the benefit of watching Campy draft a school bus, and actually had enough energy to catch up (if only for 5 seconds) while going uphill at 20mph.

Mistakes

• Didn't follow a plan: While I though I had one, it fell apart after the first 'fun hill' (yes it's illogical fun+hill).  Make a plan, stick to it, for both electrolytes and carbs/protein
• Inferior FRD: Using Accelerade dosn't allow me to mix it strong, the taste is way to sweet, and it's a sticky mess.  
• When I needed to digest some calories, I chomped a powerbar way to quickly, and kept the HR in the 170s.  This was a bad decision, as I got nauseous and inadvertently stopped getting in calories as a result.
• My gel use was completely random, relying on "now seems about right" or "hmm, I'm getting hungry now".  100 calories per gel, I should have planned out when to use them instead of just going by feel.

Benefits 

• Got to try Perpetuem by Hammer Nutrition, Caffe Latte flavored. It taste pretty bad.
• Got to try Sustained Energy by Hammer Nutrition, Unflavored. It taste pretty decent.
• Also had Esspresso Hammer Gel. It taste GREAT!  Also, the caffeine really helped after I'd bonked, to change the metabolism over to fat burning, as well as a boost via carbs.  This was a game changer for me.

At roughly hour 4:45 I was back.  So that experience knocked me down for about 1.5-2 hours, yikes!  But being able to put the body back together felt really excellent!

Lesson learned, and added to the cycling repertoire. Let's do it again, after my order comes in from Hammer...

Ode to bricks

Bricks, the backbone of triathlon, so I'm told.  You bike, then your run, then you fall over.  Too bad cycling shoes have cleats that get in the way of running.  Too bad running shoes don't stick to the pedals of your bike.

Doing bricks Mondays and Fridays at the Y.  Campy's class is fun, and a very heavy 8 out of 10.  Then hop on the treadmill for a 7-8 minute pace.  Ideally by the time it's tri season (June-September for me), I'll have the run times below 7 minutes.  Also, need to do REAL cycling and running at the course, the Kirkland Sprint Tri.  Lots of hills, and good place to practice hitting turns the right way, downhill corners, what gear to shift in, etc.  Oh did I mention, Lots of hills?

I love this stuff....

YMCA: Partners With Youth

Today was the "Cyclethon" to raise funds for the YMCA program called Partners With Youth.  I'm fundraising for this program because I was nabbed, and handed a packet. So even though I didn't 'volunteer' it dosn't matter apparently.  The funds go to disadvantaged youth, who can't afford the special events the Y hosts, such as camp Orkila, aqua events, wall climbs, and a bunch of other things.

Helping kids get into something productive vs reaching the next level in a video game?  Ok.

Well someone had the bright idea of getting 19 folks into a sweaty room on stationary bikes, and jam to loud music while getting yelled at.  For some reason this causes folks to open the pocketbook.  Who thought of this stuff?!

So today they forced me to go pedal in my favorite spinning room for 3 hours.  bummer.... Ha, yeah right! 

It was great.  Got a chance to meet a new spin instructor, as they would swap out each hour.  Also, had a chance to use up some of the old Accelerade.  Burnt through 2 bottles worth, along with 1 hammer gel.  Also, as luck would have it, one of the folks that was in the class is a chocolatier, and brought some of her delights.  I intended to bring one home to the wife, but also have poor timing, and chose a bad time to to the bathroom, as when I returned, she was gone.

All three hours were great, and even though I'm on the tailend of this cough/cold it felt great to kick it into high gear and crank.

We ended up raising over $2100 for the program, and really enjoyed ourselves!  Now I'm just going to have to hunt down some other treat for the wife on the bike ride back home from the office here...

Also, I'm going to start listing workout data at the bottom of the blogs to track:

Time: 3:00 hr
Intensity: 7 (1-10)
Distance: NA
Av HR: 143
In Zone: 2:47 hr

Still sick? ...on with the cardio...

Well the sick bug has traveled into the lungs, and based on internet advice 1. it's ok to ride 2. it's not ok to ride 3. I should try to swallow 1 tablespoon of cinnamon, dry.  I think I'd prefer #1.

Went to Campy's spin class on Monday, and it was really challenging not being able to push it as hard as normal.  Kept the HR in 160-165 range most of the time, on purpose.  This is 20bpm slower than typical, so of course it's hard to go light.  But during a couple of songs, "Come on Irene" in particular I was able to get back up to 185 without problem.  The recovery HR didn't drop as quickly as it usually does, otherwise I'm not really feeling this bug much.

I've heard that if you push hard on cardio when you've got a virus that it will weaken the immune system enough to allow the bug to spread even more.  This of course will knock you out even longer than if you'd never trained.  So use caution!

After the cycling, spent a couple minutes in the pool.  Again still working on distance, streamlining, and efficiency.  It seems I'm getting better at the crawl stroke, and it's really nice!  Thank you Total Immersion videos


And thank you King County Library system for carrying the Freestyle Made Easy video!

Sick is as Sick Does

It's the bug, a gift from the little girls to us as parents.  They bring home more than homework and crayoned drawings to us from school.

This one is moving to the lungs today, but that just allows me to finally focus on lifting.  I know that lifting will help with some of the faster time trial rides (like triathlon!).  Lifting at the beginning of a season I've read will benefit because of the 'non-specific' muscle building.

This again contributes to 'Economy' of the 3 keys to endurance sports.  The stronger the muscle, the easier it is for it to produce effort at higher levels.  Considering we should always be operating at a 'high level', either due to hill climbing or increased speed.

3 Keys To Endurance Sports (thank you Joe Friel):
  1. Aerobic Capacity
  2. Lactate Threshold
  3. Economy of Movement


So since the lungs are getting worse, it's time to shift focus from Aerobic Capaicity/Lactate Threshold to Economy of Movement... at least for the very short term (hopefully no longer than this week).  

Did:
Leg press (+50lb sled): 160 x20 reps, 125 x20, 125 x20, 125 x17
Calf press (+50lb sled): 160 x20 reps, 125 x20, 125 x20, 125 x20
Hamstring Curl (prone): 50 x18, 35 x20, 35 x20

Still swimming daily, and focused on getting 'mileage' in.  .  I had planned originally on doing 8 laps x 4.  But as was pointed out to me halfway in: 36 laps = 1 mile.  Doh, oh well.  This will be broken into bite sized piece for me by doing 9 laps x 4 with the pull buoy at first.  Then 18 x 2, 36 x 1.  After getting all 36 in, then I'll start removing the buoy, for 2, then 4, then 8, then 16 of the total laps. Until it's no longer needed at all.

This plan does 2 things well:

  1. Allows me to build confidence, improve stroke, improve breathing, and hit the mileage that is my goal.

  2. Forces me to focus on stroke over kick. This benefits the my triathlon by keeping the legs fresh for bike/run.

Sick?  Eh, just a change of plans...