Ow.

Check-in with Mike

2008-10-06T06:35:00.000-07:00

Mike, my cycling coach, dropped me a line last night, asking how things were going. Here's my reply:

1. Yep, I registered for the Harvest Century last night. I'm in.

2. I didn't know a few of the exercises, even after looking them up. Are they in the training videos on your site? Specifically the

Medicine Ball Extension/Flexion
Floor / Physioball T
The Triangle
Active standing Psoas Stretch

I think the reason I was so sore after the demo workout was because I didn't get myself well warmed up. Since then, I've been doing a better warm-up and I have not been (very) sore from the exercises.

3. I am feeling OK. I had a great, long ride Saturday and follwed it up Sunday with... almost nothing. I let myself get so overcommtted to other things Sunday that I only got an hour in on the trainer last night. I am one of those unfortunate people who only seems to learn by making mistakes, so I guess I learned that I need to do a better job of scheduling myself and my social commitments.

4. Energy and recovery both seem to be doing OK. We'll see how this week goes leading up to the Century. I felt AMAZING on Saturday, but if you look at the workouts I did last week, it was likely because I didn't do any hard efforts other than off-the-bike work.

5. Diet. Ugh. I have been eating OK, but not really keeping track. Too many bad lunches, though. Most breakfasts and dinners are fairly healthy, if the portions are maybe out of whack. I'll try to start tracking that better this week, again.

-Thom

Finding a Cycling Team: Location, Location, Location

2008-09-27T08:28:00.001-07:00

Rode with my cycling coach Mike Manning yesterday at lunch from downtown Portland. At one point, he asked if I'd gone to any of the Meet the Team rides through OBRA. Being unattached or without a team in cycling is fine if you're Lance. I'm clearly not, so Mike's been gently pushing to get me with some people.

The "Meet the Team" rides start mostly downtown. But none of the regular team rides start remotely near our house in deep SE. And with just one car, I can't monopolize it on the weekends to drive to Hillsboro or Beavertron or whereever. And unless I want to add 20 miles to every group ride I go on (I don't), I'm out of luck.

A while back, I shot an email to the OBRA list. I got one semi-legit reply, which was for a vegan, organic triathlon team. Which is somewhat ironic because I've been considering getting back into the pool and focusing on triathlon to help strip off some upper-body weight.

Finding a team in cycling has been one of the most frustrating aspects of the sport. In swimming, which is my native sport, teams fall all over themselves to make new swimmers welcome. They encourage them to come out, try to be social, organize car pools, the whole shebang.

In cycling, the indifference to new members is shocking to me. You ask, and you get shrugs. You volunteer, and you get blown-off.

I had one outstanding experience when I first started with Veloshop, in that the Calver brothers (now with GSC United way the hell out in Beaverton) were some of the most welcoming, nice, encouraging people I'd ever met. They have a passion for the sport that completely infects new riders. But then, a few months later, the damn team kicked them off. I couldn't even tell you why, because it was so bizarre.

Anyway, Mike off-handedly mentioned that he might put together a CycleOne kit to promote his cycling coach biz around the Portland area. I told him I'd wear it. And though it might not be a "team" in the strictest sense, I would certainly use it as an excuse to organize rides out here in SE.

Fitting training into a grown-up life

2008-09-11T21:59:00.001-07:00

It is funny how something like work and life can really kick your ass around. I had another great week of riding last week, but this week has been filled with one crazy surprise after another at work.Enough so that I've been distracted, and irritated. Worse, I have been off the bike except yesterday when Amanda and I toodled over to watch the Vaux swifts.

Ultimately, I came to some (hopefully) healthy resolutions about work. With at least a plan, it should make work-life more stable, or at least easier to not get whipped around and knocked off the bike.

One thing that gives me confidence is that I have a good cycling coach. I know that he is pulling for me, and that he will help me find a way to use cycling as a positive force in my life.

I sent him a whiny email, and he said replied along the lines of "Don't beat yourself up. Get out there when you can and enjoy every pedal stroke and breath of fresh air."

Great guy, that Mike Manning.

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Top 10 Stability Ball Exercises You Shouldn't Attempt

2008-08-28T08:55:00.000-07:00

None of the following exercises are recommended by the manufacturer, no matter what your personal trainer from 24 Hour Fitness tells you.

The OC

2008-08-13T20:01:00.001-07:00

26.3 miles
14.1 mph average speed
1:52 total time

Up and over Terwilliger, down through Lake O and West Linn, across the
OC bridge, then back on the east side on river road.

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Portland's West Hills the Easy Way

2008-08-10T09:16:00.000-07:00

I used to climb to Council Crest in about 18 minutes from Terwilliger and Westwood (including the roundabout on Fairmount). Yesterday took me 24 minutes. And the fact that I was cruising and not pushing gives me a little hope.

I'm not strong — there's no doubt about that. But I'm definitely improving. A two-hour ride that included two trips up Terwilliger (from downtown, not from Lake O) left me feeling, dare I say it, "good."

Unlike my last foray up to the top of Portland's West Hills, I did most of my climbing BELOW the 181 BPM mark. Not way below that, mind you. It's not like I was in my aerobic zone. The steep stretch right before Fairmount shot my heart rate up to 178 (that was the max on my Polar when I got home), but otherwise, I kept it around 170 on the steep parts, and under 164 on Terwilliger's gentle rolls.

The granny gear probably helped, eh?

STATS

Distance: 27.5 miles
Time: 2'10"
Avg. Speed: 12.5 mph
Max Speed: 34 mph (I LOVE bombing down Vista.)
Avg. HR: 148 bpm
Max HR: 178 bpm
Time above Zone 1 (157 bpm): 51 minutes

Mt Tabor and Rocky Butte

2008-08-02T19:54:00.001-07:00

I love my little two butte ride. Just about 90 minutes (usually less) and I get maybe 25 minutes of climbing. Head north along 52nd, then go up and over Tabor, then head down Yamhill to 75th, which takes you to Tillamook. From there, you're pretty much at the foot of Rocky Butte. Get to the top, circle the castle, then do it backwards.

Oh, the photo was of Doug Ollerenshaw of Rock Racing during the Mt. Tabor Crit stage of the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic. Cool, huh? He had one really bad-ass attack where he was storming across the gap at the top of the course, and I just got lucky with the camera. Bon voyage, Doug! Congrats on heading back to school!

The West Hills Go On Forever

2008-08-01T20:12:00.001-07:00

I do not climb like a cycling god. Rather, I climb like a fat man who needs to spend a little less time with the beer and cheese making, and a little more time in the saddle.

Paul and I met up Thursday after work, and went up Lovejoy to Thompson to Skyline. I remember it from my fitter days as a long hill: painful but not too awful. My God, I used to climb that thing with an 11-23 straight block cassette. Yesterday, I climbed it with a 12-27 cassette — a frickin' frisbee back there, a damn granny gear — and I still had to ice my back and knees when I got home.

On the other hand, I can still suffer with the best of them. I climbed pretty much the whole way, other than that flat section before you get to Thompson, with my heart rate around 181.

I wonder if that's even healthy?

And that long, straight, heart-breaking stretch at the top of Thompson? The one where it gets impossibly steeper? Where a sign says, "Stop in 500 feet" and you think to yourself, "there's no way they didn't measure this wrong"? The part where you can see all the way up to the top and it just NEVER SEEMS TO GET ANY SHORTER?

Yeah, I was at like 186 for that whole thing. I can't believe I didn't throw up.

I'm hoping for a long, flat ride this weekend. Just maybe do the Oregon City ride. Though I need to take the bike over to Bike Gallery to get it tuned. I think the new Fat-Ass Cassette is making the old chain a little cranky and creaky.

Sick

2008-07-26T07:53:00.000-07:00

I caught a cold somehow, and spent yesterday pretty miserable. But I took it easy, and slept well, so we'll see how today goes. I'm going to try to nap even more today.

I noticed in VeloNews this morning that a company named "American Beef" will take over from Saunier Duval as the title sponsor for the Scott cycling team. Weirdly, it is NOT the Cattleman's Beef Association of "It's what's for dinner fame." Rather, American Beef is from Chihuahua, Mexico.

Anyway. Watching the final TT this morning for the Tour de France. Thus far, Cadel Evans is kinda stinking it up, but my man from Garmin-Chipotle, Christian Vande Velde, is flying.

In fact, it looks like Garmin-Chipotle placed two riders in the top 5, with Vande Velde and David Millar.

Anyway, there was an excellent article in the print edition of the newest Bicycling Magazine about Garmin-Chipotle, especially about how with their aggressive anti-doping stance that they will likely win a little less — that they will be merely okay. And the spin that Jonathan Vaughters put on it was brilliant:

To agree not to dope, to agree to never let that enter the context of teh team is to agree to fail sometimes. To agree to let your fans down sometimes is to agree to the fallibility of the human body." He said the wins — honest wins — would be that much sweeter, the celebrations that much richer when you truly knew the "preciousness of winning."

Game on

2008-07-19T14:58:00.000-07:00

After a somewhat miserable week of exercise owing to the fact that I had to spend three days in Beaverton, this next week holds more promise.

Since I've put on so much weight and hill-climbing is destroying my knees and back, I went ahead and bought a new cogset with a 12-27 cluster. That 27-tooth cog looks like a damn frisbee back there, but whatever; I am not a proud man. (I'm waiting for my in-laws to get up from their nap so I can go test the new gears.) The cogs mean the next time Paul wants to go tackle the west hills, I'll be able to walk the next day, presuming that I don't have a heart attack.

I also moved my HRM back to my summer bike (oh glorious summer!). Actually, it was more moving the speedometer over. So I'm hoping to try a little more exercise book-keeping (remember these workouts?), like time and distance and effort.

Which might be more interesting if I were training for something. But... I'm not.

I'm at a bit of a crossroads and I don't know what to do. I'm kinda in this zone where I got a little burnt on all of the training. More specifically, other than Paul who I see approximately every 19 months, none of my friends are particularly athletic. And so I really struggle to go out by myself because, after a while, it's super-boring.

And the other excuses are that I'm a little bored riding up here and I don't really have the time to dedicate like I used to. And so I was thinking maybe I'd attempt a triathlon comeback (the idea being that running and swimming can be done over lunch). Or maybe even focus on skiing for fall and winter, just to take a break from things. That way, I could do a lot at the gym (core and legs), then have fun winter weekends up on the mountain.

I also just got a decent bonus at work, and was considering using it on a cycling/triathlon coach. In a way, that might help with the boredom thing (learning new things, having someone push me), and it might be a good way to meet other riders.

OK, time to go wake up the in-laws. This is getting ridiculous...

Le Tour

2008-07-12T09:15:00.000-07:00

Great quote from Garmin-Chipotle DS Jonathan Vaughters, about crashing:

"Tell you what. Next time you're in your car, get up to 50 mph, strip down to your underwear, then jump out the door. That's what it's like to crash in a professional bike race."

I am a HUGE fan of Jonathan Vaughters and everyone at Garmin-Chipotle.

Specifically, Dave Zabriskie is hilarious.

"On the second leg of the flight, I got upgraded and things seemed to be looking up. I was watching the Golden Compass waiting to see those big bears with armor. Then, the stewardess announces that they are going to reboot the system because some of the movies aren’t working for people. Well, after the reboot, mine stopped working.

Now I’m reading Sky Mall magazine – I’m reading the details of an emergency generator. It can do everything - even charge your ipod. That’s what I would do in an emergency. I would charge my ipod.

Jonathan Vaughters is well-spoken.

David Millar is passionate.

And GC's GC hope Christian Vandevelde is, from what I remember from Vandevelde's 2004 Tour diary on Velonews, is all three.

Oops

2008-07-08T22:28:00.001-07:00

Looking back on it, predicting a recovery day for today seemed a
little fool-hardy. Especially since I can't turn down a new dad with
limited rides who invites me out.

And in hindsight, suggesting Kelley Point -- a long slog on the best
days -- on a windy, 90 degree day maybe wasn't too bright either.

I am pretty sure we both bonked. And that was before his six mile
uphill ride home and my ten mile commute back to my refrigerator.

Everything hurts. Tomorrow MUST be a rest day.

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Riding

2008-07-07T21:49:00.001-07:00

Rode for two hours Sunday, including going up Rocky Butte and Mt
Tabor. Going up Tabor was awesome. I met up with some random guy, and
instead of getting killed going uphill, I actually led him up.

Today, I went to the gym. Did lunges and leg-presses. Pretty good stuff.

Anyway. We'll see how long I can keep it up. It seems in the past,
something at work or at home has always screwed things up.

Tomorrow, I'll bike in slowly. "Recovery day."

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Dara Torres

2008-07-05T14:01:00.000-07:00

Dara Torres. Yeah, yeah, hot. But there's a great story in the NY Times Magazine about how she's doing everything she can to fight the fading of the light as she crosses over the 40-year mark. And absolutely killing it. Yesterday, she made the Olympic team in the 50 freestyle, and the 100 free earlier in the week. Awesome. Way back, once upon a time, I swam. A lot. I coached. I got into open-water swimming. Then I got into triathlon and biking, and then I got really into biking and stopped running (a blessing) and swimming. And it was fun. But I miss swimming. I miss the team aspect of swimming. Which is ironic, because if ever there was a sport that had NOTHING to do with team, it's swimming. But I miss the competitive nature of swimming with a group of fellow competitors. Of chasing the guy in front of you. Of putting the hammer down when the guy behind you starts to fall off the pace. And doing it all with nothing in your ear except your own voice, your own music and your own fight to stay with them. Anyway. Now life's a lot different. As I get older and focus my energy on building a fence in the front yard, on growing strawberries in the garden and getting a promotion to editorial director at work, that little voice gets quieter while all the other demands get louder. But finding the time to tune out that other stuff – to run a little further, to do one more set of pushups, or to bike the long way to work — brings me back to life, and makes it easier to do those other things and feel good about them.

I've been running

2008-07-03T20:58:00.001-07:00

And lifting weights. A little. I mostly go at lunch. It's been three weeks, which is great. I read once that it takes three weeks to set a habit (though probably just a day or two to break one). The weird thing about going at lunch is saying no to the occasional lunch invitations. Mostly it's like, "No, I've got plans." Or "No, I'm gonna go try to run." I sometimes say that I'm going to the run so that I'm committed; I've told someone so I have to go. Which is usually enough. But not for some people. No. Some people ("No names! No names!") say things like, "why?" Or "it won't matter." Or "getting fat is natural." Or "that's lame." Or all of those at once. And that makes running or going to the gym all the sweeter.

Pfft

2008-06-20T17:33:00.001-07:00

That's the sound of my best laid plans for getting back into shape
being deflated. Or rather, if you look at my ass, inflated.

Work took a turn for the worse. Much worse. And I have been absorbed
by it. I can't get away from it. Or stop thinking about it. Which
means that I am usally too freaked or stressed of pissed to exercise.

We will see, though. The weather is Hella better. If it keeps up,
maybe I will have nothing to do but get out in it.

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214

2008-05-20T12:13:00.001-07:00

Ate really smart yesterday. And rode easy. Trying to do the same
today. A half pound loss is nothing day to day but it made me feel
like I was making progress.

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214.5

2008-05-19T21:43:00.000-07:00

Finally, a little progress. Though, we'll see if I wasn't just dehydrated. Yesterday's ride was pretty awesome. Pretty hard and hilly. Rode easy for the commute in. And I ate pretty well today. Split a burrito with Amanda for lunch and then had an awesome salad for dinner. Also discovered Gyminee, which is a pretty cool little nutrition and workout tracker. I wish it had a better way to track cycling workouts, like a map tool. I'd imagine runners would love it, too. Maybe a future enhancement, eh?

218.5

2008-05-18T16:11:00.001-07:00

So I guess that when I weighed in at 215, I was a little dehydrated.

Golf was a bust yesterday. Mark had an allergic reaction to something
and had to go to the hospital. So my physical activity consisted of
mowing the yard and hitting about 30 golf balls. Plus I ate terribly
at lunch. And I had a beer for dinner.

I rode today though. Good 60 minutes. A little hilly but not too bad
except one hill.

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221

2008-05-16T22:35:00.000-07:00

Yep. Six lbs in one day. I am apparently well hydrated or the world's
most prodigious eater.

Rode pretty easy in. On the way home in the heat (95 today!), I went
easy up Tabor. Well as easy as someone weighing 221 lbs can climb.

Playing golf tomorrow but will try to avoid beer. Also want to walk
the course to get a good calorie burn in. We will see though. Lonnie
and Mark may want to ride.

Maybe Sunday I can ride or swim in the morning. Well, one day at a
time, I suppose.

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215

2008-05-15T22:38:00.000-07:00

That is my current weight. 215 lbs. I have really dug myself into a
hole. I have not weighed this much in probably five years.

And worse is that I am five years older and it will be that much
harder to lose the weight.

But the weather is getting better and I feel pretty good about getting
out more. So with any effort at all, maybe I can ride, run and swim
myself back down to 200 by summer's end.

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Back in the Saddle Again. Again.

2007-12-24T11:11:00.000-08:00

Rode on the trainer yesterday for the first time in, um, forever. Interesting.

On the bike fit, my commuter is set up soooo differently than my road bike. And my commuter has been giving me no end of back problems. So I did the stupid thing yesterday after hopping off the trainer and re-set the height of the stem, the fore-aft position of the seat, and the fore-aft position of my cleats.

It felt interesting.

We're going to go test-drive our new jackets in an hour or so, and I'll see if I made an idiotic mistake changing up three elements at once. I am confident I'll be a little sore, but with luck, it'll be a good kind of sore. And not the "oh my, God I can't stand up straight" type of sore that's plagued me for the last few months.

Anyway. I have no confidence this will last. My biggest goal for the next month is just to make riding a priority again. To figure out how to make it fun. To make core training fun. To get my silly arm-bands back from work and try to get my shoulders back to some sort of health.

If I can just stay consisten for the next month — a month that will easily be the most stressful month of my year with an annual review, a tripling of projects, possibly my first hire (or two), and some travel to the Rust Belt — it should make the rest of the year easy by comparison.

Think positive thoughts!

Belated Cherry Pie Race Recap

2007-04-03T23:12:00.001-07:00

Cherry Pie went as expected, if not slightly worse. My total lack of interval training left me flopping around on my bike like a gasping fish after the hammer went down a few times in a row. Plus, I think this was my second race as a Cat IV, and my first race since September 2005. Expectations were low: don't crash, hang on as long as you can.

Actually, that's not entirely true. I envisioned myself riding off and hammering and being comfortable the way I was before I got hurt two years ago, when I felt like I was a really strong 5. I'm just saying it went as expected because it makes it slightly less embarrassing.

I got dropped as we were rounding the finish line the first time through, and I couldn't chase back on. Not that I didn't try for about twenty minutes or so. Then I realized that I was getting farther and farther from my car with no support, so I pulled a u-turn and headed back into the wind toward the warmth of the Volvo. It was discouraging, but it took about two seconds for the rationalizations to kick in: "Don't worry, Thom. If you haven't trained at the high intensities, you can't expect a lot."

* sigh *

The group was huge. Seventy five people, I think? I felt OK in the bunch, though a lot more tense than I would've liked. I, um, have to admit something: I dropped a water bottle. I was wearing super-thick gloves, and when I smacked the nozzle closed against my thigh, the bottle just squirted out. No one went down, so that's good, but I felt completely embarrassed.

So, a big DNF for the first race. Whoopee.

In terms of my future training plans, I'm kind of torn. I feel I've been doing a pretty good amount of base-riding. I mean, I've been riding at the same chill tempo since, oh, August/September (which was when I first got back on my bike). I took off December, but I've been fairly consistent since the first week of January. So I guess it's just a matter of deciding that, yes, I'm going to rock out to the tempo and interval rides for a while, and try to peak a few races in May/June. Then chill for a week or three, and try to do it again for Eugene Celebration in late September.

Scientific? No. Not in the least. But you know what I say to that? "Meh." Whatever.

Recovery

2007-04-03T23:07:00.001-07:00

Monday

Did a little 1 hour spin down on Monday after work, then spent about 30 minutes stretching. Took a nice hot shower, stretched some more, than put on the ice.

Tuesday

I did nothing. I rode the bike to work, then took the bus home.

I'm trying to decide if I want to race next weekend. I got so thrashed at Piece of Cake, and it was ultimately disappointing. Especially after my destruction at Cherry Pie. But yet I felt I made progress. I dunno. I think I will race. Gotta just keep throwing it out there, right?

I think I will also try to get my training intensity up a little more during the week, and use the weekends I'm not racing to do a long endurance rides. Such as this weekend. Woo-hoo!

Piece of Cake Race Recap

2007-04-02T14:03:00.000-07:00

Piece of Cake was a bit of an eye opener. I felt much more comfortable moving around in the group than at Cherry Pie. So that was nice.

But I had a vision of the future, where every race this year, I will get a little closer to the end before I get shelled. Holy crap that hurt. A little gap opened up after two breaks went off. Several of us chased and chased and chased.

But I think I figured something out: I tried to diesel up to the group when the split opened. You know, chugga-chugga-chugga good and smooth. Super-hard time trial. But I was leaving something back in case when I caught up to them, they accelerated again.

When I realized I wasn’t going to make it and couldn’t hold out that long — and had used up all the wheels who were trying and failing at the same thing — I tried to sprint one or two last times. But I didn’t have anything left. But I do have a new maximum heart rate, so that’s nice.

I think the way to go — the way I’ll try it next time — is to flat out sprint for it as soon as I see there’s a gap. I mean stand up on the pedals and floor it as hard as I can as long as I can, as though the race is on the line.

Because it is.

See? I’m learning.

Anyway, the guys with me who formed a break (off the back) were great, and we tempo’d the last, oh, 25 miles and got in some great paceline practice.