It seems my training is having latent effects. I guess I should have expected this. When I began training in January I sprinted to the top of a steep hill to determine my maximum heart rate (HRmax). In February it was 191 bpm. April? 192. I checked again in June and it was still 191. In July it seemed a bit low so I raced up and down the same hill three times: 187, 187, 186. And now? I'm rested and recovered and raced up that same hill again: 201 bpm!! That is the highest HRmax I have ever recorded. My previous max was in my late 20s and it was 194, but that was 8 or 9 years ago and your max is supposed to decline with age. I didn't even think you could train your max to a higher rate. As a nice bonus, it seems my lactate threshold (LT) has followed suit and lately I have been able to push and hold my heart rate into the upper 170s. In total, my limits have all moved up by about 10 bpm this year. I can push harder and deeper into those uncomfortable places and it isn't nearly as painful as it was in the past. So there's that. But still no belt buckle. Damned.
-PW
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Friday, August 20, 2010
Well...
That about says it all. So you're doing the Leadville Trail 100 in 2011? My one piece of advice is don't stop riding until someone makes you stop. PERIOD! I have a lot more advice than just that, but that is the most important. I've said up and down that 2010 is my one shot no matter what... but now I'm having some big regrets and I hate living with regrets because there is only one way to make them go away: Do it again without regret.
Frisco, CO is a great little town located at a good proximity to Leadville. We had a beautifully appointed condo and the price was great. We arrived Monday night and Tuesday I rode up to a "town" called Montezuma. You can look it up, but it's a dirt road though a few houses at elevation. Tough ride, but good. Wednesday off, Thursday was a very easy recovery ride. Friday off, Saturday race. Wednesday and Thursday we all felt like tired and listless, but by Friday we all felt much better.
Friday: Packet and race info pickup followed by the Mandatory crew and racer briefing... in a gym big enough for 1200 people. When we got to the door the crew were not allowed in due to lack of space - shocking. I sat in for about 45 minutes and it was nothing more than a pep rally. A big waste really.
The bike: My setup was perfect! 29er hardtail. Most critically with small knobbed tires: Kenda Small Block Eights. Everyone had small knobbed tires. Everyone! And for good reason. Hardpack with gravel is about the worst you'll see there... except for the upper part of Columbine. More pavement than I expected. While I ran flawlessly I heard many people dump their chain into their spokes on the climbs - get your bike professionally serviced!!! Those people are risking all that time invested over a $80 service fee. Ridiculous!
Clothing. Skip the jacket, knee warmers and toe warmers - all those people went numb too, but they had to stop, sit on the ground and peel that crap off. Look at what the pros wear: shorts, arm warmers, vest. I copied them and added a ear warming headband. Perfect... Went numb, warmed up, shed while riding. You have to keep moving as much as possible in this race.
The race. Don't stop racing until they make you. I had fun. A lot of fun. At times I was giddy because I was doing it!! Racing down Powerline was awesome: I passed about 10 other riders coming down that - it is badly rutted, but if you're a mountain biker you skill will show here. As for the first two climbs, I can't say how hard they are because you're packed in like sardines going only as fast and the slowest person in the pack. It's so tight that once one person spins a tire and stops the six or seven riders behind do the same then they're all suddenly walking. Practice remounting you bike on slopes from a walk. You should be able to jump on from a walk into pedaling then clip in without missing a beat. This skill saved me twice.
As for the sardines, I like the mass start idea and appreciate that this is how it's been done for 16 years, but they need to start staggering the start badly. We all had timing chips so it would not be hard to implement, but you'd lose the shotgun firing at 6:30pm with any meaning. I can see keeping it, but it's be a better race if they ditched the mass start format.
Pipeline was a disheartening bitch. What I knew of it made it seem flat from the bottom of Powerline to Twin Lakes - well, it ain't flat. Some is, but there are two pitches that sapped my energy and spirit. There was also a nice piece of singletrack - more of that please! Twin Lakes is a huge party - make sure your crew is looking for you and maybe have them marked with a distinct flag or something else you can look for while pedaling through the thousands of people. Note: The cutoff point is after the Twin Lakes stop, so don't doddle if you're nearing the 4 hour cutoff.
Columbine is a death march. I figured the four hours allotted to get up and down it were plenty - they're enough, but you don't have much time to stop and rest. The lower section switches back and forth through the trees and is tough but can be ridden. Some were walking the bottom - Ride it while you can!!! We were all in our granny gear going about 3.5 mph, but once we stopped and walked we were going 2.5 mph. You need that 1 mph while you can get it. Ride. Once you reach the end of the tree line the road pitches up to 25% and everyone (save the best) is walking. Just keep marching. The altitude here will be killing you - my heart rate would go above 145 bpm because my lungs were the limiting factor. I didn't feel like I was at the limit, but I could not go any faster. And don't quit!! This is 2 to 3 hours of misery, but just keep pushing.
My problem was I thought myself out of the race. My low heart rate was freaking me out, which combined with a touch of cramping made me think I was out of potassium and possibly doing some heart damage. My right knee hurt the moment I started the hike-a-bike. I was on the edge of cramping and while watching the clock I starting doing the math in my head. I could see the top, but my math was telling me I couldn't make the time cut. Doing math at +12,000 is a bad idea. I quit. I stopped on some alpine grass fueled up and then headed back down. I quit. I quit. Now I have to live with that. Looking back at my times last night... I was doing just fine. I would have made the Twin Lakes inbound cut and maybe the Powerline cut. I could have finished, but I quit. If I hadn't quit and they made me stop, I'd be good right now. But I quit and I regret it so much today. Yes I was suffering, but we all were. That's the point! I trained for seven months and quit about a mile from the summit. That slog of a pace puts me 17 minutes from the summit and I just quit. Looking at it from the trail, I estimated and hour more to get up there. Wrong. So, so wrong. Now I have to start all over again.
Remember your task is to pedal, not calculate and analyze. Don't stop until someone else makes you stop. Period.
Frisco, CO is a great little town located at a good proximity to Leadville. We had a beautifully appointed condo and the price was great. We arrived Monday night and Tuesday I rode up to a "town" called Montezuma. You can look it up, but it's a dirt road though a few houses at elevation. Tough ride, but good. Wednesday off, Thursday was a very easy recovery ride. Friday off, Saturday race. Wednesday and Thursday we all felt like tired and listless, but by Friday we all felt much better.
Friday: Packet and race info pickup followed by the Mandatory crew and racer briefing... in a gym big enough for 1200 people. When we got to the door the crew were not allowed in due to lack of space - shocking. I sat in for about 45 minutes and it was nothing more than a pep rally. A big waste really.
The bike: My setup was perfect! 29er hardtail. Most critically with small knobbed tires: Kenda Small Block Eights. Everyone had small knobbed tires. Everyone! And for good reason. Hardpack with gravel is about the worst you'll see there... except for the upper part of Columbine. More pavement than I expected. While I ran flawlessly I heard many people dump their chain into their spokes on the climbs - get your bike professionally serviced!!! Those people are risking all that time invested over a $80 service fee. Ridiculous!
Clothing. Skip the jacket, knee warmers and toe warmers - all those people went numb too, but they had to stop, sit on the ground and peel that crap off. Look at what the pros wear: shorts, arm warmers, vest. I copied them and added a ear warming headband. Perfect... Went numb, warmed up, shed while riding. You have to keep moving as much as possible in this race.
The race. Don't stop racing until they make you. I had fun. A lot of fun. At times I was giddy because I was doing it!! Racing down Powerline was awesome: I passed about 10 other riders coming down that - it is badly rutted, but if you're a mountain biker you skill will show here. As for the first two climbs, I can't say how hard they are because you're packed in like sardines going only as fast and the slowest person in the pack. It's so tight that once one person spins a tire and stops the six or seven riders behind do the same then they're all suddenly walking. Practice remounting you bike on slopes from a walk. You should be able to jump on from a walk into pedaling then clip in without missing a beat. This skill saved me twice.
As for the sardines, I like the mass start idea and appreciate that this is how it's been done for 16 years, but they need to start staggering the start badly. We all had timing chips so it would not be hard to implement, but you'd lose the shotgun firing at 6:30pm with any meaning. I can see keeping it, but it's be a better race if they ditched the mass start format.
Pipeline was a disheartening bitch. What I knew of it made it seem flat from the bottom of Powerline to Twin Lakes - well, it ain't flat. Some is, but there are two pitches that sapped my energy and spirit. There was also a nice piece of singletrack - more of that please! Twin Lakes is a huge party - make sure your crew is looking for you and maybe have them marked with a distinct flag or something else you can look for while pedaling through the thousands of people. Note: The cutoff point is after the Twin Lakes stop, so don't doddle if you're nearing the 4 hour cutoff.
Columbine is a death march. I figured the four hours allotted to get up and down it were plenty - they're enough, but you don't have much time to stop and rest. The lower section switches back and forth through the trees and is tough but can be ridden. Some were walking the bottom - Ride it while you can!!! We were all in our granny gear going about 3.5 mph, but once we stopped and walked we were going 2.5 mph. You need that 1 mph while you can get it. Ride. Once you reach the end of the tree line the road pitches up to 25% and everyone (save the best) is walking. Just keep marching. The altitude here will be killing you - my heart rate would go above 145 bpm because my lungs were the limiting factor. I didn't feel like I was at the limit, but I could not go any faster. And don't quit!! This is 2 to 3 hours of misery, but just keep pushing.
My problem was I thought myself out of the race. My low heart rate was freaking me out, which combined with a touch of cramping made me think I was out of potassium and possibly doing some heart damage. My right knee hurt the moment I started the hike-a-bike. I was on the edge of cramping and while watching the clock I starting doing the math in my head. I could see the top, but my math was telling me I couldn't make the time cut. Doing math at +12,000 is a bad idea. I quit. I stopped on some alpine grass fueled up and then headed back down. I quit. I quit. Now I have to live with that. Looking back at my times last night... I was doing just fine. I would have made the Twin Lakes inbound cut and maybe the Powerline cut. I could have finished, but I quit. If I hadn't quit and they made me stop, I'd be good right now. But I quit and I regret it so much today. Yes I was suffering, but we all were. That's the point! I trained for seven months and quit about a mile from the summit. That slog of a pace puts me 17 minutes from the summit and I just quit. Looking at it from the trail, I estimated and hour more to get up there. Wrong. So, so wrong. Now I have to start all over again.
Remember your task is to pedal, not calculate and analyze. Don't stop until someone else makes you stop. Period.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
The Count Goes On
Life at +9,000 feet is challenging. Tuesday I rode from the condo here in Frisco up to Montezuma at 10,200 feet. It wasn't easy but I pushed up some 9% grades. The gains of riding at 150 beats per minute (bpm) versus 170 bpm are minimal, which is good and bad. There just isn't much benefit when spending those extra 20 heart beats per minute, however now I know that pushing myself to my lactate threshold really won't help me much, so I can sit back in my comfort zone between 155 and 160 bpm and go just about as fast.
The tough part of the elevation is the everyday living: I'm not sleeping well because each time I drift into sleep my respiration slows too much and I wake up with a big gasp for air. I repeat this for hours. Tonight I think I'll try a breathe right strip to help open the passages and maybe I can sleep better.
For added stress when I got up here my brakes were mushy and the levers pulled back closer to the handlebar: there's in the lines. Those tiny, inconsequential bubbles at sea level grew into problems at elevation. So I ran into a local shop here to have them bled and one of the handlebar clamps broke... this has happened before and Shimano warrantied the lever, but I'm sitting here with less than 3 days and no front brake. Luckily the guys at Podium Sports are on their game: before they called me to say it was broken, they phoned Shimano got the part warrantied with next day shipping. THEN they phoned me with the bad news and told me a free replacement was on it's way. By 11am this morning by bike was race-ready again. Well done! Had that not gone so smoothly, the boys at Win's Wheels we ready to next-day me the parts I needed. Having a solid working relationship with a top-notch bike shop has been imperative to any successes along the way. Hopefully I can reward the boys with a shiny new belt buckle. And the song goes:
4, 3, 2, 1
Earth below us
drifting, falling.
Floating weightless
calling, calling home...
The tough part of the elevation is the everyday living: I'm not sleeping well because each time I drift into sleep my respiration slows too much and I wake up with a big gasp for air. I repeat this for hours. Tonight I think I'll try a breathe right strip to help open the passages and maybe I can sleep better.
For added stress when I got up here my brakes were mushy and the levers pulled back closer to the handlebar: there's in the lines. Those tiny, inconsequential bubbles at sea level grew into problems at elevation. So I ran into a local shop here to have them bled and one of the handlebar clamps broke... this has happened before and Shimano warrantied the lever, but I'm sitting here with less than 3 days and no front brake. Luckily the guys at Podium Sports are on their game: before they called me to say it was broken, they phoned Shimano got the part warrantied with next day shipping. THEN they phoned me with the bad news and told me a free replacement was on it's way. By 11am this morning by bike was race-ready again. Well done! Had that not gone so smoothly, the boys at Win's Wheels we ready to next-day me the parts I needed. Having a solid working relationship with a top-notch bike shop has been imperative to any successes along the way. Hopefully I can reward the boys with a shiny new belt buckle. And the song goes:
4, 3, 2, 1
Earth below us
drifting, falling.
Floating weightless
calling, calling home...
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Are you ready?
The stupid little clock over there says 26 days, 15 hours... So here I am with 4 weeks to the start. Everyone keeps asking if I am ready. Maybe. Maybe not. To date I've ridden over 161 hours, covering 2,127 miles and have climbed 131,727 feet in preparation for Leadville. These numbers are impressive for me and are not too far off of an unattained annual goal I've made from time to time of riding 5,200 miles in a calendar year, to average 100 miles a week. But while riding through Santa Paula yesterday en route to 100 miles, a guy rode up to me and we chatted. He was riding from Saugus, went up to Ojai and now was on his way to Zuma Beach. Someone will always ride father and go faster than me.
So am I ready? I honestly won't know until I'm a few hours in to the race. I feel like if I can make the 4 hour time cut, I'll be good. I'm not worried about the 8 hour cut because if I make the 4 hour cut I can bank a little extra time and start my push up Columbine climb and back down. From there I can go slow. Probably real slow at times. And if I don't finish? Too bad... I not going to try again because all the training I've done to this point is all the training I am willing to do. I've turned myself inside out and have sacrificed a lot of time. The amount I've trained to this point is the maximum amount that I'm willing to do. If I tried again next year I wouldn't put one more minute into it. If this isn't good enough, then I'm not good enough and that is absolutely okay. I am sick of training. I mean even my tan lines have tan lines! It's ridiculous. Belt buckle or no, I've learned the depths of my commitment, how hard I can push myself physically and mentally and how supportive my family is, and most valuably how supportive my fiancée is. And all that is far more valuable than a damned belt buckle.
-PW
So am I ready? I honestly won't know until I'm a few hours in to the race. I feel like if I can make the 4 hour time cut, I'll be good. I'm not worried about the 8 hour cut because if I make the 4 hour cut I can bank a little extra time and start my push up Columbine climb and back down. From there I can go slow. Probably real slow at times. And if I don't finish? Too bad... I not going to try again because all the training I've done to this point is all the training I am willing to do. I've turned myself inside out and have sacrificed a lot of time. The amount I've trained to this point is the maximum amount that I'm willing to do. If I tried again next year I wouldn't put one more minute into it. If this isn't good enough, then I'm not good enough and that is absolutely okay. I am sick of training. I mean even my tan lines have tan lines! It's ridiculous. Belt buckle or no, I've learned the depths of my commitment, how hard I can push myself physically and mentally and how supportive my family is, and most valuably how supportive my fiancée is. And all that is far more valuable than a damned belt buckle.
-PW
Friday, July 2, 2010
The Countdown Starts
The nerves are getting a little shaky and life has been quite a challenge, but here we are with ~42 days until the starting shotgun is fired at Leadville. Physically I don't know how much more preparation I can do for the race, but I know there's plenty of time to blow it all. I'm still doing by scheduled weekday intervals, but the weekend rides seem way too short. How are 3 to 5 hour ride supposed to prep me for an 8 to 12 hour race? So I'm extending the distance on those rides. Saturday was a 5 hour jaunt around Lake Casitas and I felt pretty good but it's clear to me that I need to get more long distance rides under my belt. By mile 60 my ass hurt, by mile 70 I was slowing down and my legs were tired. So I'm getting closer and I know I could finish a hundred miler tomorrow, but it wouldn't be pretty. Including tomorrow I basically have 5 weekends left to prepare.
I've pared my equipment choices down and am close to having a final setup, but now there is a crack in my frame. I don't think it a huge problem, but the boys at Trek Bike of Ventura are going to try and get me a replacement in time for the race. Otherwise I'll race the cracked one. C'est le vie!
I have to say that some days I am simply tired to riding. It used to be so simple to just jump on and fall into a warmed and readied pace within a few minutes. Now it takes me about an hour of riding before everything feels relaxed and comfortable. I don't understand this phenomenon, but after that first hour the time and miles just fly by and next thing I know I'm nearing the end of my ride.
Happy Independence Day and I'll be out riding early and trying to enjoy the holiday weekend for the rest of the time. Enjoy!
-PW
I've pared my equipment choices down and am close to having a final setup, but now there is a crack in my frame. I don't think it a huge problem, but the boys at Trek Bike of Ventura are going to try and get me a replacement in time for the race. Otherwise I'll race the cracked one. C'est le vie!
I have to say that some days I am simply tired to riding. It used to be so simple to just jump on and fall into a warmed and readied pace within a few minutes. Now it takes me about an hour of riding before everything feels relaxed and comfortable. I don't understand this phenomenon, but after that first hour the time and miles just fly by and next thing I know I'm nearing the end of my ride.
Happy Independence Day and I'll be out riding early and trying to enjoy the holiday weekend for the rest of the time. Enjoy!
-PW
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Tahoe
Friday, May 28, 2010
Life
I'm learning that the difficulty of training for a big event is the training lasts for so long. Months! Meanwhile life goes on despite the training and finding all the time to get out and do it is difficult. Just getting home to help with dinner is tough then life happens and says, "Oh yeah, you need to pack and move now too." "Don't forget about... (fill in blank; repeat)." It's just tough to show up every week and every day and get it done. But I've always said that cycling isn't something you do in your spare time, it's something you make time for. I think that applies to all those important things that save our sanity and make living life worth the while. So I make the time.
As the event gets bigger the tendrils of training reach deeper into those other areas of life that were once completely non-cycling. I have to make a point to drink water all day today so I'm hydrated for my ride after work. I have to eat lunch because an empty stomach will screw up my recovery and destroy my next ride and that next ride just isn't optional. It's tough, it's work and it is so valuable, but not how you think. The value is found once I get life done and I find those quiet moments during my ride. Suffering up that climb, or digging deeper during this interval... life and all it's distractions fade like the dream from last night with all those vivid details and colors, but now you can't even recall the gist of it. That's when it gets sublime and you just breath deeper and pedal harder because nothing else matters.
I'm in my second four-week training block from Alison Dunlap's Coaching program and oddly it's getting easier. This block focuses on climbing and climbing strength. It isn't easy but getting up the climbs is. My metabolism is in another gear, I'm eating constantly but still losing a bit more weight. Meanwhile I'm watching all these different physical parameters for the Restwise program and it's amazing how my big efforts show up. Most mornings I wake up and my resting heart rate is in the low 50s or high 40s, but on those tougher weeks I can't even lower it into the mid-50s even if I feel fine. It just amazing to me to see and these subtle changes to my body and physiology over the months.
Well it's Memorial Day weekend and Patsy and I heading up the Lake Tahoe for a break and to see some family. While there I'm going to ride around the lake which is about 72 miles at elevation and we will see how I respond. Even if I suffer, break and need a ride home, it's supposed to be one of the most beautiful rides and will be celebrated next weekend with the
As the event gets bigger the tendrils of training reach deeper into those other areas of life that were once completely non-cycling. I have to make a point to drink water all day today so I'm hydrated for my ride after work. I have to eat lunch because an empty stomach will screw up my recovery and destroy my next ride and that next ride just isn't optional. It's tough, it's work and it is so valuable, but not how you think. The value is found once I get life done and I find those quiet moments during my ride. Suffering up that climb, or digging deeper during this interval... life and all it's distractions fade like the dream from last night with all those vivid details and colors, but now you can't even recall the gist of it. That's when it gets sublime and you just breath deeper and pedal harder because nothing else matters.
I'm in my second four-week training block from Alison Dunlap's Coaching program and oddly it's getting easier. This block focuses on climbing and climbing strength. It isn't easy but getting up the climbs is. My metabolism is in another gear, I'm eating constantly but still losing a bit more weight. Meanwhile I'm watching all these different physical parameters for the Restwise program and it's amazing how my big efforts show up. Most mornings I wake up and my resting heart rate is in the low 50s or high 40s, but on those tougher weeks I can't even lower it into the mid-50s even if I feel fine. It just amazing to me to see and these subtle changes to my body and physiology over the months.
Well it's Memorial Day weekend and Patsy and I heading up the Lake Tahoe for a break and to see some family. While there I'm going to ride around the lake which is about 72 miles at elevation and we will see how I respond. Even if I suffer, break and need a ride home, it's supposed to be one of the most beautiful rides and will be celebrated next weekend with the
Thursday, May 6, 2010
2009 Leadville 100 Results
1427 riders registered
1230 started (197 DNS)
973 finished (257 DNF)
888 finished under 12 hours
128 finished under 9 hours
This could be tough.
1230 started (197 DNS)
973 finished (257 DNF)
888 finished under 12 hours
128 finished under 9 hours
This could be tough.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Thoughts and numbers
Still training... My maximum heart rate is still 192 beats per minute (bpm), but my lactate threshold has moved up from 170 to 172 bpm while my resting heart rate is moving down from 52 bpm to 50 or 49... that one seems to be moving around a bit. So far I've covered over 1,000 miles in preparation. I feel good and I'm strong, but now it's the elevation that worries me. It's funny, but my training so far has been guided by the little things that people say. I asked Justin about his training program and he emphasized intensity. At that time most of my rides were moderate so I added a couple intense rides then did the Breakaway Ride and that was definitely intense! Now I'm going to incorporate a couple of mountain bikes races into my program because you just can't simulate racing intensity on a training ride. The Downieville Classic and the Elings Park Bike Festival are now on my calendar. I've always wanted to do Downieville and Elings would be cool because it's in Santa Barbara... I could ride to a race then ride home! Although according to Patsy the event permits are still pending. Bummer. Big Bear would be a perfect race, but due to the late snow season, it's been postponed and not it'll likely be too late for me.
Then the other day Win asked if I've ridden 100 miles on my mountain bike yet. Seems like an obvious thing to try before Leadville, but I hadn't thought of it... So now that is on my plate. And I ran a cross an ad for Alison Dunlap Coaching. Alison was a pro mountain biker and former world champion and now she's parlayed that into coaching... as is everyone. What's different is 1) her program is cheaper, about $60 per month and 2) its more like a training regimen than a coaching program. Each month you get a new 28-Day training block, you do it and then you get the next block. No performance review, etc. They have samples of their programs available for trial so I'm trying the block for +8 hour Endurance events. I'm on the first week and the intervals are killer. Killer painful, not killer good. Well, maybe good, but my legs hurt. There's some weight training involved too so I went to the gym yesterday for the first time in over a year. Developing some upper body strength and endurance will help.
The Restwise is a cool program. Now that I'm more than a month into it the algorithm is more stable and it seems to pick up my harder training days as well as my rest days.The results look like this:
I've realized why people use Win as a mechanic so much. Yes he's good and you get you bike back quickly, but between working, training and trying to be home for dinner, I have no time to work on my bike. It's filthy which is rare for my bikes, but the other morning I got up early to work on it before work... And I'm not talking about new gadgets or toys, I'm talking about basic maintenance: a new chain, tire and brake pads. Cleaning? No way! If Win were local I would have happily paid him to do it. Alright - back to it.
-PW
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Breakaway Ride, Thousand Oaks, 2010
Wow! That was a great day. Despite starting with a solid headache and stopping once for mechanical/pee/water, I finished 23 of the 311 riders who did Medium length course.
Just the numbers here:
All my numbers in detail: http://www.milliseconds.com/participants/detail/805846198
I'm not fast, but I'm faster then I've even been and feel great.
Thanks for reading. -PW
PS: Patrick Dempsey? No show due to "injury."
Just the numbers here:
- I finished my first trip up the Rock Store climb in 17:33. Not earth shattering by any stretch, but my previous personal best was about 19:30.
- I finished the whole event in 4 hours, when I was hoping for 4:30 or better.
- I avoided one water bottle at +30 mph, one CO2 cartridge and barely missed the guy in front of me touching wheels in a pack and hitting the pavement. Oddly, I just watched him go down and didn't flinch, which likely stopped a possible chain reaction with all the riders behind me. The rider was okay.
All my numbers in detail: http://www.milliseconds.com/participants/detail/805846198
I'm not fast, but I'm faster then I've even been and feel great.
Thanks for reading. -PW
PS: Patrick Dempsey? No show due to "injury."
Friday, April 9, 2010
Oops! Nevermind.
This whole heartrate/overtraining thing has been stressful. So yesterday, with pent up frustration, I went out for a short, but hard ride. I wanted to see exactly what my maximum heartrate is right so I headed up Las Canoas Road which has a nice 11-12% section. I pushed, my heartrate responded so I pushed harder and it kept climbing. By the top of this climb which usually kicks my butt, I was out of the saddle, third gear, in a full sprint! And my heartrate is fine. My heartrate monitor is fine. I max'ed out at 192 bpm, which is exactly where is was 3 months ago. The only thing that is different is I'm fit. I'm in shape. Thus my body doesn't have to work as hard for the same output. I'm chalking this up to operator error. Stupid operator.
-PW
-PW
Thursday, April 8, 2010
The luck rolls on!
For training motivation I've been considering entering a couple organized cycling events, like the Mulholland Challenge. These are non-competitive events where hundreds of riders come together and ride a course with full support, including rest stops, bathrooms and water stations. They're fun, but cost money because they're usually fund raisers. One ride I was considering was the Breakaway Ride where to support cancer research you follow an actual stage of the professional Tour of California race. $125 gets you in with a tshirt, support, lunch after, etc. $150 get you a jersey and for $500 you get to rub elbows with Patrick Dempsey, whose mother had ovarian cancer. It sounded cool, but I wasn't convinced to spend the cash. Then I ran across a link from George Hincapie on Twitter about a drawing for a free entry. Signed up, forgot about and yup, I won. Free entry!! So I'll be out there Sunday following Stage 8 of the TOC for extra training. It might rain, but all the routes are familiar and as Michael says, I need the miles. Oh! And since Win is supporting the event, I'll have my own personal support crew on course. Sweet!
In other news, my allergies are finally controlled!!! Woo hooo!!!! Thanks to a great optician and a new allergy drug called Xyzal. Praise God for Xyzal!! I'm sleeping, I'm mostly breathing well and my eye are not itching!!! And as far as I can tell I don't have any side-effects. I'm not tired, my skin isn't dried out and I feel great. The rest and recovery time has really helped too - I rode a bit and felt really strong. Peace!
-PW
In other news, my allergies are finally controlled!!! Woo hooo!!!! Thanks to a great optician and a new allergy drug called Xyzal. Praise God for Xyzal!! I'm sleeping, I'm mostly breathing well and my eye are not itching!!! And as far as I can tell I don't have any side-effects. I'm not tired, my skin isn't dried out and I feel great. The rest and recovery time has really helped too - I rode a bit and felt really strong. Peace!
-PW
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Forced rest.
I have been off the bike for a week now. Last week, with signs of overtraining, I went really easy. On previous rides, I noticed my anaerobic threshold (AT) and maximum heart rate has dropped significantly. Those can be early signs of overtraining and are certain signs of not recovering enough or overreaching.
This week, zero miles to date. So March saw almost 300 miles total, more than February, but less then I'd been aiming for. Now my allergies are winning and I'm doped up on herbs, OTC, Rx and steroids to try and control them. Wednedsay my left eye swelled half shut. I've been indoors as much as possible since. Fun. I want to ride, but maybe the forced time off is what my body needs and this is all a blessing in disguise. An itchy, painful, annoying disguise. Time will tell.
Still no coach, but I have signed up with Restwise. Daily I input data from my resting heart rate, hours slept, to how my energy level is and even the color of my urine. Restwise takes all this data and helps determine my level of recovery and suggests whether I should continue training or if I should take a rest day. Most of the data is simple and subjective, but it's interesting and the gadget to measure my resting heart rate and oxygen saturation (SP02) level is pretty cool. It'll be interesting to see how the numbers change as training resumes. So, I have a new toy at least. And now wheels too, for my MTB. Shimano 29er mountain wheels. They're nice and I can't wait to mount them and get some milage in. In due time. Until then I'm going to rest, enjoy Easter and keep getting my butt kicked in Words with Friends by Patsy. Fun.
-PW
This week, zero miles to date. So March saw almost 300 miles total, more than February, but less then I'd been aiming for. Now my allergies are winning and I'm doped up on herbs, OTC, Rx and steroids to try and control them. Wednedsay my left eye swelled half shut. I've been indoors as much as possible since. Fun. I want to ride, but maybe the forced time off is what my body needs and this is all a blessing in disguise. An itchy, painful, annoying disguise. Time will tell.
Still no coach, but I have signed up with Restwise. Daily I input data from my resting heart rate, hours slept, to how my energy level is and even the color of my urine. Restwise takes all this data and helps determine my level of recovery and suggests whether I should continue training or if I should take a rest day. Most of the data is simple and subjective, but it's interesting and the gadget to measure my resting heart rate and oxygen saturation (SP02) level is pretty cool. It'll be interesting to see how the numbers change as training resumes. So, I have a new toy at least. And now wheels too, for my MTB. Shimano 29er mountain wheels. They're nice and I can't wait to mount them and get some milage in. In due time. Until then I'm going to rest, enjoy Easter and keep getting my butt kicked in Words with Friends by Patsy. Fun.
-PW
Thursday, March 18, 2010
36
It's good to be humbled by an old friend. In middle school and into high school I rode bikes a lot. We'd ride to Santa Barbara and back on the weekends which is about 85 miles round trip. Good now, but great when we were 14. Sixteen came and we abandoned bicycles for cars. It wasn't until I was 21 or 22 that I got back into cycling.
Freshly wounded by a bad breakup I wandered into the local shop and found a Cannondale on sale. It'd been stolen and recovered so they were discounting as used, but it was still new, and new to me. I bought it and looked around for places to ride. Someone had drawn up a cartoon map of a trail in the back of a Mountain Bike magazine. It looked fun and it was local!! Los Robles trail, located in the Santa Monica Mountains here in CA.
I headed up the next day to scout out the trail. Since I was only scouting it out I had no cycling gear with me and no water. I ended up riding the whole trail from end to end. I loved it. I was hard, twisty and challenging. I'd climb a bit and stop to catch my breath. Ride. Repeat. Eventually I reached the top. That was real mountain biking and I was hooked!! I came back the following day and literally hundreds of times since. It's a short trail, only 6.1 or 6.2 miles, but the track is varied, technical and just fun.
Doug and I started riding it regularly and eventually we got fit enough not to need to stop and rest. Now we reminisce about how unfit we were and we haven't been that unfit since. Back then Doug rode it on his dad's strangely very heavy, rigid, aluminum mountain bike basically with one hand and one brake. I've ridden it on many typical So Cal days and shortly after my dad's death I watched a sunset on a near perfect January day. That is where I said goodbye to Dad. I've seen and photographed many sunsets since though they mostly look alike, they're all spectacular. I haven't made it a ritual, but for several birthdays I've been up there to watch the sunset.
During the times I have lived in the area I'd ride Los Robles weekly, but not once since moving to Santa Barbara last year. Yesterday was my 36th birthday and dinner is tonight so I drove to Los Robles for another sunset ride. Lately, with my newly earned level of fitness it's been like driving around in a new sports car. I've been riding up hills that last year had the best of me. Today the hills seem shorter and less steep. Los Robles is a short sprint of a mountain bike trail. So much so that I no longer bother with my hydration pack, tools and tubes. If I flat I'll just walk it out. Oh well. So I rode up yesterday and even with my new found fitness it was still challenging. I figured it'd be a cake walk, but no, not really. The climbs were still tough... and though I have memorized the trail and even individual rocks and ruts, I have to admit I didn't give my old friend there enough respect. Skipping lunch and not drinking enough water during the day didn't help, but Los Robles humbled me a bit yesterday. And the sunset? Simply spectacular. Enjoy.
-PW
Freshly wounded by a bad breakup I wandered into the local shop and found a Cannondale on sale. It'd been stolen and recovered so they were discounting as used, but it was still new, and new to me. I bought it and looked around for places to ride. Someone had drawn up a cartoon map of a trail in the back of a Mountain Bike magazine. It looked fun and it was local!! Los Robles trail, located in the Santa Monica Mountains here in CA.
I headed up the next day to scout out the trail. Since I was only scouting it out I had no cycling gear with me and no water. I ended up riding the whole trail from end to end. I loved it. I was hard, twisty and challenging. I'd climb a bit and stop to catch my breath. Ride. Repeat. Eventually I reached the top. That was real mountain biking and I was hooked!! I came back the following day and literally hundreds of times since. It's a short trail, only 6.1 or 6.2 miles, but the track is varied, technical and just fun.
Doug and I started riding it regularly and eventually we got fit enough not to need to stop and rest. Now we reminisce about how unfit we were and we haven't been that unfit since. Back then Doug rode it on his dad's strangely very heavy, rigid, aluminum mountain bike basically with one hand and one brake. I've ridden it on many typical So Cal days and shortly after my dad's death I watched a sunset on a near perfect January day. That is where I said goodbye to Dad. I've seen and photographed many sunsets since though they mostly look alike, they're all spectacular. I haven't made it a ritual, but for several birthdays I've been up there to watch the sunset.
During the times I have lived in the area I'd ride Los Robles weekly, but not once since moving to Santa Barbara last year. Yesterday was my 36th birthday and dinner is tonight so I drove to Los Robles for another sunset ride. Lately, with my newly earned level of fitness it's been like driving around in a new sports car. I've been riding up hills that last year had the best of me. Today the hills seem shorter and less steep. Los Robles is a short sprint of a mountain bike trail. So much so that I no longer bother with my hydration pack, tools and tubes. If I flat I'll just walk it out. Oh well. So I rode up yesterday and even with my new found fitness it was still challenging. I figured it'd be a cake walk, but no, not really. The climbs were still tough... and though I have memorized the trail and even individual rocks and ruts, I have to admit I didn't give my old friend there enough respect. Skipping lunch and not drinking enough water during the day didn't help, but Los Robles humbled me a bit yesterday. And the sunset? Simply spectacular. Enjoy.
-PW
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Rain
Last week I eked 100.7 miles for a monthly total of 265. Saturday I did fifty (49.1) miles in a rain storm for four hours. Training isn't just physical fitness, but mental too. I have to be able to ride for 12 hours, almost non-stop, in what ever the conditions happen to be on August 14th. The quick though of weather in August is summer. Nice. Warm. But the ride is at a high elevation in the Rocky Mountains and with elevation come dramatically different weather.
Last year the morning started near freezing, the day warmed nicely then a thunderstorm came in and it hailed. That's high altitude weather. I'll be keeping an eye on the west horizon, but should anything pop up I don't have much choice but to keep riding. So on Saturday I did my four hours in off and on rain, heavy at times, sunny, very windy with one spectacular double rainbow. That rainbow is cast on the downpour I just rode through. Three road closures and two detours later I rolled home. Wet and cold, but I felt good. Really good.
Until Saturday I was ready to hire a cycling coach to help me condition for the race. I'd planned to since I'd been accepted and after a lot research I'd settled on Chris Carmichael's CTS program. For those not in the know, Carmichael is Lance's coach. He has parlayed that notoriety into a coached training program for athletes. Well whether you pick CTS or one of the numerous others out there, it is spendy! Upward of $150 a month for a basic package. I figure I have three thing to deal with in this race: the distance, the climbing and the elevation. After the ride Saturday I decided I'm not hiring a coach. I felt that good! This race is already quite expensive so it's nice to know I'm saving there and I think I'll be fine in the end. We'll see, won't we?
After a 20 mile recovery ride on Sunday, Patsy did some massage work on my legs and they're worked. Knots with knots! My early riding schedule has been Tuesday, Thurday, Saturday and Sunday. Considering the knots, I took yesterday's (Tuesday) ride off the schedule so I'll have three days in a row without a ride. Recovery is a very important part of training. Since I've just began, I chose to listen to Patsy and my body and rest a bit, but tomorrow I'll be back in the saddle. I feel good, I'm eating plenty, drinking a lot of water and taking a lot of vitamins/minerals/aminos. I'll keep you posted.
-PW
Last year the morning started near freezing, the day warmed nicely then a thunderstorm came in and it hailed. That's high altitude weather. I'll be keeping an eye on the west horizon, but should anything pop up I don't have much choice but to keep riding. So on Saturday I did my four hours in off and on rain, heavy at times, sunny, very windy with one spectacular double rainbow. That rainbow is cast on the downpour I just rode through. Three road closures and two detours later I rolled home. Wet and cold, but I felt good. Really good.
Until Saturday I was ready to hire a cycling coach to help me condition for the race. I'd planned to since I'd been accepted and after a lot research I'd settled on Chris Carmichael's CTS program. For those not in the know, Carmichael is Lance's coach. He has parlayed that notoriety into a coached training program for athletes. Well whether you pick CTS or one of the numerous others out there, it is spendy! Upward of $150 a month for a basic package. I figure I have three thing to deal with in this race: the distance, the climbing and the elevation. After the ride Saturday I decided I'm not hiring a coach. I felt that good! This race is already quite expensive so it's nice to know I'm saving there and I think I'll be fine in the end. We'll see, won't we?
After a 20 mile recovery ride on Sunday, Patsy did some massage work on my legs and they're worked. Knots with knots! My early riding schedule has been Tuesday, Thurday, Saturday and Sunday. Considering the knots, I took yesterday's (Tuesday) ride off the schedule so I'll have three days in a row without a ride. Recovery is a very important part of training. Since I've just began, I chose to listen to Patsy and my body and rest a bit, but tomorrow I'll be back in the saddle. I feel good, I'm eating plenty, drinking a lot of water and taking a lot of vitamins/minerals/aminos. I'll keep you posted.
-PW
Thursday, February 25, 2010
I think I can blame Win.
I've known about the Leadville 100 for a few years now and have always though, "Why?" Why would someone want to race a mountain bike for 100 miles starting at +9,000 feet of elevation? Crazy.
Leadville is an old mining town in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. It was once the second most populous town in CO, but today there are fewer than 3,000 residents and mining is a history rather than an industry. Now supported by tourism, one of their major events is this Leadville 100 race. They also host running events and shorter distance races, but the 100 has become the most popular. In 2008 a retired bike racer named Lance sign on and took second. He began racing again and returned in 2009 with a camera crew who made a film titled, "Race to the Sky."
Last fall my friend Win, of Win's Wheels, called with extra tickets to the movie and asked if I wanted to see the movie with him and the usual crowd. "Sure." It wasn't a great night for me because it was a week night and I lived over an hour away from the screening, but I'll be damned if something didn't click. Finish in under 12 hours and you get a belt buckle. Do it under 9 hours and you get a gold belt buckle. I didn't say anything to anyone, but I wanted to earn that belt buckle. I could buy one, but it just won't be the same as if I suffer my way through months of training and earn the damned thing. And the movie wasn't even that good!
More people register for the 100 than can be safely put on the trail so come selection time the organizers host a lottery to see which 1400 people get to race. A couple of months after the movie, the urge was still there so without a word to anyone I put my name it the hat. I think it's my one-third life crisis. At 35, I feel I'm beyond my prime and it's either now or never. Well? As the selection date neared I kept going back and forth between hoping I would get to race and hoping I wouldn't have to go through all the training and suffering. I'd already spilled my secret and Patsy saw me flip flop like John Kerry. The week came, the email arrived titled, "Congratulations from Leadville Trail 100." How special is this? Of the ten people I know signed up, two got in including myself.
"Crap. I'm in." So starting February 8th about six months of training began. Since then almost every aspect of my life has become focused on training. Right now I am riding 4 days a week including lunch rides during the week. I've rented a cabin in Colorado for the race and bought a GPS-heart rate tracking cycling computer (Garmin Edge 500) so I can record every mile and heartbeat. I have a nutrition plan. I have a relationship to my bathroom scale! All for a damned belt buckle.
-PW
Leadville is an old mining town in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. It was once the second most populous town in CO, but today there are fewer than 3,000 residents and mining is a history rather than an industry. Now supported by tourism, one of their major events is this Leadville 100 race. They also host running events and shorter distance races, but the 100 has become the most popular. In 2008 a retired bike racer named Lance sign on and took second. He began racing again and returned in 2009 with a camera crew who made a film titled, "Race to the Sky."
Last fall my friend Win, of Win's Wheels, called with extra tickets to the movie and asked if I wanted to see the movie with him and the usual crowd. "Sure." It wasn't a great night for me because it was a week night and I lived over an hour away from the screening, but I'll be damned if something didn't click. Finish in under 12 hours and you get a belt buckle. Do it under 9 hours and you get a gold belt buckle. I didn't say anything to anyone, but I wanted to earn that belt buckle. I could buy one, but it just won't be the same as if I suffer my way through months of training and earn the damned thing. And the movie wasn't even that good!
More people register for the 100 than can be safely put on the trail so come selection time the organizers host a lottery to see which 1400 people get to race. A couple of months after the movie, the urge was still there so without a word to anyone I put my name it the hat. I think it's my one-third life crisis. At 35, I feel I'm beyond my prime and it's either now or never. Well? As the selection date neared I kept going back and forth between hoping I would get to race and hoping I wouldn't have to go through all the training and suffering. I'd already spilled my secret and Patsy saw me flip flop like John Kerry. The week came, the email arrived titled, "Congratulations from Leadville Trail 100." How special is this? Of the ten people I know signed up, two got in including myself.
"Crap. I'm in." So starting February 8th about six months of training began. Since then almost every aspect of my life has become focused on training. Right now I am riding 4 days a week including lunch rides during the week. I've rented a cabin in Colorado for the race and bought a GPS-heart rate tracking cycling computer (Garmin Edge 500) so I can record every mile and heartbeat. I have a nutrition plan. I have a relationship to my bathroom scale! All for a damned belt buckle.
-PW
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