Requied Off The Bike Time

Well, looks like I'm going to have to take some time off the bike this week. Sucks cause I have a new cross bike just itchin' to be ridden and it's beautiful weather this week! I have a sprianed mcl in my right knee. WTF??? I haven't done anything to cause that except ride the new bike on Monday....

I rode about 90mi over the weekend and some of it was a bit hard for the first half of each ride...but, nothing that would cause the pain I was having Monday evening and all day yesterday....I put the spd pedals on the cross bike so that I could use the mtb shoes that are just laying around in the trunk of my car. I think, using this setup, it is a little different from my road setup and it caused me to put too much stress on the knee - I did notice while I rode at Umstead Monday, that my knee was hurting or feeling a bit uncomfortable during the ride. I kept looking at my foot position and I think it was twisted a bit and not straight on, like the road setup.

So...after the ride on Monday, I came home and iced the knee that evening. Felt a little better. But....Tuesday was a whole different story...I had pain when walking, going up/down stairs, and if I planted my foot and twisted a certain way, shooting pain. Uh oh. This is not good. I didn't think it was related to the bursitis/tendonitis that I've had, but I wanted to see someone about it. I called up the great PT and he worked me in yesterday afternoon. The pain is right in the joint line, medial side...He Dx'd as a sprian of mcl based on some poking/prodding, twisty stuff he did to my leg.

Will have to stay off the bike the rest of this week and hopefully I can ride some next week. I'll see the PT again once more Thursday...not really much he can do for a sprain though. Gonna cause me to miss Tour de Leaves over in Tryon now. :( Hopefully, I'll be recovered sufficiently by the end of the month (10/25) to be able to ride both days (Tour de Nantahala and Franklin).

Anyways...that's all now...Rest.Recover.Get.Stronger.

Cozumel & Racin'

Cozumel, Mexico. November 29, 2009. IronMan. 2.4mi/112mi/26.2mi. Guess who signed up for this event??? Yours truely. Not sure what I was thinking - maybe I just wasn't thinking, but I signed up for this event 2 wks ago. Never done a tri before in my life. Guess I'm going to be getting familiar with doing tri's over the next year. Biggest thing is getting the swim under my belt. There is a time limit cutoff for the swim of 2:20hr so I need to make sure I can get most of that distance completed under that time.

I plan on starting a Couch to 5k program as soon as I'm recovered from this bronchitis and to run at least one 5k before the end of the year. I'll also be signing up for at least one sprint, olympic, and half IM prior to the full IM. Will need to get a tri done where I have to do the open water swim as well...guess I should look for one out towards the coast when the weather gets a bit warmer. I'm also contemplating hiring a coach sometime in the late spring/early summer that can help me properly train for the IM.....

Racin'
Well, seems like the new friends I have are pretty sure that I can do some road races in the upcoming year. So, I am signing up for the Inside-Out Sports Cycling Team. I went this afternoon and tried the kit on - as they have to place the order Friday. There are 4 or 5 women on the team as of right now. We will be doing some road races and TT's at LMS next year. I'm really looking forward to doing this!

I guess I might have to re-think the rides I wanted to do next year now. I probably won't be able to do all of rides I did this past year since I'm going to be training for the IM and also participating in some races.

Oh well....I think this is a good thing - I really need some change, something exciting in my life now. I've lived here in NC for 43 years and I'm just not very excited about living here anymore. I'm thinking that once my kiddo graduates from high school, gets into college or the military, I may move. Not sure where tho. A new state, new friends, fresh faces & fresh starts. Maybe towards the NE part of the country as I have quite a few friends up in that area, especially my best friend in NH and the NY guy too. :) Dunno...that decision is about 8-10 months away, so there's plenty of time to decide on the new state of living.....

Stuff Since TdT

Trying to catch up a bit...

After TdT, I ended the following Monday with a sore throat and general feeling bad that evening. Woke up the next morning with the sore throat and decided to not go to work that day...ended up staying out of work all week. Did a lot of sleeping too...2 naps a day of 2-2.5hrs plus 6.5-7hr of sleep at night...started feeling better towards the end of the week and I was really glad because I had a trip to NY planned to meet a friend.

Flew up to NY Friday 9/26 and spent the weekend with my friend. A bit of sight-seeing and just general relaxing over the weekend. I had a great time, made a new friend and I'm looking forward to returning soon or having the friend come visit me soon.

Upon returning from this visit, I rode Cleo (the fuji bike) on Monday out at the Industrial Park in Garner. It's a 6mi loop with rolling terrain. I just rode, no specific goals in mind except to just ride and loosen the legs up since I hadn't ridden since 9/23. Tuesday I decided to get busy and do some intervals...getting back into the training mode. I only did 3x10min with 8min rest in between. The power was really good for these considering I haven't been riding a tremendous amount since August.

#1: 190/186/99/14.9 (np/ap/rpm/speed)
#2: 188/185/98/16.3
#3: 195/193/97/16.0

Took Wednesday off, don't remember why - maybe it was raining....I went back to the Industrial Park on Thursday and just felt bad. Couldn't breath too well - chest tightness/a bit of congestion/coughing...still cranked out 21mi at a 17mph pace. Friday's are usually half day's for me, so I planned on riding Tina (the red bike) to work. I went in a bit late to avoid the traffic and waiting until it was more daylight. Had a smoking pace! 15mi in 45-46min!! Still feeling a bit blah and didn't feel too well on the ride home...that breathing thing going on...

Saturday - I had plans to ride with JonA (one of hte guys I met while in the mtns for TdT) and a few other people. Met these guys at Strickland Rd YMCA and we rode about 22-23mi out Bruce Garner Rd (blistering pace too for me in that area - 18.7mph). The others with the group, elected to ride on for a little longer while Jon and I turned around and headed back. Good ride - 46mi/18.2mph. That's really good for that area. After lunch with Jon, I went over to Inside-Out Sports to demo some Cervelo bikes. I rode an R3 and an RS. Thought the RS rode the better of those 2, but I felt my bike rode the best. Guess that's a good thing!

Not much happening Sunday...took the kiddo to a hockey game, cleaned hte house up a bit.

Now....I'm home sick again. :( Bronchitis. Looks like I'll be out today (Wednesday) through at least Thursday. Might go in on Friday. I'm taking 2000mg/day of Amoxicillin and something for cough suppressant.

More to come in another post...

Tour de Tuck, The Hammer Inn, Sunday "Recovery" Ride

Wow. What a weekend!! I didn't think I would ever get away from work last Friday...had to deliver some bbq chicken plates to people at work...took forever!

So, got on the road and made it up to Barry's place on the river around 4:45pm. Tommy and his ferocious dog, Jim, had arrived just a few minutes before me. OK...I've NEVER had a problem with dogs, every one I've ever met has liked me. Until now. So, there is good ole Jim sitting in the yard (guarding the property most likely) and I hold my hand out for him to sniff and see that I'm not there to bother anything. Damn, next thing I know, bad ass lunges at my leg and bites me. Rips my friggen shorts too. Uh. OK. I head towards the backyard, trying to keep this beast away from me and get Tommy's attention. I do and tell him that Jim bit me! Well, Jim gets corralled and tied up, Barry asks do I want a beer? Ummm, hell yes - with the stupid drivers around the A'ville area and getting bit for the first time in my life, that beer is gone in couple o'seconds. Take care of the bite with a little alcohol (no not the beer) and neosporin. All is good now. :)

With that out of the way, cooking goes on for the 3 of us...steak, chops, mahi-mahi, pasta/sauce, salad, bread. Good eats. Barry gets some firewood for the campfire and a nice fire is started. The Raleigh Contingency starts arriving a little later - sit around the fire for a while, talking with everyone, then, unfortunately, it's time to leave. I had plans to spend the night at Andy's for Friday and leave with him to ride to the start of TdT. Get over to his house, get stuff ready for the ride, chat a bit, then off to bed. I slept great Friday night! First time in a long time - didn't get up until 6:30am, about 30min before we were to head out.

Tour de Tuck

Arm/knee warmers/vest was in order for the ride, and something to cover my mouth/nose so I didn't have to breath that cool morning air. Those cool temps will bring on the EIA very quickly (exercise induced asthma). After talking with Barry & Tommy Friday night, I started with the century riders so that I could get through the first 2 'climbs' without having to try and work so hard to keep up with the metric riders. That worked pretty well. I stayed with the group at the start of the climb, but I didn't try too hard to stay with them. Got onto the 4-lane and worked pretty hard to catch up with 2 guys in front of me cause I didn't want to go solo and wanted that draft. Those guys looked to be good for some good drafting. :) So, caught up with them and got a good draft all the way to Sunset Farm Rd.

One of the guys (turns out to be Edde) pulled to the left and told me to go on cause he wasn't a good climber. He lies. Since we were riding about the same pace at this time, we rode together for a while; he dropped me at some climb before getting into Cherokee, but I saw him at the 1st rest stop. The ride into Cherokee was as it was last month - just rollers and some good descents. As I was leaving, the metric riders started coming in...I looked for Andy & Neal, but didn't hang around - I knew they would eventually catch & pass me. On to the parkway. I'm feeling way better climbing this time than last month, but I'm still not able to climb at more than 6.5-6.7mph. Sucks donkey balls big time cause I know I have the power to climb better. Weight is killing me. Anyways - not long after getting on the parkway, here comes Andy & Neal passing me. Andy mumbled something about "let's go catch that break-away!" Right. Not. I climb at my pace and no one else's unless I'm prepared to blow up. I was not.

The climbing was uneventful. Not as bad as last month, but barely better. I had to stop a couple of times to stretch the hamstrings & quads. I wasn't properly hydrated leading up to the ride nor was I very well rested. 4hr sleep a night just isn't cutting it. I knew it was only a matter of time before the cramps hit me. Yep...after that little short descent and then the last little climb, started to get the cramps in my right medial quad. I have learned to just push on through the pain of these cause if I stop, my legs will just lock up and then it's even harder to ride. So, pushed on through the cramping, got to Soco Gap, ate a couple of crackers, filled the bottle up. Saw Edde there too. Met up with some woman from FL riding with her friends. She was hurt (injured back) and just could not keep up with the friends. That's a good thing for me...she and I rode together for more than half of the Waterrock climb. Then, she dropped me cause I was getting cramping in both legs. Had to slow way down. I also dumped all the water. No point in carrying that extra weight.

Finally. Reach crest and who do I see??? Edde. We talk for a couple of seconds and I head on out. I had to put my arm warmers back on during the climb up WR cause the wind was blowing and I felt chilled. So, off I go. Love that descent from WR!! I'm pedalling for all I'm worth and I look back and there is Edde. He hangs onto my wheel for the whole descent. We stop very briefly at the rest stop in Balsam, then head on back to town. We ride together for a while, but I slowed up too much in some of the turns and he hammered away...just couldn't catch him after we got onto the flatter section near town. So, I just eased up and did a good little spin back to the start.

TdT web site has me finishing in 5:02hr but my powertap has 4:52hr. Neither are times I wanted, but I'll just use those as times to beat next year. I wanted 4:30hr and think I could have done that if not for the cramping. Oh well. I did finish and I was not DFL.

Found Andy & Neal, got some food, sat around talking a bit. Saw Edde again. In a kilt. Never knew I'd be seeing him again later that night at the Hammer Inn. /rolleyes/

The Hammer Inn

So, I had told Barry & Tommy that I would be back over to the Inn after a shower at Andy's. Got that done, left directions with Andy on how to get to the Hammer Inn for the 'recovery' ride the next morning and headed on over. Just about everyone else was there. Got the chair and a couple of beers and went down to the river to chill. Then it's decided that we need to head on out to get something to eat. I won't go into all the boring details....supper was at Mill & Main in Sylva...I got introduced to Mr Jamison (several times) along with several Guinness beers. I think I had quite the buzz going on Saturday evening. :)

Back to the Inn after supper, sitting around the campfire talking/laughing. Have no idea the time when I went to bed in the tent. I do know I woke up around 3am and had a splitting headache. Managed to go back to sleep till 7:30am when I heard voices. All went to the Huddle House for breakfast, to the UC at WCU for the 'communal poop' /rolleyes/ and then back to the Hammer Inn to prepare for the Sunday morning ride. Andy and Neal were there waiting on us.

Sunday 'recovery' ride was one of the fastest recovery rides I've done in a while. Same ride up Caney Fork that Andy, Neal and I did after Roan Moan. Except this was a very fast paced ride. I did ok till the climb, got dropped as usual. Caught back up on the descent, mainly cause I think they slowed up a bit. I was able to hang onto the back end of the group till a couple of miles before the turn-around. Made it to the turn-around, got a few pictures taken, then time to head back.

Well, it's pretty much all down hill for a long ways. I went out first and kept looking back to see where everyone was...I was going to be sociable and ride with the group, but they were taking freakin' forever to catch up to me. So, I said F'it. Let them catch me if they can and I cranked it up a notch. Damn. I held them off for the longest time. When I saw that they were going to catch me, I slowed up and jumped into the paceline. Then it got really fun. Lots of fast riding. Awesome! Dropped again on the backside of the first climb, but everyone waited to regroup at the crest. I thought that was nice. Once we regrouped, headed out again. Rich and I nearly got a squirrel that came running out into the road, but fortunately, he (squirrel) skidded to a stop and turned around. I just knew I was going down.

Fast pace on the way back to the Hammer Inn. For some damn reason, I found myself out front a lot pulling - I don't normally do that much pulling - guess I was unconciously making my case for acceptance/membership into the Honorary Hammer Club. :) Good ride back in - fast & furious, hanging onto every wheel I can - not going to get dropped. Managed to do ok till Hammer took off on the last little ascent before the turn to the Inn. I wasn't ready to race it to the turn. Had I known it was going to be a race to the turn, I would've participated, but instead I just let those boys go and took it easy.

So, back at the Inn, people are getting stuff packed away and preparing to head home. Andy & Neal leave and I tell Andy I'll be over in a while for a shower and get the rest of my stuff. Of course, after a ride such as this, one must partake of a little soaking in the river and a few recovery beverages. :) Gary, Mike, Margo, Hammer, and myself did just that. I did not want to go home. But, all good things must come to an end eventually, till the next time. Said my goodbye's & thank-you's, over to Andy's for the shower and then home.....

The Hammer Group at the turn-around Sunday morning. Left to right: me, Neal, Mike, Gary, Margo, Rich, Hammer (Barry), and Andy.

Me & Margo at the turn-around.

Here's The Next Update....

OK, long time between last posts….

Not too much has went on since my last post on September 4th. A couple of rides the weekend of the 6th & 7th and not too much since then. It rained a lot the week of the 8th and I only rode once that week. I think that was a good thing because I had been feeling pretty tired and not sleeping well either. No riding weekend of the 13th either for same reasons. I did take the kiddo to see the Women’s Professional Billiards Tourney over in Durham on the 12th – he (and I) liked that a lot. Some great players.

This week has been a light week for riding too. I rode on Monday at the industrial park off of Greenfield Parkway. It’s a 6mi loop with some little short speed bumps. There’s nothing hard about the loop at all. I was feeling really good, legs seem to be well rested, so I hammered out 22 miles at an 18.5mph average. Pretty damn good I think. I rode over in Cary on Wednesday – managed to stay with the fast guys until just before the turn-around time of 6:35pm. I let them go on, since they wanted to push the time limit a bit. I didn’t have a light, so opted to turn. Only 18-20 miles and something like a 17mph average. My legs were still feeling good.

I’m headed off to Western NC this afternoon for more great riding in the mountains. I’ll be stopping off in Cullowhee to visit another friend up there (Barry, aka Hammer), have some supper with him and some of his Raleigh cycling friends who will be up this weekend. Then off to Andy’s house. We’ll be riding Tour de Tuck this weekend. I’m really looking forward to the ride – I feel great and hope to have a great ride. I want to “save” a little for the last climb, up the backside of Waterrock Knob, and then just give 110% for a good hard 20 minute effort to see what my power numbers are looking like.

Lately, the np I’ve been getting on rides has been consistently above 200w. Andy says it’s just because I’ve been riding in a draft…I’m not so sure because my last few solo rides have had np’s that are above 200w. So, Waterrock Knob will be my first FTP-like test since March……

After the ride on Saturday, I’ve been invited back over to the Hammer's place to sit in the river, have a couple of cold ones, and just chit-chat about the days ride. Also have been invited to stay over – no, not in that way! I’ll be pitching a tent in the back yard, should I decide to stay. I’d like to stay because Sunday morning the guys will be getting up and doing something like a 30-40 mile “recovery” ride, which, again, I’ve been invited to participate in.

Then it’s head back home until the next weekend when I have a trip to NY planned to meet up with some fellow BF members.

Ride report for TdT posted Sunday or Monday.

What's Up? :)

Hey People!!!

I had the most mileage last month Evah!! :) 750miles for the month of August. But, I think it might have been a bit much for me. Along with the not sleeping well since I came back from SoCal, the addition of all these miles has really worn me down. I rode this past Saturday/Sunday (50/31mi), took Monday off. Then I called Lawrence Tuesday to see what those guys had been doing and ended up riding with Dallas, Clifford, & Russell - an easy ride for them, but a bit hard for me - 19.1mph avg for 40miles.

The coach/mentor guy has given me 2x20min intervals at 170w to do 2x/week prior to the Tour de Tuck. I was able to get half of one done on Wednesday before I flatted. But, I just didn't feel like riding to begin with...felt that heavy, tiredness in my legs, and my heart just wasn't "into" the ride. After the flat, I just headed back to the car, finishing the interval along the way. For that one interval, I had a NP of 187 and AP of 168. Not too bad, though the AP should be closer to the NP. Hard to do when there are downhill sections and the power falls.

Then today....after lunch, I was just tired...felt like I really needed to have a nap. But, I didn't want to charge 2hr off from work, so I just tried to stick it out. I was going to leave at 4:30 and go home for the nap instead of riding with Dallas & the guys tonight. But.....Lawrence calls me at 3:50. He and Randall are going to go to the Greenfield Industrial Park off of Hwy 70 and do some laps. Easy, conversational pace is what he says it will be. I can't say no. 6miles per lap. And, what do you know - it was an easy, conversational pace! We did 3 laps and Lawrence had had enough; Randall wanted to do one more and I was feeling up to it, so we did.

Oh yea...during one of these laps, I sprinted up one of the mini speed bumps - attaining my PR for maximum watts!!! 822w!!!!!

We've also got Hurricane Hanna coming this way over the weekend - gonna bring some rain/wind this way - giving me a very good excuse to take a couple of days off......

Rest?

Haven't gotten much of that lately. Since coming back from SoCal, it seems that my sleep has been messed up. For the past 1.5 - 2 weeks, it seems like I'm waking up around 4:00-4:30am and not being able to go back to sleep. Just tossin' & turnin'. I'm thinking that if this continues, I'm going to go to the gym some during the week. It opens at 5:30am, so I could go get a good workout or swim in, get to work, and then do my intervals on the prescribed days...

Interval sessions are starting next month. 2x20min intervals at my zone 4 power. Going to be interesting since I've not done anything like that in 3 or 4 months. Maybe getting more exercise in during the day will help me to be more tired and get to bed a little earlier too.

Anyways.....must remember: Rest.Recover.Get.Stronger.