Like 10 pounds of shit in a 5 pound bag...
Steve Slattery is so funny. Granted he had being suddenly transplanted to altitude as an excuse for feeling that way... whereas, I on the other hand am just fat, and woefully, woefully, out of shape.
I'm running and updating again, but as the former is going so poorly, I'm feeling more than a bit cantankerous. If by some unlucky chance, you do happen to see me running, and I sincerely hope that you don't... kindly avert your eyes and refrain from asking how it went. Just pretend that you asked me how my run was, and know that my answer would have been: "Like 10 pounds of shit in a 5 pound bag."
Sunday 08/26: 3.5 miles, 34 minutes. Rule #1: Never, EVER eat a large roast beef and cheese bread sandwich 1 hour before a taxing run. Unfortunately for me, running right now only comes in one variety--taxing. The sandwich, ofcourse, was delicious, but the run, was probably one of the worst I've ever had. Jogged painfully from Peter's to the North Fields, struggled mightily through 10 laps, then jogged back to Peter's. Am still amazed that I did not keel over or barf up my sandwich.
Saw Kiesz, then Markimarkonnen... *big sigh*... wanted to run away, but knew that I wouldn't make it to the next closest source of grass, so had to suck it up and be observed in this compromised state. The painful cramping/distended stomach feeling really complimented the usual drowning/suffocating feeling to create a thoroughly delightful running experience. Was glad to survive this one and never make this mistake again.
Monday 08/27 - Tuesday 08/28: Off. Woke up on Monday morning and nearly fell back over due to a sharp and unexpected pain in R arch. Gathering my wits a bit, I determined very quickly that this must be plantar fasciitis pain. Judging from the location and the unforgiving nature of it, it just couldn't be anything else. Remembered groggily that I had neglected to stretch or ice after Sunday's debacle due to the preoccupation with the sandwich induced discomfort. Thoroughly regretted the decision and the consequences... but some too late but copious icing and stretching on Monday brought the condition mostly under control. Took Tuesday off too to be safe, still nursing a slight twinge in the R arch. Was definitely a scare, but recovered about as well as I could have hoped.
Wednesday 08/29: 3.1 miles, 29:39 for 10 laps around the North Fields. REALLY CRAPPY YET AGAIN. Also, lightly rolled R ankle, had to stop to shake it out. Felt really irritated. Feet and legs are feeling pretty good, but the hot, suffocating sensation is unrelenting from the stomach up. Still can't manage anything faster than about 3 minutes per lap. I don't even recognize what I've become. Its as if I'd never run a day in my life before this.
Thursday 08/30: Unplanned off day due to pain at the ankle where the rolling took place yesterday. Feeling grouchy. This whole returning to running thing hasn't exactly been terribly successful from any standpoint so far.
Friday 08/31 - Saturday 09/01: Feeling some aches and pains in the L arch. This isn't the heel pain or the plantar fasciitis type pain... its just the same old thing that precipitated my training decline all last year. I actually remember the first day I felt it, it was while turning right onto Fremont from my house, and it was like this sudden, unforeseen sharp stanbing pain right at the base of my ankle where the highest point of the arch is. It freaked me out, but for some reason it resolved itself without further problems that time... this was like sometime in summer of 2005. Since then its just gotten worse and worse, in so much that the frequency of occurence has drastically increased and so too the recovery time between flare ups. Its hard to tell what exactly is wrong too, because there isn't really a tendon associated with the precise spot... its just this mystery shooting pain. Kind of cramps the comeback though. Argh.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Week of 08/19/2007 - 08/25/2007 (Transition Week 1)
To where I am transitioning is not clear. But what *IS* clear at the moment is that I'm done recovering. What's even less clear is whether that's really a good thing. I feel mostly okay these days, but the weird aches and pains don't really clear up. Its always something slightly different, but I never feel... totally good. Its just like this plateau of no man's land. The funny thing is, the less I exercise, the worse my feet feel.
I honestly feel totally overwhelmed with work and athletically and physically directionless, but for lack of desire to stay where I am, I'm moving on. To something. Let's hope its to running again.
Sunday 08/19: 11.5 miles, hiking. Mt. Baldy adventuring with Peter. After my proposed route was vetoed, we parked halfway up to the ski lifts, then took the south side "Ski Hut" trail up to the summit, then came back an easier, longer way along the ski lifts on a fire road back to the car. The way up was *brutal*... that or I am miserably out of shape. Likely a combination of both. Had a fantastic roast beef sandwich and a nap at the top at 10,000 feet. Windy and beautiful. Really enjoyed the wind and the clear air and the coolness. Way back was more boring, but getting tired so glad for the less challenging terrain.
Feet held up pretty well to this excursion, mildly rolled an ankle at one point, but thankfully the hiking boots avoided the other Mt. Baldy-esque disaster. Some aches and pains later on that day, but miraculously pain free the next morning!
Monday 08/20 - Tuesday 08/21: Really, Really, sore... ughhhh. This was NOT a welcome development. The bipedal motion muscles must really be shot. The second day, the rolled ankle felt sharply painful to the touch. Iced a lot, but the feet are still okay. Had promised myself that if the feet held up to the hike, I would go ahead and try 20 minutes of jogging. Feeling really antsy to get the show started.
Wednesday 08/22: 2 miles, 21 minutes with Peter. Oh, the rude awakening that is el first "run" back... all of these months of darkness I imagined what running would be like, to glide effortlessly over hill and dale, perhaps a bit more slowly than usual, but nevertheless... all crisp cool air and quickly bounding legs. Little did I know... within 50 ft, Peter was already sprinting on ahead, and when I finally caught up, panting for an easier pace... I was met with pure incredulity: "WHAT?! but we're almost *walking* as it is!"
The reason for his complaint was discovered some 4-5 minutes later when we arrived at the track, and I realized that we were going like 9 minute miles... and it already felt like drowning. The thing is, I was prepared for bad... I was even prepared for... really bad... but this was... off the charts bad! This is going to take like, a good 3-6 months to repair.
Thursday 08/23: 3.1 miles, 31 minutes. Pre-race from the gym at night. Hoping to meet no one I knew... was successful at least this time. Sans el boy unit, I was able to go at a pace that didn't require huffing and puffing. Sadly for me, this was just about 10 minute miles. The running system feels really, really bad. HR pushing 170, sweating like a pig, but at the very least, my feet were okay.
Friday 08/24: Off. L achilles really painful. Decided to institute the 2 days on, 1 day off plan until the aches and pains stabilized out a little bit. Iced a lot, and it all cleared on up. Feet holding up better than I expected, but nonetheless resolved to run on grass for the next few.
Saturday 08/25: 2.5 miles, 24 minutes, 8 laps around the North Fields at dusk. Apparently 10 minute miles on pavement is NOT the same as 10 minute miles on grass... Felt pretty drowning, HR really really high. Really discouraging run--looking back before I started this last 4 month stretch of being injured... the whole 3 min/lap speed was my rest day routine of 10 laps at 135 bpm. This was less a "run" and more just a pleasant jog, just to get the blood circulating on non training days. Right now, said pleasant jog requires a heart rate of 175 bpm, and an unpleasant drowning sensation. I realized after 8 laps that I was really relieved to be done. Legs felt heavy, heart was pounding uncomfortably, everything just felt bad, bad, bad.
Weekly Totals: 7.6 miles. With some help from the Medical Gods... I could even reach double digits next week!
I honestly feel totally overwhelmed with work and athletically and physically directionless, but for lack of desire to stay where I am, I'm moving on. To something. Let's hope its to running again.
Sunday 08/19: 11.5 miles, hiking. Mt. Baldy adventuring with Peter. After my proposed route was vetoed, we parked halfway up to the ski lifts, then took the south side "Ski Hut" trail up to the summit, then came back an easier, longer way along the ski lifts on a fire road back to the car. The way up was *brutal*... that or I am miserably out of shape. Likely a combination of both. Had a fantastic roast beef sandwich and a nap at the top at 10,000 feet. Windy and beautiful. Really enjoyed the wind and the clear air and the coolness. Way back was more boring, but getting tired so glad for the less challenging terrain.
Feet held up pretty well to this excursion, mildly rolled an ankle at one point, but thankfully the hiking boots avoided the other Mt. Baldy-esque disaster. Some aches and pains later on that day, but miraculously pain free the next morning!
Monday 08/20 - Tuesday 08/21: Really, Really, sore... ughhhh. This was NOT a welcome development. The bipedal motion muscles must really be shot. The second day, the rolled ankle felt sharply painful to the touch. Iced a lot, but the feet are still okay. Had promised myself that if the feet held up to the hike, I would go ahead and try 20 minutes of jogging. Feeling really antsy to get the show started.
Wednesday 08/22: 2 miles, 21 minutes with Peter. Oh, the rude awakening that is el first "run" back... all of these months of darkness I imagined what running would be like, to glide effortlessly over hill and dale, perhaps a bit more slowly than usual, but nevertheless... all crisp cool air and quickly bounding legs. Little did I know... within 50 ft, Peter was already sprinting on ahead, and when I finally caught up, panting for an easier pace... I was met with pure incredulity: "WHAT?! but we're almost *walking* as it is!"
The reason for his complaint was discovered some 4-5 minutes later when we arrived at the track, and I realized that we were going like 9 minute miles... and it already felt like drowning. The thing is, I was prepared for bad... I was even prepared for... really bad... but this was... off the charts bad! This is going to take like, a good 3-6 months to repair.
Thursday 08/23: 3.1 miles, 31 minutes. Pre-race from the gym at night. Hoping to meet no one I knew... was successful at least this time. Sans el boy unit, I was able to go at a pace that didn't require huffing and puffing. Sadly for me, this was just about 10 minute miles. The running system feels really, really bad. HR pushing 170, sweating like a pig, but at the very least, my feet were okay.
Friday 08/24: Off. L achilles really painful. Decided to institute the 2 days on, 1 day off plan until the aches and pains stabilized out a little bit. Iced a lot, and it all cleared on up. Feet holding up better than I expected, but nonetheless resolved to run on grass for the next few.
Saturday 08/25: 2.5 miles, 24 minutes, 8 laps around the North Fields at dusk. Apparently 10 minute miles on pavement is NOT the same as 10 minute miles on grass... Felt pretty drowning, HR really really high. Really discouraging run--looking back before I started this last 4 month stretch of being injured... the whole 3 min/lap speed was my rest day routine of 10 laps at 135 bpm. This was less a "run" and more just a pleasant jog, just to get the blood circulating on non training days. Right now, said pleasant jog requires a heart rate of 175 bpm, and an unpleasant drowning sensation. I realized after 8 laps that I was really relieved to be done. Legs felt heavy, heart was pounding uncomfortably, everything just felt bad, bad, bad.
Weekly Totals: 7.6 miles. With some help from the Medical Gods... I could even reach double digits next week!
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Week of 08/12/2007 - 08/18/2007 (Recovery Week 8)
Its bad when you can't even remember what you did for training. This, in the current case is a combination of the fact that this week was a long time ago, and the fact that I have, in fact done miserably little training between then and now.
The short story is that I'm losing the battle with work... rides have kind of dwindled from 5 a week... to 3... to 2... to none?
The only rides I know for sure happened on this week were:
Birthday ride up Wilson to Clear Creek with Kev, and 8 or 9 laps around the RB in the AM on Friday also with Kev. Probably about 30-35 miles a piece. Fun, but generally felt weak and tired. Feeling physically pretty lousy lately. Not a whole lot of sleep, eating crappy, really stressed. Also, out of Zyrtec, and no time to track down a new prescription. My state has been steadily worsening since this happened. My nose won't stop running, and my eyes are back to not being able to tolerate contacts again...
There may have been one other short ride in there somewhere, but not exactly sure. Working on trying to contain the workload situation. Hope for improvement in the coming weeks, but not very likely. Posts are/have been/may still be sporadic. Apologies for the technical difficulties. Please tune in a little bit later.
The short story is that I'm losing the battle with work... rides have kind of dwindled from 5 a week... to 3... to 2... to none?
The only rides I know for sure happened on this week were:
Birthday ride up Wilson to Clear Creek with Kev, and 8 or 9 laps around the RB in the AM on Friday also with Kev. Probably about 30-35 miles a piece. Fun, but generally felt weak and tired. Feeling physically pretty lousy lately. Not a whole lot of sleep, eating crappy, really stressed. Also, out of Zyrtec, and no time to track down a new prescription. My state has been steadily worsening since this happened. My nose won't stop running, and my eyes are back to not being able to tolerate contacts again...
There may have been one other short ride in there somewhere, but not exactly sure. Working on trying to contain the workload situation. Hope for improvement in the coming weeks, but not very likely. Posts are/have been/may still be sporadic. Apologies for the technical difficulties. Please tune in a little bit later.
Friday, August 10, 2007
Week of 08/05/2007 - 08/11/2007 (Recovery Week 7)
Today might be the first day this week that I've made it to bed before 2 am. Consequently, the whole training plan aspect and the progression of weekly mileage has mostly been lost to the sheer will to survive the tsunami of work that has hit in the past 2 weeks. I'm basically in salvage mode right now, just basically squeezing in rides wherever they will fit. Typically they're just slow rides, base miles, no climbing, cuz that's about all my sleep deprived body can handle.
I saw Chavez, Ramon and the Oxy gang running the trails along the Rose Bowl last week. I saw them on lap 3, and by lap 4, my HR had sky-rocketed 10-20 bpm. I realized that I hadn't really seen any serious runners out training for like, months and months... until I was clobbered by the pang of jealousy mixed with nostalgia mixed with longing. Its been so long since I've run a step that its almost become the norm to live with the fact that I can't... but seeing the real runners out just brought all of the emotional angst crashing back down. Unconsciously I mashed the pedals harder, as if the increased effort would bring me sooner to the state of having two viable feet.
Sunday 08/05: 32.6 miles, 2:08 ride time, 15.2 mph average. 8 of probably the slowest laps I've ever done at the RB. Definitely feeling some form of fatigue from yesterday's debacle. Didn't feel bad, surprisingly, it was just... really really slow. Actually relatively relaxing and mercifully few serious athletes to shame me.
Monday 08/06 - Wednesday 08/08: Another disasterous week at work, absolutely no time for anything. Did physical therapy with Peter on Tuesday, felt like I'm making a lot of progress. Mysterious bruised sensation on R heel is basically the only thing that's keeping me from running at this point. I'd like for that to heal completely, and make it through some more PT though, which means that I won't meet my goal of having my first run be for my birthday next week.
Thursday 08/09: 30.9 miles, 1:59 ride time, 15.6 mph average. Successfully administered an all day training for the principals at our schools, at last, the all nighters are at an end. Went immediately home afterwards to ride to Encanto park and back. Really chill ride was all I could manage, and didn't have time for anything longer. Not excited about where my fitness is entering second hell week of work... but it just felt SO, SO fantastic to be on the bike again. The sedentary life does not suit me. The stress has totally collapsed my healthy eating resolve though. Today I had 3 bowls of strawberry jello, fried chicken and 1 slice of pepperoni pizza... yikes.
Friday 08/10: 35.8 miles, 2:27 ride time, 14.5 mph average to Clear Creek and back. Woo hoo! Finally, a bit of a breakthrough. Made it from base of the 2 to the ranger station at Clear Creek in an acceptable time of 61 minutes, for the first time this summer, averaging about 8.5 mph. I never felt terrible, but it did require a lot more effort and a high HR to achieve this, but now, at least I know I can. Felt vaguely encouraged about climbing for the first time this summer. Good ride, except for getting into a yelling match with a car at an intersection.
I saw Chavez, Ramon and the Oxy gang running the trails along the Rose Bowl last week. I saw them on lap 3, and by lap 4, my HR had sky-rocketed 10-20 bpm. I realized that I hadn't really seen any serious runners out training for like, months and months... until I was clobbered by the pang of jealousy mixed with nostalgia mixed with longing. Its been so long since I've run a step that its almost become the norm to live with the fact that I can't... but seeing the real runners out just brought all of the emotional angst crashing back down. Unconsciously I mashed the pedals harder, as if the increased effort would bring me sooner to the state of having two viable feet.
Sunday 08/05: 32.6 miles, 2:08 ride time, 15.2 mph average. 8 of probably the slowest laps I've ever done at the RB. Definitely feeling some form of fatigue from yesterday's debacle. Didn't feel bad, surprisingly, it was just... really really slow. Actually relatively relaxing and mercifully few serious athletes to shame me.
Monday 08/06 - Wednesday 08/08: Another disasterous week at work, absolutely no time for anything. Did physical therapy with Peter on Tuesday, felt like I'm making a lot of progress. Mysterious bruised sensation on R heel is basically the only thing that's keeping me from running at this point. I'd like for that to heal completely, and make it through some more PT though, which means that I won't meet my goal of having my first run be for my birthday next week.
Thursday 08/09: 30.9 miles, 1:59 ride time, 15.6 mph average. Successfully administered an all day training for the principals at our schools, at last, the all nighters are at an end. Went immediately home afterwards to ride to Encanto park and back. Really chill ride was all I could manage, and didn't have time for anything longer. Not excited about where my fitness is entering second hell week of work... but it just felt SO, SO fantastic to be on the bike again. The sedentary life does not suit me. The stress has totally collapsed my healthy eating resolve though. Today I had 3 bowls of strawberry jello, fried chicken and 1 slice of pepperoni pizza... yikes.
Friday 08/10: 35.8 miles, 2:27 ride time, 14.5 mph average to Clear Creek and back. Woo hoo! Finally, a bit of a breakthrough. Made it from base of the 2 to the ranger station at Clear Creek in an acceptable time of 61 minutes, for the first time this summer, averaging about 8.5 mph. I never felt terrible, but it did require a lot more effort and a high HR to achieve this, but now, at least I know I can. Felt vaguely encouraged about climbing for the first time this summer. Good ride, except for getting into a yelling match with a car at an intersection.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Week of 07/29/2007 - 08/04/2007 (Recovery Week 6)
What do you do when it all comes crashing down?
Strange though it may seem... last Friday seemed inexorably to have shifted the momentum of my seemingly newly encouraging quest for fitness. I felt like crap on Saturday, I felt like crap on Sunday... what do you do when it all comes crashing down? For no apparent reason? I didn't feel tired really any day last week, in fact I felt fantastic, like for the first time, I was in control of my training, and on an upward trajectory... hmmmm... I suppose this merits further investigation. For the mean time, I'll have to plan for a down week and see if it passes.
On another note, I've made the startling and highly consterning discovery that I am, after all... allergic to flour. GAH. Apparently flour is NOT entirely a wheat product, but enriched with a significant amount of barley, which is a no-no for me. Consequently, I am allergic to a significant portion of commercially available breads and baked goods, as well as anything of my own creation. This, I admit is a significant set back to the endurance athlete. Bread is basically a staple of my diet... and I'm not always thrilled with the types of breads that are wheat-only, and await with a small amount of horror, the damage inflicted upon my favorite recipes by "whole wheat flour" ... oh, woe is me :'(
Sunday 07/29: 41.7 miles, 2:39:30 ride time, 15.6 mph average. Felt moderately less bad compared to yesterday, but still, something just isn't right. Had to take is super super chill due to a strange "pulled" feeling in the left hamstring. Decided against a longer ride for this reason also, and instead productively opted to finish HP7 such that I can move on with my life. For the record, my favorite character is Snape. I think he's more interesting than Harry.
Monday 07/30: An overabundance of work and other things that need doing... Took a quasi-planned off day. Its going to be really hard to squeeze in enough riding time this week. I guess its good its a quasi-planned down week... Since my cycling woes seemed to have started after a rest day, perhaps another rest day is in order to change it back to previous state.
Tuesday 07/31: 26.3 miles, 16.6 mph avg, you do the math... I've forgotten how long the ride time was, but basically 6 laps around the RB, kinda crunched for time. Feeling better performance wise, but still something's a bit off... also feeling poorly outside of exercise, not enough sleep, way too many slides, way too much stress.
Wednesday 08/01 - Friday 08/03: Off, too busy, no sleep. Plenty of allergies. 3 straight days off is NOT exactly what I had in mind for the "down week"... but I suppose this will have to do.
Saturday 08/04: 57.7 miles, 3:58:30 ride time, 14.5 mph average. ~10 miles or so up the 39, past East Fork but didn't make it to the start of the crystal lakes climb. Longest ride, both timewise and distance wise in a really, really long time. Didn't recall that there was a lot of climbing on this section, but seemed to struggle quite a bit. Fine as soon as I got back to the flats, but probably over-extended myself a bit, noting the slow average speed. Also, VERY VERY WINDY. Felt in mortal peril of being blown into traffic or off of the side of the mountain for the greater part of 15 miles... have you ever had the experience of pedaling furiously into a downhill and going 11 mph? Scary.
In honor of KB, let me make a list of huge things that I saw on this adventure:
1 live bear (brown, eating garbage at the side of the street. super cute, but was scared it would eat me next, tried to increase speed as I went on by)
2 fist-sized tarantulas (black, hairy, crawling slowly across the road, surprised there weren't any squished ones...)
1 large dead owl (sad...)
Week Totals: 125.7 miles of riding, ~8:30 ride time, the issue here is that this mileage was in 3 rides, which is kind of a sub-optimal off week, especially given a taxing ride on Saturday. Oh, well, training is going to be rather inconsistent for the next month or so due to overabundance of work.
Strange though it may seem... last Friday seemed inexorably to have shifted the momentum of my seemingly newly encouraging quest for fitness. I felt like crap on Saturday, I felt like crap on Sunday... what do you do when it all comes crashing down? For no apparent reason? I didn't feel tired really any day last week, in fact I felt fantastic, like for the first time, I was in control of my training, and on an upward trajectory... hmmmm... I suppose this merits further investigation. For the mean time, I'll have to plan for a down week and see if it passes.
On another note, I've made the startling and highly consterning discovery that I am, after all... allergic to flour. GAH. Apparently flour is NOT entirely a wheat product, but enriched with a significant amount of barley, which is a no-no for me. Consequently, I am allergic to a significant portion of commercially available breads and baked goods, as well as anything of my own creation. This, I admit is a significant set back to the endurance athlete. Bread is basically a staple of my diet... and I'm not always thrilled with the types of breads that are wheat-only, and await with a small amount of horror, the damage inflicted upon my favorite recipes by "whole wheat flour" ... oh, woe is me :'(
Sunday 07/29: 41.7 miles, 2:39:30 ride time, 15.6 mph average. Felt moderately less bad compared to yesterday, but still, something just isn't right. Had to take is super super chill due to a strange "pulled" feeling in the left hamstring. Decided against a longer ride for this reason also, and instead productively opted to finish HP7 such that I can move on with my life. For the record, my favorite character is Snape. I think he's more interesting than Harry.
Monday 07/30: An overabundance of work and other things that need doing... Took a quasi-planned off day. Its going to be really hard to squeeze in enough riding time this week. I guess its good its a quasi-planned down week... Since my cycling woes seemed to have started after a rest day, perhaps another rest day is in order to change it back to previous state.
Tuesday 07/31: 26.3 miles, 16.6 mph avg, you do the math... I've forgotten how long the ride time was, but basically 6 laps around the RB, kinda crunched for time. Feeling better performance wise, but still something's a bit off... also feeling poorly outside of exercise, not enough sleep, way too many slides, way too much stress.
Wednesday 08/01 - Friday 08/03: Off, too busy, no sleep. Plenty of allergies. 3 straight days off is NOT exactly what I had in mind for the "down week"... but I suppose this will have to do.
Saturday 08/04: 57.7 miles, 3:58:30 ride time, 14.5 mph average. ~10 miles or so up the 39, past East Fork but didn't make it to the start of the crystal lakes climb. Longest ride, both timewise and distance wise in a really, really long time. Didn't recall that there was a lot of climbing on this section, but seemed to struggle quite a bit. Fine as soon as I got back to the flats, but probably over-extended myself a bit, noting the slow average speed. Also, VERY VERY WINDY. Felt in mortal peril of being blown into traffic or off of the side of the mountain for the greater part of 15 miles... have you ever had the experience of pedaling furiously into a downhill and going 11 mph? Scary.
In honor of KB, let me make a list of huge things that I saw on this adventure:
1 live bear (brown, eating garbage at the side of the street. super cute, but was scared it would eat me next, tried to increase speed as I went on by)
2 fist-sized tarantulas (black, hairy, crawling slowly across the road, surprised there weren't any squished ones...)
1 large dead owl (sad...)
Week Totals: 125.7 miles of riding, ~8:30 ride time, the issue here is that this mileage was in 3 rides, which is kind of a sub-optimal off week, especially given a taxing ride on Saturday. Oh, well, training is going to be rather inconsistent for the next month or so due to overabundance of work.
Monday, July 23, 2007
Week of 07/22/2007 - 07/28/2007 (Recovery Week 5)
The Combativity Award
It was mentioned in passing last week, that Linus Gerdemann the winner of stage 7 was awarded a mysterious "Combativity Award", and my curiousity was instantly piqued:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combativity_award
Apparently there is a formal award to recognize people who show a propensity to attack constantly. HOLY CRAP, THAT IS SO AWESOME!!! It is mentioned that the winner of the award is typically not the winner of the Tour in recent history, but see, that is precisely what I find so appealing about the award. There's something really heroic and courageous that resonates for me about those who just go ahead and challenge stronger and more accomplished competitors, even knowing they made pay for it in the end. I see in that instinct the quality that is the makings of the next generation of champions. Just a few people whose stock has gone up in my eyes:
Vino
Linus Gerdemann
Eddy Merckx
I think Richard Virenque won a whole bunch of them too, but I think he turned out to be a drug cheat. And since I'm on the topic of the TdF:
1) I'm rooting for Alberto Contador. I think its really cool that he's going after the whole show, challenging the yellow jersey and not being one of those "I'm young, winning a stage is really a big accomplishment and I'm happy with just that" types. Also, he gets extra points for surviving brain surgery and having a long painful road back after that. Good heavens its hard enough to come back from a foot problem... though sometimes I do wonder, it would almost be better to have stitches in your head, than to have a defective foot, bah.
2) I'm also rooting for Vino and Andreas Kloden, they are in such a tough position this year. I think I'd find it really challenging psychologically to be on a team where you have two strong people and uncertainty as to who is the strongest GC contender (well, at THIS point that is clear) but kind of having to deal with that dynamic must have been really stressful. Then there's all of the crashing, Kloden crashed a second time in his time trial, and its like, being on the bike for 6 hours isn't exactly comfortable WITHOUT bruising and a cracked tail bone--I really admire the perseverance to stick in the top 5 despite all the pain, physically and psychologically.
As for Vino, he already had my admiration for enduring the controversy about moving up in the GC on the final stage (but we've gone through THAT debate already...) but like, a stab of something bordering on physical pain shot through me when I read that he won the ITT. I had this sinking feeling he was going to pay for it in the mountains, but that fierceness in the face of adversity and defeat is one of the top qualities that stir my emotions. Its like a symbolic "fuck you" to all of the injuries and all of the people who would write him off. Its saying, this is what I'm really made of, you remember my name, cuz some year if not this year, I'll win the whole damn thing. Its the same quality about the younger Lance who wasn't afraid to attack and go, even if it meant that he faded out at the end. I feel like you can teach race strategy, you can teach someone to calm down and make smart decisions in a race, but ferocity and competitiveness are essential assets that are not learned behaviors.
Sunday 07/22: 41.7 miles, 2:30 ride time, 16.5 mph average. River Trails to the Santa Fe Dam and back. Was planning a longer excursion, but unfortunately this was thwarted by the inability to put down Harry Potter and the impending sunset. Made a large effort to pedal "roundly" or throughout the entire pedal stroke, rather than my usual mashing the pedal down with enough force to push the opposite leg up, then rest, repeat.
Set out like an idiot with my mismatched shoes... after a bunch of experimenting, I finally accepted that because my feet are so mismatched, the most comfortable combination was the 39 shoe on my right foot and the 38 shoe on my left. At least this decreases my Fred Index... Even after the rest day, my hamstrings complained loudly right off the bat about the technique change. It was extremely exhausting not to have the ~150 degrees of float time on each leg associated with the weakness to not be able to pull through the whole pedal stroke. I found though, that being vigilant about pedaling smoothly tremendously decreased the pressure on my forefoot, alleviating a lot of the first metatarsal pain from yesterday.
I realized that the tiny increase in fitness for me that has resulted in the existence of a slovenly pace that I can now ride without huffing and puffing has set me free emotionally. Pushing weak and untrained muscle through hours of repetitive motions is without doubt my greatest strength... I crumble emotionally from the pain of injury and the pain of cardiovascular incapacity, but this muscular pain is the sort that I can bear beyond reasonable means. There's now something motivating and freeing about churning out correct pedal stroke after pedal stroke, my legs burning and aching prematurely despite a low heart rate. It makes me feel like I'm actually training, and improving, instead of limping listlessly, suffocating under the strain of dragging a weakened heart and lungs like dead weights behind me.
Monday 07/23: 30.1 miles, 1:45 ride time, 17.2 mph average. Oh, mondays... did not get up in time in the morning due to schedule messed up by Harry Potter. Then was kinda late getting out the door in the evening... headed to the RB for lack of time and a better plan. This was another one of those easy rides that get ruined by chance and lack of discipline. Rode 4 easy laps concentrating again on proper technique before running into some of McKeen's friends, and ended up keeping up, partially for the conversation (makes going around in endless circles a bit less boring) and partially cuz per usual, I did not want to seem weak :). Big toe hurts a bit still, icing... gonna try for a real slovenly, easy ride tomorrow.
Tuesday 07/24: Stressed out, did not wake up in the morning, not enough time afterwards, so no ride. A bad day. Lots of crying at my desk... oh, Vino, say it ain't so... I feel like my conviction that there are some ones that are clean left is quickly crumbling...
Wednesday 07/25: 35.8 miles, 2:38 ride time, 13.5 mph average to Clear Creek via short way home. Failed in getting on the bike early enough, ended up picking my way home gingerly through the dark. Feeling kind of stressed about work, conflicted about the Tour, uneasy about my big toe... even though I knew it was kind of a bad idea, I just really needed this ride today... to get away into the mountains. Managed base to top in ~70 minutes and 10 bpm less than last time. Still need to lose 10 minutes and 10 bpm off of this route... but generally pleased with the progress. Made it pretty safely to the top this time without huffing, felt kind of impatient last few miles, so picked up the pace a bit.
Thursday 07/26: 32.2 miles, 1:58:30 ride time, 16.2 mph average to Encanto Park by the River Trails, and back. Mostly chill ride, felt distracted by philosophical ponderings, which seemed to cause me to pedal harder when I stopped concentrating on form and keeping the HR low... but didn't feel bad. Feeling pleased that I can now handle 30+ mile rides on a daily basis without the accumulation of fatigue. Progress feels *painfully* slow, but at least it appears at least to be happening :).
Friday 07/27: Did not feel like I needed a day off, but it happened anyways, due to busy-ness... Having a hard time with exhaustion... the "I haven't gotten a good nights sleep in a really long time" kind, not the athletically overextended kind. Can't get rid of low level headache...
Saturday 07/28: 21.6 miles, something like 90-95 minutes. ARGHHHHHH... intended: Red Box and back, actual: turned back only a mile or two into the climb up the 2... every so often there's like a workout that blows up in your face for no apparent reason. Was expecting to feel fantastic after the unplanned off day, but just felt like complete crap today. Legs felt like lead, everything else just felt like running on fumes. Decided it wasn't worth it to slog through a climb, so headed back feeling irritable.
Totals: 161.4 miles at 10:22 ride time. Disappointing given how good I felt until Saturday, but something about an exercise in patience... also something about a down week soon.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Week of 07/15/2007 - 07/21/2007 (Recovery Week 4)
Bah, humbug. I am feeling unseasonably grouchy lately, even for me. Maybe its the fact that physical therapy is actually making more things HURT now... or maybe its the fact that since western cultures discovered the soy bean... they now insist on putting a product called "soybean oil" into >75% of all foods. Virtually non-existent in my youth, this additive now renders everything from breads, sauces, salad dressings, icecream... completely inedible to me. This week, I've had my last Cold Stone Creamery ice cream, and my last Mrs. Fields cookie... and am paying for such transgressions with a plethora of painful/uncomfortable physical reactions.
At any rate, for some reason I feel above averagely irate and critical and easily disgruntled... I realized that a lot of these things aren't a big deal/do not necessitate irritation... but, simply put, they offend my sensibilities. I don't really know how else to explain it, but do know I'm a LOT more likely to become incensed about them if there's some baseline thing that I'm already upset about. Here are some examples:
1) The final stage of the TdF... its like, yeah, fine, I get it... its a tradition, it should be respected, blahdy blahdy blahdy. Its just the concept of something being formally recognized as a "race" and where one isn't fully allowed to compete is just something that doesn't sit well with me, period.
2) In the Pasadena area "Bermuda Square" encompassing the Raymond-Glenarm-California-Fair Oaks geographical area, there are a few intersections where there exist long periods of time when ALL DIRECTIONS OF TRAFFIC including protected arrows ARE RED AT THE SAME TIME. WTF? We all have places to be people, seriously, such inefficiencies are totally not right.
Bah, humbug.
Sunday 07/15: 41.6 miles, 2:53, 14.3 mph average. Woo hoo! TWO real rides (as defined by > 2 hours and > 35 miles) on back to back days! Rode out to the base of the 2 again, and did 2 circuits of the Verdugo/Chevy Chase loops--one down Verdugo, up CC, then the second one down CC and up Verdugo. Decided that the former was preferable, both from a quality of climb/safety perspective.
Nearly flattened into a pancake on one turn down Chevy Chase... I'm really incompetent at turning, and veered wildly into the opposing lane of traffic, much to the dismay of some cars that were coming up that bend... Got in a good few miles of climbing, then did some other random circuits up any uphill side streets I could find. I think I'm ready for Clear Creek!
Monday 07/16: Went to last PT. Decided much better to follow Peter's plan on my own. Body, mainly knees a bit worse for the wear due to almost 80 miles in two days (vs. 130 miles per week lately)... so decided to take a rest day. A bit weary of the dangers of taking the rest day early in the week, but prefer to err on the side of getting in some more quality rides, than just piddling through 20-25 mile long rides every day.
Tuesday 07/17: 30 miles, 1:42:04, 17.6 mph average. Movin' on up. 7 laps of the RB, fastest since the break. Arrived at 7 pm thinking I'd cleverly dodged the RB ride, but managed to get flattened by the last lap 2 minutes later... GAH. Started off really trying to stick to a chill ride 140-150 bpm... but after a few laps, I realized that I didn't feel terrible for once, so it gradually became more uptempo. Felt pretty good about the pace, but wished for a lower HR towards the end.
Two notes on the day: Firstly, the last PT left me with a parting gift of sharp stabbing pain along the tibial side of my ankle, and a lot of soreness in the arch. Worse than ever, felt really irked about this. Wondered if I could even ride today, but thankfully it held up really well on the ride, like the gentle dorsal flexion helped stretch out and calm the pain a little bit. Lets hope for continued improvement...
Secondly, while everyone rants about how cars are obnoxious to cyclists... I have to say obnoxious people come in all forms. Some cyclists are assholes too. A bunch of them were warming down after the RB ride, in a pack, going like 10 mph... spread out pretty much across the ENTIRE width of the street. A car comes up behind them and patiently waits to pass, but this group of cyclists refuses to move over to the side of the street, even a LITTLE bit... making it really infeasible to get by. They kept looking back too, so it wasn't as if they didn't KNOW that the car was there! I really dislike people who are inconsiderate, be they motorists, cyclists or runners. Period. Totally uncool.
So now, the car is stuck behind this pack, and I am stuck behind this car, and this is on the downhill portion, so like a whole stretch at 10 mph is *seriously* going to kill my lap time. Desperate measures were in order. I shifted up, and cranked on past the car, past the pack and back across both lanes of traffic, just hoping that a car wasn't coming the OTHER direction to run me entirely off of the road.
Wednesday 07/18: 29.5 miles, 1:51 ride time, 15.8 mph average. Moderately unsatisfying, out of sorts sort of ride. Didn't have enough time to do anything fun, so left the house in a hurry with no plan in mind. Rode a slovenly pace to the RB, figuring I was due for a real easy day. Didn't feel great, but in the end, couldn't control my emotions... got into this cold war armament race with a fat guy, and ended up cranking out my first lap wayyy faster than I would have liked. Rode up to the base of the 2 just to avoid other cyclists, then back for a couple of laps.
Did a bunch of stupid stuff cuz I was angry and frustrated, like running red lights and staying out long past dark. At week 3, I totally feel like I've made minimal progress... or at least, unsatisfactory progress. I'm in a weird transitional phase where the emotions of the wounded and the hunted mix with the return of my predatory instincts. There are some days now where I don't feel like utter crap, and when those days happen, I feel the call of the wild, the urge to hunt and attack, to get up out of the saddle and hammer as hard as I can. But I'm still cognisant of my diminished abilities, and self conscious about the weakened state, and it all makes me defensive and bristle easily. Not good. Meanwhile ankle still feels pretty bad. Better than yesterday, but that's not saying much. Sucky week continues...
Thursday 07/19: 31 miles, 1:58:30, 15.6 mph average. Highly satisfactory ride. This is what I should have done yesterday... a good, orderly, easy ride. To the park by the River Trails and back, kept HR mostly in the 130's and 140's, felt really good about having the discipline to keep it nice and easy. Avg speed wasn't even as horrendous as I had expected, or really if you put it in perspective of having only gone 0.2 mph faster yesterday feeling pretty shitty, this is good! Ankle also feels loads better. Hoping everything will stabilize soon.
Friday 07/20: Woohoo! The world is almost normal again, cuz I can ride the Angeles Crest! 36.4 miles, 2:42:49, 13.4 mph average, up to Clear Creek. Pathetically slow, but managed it with minimal huffing. Was more than a little bit concerned that I wouldn't make it to the top, so I allotted 3 hours for the undertaking, and started off at a slovenly pace. First steeper mile was a bit tough, and then for some reason huffing and puffing set in with like 800m to go at the very top, but otherwise, it wasn't so bad. HR ridiculously high... like 170. Normally I can climb the 2 at like 150, but hey, you gotta start somewhere.
Hmmmm... in other news, I am already at ~11 hours of riding and 168.5 miles, up from 9 hours and 135 miles last week... does this necessitate an off day tomorrow?
Saturday 07/21: Woke up in the morning with a familiar dull ache in my forefoot. Upon further inspection, it was not coming from my second metatarsal, but perhaps more alarmingly, from my first metatarsal. Trying to stem a swelling tide of panic and horror, I immediately iced it and took a bunch of drugs and enzymes...
Coincidentally ran into a copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows while on errand to the grocery store, and that sealed the deal on not riding today. Managed to pry myself away from the book to tinker with my bike, shoes and cleats though for a while, trying to puzzle out the source of the new toe pain. Eventually ended up realizing that somehow, user error had caused my left cleat fo slide way out of alignment on the right side and down to the middle of the shoe, which may have put unusual pressures on my already not 100% left foot during my climb. ARGHHHHHH.
Ended up changing the angle of my seat, realigning all 4 of my cleats (on two pairs of shoes) before pedaling up and down my very short street, trying to find the optimal settings, then struck by a pang of desire to go riding... but abandoned the prospect as it was already nearing dusk.... *sigh*.
At any rate, for some reason I feel above averagely irate and critical and easily disgruntled... I realized that a lot of these things aren't a big deal/do not necessitate irritation... but, simply put, they offend my sensibilities. I don't really know how else to explain it, but do know I'm a LOT more likely to become incensed about them if there's some baseline thing that I'm already upset about. Here are some examples:
1) The final stage of the TdF... its like, yeah, fine, I get it... its a tradition, it should be respected, blahdy blahdy blahdy. Its just the concept of something being formally recognized as a "race" and where one isn't fully allowed to compete is just something that doesn't sit well with me, period.
2) In the Pasadena area "Bermuda Square" encompassing the Raymond-Glenarm-California-Fair Oaks geographical area, there are a few intersections where there exist long periods of time when ALL DIRECTIONS OF TRAFFIC including protected arrows ARE RED AT THE SAME TIME. WTF? We all have places to be people, seriously, such inefficiencies are totally not right.
Bah, humbug.
Sunday 07/15: 41.6 miles, 2:53, 14.3 mph average. Woo hoo! TWO real rides (as defined by > 2 hours and > 35 miles) on back to back days! Rode out to the base of the 2 again, and did 2 circuits of the Verdugo/Chevy Chase loops--one down Verdugo, up CC, then the second one down CC and up Verdugo. Decided that the former was preferable, both from a quality of climb/safety perspective.
Nearly flattened into a pancake on one turn down Chevy Chase... I'm really incompetent at turning, and veered wildly into the opposing lane of traffic, much to the dismay of some cars that were coming up that bend... Got in a good few miles of climbing, then did some other random circuits up any uphill side streets I could find. I think I'm ready for Clear Creek!
Monday 07/16: Went to last PT. Decided much better to follow Peter's plan on my own. Body, mainly knees a bit worse for the wear due to almost 80 miles in two days (vs. 130 miles per week lately)... so decided to take a rest day. A bit weary of the dangers of taking the rest day early in the week, but prefer to err on the side of getting in some more quality rides, than just piddling through 20-25 mile long rides every day.
Tuesday 07/17: 30 miles, 1:42:04, 17.6 mph average. Movin' on up. 7 laps of the RB, fastest since the break. Arrived at 7 pm thinking I'd cleverly dodged the RB ride, but managed to get flattened by the last lap 2 minutes later... GAH. Started off really trying to stick to a chill ride 140-150 bpm... but after a few laps, I realized that I didn't feel terrible for once, so it gradually became more uptempo. Felt pretty good about the pace, but wished for a lower HR towards the end.
Two notes on the day: Firstly, the last PT left me with a parting gift of sharp stabbing pain along the tibial side of my ankle, and a lot of soreness in the arch. Worse than ever, felt really irked about this. Wondered if I could even ride today, but thankfully it held up really well on the ride, like the gentle dorsal flexion helped stretch out and calm the pain a little bit. Lets hope for continued improvement...
Secondly, while everyone rants about how cars are obnoxious to cyclists... I have to say obnoxious people come in all forms. Some cyclists are assholes too. A bunch of them were warming down after the RB ride, in a pack, going like 10 mph... spread out pretty much across the ENTIRE width of the street. A car comes up behind them and patiently waits to pass, but this group of cyclists refuses to move over to the side of the street, even a LITTLE bit... making it really infeasible to get by. They kept looking back too, so it wasn't as if they didn't KNOW that the car was there! I really dislike people who are inconsiderate, be they motorists, cyclists or runners. Period. Totally uncool.
So now, the car is stuck behind this pack, and I am stuck behind this car, and this is on the downhill portion, so like a whole stretch at 10 mph is *seriously* going to kill my lap time. Desperate measures were in order. I shifted up, and cranked on past the car, past the pack and back across both lanes of traffic, just hoping that a car wasn't coming the OTHER direction to run me entirely off of the road.
Wednesday 07/18: 29.5 miles, 1:51 ride time, 15.8 mph average. Moderately unsatisfying, out of sorts sort of ride. Didn't have enough time to do anything fun, so left the house in a hurry with no plan in mind. Rode a slovenly pace to the RB, figuring I was due for a real easy day. Didn't feel great, but in the end, couldn't control my emotions... got into this cold war armament race with a fat guy, and ended up cranking out my first lap wayyy faster than I would have liked. Rode up to the base of the 2 just to avoid other cyclists, then back for a couple of laps.
Did a bunch of stupid stuff cuz I was angry and frustrated, like running red lights and staying out long past dark. At week 3, I totally feel like I've made minimal progress... or at least, unsatisfactory progress. I'm in a weird transitional phase where the emotions of the wounded and the hunted mix with the return of my predatory instincts. There are some days now where I don't feel like utter crap, and when those days happen, I feel the call of the wild, the urge to hunt and attack, to get up out of the saddle and hammer as hard as I can. But I'm still cognisant of my diminished abilities, and self conscious about the weakened state, and it all makes me defensive and bristle easily. Not good. Meanwhile ankle still feels pretty bad. Better than yesterday, but that's not saying much. Sucky week continues...
Thursday 07/19: 31 miles, 1:58:30, 15.6 mph average. Highly satisfactory ride. This is what I should have done yesterday... a good, orderly, easy ride. To the park by the River Trails and back, kept HR mostly in the 130's and 140's, felt really good about having the discipline to keep it nice and easy. Avg speed wasn't even as horrendous as I had expected, or really if you put it in perspective of having only gone 0.2 mph faster yesterday feeling pretty shitty, this is good! Ankle also feels loads better. Hoping everything will stabilize soon.
Friday 07/20: Woohoo! The world is almost normal again, cuz I can ride the Angeles Crest! 36.4 miles, 2:42:49, 13.4 mph average, up to Clear Creek. Pathetically slow, but managed it with minimal huffing. Was more than a little bit concerned that I wouldn't make it to the top, so I allotted 3 hours for the undertaking, and started off at a slovenly pace. First steeper mile was a bit tough, and then for some reason huffing and puffing set in with like 800m to go at the very top, but otherwise, it wasn't so bad. HR ridiculously high... like 170. Normally I can climb the 2 at like 150, but hey, you gotta start somewhere.
Hmmmm... in other news, I am already at ~11 hours of riding and 168.5 miles, up from 9 hours and 135 miles last week... does this necessitate an off day tomorrow?
Saturday 07/21: Woke up in the morning with a familiar dull ache in my forefoot. Upon further inspection, it was not coming from my second metatarsal, but perhaps more alarmingly, from my first metatarsal. Trying to stem a swelling tide of panic and horror, I immediately iced it and took a bunch of drugs and enzymes...
Coincidentally ran into a copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows while on errand to the grocery store, and that sealed the deal on not riding today. Managed to pry myself away from the book to tinker with my bike, shoes and cleats though for a while, trying to puzzle out the source of the new toe pain. Eventually ended up realizing that somehow, user error had caused my left cleat fo slide way out of alignment on the right side and down to the middle of the shoe, which may have put unusual pressures on my already not 100% left foot during my climb. ARGHHHHHH.
Ended up changing the angle of my seat, realigning all 4 of my cleats (on two pairs of shoes) before pedaling up and down my very short street, trying to find the optimal settings, then struck by a pang of desire to go riding... but abandoned the prospect as it was already nearing dusk.... *sigh*.
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