Oh, the pain, the joy.... of one's first Wrightwood.
All I can say is that it was a collossally bad idea, but I survived. It was probably also a testament to the evils of peer pressure. I've been feeling bad all week, with sky rocketing heart rates matched with alarmingly reduced climbing speeds. The overtraining thought had crossed my mind... but there was momentum for Wrightwood this week, and I didn't want to be the lame-o to back out.
I think I was regretting my pride 8 hours later, as the thought occurred to me... can you will your heart to keep on beating??? What am I going to do if I look down and my monitor suddenly reads 0?!?!
This ride was about a lot of new things for me, some good... some not so good. The scenery was beautiful, I finally got to see what happened after Dawson's Saddle. I'm also pleased about how almost 11 hours in the saddle felt. It didn't feel as long as I thought it would. On the flip side, I did experience a state (medically) that I really think I would have preferred never to get to. I'm no stranger to "exhausted to tears", but I've never reached this state where it felt like my body was literally over-riding my brain and shutting itself down.
I kinda knew as soon as we hit the Angeles Crest that this ride was going to be about survival. Even my earliest long rides, I always started out feeling good, and ended up feeling bad. This one, I felt bad from the first step... I took down the pace to about a crawl, and hoped to feel better after Red Box, but that never came. I felt lethargic and weak but forced myself to keep up with Will and Ian up until about the 39 intersection, after which I was pretty much resigned to being dropped. Nevertheless I struggled up to Dawson's Saddle, feeling by far the worst I ever have at this juncture, but determined to make it to Wrightwood, at this point, it would be stupid to turn back. Or so I thought.
I expended my last bit of fight to get up the 2.5 mile ascent (Ian had mistakenly described it as a "short" uphill) a few miles before Wrightwood, and arrived pretty zonked out at the cute little cafe where we caught some lunch. I remembered feeling even more lethargic after some meals at Newcombe's ranch, so I decided to stick with a snack of a strawberry pastry and a donut. Maybe that was also a mistake.
I was feeling positively deathly by the time we headed back out, and in completely a different way than all of the other times I've over-extended myself on a ride. This time, it wasn't about a feeling of over-exertion or a high heart rate, it was the reverse... as if I was stuck in state of semi-hibernation, with only one pace. And it was by no means a challenging pace, but I couldn't manage to lift myself out of it. I felt almost as if I were at a little distance from my struggling body, fighting it, trying to cajole it out of its lethargy, but to no avail. As I climbed, I developed a side stitch, and then I noticed my HR begin to plummet, 160 went to 150 went to 140... I tried desperately to rev it back up, but to no avail. I was pretty freaked out as I reached the water stop halfway back to Dawson's Saddle, but the worst was yet to come.
Climbing the last 6 or so miles up to Dawson's was a surreal experience. Despite a little rest and a little water, my side hurt so badly, I couldn't stand up on my bike, as I desperately wanted to do... because my HR had now fallen into the 130's and I was starting to seriously worry that it would continue to drop until it was 0. In addition, I was engaged in a surreal discussion with myself regarding the fact that I couldn't account for a mile between here and Wrightwood. According to my odometer, I still had 4 miles to go... but according to the mile markers... I only had 3. I couldn't understand, and I honestly still don't. By the end I didn't have the bandwidth to care. The summit came 1 mile too early, but not early enough. Ian sat by the shed at Dawson's Saddle with me for a while as I pondered the medical/mental mystery.
Thankfully, things normalized a little bit after that... leading me to think maybe it was just a sugar crash from my ill advised lunch. I felt a lot better at the base of the 39, and was able to trundle relatively pleasantly back the rest of the way. My HR was still a little low, but not scarily so, and I was going slow, but not RIDICULOUSLY so. I was heartened enough by the time I got to Newcombe's that I didn't call for a rescue. I met the owner again, who suggested my next trip (to San Grigonio, another 23 miles past Wrightwood). I arrived home in the waning hours of light, feeling pooped but a million times better than during that stretch climbing up to Dawson's at 5 mph, wondering if my heart decided to go on strike, there was anything I could do about that. It was actually really scary. I don't ever want to be in that place again.
Sunday 06/28: 76.9 mph, 4:45-ish. "Flat" ride around Denver, with some mild dirt roading around Griggs Road. I should have known that nothing in Peter's vocabulary really means "flat", and this ride was like that as well. I felt positively heinous after yesterday. In hindsight this was the beginning of this weird low HR phenomenon. I was struggling and breathing hard at a really low HR, it felt insanely bad. I sprinted up a few hills about 2 hours in to get my HR up, and somehow that cleared up all of the bad feelings. I still felt tired, but a lot more normal after that and was able to complete the ride feeling okay.
Monday 06/29: Off. Travel, well deserved break.
Tuesday 06/30: 51.3 miles, 3:45:41 (13.6 mph) Angeles Crest to Mt. Wilson with Ian. I was feeling pretty decent to start off, but noticed that something was wrong when we hit the 2. I always climb the crest in third to lowest gear, at a nice quick cadence, but today, I was in second to lowest and already feeling tired. Bad news. Things only got worse as we went further up, I was huffing and puffing by Clear Creek, only to look down at my spedometer and see a fairly pedestrian pace. To make it any further, I convinced Ian to slow down to a snail's pace, and I made it fairly pleasantly up to Mt. Wilson, but was still kind of freaked out by the insane slowness, coupled with a really high HR.
Wednesday 07/01: 45.7 miles, 2:37:22 (17.4 mph) Peter's Short Long Loop. Decided a true easy day was in order. Did a nice relaxed flat ride, but somehow I felt tired and achey nonetheless. I was kind of peeved about the time, but I guess one has to make some allowances for a hard few weeks.
Thursday 07/02: Off, shots. Shot office is closed on Friday, so off day came early. Probably for the best.
Friday 07/03: 64.6 miles, 4:29:30 (14.3 mph), East Fork back on GMR. This was supposed to be a nice relaxed pre-Wrightwood shake out, but it turned into kind of a nightmare. Peter started out saying he would ride easy with me, but apparently my pace became too soul crushing before 5 miles had elapsed, and he went on his merry way. I was pretty sad to discover that the Encanto Park bathrooms were closed (!) by the time I got there. So I continued onto the 39 but at this point I was becoming more and more uncomfortable, and also more and more dehydrated, but I didn't want to drink because then that would increase the peeing problem!
I finally made it to the East Fork turnoff, knowing that there was a bathroom up ahead. I arrived there, plowed through the dirt parking lot, and ran into the bathroom. Finally after that I drank an entire bottle of water. It was really seriously hot by this point, and it didn't feel like it helped very much. But I pressed on. Unfortunately as I was rolling out of the dirt parking lot, I slipped on some sand and crashed onto my bad hip (the one that was damaged in the RB crash). Unfortunately I was now in the street at a narrow curve, so I had get up immediately and get out of the way, being narrowly missed by two vehicles as I did so.
I determined that this was a poor location, so I got up and started riding, but I could feel my hip quivering and locking up where the impact had been. I felt pretty terrible, but pushed on to the base of the climb... where the police were closing up the gate. Motorcycles were being turned back... but I had to get home! I waited for them to look the other way and pushed my bike through and made my escape. Unfortunately the climb wasn't any better. I felt tired, dehydrated, insanely hot, and my HR was pushing 185. It was miserable. I was pretty happy to finally hit the GMR descent. I saw an eagle, and had a gu near the bottom, and the return journey was a lot more pleasant.... but all in all I definitely felt like I had taxed myself a LOT more than I wanted to right before the Wrightwood adventure... this had not been the pleasant easy short ride that I had envisioned.
Saturday 07/04: 134.2 miles, 10:49:36 (12.4 mph) Angeles Crest to Wrighwood, back the same way. Happy 4th of July folks! See description above. I've never stuffed myself with such reckless abandon as I did when I got back from this ride. Holy crap... 134 is a lot of miles.
Training this week: 372.7 miles, 26:27:09... holy shit that is a huge weekly PR!
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Week 12: Ouch (06/21/2009 - 06/27/2009)
Eeeeeps.
There are certain days where I get lulled into thinking, well maybe, perhaps I'm not quite such a sucky rider after all... and then there are other days, where one gets clobbered over the head pretty good with the reality stick: actually, yes, you do suck. And quite a lot at that.
I've been considering and re-considering the Mt. Evans Hill Climb ever since I've been trying out this cycling thing. It seems hard and grueling, which I like, and there's also the nostalgic value of having been mentioned in Running with the Buffaloes. Finally, after considering last year's race results at much length, I decided on a trial run this Saturday.
28 miles (7 - 14,000 feet), of which the first 5-6 being somewhat mellow, and Peter having described the rest as being like Clear Creek (red flag #1... nothing Peter thinks is not steep is actually not steep) I insisted that 3 hours was a reasonable finish time. Maybe with race conditions, I could even swing 2:45, which, while still slow, was not *catastrophically* embarrassing.
Nothing could have prepared me for how horribly mistaken I was... the beginning section, on which I had hoped to make some easy gains, was already pretty miserable. I didn't have a speedometer, but, it only took me a few mile markers into the climb to realize that I was drastically off pace, with HR already racing at 170. By the time we hit the actual Mt Evans road, with 14.5 miles to go, I was thoroughly unamused... my time goal long since replaced by the goal of survival.
Luckily about this juncture, I ran into a fellow sea level dweller, Stefan, a friendly non racing cycling enthusiast, who accompanied me, delirious ramblings and all... the rest of the way. I was vaguely comforted to realize that I still had enough breath to talk, and that we did manage to pass everyone else we encountered on the climb (other than Peter). It was very much a surreal experience--you really do get more and more light headed as the scenery becomes more and more breathtaking. At times I wanted to get out of the saddle and push harder, but was held back by the fear of passing out.
All told it was 3:40, give or take 5 minutes to the top, and I arrived thoroughly humbled but with a sense of wonderment at being so ridiculously high up. I was really glad that I did this, despite the fact that it started out very frustrating and demoralizing, this is the first time in a while that I felt like I tackled and survived something really really hard. 14K feels disproportionately less good than 10K. The conclusion is that a proficient civilian does not a bike racer make. Apparently there's still a pretty sizeable gap between me and being a Real Cyclist... I guess I'll have to stick it out at my day job for now.
Sunday 06/21: 79.9 miles, 5:56:20 (13.4 miles), Angeles Crest to Cloudburst summit with Ian. A really beautiful day, and a great ride. I felt pretty tired from yesterday, but thankfully we just went a very very mellow pace and it felt good. I felt like I perked up a little bit near Newcombe's ranch and was excited about the last climb. I really love this section of the 2.
Monday 06/22: Off. Some much needed rest.
Tuesday 06/23: 34.7 miles, 2:41:21 (12.9 miles), 2 x Chantry climb, second one up to the Helipad with Ian. Tried to seek out some steeper grades per Ben's advice. The part near the base of the climb was pretty shocking to my system, but it was a LOT easier than I remembered. The first time up felt a little rusty, I definitely did not feel very good, but the second time went much better and much faster. It felt good to go a little bit harder than usual.
Wednesday 06/24: Off, motivational issues. Slept in. Bah, so useless....
Thursday 06/25: 51 miles, 3:46:25 (13.5 mph), Mt. Disappointment with Ian. An eventful day: First, I decided consciously to be late to work so that we could check out this new road that Will told us about. Second, we saw a bear (!) 30 second after we turned onto Mt. Disappointment road. Third, the last quarter mile or so was ridiculously ski lifts-esque steep. I recorded my first 200HR in several years for about 5 seconds near the top. The ride was most definitely not disappointing. It was really beautiful, especially with the rolling fog underneath.... there was no city, only mountain peaks in the distance, as if you were the only person on earth. Then I karmically spilled curry all over my car as I rolled into work at about 10:30... I still wasn't sorry for my truancy.
Friday 06/26: Off, shots. Travel to Colorado.
Saturday 06/27: 56 miles, 4:50:00 give or take 10 minutes. Mt Evans Race Course, half of it with Peter. See description above.
Training this week: 221.6 miles, 17:14:06. Pretty decent, esp. considering the rides.
There are certain days where I get lulled into thinking, well maybe, perhaps I'm not quite such a sucky rider after all... and then there are other days, where one gets clobbered over the head pretty good with the reality stick: actually, yes, you do suck. And quite a lot at that.
I've been considering and re-considering the Mt. Evans Hill Climb ever since I've been trying out this cycling thing. It seems hard and grueling, which I like, and there's also the nostalgic value of having been mentioned in Running with the Buffaloes. Finally, after considering last year's race results at much length, I decided on a trial run this Saturday.
28 miles (7 - 14,000 feet), of which the first 5-6 being somewhat mellow, and Peter having described the rest as being like Clear Creek (red flag #1... nothing Peter thinks is not steep is actually not steep) I insisted that 3 hours was a reasonable finish time. Maybe with race conditions, I could even swing 2:45, which, while still slow, was not *catastrophically* embarrassing.
Nothing could have prepared me for how horribly mistaken I was... the beginning section, on which I had hoped to make some easy gains, was already pretty miserable. I didn't have a speedometer, but, it only took me a few mile markers into the climb to realize that I was drastically off pace, with HR already racing at 170. By the time we hit the actual Mt Evans road, with 14.5 miles to go, I was thoroughly unamused... my time goal long since replaced by the goal of survival.
Luckily about this juncture, I ran into a fellow sea level dweller, Stefan, a friendly non racing cycling enthusiast, who accompanied me, delirious ramblings and all... the rest of the way. I was vaguely comforted to realize that I still had enough breath to talk, and that we did manage to pass everyone else we encountered on the climb (other than Peter). It was very much a surreal experience--you really do get more and more light headed as the scenery becomes more and more breathtaking. At times I wanted to get out of the saddle and push harder, but was held back by the fear of passing out.
All told it was 3:40, give or take 5 minutes to the top, and I arrived thoroughly humbled but with a sense of wonderment at being so ridiculously high up. I was really glad that I did this, despite the fact that it started out very frustrating and demoralizing, this is the first time in a while that I felt like I tackled and survived something really really hard. 14K feels disproportionately less good than 10K. The conclusion is that a proficient civilian does not a bike racer make. Apparently there's still a pretty sizeable gap between me and being a Real Cyclist... I guess I'll have to stick it out at my day job for now.
Sunday 06/21: 79.9 miles, 5:56:20 (13.4 miles), Angeles Crest to Cloudburst summit with Ian. A really beautiful day, and a great ride. I felt pretty tired from yesterday, but thankfully we just went a very very mellow pace and it felt good. I felt like I perked up a little bit near Newcombe's ranch and was excited about the last climb. I really love this section of the 2.
Monday 06/22: Off. Some much needed rest.
Tuesday 06/23: 34.7 miles, 2:41:21 (12.9 miles), 2 x Chantry climb, second one up to the Helipad with Ian. Tried to seek out some steeper grades per Ben's advice. The part near the base of the climb was pretty shocking to my system, but it was a LOT easier than I remembered. The first time up felt a little rusty, I definitely did not feel very good, but the second time went much better and much faster. It felt good to go a little bit harder than usual.
Wednesday 06/24: Off, motivational issues. Slept in. Bah, so useless....
Thursday 06/25: 51 miles, 3:46:25 (13.5 mph), Mt. Disappointment with Ian. An eventful day: First, I decided consciously to be late to work so that we could check out this new road that Will told us about. Second, we saw a bear (!) 30 second after we turned onto Mt. Disappointment road. Third, the last quarter mile or so was ridiculously ski lifts-esque steep. I recorded my first 200HR in several years for about 5 seconds near the top. The ride was most definitely not disappointing. It was really beautiful, especially with the rolling fog underneath.... there was no city, only mountain peaks in the distance, as if you were the only person on earth. Then I karmically spilled curry all over my car as I rolled into work at about 10:30... I still wasn't sorry for my truancy.
Friday 06/26: Off, shots. Travel to Colorado.
Saturday 06/27: 56 miles, 4:50:00 give or take 10 minutes. Mt Evans Race Course, half of it with Peter. See description above.
Training this week: 221.6 miles, 17:14:06. Pretty decent, esp. considering the rides.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Week 11: Rebuilding (06/14/2009 - 06/20/2009)
Getting back in the saddle. I've been having some moderate motivational issues since the crash and the plague. Once you take a whole bunch of days off, it kind of shifts the momentum. I also feel sad and discouraged about the setback, which also feeds the negative feedback loop for the motivation.
I'm pretty sure the only cure is to stamp out these memories and feelings with some good rides, and get back into the right mindset. I'm going to try to do a Mt. Evans trial run next week to determine whether I want to participate in the actual race, so I've got to bring my A-game. I think this week's goal will be to ride semi consistently and get back over 200 miles.
Sunday 06/14: 41 miles, 2:23:46 (17.1 mph) Peter's Short Long Loop, truncated due to flat tire and no tools. Well, the comeback is off to kind of a crappy start. I felt awful on this ride... I was full of snot and phlegm from being sick, except that I couldn't cough or sneeze bc my ribs are still so bruised. I felt tired though I was going pretty slow, and I was completely discombobulated by the down tube shifters and the 52/38 gearing on Big Red. I also forgot to bring a patch kit or spare tire, and figured it was just my luck to land a big flat tire about 5 miles from home.
Thankfully, I was rescued by the KB mobile, and took my poor injured Celeste bike to Steve's for some patching up. Bah, this seriously didn't help my vague suspicion that this is all a sign that me and bike racing was not meant to be...
Monday 06/15: Off. Woke up really tired and discouraged, so I didn't attempt another ride, and was really in a foul mood all day.
Tuesday 06/16: 45.7 miles, 2:36:11 (17.5 mph) Peter's Short Long Loop. Try #2. This one went much better. Felt a lot less sick, and even that helped. I think I've basically figured out how to deal with the six-speed and the shifters at this point so that helped too. I guess its never a good feeling when route times are slower than they used to be, but at least I didn't feel tired out by the effort. It was a good solid step in the right direction.
Wednesday 06/17: Off. Another really bad morning. I had Red Box planned for today and I even did wake up at 5 am... like fully awake, and not even that tired. But I sat on the edge of my bed with my head in my hands feeling like I just didn't want to go. I still lacked confidence with taking Big Red on any longer rides, and going into the mountains for the first time in a week and a half felt daunting. Visions of crashes and catastrophes filled my head... and I remembered that I had felt a little like this the day that I went on that RB ride last week. That superstitious thought tipped the scales, I crawled back into bed and fell asleep... it felt like the right decision at the time, but as the day wore on, I felt increasingly guilty and stupid and bothered.
Thursday 06/18: 41.5 miles, 2:44:00 (15.1 mph), Angeles Crest to Clear Creek, plus a few laps of the RB on the way home. Today started out a little bit like yesterday, but I was determined to get past this feeling. I still did dawdle for long enough that I no longer felt like I had enough time to go to Red Box, but I was determined at least to make it to Clear Creek. I heard that the bike we purchased off of eBay (Bianchi FG Lite Team bike) was arriving today, so I told myself that the least I could do was do a ride today so as to deserve my new purchase.
Climbing on Big Red was a lot easier than I thought. Actually managed a pretty speedy ascent, despite feeling positive dreadful trudging over to the base of the 2. I was pretty pleased. To alleviate some guilt for not having gone to Red Box, I did a few laps at a moderate intensity at the RB before heading home for the day. All in all I think this was what I needed to get back into it.
Friday 06/19: Off, shots. So tired... so sleep deprived. Everyone left work early, including me. By which I mean I left at 6:30 pm.
Saturday 06/20: 86.9 miles, 5:47:38 (15 mph) GMR to GRR to Baldy Village and back the same way we came. First time doing it this way, rather than just taking the flat way back. This was a harder than usual effort for me, Will, Ben, Alec and Scott were there, so it was kind of a "Ride just to keep up" sort of a situation. I felt pretty good until we reached the base of the climb, after which the pace felt a little bit stressful. I considered just dropping back right off the bat, but realized that with the 38/25, which is the smallest gear that Big Red has, it just felt more natural to go at the faster pace, so I kept it up and it started to feel easier.
I was pretty excited that I kept up with the group until mile 6 on GRR, at which point I was fairly catastrophically left behind. I was feeling a little bit freaked out at this point, my motivation to push hard totally gone, I kind of wondered if I should just go home alone the flat way rather than risk the climbing up from Baldy Village. I had a gu at BV though, and decided to man up and go back with the group. The first climb was a lot shorter than I thought it would be, and thankfully Will decided to drop back and rock the grupetto with me. It's so much better than the grupetto of one.
The ride back was... fraught with some misfortunes, unfortunately. It had been drizzling almost the entire ride, and we suffered some casualties. Will got a flat tire and Ben crashed on the descent, but all in all it appears everyone made it home in one piece. As a result of these two items, I ended up riding back to Pasadena with Alec, which was a little challenging, but I think I dug in and managed not to slow him down too much. I had a good time though, despite the rain and the droppage... and Ben told me all about the Everest Challenge and made me really want to do it!
Training this week: 215 miles, 13:31:35. Slowly inching back towards acceptable!
I'm pretty sure the only cure is to stamp out these memories and feelings with some good rides, and get back into the right mindset. I'm going to try to do a Mt. Evans trial run next week to determine whether I want to participate in the actual race, so I've got to bring my A-game. I think this week's goal will be to ride semi consistently and get back over 200 miles.
Sunday 06/14: 41 miles, 2:23:46 (17.1 mph) Peter's Short Long Loop, truncated due to flat tire and no tools. Well, the comeback is off to kind of a crappy start. I felt awful on this ride... I was full of snot and phlegm from being sick, except that I couldn't cough or sneeze bc my ribs are still so bruised. I felt tired though I was going pretty slow, and I was completely discombobulated by the down tube shifters and the 52/38 gearing on Big Red. I also forgot to bring a patch kit or spare tire, and figured it was just my luck to land a big flat tire about 5 miles from home.
Thankfully, I was rescued by the KB mobile, and took my poor injured Celeste bike to Steve's for some patching up. Bah, this seriously didn't help my vague suspicion that this is all a sign that me and bike racing was not meant to be...
Monday 06/15: Off. Woke up really tired and discouraged, so I didn't attempt another ride, and was really in a foul mood all day.
Tuesday 06/16: 45.7 miles, 2:36:11 (17.5 mph) Peter's Short Long Loop. Try #2. This one went much better. Felt a lot less sick, and even that helped. I think I've basically figured out how to deal with the six-speed and the shifters at this point so that helped too. I guess its never a good feeling when route times are slower than they used to be, but at least I didn't feel tired out by the effort. It was a good solid step in the right direction.
Wednesday 06/17: Off. Another really bad morning. I had Red Box planned for today and I even did wake up at 5 am... like fully awake, and not even that tired. But I sat on the edge of my bed with my head in my hands feeling like I just didn't want to go. I still lacked confidence with taking Big Red on any longer rides, and going into the mountains for the first time in a week and a half felt daunting. Visions of crashes and catastrophes filled my head... and I remembered that I had felt a little like this the day that I went on that RB ride last week. That superstitious thought tipped the scales, I crawled back into bed and fell asleep... it felt like the right decision at the time, but as the day wore on, I felt increasingly guilty and stupid and bothered.
Thursday 06/18: 41.5 miles, 2:44:00 (15.1 mph), Angeles Crest to Clear Creek, plus a few laps of the RB on the way home. Today started out a little bit like yesterday, but I was determined to get past this feeling. I still did dawdle for long enough that I no longer felt like I had enough time to go to Red Box, but I was determined at least to make it to Clear Creek. I heard that the bike we purchased off of eBay (Bianchi FG Lite Team bike) was arriving today, so I told myself that the least I could do was do a ride today so as to deserve my new purchase.
Climbing on Big Red was a lot easier than I thought. Actually managed a pretty speedy ascent, despite feeling positive dreadful trudging over to the base of the 2. I was pretty pleased. To alleviate some guilt for not having gone to Red Box, I did a few laps at a moderate intensity at the RB before heading home for the day. All in all I think this was what I needed to get back into it.
Friday 06/19: Off, shots. So tired... so sleep deprived. Everyone left work early, including me. By which I mean I left at 6:30 pm.
Saturday 06/20: 86.9 miles, 5:47:38 (15 mph) GMR to GRR to Baldy Village and back the same way we came. First time doing it this way, rather than just taking the flat way back. This was a harder than usual effort for me, Will, Ben, Alec and Scott were there, so it was kind of a "Ride just to keep up" sort of a situation. I felt pretty good until we reached the base of the climb, after which the pace felt a little bit stressful. I considered just dropping back right off the bat, but realized that with the 38/25, which is the smallest gear that Big Red has, it just felt more natural to go at the faster pace, so I kept it up and it started to feel easier.
I was pretty excited that I kept up with the group until mile 6 on GRR, at which point I was fairly catastrophically left behind. I was feeling a little bit freaked out at this point, my motivation to push hard totally gone, I kind of wondered if I should just go home alone the flat way rather than risk the climbing up from Baldy Village. I had a gu at BV though, and decided to man up and go back with the group. The first climb was a lot shorter than I thought it would be, and thankfully Will decided to drop back and rock the grupetto with me. It's so much better than the grupetto of one.
The ride back was... fraught with some misfortunes, unfortunately. It had been drizzling almost the entire ride, and we suffered some casualties. Will got a flat tire and Ben crashed on the descent, but all in all it appears everyone made it home in one piece. As a result of these two items, I ended up riding back to Pasadena with Alec, which was a little challenging, but I think I dug in and managed not to slow him down too much. I had a good time though, despite the rain and the droppage... and Ben told me all about the Everest Challenge and made me really want to do it!
Training this week: 215 miles, 13:31:35. Slowly inching back towards acceptable!
Week 10: Crash (06/07/2009 - 06/13/2009)
... Crash and burn... the latest in the "Involuntary Rest Week" series.
On Tuesday (06/09), I woke up not really wanting to ride, but I coaxed myself out the door with the promise if my first set of RB intervals. I was feeling great after my Sunday ride, and itching to do some harder stuff. Little did I know....
Sunday 06/07: 103 miles, 7:24:08 (14 mph), Hwy 39 to the 2, then up to Dawson's Saddle and back on the 2. It's been a while since I updated the blog, but this was an epic ride. Got a little bit of a late start, but figured I had just about enough daylight to squeeze this in. Felt great, and got some compliments from a random guy who rode with me for a few miles, but by about mile 30 I was feeling inexplicably pooped, and the weather was now way too warm for my base layer. There was some slogging up to about mile 38, after which the clouds rolled in and I started feeling inexplicably better.
Side note: Does anyone else think that the road condition of the 39 has deteriorated significantly? I remembered this as a really nice, non steep road from 2 years ago, but it was really overgrown and full of pot holes. I had considered turning back early a few times, but decided that there was no way I was going to descend down this death trap.... so onwards I went.
The really barren stretch from Crystal lakes to the 2 also seemed to be twice as long as I had remembered, but thankfully it was pretty easy going. Unfortunately, now it was starting to get drizzly and cold... so I arrived at the intersection of the 2 feeling a little bit irate. Then through the swirling fog, I saw a beautiful patch of sunny blue sky just to my right towards Dawson's Saddle. I rashly decided that heading back down into more cold, foggy descending sounded unappealing, so I turned right to make the ascent out of the clouds and up to Dawson's Saddle. I think I was a little bit more worn out than the last time I was here, but the climb was nice nonetheless.
Descending back into the fog was kind of terrifying, but I proceeded with caution until I was safely to Newcombe's Ranch, where it was near closing time, and I met the owner of the place, who seemed duly impressed with how far I'd come :). The rest of the journey was pleasant, the stretch home from Newcombe's seemed a lot shorter than I remembered, and I got home feeling pretty good!
Monday 06/08: Off, rest. Not really sure what happened this day. I think a fair amount of work. I was considering riding today bc I was feeling good, but didn't manage to wake up.
Tuesday 06/09: 20.4 miles, 1:13:57 before the crash. I really didn't want to get up today, but I didn't want to get into the habit of taking Monday and Tuesday off, so I decided to motivate myself by attempting my first set of intervals. The goal was just to do 3 at a moderate sustainable pace. On the first one, I had a lot of trouble keeping my focus, and my HR kept dropping down to 170... the split was 9:20, which is pretty crappy, so I resolved to do better on the next one. The second one started out pretty good, it was easier to maintain a good clip this time, and I could tell from the spedometer that I was going a lot faster than the first one. As I was coming down the last part of the downhill stretch right before the little hill, an oncoming vehicle made a left turn directly into my path.
I tried to make the gap between the tail end and the opposite side of the road, but I didn't make it, I slammed into the back end of the car, and the next thing I remember is feeling like my right ribcage had been crushed into a cube. It took a few moments just to recover from this horrible feeling, and then a whole bunch of people came running over. It was craziness. Everyone was really nice... except for the motorcycle cop. He seemed very unconcerned by my state or the events that had caused it.
Went to urgent care afterwards, but left when they told me it would be a 3 hour wait. I decided just to go the doctor's office and make an appt. but they were able to see me right away. Thankfully things are okay other than the road rash and some bruised ribs.
My poor bike fared less well. Apparently the impact had managed to bend the cranks, which no one had seen before.... as well as a lot of cosmetic damage. Incycle told me it was totaled and that it was unsafe to ride, and Steve said it was totally fine. Wasn't super comfortable with either opinion, so right now I'm waiting to make my decision.
Wednesday 06/10 - Saturday 06/13: Off. I got horribly ill the day after the accident... between the ribs and the plague, I couldn't sleep at all for the next 3 days. I felt terrible, didn't ride at all. I can't believe how many off days this was. Gahhhhhh....
Training this Week: 123.4 miles, 8:38:05. Soooooooooo sad :'(
On Tuesday (06/09), I woke up not really wanting to ride, but I coaxed myself out the door with the promise if my first set of RB intervals. I was feeling great after my Sunday ride, and itching to do some harder stuff. Little did I know....
Sunday 06/07: 103 miles, 7:24:08 (14 mph), Hwy 39 to the 2, then up to Dawson's Saddle and back on the 2. It's been a while since I updated the blog, but this was an epic ride. Got a little bit of a late start, but figured I had just about enough daylight to squeeze this in. Felt great, and got some compliments from a random guy who rode with me for a few miles, but by about mile 30 I was feeling inexplicably pooped, and the weather was now way too warm for my base layer. There was some slogging up to about mile 38, after which the clouds rolled in and I started feeling inexplicably better.
Side note: Does anyone else think that the road condition of the 39 has deteriorated significantly? I remembered this as a really nice, non steep road from 2 years ago, but it was really overgrown and full of pot holes. I had considered turning back early a few times, but decided that there was no way I was going to descend down this death trap.... so onwards I went.
The really barren stretch from Crystal lakes to the 2 also seemed to be twice as long as I had remembered, but thankfully it was pretty easy going. Unfortunately, now it was starting to get drizzly and cold... so I arrived at the intersection of the 2 feeling a little bit irate. Then through the swirling fog, I saw a beautiful patch of sunny blue sky just to my right towards Dawson's Saddle. I rashly decided that heading back down into more cold, foggy descending sounded unappealing, so I turned right to make the ascent out of the clouds and up to Dawson's Saddle. I think I was a little bit more worn out than the last time I was here, but the climb was nice nonetheless.
Descending back into the fog was kind of terrifying, but I proceeded with caution until I was safely to Newcombe's Ranch, where it was near closing time, and I met the owner of the place, who seemed duly impressed with how far I'd come :). The rest of the journey was pleasant, the stretch home from Newcombe's seemed a lot shorter than I remembered, and I got home feeling pretty good!
Monday 06/08: Off, rest. Not really sure what happened this day. I think a fair amount of work. I was considering riding today bc I was feeling good, but didn't manage to wake up.
Tuesday 06/09: 20.4 miles, 1:13:57 before the crash. I really didn't want to get up today, but I didn't want to get into the habit of taking Monday and Tuesday off, so I decided to motivate myself by attempting my first set of intervals. The goal was just to do 3 at a moderate sustainable pace. On the first one, I had a lot of trouble keeping my focus, and my HR kept dropping down to 170... the split was 9:20, which is pretty crappy, so I resolved to do better on the next one. The second one started out pretty good, it was easier to maintain a good clip this time, and I could tell from the spedometer that I was going a lot faster than the first one. As I was coming down the last part of the downhill stretch right before the little hill, an oncoming vehicle made a left turn directly into my path.
I tried to make the gap between the tail end and the opposite side of the road, but I didn't make it, I slammed into the back end of the car, and the next thing I remember is feeling like my right ribcage had been crushed into a cube. It took a few moments just to recover from this horrible feeling, and then a whole bunch of people came running over. It was craziness. Everyone was really nice... except for the motorcycle cop. He seemed very unconcerned by my state or the events that had caused it.
Went to urgent care afterwards, but left when they told me it would be a 3 hour wait. I decided just to go the doctor's office and make an appt. but they were able to see me right away. Thankfully things are okay other than the road rash and some bruised ribs.
My poor bike fared less well. Apparently the impact had managed to bend the cranks, which no one had seen before.... as well as a lot of cosmetic damage. Incycle told me it was totaled and that it was unsafe to ride, and Steve said it was totally fine. Wasn't super comfortable with either opinion, so right now I'm waiting to make my decision.
Wednesday 06/10 - Saturday 06/13: Off. I got horribly ill the day after the accident... between the ribs and the plague, I couldn't sleep at all for the next 3 days. I felt terrible, didn't ride at all. I can't believe how many off days this was. Gahhhhhh....
Training this Week: 123.4 miles, 8:38:05. Soooooooooo sad :'(
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Week 9: Fail! (05/31/2009 - 06/06/2009)
As such things go, life was determined to force upon me another "rest week"...
So far, work has not been cooperating with the getting into racing shape initiative. Whether it's the 2 am leaving times or the massive quantities of CPK pizzas that the team has ordered in for the long night ahead, I'm definitely getting fatter, not fitter.
Sadly, my 8 week run of putting in decent mileage has come to an end with this week. It was one of those things where I woke up on Saturday morning, not feeling free or even relieved... but just completely exhausted and deflated. It really hasn't been a good week.
Sunday 05/31: 78.7 miles, 4:32:03 (17.3 mph) Seal Beach the Short Way. Oddly enough, the week started off auspiciously. Rode a record time for this course, despite overshooting one of my turns and adding and extra 2 blocks. I felt surprisingly unaffected by yesterday's 105 mile ride. I even felt peppy enough to do 30 second sprints every hour like Peter. Otherwise, just tried to keep it easy except for a 10 minute segment where I had to pick it up a bit to hold off a guy who was trying to pass me. He seemed unamused. It's not personal buddy, I'm just a competitive person.
Monday 06/01 - Wednesday 06/03: Off, this was a really tough week. On Monday morning, I attended the funeral of co-worker, a 24 year old girl. On Tuesday and Wednesday, I worked well past midnight. I felt horrible, physically, mentally, emotionally.
Thursday 06/04: 43.16 miles, 2:54:50 (14.9 mph) Angeles Crest to Red Box. Got to bed at 1 am and woke up at 5 am, I decided that being fat and disgusting was worse feeling than being sleep deprived, so I actually managed to go on this ride. Basically tried out some higher cadences per Will's suggestion, and found the journey to be both easier and faster than before. Felt good, so I threw in some 30 second surges every half hour to break up some of the easy climbing. This ride was a bright spot in an otherwise pretty terrible week.
Friday 06/05: Off, shots. Finished work at 8 pm, a record for this week! Went to get thai food, and consume large quantities of cocktails and cupcakes with my coworkers to celebrate our survival.
Saturday 06/06: 45.7 miles, 2:35:22 (17.6 mph) Peter's Short Long Loop. Measurements approximate on this one. My cyclocomputer had a nervous breakdown in the middle of this ride, for unknown reasons. It seems okay now, but I was not amused. I guess I wasn't really in the mood to be amused by anything today. I tried to get up at a reasonable hour to go on a long ride, but I dozed guiltily until about 11am, at which I realized that I had to go to the bank before it closed at 1 pm. Despite 10 hours of sleep, I still felt really exhausted in all ways... and the overcast weather was uninspiring for a long ride. This was exactly like the cycling equivalent of when you go on a dinky 5-6 mile run to alleviate the guilt of not doing your longer/harder workout. I felt really tired though, even on this short flat ride... pretty demoralizing.
Training this week: 167.6 miles, 10:02:15
So far, work has not been cooperating with the getting into racing shape initiative. Whether it's the 2 am leaving times or the massive quantities of CPK pizzas that the team has ordered in for the long night ahead, I'm definitely getting fatter, not fitter.
Sadly, my 8 week run of putting in decent mileage has come to an end with this week. It was one of those things where I woke up on Saturday morning, not feeling free or even relieved... but just completely exhausted and deflated. It really hasn't been a good week.
Sunday 05/31: 78.7 miles, 4:32:03 (17.3 mph) Seal Beach the Short Way. Oddly enough, the week started off auspiciously. Rode a record time for this course, despite overshooting one of my turns and adding and extra 2 blocks. I felt surprisingly unaffected by yesterday's 105 mile ride. I even felt peppy enough to do 30 second sprints every hour like Peter. Otherwise, just tried to keep it easy except for a 10 minute segment where I had to pick it up a bit to hold off a guy who was trying to pass me. He seemed unamused. It's not personal buddy, I'm just a competitive person.
Monday 06/01 - Wednesday 06/03: Off, this was a really tough week. On Monday morning, I attended the funeral of co-worker, a 24 year old girl. On Tuesday and Wednesday, I worked well past midnight. I felt horrible, physically, mentally, emotionally.
Thursday 06/04: 43.16 miles, 2:54:50 (14.9 mph) Angeles Crest to Red Box. Got to bed at 1 am and woke up at 5 am, I decided that being fat and disgusting was worse feeling than being sleep deprived, so I actually managed to go on this ride. Basically tried out some higher cadences per Will's suggestion, and found the journey to be both easier and faster than before. Felt good, so I threw in some 30 second surges every half hour to break up some of the easy climbing. This ride was a bright spot in an otherwise pretty terrible week.
Friday 06/05: Off, shots. Finished work at 8 pm, a record for this week! Went to get thai food, and consume large quantities of cocktails and cupcakes with my coworkers to celebrate our survival.
Saturday 06/06: 45.7 miles, 2:35:22 (17.6 mph) Peter's Short Long Loop. Measurements approximate on this one. My cyclocomputer had a nervous breakdown in the middle of this ride, for unknown reasons. It seems okay now, but I was not amused. I guess I wasn't really in the mood to be amused by anything today. I tried to get up at a reasonable hour to go on a long ride, but I dozed guiltily until about 11am, at which I realized that I had to go to the bank before it closed at 1 pm. Despite 10 hours of sleep, I still felt really exhausted in all ways... and the overcast weather was uninspiring for a long ride. This was exactly like the cycling equivalent of when you go on a dinky 5-6 mile run to alleviate the guilt of not doing your longer/harder workout. I felt really tired though, even on this short flat ride... pretty demoralizing.
Training this week: 167.6 miles, 10:02:15
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Week 8: Rest??? (05/24/2009 - 05/30/2009)
And the council has spoken--it's been a pretty long run of weeks now where something (mileage or gradient) has increased every week. It's time for a rest week. Though that's where the consensus ends. What exactly constitutes a rest week?
I've received some negative feedback on how I've elected to implement my rest week, but let's let the outcomes be the final judge. We will take the next week or so to assess whether more drastic resting measures are necessary. At worst, I can try again next week.
**Unrelated Update** Colorado means new data! Since my trusty old Target scale has kicked the bucket, I can only measure my obesity every few weeks. I am happy to report that I've crossed the halfway mark. At the beginning of this journey, I weighed in at a corpulent 120+ pounds. I'm now down to 111, so it's 10 down, 10 to go. If only food wasn't so very very delicious...
Sunday 05/24: 43.4 miles, about 3:30, Turkey Creek to High Grade Road, with a double back to do the steep part of HGR. A charmed ride with zero rain, despite the generally wet conditions. I felt pretty horrible in the beginning with a stomach ache, but felt progressively better. The path was very pretty and we even got some sunshine. This ride was shorter than I would have liked, but it was all quality stuff, with the climbing starting right away. There was a nice mix of steepnesses and a lot of changes in scenery... which is not naturally my preference, but it was a nice change of pace. I was worried about the second consecutive climbing day, but felt like I held up very nicely. I'm adjusting to this bike and the gearing isn't as bad as I thought it would be. Still felt good towards the end, but the decision to head back was the right one, as the torrential downpour started immediately after we got into the car.
Monday 05/25: 58.5 miles, about 3:25, Peter's "Flat" Rolling Boulder ride. Our luck ran out with the weather on this ride, but it wasn't too bad. Headed out away from the mountains, past a llama farm (they are SO adorable!) and out into the plains outside of Boulder. Was just trying to enjoy a nice mellow ride, but somehow got goaded into doing a significant chunk at high intensity. I think I went about 45 minutes, starting under threshold and gradually accelerating. There was a nice stretch in there that felt just about threshold and surprisingly sustainable, but the problem was that there was a liberal sprinkling of hills that prevented me from settling into a rhythm. For some reason, this caused me to push harder and harder, until it stopped feeling very sustainable. Backed off and felt better pretty quickly. Saw a beautiful climb out by Carter Lake, but the clouds were closing in, so we turned back. Got rained on on the way home, but it wasn't that bad. It was actually really fun to go fast, and I was pleased that I could do it at all, since my usual diet these days consists almost exclusively of mellow effort levels.
Tuesday 05/26: Off, travel back home. A sad day :(.
Wednesday 05/27: Off. Legs feel really rested and good, the rest of me did not. I did manage to get up at 5 am, but decided to go back to sleep given how awful I felt and knowing that I was booked into meetings straight from 10 am to 8 pm. I felt really guilty about not riding, even knowing that it was the responsible decision to make.
Thursday 05/28: 45.7 miles, 2:31:26 (18.1 mph) Peter's Short Long Loop. Woke up extra early at 4:30 am to get this done before my first morning meeting. The darkness was a little scary in terms of not being able to see the crap on the road, but it was actually kind of peaceful and nice. Felt really good except for a few miles in the middle around where the dam is. Still managed to pick up my first > 18 mph! For some reason, I like that middle third of this ride the least. I had decided a while back that when I started consistently completing this ride in the 2:30 range, I would tack on the extra 5 miles or so to get to the North end of the River Trail before doubling back to Encanto Park... but I've been dragging my feet on implementing this because it would elongate the crappy middle section.
Another footnote to this day is that I ran for the first time today, rather serendipitously. Despite my valiant efforts to the contrary, I arrived 3 minutes too late to work, thus missing the team's departure for our offsite meeting. Not knowing how to get to my destination, I wasted another 4 minutes trying to figure out directions, leaving me 8 minutes to arrive. Thankfully I was wearing my running shoes with my new orthotics, per my podiatrist's recommendation, so run I did at a nice good tempo pace for about 5 to 7 minutes. It felt wonderful for about 200m after which it felt really horrible. Then after I arrived my hamstrings and calves started to seize up. They still do not feel very wonderful. Running is hard.
Friday 05/29: Off, shots. Man, I don't know how I ever used to run... my legs are still feeling shot. Just really tight and sore. Terrible. I hope this doesn't end up affecting tomorrow's ride. I've potentially got a big day planned!
Saturday 05/30: 105 miles, 7:39:45 (13.7 mph) Angeles Crest to Dawson's Saddle. An awesome super fun ride with Will and Ian. There were some grumblings along the way, but ultimately everyone made it happily to the peak before you descend into Wrightwood. A little rain and a little overcast, but it was really neat! We went at a nice mellow pace, so I felt good the whole way through. For some reason I felt inspired to hammer it a little bit on the last mile or so up to the saddle, feeling especially good at this point.
It was also my first time past Red Box on the 2, so there was plenty of amusing new scenery, and 7 hours actually goes by real quick with good company. I've been feeling really crummy (unrelated to cycling) this week, so I really appreciated this awesome ride. It also made me feel like the Wrightwood ride was definitely within reach some day in the near future. Lunch and dinner at Newcombe's Ranch. Felt a little barfy immediately after eating, but good times.
Training this week: 252.6 miles, 17:06:11
I've received some negative feedback on how I've elected to implement my rest week, but let's let the outcomes be the final judge. We will take the next week or so to assess whether more drastic resting measures are necessary. At worst, I can try again next week.
**Unrelated Update** Colorado means new data! Since my trusty old Target scale has kicked the bucket, I can only measure my obesity every few weeks. I am happy to report that I've crossed the halfway mark. At the beginning of this journey, I weighed in at a corpulent 120+ pounds. I'm now down to 111, so it's 10 down, 10 to go. If only food wasn't so very very delicious...
Sunday 05/24: 43.4 miles, about 3:30, Turkey Creek to High Grade Road, with a double back to do the steep part of HGR. A charmed ride with zero rain, despite the generally wet conditions. I felt pretty horrible in the beginning with a stomach ache, but felt progressively better. The path was very pretty and we even got some sunshine. This ride was shorter than I would have liked, but it was all quality stuff, with the climbing starting right away. There was a nice mix of steepnesses and a lot of changes in scenery... which is not naturally my preference, but it was a nice change of pace. I was worried about the second consecutive climbing day, but felt like I held up very nicely. I'm adjusting to this bike and the gearing isn't as bad as I thought it would be. Still felt good towards the end, but the decision to head back was the right one, as the torrential downpour started immediately after we got into the car.
Monday 05/25: 58.5 miles, about 3:25, Peter's "Flat" Rolling Boulder ride. Our luck ran out with the weather on this ride, but it wasn't too bad. Headed out away from the mountains, past a llama farm (they are SO adorable!) and out into the plains outside of Boulder. Was just trying to enjoy a nice mellow ride, but somehow got goaded into doing a significant chunk at high intensity. I think I went about 45 minutes, starting under threshold and gradually accelerating. There was a nice stretch in there that felt just about threshold and surprisingly sustainable, but the problem was that there was a liberal sprinkling of hills that prevented me from settling into a rhythm. For some reason, this caused me to push harder and harder, until it stopped feeling very sustainable. Backed off and felt better pretty quickly. Saw a beautiful climb out by Carter Lake, but the clouds were closing in, so we turned back. Got rained on on the way home, but it wasn't that bad. It was actually really fun to go fast, and I was pleased that I could do it at all, since my usual diet these days consists almost exclusively of mellow effort levels.
Tuesday 05/26: Off, travel back home. A sad day :(.
Wednesday 05/27: Off. Legs feel really rested and good, the rest of me did not. I did manage to get up at 5 am, but decided to go back to sleep given how awful I felt and knowing that I was booked into meetings straight from 10 am to 8 pm. I felt really guilty about not riding, even knowing that it was the responsible decision to make.
Thursday 05/28: 45.7 miles, 2:31:26 (18.1 mph) Peter's Short Long Loop. Woke up extra early at 4:30 am to get this done before my first morning meeting. The darkness was a little scary in terms of not being able to see the crap on the road, but it was actually kind of peaceful and nice. Felt really good except for a few miles in the middle around where the dam is. Still managed to pick up my first > 18 mph! For some reason, I like that middle third of this ride the least. I had decided a while back that when I started consistently completing this ride in the 2:30 range, I would tack on the extra 5 miles or so to get to the North end of the River Trail before doubling back to Encanto Park... but I've been dragging my feet on implementing this because it would elongate the crappy middle section.
Another footnote to this day is that I ran for the first time today, rather serendipitously. Despite my valiant efforts to the contrary, I arrived 3 minutes too late to work, thus missing the team's departure for our offsite meeting. Not knowing how to get to my destination, I wasted another 4 minutes trying to figure out directions, leaving me 8 minutes to arrive. Thankfully I was wearing my running shoes with my new orthotics, per my podiatrist's recommendation, so run I did at a nice good tempo pace for about 5 to 7 minutes. It felt wonderful for about 200m after which it felt really horrible. Then after I arrived my hamstrings and calves started to seize up. They still do not feel very wonderful. Running is hard.
Friday 05/29: Off, shots. Man, I don't know how I ever used to run... my legs are still feeling shot. Just really tight and sore. Terrible. I hope this doesn't end up affecting tomorrow's ride. I've potentially got a big day planned!
Saturday 05/30: 105 miles, 7:39:45 (13.7 mph) Angeles Crest to Dawson's Saddle. An awesome super fun ride with Will and Ian. There were some grumblings along the way, but ultimately everyone made it happily to the peak before you descend into Wrightwood. A little rain and a little overcast, but it was really neat! We went at a nice mellow pace, so I felt good the whole way through. For some reason I felt inspired to hammer it a little bit on the last mile or so up to the saddle, feeling especially good at this point.
It was also my first time past Red Box on the 2, so there was plenty of amusing new scenery, and 7 hours actually goes by real quick with good company. I've been feeling really crummy (unrelated to cycling) this week, so I really appreciated this awesome ride. It also made me feel like the Wrightwood ride was definitely within reach some day in the near future. Lunch and dinner at Newcombe's Ranch. Felt a little barfy immediately after eating, but good times.
Training this week: 252.6 miles, 17:06:11
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Week 7: Allergies (05/17/2009 - 05/23/2009)
The plague of the yellow flowers has descended upon southern california... and that means bad times for me and respiration. Despite the fact that we've had little rain, the hills are alive--with the sound of labored breathing. I'm not really sure what they are... in fact, I'm pretty sure there are multiple varieties of pollen-y death, but they are here in force.
As far as I can tell, the yellow ones are the worst. Maybe its because they are the most common, but they are definitely the worst. They've been slowly gaining strength over the past few weeks, but now they are everywhere. I can smell them in the morning, just before my nasal passages close up. I would say that I can't wait for them to go away, but I know that when they do, it will be because of the sweltering summer heat, which brings challenges of its own. Oh, winter in California, how I miss you.
(P.S. Warning to those who may be headed to the Baldy Village area--don't even get me started on the plague of brown flies. *Shudder* They actually seem pretty harmless, other than being kind of nasty, but boy do they hurt when you crash into them descending at 45 mph)
Sunday 05/17: 78.2 miles, 4:46:02 (16.4 mph) Seal Beach the short way. Oooof. I definitely had low expectations for this ride, given that I woke up in the middle of the night in pain from the Ski Lifts ride. I had to empty my fridge of all ice packs and place them on my legs and take some advil just to calm the pain and inflammation. Somehow everything calmed down by the morning though, so off I went. It felt a little tired, but I just kept it super easy and it was fine. Felt loads better than last week's despite the fact that the Saturday ride was harder. Felt pretty good about this ride, and had some delicious delicious chinese food afterwards with the gang.
Monday 05/18: Off. Busy day at work, legs need a break after the weekend.
Tuesday 05/19: Off. Legs still feeling pretty trashed from the weekend. Also, insanely sleep deprived feeling. Blehhhhh....
Wednesday 05/20: 43.2 miles, 3:00:09 (14.3 mph) Angeles Crest to Red Box. This was a horrible ride, and I couldn't figure out why, until I came home and found yesterday's allergy medication untaken on the counter. Sometimes it doesn't feel like the Zyrtec really helps, but it just takes one day of not taking it to remind me how bad it can get. A normal person might take it easy on a day they didn't feel so good, but I was frustrated and cranky and took it out on the climb by raging against my tired legs. I was also experimenting with gear combos, and dropped my chain, which made me even more irate. I think I tired myself out doing weird little surges on the climb and felt kind of sluggish on the way home. Bah, humbug.
Thursday 05/21: 45.7 miles, 2:37:21 (17.3 mph) Peter's Short Long Loop. Tired. I really almost didn't get up to go on this ride... but I've already taken an extra rest day so far, so in the end I just couldn't justify it. For some reason I feel like the fatigue just never completely left my legs after the Ski Lifts. It wasn't a bad ride, I just felt like my legs had no zip today... and I was sad because this is the first Peter's Short Long Loop that hasn't been faster than the one before :(.
Friday 05/22: Off, shots. Travel to Colorado for the long weekend!
Saturday 05/23: 69 miles, 4:45:08, Peak to Peak Highway starting in Boulder, back through Nederland. The bad weather foiled the planned Trial Run of the Mt Evans Hill Climb route, but we got to do this awesome ride instead! Started on a really beautiful canyon path from Boulder, and climbed up to a mountain road that was optimistically described as "rolling" or "mostly downhill". It was really overcast and rained at one point, but I kind of thought that that added to the awesomeness. Peter may have disagreed. I felt a little uncertain at some junctures in this ride, but ended up feeling pretty good the whole way. I think I went more conservatively than I could have due to not knowing how much climbing was left. It actually felt kind of anticlimatic when the descent started. It felt like we were descending for a very long time, but the heavy ass steel frame was actually pretty sweet on the downhills. I was pleasantly surprised at not needing any (non existent) smaller gears.
Training this week: 236 miles, 15:08:40
As far as I can tell, the yellow ones are the worst. Maybe its because they are the most common, but they are definitely the worst. They've been slowly gaining strength over the past few weeks, but now they are everywhere. I can smell them in the morning, just before my nasal passages close up. I would say that I can't wait for them to go away, but I know that when they do, it will be because of the sweltering summer heat, which brings challenges of its own. Oh, winter in California, how I miss you.
(P.S. Warning to those who may be headed to the Baldy Village area--don't even get me started on the plague of brown flies. *Shudder* They actually seem pretty harmless, other than being kind of nasty, but boy do they hurt when you crash into them descending at 45 mph)
Sunday 05/17: 78.2 miles, 4:46:02 (16.4 mph) Seal Beach the short way. Oooof. I definitely had low expectations for this ride, given that I woke up in the middle of the night in pain from the Ski Lifts ride. I had to empty my fridge of all ice packs and place them on my legs and take some advil just to calm the pain and inflammation. Somehow everything calmed down by the morning though, so off I went. It felt a little tired, but I just kept it super easy and it was fine. Felt loads better than last week's despite the fact that the Saturday ride was harder. Felt pretty good about this ride, and had some delicious delicious chinese food afterwards with the gang.
Monday 05/18: Off. Busy day at work, legs need a break after the weekend.
Tuesday 05/19: Off. Legs still feeling pretty trashed from the weekend. Also, insanely sleep deprived feeling. Blehhhhh....
Wednesday 05/20: 43.2 miles, 3:00:09 (14.3 mph) Angeles Crest to Red Box. This was a horrible ride, and I couldn't figure out why, until I came home and found yesterday's allergy medication untaken on the counter. Sometimes it doesn't feel like the Zyrtec really helps, but it just takes one day of not taking it to remind me how bad it can get. A normal person might take it easy on a day they didn't feel so good, but I was frustrated and cranky and took it out on the climb by raging against my tired legs. I was also experimenting with gear combos, and dropped my chain, which made me even more irate. I think I tired myself out doing weird little surges on the climb and felt kind of sluggish on the way home. Bah, humbug.
Thursday 05/21: 45.7 miles, 2:37:21 (17.3 mph) Peter's Short Long Loop. Tired. I really almost didn't get up to go on this ride... but I've already taken an extra rest day so far, so in the end I just couldn't justify it. For some reason I feel like the fatigue just never completely left my legs after the Ski Lifts. It wasn't a bad ride, I just felt like my legs had no zip today... and I was sad because this is the first Peter's Short Long Loop that hasn't been faster than the one before :(.
Friday 05/22: Off, shots. Travel to Colorado for the long weekend!
Saturday 05/23: 69 miles, 4:45:08, Peak to Peak Highway starting in Boulder, back through Nederland. The bad weather foiled the planned Trial Run of the Mt Evans Hill Climb route, but we got to do this awesome ride instead! Started on a really beautiful canyon path from Boulder, and climbed up to a mountain road that was optimistically described as "rolling" or "mostly downhill". It was really overcast and rained at one point, but I kind of thought that that added to the awesomeness. Peter may have disagreed. I felt a little uncertain at some junctures in this ride, but ended up feeling pretty good the whole way. I think I went more conservatively than I could have due to not knowing how much climbing was left. It actually felt kind of anticlimatic when the descent started. It felt like we were descending for a very long time, but the heavy ass steel frame was actually pretty sweet on the downhills. I was pleasantly surprised at not needing any (non existent) smaller gears.
Training this week: 236 miles, 15:08:40
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