Can't Control the Outcome

Today didn't go as planned.

That's okay.

A friend of mine has started riding a road bike and has asked to join me on some rides.

Awesome.

Misery loves company!

Today I had planned on my favorite middle-distance route.  It's fifty miles, but a lot of climbing. I think it has three categorized climbs, plus a lot of steep, but short, hills.  Anyhow, it's scenic, hitting all of the great segments in the area.  In the shot to the left, which I stole, you can see the road below.  Fast and fun one way, grinding and painful the other!

The morning was beautiful, even a touch of fog.  So, of course, it was humid.  I rode from my house to a local gas station, met up with my buddy and we headed out.  On the climbs I noticed that my derailleur was rubbing my spokes when in the top gear.  Ugh.  I had to stop several times to adjust it.  I finally got it adjusted, but at the expense of the chain being a little noisy in that gear.

Then, at about mile twelve, my friend's chain started to fall over the top of his tallest gear, almost causing him to crash.  I was able to adjust the stop screw, mess with the adjustment barrel and get his bike operating correctly.  During this time I noticed his front tire was a little low.

I had just one tube, he had none.  He didn't have any air, I thought I had just enough to fill up one tire and then perhaps top off another.  We were a good 7 hilly miles from cellphone signal.  I took a chance and inflated his tire.

Of course, his tire had a more significant leak than expected and we ended up swapping the tube anyway.  I was worried that the remaining air canister I had would be insufficient, but we were able to get him back on the road again.

The work we had done was at a boat launch at Pena Blanca Lake.  There are "facilities" there, namely, an outhouse.  I went in to get some toilet paper, to wipe the grease from my hands.  The world's largest wolf spider jumped out of the toilet paper roll, positioning himself beneath my hand as if to guard his kingdom.  His legs nearly spanned the entire roll of paper!  I'm not afraid of spiders, but holy crap!

We climbed back out of the lake-area, and hit some rolling hills ... they're really not rolling, more like straight up and straight down, about 100 yards each, five total hills.  They're fun if you're fresh, but rough on the body if you're tired.

They got him.

We decided to pull off at a gas station before the tough part of the ride and he was toast.  He almost crashed on his bike.  I ran in to get some food and water, and when I returned he was pale, slumped over and in obvious misery.  We agreed to take an easy route back and cut the ride short. 

Anybody that's ridden has bonked.  It sucks.  I've been there too many times.

It's really my fault.  I should've selected an easier route for the first try at this distance.  But, we rode a difficult section of this route on Tuesday without issue.  The difference was that Tuesday was just 20 miles or so.  

So we're limping home, grateful for the downhill ride back, when about 4 miles from the finish, his tire blows again.  This time, with an audible pop.  No more spare tubes, he had to get a ride.   (I didn't abandon him, but the details are a bit extensive and ultimately, uninteresting.  Just leave it to this ... the rescue attempt didn't go as planned either!)

I hit the remaining ride hard and felt good.  I think I'm almost healthy.  Lungs are clearing up and legs are feeling stronger.  It's going to take another few weeks to get back into shape so I can start training hard, but hey ... I'll take it!

The funny thing on the ride was we had talked about how we cannot control the outcomes of our efforts.  He shared that in his experiences, when he lets things happens he notices great things happening around him.  Today, I figured he'd struggle, but between the humidity and the lack of experience (he didn't drink enough on the route), he bonked.  Still, though, I had a great ride and a great time.

I'm looking forward to next time.  Plus, this way, I can ride again tomorrow.

On a side note, I was entertaining the idea of running a marathon in January.  I ran twice this week and my left ankle has a lot of soft tissue discomfort.  Unfortunately, it's not just when I run, it's all of the time.  I'll be patient, let things run their course, but at this point, I'm not sure I'll be able to participate in the two half marathons I've already paid for!

What was that about letting things happen again?

Rejuvination

The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.

Yup, that about says it.

My plans for May were simply to pound out some mile running since I would be finished with the bike race I'd trained for.  My body had different ideas.  I got sick, started getting weird problems like an infection in my ear lobe where I used to have it pierced.  It all pointed to one logical conclusion...I needed some down time. 

Reading some accounts of various people who didn't listen to their bodies and suffered monumental complications because of it, I decided to just take the month of May and enjoy life.  I did participate in a bike race last weekend, and did have a vigorous hike the weekend before that, but I'm taking it easy.  I'm sleeping in, mostly, eating loosely, and just not worrying about stuff. 

This week I managed about 14 miles of running, but two of those runs were excellent.  The first was on the treadmill (it was almost 100 degrees outside) where I just kept increasing the speed to get the workout finished.  I ended up running the last mile with a little incline in just over 6 minutes.  The second run was with the running club where we ran four miles with splits of 7:57, 8:00, 7:46 and 7:15.

And riding went well, too, though again, with low volume.  I had a strong ride on Monday and another Wednesday before joining about 90 other participants in the Ride of Silence. It was quite a strange experience riding along very slowly for about 6 miles in total silence with police escort.  The loudest thing I heard was my hub whirling as I coasted.

In the picture, taken from the local newspaper, you can see me in the white jersey, behind the person in the recumbent bike.

I've been watching the Tour of California and it's been very inspiring.  So, today I decided to get up early and hit the road on my bike before dawn.  I often have high aspirations in the afternoon that seem to be misplaced sometime during the night.  Last night was no different.

My uncle from Minnesota was visiting and a potluck was hosted at my grandmother's house.  While there, my cousins and sister busted out this very fancy portable espresso machine, so I had some.  The end result was that at 11:30 at night I laid in bed jittery.  The morning came quickly and I almost postponed my ride.  But with a projected 104 temperature, I decided to just get it over with.

My first experience riding predawn was great.  It was neat eating breakfast on the road, coasting hands-free in the cool desert morning air.

Today's ride was 50 miles of hills, with a few very difficult, but short climbs.  All told, the route had me climbing 2850 feet.  I saw one other cyclist and just a handful of vehicles. 

I spooked some javelina and listened to a podcast on "fastbacking."  How cool would it be to hike the Pacific Trail?  Dang ...

Because of the race last weekend, I figured that hitting some hard hills at the tail end of my rides would be a wise course to promote some strength and improvement on the bike.  So I ended today's ride with a jaunt to Pena Blanca Lake.  It's one of my favorite routes because it's scenic, remote, minimal traffic and challenging. 

The picture to the right is from a picnic area that overlooks the lake.  I'm taking a picture in the opposite direction where you can see the road as it slips between a few hills.  Eventually, the road winds up those hills.

On today's ride, I hit just over 56 mph on the hill that in the picture below.  Unfortunately you can't get a sense of the grade from the photograph.  But trust me, it's steep, lots of fun on the way down, lots of pain on the way up.

Another thing that has happened this week is that I suddenly feel fantastically comfortable on my bike.  I've owned it since early January and it's been a long time tweaking this and that, trying to get it dialed in perfectly.  But now, I'm confident to say, it's dead-on.  When I climb on the saddle and clip in, it all feels fantastic.

The bike is a 2010 Lapierre Sensium 400.  The bike comes nicely equipped with SRAM Force components, including brakes.  The bike is carbon fiber, but the handlebars and seat post were not.  I found a steal on some Easton EC90 handlebars that were special ordered and never picked up at a bike shop, and bought a gently used EC90 seatpost on eBay.  The wheels are Fulcrum race 5's, which are sufficient, but probably the next upgrade.

And one thing that really made me smile about the bike is pictured below:

That said, I'm going to enjoy my last week of easy workouts before getting serious in June and July.

Thanks for reading and I hope you and yours are happy and healthy and well.

It's Been Over a Week

My bike, the one I sold my Gibson Les Paul for, has made an excellent clothes hanger for the past 9 days or so.  It's not that I've wanted to neglect it's carbon fiber frame, light wheels, SRAM Force components...it's just that, well ...  I've got a lot of responsibilities.  How did THAT  happen?

The last time I rode I had a so-so ride to my in-laws' home about 75 miles north.  Last week I missed a ride due to illness, another to weather, one to work and another because of family obligations.  Then, I didn't want to tire myself before the trail pikermi (which killed me anyway), so I skipped another.  This week was more of the same, work, work, family, work.

The upshot of missing rides is that I get to run more, and run hard!  But, I'm smack dab in the middle of training for a race that I'm taking very seriously.

Today it sure looked like I was going to miss my ride again.  I was at a meeting that ran an hour late, but it was a bit important and a bit personal, so I wanted to stay.  My wife and oldest daughter were off doing some important work and couldn't pick up my youngest from track practice, which meant, no ride again for me.

Unfortunately for my daughter, but luckily for me, her practice was canceled.

I decided to take the toughest local route there is, to Pena Blanca Lake.  It's a route I often take because it's scenic, the road is superb, traffic is minimal, and it's challenging.  What more could one want?

I completed the approximately 32 mile route in 1:46, the official average speed of 17.6 mph.  Now that's not a great speed most of the time, but this has over 2000 feet of climbing and the nature of the climbs is challenging.  I'll have to look up my previous best, but I know it was less than 17 mph, making this a significant improvement. 

Along the way I shot down two miles in 3:51!  I was smoking and that was fun!  It felt good.  I have learned a lot about how far I can push myself over the past month or so and am more confident about my abilities to recover from a near all-out effort.


I think that the cross training with jump rope until death, pushups, pullups and other various body-weight exercises has helped me recruit/develop fast-twitch muscles and improve anaerobic capacity.  While it's true I've not ridden for a while, my legs were a bit tired from running hard and I'm feeling kind of flat due to a bug that's going around. 

And since I've been feeling kinda ... eh, about my lack of weight loss lately, I decided to look at some old pics.  Here's one after about 2 months of weight loss:

And here's the one that makes me feel better because I weigh the same in both shots, in fact, am wearing the same exact clothes!  And in the pic on the left, I was lifting weights, regularly. 

Big Plans

Big Plans:  I always have them.  I'm going to do this and this and that.  It's going to be G R E A T!

Last week my workouts got pushed back and one day's plan bled into the next day.  The end result is that I didn't end up taking a day off, making this week a little tough.

My plan Friday and Saturday was to get in a long, hilly ride Friday afternoon and Saturday morning to get my first trail run since June.  The combination of events, and just the trail run itself, were to be a HUGE test for my **healed** leg.  (The pain is now only in the hip abductor area and could just be bursitis.)

Friday was Home Coming at the high school.  I had to go take my truck to the dump after school and before the ride as I needed it Saturday morning.  Home Coming festivities made it tough to get out of work at a great time.  The end result is that I didn't even start my planned 40 mile ride until after 4:00.  It's dark shortly after 6pm.  Guess I'd see if my new lights worked. 

Windy conditions further slowed my proceedings, compliments of some tropical storm.  Where I normally breeze along a 6 mile stretch of road at 18 to 20, with a few down hills hitting 35, I was struggling to stay above 12 mph.  I was gassed by the time my direction turned to be perpendicular to the prevailing currents. 

As I rode towards Pena Blanca Lake (to the left), I kept a close eye on the time, instead of my cadence or speed.  If I hadn't reached the turn around point of my ride by 5:30, I was going to have to abort the ride.  Cool surprise:  That agreement motivated me to move a little faster than normal on the big hills going to the base of the mountain.

On the return trip, coming up the biggest hill, I was a cyclist at the top obviously battling the same thing I had.  Instead of coming down that hill and fighting the next three hills, he turned around to return home.  I HAD to catch him.  It's a chase, though he didn't know it.

At the top of the hill there was no sign of him.  I kept my cadence high rolling around the corners and riffling down the hill.  Eventually I saw his taillight.  That thing was bright in the twilight.  I was gaining on him, creeping closer and closer.  As I drew closer I could see he had a nice bike, but tennis shoes.  Not a serious rider, so no feather in my cap there.  Matt and I talked for the next 4 miles or so.  We live just a few miles away and had a good talk up the very last climb before really being in the valley.

He was taking the more direct route home, but I wanted to extend my ride a bit.  The sun had already set, but barely.  I clicked on my lamps and raced with renewed focus.  I could clearly see my light on the street in front of me and was thankful I was on an empty street.

As I turned on my street my phone rang.  My concerned wife wondered if I needed a ride.  It's nice to be cared for. 

My legs were toast.  I averaged 16.4 on the 36 miles (the distance is different than mapped).  Usually when I go to the lake I try to stay above 15.  Most rides I try and stay above 18, but the lake is tough.  This route was almost 7 miles longer and contained a lot more climbing, not to mention the wind.  I was happy with my time, but exhausted.  I stretched, ate and dunked myself in a cool bath.

Out of the tub and I got dressed and headed to the school.  My daughter is in the band and I had to stay late after the game.  We got home at 11:00 and I was in bed by 11:30.  So much for an early night.  Saturday morning she had the SAT's, but instead of being there at 9 am, she had to be there at 7:45 and had to have some papers printed.  That meant I had to leave at 7 am.  No early morning run today.

After dropping her off and buying some oatmeal and fruit at the store, I returned home.  My wife has started a branch of Bountiful Baskets in our community and I had to help.  That's why I thought I needed my truck...like many things I think, I was wrong.

I finally started my run at 10:30.  The sun was HOT, time to go topless (Part of Operation Dirty Whore).  My hip complained a little at first, like usual.  It loosened up...good.  The trail conditions, though, they SUCKED.  This particular stretch of the De Anza Trail is maintained by volunteers. The summer monsoons knocked over several trees in the path and the weeds and grasses had choked out the trail.  I got lost so many times and everywhere were these weeds with stalks of goat heads.  My toe shoes had some Gollum obsession with them and collected them as precious things between the toes.

My stride broke down to this:  Stop, find the trail, clean the toes, run.  Stop, weave through throny mesquite growths, run.  Stop, climb over tree trunk.  Stop, find the trail, clean the toes, run.

Then my hip started again.  Stop, stretch, run.  Stop, find the trail, clean toes, run.  Stop, weave through throny mesquite growths, run.  Stop, climb over tree trunk.  Stop, stretch.

The end result is that I ended up walking quite a bit.  If I walked through the weeds no problems with the toes.  Plus, my hip was sore.

I completed the 5.5 mile trail run in 1 hour and 8 seconds.  I had hoped for 7 to 8 miles in a similar time.  But, I told myself throughout not to be concerned with time and speed, just to get out healthy and uninjured.  I did manage to avoid further injury (I think), but the speed was disappointing.

I am very happy to have been able to squeeze in those two work outs.  Turns out I may end up being "sponsored" in the Tour de Tucson by my brother in law, provided a wear a jersey with his company advertisement on it.  That's a SWEET deal.

I ended up collected 90 miles this week in two ride and three runs.  The runs were 4, 5 and 5.5 miles.  I didn't take a day off last week and was forced to take of Wednesday.   So, this week I adjusted properly to make Friday and Saturday work so I could have Sunday off to rest.

I'm super excited about riding in the Tour de Tucson and a little nervous about being ready for my half marathon on December 11th.  I've got a 5K race next weekend and a 10K race on Veterans Day.  The following weekend is the Tour.  There's an inaugural race here in my hometown on my daughter's 18th birthday that I'd like to squeeze in.

The riding is exciting right now, but after such a long lasting injury, the running is intimidating.  Time to remain cautious.