Thank Kreitler for rollers!

What do you do when you have a separated shoulder and a cracked rib? You can't swim or run because you can't lift your arm above the vertical or endure the rocking of your shoulder when you run. This type of pain is not very amenable to conventional pain killers, and who wants to run while being on codeine anyways? I am surprised opiates are on WADA's list but that just goes to show you that, either they are bureaucrats who never exercise, or, their real intent is not unfair competition but just to be an extension of the war on drugs. 

Identical to my setup, except for the bike

Riding is possible but only if you ride easy -no heavy breathing here, no coughing, sneezing or laughing.  Also, no sudden stops or grabbing the brake. What is left is ride to on rollers and that works well as long as I ride easy. The forkstand helps but it  is not absolutely necessary. For now, the bike is on the stand and I don't want to take the trouble (and endure the pain) to undo it.

I found that a Lidoderm lidocaine patch on the rib helps to dull the initial pain. I put it on 10-15 minutes beforehand and then I hop on. Once I get going things are Ok as long as I control my breathing and don't stop. I can't ride very fast because breathing deeply is pretty painful, but at least I can get some exercise in. My hip -apart from the skin- is completely back to normal and spinning actually feels good. So I spent 50 minutes on my rollers today, pumping out an easy 190W average. I still managed to burn a good 500 calories.

01022010

In case you can't figure it out, think of today's date. It is a palindrome of sorts. The next one will be 11022011. Let's see if I will remember to post on that date.

Here are some final workout results for 2009.

Monday I ran on the treadmill for 33 minutes. I ran a 5K at 9 mph, which for me is pretty decent running.

On Tuesday I rode 30 miles to the top of Redwood (Chabot entrance), and on Wednesday I rode 40, over Wildcat to Orinda, Moraga and back over Redwood Rd.

On Thursday I closed out the year with a 10.5 mile run through Shepherd Canyon. The weather was nice and I felt good afterwards.

On New Year's day I ran 40 minutes on the treadmill, running 3 miles at 9 mph. Today I rode for 1:20 on my rollers.

I haven't made any New Years resolutions yet, other than to try to do well at the Boston marathon, where I will raise funds for the Brain Aneurysm Foundation. Other than that I have no races planned. I am toying with the idea of riding the 12 (or 24?) hours of Davis, but the timing is not ideal, given the closeness to Boston, and the likelihood I will have to go to a meeting there too just a few weeks later.

My next (work related) event is the JP Morgan investor meeting in San Francisco. Hopefully that will give a read on the upcoming year.

Exercise-wise, let's just say that some ultra event is planned, but as yet undefined.

Tour of California

The Tour of California started today. It is the year of the come-back kids. Lance, Michael Rogers, Floyd, Ivan, Tyler, it seems all the old stars are coming back. Not surprisingly, Fabian Cancellara won the prologue beating everybody by a solid margin. Levi did surprise by ending second, losing only a little more than a second to Fabian. But what I found most surprising was to see Tommeke in 7th overall.

Alistair and I went on a 33 mile ride, despite the cold weather (low 50s) and chilly wind. Many times it looked like we were going to get rained on, but we dodged it every time. My ergomo is back, it suddenly responded to a reset and some fiddling with the charger plug (I suspect there is a bad contact in the charger plug). I am quite happy to have it back and I find it a most useful device. I wish they had better Mac support, but now that they are out of business, the only thing I can hope for is that it keeps working.

I rode pretty well. The trip took 2:02 and I burned 1,606 calories. My top power was 620W, my average 207 and my NP 254.  As I indicated before, NP correlates very well with my subjective impressions and whenever I feel like I rode hard, it registers above 250.  I find it the most useful display on the whole device.

Weekend foibles

Today was the season opener, the Cherry Pie Criterium in Napa, CA. I did not ride because I don't have a road bike right now, but Alistair rode the Junior race. He did well too, considering crits are not his forte. Several of his team mates crashed and Marcus Smith hurt his elbow pretty bad. It was very cold in Napa and although I brought my run-outfit, I did not attempt to go running. 

When we came home I went to the pool instead. It wasn't a great experience. I swam 150 laps in all (almost 1.75 miles), but had a cramp in my foot around a 1 mile. That went away and I was pretty happy but then my left calf cramped up so bad at 125 laps that I had to get out of the pool and walk. In doing so, I tripped and fell over, hurting my back. I did get back in and swam another 25 laps but that was it. The whole experience took 1:06. I did swim the first 53 (1/4 IM distance) in 20 minutes, which is equal to my best IM time.

Yesterday I had another bad experience, when I found my Ergomo dead. So far I have not been able to "revive" it. I tried the reset and charging, and various other combo-button presses, but so far, it has not come alive again. The screen is totally blank. It worked fine earlier in the week and the battery was low so I recharged it and that is when I found it with a totally blank screen.

I rode my tribike, without the Ergomo and I do think I rode pretty hard although I have no objective data. I went down Redwood, over S. Pinehurst, to Moraga, Orinda, over Wildcat and over Grizzly. Then I added 4 miles at the end for a total of 39~40 miles. I was pretty tired last night. Then I had to wake up early today.

Tomorrow I go to DC for the NIO policy tour. Very likely no workouts for three days. I wonder how that will go? I will likely be pretty wired when I get back;)

Rain

Well we needed the rain. It also brought an end to a spectacular week of sunshine and warmth. Hopefully we won't have a repeat of a few years ago where January and February were warm and sunny, followed by non-stop rain in March and April.

Yesterday and today I did my standard 45/35 (yes it is now 35) workout. I "ride" 45 minutes on the stationary bike and run 35 on the treadmill. I have been riding harder than before, always covering 17 (imaginary) miles instead of 15 before. I also run harder and faster, and both yesterday and today I finished 4.0 miles in 30 minutes.

All of that has been going quite well with minimal residual problems.

Speaking of problems, yesterday Alistair was hit by a car and crashed on South Pinehurst road (South of Canyon Rd) at around 4:10 PM. It was a hit and run accident on the descent, and the driver of the black sedan never looked back or stopped. Alistair is an experienced rider and a fast down-hiller so the car must have been going at some crazily unsafe speed. It is pretty hard for a car to keep up with a cyclist on that twisty descent.  

Some apparently feel they have something to prove and they try at all costs to stay with cyclists or even pass them. We received several reports from other riders who have experienced problems on that road in the afternoon, when anxious commuters are dying to get home.

In general the whole Redwood-Pinehurst area is becoming quite dangerous and unsafe. During the week, motorists try to use these roads to avoid the congestion at the Caldecott tunnel, and on weekends, tens of motorcyclists turn the area into an ad hoc racetrack.

Apart from some minor damage to the bike, and several patches of road rash and torn clothing, Alistair was unharmed. We tried to file a police report but so far that has been mired in red tape. Without a good description of the car, there isn't much we can do.

Wind

The ugly desert wind is back. This morning there were whitecaps on the lake. There were waves it was hard to see the other people. I swam for half a mile, drinking a fair share of the fabled rio salado water. It did not taste salty.

Then I went on a short bike ride (13 miles). It took well over 250W to ride 20 mph into the wind, at times it took over 300W. That is not a pace I can hold for 5.5 hours. Let's hope the wind dies down. 

Unlike 2006, the wind was coming from the desert and blowing into town at an angle, giving one a headwind going out, and a headwind/tailwind on the way back. I rode out to the freeway underpass on McKellips Rd. but not past it onto beeline where the exposure is much greater. At times I got sandblasted and I wish I had goggles instead of glasses. In any case, I do not expect a 5:30 if this wind keeps up.

I guess I should not complain. If it were easy, everyone would be an ironman.

Arizona

I arrived in Tempe around noon today. Turned out it was already 1 PM because of the time difference. Yesterday I left the house at noon and drove to LA. Nice smooth sailing and no problems until I hit Pasadena. Then suddenly I was going with the commute flow and everything slowed to a crawl. That lasted for a hour or more and I called Barbara to see if the Hampton in Colton was available. No luck. Keep driving.

I drove 210 to San Bernadino and got gas in a rather poor neighborhood. Two guys in a pickup were intent on hassling me but some other car pulled up and they left. Lucky me. Then I made a slight detour (210 goes to 10 as one would think, but I was not sure) and made it to 10 by cutting across the city instead. I ended up pulling over in Beaumont when I saw a Hampton Inn by the side of the road. I made a quick 180 and found a bed for the night. I was pretty tired and after dinner I went to bed and slept until my 7 AM wake-up call.

I left Beaumont around 8:30 and had an uneventful trip to the outskirts of Phoenix. There I may have tripped a photo speed trap. That would be a bummer. After that I took it easier and once again I missed the exit and ended up driving through Tempe on city streets to get to my hotel. By then it was 2:30 so I did not have to wait for the room. I ate lunch and slept.

I woke up at 4:15 about one hour before sunset and quickly grabbed my bike and went on a short ride. Tempe is a very bicycle-unfriendly city, especially for a college town. You have to ride on the side-walk in most places and traffic is pretty inconsiderate. Cars try to push you off the road, and the cycle repeats at every traffic light. There are enough of these, spaced closely enough that you can easily keep up with the drivers -although they sprint from one light to the next.

A 30 minute bike ride, about 10 miles, relatively fast. Weather feels good, warm, sunny and the air is pretty clean. Everywhere you look you can see that the lycra has descended on Tempe. What you see the most of are runners looking like triathletes -somehow they look different from other runners?- everywhere.

We passed 100 donors!! Way to go!!