Riding to recover

My calf muscles were pretty beat up from the Boston marathon. They have been hurting all week and I was stiff and had trouble getting up. At night I was restless and woke up many times. Walking did help but running was pretty much out of the question -until yesterday when I took a brief jog in a parking lot. So I have been riding my bike. Swimming might have helped better but we no longer have our pool membership so biking was my only option.

After flying back on Tuesday, April 20, I rode for 35 min on rollers Wednesday. Surprisingly enough I could ride pretty well and even spinning at a high cadence was no problem. Getting off the bike though was less than pleasant. It felt as if I had been sitting for hours. It is remarkable how different parts of the muscle are used for different activities. Sore from running worked fine for biking and I have experienced the opposite in IM races.

On Thursday I rode 28 miles, including a climb up Redwood Road. Then on Friday I rode the Briones loop, affectionately known as "The Bears" in Berkeley. I added Pig Farm hill just to top 21 miles. Saturday I took Alistair to the Wente Road Race and rode some 15 miles in Livermore, up Patterson Pass Rd. and up Altamont and Flynn Road. I climbed Flynn a few times which was great fun.

On Sunday I rode the loop over Altamont, Midway and Patterson Pass. The weather was great and the winds were calm, which made for a pleasant ride. Normally, the loop can be a real challenge. The west winds usually start before noon and one goes out with a monster tailwind, flying down Altamont at 40 mph, only to hit the wall at Midway and suffer a constant headwind up Patterson. None of that I am happy to say. Just a calm breeze to keep things honest.

Driving to exercise

It has always struck me as ironic to drive somewhere to work out. Why not just go from home? Why waste gas on a workout? Especially since getting there could be a valuable part of that workout.

I understand that it is sometimes impractical to start from one's house. If you live in a city, it may be difficult to ride there, or even dangerous. Depending on the type of activity you prefer to engage in, it may be necessary to travel to a suitable location. If you play soccer, or basketball, that is not something you can easily do at home or in the street near your house. But usually there will be a field nearby where you can play. I can understand you travel some minimal distance.

I also understand that competition sometimes forces people to travel for longer distances.

However, in most instances people travel because they can. They drive because they can afford to do so, even if nothing else is gained by doing so.

Last weekend we drove out to Madera for a bike race. Why we had to drive 6+ hours to ride our bikes is beyond me. It is not as if we can't ride here. There are better and more challenging rides that start right at our doorstep. Although the scenery in the valley was great, with the snow-capped Sierra's in the background, I doubt if many people really cared.

I can understand that pro cyclists travel. When you are at that level, you need to travel to find suitable competition. When you are one in million in terms of fitness, you need to go find your competitors in far away places. But most, if not all the people who went to Madera were not in that league, not by a long shot. Nearly all would have found sufficient competition in the Bay Area or even in their city of residence. Yet they all decided to drive out to go on a few rides.

We take all this for granted. You probably wonder why I bring it up? Yet it is crazy, no matter how you look at it. These people could have saved a lot of gas, and a lot of time and trouble just riding a race locally. They would not have missed out on anything. All the competition they need is right here.

It is not as if anything was gained by going out into the boonies. It is not as if there was something exceptional in Madera that we could not replicate (or even improve upon) in the Bay Area. No, the only reason we all went there is because we could do so. Gas is cheap enough and we are conditioned to think this is a normal state of affairs.

It is not just bike racing unfortunately. People think nothing of driving several hours to go see a movie, or eat at a restaurant. Are these movies different, or the restaurants better? In many cases, the answer is no.

A bit of a backlog on my workouts:

Fri 3/5, 1 hour on rollers

Sat 3/6, 30 mile ride to the top of Redwood, here I lost my preload adjuster nut

Sun 3/7, 25 mile ride on the mountain bike

Mon 3/8, 7.75 mile run in the hills

Tue 3/9, 10.5 mile loop (Shepherd loop) run

Wed 3/10, 1 hr rollers

Thu 3/11, 41 mile ride to Castro Valley

Fri 3/12, 1.1 rollers

Sat 3/13, 1 hr bike in Madera

Sun 3/14, 15 mile run in Chowchilla

Mon 3/15, 40 mile ride, Orinda

2009 season recap

Here is a picture that shows my cumulative hours on the bike in 2007, 2008 and 2009. As you can see, the early part of 2009 is where I dropped the ball. For several weeks, starting in February of 09, I biked considerably less than during the previous two years.

Not surprisingly, this deficit resulted in a less than spectacular bike split -and equally appalling run- at IMLP '09.

The culprit really was the fact that I did not have a road bike to train with. After my Merckx frame broke, I was without road wheels for nearly nine months. So, why did I not ride more on my triathlon frame? The answer to that is quite simple. Every weekend I took my son Alistair to road races. During 2008, I would race Cat 4 while he raced in his division. That would give me a free hard 2 hour workout on Saturday and Sunday.

In 2009, I did not have a road frame but I still drove to the races on weekends. However, one cannot race with a triathlon bike (with aero cockpit) and so I sat around the entire time. The good thing was that it gave me a chance to watch Alistair and thereby help him with his riding, tactics, and the like. The bad thing was that I usually ended up doing very little on weekends. By the time we came home, it was often too late to go on a long ride.

Creaking and squeaking

Monday's ride over the backside of Papa Bear -Bear Creek Rd. if you aren't familiar with Berkeley- and Happy Valley was a lot of fun. But it also bothered me that the new KOM was making a lot of noise. The saddle creaked, and so did the handlebars. Tightening the bolts did nothing to alleviate the noises. It may even have made things worse.

The remedy turned out to be very simple: undo the bolts, apply some grease here and there, and tighten again. That took care of it and creaks and squeaks are now a thing of the past.

On Tuesday I ran 8.8 miles in the hills. On Wednesday I rode on rollers for 1:15, burning my customary 1,221 calories. On Thursday I had a pretty busy day going over to Marin for work, so I rested. On Friday, it drizzled and rained all day and I went for a run. It was clear when I took off, but as soon as I was down the hill a light drizzle started. I ran intervals up Bay Forest for a total of 7.5 miles (7 laps). It turned out to be a great choice.

Saturday was clear and I went on a 40 mile ride through Orinda and Moraga. I felt good and rode the hills quite fast. All went well until some guy passed me on the last hill. By now I was pretty tired -and I probably should have eaten something too- so I had to let go of him. Even so, I felt good and I think I got a good workout.

On Sunday I rode 28 with Alistair going up past Bort Meadow and coming back over Redwood. It was sunny but rather cool, especially on Redwood Rd. This time of year, Redwood is shaded for most of the day and it is also protected from the wind. That means it can get quite cold there, and near the bottom, ice may form in the early morning and at times it lingers until noon.

The bottom or Redwood near Pinehurst, and the intersection between Pinehurst and Canyon Rd. are some of the coldest spots in the East Bay.

Today 7.25 mi run in the hills. Overcast skies, cool weather.

10,000 hours

In his book "Outliers" Malcolm Gladwell introduces the 10,000 hour rule. It isn't his idea but he devotes a whole chapter to it so he deems it very important. The long and short of it is quite simple: To become world class in any field, be it violin playing, computer programming, hockey, basket ball, piano, mathematics, or what have you, about 10,000 hours of practice is required.

10,000 hours is a lot of practice.

And what's more he says, in study after study, authors never found any "naturals," i.e. individuals who can get by with a lot less, nor "grinds," or individuals who worked a lot harder than everyone else but never made it to the top. All of that makes a lot of sense.

I do want to point out that there is such a thing as innate talent. Although a lot of practice is required to become good at something, it does matter where you start from.

Some people are born with the innate ability to run 5:30 miles, while others are clocked at 7 and up. The same applies to reading skills, mathematical ability, hand-eye coordination, dexterity, and musical ability. There are differences that matter and these differences have a genetic basis. There is such a thing as natural selection.

Although Gladwell appears to agree with that statement, he tends to underestimate its weight. Partly that is because he has an individual-centric view. He wants to stress how important an individual's environment and timing is for that person's own success. It does matter when you are born -great cycling talent did not do anyone much good before the invention of the bicycle. It even matters what time of year you are born -hockey players tend to be people born in January and February. And it does matter where and how you grew up and how well your parents took care of you.

These conditions are not mutually exclusive. It still takes a lot of training and good luck for the gifted to make it to world class. From a gene perspective this does not matter much. There are several individuals to pick from. Each is a role of the dice. But I digress.

For you as an individual, it is good to know that no amount of training is going to get you from being a natural slowpoke to becoming a world class runner. All we can do here is invoke the property of self-similarity at scale. If you are a natural 7 minute miler, practicing for 10,000 hours will get you to the top of your (innate 7 minute miler) class. It won't get you to challenge Gebrselassie.

Which brings me to triathlon and swimming. It is true that I have achieved much in this discipline although I never qualified for Hawaii. I would have loved to qualify for Hawaii. But it isn't going to happen without a major improvement in swimming. And although I have swum a lot since 2004, I am light years away from 10,000 hours of swimming. It would take me 2 years almost non-stop swimming to get even close to half that level. And that is not something I want to do now. It is not something I enjoy all that much in any case.

Instead I plan to focus on distance cycling. That is the sport I truly like and enjoy. It is the sport that I want to devote my energies to. That is another reason for building my KOM.

Today I rode 1:10 on rollers. I burned 1,221 calories. It is raining outside (again).

Last swim at the pool

I swam 1.25 miles today. It was better but far from perfect. I can breathe on both sides now and breathe on alternate strokes, but I still run out of air. But my balance is better and I get more air so I think it is only a matter of time and practice now.

Although my swim time improved significantly in Canada, and a 1:15 now looks feasible, I have decided to take a break from triathlons and ironman. I am looking for a new challenge. So forthwith I canceled my pool membership. It no longer makes sense. The kids never really want to go to the pool and I won't be swimming much in the near future so why pay the monthly dues? Maybe if we all take a break we'll feel better about it and want to do it again at some time in the future?

My bee sting is recovering nicely and I think I really know how to deal with these issues now. That is quite a relief because having a swollen limb for 5-10 days is both unpleasant and quite incapacitating. Hopefully that will no longer happen.

I plan to concentrate on distance cycling in the near future. I rode several times since the ironman. Last Wednesday I rode 23, then on Sat I rode 40, on Sunday I wanted to do 40 but had to stop at 33, and yesterday I rode another 40. All going very well and I am in good shape. I will try to build up a road bike and go to some races before the season ends or maybe try a double century somewhere? Who knows?

Then if things work out, maybe a cross country trip is the stars?

Gold Nugget

On Wednesday I rode 62.5 miles. It felt pretty good. Then on Thursday I ran 1 hr on the treadmill and I was able to cover 8.4 miles, a new PR for indoor running.

On Friday, I picked up Alistair from his USA cycling camp at St. Mary's and we drove to Hornitos for the Gold Nugget Stage Race. The first stage was a 9 mile uphill time trial starting at 5PM. We arrived early in the "little ovens" and I rode for about an hour on Alistair's bike. It was 100F out. Then he got ready and I drove behind the 15-16 group to the end of the stage. Alistair finished second that day. Only two survived the fast tempo to the top.

On Saturday, there was a road race in the morning, and I rode 3 laps of 5 miles after Alistair finished. It had some climbing in it but overall the course was pretty nice and not too difficult, with some shade to boot. I rode a bit more over lunch and then we got ready for the 3PM time trial. Alistair was second in both races and by the end of the day, he led the GC by 10 seconds.

On the way from Coulterville to Mariposa, we blew out a tire on the car and that added some extra spice to our trip. When we got to Mariposa, Alistair was exhausted and he quickly fell asleep while I did some more riding before dinner.

On Sunday there was another road race and I had planned to leave right after so I did not take any cycling gear to the start. When I got there however, other parents were going on a ride and one of them offered me his bike. I also got some shoes (a size too small) and a helmet (also too small) and I borrowed a jersey from Alistair and rode in my regular shorts. We rode 2 loops of 12 miles each (the race was three) in the opposite direction and watched the riders. We got back in time to watch the finish. Alistair won the stage and the GC.

After the race we had to leave early to check out. Then we drove home and by 3:30 we were back but pretty tired. I decided to rest for the rest of the afternoon and evening.

Today I swam for about one hour. I tried to work on my technique and (once again) tried to breathe on my left. I probably swam a little over a mile doing so, but made very little progress. It feels really weird to breathe on that side and I can never seem to get enough air that way. Lake Placid is near, we will see how it goes. I should be tapering now, but I feel I have not done enough hard stuff to prepare properly.

More superglue

Superglue on the inside of the tire seems to be working. It is a bit of a hassle but filling the gash from the inside makes more sense. The glue forms a little patch and when it is situated on the outside it tends to get rubbed off. Also the outside is under stress when the tire is inflated and that makes it more likely that the glue patch will give in other ways as well.

I rode 20 miles on Wednesday, most of it on the trail and the tire held up. Then I ran 7.5 miles on the treadmill -6 of which at a good clip and with some elevation. Overall a very good workout.

On Tuesday I swam two miles and some extra laps (180 in total). Today I rode 33 miles on my tri-bike. I rode to the top of Redwood and noticed several cars driving at excessive speeds on both Redwood and Pinehurst Roads. The area is already pretty dangerous due to motorcycle morons and now it appears the car-racing crowd has discovered it too. I am afraid this will not end well.

A trip to the capital

Just got back from a three day trip to Washington DC. I did not get much training in, unless you count all the walking I did from one side of the Capitol to the other. I spent all day Monday flying to DC and arrived just in time to check into the hotel and go to dinner. Then I ate and drank too much.

On Tuesday I had to wake up very early for the briefing, but fortunately I only needed to make two stops on the Capitol so I did spend some time in the hotel gym. I rode for 60 minutes on a stationary bike, burning -according to that brand of bike- 600 calories. The number sounds more reasonable. I rode at a steady pace while watching TV. Afterwards I ran for half an hour on the treadmill, supposedly adding another 400 calories. In the evening I blew it all away with another dinner and plenty of drinks.

Wednesday was not so good. Someone apparently noticed that my schedule was too light and I got straddled with a continuous string of meetings. Not only that but I had to run from the house side to the senate side between every meeting. That adds a lot of walking right there. If you are unfamiliar with the workings of government this may sound like gibberish, but anyone who has spent time lobbying for legislation will know what I mean.

Rayburn to Hart, to Cannon, to Hart, to Cannon, to Dirksen, to Hart and Cannon again. Just look a map of congressional office buildings and you will see. I started at 9 and finished just 3. Just in time to take a taxi, hop on the plane and fly back. It was 10:30 when I got back last night. It was cold and rainy in San Francisco. For some odd reason, the whole time I was in DC, the weather was mid-60s and sunny.

Ironman USA Lake Placid-TeamCindy

It's official. I am committed to compete in Ironman USA Lake Placid 2009 as part of Team Cindy. It will be my second fundraiser for the Brain Aneurysm Foundation (BAF), a charity in Hanover, MA. I just signed up and they already posted my picture on their site.

Today I swam 180 laps or slightly more than 2 miles freestyle, non-stop in the pool. I think I am getting better. Not faster perhaps, but better. An easier swim that is. And I can hold the freestyle for extended periods of time now. That is good.

Yesterday I tested Alistair's Tarmac and it feels really nice. We will cut the steering tube tomorrow and wrap the handlebars. I think it is pretty much ready for prime time. We rode 35 miles together and I burned in excess of 1,800 calories. My NP was 254 and the average close to 200W. The ride took 2:20, not including the stop at the bike store in Montclair. We climbed the Berkeley hills one extra time in this process.

Injury

Earlier this week I was toying with the idea of running the California International Marathon (CIM) in Sacramento. It is a fun race and I felt like running a marathon again. When I checked the web it was sold out. Looking back at it now that is a good thing.

Today I decided to go for a run. Since I have one seriously black toe-nail and another one that is so-so, I have not run since the Ironman. I thought I'd start out easy on the treadmill just in case. I walked a few steps and my toe did not hurt so I kicked it up to a 7:30 pace and ran. For the first mile all was fine. Then I pushed the elevation to 1% and kept going. About 0.1 of a mile later I suddenly had a tremendous pain in my right calf, right behind and below the knee. I had to stop right then and there.

So here I am after limping home, with an ice-pack on my leg. It is painful and tight but not very swollen. Not much to see really. Why did this happen?

I noticed during the Ironman that my right foot was in a slightly different position. It did not bother me at all but around mile 85, I started getting cramps all around that knee. Still, I  was able to continue and run, although I did lose about 10 minutes in the run.

Ever since, my knee has been slightly "annoying." Not really painful but not really right either. There was a diffuse ache somewhere deep. It bothered me slightly when I rode in the past week, and somewhat on the swims but nothing major. Is this the end result? Although it seems tempting to jump on this, I doubt that it is the real cause.

I have noticed that every time I go fast on the bike (close to or above 21 average for a 112 miles, or close to and above 22.5 for 56) I get some knee trouble somewhere. It isn't always the same knee or the same spot, but there is always something. I do have a minor misalignment in my knees and one leg is a bit shorter than the other, so it is possible that, when I push really hard something gets unduly stressed. 

Years ago, I used to wear out my running shoes very unevenly but somehow that improved dramatically all by itself as time went on. So maybe all is well unless I really push hard and long? Or maybe I need to train a bit harder to move the threshold up somewhat more?

In any case, here I am, in the convalescent chair for a day or two. Ice and NSAIDs again. But before that, I swam 1,400 yds. Gotta do something today !

Road racing

I started road racing again this season, mostly because my son is doing it and I hate to stand around for two hours waiting for him to finish. So I got myself a license and started riding. It has been over 15 years since I last raced competitively. It is quite an adjustment believe me. Although I have been cycling quite a bit for the past five years, the cycling I do is mostly triathlon-type time trial stuff.

Road races are not that way at all. No steady hard pace here. No slow warmup. Instead we go hard from the start and don't let up until we hit the middle. Then after a short breather, it starts all over again. At least that has been my experience so far. Since I am not well trained for these sudden accelerations and all that anaerobic stuff, -especially not when it comes at the beginning-, it took me a while to get the hang of it again.

I have been riding twilights with the San Jose bike club since the middle of summer, and apart from being unprepared for jumps, my rusty technique in the turns also showed. I was never one for crits and other technical riding and so I spent the first couple of twilights chasing the pack after every tight turn. That too has gotten better, much better. 

After a couple of races where I did so-so, I finally managed to stay with the pack for the entire race at Dunnigan Hills last Sunday. I raced masters 45+ open and, although I had some trouble initially, I was in the lead group riding a comfortable pace. And then, when everything was looking up, I had a flat. Four miles from the finish in a tailwind section, just as the pack eased up again, I had to stop. No support car in sight, so I started replacing the tube myself.

When I was about half way through, a car showed up and surprise, surprise, they had a Campy 10 speed wheel for me. I gave them my wheel, with the new tube hanging out, and took off. Even though the section had a nice tailwind and I rode my heart out, it had been too long of a wait. While I did manage to hold off the stragglers, but I never got back to the pack. Nevertheless, it felt good and I thoroughly enjoyed the race.

Another new adventure.

Misfits?

Triathletes are a special kind. Most come from swimming or running backgrounds. Very few were cyclists like me. It is pretty obvious why. The cyclist body type is not well adapted to swimming -no arm or upper body muscle- and generally not well suited for running either -too much power muscle. Cyclists who ride in packs do a fair amount of anaerobic exercise. Pack riding is very nonlinear. When you're in the pack you can draft and go fast without burning too much energy. A pack moves at a pace that an individual rider cannot sustain for very long.

There is a great premium to staying in the pack while cycling. And that means you have to sprint a lot. Because packs accelerate and slow down continuously. They respond to attacks and breakaway attempts, and they slow down and speed up through turns (an accordion effect). Every time that happens you have to sprint. Distance runners hardly ever sprint. They are all about aerobic and sustained effort. No redlining here lest you want to pay for it later.

Because triathlon was "invented" by runners, the cycling they do is limited to time-trialing, i.e. no drafting allowed. Many people think this is to prevent cheating, i.e. you cannot benefit from other people's work, you have to do it all yourself. Even though it makes sense at first, it is clearly not the main reason. For one, triathletes draft in swimming. For another, pack riding is not necessarily any easier than solo riding. I actually think that most people would do worse overall if drafting was legal -that is different from sneaking in an opportunistic illegal draft.

If drafting were allowed, the whole dynamics of the race would change. Those who could form packs would move much quicker, so there would be a premium for sprinting to get into a pack. Once in there you would have to work hard on a regular basis. Then attacks would develop and you would have to respond. All that means a lot of anaerobic exercise. Not good if you have to run a marathon later.

Furthermore, the sport to concentrate on when completing a triathlon is the run. Here is the event that lasts long enough and moves slow enough that one can really gain or lose a lot of time. Cycling is too fast and too nonlinear to gain much time. Even though the biking leg is longer, it is pretty hard to make up 10 minutes here.

The swim is another event where you can lose or gain a lot of time. But unlike running, you either have it or you don't. If you don't, you may as well forget it.

According to a recent NYT article, triathletes are misfits who found a something to compete in. They are pretty good at everything but not good enough at any one thing to succeed at the top. Perhaps this can be phrased otherwise: triathletes are people with excellent cardiovascular fitness but they lack the specific body type or adaptations that would make them top competitors in a particular sport.