My Hell of the North, the Dismal Dash TT Race

You really know you're dedicated to a sport when you get out of warm bed with a beautiful wife at 5:00 AM in the morning especially when there are no kids in the house. Add to that the fact it was 38 degrees outside and steadily raining with gusting winds of 10-15 mph. I packed the car with everything the night before, so it was time to get dressed and head to Suffolk Virginia for the Dismal Dash time trial.

In the planning stages this seemed like a great weekend to race. The most of the kids were with the "other parents" and my wife Deborah was headed to Charlotte for a cheerleading competition with our 12 year old daughter Marrah. I would be on my own regardless of what I decided to do on Sunday March 15th, so I added the Dismal Dash to my race schedule for that reason and because I've never done a time trial before. What I didn't consider was the changeable weather we get in the southeast this time of year. It was gorgeous earlier in the week.

The race is named the Dismal Dash because the ride was through the Dismal Swamp area of southeastern Virginia near Norfolk. On any normal day the area would seem to be far from dismal, but not today. Today? Well quite dismal.

I got in the Jeep and pointed the car north for the two and a half hour drive as the rain pounded on the windshield. I looked down at the outside temperature gauge in the Jeep and it read "38". I was hoping it would get warmer on the drive north, but soon realized that just wasn't going to happen. Liberal amounts of caffeine and pre-race nerves kept me awake through the dark and rainy drive.

I got to the race site and checked in for my 9:20 start in the CAT 5 race and my 11:20 start on my Masters 40+ race. I found out later I was the only person who signed up for two races. Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time! I got my race numbers and timing chips then headed back to the car to get ready. I had about 45 minutes to get warmed up.

For reasons I can't currently explain, I pack and load the car meticulously, but turn in to a mess when I get to the race site. I'm two for two on that issue. I finished getting dressed, got the trainer out and under the hatchback, unloaded my bike and...and...I lost the 9:20 timing chip. DAMN! Where the heck did I put it? I tore the car apart and finally found it, but losing it killed 15 minutes of warm up time. Greaaaaaaat!

I warmed up before taking off into the rain and wind and cold. Putting the trainer away and grabbing full a water bottle I mounted up and headed over to the starter's gate. Today the starter area was a small shelter like you see in parks or at kids games. I felt reasonably good until the two guys who would start after me rolled up with their super aero TT bikes complete with Zipp 404s on the front and rear discs as well as Giro teardrop shaped helmets. These guys easily spent over $8K on their rides and looked like they were lean seasoned triathletes. I passively listened to them banter about this being a"tune up" race. It would be interesting to see how long it would take before they passed me.

The starter checked my number, "number 19? ok, 30 seconds...10...GO!" I pushed with my right foot as the left locked into my Speedplay pedal and tried to accelerate at a steady pace without hitting my lactic threshold in the first 30 seconds. I noticed the steady rain hitting my face and the rooster tail my front wheel was throwing as I headed out of town. The wind seemed to becoming from the southeast or a nearly full on head wind. I'm pretty sure it wasn't my speed.

I should have talked to some of my triathlete friends about pedaling technique because I couldn't really decide what gearing and cadence to lock into. I tried 39-11, which was...ok, but I thought I wanted more resistance on pedaling, which would mean a faster speed. What about 53-13 or 14? That seemed better and my speed picked up, but I had a hard time sustaining a steady cadence in any of those gearings. I settled on 53-14 and tried to push to 53-12 on the very shallow descents, and by very shallow I mean 1% for a couple of tenths of a mile. The course was nearly pancake flat the whole way.

My heart rate seemed to climb for no easily understood reason and I locked in at a rate I knew was above my lactic threshold thanks to the testing I did Monday. I'd pull back on my cadence and it would get better, but not for long. "Screw it," I said audibly and just pushed forward. By the time I made the left hand turn at the 5 mile mark, my face seemed to forget the rain and I just got used to the fact I was going to be looking through speckled glasses for the race because I left my cycling cap at home-the one thing I forgot to pack. I slowed into the turn not wanting to wipe out, and pushed forward out of the turn.

A passing sign reminded me I was in the Dismal Swamp area. Dismal seemed to be the word of the day. My heart rate settled at or near 170 bpm and my legs ached, but I was still pretty dry on the inside so I settled in for cyclist suffering. I pushed on seesawing between 17.5 mph and 20 mph. Riding on a flat area seemed a lot harder than I thought it would be. At about the 10 mile mark, I heard this rumbling behind me and looked to my left as the first tri-guy in the starter tent passed me on the left. Expensive wheels sound different in the rain...more intimidating. He was nice though smiling and encouraging me to push forward harder. Having wheels like the guys who had the Zipps would be nice at some point in the future I decided.

The turn back to Suffolk came at 12.5 miles which was basically a turn from the right lane going south to the other lane going north. I over shot and the officials let me know and pointed me back the other way over the timing bumps. Ok, half done on race one. My average speed was 19.3 mph at that point, I hoped I would finish with that speed or better.

At the 17 mile mark I realized I was out of my element or I didn't fuel correctly or both. My speed was dropping and I changed gearing over and over again, but still couldn't get comfortable or settle into anything approaching a rhythm. How did the tri-guys do it? Was it the aero bars that gave them the edge on settling into a cadence? I didn't know at that point, but made a note to do some questioning on the subject.

I started to get a second burst of energy at the 21 mile mark, so I picked up my pace and finished stronger than the previous several miles. Crossing the line, I looked at my watch. I had 43 minutes before I would head out again. I did the first race at 1:21:13 or 18.7 mph. Not bad, but disappointing that my average speed dropped from the first half. I'd find out later that I would finish 36th out of 39 in the CAT5, which meant nearly half the field no showed for the race because 64 registered originally. Wimps!

Getting back to the Jeep after winding my legs down a bit, I checked my watch to see now I had 34 minutes before I would head out again. I took my Windstopper jacket off to change jerseys. The jacket kept me dry, but was like a sponge and seemed to weigh pounds more than it did dry. I changed into a second base layer and jersey while getting out my cycling rain slicker. I wanted to see if this helped with the weight because I wasn't noticing the cold as much as when I started. I checked the temperature in the Jeep again, 44 degrees. WOW a heat wave! After a couple of squirts from the water bottle and some nutrition, I threw on my rain and slicker. Watch check, 12 minutes to go, so I closed the hatch and remounted my bike to warm my legs up again before I headed back to the starters tent.

"Anyone else doing the course twice today beside me?", I asked the guy who was there the first time I headed out. "You're kidding, right? Not that I know of", he said looking at me like I was insane. "30 seconds...10... GO!" and I was off again. In my head according to the starter as well as on my bike.

The second leg was the virtually same as the first with the same cadence and gearing struggles, but I was also feeling the effort from the first race. I made the turn at the half way mark at an average speed of 18.5, which was disappointing, but I decided to ride as best I could and make notes on lessons learned. My legs were ready to stop pedaling as I crossed the line the second time. My second time was 1:23:57 or 18.2 mph. I later found out my CAT5 time would have put me 4 slots higher than I finished with my Masters time in that group. DAMN!

I rode a bit to avoid shocking my legs by just stopping. After about 5-10 minutes I loaded my bike and changed clothes for the ride home. The rain had picked up as I got into my Masters race and it kicked up a notch again as I pulled on to the road to head home. I was glad to be in the warm Jeep with time to think. I was reasonably satisfied with my effort since it was the first time. I had also ridden 50.5 miles in roughly 2 hours and 45 minutes, not too shabby for a 46 year old guy. However, I was frustrated that I couldn't seem to settle into a rhythm for either race.

I felt surprisingly good the next day maybe because I drank loads of water the rest of the day and stretched once I got home. I also didn't load up on junk food despite huge cravings. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to do well in TTs unless I get some training and a TT specific bike. I'm sure a different bike wouldn't have shaved a huge portion of my time without training, but I think it might have helped me feel more comfortable. More lessons learned on the journey!

I can see clearly now, my trip to the Human Performance Lab

Monday I was like a kid waiting to get out of school. I knew my trip to the Human Performance Lab was going to be very interesting, eye opening, and possibly fun. I ultimately learned I was less than half the man Lance Armstrong is with regard to VO2Max, and probably 4 times the man he is with regard to body fat, but we'll get to that in a bit.

I got to the lab 20 minutes early to be ready for the 5:30 appointment. The tests would conducted while I road my bike so I didn't have to learn anything about operating a test bike. I dropped my bike in the lab and got changed.

The tests started with measuring my height and weight. The height was the usual 5'9", but my weight, at 175 lbs, pissed me off because I'm 20 lbs heavier than I want to be. Next came the body fat composition measurements. I felt OK with all the pinch measurements - there were 8 I think, until they got to just right of my belly button. That's when I realized at least one area of my body that needed to be significantly smaller.

Chris Newport the lab coordinator hooked my bike up to a trainer and a cadence sensor. She hooked a heart rate monitor to me. I switched on my Garmin so I could have a frame of reference for what I was doing since I couldn't see their data. Riding a steady speed and candence was important. The trainer was set to hold me at a specific level of watts regardless of cadence or speed.

The trainer and I warmed up at 50 watts for a few minutes while Chris calibrated the monitors. I got a swallow or two of water and then they hooked me up to the breathing mask to measure my VO2Max. It was more comfortable than I thought it might be, but I felt a bit like Darth Vader and sounded like him too.

The test started at 100 watts and ramped 30 watts every 3 minutes until I blew up at 280 watts. The lactic acid measurements came from blood drops taken from my ear lobe. I forgot to ask why they were taking it from my ear lobe, but it didn't hurt and I barely noticed. The test felt like going up a gentle climb until getting to 190 watts. It felt very hard starting at 250. I hit my lactic threshold at 161 bpm heart rate and 215 watts according to the tests. I now know exactly what hitting my lactic threshold feels like for the first time.

After exploding at 280 watts, the mask came off, and Chris ramped the trainer down to 100 watts to let me spin down gracefully for about 5 minutes. WATER!!! I got some water, cooled down and then they pointed me to the showers. It took them about 15-20 minutes to crunch the numbers. The test from warm up to cool down took about 40 minutes.

I got showered, changed and headed back to the lab. Chris was still crunching the numbers, but she told me immediately I was "over reaching" in my training. My Saturday 73 mile ride was a bad idea in retrospect and forced them to adjust the numbers a bit, but the first conclusion was the same. I was training the wrong way. Riding full out most of the time was not helping and was actually hurting my immediate and long-term performance. Time for a change in approach.

Cycling has been my therapy for the last 3 years or so and I've tended to ride like a mad man every time I get into the saddle so I could come home a nicer more normal person. I don't have ride like that now to be sane, so I need to train more efficiently, with a goal for every ride and half the rides should be"recovery rides". Recovery rides, after a discussion with the lab team, mean staying in the base area without spikes into the T1 area, thus avoiding muscle breakdowns. This is so I'll be ready to break my muscles down the right way on T1-T2 rides.

There was some good news in the results. My VO2Max at 40.3 is in the "good" range for a 46 year old. My body fat, at 18.3%, was also actually in the "good" range. I felt fat, but I was in the good range? Really?! Chubby must be the new normal! My percent of VO2Max at my lactic threshold was 82.8 % and my watts/kg at my lactic threshold was 2.71.

With Chris' input, I established the following goals:

1. Push VO2Max to above 45 ml/kg/min which would put me in the "excellent range" for men my age.
   
2. Drop my weight to 155 lbs (70.3 kgs), or about 7.5% body fat. 10% would be 159 lbs (72.12 kgs), which is where I was last summer.
3. Push my % of VO2Max at lactic threshold to above 85%
4. Produce over 3.1 watts/kg power at my lactic threshold which would be 225 watts at 159 lbs, or dropping my weight to 70.3 kgs and producing the same 215 watts at my lactic threshold.
5. Max watts of over 4.25 watts/kg for a 3 minute time. I'm at 3.528 now. I can hit that with with weight loss down to 155 and 300 max watts or 306 at 159 lbs.
   
6. Moving my lactic threshold curve to the right which means to raise the level and delay hitting my lactic threshold. I should have talked to her more about what is reasonable, but spaced on it.

Next we talked about training and nutrition. She was very clear about allowing my body recover from hard rides and to do some easier rides to build my capillary system for more power and speed over time. Patience and sanity now means more speed and power in the future-got it. The tests set my exercise zones based on the HPL's system, which is Base, T1 (training1), T2, SS (super speed), which in turn are set by heart rate ranges and power output.

Nearly all of my training before these tests tended to be somewhere in the T2-SS zones. I tried to convince myself that riding at 135 bpm wasn't riding hard enough. I proved that theory wrong by riding the next day watching heart rate most of time and ignoring my speed. Ok it could be done, if I focused, which is the bane of my existence-focus! She said I would lose weight faster and get faster if I backed off half the time and quit killing it all the time, because at higher speeds your body stops buring fat and only burns carbs.

I have to admit, nutrition and fuel during rides have been a mysteries to me. Chris explained my kcal/min fuel consumption at specific heart rates. Matching the kcal/min to heart rate multiplied by length of ride and you have the calories needed to break even. Meaning, a recovery ride at 139 bpm average rate for 60 minutes means 570 calories at 9.5 kcal/min. WOW it all makes sense now.

Chris suggested finding a sports drink I liked cold and warm. We discussed several brands and the ones I've liked seemed to be the ones she recommended. We also discussed gels and food. Gels seem to be more sugar with some electrolytes. In her opinion, food or gels are for the times you want to put something in your stomach that might stay there awhile longer than a sports drink thus delaying hunger.

The trip to the HPL will no doubt have a direct impact on my fitness and race results. I now understand how to correctly train for long term perfomance improvement, which will also improve my overall health. I have clear numeric goals with an understanding of how to achieve them and how to measure progress. The world of nutrition for rides is now significantly more clear than it was before my visit. I know I could take multiple classes and read labels for days, but the critical points are now clear.

Now all I need to do is follow their instructions and apply what I've learned. How tough could that be? Well it won't be easy since I want to kill it every time I ride, however, I am comitted to making it happen.

Sponsor Product! Rocket Bottles bring Aerospace Design to Your Sport Drinks

The cycling and triathlon world is full of companies with cool names to draw your attention. However, it is rare to find a company name that embodies not only the founders but also their products. Enter Rocket Science Sports a company started by Marcin Sochacki a triathlete who also studied aerospace engineering at the University of Texas.

Rocket Science Sports develops products engineered to cut through the air or water more efficiently and loaded with highly useful features and design elements. This becomes more significant with greater distances in the air or water and speed. While I’m not looking to shave 3 seconds off my personal record on a century ride-yet, I immediately appreciated the design of the bottles for other features.

• The bottles are very light and easier to squeeze than the bottles I had been using. This is more of an issue in colder weather, however in any weather it's hard to breathe, suck and pedal at the same time. Well it is for me!

• The bottles are made with safe and environmentally friendly plastic (PE#4), which is completely recyclable.

• Rocket Bottles are designed for holding 20 ounces of liquid, but they seemed to hold as much if not more than my bottles sold as 24 ounces.

• A tiny detail I immediately appreciated was the inside of the top is dome shaped. Why is that a nice detail? Have you ever filled your bottles up to the top and tried to shake them up to dissolve powdered drinks? You can’t, so you end up short filling them so you can.

• The bottles also have a silicon washer at the top where it meets the screw in bottle so they don’t leak. Why silicon? Because it works better than nothing and regular rubber. Excellent thinking by product management.

• The water level window on the side is nice to keep up with how much fluid is left. You end up shaking bottles that don’t have this design to guess how much is there or taking the top off.

• The Rocket Bottles taper at the bottom which helps them go into cages much easier than other similar bottles. The groove underneath the top is an easy surface to grab even with winter gloves and the dimples add traction. I've often struggled to get other wider bottles or ones with slick surfaces out with gloves or with sweaty hands.

It might be hard to believe something as simple as a water bottle could add enjoyment or lower frustrations on a ride, but the Rocket Bottles accomplish those challenges. They are well designed and manufactured with the athlete’s needs in mind. It’s worth checking them out and picking up a few even if you’re not a blinding speed demon looking to put only aerodynamically pure stuff on your bike.