Last week's rain just about drove me up a wall. Neither the kids or I could get outside much. This led to the determination I am not wired to live in a place like Seattle. No offense to Seattle, but I need the sun too much to live somewhere it rains as much as it does in the Northwest.
Adding to the pressure of not getting to exercise, was the fact I got laid off from the agency where I was working. I got added to North Carolina's ten plus percent unemployment rate. "At least you'll have more time to train," said a cyclist friend of mine. "Yeah, but I don't get paid to train on my bike," was my response. My prospects looked better by the end of the week, so I'm hopeful this is temporary.
There were good things that happened last week on the cycling front. First, Oakley came in as a sponsor, which was a great endorsement. I've been an Oakley fan back before the days of the M-Frame. I've owned several pairs over the years including a recent pair of Flak Jackets that gave their life to save part of my face and eyes in a crash in January. In that specific crash, I learned sneezing while hitting a pothole can catapult you over the handlebar. I wouldn't recommend it.
I got an education from the team at Oakley about lens selection. It is a lot more complicated than I ever thought. My Oakley Radar Path glasses came with Fire and VR 28 Polarized lenses. I now have two great selections depending on the conditions. Unfortunately I had to wait a day before I could road test the Fire lens. I'll be writing a review/overview of lenses in a coming post.
The next day something mysterious twice punctured my front tube. The first time I thought it was a fluke, so I changed the tube, pumped it up and took off. I didn't notice the tire had gone nearly flat as a took a 90 degree right turn on a slightly wet road about a mile from my house. The bike slid to the left and out from under me. I landed on the pavement and bounced on my head before coming to a stop. One more reminder why cyclists wear helmets. I was fine and my bib tights saved me from getting road rash other than a small patch on my right knee. I've had far worse.
Through some meticulous detective work, I found small nick on the inside of my rim that obviously connected with tubes when they were pumped up beyond a certain point or hit a large bump. A little filing and it was gone-mystery solved.
The next day I finally got to ride a decent distance. I had been taking 1st Endurance Optygen for a few days and I had some Pre-Race added to EFS Lemon Lime drink before the ride. Holy cats as Bob Roll might say, what a ride! I was very comfortable and flying.
I know without question I've moved the bars on my VO2Max and my lactic threshold after the Optygen loading period (1 week). Pre-Race and EFS drink seem to amplify things another level entirely. I'm sure training has had something to do with my form, but the only thing without question that changed over the week was 1st Endurance products. I'm going to write in more detail about that and hopefully talk to one of the guys there to get some more perspective.
I passed the 1,000 mile ridden milestone Sunday the 28th. That's the earliest in the year that I have ever passed that mark. I feel great about it and look forward to rolling the next 1,000 even faster now the sun has returned from its winter hiatus.
Within the last 10 days or so my weight also headed in the right direction. A little discipline and some more saddle time pushed me from bouncing between 174-176 to bouncing between 169.5 and 172.5. Not a lot to crow about, but the direction is right for a change. Only 10-12 more pounds to go before I get to my first weight goal!
This week is supposed to be fantastic with sun and warmer temperature. I hope I can get sunny news on the job front and get some good training time.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
Being a dad has laughs and sorrow, but riding helps clarify-sometimes
Friday March 20th I signed my wife and I up to chaperon my 12 year old son's middle school dance. There was plenty of teasing about embarrassing him-none of which came to pass. However, it added another day-now three in a row, when I didn't get to ride. However, I wouldn't have missed this experience for the world.
The dance was from 7:00-10:00. When we arrived we were given our rotation of assignments, which consisted of where to stand in the gym like a Secret Service agent being ever vigilant to stop unwanted activities and threats. I'm glad my wife went so we could talk and half enjoy the music played at what seemed to be a skull splitting volume. Let's discuss what the average 12-14 year old thinks dancing is in this day and age. It's what I would call a modified "pogo" or calf pain inducing jumps up and down repeatedly punctuated with arm motions of some sort, but hammering and lawn sprinklers come to mind most prominently. Slow dancing is at this age consists of both partners placing their wrists on their partners shoulders and swaying. Needless to say we laughed a lot, but were very glad to go home.
In between soccer schedules, I managed to get two nice rides in over the weekend, which allowed me to enjoy the improving weather. I got to use First Endurance's Pre-Race and EFS sports drink for the first time since last fall. I ordered these to go with the Optygen the great folks at First Endurance were sending my way. I tried all of the First Endurance products last year during the summer and fall, but I had taken a break due to the cold weather. That was a clear mistake.
I had forgotten how good their products were and what a direct effect they have on my riding. Pre-Race and EFS sports drink when used together are high grade jet fuel. I rode harder in terms of speed and heart rate, but with a great deal more comfort and efficiency. My ride numbers proved that out. On longer rides, I've added EFS Liquid Shot with great results too. I only wish there were other flavors in addition to vanilla. First Endurance also has an interesting blog post about using Pre-Race and Liquid Shot together on rides. I'm looking forward to the added kick Optygen will give me in a week or so after the "loading" process is complete.
There was a painful parenting situation this weekend I'm sure nearly all of us have or will face. My oldest daughter loves soccer. It's her passion and she would rather practice and play than do almost anything. The problem now is her genetics have caught up with her. She still has the aggressiveness and passion for the game, but she may have peaked in terms of her abilities relative to the members of her team. She's seen her playing time drop dramatically as the team progressed into the upper strata of state-wide rankings and new players have joined the team. It's not much consolation for her to be told that she's in the top 250-300 14 year old girls in the state when her playing time is down. It also didn't do any good to tell her that she's progressed farther than I ever did as a competitive athlete at her age. I felt utterly powerless and useless. I'm not sure who felt worse, but it was probably her.
She has my competitive fire, but also unfortunately my lack of natural soccer genetics. The immediate prescription was some additional coaching and playing time as a guest player on a team where she should be a dominant force on the field as well as the ability to learn coaching by shadowing her coach during the game when she's not playing. That seemed to salve the wound, but not heal it. How can a parent effectively, gently, and lovingly tell a child their destiny and skills lie beyond the field of play in a sport they love? I'm still struggling with this one and not sure there's a real answer.
Sunday I did what I always do now. I take my thoughts with me as I ride to try to figure out answers to my problems and to try too find peace to the difficulties in life. My problem this weekend was that while my body felt strong, energized and powerful in the saddle, my brain and soul felt inept, unsure and powerless. I know this will pass with time and my daughter will find her way forward with or without me, but right now that's like my mother telling me when I was 14 I would eventually grow taller. I found peace at 5'9". I hope my daughter will find peace as a soccer player whenever she plays in the future even at my age. More importantly, I hope she and I can find a way to channel her fire and passion into something in addition to soccer.
The dance was from 7:00-10:00. When we arrived we were given our rotation of assignments, which consisted of where to stand in the gym like a Secret Service agent being ever vigilant to stop unwanted activities and threats. I'm glad my wife went so we could talk and half enjoy the music played at what seemed to be a skull splitting volume. Let's discuss what the average 12-14 year old thinks dancing is in this day and age. It's what I would call a modified "pogo" or calf pain inducing jumps up and down repeatedly punctuated with arm motions of some sort, but hammering and lawn sprinklers come to mind most prominently. Slow dancing is at this age consists of both partners placing their wrists on their partners shoulders and swaying. Needless to say we laughed a lot, but were very glad to go home.
In between soccer schedules, I managed to get two nice rides in over the weekend, which allowed me to enjoy the improving weather. I got to use First Endurance's Pre-Race and EFS sports drink for the first time since last fall. I ordered these to go with the Optygen the great folks at First Endurance were sending my way. I tried all of the First Endurance products last year during the summer and fall, but I had taken a break due to the cold weather. That was a clear mistake.
I had forgotten how good their products were and what a direct effect they have on my riding. Pre-Race and EFS sports drink when used together are high grade jet fuel. I rode harder in terms of speed and heart rate, but with a great deal more comfort and efficiency. My ride numbers proved that out. On longer rides, I've added EFS Liquid Shot with great results too. I only wish there were other flavors in addition to vanilla. First Endurance also has an interesting blog post about using Pre-Race and Liquid Shot together on rides. I'm looking forward to the added kick Optygen will give me in a week or so after the "loading" process is complete.
There was a painful parenting situation this weekend I'm sure nearly all of us have or will face. My oldest daughter loves soccer. It's her passion and she would rather practice and play than do almost anything. The problem now is her genetics have caught up with her. She still has the aggressiveness and passion for the game, but she may have peaked in terms of her abilities relative to the members of her team. She's seen her playing time drop dramatically as the team progressed into the upper strata of state-wide rankings and new players have joined the team. It's not much consolation for her to be told that she's in the top 250-300 14 year old girls in the state when her playing time is down. It also didn't do any good to tell her that she's progressed farther than I ever did as a competitive athlete at her age. I felt utterly powerless and useless. I'm not sure who felt worse, but it was probably her.
She has my competitive fire, but also unfortunately my lack of natural soccer genetics. The immediate prescription was some additional coaching and playing time as a guest player on a team where she should be a dominant force on the field as well as the ability to learn coaching by shadowing her coach during the game when she's not playing. That seemed to salve the wound, but not heal it. How can a parent effectively, gently, and lovingly tell a child their destiny and skills lie beyond the field of play in a sport they love? I'm still struggling with this one and not sure there's a real answer.
Sunday I did what I always do now. I take my thoughts with me as I ride to try to figure out answers to my problems and to try too find peace to the difficulties in life. My problem this weekend was that while my body felt strong, energized and powerful in the saddle, my brain and soul felt inept, unsure and powerless. I know this will pass with time and my daughter will find her way forward with or without me, but right now that's like my mother telling me when I was 14 I would eventually grow taller. I found peace at 5'9". I hope my daughter will find peace as a soccer player whenever she plays in the future even at my age. More importantly, I hope she and I can find a way to channel her fire and passion into something in addition to soccer.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
A pissed off ride through the Kingdom of Anerobia
I'll admit it. I was completely frustrated to the point of being aggressively pissed off yesterday afternoon. I felt like the only guy who could see in the land of the blind in one meeting, frustrated by a conference call, frustrated by not being able to move the needle on my weight and the list went on.
I didn't ride Monday because I was still tired of riding in the rain from Sunday. That had me pumped up to start, then all the frustration and angst over the day lit the fuse. I could very clearly hear the HPL coordinator in my ears, "we joke that we could develop everyone into world class athletes if we could cut their heads off." Meaning, my head was telling me maybe I should have ridden a recovery ride yesterday, but instead I went out to kill it.
I hit the road about 5:15 glad it was day light savings time, because I was sure I needed close to two hours of hard riding to clear my head. I hit the pedals and took off hard from start to finish on a route with some decent rolling hills but also some spots to go for pure speed.
The numbers of my ride told an interesting tale. I had gone 33+ miles over rolling hills at the exact same average speed as my first time trial race Sunday-18.7 mph. I'll admit I was pushing myself really hard to beat the pissed off out of me. I guess you can use anger to push performance. Lance sure did.
I got home at dark tired physically, but more energized mentally and much more calm. I made some decisions while I was riding about some critical things in my world. That's probably a good thing and we'll see how it plays out in the next few weeks. I got home more human, more relaxed and less likely to detonate around the people I love. I even sat down with the family to watch American Idol without saying a word. All of my missions were accomplished on my pissed off ride through the Kingdom of Anerobia.
I didn't ride Monday because I was still tired of riding in the rain from Sunday. That had me pumped up to start, then all the frustration and angst over the day lit the fuse. I could very clearly hear the HPL coordinator in my ears, "we joke that we could develop everyone into world class athletes if we could cut their heads off." Meaning, my head was telling me maybe I should have ridden a recovery ride yesterday, but instead I went out to kill it.
I hit the road about 5:15 glad it was day light savings time, because I was sure I needed close to two hours of hard riding to clear my head. I hit the pedals and took off hard from start to finish on a route with some decent rolling hills but also some spots to go for pure speed.
The numbers of my ride told an interesting tale. I had gone 33+ miles over rolling hills at the exact same average speed as my first time trial race Sunday-18.7 mph. I'll admit I was pushing myself really hard to beat the pissed off out of me. I guess you can use anger to push performance. Lance sure did.
I got home at dark tired physically, but more energized mentally and much more calm. I made some decisions while I was riding about some critical things in my world. That's probably a good thing and we'll see how it plays out in the next few weeks. I got home more human, more relaxed and less likely to detonate around the people I love. I even sat down with the family to watch American Idol without saying a word. All of my missions were accomplished on my pissed off ride through the Kingdom of Anerobia.
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