I have just finished a fairly intensive week of training for the Race Across America. Thanks to the half-term break, a very considerate and understanding wife who took the kids away for a few days, and a welcome break in the weather, I managed to squeeze in 270miles. I have to say that I felt pretty good too, which may sound surprising, or indeed, it may sound like the sort of comment that a RAAM competitor ought not to be mentioning. Regardless, I am focused on the one thing that counts with my part of the race, which is my performance.
I opted for a couple of days rest, and then I did a TT test on the turbo. A 20-minute turbo session first thing on Monday morning. I might say (and this is not an excuse!!) that I was not as well rested for the test as I could have been, so whilst it was not true textbook test I typically conduct the turbo sessions at the same time of the day, and generally after a night of less than 8 hours sleep. I would love to be in the position that I only had the RAAM to consider. Such are the choices I have made, I have opted to leave my job, finish my MSc, be a RAAM competitor, organise the team for the RAAM, and most importantly be an integral part of the family. Whilst I do admire the talents, the tenacity, the toughness, the resilience and the other qualities that make up an elite athlete, I do take my hat off to the amateur athlete, who has to cope with the interuptions to his/her training that everyday life presents. In many respects the schedule of an amateur athlete is somewhat tougher than the elite athlete. The amateur has a long day at work, with no time for a recovery sleep in the afternoon; they may train in the morning, at lunch and in the evening again. "all in a day's work" you may hear them say. They have the challenges that life outside of work brings too, which distracts them from their training. And whilst they may get the opportunity for a good night's sleep, many have very young families that 'love' to wake up in the middle of the night, thus interrupting the recovery period that is essential for physiological adaptation. Okay, okay, a critic of this may say "well they should have worked harder at school, then they could have been a successful elite athlete etc.."
Wednesday, 24 February 2010
Wednesday, 17 February 2010
Mad Alchemy
Franny Embrocating from j. dunn on Vimeo.
I have just been out with some embrocation applied to my legs for the first time. I bought some Hot Qoleum from ZipVit. At first I hardly noticed anything at all, perhaps due to the fact that it may have been cooler outside than I thought. However the longer the ride went on, and the harder my legs worked, the more I could feel that tingly, burning sensation like someone was surrounding my legs with mild nettles. Now I should say that I could have gone for the super hot tub of embrocation, but having heard from JC (see JCs sprockets Bolg) about how he purchased some super hot Mad Alchemy, and how he got some of it on his private parts; I thought I would ease myself in gently. After three and a half hours on the bike I was still tingling, and the capsicum was clearly at work! Then I popped into the local bike store to buy some brake pads, on the way home. When I entered the shop my legs went ballistic!! They felt like they were on fire. Needless to say I did not do any window shopping, instead opting for the cool winter's breeze to chill my pins again!
2 hrs later post-riding I am still feeling the burn! Truly good stuff this embrocation thing!
Monday, 15 February 2010
How Many Days Until the RAAM Now??
I am getting well and truly stuck into a solid training regime again. I have made a commitment to ensuring I am getting at least 7 hours of sleep a night, as opposed to what was becoming a customary 5 hrs a night. I have to say that the additional 2 hours of sleep is making a huge difference to motivation, mood, the intensity at which I can train, the volume of training I can absorb and also my ability to recover (most importantly).
Last week I started to introduce training slowly again: I did 3 hours in the gymnasium doing strength and conditioning work including lots of stretching; 9.5hrs on the bike and one hour in the pool. I quickly realised that the break from swimming has taken its toll on my pool fitness. I felt fine for the first 1000m, after that my forearms, hands, triceps and shoulders were all feeling the burn. I stopped after 1500m which was a good point at which to stop, for fear of completely demolalising myself.
I got out for 5hours on biking on Sunday and clocked up about 85miles or so. I seem to be having a battery functionality issue with bike accessories. A fantastic bike light putting out 900 lumens failed on me and I had to resort to a town commuting light. Not good given that the roads are now full of potholes and it is essential to be able to see them on the commute home. I am awaiting the delivery of an Exposure Joystick as a replacement. My speedo battery has failed as well, so I have very little feedback on the bike apart from how my legs are feeling. Who needs gadgets??
All-in-all a good productive week back on the road and on course for a good RAAM in a few months time. How many days is it??? :-)
Last week I started to introduce training slowly again: I did 3 hours in the gymnasium doing strength and conditioning work including lots of stretching; 9.5hrs on the bike and one hour in the pool. I quickly realised that the break from swimming has taken its toll on my pool fitness. I felt fine for the first 1000m, after that my forearms, hands, triceps and shoulders were all feeling the burn. I stopped after 1500m which was a good point at which to stop, for fear of completely demolalising myself.
I got out for 5hours on biking on Sunday and clocked up about 85miles or so. I seem to be having a battery functionality issue with bike accessories. A fantastic bike light putting out 900 lumens failed on me and I had to resort to a town commuting light. Not good given that the roads are now full of potholes and it is essential to be able to see them on the commute home. I am awaiting the delivery of an Exposure Joystick as a replacement. My speedo battery has failed as well, so I have very little feedback on the bike apart from how my legs are feeling. Who needs gadgets??
All-in-all a good productive week back on the road and on course for a good RAAM in a few months time. How many days is it??? :-)
Wednesday, 10 February 2010
Back on the Bike!!
Well I have fully recovered from the little bug I caught a few weeks ago. I am fully rested and I got back on the 'horse' yesterday after a short break. Why the short break? Well a couple of reasons, I was starting to feel extremely tired, the result of some late nights (understatement of the year) due to University work, and partly my own lack of appreciation as to how long the MSc Thesis can be!! So as I had a submission deadline on Mon 8th Feb, I decided that that would be a great time to start training again, give myself a chance to recover, not be too concerned about thinking I should be training, and time to concentrate on the Thesis Proposal. Sunday night was a bit hectic, and I was up until 0330 putting the finishing touches to the proposal!! I decided to leave the final proof read until the morning, when a relatively fresh pair of eyes (which did look like proverbial p**sholes in the snow - to coin a relatively popular military phrase) could go through it in detail.
I must admit getting to sleep on Monday morning was difficult, my mind was buzzing (probably the whirr for the laptop being the causal factor) and the fact that I was going over the document in my head making a mental note of anything that I might have missed, for inclusion in the morning! Relaxation, concentration and meditation exercises were all used to allow me to get into a frame of mind where I could think of nothing, or even just one thing and one thing only! All to no avail, and I fell into a coma like state just after 4am!
We have a pair of alarm clocks which arise anywhere between 7-8am typically, which was fortunate for Pedro, as I got up showered and went straight back to the laptop to start work on the proposal. How to career academics do it I frequently asked myself?? The whole process of devising a MSc topic, writing the proposal, doing the data collection, data processing, the literature review, the drafts, the final write-up is perceptively endless!! I did have a few ideas of doing some further research after this topic, that has now been well and truly quashed!! ;-)
I must mention some help I received from the WikiEducator Community, albeit due to a last minute post by me to their mail group. I was confused over the types of statistical tests I should be using to examine a sample size of only 10-12 participants. I am still not convinced there is a 'right' answer out there. The statistics books appear confusing, to me anyhow, and do not give a definitive answer to the question!!
So back to RAAM training. I managed to squeeze a 'refresher' session in on Monday afternoon, whilst Fraser was cruising around the road on his bike. Thankfully for the cold weather he got pretty chilly and then decided to go inside, which was perfect timing as I had only strapped a head-torch to his helmet and it was getting dark outside!! 30min was enough as my legs were feeling it, after the layoff I had just had.
Yesterday I planned to do 2x1hr in the morning and afternoon/evening with a weights session at lunchtime. I did the morning session (40min sweetspot) and the weights at lunchtime. However the evening session fell off the plot as I fell asleep at 7.30pm and did not wake up until 5:30am!! Perfect time to get back up and onto the bike. The temperature must have been about -3-4degC, think ice outside on the roads, and I was just relieved that I was not cycling into work. I did 45mins at sweetspot power, after a good warm-up and some one-leg spins. Lunchtime was filled with a swim (1500m) which was plenty as I have not trained properly in the water since August!! I really felt it, and that is an understatement.
I will do another hour tonight. It is evident that even in a week, my power output has dropped slightly. I am not concerned as it is just a temporary hitch and I will recover provided I listen to my body, get sufficient rest and eat properly.
Speaking of which I am about to start the Paleo diet for athletes. No dairy and limited carbohydrate products, with plenty of protein from fish, lean meats and nuts and seeds. I am looking forward to it. Joe Friel, the triathlon coach, contributed to the book (The Paleo Diet for Performance Athletes) and tweaked the diet to include a little carbohydrate.
More to follow on the diet stuff!!
I must admit getting to sleep on Monday morning was difficult, my mind was buzzing (probably the whirr for the laptop being the causal factor) and the fact that I was going over the document in my head making a mental note of anything that I might have missed, for inclusion in the morning! Relaxation, concentration and meditation exercises were all used to allow me to get into a frame of mind where I could think of nothing, or even just one thing and one thing only! All to no avail, and I fell into a coma like state just after 4am!
We have a pair of alarm clocks which arise anywhere between 7-8am typically, which was fortunate for Pedro, as I got up showered and went straight back to the laptop to start work on the proposal. How to career academics do it I frequently asked myself?? The whole process of devising a MSc topic, writing the proposal, doing the data collection, data processing, the literature review, the drafts, the final write-up is perceptively endless!! I did have a few ideas of doing some further research after this topic, that has now been well and truly quashed!! ;-)
I must mention some help I received from the WikiEducator Community, albeit due to a last minute post by me to their mail group. I was confused over the types of statistical tests I should be using to examine a sample size of only 10-12 participants. I am still not convinced there is a 'right' answer out there. The statistics books appear confusing, to me anyhow, and do not give a definitive answer to the question!!
So back to RAAM training. I managed to squeeze a 'refresher' session in on Monday afternoon, whilst Fraser was cruising around the road on his bike. Thankfully for the cold weather he got pretty chilly and then decided to go inside, which was perfect timing as I had only strapped a head-torch to his helmet and it was getting dark outside!! 30min was enough as my legs were feeling it, after the layoff I had just had.
Yesterday I planned to do 2x1hr in the morning and afternoon/evening with a weights session at lunchtime. I did the morning session (40min sweetspot) and the weights at lunchtime. However the evening session fell off the plot as I fell asleep at 7.30pm and did not wake up until 5:30am!! Perfect time to get back up and onto the bike. The temperature must have been about -3-4degC, think ice outside on the roads, and I was just relieved that I was not cycling into work. I did 45mins at sweetspot power, after a good warm-up and some one-leg spins. Lunchtime was filled with a swim (1500m) which was plenty as I have not trained properly in the water since August!! I really felt it, and that is an understatement.
I will do another hour tonight. It is evident that even in a week, my power output has dropped slightly. I am not concerned as it is just a temporary hitch and I will recover provided I listen to my body, get sufficient rest and eat properly.
Speaking of which I am about to start the Paleo diet for athletes. No dairy and limited carbohydrate products, with plenty of protein from fish, lean meats and nuts and seeds. I am looking forward to it. Joe Friel, the triathlon coach, contributed to the book (The Paleo Diet for Performance Athletes) and tweaked the diet to include a little carbohydrate.
More to follow on the diet stuff!!
Thursday, 28 January 2010
RAAM-Getting Organised
Since I started this project back in late June 2009, following a throw-away comment by someone unbeknown to me in a rival (it's very friendly rivalry!) cycling club when I was scratching around for a locally-run Time Trial before Ironman Switzerland, the journey to where we are now has been fascinating.
Firstly there was the challenge of finding 3 other head-cases who would be suitably motivated to train through the winter months for the 'pleasure' of riding across 14 States in under 9 days. I use the term pleasure with caution, as I am sure our contact points with the bike will be reminding us of exactly how pleasurable it will be to sit on a bike for 6 hours per day through the blistering heat of the Nevada desert, the chill of the Rockies and across the plains of the USA.
Then the task of compiling a support team consisting of individuals who were mentally strong enough to know that whilst they were going on a whistle-stop road trip they had an incredibly important role to fill in supporting the riders in the team and also looking after themselves as best they can. Fortunately for us there have been no shortage of volunteers and the offers of help are really appreciated by myself, who has had the unenviable task of 'vetting' them to ensure that they had something/qualities from which the team would benefit, be it nutritional expertise, sports therapy experience, sports science experience, sports psychology experience, knowledge of running and training for cycling events, and/or medical skills. I believe we have an extremely strong support team who is up for the challenge and is highly experienced in other equally important aspects such as people-management, organisational skills, having effective communication skills, and/or a high degree of emotional intelligence.
The third task was that of logistics. This is a pretty big undertaking. For example I was on the phone the other day to a guy in Annapolis trying to sort out our accommodation, and explaining to him that we would need accommodation for 10 people but we don't exactly know when we will be arriving!! The Americans, being Americans, said that that was no problem and that we could just let them know as we progress the States and approach our final destination. Would we get that level of service anywhere else??
Having done the majority of the team selection, planning, organising, negotiating deals and then liaising with the team, which has been a great learning experience, the time has now come for me to off-load that onto our Crew Chief, Paul Dunning. I am slowly bringing him into the decision making process so that he can take up the reigns, with the foundations of the trip in place, allowing both him and myself to concentrate on the key aspects of the race i.e. the responsibilities of being a crew chief and that of training and focusing on a race of a lifetime respectively.
So are we organised??? Yes we are getting there and there is more work still to be done which will really hone our race specific skills such as handovers both by day and night, and race strategies. More to follow.
Firstly there was the challenge of finding 3 other head-cases who would be suitably motivated to train through the winter months for the 'pleasure' of riding across 14 States in under 9 days. I use the term pleasure with caution, as I am sure our contact points with the bike will be reminding us of exactly how pleasurable it will be to sit on a bike for 6 hours per day through the blistering heat of the Nevada desert, the chill of the Rockies and across the plains of the USA.
Then the task of compiling a support team consisting of individuals who were mentally strong enough to know that whilst they were going on a whistle-stop road trip they had an incredibly important role to fill in supporting the riders in the team and also looking after themselves as best they can. Fortunately for us there have been no shortage of volunteers and the offers of help are really appreciated by myself, who has had the unenviable task of 'vetting' them to ensure that they had something/qualities from which the team would benefit, be it nutritional expertise, sports therapy experience, sports science experience, sports psychology experience, knowledge of running and training for cycling events, and/or medical skills. I believe we have an extremely strong support team who is up for the challenge and is highly experienced in other equally important aspects such as people-management, organisational skills, having effective communication skills, and/or a high degree of emotional intelligence.
The third task was that of logistics. This is a pretty big undertaking. For example I was on the phone the other day to a guy in Annapolis trying to sort out our accommodation, and explaining to him that we would need accommodation for 10 people but we don't exactly know when we will be arriving!! The Americans, being Americans, said that that was no problem and that we could just let them know as we progress the States and approach our final destination. Would we get that level of service anywhere else??
Having done the majority of the team selection, planning, organising, negotiating deals and then liaising with the team, which has been a great learning experience, the time has now come for me to off-load that onto our Crew Chief, Paul Dunning. I am slowly bringing him into the decision making process so that he can take up the reigns, with the foundations of the trip in place, allowing both him and myself to concentrate on the key aspects of the race i.e. the responsibilities of being a crew chief and that of training and focusing on a race of a lifetime respectively.
So are we organised??? Yes we are getting there and there is more work still to be done which will really hone our race specific skills such as handovers both by day and night, and race strategies. More to follow.
Tuesday, 26 January 2010
It's a deal!!!
Here's the deal. We take two cyclists of equal ability, and one cycles endlessly in one direction, while the other watches and actively engages in the thoughts of cycling. When the first one is exhausted and cannot continue, we swap the cyclists over. While cyclist number two pedals, the other one actively thinks about and creaes images of himself back on the bike. I wonder who would be physiologically fitter, or who would make the biggest gains in physiological fitness at the end of this test?
Well one way to find out is during the Race Across America in June. We will be 4 cyclists of different builds, heights, weights but of similar power to weight ratios, and I wonder who would fare the best at the end of the racein a pre- and post evaluation. Also worth considering how sleep deprivation will affect one's ability to think positively so that vicarious learning can take place.
Less than 140 days to go now to the RAAM, and things are hotting up. We had a re-schedule in logistics at the end of last week, and thanks to British Airways we were able to change our itinerary so that we will stay one day more in the States, to allow the team to return the RV to New Jersey, and then return to Annapolis. It also means that the team is not under undue pressure at the end of the race to de-kit, especially when we will be pretty fatigued!!!
Training is going well, with 3 hrs in the bag today, 2 hron the bike and 1hr in the gym doing strength and conditioning work. Plenty of time on the commute to practice sports psychology techniques, so no time is wasted!
I have a spin with AlitheIronman on Fri, which will be great, and we may even find a wee cafe. More to follow!!
Well one way to find out is during the Race Across America in June. We will be 4 cyclists of different builds, heights, weights but of similar power to weight ratios, and I wonder who would fare the best at the end of the racein a pre- and post evaluation. Also worth considering how sleep deprivation will affect one's ability to think positively so that vicarious learning can take place.
Less than 140 days to go now to the RAAM, and things are hotting up. We had a re-schedule in logistics at the end of last week, and thanks to British Airways we were able to change our itinerary so that we will stay one day more in the States, to allow the team to return the RV to New Jersey, and then return to Annapolis. It also means that the team is not under undue pressure at the end of the race to de-kit, especially when we will be pretty fatigued!!!
Training is going well, with 3 hrs in the bag today, 2 hron the bike and 1hr in the gym doing strength and conditioning work. Plenty of time on the commute to practice sports psychology techniques, so no time is wasted!
I have a spin with AlitheIronman on Fri, which will be great, and we may even find a wee cafe. More to follow!!
Tuesday, 5 January 2010
Race Across America
This is an intro into the RAAM and some of the things our team will have to deal with over the 9 Days in June 2010 (or maybe fewer!!).
Comments welcome.
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