This is a pretty sweet site that records your results as well as links you to other athletes...
Thursday, October 2, 2008
New workout resources found!
So I joined a couple of meetup groups, one happening to be the Chicago Triathlon group. There are quite a bit of aspiring athletes with varying talent. In addition to that group I've also linked my results together at Athlinks.com (http://www.athlinks.com/racer.aspx?rid=40629569)
Friday, September 26, 2008
Friday, June 6, 2008
Climbing Tips
Some tips on getting it on with climbing...
Rule 1: Get on with it.
Climbing mountains on a bike is not fun. So, to do it properly, you need to accept this fact and get on with it. I see so many people looking for that secret technique or training method that will make climbing painless and suffer-free. This will never happen. Training and techniques will make you suffer slightly faster up hills, not suffer any less. Climbing is painful, period. The sooner you just accept that and stop looking for ways around it, the better you will learn how to climb. Let the suffer-meter serve as your internal tachometer, letting you know how close to your limit you are. Accepting and really allowing yourself to feel that pain will make you a better rider. Trying to ignore it will distract you from the task at hand and make you ride slower.
Rule 2: Don’t be self-conscious.
Suffering isn’t pretty. It isn’t meant to be. If you are going about your business of climbing properly, you will be breathing like a water buffalo, sweating like a chain gang, and probably have snot dribbling off your chin. If this is not the case, you aren’t doing this correctly. Over the years I’ve ridden with so many people who are always worrying about breathing too hard in front of their buddy. You’re supposed to be in pain and you’re supposed to be breathing hard, I mean the harder you breath the more o2 you’ll get to your muscles, so let the image thing go, and get down and dirty with the hill. Anyway, if your buddy is two miles behind you, he can’t hear you breathing anymore, can he?
Rule 3: Relax.
O.K., I know this seems a bit contradictory to rules 1 and 2, but this is the real Zen of climbing right here. You have to learn to accept the pain, breath like a warthog, and keep everything else relaxed. Gripping your handlebars with white knuckles and doing brake lever pull-ups does not make your pedals go around any faster. Your hands should be so relaxed that if you had to, you could play the piano. Your shoulders, arms, and upper body should be so relaxed that you just sort of rhythmically flop along with the pedals, like Stevie Wonder in concert. Also, if you look at all the op pros, notice how they look like they have a pot belly when climbing? That’s because they let their diaphragm relax and drop. They breath by expanding the soft tissue of their belly as opposed to trying to expand the bones of their ribcage. This is the opposite of what you do at the beach, where it’s belly in, shoulders back, chest out. This is belly out, shoulders relaxed, and forget about your chest.
Rule 4. Pedal all the way around.
Momentum is what you don’t have very much of when going up a hill. So, if you just push the pedals down and let the chain go slack the other 250 degrees of the pedal stroke, you will be losing momentum with each and every dead spot. On a flat road this doesn’t matter too much, but on a hill this will cost you dearly. So, keep the tension on the chain the whole way ‘round, especially at the 12 o’clock and 6 o’clock pedal position. Push outward with your quadriceps at the 12 and pull back, like you’re scraping mud off your shoes, at the 6. This will help keep that precious little momentum from slipping away.
Rule 5: The Little Engine That Could.
“I think I can, I think I can, I think I can…”….Think I’m joking? No, I am not. The rhythm of your breath and thoughts are crucial to grinding your way up long Cols. You must synch your breath, your pedaling, and your thoughts in one monotonous, focused, and plodding rhythm. Exhale forcefully and inhale naturally in time with every contraction of your muscles; let your body sway to the rhythm that creates; then set the metronome in your head and be The Little Engine. Laugh all you want. It works.
http://theclimb.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/06/ready-to-edit-and-post-expert-advice-from-jonathan-vaughters/index.html
Rule 1: Get on with it.
Climbing mountains on a bike is not fun. So, to do it properly, you need to accept this fact and get on with it. I see so many people looking for that secret technique or training method that will make climbing painless and suffer-free. This will never happen. Training and techniques will make you suffer slightly faster up hills, not suffer any less. Climbing is painful, period. The sooner you just accept that and stop looking for ways around it, the better you will learn how to climb. Let the suffer-meter serve as your internal tachometer, letting you know how close to your limit you are. Accepting and really allowing yourself to feel that pain will make you a better rider. Trying to ignore it will distract you from the task at hand and make you ride slower.
Rule 2: Don’t be self-conscious.
Suffering isn’t pretty. It isn’t meant to be. If you are going about your business of climbing properly, you will be breathing like a water buffalo, sweating like a chain gang, and probably have snot dribbling off your chin. If this is not the case, you aren’t doing this correctly. Over the years I’ve ridden with so many people who are always worrying about breathing too hard in front of their buddy. You’re supposed to be in pain and you’re supposed to be breathing hard, I mean the harder you breath the more o2 you’ll get to your muscles, so let the image thing go, and get down and dirty with the hill. Anyway, if your buddy is two miles behind you, he can’t hear you breathing anymore, can he?
Rule 3: Relax.
O.K., I know this seems a bit contradictory to rules 1 and 2, but this is the real Zen of climbing right here. You have to learn to accept the pain, breath like a warthog, and keep everything else relaxed. Gripping your handlebars with white knuckles and doing brake lever pull-ups does not make your pedals go around any faster. Your hands should be so relaxed that if you had to, you could play the piano. Your shoulders, arms, and upper body should be so relaxed that you just sort of rhythmically flop along with the pedals, like Stevie Wonder in concert. Also, if you look at all the op pros, notice how they look like they have a pot belly when climbing? That’s because they let their diaphragm relax and drop. They breath by expanding the soft tissue of their belly as opposed to trying to expand the bones of their ribcage. This is the opposite of what you do at the beach, where it’s belly in, shoulders back, chest out. This is belly out, shoulders relaxed, and forget about your chest.
Rule 4. Pedal all the way around.
Momentum is what you don’t have very much of when going up a hill. So, if you just push the pedals down and let the chain go slack the other 250 degrees of the pedal stroke, you will be losing momentum with each and every dead spot. On a flat road this doesn’t matter too much, but on a hill this will cost you dearly. So, keep the tension on the chain the whole way ‘round, especially at the 12 o’clock and 6 o’clock pedal position. Push outward with your quadriceps at the 12 and pull back, like you’re scraping mud off your shoes, at the 6. This will help keep that precious little momentum from slipping away.
Rule 5: The Little Engine That Could.
“I think I can, I think I can, I think I can…”….Think I’m joking? No, I am not. The rhythm of your breath and thoughts are crucial to grinding your way up long Cols. You must synch your breath, your pedaling, and your thoughts in one monotonous, focused, and plodding rhythm. Exhale forcefully and inhale naturally in time with every contraction of your muscles; let your body sway to the rhythm that creates; then set the metronome in your head and be The Little Engine. Laugh all you want. It works.
http://theclimb.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/06/ready-to-edit-and-post-expert-advice-from-jonathan-vaughters/index.html
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Thursday, April 24, 2008
First (and Last?) Race of the Year...
So I just finally got around to putting a post up for my first race of the year. I ended up getting dragged into racing the Rock Cut Race in Sport class. That means its almost a marathon length race 25 miles to be exact.
The race started out pretty good almost getting the hole shot and hitting the pavement at a good pace. That was until I hit the first patch of bog mud. I was trying to spin through a good 3-4 inches of mud. Looking back it would have been probably smarter to just run through it but inexperience told me otherwise.
As I got to the end of the first lap (out of two) at least two dozen comments in my mind told me to DNF. The joys of DNFing and just crying in my car from all the pains this race had given me was something to look forward to. By the time I got to the end of that loop I was looking forward to being that quitter. That was until I saw my gf just waiting there enthusiastically waiting to hand off the next water bottle. Little did she know I was running low on energy and ready to bonk any time.
During the second lap I was pretty much warmed up and ready for the nasties to come. I took the mud like a champ and was able to keep up with the pack that was miserably slower than me. I was feeling ok... not good but ok... Then came the second half of the lap, out of any drink and having used up almost all of my GU, I started feeling the typical muscle cramps. As I pedaled I felt my inner quads firing off. Imagine those good old oil cool Harley Davidsons on a hot day in traffic. One second they are running, the next - boom - engine seize. Yep that was what my quad's were heading straight into a slow but sure muscle failure.
I thought to myself if I can just keep the blood flowing I can get them slowly hydrated and just to keep the muscles moving they wont seize. All was good until I hit a hill I lost momentum on. I was forced to get off the bike. And when I did that... thats when it happened... my quads locked up and was a goner. Two thirds into the last lap and I just screwed myself by getting off my bike.
After 30 seconds of doing some basic quad stretches I decided to get on the bike and head backwards towards the last course marshal. I thought I had thrown in the towel and given up. On my way back to the marshal my legs gave a glimpse of hope. That had briefly settled into a rhythm again. There was a little pain but not the locking I felt before. And at that point I decided that I might as well turn around and finish this thing. Even if it takes me till dusk.
By this time about 5 more racers passed me up. I'd like to thank my fellow Get-A-Grip teammates for not pushing me over as they lapped me :) I was feeling good about getting my ass kicked because my legs gave up on me and all I was using were the stupid granny gears to wheelchair my way back to the finish line. At this point I was wishing that the whole way through would have been downhill.. unfortunately that was only about 20 percent of the trail. The rest was either flat or up hill.
I eventually made it to the end after sprinting out some rider from some Oshkosh/Fond du Lac team. But obviously there was a price. After my tag was pulled at the finish I sat down and locked up again.
And so today it took me about 3 days to get my legs back to where I can hit the gym again and not worry about feeling geriatric.
I can confidently say though that this has given me insight as to what will come in the up coming months. Because this will not be my last race. It was the first of many since my 9 year hiatus from mountain bike racing.
Dare I say comeback? We'll see...
The race started out pretty good almost getting the hole shot and hitting the pavement at a good pace. That was until I hit the first patch of bog mud. I was trying to spin through a good 3-4 inches of mud. Looking back it would have been probably smarter to just run through it but inexperience told me otherwise.
As I got to the end of the first lap (out of two) at least two dozen comments in my mind told me to DNF. The joys of DNFing and just crying in my car from all the pains this race had given me was something to look forward to. By the time I got to the end of that loop I was looking forward to being that quitter. That was until I saw my gf just waiting there enthusiastically waiting to hand off the next water bottle. Little did she know I was running low on energy and ready to bonk any time.
During the second lap I was pretty much warmed up and ready for the nasties to come. I took the mud like a champ and was able to keep up with the pack that was miserably slower than me. I was feeling ok... not good but ok... Then came the second half of the lap, out of any drink and having used up almost all of my GU, I started feeling the typical muscle cramps. As I pedaled I felt my inner quads firing off. Imagine those good old oil cool Harley Davidsons on a hot day in traffic. One second they are running, the next - boom - engine seize. Yep that was what my quad's were heading straight into a slow but sure muscle failure.
I thought to myself if I can just keep the blood flowing I can get them slowly hydrated and just to keep the muscles moving they wont seize. All was good until I hit a hill I lost momentum on. I was forced to get off the bike. And when I did that... thats when it happened... my quads locked up and was a goner. Two thirds into the last lap and I just screwed myself by getting off my bike.
After 30 seconds of doing some basic quad stretches I decided to get on the bike and head backwards towards the last course marshal. I thought I had thrown in the towel and given up. On my way back to the marshal my legs gave a glimpse of hope. That had briefly settled into a rhythm again. There was a little pain but not the locking I felt before. And at that point I decided that I might as well turn around and finish this thing. Even if it takes me till dusk.
By this time about 5 more racers passed me up. I'd like to thank my fellow Get-A-Grip teammates for not pushing me over as they lapped me :) I was feeling good about getting my ass kicked because my legs gave up on me and all I was using were the stupid granny gears to wheelchair my way back to the finish line. At this point I was wishing that the whole way through would have been downhill.. unfortunately that was only about 20 percent of the trail. The rest was either flat or up hill.
I eventually made it to the end after sprinting out some rider from some Oshkosh/Fond du Lac team. But obviously there was a price. After my tag was pulled at the finish I sat down and locked up again.
And so today it took me about 3 days to get my legs back to where I can hit the gym again and not worry about feeling geriatric.
I can confidently say though that this has given me insight as to what will come in the up coming months. Because this will not be my last race. It was the first of many since my 9 year hiatus from mountain bike racing.
Dare I say comeback? We'll see...
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
4/1/2008 Goals
Goals for 4/1:
Spin class at a hard pace/resistance - 50 minutes. Plain and simple...
Oh yeah.. more of an FYI for myself.. I've got to start checkin out races so I can start representing the team!
Spin class at a hard pace/resistance - 50 minutes. Plain and simple...
Oh yeah.. more of an FYI for myself.. I've got to start checkin out races so I can start representing the team!
Workout Log for 3/31/2008
Work out log for 03/31/2008
I have slowly but surely been able to bring up my endurance from a running and swimming perspective. However the
Running: Pulled out 2.25 running miles at about a 9:15 minute pace.
Swimming: Swam 21 laps in about 50 minutes.
This workout didn't seem too bad although I'd like to be able to run without having to break for a minute and swim laps without having 5 - 10 second breaks in between lengths (maybe I just need to find a longer pool).
I have slowly but surely been able to bring up my endurance from a running and swimming perspective. However the
Running: Pulled out 2.25 running miles at about a 9:15 minute pace.
Swimming: Swam 21 laps in about 50 minutes.
This workout didn't seem too bad although I'd like to be able to run without having to break for a minute and swim laps without having 5 - 10 second breaks in between lengths (maybe I just need to find a longer pool).
This Year's Workout Objectives
Present: This year will be mainly focused on changing muscle memory from only a quick burst short endurance to long distance multi sport perspective. So from an expectations perspective I expect to get out swam (or drown), out ran and maybe out ridden... I hope I'm able to beat some people in and out of my age group but it may be sometime to get into a more competitive group.
Background: All throughout life I've been mainly involved in sports which require only quick bursts of speed such as Track and Field's 100 M, 200 M, 4x100, 4x200. Other sports that I participated in such as tennis and soccer also required quick bursts rather than endurance.
Background: All throughout life I've been mainly involved in sports which require only quick bursts of speed such as Track and Field's 100 M, 200 M, 4x100, 4x200. Other sports that I participated in such as tennis and soccer also required quick bursts rather than endurance.
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