Claire and I went out yesterday and did an interesting 36 mile ride. Since Claire was in charge of coming up with a route, it was to have plenty of steep hills in it. After climbing up Green Valley, we both were feeling a little uninspired, so we changed our loop and added in some flats out towards the airport. We saw plenty of cyclist out on the road, which we aren’t used to since we usually ride on Mondays when everyone else is working.
All posts by Chaz
Elmo Loop
I ran the Elmo Loop yesterday and felt great. My time was 1:06 and my average heart rate was 164. I had 5 shots of pain in the left calf, but only when I had to come out of my stride for something like a pothole. My thighs hurt pretty good, but it was a good kind of pain left over from the week before. I was able to open up my stride for the first time in a while. I don’t want to get cocky, but I may be turning a corner with my leg injuries. Claire and I will be heading out on the tandem in a little while. She has picked out a hilly loop, which I will outline later. My shoulders are a little sore this morning from chain sawing up a bunch of wood yesterday. I guess I will consider that cross training.
Martinelli run
Did the Martinelli out and back loop yesterday morning. I had 6 left calf twinges (like someone was sticking a knife in there), and a little tightness in the right lower calf, and my thighs were killing me, but otherwise I felt great. I did 8 minute miles for the most part. My thighs were really sore afterwards, but I think that was left over from the race last Sunday. The sharp pains were very few, and considering that two weeks ago I couldn’t run at all, I will take a few sharp pains here and there. I really must try to do some more stretching. I tried to dedicate a couple of half hour segments to stretching this last week, so I think it is helping.
Bike to work
I rode in to work yesterday. I took the boring way through slow-blast-apple and down the bike path to Llano and then Todd to Stony Point. My legs felt a little tired, but only on the little uphills. I had a great tail wind on Stony Point which made the ride much easier. I had a good burning sensation in my calf the whole way, but nothing too intense. I did some stretching in the evening, and iced it a couple of times. I need to get out for a run and test it. My sports medicine doctor has referred me to physical therapy for some stretching exercises and hopefully some ultrasound treatment. The ultrasound stuff really seemed to work well years ago when I was training for the Furnace Creek 508. When I was swimming for Iowa State years ago I had ultrasound done on my shoulders all the time and it kept most of the pain away.
World’s Toughest Half Ironman
I will start by saying that I somehow managed to finish the whole thing. I did not expect to be able to do the run because of my calf pain that I have been writing about a lot lately. I had even considered not going up for the event. I had not run in over a month and a half, I had not swum since last year’s Full Vineman, which had been August 4th or so, I had only ridden my bike a handful of times in the since April 1, and, to top it all off, it was supposed to be over a 100 degrees on race day. Usually, Claire and I would drive up for this kind of event together, but with the high temperatures and the lack of scenic beauty around the finish area, we thought it would be better if I went up on my own. We were also worried about how Mathilda, our dog, would handle the heat. Our decision for me to go up on my own was a good one.
I left Sonoma County at a little after 1 on Saturday, and was quickly enveloped by the heat as I headed through Davis and Sacramento. Our Chevy Blazer has an air conditioning problem where the vents that blow air directly out on the occupants are broken, so you only get cold air around your feet and out of the front defrosters. It was much better than riding in a VW Bus, but it was still very warm. I got up to the registration area in Auburn at around 4:30 and picked up my stuff. I then headed over to the finish area where I found some shade and relaxed with a good book. I made sure I was drinking plenty of water. I also dropped my running shoes and hat in the transition area even though I didn’t think I would really be needing them. It was an interesting “camping” experience since there were some collegiate teams there for the International distance triathlon. I got to listen to a bit of rap music, and according to one guy nearby, “the best song ever written.” I always thought “Stairway to Heaven” filled that spot.
I woke up Sunday morning at around 5 and got my cycling and swimming stuff together. I stuck my wetsuit and things into my messenger bag, slung it over my shoulder, and coasted most of the 7 miles to the start of the race at Folsom lake. I didn’t really know where I was going, but I ran into some other folks that were heading down there and we coasted together. I was still a tiny bit hopeful that my calf would not be an issue since I had been taking plenty of Ibuprofen and icing it. I lathered on plenty of sunscreen, and barely squeezed into my wetsuit from 1989 when I had done the World’s Toughest Triathlon in Tahoe. I was the only one around with pastel colors on. It was deep water start, so I swam out about 20 yards from the shore and waited along with quite a few people. When the starting horn went off, I took off with the masses and “enjoyed” the experience of getting kicked and clawed by 100’s of other swimmers. About 5 minutes into the swim, my shoulders felt like they were on fire, and I was starting to second guess my lack of swim training. I didn’t want to slow down since I knew there were a couple of 100 other swimmers behind me, so I flipped over on my back a couple of times and backstroked to try to loosen things up. Much to my surprise, things loosened up, and the second 2/3’s of the 1.2 mile swim felt pretty good. I came out of the water feeling much better than I had at the start. Swimming in Folsom lake is not a good experience either. There were times where we were swimming through lots of debris that made me scared to breath in. There was also a very strong gasoline smell at some points. As I started running up the boat ramp, I felt that all-to-common pain in my calf. I had to laugh to myself, how could I have thought it would go away? I hobbled over to my bike, threw my stuff into my transition bag, and climbed on my bike.
Well, remember that 7 mile coast down to the start, now we had to climb back up it. I think it was about a 1000 foot climb or something like that. I hadn’t set my bike up special, not even putting on my race wheels or aero-bars. I figured that since I hadn’t been training at all, I didn’t want to push myself too much on the bike. For the most part, the lack of aero-bars was not a big deal. The bike ride was seldom flat. At this point it was also starting to heat up around there. I made sure I drank plenty of fluids, and put down an Enervit every 45 minutes or so. I was suffering pretty good during the ride, but I knew that I wouldn’t have to do the run, so I didn’t have to have anything left when I finished.
When I did finish the bike ride, I felt totally spent. My legs hurt, my calf had been hurting the whole ride, I was very happy that I could just grab my stuff and head back to the car. I pulled into the transition area, saw my running shoes sitting there, and decided that I might as well put them on since I didn’t want to walk back to the car in my cycling shoes. I then put on my hat and even wrapped my race number around me. I downed one more Enervit, and thought I would just run a couple of steps and see what happened. Much to my dismay, there was no pain. I ran out of the transition area and onto the dirt single track that made up about half of the run. I kept waiting for the pain to hit me, but I felt great. I figured that anytime I started to feel the pain, I would just stop and walk back to the finish. The run course consisted of two 10km loops with a little extra added onto the second loop to give you 13.1 miles. At this point, it was over a 100 degrees out there, but the volunteers were doing a great job of throwing ice water on me and I don’t think there were too many times during the run where I ever dried out. I did have some stomach problems around mile 9, and I won’t go into too much detail, but suffice to say that I somehow got rid of everything I had eaten and drank over the last hour in about 3 seconds. It was a little embarrassing, but only a couple of runners were out there to see it. After that I felt terrific and clicked off a couple of more miles before I started to feel tired. I felt pretty good as I came across the finish line. It would have been nice to see Claire there, but I wouldn’t have wanted to think about her sitting out in that heat all day. I was a little disappointed with the after race food. They had advertised smoothies and burritos, and when I finished, all they had left were room temperature hotdogs. I know there were plenty of people still out on the course, so I wasn’t as if I was one of the last people. I think that all the athletes who had done the shorter version ate up all the food. A race organizer should plan for that.
Tour of the Unknown Coast
I did the 100 mile version of the TUC yesterday. It is one of my favorite centuries. Since it is a mass start, it is quite fast. I think around 400 people do the 100 mile version, and there is a couple of shorter rides and even a 10 mile family fun ride. Claire did her own ride, which consisted of going down to the coffee shop and talking for a couple of ours with some of the locals and then going out and doing about 40 miles on her own. The organizers of the ride send the bike shop a couple of free entries each year which is a nice gesture.
My goal was to stay with the front group until we reached Panther Gap, which climbs to an elevation of 2744 feet. The ride usually stays together for the first 15 miles or so until you hit 3 little climbs before descending into Scotia. In years past I have ended up in leading groups of only a dozen riders or so, but this year there were at least a 100 riders in the pack. Anyway, I had a really good time with some tendon pain nagging me almost the whole day. On the Wall, which is an 18% climb for a mile, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I could have all the major muscle groups in my upper legs cramp up at the same time. I just rode through it because I didn’t want to fall over. The whole ride took me about 6 hours and 20 minutes. Definitely not my fastest time, but considering my lack of riding, I was very happy with it. Probably one of my only concerns, besides the leg pain, was my heart rate. I usually try to keep my heart rate between 130 and 170, but out of the 6 hours, I was over 170 for 4 hours. There were plenty of times when I looked down and saw that I was running at around 191 or 192 bpm. I am no spring chicken, and at my age I should probably try to keep things more under control. I think I will email my doctor about this.
For a more detailed description of the Tour of the Unknown Coast, which I would highly recommend, check out this website.
Windy Commute home
I was able to get out of the shop a little early on Tuesday and decided to take the long way home. It ended up being the windy way home. I have been riding out near Valley Ford for years, and yesterday was the windiest I have ever felt it. At one point out near Middle Road, I was standing up on my bike in the middle of the road going 12 mph. I had to stay in the middle of the road since the wind was buffeting me from both sides and from head on. When I first started heading into the wind, all the way back on Pepper, I figured that I was in no hurry, and I would just visualize I was a screen door the whole way. By the time I hit Middle-Two Rock, the screen door analogy had slammed shut and I was not enjoying myself. I had thought about heading down Highway 1 and going over Coleman Valley, but I was having a hard time keeping my bike on the road just from the town of Valley Ford to Valley Ford-Freestone Cutoff Road. I did feel much better by the time I got in to Occidental and I enjoyed myself going over Morelli and down Harrison Grade. Here is a map of the route. My tendon was a little sore the whole time, but there was no extreme pain. I did stretch for quite a while when I got home. I am a little scared about going out for a run and seeing what happens. It is 11 days until the World’s Toughest Half Ironman, and I am very unsure about whether I can run or not. Well, we shall see, I am just considering a training ride and not a race.
Giving it a go
I went out and rode 60 miles today. The first 30 was on my own and I rode down and over Sweetwater. I felt really good, and just felt a dull ache in my lower leg. I then rode a couple of extra flat miles and then met Claire back at the house for a ride into Healdsburg via Starr Road. It was a good ride, but quite a headwind on the way out. We had a small pizza at Oakville Grocery in downtown Healdsburg. At $8 it was a great deal and filled us both up. We came back on Westside Road and didn’t get the tailwind that we deserved. When we got back home I put on my running stuff and went out for a run. I didn’t know what to expect, and at first I was happy to feel good with no pain. Then I started getting little pulses of intense pain in my lower leg. I turned around when I had counted 10 of them. I ended up with 3 miles. If I can fix that pain, I will be content with my current fitness. I will be heading into the physical therapist on Wednesday. Let’s hope that they can figure something out. I am hovering around 13.6 stones, and would be quite happy to lose that 2/3 of a stone. Actually after the ride and run, I weighed approximately (10 + pi) stones, which is a strange coincidence. Anyway, here is a picture of my route from mapmyride.com, which always makes me think of that tv show called pimp my ride. I know I should just link to it, but my web browser doesn’t want to.
Back on the bike
I rode into work this morning, the boring way. It was a pleasant ride and a nice temperature. I had pretty constant pain in my calf, but nothing I couldn’t live with. It never got any worse for the 40 km ride. Claire and I went mountain biking Thursday evening. Our Cannondale rep gave me a Rize 1 to ride. That is one of their new carbon/aluminum models. It is all made in Bedford, PA. I haven’t been on a mountain bike with more than one gear in years, and it has been even longer since I have ridden full suspension. It was a blast. You don’t have to worry about steering around all those rocks, and you can really power through the bumpy sections on the climbs. The carbon Lefty fork on the bike didn’t take any getting used to, and tracked great. It is stiffer than any other suspension fork I have ever ridden. The bike goes for $5500, so I don’t think I will be getting one, but it was lots of fun. The bike weighed less that 24 pounds.
Seeing the doctor
I have an appointment tomorrow to see my doctor about the pain in my left leg. It started hurting quite bad last week, and didn’t let up over the weekend. I have been unable to even think about running, and haven’t had the time to ride my bike. It looks like I got a mandatory week break from training. It is 31 days till The World’s Toughest. I figure that I am in good enough shape right now, but I couldn’t do it with my leg the way it is. We will see how things go.