Week 10: Heat, Racing and more Heat!

https://youtu.be/udmcKl0Wp7o

At any moment you must be willing to sacrifice who you are for what you are going to become.

That's a strong message and if considered forces one to face the uncomfortable sacrifices required to make meaningful change.  Sometime during 2015, I started struggling with depression, unhealthy habits and was in a dark place.  I had become the person I gave up being some number of years before  And I'd tell myself...

Come on, Philip, you're better than this!

Racing is a tone-setter.  Racing a bike, for me, is a chance to do my very best at something.  There's an inherent value to giving your best effort, holding nothing back, with total commitment.  It's a pervasive state of being.  People that dismiss their roles in bad outcomes fail to be accountable for much of anything.  People that push themselves do so in increasingly many ways.  

I'm not that 300 pound person any more, and fear is a powerful motivator to steer me clear of

New Max Power

regression.  So when I say I gained 5 pounds in the past two weeks, and there's no guilt or shame, I know it's okay.  I'm leaner over the same time period and stronger, too.  In fact, this past week I had several PRs UP steep, difficult segments, a new all-time high max power output on the bike and a new 5 second best power output.  I feel strong on the bike.  The weight will take care of itself.

The weight can be frustrating, especially when Tour of the Gila is such a hilly race.  But, as long as my power is increasing and I'm not getting fatter, I guess it's okay.  After the season I'll focus on losing weight again.

Along with the weight comes an unhappy knee.  Last weekend, after my Saturday group ride, I went out with two teammates, Tim and Rich, and we hit some hills.  Rich took us up the road called Snyder Road...nicknamed, The Wall.  The hill has LOTS and LOTS of 20% - plus inclines, the average for the whole thing is 15%.  My average cadence was just 51 RPM, and at the end I spun up real quick to pass Rich.  My knees are very unhappy with me for the effort.

But, good news is that I've been spending consistent time on the TT bike, in the aero position, and getting more comfortable.

This past weekend was the Southern Arizona Omnium.  A stage race is scored by time on each stage and to compete in the stage race you must race in all of the stages. An omnium assigns points to each race and people that aren't competing in the omnium can still jump in any of the particular races.

Day one was an AWESOME criterium at Musselman Honda Circuit Track.  The course was fast but the turns were still a bit technical.  The race was at night, under the lights and I was absolutely pumped to jump in and race.  Here's a video of the S-turn:

I put myself in a few spots of trouble late, one by hitting a small grate I hadn't seen on the inside of one turn, and then being on the outside of someone I knew didn't take the last corner well (he apologized profusely later, he didn't know ... I did, my fault for being there), and ended up 7th.  Still, we had a big field and the only group that was faster on average were the Men 1/2 category.  Our final lap average speed was 29.4 mph!

Some horse bathing next to the warm up area for the TT.

The last time I raced, just a few weeks ago, I had hypothermia!  This weekend was the opposite.  It was HOT.  Even the nighttime race was hot.  The tarmac radiated heat like crazy and I downed a full 24 oz water bottle in a 30 minute crit!  I usually don't even take water on crits.

Day two was a 20K time trial.  Usually these start at the crack of dawn, but because the final races weren't over until 11 PM, we didn't start the TT until 11 AM.  My time was 11:41.  Regardless, there was a huge turn out for this early season TT.  It makes me think that the schedule needs to be changed.  Most of the TTs in Arizona come after the state championship.

Time trials are what I used to be best at.  So I'm a little frustrated that I am having so much trouble with them!  I decided that one of my problems was hubris.  I don't want to accept the fact that I'm making so little power on the TT bike, so I've gone out too hard and blown up.  The plan for the day was to NOT do that.  The details were to go out at 330 watts for the first 2 miles, then 340 until the turn around at 10k.  At the turn around, drink some water, take a breath, then 350 watts until 5k remain, bump it to 360 for 2 miles and then jump drop the hammer to finish the race.

Loosening up for the TT.

A post shared by Philip Brown (@gruveb) on Mar 11, 2017 at 9:55am PST

So I ended up riding a fantastic negative-split 12K time trial.  Of course, the race was 20K and I suffered mightly over the last 20K.  After the race, talking with my buddy Kyle, he stated the obvious (as he, too, is disappointed with how his TTs are going), which is that we've not been doing those long efforts required to do well on a TT.

Even with the poor execution, I ended up at 28:22 unofficially, but the race officials added 30 seconds to my time, I think because my 30 second man didn't show up.  There was all sorts of scoring errors and right now the officials are manually going through to recheck and calculate the times.  Even if I'm wrong, and they're right, I won by 2 minutes over my omnium competitors.  This was a mixed bag because it only gave me a handful of extra points over the competitors but definitely caught everybody's attention.  I was a marked man on the road race.

We had 49 riders in our race!

Going into Sunday's road race I was a little nervous.  Saturday afternoon I suffered some pretty bad cramps and wasn't feeling too hot, from the heat, you know.  (See what I did there, eh???)  But my plan was to make the race hard, and try to get away in lap 3 (of 5).  The road race was 5 laps around Pistol Hill, in Vail, Arizona.

I was in 2nd place, or maybe 3rd, the results weren't posted and I calculated on my own, and I wanted to win the omnium.  So, I was going for broke.  I didn't want to ride to hold onto 2nd place, but the real issue was that if I won the road race and the guy in first, Caden, came in second, he'd still win the omnium, by just 2 points.  Caden proved too smart and strong and no matter how I tried, I was given ZERO leash.  No matter what I did, someone was willing to bury themselves to bring me in.  A few other attacks were successful and two breakaways actually stuck until the last part of the last lap, which is unusual for Cat4 racing.  But, it was clear, I was going no where.

Salt leached through the bib number!

In the end, I popped, finishing 12th on the day as I cramped coming up the hill.  I felt horrible, totally spent, but also happy that I at least had a chance to play my cards.  This omnium, after all, is training. Had the race been scored on time, I'd have ridden easy all day and not gotten the training benefit.

In the end, I came out 3rd in the omnium and made some new friends and had a great time doing it.  That's bike racing for you.

Next weekend is the Tucson Bicycle Classic.  I'm racing Cat4 again, and again, it's a very large field.  This is a big event for me, one where I want to show well!  I'm far from where I want to be, both in general cycling ability and weight.  But, this year is all about learning and developing and suffering and smiling while doing it all!  So long as I keep those priorities, the results are positive.

So I'll leave you with some pictures from the week.  Thanks for reading and following along.

Brought Chuggies to the Crit... he was a bad dog though.

At least I wasn't in trouble!

Tim and I warming up before the crit!

A pic I took on a training ride this week.

A pic from the road race Sunday.

I was trying to punish people in the back of the pack coming out of this corner!

The No-Podium Podium

Week 9: Tour of the Gila ... Fun & Fatigue

The most common question non-cyclists ask about racing is, "How many miles was the race?"  It's the same misconception that leads people to think that the best runners must run marathons, since that's way longer than a 5K!  While distance causes problems, of course, it's really about intensity.  A 30 minute criterium can be much harder than a century ride like El Tour de Tucson.

Elevation profile of the Whipple Climb

The intensity in training has been causing me problems.  I've never trained with intensity before and am shocked at how long it takes to recover!  On Tuesday this week I did a triple ascent of a local Category 2 Climb called Whipple.  The route starts at the desert floor and climbs up to the Whipple Observatory Visitor's Center, about six miles and a thousand feet of climbing.  What makes it difficult is the nature of the road ... it's NOT smooth at all.  Also, it's very exposed and the wind is always an issue.  Beyond that, there are a few places that get steep, but over all it's a gradual climb.  A good time up the climb is 30 minutes.  On Tuesday I did it in 26 minutes the first time, 25 and change the second and 25 and a little less change the third.  I was FRIED!

Not until Saturday morning did I start to feel a little recovered from Tuesday's effort.  That's okay though, that kind of climbing will help me at Gila!

I'm a high school math teacher, which means I have to work two jobs.  My second job is as a math teacher at a community college, where I work a couple of nights a week.  My typical rest day from training is on Monday, which so happens to be one of the days where I get off of work at the high school and then go work until about 9 PM at night at the college.  Not much rest!  

At the base of the Catalina Mtns looking down on Tucson

This has been how I've been working in rest for a few months now, but this week, I began to feel frazzled, harried and rushed.  I couldn't sleep and was feeling burned out.  So, Wednesday I did just a short spin on the trainer, Thursday a short workout (had a dinner function to attend anyway) and Friday, still feeling fried, I did nothing.  Saturday I went to Tucson and did the Bicycle Ranch Ride, again, but today, Sunday, I slept in, took a nap and went out for a late lunch with my wife.  I'm feeling much better, if not a touch sore from Saturday.

This coming week is spring break at the college, and the next week is spring break at the high school.  After life returns to normal I need to decide if I need to take Sunday as my rest day instead of Mondays.  There's a good chance that's my best bet right now.  My body is not used to this type of physical stress and it takes time to get adjusted to such things. But, I'm riding stronger than before my injury (except maybe on the TT bike) and having a blast doing so!

Might be time to trim up a bit!

The highlight of the week came on Saturday, during the Bicycle Ranch group ride.  The shop owner, Steve, and one of the mechanics, Joe, joined in the ride and always make sure that people know the route, call out obstacles and then they take a look at anybody's bikes that might need some adjustments after the ride.  Plus, the orange juice and bagels are an absolute God-Send after a hard ride!

This week, my teammate and training partner, Tim and I decided we'd work some tactics on the ride.  The first half of the ride is defined by about 15 minutes of climbing, which concludes at the Dove Mountain Resort.  First to the top, wins.  The plan was that we'd just make sure to shut down any breaks and follow the aggressive riders up the hill.  With about a mile to go I'd put in an attack and Tim would surf wheels until I was caught, then he'd counter-attack.  It worked perfectly and was so much fun!  Here's a video of the ride:  

This coming week will be a lot of fun.  Friday night I'll be doing a criterium, first one at night, and it's on a go-cart track!  Saturday is a 20K time trial (I'm still unhappy that I haven't dialed in things on the TT bike, and have no idea how to pace myself yet on a TT), and Sunday is a road race.  I'm registered in the Men's Cat 4 races for the whole shebang.  Hopefully I can win the omnium!

The following week is the Tucson Bicycle Classic stage race, where I'm also racing Cat4 Mens, and the next weekend is my hometown race, The Nogales Bicycle Classic.  Looks like I've got a busy schedule coming up!  I'm up for it, excited to race and hopefully I can get some good results.

Thanks for reading!

What I've Learned About Weight Loss, So Far

Trying to return to cycling after my ordeal

I'd like to take you through what I've done over the past year, well 11 months anyway, to get back to my old weight, and what I am doing currently to continue getting leaner.  I don't share this for pats on the back and atta-boys.  In fact, I'm pretty embarrassed about it.  It's not something I'm proud of, not at all.  I share this because it might help someone.

At one point in my life I weighed over 300 pounds.  That was about seven years ago.  I suffered from chronic back pain, had already had a surgery to repair three ruptured discs, and was suffering some serious stomach issues due to over use of anti-inflammatory medications.  Without hyperbole, I felt horrible.

In that year when I decided to lose the weight and get healthy. I dropped to 200 pounds and stayed around 200 to 210 for the next few years.  Then, in 2014, I my old back injury progressed and put me in bad shape. (It sucks that even when you realize the error in your ways and correct it that sometimes you still have to pay the price!)  I ended up needing a fusion from S1 - L5 and L5 - L4. During this time period I was not able to exercise and I struggled with depression, over-eating and drinking too much beer.  I ballooned up to 272 pounds on March 31st of 2016!

Other than the following, I will omit anything dealing with the specific nature of my recovery as it pertained to my weight loss and return to cycling.  My recovery was very gradual and slow.  It may seem quick, but that's in hindsight.  I had to retrain my brain to use neuropathways and chains of muscles in sequences that it had forgotten to do.  It was painful and I was weak, both physically and emotionally.

Now, I didn't set out and say, "Hey, I want to win some bike races."  I set out and said, "I want to see if I can ride."  Once it was apparent that I could ride, which took about 9 months after surgery, I then said, "Let's see if I can race."  I'm still learning how much recovery I need and still struggling with balancing time spent specifically training for bike racing and general health (general health work takes away from training time, but without it I'm probably not riding for long).  I mention this because I kept my expectations simple and I believe that is key!  Be patient!

Specifics of nutrition and weight loss are so individualized and contentious that I will try and keep my statements and recommendations limited to things that pass these two check-points:  Did it work for me and is it probably generally true for most people?  (No matter what advice you follow, you'll have to test and tweak to make it work best for you, and that formula will vary from everybody else!)

So, here's what I've done and what I'd also advise others that wish to lose weight to do.  I'l start from the biggest bang for the buck, which is also easiest, and progressively move to trickier things that produce marginal gains.

Tip Number 1:  Get Organized and Keep Track

It's said that the majority of weight loss, especially long-term, comes from the kitchen, not the gym. Because of this, I'd suggest taking a week or two and just tracking EVERYTHING you consume ... coffee creamer, alcohol, all of it.

Don't estimate how much you're eating, measure it.  This little sacrifice for a short period of time will inform you, and that information will allow you to properly change things.  I invested in a food scale, and lots can be found on Amazon for less than $20.

Cookies or salad?  

I cannot stress enough the importance of the accuracy of your calorie counting during this phase!  And just eat what you normally eat, don't worry about it...you're collecting data from which you will develop a plan.

Now, for tracking the calories I prefer MyFitnessPal.  It's simple, easy to use and customize and the app is fantastic.

After a week, or maybe even two, you can look for trends.  If you can cut 200-300 calories a day, without changing your exercise habits, you'll drop two pounds a month.  That might not seem like much, but that's just trimming a touch from dinner alone and you're 24 pounds lighter in a year from a change you'll likely NOT notice at all.

Play around with cutting calories that you won't miss, especially empty calories!  They add up, fast!  Exchange potatoes and gravy for zucchini and mushrooms, bread in sandwiches for a lower calorie bread ... things like that.

Tip Number 2:  Change Your Body Composition

You don't need body fat calipers or a scale to make what I'm going to say here work for you.  However, I like to track data and found this scale by Tanita to be awesome.  I heard about it from TrainerRoad's podcast, give them a listen if you haven't yet.  Well worth the money!  Now the body fat measurements fluctuate daily, but over time you can track significant trends.

The idea here is that while muscle weighs more than fat (yes, we are talking about losing weight), muscle mass requires more calories to maintain than fat.  If you can build some lean muscle mass, you'll burn more calories when at rest than you did without that lean muscle mass.  Plus, you'll feel better and be healthier.

I'm a cyclist, but I do go to the gym.  I also do pushups and pullups and many other such exercises.  A simple Google search says that replacing one pound of fat with a pound of muscle requires you to burn an additional 50 calories a day.  That means, sitting on your duff all day with one more pound of muscle requires 50 more calories to be burned.  That's free weight-loss right there.

If you can gain 5 pounds of muscle (which will likely mean you'll drop a lot of fat in the meantime), you'll be burning 250 calories more per day, than if you did not build the muscle.  That 250 calories is about 2 pounds a month, which is another 24 pounds in a year!

I am suggesting that adding some strength training to your routine and cutting out 200 - 300 calories a day should yield some pretty significant changes in weight and body composition over the course of a year, and we're not including the calories you'd use while doing the strength training.

If you're interested in lifting weights, I'd suggest complex moves that use multiple muscles simultaneously.  I tried StrongLift's 5x5 program to be amazing.  It won't make you bulky but will make you a lot stronger.  If a gym just isn't your thing, body weight exercises are amazing!

Tip Number 3:  Quality, Quantity and Timing

The first two are easy to act upon and require minimal understanding.  Eat a little less, do a little more.

The general idea with tip three is a bit more nuanced...but to avoid embarrassing myself by exposing my vast ignorance, I'll try to keep it as simple as I understand it!  (Nutrition is anything but simple.)

Timing and Quantity:  The time of the day we have the most ahead of us is at the beginning of the day.  The time of day when we have the least ahead of us is at the end of the day.  Yet, it's typical that dinner is the largest meal of the day and breakfast is often the smallest, lowest quality, and that's if it is consumed at all!

Beef Wellington with Roasted Veggies ... treat yourself!

Do what you can to reverse that trend.  Make breakfast big, hearty and healthy.  Make dinner smaller and smaller over time.  See, breakfast will provide you with fuel for the tasks of the day.  What do you need energy for after dinner, watching TV, brushing your teeth, sleeping?  All of the calories you're not using get stored as fat!  That's the wrong way to go!

As for quantity, you can use MyFitnessPal, or any one of many online calculators to determine how many calories you need to maintain your weight given your activity level, gender and age.  A word of warning here, and this will take some trial and error, and careful monitoring on your part ... these calculators often over-estimate, often grossly, how many calories are burned by given exercises.  The sad part of it is that it often doesn't matter how hard you're trying ... certain activities burn basically the same amount of calories.

For example, running is roughly 100 calories per mile.  Whether that's a 12 minute mile of a 5 minute mile, it's still about 100 calories (a little more, but you get the idea). Now with cycling, if you have a power meter, you can more accurately know the calories burned by looking at the kilojoules.  Basically the number of kilojoules done is the same as the number of calories burned.

This was a sad revelation to me when I first returned to the bike because I'd work so hard, be so tired that I swore I could, justifiably, eat 4 burritos and a bunch of guacamole.  But the truth was, I wasn't very strong and I just didn't burn many calories on my workout.  Now, because I'm a lot stronger, a moderate intensity ride for an hour usually burns 850 to 900 calories for me.  A smaller rider with less power will burn 600 calories with the same level of effort and duration.

So, here's the wrap-up.  Big breakfast and lunch, small dinner.  With dinner, carbohydrates aren't really needed.  With increased exercise you will need to increase your consumption of fuel.  However, timing is important.  If you have a big workout planning for the afternoon, eat a big lunch.  When trying to lose weight, avoid post-workout meals/supplements.  Often it's the case that you don't really need them (if you're eating a healthy meal later), and often you don't burn as many calories as you feel like you did!

Quality:  Specific foods to recommend are tricky.  Some are pretty easy, like steel cut oats instead of the other varieties, but organic eggs versus regular eggs ... ???  Then, when you get into the food types, it's even worse because everybody has slightly different genetic responses to the food they consume.  Some people burn it all off immediately (can't gain weight) while others ... well, you know how that goes if you're still reading!

A general notion I believe is worth following is that you should train your body to become for fat adapted.  That is, the more efficient your body is at processing fats instead of relying on sugars, the healthier you'll be.  So, sugar bad, fat good.  Does that mean you can't have a cookie?  Definitely not... in fact, changes you make need to be sustainable for the duration of your life, if you're following my advice.  That said, here we go...

A few general guidelines I can offer:

• Avoid added sugars!  Everybody knows soda is bad because of the sugar, about 39 grams...which happens to be how many grams of sugar are in your average store-bought muffin!  Read the labels!
• Have a menu of items from which you can eat when you're in a pinch and starving like
• Apples
• Nuts 
• Carrots
• Green Beans
• Peanut Butter 
• Jerky
• The less packaging the better
• The fewer ingredients the better
• The closer to natural the better
• Cook it at home from whole ingredients whenever possible
• Familiarize yourself with the glycemic index.  The slower burning foods will help you lose weight more than the faster burning foods.  

Tasso Ham, Poached Egg and Salsa ... delicious!

Now with sweeping statements like, "The less (or more) of this, the better," it is easy to come up with the counter-examples, but they're general guidelines, not hard rules.  For example, one of my favorite things, peanut butter.  Yes, it's calorically dense, but it's satiating and has good fats.  If you turn the jars of peanut butter around at the store and examine the ingredient lists, you'll soon see that natural peanut butters have far fewer ingredients, especially added sugars.  These are best.  Now, maybe you like your Jiff ... but you can compromise and settle for something close that's WAY better for you.  Chances are, you prefer one brand to another because you're comfortable and used to it, not because it actually tastes better.

This has been a long post and I've tried to keep things as general as possible.  Nearly each item could be chapters in a book.  But, I just wanted to share what it is I've done, generally, and what works for me.  I hope you've found something you can take with you and use yourself and I hope that you reach a healthier lifestyle.

Week Ate, er Eight: Fat Boy Trains for Tour of the Gila!

This year is all about learning and developing as a cyclist.  I'm learning about how long it takes me to recover from things like a hard stage race, like last week's VOS.  I think I'm still feeling effects of it a full week later.  On Friday, for example, I had an insatiable appetite.  I ended up eating 3,800 calories worth of food, all save a small bag of pretzel chips, was what I'd consider healthy food.  And right now, I'm eating to hunger, to be strong, not to cut weight.  So, I felt a strong kinship to my wife's little dog, who found himself in a dangerous situation where this pretzel chip bag almost cost him his life!  Poor little thing couldn't breathe.  Of course, I had to take a picture before rescuing him!

After digesting what happened last week I sat down and mapped out my plan from now until Tour of the Gila.  I really need to work on my ability to "punch" hard on a hill and then recover at a fairly high level of effort.  I also need to work on my ability to make power on my TT bike.  Those are the biggest two issues I see myself struggling with that I can do something about in the next two months.

The biggest limiter I have is my weight.  I'm happy to say that I'm consistently under 200 pounds now, but would like to be 180.  I can perhaps drop a pound a week or so without the weight loss inhibiting recovery from workouts, but getting stronger is more important than getting lighter at this point of the season.

Some deer I spotted on the way to Pena Blanca Lake

All that said, I am only using TrainerRoad right now for intervals in the aero position.  Some intervals are at Sweet Spot, but I'm also doing an easy 30 minute spin early in the mornings, too.  I do these in the aero position, hoping to become more adept making power in that position and also burning a few hundred easy calories without taxing myself too much.  I love TrainerRoad, but I need to get experience on my bikes in race conditions.  That means, time trial bike in windy and hilly conditions and the road bike spinning instead of grinding up hills!

Tuesday I rode to Pena Blanca Lake, which has about 8 total climbs ranging from 1 to 2 kilometers in length, all with some very steep sections!  Perfect hills to practice punching and recovering.  I hit the hills and held 400 watts up them and then over the top I spun out and then stood up to regain speed as I went down the other side.  I was happy with my workout, though I was tired from VOS.

Wednesday morning was an hour of zone two intervals in the aero position and Thursday I attacked Whipple Observatory Visitor's Center climb twice.  It's a Category 2 climb, about 6.5 miles long, averaging just under 3% gradient, but that's a little misleading becaus

e there are some steep sections.  I had a normalized power of 353 watts on the second attempt and had my second fastest time ever on that attempt.  I just went into it thinking about punching whenever it would make me fastest and then trying to recovery without letting off the gas too much.

Friday I was a chaperone for the high school science club as we went to an amusement park, Castles and Coasters, in Phoenix, to ride the roller coasters and do science-type stuff.  It was a great, but exhausting day.

Knowing I was a bit fried from last weekend I opted for an easier, but still challenging, group ride on Saturday, the Bicycle Ranch Round Up, in Tucson.  I was very happy with my efforts, especially on the last big climb of the day, which is actually quite short, but still takes a few minutes.  I attacked the hill and the data showed I held 790 watts for 25 seconds and then 475 watts for another 30 seconds to finish off the hill.  Nobody was around me, so I just finished off the next 10 minutes of the ride at an average of 373 watts.  I wish I could make 373 watts that easily on my TT bike!

Sunday was windy!  I went out on the TT bike with full aero equipment, just to see how it felt.  I did only three intervals, covering 40 miles (20 less than planned), but was fried.  I am happy to report that the 90 mm front wheel I run from Flo Cycling is amazing.  In the crazy wind I did get pushed around a bit, but never did I feel like my wheel was being twisted, even bombing downhill in the aero position with the winds swirling through the narrow canyons!  I'm super happy with Flo and I will be buying a 60 mm front wheel in the future, for my road bike!

Here's a video of part of the group ride I did on Saturday.  It's hosted by Bicycle Ranch Bike Shop, in Tucson.  Great shop, awesome and friendly people.



This coming week I will be doing a step test on the TT bike to see where my FTP is so I can have more accurate goals and pacing.  I'll be putting in a big ride over the weekend.  Otherwise, just grinding it out, eating right and trying to get plenty of sleep!

Until next time, thanks for reading!

Week 7: Valley of the Sun Stage Race

I have gone through a life-changing experience, the magnitude of which is just slightly overshadowed by my marriage and my children.  That's right, the Neti Pot!

I spent the majority of week 7 sick and in bed.  I missed work twice and was completely useless the days I did work.  For the first time since March of 2016 I had to take medication.  First, decongestants, and later, antibiotics.  But I'm glad to have access to such things.  I'm not anti-medication by any stretch, I've just been healthy enough to not need any for almost a full year.

One thing I've learned is not to take opportunities for granted.  While sick, I could still ride and had already paid the money to race at Valley of the Sun.  I figured I'd see how day 1 went and if I felt the same or better on day 2, I'd participate, and then again for day 3 the same.

For those that don't know what Valley of the Sun is, allow me to explain.  VOS (we'll call it), is a 3 day stage race where lowest cumulative time of the three races (stages) determines the winner.  It's Arizona's biggest race, attracting people from all over North America.  Day 1 is a time trial, where you race a distance for time.  There is no drafting off of other riders (which means it's a true test of strength).  Day 2 is a road race with a climbing finish, which favors smaller riders.  Day 3 is a criterium, which is fast and flat, which favors bigger riders.

Sick or not, Thursday after work I loaded up the car to head to my brother-in-law, and teammate, Gene's house in Phoenix.  Gene was racing with me, Men's Category 4.  That's a developing level cycling category, not beginner, but not advanced either.  It's often a mixed bag, with some guys that have topped out and will be there forever, with some guys who are "sandbaggers," and stay there because it affords easier winning opportunities, and some guys that are just moving through on their way to high categories.

I think I'm in the last group here.  I just moved into Cat 4, have potential to be a good bike racer, but need to learn to race and have some things to develop along the way.

Weather was to play a big role all weekend.  For the time trial (TT), on Friday, the weather was very windy.  If memory serves, the wind was 22 - 25 mph with gusts 35+ at race time for me.  The course was 7.3 miles out, slightly uphill, with the wind being helpful.  Then, 7.3 miles back, slightly downhill, with the wind making life suck.

My game plan was to hit 380 to 390 watts on the way out, and 340 to 350 on the way back.  I know that if I'm healthy I can hit those numbers.  I also knew, at the time, that I was going for broke trying to do it sick.  If I went too hard, I'd be slower than if I was far more conservative.  But, VOS is training for me and sick or not, I'm going for it.

People lined up for miles on the sides of the road warming up!

I could NOT hit my numbers, not even close.  Based on what I know I can do, this was my worst performance ever in a time trial.  I was 2 minutes slower than my conservative estimate.  But, that was good enough for 2nd place on the day in my category!  How lucky is that?  Pretty much any other category and I wouldn't be top 10!  Craziness.

The situation did upset me though because I want to see where I stand with riders in other categories.  I want a measure of how I'm progressing and the VOS TT was my best chance to do that in 2017!  But, there's nothing I can do about it.  Even healthy, things could happen.  I know of some friends that got flats on the race, so their day ended even worse than mine!  Gene got a cramp in his calf so bad, that he had some muscle tearing!  Bring what you have race day and see how it goes!

My visor after the race...this is the inside of it!

Going into day 2, the road race, I was 30 seconds down from 1st and about 20 seconds up from 2nd place.  The winds were in the high teens, swirling, and it was raining most of the day.  With temperatures in the mid 50's, and being sick already, this proved to be a miserable day for me.  To make matters worse, after the race I realized I had forgotten my change of clothes at home and was staying at the race for another 4 hours to help out my teammate Tim!  I was able to borrow a pair of shorts from my 135 pound brother in law so at least I was able to get out of my wet kit, but I started with a fever after I got done shaking for a solid hour sitting in the truck with heater blasting!  But I'm getting ahead of the story ...

The race was three laps, just under 17 miles each.  There are about 3 kilometers of climbing and the rest is wide open down hill.  The terrain and the wind make the race rather dull for 14 miles of each lap because without a crosswind, which can be used to get away from other cyclists, there's nowhere to attack.  People tried anyway, but nothing stuck.  The second lap had a KOM time bonus at the finish line of 10 seconds.  I had hoped that a break would form then and perhaps I could join in and work with that group to catch the leader and hop into first place.  If not, I'd wait to do an attack on the last lap.

I had a couple of people reach out to me before the race with encouragement and advice, which is way cool.  These guys know what they're talking about, too.  One guy is a Cat1 pro rider currently, who before this did a lot of track riding and was an international level triathlete.  The other person is a retired world-tour rider.  Believe me, when they offered me advice, I listened!

The small mountain we did laps around during the race.

The advice was basically about positioning, patience, timing of work and making an attack that just brutalized the field.  "Make it a blood bath!"  I followed the advice perfectly in the road race, until the last part.  I just didn't have the legs (or maybe it was the lungs) to punch.

The weather proved enough to keep everybody very cautious, people slowed down for obstacles, called everything out and didn't use these things as opportunities to attack.  It was like a friendly group ride in that respect!  I just hid from the wind until the second lap and stayed position near the front to watch for a break to form.  A small one had, but when I bridged up to it, the others shut it down.

On the last lap, going up the hill, I just didn't have the legs to do anything meaningful. I was left doing exactly what I was told not to do, surfing wheels hoping they'd respond to the meaningful attacks at the end.  I was left reacting instead of instigating and it cost me some time.  But, I kept 2nd place in the GC!  I was 8th in the race, but really never figured into the outcome of the day in any meaningful way.

After the race I got pretty sick.  I couldn't get warm, and once I did, if I stepped out of the truck for more than a minute or two, I was right back where I started.  I'm a burly 200 pound man, I don't get cold!  So while I sat in the truck shivering, Gene, who tore his calf in the time trial and further injured it in the road race, forcing him to abandon, stood out in the wind and rain and handed water bottles off to Tim!  I felt like a schmuck not helping out!  I did get a few videos of various groups going by and was able to cheer on some friends, at least in my mind, as they raced.

Here's a video of the Pro/Cat1 group on their first lap:

A kid ready to go in the kid's race!  Criteriums are so fun to watch!

After we got home and ate some real food I felt a little better.  I tucked in early Saturday night and slept well.  I woke up Sunday morning feeling okay, but still sick.  I was in second place and was sure that even sick, I could ride wheels and finish in the pack and probably hold onto second place.  Sunday was a criterium.  Criteriums are short course races that are fast, punchy and tactics are key.  Crashes are frequent in criteriums and the day called for, you guessed it, more rain!  Those things, in combination with advice I failed to execute on Saturday, started a seed of understanding that blossomed during the race.

The criterium was in downtown Phoenix. Criteriums are awesome to watch.  There is great people watching and the races are exciting!  Here are a couple of pictures I took on the day.

Cycling problems #TanLines

The course is wide open, except one turn that gets a little pinched, and the course is fast.  I hit 41 mph and averaged just shy of 26 mph on the day.  For the first three to five laps I was responding to other people being aggressive.  I didn't chase, but I followed wheels and hopped around, moving up, sliding back, moving up and so on.  It was hard.  As I did this I thought about why taking initiative is important.  Reacting is sometimes harder than dealing the punishment.

When the first prime lap came around, if you finished 1st or 2nd on the prime lap you get prizes or money, I decided to go for the win.  The effort lined my pocket with $50.  Not only that, I got away!  I had a glimmer of hope that if I could get some help and stay away that maybe I could move into 1st place in the GC?  I was away for a couple, maybe three laps with one other rider.  Eventually a 3rd guy joined us and then the group decided that was enough of that nonsense, and brought us back.

When the time is almost finished the race goes from a countdown of time to a count down of laps.  With three laps to go there was another prime lap.  Here's a video of me getting that prime, too.  These were my first ever primes, I've only done a handful of criteriums, never tried to get them before.


During my time off the front and getting those primes the advice I received really clicked.  When I was making the race a blood bath, I dictated how hard we went, for how long and so on.  When I let off the gas, everybody just relaxed a bit.  It's one of those things that you learn by doing ... can't read about it, watch it or be told and really get it, kind of like playing an instrument.  But it clicked!

On the back half of the second to last lap, for the first time of the day, things got sketchy.  People were twitchy, not holding lines through corners and of course, all of this, when the speed started picking up.  So with one lap to go I took off.  I didn't expect to get away, but the safest place to be is on the front and I just needed to finish the race to keep 2nd place in the GC.  So, that's what I did.  I kept the pace high and with a quarter lap to go, some attacks took off and I just surfed wheels into the finish, coming in mid-pack and securing my 2nd place overall.

I felt proud of 2nd in GC after the criterium.  Before that, I didn't feel like I'd done anything to deserve it.  That doesn't make much sense, but it's a feeling, not a thought...they often don't make sense.

Still, it was a great weekend of racing with a favorable result.  But, big picture, I got some great practice getting ready for Tour of the Gila.  The logistical part of racing stage races is tricky, and I was pretty organized and had my food and equipment in order, so that went well.  Also, my training is coming along well.  I have not done any sprinting, 100% effort work yet, actually ever in my life, and that's what I'm heading into next.  So, I'm looking forward to the weeks ahead.

In all, I won $120, a tube of chamois cream and a case of Gu gels.  The thing I was most excited about winning, however, is this:

I don't have any races for a few weeks so I can get in a solid block of training.  Gila is about 60 days away so I'm going to start getting into some intense training, the stuff that really hurts.  We're talking max short efforts, little to no recovery and do it again ... repeat for an hour or so.  You know, the kind of workouts that might make me reconsider my goals.

The next big race is the Tucson Bicycle Classic, another highly competitive stage race.  I'm excited about it!  Until then, thanks for following along.

Here's the video of recap of the entire weekend.

Week sick, er, six ... Training for Tour of the Gila

The following pertains to cycling, I promise:

A group of my students were interviewed, on camera, regarding what it takes to be successful in the challenging two year course that I teach.  Their responses were shared with a room of administrators and teachers.  A member of the audience was the parent of one of the kids interviewed.

After the video the parent observed the irony in the advice given by their child.  The inferred message was, "If she knows that's what you're supposed to do to be successful, why does she struggle with it?"

We had a good hearted laugh at the observation.

But, later, I was thinking about it.  I know exactly what my limiters are (the things that hold me back from fulfilling my potential) in all areas of my life.  I can give excellent advice on what to do in response to those limiters.  However, that doesn't mean that I don't struggle with them and that those areas do not still cause me issue.

Then I replayed my own advice to my students regarding study habits. The advice:  There's an element of learning that cannot be compressed ... time.  It takes time to learn and develop and attempting to rush things, compress those things into limited time, only compounds and delays the desired results.

I know this is true because I have, and continue to, suffer the consequences of attempting to do things at the last minute, or putting things off when there's no cause to do so ... other than to engage in the satisfying act of procrastination.

I have 6 of these in my spine.

Next week is my first big test to see how I'm progressing for Tour of the Gila, the Valley of the Sun stage race.  I believe with my cycling profile my best chance of winning, or placing well, is to win the time trial in day one.  And this is what brought home how ironic the advice to my students regarding compressing time/procrastinating is.

A few weeks ago I did a short 20k time trial and discovered that I need to spend a lot more time in the aero position on my time trial bike.  This is true of all cyclists, probably, but with my back injury and the neuro-muscular issues that resulted, it's especially true of me.

After the race I sat down and adjusted my training plan...it looked great on paper.  However, I failed to execute it almost entirely!  DOH!!!

I have been working on flexibility and increasing mobility, but have not spent enough time in the aero position like I had planned.

I use TrainerRoad for my early morning TT intervals

This past Wednesday I got on the time trial bike, on the trainer, and had the same issues I experienced in the race a few weeks ago.  So I am concerned not only how I'll perform on the time trial, but how the time trial will leave me feeling for the following two stages!

Only one way to find out ... and good, bad, or indifferent, I'll use to the results to inform my training and practices, eventually.  ;)

This past week of training my training was not on-point.  I work two jobs, had extra duties with one job and am fighting a cold.  I did get one great ride in Tuesday, testing myself on a category 2 climb called Whipple, here locally.  A good time up that hill is under 30 minutes.  I had my second best time of 25:06, but my best time ever was with a 20 mph tailwind!  The attempt this week had essentially no wind at all.  Afterwards I did three 10 to 12 minute sweet-spot intervals.  Here's my ride on Strava.

Saturday my friend and teammate, Tim and I, did the Shootout again, this time tacking on McCain Loop and Gates Pass (beautiful out there), for about 95 miles of hard riding.  To make matters worse, we were both sick.

On the first half of the ride the speed was so intense and I covered moves just fine, but I could NOT recover.  I popped very early.  I was mad because I know I'm stronger than that ... and while I'm sure it happened because I was sick, it didn't make me feel better (physically or emotionally)...see what I did there????

A group of about 9 or 10 other dropped riders joined up with me, same guys I'd left the week before, and I had trouble keeping up with them, too!

We eventually caught back up with the group when they stopped to get water and what-not.  I was shaking and decided that I might just roll back into town super easy.  But, I ate some food and that helped.  (I think I need to eat just before this ride takes off.)  Tim and I went inside to get water and when we came out, the group was gone, already heading up Helmet Peak Road.  We rushed to catch them and caught a LONG left hand turn on green only light.

I was pissed, but felt better after eating.  I told myself that I didn't care what else happened on the day, I was going to do everything in my power to bring them back ... and Tim did more than his fair share, too.  We caught them, but it was 12 minutes of insane work.  Tim said he was doing 350 watts just to hold my wheel (we had a cross wind).  In the end, I had a huge PR on Helmet Peak and Tim was about 20 seconds of his PR, which came in a Shootout in 2014, that he remembered well.  Most of this work seen in the graph to the right was done trying to catch the group.

On the way back into town it got really punchy, a couple of guys attacking the pace line even though we were going 35+ mph.  One attack I reeled in, the others I just let others reel in.  But, towards the end Ben Kanute (olympic triathlete and super nice guy) put in a real hard attack and he got away.  I bridged up to him but nobody else could come with me.  I worked with him a bit and then he asked me to do another pull but I was done.  I could've ridden his wheel all of the way to the end, but I'm new and I didn't want to make an ass of myself (...should also read, continual goal of mine!)

Sunday I ditched my planned TT workout, even though I need some time in the aero position, to try and allow myself to kick the cold I'm fighting.

Best news from Saturday's ride:  Both hamstrings are firing again.  The right side had been getting super sore because the left side wasn't firing.  But the isolation exercises and PT movements I'd been working on have gotten the left side working again.  I know it's weak, both posterior chains are weak compared to the quads still, but they're all firing again.  I can't get lax on those therapy sessions!  (I've got a lot to learn about how to manage this humpty dumpty body of mine, but I'm taking my lessions seriously.)

Also, I found the best pair of bib shorts ever.  They're Craft Night Glow...designed for long distance summer riding.  I didn't have a single moment of discomfort even though Mission Road is horribly bumpy!

In other cycling news, I had a very flattering experience.  The team I am a member of, Aggress, has asked me to be their team president!  I feel honored that my peers think enough of my character to ask me to help develop and build the team.  I am very much looking forward to the challenge and experience.

Now to pack and plan for Valley of the Sun.  I'm going to relax the position on my TT bike from what it was, hoping to compensate for my lack of ability to make power in the tucked position.  Hopefully it won't cost me too much.  Tune in next week to see how it goes!

Until then, thanks for reading!

Week 5: Cactus, Reality Check, and Fun

Not bad, but the timing wasn't good at all!

Thursday I did an FTP test, kind of.  I was fresh, in the right frame of mind and very motivated to get accurate results.  The Valley of the Sun stage race is in two weeks and if I win the time trial I stand a chance to win the stage race.  But, the time trial requires accurate FTP.  Some way into FTP test #1 I grazed a chunk of cholla cactus laying in the road.  A needle grabbed the tire and the cactus flew up and impaled itself in my left hand.  I had no idea what had happened.  FTP test over.  I regrouped, checked the tires and tried again, but eventually resigned myself to trying again this week.

Now this year is all about learning and much of that happened this past week (beyond watch out for cactus in the road)!  It might be a breakthrough week for me really.  See, sometimes when things do NOT go as planned they're of greater benefit than when things go perfectly as expected.  That's what happened with me, all week!

Mt. Hopkins and behind it, Madera Canyon, in the background

Saturday I went with my teammate Tim, who is also doing Tour of the Gila with me, and attempted to do the Big Boy Shootout and Madera Canyon, totaling 100 fast miles with about 5,000 feet of climbing.  (To be my first 100 mile ride since 2014!)

I'd done the slower variety of the Shootout a few weeks before and only had trouble when I put myself in difficulty with intention.  But Saturday there were a lot of young pro riders looking for a workout and they had me in difficulty all day long.


Long story short, I discovered how much my inexperience is costing me ... I really need to learn how to ride in a group.  I'm not unsafe, if anything, I'm too cautious.  I kept getting scrubbed off of wheels I wanted to follow and ended up in bad positions all day.  Then, at one point I decided to take off my gloves, but thought it best to slip towards the back to do so.  I ended up on the wrong side of a split in the group.  I waited to let those in front of me bridge the gap, but they couldn't.  By the time I decided to do it, the gap was significant.  UGH!  I had to work for a long time before catching back on.

As it turned out a large group was deviating from the Shootout route and heading up Madera Canyon, too.  Madera Canyon is a category 1 climb, most of the elevation gain in the last 3 miles.  The last 3 miles average 7% gradient, but there are long stretches of 10% plus with no rest.  For a big boy, like me, this is brutal.

One of the hills near my home I ride up every day.

For the Madera climb I used Best Bike Split to create a Garmin Power Course, which I had loaded on my Garmin 520.  It worked really well.  Once the pace up Madera got to where I was hitting 400 watts just to hold wheels, I dropped out and followed the power suggested by Best Bike Split.  I ended up with a PR by almost 8 minutes!  But, it cost me.  I had the BBS pacing set at a 0.88 IF (that means very hard, and on the heels of 90 minutes of hard riding already).

On the return leg of the ride back to town I ended up getting cramps in my left leg, suddenly, without warning.  It was very strange.  Upon reviewing the data collected on the day I saw that I had an imbalance between left and right leg power, 46% to 54%.  So I need to address this before it leads to injury!

So I learned I need to work on riding in fast groups as well as flexibility and strength in my left leg (weakened by the back injury).  But, I also learned that BBS can have a great application even in a group ride or race!  I also worked on nutrition timing, which worked very well.  I'll share about that another time.

Cedric climbing out of Pena Blanca Lake on Sunday with me.

Sunday I went on a long ride from my house to Patagonia Lake and then to Pena Blanca Lake.  The route is just shy of 70 miles and just shy of 5,000 feet of climbing.  Great practice for Tour of the Gila.  Although I was tired from Saturday I decided to test myself on a couple of difficult sections. I smashed by previous best time on a tough section where I used to train frequently, but hadn't ridden at all since 2014 (post surgery).  That put a smile on my face!

I collected a handful of KOMs on Strava Sunday, even though I had fried legs.  Funny how finding your limit, like I did Saturday, can help push that limit!  It's a great thing.

So while I got my butt handed to me Saturday, I realized that I've come a long way on Sunday.  That's cycling for you!

Last thing to share:  I put together the video from the Oracle Road Race that happened last weekend (week #4).  Here it is.  Thanks again for reading.