Trainer + ESPN = Average Workout

After nearly 3 weeks without rain it has been pretty wet here the last few days. I have ridden in the rain, but I only have one road bike for training and races, so I need to baby it, plus riding in the rain sucks. So I was back on the trainer this week. I have migrated out of the basement and have been riding in the living room while watching TV, which makes the time go by a lot easier. I hope to ride to Kingfield this weekend after my Lacrosse game Saturday where Cheryl and I will stay with Dee Dee during the KH long weekend. I would like to ride up rt. 27 from Kingfield up to the Sugarlaof Mountain access road to the base lodge (40 ish miles) and back to Dee Dee's Sunday and then ride on back home Monday. It's 50 hilly miles (Kents Hill foothills to the full on white mountains of Maine) one way, so there is potential for a very big few days (140 ish miles with some higher efforts the next few days). We'll see.

A word to my friend, Ross: Cheryl and I are thinking of you. Come north when your ready and lets go fishing.

SIP Criterium Race Report

Southern Maine Cycling Club (SMCC) SIP Crit Series




So not having a bike I decided to run my ass off in a 5K Saturday to get a hard effort in this weekend. After limping home after a personal best in the Mark Hazzard Day Race, I arrived home to a message from Steve of Kennebec Bike and Ski that my Speedster is ready to come home. Crap! Now I have to ride the SIP crit! I didn’t want to be that guy who talks the game and then bails out, so I drove into Hallowell to the shop picked up the bike. It looked great and in killer condition with new shifters, chain and a new computer to top it all off. Steve gave me a killer deal on the whole shebang and I left smiling, but way worried about riding with elite level racers in 18 hours. I got home and slowly climbed the stairs to the bathroom where I drew an ice bath and soaked my body in COLD water for 20 shivering minutes. If your legs are trashed and knees are throbbing like mine after a super hard effort, an ice bath will do wonders for your recovery. It just takes some courage to do it, because let’s face it. It’s invasive.
After the bath I dressed then went to coach a lacrosse game on slightly better legs only to stand on them for about 3 hours which then negated the ice bath. I went home, dropped my bike and gear off at Wheels’ place and then got off my feet for the next few hours followed by ANOTHER ice bath, then went to bed hoping I would feel fresher in the morning.
The race was in Saco, about 75 minutes south of Kents Hill, so I woke at 5:30 am and walked over to Wheels’ place, jumped in his car and we were off.
We arrived in Saco at about 7am, registered and got geared up. It was cold. About 40 degrees with a crisp sea breeze. Wheels was unimpressed. I was hoping the cold would dull the throbbing in my knees. It did not. We both sat in the car trying to man-up to get on our bikes. Off course the warm-up was short and I never did feel like I got my legs to flush out properly. So what, I said. Stop whining and hammer as hard as you can. I did and actually hung with the pack of cat 1-4 riders (I’d guess mostly cat 3 riders, which is pretty damn fast, with one or two cat 1 and 2 guys and the rest of us at cat 4 ability) for 19 of the 20 one mile laps. Just 20 miles, you say? That sounds easy. But it’s not the distance. It’s the intensity. I can hop on a bile and spin an easy 50-60 miles on any giving day, but I can’t do an all out, heart pounding, leg burning, lung searing hammer fest any day I want. It’s just too hard on the body. So, after my hard run the day before, it turns out my leg muscle tissues were on a very strict time table of function. The bottom dropped out of my leg power with incredible swiftness at lap 19. Now, you may think that I just had ONE MORE LAP. Why couldn’t I just suck it up and finish strong. It was physiologically impossible. The muscles would no longer contract with any significant force. I was toast.
It did not help that I did not drink one once of fluid during the race as I thought I would be alright during a short, but intense race. I was so very wrong. I was helpless as I saw the pack roll away from me one mile from the finish. I cursed, put my head down and my hands out in TT position and tried to peddle as hard as my body would allow to at least keep them in sight. Keeping my head down on the back straight away was a poor decision (a lowered head isn’t necessarily aerodynamic anyway). I rolled straight on through the intersection where I was supposed to take a hard right to the finish line. I raised my head about ¼ mile after the turn, actually laughed out loud at my stupidity and sat up with my hands on the tops, turned around and spun lazily to the finish. I met Wheels who finished up front. I drank a lot of Gatorade, had a cliff bar to refuel my legs then we went off for an hour recovery ride, of which the last 10 minutes my legs began to cramp as my muscles burnt up the sugars I had just ingested 50 minutes earlier. Thankfully and mercifully, Wheels put things in perspective for me. Hanging with the pack in an “A” race was really pretty good. He confirmed that there were some really fast riders in the pack and the pace was rugged for him also. I need to keep fueling during the race and just keep hammering along. I’m going to try to do this crit again in a few weeks on fresher legs and see how it shakes out. A great learning experience and an even better training weekend. Next up the LL Bean Time Trial May 3.

Mark Hazzard Day 5K Race Report

Kents Hill School hosted the first Mark Hazzard Day 5K Run this year in honor of alum Mark Hazzard '75 who is suffering from Lou Gehrig's Disease. The race had about 100 entries of a few locals and lots of students and faculty. KHS heavy hitter runners Catherine Sterling, Will and Amanda Rhem (Will and Amanda ran, but went easy) and race organizer Meg Bennett did not compete, so the field was a bit soft, but it raised a lot of money, which was the focus of course. So the winner won in 20 minutes (I don't know the guy, but he's a local triathlete), KH student and my advisee Pat Englehardt took second with a personal best 21:56. He just keeps getting faster! Damn kid. I came in sixth place with a personal best 22:20. Pat and I compete against each other in a friendly way, so we both push each other to our best. Cheryl and Dee Dee walked the course with our 3 year old Lab Huck who had a blast and knocked over the fish line tape and posts at the end prompting our headmaster to comment "who's dog is that anyway?" A page out of "Marley and Me."

I had a PB because I ran hard due to the believed fact that I would not be racing my bike on Sunday at the SMCC SIP crit. Kennebec Bike and Ski did not have my bike ready for me on Friday and I did not think it would be ready for me Saturday or that I would have the time to pick it up even if it was, as I had a lacrosse game to coach Saturday afternoon.

Upon arrival from the 5K there was a message from Steve at the shop that my bike was finally, indeed ready for pick-up. I jumped in the jeep and got the bike and made it back in time for my game. I rode the bike around campus for about 15 minutes, which is all I would get before I lined up against real deal elite riders (go to Wheel's blog and click on some of his links to some wicked fast Mainers) the following morning. My first legit ride on my rode bike of 2009 was among about 30 elite riders from category 1 to fast cat 4 riders (was I one of those fast cat 4 guys? Perhaps without the intense running effort the day before. I'll know more later in the year when I line up with them again). Suffice to say I was up against it, but curious to see were my fitness was...

Saga of the Speedster

As I posted back on March 20, i dropped my one and only road bike off a Kennebec Bike and Ski for a thorough tune up and upgrade of a part or two. I upgraded to an ultegra 10 speed cassette and Alex at the shop threw it on and proceeded to work the derailleurs for compatibility as I used to run a 9-speed, but have the gear (or so i thought) for 10-speed shifting. All went well until Alex tried to shift using the levers. Turns out my break/shifters are exclusively 9-speed and would not work with my new upgrade. I needed to put the older 9-speed cassette back on or upgrade to 10-speed shifters. Sounds like a nice opportunity to upgrade the brake/shifters to ultegra except for one small problem. The upgrade would cost me around $350, which I certainly don't have. Steve gave me a good deal on a pair of new 105 10-speed brake levers/shifters, but I had to wait for the part to be mailed from shimano AND wait for the next paycheck (I get paid ONCE a month at KHS, which is a serious drag) to pay for the parts and the tune-up work, which is just as important.


Well last week I got a call that that after Alex put the new gear on the left shifter was faulty and was broken right out of the box. I now needed to wait 'till this Tuesday, 4/14 for the new part. To boot, Steve is short handed as John is away on family business and Alex is on vacation. After some poor pitiful me talk on the phone, Steve as told me the bike will be ready by this weekend (I hope you read this Steve!) but hopefully sooner, like this Thursday. I am racing Sunday in the SMCC Saco Industrial Park Criterium (hence forth SIP crit) with Wheels and I REALLY need to log a couple of rides to get used to the road position again, as I've been riding my mt. bike and stationary bike. My fitness is good, but I am dire need of some saddle time on the speedster. So, hopefully Steve will come through (he always does) and get me on the road in a couple of days. Until then, more creative training and wishful thinking!

The Treadmill as Metaphor

So, school has been ridiculously busy and I finish one task to just begin seemingly the same thing all over again, and again and again. This spring is becoming a vicious cycle of committee meetings with follow up meetings, with paper work, followed by memos, directives, emails tagged with annexed resources and addendum's to agendas. Last I knew I was a biology and env. studies teacher, but lately (really the trend has been growing the last two or three years) I spend MUCH more time doing administrative work than teaching or preparing to teach. Something is amiss.

All of this gerbil on the treadmill work makes it all the more important for me to carve out a small slice of time for myself to do what I love (I actually love teaching. I just don't do it much anymore) which is physical training, specifically on my bike. Well, today no bike. It was the literal treadmill in the fitness room of the Alfond. I ran pretty hard for 41 minutes (I like to do one extra minute to sneak it over the edge) with about 1/3 of that at high intensity. I am running the Mark Hazzard Day 5k one week from now, so a few miles in the running shoes is necessary. It felt good to push myself after a few days off and maybe I can salvage this week with four good days of training if I can get some time in over the weekend.

Sorry for the long Break!

I haven't posted for a while because there wasn't much to report and I also just wasn't feeling it. I have been training diligently since January for this coming season, and I guess I've been feeling a bit burned out. Not good when the season hasn't even started yet. School is in full swing and the pace is furious. Due to the make up work and classes from the extended spring break (flu epidemic shut down school) the schedule and workload has been, frankly, way over the top. Add coaching JV Lacrosse, leading a research project to establish Env. Ed as a "Peak of Excellence" and trying to train has got my head spinning. I have only got one ride in this week so far. I guess I can say that I'm due for a rest week, but I'm exhausted anyway, without the training. I'm not sure my body and mind are benefiting from the time off the bike. Actually, I bet I'd feel better if i could ride. I'll try tomorrow if my body (recurring back issue rearing its ugliness again! A relic from my years of physical labor jobs, and proably years of contact sports) and mind are up to it
The only good news is that my sprint training is improving. This is the first year I've done any real sprint training and my rpms are getting higher. I use the stationary bike at the Alfond fitness center because my bike is STILL in the shop (long story for another post) and I only have my Kona mtb bike to ride. Not good for sprint training. My rpms were around 172 on the stationary bike over an 8 second sprint two weeks ago. Last Tuesday (my only ride this week!) I reached 180 rpms on the same program and resistance level. Hopefully I can reach 200 rpms by summer. I hope to do several criteriums this year, hence the sprint work.