Blah…Blah…Shut this guy up!

I had my “Big Family Picnic” this Sunday. It in essence includes all of my maternal grandmother’s family. So, there are tons of my second and third and now even fourth cousin’s there. One of the most refreshing things was the fact that it seems my family is really into the non-American sports. Sports conversations didn’t revolve around the White Sox, Cubs, Bears or Bulls. Instead people were talking about World Cup Soccer, Wimbledon and the Tour. I began to wonder if there are small fundamental shifts in suburbia and the sports they follow. 

It was 20 years ago that Lemond won his first Tour. Probably not a single mainstream sports fan could have told you his name on July 9th, 1986. Now, it seems Americans are interested in who wins the Tour. Twenty years ago, I cannot imagine many Americans followed World Cup Soccer. Now it is televised on national television with people actually rooting for a team. Twenty years ago, Wimbledon was still the on NBC at 8 am. Boris Becker captured his second Wimbledon title at age 18. We have come a long way in the non-traditional sports here in the United States over 20 years. Who knows, maybe by the time my sons are riding there bikes on the Illinois and Wisconsin roads, it will be accepted as a major American sport.

Sitting around having some pizza at Jesse Oaks, Marc Grove made the comment, “I am confident that any of us right now could go out and finish an Ironman.” Of course, he was sitting with 4 Ironman finishers (including himself), one other triathlete and another person training for his first Ironman. 

The statement begs the question though, what makes an Ironman a special achievement? All of us that have done one would like to think it was some huge accomplishment and makes us special. In fact, some of us get tattoos to show the world our accomplishment. I love giving my friends a hard time about the tattoo. My theory has always been you don’t get the tattoo unless you qualified for and finished Kona. 

Is it the physical fitness that it takes? I am not sure about that. I have seen some pretty average to fat people coming across the line at an Ironman. In fact, I am willing to bet that a signficant amount of IM finishers could actually be considered overweight. Also, I have always contended that you can take your cyclist that rides 50-60 miles on a Saturday or the marathoner and turn him or her into an Ironman finisher in 26 weeks. So, what makes it special? 

Is it the dedication necessary to do the training? Not really. It isn’t surprising that most of the Ironman finishers I know are middle-aged, professionals. After all, it fits right into their personality type. Most IM finishers I know are college-educated professionals. Ironman isn’t the first time in their life they have set a long-term goal and achieved it. In fact, it is probably one of many “projects” they have finished in a life time. 

These people set the 4-5 year goal of getting a college degree and they did it. Some passed CPA’s, bar exams, medical boards or are engineers involved in long-term projects or reseach. In fact, I would argue that doing an Ironman takes less dedication than getting a college degree. In fact, I think you would have more IM finishers if finishing a single IM would help people make, on average, $20,000 a year more. 

So, what makes it special? I mean not everyone has done one, yet most people have the “ability” to do one. 

I could only narrow it down to one thing… inspiration. Einstein once said, “Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.” I never liked that quote. Why? It doesn’t take into account the fact that the 1 percent of inspiration is much harder to come by than the 99 percent perspiration. In fact, if you can get that 1 percent of inspiration, the 99 percent comes easily as you see the “goal” or “vision” at the end. 

In fact, I will state that the one thing that stopped me from finishing my 3rd IM was lack of inspiration. I had done the training, I just didn’t have the inspriation I needed to finish. 

So, don’t worry IMers… you are special for your achievement. Many have the ability to do it. Many have the dedication necessary to focus on a goal like Ironman. Few people in a lifetime will have the inspiration it took to come across the finish line. That is what makes your accomplishment special.

I have a few blogs I want to write, but this is the shortest, so I will start with this one. 

I took my brother-in-law out for a bike ride this Sunday. I had just finished my cycling camp up in Platteville, WI (North Branch is awesome). My brother-in-law is the same age as my wife, 28-years-old. He is a big guy at 6′5″ and weighs about 300lbs. He is aware that he needs to do something, so we bought him a hybrid bike this year. That was about 5 weeks ago and it has been sitting in his garage. 

So, I wanted to bike with Ethan on Sunday so the three of us went out together. I learned something on this ride, fitness is earned. We pulled out from his house and headed toward the forest preserve which is about 2 miles away. 

To get to the forest preserve, you cross under Arlington Heights road and emerge on a crushed gravel path. It was a slight uphill, but sandy, so while pulling Ethan I had to get out of the saddle to maintan control. I get to the top and look back and he is walking his bike. 

I was giving him a hard time as he is a pretty competitive guy. So, it was a good chance to rib him. So, we got to the top, desended down another “hill” and he was falling behind. Now, remember, I am just cruising along and have my son in tow. I took him on the whole path which cannot be more than 3 miles. Despite there being no hills per se, he was toasted and asking when it would flatten out. I smiled and he reminded me that I have done Ironman’s and ride my bike all the time and he hadn’t ridden in 12-14 years. 

That is when once again came to the self realization that fitness is something we have to earn every day. It goes away if we neglect it and we can lose it at any age, no matter what our past is. So, is it hard work? I guess, but an 88-mile ride through the hills of the Platteville area is actually fun. Riding is just fun. Running is fun (when you are doing it). 

So, I am going to enjoy my fitness. I am lucky to have it. I also intend on getting my brother-in-law out there more so he can gain some fitness and enjoy it too. 

Sorry about the un-PC title, but it is the theme of this blog. Saturday I went out for a ride. I was meeting up with Dave W and Mike C on MB. Since I road from Antioch, and they came from thhe Center Club, we met up about 40 minutes into my ride. Dave and Mike are both IM finishers. Dave did IM Lake Placid in 2004 while Mike C did Moo in 2005. Dave is the only one of us signed up for an IM this year. Unfortunately, or fortunately, Dave has been busy producing TV shows this Spring and hasn’t started training yet. This was his first ride out in a while. 

I latched onto the ride and said hi. With that, we seemed to be moving to slow. I picked it up. I knew Mike could come with me, but Dave was a question mark. Mike, being nicer than me, stayed with Dave. We were going with the wind as far as I could tell so I wanted to keep moving. Dave was obviously struggling, so Mike and I would double back to get him. We got to Route 50, Dave mentioned how he was toasted and was going back. He also stated, “This is sad. This is where I usually consider the warm-up to end and now I am toasted.” Mike said he would turn around with him. At that point Dave remarked, “I feel like the special kid.” 

So, off I went to finish riding. Throughout the ride I couldn’t get Dave’s comment out of my head. At some point no matter when we bike, each of us is the special kid. Sometimes we bonk, have had a particularly hard training week, or just ride with people that are faster, we will all be the “special kid” eventually. So, next time you are out on a friendly ride and someone cannot keep up, remember someday you might be the special kid on your ride. Thus take care to be nice and not leave the poor guy or gal behind.

Well, I was able to make my first road ride with North Branch out of Harper on Sunday. This is billed as a ride with the team so we can get used to riding together. I thought that meant a friendly ride. Oh how wrong I was. We left the parking lot at a nice easy pace. I was told that the ride is usually pretty easy for 30 minutes before anything major happens. I guess that was not the plan on this day. About 10 minutes out, we started practicing echelons and thus the pace picked up pretty dramatically. We had about 12 guys out there. The “recovery” side, actually seemed to be in synch most of the time, but the side pulling through seemed to have issues to work out. For some reason, the person pulling through would always seem to accelerate. Although I know that when you are in the front, you have to put out more power/effort, really your speed should remain unchanged. I don’t think anybody put two guys followed this rule. I myself was guilty of this as I forgot my powertap at home and thus was riding blind as far as power, but particularly speed which was needed for this type of practice. So, on the pull side, you were working particularly hard. We actually did this on and off for most of the ride and over all, except for the above mentioned problems, seemed to go pretty good. 

While echelons were on, the ride was anything but easy. Even while drafting, I could tell my effort level was very high. Also, this ride would conclude a 16-hour workout week (11.4 riding, 3 running, 1.6 core/strength) for me. So, I was tired going into the ride. One of the problems with riding a route that others are much more familiar with is that you do not know what parts the leaders pick up the effort and how long it will stay at that intensity. This is hard for me as I am a numbers guy. I lot of times I can rationalize high effort levels when I at least can have a target end. So, when the attacks came I wasn’t ready mentally. After 10 miles, it was pretty much every man for himself. I am not sure when riders fell off the back, but I know that we had lost at least two at some point. Then, one of the riders, Jes, was falling off and I was falling with him at about the half way mark. I thought he was going to come with me, but I accelerated and thought he was on my wheel, but he wasn’t. So, I latched on and kept looking over my shoulder for Jes. At this point I realized that I needed to sit in. I stopped taking any pulls… well very rarely. I just sat in the back and hung on for dear life. 

Now, you have to remember, that my perception of time is somewhat skewed from the ride. I was riding roads I was not familiar with… which is enough to make you want to hang on to the group as I didn’t have a cue sheet. Plus, I was also trying to stay aware of what was going on around me. It seemed shortly after losing Jes, we hit a downhill that had a couple of winding turns. Nothing major, but I am not the greatest bike handler, plus I was unfamiliar with the roads. The group of course took off down the hills. We strung out just a little, but not as much as I would have liked at those speeds. So, we has just made a left bend and were coming back to the right. I remember thinking to myself, “I am glad there aren’t any cars as I cannot hold this lane around this next bend.” Wouldn’t you know it, as soon as I thought that, there was a car. So, now I am going into this turn at a high rate of speed with cyclists in the vicinity, and I have no choice but to stay in my lane or hit this car. I knew I couldn’t hit the brakes as the bike would most likely slide out from under me. So, I just pushed down with my left foot to create on anchor, pushed down with my right hand on the bar, and took the turn at speed. Luckily I made it. I do have to say that was the scariest turn I had taken in a long time. Looking back, the turn was not all that hard, I just was not prepared for the speed and turn at that moment. 

At one point, we were on Cuba road for a long time. At some point, a rider was far ahead. I knew that meant trouble as I had no pop left and I knew the group would want to track the person down. Of course we did. As we got closer, I noticed the person wearing a North Branch vest. I thought one of our riders had exploded off the front and we just didn’t go with him. The lead was so far up there, I was impressed. As we caught the rider, I realized it was Jes and he had taken a short cut to get back in the group. I said to him at that point, “Somehow I got screwed in all of this.” It was my way of saying I wish I had taken the short cut too. In the last 15 miles or so, I would once in a while start to lose ground and then work to make it up. I operated under the theory better to work really hard for the next 45 seconds and catch the group than be out here by myself working hard all the way home. In the last 5 miles, it got harder to do and I was falling off the back. Luckily some well times lights at major intersections saved me. 

At some point, there was a final sprint before coasting home. Once again I did not know this was coming and when the others went knowing it was a sprint, I just couldn’t keep up. Luckily they eased off after the sprint and we coasted the last mile or two home and I was able to finish with the group. All in all, I was happy. I had not only increased my volume by 50 percent for the week, but my intensity was up as well. Just wish I had a PT to know what my numbers looked like. I have a feeling that although the ride was very hard for me, the numbers wouldn’t prove me out. In any event, I did manage to finish with the group and have a fun time.

Tomorrow, we elected as a group to ride indoors. I am not disagreeing with the decision, but I cannot help but think of Paris-Roubaix. This weekend, one of the toughest one-day cycling events on the planet. It has 38 sections of cobblestone over 125 miles. The roads are so bad that the cyclists elect to ride on the grass. Those that do brave the cobbles can be seen falling over for absolutely no reason. On top of that, it is usually cold and rainy. So cold that the cyclists are decked out in full winter gear, including booties. The irony of it all is that the race ends on a track that is in perfect condition for racing. So, after 124 miles of grueling racing, the cruelest part of the race is that you have to dig deep for that final sprint in which sprinters have perfect conditions to beat you. A few weeks ago, during an indoor ride, Paris-Roubaix 2002 was our selection of choice. The conditions were as described above. George Hincapie was in good position to not only be the first american ever to podium at the race, but win the race. On one of the sections of cobbles, he wiped out forcing his then teammate, Tom Boonen, to leave him for his own race. It was a shame as less than 15 miles remained in the race. Hincapie ended up in 4th and Boonen took 2nd or 3rd. It wasn’t so much the results that astounded me, it was the sheer exhaustion that Hincapie diplayed in the post-race interview. What was even more amazing was that he seemed happy. He raced in just awful conditions, fell, lost a podium spot, and yet he was happy with 4th. 

It makes me think that sometimes with our multi-thousand dollar bikes and all the other toys we have surrounding cycling and triathlon, if we aren’t too wimpy when it comes to braving the elements. This also brings me back to my poster of Lance riding in the rain alone in the Spring of 1999 by himself because the rest of the team said it the weather was too bad to train. So, he went it alone with Johan driving along the side of him.  The point is that no matter whether you are doing a sprint tri, a marathon, Ironman, a CAT 5 race or a masters race, tomorrow morning, despite it being 30 degrees when we wake up, someone will be out there training. They will be getting stronger not only physically, but mentally for having gone out. Meanwhile, I will choose the more comforting, easy way out and ride inside. Maybe that is why, I am not a champion.

Over the weekend, I read two great article in Velo News presenting both sides of the Tyler Hamilton suspension for blood doping. It made me want to dig deeper so, I read the 28-page decision from the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS). I then went to Tyler Hamilton’s website (www.tylerhamilton.com), to read his side of the story. I also read some more interviews with Tyler at www.dailypeleton.com. 

After reading the CAS decision, I pretty much came to the opinion that Tyler is guilty as charged. It wasn’t as if the Vuelta test that led to his suspension was the first time he had tested positive. In fact, the only reason he was able to retain his gold medal was due to the technical rule that threw out his positive test since his B sample could not be tested. One of the agencies, either WADA or UCI, had been warning Tyler for a period of six months that they knew what he was up to and he needed to quit. 

My first inclination even buried Tyler even more. After all, he attacked the process more than going out to try to prove his innocence. At no point did he dispute the results of the test or try to offer another explaination, instead he attacked the process of testing the blood and the test itself. This was a stark contrast to triathlete Rutger Beke who tested positive at Kona and spent the next 9 months in independent labs that collected data proving he just happened to produce a higher concentration of EPO (or maybe just the proteins, I cannot remember). Beke never attacked the process he attacked the results and proved why his results were higher. 

Working in a prosecutors office, Tyler’s arguments were similar to those that are guilty of crimes. They cannot argue the facts are on their side. They cannot argue the law is on their side. Thus, they attack everyone else. In this case, Tyler’s lawyer attacked everyone in the process. The lab, the creators of the test, the study that validated the test, and WADA itself. 

Then I thought back to Lance and his recent bout with alleged drug use in the 1999 Tour. He also was attacking the process while maintaining his innocence. I have to admit, despite not wanting to believe it, Lance’s argument seemed weak also. 

I started to think about it. You really cannot prove a negative. You cannot prove God doesn’t exist. I cannot prove that I have not drank alcohol since my wedding day. Thus, for a person in cycling or endurance sports, who tests positive for PES, the only way to prove the negative is to attack the process. No other avenue exists. After all, they cannot prove a negative. 

Then I thought a little further about the situation. Actually, Tyler could have at least tried to prove his innocence. After testing the the Vuelta he could have had blood drawn and had it tested by an independent lab. After Athens, when he tested positive, he could have taken steps to prove he was drug-free instead of relying on a technicality to keep his gold. Most disturbing of all, is that for six months either WADA or the UCI thought he was doing something wrong. At no point did Tyler set out to prove that their lab results were leading them to the wrong conclusion. In essence over seven month, Tyler was given every indication that he was thought to be doping, but at no point did he take it seriously and try to figure out why others would think that and prove them wrong. Instead, he took a guilty man’s argument and attacked the process.

My first real blog discussed my first ride with the roadies. I was happy with the ride as it seemed I held up quite well. Although I was sick still on Monday, my legs did still feel some fatigue. My run on Monday suffered. I blamed it on not feeling well. 

Tonight I finally downloaded my power data into cyclingpeaks. It revealed that although my average power was 163 watts (about an intensity factor of 68), my normalized power was 209 for the ride and that put me at an intensity factor (IF) of 87 percent. Those are significantly different numbers. For me to have a variation that large in my average to normalized watts is unusual for me as it should be in triathlon training. 

I guess the good thing is that the ride felt easy while I was doing it. Since I didn’t know my normalized watts and only my average during the ride, it gave me confidence. If some one would have told me my normalized was so high during the ride, I would have been more apprehensive. 

Entire workout (163w):
Duration: 2:47:27
Work: 1627 kJ
TSS: 211.3 (intensity factor 0.873)
Norm Power: 209
Distance: 47.291 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 921 163 watts
Heart Rate:128 161 143 bpm
Cadence: 20 124 83 rpm
Crank Torque: 0 1143 209 lb-in 

Sunday, March 26, 2006, I planned to go out for my first roadie ride. Yes, I have ridden with roadies before, but as a triathlete that was usually training for Ironman or at least a half IM. That usually meant sticking within my plan and not worrying about what they were doing. This was to be my first ride as a member of the North Branch Cycling Club. North Branch is a “cycling club” only because the USAC rules don’t allow you to call yourself a “team” unless you have a pro team. North Branch is a racing club though. They don’t have social rides at 15-17 MPH for occasional riders. I have to say I was somewhat nervous. The guys I would be riding with were CAT4’s and had already logged some serious miles outside. As for me, my training has been only on the trainer and nothing longer than about two hours. The whole situation was less than ideal. I was up too late the night before. I started feeling sick Saturday evening with a sore throat. I couldn’t sleep and the only reason I can think of is stress at work. When I did wake up on Sunday morning, I had a pounding headache and the sore throat was worse. I wanted to call it off; however, I knew deep down that was just an excuse due to the fact that I was nervous riding with a new group. Would I get dropped? Could I handle the accelerations? Do I have the correct clothing for the weather? When I left my house at 7:30 am, it was a brisk 27 degrees outside, but sunny. It was cold just to get into my car and another reason for me to back out. Somehow though, I found myself loading everything I needed into the car, including every piece of winter gear I own, and leaving for Skip’s house. 

Skip is the President of the North Branch Cycling Club. He is a good President. He is constantly on the phone coordinating club rides. It is a small club of around 30 members and they are very spread out throughout Chicago and the Chicagoland area. Thus, getting people to ride together is hard to coordinate, but there is no doubt that Skip puts forth the effort. When I showed up to Skip’s house, I was the first one there. I knew that three of us would be riding. Usually Skip, Steve and I get together at Steve’s house for Sunday morning trainer rides. Steve is a CAT3 and a good one at that. He comes from a hockey background, but embraces all endurance sports. Some weekends he is cycling, others he is playing in hockey tournament, while in others he might be cross country ski racing. Steve also has a great sense of humor, so you have to be constantly on your toes otherwise you will miss something hilarious. Skip came out to greet me and told me that a couple of others would be joining us. They included Darin, Jes, and Neal (or is it Neil?). Darin is the one that introduced me to this group of guys and I have ridden with Darin on other occasions. Knowing he was coming made me a bit more nervous. I don’t think there ever was a single ride with Darin where I wasn’t dropped. Jes, a California native, also races all the time and is a long time member of the club. Neal also is a long time club member. I had only met Neal once. All I knew is that he had logged in some miles with these guys already. Jes and Neal were the next to arrive. Darin rolled up on his bike, getting in a 10-mile warm up from his house to Skip’s. Steve drove up, and we were all there. 

Neal was great in helping me figure out which of the many pieces of clothing I should actually wear. After all, the temperature had now sky rocketed to about 32 degrees. With Neal’s help, I figured on the bottom I would go with base layer and bib tights, two pairs of socks and neoprene booties. On the top I went with a base layer, fleece mid layer, light weight jersey on top of that and a vest. The vest was a North Branch Cycling vest. Each member, except Steve, wore an outer layer of the North Branch uniform on top. I was thinking of a mask, but Neal made the great suggestion of using an ear warmer over the neck and it was the best advice I got all day as it was perfect for blocking the wind, but not bundling up the heat. The guys were labeling this ride as an easy, base-building ride. I took that for what it was worth as I have seen what roadies consider an “easy” ride before. With that, they all clipped in and off we went. Although I didn’t wear my HRM strap, I know my heart rate was already elevated from nerves. As we rolled out I evaluated what I wanted to do in this ride. First and foremost, was not embarrassing myself. Second, was to conserve energy and practice drafting. Third was not to get dropped on the accelerations. The other riders were all aware of my nerves at this point. Thus, at the beginning of the ride, they were keeping their eye on me. We were riding side-by-side and I made sure I was in the draft. Skip, Darin and Steve did most of the pulling all day long and I was happy to let them do so. I wasn’t really paying attention to wattage at any given point. I just wanted to be aware of what was going on around me. Every five minutes or so, somebody would ask me how I was doing. At the time I was doing just fine. I made sure to be aware of the people around me and make sure I was using proper riding etiquette. We rode in different directions, until l eventually we hit a road were we were forced to ride single file. I ended up in the back. That is a dangerous place for me as mentally it is easier for me to let up. Luckily, the pacing was moderate and we just cruised along. The idea was to ride to Bull Valley. Bull Valley is a small town in McHenry County which is Northwest of Chicago by about 50 miles. It is known to cyclists for its hills and many triathletes and cyclists alike head there when they want to do something more challenging than the flats. 

We arrived at Bull Valley and hit the hills. I knew where I was at this point as I had ridden this area with Jeff Hovorka quite often in preparation for IM Moo 2003. We headed around a turn and I knew one of the major downhills was coming. I am not a descender by nature, thus I knew I wouldn’t even try to keep up. At this point, Skip exploded off the front as he wanted to see how fast he could go. Steve, almost like a bored hunter, waited for Skip to get about 100 yard lead and off he went to catch him. Darin, although not trying to catch anyone, accelerated and then coasted. Neal, Jes and I all kind of coasted down the hill. On the other side of the downhill, you hit an uphill that is pretty steep and ended at another intersection. We regrouped there for a break and discussed speeds. Skip and Steve both were over 50 MPH on the hill. Darin coasted to 49. Meanwhile, Jes, Neal and I were all around 42 MPH. It was decided that we should do it again, but this meant climbing back up the hills we had just come down. I was all for it. So, five of us went out to do it again. Climbing back up was painful, but not impossible. I would equate it to a bunch of sections on the Horribly Hilly course. Once again, we all separated on the descent and regrouped to head back home. At this point, I check my average watts for the ride. To my surprise, they were quite low at 155 watts. That definitely gave me some confidence as I knew I could be holding 180-190 watts for a three-hour ride if needed. With that said, we were heading home and the pace picked up quickly. I looked down at my PowerTap and it was reading about 300 watts and I was in the draft. I knew at that wattage, I probably had five, maybe 10 minutes before I fell off the back. Neal had already fallen off and I was making sure I kept the wheel in front of me. Luckily, the hammering only lasted for about 5-7 minutes as somebody needed a gas station break to refill on hydration and take a bathroom break. At this point we were about two hours into the ride. In the last 5-7 minutes, my average watts went up by seven watts. Mathematically that mean we were really moving. So, as we rolled out of the gas station, I thought the ride back would be pretty hard. The ride back turned out to be a little easier than I anticipated. The only tough time was when Steve road off the front while I was sitting in the 3/4 position, next to Darin. Jes then came rocketing out from behind me to try to catch him. I looked over at Darin and asked if he thought I should try to catch them. He said yes. I thought that meant he would be coming with me, so I went after Jes. I saw Jes catch Steve. I was put it in the 53-12 and was grinding for about two minutes before I caught on.. Steve must have eased up to let us catch him at that point. At the point I caught Jes, he eased up and I started to talk to him, which was a mistake as Steve did not ease up and before I knew it, he was ahead. Jes dropped back and I knew there was no way I was catching Steve without a wheel. 

The rest of the ride home was uneventful until the very end. To get to Skips house you have to climb a short, but steep hill. Skip attacked it, I tried to follow, but my legs just didn’t have any explosive power left. I am sure that is due to the fact I have only been riding for short periods of time on the trainer and once I start logging outdoor miles, I will have that snap at the end. We rolled up to Skip’s house and I had met my three goals. First, I didn’t embarrass myself. Second, I conserved energy by drafting and was able to practice drafting. Third, I didn’t get dropped.  I have yet to download the data, so I will have to see how the whole ride shows up in cyclingpeaks. For the rest of the day I remained sick. The only time I felt better was being out in the fresh air on my bike with new friends. I am still suffering from a sore throat and congenstion today.