Sunday, April 29, 2012

Training Camp Vegas - Day Zero

After a winter and early spring of questionable riding weather in Vancouver, the planned week-long training camp in Las Vegas with Chris, Robo, and Cam couldn't come early enough!



4 guys, 4 bikes, and a whole ton of bags packed into Robo's van for the trip down to Belligham.  When we reached the terminal, check-in went smoothly thanks to our flight attendant who asked "what kind of bikes do you have ... I ride a Pinarello"

And, as you can see, the bikes made it safely to the tarmac in Vegas


 
We packed our nutrition all neat and tidy like



Bonk Breakers, Gu Chomps, Roctane, and Carbo Pro.  This week's gonna be awesome!





But the photo of the day goes to Chris, taking a picture on our easy "recover from travel day" spin.  Three generations of Speed Theory kits, ripping it up in Red Rock country!



~ liquid


Friday, April 13, 2012

Sometimes all it takes

Sometimes all it takes is one good ride to gain back your confidence.

Backstory:
If I haven't told you yet, a couple of weeks ago when we were riding our first 10 Before 10 from Speed Theory (that's 10 laps of Stanley Park done before 10 am), I injured my Achilles.  Not a rupture, no surgery required, but I couldn't bear weight and it was pretty depressing.  I couldn't stand all day at work, and walking three blocks to Starbucks was out of the question.

I had booked the following weekend off of work to get some serious mileage in.  Nope.

I watched as all my friends put in hours and hours of training over Easter Weekend.  I logged 2.5 hours, and most of that was noodling.  But it was okay, because every day I was getting a little better.

Then it hit me

Tuesday morning, I woke up to head to Masterswim.  Maybe it was the fact that it was 5 in the morning, but as an athlete, that was about the worst drive in I've ever had.  I had counted down the days until Ironman Coeur d'Alene at the end of June, and at my current rate of recovery, I just couldn't do it.

I can't train for a 180km bike ride on 45 minute rides. Despite some great indoor spins throughout the winter, I really hadn't logged the long rides I'd need in February or March because the weather was so terrible.  I just wasn't going to have the legs to do this ride.

and 30 seconds of running, then walking for 5 and a half minutes to recover is no way to run a marathon.

I was ready to pull the plug

-----

But, I thought I'd give it one more ride.  I took my tri bike into work, as I knew the steeper saddle position would force my ankle to stay a little higher, thus relieving the pressure at my foot.  It was the last day of a 4-week-long Hill Climbing clinic (of which I'd missed 2 classes), and we were riding up Grouse.  It was while climbing Prospect Point at Stanley Park where I first noticed the injury, so I thought this would be the way to really test things out.

I told myself I'd be honest.   The week before, I had devised a Pain Threshold Scale (where 1 is barely feeling any feedback, 10 is excruciating pain) and made a deal that if I reached a 6, I'd stop and completely back off the intensity, and if it reached a 7, I'd go home.  Honesty was the key.

Well, I started climbing, and kept things at maybe 80% of my usual effort, but nothing ever rose above a 3, and that mostly when I climbed out of saddle.  If I sat back down, the feedback would lower back down to a 1.

----

Fast forward to today, where I rode out the Sea 2 Sky Highway to Murrin Lake and back.  4 hours, 100 kilometers, riding every hill, every headwind, solo.   Achilles Pain Rating: 0

Now, before you caution me:

Yes, I know I have a lot of work to do, both in continual rehab and in training.  Currently, every C priority race on the schedule is cancelled, and B races are on hold.  In 2 weeks I head down to Las Vegas for a week of riding with the boys, and I'll use my performance and recovery there to gauge how to proceed on the rest of the season.

But I no longer have to quit, and that makes me happy.

----

I'd like to throw out a couple of shoutouts:

First, to Drs. Jenn Turner and Sarah Jung from Moveo in North Vancouver.  Thank you for fitting me into your busy schedules, and for laughing when I cursed the Graston "Butter Knife"

Second, to my co-workers at Speed Theory and our fantastic Ambassadors.  I know I wasn't a pleasant person to work for a while - thanks for putting up with me.

Also thanks to CEP Compression and Compressport Canada.  Whether socks, my new compression tri shorts, or full-leg compress sleeves, the high-quality garments from these two brands have got me back in the game.  If you're an athlete and still have hesitations about compression technology, I'd seriously recommend giving it a try.

And last but definitely not least, to my wife for putting up with my misery, though I think she may have enjoyed the extra 15km/h bike rides with me :)

Onwards to victory (or ending up in a ditch)

~ liquid