Pro Love

Sometimes things just click.  Sometimes it's on the wrong day.  Sometimes it's on the right day.  I don't know what will happen next Monday but I had an amazing ride last Sunday.  Perfect temps all day with a very light breeze along with incredible company during the morning portion of the ride and a nice group to hang with in the afternoon followed by a quiet, ambitious, and thought filled evening made for a perfect day of cycling. 

Days like that are what it's all about.

Not many of us have pro legs or pro lungs or a pro heart but all of us have pro love for the sport.  We get out there and slog it out in the worst conditions.  Smoking heat.  Dripping humidity.  Gale force winds.  Washing machine rain.  We grimace while we're doing it.  We smile while we're doing it.  We listen intently while our friends and acquaintances reveal how they sprinted, gasping for breath, over a small hill and caught the break.  We, in turn, tell our own tales of how we barely hung on to the lead group for 18 miles at a 26 mile per hour pace, and get a clap on the back.  We are a close knit community that is somewhat unique… we live our sport every day.  The glory days are now.  Not 20 years ago.  We live for the epic rides and epic company and give the utmost hell to those who reside on the couch, cajoling them into joining us on a journey that will take us a life time to complete.  We'll ride to our graves.  We all have pro intentions.  We all have pro love.

Steve Verdell

Hill Jams for Power

     Mitchell is only two weeks away and I hate I didn't get this out earlier but there is still time to improve.  You can also use the included workouts to better yourself for events later in the season.  The last session left off with a couple of different types of intervals and I'm going to introduce you to a few more, these being in the hills and the mountains.  Over the last month I've been doing some hill workouts across the rolling terrain of Spartanburg County every Monday night.  I've been fortunate to have a few folks show up to keep me company.  The hills vary in pitch, length, and the time it takes to climb them but they all have one thing in common and that's the feeling you have when you crest the top.  Remember the first time you ever had an ice cream cone and it dripped all over your hand as you tried to rush to get it all in your mouth before it turned into a puddle and you thought "Oh My Gosh why didn't my parents get me one of these sooner how could they have not told me about this GOODNESS before now?!?!?"  Well, that's not the feeling you're apt to have.  You should feel wrenched in the gut and totally wiped out.  Like an alligator has your soul in a death roll at the bottom of a murky pool of water.  Sorta like when you turned 40 and lactose intolerance kicked in and you realized you could never have another ice cream cone again.  Yeah, more like that.  Shaky legged and vowing to never do one of these again, you soldier on at a slow recovery pace to the next one only to repeat these wonderful feelings.  These are big chainring efforts meant to increase your power and are definitely not Mitchell specific.  They will help you hang on to group rides as the local hammerheads punch it on the hills.  They may even help you win races requiring this type of kick at the end.  Regardless, big power is nice to have yet hard to acquire.  If you never practice it, you'll never get it.  I've tried to provide a place to get it while while folks can be assured they won't get dropped after the effort is over.  The efforts are less than two minutes and the recovery pace of the group is enforced so no one is put under pressure for the few miles to the next hill and everyone can focus on putting their all into the next jam.  You should focus on the effort and finish it out as your strength will come from not giving up and completing the exercise.  If you only do a few half hearted intervals then you will see only limited, if any, improvement.  Complete all 7 or 8 efforts at your maximum and you WILL see results.  Okay, maybe not Cancellara results but I've been pleased to see a couple of participants show incredible improvement in only three weeks.  Their improvement is not only in the strength they've gained but in their determination and the ability to focus on a goal.  I read a quote once that fits preparing for a cycling event like Mitchell perfectly.  "The desire to win is nothing without the desire to train."  Can't remember who said it.  I've seen a lot of people this season showing the desire to train.

     During this phase of building power I am also doing climbing intervals in the mountains.  These focus on improving recovery as well as building strength.  We have several mountains in the area to use and most are in the 6-8% range and are at least 2 or 3 miles long.  Starting at the base after a good warm up, I begin efforts lasting two minutes at about 102% of my calculated threshold and then recover for two minutes at 60% of threshold.  Most of the climbs allow for at least 5 intervals of this length.  As the season progresses, I'll increase the time at 102% and decrease the recovery.  These are called "over and unders."  For example I might be 3 minutes over threshold and one minute under.  These types of workouts are excellent for increasing the pace you can sustain on a climb. 

     Most coaching and training methods require that you calculate your threshold.  In order to do this you'll need a heart rate monitor and you'll have to do a short time trial.  Complete a 30 minute TT and take the average heart rate of the last 10 minutes and use that rate as your threshold.  It might not be as exact as getting your blood tested to create a threshold/heart rate curve but it will provide you with a good starting point and it is a lot cheaper.  Use this number to also calculate recovery ride heart rates as well as tempo rates. 

     The last type of training I've done for this year's Assault isn't an interval.  It's been just plain old long distance riding.  Hopefully you've been able to get some long mileage in this season and if you've been able to do some rides that approximate the time you'll be on the bike for Mitchell, all the better!  I've been fortunate to be able to get in five rides with our local group and a group in Charleston that have been at the 100 mile mark.  These ranged from a 4 hour ride time to a 6.5 hour time.  With these rides of varying intensity and terrain I feel well prepared for the event.  Our club rides in the Spartanburg area have been grueling steady affairs with multiple climbs that I've mostly done at a more relaxed pace.  I've been doing the short interval rides hard and the longer rides at a more relaxed pace with the odd exception to see how I feel at longer distances with a few intense efforts thrown in.  This is what works for me and as my form gets better I'm able to put out more intensity combined with longer rides.

     If you have not been able to do a century this year in preparation for the Assault, don't worry.  It's not necessary.  It might make it easier for you but it's definitely not a requirement.  You might be able to finish the ride with time to spare even if your longest ride is only 50 miles as long as you've been getting mileage in consistently and have been doing some elevated intensity.  Don't expect to pass Boyd Johnson on the climb but do expect to have a great ride and revel in the scenery and camaraderie.  Your "style", like mine, would be to have a great event and enjoy the day!  I hope to see YOU at the top of Mitchell!

Steve Verdell

Do the Haka!

It took a long time but I found the perfect training mix for any cyclist.  Get ready to print this page out and go on your scavenger hunt, checking off each ingredient as you go, but first visit your local apothecary and pick up a mortar and pestle for proper mixing.

1. Rubber tread off the tires from Eddy Merckx's first Paris Roubaix victory

2. Bottom bracket grease from Marshall "Major" Taylor's first World Championship

3. Five of Fausto Coppi's hairs

4. LA's missing… well… you know

Grind these ingredients up, sift into an iron cauldron with your brew of choice, and then place over a fire in the middle of the field between these two teams and have them chant a testosteroneish Haka over it.  For maximum effectiveness you should chant along.  Drink up.  Win everything.

As you can see and as you have found out through all the training you've done or are about to do, there is no magic mix or voodoo laden method that will get you to your goals.  Incremental improvements can translate to hours and hours of hard work on the bike.  There is no other way.  But really… how do you get there?  First you have to define "there."

Step one is identifying your goal.  Many people suggest writing it down.  After you've done that you can get a calendar if you have a specific event in mind and then plot out the days you can work out between starting your training and your event.  You'll begin to see how many hours it will take as well as the dedication and consistency necessary to achieve your goal.  The next step might be to refine your goal.  By that I mean to establish the style.  Blogger Boyd Johnson has an incredibly stylish goal of 5 hours for Mt. Mitchell.  That will require a LOT of hours per week.  My goal is considerably less stylish (some might even say garish instead of stylish!) so I won't require nearly as many hours.  After establishing a style you might even have to refine it as the reality of your abilities becomes apparent.  You might realize you are more capable than you thought and thereby reset your goal for 15 minutes or even an hour faster, who knows!!!  I developed the following guide to show goals and the approximate hours required to meet them:

---------------

Mitchell in a time of 5 hours = about 18 hours a week of suffering = incredibly stylish

Cruise neighborhood and enjoy the flowers blooming = go get on the bike now and do it = incredibly stylish as well

---------------

For some folks, cruising the neighborhood IS a challenge.  For others it may not be a challenge but getting out and enjoying the sunshine and the sights in a relaxed manner is what they enjoy doing and most of us identify with that on some level.  It's not up to me or anyone else to determine or judge your goal.

   

Once you have a goal and a time frame then it's time to get busy.  Most of us have spent a lot of the winter and early spring doing base miles as well as a smattering of some higher intensity stuff.  As the temperatures started climbing so did we, so some of us have a few weeks in the mountains under our belts as well.

 

What is "higher intensity stuff?"  How do you train in the mountains?  How, exactly, do you train for Mitchell???  That all depends on your goals and that line is not a cop out.  It really does.  I'll get into the training in the mountains topic next week but for now will give some examples of higher intensity stuff and the reasons I do these specific workouts.

I like to keep things simple so I use only a few basic workouts.  The first I do are mini time trials.  These are simply three mile time trials.  I do these in sets of three.  I ride three miles for time and then recover for 10 minutes and then repeat two more times.  These are completed at the absolute max effort I can sustain for three miles.  I do these because it's fast (I can warm up, work out, and cool down in less than an hour and a half), it's effective (it helps increase my speed and strength pretty rapidly if I have a good base), it's useful (it's great for simulating late race moves or the effort needed to bridge a gap), and it's very measurable so I can gauge improvements or overtraining.  It's also exhausting so plan on a real recovery ride the next day in order to reap the benefits of this.  I usually only do this once a week and might alternate weeks with the following workout.

I do the next intervals after I've done at least a couple of day's worth of the mini TT's at the beginning of the season.  The reason for this is to get my body ramped up to this level of exertion gradually as these are at a higher level of intensity and I want all connective tissue and muscles brought to this effort in stages to reduce the chance of injury.  After a good warm up that includes a couple of 15 second 90% efforts, the interval is as follows.  In the description "on" means max effort you can sustain for the time and "off" means pedaling with little resistance to recover:

60 secs on, 30 secs off, 50 secs on, 25 secs off, 40 secs on, 20 secs off, 30 secs on, 15 secs off, 20 secs on, 10 secs off, 10 second sprint    /  repeat multiple times after at least 5 min recovery in between

This may seem to contradict what I said about keeping it simple but after you do it a couple of times you'll get into a groove and not think about it too much.  I find this workout allows me to recover quickly after hard efforts.  Couple this with the previous workout and you can begin to acquire the tools to help you form your strategy for races or your local Tuesday Night World Championships or even just completing a group ride with your friends that you might not have been able to finish before.  How do these fit into a plan for Mt. Mitchell?  Here's where the goals come in.  If you want to stay with the leaders or one of the front groups, there are numerous accelerations and just plain hard hilly sections all the way to Marion.  Interval sessions such as the two I have described will give you the strength and recovery to weather the storm and keep your goals in reach.  Even if you have no interest in staying near the front, these sessions will still enable you to finish stronger.  I'll have some mountain specific workouts next week.

Steve Verdell

Riding in the Cold Rain

Josh Whitmore of Team Globalbike will be joining us this year in the 2011 Assault on Mt. Mitchell.  In this video, he gives some advice and tips for training in the cold, cold rain:

The Songs the Songs

Monday, February 28.  Most solo rides start the same way with the decision on how to ride made a day or two earlier and this one is no different as I'd done three and a half hours the day before.  Today is supposed to be easy with a threat of hard rain but I need the miles and I need the rejuvenation.  Sometimes you "come upon a which way sign and all good truants must decide…" and invariably I decide to ride, so out I go.

 

A light easy cadence to start with and even though the wind is surprisingly crisp, I move through it ok.  The clouds are blowing hard from right to left as I head towards a bright patch of sky, almost blue but not quite, and soon I am among the twisty hilly roads around Walnut Grove still on cruise control with the music playing in my mind helping me along at an easy pace.  "Love is Strong" by the Stones comes to mind with a crisp solid drumbeat and I'm in another world enjoying the miles with a smile on my face knowing the fun of it finally after a few months of anxiety.  Jagger's voice in a lower octave seems to keep me slow on purpose.  My knee feels really good and it makes me relish the thought of riding hard again but that will be tomorrow after a long day yesterday and an easy one today.

 

The only traffic is a herd of cows and a flock of crows.  The cows stare numbly and the crows startle the air with bursts of angry complaining, a cawing harmonica much like the one in the song in my head.  Crows never seem to be happy from the sound of them and they seem to fit right in with the brooding music.

 

I glance over my shoulder and the sky warrants a second, longer look.  Some god-sized spider spun a solid wall of black clouds behind me while I wasn't looking.  There is no tree line or horizon.  The dark tarmac merges with the sky in one bruised smooth stroke, double yellow lines a curving arrow pointing the way to an inferno of rain.  There is no way around this one as I didn't bring a head light and it will be dark soon.  The strong cross tail wind has me doing 26 miles an hour and my smile is bigger so I discard the plan and roll with the good feelings I have and a hard effort has me doing 30.  The rain seems to retreat from me and I think I might be able to make it until the temperature plummets and I know it's going to be bad.  Pulling on my vest at the light at Hwy 221 against the chill rain, I have some trepidation about what's to come.

 

The rain is steady as the light turns green and my trepidation begins to march along with the first strains of "Voodoo Chile" as Jimi lays the ground work for his epic and here words fail.  The intro is over and the rain comes in with the thunder of the drums and the rest of the band and my skin cries with the howl of the guitar as I'm blasted by it in sheets and sheets my wheels are like a boat keel in the water every pedal stroke has my feet submerged and the tail wind is now a swirling blast of crowd noise buffeting me and welcoming me to it's breast or it's teeth I can't tell which but either is a comfort of force I haven't felt in a long time and never at this magnitude and I ride as hard as I can into the solid phase of it realizing how bad I missed the rain and the songs it sings.

Steve Verdell

Rigid Structure or a Bunch of... what did you just say???

Yeah, you heard me.  I said fartlek.  Most of the old school guys probably know the word but these young schoolers we have running around here probably have no idea what it means even though they partake in it.  I think cyclists have morphed the original meaning to more of something like "riding hard and trying to drop your friends when they aren't looking… or are otherwise occupied" instead of the original "speed play" it really means.  Traditional fartlek is actually structured and patterned and consists of training at various intensities in a single workout.  We use the word to describe the varied intensity of our group rides as we try to hammer the sense out of each other.  Having your friends chase you or you chasing them can be great motivation to extend your limits and we try to employ that method a lot around here.  All in fun, of course!  We should never take our spandex clad selves too seriously.

I had a local youngling mention to me just the other evening that "it's always a race" and he's pretty much spot on.  At the least it's "always about to be a race."  The starter's pistol is always there bubbling under the surface.  It takes a lot of control on our rides from the participants as well as the ride leaders to keep them from devolving into an unadvertised free for all that leaves everyone scattered about the countryside hoping to find a Cliff Bar crumb or two to lead them back home before dark.  We have developed into a more civilized cycling society in these parts and we prefer to have our carnage take place all at once, between two points, about 4 miles apart.  Don't start one meter before or it doesn't count if you cross the line first.  Seriously.  You don't get a free beer for that and we'll talk about you on days you have to work or take care of the kids instead of doing what you should be doing which is training with us.  If we didn't have a core of strong willed goodhearted guys that didn't mind keeping us on task, every ride would be one long attack zone from the days of yore and we'd never be able to keep anyone interested in coming back for a group ride.  It's hard to get pack skills riding by yourself and a lot of us do want to help grow the sport by being a factor in whether someone comes back for another ride.  Be it giving some sage advice, handing out a gel, helping change a flat, or giving someone a push or a tow, we are a courteous group… on most days!

Ok, on to the point.  My initial recovery from surgery has been more rigid than the lead up to any event I've done.  Every ride, except one, has been slow and deliberate and mostly by myself due to the fact that "it's always a race."  I did a few group rides where my knee was pain free and yet I turned around early before I got out there and had some issues with pain.  I did let my guard down one time and participated in a slugfest while I halfheartedly rationalized it and after that I didn't stray from the slow and steady path I laid out for myself.  In that instance I was definitely the sluggee, not the slugger.  I didn't make it to the front even when we were going slow at the start and my "participation" merely meant that I was present and then dropped.  I haven't given any details of these structured exercises mainly because it has just been slow riding, concentrating on small chain ring spinning with no stress applied to my knee while going up any hills.  These rides are typically followed by a short session of resistance training with an elastic strap where I tie the strap to my ankle and the entertainment center and then try to drag it across the carpeted floor.  Once I am able to drag it 5 feet and then snatch the pebble out of the hand of the Shaolin master, I will be ready to ride with force.  Eh, if you never watched Kung Fu with David Carradine back in the 1970's then that image will be lost on you, grasshopper.

A structured routine consisting of short pain free efforts to get the joint working and build some muscle tone, frequent icing to reduce swelling, visits to a local chiropractor to try some accelerated healing techniques, and lots of rest has served me well the past couple of months.  Soon I'll begin a slow building process to get back strength and endurance.  I'll include details of that later as they can be used by anyone regardless if they are recovering from an injury or just getting back into riding after taking the winter or a few seasons off.  But the good news for me is that my doctor has released me to start applying full pressure to the joint and now I'm looking forward to some group fartlek before getting down to some hard core structure!

   

Steve Verdell

Don't Blink

"But I don't have any anxietaaaaayyahhhhh...."  Drool.  Slobber.  At least I didn't think I had any anxiety.  The anesthesiologist had squeezed a syringe of drool inducing elixir into my IV and I remember being whisked down the hall on my speed racer gurney, feeling the G-forces as we screamed out of turn four and onto the homestretch... and really that's about it.  I never even saw my surgeon and I'm sure that's part of their plan.  I woke from a dreamless state to see people staring expectantly at me and I think I immediately tried to feed the elephants some fish and salsa.  I'm sure I still had drool and confusion all over me.

My doc was already in his next surgery so I didn't get an explanation from him on how it went but I was told what to do and when to do it by the capable staff right before they made a physical therapy appointment for me for the following day.  They wrote all the pertinent info down and stapled it to my hand so I wouldn't lose it and then I climbed stiffly and slowly onto my elephant's majestic howda, wrapped my shabby tattered cape of dignity around me, and lumbered home.

I was happy with how little pain I was feeling, especially since the pain med prescription they gave me turned out to be $330.  The pharmacist was sympathetic, I believe, because of the way she phrased her asking of me if I already had a second mortgage.  "Supposed to be some new formula that doesn't make you sleepy," she smiled, in a sad way, watching as I slid my pinched-in-half pennies off the counter and back into my change purse.  I remembered telling my doc in a pre-op consult that I had to work 3rd shift in a couple of days so he must have prescribed the new stuff thinking it would help me out.  Thanks Doc!  So instead of getting a silo full of generic Vicodin for $14, I didn't get anything.  Which turned out well since the pain associated with the surgery was virtually nil and entirely bearable without any meds at all!  That's what I shouted silently to myself for the first couple of days, anyway.

My leg was swelling nicely by the end of the day and I kept it elevated and covered with an ice pack as instructed.  This was to be my default position for the next week.  You can do a lot of things from this position but after the first day, none of them are comfortable.

The trips to the physical therapist were an adventure of trying to fold my leg into the car (it seems it would have been easier to just fold it forward instead of backward) and sitting on a pilates ball as I tried to balance on my damaged knee while throwing an 8 pound ball into a vertically mounted trampoline and catch it with one hand as it ricocheted back at me at (7 consecutive tour wins+{700c rims (x-56cm center to center)} where x is the speed of light) miles per hour.  My therapist watched closely and I made my first throw under pressure to prove I could hit the infinitesimally small square target in the center of the trampoline and thereby prove that yes, I was a graduate from man school.  I triangulated, guessed, and heaved.  Much to my surprise and to his, I'm sure, the ball began to boing deep into the fabric in the precise center of that tiny square, stretching it farther and farther while in a split second I thought a whole paragraph of something like "I knew I could do it and probably never will again but how do you like them apples!  Chest beating noise.  Tarzan howl.  Et cetera, et cetera."

   

Everything was in slow motion as the ball came to a stop at maximum fabric and spring tension and as it began to move back towards me out of the deep pocket it had created, I distinctly remember starting to blink.  Then something in my hindbrain screamed in a terrified manner "don't finish that blink!!!" and somehow, startled, I didn't, and I still thank myself for saving myself from the folly of blinking.  In the end I avoided the broken nose but not the scrambling, legs up, indignant tumble induced by trying to catch a rubber cannonball shot out of a nuclear particle accelerator.  I still say the high pitched squeaking noise was my shoes slipping on the rubber mat even though it might have resembled a bleating squeal as I tried to dodge the infernal projectile. 

I'll have more actually useful information later.

Steve Verdell 

Beginning the Ride Back

The ride (click to view) was supposed to start at 10am but by 9:45 I knew that it wasn't going to go as advertised.  Due to ice on country roads there would be no big gathering in Greenville to keep this group thinned out and it seemed a week of being pent up in our houses brought out everyone who had a bike.  I didn't count, but we looked like a swarm of hornets as we pulled out of the YMCA parking lot.  I was hoping for a ride on the more leisurely end of the 17-18 mph advertised pace but with the brisk 32 degree air almost puffy with the aroma of liniments and oils that would normally be reserved for an early spring race - I knew I was in for it. 

 

Back in early October I torqued my right knee.  After a week of fretting I decided to go ahead and participate in a one day 240 mile ride to the beach.  The combination of the injury and the mileage on that day resulted in me having part of my meniscus and some cartilage removed in mid December and now I am on a plan of my own making to get over the surgery and back into the Upstate cycling scene. 

 

So, armed with a jersey pocket full of foolish optimism and a brick hard energy bar, here I was scrolling down the road with a lot of folks I pretty much hadn't seen on the road since October.  My goal for the day was to ride with the group for motivation and stay within the pain limits given to me by my surgeon.  My last training was three days ago on rollers with some pain in the 2 range while standing and no pain while spinning seated.  Total workout was 30 minutes and it gave me my first real confidence boost since the injury almost three months ago.

Spinning an easy gear as we negotiated down Pine Street in a big wad of colors and laughter brought back all the good feelings I associate with cycling, especially with all the "glad to have you back" comments and the "how's the knee" questions.  After 10 miles of verbally catching up with some of the guys the pace was faster and the group was split up and I was still having fun in the middle as I had barely encroached on the pain limit my doctor had set.  My plan was to just bail out and ride at my own pace if my knee hurt.

The reason I came out, even though the ride seemed a brutishly long 60 miles at this point in my recovery, was that I could stop at any time and meet up with the group on their way back to town as it was a straight out and back course on a wide highway due to the ice on all the secondary roads.  Perfect for me if the pace and the pain was right.

 

At the 30 mile turnaround the ride leader decided to split the group into A's and B's since there were a lot of guys struggling to hold back on the reins.  Feeling fairly confident with the lack of pain I decided on the A group.  Within about 30 feet I realized the maelstrom I was struggling to hang on to was going to be humbling.

Seriously, only about 30 feet.

A few of us chatted our way out of the parking lot and noticed the group was already lined out single file down the road.  They hadn't wasted a single second once let loose by the ride leader to go on about their merry warp speed way. 

 

During this section my pain went above the recommended limit by a hair.  I'm thinking a 4 or so and I had a limit of 3 - but who can say really.  It didn't last long and dropped off sharply even though I maintained my effort.  (By maintaining my effort I mean I was letting off the effort slightly to see how the pain responded and then increasing the effort slowly as I evaluated the pain.)  That seemed to work okay as I found a pace without increasing the pain that let me slowly catch the group with the help of a couple of other guys.

Once in the group, I was never comfortable with the high pace, and knew I would not stay with them long - but I decided to stay as long as I could if it wasn't a detriment to the knee.  I focused on maintaining a high cadence and taking deep breaths to try to keep relaxed but soon my shoulders were bunched up in a knot and my thighs followed right after. There's only so much you can do with virtually no miles in three months and soon I was idly discarded and blowing around on the road, off the back, like a losing lottery ticket. 

 

I was elated!  My limit wasn't knee pain but a lack of training miles.  I hope this pattern will continue until I don't get dropped any more.

 

I thanked Peter probably too many times for riding back in with me at a leisurely and then tough 16 miles an hour.  I was worn completely out with a couple of miles to go.  Once back at the car I strapped on an ice pack I had in the trunk.  I had taken two Aleve pills an hour before the start so I didn't take anything else after the ride.  I'll report back later with details on how my knee feels after this tough day!

Steve Verdell