It's all in your head!

I haven't run more than about 5.5 miles since having a hip issue following the 2010 Denver Rock n Roll half marathon.

During training for that race my hip would start hurting at the 6 mile mark but I got through it and finished the half in 2:03.  Afterward, I made up my mind that I would just run for exercise and no more than 6 miles.

Then came a bike crash in July 2012 and I was running more than riding.  This led to faster run times which meant shorter workouts when running less than 6 miles.

Fast-forward to yesterday. It was cold and rainy (remnants of hurricane Sandy) but I was determined to get in my lunch-time run.  I logged onto Mapmyrun to find my usual 5 miler to make sure I was going the right way and noticed that I also had a 6 mile option plotted.  I decided that I'd see how I felt at the 3 mile mark and then decide on the 5 or 6 mile route.

Now dressed and a little cold I started out a little fast to speed-up my warm up time.  Within a mile I hit a Strava.com segment that I wanted to win so I sped up a little more knowing that I could ease into a long-run pace afterward (it didn't work, I missed it by 5 seconds).  When I got to the 3 mile mark I was feeling good so I took the turn to get in the extra mile.

When I got back on the main route, 4 miles into the run, I wasn't sure that the route would end up being 6 miles so I took a route that I hadn't mapped out.  Not knowing how far I was going to run sufficiently tricked my brain.  I was even able to finish the last 400 meters in a near sprint.  Checking my StravaRun app I was pleasantly surprised at the 6.7 miles at just over a 9 minute pace!!

I don't think I would have run as strong if I KNEW I was on a 7 mile route.

Lesson learned? Every now and then go off-the-map and just see what happens.

Three more weeks :(

Heard today that it will likely be 3 more weeks before my wrist is healed enough to handle the strain of cycling.  Good thing is that they want me out of the splint, using the wrist and doing exercises.  Hopefully it will heal faster now.  I've never been so impatient with an injury!

I'm still planning on doing the Victory Junction Camp Challenge Ride on September 8th!  I've jokingly told my sponsors that I might just be leading the kiddie ride around the parking lot, but I'll be there!  I know the 100K is out though, so I'll be either doing the 50K or the 25K depending on how I feel by the end of that week.

I had a new idea for fundraising and last week I sent out a post to my business owning friends to see if anyone was interested, but so far there are no takers.

Since that didn't seem to work out I started collecting for a "benefit yard sale".  The donated items are sold at my yard sale and proceeds will go to Victory Junction Camp in the donors name.  It'll involve a little record keeping on my part, but its worth it.

Keep your bike rubber-side down.

Moot.

Bone Chip :-(

Two weeks out post-crash and the wrist wan't any better than it was in day 3 so I decided to see a specialist.

After new X-rays and a lot of time sitting in a room with no wi-fi or 3G access (shouldn't every business have wi-fi by now), the doctor comes in to study the films.  After looking at them for a while and then testing my range of motion and looking at them again, he determines that I ended up with a chipped bone in my wrist.  He pointed out the irregular shape in the bone and a shadow of where it looks like the chip is located.  Of course he could have told me anything and I wouldn't have known any better but it made sense.

The net of it all is that I'm in a splint for a few weeks.  I REALLY need it to get "good enough" in two weeks so that I can train for the Victory Junction Camp Challenge !  Otherwise I'll have to downgrade my mileage to the 15 mile beginner's route or the kiddie lap around the camp.  :-)

Not my actual X-ray.  They wanted to charge me $20 for a copy.

First Crash

I guess it had to happen at some point, I finally had a crash.  I'm sure I "fell off my bike" many a time growing up and I know I had that "oh shit I'm falling and I can't unclip" fall twice since I started "clipping in" on road bikes.  This was the real deal though.

In gearing up for a 60 mile benefit ride, Victory Junction Camp Challenge, I wanted to get in a solid 40 mile plus day so I headed over to the Brugger's Bagels / Carribou Coffee parking lot with 20 other cyclists for a nice Saturday ride.

Every time time I've gone out with this group, the Thorns and Roses, we all start out together at an easy pace and then after a few miles the A group, Thorns, start pulling away.  On that Saturday however there were different plans as one of the Thorns went off the front only a mile into the ride.  Wanting to see how my conditioning was holding up I jumped into the now 4-man breakaway.  I was actually feeling really strong and even earned a KOM on a Stava.com segment in Apex.  A few miles later though I realized I wasn't quite up to the Thorn level and needed a little help to keep up on one long hill.  After that we road a fairly quick pace on some small rollers and long flats.  Just before "the event" we came across the cycling portion of a Triathalon going in the opposite direction.  It was fun watching them try to be serious and focused as we waived and called out "good morning". :-)  Then we turned past their starting point and the Apex police directing traffic and headed toward the Nuclear power plant.

Less than a mile after the turn I remember hearing a loud "CRACK" and a brief thought of "shit my frame broke", then nothing until one of the guys was kneeling over me telling me not to move.  Pretty much everything hurt, but after a couple of minutes I was able to stand and we started picking up the parts of my bike that went flying. (seat, safety light, water bottle)  On inspection we deduced that at some point one of the two bolts holding the saddle to the seatpost came loose and fell out.  The remaining bolt wasn't enough to do the job and the "crack" that I heard was it snapping.  I must have had a lot of weight on the back of the seat because the only thing that makes sense is that when my body shifted from the lack of a seat being there I fell to the back and the right.  

The damage?  A sprained wrist, road rash on my right hip, elbow and shoulder, deep scuffing on my right shoe, ripped jersey and a cracked helmet on the right side where I hit the pavement.  The road definitely won that battle, but I did manage to leave a long blue streak from my helmet. :-)

It's now 13 days later and the road rash is healing quite well.  It looks like my wrist will slow me down the most.  As for the equipment, between Performance Bike and Loews Home Improvement I was able to get my seat-post reattached to my saddle.  I've replaced my Bell helmet with the same style I had but with the carbon fiber look.  After work today I'm heading to CyclingSpokenHere to make sure my frame is OK and if that checks out then I'll be going for a test ride this weekend!  

Of course now I'm 2 weeks off schedule from prepping for the VJC ride so once I'm all healled I'll have to put in some serious miles get in proper form.

Lessons learned:

1. Check the bolts that hold the saddle to the seat post.  I had NEVER looked at them other than to make the original adjust.  It'll be part of my pre-ride check list now.  
2. Wear a helmet every time you get on the bike.  This happened on a long group ride, but bike failure can occur anywhere.  I often ride without my helmet when I'm just going from 1 building to another on campus, but if the bolt broke on campus my head would have hit the ground just as hard.  

Its been way too long!

Or in Cajun, "mais long time no see yea!"

My long hiatus in blogging was partly due to laziness, too many other things on my mind and injury. Today's post is about the latter. I injured my ankle in November of last year jamming it in some strange way when just taking a step from the road to the curb.

In December we tried a steroid pack (5 day anti-inflammatory) and it brought it down from hurting all day to only hurting in the morning.

Of course now its the middle of March and the pain is exactly the same.

Yesterday I decided to ignore the Dr. and go for a short run (2 miles) at a slow pace. http://app.strava.com/runs/5178082

This morning I woke up and the ankle feels better than ever! Still a little tight, but no pain!

I'm not sure that this would work for other ailments but at least now I can add running back to my exercise routine!

Its all relative

Still damn hot today but a great ride.

The peloton left SAS at 11:30 sharp as usual with about 15 members. Once on Weston the group from Bandwidth joined in and the comment was made, "they're getting as big as us." In fact they had about 10 riders today. The now much larger peloton made their way down Weston at a slower than normal pace, took the right onto Chapel Hill rd and then the left onto Morrisville-Carpenter.

That's when someone up front decided we were going too slow for a Wednesday in 92 degree weather. The speed increased dramatically and everyone fell into a single file line until we finally had to stop at the Davis Dr light. The light was quick however and cut off the back 3rd of the group. Then the unbelievable happened for this ride and the group actually held up for the rest to rejoin!!

A few more minutes and it was time for the group to split into the A and B route (30 and 20 miles). The B group was split again but ended up with 6 at the HighHouse intersection until 2 decided to go across High House and do an extra 4 mile loop. The 4 remaining headed toward Davis and couldn't agree on the route so 2 split to continue on High House and cut through Preston like normal while the others took a left for a more direct route.

Dwight and Keith made their way through Preston talking about the heat, lack of leg strength and the hills that were coming up. Since Dwight was used to being the 2nd or 3rd strongest rider in the B group, taking the lead on Morrisville Parkway was a new experience. Rather than playing catch-up on the long climb back to Chapel Hill road he got to set a high pace and dropped his companion, not seeing him again until cooling down in the gym. Will, who had taken the more "direct route" had actually been slowly catching up and finally caught Dwight as they turned onto Harrison for the last half mile into SAS.

So, Dwight finally got to drop someone, but then Will showed him that he's not really all that.

Great ride!!

The Heat is on

I was forced to run in the early AM today as the temp was going to be in mid-90's by lunch and 100 for the high.

Good run though. Used the Chatham road to the Greenway Loop for a 38 minute run. Took quite a while to cool off with all the humidity.

Tomorrow's ride will be interesting with another 95+ day.

Bike Commuting a Success

Two weeks into the summer and I've been able to ride to work 4 times. That's 64 miles I didn't put on my car and 3.5 gallons of petrol I didn't have to buy.

I'm hoping to ride in 2 days a week but I know that there will be weeks where it doesn't work out. The key is that I picked 2 days to make it my default mode of transportation, Monday's and Thursdays.

It's taking some planning as well, making sure that I bring in extra work clothes on Friday and Wednesday so I don't have to pack and wrinkle it up in a bag. I finally got a permanent locker in the gym so that I can store shoes and toiletries as well.

The other cool thing is that I'm getting 2 extra workouts a week. I decided not to change my running, weights and riding routines so on on the commute days I either run or do weights leaving my legs fresh for the hard core Wednesday and Friday lunch rides.

I'm also trying different paths in. There are only 2 tough spots on my route. The first is having to cross Maynard Road to get from the South Side of the trail to the North Side. There doesn't seem to be any natural way of getting across. Right now I have to go further down the road and do a u-turn (its a divided road) and then get back on the trail on the other side. Going to write the Town of Cary today to find out what their official, recommended route is for that trail. The other spot is getting from the trails and onto SAS campus. One route means I have to be on Harrison Rd for about a mile (4 laner with a lot of high speed traffic) the other is to stay on the trail and pass up the entrance to SAS and then go through a neighborhood that comes out a block from the entrance. Main point here is that the route from the path through the neighborhood is all UPHILL so the going is slow. This route can add 5 to 10 minutes to my 35 minute commute. For now I think I'll brave the traffic to save the time.

Heading to the bike shop today on my commute home. There's just something really cool about riding to the bike shop rather than driving. :)

- moot

Friday SAS ride

Awesome ride today. Was able to totally fly up Morrisville Parkway RR Track hill.

That hill really needs a name. Maybe I need to use a common name like Colin McEnroe did in his Bicycling Magazine article, "Fits & Starts". He called his nemesis Tucker. I might get ridiculed for it though since our hills have cool names like Upchuck, The 3 Sisters and Burn-off. :)

In the end still tired, it wouldn't be much exercise if I wasn't, but didn't have that "I think I'm going to puke" feeling that I had in the last 2 miles on Wednesday. I was almost able to keep up with the fastest guy in our group but he lulled me into a pace and then took off halfway up the last hill. :)

So in the end we did about 19 miles at over 18 mph. Not bad for a Friday lunch ride.

How to post a bike for sale on Craig's List

Just thought I'd save everyone a lot of time and hassle. If you are posting a bike for sale please include some key information. It will save you time and likely sell your bike a lot faster.

1. Include a picture in the form of a link to an external picture hosting site. This is much better quality than the little 1 by 1 you get by default. CL even tells you how to do it:http://www.craigslist.org/about/help/faq#pictures .
2. Size does matter. PLEASE put the bike size in the post. If its a kids bike, then put in the wheel size (12,16, 20,24). If its an adult size then post the size that is listed on the bike or take a quick measurement from the center of the crank (where the pedals meet the frame) to the top of the seat tube. If its a mountain bike or hybrid use inches if its a road bike use centimeters. It takes 30 seconds and saves you from a lot of questions.
3. Post the year or age of the bike if you know it. This doesn't matter as much for some bikes but for the higher end bikes the components can change a lot from one year to the next so it's important.
4. Include a link to the actual bike from the manufacturer if its available, or check BikePedia. I can't tell you how much time I wasted looking up bikes to get the specs when I was searching for my road bike. Its especially difficult if the year is not included in the post. (Try finding that one year that Trek made the Blue and silver Madone :) ).
5. Provide your contact information. If you do steps 1 to 4 you won't get as many calls because buyers will self-select themselves out of something that is not the right bike to begin with. You also increase the good calls because those buyers are truly interested, not just calling to get more details.
6. Per a suggestion from a reader, remove the listing once the bike is sold. It saves everyone time and the buyer some potential heartache when they thought they found that perfect bike.

Happy Selling!

Two weeks till the Denver Rock n Roll Half

Training has been going great. I'm only running 3 days a week and still improving so I don't see any need to increase the miles per week, other than the long run. This past Sunday was 12 miles and I decide to do a modified "Calloway method" of running 9 minutes and then walking 1. My average per mile was 11 seconds better than the 10 mile race the previous week.

So get that, I walked, I ran 2 extra miles, I was on my own (no buddy to push me along) and I improved my time! I think I'm sticking with this method!!

So far this week weights on Monday, intervals on Tuesday and I rode 19 miles over lunch. Tomorrow is a 5 miler at about 9 minute pace, a ride on Friday and 13 miles on Sunday. Next week will be tapering for the big race.

See you in Denver,

Moot.

Running, Running, Running

The 5K times continue to come down as a by-product of the long-distance training. But now the distance actually starts getting longer this week. Doing 7 miles on Sunday after 4 today, 3.5 tomorrow and 3 to 4 on Saturday.

I'm also signing up for the Anna's Angels 10 mile race as a gut-check on how well I'm doing. It'll be 3 weeks before my first half marathon so I'll still have some time to do some adjusting.

Lastly, I've been posting training loops from 3 to 7 miles on Livestrong.com so feel free to check them out if you are convenient to the Bond Lake green way. As my milage increases I'll be posting longer distances.

- Dwight.

Ummm, Donuts?

Amazing what a lot of working out will do. In the past "donut day" would have elicited a "Yummm", now its more like "uggh". I guess I've turned the proverbial corner.

-Moot

12 week program starts today

Started the official 12-week half marathon training program today! Did 5X 400 intervals, fast at 5K pace and slow at half marathon pace (or my estimate of what that will be).

By the way, congrats to Lance Armstrong and the Radio Shack team on the TDF!

Half Marathon Training Break # One

It was totally unintentional but my vacation completely sacked my workout schedule. I had even packed all my running stuff and plotted out some courses around Boone. Oh well, it didn't seem to hurt my short-distance time as I ran a 25:41 "easy" 5K this morning. If you haven't been out lately its damn hot, even at 6:30 am. Tomorrow will be an easy 3 miles and some plumbing work for my "strength training". (A happy face would have gone hear, but Lance said that men should not use them, ever) OK now I want to put in another one...

By the way the Apex Turkey Trot registration opened today! http://www.apexnc.org/depts/parks/events.cfm

Half Marathon Training week one

First of all I'm not technically starting the training yet as the event isn't until October, but I am following a plan and keeping track of my progress. The first surprise was to have a drastic improvement in my 5K time. I went out for an "easy run" per my work out schedule and ran a 25:23 5K. That's faster than I've run a 5K since college! I'm still not believing it as I didn't feel like I was going that fast, but the watch doesn't lie. :)

Saturday will be the real test as I'm due to run a "race pace" 5K. To put it in perspective I've been running 28:30 to 29:00 for the last few months when I go out and just run a 5K to stay in shape.

Now I just need to start increasing my distances so that I can eventually run 13.1 miles. But all in time, no need to rush it yet. In fact I still plan to ride 2 or 3 times a week until I start my 12 week regimented Half marathon training.

Happy trails,

Moot

SAS Gaurd House reverse run

Since I did't want to risk getting bored, I ran the Gaurd House 4.5 miler in reverse. I was told that the reverse run might be a little easier, but running in 40 degree weather is never really easy, although more tollerable than cycling in it. In the end my time was about the same.
Of special note, I mentioned in the last post that this is a hilly run. The reverse run allows for a better view of the hills for some reason and I've got to say that this must be the biggest hills in NC outside of the Smokey Mountains. I'll try to post some pics soon.

If it doesn't get snowed out, I plan on riding with the Thorns and Roses on Saturday.

Off to buy more Christmas presents, have a great weekend.

Running again

I'm starting to feel really good in my runs. I did the SAS "Gaurd House" run at lunch today. Basically it takes you to all three gates at SAS using roads and jogging paths. The total distance is about 4.5 miles and my time was 39:30. I've been told that this is a really slow route due to the large number of hills so I feel pretty good about my time. Plus I really wasn't pushing myself too much since I hadn't done the route before.

Hopefully this is a good trend as I'll need to run more as the days get shorter and colder.

- Dwight.

Post Jimmy V Ride 2009

Great ride. Ended up with 76.4 miles at an average pace of 17.6.
According to repeat offenders, the turn out was a little low this year. My guess is somewhere around 100 cyclists doing either 25,50,75 or 100 mile routes. Not sure why the turn out was low but the weather combined with a change in the time of year might have played a part. Several cyclists also joined Dwight in recommending that the event get better promotion next year. From the outside it seemed that both the Cary Cycling Celebration and the Jimmy V Ride were counting on the other one to promote. In the end there was not enough information "out there" to drum up the support from local cyclists. Cary is a huge cycling community, there should have been several hundred people there. (In my humble opinion.)

Now for the ride...

Not having a riding buddy, Dwight started out toward the front of the group trying to find the right pace makers. After a few miles, he took his first drink from his water bottle and lost it while putting it back in the cage. :( Hopefully this was not a sign of things to come. Luckily it was a 2 year old bottle that probably needed to go anyway, just didn't need it to happen on a 75 mile ride.

The front group stayed together for quite some time and Dwight enjoyed the scent of the perfume coming from a cyclist a few rows ahead. It was a lot better that the usual smells during the Thorns and Roses rides so he kept his spot in the pack to enjoy the change of pace.

The course was well marked for the first 10 miles but then the peloton got to a T and there were no markings plus they had to turn onto a gravel road. Five cyclists went right and about 10 left. Finally someone who sounded like they knew what they were talking about shouted go left, so everyone went. The gravel slowed the pace considerably as cyclists tried to maintain a good line and stay out of the really loose stuff. Plus most still were not sure that they were on the right road!

Finally, the Peloton was back on pavement and the Jimmy V markers were pointing the way.
The first rest stop came at about 17 miles and Dwight hadn't planned on stopping, but with only one water bottle he figured he'd top off. Once off the bike, the chill set in and a biology break was in order. This delay worked out perfect however because as Dwight got back on the bike a group of 5 cyclist were taking off and all were going the 75 mile route. Dwight finally had his riding buddies!

Of course names were not exchanged, men in general aren't that great at it and Dwight is especially bad, but the group gelled with the new rider and set a nice pace.

Somewhere around the 40 mile mark, 2 of the 6 cyclists started dropping back and after slowing for a while the other 4 decided to continue ahead, with Dwight in tow. After about 5 miles Dwight's chain popped off the outer ring making it impossible to get it back on while still riding. (whoever the guy was from the Trek - Raleigh booth at the start of the ride you owe me one). While he yelled out "Chain" the group didn't hear, and kept going. While Dwight was fixing the chain the 2 that had dropped off earlier passed him. Now he was way behind and in no-mans land.

So he had 3 options:

1. Ride at his own pace and hope to get caught up in another pack
2. Speed up a little and ride with the 2 that got dropped earlier
3. Really speed up and get back with the 3 that left him.

Of course he choose door number 3. Now, this is just over the half-way point of a 75 mile ride (more distance than Dwight had ever gone by bike) and he decides to ride near his limit to catch a group of cyclists who don't know that he's chasing them so they are going at the same quick pace they were before.

Within a few minutes Dwight can see the two that got dropped so he now has his first goal. Because of their lower speed, Dwight is able to easily catch and pass them. Now to find the first group. With no rest stop coming up anytime soon, Dwight's only hope was to keep going all out.
Luckily there was a really nice downhill with some cool twisties that both broke up the monotony of the solo ride and provided a chance for Dwight to push the speed faster than the group would likely go. It worked. After coming out of the turns and climing the hill that followed Dwight could finally see his group in the distance. Unfortunately they didn't see him so he still had to chase them for a good 20 minutes.

Now back in the group, Dwight says, "Man you guys are hard to chase down", to which they reply, "we didn't know what happened to you. We thought you were going back to join the other 2." "Nope", Dwight said, "just dropped my chain off the big ring". Appologies all around with jokes about Dwight pulling up the next hill, but they thankfully slowed their pace a little.

Of course after all of this, the group hit the second to last rest stop on the day and Dwight declared lowdly that they HAD to stop at this one.

This stop allowed one of the other two that had been dropped to rejoin the group so they now had five to go the rest of the way.

The pace over the last 15 miles was a lot slower with several complaints after each hill, but the group stayed togther and decided to skip the last rest-stop (although Dwight was getting nervous about only having one water bottle).
With about 2 miles to go the pack saw a lone rider in the distance and decided to give chase, but then slowed at the very end when they realized he was on a mountain bike and had taken one of the shorter routes.

The cyclists were met with cheers, free food, drinks, massages and water bottles; good thing for Dwight because his was empty.

Jimmy V Ride 2009

The ride is finally here. Of course I just found out that the "75 mile ride" is actually 76.76. All this time I've been training for 75!! What will I do? :)

The weather should be awesome, cloudy and 70 degrees. Looking forward to great time. Just need to find some other cyclists who want to average about 17 mph so I don't have to ride alone for 4 and a half hours!

If you're driving in the Cary Area, please be especially kind to the big Cajun on the Fuji Team bike. :)