Catching Up with My Sponsors

Last week I got a call from my supplement sponsors at Biomedical Research Laboratories. They were calling to check in on how my training was going, if I needed any more products, and to tell me about some of the new stuff they have coming out over the next few months. The rep that called me even knew details about my upcoming racing schedule as he's been checking up on my blog. It was great to know that the staff at BRL cares enough about their athletes to call them and follow up with their racing and training schedule. You can check out the Athlete Profile page they have for me here.  

The rep also discussed some really exciting new products that BRL is working on. While still under wraps, I can say I am really excited to get some samples of the new products as they start testing it out. As always it will be of the highest grade natural ingredients and includes no banned substances listed on the WADA 2013 list. Take confidence in knowing that BRL manufactures in the United States and submits all of its products to the Banned Substances Control Group for testing to ensure that all of the athletes consuming their products are staying legal, no deer antler spray or holographic chips coming from this company!

Two days after my phone conversation, another support package showed up at my door. This is turning out to be a great partnership. I'm looking forward to racing and training on their products and excited for what I will be able to achieve.

A Plan Coming Together

So, for the first time ever in my career, I have established a yearly training plan. In years past, I would schedule, haphazardly, the 2 or 3 weeks leading up to my most important race of the year, but that's it. This year is different. I have done my research and created a structured, purposeful plan to tackle the 2013 season. I have 3 big races I am focusing on with many others along the way. The first race of the season is March 10th with the first major race being in late April. The last race isn't until late September. It's going to be a long season.

As mentioned previously, the first half of the season will focus solely on cycling events with a gradual transition to triathlons in the summer. How am I going to integrate the two other sports and make everything work? No clue yet. I am really excited about the cycling though. I am using my new power meter to guide my training as I progress through the different training cycles. This weekend I completed my baseline power profile testing. It was a rainy few days and I didn't quite get the numbers I was expecting: timing, weather, big week as possible causes. Just means more room for improvement and I'll try again in 4 weeks.

I will be cycling more per week than I ever have as part of this cycling focused training. Come race time I should find out what my true potential is. I have the tools, I have the plan, and I have the perfect city to do it in. Time to execute.

The famous river gorge

The scenic city: a great place to train

Views from power testing

Another nice view from a long day of testing

May 2013 Be Better Than 2012

From broken wheels, broken shoes, a broken Garmin, and broken dreams to the "one lap to go" finish at Johnson City and the amazing crash finish for 2nd at Moab. From being hit by a car to surgery and 6 weeks of NWB crutch ambulation. It's been pretty obvious that 2012 was not my year. Most of the goals I set for 2012 were not achieved. They must roll forward to 2013 where they have snowballed into even bigger aspirations; because as a friend once told me, a champion lives on to race another day.

In 2013, I am chasing jerseys. I have 6 in mind listed in order of difficulty.

1. TORBRA Cat 1 BAR Champion
2. TBRA Cat 4 BAR Champion
3. Xterra Southeast Regional Champion
4. TBRA Cat 4 Crit State Champion
5. TORBRA Cat 1 XC State Champion
6. Xterra USA National Champion

The thing that will make this complicated and hard to accomplish is scheduling. I'm assuming a lot of these races will fall on the same weekends and I'll have to chose which to do. I already know one of our mandatory Saturday guest lectures for school will occur on a Saturday race day in April. Skip class? I think so. Other goals include:

7. Continue to succeed in school by learning all I need to know
8. Maintain my GA position by staying on top of my hours
9. Train methodically and scientifically for better performance
10. Fully adapt and incorporate my new, less stressful running stride
11. Travel more, for races and to visit friends
12. Ride 5,000 miles

The miles should come pretty easily if I follow my training program required for success in earning all the jerseys. Merely a task I would like to concur that was listed as a goal last year and didn't achieve. Even with being off the bike for about 5 months, I was able to ride 3,516 miles in 2012, about 400 more miles than I rode in 2011. The front half of the coming season will be loaded heavy with cycling events with a mid summer transition to heavy triathlon racing and training. This should help me accomplish the cycling goals since for the first time ever, training will have a sole cycling focus. Delaying triathlons will also give my knee more time to recover so that I can get back to running form. Currently, I haven't been able to run more than a mile without knee pain, and that mile was on the treadmill.

I have my work cut out for me now. Time to get serious and put in all the training necessary for success. Time management will be key to balancing all the workouts with all the school. Time to go to work.

Rapha Festive 500 Challenge

Strava is an online scoreboard that uses riders' GPS's to rank cyclists on different sections of roads and trails. They host different "challenges" to drum up activity and exposure with the most recent being the Rapha Festive 500 Challenge. This challenge was to ride 500 kilometers, 310 miles, between December 24th and December 31st.

I decided to participate and go for an overloading week of riding that would accumulate with the most miles I've ever ridden in that time frame. Leading up to it, I overloaded in the weight room taking advantage of a 6 day trial I had to the best gym/club in Memphis. It was going to turn out to be a tough two weeks of base training.

As the 24th approached, I was unsure if I was going to be able to attempt the challenge. Everyone at my house was sick with two people even having the full blown flu and restricted to bed. However, the warmest day in the forecast was on the 24th so I decided if I was going to give it a shot, I had to make the most out of the first day. I knocked out 70 miles that first day which stressed my legs more than expected, must have been all the time in the weight room leading up to it. You know you went hard on the bike when you have to sit down in the shower.

The next day it was raining and 36 degrees: no riding. Snow lined streets and 32 degrees the next day didn't stop me though. I was able to ride everyday except the two days that it was raining in the 30s. That's just crazy. There sure were some bitter cold days out there, but I continued to get out the door and put in the miles. I now stand 76 km, 47 miles, away from finishing the goal. Shouldn't be a problem to complete it this afternoon. So here I go, ending 2012 on a good note after a rough few months. Being in the saddle always makes me happier.

It's a Beautiful Thing

I am smelly, sticky, covered in sweat, and just overall nasty. My hair is sopping wet and sticking up where the vents in my helmet were. There are salt crystals on several different areas of my body. A gnat or two in my eye and more that died in the sweat and forest of chest hair. I'm sore and a few muscles are even cramping. I have the red, slimy gunk at the corners of my mouth from the sugary sports drink I've been consuming. I can look in the mirror and respect what I've just accomplished.

Man, have I missed this. I am back on the bike and it is a beautiful thing. The first time I pedaled it around the apartment complex, I let out a shrill of jubilation. It had been entirely too long. Nothing compares to wind in your face as you soar down the mountain at 48 mph, exploring new roads, overlooking cliffs and mountains, and taking in the beautiful fall colors of the Southeast.
This was the ride today: click here

What might be even more beautiful is the bike itself. Her name is Sabella (Thank you Michaela for your help) and she is magical. The new Red front derailleur is the best shifting derailleur I've ever used. It was definitely worth all the time setting up and not over-hyped. It makes it fun to switch back and forth from the big ring: so crisp, clean, and responsive. I am running a 28 tooth cassette in the rear too which my fat butt is really enjoying on these climbs so far. I will probably even put a 32 tooth on there for some of the big mountain races. I love the higher cadence. Climbing is my biggest weakness and I need all the help I can get. I will be focusing on that aspect of riding over the next 4 months to see what I can change. The Quarq Red powermeter crankset is an amazing new tool I am so eager to start fully utilizing. I have a small grasp of the concept of training with power right now, but am still working my way through the books and discovering how to properly coach myself to top form. The new Garmin Edge is a wonderful thing too. I never new how much more data I could get and analyze from upgrading my computer. I haven't gotten to try out the new wheelset I got with everything else. I'm certain it will be amazing though and complete the ultimate racing machine for this upcoming road season. All the equipment is there, now time to work on getting the engine running again.

The saddle is temporary. Haven't decided what I like.

Because it is majestic when you're in the saddle

The only thing I'm not happy with is the handlebar. The drops are way too flexy. I'm big, but not that big. Trying to sprint with these is a scary thing and I actually think they might break when I really give it all I got. I went aluminum too, but they flex more like aluminum foil. Not impressed with the Zipp service course bars.

There is some squeaking from somewhere in the rear of the bike. I haven't looked into it too terribly hard yet and hope I can figure it out soon and fix it.

Oh, and from the last post about camping, I forgot to mention the tick that attached to me over my clavicle. I didn't find it until Tuesday evening when I was about to shower. I remembering seeing a small speck when I was about to shower Monday night, but didn't worry about it. Since I showered once we got home Sunday night, that means it was at least attached to me for over 48 hours, maybe more. It was definitely sucking my blood and growing in size. I still didn't know what it was when I was grabbing at it Tuesday night. When I finally pulled it out I realized what it was. It was also still alive and crawling on my fingers. Ironic since we had just discussed Lyme disease and STARI in our med/surg course in school. Anyway, I haven't gotten sick that I know of, so I guess it's okay.


Thanks for reading and your comments are welcomed.

Eatin' Man Food

Since I couldn't ride on the weekends, a few friends and I decided to go camping a couple weeks back. It was a true man's weekend. We cut down trees, made fire, ate dove, cooked over an open fire, killed and ate a frog and a snake, shot slingshots, slept under the stars, and never washed our hands.

Killing the snake on the edge of the pond with a kukri knife at midnight was a pretty awesome experience. It was followed with skinning and cleaning the snake only to watch it continue to writhe in our hands. No head, no skin, no guts and the snake was still swirling around against gravity. I was excited to eat it as I watched it cook over the fire. I had never eaten snake and always wanted to. It ended up tasting a lot better than the frog legs we ate earlier in the day too, not nearly as chewy.

Watch the video of the snake still moving: click here

Cleaned and ready for the fire.

The skin turned inside out. Of course we kept it.

Target practice with the slingshot was for fun, but also in preparation for hunting. Even though we didn't find any mammals to shoot, we still had fun with it. We were pretty good once we got the hang of it.

A few good shots left the balls stuck in the clay

We also found some really cool funnel web spiders. Pretty neat to see them sitting, waiting at the edge of their deep tunnel for some unfortunate insect to land in their web.

I told him we should stick our finger in there. 

 Relaxing in the hammock was nice too. Never knew exactly how my feet got so black in the night. I decided  to sleep here the second night which got a lot colder than the first. The first time I woke up shivering, I went back to the tent and got my sleeping bag. The next time I woke up in the night shivering, I went to my bag, dug out these corduroy pants and my fleece pullover. It was pretty nice for the rest of the night.

After packing up the site on Sunday, we spotted what we initially thought was a squirrel about 14 feet up a tree. Turned out to by a flying squirrel. After we scared it further up the tree, it jumped and glided 35 feet to another tree before latching onto the trunk. One of the coolest things I've ever seen. 

But, my friends, I have all the parts for my new bike now and it is coming along quickly. There will  be no more time for leisure camping. Time to get back on the road and back in shape. March will be here before we know it. Pictures of the new girl and report from the ride to come after the weekend. 

Down Time

I have been meaning to write an update about how surgery went and the rehab was coming for some time now, but just never got motivated to do it. I could always find a reason to put it off. It's amazing how inefficient my life is currently. I am doing very little outside of school which is only half a day Monday through Friday, but I still can't find down time to write a post or study the training book I'm trying to read. Staying busy with training, school, and social life really pushed me to fine tune my time management skills and make the most of my days. Last spring I was in class from 8-5 four days of the week and putting in around 12 hours of training a week. I stayed on top of everything. Where did that motivation, determination, and work ethic go? Down the drain with my activity level I have to assume.

Anyway, surgery went well and recovery is taking an eternity. Not exactly, but being on crutches for 45 days was a long time. I watched as my calf and quads shriveled away as my hands and armpits became calloused. It was so liberating when I could finally walk and be free from my crutches. Then walking made me sore. And I loved it. I am now back in therapy trying to regain my strength. It is a slow process. I have yet to feel any soreness in my thighs because my calf and foot intrinsic muscles are so weak and atrophied that they limit my abilities for higher function. My lower leg and foot tremble after walking long distances or in single leg stance. I like the sense of improvement, but I want more progress in more areas.

In addition to not having the motivation to write, I also was never really sure how much I wanted to divulge when I finally did write something. I definitely struggled there for a while, but I now feel close to the home stretch of being able to resume normal life again. The strength will have to come over the next several months. I cannot expect to just jump back into the form I had. It had taken 5 solid months to get there coming from an able body. It will take a lot longer now. I'm getting excited about buying new equipment, my new bike, and planning for the next race season. I have a lot of unaccomplished goals from this year that will get carried over with a new vengeance. I feel like I got robbed: my bike, my fitness, my strength, my power, my races, my season, my standings, my championships, my jerseys, my glory. And that will have to drive me early in this rehab process to regain my form. I'm just waiting for my foot strength to catch up with the rest of my body in order to proceed to the next level.