What up?

First, keep tuned for a HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT.

You ask, what up wit you?

I've been training! Not too intense as I am riding a 300k this Saturday and I WILL finish. A combination of kettlebell training and riding is the Rx this week as always.

Do you know what rocks? Saturday I rode 200K and on Monday I was back on the bike for a short ride. No pain, no fatigue. Tuesday and today I did bike and kettlebell...no pain, no fatigue.

Why does this rock? In the past years I had to really watch what I did the days following long rides. Too much intensity always led to increased time to recovery. Of course I didn't hit heavy front squats, pistols or lunges on Monday; that would be counter productive. I have built up some good endurance over the past few years in regard to both weight training and endurance events. It is the SAID principle in action.

Today:
ZNWU
TGU warm up then
20 min of 1/1TGU + 30 swing I started with 16k and moved up to 24k on 2nd set.
rest 3 hrs
Ride: 36sec on/36 sec off x 30 min.
Plank 5x30sec/30sec rest

Tuesday:
ZNWU
Complex -- 5 reps - 1 min rest (shorter than a few weeks ago)
Swing, Snatch, clean and press, row
rest 4 hrs
Ride: 8x20/10

Note: I will move to complex w/24k as soon as I'm not doing 100+mile rides every weekend preferably a 3 week rest btw events. Just because I can recover doesn't mean I want to cross that line. Failure to recover means more REST.

Monday:
ZNWU
Ride 16reps x 10/20 - spin out.
Plank - 5x30/30

Now I just have to figure out how to carb load without getting fat! I guess a dozen donuts is not the best idea. The past 2 weeks, I ate too much pasta and not enough other carbs like squash, beans and sweet potatoes. I've changed this trend starting tonight.

Tonight:
Salad - spinach, tomatoes, mushrooms, avacado
Broccolli, salmon, sweet potatoes
Now I just need to find some donuts for desert! I'm kidding, I'll have some yogurt and maybe some carrots and hummus.

98F

I took last week easy with an impending 300k bike ride on the ticket for Saturday and I had some back pain kick up. It is not the chronic back pain but it is a new pain from tweaking something in the lat during the CFT. The pain remained as I have been hitting pull ups much. On Monday I decided to continue with the program and wamo -- tweaked again.

Saturday's ride had some good points and bad points.

Good: rode strong for the first 80 miles. Then the heat took its toll on me. I abandoned the trip after 200k. My 200k time wasn't actually too terrible but I chose to ride again another day.

My dog friends didn't eat me. My fight or flight reflex took over a couple times during the struggle. I could smell rage and boom 30 mph, look over my right shoulder and here comes a wolf. YIKES.

On the way out, I saw this large creature (dog) lunging at me from a yard. A 3/4" chain connected an old Camaro kept me alive. Everytime he lunged, the Camaro squeaked from the stress.

Bad: Temp--98F
I was having flashbacks of last May's ride. I don't have the desire to do that again. All of the signs were stacking up in the same manner. Queasy, didn't want to eat, very slow riding. heat exhaustion sneaking up on me.

Another day:
I am planning take 2 either next weekend or in 3 weeks. Saturday's weather forecast for Warrenton, VA (the start and finish) is 66H-49L with scattered showers. This is more conducive to riding especially on a bike named after a fish.

Last week training
Sat: ride: 127mi - 11h
F: off
Th: 5 x 32k swings
W: Ride 20x10 x 8
T: -- Pull ups - 11,10,8,7,7
M --Pull ups = 11, 10, 8,76, ride easy spin
S rest

Tour de Cure

Saturday I completed the 100 mile Tour de Cure to raise money for diabetes research. I will post a full write up on the Tidewater Randonneur blog later.

In the mean time, I have some lessons learned. I normally post these here not to distract from a good story about a wonderful day on the bicycle.

Stats:
Avg Speed - 17.4 mph
time: 5.22 (stopped too long with team) They lolly gag.

It was a good hard effort for most of the day. I ran into trouble around 70 miles. Legs cramping? I guess that is that feeling of cold pain down to the bone.

Food/water intake:
I'm getting dialed in the food. Need to bring 1 efs bar for every 2 hrs. I needed 1 more yesterday.
Water -- need to drink more on the ride especially on a warm day. hmmm. We were riding brisk enough that I forgot to intake. NO excuse.
electrolytes -- A v8 or something would have been gold at the 65 mile stop. Powerade isn't for me. Not sure I need any pill form stuff but I will toss some in my bag for next weekends ride.

Vitamin - M - (NSAID) I could have benefited from a dose at the same 65 mile point. Probably not the healthiest thing but feeling good is a good thing.

Pain during ride - other than some leg muscle pain - NONE. That's what I'm talking about. I did do Z - ankle, wrist, hip and Tspine stuff at the 1/2 way point.

Result

We took the semi annual pft today. I can't say I'm surprised with the result. I'm not disappointed either. I firmly believe the purpose of the test is to MEASURE readiness and see where your program is taking you. It doesn't mean practicing those events as the sole basis of your training program although some practice isn't a bad idea. Distance running requires some distance running to develop efficiency.

Today's result tells me what I knew all along. Improve run, keep working the pull ups and hit the hang leg raises etc....DUH. I didn't realize exactly how poor my crunch performance would be today and was a little disappointed but then again, I couldn't stop laughing at myself during the event.

I can say with certainty that I won't be working on running in the near future. I'm actually in a completely different training cycle at the moment. Improvement in THIS test is not a goal at the moment. A goal is to do the test and recover quickly so that I can return to normalcy as quickly as possible and have as little pain as possible.

How will I change my program?

Simple, I plan to add 1 or 2 exercises that will improve EVERY area of strengh that I need to achieve my goals.
1. PLANK
2. Hanging Leg Raise.

That's it! It really is that easy. No need for the latest 'Ken & Barbie exercises' or the new craze--the PX90. (No thanks).

Result:
Run - 24.50 (I wasn't last)
Pull up - 15
Crunch 85 (WTHO)

The score is a first class. Glad it is done, I can concentrate on other goals for a while.
Rx - add above exercises, work pull ups consistently, throw in some DOE man makers in the fall.
I am curious about how I will feel (back) the rest of the week.

Pain? Ponder this--

Sara Cheatham wrote the following:

"How do you know the difference between good pain and bad pain? Easily. When our survival is threatened we get "tunnel vision." So if you think you're just being a wuss and want to know if you really can handle more, stand tall and look straight ahead. Now, if you have a nice wide peripheral field of vision on either side you can keep going. If all you can take in is what's in front of you, um that's your sign to stop and re-group."

Any thoughts?

Rest Day today, Tomorrow -- PFT (that means running...YUCK).
Did swings about 150 @16k, bottom up press 10-15 @16k and some snatches 30-40 @16k.
ZNWU

The weekend update

I'm concentrating press technique this week. I realized last week that some complacency has set in during the press. What I've been doing is pressing and dropping the weight similar to a jerk. Pavel recommends a more effective method for the press which loads the lat for the next press, sets up the groove for the press and provides support for the shoulder girdle.

The correct way to press is to pull the weight down into the rack like a pull up. It is a little difficult to coordinate the pull down and the breathing cycle but the pay off is good.

Today:
TGU - 5x5
Complex:
6 sets x 5 swing, snatch, clean and press, row

Ride: LaT - 5 on, 2.5 off, 6 on, 3 off, 7 on,

Sunday:
5 sets x 5 snatch, front squat, clean and press, row
pull up - 2 x 10
Ride: 20/10 x 8

Saturday:
5 set x 5 snatch, front squat, clean and press, row
Ride: 20/10 x 8
Pull up 5 x 13

RKC - assistant

I was asked by Pavel to assist at an RKC certification for some frogs here in Virginia Beach. On Monday morning, a group of hand selected RKC instructors began providing instruction to some of the world's most elite warriors. We taught in the heat, rain, and a bone chilling wind. On Tuesday we finished the crucible with several newly minted RKC instructors.

The kettlebell is a tool that can be used anywhere in the world. There are kettlebells used as door stops in quaint destinations all over the world including Afganistan. The problem is most people don't know how to use the tool properly so they don't benifit from it. This weeks certification was one way to change this problem as several operators learned the basic and advanced kettlebell techniques.

Most of the candidates had never touched a kettlebell until Monday morning. Here is the impressive part: by Tuesday afternoon, they ALL looked like long time gireveks.

The sad part? Well, 2 Devil Dogs attended training on Monday and were too sore to continue on Tuesday. I think they are weak and they didn't represent very well. In fact, these 2 chuckle-heads piss me off.

Overall this was an awesome expierence. I continued to learn new things and hone the old.

Snatch test update: Begining in June, the snatch numbers will change again. Males need to snatch the 24k kettlebell 100 times in 5 minutes regardless of body weight. Start practicing now.

Rest day

After a couple days of intense activity, I'm resting.

Yesterday, I completed the Morrisville 200k @ 10h, just under 9h on the bike. This is a good start to the season. A complete write up is available here. I spent 2 hrs with severe stomach pain, only able to muster 10, 13 mph. I'm still not sure of the cause but I will test a few hypothesis before the 300k in a 3 weeks. The pain left after a stop at a porta-jon on the side of the road.

Thursday evening, I went to Karen Smith's new kettlebell gym in VB. I was roped into a workout. I had a blast with the circuit. This is a cool facility and the only one in VB.

Tomorrow and Tuesday...assisting Pavel at an RKC cert at an undisclosed local here in VB. Should be fun.