Quick post of the video from last night's quarter-final match in the CompuTrainer Multi-Rider Madness in March Indoor cycling tournament. ((And please remember that you can click on the vid title at upper left to watch in the HD YouTube format)) Team Q, Tony & Laura, are the number one seed in the winners bracket and went head to head with Team Yo, Jeff sitting in for Garry. Jeff put up a 300 average watt ride while his partner, Yasuyo almost tossed cookies fending off the flu. Thirty-two seconds was the margin.
I have 2.2 tons of work to get through before the 1700 bottom bracket match in which I will have the privilege of subbing for John and riding with Stephanie against the heavily favored and RED HOT Team AR of Vince and Gretchen.
Will be fun. Regardless of outcome. Team AR will know that they had been in a battle and they will respect our efforts. What more can you ask?
In celebration, we did one of my favorite drills this morning, The Vernal Spring. There are only six of them. Wrapped around decreasing steady state seated grooves. One 10/10/10 max effort, seated, standing and counter seated, with biggest gears. Just one every ten minutes. Josh hit 900 watts once and I was very pleased with my 650 five times. It is a wonderful way to welcome the onset of more challenge and the thrill of taking what we have worked so hard to earn indoors, out. I do feel the like a stallion whose bit has been chomped to pieces.
But there are more lessons. We need patience. It may be the first day of spring but the season will be a long one. Seven months. With some of that Irish luck we worked on the other day the year will end on Alii Dr. in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. Motivation, dedication, endurance, inspiration, creativity and lots more hard work will win the day. Spring us upward and soften the fall. Because there will be falls. We will stumble. We will open spinning eyes to see the world from a horizontal perspective, flat on face. There will be blood. It will hurt and we will want to quit. We will question our motives. We will consider the cost. We will error.
With that as open (!) here is a mash-up of items that endlessly intrigue me.
On why you should stop trying to harness your brain, and instead help your brain get out of its harness
"The question becomes, what happens if you hit the wall? Because we've all got experience with this. You're working on a creative problem, and then all of a sudden that feeling of progress disappears ... What you should do then — when you hit the wall — is get away from your desk. Step away from the office. Take a long walk. Daydream. Find some way to relax. Get those alpha waves. Alpha waves are a signal in the brain that's closely correlated with states of relaxation. And what scientists have found is that when people are relaxed, they're much more likely to have those big 'A ha!' moments, those moments of insight where these seemingly impossible problems get solved. So when you hit the wall, the best thing you can do is probably take a very long, warm shower. The answer will only arrive once you stop looking for it."
The vernal Spring. Day one, drill one. It's a new beginning all over again. Get up, get out, get on.
Monday, March 19, 2012
March 19. We can make it, Spring is just 48 hours away! Skies of blue, the warmth of the sun, tiny balls of rabbit fur scurrying to the brush. A re-birthing. Renascence. A fresh start, a new beginning, growth. Change.
Having spent my first 20 years in Los Angeles, I always thought shorts and a T to be standard issue. Even in the harshest of the LA winters a hoodie is considered foul weather gear. I well remember our first winter in Central Washington, snow, frozen pipes, chains, thermal underwear, chopping wood. It was great. I loved it then, as I still love now the distinct changing of the seasons. It can be challenging. There is work involved. It can get messy. There are days that I wish the rains would cease and the skies would brighten. I sup with Vitamin D these days, try my best to keep a cord of dry wood ready. Fleece and a trusty waterproof jacket is my fashion statement. Gone from Surfer Joe to Paul Bunyon over four decades.
And we now spend the majority of our time training indoors. Of my thirteen sessions last week, eleven were indoors. The reasons are many. Economics, logistics, safety, value, time constraints, the list goes on.
And please do not misconstrue. I love the outdoors. I simply prefer the suffering of high intensity indoor training to the risk and misery of riding in the tenebrous torrent of a winter's day.
I had an interesting thought last week that might start a ad campaign of sorts. My Mad Men moment. It started with the axiom of not being concerned about the things that are out of our control when we race. Our competition, the conditions of the roads, the weather. That to be successful in any event we must rise above those extrinsic factors and focus instead on the things that we control; our thoughts, the present moment, what we are, or are not, doing to execute as best we can. Our perceived levels of happiness, gratitude and awareness.
As I was processing all this, the irony dawned that we actually CAN control the weather. And I became the face of the Man Who Could Control the Weather. Kinda like the Marlboro Man without the cancer.
Fact is that we can control the weather. We can live in sunny Southern California (sharing the road with 3.7 million others) or we can live where it rains, is dark in the winter and reminds us of the natural cycles in nature.
The Man Who Could Control the Weather trains indoors.
Addendum: Looks like I forgot to link the Saturday night video for the home viewing entertainment of the vast RCVman audience. That being said, here ya go: Live from the House O'Mirth.
Twofer the price of one. Last night's indoor racing action from the world famous House of Mirth. I must leave it at that today as the rains, slush and now snow (yes we can finally say that is once snowed on St. Paddy's on Bainbridge Island), has created a rather ugly implosion in the media room, one that I must now don coveralls, buckle tool belt, gather visqueen and go repair.
Happy St. Patrick's Day to all my pals today, Irish or not. Erin go braugh.
May your glass be ever full. May the roof over your head always be strong. And may you be in heaven a half-hour before the devil knows your dead.
"The world is always changing. Every day it's changing. Everything in life is changing. We have to look inside ourselves to find what stays the same, such as loyalty, our shared history and love for each other. In them, the truth of the past lives on."
“When I knew I couldn't suffer another moment of pain, and tears fell on my bloody bindings, my mother spoke softly into my ear, encouraging me to go one more hour, one more day, one more week, reminding me of the rewards I would have if I carried on a little longer. In this way, she taught me how to endure--not just the physical trials of footbinding and childbearing but the more tortuous pain of the heart, mind, and soul. She was also pointing out my defects and teaching me how to use them to my benefit. In our country, we call this type of mother love teng ai. My son has told me that in men's writing it is composed of two characters. The first means pain; the second means love. That is a mother's love.”
Couple of quotes I lifted from last night's (rare) indulgence in movie-land. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. Not an epic film (disjointed, frustratingly complex, issues with spatio-temporal-linguistics, pacing), BUT, it had a handful of INCREDIBLY POWERFUL SCENES. The magic movie moments that make the boredom, tedium and the mundane worth enduring. Kinda like training. You, much like the two girls bonded and bound to lifelong devotion, endure the often boring, the sometimes tedious and the mostly mundane to…….
…..be ready for the lights, camera and action. The incredibly powerful scene in your life, in your day, in your race that fills your soul with validation and your heart with joy. Then (and only then) does all the training, all the suffering, all the pain make sense. Here is another quote from the same movie:
"Only through pain will you find beauty. Only through suffering will you find peace."
Meaning, of course, that the next time (this afternoon?) that we head out the door for our swim, bike or run, if that session, as it should, is going to contain a anaerobic component, we must find a way to encourage ourselves to endure that zone one minute longer, one lap more or one meter faster. Embrace this. Sign a pact with it. Take a vow. Get to know it (the real you) a little better every time you train. The Eagles, or Etta James, might persuade you to 'Take it to the limit one more time'.
Here are a couple of interestingly related links; The first is on a technique called TAP, Taking Away Pain.
Here is an animated coaching video of Mr. Smooth in the pool stroking with what appear to be a flawless and powerful groove. If I created a vid of my stroke I am sure it would be called Mr. Barge.
And here is a cool instructional bike fit video from our friends at the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine using the ComuTrainer as fitting tool.
That's about all we have time for today folks. The rains have temporarily blown out to sea leaving beautiful blue skies under which I am heading out and under for a snappy little 10K.
It will be snappy because I will consider the above lifted quotations as I measure and manage each foot strike along the path of my run. Yes, I do find solace in metaphor.
Meaning (from the TAP article) that to be successful, I must:
1) Define the pain.
2) Control or manage it.
3) Determine IF elimination or reduction will help or hinder.
4) Observe related stressors.
Finally on this gorgeous Friday before St. Paddy's, we have a double-dip tonight in the House of Mirth, TWO exciting winners-bracket matches. I am looking foreword to another live demonstration of our understanding of……
…..all of the above. (Put me the highway and show me the sign.)
There is a virus circulating. It has circulated. Debilitating.
We are racing. We have raced. Both exhilarating and draining.
If ever there was a time and a place to augment this 'thing', it is now, it is here and the thing is how we deal with the circumstance.
The three facts listed above combine to give us yet another opportunity to put our knowledge into play and convert it to wisdom.
We all know that riding in the cold, dark, windy, rainy winter in the Pacific Northwest is flirting with disaster. I don't care how many lights, reflectors, bright colors or glow sticks you have on your bike, you are no match for a teen-aged texter behind the wheel of a two ton SUV in the dark. Riding in the rain is a character builder, you say? OK, at your wake I will say, "He had character" to your grieving family. Ride and train inside wise one. The summer will soon be here.
We all know that we need to wash our hands and cough into our arm. We need to eat right, stay hydrated and get plenty of sleep. The latter despite the cruel joke played on us every year by the 1% looking to increase productivity at the expense of our health. When a strain makes the rounds it usually does so with a touch of vigor. I will get a flu shot the day we officially surrender to Big Pharma, BUT they will have to catch me, tie me down and heavily sedate before I will allow the .gov stick a needle in my arm. So? So I eat as pre-hab, as clean as I can afford. Drink lots of water FROM MY WELL, and get as much sleep as duty decides. If one of those insidious bugs catches me in a weak, recovering moment, oh, well. I will also do my best not to give it to you like I give you free advice. (insert laughter here)
Coach Grandma used to say that you can train IF the cold, virus, bug or congestion is above your neck. If it is centered in your head, keep on keeping on. You might want to throttle back your intensity some, but aerobic work is fine. If it is in your chest or GI, take some time off. Let it run its course. You are well aware of CG's sayings there, too. The one's about chicken soup, vitamin C and an afghan by fireside.
Bottom line is to use your resting heart rate as a barometer. If you know what your RHR is, even a 5 bpm increase could indicate that you are, 1) Not recovered from your prior workout, or 2) Fighting an infection. Or both. Do the wise thing. Listen to what your body is saying.
It is speaking. It has spoken. Relentlessly.
It is changing. It has changed. Miraculously.
It is adapting. It has adapted. Knowledge to wisdom.
Here is a wonderful piece from Tririg.com about training with power. It features a video interview with the amazing Andy Potts. Andy is widely recognized as the Pro Triathlete who annually logs the greatest number of indoor training hours. I suppose it isn't necessary to tell you what specific tool he uses for all those hours. I would like to mention one point. This is how Andy makes his living. He has a wife and kids. This is his job. If he falls short in training, being prepared for the on-the-job challenge, he fails. In our sport, there is a huge financial up-side and minimum wage on the other. For the Pro triathlete, this is the one area he or she can actually control. The readiness, the work, the rest and recovery and the preparedness.
Take a quick view of this piece and you'll hear Andy expound upon several of the key training points that we use every day in our spin classes and with our CompuTraining. I especially related to his description of the work to rest ratio, and being ready to race. As in YOU JUST KNOW!
Here is a rather 'corporate' piece from Outside Magazine on Lindsey Corbin, including some interesting comments on her training regimen.
Additional note: We have ONE SPOT left for our mini Tour of California. Here are key dates (with mileage): Depart Seattle, Sunday, May 13, Mother's Day, to San Jose (842). Monday: Camp & Ride. Tuesday: Follow ToC and ride, SJ to Livermore (115). Wednesday: Sonoma to Clovis (130). Thursday: Bakersfield TT. Thursday night drive to Santa Barbara (150). Friday morning ride SB. Friday night and Saturday I am attending my nephews wedding in SB. Bernie is driving to Sacramento to visit with his son. Monday morning, May 21 I will get to Sac and meet up for the drive home (792). Eight days, some great California spring riding, camping, following the Tour, all as guided by 8T and the RCV.
If all of that sounds like your kinda fun, please respond asap to reserve the final seat for this grand adventure. We split gas, food, camp fees and beer.
Our investment in all this indoor training should yield a sweet return.
Pix: Both Bernie (and Stephanie, Chris and Clo) pictured at top in the HoM, and World Champion Andy Potts, pictured below in his Pain Cave, recognize the value of indoor training and the best tools for the job.
In 2007 RacerMate Inc of Seattle, Wa. hired me to produce their new software line of products to be called, TA DA, Real Course Videos. So almost overnight I became (cue the theme music) RCVman. This is the story of my work on the road, filming triathlons and searching for true love. Some things never change.
