In the blink of an eye it seems, the month of January has nearly passed and the resolutions set for 2011 are either works in progress or becoming a distant memory. Time flies when you're having fun, as the saying goes. And, despite the cold and seemingly never ending winter, I am having fun... workouts are coming together. I've started running again. I am getting stronger, fitter and even a little leaner. The last part has been pretty easy actually, after being a complete and utter glutton during the month of December, losing a few pounds has simply been a matter of all the pie being gone. You might be wondering why I chose the title for the post and it's pretty simple actually. I've been struggling with the why. I enjoy my daily workouts, that's not the issue. And I've chosen a few events to focus on later in the year to provide some additional motivation and allow for some structure to my training. But the big why is lacking. Yes, daily exercise is healthy of the body and soul. But, come on, that's kind of boring. I need something more.
Over a decade ago, I signed up for an Ironman on a whim... and I trained my ass off, primarily driven by fear. Fear that I couldn't complete the distance and that I would fail. And that fear pushed me out of my comfort zone on a daily basis, doing things that, at the time, seemed impossible, even stupid. For example, ride 100 miles in the northern Virginia summer and then run 10 miles afterward. Now I know the game of triathlon to know that such a workout is not unusual at all for Ironman prep, but at the time (before the Internet), it seemed a little crazy... but fear is a powerful motivator and it got me out the door.
Of course, there was a happy ending, I finished in a respectable time, I lived happily ever after, even doing another Ironman and a bunch of other marathons, half ironmans (click on the 'racing' tag to the right to read some of the race reports). But the sense of accomplishment and pride at Ironman finish line #1 has yet to be equaled.
So what next? I don't know the answer right now, but I'm thinking a lot about it.
As part of the Concept2 Challenge Series (info located here), I completed a 1 mile (1609m) time trial on the erg. To analyse my technique, I filmed the effort. While the mile is not a standard set piece, the folks at Concept2 UK have a penchant for coming up with unusual challenges to keep things interesting and fun.
A mile on the erg is essentially an extended sprint. While slightly shorter than the dreaded 2K competed at the Olympic level, rest assured a lot of pain is involved when rowing at nearly 100% for 5-6 minutes. Interestingly, the highly lactic acid levels ever recorded by exercise physiologists have been on rowers after a 2K, so it's pretty clear that the misery index is high.
My goal for the 1 mile was 5:30, an average pace of 1:42.5/500m. For power junkies, that is equivalent to 325 watts.
The 2000m erg test is the defacto standard measure of rowing fitness. It is the distance competed in on-the-water rowing events at the Olympic and World Championship level and is also the distance competed at the World Indoor Rowing Championships (aka the CRASH-B's) in Boston, MA every year.
Now that rowing has become my primary sport during my extended hiatus from running, I need a challenge to motivate me through the winter. And now that I have my very own Concept2 Model D adorning the workout space in the garage, I've decided to take on the challenge of improving my 2K time. My one serious effort was a 6:58.4, which was this past summer about a month after I started rowing.
I've drawn a line in the sand at 6:40, which equates to an average pace of 1:40/500m or a power output of 350 watts. This time would put me in the top half of the rankings in the 30-39 Heavyweight men at last year's CRASH-B's, so it seems like a worthwhile, yet attainable goal for someone who has just taken up the sport.
While a 18 sec improvement doesn't seem like a lot, it requires a significant leap in power output to achieve. My current best effort of 6:58.4 equates to a power output of 305.8, so improving to a 6:40 is a increase of 44.2 watts or 14.4%. No small task.
The bulk of my time on the erg has been steady distance, but in order to improve my power output, I am changing up my training routine by adding the following components to the endurance work I am already doing. In the spirit of full disclosure, I didn't come up with the following workouts in a vacuum, I've borrowed heavily from well-respected rowing coach Pete Marston and his Pete Plan for these.
In addition, I am adding in some strength components to my routine, focusing on posterior chain and core strength. Some specific circuits will be coming in later posts, but here are some of the key movements I am incorporating into my workouts.
Kettlebells - two-handed swings, one-handed swings, cleans Lunges, split jumps, dumbbell and bodyweight squats, deadlifts, pull ups TRX Atomic pushups, suspended lunges, burpees, supine hip press, planks, side planks, body saws, ab rollouts.
Endurance athletes have a twisted sense of what it means to have fun.
Mike Plumb, coach of TriPower Multisports is no exception, and his latest brainchild is the Palomar Ultimate Challenge. If you caught the 2009 Tour of California, Palomar Mountain was the featured climb of Stage 8. Rated HC ('hors categorie' or 'beyond category') by the UCI, Palomar is an 11.6 mile climb with over 4200 ft of vertical gain. The average gradient is just under 7%. It has drawn many comparisons to the Tour de France's famed Alpe d'Huez climb which is similar in length and also has 21 switchbacks.
Simply put, it's a bitch of a climb for any cyclist.
As if climbing the mountain on a bike wasn't hard enough on it's own, the Palomar Ultimate Challenge adds an out and back 9.5 mile run from the famous Mother's restaurant at the top of the climb along a 4.75 mile route to the Palomar Observatory at a elevation of 5618 ft.
Since I had nothing better to do on a Sunday morning, I drug my ass out of bed early, got on the road for the 1 hr drive and showed up atop the mountain at 8:30am. Why meet at the top of the mountain, you ask? So I could have my running stuff ready to go after finishing the climb of course! A few other folks had already arrived. Despite the sunny skies, it was cold, mid-40's, so I bundled up for the descent down the hill. After 24 bone-chilling minutes, I arrived at the official start of the climb, Jilberto's Taco Shop, just east of the intersection of Valley Center Road and Route 76. I dumped my windjacket in one of the trucks that was driving up, but left on my arm and knee warmers. By 9:30, about 15 people had arrived and once we shared some encouraging words, we began our ascent.
After the descent (that's me in yellow), blowing on my hand trying to warm it up.
A few words of wisdom from Coach Mike I've climbed Palomar 3 times previous to this attempt. Every time, it was a struggle. But this year, I've trained a lot more on the bike and after climbing Mt. Lemmon last weekend, I was optimistic that I would do pretty well. The first mile or two is not steep, but has enough pitch to it that climbing it with cold legs is tough. It took about 15 minutes of solid effort before the legs were really warm and I settled into the effort. I set a HR ceiling of 150, and on several occassions I had to drop into my smallest gear (39x26) to keep the HR below that threshold. I was toward the front of the group, two guys were way off the front... Mike passed me at about two miles in and Ray (another TCSD athlete) left me at around the 3 mile mark. Once Ray put about 100 yards on me, I matched his pace and that distance stayed pretty consistant up the rest of the climb.
As we got further up the climb, I passed a few other cyclists that were not in our group. A few short words of encouragement were uttered... but that was it, but there was not much breath to spare due to the effort.
At the 4 mile mark, after a short flat section and a very short descent (maybe 200 yards), there is a split in the road and the climb continues up the left fork (South Grade Road). This is my favorite part of the climb. The 21 switchbacks wind tightly up the mountainside and the views of the valley below are amazing. My intial HR ceiling was getting hard to manage and I revised my plan. Keep it under 160. There are markers every.2 miles up the climb and I concentrated on keeping a steady effort to each one (43.2, 43.4, 43.6... etc.).
It wasn't long before I reached the 5000 ft marker and then the final 47.8 mile marker just before the official finish of the climb (the stop sign at the intersection of South Grade and East Grade). I stopped the clock at 1:19:04. A far cry from the sub-1 hr times of pro cyclists, but certainly my best effort up the mountain.
HR/elevation chart from the ride After a quick change into my running stuff and a stop at the bathroom, I began the run. The route follows Canfield Road to the Palomar Observatory. And it's HILLY! I knew I was in for some pain when the road descended for the first 2 miles. Which I normally wouldn't mind, except for the fact that I would have to run UP the same road at the end of the run. Then, after reaching the bottom of the descent, the road tilted up. Which is how it stayed until I reached the Observatory. After climbing the flight of stairs to the entrance and giving the building a high-five, I started back down. Oh, nearly forgot to mention, my legs were so tired from the long climb that I tripped twice on the stairs... much to the amusement of the sightseers who were wondering what the crazy runners were doing up there in the first place.
The run back was pretty much the same routine... a long descent, followed by a ridiculous 400+ ft climb the final 1.5 miles. Here's the chart, check it out.
HR/elevation chart from the run
Wow, what a workout. As close as I've come to race-level intensity during a workout. As you can see from the run chart, my HR was right at lactate threshold (165-170) for long sections of the climbs. I can't wait to do this one again.
Like I said, we endurance athletes are a little twisted.
I spent some time last week writing a long post, breaking down in detail my training totals for 2008, evaluating my race performances and trying to determine what I can change this year to become a fitter, faster triathlete. That long post can be summed up in four words.
I. Must. Bike. More.
So, I decided the right way to kick off my 2009 training was to do a really long ride. A 200KM (120 miles) brevet with the San Diego Randonneurs.
A map of the route.
I've done two Ironmans and a handful of century rides, but 120 miles is my longest ride ever. Not to mention that this route contains nearly 7000 ft of climbing... all the North County classics like Del Dios, Old Castle, Couser/Rice Canyon, and finishing off with Torrey Pines at the 115 mile mark. I knew it would be a tough day.
We started the ride promptly at 7AM in a light rain and the temps were in the mid 40's. I wore my bib shorts, full length leg warmers, a base layer on top, a short-sleeve bike jersey, arm warmers and a rain jacket that converts into a vest. I also had on ear warmers and wore my full finger winter gloves. Despite all that, I was still cold.
The first section of the ride was over rolling hills through Sorreto Valley, Carmel Mountain and beautiful Rancho Santa Fe. There are some beautiful estates in that area, wow. There were a number of riders stopped repairing flat tires... I guess the rain caused a lot of road debris to collect on the shoulders of the road. I think I counted six in the first 30 miles. The first major climb was San Elijo Road, 1.9 miles at 7% avg. gradient. I dropped into the 39x26 and spun up with no problems. Checkpoint #1 was at the top of the climb, then we were rewarded with a long and steep 1.5 mile descent into San Marcos. I rode my brakes the entire way down... with the wet asphalt, I wasn't taking any chances. With the damp and the wind, it was cold and my feet and hands were numb.
In San Marcos, we had a nice flat section up Twin Valley Oaks Road to Deer Springs Road out to the second checkpoint at I-15, roughly 44 miles into the ride. By this time we had been riding about 2:45, and I had gone through 2 bottles of GuH20/CarboPro and 1 Clif Bar. I was carrying one spare bottle in my jersey pocket with enough drink powder for 2 more bottles and with this, I mixed two more bottles of sports drink.
Here's a pic of me... contemplating the fact that I still have nearly 80 miles to go.
Out of the second checkpoint, we headed over the 15 Fwy, then north on Old 395/Champagne Road past the Lawrence Welk resort. A nice long gentle descent before what, in my opinion, was the toughest climb on the course. Old Castle Road, nearly 4 miles at about 6% avg grade with about a mile at nearly 9%. Fun.
From here... only two major climbs left. A short steep ascent up Couser Canyon Road and a long grinding ascent of Rice Canyon before arriving at the final checkpoint, Rainbow Market at mile 65. By this time, we had been rolling for over 4.5 hours in the cold and rain. I was cold. So, I was happily surprised to find hot soup and bread waiting at the checkpoint. SO GOOD! This was exactly what I needed. After a quick bathroom stop, we headed out again... starting with a fast descent of old 395. So much for being warm... the fast descent chilled me to the bone once again.
Miles 70-90 were through the rolling hills of Fallbrook with some nice descents down Live Oak Park and Mission Road. After so much spent climbing the front half of the ride, it was great to have some fast sections. This part of the route was a lot of fun to ride. After brief stretch on Hwy 76, it was a jaunt through the Morro Hills area and then to the most boring (boring-est?) section of the entire coast... the dreaded San Luis Rey bike trail. Most North County cyclists know every inch of this 7.2 mile path and true to form, there was the typical afternoon headwind. I just geared down, zoned out and ate my second Clif Bar.
Once back to the coast (the final stretch), I just mentally checked off the towns that I passed through..first Oceanside, then Carlsbad, Encinitas, Solana Beach, Del Mar. In Carlsbad, I caught a group of other randonneurs. The last time I had seen them was back in Rainbow; they were leaving the soup stop as I was arriving. We exchanged some encouraging words and I pressed on. I was riding slightly faster so we were only together for a mile or so.
The biggest test of the ride for me, mentally at least, was the final climb up Torrey Pines. This is not a huge climb by any stretch. But after 115 miles... it felt like I was climbing Everest.
Once over top of Torrey, it was only a few rolling miles through the UCSD Campus to the finish. I pulled in at 3:36 pm for a total time of 8:36. My rolling time was 7:40, a 15.7 mph average. Turns out I finished 5th out of 41 finishers, which I'm pretty happy with. Not exactly in keeping with the non-competitive nature of the event to be talking about my placing, but at least I know what I wasn't out of my league in attempting this.
Once I finished, I quickly got out of my wet cycling clothes into some warm gear and ate a couple brownies.
Some of the other guys tried to convince me to do the 300K later this month. That one has 12000 ft of climbing. Not sure I'm ready for that yet... we'll see.
