MSers in Training 2015

[AMFADVENTURES]

That's really great Veronica, you deserve a good ride. You also seem to have found a good bike mechanic, don't let go of him! So now I'm looking forward to hearing some trike stories!

Steph, how did your ride go. I'm a little worried since I haven't heard anything.

I thought I had lost my legs but I took a couple of days off then went for a short ride today and was very happy to see that the legs are back. Staying with short rides this week, mostly spinning. Unlike Beth, the weather here is looking pretty good for the weekend, upper 80's with a chance of rain on Saturday. There are multiple short routes this year so in the event of heat or nasty head winds, there will be options. What will be will be I guess. Poor Beth on the other hand is facing heat in excess of 100 degrees. I'll be thinking of you Beth.

Larry

[Marinadca]

I am SOOOOOO happy to hear this Veronica Thank you for sharing!

[Veronica]

Ok, so first I am looking forward to the reports from Steph and MilesandTrials on their events this weekend.. Larry? I think your BikeMS 150 is next weekend??
I have been TOO quiet on this forum lately! Just waited to have a good story to tell. (I love a good story, if you haven't figured that out yet)... SO! Catrike 700 has me HOOKED! Oh, Marina, what wonderful machines we have, huh?
The store owner ( whose name is James Taylor...really....) worked so hard on the trike to make it fit me over the past three weeks. Since I am all of 5 foot nothing, he had to cut a lot of the boom....so much that we were fearful that the chain guide in the front would touch the sleeve where the boom goes into. We squeaked on by with just enough room...whew..... He took off an arm's length of chain, removed the hand rests as he had to move the hand levers back as far as they could go to accommodate my short reach. On my first ride, a mile into it, my right (weaker) knee started hyper extending, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. I rode all of about 3 miles sounding like I had a flat tire….roll, thump…roll, thump…. My knee just kept giving way. When I got back to the shop I was a bit dejected as I really thought maybe this wouldn’t work for me. James just sat with me and we problem solved…he realized that I needed to be just a little more upright to get a better hip to leg angle. He found a back cushion that one would use on a car seat and had me ride around his parking lot with it positioned just at my shoulder blades. It was too wide, but when I used it, the knee slamming stopped. Just to make sure, I removed it, rode a little and the knee started slamming back again. Bingo! We had the solution, just not the right cushion. He said he would work on it, and the following weekend when I came up my trike had this lovely black back cushion on it! He told me one of the other trike riders had come into the shop, and James saw this on his trike, asked him about it, and the guy said he bought it at Wal-Mart for $3! So my new best friend James , ( his close friends call him “Sweet Baby” ) went to Wal-mart after he closed his store that night at 7pm and bought me one! And it is perfect. My first ride using it was a very satisfying 16 miles on such a beautiful trail…..joins with what is called the Walkway Over the Hudson, which is a 1.25 mile bridge for biking/jogging/ walking/ baby stroller use on what used to be a road bridge across the beautiful Hudson River. It is a magnificent spot…..way high up. With stellar views…. I just had such a fine day…. And it was only after that ride, that I officially made it mine. James did not want me to buy it if it really wasn’t going to help me, and strongly encouraged me to do what I did, just come up and ride it to make sure. So I bought it last week, and still needed to leave it there as I needed the car rack to transport it.
I was finally able to bring my beautiful machine home today, as James got the rack in this week. During the time that I was trying this out I was doing an hour’s drive in each direction to the store on the weekends so I could ride it and work out all these kinks. I am so happy to report that my speed is up to a range that makes me happy. And I know that now if I want to go faster, it’s up to me with my training.... One thing I learned is that while shorter cranks can “save knees” by having the cyclist spin more rather than “mashing” it, in my case, my MS leg does best with more resistance…hence more mashing….. I stayed with the longer crank rather than the short ones I had on the Greenspeed and it really gives me so much more power on the weaker leg. I am not spinning like crazy, and can just lean back and “mash” a bit to power up. Without resistance on that leg, I am very floppy. I rode today with another recumbent trikester up there and since I don't have my computer hooked up yet, he said he would pace me .....he set the pace at 12 mph, and while I lagged behind at first, I was then able to power up and stay with him. Made me so happy.... I rode with him to the parking lot where his car was, we chatted for awhile, then it started to drizzle so I left him to get back to the shop, which is located right on the trail (Brilliant marketing ploy indeed..) I rode in the rain, and LOVED every moment of it....was actually singing "Singing in the rain". And I thought the same thought that I had early on with my adaptive skiing.."I'm back.." And just for the laugh affect, when I hobbled into the shop after this ride….dripping wet, I spread out my arms, looked James in the face and announced “Sweet Baby, I’m happy!”

[milesandtrials]

Thank you, Larry. I'll need all the good luck I can take. It's looking like a record heat day up there for the race next weekend. And we all know how MS symptoms love to come out and play in the heat! I'll be using all my tricks to try to stay as cool as possible, we'll see how it goes.

[Steph]

Thanks Larry! I think it will have to be some impressively strong tail wind! I can decide at mile 40 which way to go. If I do the 62 tomorrow then I will go for the 50 on Sunday. If I do the entire 100 Saturday I will probably only do the 30 on Sunday. Weather reports are calling for a good chance of thunderstorms tomorrow afternoon, so that may factor in as well.
I'm still very excited and can't wait!!

[AMFADVENTURES]

Hey Steph, good luck on the 150 this weekend, may the wind be at your back. You're right, we are where we are with our training this year but , who knows, if you get a good enough tail wind that century might still be in sight.

Beth, good luck in Couer d'Alene, stay safe up there.

[Steph]

Marina Congratulations!!! 150 miles is amazing! You did message me correctly, I just didn't see it! I would love to meet up!!

[milesandtrials]

Canadienne, I saw your post and wanted to say hi. I don't post here as often as I would like, but love to see what all the Active MSers are up to when I can.

I was diagnosed in March 2012 and am a runner (and now do triathlons as well, thanks to the MS Bike rides getting me out on a bike). I had done 4 marathons prior to my diagnosis and have done 8 since my diagnosis the past 3 years.

Wishing you all the best in your training and in the Chicago Marathon. I hope to do that race some day, it's on my bucket list!

[AMFADVENTURES]

Congratulations Marina, sounds like you nailed it. The century on a trike - I love it! I'm sure that wasn't easy since it's been such a tough training year for all of us.

Veronica, love the Rapha post, I keep going back to read it. Like I said, it's a tough training year and it helps to remember some of the reasons we ride, besides for the MS.

Glad to hear you got your tendons back Mouse. Nice job giving it time to recover and persevering.

I got 150 miles in last week. It included a 77 mile ride with the Bullet. When we're stopped like for food or water or finished with the ride those girls will do just about anything for me. But when we're on the bike they are MERCILESS. We did that 77 mile ride in 6 hours even, about an hour and a half faster than I would have liked and the Bullet still had to wait on me at the top of every hill. Not too sure about my training yet as I had nothing much in in the tank for the ride the next day.

Hang in there guys,

[Veronica]

MARINA!!! Yahoo! I am jumping for joy for you! Been thinking about you for days and actually just came on here this am to see if you posted..... so this is a short post....and just for you... You are my Catrike 700 superhero. This is the best news that I will hear all day today for sure.

Congrats Rock Star!

[Marinadca]

Well my BikeMS event was this weekend.

I am so happy with how it went 100 miles on Saturday and 50 miles on Sunday! Yay.

Steph - I think I PMed you but not sure I did it right. My husband is riding in the Ride the Vine ride on Saturday, I would love to meet you

[Mouse]

Running & biking

Hello my sweaty friends!

Sarah - Nice one! And the perfect day for it! Maybe write a little blog article about it, as Larry suggests? With pics? I would love to see!

Steph - you get back on that velocipede! Show it who is boss & just keep pedalling.

Veronica - you too. Keep on rollin'. Loving it.

npavlato - I love your descriptions! Would the quickest way to get over the embarrassment of your 'sad puppy' be to keep taking him out in public? Maybe he needs socializing?!

Cyn & MSRunner26 - maybe we can benefit from Canadienne29's experience, here? Canadienne, do you have a coach or personal trainer? With MS experience? Are they part of a network of professionals who may be dotted around the country/globe? I am also looking for an expert here in the UK to help me with my running. I fear they may be few & far between...?

I have given my tendons a few weeks rest, and now I am back in my running shoes & my bikes shoes on the odd occasion. Last Sunday my other half & I did 20 miles mountain biking (not too technical), and I managed 18 miles running over the course of the week.

I have discovered the 'run commute'. It appears to be a more gentle way of increasing my weekly mileage without eating in to my evening time at home. It's 1.3 miles to the station, a quick 20 minutes train journey, then 3 miles to work via woodland & farmland trails. Then the same route in reverse on the way home. I've only done it once so far, but it went without a hitch....unless you consider getting lost twice & forgetting your trousers (sorry...pants) as a hitch.

Keep a'movin' peoples!!

[MSRunner26]

Running Coach

hello fellow active's. I am looking for a running coach familiar with MS. Anyone out there?

I was in a rush when I first typed this, I'm sorry, let me try again.

Hello Fellow Active's. I recently found this site and forum group. Based on the posts I've already read for 2015 I feel like I'm in the right company for the type of people I have been seeking. I'm not sure I'm in the correct forum group though. I am a runner, yoga, PiYo MS'r, I don't bike. So point me in the right direction if need be.

I was diagnosed in 2006, and after a lot of trial and error, I think I am understanding how I need to control this. Right now I am training for my second half marathon. I feel strong and confident about the race on June 13th, and have definitely a second one in November at Disney for a local charity fundraiser. (The group members have other races that I am thinking of signing up for - am I crazy? ) I found a great group of woman to run with several times a week, so this will keep me in check to get out there and go. But I would like to be at my "old" pace, so I am looking for a running coach.

Right now my schedule is as follows, I am following the Novice 2 Hal Higdon plan modified for me:
Sunday - Runners World Yoga, foam roller and meditation
Monday - AM: PiYo Core PM: RW Yoga (if time allows)
Tuesday - AM: PiYo PM: 3-4miles tempo with group or track speed work offered by local road runner group
Wednesday- AM: PiYo PM: 5 miles with group or at 70% recovery pace alone
Thursday - AM: PiYo PM: 70% recovery run 3-4 miles (with a second group LOL)
Friday - AM: PiYo core PM: RW Yoga (if time allows)
Saturday - Long run at race pace plan of 12:30. This has been a gradual increase of mileage over the last 10 weeks. this past Saturday 5/30 mileage was 13.44 in bad heat

I do get overheated and am interested in a cooling vest - just need to call the dr to try and get a Rx.
My MS symptoms have ranged from left side numbness, spasticity, migraines and cognitive issues, but I must say that since I started the training this year I have had minimal issues, thank the lord to be blessed!

I look forward to being a part of this group and hope I can learn from you all.
Thanks for reading my post and hopefully someone is out there for me,
Marisol (MB)

[PilatesSarah]

Thanks Larry, perhaps I'll do that, and to reassure Marina, I was really ill 2 weeks before the Ventoux ride as a result of moving up to the full dose of techfidera and had to take a week off training completely. I did a couple of easyish rides 2 days & 4 days before the event, and thankfully all the earlier preparation I'd done paid off. Shame we don't have Bike MS rides here in France, I bet the atmosphere is amazing.

[AMFADVENTURES]

Congratulations Sarah, somehow I envision that it was every bit as difficult as you ever thought it might be. Nice job. You can post your story with a couple of pictures here if it's not too long or you could write it up and send it to Dave and see if he'll put it in the "Your Stories" section. I think the ascent of Mont Ventoux would be a worthy story.