MSers In Training 2011

[Stella]

Hi Larry, I believe that is Lewis Elliott, Pro Ironman Triathlete and former U.S. National cyclist team. To be honest, I really haven't heard much about what people here thought of the Tour de France this year. There is a big phone hacking scandal going on at the moment and it has been occupying the news day in and day out. I do seem to remember hearing about a bike crashing with one of the cars following them and also seeing that video of that big crash where loads of bikes fell. By the way, the link I posted is an American link.

[AMFADVENTURES]

Good luck at Ragbrai. I am so glad we aren't going this year. We are off to Florida with our mountain bikes. I hope to ride from St George Island to Apalachicola. At least there should be a breeze.
It is really too hot to ride here.
Joey- Who did you get that jersey? It is very cool.

Pell

I like your plan better. Talk to you when I get back.

Larry

[pawpaw]

Good luck at Ragbrai. I am so glad we aren't going this year. We are off to Florida with our mountain bikes. I hope to ride from St George Island to Apalachicola. At least there should be a breeze.
It is really too hot to ride here.
Joey- Who did you get that jersey? It is very cool.

Pell

[AMFADVENTURES]

Joey, how did you get the “I Ride with MS” jersey anyway?

Cool training bike Stella although it cost more than my road bike. Is that actually Lance A. on that thing? What do the folks on the other side of the Pond think of the Tour de France this year? I've kind of heard they're disgusted with all of the performance enhancement stuff that goes on.

Pell, I've been getting more cramps too, got to be the heat. When the feet and legs start to cramp I hit the electrolyte drinks .... then my stomach cramps. I've been trying to drop my avg. HR from mid zone 3 to upper zone 2 on most of my rides. Also been trying to spend less time in zone 4 than zone 3 and less in zone 3 than zone 2. Net result so far is only a .2 to .3 MPH drop in speed and a greater likely hood that I'll be eager to ride the next day. Of course if I go with somebody, that whole "I can ride better than you" thing pops up and it all goes to hell.

Off to RAGBRAI tomorrow. Heat index is running 115. If it stays like that I foresee riding a barstool in air-conditioned comfort a lot more than a bike. Hoping to stay saddle side up whatever I’m riding.

Later,

[pawpaw]

Joey, Great jersey and great ride!

Twice in the past week I have been struck down during a ride- leg cramps, stomach cramps, even an emergency pit stop. The first time I wrote it off to some food. Tonight I had some Shot Bloks, cheese and water about 90 minutes before the ride, so I doubt food is the issue. It was really hot and humid, so it may just be a heat reaction. I have ridden on many hot days, so it is a bit worrisome. Anyway, I really want to avoid another episode and this is starting to make me nervous about riding. We are leading a ride on Friday- luckily it is a morning ride so the heat will be somewhat less.
Will keep you posted....
Larry- are you actually slowing down and enjoying the rides?

Pell

[Stella]

Congratulations Joey, sounds like you got through the ride in remarkably good shape. The first day was pretty easy thanks in part to favorable winds but I’m duly impressed by how well you took the Horse Tooth Hills from the Ft. Collins side the second day. You might put the 2nd day century in the back of your mind for next year, a couple of MSers tearing up the century course could be a lot of fun. We do need to schedule a ride, give me a couple of weeks and I’ll drop you a line.

Hey Pell, hope your weekend rides are going well, got to say, you do sound like you might be suffering from over training a little. Maybe a couple of days on a beach somewhere are in order. I’m enjoying my riding even more since I stopped pushing so hard and it hasn’t affected my time on the bike or my speed much. I can only do it when I ride by my self though, something I don’t quite understand. Also took a hint from you and started carrying a camera. Now I just need to take it a little easier yet and look for stuff to shoot. Hang in there Pell, it really is all about the training, we don’t have to get super competitive.

Next up for me, RAGBRAI, a 16,000 strong rolling pub-crawl across Iowa. Heat and humidity look like the biggest issues on this one.

Later,

Hi guys,

I thought of you all when I saw this. Thought this might interest you:

http://www.proform.com/tour-de-france/

Sounds like a good plan Larry, good luck! Roo, you look great!

[AMFADVENTURES]

7/17/2011

Congratulations Joey, sounds like you got through the ride in remarkably good shape. The first day was pretty easy thanks in part to favorable winds but I’m duly impressed by how well you took the Horse Tooth Hills from the Ft. Collins side the second day. You might put the 2nd day century in the back of your mind for next year, a couple of MSers tearing up the century course could be a lot of fun. We do need to schedule a ride, give me a couple of weeks and I’ll drop you a line.

Hey Pell, hope your weekend rides are going well, got to say, you do sound like you might be suffering from over training a little. Maybe a couple of days on a beach somewhere are in order. I’m enjoying my riding even more since I stopped pushing so hard and it hasn’t affected my time on the bike or my speed much. I can only do it when I ride by my self though, something I don’t quite understand. Also took a hint from you and started carrying a camera. Now I just need to take it a little easier yet and look for stuff to shoot. Hang in there Pell, it really is all about the training, we don’t have to get super competitive.

Next up for me, RAGBRAI, a 16,000 strong rolling pub-crawl across Iowa. Heat and humidity look like the biggest issues on this one.

Later,

[Roo]

Hi everyone,

Sorry it's been a while since I've been here. June was a crazy month and I was going about a million miles a minute with barely enough time to catch my breath, so internet time was dramatically reduced.

I wanted to let everyone know that (happily) I survived the Colorado MS150, I didn't finish in as good of time as Larry....but still a respectable time in the middle of the pack.

Day one was pretty easy...I have to say. I was really worried about it, because my training suffered a little due to business trips and things going on at work, but it was an enjoyable day. Day two was great in the morning. I actually had some nightmares about the Horsetooth hills in the morning because I had heard so much about them, but really....they weren't that bad. I will do more hill training for next year so I can say they were easy.

I agree with the lady who was talking to Larry about the "I ride with MS" jersey. I wore mine, and not only was it pretty cool to have so many riders on the route thank me for riding. But, I wanted to prove that MS is just a diagnosis, that's all. I can do anything, anyone else can do...and want to show the riders on the course that. We can be athletes too! Below is a picture of my father in-law and I Saturday morning before the ride. I'm wearing my jersey (for those who wanted to see it) and he's wearing our ultra cool team Left Hand jersey (which won best jersey this year)

Next, I am currently training for the Venus de Miles century August 28th and then I will head to Northern CA for the Waves to Wine MS150 ride, September 17th and 18th. I think I officially have the cycling bug!!

Larry, we still need to get together for a ride!

[pawpaw]

Larry, Glad you have shrugged off the Triple. Stuff happens.
We rode single bikes yesterday, and I am hopeless. I had cramps, GI issues, etc. We did 31 miles at 15.5 and I was pretty tired. Really a decrease in fitness and performance.
Today we did a 33 mile ride on the tandem and neither of us had legs. We rode at only 18.3 and that was all we had. We plan to do a 40 mile ride tomorrow.
So, it appears I need to ride the single bike much more to try to recover some speed. I definitely need to do an interval ride once a week. I think I may have burned out with all of the training during the winter.
Right now the competing is on hold as we learn to communicate better and resolve some shifting issues. We will ride any local time trials that come along. We also want to lose about 16# as a team, so I am trying to ride more, eat less.

Pell

[AMFADVENTURES]

2,500 Miles YTD

I've logged 2,500 miles on the bike so far this year, shooting for 5,000 by the end of November.

I was more angry than disappointed with the "Triple". A lot of things outside of my control went wrong in the weeks leading up to the event. My training plan got screwed up pretty badly and my psyche got screwed up even worse. I figure all you can do is shrug it off and keep going. My buddies aren't even giving me a particularly hard time about it, must have been some legitimacy to the circumstances!

Got a set of intervals in this week. Managed to hit mid to upper zone 5 HR, 5 X. Only spent 2 hours doing it including 20 minute warm up and 20 minute cool down. Couldn't hold zone 5 HR very long but that should improve. Learned that you need to go into the intervals pretty well rested. Still riding 4 to 5 X per week but except for the intervals, not pushing very hard, just enjoying the rides.

Pell, I'm very impressed you guys are doing so well riding with the "A" group. Have you started competing yet? What’s the plan there?

Larry

[Marinadca]

Marina, Marina, you give me heart attacks with such falls. It's a good thing you weren't in the Tour, because with your luck, you would have gotten hit by that car AND flipped over that barbed wire fence (and it all would have been caught on film by your hubby, ha). Hang in there and I hope your recovery is swift.

You hang in there, too, AMF.

Thanks for the laugh Steve would be filming it too...would be too much for the poor guy to resist.

[pawpaw]

Training and remodeling

Well, we did ride this past weekend- 42 miles on Saturday and 51 hilly miles on Sunday. Sunday was very hot and we were pretty toasted. We rode with the "A" crowd and finished over 18mph. Given the hills, we were really pushing. About 4 miles before the end, they started serging and dropped us. They were held up by traffic near the end so we ended up riding in with them. We are still working on the communication, coordination and balancing of effort. My DH is so competitive that he will push until he drops. I don't realize he is doing it and I am sitting back and taking it easy.
I have come to the realization that the tandem is so good for me due to bike handling issues. I use a ton of energy on the single bike concentrating on the road, looking for holes that I can't see well due to poor binocular vision, etc. My entire upper body is very tense when riding. On the tandem, I don't use any of that energy so I can use it pedaling. My DH says I am able to put way more force into pedaling on the tandem.
Marina- I hope you are continuing to heal.
Larry- I know you are disappointed, but look at all you have accomplished. A non-MSer would be proud to do the rides you have done without a problem. We all have good days and bad days- even "normal" people experience that. I think your plan to ride intervals once a week and do some recreational rides is a wise one. You don't want to burn out. I need to find the time to do the interval rides. I can tell I am not as fit as I was this spring.

Pell

[ActiveMSers]

Marina, Marina, you give me heart attacks with such falls. It's a good thing you weren't in the Tour, because with your luck, you would have gotten hit by that car AND flipped over that barbed wire fence (and it all would have been caught on film by your hubby, ha). Hang in there and I hope your recovery is swift.

You hang in there, too, AMF.

[AMFADVENTURES]

D N F

Plan B for the “Triple” was to ride just the last 90 miles. Unfortunately, I didn’t even get very far on that. That old guy with the MS was back again and he just didn’t have much in him. The timing was unfortunate but it happens.

My serious training is done for this year. I don’t have a firm plan going forward but I think it will include intervals once a week and mostly recreational riding the rest of the time. I need to get back to the weight room in the gym and get the yoga going again. I let my yoga slip badly over the last several weeks and it showed on yesterdays ride. A strong core is critical for the MS as well as the bike.

Anyway, hope you all carry on riding and let’s keep the rubber side down. I'll plan to see you back here next year for another MS 150. Mean while, who knows what nuggets of mundane interest might pop up.

Thanks guys,

AMF

[pawpaw]

Larry-
It may be the better part of valor to pull back and take it easy this weekend.
The mountains will still be there.
Rain kept us off the bike today but we hope to ride tomorrow and Sunday.
Pell