Rest(less) day

Although I know rest days are vital to any workout plan, they still make me nuts.

I feel like I should be up and doing something - anything - other than sitting around.

I look longingly at the bikes hanging on the wall and think what a lovely day it is for a ride, but I can't because I have to rest.

Dammit. I hate it.

That's weird, isn't it?

Someone saying that they hate the idea of not working out?

It's weird. I know, but I also know that I really need the rest, especially with Death Valley coming up in less than a week.

I've decided that I'll be satisfied with anything over 50 miles, and extremely happy if I can make the 100 miles.

But then again, I might lose my mind and decide that they're going to drag me off the course when my cold, stiff carcass misses the cutoff point.

I'm not bringing Gary - I'm renting a really nice aluminum/carbon road bike from an awesome local bike shop called Zone 3 Multisport.

When I went in to reserve the bike, the guy who works there picked up Gary, looked at me and said "Oh, you're going to fly on our bike".

So, the schedule is: rest today (dammit), run/swim tomorrow, long ride Tuesday, swim Wednesday, yoga or stretch Thursday, Friday I'm off to Death Valley, and Saturday's the ride.

Two weeks from now is the Solvang Century ride (should be cake after Death Valley), and then I'm back to regular training for Vineman 70.3 and commuting on the Cannondale, which as of late's been doing a whole lot of nothing.

It builds character

One of the things the training plans for just about anything mention is called a 'mental toughness day'.

Since you can't control conditions in races, you may have to power your way through rain, wind, dust, heat, plagues of locusts, etc..

With that in mind, I headed out to PCH for a long ride. Leaving my house it was a bit windy, but by the time I got to the coast the winds were very, very strong, and, of course, blowing south so as I rode north I got the full brunt of it (plus the occasional gust from the side, which was a surprise).

Although I desperately wanted to turn around, go home and curl up with a warm blanket, I kept riding. I knew I wasn't going to make my targeted distance of 100 miles, but I figured if I could just go a little further I'd be fine.

I stopped briefly at a farm stand where they had freshly dug green garlic (so tasty). I didn't have a backpack or bag since I was on the road bike, so I shoved the garlic up the back of my jersey, which made me smell great (I'm sure of it).

I don't know what a Zuman is, but apparently it's vital.

I continued up the coast, eventually turning around at Leo Carrillo beach, which is 30 miles from my house.

Enough! I turn around!

So I did 60 miles instead, but it felt like 100 in that wind. Even going back, when I should have had a really good tailwind, I still got gusts from the side.

Mental toughness, right?

The really interesting thing is that today, my legs aren't hurting at all, and they probably should be. I guess that's a good thing.

Bridge over the California Incline. The troubled waters are to the west.

My nether regions are hurting like hell, though. Forgot to bring the chamois cream with me. I won't make that mistake again.

Chinatown Firecracker Ride in pictures!

This was my first time at the Chinatown Firecracker ride - there were two routes offered - an easy flat 20 miler, and a hilly 30 miler.

I chose the hilly route, thinking it would be fun.

It was, but the main challenge wasn't the climbs, but navigating Los Angeles' legendary shitty roads. 

Starting line

And the impending rain, of course. Despite hopes that it would hold off, it started sprinkling just as the race started. Luckily, it never really rained, just misted enough to make the roads slick and fog up everyone's glasses.

Tandem!

The ride had a really nice mix of people, and since it wasn't a race but an organized ride, there wasn't such a sense of urgency to go flat-out, but I did end up joining one of the pacelines, which was fun, but since the road was wet I got covered in the goop being thrown up by the tire in front of me.  I looked like "Pig Pen" from the Peanuts cartoons.

Griffith Park

About halfway through Griffith Park, the blue sky started to peek through the clouds.

Steep climb

So steep that everyone had to stop and rest 

The only aid station of the ride was at the halfway point, located at Travel Town.

Aid station

Appropriately, we were given fortune cookies in addition to the standard fare of pretzels and bananas.

Fortune cookie for the Chinatown ride! Get it?

...in bed.

Good thing they had a repair station at Travel Town, as a large number of people were having mechanical problems related to the wetness and shittiness of the roads.

By the time I left the aid station, the sun had come out and it was a gorgeous. We rode through Burbank. looped back to the LA River bike path, and made our way back to Chinatown, where there was a huge line for the promised carbo load lunch:

Load me up! I'm hungry!

Noodles, and more fortune cookies.

There was a beer tent, which seemed promising, but they weren't serving good beer. I wasn't expecting top-end microbrew or anything but:

I'm sorry, I thought someone said there was to be beer.

I didn't drink any of the so-called beer, instead opting for a Vietnamese iced coffee from the Pho place across the street.

Red Lanterns

Red Lanterns and puffy clouds

Gong on a shop

I wandered around for a bit, chatted with some fellow riders and some friends who were there picking up packets for the run on Sunday.

When I got home, the first thing I had to to was wash the gunk off Gary, then I took a shower myself.

It was a really fun ride, and I'll definitely do it again next year, but I'll seriously consider bringing a mountain bike because of the pavement.

Wow, didn't see that one coming.

Between road biking and commuting, I put in a respectable number of miles on the bicycle.

Consequently, my legs are pretty damn strong.

Strong enough that usually weights don't make me sore the next day, so when I was at the gym Sunday pre-Superbowl party, I decided to do the workout that they call 'the board' which is posted on, natch, a board on the workout floor.

This one looked good, but not super hard for someone with legs of steel:

In case the photo isn't showing, that's "Push, Pull Squat"

3 x 20 push ups
3 x 20 cable chest presses

3 x 20 seated row

3 x 20 lat pulls

3 x 20 body weight squats
3 x 20 body weight alternate lunges

I added in some ab work, but holy crap.

That easy-looking workout kicked my ass. It's Monday night and I'm still sore.

I knew the shoulders would be sore because of the push ups, but they're way less sore than my quads.

Masters swim tonight was an adventure - of course we were doing sprints. I ran out of gas about 45  minutes in and only have myself to blame.

However, in the future, if I need a really good quick workout (this one took under 45 minutes), I know what I'll be doing.

A tale of eBay woe

I'm forever on a quest for better bike shorts.

Better pad, better waistband, legs that don't ride up or cut off circulation, etc..

But mainly a better pad. I usually wear Mavic shorts, and they're certainly comfortable, but after about 50 miles, I'm in pain and no amount of fresh chamois cream will do anything about it.

So while browsing everyone's favorite online auction site, I found a pair of shorts that looked to have a promisingly thick pad.

So what if they were an off brand and priced at only $30?

All that stuff my grandma always told me about getting what you pay for? 

Straight out the window. I bought the shorts.

They arrived the other day and this morning was my first test ride on them.

I had originally planned to do 80 miles up PCH today, but about 10 miles in, the shorts (or the spirit of my grandmother. I can't tell which) took their vengeance.

The pad, so soft and comfy at first, immediately compressed to the point where it was beyond useless and actually causing chafing, but that wasn't the main problem. The main problem was the seam up the back of the shorts with a very poorly placed tag that was rubbing the skin off the small of my back. It's amazing how the little things get you.

I figured that eventually the lady bits would numb out, but that seam/tag combo - I couldn't ignore it. The more it rubbed, the more it annoyed me, to the point that I started getting really snappish and mean to passers-by and riding buddies.

That, for me, was the signal to pack it in.  It wasn't going to get any better.

So I headed home after riding a grand total of 25 miles. I've got a patch on the small of my back that's rubbed raw, and my lady bits are hamburger.  Hamburger, I tell you.

So, lesson officially learned.

No more discount off-brand bike shorts for me

Well, maybe not.

The Spring Death Valley Ultra Century is a little under 5 weeks away, and due to my averaging 60 hours of work a week at the moment I'm only getting in one training ride a week - the longest having been 60 miles.

I'm not giving up on the race just yet, but it's looking less likely that I'm going.

I'm scheduled to do the Solvang Century a week after Death Valley, so I may just take the DNS on the latter and focus on the century, which I know I can do.

Also, my car is psychic.

I've been working a lot and as such actually have some money in the bank. So of course, when I took the car to the mechanic to get the brakes done, I was informed that the suspension is shot (Los Angeles has some of the worst roads in the country - you really need a truck here and I have a cheap sedan).

Suspension repair? $400.
Brakes? $200, if  they can resurface the rotors. If not, more.

Guess I know where that extra money's going.

Failure and winds

On Groupon, I got a month long membership to one of the local yoga studios, so I've been going to a lot of different classes, the idea being to find one I like so when I have to start paying per class, I'll know which ones.

The one I tried today was WAY too hard for me. The instructor was very nice about my bailing 30 minutes into a 90 minute class, but I hate, hate, hate having to quit.

So to get the taste of failure out of my mouth, so to speak, I rode up PCH, the idea being to do 50 miles today.

Which I did, but it was super duper windy - a few times I was almost blown into the traffic lanes.


I'm still holding out hope that I'll be able to do the ultra century, so I'm doing hill repeats tomorrow, then a yoga class with an instructor that I like and has a class that's not too hard for me.

I'll then go swim as I'll miss Thursday's masters' swim due to work.

So, I bit off more than I could chew.

A few months ago, I got all fired up and registered for the Spring Death Valley Ultra Century. I figured a mere century wasn't all that much of a challenge, so why not go big?

Seemed like a good idea at the time.

It takes place in early March, which at this point, is a mere six weeks away.

Except that between flying back east for the holidays to overeat and then getting bronchitis, I haven't trained.

Today, I rode 50 miles and my ass is, as they say, grass.

I have no idea how I'm going to get from 50 miles (at an average speed of 12 mph, BTW), to 150 miles in SIX WEEKS.

I think I might be really, really fucked.

I'm trying to keep a sense of perspective in that they won't charge me more if I don't finish, and it'll be a lovely ride no matter how far I get, but my ultra-competitive inner jock is having none of it, no Sir.

I have to complete the ride in 13 hours to officially finish, which at my current fitness level, I'm not sure I can do.

My main problem is my hamstrings tightening up and saddle sores due to the seat rubbing. I try to stretch in the saddle (raising up off the seat, leaning on the handlebars and doing a sort of cat cow). I'm sure the saddle sores will resolve themselves with a bit more callus, but if I can't get a handle on this hamstring crap, I'm going to be hamburger after, well, 50 miles.

We'll see.

Six weeks to go.

Happy New Year!

I'm spending my New Year's Eve at home, with the last of a lingering cough, watching comedy specials on Netflix.

Hopefully, I'll have enough lung capacity in the morning to go on a group ride.

Hope all of you are safe and well and have a wonderful 2012.

A week's rest and all is better.

I went back to see the family for a week over the Christmas holiday, and as a result of getting absolutely no exercise that week, my heel feels great!

The rest of me feels like a stuffing-bloated whale, but hey, you can't have everything, now can you?

Since I'm nursing the tail end of some bronchitis (over the holiday. Thanks, Universe. Thanks a lot.), I decided to do some yoga. I had a coupon for a series of classes at a 'hot' yoga place near me, and since friends have raved about how great the heated room yoga is for improving flexibility, I went and gave it a try.

I warned the very nice teacher upfront that I'm a yoga beginner (I've only done a few classes at the gym), but she assured me none of the sequences were going to be all that difficult.

Good thing, too - that was like sitting in a damn oven for 75 minutes. I think anything more strenuous would have made me explode.

I brought a liter of water with me, but it wasn't nearly enough and I walked out feeling marginally more flexible but with a terrible headache since I didn't have enough water.

Also, what no one will tell you about 'hot' yoga is that it smells really, really bad.

Everything everyone in the room has eaten in the past few days starts to come out of their pores about half an hour in, so the room ends up smelling like curry, asparagus, and underarm funk.

The instructor had one of those little oil burners with lavender in it, but that was like trying to hold back a tidal wave with a kitchen sponge.

People, please. If you're going to do heated room yoga, have the common decency to lay off the Indian food beforehand and wear a deodorant.

The class let out about 5:30, and my original plan had been to go from the class to the gym to sit in the steam room (funk-free heat), but a heavy fog had begun to roll in and I was worried about biking home after dark in heavy fog.

On the upside, I've had a muscle in my shoulder that's been stiff for about a week, and it feels much better after the class.

I just need to remember to bring nose plugs next time.