Power and Sickness

Two weeks ago I was self diagnosed with a bad cold. Runny nose, lethargy, and perhaps a low grade fever. Luckily that week was designated as "rest" week. It took me the better part of the following week to begin to feel like myself. I could tell I wasn't 100 percent. I had the occasion to compare two identical exercises on the trainer. One when I was recovering, and one when I felt 100 percent. I knew there was difference when I started the routine feeling well, because I had difficulty stressing myself at the same cadence/gear that week prior put me at AT. I took the time to compare the routines, and what I see is that when I felt well, my HR was the same or lower compared to when I was recovering, yet I could consistently put out about 30 to 40 more watts. Thats a huge difference. In the following picture the Heavy lines are the one associated with me feeling fine, and the lighter lines are when I was recovering. The red ones are HR, the grey ones are power, and the green ones are cadence. You will see the cadence is about the same on the two dates but the power is significantly more when I felt well and the HR are close but I was always just sub AT and putting out more power. Here is the picture.

Foundation Broccoli Bowl

I am very fond of the Broccoli Bowl at a local restaurant Aja Noodle. Basically a stir fry with mainly broccoli, but with a different sauce. The sauce has flavors for ginger and cilantro. Also the dish is served with a healthy sprig of cilantro, a lime wedge and a portion of white rice. My rendition is not a perfect match, but close and I like it nevertheless.

1 head broccoli florets
12 scallions
1 white onion
1 carrot
1 red pepper
2 tbls fresh grated ginger
1 bunch cilantro
2 tbl sweet chili sauce (available in the Asian section)
1 cup stock
2 tbl oil


Half the battle is cutting the vegetables correctly. Cut broccoli into bite size florets. Cut onion into thick slices, maybe one inch, so you will only get a few slices from an onion. The cut each ring into inch squares. Cut the red pepper similarly. For the carrots I use a zester and make a mound of carrot zest. Scallions can be just sliced as normal.

To make the sauce
Sauté scallions in 1 tbl oil until cooked. Add 1 tbl ginger and sauté one minute. Add 2 tbl of sweet chilli sauce. Cook for 1 minute. Add 1 tbl finely chopped cilantro. Cook for one minute To this add your 1 cup of stock. I’ve only tried chicken stock, but I am sure vegetable stock would work, as would perhaps a light white wine, or maybe just maybe a JW Dundee’s Pale Ale. I’ll get back to you on that theory.
Simmer this on low to reduce to ½ volume.

To make Vegies
Saute white onions, scallions bell peppers in 1 tbl oil. Cook until done. Add broccoli and scallions. Cook until broccoli is almost done, but still crunchy, about 2 minutes. Add sauce, carrots, 1 tbl fresh diced ginger, and 1 tbls fresh chopped cilantro, and finish cooking until broccoli is done. Serve with rice, lime wedge and cilantro sprig in a large bowl.

Note to Self

I write this in case I find myself with amnesia after being struck down by a manure truck on the roads south of 5&20. Of course if I do have amnesia remembering how to log into this blog will be lost in the fog as well. I've learned a few pearls of wisdom about myself that I need to keep reminding myself.

1) Taking a day off the bike, means the first 20 minutes the next will be extremely difficult. Its actually better to actively rest by riding, nothing hard of course. I look forward to the warm weather when that ride can be a stroll down to the ice cream shop.
2) As I get older, I need to drink more. Seems like my recent calf cramps are due to being dehydrated. I'm still looking for the hole which leaking, but until I locate the problem, I better start drinking more...water that is.
Today's ride was a real bore. The pace was not that exciting and my biggest problem was my legs kept cramping, started about 10 minutes from home, so I knew it wasn't a fitness thing, but most likely a dehydration thing. Don't get me wrong, I'd rather ride outside with a bunch of cyclist than ride alone inside for 4 hours, but today seemed a tad stale.
3) That vaseline stuff called Born is really good on the face when it gets cold out. Today I didn't feel the normal burn on my face.
4) Don't stay out till midnight and expect you best the next day.

11 Week Check Up

Well, I am 11 weeks into the 2005 season, and have just over 90 hours logged on the bike. Thats not that exciting but wait, there is more. With those 90 hours I burned about 32,000 calories, climbed (and descended) 42,021 feet. That may seem like a lot of climbing but consider most of those hours were on the trainer. The minimum temperature was 19 (I seem to remember colder) and the maximum was 86 (thank you Maui).

Of course all this is according to my Polar monitor. Ah if it could only talk.

This week was to be a rest week, but my body upon hearing this news decided to become best pals with a cold virus and let it proliferate in my body. So the rest week was used recovering from a cold. I feel OK on the bike but anxiously await the early competition. I don't think my results early on will be indicitive of my season, but it certainly will reveal who has been naughty and nice over the winter.

Some more dreadful statistics. I have watched the 2004 TDF 5 times, the 2003, 3 times, and Top Gun twice. Countless hours of .mp3 tunes on the trainer.

Winter is Over

Heck who needs the groundhog? I knew this weekend for sure that it was the last cold spell we would have. Why in the beginning of the winter I bought a stash of those hand warmer things, and I used my last two this weekend, ergo Winter must be over.

Walk on the Wild Side

At 45 one begins to think about how they will compete with kids 1/2 your age. With everything you read about how age affects endurance athletes its amazing we can get out of bed each morning. Being an engineer I started to analyze the problem. What are the factors that affect a bike race. Here is the short list I came up with.

1. Physical Fitness
2. Strategy
3. Mental Fitness
4. Equipment

Off the cuff, I am going to say that these are probably in decreasing order of importance. Unfortunately they also are probably in exponetially decreasing order. This being so, I will discount any affect equipment may make, because well its just not that important when you consider how much swing the other 3 factors have. So its probably better spending your disposable income on the first 3 rather than the last. So instead of surfing the web for Titanium front deraileur bolts, spend the time thinking about your training schedule or your mental state of mind. Of course this is all free advice and worth every penny.
There has been so much written on Physical Fitness, that I can't really add much other than sitting back and looking at training regimes now vs 30 years ago, I make the following observation on the evolotion of training. Years ago we went hard everyday, and rested only the day before a race. I suspect that getting sick was actually a blessing, as it gave you time to rest. Compared to today our "intense" times really were not as "intense" as they are now. So in actuality today we probably spend more time at or above our AT in training. I have no clue about how training has changed in the professional ranks, as thats very foreign and seductively mysterious to me. Thinking about racing, the winning move usually comes from some short intense effort that either you can match or not. Rarely does it grind on for hours until the last person standing wins. Perhaps your experiences are different.

Strategy, well again today its more of a team sport and the team dominates the strategy. And to be honest, much has been written about this aspect as well. Nothing mysterious here really. Everyone should be on the same playing field here, as there is nothing mentally challenging about it. Of course the depth of the team will make a huge difference. Coming up to speed is just a matter of reading, understanding, communicating and practising the various aspects of cycling strategy.

That leaves one facet, the mental game. Perhaps by necessity I feel that the mental preparadness aspect is one that is overlooked by many and therefore any time spent here will serve me well.

I keep going round and round on two distinct aspects of the mental game. At some points they feel as if they are separate at other times I feel they are cause and affect relationship. Probably a clue I don't know what I am talking about.

The first is what I will call Psychology of Pain. When you are suffering on the bike, how do you handle it? How do you allow yourself to minimize the affects of pain? Actually I hate the word pain, as its not like stubbing your toe or hitting your thumb with a hammer (the second time especially), now thats pain. I like the word stress. They say the eskimos have hundreds of words for snow, well because they know so much about it and therefore each different type of snow is unique to them. So is stress on the bike, there is the discomfort you feel when hammering in a 5 mile TT, there is the struggle of getting one pedal around when climbing Billy Goat Hill and then there is the rusty pain of the 5th day of 5 day stage race. Each one is different. Suffice it to say that the saying your mind quits before your body quits is very true. The trick is to divorce your mind from the problem, or better yet seduce your mind into enjoying the strss. . I've been doing this by trying to remember what it feels like when I give up and go over that in my head when I am resting to help me understand why it was so bad and hopefully keep going, probably to only encounter new and even more unpleasant words for pain.

The second thing I have been thinking about is the mounting evidence of what a positive mental attitude can have. I suspect that both illegal drugs and carbon equipment make more of difference in the "I did/got this and therefore I know I am going to be faster" category than they actually do in the physical category. I'm not suggesting either strategy only making the ovbservation of how a positive mental attitude has affected my results. There is nothing like doing well or beating your arch rival. Success breads success.

Two strikes and a Home Run

I tried some beer recipes over the weekend. Actually I tried some beer and shrimp recipes. Three unique shrimp preparations all with beer. The first was a classic beer battered fried shrimp, the second a shrimp boil, substituting beer for the water, and the third was a grilled shrimp and jalapeño kebab whereby the shrimp were marinated in beer. All were good, but to be honest only one I think was enhanced by the beer. All would have been good with a beer as a drink, but on this go round only the beer battered fried shrimp I consider a culinary success story. And the best part the recipe is very easy.
Mix equal parts of beer and flour. For 1/2 dozen shrimp that was one cup of beer and one cup of flour. I marinated the shrimp in JW Dundee's Honey Brown and used the same for the batter. Marinating the shrimp I don't think did much, but they seemed happy none the less. Pat the shrimp dry, dust with flour then dip in the batter. Fry at 375 until golden brown. Very crispy.
Now its time to reveal my absolute favorite beer recipe. Celebration Choucroute, thats French for sauerkraut. You don't normally think of France and sauerkraut, but in Alsace, next to the German border, sauerkraut is big. Usually its cooked with Alsatian white wine with sausages and all, but I substituted beer. Here is the recipe, oh yea I added smoked ham hocks for more smoked flavor.

1 smoked ham hock
1 tbl vegetable oil
4, 4" sausages ( kielbasa or whatever your favorite wiener is)
2 lbs Sauerkraut
1 tbl Caraway seeds
1 JW Dundee's Amber Lager

Brown ham hock and sausages in oil. Use a heavy deep pot.
Remove sausages and reserve.
Add Sauerkraut, 1/2 the beer and Caraway seeds. Heat on low for one hour. Add remaining beer if it becomes too dry, otherwise compliments to the chef. Add back sausages and warm for 20 minutes, again adding beer if necessary. Serve with potatoes. Here is a picture of resulting dish.