Crank Zombie

I am a Big Sissy

2012-02-15T08:02:00.002-08:00

As of Wednesday morning, the weather forecast for the first weekend of the Greenville Series is pretty dismal. Now, if I had teammates with a shot to win -- like Ladd and Jay in 2010 -- I'd show up regardless of the weather and ride my butt off for them, as I did for those guys (whom I really miss racing with). With no teammates, and coming back from 8 months off the bike with an injury, I'm completely turned off by the idea of racing in the rain and cold. Been there, done that. Lots. Won a race once like that. Have no interest in doing it again.

Now, I really admire my guy Mark Merrill down in Columbia. He'll ride in anything. Rain, snow, cold, dirt, wild animals, barbed wire, IEDs, it doesn't matter. Mark's a funny guy, and he's a sure bet to deflate the ego of any racerboy out there with a few well-timed sarcastic remarks, and he knows a thing or two about wheels. And for Mark, riding a bike in shit weather is fun. For a lot of guys, riding a bike in shit weather is fun. For me? No fun. Just wet. And cold.

So, I'd say a firm maybe to Saturday and a definite no to Sunday. Get back to me when it cracks 60 and the sun comes out. if it's wet and cold, I'm going to be a big sissy and ride my fancy race wheels on my rollers in the garage.

12 Week Check, Part 2

2012-02-12T16:40:00.000-08:00

All this beating my head against the wall and doing half of every ride at 90-96% has paid off a bit. I use 60min power to determine FTP in the WKO+ power profile chart, and since all of my 60min data is from workouts, I'll guess its just a smidge on the low side. There's no one-hour stretch of flat road around here, but back in York County I could reproduce indoor watts on an hour's worth of flat, so I feel all right about all the roller stuff paying off on the road once it gets a bit warmer.

Everything is steadily ticking upwards. Steady rubbishing has its rewards, I suppose.

Weekend

2012-02-11T13:33:00.000-08:00

I'm not happy with when and how I did this workout -- 7 in the morning, and on the rollers. We had plans this afternoon....

It was a goal to see an hour over 300w before racing started, and that box got checked off today. Following it up with 5 sets of Tabata intervals and a final 20 minutes at 92% made for a pretty tough 2 hours. The other goal that got checked off was to make 2000kj in two hours, including the cool down. I haven't seen that since December of 2010. The Tabatas were on the weak side. Strong guys can manage 200% on the "on" intervals, and I was killing myself to get 150%. Anaerobically retarded...but, all you can do is all you can do, right?

There's a chance I can get outside tomorrow, but I may have to ride at 5AM to get in two hours before church, and then grading papers in the afternoon....

Motivational Music

2012-02-09T19:15:00.000-08:00

Peaks and Curves

2012-02-09T18:56:00.000-08:00

It's almost six weeks since I got back on the bike after the MRSA-infected saddle sore, and it's almost 13 weeks since I was able to start riding again after eight months off the bike with the posterior tibial tendon problems. All in all, I'm happy with where I am, and I don't see how I could be any fitter with a week to go before the racing season starts. I don't have many teammates, I'm not a terribly good racer to begin with, and I'm jumping back in after almost a year off. Low expectations all around, I'd say.

First, the Performance Manager Chart reveals a good progression in training load. A Chronic Training Load of 90 seems to be my entry point for riding decently -- it cracked 90 right at the start of September 2010, and by the middle of the month I was going well, and then had a couple of good races four weeks later. Now, given that my CTL was all of 21 on November 1, and that my ankle limited me to 1-hour workouts for the first month, a 70-point gain in CTL over 12 weeks (with one week off due to the saddle sore) is something to be happy about. Training Stress Balance has been in a steady band over the last three weeks -- although CTL is rising, chronic fatigue is not, and it shouldn't be too difficult to get TSB to come back up and be "training fresh" for the Spring races. The best results I've had -- the French Broad RR in 2009, the Boone RR in 2010, and the end of 2010 -- all came with a CTL between 100 and 105. Now that I'm at 90, it's time to slow down the ramp rate, shorten the workouts, and bring CTL up over 100 in April/May. The Roan Groan RR should be a decent course for me -- lots of climbing -- so having good fitness around the first week of June is now a goal.

Power is low, but on a w/kg basis, it's ok. I haven't tested, and won't for another month at least, but workouts would indicate that Functional Threshold is up in the 315w range. That's a good bit off from the high of 335w back in December of 2010, before dental surgery, the evil hemorrhoid, and the ankle injury (aka, when everything went down the toilet in six weeks). But, I was 75kg when I did that 335w. I'm at 72kg right now, so 4.38 w/kg, which isn't that far off the 4.5 that is the best I've seen, and nothing to gripe about after being a couch potato for almost nine months in 2011 (evil 'roid + posterior tibial tendon). In time, I think I'll get back to that 4.5 -- possibly better. The dotted red line on the Mean Maximal Power Chart shows where I was right before the tendon injury in February 2011, and the yellow line is where I am now. I'm all of 5 watts off on 20 and 60-minute power, but I was 71kg a year ago, as opposed to 72 now, so per kilo the difference is a bit bigger. All the same, I don't see how it could be any better after last year.

The Mean Normalized Power chart reveals all the indoor torture sessions. Ride really hard for two hours. Ugh. The promising data here is that my best 2hr NP in December of 2010 was 312w, and now it's 292w. So, the same 20-watt difference in power as with FTP, but on 12 weeks of training, I can hold the same percentage of FTP over the two hours -- 92%. So, my fatigue resistance is good.

The truth, however, is not in the numbers in WKO+, but in the number next to your name on a race results sheet. I find it fun to track fitness, but fitness is a means to an end, not the end itself. So, I'm looking forward to trying a lot of stupid shit -- without big threshold power and with no sprint, one would have to be either very crafty and a good judge of the race (which I'm not) or batshit crazy/foolish (ding ding ding) to end up with a result. I have to confess that although the batshit crazy route will result in failure 99% of the time, it is a lot more fun and suits my temperament. On with 2012!

Rest Day Anthem : Cloud Nothings - Stay Useless

2012-02-06T16:41:00.000-08:00

Rainy Day Date With Ana

2012-02-04T13:09:00.000-08:00

It was raining steadily this morning, so back to the rollers. Don't get all "Belgian Hard Man" on me. Rain sucks. I rode in the rain a lot for 20+ years. All it did was get my bike filthy and give me sinus infections. And, as my man Craig Gaulzetti says, "you want to be Belgian? Then if it's raining, do your intervals in front of the TV watching Australian soap operas dubbed in Flemish." I'll leave out the TV part, but I'll take two hours really hard on the rollers over three hours of grovelling in the rain anyday.

Today was another date with Ana. I like this workout as a race simulation, because it hits all the energy systems. 20min at 96%+, then 7 x 3min VO2, then 20 min at 96%+, then 10 minutes of :30-:30 microbursts. It's hard. You will, however, not get bored by doing this indoors. It hurts too much to be boring. The 3min power was low -- 345w, or only 110% -- but the 20s were really good -- 310 and 311w, so right on FTP.

More rain tomorrow....

I'm Digging China

2012-02-02T16:59:00.000-08:00

Dang. Cheap labor. Ok, I'm a consumer, and this is all about my commodity fetish. I get that. This, however, is a pretty cool guitar -- all it needs is a bone nut and a better bridge, and it'll be good to go. The pickups do lack a little bit, but run through the Vox, which is pretty bright amp, they have a nice growl, and the sustain and feedback are really fun when I have the amp overdriven. The bass is pretty punchy through the bridge pickup, and you can get some nice thick lead tones of of this sucker.

I had a Gibson ES-335 about twenty years ago -- this Chinese-made Epiphone is as well made, and has just about all the tone, of that 80s Gibson, all for 400 measley bucks. Put in some Duncan '59 pickups in, install a better bridge and a bone nut, and I suspect I won't hear any real difference. This is a seriously gig-worthy instrument. Kick ass, man.

Getting Positive Again

2012-02-02T07:36:00.000-08:00

I didn't quite have a feel of how my fitness was coming along after the last weekend -- last week was the biggest TSS week I'd done since December of 2010, and although that itself was a good sign, I didn't have good feelings in my legs. I realized that was all due to the increase in total training volume over the last two weeks -- but you don't know until you know, right? I wanted to see what some intervals would be like from Tuesday through today.

Tuesday was ugly. With racing around the corner and my ankle finally feeling good (the new orthotics in my everyday are great, and have the posterior tibial tendon problem under control again), it was time for 7 x 3:00 VO2, and a set of :30-:30 microbursts. Oh, I do not like going to see Ana. She don't do me no good. Ana who? Anaerobic. She's a real bitch. But, the watts were ok, considering I hadn't gone over my threshold in 16 months. Small good sign.

Wednesday was an hour at 93% out of the gate, then an hour at 85% to finish up and hit the 2000kj. The day after doing the VO2s, it wasn't easy -- but I was able to get it out. Slightly bigger good sign.

Today was the last day of the three-day block, and this workout was the best my legs have been in a long time -- almost back to where I was when the tendon flared up exactly a year ago. 2 x 20 at 99% of threshold, then 10min of :30-:30s, then 2 x 20 at 90%. A whole lot of work in two hours, but I was able to finish it strongly -- and at the end of a three day block.

Maybe things are turning around....

The Epihone Dot will be in my hackish little hands tonight. Time for some Mekons riffs.

White Lies

2012-01-31T14:46:00.000-08:00

No, really, I was doing 350w for that interval...and I'm ready to race...and....

excuse me while i break my own heart

2012-01-29T17:47:00.000-08:00

Good and bad weekend. On the good side, new orthodics and some tweaking of my position on the bike has got my ankle under control -- I hope. No pain for a few days, and a 12-hour, 10,000kj, 800TSS week in the can. A few more like that and I'll be sort of not really ok.

Saturday was a nice ride from Clemson up to Jocassee. Hills. A lot of hills. I wanted a power file that would look like a race, so I did the idiot move and took most of those hills in the big ring -- standing up like an idiot grinding at 80rpm and zone 5-6 watts a lot. The end result was a variability index of 1.25, so yeah, about what a 2-3 hour hilly RR would be. Today was just 3 hours long and flat and windy.

On the down side, power isn't up at all from December. Part of that is the increased work load, part of that may be plateau. At any rate, I'm not seeing fitness coming. So excuse me if I break my own heart. Call me the Beatle Bob of bike racing.

Sold some bike crap and bought that Epiphone Dot. It may need some Duncan PAFs -- the Epi pickups have a reputation for being a little dark sounding. I'll give it a few weeks after it arrives.

On the big plus side, I caught Tony Tidwell's show in Clemson last night. Fine songwriter and frontman. Really nice to hear -- ages ago, I was lucky enough to do opening gigs for Kevin Kinney and Fread Eaglesmith (both of whom got heavy pub as alt-country singer-songwriter-bandleaders a while back), and I though Tony sounded as good as those dudes. We're lucky to have a guy that talented here in Clemson.

Decisions....

2012-01-26T17:36:00.000-08:00

Over the next week, I need to make a choice as to whether to try racing in February or use that entry fee and gas money to grab a cheap but great-playing and sounding Epiphone Dot guitar that I don't need (note: guitar heads know that every guitar is the guitar you don't need, but that you must have, anyway).

Why the dilemma? My left ankle is a lot better, I've been cleared from therapy, but it's still stiff and sore. It handles zone 4 training just fine, but microbursts make it sore, and I'm not sure about trying any VO2 work on it. SST and FTP intervals are just not enough to race on, and if short hard hills and VO2 efforts make my ankle and foot flare up -- which may or may not change that much, considering the congenital nature of the problem with my pancake plat feet and posterior tibial tendon dysfunction -- then why bother? Better to ride zone 4 a lot and stay fit that go into zones 5 and 6 and flare up that tendon.

I did pick up new orthotics for my everyday shoes this week -- they seem a good bit better, but at the end of the school day I still have some burning in my posterior tibial tendons and tightness in both posterior tibialis muscles. The orthotics fit the sole of my foot perfectly, and are as stiff as Carolina Prosthetics and Orthotics can make them. The only other route would be a UCBL brace, which would probably be overkill at this point. Maybe my feet will adjust to the new inserts, maybe not. I'll see.

As far as training goes, my zone 4 base is coming along ok. Still staying with two-hour, 2000kj rides, and I'm getting better at carrying the zone 4 efforts into the last half hour. Today was 3 x 30, with the efforts at 92%, 94%, and 91%. Throw in the last 20 minutes at 87%, and I'm really happy with that.

Wait and see. Racing, or this (or sell a bunch of bike crap and go for both...).

Song for Rest Day: The Raveonettes - Candy

2012-01-23T03:40:00.000-08:00

Mmmmmmm. Day off, like candy.

Song For Tomorrow's Rest Day

2012-01-22T16:40:00.000-08:00

Saw one of these shows -- the Columbia SC one at the New Brookland Tavern. Was a great period to see this band....

Another Step in the Right Direction

2012-01-22T16:23:00.000-08:00

This weekend was just hard. I don't do rain, so it was into the garage yet again. Saturday was pretty simple -- 45min@95%, 5 minutes easy, 30min@92%, 5 minutes easy, and then 20min at 90% to bring it in. Cool down, and 2000kj in the can in two hours.

I was pretty tired today, but surprised myself with a year-best for 60min -- 298w. 50 minutes of that hour was 300w, so I'm getting closer to clearing 300w for an hour in a workout. I'd like to think that would be the doorstep to decent fitness for the spring.I've blabbed about it before, and I'll blather it again -- I'm convinced that for most of us schleps, a setady winter diet of as much 90-95% as you can handle is the best way to build Base and raise FTP. It is a bit of a grind, though.

Looking at the weather, it looks like rain again next weekend. There's been a disturbing trend of sunny 60 degree days during the week, and then 50 degrees and pissing rain on the weekend. Not fair, mother nature. Not fair.

Right now, ugh. Just ugh. Glad tomorrow is a day off.

Mudhoney "Touch Me I'm Sick" Tractor Tavern 6-24-2011

2012-01-22T06:36:00.000-08:00

Screw Trance Music

2012-01-20T18:09:00.000-08:00

This is what you need.

How To Be a Better, Stronger, Piece of Packfiller

2012-01-20T04:19:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to pick up the training load as the Spring Series races get nearer. The first races are four weeks away now, and I'm headed towards a glorious reign of mediocrity. Ex-cellent. At least I'm slim enough to make the jersey look good.

I ran into ageless sprint and crit king Steve Sperry at Carolina Triathlon in Greenville on Monday. He summed up 90% of our racing when he said "it's a fun sport if you have a good sprint." Time for a lapse into affected British colloquial prose: Steve, you jammy bugger. True you are, true you are....

I'm still trying to find some basic fitness -- threshold is staying steady, not moving up any, but I'm getting more fatigue resistance and more depth to what fitness I have. This week continued the push started last weekend, with workouts being about 150TSS and 2000kj, in just over two hours. It's either an hour at 91-95%, then 10min of microbursts for a little "sprint" work, then filling out the ride with tempo to hit the kjoule target. Five days of that a week is a stiff training load for a 40-something schlep with a real job, but if you're preparing for two hour road races and don't really have time for 3-5 hour rides on the weekend, it's probably the best way to go if you're still in Base training mode.

CTL has poked up to 75. I ride pretty well for what I have to bring when CTL hits the mid-90s, which is where it should end up the weekend before the season starts. I'll be pretty tired by then, with a fairly deep negative TSB (probably around -40 or -50), so I'll need the week before to try and freshen up a bit. My threshold won't be very high, I will not have done any VO2 intervals or hill work because I don't have enough Base for that yet, and there's no point in working on a sprint because there is no there there (if Gertrude Stein were my coach.

On the plus side, I'm really digging that Vox AC4TV amp. It's pretty dynamic, cleaning up quickly when I back off the volume knob on the Tele, and the breakup from the speaker and the power tube section is really, really sweet once you start turning it up halfway. I wish Vox had put out a 15-watt class A amp that responded like this little 5-watter, back in 1990...would have been the perfect club rig.

Methinks The Suckitude Departeth

2012-01-14T14:08:00.000-08:00

I'm encouraged by today's workout -- I hit the best 2hr Normalized Power of the year (91% for 115 minutes), matched the previous best for 1 hour, did a decent-ish set of microbursts, and with another month in my legs, I hope I'll have fun racing in February and March. Have fun. Not win money. Although I can ride a good time trial and put up great numbers in training when I'm in shape, like that 335w for an hour before I got hurt a year ago, I can't out-sprint a Cat 5 and as soon as I pin a number on, I exhibit the decision making and tactical sense of a retarded rhino on crack. Having fun while racing means being able to attack -- even though it will be fruitless and I'll end up about 20th. I bring the shits and giggles, but that's about it. But, that's more fun than sitting in the pack all day and ending up about 20th when I uncork my 700-watt "sprint."

I'll know things are starting to gel when I see an hour over 300. But, that will take a month or more. I'm finally back to where I was around December 20th, before the nasty bacterial infection. Now hopefully things are back moving forward....

I Love Mary Timony

2012-01-11T15:37:00.000-08:00

Caught this show. No, video is not mine. Total crush. I'm digging this.

More 5 Watt Fun

2012-01-11T15:26:00.000-08:00

With all the suckiness around here, this little box provides a satisfying contrast. The Vox AC4TV is pretty cool -- it has the sparkle and chime that you would associate with a Vox tube amp, and it breaks up nicely after you get the volume past halfway. Really responsive and dynamic, it cleaned up quickly if I backed off the volume knob on the guitar, and was sensitive to picking touch. It reminds me a little -- a little -- of my old '58 Fender Princeton in the overtones and the Class A distortion. It's boxier than that old Fender, and not nearly as nuanced on the low end, but for 200 bucks, I'm not complaining. Running a Telecaster through it tonight, I could get a nice "Paperback Writer" growl, bell-like clean tones, and some Yardbirds grind when I kicked in the Fuzz Face. Really cool amp. It has it's limits with the small cabinet and the speaker, but I don't think I could find a better sounding amp for the money. Kick ass. Does not suck.

Sucky Suckitude of Sucktardness

2012-01-11T15:12:00.000-08:00

The MRSA infection in those saddle sores seems to have put the smack on my fitness. It was only a week off, but it had the same kind of effect on what little power I was starting to build as a case of the flu would have. Basically, it knocked me back to where I was about a month ago. 60min power is way down -- 282w, from 296w a few days before the first sore came up. 20min power has really taken a hit.

Racing six weeks away, and I'm pretty lousy. On the plus side, I'm burning up a lot of kjoules and I'm holding steady at 157. Getting back down to 154 and having 310w at FTP would be ok-ish. I'll see about those three pounds....

Back on the Bike, and Lousy

2012-01-04T19:08:00.000-08:00

I have one more day of doxycycline left, and my backside is no longer infected. I got back on the rollers last night, and for the last two days I managed two hours and 1600kj each ride, just feeling like crap the whole time. Strong antibiotics make me ride like junk, even after the infection has passed. Something about them makes me all crampy, sore, and weak. Two days after they're out of my system, things come back to normal, but while I'm on them, I'm rubbish.

Six weeks away from the first races of the year, and I have to shit myself to get out 220w. This is going to be interesting....

This is how you do a Smiths cover

2011-12-31T19:30:00.000-08:00

Finally Over With 2011. Goals for 2012.

2011-12-31T13:30:00.000-08:00

2011 end with me sleeping a lot for a week while I take a ton of antibiotics and wait for the MRSA sore to heal. A typical end to this year, all in all. Adding it up, I had 12 weeks on the bike this year, and 40 off of it.

I know that the cause of those 40 weeks is my feet: I had problems all through the 80s and and 90s due to them, and I'll have problems with them as I get older. In the 80s and 90s, I would always scrape and cut my socks and ankles on my crankarms. I didn't know it at the time, but that was a sign of excessive pronation as my flat flexible forefoot collapsed as I pedaled. Then, it manifested itself as knee problems -- I was always straining my vastus medialis oblique, as it was fighting to keep my knee in line as it dove towards the top tube. Then, it started causing plantar fascia issues in my late 20s. As my arches settled into a flatter shape, it finally became posterior tibialis soreness and posterior tibial tendon problems. From 2004-2011, I was pretty much problem-free. But, in the last year my feet have changed a bit, the arches getting flatter, and I'm trying to figure out what the solution is.

The forefoot-arch wedges from D2 have done the best job of controlling my arch, but right now I'm trying to work out the right amount of wedging. 3mm is too low, 5mm is a bit too much in the new shoes, although 5mm was what I ran from 2009-2010. I'll try 4mm this next week, and hopefully that's the Goldilocks point. Steve Hogg writes that people with flexible forefoot and low arches are sensitive to 1mm of wedging. I'd believe it.

Before the saddle sore, I was getting optimistic about racing. The day before the red volcanos appeared on my butt, I did 2 x 20 at 305w -- about where I was eight weeks before riding well in the fall of 2010. With a full week off, I'm probably back to where I was at the start of December. I think it's safe to say that after a couple of weeks of easy base work and then 4 weeks of FTP, I'm not really going to be competitive in the 45+ at the Greenville Spring Series. I'll be hanging around, but I'll be watching the top 10-15 guys from behind. After March, there aren't any 40+ or 45+ road races that have long climbs or courses that break the field up -- now that the High Country RR and the Banner Elk RR seem to have vanished, never to return again after their appearance in 2010.

So, my racing goals for 2011 are:

1) Get my foot problems sorted out in both feet.

2) Get my 7 races in for my club team.

3) Avoid crashing.

That's it. As far as results go, I hope that I can get enough fitness back to have a top 10 finish at the French Broad RR -- 9th in 2009 wasn't so bad, so maybe I can do that again this time around. Big maybe. Apart from that, I'd say its a packfill year. Just no more tendons that won't heal or bacteria farms. Those are so 2011.

Memphis Egypt - Mekons

2011-12-30T05:14:00.000-08:00

get it

Changing Stuff

2011-12-29T15:21:00.000-08:00

I hate zero seatposts, but this one puts the Regale in the same place that a setback post put an old-style Regal. Go figure. New bar tape and shifters this weekend....

Lawd Have MRSA

2011-12-27T14:48:00.000-08:00

Saw a doctor in Clemson this afternoon, had a biopsy, and yes, it's MRSA having a party in my ass and nuts. That groin lymph node is pretty swollen, but, there are no signs that the infection has spread beyond where I have my abcesses, and seeing a doctor the first day that they came up should make a huge difference in resolving these rotten red peaks of puss with antibiotics alone, and no lancing.

The doctor put me on a course of Doxycycline on top of the Bactrim DS that I started yesterday, which should pretty much do scorched earth to any bacteria, including, of course, digestive tract flora. Her advice? Eat yogurt like it's my job. My pals Jonathan Greene and Josh Simonds should love that advice.

Hopefully, back on the bike by next Tuesday.

Going to the Doctor Again Today

2011-12-27T04:18:00.000-08:00

I still have a fever this morning, still have a cough, and my lymph nodes on the right side of my pelvis are all swollen up. I'll take this as confirmation that I need to do what the guy at the urgent care yesterday said, and go to a doctor here in Clemson to see if the bacteria needs to be hit a little more aggressively than with the bactrim.

I have no idea how this happened. All my shorts were clean, I'm a clean freak, and I live to wash my hands. What the crap?

Staph Meeting in My Butt

2011-12-26T14:11:00.000-08:00

My ass seems to have grown areolas that would make a starlet jealous.

I noticed a little saddle sore Thursday, in the spot where I always get one. No big deal. Keep it clean, use some antibiotic cream, they go away in a day or two and never get big or red. Not this time.

Saturday, I notice that it's getting big.

Sunday, I notice that it's bigger, and for some reason my gums are swollen.

Today, there's a second big boil of my butt, gums are swollen, I feel like I have the flu, and I'm running a fever of 101. Staph bacteria party, every occocus is invited.

I went to one of those urgent care places while trying to furniture shop with Delana -- before, by the way, I knew I was running a fever. The doctor put me on a course of Bactrim and said that if the fever is still there tomorrow, I should see a doctor here in Clemson because it may be time to move more aggressively on bacteria that is starting to cruise around my body.

I'll see....

5 Watt Fun

2011-12-22T12:29:00.000-08:00

Forget powermeters. Amplifiers are where it's at. I've been without an amp since 2003, and when I saw that Fender was blowing out the little Champion 600 practice amps for $119, it was a no brainer to hit up Amazon. Ho ho ho. First, I need to confess two things: one, that I'm a pretty shitty guitar player -- as a guitarist, I'm a decent cyclist, let's put it that way; second, I'm a gear snob. Like I've spoiled myself on good bikes that are beyond my ability to ride them, I've spoiled myself on good amps that are beyond my ability to play through them. But, like most morons who've been in bands and have made bad decisions with money (there is considerable overlap between those groups), I've let them slip out of my hands. Like Alejandro Escevedo sang, "I had a blonde TV Special/and an English half-stack/I lost em both in a deal but you know one day/one day I'll get em back."

I once had a '58 Fender Champ, and I had a couple of 70s sliver-face Champs. There's not much missing with this new Champion 600. The cabinet isn't solid wood, but they got the speaker voicing right and the amp circuit is sweet. It's a cool little 5 watt Class A tool for practice or recording, and it lives up to the rep of all those old tweed and blackface Champs. Good stuff. I restrung my Tele for the first time in eight years, plugged in, and I had an hour of fun with this little box, then picked up the Martin for a while.

Trying to re-learn some old gig material and get some voice back was more fun than grinding out two hours on the rollers this morning. On the plus side, it's 66 degrees today. On the down side, it's pissing rain. I don't do rain anymore. 3 x 20 at 290, with 10 minutes of 85% in between. I finished up the last half hour with some low tempo, to hit the goal of 2000kj. Not fun, but good conditioning. Moving my saddle back up to where it was in '07-'10, and throwing another 1mm wedge in my shoes made all the difference -- almost no ankle or foot pain today, for the first time all year.

More on the Feet

2011-12-21T17:04:00.000-08:00

I went to Carolina Orthotics and Prosthetics in Clemson today to get fitted for a new set of orthotics for my everyday shoes. When the technician took a look at my inserts from Greg Ott therapy, he noticed that the front half of the arch wasn't really supported by the inserts - there was a good 2-3mm of space between the shape of my arch and the shape of the orthotic. The forefoot varus is the root of my problem, and gee, the whiz-bang computer scanned inserts don't control it at all -- in fact, they allow for a fair bit of movement. He fitted me for a pair of molded orthotics with the old crush box. Been there, done that -- and these new ones should actually work.

I've moved my saddle up some to weight my feet differently, as well. What brought on the initial injury was moving my saddle back by 1 cm, just enough to encourage my knee to come in towards the top tube and collapse the arch. It seems that the farther back behind the bottom bracket I get, the more that arch wants to cave in. I've put my saddle back where it was for the last few years. It took an ugly zero setback post to do it....

I've got a little bit of fitness coming now, but the feet problems are still hanging around. I need to get them sorted out, or I won't be able to do the kind of VO2 and microburst work that I'll need to race next year.

Legs Good, Bike Bad

2011-12-20T09:15:00.000-08:00

My many times rebuilt 2005 Campy Record right shifter that was bought used in 2009 is just about dead(again). It will shift if I push it far enough...which is a pretty bad sign. I'm going to squirt some chain lube into it tonight to see if it loosens up the wheels enough to get me through two more workouts -- new Centaur shifters are on their way, and Clemson Cyclery will put them on Friday.

Today was all about two cogs. The "warmup" at 285w, followed by an hour in the 13 cog, and then back to the 14 until I got to the cool down. The shifters shift down just fine -- it's going up to the 15-14-13-12 that's the issue, and once the chain is there, it's best just to let it stay.

So, an hour at 296w, which was a new 60min best for the year, and a total of 90min at 291w. I'll take 90min at 4 w/kg right now, no doubt about it. I'll also take the ability to change cogs without worry.

I'll see if she makes it through another workout tomorrow....

Six Week Check

2011-12-19T05:20:00.000-08:00

It's been six weeks back on the bike, so time to take another look at the PMC and the Power Profile. So far, decent enough. Not great, not bad, but better than I thought things would be after having eight full months off the bike with the tendon injuries and the cyst.

PMC is up to 65 CTL, from 21 at the start of November. The ramp rate of 7 TSS/day per week is about right, and although I've spent a lot of time in a negative TSB, I feel pretty well. I'll get CTL to crack 70 this week, and then take 3-4 days off the bike to get TSB positive again before starting intervals at 95-100% of threshold in January.

Speaking of threshold, all the 91-94% over the last month has brought FTP up reasonably. Granted, threshold should rise pretty quickly after resuming training after such a long time off, but doing almost 5 hours a week of 91-94% for six weeks will probably help that, too. This last week saw 5 workouts of an hour at 4 w/kg, and I'm pretty happy about that, under the circumstances.

Yesterday was a hot mess. I was sore from moving boxes and furniture the day before, felt out of sorts all day, and just didn't feel like getting on the bike until about 5PM. I got on with the intention of just rolling 92% for an hour to maybe 75 minutes and calling it a week. Thanks to the caffeine-laden Camelback Orange Elixir, heretofore known as "the go juice" -- it turned into an hour at 92%, then a shift down one cog and 30 minutes at 300w, or 97%. Either my FTP is a little higher than 310, or I turned out 90 minutes at 93%/289w. Either way, I'll take it. I'm looking forward to a 30min test after taking my Christmas weekend rest!

Moving Day Wedgie

2011-12-17T06:09:00.000-08:00

I threw a couple of cheesy Specialized 15m varus wedges in my shoes last night to get by until I can unpack my old shoes, rip the D2 wedges out of those, and get by until the new wedges come from D2. I was a big difference in comfort, both on the pedals and on the seat -- I just discovered that if you have a forefoot varus and your knee and thigh are collapsing in, you end up kind of fighting the saddle, which is what I've been doing for the last six weeks. Today, my Regale felt like it did all those years. I never thought that forefoot varus would affect how you sit, but, dang, it sure does....

Nothing like just getting on and grinding low threshold. 85 minutes at .925%, with an hour at 94% in the middle. Now, time to move boxes into the truck, move them out, unpack....

This is How You Don't Sit on a Bike

2011-12-16T16:18:00.000-08:00

Therapy for my ankle and foot has been progressing well. MY posterior tibialis is stronger and more pliable, and the combination of the Graston-esque massage and some different rehab exercises than I was doing over the summer seems to be the right ticket. The joint is still a few weeks away from 100%, but training is going well and I have less pain -- both good things, right?

Today, David Bright at Excel wanted to take a look at my position, and do a more detailed evaluation of what has been causing my pronation. Pronation can come from the forefoot or the rearfoot. My orthotics, including the ones I was using when I was injured back in January, have always has a forefoot varus post to control movement. My newer ones from D2 took a slightly different tack, and although the shoes feel good, I've still been having issues.

David set me up on the trainer and took some video, where the frames above came from. My self-positioned mess that I've hammered out over the years (my fitting method -- slam the saddle back and the stem down, go ride) had everything in the acceptable ranges, although David would like my reach to be a little shorter. His conclusion was that my foot problems weren't coming from any major positioning issues. So, I'll take it that my position is kind of like my 2004 Hyundai: it ain't pretty, but it works.

The head-on shots revealed my knee and thigh coming very close to the top tube, encouraging my foot to pronate. David watched me walk across the floor barefoot a few times, and measured my feet with a functional test to see if the weakness was forefoot or rearfoot. Ding ding ding...we have a winner, forefoot. Quel surprise. Even though the D2 footbeds were controlling a lot of pronation -- a lot -- an improvised forefoot wedge fixed the problem entirely. The side-by-side photos show the difference made by a few mm of forefoot post. I emailed Don at D2, and some wedges are on the way.

Hopefully, the completion of the therapy and the addition of adequate forefoot posting will sort this mess out completely. It's going to be a little weird to have a left ankle that isn't sore all the time, but that's a change I may well savor.

Training is coming along -- the ankle is toleration 90min, 1500kj sessions, and I spent Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday doing a very simple workout: 30min of tempo followed by an hour at 92%, then cool down. As Ash says, "Groovy."

Big thanks to David Bright at Excel Rehabilitation and Enhancement in Clemson, SC.

Triple Layer Goodness

2011-12-11T15:43:00.001-08:00

Good news from three different directions over the past two weeks, since the last posts: my ankle is turning around, we are going to move into our house in Clemson within the week, and I'm getting a little bit of fitness back.

When I met with the orthopedist on November 29, he decided after reviewing the MRI that the cyst didn't need to be removed. His recommendation was to try some different modalities in physical therapy, and a(nother) change in orthotic prescription. I went to Excel Rehabilitation and Sports Enhancement in Clemson, and started working with David Bright. Dave is a cyclist, therapist, kingpin of Melo Velo, and general good guy. His assessment was that the scarring that built up in the posterior tibialis and in the posterior tibial tendon led to a lot of ragged, irregularly aligned fibers, and that the result was like a frayed and knotted rope. The solution? Graston-technique-inspired massage, and some different rehabilitation exercises than I was doing with Greg Ott therapy in Charlotte. After a week and a half, there's been a nice difference -- each time I have the massage with the metal tool, the ankle and muscle feel looser and stronger. David said he thought we could get this resolved in 3-4 weeks -- and I hope that turns out. He's going to look at my position and my inserts, and send a follow up to Don Lamson at D2. Don may slightly change the footbed to help control any pronation that is still happening as I pedal.

The renovations are complete, and after almost seven months of searching, we will finally be Clemson residents on December 16. I can't express the relief and satisfaction that come from writing that sentence.

Finally, I think it's a fair move to up my Functional Threshold Power up to 310w. Six weeks of focused training has brought back 10w. It will take another 12 weeks to get the next 10w, but with my weight down to 161 this morning, 310w puts me at 4.25 w/kilo. That's a ways off the 4.5 w/kilo I need to hit to be where I was when I got injured, but that can happen with another two pounds lost and another 10 watts gained. I feel pretty good about those two things happening by February, when the season starts, but I'll have to see.

Saturday was a solid hour at 293w -- 10w better than just three weeks ago. Today was 85 minutes at 280w, which I'll call 90%. I've never held 91-92% for that long in a workout, and the 293 felt smooth, like 95-95%, not like the tight focus and pain level of 98-100%. If there is one strength I have, it's that I can recover from a good load of threshold training. That's good, because really lifting threshold takes a lot of work....

This is how you sit on a bike

2011-11-25T05:17:00.001-08:00

Adri Van Der Poel. Enough said. Dutch riders of the 70s and 80s were terrific. I miss me some Henk Lubberding, too.

Turkey Day Grind Out

2011-11-25T05:03:00.001-08:00

The weather was great yesterday, but Thanksgiving dinner a decent drive away was at one, and I wanted to take a couple of hours to work on revising some poems during the morning, so I ended up having to pass on the sunshine and ride rollers...again. 80 minutes at 280w/93% felt really good and steady, never pushing it, just maintaining the tempo and getting the kjoules in. I have my weight down to 165, and I'm feeling a lot better about seeing 158 by February. I'd only need 325w to be back to 4.5 w/kilo at that weight. I was at 154 for most of 2009, so 160 should be quite reachable, even for a guy who will be officially USCF old in a few days.

Day off today, then yes -- finally -- outside on Saturday.

Buzzkill Weekend

2011-11-20T16:16:00.001-08:00

Hopes of riding outside were dashed by rain and weekend schedule. So, back to the rollers.... Roller riding, in my mind, is tolerable if it's hard. Below 90%, and it's just boring, and who wants to ride rollers for two hours in zone 2?

Last winter, I made a lot of progress through Hour of Power rides at 91-94% of FTP, and sessions of 75 to 90 minutes at 90%. For an official old guy in the 45+, what I've found works for me is a lot of work at 90-94%, and only hit the 95-100% of FTP intervals for a month or six weeks, right before starting VO2. So, though power is really low right now, I've been able to swing back in to good, steady threshold work. Hopefully that 300w FTP will get better before Christmas.

Saturday and Sunday were mind-numbingly simple. An hour at 94%, and 80 minutes at 90%. In WKO+, CTL is up to 40 now -- way too low to race, but a whole lot better than the 21 it was at the start of the first week of training. That ramp rate of 6 points a week is manageable, and I don't see how it could be any more, given how limited my training time is. This week was all of 7 hours on the bike -- the only good part of that is that each session had at least 45 minutes of 90% or better -- so it's been all focused work, not a lot of just turning around.

We closed on the house Friday, so I'm now technically a Clemson resident. We won't move in until the renovations are done, but that's just four short weeks away!

Good Signs

2011-11-17T03:00:00.001-08:00

Three good signs today -- an hour at 93% felt pretty good. That 93% included the 10-minute warmup -- the work portion was 50 minutes at 95%, far better than I thought I'd manage after only two a half weeks back on the bike. Also, I got in a 1000kj hour, which was nice to see again. And finally, a 100TSS workout.

The cyst is a constant bother, but it's not getting any worse. If it isn't removed, I can see that I'll be able to keep up a good volume of threshold work and VO2, but that microbursts and sprints probably won't be on the menu -- too much stress on those tendons that have to put up with friction from the cyst. What that means is I'll be even more of a one-trick pony. Decent FTP, good time trial, good on long climbs, but useless in a sprint and not really capable of making a convincing :30-1:00 attack. Eh. It beats sitting on the couch.

On the home front, we're closing tomorrow. Delana has had me busy meeting contractors as we pick who will put down the new floors, scrape the popcorn ceilings, knock out a wall and replace it with an arch, and put in some new light fixtures. I am getting a crash course in interior design, and I have to admit that I'm about as clueless about that subject as I am about crit racing. Simply not my joint. I'm just the one writing the check.

Delana made an appointment for me at Allergy Associates of the Upstate to -- she hoped -- address the problem with my mold allergy and our mold-ridden school building where I spend 10 hours each day. As I suspected, desensitization shots are not really an option. They take about nine months to have any effect, and we'll be done with the school year and into a nice new building next fall. Also, shots are not terribly effective with mold. The recommendation? Exactly what I've been doing: neti pot twice a day, flonase spray, and a good antihistamine like zyrtec or allegra. Meh.

Good weather for the weekend -- time to actually ride outside again!

Week Two

2011-11-13T16:04:00.001-08:00

I am enjoying being back on the bike, but I'm not enjoying being fat, slow, and weak. That's the picture right now, and it's going to take months to change the situation substantially. The goals right now are pretty disappointing. 270w for an hour? Beh. Who cares? But, that's the next benchmark. I managed 55min at that level today, which is not so bad, I suppose, all things considered. However, I won't be happy until that is more like 290. It confounds me that a year ago I could do 300w for 90min -- the body is deceptive. I don't look that much different. I don't feel terribly different. But, all those capillaries and mitochondria under the surface are entirely different. Like the doctor in Heart of Darkness tells Marlowe -- "...and moreover, the changes take place on the inside, you know."

Yesterday was all about achievement by accident. The plan was to test Mr. Lumpy with a two-hour ride outside. Lumpy was reasonable about himself for 1:45, and when I came to a vaguely remembered intersection a few miles from Delana's Mother's house, I was fairly happy about it all. I turned left towards Easley, as the sign indicated. 20 minutes later, I was in the Ingles parking lot near the 123 overpass -- and realized there was no low-traffic way out of there but to double back and make the correct turn back at the convenience mart. Of course, I tried a shortcut. The end result was a 55-miler in a little less than three hours. It's nice to have done a longish ride, albeit on one bottle and without a clue where I was most of the time. Next week, I'll have a go at Clemson and back, with two bottles, and a proper turn at the end, this time....

I think my position is coming back much faster than my fitness. I must be the only joker in the world who gets back problems when his stem is too high. The 140 -6 is coming off and a 130 -17 is coming back on. At least that part is sorting itself out.

Sixth Time is the Charm.

2011-11-11T04:13:00.001-08:00

After five months of sleazy realtors, failed home inspections, below-selling-price appraisals, and imploding negotiations, we are finally going to own a house in Clemson. Our mortgage loan officer at Wells Fargo called last night to tell us that house #6 appraised at $2,000 over the agreed price. So, we'll close on the 18th. It will be a month before we can move in -- Delana is having some new hardwoods put down, a load-bearing wall knocked out and replaced with an arch, and we need a big fence in the back yard for the dogs. Christmas break will be move-in time, and we'll be able to move out of her mother's house in Easley and settle in the town where we wanted to live when we decided to make these job changes and sell our house in Rock Hill. Finally.

From a bike geek perspective, I'll be happy to trade my current 30-minute commute for a 10-minute one. More time in the mornings for rebuilding something like fitness, and less mental fatigue when I get home in the evening.

Yesterday's workout was another step forward. Watts are still really low, but I've weighed 166 the last two mornings, and with a 1200kj workout as my short-term goal, the 1150kj yesterday indicate that I'll be able to check that one off Saturday. The cyst is still a nuisance, and will continue to be so. I was talking to my ex-teammate Ladd Lumpkin yesterday, and he noted that a lot of SST and some 3-4hr rides over the winter, and he thought I'd be back to racing fitness in the Spring. I agreed -- but, I don't think Mr. Lumpy is going to tolerate much over 2hrs. Unless he gets removed, I'm going to have to figure out how to do this on about 8-9 hours of training a week, tops.

By the way -- Happy Nigel Tufnel Day.

The Flesh is Weak, and, I Suspect, Tasty.

2011-11-08T07:53:00.000-08:00

Lumpy the Ankle Cyst is giving me some problems today -- the 29th can't come quickly enough, but, if surgery is the option, that can't happen until the end of December. Since we have no mediator, Lumpy and I are going to have to settle this between the two of us.

As I look for little bright spots, I was quite happy to see 167 on the scale today. That makes sense -- I was getting about 1000kj of activity a day last week, while not eating any more than I normally would. I didn't notice it in the least, but it's definitely hitting me today. It's 10:49, and I've finished my grading. Now, I have five minutes to spend on this blog post, one chapter to re-read, and one ham sandwich to last me the remainder of the day. A friend from Clemson gave me the pictured package of cookies as an offhand thank you for editing a few of her poems, but the Lorna Doones will not be my doom. Noli me tangere. Perhaps it's too many episodes of The Walking Dead, but I am suddenly finding the arms of students appetizing....

165 next week would be quite nice indeed. But, 160 is really where I should be....

A Short Note About Irrelevance

2011-11-06T18:46:00.000-08:00

I've kept this blog for a couple of years now. If you're a newer visitor, this is what you need to know. I'm a schlep hobby racer. I've raced well sometimes, I've raced crappy sometimes. The regular readers here pretty much fit that description as well. I took this thing down over the summer, then some e-mails from readers who said that they liked reading about some everyday nut who was documenting the ups and downs of the same silly junk that they do. That's the picture here.

Personally, I'm as bored by talk about bikes that dominates internet bike forums and blogs as you may be this the content here. Eh. It's all bullshit anyway....

Power Profile: Losses, Gains

2011-11-06T17:36:00.000-08:00

Off-season power profiles from the last year. 4.53 w/kilo last December, then dental surgery, the hemorrhoid issue, then cross-training caused the ankle cyst to cause the tenosynovitis,and then the eight-month break.

I'll post updated charts every six weeks or so until the Spring. I'm interested to see what kind of progression will be possible on limited training time after the long layoff.

First Week Back

2011-11-06T08:51:00.000-08:00

Today ended the first full week back to something approaching training. As I suspected, Delana had plans for us later today, so I had to squeeze in a roller workout. Power was up a little bit, again -- 276w for the first half hour, and a better 60min power than yesterday, even with a 5min recovery interval thrown in. I'll call this 1 x 30 and 1 x 25 at 92%. After eight months off, I'm happy with that, though it does need to be a good bit better.

After the first few weeks, it's going be difficult to make much progress on just 5-6 hours a week. However, we'll be here at Delana's mother's house for at least another month. I'll shoot for 90 minutes on Saturday and Sunday, and try to eek out a bit more time in the mornings before school, for the next two weeks. Ideally, I'd get FTP up to 315w or so by Christmas, and then have it at 320 by the start of the first races. I wouldn't be fast, but that would be about right to have me in the mix in the 45+. Obviously, time off due to having the cyst removed would affect how much I could progress in January.

For now, first goals done: ride for an hour, and get 1000kj in a workout. The goals for the next two weeks are to work up to 90min and get in a 1250kj workout. I'll see how that goes.

Happy Hour

2011-11-05T12:29:00.000-07:00

My favorite workout last year was the Hour of Power -- 60 minutes at 95-100% of FTP. It's going to be a while before I can do that again, but today's hour of SST was a good step towards getting back there. An hour at 264w is pretty lousy when you weigh 169lbs, but, it's better than last week. Weight down a pound, power up just a little bit. Today's workout was on the rollers -- I hope to get outside tomorrow, if I can arrange my schedule to train in the afternoon. I think Delana wants to go to school and work for a few hours, though, so I'll probably be grading in the afternoon...which means a roller workout in the morning.

I have an appointment to go over whether or not one of the surgeons at Foothills Orthopedic in Seneca can/will remove Mr. Lumpy, the ankle cyst.

Two Positive Signs

2011-11-02T02:53:00.001-07:00

I managed 50min of 88% this morning -- feeling much better than yesterday. I think I just didn't have enough fluids Sunday night and wasn't quite hydrated when I got up yesterday. 266w is weenoid, but it was nice to feel fairly comfortable doing for 50min what was work for 20min the day before.

I called Blue Ridge Orthopedics yesterday, and one of their doctors received my file and is going over it. I'll drop off the disk and report from the second MRI today -- so hopefully Mr. Cyst, henceforth known as "Lumpy" will get his eviction notice.

Benchmark

2011-11-01T04:33:00.000-07:00

I keep reminding myself that you can only start from where you are. Today's 2 x 20 was a success insofar as I made the 88% on both intervals. The downside is that 88% isn't very much right now -- 264w. A year ago, it was 294. The good part is that it can only go up from here.

No answer when I called Blue Ridge Orthopedic in Seneca yesterday. I'll try again today -- Mr. Cyst took the 2 x 20 well enough, but I can still feel it after each ride. He needs to be gone.

Pouring the Foundation

2011-10-30T17:00:00.000-07:00

This week added up to all of 6 hours on the bike, and a whopping 4200kj. That would have been two days of training pre-injury -- but you can only start where you are, right? I managed an hour at 250w today -- that was with the warm-up and cool-down. The 50-minute tempo chunk was at 260w. I'm calling that 86%. I'm not going to take any workout over an hour this week -- Delana and I are aiming for 6:30 as our out-the-door time each morning, so with walking the dogs thrown in, an hour on the rollers is the limit. So, this week's goal will be to see if I can manage two days of 2 x 20 at 265w -- just enough to count as SST. Two days will be an easy hour of 70% or so and then weight training that evening. The other day will be to ride as I feel.

I'm guessing that my FTP is down around 300w right now -- maybe. It was right around 335w when the ankle blew up, and the heart rate of 140 for 260w tells me that was a medium-range tempo effort. There is no way, however, I'm going to try a 30min test until a couple of months, though. My weight is...ugh...170. If it gets down to 165, then that's 4w/kg. Decent, but it would need a lot to get back to 4.5....

CTL is low, low, low at 21. I need to create a new PMC in WKO+, but until then, I'm just entering the data to continue the chart from 2010-2011. At a ramp rate of 5/wk, it would take 5 months to build up to a CTL of 100 -- that would be without rest weeks, which would be foolish and impossible. I think a reasonable estimate of a return to racing fitness would be 6 or 7 months -- 8 or 9 if you figure in time lost to having the ankle cyst removed, if that happens.

The cyst is what it is. I can feel it, it's sore, and I can tell if I push beyond where it's tolerable I'll end up with tenosynovitis again. A busy week at school meant that I couldn't take the time to call Foothills Orthopedic to check if they had received my files from Dr. Gill -- that will be on the list of tasks for tomorrow. I hope that the cyst can and will be removed. If not, I'll just have to work around it and see what happens.

We are getting close on the house in Clemson -- appraisal this week, and I'm crossing my fingers that it meets the agreed selling price.

Back on the bike

2011-10-24T16:49:00.000-07:00

I was fed up Sunday night and tried getting on the rollers. 30 minutes at a puny 220w made me feel like I was going to die. But, the cyst-laden left ankle didn't feel any worse than it has after going to the gym. One step forward, I hope. After eight months off the bike, it wasn't very fun, but it was rewarding.

Tonight, 45 minutes on the rollers at 215w, then 2 sets of the rehab exercises I did all summer for strengthening my pronators.

D2 did some different things with the insoles of the shoes this spring to help control the pronation and I can feel the difference. Also, all the rehab exercises to teach me how to load my foot differently have transferred over to the bike -- I can feel my gluteus medias engaging more, and my knees are not slipping in towards the top tube like they used to.

Back to the gym tomorrow night, and then I'll try for an hour on the rollers Wednesday.

Feeling Swell

2011-10-16T17:31:00.000-07:00

Not much has changed with the holding pattern.

Ankle: my records were finally transferred from Gill Orthopedic in Charlotte to Blue Ridge Orthopedic in Seneca, SC. I will drop off the last MRI to Blue Ridge this week, and wait for them to contact me. If one of their staff decides to pick up my case, then we go from there. The tendons feel good -- it's the cyst that's the problem.

Knee: I tried doing some light plyometrics after squats last Satuday (a week ago) to see how my ankle tolerated them -- and it handled them all right, so I tried some low box jumps Monday night. The last time I did that was 2008, and this time, I got a bad surprise. After it swelled up like a grapefruit during the day on Tuesday, I have to conclude that my mildly arthritic right knee can't do that stuff anymore.

I had a partial patellectomy in 1981, when I was 14. I had cracked off a third of my kneecap, so the only solution was to reshape what was left of the patella and cut a muscle to wrap it around the joint for extra support. The fracture left a rough edge that the surgeon couldn't smooth out, and that has scraped away at the cartilage over the last 30 years. I had to stop things like playing basketball and running over the last ten years because they would cause the knee to swell, and now I can add jumping to the list.

Between the left ankle cyst and the swollen right knee, I'm not moving around so well. The knee should settle down after another week or so -- it was like this in 2007 after running, and after about 14 days it was good enough to ride a bike, so I hope I'll be back on the elliptical at the gym by the 24th.

House: we have a sixth property under contract, and we hope that unlike the previous five, there are no snags, and no realtor sleaziness. We are buying a for sale by owner property this time, and so far, no problems. We'll see about the appraisal....

Aha!

2011-09-23T13:28:00.000-07:00

I got the results of the second MRI yesterday, and although I haven't had the chance to go over them with an orthopedist yet, the report suggests that what Dr. Gill suspected in March is indeed the case -- I have an 8mm-round ganglion cyst tucked behind my left medial malleolus, in the perfect spot to irritate all three tendons that pass though the tarsal tunnel, and the perfect spot to irritate the tarsal nerve.

The MRI shows that the tendon sheaths are almost fully healed -- there is only minimal fluid in them. However, the cyst looks to be the culprit behind the existing fluid and inflammation. The tendon sheaths are rubbing against that cyst, and are just not healing as a result. Also, the cyst appears to be pressing on the nerve, causing pain.

The report states that the cyst is in a difficult spot to remove it from -- the tendons pass through a tight area, and it is also right on the nerve. Difficult, but not impossible -- as my pal Jonathan Greene noted, "some [skilled] surgeon is really going to enjoy removing it."

The cyst is tolerating my current activity level -- 40-45min on an elliptical trainer 5 times a week, and lower body weight lifting (squats, hamstring curls, dead lifts, calf raises). It did not tolerate a few minutes of trying to pedal. Clicked into the pedals, having a fixed contact point under the ball of my foot puts the stress right into the ankle joint. Even though the shoe is rigid, the force doesn't seem to be spread out over the length of my foot -- I feel it right in the ankle. No surprise, since all those pedal revolutions over the years caused the cyst to begin with. On the elliptical, I can change the way I weight my foot if I need to, shifting the contact point(s) from heel to toe. Paradoxically, it tolerates calf raises though it hurts to pedal.

I can see maintaining this very basic level until the cyst goes away on its own -- which is possible -- or gets removed by an orthopedic surgeon. Since it hasn't been in any hurry to make itself scarce over the last eight months, the likely surgical option will have to wait until December, when I'm on break.

So, it looks like racing in 2012 is off the menu. The earliest I would be racing a bike again might be 2013 -- after a long, long time off. Wait and see....

The Holding Pattern Continues

2011-09-11T15:19:00.000-07:00

Plus ca change....

House: when we followed our mortgage loan officer from Wells Fargo to TD Bank, he promised that everything would be a breeze -- after he, he had our intact file, and it was simply matter if him filling out the forms. Not so fast, my man. Watch out for over-promising. As it has turned out, we've had to resubmit new copies of almost every piece of paper, and obtain some information that TD requires, but that Wells Fargo did not. In addition, the mortgage loan processor in Maine does not seem to be on the same page with the mortgage loan officer in South Carolina. Our Lady of Loan in Lewiston will demand that we submit something that we already submitted a day or two before, or she will call something to our attention that another employee has told us not to be concerned about. In short, the lines of communication are cluttered, this has turned into far more stress than it is perhaps worth, and we are still living in Powdersville with Delana's mother. Closing --perhaps -- at the end of this week.

Ankle: it feels good when I don't do anything on it. It feels worse when I'm on my feet all day at school, or when I walk around a lot. But, it's better in the next day or two. Also, doing single-leg calf raises at the gym with a 45lb dumbbell doesn't bother it a bit. In fact, it's making it stronger and able to tolerate more activity. I tried using the elliptical trainer at the gym three times last week, and each time it wasn't any worse for it the next day. I'm going to try two days in a row this week. There is still a lot of catching and grinding along the medial malleolus, and the tarsal tunnel where the posterior tibial tendon/flexor hallucis longus travel around it and up into the calf, and the more activity it gets, the more it catches and grinds. However, it's crunching a bit less than it did a few weeks ago. So, perhaps its getting better, slowly. The second MRI is happening this week in Greenville. Unfortunately, Piedmont Orthopedic has not received my files from Dr. Gill's office, so I'll have to get the MRI report and the CD of the images mailed directly to me, rather than to an orthopedist. The good part is that I'll be able to read the MRI technician's assessment and know whether there is a tear or not, whether there is build up of scar tissue, or whether its all clear. It will provide fodder for a blog post. I will have to wait until I can see a doctor to do anything about it, whatever the result may be....

Training: I started doing squats at the gym two weeks ago. Working with the resistance bands kept up my concentric strength -- but the eccentric load just isn't the same. I've been squatting a measley 135 while getting technique back and while my muscles get used to lowering the weight. I'll be happy when I can get up to 165 because if you can't do sets of 10 at your body weight, you suck. Right now I still have my suck-card punched. Work: Daniel High School is fantastic. This was one of the best career moves I've made.

The Holding Pattern

2011-08-26T04:43:00.000-07:00

House sold, moved in with mother-in-law. Everything we own is in her garage, except for a pair of suitcases, two computers, and two boxes full of textbooks and other teaching materials.

Moving day 1 was interesting. Two former students volunteered to help Delana and I load up the rental truck last Tuesday, and it went off in a snap. Wednesday morning, I climbed up into the Budget 16-footer, turned the key, pulled out of the driveway, then heard a pathetic wheezing crunch. The accelerator wilted down to the floor as I crept along Rock Hill's main drag at a rampaging 10mph, smoke trailing from the tailpipe. Fortunately, Budget's pickup and dropoff was two blocks from my house.

And then the adventure in waiting began. Let it suffice to say that a journey through Budget's customer service and roadside assistance phone trees is not unlike a day-long version of the Do Long bridge scene in Apocolypse Now, without the explosions. Who's in charge here? As the Roach's buddy says, "I thought you were." Or, as one of Budget's employees told a representative over the phone, "You're making us look like we're running a goat rodeo." The short of it is that only 11 hours after I pulled into Budget, we pulled out -- in my mighty Hyundai -- with our belongings packed into a new truck. After a night in a hotel, we gave it take two on Thursday. Truck unloaded into mother-in-law's garage, truck returned, more phone calls to Budget, the final recipt of a full refund and a reimbursement for our hotel bill, and done.

For now, we're waiting to see if house # 3 in Clemson comes through. After pulling out of two deals following home inspections and CL-100 reports, we're waiting on the third option to appraise at the selling price. If it falls short....

I'm switching treatment of the ankle over to Piedmont Orthopedic Associates in Greenville. It's another little holding pattern of filling out forms, getting files transferred, and then picking up where Dr. Gill left off -- scheduling the second MRI, etc.. I'm not sure how much time it will take to get all the paperwork transferred....

Training is what little it is right now. Some bands, some swinging-hammer-curl squats. Same old same old -- ways to get tired without putting stress on my ankle. Try Monday's grind in your cross-training (or not):

Swinging hammer curl squats with 10lb dumbells:

5min warm-up (HR 60-70% -- you need to do 30+ squats a minute)
4 x Tabata Intervals (8 x :20 on, :10 off; 2:00 rest between sets). Aim for 20 squats in 20 seconds.
5 min cool down squats

5 x :30 on, :30 off with the purple resistance band:

squats
hamstring curls
reverse leg press
standing hamstring kickbacks

it's a pretty hard hour.

Rock Lobster Frame Built Up

2011-08-12T18:04:00.000-07:00

While I'm waiting on the second MRI, I have this to look forward to -- the Rock Lobster is built up, and whenever the ankle is finally ready, I'll have this new rig to ride.

The setup is a little high and short, but that's appropriate after seven months plus off the bike. After I get used to it again, I'll probably put a -17 stem back on.

I'm going to engineer a resistance band solution. The SPRI purple band is too light for sets of 10-12 now. I started doing 30-30s with the bands, and even tried a Tabata-style workout tonight, doing 6 sets of as many reps as I could in 15 seconds, taking 5 seconds rest, and repeating. Five exercises like that is pretty fun.

There are a few brands on the market that have carabiners at the end. I need to figure out whether I'd need to put screw hooks in a decent sized wood bar (maybe 2 inches in diameter) or bolting mounts to a metal bar, so I can double up on the bands to get more resistance.

Tendon Scan and Conductivity Test

2011-08-09T09:47:00.000-07:00

I saw Dr. Gill again this morning. It's been 29 weeks since I stopped riding, which normally would be sufficient time to resolve issues with tenosynovitis in the posterior tibial tendon. The options now are casting for 6 weeks, surgery to perform a release on the tendon (6 week recovery), or surgery to remove thickened tissue from the tendon sheath (12 weeks or more recovery). The option we will choose depends on what a new MRI and a nerve conductivity test will show.

If the MRI shows fluid in the tendon sheath and no thickening of the tissues, then the logical, conservative step is to put it in a cast and let the tenosynovitis finally resolve. If the MRI shows no/low thickening and no fluid, then a release is strong possibility. If there is a large buildup of thickened tissue, or if there have been degenerative changes in the tendon, then a more involved surgery will need to be done. Those are the main possibilities -- although we'll find out once we see the scans.

The other test is to see if thickened tissue in the tendon is pressing on the tarsal tunnel nerve of the ankle joint. Sometimes, Dr. Gill said, thickening in the tendon from tenosynovitis can press on the nerve, which continues the pain and weakness symptoms. The solution is to perform a release the tendon. He did three manual exams to check nerve function, two were ok, and one was not -- hence, the nerve test.

Both tests should be done next week, and I'll have one last appointment with Dr. Gill before moving to Clemson. He recommended an orthopedist in Greenville to continue treatment with -- whether it's casting or surgery.

Yet Again, Complete Exasperation

2011-08-05T15:53:00.001-07:00

While playing with the dog yesterday, I stepped into a hole in the backyard and lost my balance for a moment, giving my ankle a twist. It feels rotten again today, burning up through my arch, behind the medial malleolus, and along my tibia.

I've optimistically written that it is slowly getting better -- and it has been getting stronger. As for feeling better, I have to be real about it and say no, not a bit. It's the same as it was at the end of May, just a bit stronger on the therapy exercises.

I'm seeing Dr. Gill again on Tuesday to see what the plan is at this stage. It's been 28 weeks since I've touched the bike, and 33 weeks since I fist had pain in the PTT and FHL tendons. The only rub is that with a move to Clemson coming up in three weeks, it's not really the time for a cast or for a tendon debridement -- unless we want to fork over the cost of a moving service.

The short of it is that for the last two days, I see my 58 and 88mm carbon race wheels -- that I bought last winter and have yet to use once -- and just say to myself, "shit."

More of the Same

2011-08-03T09:41:00.000-07:00

We found a new house in Clemson, and are two house inspections away from closing on our home in Rock Hill, and the new one in Clemson. With school starting on September 6, we really wanted to be moved in my the end of the first week in August -- and our closing date on the house that didn't pass the CL100 has been set for August 1 -- but we're going to have to get these deals completed as soon as we can, and then see if we can get into the new house by the 20th or so.

My ankle is steadily improving -- every two weeks or so I notice a difference in how quickly I can walk the dog, how my technique improves on some of the rehab exercises, how much the tendon sheaths grind with the crepitus, and how strong the foot and ankle are overall. The improvements are small, but they're there. Again, I'm hoping that I can be back on the bike by September, but it may take until October for the joint to be 100% and completely symptom-free.

I don't know if I'll go back to racing. It's been six months off the bike now, and it will be at least seven before I can start easy training again. The fitness loss is going to be huge, and at 45 I don't know how long it will take to get back to 340w at FTP again -- if I'll get that back. I also have to admit that I've had fun strength training with the resistance tubes.

There's been a fair amount of research in the past few years on the "afterburn," the amount of calories consumed post-exercise. The short of it is that unless you're doing something sick like 5x5min VO2s or three sets of Tabata intervals, you'll end up burning more calories from an hour of well-paced resistance training than from an hour of zone 2 or 3 aerobic work, unless you are fairly strong and 290-300w is still zone 3. A little web searching yielded a lot of hits on the effect of EPOC (post-exercise oxygen consumption) and clearing lactate on calories burned. A few sites are

http://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article%20folder/epocarticle.html

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21326385

Also go to Google Docs for Christopher B. Scott and Conrad P. Earnest, "Resistance Exercise Energy Expenditure is Greater with Fatigue as Compared to Non-Fatigue" from Journal of Exercise Physiology online Volume 14 Number 1 February 2011.

The takeaway from these articles is that doing what Tudor Bompa called hypertrophy work -- 80-85% of max, loads that result in 8-12 reps to failure -- with little or no rest between sets, produces high levels of lactate and high EPOC. To do this, you need to alternate exercises (what bodybuilders have called "supersetting"). The funny thing is that I was doing this ten-twelve years ago when I was doing a lot of lifting, but I was doing it because I was pressed for time, lifting on my lunch break or in between work and going to teach night classes at Midlands Technical College. The short of it is use multi-joint exercises and keep moving. No letup. The result is that I've kept body fat the same over the last three months. The only downside, if it is such, is that I no longer look like a bony cyclist. I'm back up to 170.

I've been using SPRI brand "Xertubes" and the bar they sell.

Leg days:

5 sets of 8-12, with the extra-heavy (purple) band

sequence one -- squat, good morning+half squat, reverse leg press

sequence two -- hamstring curl, hamstring kick-back, hip flexor raise

sit-ups on the yoga ball with a 15lb medicine ball (throw it on the way up, catch it on the way down)

That is a nasty hour of work. Fun. Heart rate gets up to 60% after about five minutes, and stays there for the rest of the session. If your HR is that elevated from strength training, you're doing something right, I'd say....

Upper body days:

5 sets of 8-12 with the extra-heavy (purple) band

sequence one: standing bench press, standing row
sequence two: lat pulldown, upright row or deltoid raises
sequence three: bicep curl, tricep extension

20 minutes of non stop squats with the medium (red) band
2 sets of 40 hamstring curls with the heavy (blue) band

3 sets of crunches on the Bosu ball with a 10lb medicine ball

Squats every day? Yep. I've found out that the resistance bands hit you a little differently than free weights, especially on the negative. You're still lifting to failure, but you're not sore in the same way the next day, and over three months of alternating days of medium resistance/8-12 reps with days of low resistance and high reps, I haven't had any problems.

I'm going to keep some of this up after I can get back on the bike again, probably only riding an hour or maybe 90 minutes a day, and doing resistance work after. That won't put me in shape to race, but it looks like a way to burn a lot of calories, which means I can eat a lot of muffins.

Adventures in Home Buying

2011-07-27T18:02:00.000-07:00

Since the last blog post, I've pulled out of one contract for buying a house, made an offer on another, and have made so many trips back and forth to Clemson that I'm starting to feel like a commuter. All I can note about the contract that fell through was that the CL100 report on the house indicated that the moisture percentage in the crawl space was well above 20%, and that there was the presence of active wood destroying fungi in the crawlspace, as well. No matter how much my wife loved the house -- and she did love it -- I wasn't going any further after looking over the CL100.

We did a marathon round of house looking and re-looking over the weekend, and have put in our initial and out first counter on another property. If that doesn't work out, we have a back up, and if that doesn't work out, I'll buy a lot and a really nice tent. Of course, if interest rates skyrocket as a result of a debt deal falling through in Washington, I may just live in the tent anyway. Delana and I can put down 25% on our first choice house, we both have credit ratings over 750, but if we get some Carter-era-like interest rate after August 2, well, I'm going Grizzly Adams.

The ankle is how it is. It is getting stronger, and the area where I have some pain seems to be getting a bit smaller, but it's still sore behind the medial malleolus, there is still crepitus and pain when I invert the foot with weight on it, and I can feel the extensors in the front of my ankle compensating for the weak posterior tibialis sometimes. Cycling in a month seems possible -- I don't know how probable it is, however.

Overreactions and a Fresh Start

2011-07-22T09:11:00.000-07:00

As the regular visitors know, I deleted the content from the past two years, and then the blog itself, a week and a half ago. I was sitting on the couch with an icepack on my ankle, demoralized that simply cutting the grass made it sore, after six months of rest and rehab. It eventually settled down, I cut the yard again five days later, and although it was sore, it was less sore than the first time. It is healing -- it's just taking time. I should be used to this after six months, but it's so tempting to think "oh, just four more weeks and I could try the rollers," and after that little high, a few days of soreness in the tendons send me down again.

But, in a few days, it's better. I've worked up to doing 30 single-leg toe raises with body weight on the injured ankle, which a therapist would tell you is a good deal of strength. At the same time, I still have crepitus in the posterior tibial tendon, I feel some stinging on the first few reps when I do toe raises, and it still flares up if I do a little too much on it, and there's a steady scar-tissue burn. But, it feels a bit better a few days later, and I can do more reps with less discomfort. It's getting better, albeit slowly.

I've been here before with my left achilles and my right illiotibial band -- a tenosynovitis that hangs on, and six or seven months down the road it still hurts, but it's a dry grinding/burning that goes away quickly. I've been told that's a sign of scar tissue in the paratendon, and then eventually it goes away with work -- as long as you don't overwork it.

So, it's still resistance band and dumbell workouts, therapy exercises for the ankle, and waiting. I hope that I'm back on the bike in September or October. For now, I need to keep a little cooler and not do anything silly again.