skip to main |
skip to sidebar
What else do I need? Well, I first needed to overcome a pneumonia I caught while laid-up with the injured joint. Then I needed to get back condition I had before I wrenched the thing. The good news is, road cycling is not very stressful to an ankle. So, as I got over the lung infection, and when the weather allowed, I started rebuilding the base of fitness I had lost by riding on the road. However, it was like losing two to three months of training and starting over from that point.
Base miles without intervals were done on the Lemond cyclocross bike at first. With Donna and solo, I did rides of 20 to 30 miles. Due to work commitments,
much (too much) of the riding had to come on weekends. So, at first a 50-mile weekend, followed by a 65-mile weekend, etc. I did manage to get in a least one ride of 20 to 40 miles in the middle of the weeks.
Riders passing horse farms in Saratoga Springs, NY. McMahon's is the birthplace of Funnycide and a good Cargill customer.
With early season racing out of the question, I focused on training for my annual Team Guerrilla Road Ride Alternate Plan B (TGRRAPB) ride, which occurs every Memorial Weekend Saturday. Eventually I worked into longer rides and did some interval training on hills and long tempo runs. A 53-mile, 3500 feet of elevation gain Bruce Ride, "Balloon Festival Preview," was a good warm-up the weekend before. There were a dozen riders and I was one of the slowest, especially on the climbs. My ankle swelled up the last half of the ride, so much so, that Art and Bruce noticed it readily.
Copious icing and continued therapy with Keith Donato resulted in a good recovery. In fact, I think the stress it was placed under force greater progress. I did one good 30-miler during the week out in Cazanovia Lake, which included a great 9 mile climb from Cheenego to Cazanovia on little-traveled Route 13. The short stretch past the Falls is steep. I am packing the Lemond in the back of the Subaru as a travel bike these days to save my Cannondale from getting dinged and it makes a better training ride on the heavier bike. Since I have put the Cane Creek wheels on the Lemond, it is great fun to ride on the road.
Saturday of the big ride and I felt ready to not be too embarrassed. It was a glorious Adirondack day with temperatures in the high 50's, some clouds and a good 15 MPH breeze from the north, which would provide a tailwind on the last half of the 65-mile, 5000-foot ride. Twenty people showed up and we were off to do the most serious climbs, which come in the first third of the ride. Before the first real climb comes the screaming descent down to Diamond Point on Lake George. I hit 51 MPH and passed nearly all the riders that dropped me on the first little climb. I think I passed Bruce going 20 to 30 MPH faster than he was going.
I was not totally embarrassed on the big climbs, but was definitely towards the back of the pack. It was fun to get into the rhythm of the climbs that I now know so well. After the long and fast decent down to Schroon River (50 MPH), it was paceline time on the flat section along the river. I kept into the line-up for most of the long paceline, coming to the front towards the junction of Rt. 8. After the rollers and the stop at Adirondack, it was an easy ride toward the back of the group the rest of the way home. The tailwind helped and my base building paid off. No cramps or fatigue and my ankle held up very well.
Little to no swelling of the ankle an
d a rapid recovery of the legs were signs that I am ready to start riding like I want to now. Bruce is leading a Tour-paced ride the next day and Donna and I decide to do it. This is a joint club ride with a group from Long Island that Bruce does every year. We will have the option of going slower if needed, since the LI riders are more used to flat lands and a slower 16 MPH pace. Turned out we did not need to have the company of the slow riders. We felt good enough to go faster and there were enough local riders that usually go with Bruce and keep the pace at 18 to 19 MPH to keep us company. The ride was from Saratoga Springs to the Battlefield - one loop of the Battlefield (10.5 miles) and then back. I paced a group back from the Battlefield and it was fun to pick off riders that started ahead of us, or took short cuts around the climbs. My paceline always had Donna on my wheel and we picked up and dropped riders as we made our way back past the scenic, rolling horse and dairy farm scenes that make Saratoga the destination it is.
The Sunday of Memorial Day weekend found us ready to
take an easy day. So, we drove up to Newcomb in the Adirondacks and rode the mountain bikes into Camp Santanoni. It was a short 5 mile ride into the Camp on a dirt road. The Great Camp is being restored and is on a beautiful setting next to the lake. We were chased out by some rain and took a nap at a Tauhus trailhead on the way home.
Long post, but it has been awhile since I felt like writing. The ankle still hampers walking and hiking. Too much time has been spent on the recliner with ice on my ankle, but now I am ready to get into better shape and do the riding I love to do.
Swimming and spinning provide indoor workouts while snow and cold weather continues. Snowboarding four Sundays in a row make this a great start to the winter season. Shoulder work at the chiropractor has paid off.
Heart rate workouts with hill climbing and sprinting intervals are the big benefit of spinning class. Dan is good at getting in the hills; Andrea specializes in high cadence sitting and standing intervals. Both get the heart rate over 150 for extended periods of time. Finding the time to get in the classes has proven to be a challenge with travel out of town Tuesday through Friday the last few weeks. Saturday spins save the week.Swimming can also be a heart rate workout if done as interval sets. But I have never been fond of getting that out of breath in the water. Instead, I use the swim as a long, low impact aerobic workout that is similar to getting the heart at 135 to 145 on the bike. I once tried to wear the heart rate monitor in the pool - it did not work out well as it always got pushed down to my waist by the water. Also, the cooling effect of the water results in your heart not beating as fast, even though you get the same heart muscle effect. I get into a rhythm of 18 to 20 strokes per pool length (spl, 25 meter pool) and go for 30 to 60 minutes without stopping. The result is a good aerobic workout and improved joint flexibility as the back, legs and arms all stretch out without any pounding.
The shoulder has made great progress with the ART sessions from Dr. Kieth Donato. The swimming works the shoulder in a good way and the weight training exercises and calisthenics he has given me to do all have resulted in vastly improved range of motion and strength. The right shoulder is still very much restricted compared to the left, but it has improved and hopefully will continue to get better with the work yet to do.
Now we are moving to the knees. If I rated the pain associated with the shoulder work at 6 to 7, the knee work is pushing it to 9. We are working IT Band and hamstrings and little muscles around the knee joint. It is too early to tell, but I can say that things are moving in the right direction so far.
Sunday is snowboard day. At least it has been for the last four weeks in a row. Killington has had about 40 inches of snow in the last 7 days! The temperature has rarely gone above freezing in over five week
s, so snow making has gone full tilt. This week was the first week on the natural snow -- and it was great. You could really dig the edges in and get the carved turns that makes snowboarding so much fun. I started out on the double diamonds of Cascade and Double Dipper, then hit East Fall. Getting these steep runs in early in the day when the legs are fresh and the snow is still deep is best. After that I returned to Chute, my favorite cruiser run. Getting off at the top of the lift and then going non-stop all the way to the base, only slowing as you cross Great Northern twice, is a heart-pounding, leg burning blast.
Edges fully dug in! =====>
I have been getting to the mountain before 8, so first tracks are a bonus. By 11:00 my legs started to feel the effects of the Donato work, so I decided to take a trip over to see how Cruise Control and the other Skye Peak trails were. I should have stayed where I was. I got confused with the way the trails were arranged since the Skye Gondola was closed and at the top of Superstar I started to go one way, then looked around for another way, and before I knew it caught an edge and pitched over taking a full blow on my RIGHT SHOULDER!! Immediately I knew it reversed a lot of the work and progress we have made. Hopefully it will heel up and get back to where it was.
Unseasonably cold fall weather makes spinning a necessity for cardiovascular fitness and provides an opportunity for early season snowboarding.
Thanksgiving week means calories consumed, and without the YMCA spin classes, it is unlikely I would have burned them off. Dan has lead us in spin for three years now, and improves his class each year. I always wait as long as possible to ta
ke the cycling indoors, but this year the teens came too soon to go it outdoors in November. The good thing about spin is you can dial in any workout you want. In the past I pretty much designed my own workout while Dan lead the rest of the class. This year he is taking us on routes I have done (West Mountain, Ruppert Mountain, etc.). So, the workout I dial is the same one he describes to the class, and the same as I remember and visualize as we do it. The heart rate monitor makes the effort known, so there is no fooling yourself.
Chute before it comes together with Mouse Trap
Wednesday morning I did Dan's spin and then had another A.R.T. session which focused on the neck, since the shoulders continue to improve. After dinners on Thursday at home and Friday up in the North Country, Donna and I went into the Saturday spin. I followed that one with another A.R.T. session, this time focused back on the shoulders, while Donna hung out at Borders. We then got some coffee and bagels at Uncommon Grounds -- nice for us to just hang out in Saratoga for awhile with no schedule to keep.
Sunday I took another trip to Killington. The conditions have improved with another four inches of natural snow, and nearly continuous snow-making all week. I decided early conditions would be best, so got up at the crack of dawn and arrive
d at 7:30. By 8:05 I was riding the lift over perfectly groomed cruising! The conditions were ideal and my Malalo board with its newly sharpened edges and waxed surface was letting me get in good carved turns.
Chute just before it comes together with Mouse Trap
After two solid hours of great boarding on Rime, East Fall, Chute and others, the conditions started to deteriorate some on top. But even on the hard ice the board allowed me to edge with confidence, unlike last week when it let me down several times. It warmed up a little around 11 am and I moved over to go top to bottom on Chute about a dozen times. I gained confidence with each run. After 4 1/2 hours I
was ready to call it a VERY good day!
This week I travel to western NY from Tuesday - Thursday, so will try to get a spin or swim in before I leave. I will intensify the shoulder exercises this week. All the body parts are in good working order for a good week of training ahead.
much (too much) of the riding had to come on weekends. So, at first a 50-mile weekend, followed by a 65-mile weekend, etc. I did manage to get in a least one ride of 20 to 40 miles in the middle of the weeks.
d a rapid recovery of the legs were signs that I am ready to start riding like I want to now. Bruce is leading a Tour-paced ride the next day and Donna and I decide to do it. This is a joint club ride with a group from Long Island that Bruce does every year. We will have the option of going slower if needed, since the LI riders are more used to flat lands and a slower 16 MPH pace. Turned out we did not need to have the company of the slow riders. We felt good enough to go faster and there were enough local riders that usually go with Bruce and keep the pace at 18 to 19 MPH to keep us company. The ride was from Saratoga Springs to the Battlefield - one loop of the Battlefield (10.5 miles) and then back. I paced a group back from the Battlefield and it was fun to pick off riders that started ahead of us, or took short cuts around the climbs. My paceline always had Donna on my wheel and we picked up and dropped riders as we made our way back past the scenic, rolling horse and dairy farm scenes that make Saratoga the destination it is.
take an easy day. So, we drove up to Newcomb in the Adirondacks and rode the mountain bikes into Camp Santanoni. It was a short 5 mile ride into the Camp on a dirt road. The Great Camp is being restored and is on a beautiful setting next to the lake. We were chased out by some rain and took a nap at a Tauhus trailhead on the way home.
