Way Behind

Sorry - We are way behind on posting and have been slammed since returning from the week in Annapolis. Here is a link to a movie from the practice RAAM ride we did Sunday night - Shakedown Video. We rode the course out to Brawley practicing rider exchanges, vehicle logistics, and nutrition. All in all it was a positive experience. More to follow later.

Lastly - if any single ladies are interested, the young Ensign here in the photo is available. I can vouch for him that he is a solid guy as he is my youngest brother.

However, you better like a tall man -

Cooked

A quick update from today's ride - one word sums it up - hot. The heat settled into California. Today's menu was 4x30 minute flat intervals on the first miles of the RAAM course. It only reached 90 degrees but that was warm enough. It was good to suffer a little bit in the heat and not have to worry about wearing arm & leg warmers. Everybody rode strong and is making progress. We should peak just in time for the race. We ended up finishing the day with 113 miles in a little of 5:30 of ride time. Karla and I leave tonight for Annapolis to see my youngest brother graduate from the Naval Academy next week. Hopefully we can fit some training in while we are away.

Totals for the week -

Bike - 330 miles including a great Bike to Work day yesterday
Run - 15 miles
Swim - 6500 yds

Just squeaking by with a little R & S volume so the transition to full time triathlon training after this is not so hard.

Have a great weekend.

Christmas in May & Playing Historian

It is beginning to feel like it is Christmas around here. Thanks to Pete's ingenuity back before the 1986 RAAM race, our team has been supplied all new aerobars courtesy of Profile Design.

While on his daily commute through the San Onofre campground (Part of the California 70.3 bike course for you triathletes), Pete realized that he could go ~½ mph faster when he rested his arms on top of his road bars without an increase in perceived effort or HR. If you look closely in the photo above (with the help of the red arrow), you can see one of the first aerobars ever used in competition during the 1986 RAAM race. The arm rests actually cradled the entire forearm instead of today's smaller pad. The picture below is Jim, Pete's brother and another member of the team who rides with a prosthetic leg (a future blog post), in his garage. This was the workshop where some of these early prototypes were built. It is pretty cool today to walk in his garage and still see some of the original aerobars sitting on the shelf. A couple of weeks ago when we mounted my new set up on my bike, I teased Pete that those originals should be in a museum somewhere and not just resting on that upper shelf collecting dust. Aerobars have been instrumental in allowing cyclists achieve faster times since. At the speeds we will be traveling on flat roads in RAAM, the aerodynamic drag is by far the greatest barrier to our speed, accounting for 70 to 90 percent of the resistance felt when pedaling. These aerobar set ups shall help us increase our speed.

With that, here is a shot of my new front end. I am working on some tweaks here and there to get the correct fit but overall I am very impressed.

Relying on Pete's industry connections again, Kenny Souza from Clif Bar was kind enough to supply the team with countless variations of their different bars, gels and blocks for training and the race.

During the race, we could be seeing 3-5 hours per day on the road riding at our threshold paces (i.e. sub-barf pace). Given this, we need to make sure our caloric intake is in line with the calories we expend. Racing at such intensities, we will be burning around1000 cal/hr depending on the person. For a sample calculator, check out this link - Active.com. Therefore, we will again be relying on a connection of the Penseyres brothers and will be using Spiz during the race as one of our main food sources. Straight from the Spiz website - "In essence SPIZ is a complete liquid food source designed to provide your body with everything it needs to perform at peak levels, making it very popular with all types of endurance athletes. SPIZ has over 500 calories per serving. Includes 94 grams of carbohydrate, 20 grams of whey protein concentrate and 5 grams of fatty acids. Protein/carbohydrate drinks have been proven to be superior to sports drinks that contain only carbohydrates." Randy Ice of Longevity Plus, the makers of Spiz, have been kind enough to supply the team with all the product we need for our training and the race. As this is a new product to me, I will post in the future how it works for me. In the meantime, read the testimonials on their web page and develop your own opinion. I am eager to try the product out.

Finally, we did our intervals last night. I guess I am frustrated by my performance. I am struggling to push myself and am afraid to hurt. Yes - I decreased the time it took me to do the climb by about 5 sec. per repetition from the last workout but on the 2nd of 7, I had 2 rabbits ahead of me. They were fancy road riders all dressed out in their matching kits. I however look like I am outfitted from the Salvation Army as nothing matches because I refuse to pay full price for any clothing and instead pick up pieces at the local factory sales of 2XU, Zoot and Pearl Izumi. So I was determined to not only catch these guys but fly by them and cut nearly 10 seconds off my current best time. I managed to accomplish my mission however I relapsed back on reps 3-7 to the status quo. I left the hill frustrated and wondering where my ability to truly push my body is. I seem to be content with just going through the motions right now and not really focused on pushing the upper limits and feeling some pain. Why do I need rabbits to excel? No doubt about it, there is an immense benefit in training with others.

Anyhow, enough of a pity session. Off to try and find it -

NJB

Weekend Update

So Saturday turned into a disaster. Pete, aka Captain Punishment, will not let us use Speedplay pedals during the race. I have to trust the guy since between the two Penseyres brothers, they have done RAAM 13 or so times. The word is that they will fill with mud when we are transitioning along side the road. Don't mind the fact the top team, Team Type 1 (Team Type 1), is sponsored by Speedplay and will ride them in RAAM. So, I put a pair of Time RXS Carbon pedals on my bike and let Karla try them out for a day. She hated them. So some of the other riders use the Crank Brothers Quattro pedal. Both pedals get the OK from Pete. Friday night I swapped Karla's pedals off her bike and changed her cleats to the Quattros. Saturday morning came and at 6:15 am we were pushing out of the house. She could not get into her pedals. We could not figure it out. So back to the house and put the Speedplays on. Then I proceed to strip the screw out of the cleat - argh! So after a mad scramble and a date with a Easy-Out, she was back in business. At the end of the day, I managed to get my 3x30 intervals in but Karla cut the day short. Total for the day 40.8 miles in 1:45. Some solid efforts.

On Sunday we decided to try and make up some mileage for the short day on Saturday. I talked Karla in heading out east and doing a modified version of the infamous Henshaw Loop (Henshaw Loop and Map of the Route). We started a little bit later in the day - 10 am. It was nice to get away from the marine layer hanging over the coast and see some sun. So our route took us from Escondido to Ramona and then to Santa Ysabel via the Old Julian Hwy. Traffic was minimal. The weather was great and Karla probably rode the strongest I have ever seen her. For a girl that just really started riding in the past 12 months, she rocked on this 77 mile ride with over 5700 ft of climbing. Here are a couple of photos that I hijacked from another site -

Climbing - something you better be good at on this route.

A great view of Lake Henshaw

Totals for the week -

Bike - 240M/12.5 hrs

Run - 24M/3hrs

Swim - 6750 yds/2.5 hrs

Total - 18 hours

That's all for now - off to the 2nd run for today. Tomorrow is more interval fun after commuting. It is starting to look a little bit like Christmas too around the team thanks to Profile Design, Clif, and Spiz. More to follow on that later.

Alphabet Blocks and RAAM

So I hope this narrative *may* help to explain the rider rotation we are planning for use with the motor home this year. We will be taking three vehicles on the course; a 32' motor home and (2) 15 passenger vans. All riders will spend 18 hours per day in the follow or rider vans and 6 hours per day in the motor home. When riders finish their once per day sleep period in the motor home, one of them will go into the follow van and the other will go into the rider van. For the first 6 hours of their 18 hours of "active duty", they will be on "ready reserve" in case of unforeseen problems. If they need more sleep, they can sleep in one of the beds in the follow or rider vans. Otherwise, they can help drive or navigate the van they are in.

For the next 12 hours they will join the "road gang" and complete about 1.5 hours of riding during each of the next 6 hour segments. For the first 6 hours they will be sharing the riding with the 2 riders who have already completed the first of their 6 hour segments on the “road gang” and they will share the second 6 hour segment with the 2 riders who have just completed 6 hours of "ready reserve".

During the 12 hours of being on the "road gang", each rider will spend about 6 hours driving or navigating, 6 hours riding alone, resting or riding in a 2 person pace line with another teammate.

Thus each pair of riders will be part of the “road gang” with the two pairs of riders just ahead and just behind them in the schedule. Conversely, each pair of riders will only have transitional time with the pair of riders who are two pair ahead (or behind--it's the same either way) of them in the schedule.

This is one of the main advantages of using a motor home rather than motels. Each rider will routinely see 5 of the other 7 riders every day for at least 6 hours. Another advantage is having the rolling bedroom/shower for 6 hours each day and getting a hot meal for “breakfast”, though it will occur at different times of the day for each pair of riders.

Sorry for the poor pictures (thx camera phone) but this is how we walked through the rotation at one of our meetings.


The follow vehicle must always have the rider in the headlights at night.

Training so far for the week

Monday AM - Could not get out of bed

Monday PM - 15 mile run/1:45

Tuesday AM - Rained out believe it or not

Tuesday PM - 42M/2:15

Wednesday AM - Rained out 2 days in a row

Wednesday PM - 30M Bike

Thursday AM - 30M Bike

Thursday PM - 20M Bike

Check back this weekend for another update.

Until then -

NJB

Why I commute on my bike -

After a paying $60 for 15 gallons of gas this morning, I thought these two photos were fitting. The RAAM training is a perfect way to save a dollar or two - except for three flat tires last week riding.

Happy Cinco De Mayo

Cinco de Mayo was a foreign festival to these two Iowa kids until we laid foot in Southern California a couple of years ago. I knew about May Day but never anything like this. Now we have learned to love avocados, guacomole, real salsa (not taco sauce), and real Mexican food (not Taco Bell or something smothered in a red sauce with ridiculous amounts of melted cheese to go with it). We have two parties this week that we are supposed to go to - I guess it is a good excuse for most people to drink margaritas and tequilla. This whole festival thing doesn't fit to well into the RAAM training program. However - Oktoberfest in the fall should fit nicely.

As for the weekend - Saturday's ride was 104 miles. We rode up to meet with the group for our 4x25 minute intervals. This week we rotated partners to change things up. It was a nice change of pace - and Frank gives a much better draft than Mike. As for the individual efforts - I managed to ride my first in 20:15 on our little course with a HR avg. of 164 and the second I rode in 20:24 with a HR avg. of 165. Mike Bennet started with a 1 minute head start on the last one and I managed to catch him with about 20 yards to go into the 8.4 mile course. I paid for it as my HR max was 187 those last couple of seconds but it is was nice to have a rabbit to chase down. The goal is to break 20 minutes on the course by the end of the training. On the ride home I was reminded why I hate riding on the coast. Traffic was horrible and the Orange County Wheelmen had their Fiesta 150 going on. Nothing like a couple of hundred bikers riding 13 mph clogging the bike lanes. Hats off to all of them for being out there and exercising but it was a little too fruity for me. All I can say is I will head east and go to the hills and leave the coast to the cruisers. On Sunday I headed out of the infamous Swami's course. It was nice to get out and push hard for 2 hours by myself. Karla is doing awesome and has come leaps and bounds since starting the formal training. She is not the slowest team member by any means and hopefully will only get stronger as the race approaches.

So totals for the week:

Bike - 375 miles/21.5 hours
Run - 12 miles
Swim - 5500 yards
Total - 24+ hours

I fell off the running band wagon but with commuting to and from work 4 days last week, I struggled to find time to get out. Pete assures me that I will be fine and that I will be able to balance my training after the race. He points to his seasons where he would race bikes from January to October and then focus on running for a couple of months and run a 2:40 marathon.

This week we back down the volume by about 75% of our maximum. The plan for the next 4 weeks is this:

Week 1 - 275 miles
Week 2 - 350 miles
Week 3 - Zero - yes 0 - Out of town for my youngest brother's graduation in Annapolis Maryland. We hope to make up for the lack of biking with running and swimming.
Week 4 - 450 miles
Taper for the race.

The intensity too will be going up and we will top out on our intervals with 9x5 min on the hill repeats and 6x30 on the flat TT efforts. Nothing like 3 hours at sub-barf pace. Anyhow, I need to run. Hopefully later this week I can give a complete download on the our 3 vehicle approach and rider rotation.

Until then -

NJB

Wednesday Night Repeats

So as I had posted previously, we had 8 x 5 minute hill climbs on the schedule this week. I told myself they would be fun even though I had zero ambition. Thankfully there was a great tailwind that blew me up from downtown. We decided this week to ride the inside hill of the Torrey Pines to try and avoid traffic (a rather hard thing to do at 5:00 pm in coastal SD). The hill is .8 mile long and ascends 315 ft. A pretty nice climb at 8% or so. This was the start -

The weather was great. The plan was to ride these at or slightly above our LT pace. I struggled to get my HR up on the first couple but then had no problems - here is a graph of the first few (FYI my LT on the bike is approximately 175 bpm and I wish I could tell you in terms of power but that toy has yet to be delivered) -Once we were through the first two, the rest went by pretty fast. The scenery is tough to beat too --

Afterwards we made a killer homemade pizza and recovered nicely. So tomorrow will be 4 x 25 minutes on the RAAM course. We will be working on riding in pairs on two of the repeats and simulating the race. When we are doing these repeats, we are riding all out and usually don't have more 3 minutes on the bike to cool down before regrouping off the bike. This will be just like the race - you will finish your pull, load your bike, and hop in the van. You will cool down and stiffen up if you are not smart, and then be expected to go again shortly thereafter. Six days of this - only 40 days until the start.

For the week (since Monday) - 230 miles of riding. It should be no problem to hit 350 miles by Sunday. Next week we will drop back down and start another 4 week progression. It will be our last one before the race.

The journey so far has been great. Hopefully it will continue. Good luck to everyone racing this weekend. Tonight is dinner with an old roomate who spurred my interest in riding. It should be a good time. Maybe afterwards we will be able to finish up the film Emmanuel's Gift. I highly recommend the movie. It helps you put your troubles in perspective.

We'll talk later.

NJB