Allegheny Jet

Think postive Hemes. A lot can and will change in how you feel over the next a few days.

AzTallRider

That's kicking your old self's butt. Way to go!

AzTallRider

And you have shown that you really know how to bury yourself, so you'll do great.

Hermes

500 Meter Time Trial

Allegheny Jet

It's too short of a race to be pained, your look is most definitely determination.

Hermes

I did not record or look at any metrics but it felt like 35 mph for about 15 seconds. I was in a 92.5.

AzTallRider

That's crankin' it.

Allegheny Jet

The open mouth has to cost you at least 15 watts.

You need to do it like this:

sarals 

Can we have a "suffer face" vote? AJ or Hermes???

sarals 

So - my doctor told me I could ride my trainer. Late this afternoon I put my Blackburn out on my deck, got the Fuji track bike mounted on it, put on my shoes, and carefully clipped in. I started and rode a smooth, steady cadence, medium resistance, cadence 88. Then, I stood up, hands on the drops, and did an effort, bringing my cadence to 125 or so, feeling really good in the process. When I went to sit back down on the saddle, I stumbled on the pedal stroke, and over went the bike, the trainer, and me.

<siiiigggghhhhhhh>!!!

I'm fine, not a mark on me. I think some one is trying to tell me something. I'll go find a bunker and hide there for the next two weeks.

Sheeeesh....

Hermes

[QUOTE=Allegheny Jet;13007137]The open mouth has to cost you at least 15 watts.

You need to do it like this:

My open mouth is more like an air scoop on the hood of a 60s muscle car feeding twin four barrel carburetors.

Cleave

Hi Hermes, looks good to me. You're about 2 seconds faster than my best at LAV. Two seconds is an eternity in the 500.

Hey AJ, I beg to differ. Five hundred meters makes me hurt like hell. The pain doesn't last a long time but it creates a cough that feels like and lasts like a 40K TT. YMMV.

AJ, your biceps are bigger than my calves.

Sarah, to quote Hill Street Blues, "Hey, let's be careful out there."

AzTallRider

And yet he gets called a climber!

Sara? Cut it the hell out!!

sarals 

He is!

And I have....

AJ's biceps are bigger than my THIGHS.... ;~)

sarals 

Here's a side effect, one I've really feared. I weighed 134 pounds the morning of my crash, which is right in the ballpark for me (132 - 136). This morning I weighed 142 pounds. So - 8 pounds put on in a week and a half due to inactivity - and I'm NOT eating fatty or junk food or a lot of anything! I'm retaining some fluid, sure - but 8 pounds??? Now, not only do I have to get back up to speed physically, but I have loose this weight I'm gaining. And, stop the gain! Insult to injury - literally.

I know, I'm whining. However, being overweight runs with the women in my family, on my mom's side. My sister is an inch shorter than I am and she weighs over 200 pounds. My mom was always heavy...and I, despite being the "petite one" of the three, managed to climb up to 183 pounds four years ago. Becoming an athlete and working at it burned it off and kept it off. But now, here I go again.

You wonder why I'm upset???

sarals 

I know, wrong venue---I'm venting, and I'm sorry...

Allegheny Jet

Sara, One reason that we who live in the winter season states ride the trainer is to keep away the pounds. Find out why you crashed on your trainer, fix it and keep on riding. Oh, and portion controls always works for me even if it has to be less beer.

Allegheny Jet

I can relate it to running the 300 meters indoors. A race that you could almost run flat out but needed to use every bit of will and concentration to finish out while every part of the body wanted to shut down. About right?

Hermes

Yes. Due to the high cadence and high power, the 500 taxes the lower portion of the lungs. So it is like the 300 meters only you can push yourself harder since it is not weight bearing.

As with track and field, there are no easy events at this level of track racing. It is all hard.

BTW, it took until Friday for the soreness to leave my legs from Tuesday's race.

sarals 

Thanks, AJ. I need to help keep this thread on point. Here's two things: I fell off the trainer because I forgot I was on a fixie and tried to coast - at 124 RPM. Never again! I spoke to a girlfriend this morning, after my rant, who is a nurse. She told me weight gain after a trauma (like I had) is NORMAL, even the amount I have seen, and more. The body retains fluid for healing and cushioning, and to RELAX.

I did ride this morning, with permission, and I went fairly easy, 22 miles averaging 13.4 MPH, no climbing. My ribs feel fine, the swelling in my hip has not gotten worse, and I am so much happier having felt the lactic burn!!! I was frankly surprised that I felt as good as I did and had the power that I had. There were reserves, and I did NOT tap them. I'm on the way back....

AzTallRider

Fresh legs are fun, huh Sara?

If your hip pointer is like mine was, it will take months to really go away. Mine seemed like the fricken bone was swollen. I thought I had a permanent new shape, but it eventually returned to normal. Never hurt bad, just stayed swollen. My shoulder? Well, that hurt like hell... got me out of a lot of tennis, LOL.

I'd get as much time in, just cranking as easy as you have to, as I could. It will assuage the fears of excess weight, keep your metabolism up, and maybe even keep you on this side of that thin line between being a passionate cyclist, and going clinically insane.

There is a line there, right?

AzTallRider

Did a group ride this morning, and went with the B group of a hammerfest LBS ride. It's a big group: 25-30 in the B's. It was frustratingly slow for quite awhile before finally picking up, and during the slow period it was what I've started calling to myself an "MP3 Ride". Meaning that there is a lot of compression and decompression going on. If you don't get it, you are not a geek.

Group leader finally 'authorized a faster pace', just before I went postal, which also eliminated a lot of the slinky action as people worked to keep up with some of us who felt the harness had just been released. I worked hard on the climb, getting to the water stop 5th, and finished the climb to the turnaround before the A group left it. So I enjoyed a fast trip back down with them, and it ended up a solid ride: 47mi; 2K' of climbing, 247w nominal power; 20.3 avg speed.

The only time I was off the pace was after a fast corner, which required a huge acceleration from me afterwards, which then got me temporarily dropped by the A group leaders. I need to trust that group more, and stay close through the turns. I backed off a bit, not knowing how the guy ahead of me would take the corner (as we approached at 38mph), and got gapped as a result. I should figure that, if the dude is up front in that group, he probably isn't going to slam on his brakes in front of me in the turn. Closing a gap at 30+ takes a lot out of you! I did it, then promptly got dropped. Joined three guys that came by, and we caught the leaders, but only because they hit a light. They were really cranking - the paceline on the slight decline the rest of the way was in the 32-35 range. Fun stuff.

Allegheny Jet

I wish I could say that I have fresh legs, but I don't. I did a Cat 4 crit today with about 40 riders and it paid 8 deep. The pace was fast from the get-go with attack after attack and we hardly ever let up to ride as a group. Seems we had some of the Ohio State Team who are looking for points to cat up to 3's. I was close to the breaking point 3 or 4 times during the race then with about 5 laps to go a team mate crashed hard coming out of a corner and that really bothered me to an extent. I just didn't have the power to navigate during the race up and around the pack like I did at the training race on Tuesday. I did find a few places where I could corner better to move up places and on the slight incline I found that going OTS for about 10 pedal strokes then seated would bring me right up through the field. One of the OSU riders was off the front, and I placed myself very well for the field sprint by being in 4th coming out of the last turn. Did I mention dead legs? I ended up 6th in the sprint and 7th overall, but I did get a payout that would buy a quality case of beer. Not that I would waste winnings on beer. I put any winnings in a cheap trophy cup I won a few year ago and once retired from racing I'll take all the cash and host a pizza party for my friends.

My 49 yr old riding buddy and team mate was taken by ambulance to the hospital with a suspected concussion and broken ribs. It's funny, when guys crash out of a race I think "oh well, it wasn't me" and race on, but knowing it was Jim puts a different spin on the whole thing.

Hermes

Today was team pursuit practice at the highest temperature of the day. I think it was 92 at the track in the shade. We got in some good solid work. We race tomorrow morning so the conditions should be better.

sarals 

Hermes, you said your legs still hurt Friday from your Tuesday race? How does that impact your training? Do you do anything different to help them recover?

AJ, I'm sorry about your friend. I can certainly empathize! I'm also very glad it wasn't you.

AzT - wow! Fresh legs or not, there is no way I could get close to your numbers - and I wish I could. That would be so much fun!

Keep writing fellas, I love reading this! Hey, if anyone has a helmet cam (or can borrow one - like mine), how about recording one of your fast rides or races and posting on YouTube or something? I'd love to see that.