Chubby Century Is Back On!!!

Well...the neck is about 95% healed and I have been back on the bike for the past month.  I was really discouraged for a couple of months because I really couldn't ride, or do much of anything else, without significant nerve pain radiating down my arms.  After traction, meds, and some rest, the neck is really close to completely healed.  Riding the past three weeks has had little negative affect.  

I will post my rides later this week.  I can't express just how glad I am that the neck pain is gone. I wasn't sure I would ever be pain free let alone train for the century.  That thought is long gone.  January proved kind.

Sorry for the lack of posts but this is supposed to be about cycling, not neck pain and recovery.  Since I couldn't train, I couldn't post.  Honestly, I just didn't want to.  That was a rough experience but thankfully, seems to be over.  I will post weekly going forward as I begin my training.  Wish me luck!

The Chubby Century is back on!!!

Tough week

I rode just a couple of days this week and paid for it.  The neck isn't reacting well to riding at all.  I couldn't ride today.  I am pretty discouraged at the moment.  Hoping the physical therapy and meds help but as of right now, things aren't looking good.  I am traveling this week and plan to start exercising my core pretty religiously.  Mornings seem best so that's when I will work.  I have a series if stretches to do each day as well and plan to work those too. 

Bummed for now...

Here's my rides this week:

http://app.strava.com/activities/215596759

http://app.strava.com/activities/215867397

Bad News, Bad News, Good News, Really Good News, Neutral News, Good News...

So I haven't been blogging about my training recently for a very good reason.  I haven't been training recently!  I hurt my back and neck and it has been very painful.  I am not sure exactly what happened and when but I have severe nerve pain radiating down both of my arms, my neck and sometimes back.  Painful enough that riding really wasn't an option.  This has been going on for a couple of months but worsening everyday and has become pretty sucky.  I haven't wanted to talk about it let alone blog but it's time to lift the veil of silence on this subject.  I have seen a doctor and so here goes with the bad news, bad news, good news, really good news, neutral news, good news:

Bad News:  I have some general spine disease that is causing the discs between my vertebrae to compress.  There isn't the normal amount of space between my vertebrae and that is what is causing the nerve pain in my arms, neck and back.  Also, my C4 vertebrae is significantly misaligned.  Lastly I have the early stages of some weird type of spinal arthritis.  Yay!!!

Bad News:  This really doesn't go away and so I will be managing it going forward.  This means I will have to deal with it via medication when necessary such as anti-inflammatory or nerve meds.  Trying to steer clear of pain meds but we'll see.  I will also begin enjoying physical therapy starting tomorrow which may include some traction.  Sounds super fun!  If all goes well, the pain will subside and I won't need shots or surgery.  We are going the medication/PT route for the next two months and will reassess then.

Good News:  I feel better.  Not all the way better but the meds are working which is great.  Hopefully the PT will help further. My right arm still aches pretty significantly, my neck hurts a bit too but not so pad that I need to take pain meds.  I am down from a pain threshold of about 8 to about 3.

Really Good News: I can't injure myself further with general exercise and have been cleared to get back on the bike!  I celebrated with a 4 mile sprint about 15 minutes after my call with the doctor.  This means I can truly begin training for the chubby century.  I may get a second opinion to ensure I don't make things worse but for now, I plan to ride and monitor may pain levels.  Felt good to get back on the bike today.

Neutral News: I am traveling Sunday through Friday for work.  This is the last week long type trip I have scheduled for this year.  I should be able to begin training in earnest the week after next.  I will ride this week through Saturday.  Probably will be mostly shorter sprints.  

Good News:  I will begin training the week after next barring any goofy stuff happening with my back between now and then.  Fingers crossed.

So there it is.  I highly recommend avoiding aging.  The ravishes of time B-L-O-W-S.  Those are my words of wisdom for the day.

53 Miles Complete!

Wow!  What a ride.  The first 27 miles was actually pretty easy.  The next 27 miles...not so much.

53.2 Miles
4:12:55
http://app.strava.com/activities/203222999

It was a beautiful day!  I don't think the temperature moved above 80 degrees.  Just a couple clouds in the sky.  Really nice!  Except for one tinsy, tiny, itty bitty little issue.  That would be the relentless 20-25 mph wind!  I had a great tailwind out!  I tried to conserve energy knowing that it was going to be really bad on the way back.  It was.  The best way to describe it is kind of like a really, really long climb.  I had about 18 miles of dead on head wind.  I am shocked I made it.  Much of this ride is on the coast which is awesome.

The equipment worked great.  The adjustment to the seat was awesome!  I actually spent a great deal of time down on the drops trying to get through the wind.  The bike is definitely popping, snapping, cracking, and just making a ton of noise.  I will try to figure that out when I get back from my nest work trip.  Feet still hurt but not as bad.  Took lots of breaks.  Standing you my heels helped with the pain.

I feel pretty good.  The legs held up.  My back and neck hurt a bit.  I need to get stronger and will start working on my upper body strength this week.  My time was way fast compared to my previous 53 miler (over 5:30!).  So I "shaved" off an hour and a half.  Not bad.  I need to get MUCH faster before doing the century.  I cannot imagine trying to ride my bike for eight or nine hours.  I have a LONG way to go.  Training is going to be hard.  In all, a successful week though!  I will post a recap along with a Sunday weigh in tomorrow.  

Key learnings:
Food, water, equipment, and conditioning helps...
Head winds are very hard...
I am capable of more than I know...
I have a very long way to go to get to 100 miles!


I snapped a few pictures from my journey.  Hope you like them!

Shut part of my bridge to get on the peninsula down.  I had to cross while the draw bridge bells were ringing!  Made me kind of nervous.























This bridge to get on to Sullivan's Island was letting a big boat pass.  PB&J sandwich time!  What's my deal with bridges today?

Pics from the battery
 

Going big tomorrow! 54 miles is the plan.

Wish me luck.  I will be riding to the Isle of Palms tomorrow morning.  I completed this ride once before on Olaf a couple of months ago.  It was miserable.  54 miles of suck.  To give you a sense of how idiotic I was for that ride, this is the ride summary:

• Food - I brought one pack of shot blocks.  Smart!  Keeping the extra weight down?
• Water - I brought one water bottle.  A small one.  More intelligence at work here.  Who needs water anyway.  Not like it's hot in Charleston in the middle of summer.
• Conditions - I rode starting at 11a.  True Genius.  It was like 125 degrees and 100% humidity.  Not a cloud in the sky.  Middle of summer.  Really smart.  I think I got home around 4p.  Hottest part of the day.
• Equipment - I rode a women's hybrid bike that doesn't fit me at all, tennis shoes, regular pedals, no helmet and no gloves.  More genius at work.
• Breaks - I stopped halfway and ate fish and chips.  I kid you not, I ate a full plate of fried grouper, french fries, and slaw.  Then got back on my bike.  Even more genius!  Oddly enough, if you aren't a cyclist, probably even if you are, when you eat a full plate of fried food, you no longer want to ride your bike anymore.  Also, stopping for 45 minuts is a bad idea.  I think I heard my body say, "We're going to do what now?  We were done! You @$$ H0!3!!!"
• Conditioning - My previous long ride was 27 miles.  Here's a thought, add a few miles at a time instead of doubling your longest effort!

I literally almost died that die.  When I got home and after I had someone help me upstairs to my apartment, I drank three glasses of water, ate a banana, laid down on the floor in my front entry, and slept for about 4 hours on the ground.  I woke up, ate a little, showered, and slept another 10 hours.  It was all about the heat exhaustion.  Heat exhaustion BLOWS!   

I have learned SO MUCH since then so I hope it goes much better.  Here's my plan for tomorrow:

• Food - One pack of shot blocks, two PB&Js cut into 4 pieces for easy eating, 6 homemade granola balls.  Thanks for the recipe sis!
• Water - 2 large water bottles, pack of nuun tablets for electrolyte replacement.
• Conditions - Starting the ride before 9a.  It's going to be warm tomorrow but not hellish summer hot.
• Equipment - This will be my first ride with a jersey that has pockets!  I am excited about having the ability to eat without stopping.  I degreased and re-lubed my chain, chain-rings, and cassette.  They get really sandy because much of my ride is on hard pack.  Bringing all of the gear I should have had all along (see below).
• Breaks - Short breaks in the shade is the plan.  One every hour in a half or so.
• Conditioning - I have ridden several 40 milers now, two this week.  I took a rest day today.  Feeling good about tackling the big ride.

Here's my equipment pic.  Wish me luck!

Pics from the top of the Ravenel Bridge

Thursday was a beautiful day out!  Sunny and virtually no wind.  Here's some pics from the top of the Ravenel bridge.  I stopped to fix my shoes and snapped a couple.  One of these days I will get a pic with a big container/cargo ship passing underneath.

Check out the boat by the base.  This bridge is high!

Patriot's Point...aircraft carrier...

Downtown... 

 Selfie...

Dialing in the gear

Sven and I have another 58 miles or so together.  Rode a 17.6 mile ride on Wednesday...hard.  My time was over 5 minutes faster than I have run before! followed that up with a very slow, difficult, and disappointing 40 mile ride on Thursday.  

Wed

17.6 miles

1:10:27

http://app.strava.com/activities/201648826

Thur

39.6 miles

3:04:09

http://app.strava.com/activities/202353414

Wednesday's ride - Getting the seat height and position dialed in.  I angled the seat down a bit.  When I am on the hoods and riding with a straight back, the front point of the seat is a bit too "familiar" with my man parts.  Still need to drop the angle a bit more.  Getting used to the new saddle though.  Not as painful of a ride.  Shoes felt fine.  Bike is starting to creak more.  I think some of what I am hearing is the new pedals.  Maybe I need to add some anti-seize to the threads or something?  I realized that one way to cancel out the noise is to ride faster!  The wind makes some of the creaks go away...

Thursday's ride - Feet hurt.  Not sure why either.  I am going to try a minor adjustment to the clips before my next ride.  Had an equipment malfunction too.  My clips on the left shoe went loose while I was climbing the hardest section of the Ravenel Bridge.  I fixed it at the top which gave me time for a couple of nice pics.  This ride was not fun at all.  I started to feel weird around mile 20.  Something like heat exhaustion but it wasn't particularly hot out.  I felt like I stayed hydrated enough but I didn't eat much.  Next long ride I will bring more food with me and try to eat earlier.  Also, I got hit by a car for the first time!  It was actually pretty awesome and completely my fault.  It happened at mile 19 or so.  There was an SUV at a light with their right blinker on.  I tried passing on the right.  The car didn't see me and turned right into my left thigh.  I grabbed the car's fender and went for a ride.  Hilarious.  Basically, I had completely zoned out.  When I get to a place where I start to hurt or become stressed, I sometimes deal with it by disassociating my mind from the realities of the world around me.  That works great for things like ignoring pain and pushing through tough conditions.  However, it is a terrible strategy for other important items like recognizing traffic patterns!  

I need to have a thorough bike fit.   I feel like the bike is too far away when I am on the hoods.  I like having my hands about an inch or two behind the them.  Maybe it's just me but I feel like it's a bit too big.  My feet really hurt on the 40 mile ride.  Felt like they were going numb or something.  I will try loosening them as I go.  Maybe they are swelling?

Key learning since last post:

• Eat and drink earlier during big rides.  I think I need to begin eating at my first hour or possibly even a little earlier if it is sunny out.  More sun means more water.
• Take breaks in the shade or air conditioning of a gas station when it is sunny.  I tried to power through on my last 40 miler but with the sun out, I think I needed to cool my body down.
• Ensure your shoe clips are fully tightened.  Duh.  This goes for other critical pieces of equipment like your seat too.  
• Pay attention when you are in higher traffic areas!  That sounds really simple but when I get tired, I zone out.  Unacceptable.  You have to snap out of it and pay attention.

Took Friday off.  Going for an epic ride on Saturday!