As mentioned in the two previous posts the Hernia threatened to derail the training and the the first test was the Hell of Ashdown Sportive. But it went ok.
The ride was bloody awful, and as much as I dislike the names of some of these Sportives, Like "Hell" and "Killer" etc. This was hell. The ride was ok, hilly and only 60 odd miles, but the weather was really cold. It was bitterly cold. Despite that though I did pretty well to keep concentrated and went round in a time that was in the top 8% so I mustn't grumble too much but I should be better. But what about th hernia. Exactly. I am thinking about mites, and focus, and speed and not really thinking about the hernia. And that is it really. The hernia was fine. It was there, gently, faintly pressing at times but post ride it was better than the previous week.
This last week I have ridden 3 days to work and back. A dull, repetitive 30 minutes of tempo riding and it seems to drain me. Today, one week after I feel the hernia, slightly more pressure than in last week's Sportive. I've a 70 mile training ride today so how will that perform?
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Hernia situation is improving
So it's now Wednesday and the sportive is Sunday. The last log, Monday, said the abdomen was sore and therefore worrying.
Last week was good on the turbo, 1 hour each, twice a day. The weekend, the first day on the road - 3 hours . Monday was ride to work for first time. That was ok on the bike but felt touch and go off it. Today, Wednesday pm and the gut is good, or least much better. It's as if the strain in the abdomen was similar to over use. Hopefully I can handle 4 to 5 hours next Sunday.
It was a fast time to work as well. 30 mins. So I'm happy. Maybe a turbo tonight as well.
Last week was good on the turbo, 1 hour each, twice a day. The weekend, the first day on the road - 3 hours . Monday was ride to work for first time. That was ok on the bike but felt touch and go off it. Today, Wednesday pm and the gut is good, or least much better. It's as if the strain in the abdomen was similar to over use. Hopefully I can handle 4 to 5 hours next Sunday.
It was a fast time to work as well. 30 mins. So I'm happy. Maybe a turbo tonight as well.
Monday, February 18, 2013
Hernia and cycling
The pain was sharp and crippling. It dug straight in the guts and doubled me over. Fortunately not many were in the office at the time but one joker still had me laughing at the pain and causing more. The indignity of it all. The next day the doctor was quite pleased when he was sure he found it. A job well done for him though he was a bit apologetic when he explained that the NHS wouldn't look at it for 6 months. Hernias ain't urgent apparently. Felt like it at the time.
It seems that evolution has made this a problem. Something like 300,000 ops per year for hernias in the UK which is a lot. My first thought was how can I do my training now. Will I have to bail out of the Tour of Wessex?
I was gutted. A few hours had me positive though. If I couldn't do the ToW maybe I can keep fit-ish on the turbo.
I read all sorts on the web about this iguinal hernia and found a few options to get it fixed and a few techniques. The NHS was out, no insurance, so I would have to stump up the Benjamin's myself. The options ranged from £1600 to £2500 and I almost booked one - get it over and done with, pay the cash, a few weeks of the bike then back to full swing in time for the ToW. Then saw another technique. A Canadian one. It seemed better but I was clearly at the mercy of advertising.
Probably the best plan would be to see if the pain could subside. Maybe the doctor had got it wrong. If I could get through the spring and summer then maybe a quick op in the winter.
Originally my training plan was to be have done a couple of consecutive 90 mile training rides in time for a Hell of Ashdown sportive. This sportive was simply an early season training session, at speed, for Wessex. I had 4 weeks left till Ashdown and now I was immobile.
Since then I have taken about 8 days completely off the bike, laying down on my back at night and waiting as the pain did subside a lot. At that point the area was tender, a bit worrying, but no sharp pains. I think I was concerned that it might come back at any moment. But I tried sitting on the turbo. I did 20 minutes of low power and felt pretty much the same when I got off as when I got on. So that was good. For a couple of days I did the same. The pain was not getting worse. Then after nearly 2 weeks I decided to do a proper training session. No too hard, tempo and steady state. No problem. Maybe a bit less pain. The next day I did the same. Good. Then a climbing repeat session. After a few days I was doing 2 hard session per day, with no pain, and I did that for three days on the trot. Excellent. The pain had gone. It was now friday and just over a week till the SportiveStrength and fitness was coming back and the pain was gone.
Saturday. I did a hard 60 miles. The calves struggled, and unfortunately, so did the tummy, but not till later. The tenderness has returned and standing up pulls a bit - so I sit down.
I'm going to keep riding this week, maybe 1 hour per day, most days and see if the pain goes a bit. I can ride through this pain as it isn't that bad. I just don't know if I'm doing more harm. Ok I know I am but ...
Today hasn't been great. It's Monday and I ride next Sunday in the freezing cold wind. It should be dry though. If theres a lot of ice i might bail out as my tummy wont like a crash or two.
So much to look forward to. Why bother? I'm not a pro and I'm not that good.
It seems that evolution has made this a problem. Something like 300,000 ops per year for hernias in the UK which is a lot. My first thought was how can I do my training now. Will I have to bail out of the Tour of Wessex?
I was gutted. A few hours had me positive though. If I couldn't do the ToW maybe I can keep fit-ish on the turbo.
I read all sorts on the web about this iguinal hernia and found a few options to get it fixed and a few techniques. The NHS was out, no insurance, so I would have to stump up the Benjamin's myself. The options ranged from £1600 to £2500 and I almost booked one - get it over and done with, pay the cash, a few weeks of the bike then back to full swing in time for the ToW. Then saw another technique. A Canadian one. It seemed better but I was clearly at the mercy of advertising.
Probably the best plan would be to see if the pain could subside. Maybe the doctor had got it wrong. If I could get through the spring and summer then maybe a quick op in the winter.
Originally my training plan was to be have done a couple of consecutive 90 mile training rides in time for a Hell of Ashdown sportive. This sportive was simply an early season training session, at speed, for Wessex. I had 4 weeks left till Ashdown and now I was immobile.
Since then I have taken about 8 days completely off the bike, laying down on my back at night and waiting as the pain did subside a lot. At that point the area was tender, a bit worrying, but no sharp pains. I think I was concerned that it might come back at any moment. But I tried sitting on the turbo. I did 20 minutes of low power and felt pretty much the same when I got off as when I got on. So that was good. For a couple of days I did the same. The pain was not getting worse. Then after nearly 2 weeks I decided to do a proper training session. No too hard, tempo and steady state. No problem. Maybe a bit less pain. The next day I did the same. Good. Then a climbing repeat session. After a few days I was doing 2 hard session per day, with no pain, and I did that for three days on the trot. Excellent. The pain had gone. It was now friday and just over a week till the SportiveStrength and fitness was coming back and the pain was gone.
Saturday. I did a hard 60 miles. The calves struggled, and unfortunately, so did the tummy, but not till later. The tenderness has returned and standing up pulls a bit - so I sit down.
I'm going to keep riding this week, maybe 1 hour per day, most days and see if the pain goes a bit. I can ride through this pain as it isn't that bad. I just don't know if I'm doing more harm. Ok I know I am but ...
Today hasn't been great. It's Monday and I ride next Sunday in the freezing cold wind. It should be dry though. If theres a lot of ice i might bail out as my tummy wont like a crash or two.
So much to look forward to. Why bother? I'm not a pro and I'm not that good.
Sunday, January 27, 2013
"I'm a feather for each wind that blows,"
"I'm a feather for each wind that blows," he said on the radio, quoting Shakespeare, "and the wind is blowing me this way now … This position I'm in is strange. I do feel fit and yet I know that death is upon me. I've had a fantastic life, when I think of the things that have happened to me. Anybody that asks for more would just be being greedy. Don't want to be greedy."
Britain is realising it has another national treasure: Wilko Johnson, the goggle-eyed guitar hero of Dr Feelgood. Earlier this month, 65-year-old Johnson announced his diagnosis with terminal pancreatic cancer and, with impish logic, his farewell tour in February and March. Then, on Radio 4 on Friday, he shrugged off his prognosis in his unmistakable Essex twang with the statement that he felt "vividly alive … it probably takes [imminent death] to knock a bit of sense into our heads."
A few years ago, Johnson was in danger of being consigned to a chapter of British rock history – a chapter which detailed the surprise success 40 years ago of Dr Feelgood's sparse R&B, and noted how John Lydon and Paul Weller lapped up Johnson's mesmerisingly choppy, on-the-move live guitar and lead singer Lee Brilleaux's white-suited yowl (watch the YouTube live clips from the 1970s of "Roxette" and "She Does It Right"). In the years that followed Johnson's departure from the band in 1977, he gigged on, but only a hard core of loyal fans were enjoying the awesome sight of Wilko Johnson in full rock-out.
Then came Julien Temple's Oil City Confidential. This 2009 film examined the cult of Dr Feelgood, suggesting they were quintessentially English bluesmen from the Thames Delta, mounting raids on the metropolis from their Canvey Island redoubt. The star was Johnson – part axe god, part philosopher-poet, part Essex suburbanite. The moptop was gone, but Johnson's unmistakable energy fizzed out of the screen. Last year, an autobiography and an EMI box set of Dr Feelgood were released. And now this. Johnson is acquainted with cancer – it killed both his wife and Brilleaux.
So let's leave the last word here to the man himself: "I'm a feather for each wind that blows," he said on the radio, quoting Shakespeare, "and the wind is blowing me this way now … This position I'm in is strange. I do feel fit and yet I know that death is upon me. I've had a fantastic life, when I think of the things that have happened to me. Anybody that asks for more would just be being greedy. Don't want to be greedy."
Mike Higgins - Independent 27 Jan 2013
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Asthma and cycling
Sometime around the early to middle of last year I had a chest infection which hung around and my breathing was awful. Eventually, after weeks of wheezing I took myself off to the doctor's and mentioned that many years previously I had used inhalers for Asthma. I had stopped because I thought it better to struggle through some bad breathing rather than pump chemicals into my lungs, and in any case it wasn't that bad. But nonetheless, would it be possible for an inhaler please doctor?
My motive, if I'm completely honest, was to become a drugs cheat.
A number of rides had been wheezy over the years but more noticeable was my ride to work. Near the end it involves a good long hill where I am near anaerobic for 5 mins. What I noticed is that quite often I would arrive at work fine. Then park up, enter the building and walk up three flights of stairs and that would kill me. No idea why the breathing suffered so much on the stairs. Could be the change in air temp, dust, air-con, ... Anyway this was clearly asthma but I knew that I could easily live without a puffer as it would subside after a few mins maybe. But wouldn't a puffer help me on the bike. A drugs cheat :)
The doctor actually agreed to the puffer and explained that the thinking nowadays is that struggling through these episodes is thought to be more harmful to the lung's airways than the chemicals. As the airways contract and stay contracted they will eventually loose their elasticity and this is thought not to be good in the longer term. So using the blue inhaler is preferable. Anyway, I was given a prescription for the blue puffer and told to make an appointment with the Asthma nurse.
It was about ten weeks ago when I finally made the appointment and I was wheezing quite badly after my walk there. I think that I'm probably a bit lactose intollerant and I had some milk on cereals before I left home.
Anyway, in the clinic I puffed on an airflow meter and scored a paltry 400 things per thing. Nurse Amanda gave me four puffs on a blue inhaler and 15 minutes later it was up to 565. It was not actually a whopping 565, as people do have more puff than that, but maybe my weight and general pathetic stature mean thats relatively a whopping for me.
After chatting and explaining stuff I went away with a brown puffer and told to use it day and night, one puff, every day. Clentil Modulite 100. It is a low dose and I should see an improvement after 5-10 days I think she said. I was advised that I could up it to two puffs per day if I felt I needed to as that was still a low dose. If my breathing was bad then I should use the blue puffer.
My thoughts.
The airflow measuring is a really good thing. There is technique involved and you think you can cheat it, or perhaps get a better reading or perhaps worse one by technique alone. But I think it is honest. I think does truthfully say you are a 500 and not a 530. You can actually feel the state of the breathing and begin to know where you will be on the cuff machine and confirm it. It is excellent. Christmas meesed me up a bit with chocolates and cakes and I'm sure the diet, what ever it was in there, did affect my breathing. By keeing a chart like this I am finding patterns to food. I am sure that milk on cereals is bad for me. Within 30 mins my breathing can be worse. Not always but can be. I am not sure of this one though, but if I have a lot of chocolate at night, then the next morning my breathing is bad. I have not proved that one because I'm now losing weight for the Tour of Wessex.
I the above chart, the yellow line is the Brown inhaler - Clenil Modulite 100.
The Blue line is the Ventolin inhaler used when breathing is bad. The Y-axis is 100 units per puff. So 100 is one puff and 200 is two puffs.
Drugs cheat?
Yes. I abstain from Caffeine till race day or the occasional training day, and I have puff or two on the Ventolin for big days only. I take the Clentil two puffs twice a day.
By the way, please don't be dumb and think that this is advice. Go see the doctor or asthma nurse and get it looked at by a professional.
My motive, if I'm completely honest, was to become a drugs cheat.
A number of rides had been wheezy over the years but more noticeable was my ride to work. Near the end it involves a good long hill where I am near anaerobic for 5 mins. What I noticed is that quite often I would arrive at work fine. Then park up, enter the building and walk up three flights of stairs and that would kill me. No idea why the breathing suffered so much on the stairs. Could be the change in air temp, dust, air-con, ... Anyway this was clearly asthma but I knew that I could easily live without a puffer as it would subside after a few mins maybe. But wouldn't a puffer help me on the bike. A drugs cheat :)
The doctor actually agreed to the puffer and explained that the thinking nowadays is that struggling through these episodes is thought to be more harmful to the lung's airways than the chemicals. As the airways contract and stay contracted they will eventually loose their elasticity and this is thought not to be good in the longer term. So using the blue inhaler is preferable. Anyway, I was given a prescription for the blue puffer and told to make an appointment with the Asthma nurse.
It was about ten weeks ago when I finally made the appointment and I was wheezing quite badly after my walk there. I think that I'm probably a bit lactose intollerant and I had some milk on cereals before I left home.
Anyway, in the clinic I puffed on an airflow meter and scored a paltry 400 things per thing. Nurse Amanda gave me four puffs on a blue inhaler and 15 minutes later it was up to 565. It was not actually a whopping 565, as people do have more puff than that, but maybe my weight and general pathetic stature mean thats relatively a whopping for me.
After chatting and explaining stuff I went away with a brown puffer and told to use it day and night, one puff, every day. Clentil Modulite 100. It is a low dose and I should see an improvement after 5-10 days I think she said. I was advised that I could up it to two puffs per day if I felt I needed to as that was still a low dose. If my breathing was bad then I should use the blue puffer.
 |
| Airflow - Click to enlarge |
My thoughts.
The airflow measuring is a really good thing. There is technique involved and you think you can cheat it, or perhaps get a better reading or perhaps worse one by technique alone. But I think it is honest. I think does truthfully say you are a 500 and not a 530. You can actually feel the state of the breathing and begin to know where you will be on the cuff machine and confirm it. It is excellent. Christmas meesed me up a bit with chocolates and cakes and I'm sure the diet, what ever it was in there, did affect my breathing. By keeing a chart like this I am finding patterns to food. I am sure that milk on cereals is bad for me. Within 30 mins my breathing can be worse. Not always but can be. I am not sure of this one though, but if I have a lot of chocolate at night, then the next morning my breathing is bad. I have not proved that one because I'm now losing weight for the Tour of Wessex.
 |
| Inhaler use - click to enlarge |
The Blue line is the Ventolin inhaler used when breathing is bad. The Y-axis is 100 units per puff. So 100 is one puff and 200 is two puffs.
Drugs cheat?
Yes. I abstain from Caffeine till race day or the occasional training day, and I have puff or two on the Ventolin for big days only. I take the Clentil two puffs twice a day.
By the way, please don't be dumb and think that this is advice. Go see the doctor or asthma nurse and get it looked at by a professional.
Monday, January 7, 2013
Training for the season's rides - #2 Weekend lost?
That weekend wasn't good.
The trouble with planning to get fit is that it'll start tomorrow. Without having a plan as such I felt that the lull in the weather would be idea for me to do 60-80 miles on both Saturday and Sunday. That was ridiculous when I thought about it for a second. Why? That's too many hours on the bike over the weekend and to what end? Well of course it would do me good but it would probably be a bit of an over reaction.
So I had a curry on Friday night, stayed up late, felt knackered on Saturday and did nothing. So a load of grams of fat went in on Friday and no exercise on Saturday.
Sunday was a ride to my son's rugby match. Watch the rugby. Cycle home. I thought I would do a turbo ride in the evening but that never materialised.
Ate too many chocolate biscuits.
I started to schedule my year on a spreadsheet and book too Sportives. I then thought a bit about my training plan at a high level.
Anyway, back to the riding. I actually didn't do much on Sunday. Maybe 14miles each way. But, I did them really nicely. A good tempo pace, good gearing up the lumpy hills and a good pedal stroke. It felt great.
The trouble with planning to get fit is that it'll start tomorrow. Without having a plan as such I felt that the lull in the weather would be idea for me to do 60-80 miles on both Saturday and Sunday. That was ridiculous when I thought about it for a second. Why? That's too many hours on the bike over the weekend and to what end? Well of course it would do me good but it would probably be a bit of an over reaction.
So I had a curry on Friday night, stayed up late, felt knackered on Saturday and did nothing. So a load of grams of fat went in on Friday and no exercise on Saturday.
Sunday was a ride to my son's rugby match. Watch the rugby. Cycle home. I thought I would do a turbo ride in the evening but that never materialised.
Ate too many chocolate biscuits.
I started to schedule my year on a spreadsheet and book too Sportives. I then thought a bit about my training plan at a high level.
w/c
|
||
7 Jan 2013
|
Base (tempo & Steady state)
|
|
14 Jan 2013
|
Rest (temp and endurance)
|
|
21 Jan 2013
|
Base
|
|
28 Jan 2013
|
Base + distance
|
|
4 Feb 2013
|
Rest + 1 distance ride
|
|
11 Feb 2013
|
Base + dist
|
|
18 Feb 2013
|
Sun 24th Hell of Ashdown 68miles
| |
25 Feb 2013
|
Base + distance
|
|
4 Mar 2013
|
Sun 10 Puncheur 64 miles
|
|
11 Mar 2013
|
||
18 Mar 2013
|
||
25 Mar 2013
|
||
1 Apr 2013
|
||
8 Apr 2013
|
||
15 Apr 2013
|
||
22 Apr 2013
|
||
29 Apr 2013
|
||
6 May 2013
|
||
13 May 2013
|
Sun 19 Castle ride - 106miles
|
|
20 May 2013
|
Sun 25 Wessex 330miles
|
|
27 May 2013
|
I am thinking of putting something big between the Puncheur and the castle ride. Maybe in April. What I'd love to do is the Leige Bastogne Leige but I've probably missed that opportunity. I emailed Red Lantern to see if they're running trips but haven't any feedback yet.
What the sportive rider needs to do is ride constantly, with some up hill speed and good downhill speed. For me, I'm fortunate to be ok at going up hill - relatively, compared to your average sportive ride, but I'm a coward going down especially in the damp or wet or windy. Where I am trying to gain is in the ability to go a long distance at a steady speed. So my training will be about that. In the tour of wessex you don't really need to bridge gaps that much and sudden high amounts of power, because the TOW isn't a race. It's how fast can you get around. How constant can you go for 5-6 hours or so.
Group riding is a must, slipstreaming is essential, doing your fair share is essential, climbing is essential, downhill is technical and fast, nutrition and hydation is critical, tempo riding is essential.
Anyway, back to the riding. I actually didn't do much on Sunday. Maybe 14miles each way. But, I did them really nicely. A good tempo pace, good gearing up the lumpy hills and a good pedal stroke. It felt great.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)