I've been going to a succession of cardiologists (they keep retiring on me) for fifty years. It all started when I began running and after one hard workout thought I had a heart problem. I didn't, but kept getting tested annually. Now that I'm old, need a statin to control cholesterol, and continue to stress the heart on an almost daily basis, I continue the annual visits. Every five years I get an Echo Stress Test.
Every time I complain that they really aren't stressing me. And this is why (not the "reason why" because that is grammatically incorrect, even though it is repeated ad infinatum): apparently they use the formula 220 minus your age to determine the maximum heart rate. For me, that would be 143. As best I can determine, this year my maximum heart rate is 157 and 90% is 141. At the Driveway last year my average HR for the 30 minute race was 150.
I would have preferred a stationary bike, but no, they have a treadmill. I suggested they invest in a bike, but they pooh-poohed that. Anyhow my first surprise is that they didn't want 90% but 142. Plus, I had to keep my mask on. Actually she said if I were having distress I could take it down, but would have to put it back when I got back on the table.
I'm not fond of treadmills, and my hamstrings really don't like them. In conversation with the technicians I mentioned (bragged) that when racing I could hold 150 for an extended time. What I didn't say was I take a good thirty minutes to warm up properly plus have a good bit of adrenaline running. Every three minutes the angle and speed increased. I started out with a 67 HR and it took awhile to get over 100. Breathing began getting ragged when the angle was fairly steep and the speed was between a fast walk and slow jog. But they really didn't want me jogging, nor did I. The hammys were beginning to complain, as were the lungs. HR approached 142 and when that number showed up I said I'd had enough. Indeed, I really did have enough. The kept me going another thirty seconds (having told me earlier that they would).
The treadmill stopped, I sat back down on the table and turned to my side to get the post-treadmill echo. This wasn't like the end of a race where you get to cool down. I was supposed to stop breathing in order to get a picture. I was gasping for air and couldn't hold my breath on the intake, but was finally able to do it on the exhale. It's only for a second or two, but it was a challenge. Another minute and I was back to normal breathing.
I see the cardiologist next week to review the results. One thing the technician told me was it took about a minute and a half less time to get to my target HR this year than in 2015. I get that, I'm five years older.
Friday, May 29, 2020
Wednesday, May 27, 2020
FINALLY, THE MANDA TIME TRIAL
As the previous post proclaimed, my intention was to get in several rides around the time trial course. Things kept getting in the way. One thing I knew was that this area is extremely exposed and the wind is always stronger than what is forecast for Austin. Since me and wind are estranged, I kept waiting for a forecast of less than 10 mph. The last week in May came without another "acceptable" day. Last week the ten day forecast was for rain and thunderstorms until June. I despaired that I had squandered my chance. Then God relented and moved the weather system to the northeast, giving me an opportunity this morning. Low wind, low temperature. I prepared the TT bike and set out, prepared for a mid-morning race.
It is funny, being in a race with only one person. And truly, since there is no age grouping, I'm only in it to be in it. Of course, I didn't want to finish last so I gave it my best shot. And, even though the Manda TT wouldn't give me first place, the Strava age group would.
As it turned out, I should have been there for a nine o'clock start rather than ten. As I warmed up on the last leg of the course, I could feel the wind freshen. It would be in my face on the third leg, which was mostly uphill. Well, it seemed like it was mostly uphill, Strava disagreed. I knew I wasn't in "race mode." It's kinda hard to get the adrenaline pumping when there is no one around. I felt like either one gear short, thirty watts low, or ten rpm's slow.
The ride itself was uneventful. I saw zero vehicles on the road for the whole circuit. Just as well, I managed to take up quite a bit of my side of the road. In looking at the results so far, I see that Lawson Craddock is in town, or was last week. Don Ford recorded a faster time, but apparently he is in the 70-74 age group. Kosme Ramirez also recorded a faster time. He didn't sign a waiver. He shows up in a lot of my Strava segments, mostly ahead of me. But since I can't track him down, I don't know if he's really in the 75-79 age category. Speaking of Craddock, I still want to remove Tom Craddock from my age group on the segments he is ahead of me on. Maybe with their upgrading, Stava will do that rather than giving me a hard time about why they can't.
If you haven't done Manda, you have three more days to get it in.
It is funny, being in a race with only one person. And truly, since there is no age grouping, I'm only in it to be in it. Of course, I didn't want to finish last so I gave it my best shot. And, even though the Manda TT wouldn't give me first place, the Strava age group would.
As it turned out, I should have been there for a nine o'clock start rather than ten. As I warmed up on the last leg of the course, I could feel the wind freshen. It would be in my face on the third leg, which was mostly uphill. Well, it seemed like it was mostly uphill, Strava disagreed. I knew I wasn't in "race mode." It's kinda hard to get the adrenaline pumping when there is no one around. I felt like either one gear short, thirty watts low, or ten rpm's slow.
The ride itself was uneventful. I saw zero vehicles on the road for the whole circuit. Just as well, I managed to take up quite a bit of my side of the road. In looking at the results so far, I see that Lawson Craddock is in town, or was last week. Don Ford recorded a faster time, but apparently he is in the 70-74 age group. Kosme Ramirez also recorded a faster time. He didn't sign a waiver. He shows up in a lot of my Strava segments, mostly ahead of me. But since I can't track him down, I don't know if he's really in the 75-79 age category. Speaking of Craddock, I still want to remove Tom Craddock from my age group on the segments he is ahead of me on. Maybe with their upgrading, Stava will do that rather than giving me a hard time about why they can't.
If you haven't done Manda, you have three more days to get it in.
Tuesday, May 5, 2020
TIME TRIAL MIS-ADVENTURE
But first, a little background for those not in the Austin area. The Driveway Series is probably the premier criterium race venue in the US. Every Thursday from March through October, or, Daylight Savings Time to Standard Time, Kelley puts on a half dozen races and allows up to 75 rabid racers (per race), myself included, to achieve their wildest dreams. Perhaps that is a tad misleading, but you get the sentiment. In any case, Covid-19 has put a huge damper on the proceedings. Like many entrepreneurs, Kelley has made temporary adaptations. First came the Virtual Driveway in conjunction with Zwift, then the Old Sayers Road Gravel Race. This was a race where you biked solo and posted your time. For the month of May we have the Manda Time Trial. This is on country roads, 8.8 miles and again you bike solo and record your time on Strava.
Regular readers know that I dearly love my TT bike. Time trialing is my best event even though there are precious few races during the year. I had put the Castroville time trials on my calendar this year but they too have been curtailed. So when Manda was announced it caught my interest. I haven't been on my TT bike in months.
The weather forecasting has been a bit spotty this last week, with the timing of the front moving from Wednesday to Tuesday evening to Tuesday noonish. As a result, my original Tuesday cycling went from a two hour ride to either cycling in the kitchen or getting in an early cadence drill. I woke up this morning and checked the weather: overcast, negligible wind, front at 11 am or so. I really liked the idea of light wind and determined I'd get in a preview of the TT course, about a forty-five minute drive from home. Quickly I switched the Stages Power Meter crank to the TT bike, had breakfast, and donned my bike kit.
The start was easy to find, but I figured I'd drive the course first. Easy enough, three right turns on acceptable asphalt, one minor section excepted. It didn't take long to get ready and start out. With the course being square and 8.8 miles, it looked like two miles per side. Since this was just a preview ride, my plan was to warm up for the first lap then be more serious the second. And since I haven't been on the bike in awhile, I took several breaks from being in the tuck position to give my neck a break.
After the second right turn I checked the computer and it had just clicked over three miles. It took about a minute to register. That should have been four miles. Too late now, just carry on. I made the last turn and enjoyed what wind there was at my back and came to the finish, then back to the car. Well now, so to speak. The finish segment was Wells School Road. I had made a wrong turn onto Wells Lane rather than going on to Wells Road. As a result, I was two miles short. But that wasn't the end.
As I reviewed the posted course I could see where I messed up. But in going to the website, I was reminded that I hadn't signed up nor signed the waiver. Of course, that really didn't matter all that much, this was only a preview ride. I started to do that, but didn't get very far in that I could not, for the life of me, remember my sign in and password for bikereg. Then it felt like the wind shifted.
I took it as a sign for me that my activities should be curtailed and I packed up and came home. I'm now signed up and waived and ready to go back and do a serious TT. But it won't be tomorrow. Tomorrow is forecast to be a perfect day to get in a long ride.
Regular readers know that I dearly love my TT bike. Time trialing is my best event even though there are precious few races during the year. I had put the Castroville time trials on my calendar this year but they too have been curtailed. So when Manda was announced it caught my interest. I haven't been on my TT bike in months.
The weather forecasting has been a bit spotty this last week, with the timing of the front moving from Wednesday to Tuesday evening to Tuesday noonish. As a result, my original Tuesday cycling went from a two hour ride to either cycling in the kitchen or getting in an early cadence drill. I woke up this morning and checked the weather: overcast, negligible wind, front at 11 am or so. I really liked the idea of light wind and determined I'd get in a preview of the TT course, about a forty-five minute drive from home. Quickly I switched the Stages Power Meter crank to the TT bike, had breakfast, and donned my bike kit.
The start was easy to find, but I figured I'd drive the course first. Easy enough, three right turns on acceptable asphalt, one minor section excepted. It didn't take long to get ready and start out. With the course being square and 8.8 miles, it looked like two miles per side. Since this was just a preview ride, my plan was to warm up for the first lap then be more serious the second. And since I haven't been on the bike in awhile, I took several breaks from being in the tuck position to give my neck a break.
After the second right turn I checked the computer and it had just clicked over three miles. It took about a minute to register. That should have been four miles. Too late now, just carry on. I made the last turn and enjoyed what wind there was at my back and came to the finish, then back to the car. Well now, so to speak. The finish segment was Wells School Road. I had made a wrong turn onto Wells Lane rather than going on to Wells Road. As a result, I was two miles short. But that wasn't the end.
As I reviewed the posted course I could see where I messed up. But in going to the website, I was reminded that I hadn't signed up nor signed the waiver. Of course, that really didn't matter all that much, this was only a preview ride. I started to do that, but didn't get very far in that I could not, for the life of me, remember my sign in and password for bikereg. Then it felt like the wind shifted.
I took it as a sign for me that my activities should be curtailed and I packed up and came home. I'm now signed up and waived and ready to go back and do a serious TT. But it won't be tomorrow. Tomorrow is forecast to be a perfect day to get in a long ride.
Saturday, May 2, 2020
ANOTHER HILL RIDE POST
If I weren't so lazy, I'd look up exactly when I switched from a compact to a triple in order to get up Courtyard and Jester without stopping. My best guess is 8-10 years ago. Once in the triple, I then moved to a bigger cog, then to a smaller little ring. It's all blogged, but really not germane to this one, other than after 10 years, I switched back to a double ring.
As it stands now, my carbon Emonda with a compact crank and 11-30 cogset is about five pounds lighter than my titanium Roark with the triple, due mostly to the wheels and tires. In any case, last week I thought I'd try getting up Courtyard on the Emonda, mainly because I didn't feel like switching the Stages power crank. According to Sheldon Brown's calculator, I'm about one and a half gears short on the Emonda. I speculated that because of the weight, I could successfully power up the hill.
It was a struggle, but I managed to get up and over both Courtyard and Jester. Today I did it again, so it wasn't a one-off ride. Admittedly, today I was assisted by a stout south wind. But there are some differences between then and now, other than being ten years older, although there is a connection.. Back then, and even with the triple, it took one gear less on Jester than Courtyard. Now I'm using all the gears on both hills, and Bluegrass for that matter. Also, I used to stand in the pedals to power up the last ramp on Courtyard. Now I'm seated the whole way. I am somewhat mystified by the lack of power on the climbs. I thought I was doing the best I could, but was hanging around 240-260 watts. I would have thought I'd be doing 300-330. Toward the end of the ride I hit 398 going up Lost Horizon. I guess I need to monitor the power more closely next time and see if I can't exert myself.
The main reason for doing this ride is to give my heart a good workout. Courtyard always brings me to my maximum. Until last year I never exceeded the Courtyard reading. When I first started keeping HR data, my max was 169. After a few years it started to slowly drop. The highest it has been this year is 156, at the Driveway. Racing at the Driveway has supplanted Courtyard for bringing out my highest HR, but since that has been curtailed for the interim, I've reverted. So far, the best I've done there is 153. I suspect it is a confidence thing, and I'll set my Garmin to showing HR and Power and see what happens. Check back so see how that goes.
As it stands now, my carbon Emonda with a compact crank and 11-30 cogset is about five pounds lighter than my titanium Roark with the triple, due mostly to the wheels and tires. In any case, last week I thought I'd try getting up Courtyard on the Emonda, mainly because I didn't feel like switching the Stages power crank. According to Sheldon Brown's calculator, I'm about one and a half gears short on the Emonda. I speculated that because of the weight, I could successfully power up the hill.
It was a struggle, but I managed to get up and over both Courtyard and Jester. Today I did it again, so it wasn't a one-off ride. Admittedly, today I was assisted by a stout south wind. But there are some differences between then and now, other than being ten years older, although there is a connection.. Back then, and even with the triple, it took one gear less on Jester than Courtyard. Now I'm using all the gears on both hills, and Bluegrass for that matter. Also, I used to stand in the pedals to power up the last ramp on Courtyard. Now I'm seated the whole way. I am somewhat mystified by the lack of power on the climbs. I thought I was doing the best I could, but was hanging around 240-260 watts. I would have thought I'd be doing 300-330. Toward the end of the ride I hit 398 going up Lost Horizon. I guess I need to monitor the power more closely next time and see if I can't exert myself.
The main reason for doing this ride is to give my heart a good workout. Courtyard always brings me to my maximum. Until last year I never exceeded the Courtyard reading. When I first started keeping HR data, my max was 169. After a few years it started to slowly drop. The highest it has been this year is 156, at the Driveway. Racing at the Driveway has supplanted Courtyard for bringing out my highest HR, but since that has been curtailed for the interim, I've reverted. So far, the best I've done there is 153. I suspect it is a confidence thing, and I'll set my Garmin to showing HR and Power and see what happens. Check back so see how that goes.
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