Bicycle Trainer

So some of you heard that I got a bicycle trainer. No, it is not a pair of little wheels to help stabilize me! If you look at the picture you can see that it is a stationary bike trainer. If I master this then I can add the little wheels next week.
I will be seeing a lot of this trainer over the coming months. It is a useful tool for sorting out my riding technique. I have never really paid a lot of attention to cadence (number of revolutions per minute) in the past but I am told that it is now time to (new gear opportunity - cadance monitor!). The trainer helps to get you used to riding at a certain cadance without interruption. I have been practicing riding at 80 to 110 rpm in various gears over the weekend - it can be quite hard and I am starting to miss stop signs and traffic lights. Our coach also has a series of torturous exercises that we have to do using the trainer. The worse is cycling with one leg. If you think that it sounds easy, try it, it is not. The added twist is that you have to keep a very fluid motion going and not stutter. Apparently this helps you get more power out of your cycle strokes.
The pics were taken in our garden and choosen by Raj who is rapidly becoming a sports photographer. I am wearing my 2004 AIDS Lifecycle bike top.

Halloween Horror!

I have never really understood the elaborate efforts that people go to for Halloween. It seems like decorations have been up for weeks now. Anyhow, I was struck by this article in the paper today:

Hanging Mistaken for Halloween Decoration

The apparent suicide of a woman found hanging from a tree went unreported for hours because passers-by thought the body was a Halloween decoration, authorities said.
The 42-year-old woman used rope to hang herself across the street from some homes on a moderately busy road late Tuesday or early Wednesday, state police said.

The body, suspended about 15 feet above the ground, could be easily seen from passing vehicles.

State police spokesman Cpl. Jeff Oldham and neighbors said people noticed the body at breakfast time Wednesday but dismissed it as a holiday prank. Authorities were called to the scene more than three hours later.

"They thought it was a Halloween decoration," Fay Glanden, wife of Mayor William Glanden, told The (Wilmington) News Journal.

Monday, October 24, 2005

Monday is my rest day so it is a good opportunity for me to stop babbling on about myself and share something more interesting with you. Here is a fabulous photo of Brandon at Machu Picchu from his recent trip to Peru with Dion. Dion had suggested that I have some sort of hunk of the day picture posting - I thought that the pictures of me fell into this category but apprently not. Anyhow, I would be very interested in posting your pictures, quotes, rants or whatever, if you want to forward them to me.

Swim Pix

For all you non-believers, here is the evidence that I can swim! These shots were from our pool training session which was held at an aquatic centre on the planet Moraga. Well, Moraga is near Fayetteville, but it felt like I was on another planet. The aquatic centre belonged to a local high school and was better than anything that I have ever seen in the UK. They had three large pools. One, which must have had 12 lanes, was being used for a competition so there were hundred of kids around. We used one of the smaller pools which only had 6 lanes. Still, it was fun. Yes, I am actually enjoying swimming which is a big suprise. I still find the drills difficult but I seem to be making great progress. Our coach videod us and provided feedback on our technique. I was waiting for him to burst out laughing when he reviewed me but he was rather encouraging. I seem to be wiggling about a bit were I shouldn't but I have a good prognosis. I even received a prescription for some remedial drills to correct the unnecessary movements.
I also noticed that I don't come away from a decent swimming pool with a streaming nose. I think that my local Y must use super-strength chloride or something that the WMD inspectors missed in Iraq, which I guess is understandable as most of the people that use the pool are either kids or over 85, and thus are prone to leaking urine. I think it is time to find another pool.

Bike Gear Kit - Purple Flames!

OK, so I know that you have been waiting to see me in my new sexy ironman gear. Raj took this picture of me this morning before our group spinning session. Yes, those are flames, and no, they are not coming out of my behind.

Friday October 21, 2005

My training for the last three days has been swimming (mainly drills) and cycling which I have managed to integrate into to my work schedule without too much hassle. Although I had to go swimming rather early today due to a business meeting at lunchtime. It was a bit tough swallowing water so soon after breakfast.

New toy alert! I acquired a cycle trainer so I can do spinning on my bike! I will get to do my first work out with this tomorrow. Hopefully, I can catch a few pictures to post.

Also, I had a nice boost to my fundraising today with a generous donation from Carol. I am now at $750 which is close to my immediate goal of $1000 by the end of November. Feel free to be the one to who tips me over! By the way, as an incentive, I am offering a free framed print to anyone who donates at least $100 by the end of November. Check out my donation site at the link on the right.

Tuesday October 18, 2005

Start of Week 2
Resting pulse 56, weight 164 lbs (-2lbs)

Monday was a well earnt rest day which allowed me to focus on work. I am fortunate have a lot of interesting projects to work on at the moment. I am in the process of making revisions to finalize a manuscript for Hepatology which was submitted a couple of months back, and which will hopefully be accepted for publication soon. Also, I am putting the final touches to another manuscript, an updated set of treatment guidelines for chronic hepatitis B, which will be submitted for review tomorrow. My biggest ongoing project is a report for a long-term clinical study in chronic hepatitis B. I will spend the rest of this week, in between training, working on my third draft.

Today's activity was a 48 minute run split into 3 x 15 minutes sessions with a one minute walk in between. 'A walk!' I hear you cry. Well, at the end of each 15 minute session I had to sprint for 30 seconds, so a walk was required.

I got a nice quote from our Team Manager today:

"I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver."
--Maya Angelou

So get liberating your souls!

October 15-16, 2005

This was a busy weekend! No doubt just the first in many. I trained on my own on Saturday (swim session and bike ride) and joined the group for an Iron University meeting on Sunday at Redwood High School in Corte Madeira. This was a mixture of pool-work and core training. The pool work was focussed on swimming drills which are supposed to help improve your form. Technique is everything with swimming, and I don't have much. Anyhow, despite swallowing a few litres of pool water, I managed to do all of the drills. Most importantly, I am not the worst swimmer, which is a big relief.

The second session was a review of core training, injury prevention and running drills. Core training is hard, especially as I haven't done any for a long time. These exercises are designed to strengthen all of the core muscles involved in swimming, running and cycling and will improve our performance as well as reduce the risk of over use injuries...so the theory goes...

Our coaches are big fans of foam rollers which was great to hear. I became a big foam roller user during the AIDS ride last summer. Foam rollers massage your muscles and help you to recover from your exertions. I swear that this is why I felt so much better on this years AIDS ride. The picture is one of me rolling at a lunch stop somewhere near Santa Barbara.

I spent most of the rest of Sunday setting up our new Tivo box, which after some initial problems, seems to be up and running. No more adverts!!! Lots more South Park!

October 13-14, 2005

Two pool sessions. I guess that I will be seeing a lot of the Y over the coming months. Thursday was an enhancer day where you get to work on your weakest event which is why I swam. At some point, I need to start doing drills to improve my technique. I believe that swimming is as much about good technical skills as fitness. As my swimming technique is somewhat lacking, I have much to do here! Our coach will be videoing us at a future group session which should be very informative. I am sure that I will look like a lumbering mass of splashing and flailing limbs. On the positive, I am swimming further than I ever have before, I just need to figure out how to cover another 3500m.

October 12, 2005

My first track session at Kesar Stadium, which was awash with hundreds of runners participating in a variety of training programs, including at least 3 TNT teams. After a 15 minute warm up, we ran for 30 minutes at a moderately hard pace to see how many laps we could run. Again, this was to set a baseline to judge our progress. I managed 15 laps (6000m), averaging 2 minutes per lap. It was the first time that I trained with the larger group and it felt quite good, especially as I lapped quite a few people!

I have also started to research the benefits of food supplements. This seems to be a bit of a wishy washy area. However, there seems to be some research that has been well conducted. So currently, I am looking at upping my omega-3 and antioxidant intake (lots of fruit!). Hopefully, I can do this through my diet rather than having to take supplements. I am also trying to get to grips with high and low glycaemic carbohydrates. High index carbs are bad because they are rapidly absorbed cause spikes in blood sugar which results in the body producing lots of insulin. This can reduce blood sugar levels rapidly and result in you being hungry again, so you eat more high index carbs and so the cycle goes on. Low index carbs are good because they are absorbed more slowly release energy over a longer period of time and avoids spikes in insulin secretion. I think that is it but let me know if I have got it wrong. The thing that suprised me is that many foods that I think of as being healthy, are high index carbs. Some things that I will have to cut back on are pasta, potatoes and white rice. Interestingly, to me anyway, many fruits and veggies are low index e.g. apples, oranges, and kiwi fruits. One huge suprise is that chocolate is a low glycemic food!! Praise the lard!

October 11, 2005

Baseline HR: 58
Baseline weight: 166lbs

Today is the day that I actually start my 10 month training program for IronMan Canada which will be held in British Columbia next summer. For most of the program, I will need to train for 6 days a week. In addition, I will also be required to do two training sessions per day for 3-4 days a week. As Monday was my rest day, it looks like I will be busy for the rest of the week.

My first training session was in the pool, which is just as well, as it is my weakest event. After a 150m warm up, I swam for 10 minutes to see how far I could cover, which will serve as a baseline to judge my progress against. I managed 14 lengths (350m) without stopping! In all, I swam a total of 1000m, 25% of the distance that I will be swimming in the IronMan. Now I just need to figure out how to swim 160 lengths without stopping, and still feel good enough to cycle 112 miles and run 26.1 miles!.
My second session of the day was a 30 minute core strength training session. Improving my core strength is supposed to help all three of the disciplines and help prevent injuries - we will see.

Background

I spent Sunday October 9, 2005 meeting the other 50 or so people who will be part of the San Francisco North Bay TNT IronTeam and who will also be participating in either IronMan USA or Canada. I walked away from the meeting with a pile of information to get me started, and an enhanced feeling of nervous excitement, plus a long list of new sexy IronMan toys to acquire.

The training program started with a rest day which I quickly put to use with a trip to Sportsbasment to acquire a wetsuit. It has been a while since I bought a wetsuit, and I soon got to appreciate how different they are these days. My previous suits had been for diving and windsurfing - these were thick clumbsy but warm and bouyant. After trying out 4 suits, I ended up with an Orca Speedsuit which looks as though it is designed for a 40 lb 4 foot midget. Somehow the thing stretches to cover my body like a second skin and still lets me flail my arms around in a swimmy-like fashion. Other gear aquired included a swim belt (so I can run in the water - maybe I will be able to walk on it if I hit my fundraising total), a neophrene helmet (we will be swimming in the Bay all winter!!), and a ton of sports drinks and energy bars.

Why am I doing this? Well, I am doing it to raise at least $7500 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. I think that this is a great organization in that a lot of the money that they raise goes to medical research. The $400,000 that our team aims to raise will provide funding for 3 full-time medical research positions at at an institution such as Stanford. Also, I get to participate in a fabulous well thought out program and achieve something that I could probably never do on my own. So check out my donations page and sponsor me!

http://www.active.com/donate/tntgsf/frysci.com. Thank you!

By the Way, for those of you who may not know, an IronMan consists of a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride and a 26.1 mile run, all of which must be completed within a 19 hour limit.