Milestones

 

With yesterday’s ride of just under 3 hours, I surpassed the 10 hour weekly training mark for the first time. Ever. I’m paying for it a bit today with a sore lower back (legs are tight as a drum pulling on my lower back muscles) but I’ll fix that with an extra warm-up period each ride and plenty of water. That’s a major accomplishment for me. It will be important that I keep up that level or higher saddle time. I also am beginning to work harder on the trainer and have begun what I’m calling “Spring Training”. I’m working on a vide (imagine that) that I’ll post sometime after the Barry-Roubaix.

Our ride yesterday was much better than my ride of the same route last Sunday. The shoulder of Lakeshore Drive had firmed up over the week making it feasible to ride on. Most of the snow had melted off the shoulder as well and drained leaving very few puddles to dodge. The gravel roads were also free of snow/ice for the most part so there were no spills (or even close calls). I rode with two other shop teammates up to the northernmost point and just as we were reaching our turn-around spot, two other friendly faces came riding around the corner. So, we made the return south with five of us, which was great because we were heading into the wind on the way back.

It’s still muddy and cold out there, but there’s just no better feeling than spending time outside on the bike. I had some really wise advice over the past couple of weeks that is allowing me to relax going into the Barry-Roubaix in 2 weeks: don’t worry about the podium, it’s supposed to be a fun race for me and just a part of the training for mountain bike season. I’m still going to give it all I have and am a bit anxious that I’m not in the same shape this year as last year at this time, but I’m no longer placing the same level of expectation on myself as compared to, say, Iceman. It’s going to be a great ride and a fun day.

So on to my training plan. Did anyone notice my scheduling conflict last week? I didn’t think so. I had planned two rides for Saturday which made the plan seem relatively easy until Thursday when I realized the error. I simply added a 45 minute recovery spin on Friday night, which was helpful for Saturday’s ride anyway. I try to plan out my rides around known events, but my actual rides usually vary a bit in response to conflicts that come up and how I’m feeling. Here’s the plan for this week (Sunday is actual):

TRAINING SCHEDULE: WEEK OF MARCH 10, 2013
		Total	Completed ?
	Recovery Spin:
	Spin the lets out	80	Sunday
	Sustain:
10	10 minute warm up – 30%	90	Monday
30	20 minute sustain – 80%
35	5 minute rest – 30%
55	20 minute sustain – 80%
60	5 minute rest – 30%
80	20 minute sustain – 80%
90	10 minute cool down – 30%
	Strength Training – Upper Body
	Outdoor Fun Ride:
	Whatever for however long	120	Wednesday
	Strength Training – Upper Body
	Sprint Intervals:	105	Thursday
10	10 minute warm up – 30%
	15 second on – 100%
20	15 second rest – 20%    –   20 total reps (10 minutes)
25	5 minute rest – 40%
	40 seconds on – 90%
35	20 seconds off – 40%    10 total reps (10 minutes)
40	5 minute rest – 40%
	15 second on – 100%
50	15 second rest – 20%    –   20 total reps (10 minutes)
55	5 minute rest – 40%
	40 seconds on – 90%
65	20 seconds off – 40%    10 total reps (10 minutes)
70	5 minute rest – 40%
	15 second on – 100%
80	15 second rest – 20%    –   20 total reps (10 minutes)
85	5 minute rest – 40%
	40 seconds on – 90%
95	20 seconds off – 40%    10 total reps (10 minutes)
105	10 minute cool down – 40%
	Strength Training – Upper Body
	Recovery Spin:
	Spin the legs out	45	Friday
	Outdoor Lakeshore Ride:
	Wherever; just at 75-80% effort	150	Saturday
	Strength Training – Upper Body
	TOTAL	9.8

Ice Ride

So I took my Epic out today for it’s inaugural ride for the 2013 season. It was a welcome return of both suspension and gears.  It was a bright sunny day over in my neck of the woods, but the temperature was hovering right around freezing and there was a pretty stiff North West wind so I bundled up pretty good. With the Barry-Roubaix now 3 weeks away, it was time to find out where I stood in my preparations.

I wasn’t sure what kind of shape I was going to be in after not having a great winter of getting outside for rides. Last year’s abnormally warm winter put me (as well as many other Michigan riders) in great shape for the spring race season. I planned out a 42 mile route that included my well traveled Lakeshore Drive gravel shoulder routine as well as the gravel road route that I found last fall. As soon as I started heading out to the big lake, I knew I was going to be in for a challenge. Here’s the link to my Strava:

http://app.strava.com/activities/43044286

The bike path out to the lake is now 70-80% clear, but with my Epic the little bit of snow didn’t bother me or present much of a problem. With the sun beating down on it, the covered areas were pretty soft without any ice. Then heading north on Lakeshore Drive, the wind and conditions became a real factor. I always hop off the bike path at that point and jump over to the shoulder for the gravel training, which was a real mess. Some areas were totally clear and dried out; some areas were still snow covered, but hard-packed; and some areas were so soupy from snow melting that I felt like I was dragging a couple of riders with me. Add in the headwind and I started to become pretty discouraged at the speed I was carrying. I started fighting my typical mental battles around cutting my planned route short, coming up with every logical, acceptable excuse in the book on why it would be o.k. if I couldn’t complete my plan today.

I won at that point and continued on. I found out, though, that this would not be the worst of the work. After my Lakeshore Drive tour, I head a bit north and then east at the power plant to head over to farm country where the few gravel roads left between Holland and Grand Haven exist. Less than 30 seconds onto the gravel, or should I say Ice Road, I was sprawled out in someone’s driveway. Normally I like to carry a pretty good sense of humor and self deprivation about these things, but that really hurt. I wasn’t down long before collecting myself and hoping back on the bike but I felt like I had broken my hand for the next 10 minutes or so. I found later that I had given myself a pretty good bruise and scrape on my upper hip as well.

The gravel road did improve and all was going pretty well up until I hit M45. Once north of it, the road becomes lined with tall, mature trees that hide the street from direct sunlight that would normally melt the snow. I tentatively navigated the last couple of miles to where my turn-around was. Immediately, as soon as I stopped to turn around and grab the last of my chomps, the combination of my lack of studded tires and hard soled shoes provided for another excellent opportunity for me to lay on the ground. Fortunately I didn’t land as hard as the first time, but it still pointed out to me how slick the road actually was. My ride back south was at a snail’s pace, despite now having the benefit of the wind.

I was able to make it out of the worst section without incident, and started enjoying the support of that North West wind. Though I did realize, that when you’re heading directly south, you still tend to forget the effects of the NORTH part of that wind in favor of the still evident WEST crosswind J. My speed picked up dramatically and I headed home without further incident. My bike was caked with mud that had been frozen to my bike and the final score was 2 hours, 45 minutes. I’ve completed that ride in far less time, so I have my work cut out for me, but it was still great to get outside, figure out where I stood in my conditioning, and enjoy the sunshine.

For the week, I am removing all off-the-bike leg strength exercises as I kick up the time. I’m looking forward to a good week.

TRAINING SCHEDULE: WEEK OF MARCH 3, 2013
		Total	Completed ?
	Outdoor Fun Ride:
	Whatever for however long	165	Sunday
	Strength Training – Upper Body
	Recovery Ride:
	Strength Training – Upper Body	60	Monday
	Sprint Intervals:
10	10 minute warm up – 30%
	15 second on – 100%
20	15 second rest – 20%    –   20 total reps (10 minutes)
25	5 minute rest – 40%
	40 seconds on – 90%
35	20 seconds off – 40%    10 total reps (10 minutes)
40	5 minute rest – 40%
	15 second on – 100%
50	15 second rest – 20%    –   20 total reps (10 minutes)
55	5 minute rest – 40%
	40 seconds on – 90%
65	20 seconds off – 40%    10 total reps (10 minutes)
70	5 minute rest – 40%
	15 second on – 100%
80	15 second rest – 20%    –   20 total reps (10 minutes)
85	5 minute rest – 40%
	40 seconds on – 90%
95	20 seconds off – 40%    10 total reps (10 minutes)
105	10 minute cool down – 40%	105	Tuesday
	Strength Training – Upper Body
	Outdoor Lakeshore Ride:
	Wherever; just at 75-80% effort for 90 minutes	60	Saturday
	Strength Training – Upper Body
	Sustain:
10	10 minute warm up – 30%
30	20 minute sustain – 80%
35	5 minute rest – 30%
55	20 minute sustain – 80%
60	5 minute rest – 30%
80	20 minute sustain – 80%
90	10 minute cool down – 30%	90	Thursday
	Strength Training – Upper Body
	Outdoor Lakeshore Ride:
	Wherever; just at 75-80% effort for 90 minutes	120	Saturday
	Strength Training – Upper Body
	TOTAL	10.0

Off the Bike

Despite my seemingly one track mind on biking, I do enjoy getting outside for any reason. I took a walk with my 4 year old the other day to check out Lake Macatawa.

Lake Macatawa Angel

If it stays cold enough, we’ll be able to walk all the way accross the lake on the ice. Where Avery is laying has historically been under water, but over the past couple of years lake levels have been dropping, so a lot more shore area is exposed. This particular spot is just around the corner from our house and is a great spot for launching kayak’s. There are several streets in Holland that just dead end right into the lake creating these undeveloped public access points. This is one of those spots. I’m looking forward to launching my kayak from here next summer.

The Difference Between 90% and 100% Effort

Nothing. Seriously. I put on my neat little work-out program 100% effort for my peak output during my high cadence sprint workout and 90% effort for my low cadence sprint workout. My thought process was that because I was holding that peak for 40 seconds per rep vs. 15 I would need to manage my output a bit to sustain the cadence / speed. After doing both workouts, I knew I put out 100% on the high cadence sprints, but couldn’t really tell that I was lowering my output for the low cadence sprints.

Oh well. I’m not too worried about it, but I thought it was funny that I actually thought through planning my effort output and then really just put 100% effort into both sprints anyway. We’ll see how that changes as I increase my workout load.

Like I mentioned earlier this week, I’m tweaking my training plans slightly because I found them to be a bit too easy (the planned rests in between sets was too long). I’m also going to loosely map out which day I’m doing what to make sure I get it all in. I did end up getting everything in I had planned last week, but I’m starting out a bit behind the eight ball because I rode for fun (but hard) on Friday at Merrell Trails and put in a good 80 minutes yesterday along the lakeshore and at Riley Trails. The result is that I really need to ride a recovery pace tonight (which I’m going to do) when I typically will have an opportunity to do either a time targeted lakeshore ride or the planned fun ride on Sundays. I also have to make sure I plan in recovery rides and strength training.

To get back on a schedule I want, I’m going to mesh my ‘fun ride’ and ‘lakeshore timed ride’ together for Saturday which will allow me to ride again on Sunday next week and put me back on schedule. So, here’s my plan for the week. I put up some of my video from Friday and Saturday’s rides on YouTube, too (below the plan):

 

TRAINING SCHEDULE: WEEK OF DECEMBER 9, 2012
		Total	Completed ?
	Sprints – High Cadence:		Wednesday
10	10 minute warm up – 30%
	15 second on – 100%
17	15 second rest – 20%    –   14 total reps (7 minutes)
20	3 minute rest – 40%
	15 second on – 100%
27	15 second rest – 20%    –   14 total reps (7 minutes)
30	3 minute rest – 40%
	15 second on – 100%
37	15 second rest – 20%    –   14 total reps (7 minutes)
45	8 minute cool down – 40%	45
	Strength Training – Upper Body
	Sprints – Low Cadence:		Monday
10	10 minute warm up – 30%
	40 seconds on – 90%
17	20 seconds off – 40%    7 total reps (7 minutes)
20	3 minute rest – 40%
	40 seconds on – 90%
27	20 seconds off – 40%    7 total reps (7 minutes)
30	3 minute rest – 40%
	40 seconds on – 90%
35	20 seconds off – 40%    5 total reps (5 minutes)
45	10 minute cool down	45
	Strength Training – Lower Body
	Sustain:		Thursday
10	10 minute warm up – 30%
30	20 minute sustain – 80%
35	5 minute rest – 30%
55	20 minute sustain – 80%
60	5 minute cool down – 30%	60
	Strength Training – Lower Body
	Recovery Ride		Sunday
	45 minutes at 30-40%	45
	Strength Training – Upper Body
	Outdoor Fun Ride:
	Whatever for however long
	Outdoor Lakeshore Ride:
	Wherever; just at 75-80% effort for 90 minutes	90	Saturday
	TOTAL TIME	4.8

 

 

 

 

 

 

OneSecondEpic and IFTTT

This weekend is Iceman, folks. It’s been a whirlwind of a summer between my new job, mountain bike racing, and having fun with my family. I’m nervous, excited, and anxious all at the same time for the race Saturday. I believe I have real money at stake, and a cap to a fantastic year. I took first overall in my category, and never lost a race in the CPS series (though Boyne was close and required the leader to flat 1/2 mile from the finish line). I’m starting in the 6th wave on Saturday, which gives me a good starting position, but I need to have a clean race (no mechanical issues or major accidents) and not bonk to do well. I believe I’m trained enough to win my division.

Somewhere in the last 3 months since my last post I’ve been able to find the time to dink around with some new tools. For iPhone, the OneSecondEpic app has been a ton of fun. The video app allows you to take between 1-5 second videos with one push of a button and automatically edits/splices them into your short film to share with friends. The app launched last week, but I had the opportunity to land the app early as a beta user so I’ve been using it since mid summer (something about working at Start Garden who is an early investor in the company). Here’s a couple I’ve done, though because of music licensing red tape you can’t add music through the app itself, I just added it with Windows Movie Maker and uploaded it to YouTube:

 

 

 

 

 

I’m having a riot with it and look forward to capturing some more videos over this coming weekend and the Holidays ahead.

 

In other news, I just found out about a website called IfThisThenThat, or IFTTT. I think it’s been around for a while, but I’ve been looking for something that would collect all of my social media inputs into one timeline and this is the closest thing I’ve been able to find. What I’ve done is created a blog over on Blogger called Joseph Lampen Presents. Then I set up through IFTTT to have all of my social media content that I create, like, and favorite, to automatically flow to my new blog. That includes this blog. It’s an impressive list of services that can be triggered to auto post on my Blogger page. The only limitation currently is Twitter. You can only push TO Twitter, not pull from it to feed into my Blogger page. Otherwise, I have my YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, WordPress, SoundCloud, FourSquare, Tumblr, Flicker, and Instagram all flowing to my Blogger page whenever I post something, Like something, or place into favorites.

I know Facebook has timeline, but I like that this is just slightly less public than sharing stuff with 400 of my closest friends.
That’s all for now.

Watch the Weather

Last night I had scheduled myself for one of my 2 hour gravel shoulder rides along Lake Macatawa and Lake Michigan. I call it my ‘Big Lakeshore Shoulder Ride’ in my tracking sheet (I keep track of all my riding and running in excel – more on that some other time). It’s just less than 29 miles and is fairly flat with a couple of hills thrown in for practice. With Courtney launching into yet another night of one of her winter painting projects after we put the kids to bed, I dressed and thought I’d get an early start.

Normally I leave the house around 9. Yes, I’m a night owl. I’ve invested in adequate lighting, reflective gear, and warm clothes to be able to do this through the winter. It’s part of my own personal compromise in an effort to get as much riding in as possible without it affecting too much family time. Unfortunately it leaves me with less sleep, but I’m working on a plan to shift that a bit.

After a hard week of running and riding last week I thought I would take Monday and Tuesday off this week (I had a meeting Monday night anyway). So when I stepped outside at 8:15 and noticed the pavement was slightly wet, I was a bit irritated. I remembered reading in the 5 day forecast (on Sunday) that there was a 30% chance of rain/snow, but it wasn’t supposed to start until ‘late’. I guess I should have researched The Weather Channel’s definition of late. An hour into my ride (and the furthest point from my house) the weather turned nasty.

Up until that point I was having a good ride; 15 minutes of easy warm-up, 4 solid hill climbs in my favorite Lake Michigan shoreline dune neighborhoods, and 7 miles of gritty gravel shoulder. The precipitation was very sparse. Just before I got to my Pigeon Lake switchback, though, the shoulder became over saturated with water and began pooling into puddles. I could no longer keep the sand and water out of my face and mouth. Shortly after I hopped over to the bike path to avoid the mess, the sky opened up and dropped a heavy mixture of snow and rain.

I thought I could make it back without getting too wet if I cut my route short by taking Butternut (a relatively straight shot back at my neighborhood). Immediately after I made the turn at Pigeon Lake, however, I started to feel my butt get wet and knew it wasn’t going to be pretty getting home. I picked up the pace (which makes me look like a clown on my single speed) knowing that if I got wet and didn’t generate enough heat I was going to be as cold as a piece of raw beef in a meat locker before I got into the house.

From Pigeon Lake it’s about a 25-30 minute ride to get back on my single speed (35-18 gearing). Sure enough, by the time I pulled up my driveway I was soaked to the bone. Fortunately, I had worked hard enough that I wasn’t shivering. Not quite the workout I was planning, but a good work out all the same. I peeled off all my gear and hung it up in the basement to dry (shoes are still soaked today) and then hit up a hot shower. Next time I’ll watch the weather a little closer.

Ultimate Cycling Challenge

I will be participating in my first bike event of 2012 this Saturday, February 25 at the Ultimate Cycling Challenge(UCC). This will also be the first event that I will be riding as a member of the Cross Country Cycle mountain bike team. I’m excited for both reasons. I don’t have a trainer like many other cyclists because I prefer to ride outside through the winter, so this will also be a something out of the norm for me.

The UCC is an indoor cycling fund raiser that benefits Livestrong, the widely recognized cancer awareness and resource not-for-profit that Lance Armstrong started several years ago. Teams sign up for either the 12 or 24 hour challenge, committing to collectively ride for the entire duration, relay style. The ride starts at 8pm Friday night and ends at 8pm on Saturday night. I’m signed up for the 9-10a.m shift Saturday morning. Individuals can sign up as well and are able to schedule themselves into available reserved individual slots. This year’s ride is being held at Ridge Point Community Church (The Center at Ridge Point) in Holland, MI.

In addition to the entry fee each rider pays, participants are encouraged to raise funds through solicitation of friends, family, co-workers, etc. Donations can be given to teams or individuals directly through the UCC website. On top of that, one of this year’s participants is offering to contribute $10 for every song dedication submitted. No donation is required by submitting a song.  It’s an awesome and substantial gift. The anonymous donor will take the songs dedicated, have someone read the dedication over top of the song, and create a playlist to be listened to throughout the year on various rides. Those that have been following my blog for some time know that I was involved in the Relay for Life fundraiser last year through The Bank of Holland, where I work. Because I’ve been impacted by family and friends who have battled cancer, participating in these events holds a very dear place in my heart. I think of these people all the time while I’m riding and running so I can relate to this individual’s quest.

One really cool aspect of this challenge is that you don’t need to own a bike in order to participate. Teams are provided a location and can choose to bring in their own bike trainers and bikes, or they can coordinate having a stationary bike placed in their spot. And, because each team is responsible for filling their time slots, you can choose to ride for however long you feel comfortable with that works for your team. Finally, everyone can participate, obviously, by supporting a team or rider financially.

There are approximately 55 teams signed up this year in total, which means you’re essentially riding in one big peloton. The only difference is that there are no dropped riders, no one is held back from riding faster, and the terrain is what you envision it to be. The downside is that there’s no drafting. Plenty of entertainment and activities are scheduled throughout the event for riders, volunteers, and supporting visitors alike. This will be the first time I’ve participated in the event so I don’t really know what to expect, but I’ve heard that it is a really energetic atmosphere.

I’ll post more about how it went with some pictures afterwards, so keep posted. In the meantime, check out the website and consider donating to the battle.

Recovery Ride

There have been a couple of really funny video’s released recently that make fun of cyclists and mountain bikers. Maybe you’ve seen them. Some of the mocking is about “recovery rides” where you keep your work out light by whatever measure you like to use (heart rate is common). Well, tonight I thought I better throw one of those rides in there. I rode hard Monday night, ran last night, plan on riding hard tomorrow night, and have a fun but longer trail ride scheduled for Saturday morning (Yankee Springs; 8a.m.; see you there?). Even still, I was antsy to go out tonight for a ride, too.

I’ll actually spare you of the details of my workout tonight; but instead I thought I would share with you some observations from my ride:

1. I wish I had a better camera and could take it with me on my rides. The moon was bright tonight and casting a cool reflection off Lake Macatawa nearly making it unnecessary to have on my headlamp.
2. I wish my phone battery wouldn’t suck so bad and actually hold a charge long enough to allow my ride mapping app to capture a freaking ride without shutting off somewhere mid ride, of course neglecting to save it before it does.
3. I love my Specialized wool socks. Sorry DeFeet; your Woolie Boolie’s just aren’t cutting the mustard this winter. They’re too thick.
4. Ottawa Beach Inn closes sometime between 9:30p.m. and 10:30p.m. I’ve ridden past it before around 9:30 and its open, but tonight it was closed by the time I passed it around 10:30. I’m surprised it stays open even until 9:30 in the winter.
5. Riding with fun music in my ears gives me more energy than just a good song with the right tempo.
6. I like rhubarb pie after a ride. I like it before, too, but afterwards is fantastic.
7. I love riding the lakeshore in Holland.

Making Hay

 

As disappointed as I have been with this inconsistent winter, when a day like today rolls around and drops 6-8” (and reports of 10” in some places) of fresh new snow I wasn’t going to waste it. I’m going to let the pictures do most of the talking here, but it was an awesome day.

I started the morning out by heading on my bike after church. I may have jumped the gun a little bit, but I couldn’t help myself. The fresh snow was just too inviting to take a peaceful ride in (no earphones). What I found out was that the snow was deeper than I had anticipated and the workout was significantly more vigorous as a result. I still was smiling (for the most part) as I slipped, grunted, and plowed my way out to Lake Macatwa near the Ottawa Beach overflow campground (picture). I wound my way back home on some lower traffic roads just to get off the bike path for a breather.

In the afternoon I took Paige over to my in-law’s house to go snowshoeing with my mother-in-law. Their subdivision is only about 1/3^rd developed and one of the lots is adjacent to the Port Sheldon Natural Area which is part of the Ottawa County Parks and Open Space Lands. It’s a great place to snowshoe, hike, and cross country ski (http://www.co.ottawa.mi.us/ParksVI/Parks/portsheldon.htm ). It is one of the few parks left that you can take your dogs to and let them roam freely. There were several people out enjoying the late afternoon sunshine and snow.

Finally, when you get snow like today, you can’t avoid the drive way. So, I wrapped up with a quick clearing and headed in for a warm shower and a cup of coffee. What a great day.

Winter Run (and Walk)

Tonight I thought I would just quick get out and do a run/walk. It’s been over a month since I’ve run last and didn’t want to get too ambitious. The last few times that I’ve ran I’ve struggled with a tight leg muscle so I wanted to start slow. I don’t like running and really only do it for the efficiency of the work-out and cross-training, so I didn’t want to push myself and then pay for it for the next 4 days. I don’t mind being sore, but when it interferes with my biking….

I have a pretty standard 1.9 mile route that gives me just enough of a work out to get the heart rate up for 15-20 minutes. Tonight, though, I decided to start out walking the first portion of that route to warm up and then jogged over to Howard which runs along Lake Macatawa’s lakeshore and on down to Dunton Park. The route is primarily an asphalt side walk so I can stay off the street.

I love running/walking through Dunton Park at night, especially in the winter because of its location right on Lake Macatawa. Tonight did not disappoint me. Dunton Pak is a 21 acre park with a nice hunk of lake frontage. The park has been developed over the years with gazebos for picnics, playgrounds, open fields to run around in, and wooden walkways right next to the water, which is frozen this time of year. In the summer the park offers a boat launch that is always busy with fishermen and families launching their vessels for the day. My kids only care about the playground and usually beg me to bike with them there anytime it’s above 45 degrees. The park is well lit at night making the trail easy to navigate. Running through the park is also fun because of all the stairs, switchbacks, ascending, and descending paths that wind you through the wooded habitat right next to the water. The added complications of snow and ice take out the monotony of running for me as well.

I noticed something cool again tonight that I had forgotten because it’s been since last winter that I’ve run through the park. Across the lake from the park is a heavy industrial metal recycling facility that lights up the sky and is filled with bright white steam from work going on. I found it to be a stark contrast to where I was standing. Where I was standing, amongst the trees, God’s hands had created. Across the lake, busy and large, man’s hands had created. Both were awe-inspiring to me. Some people might look at that contrast and say ‘what a shame’ that we have wasted the natural landscape for our machines. But I appreciate the balance between conserving natural spaces and being industrious with our hands. It reminds me that we need peacefulness, through playing in these parks, to help offset the disturbance of our work.

So, without my headphones on tonight, I enjoyed a quiet, refreshing breath of crisp winter air. It brought peace to a non-peaceful day and hopefully relaxing rest to my sleep.