The Apple Pie Diet

The Holiday season always seems to wreak havoc on the best laid diet plans. Dial in a nice routine and before you know it 7 pies lie before you. My wife is an amazing baker, and I am an equally amazing enjoy'er of home baked goodies. For Thanksgiving Deb tested my dieters resolve with Pumpkins, Choc Pecan, Pecan, Choc Cream, Banana Cream and my all time fave Apple Pie. Cruelty!

Whats a dieter to do? Well, I could cave or I could go on the offensive.. and this year I went on the offensive. Dieting is all about calories, plain and simple. So, the way I see it I could eat nearly an entire pie every day and be real close to my calorie budget, as long as that's all I eat! So when the crackers, cheese and beef stick Hors d'oeuvres hit the table I go straight for the pie, which raises eyebrows when I bust through the top of that beautiful Apple pie (saved for desert), but hey.. I'm on the offensive here and I won't calm the hunger pangs with beef stick.. especially when I'm on a calorie budget! Splat of whipped cream and I'm spending my calorie budget exactly the way I want.

And that's pretty much how the subsequent days went as well, pie for breakfast, pie for lunch, and maybe even pie for dinner.. sure the nutritional value is questionable, but in times like this we must make sacrifices, and weight gain isn't one of em!

Calorie debt is required for weight loss, that's it. It doesn't matter if I eat 2000 cal of butter or 2000 cal of sugar, as long as I keep my intake around 2000 cal and stick to my exercise routine I'll loose weight. Of course the blend of macro-nutrients (carbs,fat,protein) can impact performance, but hey its EZ miles this time of year so no worries here.

Christmas will be another wave of butter and sugar and I look forward to it!

Winter Base Training

What should I do? Well, that completely depends on my goals! But one thing is for certain, it will need to be part of a plan that features a progressively increasing workload.

If my goal were to be flying in April, well I'd already be logging some serious workload because I'd be planning to start race specific (hard intervals) training in February. But since my 2012 goal event is in September, I will need to be prepared for the hard stuff in July.. that gives me a lot of time, in fact that gives me 8 months to prepare myself for the hard work of race specific training... and that's a good thing because I've been off the bike for a long time!

I will break the 8-months into 2 periods: Base & Build. The base will prepare me to build, and the build will be a workload greater than base. The build will last 3 months, so that means my base will be 5 months. It will go something like this; Base 5-mo, Build 3-mo, Race Prep 2-mo.

Its important to remember that the workload needs to be continuously increasing (progressive). When I transition from base to build, everything will need to get harder.. and continue to get harder all the way to the race prep phase. You might be thinking how can we design a base/build plan that progressively gets harder (every 3-weeks or so) for 8 consecutive months? I guess that's why Base training has earned a reputation as being a period of EZ miles!

But even though base training may be a time to hold the reins back, its not a time to get to comfortable in the same routine week after week. Remember, the workload needs to increase progressively, so every 3-week cycle needs to feature more work than the previous cycle. This progress needs to move forward all the way to the build phase.. at which time we will really dig in and ramp it up. We need to make sure and leave plenty in the tank for the build!

I am coming from a completely sedentary 1year vacation. I am completely de-trained.. have been completely de-trained for several months. This is the only reason I am planning to spend 5-months to build a base. Right now I'm riding about 5hrs per week, and its a pretty slow 5hrs.. but as long as I gently increase the volume, my fitness will grow (hopefully free of injury) while at the same time provide ample recovery to keep fatigue at a minimum and motivation at a maximum. With 5-mo I should be able to enter the build with big fitness, big freshness and big motivation... a long, slowly progressive base should be just the ticket!

I Rode My Bike!

Thats right, and my son Jimmie has joined the mission. Jimmie (16) wants to race next season too, and its probably fair to say he'll get in good shape a lot faster than I will!

Our first week back brought plenty of tender butt muscles, labored breathing and the confirmation that we're in BAD shape. But thats OK, we knew it would hurt.. and we also knew it would be fun, and it has been. We ride week-ends and Tue/Thu nights. Yep, we strap the headlamps on and terrorize the sidewalks and trails in the area for an hour. Its dipping into the 30's so good riding gear is important. We have gloves, shoe covers, jackets and hats just for the purpose. After a brisk few minutes the body warms right up and its actually not bad at all. Of course we will revisit this issue when its 15 and snowing!

Ok, I am keeping track of my stats. I use a Powermeter to calculate power and I use the Trainingpeaks WKO+ software to manage the data. A key calculation is "Chronic Training Load", AKA "CTL". CTL is a key measure of fitness, and when I'm in form my CTL is generally between 110 and 120. Today it is 8. Sad I know, and beleive me, that number moves like a glacier.. I would be surprised if I hit 100 by summer. Anyway, the numbers below are good stats for measuring progress.

Date....Weight...1hr Power...Power/Weight..Goal (LB's & w/kg)
11/14....169..........225w.........2.93w/kg........155 / 4.5
11/7.....170..........225w.........2.91w/kg........155 / 4.5

Back In The Saddle Again!

So what does 1 year off do to a mountain bike motor? It pretty much chops it in half. My sustainable power (1hr power) is down about 100 watts to 225 and my weight is up about 8 kilograms. So if we do the math my motor has faded from a 4.8watt/kg hill slaying force to a 2.9watt/kg beach cruiser! Amazing. Considering my age (almost 49) I may never find 4.8w/kg again, but I'm on a mission to find out.

This will be a long road. Its not reasonable to think I'll find that motor before the 2012 MTB race season launches this spring, but it is possible that I might find enough of it by Marathon Nationals September 2012. That will be a 50-mile race up and around some mountain in Bend, OR. Where do I start?

First we need to train to train, or basically get the body adapted to riding the bike again. Get those joints working and blood flowing and spend a few months of just making sure I suit up and ride 4x per week. Say, 5-6hrs per week, nothing heavy, just enough to break a sweat here and there and do enough to encourage the body to strengthen all those joints and restore a little muscle mass in those areas that have not been asked to do anything for the last year. Definitely important to pay attention to any aches or pains that might spring up and be certain to not plant any seeds for chronic pain or injury. Basically, just ride, have fun, and stay rested/recovered.

In addition I'll need to start the process of loosing weight. Considering that my potential goal race isn't for 10 months, I don't have to do anything extreme, though with close to 20lbs to loose, I will need to have a plan. Lets say I want to be down 15lbs by May, that means I'll need to drop 3lbs per Month. That is a pretty gentle pace, the calorie debt shouldn't effect performance, just need to settle into a routine that will provide some calorie restriction. What works good for me is to eat 3 meals per day (2000 cal), no snacks and take in about 2-300 cal/per hr on the bike in the form of a carb drink. I'll schedule my rides so that a meal will follow the ride. It is also important that I stay busy and not get to cozy laying on the couch.

I'll frequently update this blog, that will give me the motivation to stick to it when the going gets tough.. like when Christmas comes with snow on the ground and all I want to do is lay on the couch and eat Christmas cookies!

2010 What Happened, Where'd I go?

2010 was really a mixed bag, I didn't win at Sea Otter and didn't even make it to Nationals, though I had some of the best performance I've ever recorded. I entered my first 100-mile MTB race and did better than expected, and did manage to win a few races that I'll remember forever as some of my best. I flatted while on pace to match or beat my all-time best time on the Badger Mtn TT and then placed 3rd at Cyclocross State Championships. Overall, 2010 left me feeling disappointed, but in retrospect there is a lot to be proud of. My fitness was super, the results just didn't confirm it. But that's racing! And as I always say, winning is just the cherry on the cake.. all the work we invest is "the cake".

November 2010 I hung my bike up to join my son in a Music project. It was really hard to put cycling in the closet, but we just don't have time to do everything and my son had been asking for this for a few years. I committed to the project November 15 2010 and completely quit Cycling for 1 full year, yep, a complete 1 year rest!

November 2011 I'll start again, and we'll have fun monitoring training progress from a complete un-trained and over-weight status! This will be fun, and it will likely be a bit painfull with months of training bearing a look on my face like the one below :^)

Break Time!

Jan 1 to Jul 13, 6.5mo of focused training and racing brings me to the end of MTB season. MTB Nationals is this weekend, and normally I would go but Wednesday I spent the day caring for my son as he underwent ACL reconstruction. Total bummer, this is his 2nd ACL surgery and it really makes me sad. I'm not to bummed about missing Nationals as its at altitude (Near Denver), and us low-landers don't do so well with short notice trips to races at 8000'. But it does seem as if the season has flown by, and I feel weird shifting gears into break mode... although I always make "break mode" a celebration!

For the 6.5mo I diligently tracked all my energy intake and output in an effort to chisel down to a super lean 152lbs. I might hit 150 for a few days here and there, but 152 is racing weight and it is a huge job trying to stay there. At 47 it's just plain tuff to get lean, and even tuff'er to stay lean. Mid season I bulged to about 154, but for the most part I have maintained race weight since February and I am now fully prepared to gain a quick 5 pounds!

During the 6.5mo I rode pretty much everyday, and rode with purpose pretty much every time I suited up. I had an agenda, a workout set, a goal, there was a mission with every ride. It might be to recover, or it might be to suffer, but every ride had a purpose. So between a rigid adherence to a workout schedule and an equally rigid adherence to diet, I am pretty much ready to hold-up the nearest Bakery come July!

What do I do on a break? Well first I park the bike. 2nd, I eat pastry, ice cream, burgers, pizza, and pretty much set out to put on 5lbs as quick as possible. I really gotta do this, for a few different reasons. #1, I've deprived myself of "poor choices" for months. #2, racing weight is not a healthy weight. #3, I have lived "feeling hungry" for months! So, I immediately target poor choices and weight gain, and as far as stopping the "feeling hungry", it requires at least 3-4days of limitless consumption of whatever I want.

This may seem extreme, and it kinda is, but after 3-4days I stop "just wanting to eat", and start to feel like eating meals and more healthier choices. The cravings subside, the hunger disappears and I start feeling MUCH less obsessive about food. I also have seen the scale change and the abs start to smooth, its amazing how quickly it comes on.. especially knowing how slowly it goes off! Soon I am back to eating my routine foods and its amazing that all the cravings I fought away for months seem to be totally absent. The body is happy now, and having done this before, will be happy until I chisel down again.

So what about the bike? Well, I am in pretty much the best shape of my life, so I hate to just let it go to waste. If I am traveling, well, I just won't ride. But this year I am at home, so riding is an option. I've taken a few days off but kinda feeling like taking an EZ spin tonight. Tomorrow is Saturday, the weather is gorgeous, the group rides are in full swing.. what to do? I am gonna ride, I just won't ride with purpose. I'll sit on, eat, drink, enjoy the ride. I won't hammer, I won't pull.. I'll chit chat and just cruise. The next day I might skip, I'll just do whatever I want for 7-10days and really let the chronic training load subside and the rest sink in. After 7-10days I should be feeling ready to ride hard and will probably go out and do something that sets a PB at some time duration. Breaks are usually followed by an amazing ride, tuff to predict when exactly, but usually in pretty short order.

And the rest of Summer? I'll ride hard! Lets face it, fitness is great right now. Weather is great, the only thing that really wasn't great was the chronic effects of a high training/racing load and 6mo of calorie deficit. Those 2 combined will hammer a body into a super fast MTB racing machine, but it cannot be sustained indefinitely, and I gotta be able to say enough is enough. At that point fitness can be huge, and by simply taking a short break, packing on a few lbs, and trimming back the "riding with purpose", I can hammer through the Summer with awesome form for fun! No expectations, plenty of second servings, and a whole lot of Good Times!

MTB Specificity

MTB racing requires solid endurance, your best power to weight ratio, and the ability to repeatedly deliver short high powered efforts. The endurance part is the same as any other aerobic sport, if you want to race, you need good endurance. Power to weight ratio means you have your body conditioned to develop your best power at the lowest possible weight. With all the climbs and accelerations in MTB racing, power to weight ratio is VERY important. And man, its tuff maintaining a super lean physique for months on end. But probably least understood is the ability to repeatedly produce the short high powered efforts that are required to ride fast through roots, clear obstacles and ascend the countless rises and hills featured in MTB races.

When racers launch from the line and hit the single track it may or may not be apparent that they are basically pedaling a few times, coasting, pedaling, coasting, continuously throughout the event. They also most likely do not realize just how much power they are producing during the "pedaling" portion of the ride. When you look at a power file from an MTB race it becomes very apparent! Every corner, lump, root, whatever.. requires a surge of power to maintain speed and momentum throughout the race. These surges are generally quite short, but repeated continuously throughout most sections of a typical race course.

Quadrant analysis.. what? Within WKO+ power file software you can view "how" the rider is producing power. High revs low force, high revs high force, low revs low force, low revs high force. Each pedal stroke will fall into 1 of these 4 quadrants. Generally during your basic road bike endurance ride you will be riding at a fairly middle rev speed (cadence) of around 90rpms with moderate force on each stroke. Chugging along, doing the miles, building endurance. Now say you want to accelerate, you may shift to a bigger gear and stand on the pedals in a low rev/high force style. Or you may spin the gear up with high revs eventually producing less force per rev as the rpm's increase. But on a MTB when you go to clear that root or small rise it is almost always accomplished with a lower rpm and HIGH FORCE.

I often notice that when I spend a lot of time training on my road bike that the transition back to racing on trails is not so smooth. All that power I developed on the road bike is good for those steady climbs, but when the going gets technical, rooty, highly undulating, I seem to wear out a lot faster. All those short, sharp efforts become exhausting and the next day I have soreness.. everywhere! Beat up and beaten down by the demands of MTB racing!

Why is this? I have my own conclusions, its due to the low cadence high force efforts, repeated over and over as power eventually fades away. These short, sharp efforts require a hearty push with every pedal stroke that uses more core muscle, arms and parts of the legs that just don't get worked very hard when road riding. Repeatedly delivery robust pedal strokes causes muscle contraction throughout the entire body, not to mention the upper body abuse you endure chattering through the roots and rocks, jumps and stumps and whatever obstacle may be coming next. MTB racing is much more of a full body workout, and if I've spent to much time on the road, I am going to pay for it!

So how do we train this quality up? All sorts of methods have been used, including low speed big gear accelerations, short high powered intervals, and long tempo rides with a "burst" every 5 minutes. But IMO this is all weak compared to actually getting out on the trails and riding hard.. or even better RACING! We all hear how the Pro's need racing to bring their legs around, and it holds true for us. Get out and race.. push hard, work to exhaustion and push even harder. These all out efforts will signal the body to adapt and develop strength where it needs it. I can get a bit of this by special road exercises, but nothing tops the specificity of actually getting out on the trail and riding hard!