Do The Right Thing

This caught my eye on Liz Fedofsky’s blog this evening:

…. And then the frozen peas were passed around. One thing I keep learning from other athletes is how much time the care of the body takes. Sometimes I think I’m the only one that spends half her day with a ball crammed into her calf or sitting with ice bags. But then I met Beth. I have never seen someone stretch so much! All day long! I know many athletes struggle with injury and think they are the only one to have aches and pains. But we all feel pain at times and battle the lingering aches. Smart athletes are making the time to care for their body like it’s all they have. Because it is! Icing, stretching, resting. I know it’s hard in life when you have so many responsibilities but when someone takes on an athletic goal - especially like Ironman - keep in mind you cannot train like an elite athlete and not make the time to care for yourself. You can’t skip stretching, icing, massage or recovery and expect your body to be maintained. 

an excellent reminder of what I really don’t do anywhere near enough of!

So here’s me saying it right now: I WILL do stretching and flexability exercises in the future (assuming I make it through this weekend, of course). The only thing is, I’m a believer in properly structured goals - hwo the heck do I turn that into something that I can track progress on, let alone make specific.

Answers on a postcard to the usual address please. Or failing that, just leave a comment here.

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I’ve slowly become addicted to getting a daily dose of the comic strip, Yehuda Moon and The Kickstand Cyclery. It’s the story of two guys running a bike shop - each one of them representing opposite sides of cycledom. Joe, who seems to wear Lycra & ride head-down with a helmet perched on his bald head is sort of the boss, while Yehuda rides a Van Swinergen (sturdy & sensible to extremes), sitting bolt upright with a cap pulled down over his eyes and sees sandles as ideal bike footwear. Their friend, Fred, who’s the ghost of the shop’s previous owner (who was killed by a driver of a blue car in a hit-and-run) also makes regular appearances.

Anyway, I had a meeting on the other side of the river today, and as it was such a nice day AND I’m supposed to be resting up before the weekend’s race, I tried to cycle there like Yehuda would. Take it easy, look at the birds, take time to smell the flowers along the route. That sort of thing.

Because when it comes down to it, I really do believe that cycling IS something you should be able to do in ordinary clothes, and arrive at your destination without needing to be hosed down before you’re safe for ‘normal’ people to meet.

Except I just couldn’t do it. My speed kept on creeping up, I found myself constantly trying to outpace everything else on the road, and on the two occasions that I saw other bikes going the same way as me, I just had to overtake them. In short, all of the sort of knuckle-dragging behaviour of someone who’s only just passed their driving test, and still finds the sense of freedome so exciting that they just can’t hold back their enthusiasm. Except of course, I’m not like them, though maybe the separation isn’t as great as I’d thought.

Hmmm.

Other news for the journey - I survived two Assassination Attempts while cycling up a one-mile stretch of road. A van from R&T Landscaping tried overtaking me when there were parked cars on the opposite side of the road. That would have been fine - apart from the oncoming traffic, which he only noticed once he’d pulled level with my front wheel (big screech of brakes). Less than a mile further on, a driver didn’t notice me in a right turn filter lane at a cross roads, and made a nice attempt to side-swipe me.

So then again - maybe wearing brightly coloured Lycra IS a good idea after all? Either than, or I’ve got to find a way of permanently disabling my Sturdy Commuting Bike’s Klingon cloaking device . . . . .

Logbook Activity

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 07/03/2008
• Time: 19:09:25
• Total Time: 1:50:00.00
• Distance: 26 miles
• Average Speed: 14.18 mph

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In preparation for this weekend’s fun, I got myself a new hydration / fuel belt - an Asics Barrios Bottle Belt.

In line with my principal that I never try anything out for the first time on Race Day, I took this out for a trial on my run with Shana on Tuesday morning - an easy jog up to the lighthouse and back, with drinks & food stops thown in for good measure. I’ve a feeling that next time I say we can eat during a run that Shana’ll be bringing the food though - she was seriously unimpressed with the gels I brought along!

ANYWAY . . . the Asics bottle belt. Looks good, with a nice lightweight construction, lots of discrete reflective bits, and an adjustable elasticated belt. It comes with two 6oz (~200ml) bottles, and two 4oz gel flasks. We were running with just the bottles.

The problem I found with it though is that the water bottles seemed to have some sort of moulding defect - getting the lids to mate with the thread was really difficult, and then they were only watertight when done up really tight. I mean so tight that the paml of my had had a bright red line across it. Of course, I only found out that they were leaking after about a mile of running, when I realised that the back of my shorts, legs, and even my socks were wet. And no, unlike some triathletes I could mention, I hadn’t peed myself.

So the Asics bottle belt’s going back to the shop, and I stopped off at Start Fitness in Newcastle this afternoon to pick up a Nathan Speedbelt 4. Of course, in line with my rule about not testing anything on race day, with only one day to go now, that means I need to go out for a run tomorrow morning to make sure that this is OK.

Logbook Activity

• Type: Run
• Date: 07/01/2008
• Total Time: 1:00:00.00
• Distance: 5 miles
• Average Pace: 12:00/mile

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Last Monday of the month means a 400m time trial at the NE31 Tri club. Not much to say about it, other than I’m now officially the slowest swimmer in the club. Of course, I can tell myself that I’ve been training for distance rather than speed, but it’s still annoying to be right at the back. Our Coach reckons I just need to give it more aggression, and hammer it all the way up to the wall for each turn, as he reckons I’m losing about a minute over the 400m with wishy-washy turns & a graceful but lazy stroke.

Not that I don’t think he knows what he’s talking about - ‘cos he does - but I think there’s something seriously wrong with my stroke. Basically if I take it easy, I can hold 40-ish strokes per pal (50m). But as soon as I try to push it, the count goes up to over 50, and on one of my laps last night, it touched closer to 60.

Maybe it’s time to get the waterproof video camera out and have a close frame-by-frame look at what I’m doing. Or even book myself in for a weekend Total Immersion course . . . £330. Donations gratefully received at the usual address.

Logbook Activity

• Type: Swim
• Date: 06/30/2008
• Total Time: 00:30:00.00
• Distance: 804.67 m
• Average Pace: 3:45.95/100m

• 400m swim time: 9:02 (that’s about a week-and-a-half)

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On Saturday morning, I got up early (OK - early-ish), put the bike in the back of the car and drove down to Catterick to have a look around the Cleveland Steelman’s bike course. I’d programmed it into the satnav on my phone as an ‘itinerary’, with various waypoints setup to guide me round. Before riding it, I drove round once . .  . which took an alarmingly long time, considering that it’s less than 30 miles . . .

Back near where transition’s going to be setup, I got the bike out, loaded it up with fluids, taped a bunch of gels and chocolate treats to it, and headed off. The weather looked a bit overcast, but the forecast was for it to stay dry. So even though I’d just driven through a pretty heavy shower, I set out without any waterproofs.

And rode right into another shower for the first five minutes, to get nicely soaked. Rather than turn around, I figured that on race day I won’t be wearing any waterproofs, so I could just suck it up and deal with it today.

My plan was to do a single lap of the course at race speed, and to keep fuelled as I should when racing. That means >750ml fluids (Zym) per hour, and ~300cals in the form of a gel and a mini-Mars bar every hour. I’ve never done a race that’s long enough to have to keep fuelled up like this before, so wanted to try out how easy it is to get stuff untaped from the bike and down my gullet. Not very is the answer, so yesterday I bought a top-tube box (/tri-bag) to keep all my goodies in and within reach.

The course is one that really suits me. Let me correct that - it would really suit me for a shorter race. It’s basically flat with gently rolling hills, and the temptation is to just give it 110% all the way round. For a sprint that’d be fine, but I think I’d end up in pretty poor shape next week if I do that - my legs were pretty tired after just one lap on Saturday, where I averaged 18.7 mph, with four stops (three to consult the map and one because I just can’t bring myself to pee all over my nice bike).

So my cunning plan for race day is to negative split it, and end up with an overall average of only about 18 mph - target something like 17.7 mph average for the first lap, and just over 18 on the second. OK, so it’s not that fast, but at least that way I stand a fair chance of actually being able to run afterwards. If I can hit 18 mph as the overall average, my bike split will be 3hrs 13 mins, which’ll do nicely for me.

Other things to note about the course, especially if you’re racing next weekend: In the first couple of miles, the road’s drains are somewhat sunken below the road surface - about 1 - 1.5 inches down. That shouldn’t be a problem as most people ride further out from the edge of the kerb than the drains, but it’s still something to be mindful of. This is also a problem along one stretch of the back section of the course (somewhere around mile 22?), but here there’s one in particular to look out for there - a sunken drain that’s about a yard out from the edge of the road & right in the line you may be taking. Also, the road surface on the left hand bend as you exit Great Langdon (about mile 3) is pretty rough, tending to encourage a more open line, or if you take it tight the bike tends to skitter wide a little.

Logbook Activity

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 06/28/2008
• Total Time: 1:33:00.00
• Distance: 29 miles
• Average Speed: 18.71 mph

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With only just over a week to go ’till race day, I’m starting to feel the pressure. Nothing I can’t handle - what happens next Saturday is now largely decided by the training I’ve done up to now. As the man said,

Alea iacta est

But it’s still kinda irritating - every time I think about the race, my heart rate spikes and my palms get a little damp. It’s even invaded my dreams. So far, all Good Dreams - none of the running around transition looking for my bike and wondering what my mother’s doing there on a sit-up-and-beg bike, while at the same time I realise that I’ve got one bike shoe on and one running shoe. Nope, none of that wierd stuff.

At least not so far.

Seven days to go.

Logbook Activity

• Type: Swim
• Date: 06/27/2008
• Time: 12:54:52
• Total Time: 00:50:00.00
• Distance: 1900 m
• Average Pace: 2:37.53/100m

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Nothing much else to say about this ‘un - its the start of my taper for real.

Logbook Activity

• Type: Run
• Date: 06/26/2008
• Total Time: 00:40:00.00
• Distance: 4 miles
• Average Pace: 10:00/mile

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. . . or a complete Muppet. I was booked to go into Newcastle this evening for a networking thing, and so headed off on my Sturdy Commuting Bike into a gusty headwind - late as usual, so I had to work really hard to get to the thing on time.

I made it - just.

Except not quite.

Having locked up my bike, I walked into the “sports” bar (nope - you got me, I really couldn’t see the connection, and everyone in there looked pretty out of shape), expecting the usual raised eyebrows at my day-glo T-shirt. Only to be told that the event was on TUESDAY, not Wednesday.

On the minus side, I missed a speaker that I was keen to hear, meeting a bunch of people I’d not seen for about a year, and wasted 90 minutes cycling.

On the plus side though . . . it was pishing down yesterday evening, so I’d have got soaked, AND having ridden out into that headwind, the ride home was just brilliant. Just past the Edinburgh Bicycle Cooperative’s shop in Byker, I passed one of our neighbours held up at the lights in his convertible Audi. He went the direct route home, and I took a more scenic wind assisted road, and it was a pretty close run thing - I think he beat me by about two minutes over nine miles!

Logbook Activity

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 06/25/2008
• Time: 23:07:48
• Total Time: 1:30:00.00
• Distance: 25 miles
• Average Speed: 16.67 mph

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You just have to go and read this post on Becoming Ironman right now.
My favourite part:

Last weekend I got on my bike at 4:45am. Clear dawn was rising on the left side of my road, and the end of a sinister thunderstorm was looming on the right side of the road. Between them, inviting me to ride into it, was a rainbow. I thought, who else sees this now? People who choose to ride a bicycle at 4:45am, they’ve lost a bit of their minds. But it’s only when you lose your mind that you see some of the best the world is.

Suddenly it all makes sense.

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So here’s an alternative way to deal with drivers who cut you up, shout at you, throw things out of the window, or otherwise act like you really shouldn’t be on their road.

Be polite.

I found the original article by Bill Strickland via Tomorrow Morning’s Weather. His basic approach is to catch the offending driver, look ‘em in the eye, offer a hand, and apologise. Don’t shout, give ‘em the finger, try to argue that they were in the wrong . . . just a simple, “Sorry about that”.

Yeah, I know what you’re thinking:

1. “What!? Expose myself to more ridicule / aggression / potential violence?”

2. “There’s no way I’m going to admit that I was wrong, even if I was. Don’t these schmucks know that cyclists are vulnerable road users?”

So here’s why the logic appeals to me - one of my all time favourite books is The Hippoptoamus by Stephen Fry. In it, the narrator, Ted Wallace tells a story about how to appease an angry gorilla that’s charging you. Don’t try to fight the gorilla - because . . . well, it’s a gorilla. You’ll lose. badly. Don’t run away - it’ll catch you & then you’ll lose badly. No, the correct form is to start beating yourself up - deliver a really blistering attack on yourself. The gorilla stops in its tracks, perplexed, and after a momentary pause, cradles you in its arms, comforting you and in all likelihood licking your wounds for you.

OK, so Stephen Fry may or may not be an expert on gorilla behaviour. He probably is though, as he seems to be an expert on pretty much everything else except dancing and drinking.

But the point is this: Aggression met with aggression just fuels a cycle - both parties’ brain’s hippocampus (nice link there!) get get over-ruled by their reptillian complexes, which only know how to do two things - fight or flight.

If we chose not to take either path, and just to diffuse the situation with a simple apology (deserved or not), the chances are that the driver’s brain will also kick in its rational, empathetic side. And if you want to change peoples behaviour, that’s the place to start.

Filed under: Motivation, Assassination Attempts, Road Safety, Bike Culture | Digg! this story. | 3 Comments »