No 2010 Sea Otter Classic for me!

Yes, Justin and I wanted to be there duking it out on the race course, but he is still in full-on recuperation mode:

Big thanks to Ken at Sock Guy for the Test Dummy socks.  Those are awesome!  He'll be sporting them hopefully on a recumbent in the next few weeks.

Friday I got my work from home situation up and running, so I got to put in a few hours after leaving the real office and still play nurse to Justin.

It's working out well so far.  Got in some quality time this morning before the real office beckoned!

Since Justin isn't riding, and I'm not back up to my normal hours I've been trying to feed us pretty well.  We had kind of an odd assortment of food in the house... fresh pork tenderloin, organic spring mix, left over bbq'd squash and zucchini, fresh limes, quinoa, and left over sliced chicken breast.

Cooking

I cooked the quinoa and set it off to the side to cool.  I was trying to duplicate a quinoa salad I'd had at a restaurant on Easter, but didn't have cilantro or cucumber, so just went for a dash of salt and some lime juice along with the leftover yellow squash and zucch.  I sauteed some garlic and sweet onion, then added in the spring mix and chicken.  The pork we actually saved for leftovers.

Ta-da!

For those of you wondering...he beat Call of Duty only a few hours after I left for my ride, so he's moved on to another roll playing game courtesy of Jefe.  Thanks again, man!

Saturday I did eventually make my way out of the house to get in a ride.

I spent a little bit of time Saturday morning setting up my bike to have an extra cage.  I didn't really want to carry a pack, but knew I'd be out for maybe 3 hours.  Temps were pretty warm, but not hot, most of the day, and I went through most of my fluids, so was happy to have carried 3 bottles all day.  My pockets were loaded down, but it worked out!

Getting ready to start the big descent

I neglected to check the course instructions before heading out to ride, so I actually didn't have to ride through this creek at all.  That's ok; it was fun (and not nearly as deep as I expected it to be)

Sunday I got up kind of lazy, unsure if I wanted to hit road or dirt.  I'd done a decent drive on Saturday getting up to Idyllwild, and Justin suggested I hit the road.  I wasn't super into the idea, but I do like the route I'd picked out.

I'd just gotten my first shipment of First Endurance EFS drink and liquid shot, so naturally decided to give them a try!  I roughly knew how many kj's I'd burn through, and took two full bottles of mix, 2 shots, a package of bloks, 3 fruit leathers, and a Lara Bar.  I didn't grab anything before leaving, and had had breakfast about 2.5 hours before I hit the road.  I busted into my bloks and ate half a few miles from home.  I had a liquid shot at about 45 minutes in, finished the bloks at 1:30 in, and had my second liquid shot at 2:15 in to the ride.  I should've stopped to refill my bottles, but ran out a few miles from home (after limping through the last one), but my energy level and power output/RPE all seemed great.  I was definitely getting shakey and in need of food within sight of home, but the fuel kept me going no problem.  I was stoked on the flavors (Fruit Punch drink - very mellow; I actually don't mind sugary tasting drinks, but this was slightly more "refreshing".  The Liquid Shot is vanilla and tastes sort of like liquid cake frosting, in a good way) and can't wait to try out the drink during intervals this week to see how it goes for hard efforts.

The flowers were out in bloom!

I hadn't gone back here yet...sort of made me feel a little ill as I rode down the street where Justin crashed just over 2 weeks ago.

After a short jaunt I made it up to the teets... Very very little traffic up here.  I think I went about an hour, maybe more, and saw 3-4 cars.

Cruising over to Couser

Was visualizing riding with Justin up the climb.  It got really warm, no moving air, and I knew just the spot he'd keep pushing and I'd hold back, trying to get in my workout as "prescribed"

I hit the rollers on the way back over to the highway, and as I crossed over the bridge I saw what I thought was a rope spanning the bike lane and out into the lane of traffic.  Luckily vehicle traffic was low, because as I was just about riding over it I realized it was a snake, and as I passed I realized IT WASN'T DEAD.  Oops.

I flew down the big descent and as I pulled up to the first stoplight I'd seen in hours I realized I had company. He cruised with me a little, and eventually pulled around.  A gap opened up and I closed it down with an effort.  He was chasing the rabbit, I think.

I felt like I should've worn my Discovery jersey.

Finished up the ride solo, and only had one near collision... a woman was walking her dog up the last descent on a windy narrow 2-lane road.  Had there been a car near me, I would've been totaled!

After the ride my fro-yo fail from Saturday actually turned out quite nice, and then we stopped by Trader Joe's for some steel cut oats and eggs.  Justin insisted on cookies, carne asada, cheese, and tortillas (they were gluten free at least).  I cooked up some tasty tacos, if I may say so.

It's nice to get back into the swing of training, but missing the big events lately has been tough on us both.

Congrats to all who raced at Sea Otter.

Sesamoiditis and Dirt

I'm writing a blog about my sesamoiditis injury since I haven't found much in the way of sesamoiditis and cycling.  To date I've heard from one other person that is a cyclist and had it.

It doesn't appear to be a big cycling injury, and seems fairly rare for cyclists to have.  As such, I have no idea what caused this for me, but am stepping up and claiming it as my first over-use injury.

Sesamoiditis is inflammation of the sesamoid bones (a bone embedded within a tendon and found in locations where a tendon passes over a joint - such as the hand, knee, and FOOT).  It occurs on the bottom of the foot, behind the large toe.  Sesamoids (as I've seen on my xrays) are about the size of jelly beans, or for those of us that are exercise-oriented, Sport Beans.  Apparently sesamoiditis is caused by either the sudden bending upwards of the big toe, high heels (ahaha), or a stumble.  It seems to be somewhat common in young people engaging in physical activity like running or dancing.  Indeed, most of the metartsal pad information I found was on running or dancing sites/forums.  Sesamoiditis is essentially just a general description for any irritation of the sesamoid bones.  Every time you push off against the toe the sesamoids are involved and can eventually get irritated or fractured.

The onset is really gradual (as I found).  The pain starts off as a mild ache and increases slowly as the aggravating activity (or, IMO, just any activity what-so-ever, including walking) is continued.  As noted here sesamoiditis can be caused by increased activity, and this can put more pressure on the balls of your feet.  Speedwork, hill work, or increased mileage can all contribute, especially if you have a bony foot (not enough fat to protect the fragile sesamoids).  This is more in tune with running than cycling, as obviously cycling is a much more low-impact activity overall.

When I saw a second doctor about my sesamoiditis (the first was a general practioner who suggested padding my inflamed sesamoids - which I did, and it got worse - and custom insoles - which I didn't do, and should have - and the second a podiatrist, where I did get custom insoles for both my cycling and my every day shoes) he asked how much time I could take off the bike to let it heal.  I said 4 days.  He gave me a "look".  "Maybe 5."  I took 2 days off, did a ride, then took 9 days off.  By the time I did my next ride I had metatarsal pads, which definitely helped, but didn't solve the problem, and my foot was hurting pretty bad about an hour in to the ride, and really bad 1.5+ hours in.

It may not look like much, but I assure you, this was a few days ago, and it has off/on felt much worse than it has looked!

I got my custom orthotics back this past Monday, and have been wearing them pretty much full time (whenever I have shoes on) and have done two rides with cycling shoes this week.  My foot is generally pain free in every day shoes walking around, which is a nice bonus.  The blood blister/bruising that I have from this whole ordeal does not seem to be dissipating.  Riding earlier this week in my cycling shoes with orthotics also caused pain just over an hour in, but not as bad as last weekend, so I guess that is a plus.

Here are the stock Specialized S-Works mountain bike shoe insoles:

I noticed that they do include a metatarsal button:

So while there is a small area cut out for similar issues, it isn't quite like the custom bit I've got now.

I'm actually almost surprised that the left insole doesn't have a button cut out as well.  I would imagine it's possible for this to also occur with my left foot.  

For comparison, here is the weight difference - 

Guess I should consider not riding with the custom insole in the left foot.  It'd save a few grams!  That's for you, Keith B!

Well, enough about sesamoids for now...

I'm back on the training wagon at last, and it feels sort of good.  My legs are sore today, but I can still walk up the stairs at work to my desk without the burning "OMG someone kill me now my legs are barely functioning" feeling I had for the last 3 months.  I'm not worried; it'll come back soon.

Was just packing up for my training ride off-road yesterday and realized that my bike was still in race-mode from Fontana.  That doesn't mean anything other than A) it was in pretty good shape still, and B) I didn't have a power tap on it.  

Wanted: training partner that is low maintenance and similar to my speed on climbs, yet challenges me on descents.  Doesn't mind waiting for me or occasionally listening to me whine.  Must be a detail-oriented bike mechanic and carry more stuff than I do for rides (e.g. one more tube, one more C02, multi-tool, etc.).  I make bottles and can cover nutritionals.  Call me.

Anyway, so Justin came out to the garage to try to assist me in changing out my rear wheel (which I realized meant I had to change cassette's on the hub, which we then realized meant I had to change brake calipers to fit the 160mm rear brake instead of 140mm).

Yeah, I'm removing my XX cassette!

Now I'm working on the brake caliper

Justin still helped a little, but it felt kind of cool to wrench on my own bike.  I just hope no one gets any kind of ideas that this will be a regular activity going forward.  I'm like Cole Trickle... or rather, I want to be.  I want to get in the car and drive.  I don't need to know what I'm talking about!

Nah, actually I think it's a great opportunity to learn to do my own wrenching.  I'm long over-due.  Unfortunately I don't have time to learn that much since I picked up some extra slack lately.

I did finally get to the trailhead, though.

Solid riding.  No snakes today (I guess not too surprising as there wasn't much available sun).

For those of you concerned...we've been eating well lately!  "Splurged" on quinoa twice this week.

Yes.  I like grilled bell peppers.

Weekend Update and Food Stuff(s)

Friday night Justin and I drove south after work, and after he had his first PT appointment for his irritated knee. With traffic we got down there just before 7, but Steph had already headed back to school to help out with the evening's football festivities.

That left Justin, Dan and I to fend for ourselves (after Steph made quite an amazing dinner for us to enjoy, if I may say so).





See the Carolan's in the background? That was the beginning of the end! Dan poured just a tad in his almond milk with dinner. Then Justin poured himself a small serving. It was amazing. So smooth and tasty. There wasn't much left in the bottle, so we ran out quite quickly. Naturally, one thing led to another and we wound up at Vons buying Bailey's, Kahlua, and two cartons of Haagen-Dazs Five ice cream.



Stephanie got home just in time to partake of some vino and for the four of us to sit down to a nice game of Monopoly Surfing!





Somehow I managed to be able to get out of bed on Saturday, and we prepped for a long day out at Noble Canyon. Unfortunately due to Justin's non-compliant knee he had to sit this one out. Made me really sad, but he went to hang with his mom before an easy road spin.

I didn't have such a great day on the bike. But, take the good with the bad. Here's a few pics:





DFL!



Darryl



Dan











Steph



Halloween dessert



As for the food stuffs... I haven't been posting much on my food blog, but that's going to change soon. Justin and I are going to try the paleo diet for athlete's here pretty soon. I'm trying to finish up the book, and have one event to do before training starts up in earnest. Soo, we'll be trying out the new "diet" (i.e. way of eating on a regular basis, not a way to lose weight) in a few weeks.

I'll be posting up about it on my more food-ish blog. Check it out there if you are interested in info, recipes (hopefully), and the journey.

So-Cal Dirt, Crankbrother's Cobalts, or Glad to be back (late weekend update)

We were happy to be back home for the weekend and get into some sort of normal training routine again. Since we didn't have much planned, and the mountain bikes were still packed up in the bike boxes or in pieces, we decided to hit the road.

Initially Justin and I were going to do an assault on Palomar, but a few hard days of training prior to the weekend shot that idea down, and instead we decided to hit up the local speed ride on Saturday morning with a road group.

Friday night we grilled up some veggies and ahi, and had some vino. So.Good.





The ride took off at 7:30, so I knew we needed to get up early to get some food in us; I made steel cut oats with peanut butter, honey, and sliced banana. I'd found that mix up at Windham since I got oatmeal a few mornings, but didn't have my normal "fixins" for it. I did have peanut butter and honey, so it's a nice mix of healthy fats, carbs, and a little protein. Sticks to the belly, but doesn't make you sick.

The sun was barely rising when we rode over to the shop, but the temperature was great, and the sky gorgeous.







Waiting to roll



Rolling!




The pace was civil for about 2/3 of the way "out", but once we got past the last real stop light the engines really turned on. I sort of got caught out after taking a paceline pull and was on the poor end of the way "back", so wound up doing about a 10 minute solo TT to try to catch the group. It was futile!

I hit the turn around, and Justin had been waiting up for me, so I grabbed onto him and we had a group of 4 doing a decent pace. The flyer stated that everyone re-grouped and rode back together, but it seemed like the pace was still flying! Everyone was surging on the few short hills all the way back, but it was good times. I pushed pretty hard a few times to keep up.

We did an easy spin after getting back to the starting point, and then went home for some post-ride cereal!!



Later that evening Luke came over for some carne asada tacos and since I'm trying to be good... we split a 6-pack... of mini-Corona's!



I was kind of itching to hit some dirt, so after dinner Justin put my bike back together. He let me try out the Crankbrothers Cobalt Wheels we'd picked up earlier this year, which he has raced and trained on quite a bit.



My legs had been pretty fatigued the night before, and I spent most of the morning yawning (one issue with training really hard is that I find it really hard to sleep, which unfortunately is bad for recovery!). I had no idea how the ride was going to go, but I knew that Luke and his buddy Chris would be pushing the pace, with Justin, Eric and I in tow!

Chris was running late after looking for an adventure pass, so when he pulled in, Eric, Justin and I decided to give ourselves a head start. The boys hesitated, so I went for the singletrack and decided to play rabbit. The climb starts out right away, so I just pushed the pace until I got out of active recovery, and when I felt okay and was nailing the switchbacks, I just kept pushing.

Justin was a bit back trying to take photos while riding (tough to do on singletrack, I might add!!), but held fast to my wheel the whole way up.



Anytime I pulled away he was right back on it. I tried to get through the tech stuff up top cleanly, and I think I only managed to mess him up probably 3-4 times instead of about 10. Yay!

When we got most of the way up I kept looking back expecting to see Luke charging, but for the first time ever I made it to Cocktail first! Course, Justin was literally a nano-second behind me, but still. Small victories!

We gnoshed on Odwalla Bars and I tried to suck up my drink mix, cause I hadn't had much to drink on the way up, and shortly after Luke, Chris, and Eric rolled in. Glad we got their first cause they didn't stop to eat at all! We continued up toward 4-corners, and for the first time ever I cleaned the short section after Cocktail with one minor dab! Awesome.

I focused on trying to stay with Luke for the climb up to Bluejay. Whether he was pushing or not was immaterial; I needed to push to keep up with the boys!

I felt great up at the top, and then we descended and hit the loop.





I started to feel a little fatigued after going through some of the techier climbing, and wound up caboose. I fell pretty good on a tough switchback on the loop and managed to jab my shoulder into a manzanita, and scrape up my knee on a rock. That made descending sketchy for a bit, but I mentally tried to move on and get back to it.

I slowed down a little, but had a blast descending back to the trailhead!









Great ride, and a killer way to re-integrate back into So Cal dirt.

As for the Cobalt's... I don't know if it was being back on my mountain bike, being back in California, or the wheels, but something just felt GOOD on that ride. Everything seemed to come together and as I told Justin up at Cocktail...I felt "unfettered". Looking forward to "borrowing" the Cobalt wheels more often!

This coming weekend is a bit up in the air, but I'm sure it'll be stellar no matter where we're riding!