Sloth: The Man with the Hammer

[Elastigirl]

Thanks! I was the 295th loser out of 400 finishers so far, prolly 450 started.

Good first race, now you know what you need to do for the rest of the races.

[Sloth the Enduring]

Good first race, now you know what you need to do for the rest of the races.

Thanks. Despite many races under my belt, I still feel like I earned some XP with this one.

Here's a filler post while I eat dinner. On the off chance that any one is curious, here's the gear I bring with for long distance races.

- Camelbak Mule - kinda big for racing, but I've had it for 15 years and it won't wear out. I have to replace the bladder every two or three years.

- Yellow wind jacket - unusual item, it was really cold this morning.

- Trail map in case I have to walk out

- Multi-tool (Allen keys, screwdrivers, T-25 Torx)

- pump, tire levers, spare tube, tire boot

- chain tool

- insect repellant wipes

- not shown: food, beverage, emergency pickle juice, cell phone, credit card, insurance card.

These are enough tools to take care of any common mechanical mishap. This is kind of heavy for racing, if I was a contender I'd strip it down, but aid stations can be 8-10 miles apart.

[Sloth the Enduring]

Race Report

Tl;dr I had 25 good miles in a 37 mile race.

I woke up early, my back tighter and in more pain than it has seen since last summer. It was so tight that on the bend down and touch your toes check I could touch my knees, no farther. I considered skipping the race.

5:45 Start driving. My plan is to front end load the food. I start eating - giant bowl of oatmeal, bananas, pickles, washed down with gatorade and coffee.

7:45 I'm always nervous when I'm traveling to races unless I see other MtBikes on the way. At 7:45 I've settled into a small caravan of Subarus with carbon fiber hard tails on the roof. I start to relax and eat more pickles.

8:45 I'm there. This song is on the radio.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=k84-cRlwz7I

Gearing up. I debate tire pressure with the guy parked next to me. I decide to add 2 pounds over my normal pressure to minimize rolling resistance (Mistake #1). 2 pounds doesn't sound like much, but it's a 9% increase. The course is very rocky and rooty, the lost traction means I'm wasting energy controlling the bike.

It's really cold. I stop in the coffee shop for a big, hot coffee. It's good, I have another (Mistake #2).

My plan is to start near the front, ride at my own pace and drift back in the pack, but people started lining up 45 minutes before. It's too cold to stand around in lycra. A couple minutes before the start I have to pee really badly. I end up starting behind 430 people. Only the 60+ riders who always start at the back are behind me.

These old riders are diesels. The start out slow, chug along, keep chugging along gaining some speed, and are able to keep chugging along no matter how the race is.

There's a 3.5 mile long gravel road section to start us off, it sorts out the group by fitness before get in the trees. I decide to ride an easy pace, it's a long race and I don't want to burn any matches. I'm cruising down the road ~22mph. I pass a lot of people, 50, 100? I don't know, a lot. I look over and someones front wheel is hunting around like a hound's nose trailing a rabbit's trail. I get nervous. It's one of the 60+ riders. Then I notice the rider's whole body is shaking and twitching (MS?), but her bike is tracking straight like it's on a rail. I'm impressed. She's riding 25+ mph on a MtB on a gravel road, can ride a straight line in a pack while having an episode (most people can't do that that normally), and she might be in her 60s, but she had a rocking body.

We hit the trail. It takes a long time to get 450 people onto an 18" trail. The next 3 miles are very slow. Every time someone falls over the whole group stacks up behind him. After 7 miles I'm finally settling into a rhythm. I'm in a group that's going a little slower than I'd like, but's it's almost impossible to pass.

I spend the next 18 miles riding at my pace, leaving a gear or two in the bank. I am catching small groups of people, working my way through them and moving up to the next group. My back has loosened up, my legs feel good, I practice "heavy feet/loose hands" and my handling improves and I stop bouncing around the trail. Somewhere in there I get dirt in my contacts, I pull over to fix it and to walk into some poison Ivy to pee. 10 or 15 people pass by.

The only person I know out there is working the mountain bike pAtrol. When I pass by she shouts, "Ted, you look fast. It's nice to see you on a bike again."

Mile 25/12 to go. Bang. The moment I've been dreading - big cramp. I jump off my bike, keep walking while eating emergency pickles and drinking gatorade. Once again I stand in poison Ivy to pee. It doesn't take too long, but at 30 people go by me. I'm back at it feeling okay.

10 to go. I see a racer walking out. She has no gear, just water bottles and Gu taped to her top tube. I stop to help her out, she'll be able to ride to the next aid station (Mistake 3). If you have crampy legs, don't ever stop moving. I stood around for 5 or 10 minutes, my legs tighten up. A mile later - Cramp City. My race is over. I spend the rest of the race in an easy gear, just spinning.

Lots of negative self talk. I can't think and sing at the same time. The chorus to the last song I heard is in my head. I start singing aloud, "I'm rolling, I'm rolling, I'm rolling, I'm rolling, gotta get a move on." It works. I keep rolling.

2 to go. Remember the 60+ lady rider? She passed me by, smiling and joking as she motored along. I'm feeling better now, I can ride easily, but all speed has gone out of my legs.

1000 m to go. I see the sign. I get all excited. I stand up on the pedals for a fast finish, never taking my eyes off the sign. My front wheel goes into a hole and I do a Superman. Damn. 3 more people go by.

4:22 I finally finish. Last year they were packing up the gear when I finally get in. This year the party is still going on. Angry Minnow is the beer sponsor. Their wheat beer might be the best I've ever had. As I leave I tell that to the beer guy. He gives me a big dopey grin and babbles his thanks for telling him that. I gotta remember to be outwardly grateful more often.

[Balthazar]

great work on the race dude, very inspiring

[Shello]

Love the recap of your game.  Despite your self proclaimed mistakes it seems you did better than last year and wasn't this race longer than last year?   Sounds like success in my book.  

[Emma]

Love the recap of your game.  Despite your self proclaimed mistakes it seems you did better than last year and wasn't this race longer than last year?   Sounds like success in my book.  

 

This.

 

[The Most Loathed]

I'm super glad you got your first spring race under your belt. It could be a really fun year.

[Sloth the Enduring]

great work on the race dude, very inspiring

Thanks, if anyone was inspired, I hope it was to train more before competing.

 

Love the recap of your game.  Despite your self proclaimed mistakes it seems you did better than last year and wasn't this race longer than last year?   Sounds like success in my book.  

This.

 

Thanks.  My result was a lot better than last year.  My body held up better.  Everything was better. It didn't feel like a success, but neither was it a failure.  I do feel like it was a learning race, I helped out a couple of other racers, I had a good time, and I discovered a good beer - I guess the race was a success  Thanks for getting me to put it in perspective.

 

I'm super glad you got your first spring race under your belt. It could be a really fun year.

Me too.  Just gotta stay sturdy and it'll be a great summer.

 

5/31/15 Sunday

Not too sore or achey, my body held up well.  I went on a short ride with the kids, just commuting.  I could go about half as fast as normal.  I called that a day.

 

6/1/15 Monday

I deemed myself not recovered enough for sandbags or KBs.  Went on an easy one hour spin.

[Sloth the Enduring]

Crap. Just as I got to bed I remembered I promised SlothGirl I'd wash her pink leopard print outfit so she could match her BFF tomorrow.

Some off-topic stuff while I wait:

A guy came over tonight while I was in the yard - I'm not sure where he sits on the friend/acquaintance continuum. He starts telling me about his job troubles and the new one he was just offered. After about 20 minutes I fell into old, old habits, staring at my feet while we talked, stammering. It was too much emotional stuff.

I went to an event at my wife's school. We share some bussing areas, but our schools might as well be in different countries. As a shallow point of reference, the parents there had expensive dress shoes, crisp shirts. Watching the students, parents, and teachers interact I think I made the right decision to continue teaching my students, I just wish it was at a different school structure.

I ran into a teacher I knew. He asked about a teacher I work with. I professed my love for her (that doesn't sound right), I mean how much I love working with her and how she leveled up my teaching. He pressed me, but I couldn't really explain how. It all comes back to TML's Power/Talent/Technique trinity. In everything I really on talent and don't reflect and work on technique. Besides working on cornering my mountain bike, I'm going to take a class this summer that will help me to revisit some of my teaching techniques.

Next year I'll have two new team mates who are brand new to teaching (admin. destroyed my team, that'll show us). I guess I'll have my chance to pay it forward. New teachers are a big commitment.

My wife got me the game Dead Panic as a belated anniversary gift. We don't always give gifts for the required holidays, so let's call it a just because present. It looks good.

I love my city. There are little libraries every where. There are at least three like this. According to Step-Sloth, one of them is kept stocked with sci-fi, I haven't found that one yet. This one had the standard Oprah picks in it.

[Balthazar]

that's so cool!

[Sloth the Enduring]

6/2/15 Tuesday - I fell asleep doing booktime with the kids and decided to stay asleep = no workout.

 

6/3/15 Wednesday - All day rain = no ride

I felt like kettlebells, a more elegant weapon than a sandbag.

Stretchy stuff.

Rubber Bandy stuff.

Roman Chair 1X15

A minute of burpees.  I've never trained these.  I threw up a little in my mouth, really.  Prolly too much fried food for dinner.  I signed up for the PVP, gotta lot of work to do.

One Arm KB Swing - 10X10@16kg.  Back's been feeling solid, I thought I'd try these again.  Felt easy, back feels good today.

Get Ups - 5X1/1@16kg.

Clean & Press 1X5/5@16kg + 1X1/1@20kg.  Ran out of time for more.

 

I downloaded Ingress.  Joined resistance because I've seen V and They Live.  Holy crud does it burn battery.  

[KB Girl]

Hi! Was looking for your challenge but I see you have a log like TML. It's for super consistent people I guess

 

Seriously though, just step away from the burpees...!

[cn3wton]

Awesome job on the race. I wouldn't consider stopping to help others a mistake. While it may have hurt your time a bit I am sure they where grateful. You probably made their day!

[Sloth the Enduring]

Hi! Was looking for your challenge but I see you have a log like TML. It's for super consistent people I guess

Seriously though, just step away from the burpees...!

Welcome! It's not that I'm consistent, it's that I can't follow a plan for a whole six weeks.

I don't know, I think if I can get an efficient burpee down, I can rock the PVP.

[Sloth the Enduring]

Awesome job on the race. I wouldn't consider stopping to help others a mistake. While it may have hurt your time a bit I am sure they where grateful. You probably made their day!

Thanks. I know I did the right thing, the folks I stopped for would have had a long walk out, but it killed my legs. Next year I'm killing it.

I'm waiting to pick up 30 pizzas. We're on a last day field trip at a park. It is going awesome. We planned a lot of different activities to give them a good send off. The kids are doing great- they're active, engaged, positive. They've really come a long way since August. I'm proud of what we've accomplished, even if we didn't get them as far as we would have liked.

[Sloth the Enduring]

Race Report

6/4/15 Thursday

Buck Hill MtBike Race - This is a weekday training race. It goes up and down an itty bitty ski hill; a lap is about 3 miles. It's fun and social; everyone shows up, from the local hotshot semi-pros to kids doing their very first assisted race. Some historical context - I did this race 23 years ago when I was superfit roadie I hated it. I thought it was unfairly challenging. You are either climbing, descending, or navigating tight singletrack in the woods; your body never gets a break. I did again last year after all these years and loved it for the same reasons.

Thursday was SlothGirl's Kindergarten graduation. It took forever. Then I had to run errands for my student's last day extravaganza. I got back to the house at the exact time I needed to leave. I threw my gear in the car and hit the road only to be confronted by rush hour traffic and discovered I forgot my dinner (was going to eat in the car) and my water bottles.

I got to the race late and found a Gu in the back seat - dinner! - and the Red Bull girls were there - hydration! I didn't see anyone I knew to borrow a bottle from, that Red Bull was whole race hydration. I registered for the recreation men's race and hit the course for a way too short warm up with no stretching. I ended up starting at the very back of the pack again.

The gun goes off and immediately the guy in front of me falls over. I hit it hard. This is my favorite part of the race - sprinting, bumping elbows, bullying your way forward - I always gain gobs of places because I'm comfortable in a pack. Right away we head up hill, I make up a few more places, but quickly fall into a group. I pressure them on the climbs and they gap me on the technical sections. I ride with them for the rest of the race. I pass a couple of people who blow up, but a couple pass me too.

I spent the whole race riding at my anaerobic threshhold. This make me ride sketchy and I bounce around the trail - This race is one of the few places I ride where I wish I had suspension on the bike instead of trying to be a hard ass with a rigid bike - but I stay upright and finished the race 36 out of 57. Not a great finish, but I felt good enough that I'm hungry for a better race. Post-race I caught up on my hydration with an Angry Orchard Cider.

Heart Rate data - race effect, when I'm training my anaerobic threshold is 175, not 183. Based on 220-age, my maximum heart rate is 174.

I think I'll finish out this race series in the Rec Men and do the next one in Adv Men so I can do a longer race.

6/5/15 Friday

I woke up pretty sore. Even though it was only a 35 minute race, I felt really beat up. Recovery day. By recovery day I mean AD&D with the nerds.

[Sloth the Enduring]

6/6/15 Saturday - nothing.  I spent the whole flipping day getting the house and yard ready for SlothBoy's birthday party.  Lots of movement, but no training, although I did move 300# of sand to refill the sandbox.  I fell asleep while putting the kids to bed, I decided to go with it,  I slid off the chair onto the floor and slept there.  At some point in the night SlothGirl covered me up and gave me a pillow.

 

6/7/15 Sunday - I woke up with a jacked up back, like really jacked up.  Lots of mobility snuck in when I could.  More yard work. Setting up the bouncy house.  Okay, setting up a bouncy house for time could be a CrossFit WOD.  They weigh 250#, you have to wrestle them out of the car, flip them like a tire to where you want them, unroll them, drag them back and forth across the yard until your wife is happy, then drive 18" spikes in the ground - all the way otherwise some little toes will get bloodied.  

 

The party was a success.  

 

At dinner time I looked at the sky, told the kids to get one last bounce in before I put it away, and immediately rain dumped on us.  A five minute shower, just long enough to drench the bouncy house with it's $150 drying fee.  I spent a good hour wiping it down with all of the towels in the house.  Post-party, sugared-up kids aren't as useful as you might think in this situation.  Wrestling it into the car was harder than getting it out.  Then the sun popped out of the clouds to mock me.

 

Post bedtime, a minimal 15 minutes of Shovelglove, 16# hammer.  It always makes my back feel better.

[Balthazar]

Thanks. I know I did the right thing, the folks I stopped for would have had a long walk out, but it killed my legs. Next year I'm killing it.

I'm waiting to pick up 30 pizzas. We're on a last day field trip at a park. It is going awesome. We planned a lot of different activities to give them a good send off. The kids are doing great- they're active, engaged, positive. They've really come a long way since August. I'm proud of what we've accomplished, even if we didn't get them as far as we would have liked.

the beauty of this image nearly made me weep

[KB Girl]

It's interesting to see that heart rate chart! But I couldn't figure out how much time elapsed during it? 

[Jakkals]

the beauty of this image nearly made me weep

 

I really understand. I had exactly one pizza last year and none this year. 

[Jakkals]

the beauty of this image nearly made me weep

 

I really understand. I had exactly one pizza last year and none this year. 

[Shello]

Crap. Just as I got to bed I remembered I promised SlothGirl I'd wash her pink leopard print outfit so she could match her BFF tomorrow.

Some off-topic stuff while I wait:

A guy came over tonight while I was in the yard - I'm not sure where he sits on the friend/acquaintance continuum. He starts telling me about his job troubles and the new one he was just offered. After about 20 minutes I fell into old, old habits, staring at my feet while we talked, stammering. It was too much emotional stuff.

I went to an event at my wife's school. We share some bussing areas, but our schools might as well be in different countries. As a shallow point of reference, the parents there had expensive dress shoes, crisp shirts. Watching the students, parents, and teachers interact I think I made the right decision to continue teaching my students, I just wish it was at a different school structure.

I ran into a teacher I knew. He asked about a teacher I work with. I professed my love for her (that doesn't sound right), I mean how much I love working with her and how she leveled up my teaching. He pressed me, but I couldn't really explain how. It all comes back to TML's Power/Talent/Technique trinity. In everything I really on talent and don't reflect and work on technique. Besides working on cornering my mountain bike, I'm going to take a class this summer that will help me to revisit some of my teaching techniques.

Next year I'll have two new team mates who are brand new to teaching (admin. destroyed my team, that'll show us). I guess I'll have my chance to pay it forward. New teachers are a big commitment.

My wife got me the game Dead Panic as a belated anniversary gift. We don't always give gifts for the required holidays, so let's call it a just because present. It looks good.

I love my city. There are little libraries every where. There are at least three like this. According to Step-Sloth, one of them is kept stocked with sci-fi, I haven't found that one yet. This one had the standard Oprah picks in it.

 

I find it hysterical that the sci-fi books are still undiscovered while Oprah gets her picks in the Tardis.  But Kudos to you for the late night laundry so she can have some quality match time with the BFF.  

 

6/6/15 Saturday - nothing.  I spent the whole flipping day getting the house and yard ready for SlothBoy's birthday party.  Lots of movement, but no training, although I did move 300# of sand to refill the sandbox.  I fell asleep while putting the kids to bed, I decided to go with it,  I slid off the chair onto the floor and slept there.  At some point in the night SlothGirl covered me up and gave me a pillow.

 

 

Awwww.  That's pretty adorable of SlothGirl.  

 

You're doing well.  You seem quite busy with school kid activities, birthday parties, and bouncy house wrestling and you still managed to get another race in.  Good job.  So what will you be working on this summer?   Are there things you can do to improve the technical aspects of the races?

[Raze]

Race Report

6/4/15 Thursday

Buck Hill MtBike Race -

 

 

OMG BUCK HILL I learned to ski there when I was a little thing (4/5th grade).

[Sloth the Enduring]

It's interesting to see that heart rate chart! But I couldn't figure out how much time elapsed during it?

The graph is from Strava. The scale on the bottom is in miles (gps sampling rate means it missed a whole mile). The whole race took 35 minutes, so each mile took 7 minutes.

Here's a HR graph from a training ride, I went medium/hard. Each mile means 7 minutes.

I really understand. I had exactly one pizza last year and none this year.

I know what you mean. I had exactly no slices of all that pizza, but my car smelled glorious. Last night I had pizza with tapioca based cheese. It wasn't awful.

You're doing well. You seem quite busy with school kid activities, birthday parties, and bouncy house wrestling and you still managed to get another race in. Good job. So what will you be working on this summer? Are there things you can do to improve the technical aspects of the races?

This summer I will continue to make my body sturdy with KBs, sandbags, and sledgehammers. I am also working on pull ups and burpees just because. For riding my big goal is to get enough miles in, I'm aiming for 125/week.

The technical aspects are tricky, I feel like I stopped improving 20 years ago, there are lots of bad habits to break. Right now I am working on expanding my comfort zone - I am floating through rough patches using "heavy feet/loose hands" basically ground your feet, let go off your death grip, get off the saddle and float over the rough and by playing the "no brakes game". For technique I am retraining my gaze, instead of watching where I want to enter the corner, I watch where I want to exit the corner and let Zen take care of the rest.

Once cornering feels a little more natural I will either focus on wheelies or I'll get someone to coach me so I can carry speed through bermed turns.

OMG BUCK HILL I learned to ski there when I was a little thing (4/5th grade).

Cool. I never actually skied there. When I did that sort of thing I was was more likely to hit Highland, Afton, or Wild Mountain.

[Shello]

it's funny how such little things can make a difference in a race - and how much habit keeps us from doing said little things.  

 

Funny fact - as a kid I was prone to breaking bones for little to no reason.  Once, I was on my bike and NOT moving and I broke my arm.  with both feet on the ground.