Hard "Core"

Alot of cyclists out there just simply ride. The word "gym" connotates bubonic plague and is avoided at all costs. Well, good news because what you are about to read doesn't require rubbing elbows with roided out freaks; The exercises can be done in the comfort of your own home. All it takes is about 10-15 minutes 2-3x a week and you'll totally feel the difference in your cycling.

I can tell you that I have done more sit-ups, crunches, and hanging leg raises than "Carter's got liver pills" (famous Dad saying, sorry). I think one year I did something like 7000 crunches. Yeah, I kept a log and yeah, I'm an idiot. So why have I had a couple of very bad episodes of back pain over the last few years? I wasn't training my core properly. Sure, I was doing the aforementioned exercises along with back hyperextensions and oblique twists. But, what those exercises do is mobilize the core, not stabilize it. The muscles that stabilize the core are the transverse abdominus, internal obliques, lumbar mulitifidus, pelvic floor muscles, diaphragm, and transversospinalis. These muscles function as an integrated functional unit; The stablization system works in concert with the movement system. When working optimally, each structural component distributes weight, absorbs force, and transfers ground-reaction forces. As such, these interdependent systems must be trained appropriately to allow for efficient functioning during dynamic activiites. Training the muscles of the movement system prior to the muscles of the stabilization system makes no structural, biomechanical, or logical sense. So to get you started, I will give you four basic exercises that require no equipment, just an empty space on the floor. I do these pretty much every other day:

1. Supported plank. Get into a standard push-up position, but instead of supporting the weight of your upper body with your hands, come down on your forearms and gently clasp your hands. So, your weight is then supported by your forearms and toes. Your goal is to be able to hold this position (with body parallel to the floor, mind you) for 2 minutes. Give it a try- much harder than it looks. When you can do the 2 minutes with relative ease, a nice progression would be to lift one leg and hold for 30 seconds, while maintaining the aforementioned position. Don't forget to do both sides. You will most likely notice that you have a stronger side and this exercise will address any imbalances that may have developed through sports, etc. Also, as you get stronger, you might try holding this position with your forearms planted on a Swiss Ball. When you can do that, again try lifting a leg and holding or if you're really adventurous try "drawing" small circles with your elbows. Pretty tough.

2. Side bridge. Lie on your side and come up on your forearm and ankle and lift your hip off the floor. You should be able to draw a straight line from elbow to ankle with your pelvis perpendicular to the floor. This exercise really hammers your obliques. If you follow the crest of your hip bone (the side that you lifted off the floor) toward your navel, you can feel the oblique working hard to keep your hip off the floor. (Unless of course you have been enjoying too many Ring Dings) Your goal is to hold this position for 60 seconds. Here's another progression for you: I will usually do 1:45, but every 20 seconds or so, I'll perform a couple of repetitions (i.e. let my hip come down to the floor and forcibly contract up into the held position). Have fun with this one.

3. Contralateral hip and shoulder extension. Hey, it was the most specific name I could come up with for this one. Here's how it's done. Come down on all fours. (hands and knees) What you are going to do is extend your hand out in front of you (neutral position- thumb up) as you simultaneously extend your opposite leg behind you. (i.e. left arm, right leg) Your ideal positioning should be such that your arm, torso, and extended leg behind you are all on the same plane. You will most definitely feel your core stabilizers working to maintain this position. The goal of this exercise will be to perform 4 repetitions per side with a 15 second hold on each. A nice progression for this one would be to balance on one knee by taking the weight off your supporting leg's shin by curling your foot a few inches off the floor toward your butt. You can also try doing more repetitions per side as well as longer isometric "hold" periods.

4. Bridge. Lay down on the floor in a supine position. (face up) Plant your heels close to your butt, making sure to keep your feet in line with your hips. Flex your glutes so that the only parts of your body touching the floor are your feet, shoulder blades, and head. Try and lift your hips as high as possible and hold for one minute. By actively contracting your glutes in this way, you are passively stretching your hip flexors. Tight hip flexors are usually the cause of alot of back problems and for cyclists where your hips are in a continuously flexed position, it is the perfect remedy. You can spot somebody with this "anterior pelvic tilt" because their posture profile will show a swayed back as a result of overcompensation of the erector spinae (lower back) muscles. It will also make the person appear as if they're a couple inches shorter than they actually are. (I definitely don't need to appear any shorter) Anyway, a progression to this exercise would be to hold the aforementioned position with one leg and perhaps adding in some movement in between the "holds" like marching. Be sure to maintain maximum hip height while doing this.

So, I have left you with four basic exercises to stabilize your core. If you stick with these 3-4 times a week, you will feel a definite improvement in posture and overall core strength when riding or doing any other type of dynamic exercise. They can all be done in your living room at home. All you need is a floor and some determination. Good luck. Next post I'll highlight some superior movement exercises for the core.

Side note: I recently eclipsed the 100,000 ft. climbed barrier for the year. My actual totals are 1152 miles, 110868 ft. That puts me at over 96' per mile. Not bad, although the half a million mark seems more daunting than I originally thought. I suppose that number will go up rapidly with longer/hillier rides planned for the summer.

Nice weekend... finally

Yeah, I got my first "color" of the year on Sunday. I'm having a tough time dressing with this recent spate of more seasonable weather. I ended up forgetting my arm warmers and going with a short-sleeved jersey with a vest over it- cold on the descents but perfect for the climbs. After 46 miles (5100 ft.) and a couple of 20 minute chunks Saturday, I figured I'd up the ante a bit for Sunday despite having to go out for a surprise birthday party at a piano bar in New Haven the night before. I had hopes for about 70 miles (~4 hours) but getting to bed at 1:30 a.m. had me rethinking my intentions. I was by no means hung over (3 BLs over 6 hrs but who's counting) but instead of getting my usual 8-9 hours, I got maybe half that. I modified the route on the fly because when it becomes a sufferfest, really what's the point? I guess we learn to listen to our bodies as we age, huh? It did however end up being a proper ride afterall and I'm not in the hurt locker today though I did get a solid 10+ of shuteye last night:

Weekend totals: 104 miles, 11220 ft. vert

I guess I suffer from the same disease as hilljunkie.

2009 To Do List

Tour of Battenkill- 4.18

Vermont 6 Gaps- 5.23

Housatonic Hills- 6.14

Okemo- 6.27

Ascutney- 7.18

Equinox- 8.1

D2R2- 8.15

Burke- 9.5

VT50- 9.27

Greylock- 10.10

In addition, I'll probably do a couplethree mtb races that don't require me driving more than 2 hours one-way. If schedule allows I may head out to PA for Iron Cross in September. Anybody up for a weekend epic, drop me a line and I'll see what I can work out. As far as today, it looks like it's a go:

No Mas

I'm not sure if it was my epic weekend in February (I know, I'm an idiot) or being laid up for a solid week with the flu, but I'm throwing in the towel with the cold weather riding. I feel like a Navy Seal who's just "rung the bell", but I've just mentally had it. Battling the freakin' wind every time out just makes for another extra day of recovery. I've been averaging roughly 80 miles a week since the beginning fo the year with roughly 900 ft+ climbing for every mile ridden. To top it off, I think maybe 30 miles total were ridden in over 40 degrees. They weren't all hard miles mind you, but being exposed to the elements has wiped me mentally. I'm not looking to be hero here, I'm just ranting. So the trainer it is, I guess, although it seems to take about 200mg of caffeine and 30 minutes of staring at the bike before I actually get on it. Ugh.


No mas. No mas. No bike outside 'til 45 degrees.


Thanks for tuning in.

In other exciting news...

Just got my approval for upgrade to Cat 4 Road and Cat 3 Cross. Being a Masters rider, that's all I really need anyway. I was getting nervous as I heard Manimal surprisingly got denied the upgrade to Cat 4 Road when he went to renew. This boggles my mind because he's basically been ripping me to shreds the last couple of months. Now he has to go do a couple of Cat 5 Crits down in Bethel to qualify for the upgrade. He shouldn't have any problem but I hear they're famous for crashes.

The concern with USA Cycling must be the whole mass-start thing. You don't have to deal with that in MTB so much, but MTBers are known to have superior bike handling skills. Hmmm. It must have been my saweet 39th place finish in the Cat 4 Housy Hills RR which I obviously raced illegally in my first go on the road. Or maybe it was my stellar string of top 20 finishes in the Verge Series in Masters 3/4. I'm embarrassed to even write that for chrissakes. Whatever the case, I'm glad to not be exchanging elbows with a bunch of Cat 5 big ring fools. Manimal, good luck to ya.

Don't put those snowshoes away yet

March 2nd and holding true to the old adage, I woke up to over a foot of snow today. I should really look into cross country skiing like Hilljunkie so that when it snows, I'd actually get pumped up. Snowshoeing will have to do in the interim to make the best of what Mother Nature throws at us.

I got sick for the first time in over 3 years last weekend and boy was it a doozy. I think maybe the rides of DTV (that's dubious training value for those of you at home) caught up with me to the point where my immune system was supressed enough to allow for something to get a hold of me. Basically it was several bouts of fever, the runs, and achy muscles. Yeah it wasn't fun. I believe it lingered through this past weekend as I was waking up with a stiff neck/headache and so I diagnosed myself with viral meningitis. It's not even in the same ballpark as its evil twin, bacterial meningitis. Viral meningitis is also referred to as aseptic meningitis. Whatever the case, I'm feeling better and:

A Weekend of Dubious Training Value

What was I thinking you ask? I wasn't. Because if I had, I most definitely would have thought twice about doing either of these rides, particularly with fixie extraordinaires Rocket and Manimal. But ah, life is about adventure and what better way to journey than on your heavy winter bike-up monster climbs, in a ridiculous gear, in the middle of February?

After taking Thursday off, Friday I decided to sneak a quick leg workout in at the gym. It was tame enough but the problem was that I hadn't been in the gym in a week and a half so yup, I was going to be sore. And sore I was. I woke up Saturday morning and was in a major "spot of bother" when I went to put my socks on. This was going to be a long day. I was to meet Manimal and maybe Rocket at noon for what would be a low-key ride- I hoped. But "low-key" or "keeping it mellow" are not phrases that neither of the aforementioned abide by.

Thankfully Rocket was tied up with work so it would just be Manimal and I meandering through the hills of Litchfield County on yet another windy February afternoon. These two have a habit of going at each other and I unfortunately get caught in the crossfire. Besides that, the only problem around these parts is that you really can't go on a flat ride unless you drive down to New Preston, pop your beach cruiser off your car, and do laps of Lake Waramaug.

Manimal and I "decided" that we were going to hit Warren Hill Rd. (Rte. 45) which takes you from Rte. 7 in Cornwall back up to Warren. Manimal was going on vacation so he seemed to feel he needed to go away with a good ride under his belt. Wonderful. He had me video him at the bottom of Bunker Hill on our way out to Warren Hill attempting to break his max cadence PR of 210 something rpms. I'm not sure if he hit it, but it's really something to see someone pedal that fast. I'd post the video but I'm sure he'll use it as fodder for his next post here. It actually is quite unnerving watching these types of descents.

I pulled when I could when we got down to scenic Rte. 7 because my legs were about a -2 out of 10 and we were still five miles from the base of the climb. When we got to the turn (at a hair over 20 miles on the left profile), I basically told James to go at his own pace as I wouldn't be much company given my current state of affairs. The climb isn't terrible by any means, but it basically maintains between 7 and 11% gradient for almost 3 miles. Watching Manimal out of the saddle in the 42x17 was inspiring so I had to at least do it in the 19, right? Given that I just had to pre-fatigue my legs the day before and I "couldn't" down shift to the 23, this was perhaps the worst pain I've ever experienced in my legs while on a bicycle. I called on any available fiber in my lower limbs to turn the pedals over. The only other time my legs felt like this was when I was in high school and I would ride my old 10 speed to a neighboring town, run hill repeats on the ski slopes, and ride home. It's funny how you don't remember self-induced pain because who would honestly do half the stuff we do on our bikes?


So 10-15 minutes later it was over and the rest of the ride went off without a hitch, though every riser we hit on the way back to the shop felt like I was one of the horses being whipped by Charlton Heston in Ben-Hur. Of course, when we got back to the shop, we just had to tell Rocket of our exploits or shall I say, idiocy, if you're not into climbing huge hills in way too hard of a gear. I think something in us likes to defy the common training logic of "base miles" in winter.


Well, that was Saturday. I took my lovely Valentine out to eat that night where I downed my favorite recovery meal- steak, garlic mashed potatoes, and steamed broccoli. I was hoping my body would pull whatever it could from what I ate and when we got home I was tired of being tired so I drank a quart of FRS. I swear this stuff works. I went to bed early that night hoping for a good night's rest because Sunday was a date with the Rocket. Before I fell asleep I wondered where I could get some EPO.


I got to the shop late Sunday because yes, I was filming a commercial. It turns out that Em's cousin Karl works in the advertising department of a local cable company and he needed people on film stating what cable station(s) they watch. I was able to wear my cycling kit and of course, my line was "Cycling, on Versus." I'm kicking myself for not bringing my camera to capture this because Karl said I was quite good. This is reassuring in case I go pro and have to peddle useless products to the American people.


Not to be outdone by the Warren Hill Climb Saturday, the Rocket threw down the gauntlet and boldly stated that "We should do Carter." For those familiar with this climb, it's usually one we reserver for July, not the February. It is absolutely brutal. Carter winds up the same ridge as Warren Hill and attains the same vertical in about a mile or so less distance. When you take the left off 7 onto Carter you immediately strain your neck if you dare to look up. Not 20 feet past the stop sign you're hit with the first of two "steps" that average between 15 and 18%. The only problem is that the space between the steps "levels off" at 10%. Beyond that it gets worse in sections, particularly the switchback at aptly named High Watch Farm where you're a tick below 20%.


Given what I had done the previous 2 days and in particular, the pain I experienced just yesterday, I began to wonder on our way out to Carter if in fact I could do it without walking or even dying. Before the dreaded turn skyward, I pretty much did everything short of bribing Rocket to not do Carter. "We could do 341 (a less steep climb back to Warren)", I begged, tears streaming down my face. Ok, maybe not quite like that but his reply was "341 will be worse." He wasn't budging, so Carter it was.


Once we hit the turn we were committed. Getting over the first two humps really tenderizes the go-go sticks and I honestly thought the Rocket was going to pack it in. To his credit, he kept churning over that 17 as if he was a marionette being controlled by a 92 year old arthritic puppeteer. I was doing my own Mauricio Soler imitation. I stopped looking up after a while as not only was I fighting my own pain, watching the Rocket suffer seemed to exacerbate mine. With each pedal stroke I was only traveling 49 inches. So as you can imagine, at 20 or 30 rpms, this one was going to take a while. I remember almost dipping below 3 mph at one point and I began to wonder at what minimum speed I could "achieve" before I tipped over.


So we crested the climb nearly together as I was able to sit and turn the 23 over as the grade came down to single digits. We looked like a couple of sopping wet bath towels slung over our bikes at this point and admittedly I took a perverse pleasure in witnessing Rocket breathing laboriously as I came up to him. He always seems to mask his pain or maybe he figured he'd let it out for once seeing that he just pushed a 42x17 up freakin' Carter. My average HR for the climb was 171 with a max of 183 covering about 850 ft in 1.7 miles that took about 12 minutes. I wasn't setting any speed records with that gearing for sure and I was hovering around my LT the entire time. I guess maybe I'm getting stronger because the suffering was nearly as bad last year in a 39x25 with a lighter bike, body, and fresher legs. To my surprise, Rocket did later suggest that we do repeats on this climb at some point with our better geared bikes. Ouch.


It's funny how at a certain point you become one with the pain and it becomes this transcendent experience. That's what I felt Sunday. I kept remembering a line from one of my favorite books, The Long Walk: "The limits of human endurance are far beyond what you they think they are." Not particularly profound, I know, but testing those limits is what I've always enjoyed. The bar keeps getting raised and the next adventure awaits.