30 Days Ago, Needed Oxygen, a Walker, and a Home Health Aid to Leave The House. Today...

[Watana Bob]

Catalyzt it is good to hear that you are recovering so well, looking forward to hearing about your 50 mile rides next summer!

 

[Catalyzt]

Remarkable recovery for a guy who cheated death! Good that your docs aren't overly cautious.

Not sure that tells you much about the averaging method behind your Average Watts metric. Did the segments differ significantly in the fraction of time spent coasting, stopped, or at very low power output?

Yes, sorry if that wasn't clear! The first segment, I climbed about 1,000 feet total, with 200 feet of descent mixed in. The second segment, I returned exactly the way I'd came, so the numbers were reversed-- a lot of coasting. But returning, I did try to pedal as hard (when I was pedaling, which was far smaller percentage of the time) as I did on the way up. My average output was about 4 watts less.

Be careful with those vertical cracks. If they're wide enough and deep enough to swallow the tire, your front rim can get caught in it, and then you're going down faster than you can blink an eye. It happened to me on a local road at 25mph. I rode away after fixing the flat, but I had to get a new helmet.

Absolutely. That was what was so odd about this-- my front wheel didn't hit the crack, and I didn't see a crack at all, which is what worries me. I'd feel differently if I'd been aware that I barely missed a crack with my front tire, but my back tire tracked a slightly different line; it would have been more explainable.

I'm a little concerned about my glasses, which are progressives, in this respect. It seems like only the middle of the lens is set to infinity, the bottom is set to reading distance, which is fine, but I don't know why the top is anything besides infinity. Also, I'm often looking over the top of my glasses, which is not great in flat light or at twilight. This was just after sunset-- the most stunning time to ride, right before the moment when using the headlight would be helpful. They are transition lenses which darken automatically-- I know that this could be a problem in some situations if I abruptly ride into shadow, but this hasn't been a problem so far.

I think I need a dedicated set of sport progressive that have taller lenses and are set to infinity at the top, which seems to be anything over about five or six feet away. I feel vindicated by not getting ANY anti-reflective coatings, because for me, these ALWAYS smear and cloud the lenses almost immediately, no matter what coating is used, after cleaning the glasses with microfiber and water or glasses even just a few times. Yeah, sure, the reflections are annoying, but I recognize them as artifacts immediately, they don't impede my view of the road or anything else, particularly at night. Hazy lenses drive me crazy, and feel unsafe.

But yes, front wheel entrapment is far more dangerous. What you describe sounds similar to what happened to me once on the old Raleigh Competition, when I was drafting my buddy too closely, and the front of my front tire kissed the back of his rear tire, opposite directions of rotation. My body did a complete somersault, and a quarter barrel roll, in the air, and the bike did more or less the same thing. I wound up sliding down the pavement on the double yellow line; we were lucky there were no cars on the road. I'm sure I was pushing 30 when it happened. No helmet.

My first question was, "How is the bike?"

My dad's answer was, "Let's get you the hell off the road!" My buddy saw that Dad was taking care of me, and immediately got my bike onto the shoulder, bless his black little heart. (We were 15, and are still close friends today). The bike only had a few scratches.

 

[Catalyzt]

115 Average Watts on the 4.1 mile loop, beat my post-ICU record by a full 6 watts.

I'm also within 20 seconds of my fastest time for this run (though for that ride in June, I put out 130.)

@stompandgo was right. All the capacity is still there. I can do this-- meet or beat my previous numbers.

Boo-ya!

 

[mschwett]

115 Average Watts on the 4.1 mile loop, beat my post-ICU record by a full 6 watts.

I'm also within 20 seconds of my fastest time for this run (though for that ride in June, I put out 130.)

@stompandgo was right. All the capacity is still there. I can do this-- meet or beat my previous numbers.

Boo-ya!

fantastic to hear about your recovery! keep on rolling!

 

[JGcycle]

115 Average Watts on the 4.1 mile loop, beat my post-ICU record by a full 6 watts.

I'm also within 20 seconds of my fastest time for this run (though for that ride in June, I put out 130.)

@stompandgo was right. All the capacity is still there. I can do this-- meet or beat my previous numbers.

Boo-ya!

Glad to hear you're doing so well.

 

[stompandgo]

All it takes is motivation and discipline. It's great to have you back.

It will be tempting to keep doing what you are doing, working on increasing power and endurance at the same time. However, if you keep going that way, you will hit a wall, have a setback, and get discouraged. You should look at yourself as an athlete, and train as such. That means basically three things: power days, endurance days, and rest days. Do not mix them.

Power days can be on or off the bike. On the bike, it's intervals. Shorter efforts at high exertion, followed by rest, and repeat. No more than 5 minutes each to start. You can use a flat section for all out speed or a hill. Sets of 10 to start. The first interval should feel easy. The last one should feel like death warmed over. Your whole workout may be less than 30 minutes, then rest. Off the bike, weights are best.

Endurance days are longer duration rides at lower exertion, also known as recovery rides. Do not be tempted to hit the gas because you feel good. Enjoy the ride and rest.

Rest days are either completely off the bike, or just a short, light spin.

If you'd like help with this, contact me offline.

 

[Catalyzt]

All it takes is motivation and discipline. It's great to have you back.

It will be tempting to keep doing what you are doing, working on increasing power and endurance at the same time. However, if you keep going that way, you will hit a wall, have a setback, and get discouraged. You should look at yourself as an athlete, and train as such. That means basically three things: power days, endurance days, and rest days. Do not mix them.

Power days can be on or off the bike. On the bike, it's intervals. Shorter efforts at high exertion, followed by rest, and repeat. No more than 5 minutes each to start. You can use a flat section for all out speed or a hill. Sets of 10 to start. The first interval should feel easy. The last one should feel like death warmed over. Your whole workout may be less than 30 minutes, then rest. Off the bike, weights are best.

Endurance days are longer duration rides at lower exertion, also known as recovery rides. Do not be tempted to hit the gas because you feel good. Enjoy the ride and rest.

Rest days are either completely off the bike, or just a short, light spin.

If you'd like help with this, contact me offline.

This is great advice-- and theoretically, it should work with the REST of my recovery, the process of reassembling my personal and professional life, which is going very well, but January and February, I'll have a lot of work to do.

For intervals, I think hills are the best, even if they are not consistent. I *might* be able to do some all-out training by the LA river on the bike path, though it takes me a while to get over there.

I'm on the every-other-day riding plan with the bike; I'll see if I can start alternating power days with endurance days to start. And thanks, yes, you may be hearing from me in a week or so as I fine tune this. Much appreciated.

 

[Catalyzt]

130 watts on the 4.1 mile loop.

This ties my second-highest-power ride for this loop ever. I only have one ride pre-aneurysm that beat this, at 133 watts, and I only have on ride which beat this for fastest time, which was POST aneurysm.

For sprint speed, I am obviously back at full power-- and looking to crush previous records. I do notice that just subjectively, I feel like my endurance is not quite back at full power. Took a 2.5 hour walk at the Huntington Gardens after doing a half-hour dog walk, and felt worse than I remember feeling doing similar activities pre-aneurysm.

Now, the problem will be finding time and places for longer rides so I can build endurance! I can sort of do that around here by taking a 6 to 8 mile ride and just using more power from the battery, but I don't think that is what Stomp was talking about!

 

[Watana Bob]

Congratulations Catalyzt on your phenomenal recovery and continued improvement. Hell, you’ll be joining team Jeremy on the Tour De France next summer!

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Congratulations Catalyzt on your phenomenal recovery and continued improvement. Hell, you’ll be joining team Jeremy on the Tour De France next summer!

Heck, yeah! Pogi and Jonas will never know what hit 'em!

 

[Max Black]

Rest up, enjoy the good burn, and you’ll be back in the saddle before you know it. The road (and your bike) will still be there when you’re ready!

View attachment 200286

Just getting the bike out of the garage and pumping up the tires (with an electric pump) was so exhausting I literally had to take a nap.

A lot of dark thoughts passed through my head. And I let them pass...

I only lasted 17 minutes, 2.5 miles (just up and down the street) and 85 feet of vertical. Top speed was 20 MPH, average was 9 MPH.

Today i have the good muscle burn and the bad burn at the same time. I'm at peace, but feel like a dog that got hit by a car. A rodeo clown that wound up riding the bull by mistake...

It will be a few days before I try again, but so far, I got away with it! Stay in shape! Keep ridingh!

Rest up, enjoy the good burn, and you’ll be back in the saddle before you know it. The road (and your bike) will still be there when you’re ready!

 

[stompandgo]

The best way to build endurance is to ride endurance. Long zone 2 rides. Stay at zone 2 except when terrain dictates otherwise.

 

[PedalUma]

 

[stompandgo]

Thank you, @PedalUma. There are more specific definitions that are cyclist-oriented and refer to FTP as the reference. That means taking an FTP test to see where you are at any given moment. Your FTP will define your zones.

Overtraining is a real thing. We've all done it, whether we knew it or not. Zone discipline is very important when training for an event or recovering from an event or trauma. You don't mix zone targets just because you "feel good". That's a great way to trigger a setback.

 

[Catalyzt]

Thank you, @PedalUma. There are more specific definitions that are cyclist-oriented and refer to FTP as the reference. That means taking an FTP test to see where you are at any given moment. Your FTP will define your zones.

Overtraining is a real thing. We've all done it, whether we knew it or not. Zone discipline is very important when training for an event or recovering from an event or trauma. You don't mix zone targets just because you "feel good". That's a great way to trigger a setback.

All this means I should probably wear a heart monitor, which I loathe doing or even thinking about.

Are there any that are completely offline that anyone would recommend? Thanks!

I'll ask my doc r.e. FTP test.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

All this means I should probably wear a heart monitor, which I loathe doing or even thinking about.

I just started wearing an HRM 6 months ago — mainly out of curiosity about my cardiovascular fitness.

Not every single ride, and definitely NOT to guide any kind of formal training regimen. Mainly just to get a feel for what HR goes with a particular perceived exertion and to look for trends in max and average HR over time.

You might or might not have a more practical reason to track heart rate. Just wanted you to know that it's a totally survivable experience. Also somewhat entertaining.

Are there any that are completely offline that anyone would recommend? Thanks!

Connected my Wahoo TRACKR Bluetooth HRM to both my Specialized app and Wahoo ACE GPS computer by choice. Could've skipped either connection, but this HRM needs something to track its output to be of any use.

Pretty sure Specialized and Wahoo could see the HR data if they wanted, but I'm OK with that for now. Anyone else would have to get my HR data from them. To my knowledge, the data isn't online in any other way.

Maybe someone makes a self-contained HRM with its own display and memory.

I'll ask my doc r.e. FTP test.

@stompandgo has vastly more experience with metabolic zones and FTP than I do. But I've done a lot of recent reading on it, and there are now a lot of question marks around using FTP or HR stats to map out an individual rider's actual zone boundaries.

One thing that almost everyone agrees on, though, is that you can pretty well identify your own Zone 2 just by observing your own beathing as it affects your speech.

Suppose you call a friend while riding. If (a) she could tell just by listening to your breathing that you're exercising, but (b) you can still carry on a conversation in complete sentences, you're in Zone 2.

So, if you're willing to go on just your breathing, maybe you don't need an HRM or FTP test.

I suggest you read up on this complicated topic before diving into FTP testing. For starters, you may not have a place to complete a proper 20-minute FTP test run without interruption.

 

[mschwett]

All this means I should probably wear a heart monitor, which I loathe doing or even thinking about.

Are there any that are completely offline that anyone would recommend? Thanks!

I'll ask my doc r.e. FTP test.

i’m sure there are apps don’t upload their data anywhere, or they can be told not to, but most do store ride data somewhere on the cloud. not sure what the risk there is, personally i don’t care if some hacker someday expends a lot of effort to know what my heart rate was on a bike ride!

i like the polar chest strap HRMs, there are many similar types. bluetooth or ant.

as someone who knows much more than i ever wanted to about heart rhythm and function, i would strongly recommend you talk to your cardiologist or electrophysiologist about what your max heart rate should be, and what your “zones” would be. there are so many factors that affect this. the common guidance about tests and formulas may not be useful if you’ve had a heart attack, take any of a wide range of meds, etc.

 

[gromike]

If you get too close to your personal VO2 max you will surely feel it. Stay below that.
What I mean is you gotta feel your body and ride to that.
All those doodads are just doodads, in the end it's how you feel.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

as someone who knows much more than i ever wanted to about heart rhythm and function, i would strongly recommend you talk to your cardiologist or electrophysiologist about what your max heart rate should be, and what your “zones” would be. there are so many factors that affect this. the common guidance about tests and formulas may not be useful if you’ve had a heart attack, take any of a wide range of meds, etc.

An important point. Zones are supposed to reflect the succession of metabolic states a particular healthy rider goes through as effort increases. Targeting specific states to beef up the associated cellular machinery is what zone training is all about.

Some authors estimate zone boundaries on rider power, others on HR. The debates over which approach is better and how to individualize these boundaries are far from resolved. And that's in riders with NO known cardiac issues.

On the HR side, for example, all common zone bounday schemes depend heavily on maximum HR. But there's little agreement on how a healthy rider should estimate his own HRmax, let alone how to use it to estimate his personal metabolic zone boundaries.

Specifically, the simplistic HRmax = 220 - age formula doesn't stand up to careful scrutiny but remains in wide use. Some refine it by figuring in resting HR, but even that's controversial.

It's a mess, and so is the rider power approach to zone boundaries. The very meaning of FTP in a zone context is more controversial than ever — especially for amateurs.

I know your cardiologist gave you HR restrictions. Did she also offer adjusted zone boundaries? Doubt many cardiologists would hazard that given the unusual medical adventure @Catalyzt has been through.