 |
| My packed bike on the train bridge over the Mad River near Middlesex VT |
Hey everyone! A little cycling and adventure update since my 2022 401 Bike Challenge ride last August, as I wind down the last couple of weeks before the 2023 ride edition!
Last October, I had the privilege of riding in San Francisco and Marin County for their annual Biketoberfest event. Riding with a group who were much younger than me, I got to cross the Golden Gate bridge, zip through Sausalito and San Rafael to a town called Fairfax. Fairfax is home to Biketoberfest and the Marin Museum of Bicycling, which I plan to go back and visit on another occasion. Weather was perfect and some of the hills were absolutely brutal - including an 18% climb in a residential neighborhood that I had to walk up. On the way back to SF, I rode through The Presidio and part of Golden Gate Park
 |
| Riding crew for Biketoberfest in San Francisco |
Once he weather turned cooler again, I changed my focus to winter running as I typically do. Somehow, my Sunday running group managed to talk me into signing up for a race - they were trying to get me to run the St. Lawrence marathon out of Cornwall. This race is in April and has higher likelihood of cooler weather than Ottawa Race Weekend in late May. I didn't feel up to the vigours of marathon training, so I signed up for the half marathon. My training proceeded quite well through the winter, mixing in indoor riding on a virtual reality platform called Zwift, and keeping up with the marathoners for their long sunday run distances. I felt great
Until ...
In late March I noticed that I was having trouble on the slow Sunday runs completing the distances - distances that I had far exceeded only a few weeks earlier. I figured I might be overtraining and so I cut back on the mid week workouts but the situation didn't improve. By the time race day came along I was unsure if I should even attempt it - especially since it involved a drive to Cornwall. I participated anyway and ended up with a terrible result as I needed to do run/walk intervals for the last half of the race
Clearly something had changed with my fitness. I was worried that I had some kind of heart issue, but subsequent tests showed that my heart health was stable. Further research seems to indicate that I am experiencing something called cardiac drift, which is a condition where at low level aerobic exercise levels (like long, slow runs), your heart rate gradually increases until is ends up in the anaerobic zone. Since it is doing this extra work, after a while fatigue sets in. Cardiac drift can increase as a result of hot weather, high humidity and age (crap). Your capillaries dilate to try and cool your body down and in doing so, they end up reducing the amount of blood that's delivered to your muscles. To compensate, your heart rate increases. I've never been comfortable running in hot or humid weather and now it's gotten worse
 |
| Visiting some old rocks |
While I was figuring all this out, I didn't want to put too much stress on my system, so I limited myself to shorter rides and even stopped running completely for a while. As a result, my fitness level for the 401 Challenge is miles behind where it was last year, but I figure I should still be able to ride the 3 days. I will be following up with a sports medicine clinic to see what can be done to counteract the effects. I don't want to give up my long slow runs!
In May, Desa and I embarked on a cruise vacation around the UK. Starting in Southampton, the ship travelled counter clockwise around the isles with stops in Edinburgh, Inverness, Belfast, Liverpool, Dublin, Cork, Weymouth and back to Southampton. We then spent 4 nights in London. We had fabulous weather (not a drop of rain!) and did lots of walking (multiple days of 30k steps). I got to visit Stonehenge, Edinburgh Castle, Loch Ness, the Titanic Museum, the International Slavery Museum, The Cavern Club, the Guinness Storehouse, Trinity College, Blarney Castle & Gardens, The Tower of London, The British Museum, Camden Market and tons of other sites
 |
| Dublin Guinness Storehouse visit and tasting! |
 |
| A ride though Vermont isn't complete without the obligatory stop at the original Ben & Jerry's ice cream shop |
And recently, we got to visit our daughter Claire again in San Francisco. Great weather (again, we've been so lucky this year) and had tons of fun just playing tourist and visiting sites. I can't get enough of San Francisco
 |
| My crew cycling on beautiful Angel Island State Park north of San Francisco |
As the days wind down towards the 2023 401 Bike Challenge I'm balancing getting rides in without overdoing it. It will be interesting because so far this year my longest ride has only been 120 km. The 2nd day of the 401 Challenge is 260 km. In past years, I deliberately scheduled a training ride of over 200 km as well as back/back days of 160 km (imperial century rides). I know many of the riders don't do this and still manage to make it through the 3 days, so I'm counting on what I've observed from others to get me through!
 |
| Railway caboose museum in Franklin NH |
As always, I hope that you are all keeping well, staying healthy and enjoying life. Send me a quick update if we haven't connected in a while so we can catch up!
Take care,
Dan
Help kids with cancer at Toronto SickKids, Montreal Children's and CHEO hospitals and support my fundraising goal. You can donate to my ride via Dan's donation page at the Air Canada Vacations 401 Bike Challenge website. 100% of your tax deductible donation goes to the hospitals
Great post
ReplyDelete