Take care of yourself

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

Idaho, great insight. I didn't realize there was a chance to take steroids during the race. That changes my perspective on the whole thing. Hopefully, those days are over. But it's tough to be anything but cynical.

So, do you require B12 on your long rides? Or is that only for the elite level of the sport during competition?

 

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

Okay. Now I'm confused.

So they don't take any shot at all?

I was thinking it might be B-12 or some insulin.

By the way, I just took a shot of expresso. My quads, which have been aching, are now tingling. But that might just be the result of my ass on this hard chair.

 

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

During an actual race? No, no shots except maybe a pain killer if absolutely needed. Possibly a caffiene shot, but they could get that in a water bottle so a shot would be overkill. Between stages? I'm pretty sure some, if not most, do get medical treatment of some sort.

For some it's EPO, others get the Barry Bonds cream and clear treatment. Most are clean. ALL OF THEM know what is going into their body. I refuse to accept the "I didn't know what was in that shot" excuse. I've spoken with Max Testa (Lance Armstrong and Levi Leipheimer's doctor) and Leipheimer and Dave Zabriskie about this stuff. I asked if it's possible the team docs, trainers and directors would slip something into the massage oil or water bottle without letting the cyclists know what it was. In the words of Dave Zabriskie -- who is/was best friends with Floyd Landis -- "If you're cheating, you know you're cheating. There's no way anyone on the tour doesn't know if they are cheating or not."

Steroids won't really help during a race very much. A little, yes, but where steroids would be more usefull in the preseason conditioning to build muscle mass and increase strength. What cyclists and other endurance athletes want, though, is a way to recover faster and carry more oxygen (power) from the lungs to the muscles. EPO does just that. Used as prescribed, EPO is a great pharmaceutical that saves and improves lives. Used by cyclists, it returns the blood system to its peak much faster and is cheating. Heck, athletes (see the dopers from Astana last year) will sometimes withdraw their own blood, keep it in a cooler for a few weeks, then pump it back into their body between stages of a race, or just before a single-day race, to increase the amount of blood they have in the system, thereby increasing the amount of oxygen it can carry to muscles.

Ragu: Please tell me you don't wear your sister's capri pants while you're trackstanding with all the other geeks.

a fixie is kind of cool, but kind of dangerous. I could go for a single speed, though. My next bike will be a mountain bike, though. After all this road training, I think I could get into some leasurely trips around the mountains on a single track with a friend or two. Just me, the bike and nature.

There's really a lot of science behind all this. Just ask creamora.

This morning: 1 mile swim. This afternoon: 40 miles on the bike, if all the ducks are lined up and I can get out. that's never a given, though, considering my family schedule.

 

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

I say ditch the family.

 

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

Today
"Helen": 400-meter run, 21 45-pound kettleball swings (Rx'd as 55), 12 pullups; three rounds in 16:32.

Forty minutes later, and I'm still not fully recovered.

Joe

 

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

As long as you avoid becoming one of those critical massholes you're still OK. Even in your sister's pants.

 

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

Today
Four rounds of quarter-mile run, 50 squats in 15:34. Quarter-mile times were 1:38, 1:37, 1:34, 1:30.

The proscribed workout of the day was a 15k run. Uh, no. Not so much for me.

Joe

 

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

Last night: 42 miles from my front door to a turnaround and back. The first 21 miles were pretty much all uphill. The computer said I had 2,500 feet of vertical gain, with about 2,000 of that coming on a seven-mile stretch. Then I turned around and flew home at speeds maxing out at 46 mph.

Descending makes ascending worth it.

This morning: yoga for an hour. Good stretching.

 

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

Today's three-round workout

First round: Row 1,000 meters, 85-pound thrusters (21 reps), 15 pullups.
Second round: Row 750 meters, 18 thrusters, 12 pullups.
Third round: Row 500 meters, 15 thrusters, 9 pullups.

Finished in 10:43, 9:30ish, 7:13.

I'm starting to hate thrusters.

Joe