Two Stories to Tell: Story Juan

So first the story of the boot! I spent seven weeks in it and was excited to get out of it, perhaps too excited! The last week was the week of Fall Break at Thanksgiving Time. The seventh week! So Monday when we went back to school I was eager to have it off! Monday, and Tuesday I was fine, but then I forgot something at home so I rushed home and when I came down the stairs in a hurry I managed to dislocate it again. I could barely walk back to the car, so I went back inside the house and put the boot back on! I didn't even make it three days! Quelle lastime!

So I'm prepared to go 14 weeks with the dad gum boot, but I am being brazen in my approach because any chance I get I'm not wearing the boot and doing my toe exercises and even going for walks.

By the time Winter Break came I had been in the boot a total of nine weeks. Not a happy camper! I know with the knee trouble I had recently I had to get off the compression stuff and start strengthening the actual knee. I am using that approach now with my dislocated metatarsal. Doctor Hughes did not cover this. I tried to get in to see my doctors, but due to the holidaze my appointments are getting cancelled. ¡Muy interesante! Happy

Something Happened Sooner

I was looking forward to walking around the block! No, I had to go get a glitch in my back! Doing what exactly?! Cleaning out the cat box!

We had awakened early to get a nice breakfast at La Madeleine across from Central Market!
 An aside, breakfast at La Madeleine was not as much fun since I gave up coffee. Stupid heart! Coffee causes a cumulative effect on my heart rate, so by ten or eleven PM my freaking heart is racing and all I'm doing is sitting there watchin' TV! "No caffeine for you!" BTW their French country breakfast is really good! Would have been better with coffee!

So we come home after getting the last of the food for the Thanksgiving meal,
 and of course I have chores to do so I do them and then I'm all sweaty so I go and crank up the AC in the den to cool off and watch some TV. So after sitting there for a while, I can barely get up! I'm still wearing the boot 24/7 so it's not like I can handle something else right now. BTW my wife's Turkey turned out really good! I wasn't much help fixing it up, but I still did a couple of things! Then I washed the dishes while my bride napped! Somebody wanted to see the Cowboys get beat so we ate early as opposed to after the game! Still great fun though!

So what am I doing about it? Well all the over the counter stuff is doing zilch, nada, niente!

I was supposed to go for a leisurely walk around the block, no biggie! But this happened so I'm having to modify my rehab of my foot to accommodate my back! This week is the sixth week of having the boot, or boots! I trashed one and then got another! After this week according to Dr. Hughes in order to salvage the nerve damage I'm supposed to go 7/24 for another week. Well when medication isn't doing anything for my back (BTW long story short, I have an extra vertebrae in my back from a tail bone that did not fuse. An L6. Every once in a while it gives me grief when I have not kept my athletics exercise routine up). For the last two years when I do my periodization for cycling I end up having to pick up my riding early because my back will not allow me to stay stagnant for long.

Today, in an attempt to stave off the pain in my back that is keeping me from getting up easily and preventing me from walking a whole lot, I embarked on a thirty minute bike ride in the absolute fastest gear on my stationary bike downstairs. This is equivalent to having to lift weights with my legs. This motion and exercise seems to reduce the inflammation from the episode two or three days ago. It normally does the trick in about two or three days. Since it is Friday, Black Friday for that matter, the second one this year! I hope that is not an omen of things to come! Wish me luck!

One step forward, two steps back

Often these past two weeks with the boot my foot will feel normal and I'll go 20 or 30 minutes without the boot and meanwhile something happens to my foot that it hurts all over again!

Yesterday, my bride and I went down to Día de Los Muertos downtown at La Villita to see the altares, alebriges, and Katrina/Carolina and the esqueletos. I wore my boot the whole time, was very careful, and today I feel like I ran a marathon! There is a dull pain! Like it is healing, but just taking its sweet time!

I know I am not patient! In college when I broke my ankle, I played tennis with my cast on and managed to break my cast and so then I had to wear the cast for an extra six weeks. I hope that is not the case with this tarso metatarsal dislocation.

Mine doesn't have the blue air bubble or the white dot up towards the top.

Now that I'm wearing the boot, I notice all the people that are also wearing a boot. They are everywhere! My wife, Doctor Gayle, says the boots are used for everything from Diabetes to relieve the pressure to broken ankles! Figures!

Remember how I said I break everything? Well I managed to wear through the sole to where it is falling off so then every-time I take a step it's not a dull thud but a loud whack. So new boot ordered and will take some time to arrive. Meanwhile, I have a piece of mountain bike tire covering the part that is exposed! Ha!

Identity Crisis!

What am I? Am I this ultra endurance dude? A guy that does seven one hundred milers in a single summer, comes home does his chores around the house and still has enough for a night out on the town? Or am I something else entirely? 

 This picture is ingrained in my memory! It is what I don't want to be. It is not me, I don't wear glasses like that! But then I always told myself, I didn't want to be like X and now in my later years I have become that which I didn't want to be. So yeah, there's an identity crisis!

What is an ultra-exerciser that cannot exercise? Are they a couch potato?! Are they a cheeto flinger?! Are they a cheese-ball whacker?! I wrote this after the Summer after the two elbow break (I must have been too devastated to even write about it before then!):

So, this Spring Break (March, 2016), I'm working out how to be inactive! I came to the realization that's it's been thirty plus years that I have been working out: running, climbing, cycling, swimming, and lately walking.
Unbelievably, now that I'm older the walking is ever more productive than all the cycling I do so regularly. Recently, with two catastrophic injuries in two years the mileage on the bike is less than half of what it has been in the past. The breaking of my two elbows this past Summer, caused me to question whether cycling is for ever or just another one of many activities I have done throughout the years.
My wife and I have adopted the slower method of losing poundage with small changes that make a big difference on weight-loss. Both of us have lost about thirty-five pounds and have kept it off.
At school I use the fasting method. A bunch of people at school are getting good results with it. I don't like to eat at school anyway so it works for me. (Please do not see this as an endorsement of the intermittent fasting method. I no longer believe it to be healthy or productive in weight-loss!)
I can feel the consequences of not staying active in my hips and in my knees. My back has never been real happy so that is still there also. My elbows, the one that did not give as much trouble is the one that troubles me more now and it even clicks! Boo! Well, got to go!

I remember the orthopod telling me to get back on the bike immediately and start putting weight back on my arms. I did, at about a minute something at a time on the bike in the basement! Putting weight on two broken arms was no fun!

A lot of times I talk about an experiment of one, meaning we all have to find our own way out of the hole, if a hole is the right metaphor for a cease and desist on the exercise front! As one grows older, is that all that is left with exercise? Use it or lose it! Put up or shut up! One injury after another! Fighting my battle! Take that pill! Subsistence exercise, forget intensity, forget endurance, and just ride to smell the flowers or ride to be an activist! Am I paying the price now for all the intense exercise I have done in my past? The injuries are here because I was too gung-ho (over-enthusiastic) in High-School, College, and Early Adulthood. Add to that all the heart issues that come with it as well: enlarged heart, heart murmur, irregular heart-beat and high-cholesterol, high blood-pressure, and anxiety. What do I say to all you young people on our campus?! "Take it easy, take it slow, but go, go, Go!"; "Use it or lose it!!"; "Carpe Diem!"; "Carpe Viam!"(Loosely translated as Hit the road!); "Noli Consequi!"(No drafting the big guy!) Would I be where I am today, without exercise and fitness? Would I be a lesser version of myself? Would the kids still say, "you look forty, mister!?"

So, after a two-week hiatus from exercising, after a debilitating Lis Franc Injury, I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone that has supported me and honored me with Student Jerseys at Krueger MS. Nearly Twenty years at Krueger and two shirts in two weeks! The support is really humbling and something I would never have expected.

This is obviously a tough time, but I have gained a lot of strength from the support over the last two weeks! I'd also like to extend my gratitude to my comrades in arms, the ultra-exercisers I look up to, especially Ms. Rubio and Lupe Rodriguez. Doctor Gayle, my wife, for keeping me on the straight and narrow and everyone at Well-Med and Doctor Horn's Office for assisting me. Thank you for going above and beyond the call of duty, for which I am ever so grateful. I know how lucky I am to be here today and how much I owe to all of you. One of the practitioners said, "there is no medical reason" why I could not come back "stronger than before."

In my dreams I wish I could be like Froome and say, "Whilst this is a setback and a major one at that, I am focusing on looking forward. There is a long road to recovery ahead, but that recovery starts now and I am fully focused on returning back to my best."

Read more at https://www.cyclingweekly.com

Six Months Without Injury was Wishful Thinking

The glow after a good ride!

This is how satisfied I was this Saturday after a seventeen miler in which my foot gave me a bit of grief every time I started or stopped and in traffic that was pretty often. As the day progressed it was more and more evident that I was not in Kansas anymore and I hadn't survived six months without injury.

In early May, last year I fought to maintain fitness with Plantar Fasciitis. Those of you who know about PF you know what a pain it is to do anything with it! During that time, I suffered something that now I presume was a Lisfranc Injury while putting my pants on in the morning of all things. When it happened I immediately knew that I needed to take time off! Dr. Gayle, my wife, insisted I stay off the bike. She was right, after six weeks I was back to riding at first cautiously, but then full bore! Until this past Wednesday, again Dr. Gayle suggested I must have pushed off of the stool I was sitting on while we were writing our schedules in Spanish, ten sentence paragraphs. Me counting sentences, never! We were just doing our list-making in a fancy way.  So then this was 8th period,

What an honor to be chosen to represent at the 7th Grade B Game!

Nevermind that earlier before lunch I could barely walk down the hall to the rest-room! After the game I still ended up directing two choirs at my church! Long day!

So that night and the next day, no discoloration! Good sign because I'm trying to avoid an MRI because they cost an arm and a leg. Last time I did a couple was with my broken elbows. The cost of the MRI hurt more than the breaks themselves!

This morning I was a little puffy. But then I'm always puffy. Gabriel the comedian says fluffy, I say puffy! But it hurt, so today I went to church with my stick! According to some friends in the congregation, it didn't affect my singing! BTW if you want to hear the old man sing, come to the Falcon Choir Concert this Tuesday Night. Je vais chanter en Français de La Mer!

So here I am at the end of the season, will need to take at least six weeks off of the bike and from walking for exercise. Hoping for a boot without surgery and then we'll go on from there. Stats this year are: 1,626 miles, the Caloi TT Rig has 3,641 total miles on it, the KHS tandem has 182 total miles on it, the Litespeed Classic Crit Bike has 6,265 total miles on it, and the Gary Fisher Marlin Mountain Bike has 568 total miles on it. Gotta enjoy the ride! Live to ride again tomorrow!

No Elasticity

Elasticity: The ability to bounce back in less than 24 hours from a seemingly hard bout of exercise to continue on your journey of attaining training effect! A lot of times it seems like it's an experiment of one. (But at the same time figuring something out for yourself is what counts so it is warranted). Yes, Dr. Mirkin (a cyclist, blogger, e-zine writer doctor {retired} in his 80s) has been saying for years that the older you get the longer it takes to recover from a bout of exercise. This hit me hard this weekend!

On Saturday, I awoke fine, no issues! Went for my ride on my Caloi Time Trial Rig. (TT) The seat that is in the picture is not the seat I used. I actually was testing out a new to me Bianchi RoyaleGel seat that had some suspension. Everything worked fine, no issues with the seat. Once I adjusted the height a little bit once again, I was fine.

I had planned to get out at six AM, but no the dog had other ideas! Her new thing is she won't get up at all for me. She finally came to get me around nine AM. So that means I got out at a little bit passed 10. Which, with the heat, it is cutting it pretty close. 90 degrees in the day normally hits right around one or two PM. I had all my sun protection garb on that gives me an SPF of 50. Not bad! So I was trying for about three hours, but ended up going for about four hours. No problem, I thought I had been doing four hour rides for over two months now.

The ride itself felt really easy! Even the last bit that is normally a struggle was just as easy as the beginning! So, I thought I had dodged a bullet until later that afternoon.

Gayle and I went to WD Deli, our favorite sandwich shop, the first indication that all was not fine was when sitting down I almost topped the little table over. Getting up to get refills was a real struggle. Later we went to Hot Wells on the South Side to see what the hoopla was all about and when getting out of the car hurt. I knew I had overdone it!

Sunday's 6 AM ride was delayed because of issues with my lights. I don't normally run lights on the TT rig, I put some on, but they wouldn't stay on. So I was much later than normal to catch up with the guys and gals from @ction Bikes I would have to burn some rubber (impossible to do on a bike unless you're stopping, but you catch my drift!) Early on I got to a couple of good numbers 18 mph, 19 mph! But it was short lived, I could feel the anvils that my legs had become.

I gave up the chase, but still completed the route so it became a recovery ride instead of a short bout of speed work.

Siclovía is Always Fun Even If You Go Alone!

Who is alone with 200k of your closest friends on bikes, running, walking, and skateboarding! I knew I was going to do Siclovía today no matter what! 

Yesterday, in preparation for today I did minimal mileage. Saturday is normally my long ride day because I have all the time I need!

This li'l one could be Peanut!

I awoke Saturday tired and lazy! So I went back to bed and let the dog wake me up when she was ready to go out. We have an understanding about this, I don't wake her up to go out on weekends at six. So she lets me sleep in a little when I want! She woke me up at nine, (Good Girl! Peanut!) After taking her out I had a leisurely breakfast and then got ready to go for a ride. I knew I would be riding the road bike on Sunday because it has all the lights and stuff so I hopped on the Gary Fisher, Marlin Mountain Bike and went and did the trails under HWY 281 in Olmos Park.

Our KSAT Parent Howard!

Sundays, I have a group that I normally ride with that has helped me get healthy on the bike, but still put in some miles. Their ride is a stay together ride with a half-way stop at the Alamodome rain or shine that starts at the bike world shop in Alamo Heights! Action Bikes is the name of the group and is hosted by one of our KSAT parents, Howard! I also know me and if I ride with them I'll go too fast and too hard and then wouldn't be worth spit at Siclovía. So today I followed them! Normally when I'm late I chase them till I catch them and like normal today I was late. But all I did was follow until the end! I rode up a big hill to catch them going by a neighborhood adjacent mine.

Then I go do the church thing, pray for my kids and sing in the choir! Today, wanting to get away really quick, I went straight to La Madeleine and bought some goodies and salads. Everything in moderation, right!

So then Siclovía, yess!

In fact, this time there were a bunch of people with huge plants as in previous years. I have never gone and got one because, where would I put it? And these are baby trees so it's not a little bud!

At Siclovía you see all kinds of bikes:

From Mountain Unicycles

To Low Rider Bikes with all kinds of bling on them!

 To Bucket Cargo Bikes and Recumbents

Ciclovía Started in Bogota, Colombia. One year the government noticed the streets downtown not being used on Sunday so the Ciclovía was born! Now it has spread all over the world!

Almost 50 miles this weekend! Still a bunch of pounds shy! If it works don't change it!

Bike Activist: Never Saw Myself As One, but maybe changes are in the works!

A drone samples some nectar from the corner house when I took the little dog out!
How long will drones like this one be able to do this?!

So today I went to a Die-In, a protest where all the bike riders lie down next to their bikes and mimic being dead to protest the cyclist lives lost this year in San Antonio. We joined a group of environmentalists or ecological group that were having a gathering at Main Plaza to protest our pulling out of the Paris Accord among other things like, The Permian Highway Pipeline. Protests like this one were planned all over the world to coincide with the world climate conference. As much as I thought I would be going as a bystander or concerned citizen that also rides a bike, the Die-In was emotional for me. I have been hit by cars! I have been ignored, and I am blessed and fortunate to still be riding! Imagine a group of 200 to 300 people lying on the ground all dead right in front of San Fernando Cathedral! No pic, remember I was dead!

It was nice to hear the Mayor speak, Mayor Nirenberg, he was trying to motivate the crowd to support protected bike lanes and would like for us to vote on PAC now! There were voices of opposition in the crowd, but mostly he said good things and the crowd was appreciative. Some folks are a little sore because the protected bike lane that was supposed to grace the lower part of Broadway was denied basically for seven parking spaces! :-) Here's a shot of the mayor!

Mayor Nirenberg Speaking to the Crowd this Morning

Obligatory Ride Note: 17.7 miles of fun with some of the same folks I rode with at the Cyclists Lives Matter Parade a couple of weeks ago!

Obligatory Weight Note: I broke the thirty-pound lost mark. So far only one person has noticed. I thank them! 

Obligatory Weight Loss Diet Note: I tried intermittent fasting for two years. It worked for 15 to 17 pounds, but no more and the weight never stayed off for good! What diet am I doing now? Good question, rabbit food, fish food, no breads a lot of the time. I still have pizza once a month or so. I still have white rice and borracho beans and rice and tortillas every once in a while. Mostly salads and tuna fish!

One last note, no I didn't ride 100 miles today, (Shout-Out to the wheelmen and women!), but supporting those young people in their protest opened my eyes a bit! Have a great week!

The San Antonio Wheelmen 100 was run today! I hope everyone had a good time!

@Samantha Flores, the Artist; @MayorNirenmberg #EnvironmentalParade #EcologicalParade #ClimateAction #When #Now

Water weight?! Peso d'agua?!

Pois aquí estou no mesmo peso e tamanho do que a semana pasada e nâo sei se é porque eu nâo nadei semana passada ou porque o que eu perdí nas primeiras duas semanas foi sómente peso d'agua! Treze libras nove kilos! De agua?! Será possivel?! Eu falei com um cara da Inglaterra que estava perdendo peso eu ando pesando mais que ele. Ele tava falando que baixou das 18 pedras (stones) a 16.6 pedras. Entâo eu fui ver o que 293 libras eram em pedras e era mais que ele. Eu nâo me vejo como o cara mais grande ai fora na bike, mais vai ver que eu sou! Vai ver que estou devolta ao desespero e eu sou um cara muito grande em realidade!

So, here I am at the same weight I was last week and I don't know if it is because last week I didn't swim or it's because all the weight I lost in the first two weeks was just water weight! Thirteen pounds, nine kilos! Of Water!? H20 Is that possible?! I spoke to a dude from the United Kingdom that was losing weight from 18 stone down to 16.6 stone. So I went to see what 293 lbs. was in stones and it was more than the guy! I don't see myself as the biggest guy out there on the bike, but I guess I am! Perhaps I am back at the exasperated state I was earlier and I am a Big Dude in actuality!

This can't be me cause I don't wear glasses! Nâo pode ser eu porque eu nâo uso oculos! (Google Image)

My New Miracle Drug - A Minha Droga Nova

Full-blown Atkins! Yup, I said it! No more sugar, no more carbs other than the ones we get naturally in legumes and such!

It was a desperate move, but a necessary one! Last week, I worked my butt off on the bike and the results? There were no results! Zilch, nada, niente! My rides were strong and as fast as I could do them, yet no results! My weight, ta da dam! Ballooned to 293!!! That's almost 300 lbs! Holy tish! Batman! So the only course was to quit sugar, including my beloved cereal and my drinks and to quit my love 'em/hate 'em carbs!

The result? Ta da dam! 13 pounds gone (actually: 13.25 and I broke 280 lbs! Poof! WTH?

I had always opted to do South Beach because I would still get some carbs! But my body cannot function with carbs and it can't function without carbs (I said that last thing because yesterday's attempt to go long was sabotaged by not having enough glycogen in my system to complete the task!) Sucked so bad! My only solution for this is either to go ride with the Cool Cats or with the Hill Country Touring and Adventure Club. Once I get fast enough, perhaps the Cyclones! Right now I can't even muster their lowest speed range for their slowest group.

I never did full-blown Atkins, because it was too much! I assumed as an athlete I had to maintain a higher level of glycogen in my system.

So, I am going to continue to work on my swimming, and my cycling without carbs until I reach a weight management level. That would be 200 lbs! Honestly, I do not know if I have what it takes to go that far, but I have to do something! Or a Heart Attack! No thanks, I don't want to be part of the zipper club!

Atkins em todo! Sim, eu ja disse! Nâo vou comer mais açucar ou os carbohidrados exceto aqueles que acurrem naturalmente em legumes e coisas!

Foi uma opçâo de desespero, mais foi necesario! Semana pasada, eu trabalhei duro, bruto sem fingimento na bike e os resultados? Nâo tive resultados! Zilch, nada, niente! Minhas pedaladas foram tâo fortes que podia e ainda sem resultados! Meu peso, ta ta tam! Aumentou as 133 kilos!!! Isso é quasi 150 kilos! Que droga meu chapa! Entâo o unica rota foi de desistir de comer açucar, incluindo o meu cereal favorito e as minhas bebidinhas e o meu amor mais forte os carbohidrados!

Entâo? Ta ta tam! 6 kilos disapareceram e baixei a menos que 130 kilos! Puf! Puxa vida!

Eu sempre tinha optado para fazer o jejum South Beach porque eu ainda ganharia alguns carbos! Mais o meu corpo nâo funciona com os carbos e sem carbos (Eu digo isso no final porque ontem quando tentei fazer uma pedalada larga eu nâo tinha glicogenio suficente para acabar o desafio!) Foi uma merda! A minha unica soluçâo pra isto é de ir e andar de bike com os Cool Cats, Hill Country Touring and Adventure Club, ou os Cyclones! Agorinha, eu nâo consigo nem fazer o escopo mais baixo do grupo mais devagar deles!

Eu nunca fiz o Atkins todo, porque era muito! Eu fiz assumí que um atleta tem que ter um nivel de carbos ou de glicogenio mais alto no sistema.

Entâo, eu vou continuar a trabalhar na minha nataçâo, e o meu ciclismo sem carbos até que eu alcançe um peso de mantençâo. E isso seria 90 kilos! Em toda honestidade, eu nâo sei se eu tenha a força pra fazer isso mais eu tinha que fazer algo ou um ataque de coraçâo! Nâo obrigado! Eu nâo quero ser parte do clube do ziper!

Why? Por qué?

Not that I've been researching this, but it is the best idea I've heard in a year!

So, for a year, what I normally did to lose weight stopped working such as: walking a lot at school, doing intermittent fasting, and keeping up with my cycling! It's almost like the three months I took off from activity last Summer changed something! I have been active all my life, but last Summer when I couldn't be active because of my knees caused me to spin into the abyss of being a couch-potato! Blame it on eating worse than normal, but that's not the case. Blame it on not being active enough, but no that's not it either I'll explain in a sec. Or perhaps my metabolism took another dip. I wasn't expecting another dip until my sixties, but maybe because I have been so hard on this old body, it came early. In the fall last year, I noticed things were not progressing like they should have been. What to do? It was now Christmas, my knees were coming along fine, but my back on the other hand was hurting almost constantly! Now what? Over Christmas, I took a few days off the bike to see if it would go away, nope!

https://greatist.com/move/beginners-power-yoga

I also picked up my power yoga that would normally knock out the pain in two or three days and that didn't work either! Now it's New Years and time to change some things so I decided to streak! A streak is something you do everyday no matter what! So, for the new year I decided I was going to spend twenty to thirty minutes on the bike everyday in order to push away the back pain through activity and it worked!

I had noticed that with all the spinning (easy work, light efforts on the bike to get my knees active again and increase synovial fluid in my soft tissue and musculature around my knees) was causing me to be weak off the trainer out on the streets. My solution to the back pain and transition away from all the lite spinning I was doing for my knees was to do some weight-lifting on the bike. So twice a week I would spin on the hardest, most exhausting gear I could manage on the trainer and the other days of the week I did a speed session, a tempo session and a long ride. This worked, like I said, to knock out the pain in my back! But what about the weight-loss? No dice, I yo-yoed through-out the year without any definitive results! What to do? I had relegated myself that I would in my later years be a bigger big guy than I really wanted to be. I was very close to getting rid all of my clothing that was not extra-large! Actually, that's still on the table, we shall see!

I read lots of athletic stuff, training stuff, studies, research etc. all the time to stay with it for my own training and for my e-blast and my blogs! I came across a phrase that stuck with me recently that I wasn't even looking for for any reason. I think it was an add for an e-book on RoadBikeRider.com

https://www.roadbikerider.com/earticles-training/

I'm not 60 for a couple of years yet, but there it is in black and white! As you get older, you don't want to slow down, you want to ramp things up! So, on the New Year, I started streaking on the trainer to keep the pain in my back away. I have never been one to ride my bike every freaking day or even when I was a runner, I took two days off per week at least! And now that the Summer is here and the Fall Semester is just around the corner I have picked up swimming for a total body workout and am encouraged that the swimming will take me into my twilight years feel fit and strong!

I pray that it will also allow me to get back to faster riding and lose some of this extra weight I have been carrying around. Remember, as you get older, don't slow down, ramp things up!

Eu nâo estive pesquisando isto, mais é a melhor ideia que eu tenho ouvido em um ano!

Entâo, por um ano, o que eu normalmente fazia para perder peso paró de trabalhar pra mim como: caminhando bastante na escola, fazendo um jejum intermitente, e mantendo o meu trabalho no ciclismo! E quasi como os tres meses que eu nâo pude fazer exercicio o verâo passado mudou tudo! Eu tenho mantido uma vida activa minha vida inteira, mais o verâo passado eu nâo pude continuar com minha actividade favorita, o ciclismo porque os meus joelhos e me causou cair no abismo de ser um surfista de sofá. Eu posso culpar porque eu tava comendo peor, mas nâo foi isso. Ou eu posso culpar que eu nâo estive tâo ativo como antes, mais nâo foi isso tâopouco, esplicarei em um minutinho. Ou vai ver que foi o meu metabolismo que tomou um outro pulo pra baixo. Eu nâo estive esperando um outro destes ate que eu tinha sesenta anos, ou vai ver que eu fiz tanta coisa dura com este corpo velho, que viu cedo. No outono do ano pasado, eu notei que asa coisas nâo estavam progredindo como deviam. Que deveria fazer? Ja era Natal, cuando os meus joelhos ja melhoraram, mais as minhas costas estavam doendo quasi todo dia. E agora que? Durante as ferias do Natal eu nâo andei de bike pra ver se podia ajudar. E nâo, de novo!

https://greatist.com/move/beginners-power-yoga

Eu também começei a fazer yoga de poder que normalmente me ajudaria a relaxar as costas en dois ou tres dias mais isso nâo ajudou tâopouco. Entâo agora ja é o ano novo e era hora de mudar as coisas entâo decidi fazer uma maré na bike! Uma maré é uma coisa que um idividuo faz todo dia sem falhar! Entâo pro ano novo eu decidi que ia passar vinte a trinta minutos cada dia na bike pra poder expulsar a dor das costas usando atividade e funcionou!

Eu notei que com toda a pedalada fraca que estava fazendo (trabalho facil, esforços fracos na bike pra poder alcançar um nivel de atividade na bike outra vez e aumentar o fluido sinovial nos tendones y musculos ao redor dos meus joelhos) que estava causando estar fraco quando nâo estava no treinador e afora nas ruas. Minha soluçâo para a dor nas costas e fazer uma transiçâo e me afastar de toda a pedalada fraca que estava fazendo pros meus joelhos foi fazer um pouco de levantar pesos na bike. Entâo duas vezes por semana eu faria uma pedalada be bruta na marcha mais dificil da bike e os outros dias eu faria uma seçâo de corrida, uma de tempo ou LT e uma pedalada bem larga. Isto funcionou, como eu disse, acabou com a dor das costas! E entâo e a perda de peso?! Nâo deu a pé, eu fui como um yo-yo durante o ano enteiro sem resultados definitivos! Que vou fazer? Eu ja tinha rebaixadome que nos anos mais velhos eu seria um homem mais grande que eu queria ser. Eu estava bem pertinho de mandar todas minhas roupas pequenas pra rua que nâo era de tamanho extra-grande! Na verdade, isto ainda esta sobre a mesa e vamos ver!

Eu leio muitas coisas atleticas, coisas de como treinar, estudos, pesquisas, etc. todo o tempo para estar pronto pra escrever o meu blog e também estar lado ao lado com o meu treinamento e também o meu disparo de correio eletrónico! Eu ví uma frase que ficou comigo recentemente que eu nem estava buscando por qualquer razâo. Eu penso que foi um anuncio pra um livro eletrónico no RoadBikeRider.com

https://www.roadbikerider.com/earticles-training/

Eu nâo vou ter 60 anos por ums dois anos ainda, mais ainda esta ai em preto e branco! Dizem que cuando amadurecemos nâo queremos ficar mais devagar, mais sim queremos aumentar o ritmo! Entâo no ano novo, eu começei a maré na bike pra manter a dor fara das minhas costas. Eu nunca fui um desses caras que andava de bike todos os dias tâopouco quando era corredor de atletismo, eu sempre tomava dois dias de descanço! E agora que verâo esta aquí e o semestre do outono esta bem pertinho eu tenho acrecentado a nataçâo pra um esforço do corpo enteiro e ja estou incentivado que a nataçâo vai me levar aos anos de velhez me sentindo forte e em forma adecuada!

Espero que também me ajude a voltar ao ciclismo com mais força e perder esse peso extra que ando carregando. Lembre, ao envelhecer, nâo queremos estar mais devagar mais queremos aumentar o ritmo!

Mo Pool Time

Thank you US Masters Swimming for the Summer Fitness Challenge and getting me in touch with Coach Susan Ingraham! If you had told me I would be back in the pool in two days, I would have said you were nuts! There is a strange calling from the pool though! I want to get back into it and do more. I forgot how refreshing it is. I also forgot as you're getting out you feel like your upper torso and arms are like Dwayne Johnson's! On Monday, I did 300 meters plus or minus. Today I went to North East ISD Sports Park and did another 400 ladder with 3 min. rest. Still haven't done the 2K, but it's there calling my name! I'll get it done! Felt good, but still feel out of sorts on my breathing. Never too late to get back in the pool! Thank you again!

Muito obrigado Nataçâo de Mestres do EEUU e o desafio de Fitness do Verâo e também me por em contato com a treinadora Susan Ingraham! Ela me disse que é provavel que eu posso entrar gratis nas piscinas do North East o distrito aonde trabalho. Si voce tivesse dito que eu estaria na piscina de novo em dois dias eu teria dito que estavam doidos! Mais tem uma chamada estranha da piscina! Eu quero regressar e fazer mais! Eu esqueci quâo refrescante era. Eu também esqueci como um se sente que os ombros e os braços sentem como os braços do Dwayne Johnson (The Rock). Na segunda-feira eu fiz ums 300 metros. Hoje eu fiz 400 metros de escalera com 3 minutos de descanço entre os esforços. Eu fui pro North East ISD Sports Park e como faz parte do meu distrito eu entrei gratis. Ainda nâo fiz o desafio de 2 mil metros mais ainda esta me chamando pra completar! Lo farei! Me senti bem, mais ainda estou sentindo estranho na minha respiraçâo. Nunca é muito tarde para entrar na piscina de novo! Muito obrigado outra vez!

Torture by Any Other Name is Still Torture: Swimming Laps for the first time after years of dryland training!

Tortura por Qualquer Outro Nome Ainda é Tortura: Nadando Voltas por a primeira vez depois de anos de treinando na terra seca.

A little background: Thirty years ago, give or take five years, while I was getting my second degree in education, I swam regularly three to five times a week. At that time I was able to get my mile or 3000 meters down to 23 minutes and change. The first time I completed a mile it took me 46 minutes. I know I can do the work and improve, I just have to reach for it and relax into the stroke.

A little more background: If you are reading this blog for the first time it started out as a cycling blog, but last year before the summer I suffered a catastrophic activity ending injury to my knees and ended up spending three months inactive in order to regain use of my knees with little to no activity and have been building up use of my knees over the past year. None of the strides I have achieved would have been possible without the guidance and encouragement I received through reading savingmyknees.blogspot.com! (Two days ago I did a 40 miler with some hills in there on the road bike. Something I thought I had lost last year!)Richard Bedard, the writer of the book titled Saving My Knees and the preceding blog which chronicled the work from debilitating injury in the knees to the extent that he had to quit work to being able to ride his bicycle competitively again on the weekends. This was way out of the norm, because the only research one could find on the internet or otherwise at the time had one strengthening ones knees through the use of weightlifting concepts to strengthen the surrounding musculature. Richard Bedard promoted the concept of regaining use and strengthening soft tissue and even regrowing soft tissue through the implementation multiple slight movements many times per day. For example taking 90 steps with a cane or walking stick three times day and increasing that to as much as two miles plus still taking multiple times per day to keep circulation to the affected muscular tissue as well as soft tissue.

Right before the Summer Break, I'm a teacher, I Gallow-Walked ten miles on the World Running Day that was celebrated on my campus! (Feel free to research Jeff Galloway and find out about his belief that one can finish a marathon by people call Gallow-Walking the distance which basically is walking a few steps every mile or in my case on the track I only ran the straight-a-ways and walked the curves). Totally doable!

Since the Summer started my wife and I have been helping the neighbors out and they have a pool! So I have been doing some swimming after I come back from a bike ride in their pool! Very refreshing in the extreme heat. Coincidentally the US Masters Swimming national program has been pushing people to regain their shape over the summer. Today was my day at the Jewish Community Center in town! Another coincidence was that today was the 2000 meter challenge. Ha! I was hoping to be able to pop in the pool and knock out 3000 meters without much effort! Ha! Ha! I had to work in lengths rather than in laps. I did a couple of laps and a couple of Olympic turns for good measure. I couldn't control my breath well enough to just relax in to the stroke and do the turns and just keep going. I had planned to do a ladder but I could not get that going. I pop out of the pool with a whole 300 meters under my belt! So there is time, and I need to build! I need patience and reach out with my stroke and relax in order to control my breath and everything else. We all have to start out somewhere so today was just the first day back. Oh wow!

Shout out to Coach Susan Ingraham for giving me some pointers on my stroke. I forgot to tell her I broke both of my elbows two years ago and that has affected my reach on my stroke. Hopefully I will still be able to improve my reach. US Master Swimming seems to be a new facet to my training! God bless the USA and US Masters Swimming!

Tortura por Qualquer Outro Nome Ainda é Tortura: Nadando Voltas por a primeira vez depois de anos de treinando na terra seca. (Note eu estou substituindo o â por o a com ~. Infelizmente eu nâo encontro a combinaçâo de teclas para imprimir isto. Muitissimas desculpas!)

Um pouco de contextualizaçâo: Trinta anos atrás, mais ou menos cinco anos, enquanto eu estava fazendo o meu segundo grado em educaçâo, eu nadava regularmente 3 a 5 vezes por semana. Naquele tempo eu podia fazer 3000 metros em 23 minutos e picos. Começei com 46 minutos. Eu sei que posso fazer o trabalho para melhorar, eu só tenho que alcançar mais com cada braço e relaxar em cada braçada.

Um pouco mais de contextualizaçâo: Se estás lendo este blog por a primeira vez começou como um blog de ciclismo, mais o ano passado antes do verâo eu sufrí uma lesâo catastrofica que podia acabar com toda actividade com os meus joelhos e acabei passando tres meses sem fazer quasi nada para readquirir o uso dos meus joelhos com pouco o quasi nada de movimento incrementando o uso dos joelhos por este ultimo ano. Ningum dos avançes que eu pude fazer seriam possiveis sem ajuda e apoio e conselhamento que eu recebi atraves da leitura do blog savingmyknees.blogspot.com! (Dois dias atras eu fiz uma pedalada de 40 milhas [64 kilometros] com umas lombas tambem na bike de estrada. Eu pensei que tinha perdido esse dom). Richard Bedard, o escritor to livro entitulado Saving My Knees e o blog antecendente que o analisador relatou o trabalho necesario desde uma lesâo debilitante nos joelhos até que ele teve que parar de trabalhar até poder andar de bicicleta outra vez competitivamente nos fims de semana. Isto estava fora da norma, porque a unica pesquisa que um podia encontrar na rede ou qualquer outro modo naquele tempo fazia o atleta fortalecer os joelhos atraves de coneitos de levantar pesos por fortalecer os musculos ao redor dos joelhos. O Richard Bedard promoveu o conceito de readquirir o uso e o fortalecimento dos tendoes atraves da implementacâo de varios movimentos levianos muitas vezes por dia. Por exemplo levando noventa pasos varias vezes por dia com uma vara ou bengala ao menos tres vezes por dia e acrecentando isto até as duas milhas (3 kilometros) e também fazendo os outros movimentos varia vezes por dia.

Logo antes das ferias de verâo, eu sou professor, eu Caminhei a la Galloway dez milhas (16 kilometros) no Dia Mundial de Corrida que celebramos no nosso campus! (Esteja disposto a pesquisar ao Jeff Galloway e encontrar informacâo sobre seu conceito que um pode fazer uma maratona de caminhar a Galloway a distancia que diz basicamente que um caminha um pouco cada milha (ou quasi dois kilometros). No meu caso eu caminhei as curvas na pista e corrí as partes retas da pista interna. Totalmente possivel!

Entâo quando começou o verâo a minha esposa e eu andamos ajudando aos nosso vizinhos e eles tem uma piscina! Entâo eu tenho feito umas mergulhadas depois que eu volto de uma pedalada na piscina deles! Muito refrescante como uma mergulhada no mar depois de uma corrida na praia. Coincidentemente os Mestres de Nataçâo do EEUU um programa nacional tem tratado incentivar a populaçâo a readquirir sua forma física durante o verâo. Hoje foi o meu dia para ir ao Centro Comunitario Judeo aqui na cidade! Uma outra coincidencia foi que eles estavam fazendo um desafio de 2000 metros. Puxa vida! Rs! Eu estava esperando entrar na piscina e fazer ums 3000 metros sem problemas! Rs! Rs! Eu tive que trabalhar em meias voltas em vez de voltas enteiras. Aiaiai! Eu fiz umas voltas enteiras e umas duas voltas olympicas também. Eu nâo pude controlar a minha respiraçâo suficentemente para relaxar em cada braçada e fazer a voltas e manter o embalo. Eu tive planejado fazer uma escada atletica mais eu nâo pude nem fazer isso! Eu saltei da piscina com so 300 metros de distancia. Entâo tem tempo e eu preciso reconstruir a minha abilidade! Eu preciso paciencia e alcance com cada braçada e relaxar em ordem de controlar a minha respiraçâo e tudo mais. Todos temos que começar em algum lugar e hoje foi só o primeiro dia de volta na piscina. Ai meu Deus!

Um grito de reconhecimento a a Treinadora Susan Ingraham por darme umas dicas na minha braçada. Eu esquecí de dizer pra ela que eu quebrei os meus dois cotovelos dois anos atras e isso tem afeitado o meu alcançe. Espero poder melhorar o meu alcance. Parece que os Mestres de Nataçâo do EEUU vai ser uma parte nova do meu treinamento! Deus abençoe a os EEUU e também os Mestres de Nataçâo do EEUU!

Developments in Making a transition from blown out knees to regularly riding without pain!

This was a couple of days ago on the trainer downstairs.

On my Caloi Strada Pro set up on the CyclOps trainer time seems to fly. One of the components is that I have recently found an app that plays radio stations from my home state of Rio de Janeiro,  Brasil! The samba makes time fly!

I'm doing this daily now without counting it as mileage because I need it to keep my muscles primed and my back-muscles from screaming at me. (A simple example: Today I fell asleep sitting-up and napped for about two hours. Nice! Then about four hours later I was paying the price and could barely drive the car. Ouch!).

So, the reason for this post, more than ever before I am fully convinced that balance is imperative in training. If you've been following this adventure then you know I blew out my knees and took three months off to recuperate with baby steps. I actually never had pain on the bike, but I couldn't walk or carry on daily tasks without a whole lot of pain in my knees. Luckily I found savingmyknees.blogspot.com! It was a Godsend and just what I needed to develop a plan to recover my previous activity level. Just what I needed! 

I took the idea of baby-steps and applied it to the spinning I was doing on the trainer in the basement. The idea worked great and I was able to build time in the saddle. Very important to redevelop the ability of the sit-bones to take that pressure again. I have been using limited padding because the shorts that have a lot of padding are very expensive. Try $600! Ridiculous! 

But one's body needs more than the ability to carry out small movements repeated times! It also requires the ability to carry out more strenuous activity during the day without becoming re-injured. Over Christmas vacation, I found myself with lots of pain in my back, so I stopped riding and did my old stand-by when faced with pain in my back, namely Yoga! After three days of reduced activity and lots of yoga, I was no better! WTHeck! 

I took to spinning a huge gear to get my back to feel better because the above fact became apparent. So now I regularly/daily spin a huge gear dirt slow 30 RPM (Gospel music like Kirk Franklin and others works great).

To take this even further, I have recently as in the last three days added HIIT sessions to what I was doing and slowly even out of the saddle efforts are becoming doable without pain and without pain afterwards!

Yes, spin like a twelve year old, but also mash a big ole gear for the yin-yang, balance of what we love to do! Please comment below so I know I'm not just talking to Google (they have a lot on their plate)!

Coldest ride so far in the low thirties!

It's important to mimic actual workout conditions! After an hour! 

After an hour and half workout. Since then have done two two hours with HIIT interspersed.