Update: 1-week Crash Follow-up & Training Plan Changes

Staying Positive!

One week ago, I crashed for the first time ever at a bike race (Criterium) due to some protruding asphalt that was camouflaged in the shade. Currently, one week later, I still am not able to get on the bike. Today I went to the doctor today to get my injuries--some scrapes, road rash, and a muscle strain--checked out, and I heard mostly positive things. The worse was that I'd have to take 1-2 weeks off or at a very low intensity or 25% of what I normally do, which would be somewhere under 4 hours a week. Of course, the lost of fitness and the training setback sure bums me out, especially since I was really on a roll for 15 weeks straight (almost as long as a semester of school!).

However, I found that it's easy to get through this and stay positive, and that's because 1) it's very early in the season and 2) there's a always a brighter side to bad things. In this case, I have more time to learn how to train with power before a target race and I could probably manage performance better over time toward a peak. There are also later races in the year where I was like "aw man I wish I could peak for that," and these races seem fitting for a peak considering the re-structuring I need to do!

My Injuries

So what are the implications resulting from crashing in a crit? Well first off, let me mention that the part I crashed  at was the uphill part coming out of an uphill corner, so our speed & momentum was reducing. Thus, I really only crashed in the low 20's MPH.

The main reason I'm still off the bike is probably my fault. I love lots of tension in the pedals, and I think my pedals--especially on the right, had a bit too much tension, so during the crash the leg was pretty much fixed or stuck. This meant it required a great amount of force--probably a pulling force--for the foot to leave the cleat vertically, instead of the normal twisting motion. Combine that with the way I landed upon impact, then you get the idea. I pretty much strained the muscle groups in my groin due to the high tension in the pedal:cleat. Other than that, I have healing scrapes and bruises.

The picture I put is actually mostly all of the items that I use for my first-aid. Some of these are extras from my crash last year, but some are new like the Walgreens Saline spray (which can actually be flowed similar to how wringing water from a cotton ball works). 

My favorite wound dressing is any Silver microbial ointment. It has worked wonders for me and it still does! In fact, I favor it over tegaderm but just because of the fact I'm not riding. If I were riding, tegaderm would still be the applicable dressing due to the fact that it's easier to ride with. Bug anyways, the Curad microbial dressing is sold over the counter and it's $6 at Rite-Aid for a 0.5 oz tube.

Finally, the Curad non-stick pads are a must if you do choose to dress the wounds up. They are like 98% non-stick, and 98.99% ouchless. Other people would probably say they are 100% non-stick/ouchless though. I only remove the 1.5% because any draining fluid will stick and you will feel some sensation when taking it off! but it's like a less than a 1/10 in terms of pain. I've been using Curad non-stick pads since 2011 and have never used anything else after that.

Anyways, I definitely can't wait to ride again, but at the same time I am also enjoying the time off the bike. I'm not saying I am overtrained or burnt out, but this is the first time I've been training straight and consistently instead of trying to get away with inconsistent training. Thus, my head needs to calibrate with my motivation. With that said, I'm looking forward to spending time with family and spending time on other non-cycling related hobbies. 

But like I said, I can't wait to ride again!!!

- DB

Some training stuff! (Consistency, base miles, close setback!, weight)

Hey!

I just completed my 8th base week. To be honest, it is the most that I have ever completed straight without skipping a planned day. 

Actually there was one day I had to skip but it was due to family obligations. Luckily, it was the day of a 1-hour recovery workout...so it was a little easier on the mentality (err...ego) to let it slide. However, that wasn't without consequence!

What I did was purely a rookie and a self-coached athlete's typical decision-mistake. I added that single hour onto a 1.5hour aerobic ride--zone 2. Obviously, it doesn't seem like it would hurt but what I didn't realize was that the following workouts would suffer from that extra hour of zone 2. In other words, it would've been fine if it weren't for the way I scheduled the following workouts.

After that 2.5 hour ride...which was really supposed to be a 1.5 hour ride to keep the aerobic muscles active I did sprints, another 2hr aerobic ride, some threshold intervals in a 2.5hr time frame, a 1.5 recovery spin, and a 3.5hr aerobic ride. As you can see, I had almost no recovery and if you added everything up including the 2.5hr preceding all of the above, that would add up to 6 straight days of workouts worth 13 hours of about 85% moderate intensity.

I was actually already feeling the soreness and fatigue during the 2hr ride and the ride with ME intervals. Needless to say, I don't think my intervals were effective so I can't increase the workload when it comes to that workout next time. 

Anyways, I thought I'd be exhausted and lose fitness, but after taking Saturday off (which was scheduled and not spontaneous), my ride today (Sunday) felt much better especially toward the end, so I'm going to ride easy again tomorrow and hope that I can tackle old la honda, stage road, and Tunitas creek fresh on Tuesday on the team ride with SFSU triathlon and cycling.

Consistency

I'm really happy because I'm going into my final base mile week! I just love how my training plan coincided so well with my daily life...kind of. For instance, I didn't plan around the fact that I'd be doing the SBM hill climb, but a recovery week just happened to land on that week of Jan 1! Thus, I was quite fresh! I'm also on the last week of base miles AND the last week of my winter break which means next week will be the first week of school...which is quite hectic and does mess up my training schedule a bit, however it just so happens another recovery week lands on the week I need it a lot! Very cool.

With all that said, I'm entering the 9th week of my training season and I've been very consistent in terms of keeping myself on track with workouts and logging my miles and doing daily reflections! I'm hoping I can stay consistent when school comes around, but I shouldn't have to much trouble considering my school schedule allows plenty of time for training. 

Weight

I'm also getting the weight loss benefit of base miles...kind of. I weigh myself everyday 2-3 times. If I ride that day, I weigh myself after the ride and the other two times is after I wake up and after I eat dinner. Obviously, the post-dinner weight contains a lot of dead weight but I think it keeps me honest because at the end of the week my total weight is usually divided by 18-20 values to get the average so I think the data is well rounded and very well represents my body mass progress.

Anyways, along with training consistently I have also seen a consistent trend in my weight. It seems to be dropping on average at least 0.3-0.4 pounds a week. 8 weeks ago I was at 132.something and to-date my average has continued to fall now to 129.5 which is almost a 3-pound loss!

I don't really have much to lose but I think I can lose some fat and make it to 126 but I think I will focus on training this year and skip the detailed diet part until next year or if it really starts to make an impact on my performance.

The reason I'm being passive with my weight revolves around my PR at San Bruno. I raced that at 129-130 pounds but when I did it the other three years I was probably 118, 123, and 125 respectively and all got 18:30ish. So I definitely gained power but 16:43 yields a 10% increase in power to weight and I'm happy at that, so I don't want to lose focus on training because dieting requires a different mentality and lifestyle that also needs to be carefully planned and uhh executed.

Well I guess that's all I have for now!

Until the next rant,

- DB

“It's not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives. It's what we do consistently."

--- Anthony Robbins

2014 Training Preview

I am just so excited for 2014!!! I started the year with a good note from San Bruno Mountain's race AND I'm rolling in from my best and most productive season yet.

Another reason why I'm excited for 2014 is because I've consistently nearly finished my three periods of base miles, so I'm ready to do harder workouts. Why so early though? The main reason is because collegiate races occur early in the racing season and I want to be nearly fit for most of them. My first Collegiate race actually happens in the third week of my first build period, so I think I'll have some fitness for it!

Of course, psychologically, I need to treat those early races as workouts and I've noticed that I've become very good at that, so when I structure the training weeks that contains these collegiate race weekends, I will be very aware to wrap my workouts around the intensity of the race days.

I don't really want to give it straight up away, but in terms of my first peak, my training is currently revolving around a certain important race from the Collegiate Conference, a certain important race which I surprisingly did very well in last year, and a certain race that happens to fall within the same consecutive 3-weeks as the first two weeks. Ssssshhhhh......

After my first peak I'm planning on going base mile mode for a few weeks then starting over again to lead into a second peak for a late season race that I really love!

After that it'll be off-season and if everything goes right, I should have almost 85%-90% of my training hours complete and I'll be ready to increase it yet again. I definitely cannot wait!!!

Good luck to your 2014 riding/racing season!

--DB


“Not a visible enthusiasm but a hidden one, an excitement burning with a cold flame.” 
― Patrick Süskind, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

2013 - Welcome (back) to cycling

Before I go over my expectations for 2014, I'd first like to go over how my 2013 training and racing season went:

The Bad:
- I crashed and got sick in April
- I had a pretty well-planned training plan but I was inconsistent/ didn't follow it.
- My diet was pretty good......for like the first three months of the year
- I still haven't upgraded to Cat 3
- I still don't have a power meter

The Good:
- I had a great experience with my first Collegiate Racing season and I learned a lot about myself and my team.
- I joined a new team--Leopard Sapporo--and my motivation and determination skyrocketed.
- My training hours, mileage, and elevation gain for the year are the highest I've ever done (my 2013 training hours were equal to the amount of riding hours in 2010 but intensity is greater for 2013).
- PR's everywhere
- Learned a lot about the mental aspect of competition in school and am integrating what I learned into my training and racing.
- I have been on top of my training (consistent) for a total of 9 weeks!!
- I have 2 points for a Cat 3 Upgrade =p

I remember I had a good feeling about this year, even though I didn't do the 2013 SBM Hill Climb. I also had to start training a little late because I had to go to the Philippines over Christmas and came back early January. My first race was the UC Santa Cruz Hill Repeat Challenge...err, I mean the UCSC Road Race. Prior to that race I did a 114 mile ride (the longest I have ever done) and I was definitely still recovering from that. Needless to say, I placed among the last 5 riders out of 25 total. Of course, I was being a little overconfident and decided to race in the B's (E3/4) and so I thought about it and decided to downgrade to C to work with my teammates/friends, and it was definitely a success! I only did a few races because my crash in April prevented me from doing two other race weekends but I remained positive through it.

Racing went quite well for me. My best results were at the Cat's Hill Classic and the Burlingame Criterium. I peaked...or at least tried to...for Burlingame and I ended up placing 5th! I was very surprised and happy with that result. After that, I took a few easy weeks and was ready for a second peak for the University Road Race but it got cancelled so my training lost its direction. I ended up doing a few crits and the Mt. Tam Hill Climb where I got a disappointing time, but moved on.

I did 16 races which is the most I've ever done in a year, and I know I took away a lot of information/experience away from them. I think that 2013 will serve as the first stepping stone toward the next great seasons to come. I'm thinking ahead, but as of now I'm not at my full potential or even capability to grind out 16-20 hour weeks.

In fact, I have the time and availability to do that, but I know that I need to progress my way toward the pinnacle of my training/racing and not just jump right into it. I'm feeling very optimistic about 2014 though, and that's because I had such a great season for 2013 despite having a crash and inconsistency. I know that if I address those mistakes for 2014, I can have the training/racing year I should've had back when I was 18 three years ago.

-- DB

Crashed. My First Concussion Experience.

Yesterday (April 2, 2013) I did the TNPR(Tuesday Night Park Ride) at Golden Gate Park. It's one of the fastest available group rides near me and also pretty technical as we are required to weave past traffic combined with bad roads--typical SF riding! My teammates were going to be there so I thought I might as well try it--after more than 2 years of not doing it. Typically, Cat1+2 guys drive the pace and yesterday a couple of well-known Master guys were there. Just coming off from Hay Fever and allergies, I had lost a week of training plus I was still having trouble breathing from asthma. Needless to say, I lasted 3 laps and dropped out on the slight uphill part. I waited for them to lap me so that I could see if I can catch on and make the workout more productive, but again, my breathing limited me.


The Crash -
So anyways, I met up with my teammates Eric, Christian, and Bryan. We all got popped off and the ride had just finished, so we were all headed home. I separated with Eric and Christian and Bryan and turned left on the first left of TNPR going toward the gated entries and Polo Fields. I saw my car and shifted to the small cog on my cassette and I was already in the big one. I remember thinking to myself that one day I would need to sprint in this gear, or even a bigger one like a 53-11. So I was spinning in my 50-12 and gaining speed as it was slightly downhill.

Next thing I know, I see what seemed to be a pothole but in fact was very uneven pavement--a double dip in the road. It was so uneven that my bike's front wheel landed in the dip, and bounced out and went into the air. I hit the cement head first, and then I was out.

Next, I remember having a dream, that I was still with my teammates, and that I hadn't been dropped from TNPR. I was hanging on pretty well and then Eric said, hey dude I think you crashed, and then I didn't respond, I just said to myself in my mind, "oh good thing this is just a dream."

And then I open my eyes slowly to a dog in my face with two people around me. One guy was like "oh there he's opening his eyes" and I don't remember anything in between that until he said "I saw it said Philippines on your Jersey so I thought you didn't speak English because you weren't replying to anything we were saying." And then, "You were out for like 2 minutes...it looks like you hit your head pretty hard" and then I asked "Uh-oh am I bleeding?" And then I took off my helmet and then they said "doesn't look like it, but your face is a little scratched up and your jersey is all torn in the back" and then the other guy said "your bike looks messed up" and I remember that the chain was off because it fell. Then they asked if I was on my way home, I told them that I was on my way to my car (which was like about 300 meters away). Then one guy said "you might want to let your friend drive you home" and then the other guy said "oh no I'm not his friend I just saw him fall." And then I said, "it's ok I have a friend with me"...but I really didn't--looks like I had forgotten I split up with Eric and Christian!

Next thing I know, my bike frame is in the back of my car, my wheels in the back seats...with the cassette covered with a plastic like I always do it--however I do not remember ever disassembling my bike, nor do I remember if I walked to my car alone or with the two people, or if I biked there!! I got into the passenger seat and checked if my bike was in the trunk--again! And then I saw my broken helmet, and threw it into the trunk--I have no idea why I did that. And then I called Eric but no answer, and then I remembered we split up, so I turned my car on thought I should talk to Eric to see if he knew that I crashed--because I thought he did, and then I started driving.

I believe I was driving perfectly fine even though I don't remember driving to Eric's house. I remember flashing my high beams Every time I was at a 4-way stop and gave the other car way. I also remember some of the car models I was driving next to--a BMW 3 series on the Great Highway, and a Honda Accord from Sloat to 35. I remember the scary left turn onto Lake Merced, and then my phone rang and I turned into the parking lot of Lake Merced...it was Eric, and I said "Hey Eric did you know I crashed?? And he said he didn't, so He told me to come over (even though I was already on my way. I remember turning left going to Stonestown but then after that I only remember bits of moments driving to Eric's house.

When I arrived at Eric's house I told him what had happened. I called the doctor and they said to get checked the following day so I guess it wasn't really serious. So (today) I got checked and my doctor spoke to a neurologist and said if I felt nauseous or vomited to go to the E.R. Other than that, I have road rash on my right shoulder, a broken helmet, some dings on my sunglasses, a small dent on the top tube of my CAAD10, scraped brake hoods, and minor scrapes on my knuckles and legs.

For a first concussion experience, that was pretty strange. The fall itself didn't hurt, as I did not feel it. Concussions have the same characteristics as dreams. Events are all chopped up.

So I'm off the bike now, the doctor said to check if I can ride again in 10 days. Looks like I'm going to lose a lot of fitness, and might skip the Santa Cruz Crit, but I'm hoping I can be back on the bike a week before Davis, the Conference Championships, to tune up. Looks like I be a domestique for that race.

- D

2013!

     Like I said in my previous post regarding what was left of 2012, I had to postpone three weeks of training which was actually a significant loss especially because it's so early in the season. My Base 1 began on November 19 so I had a good month of base miles and a whole lot of cadence/pedalling economy work. When I got back, it felt like as if I had never trained as I suffered from really inefficient pedalling especially on steady climbs. That was alright though, because when I got back on the second week of January, I scheduled the following three weeks in the Base 2 period and did enough Tempo rides and Cadence Drills to get me to where I left off before I left After 3 make-up weeks of Base 2, I finally moved into Base 3 where I introduced more Hill Work and began doing short and steady sub-LT repeats. Before I had moved to Base 3 (towards the end of Base 2) I had noticed I was able to climb with less fatigue than usual. So as I started my hill/force workouts, I noticed I was able to hold speeds (I don't have a power meter yet) 10 or more BPM than usual! That being said, I need to re-do my LTHR test to re-establish my training zones. Furthermore, when I did my coastal/Pescader/Tunitas Creek ride, I climbed King's Mountain, OLH, and Tunitas Creek, faster but at 10-20 BPM lower than the last time I had done the ride! Hopefully I can continue to improve my climbing and force since 1) it's quite early in the season and  2) I haven't even began threshold or supertempo workouts on hills yet.

Anyways, that's where I stand this very day.

I should now mention the big change for this season--me joining a new team. If you've seen seen the side of my blog and the new color theme, then you probably can already tell that I'm a part of the new Leopard-Sapporo team! I'm excited to be racing on a team with such focused and motivated individuals. As a result, that has led to becoming more determined to achieving my goals and becoming a stronger rider overall. Stay tuned for more news with Leopard-Sapporo because I won't be racing with them until March!

Also, I'll be clear that I am still quite a straight edge, meaning I don't drink alcohol or do drugs or any of that stuff. So that includes beer. But I have no problem racing for a beer brand. My more mature and responsible teammates say that it's good stuff :)

--DB

2012 - A Confusing Year

Before I begin with 2013, let me quickly try to summarize 2012...

The Bad-

• Low miles and low hours
• My Junior teammates from PV went to college/universities
• Lost motivation to race because of the lack of "team focus" and because of school...and I guess weather.
• Lots of Sick days
• Bad Diet
• New Cars...
• 3 Weeks Off in the Summer & 3 in the Winter for Philippines

The Good-

• I got a new bike; Cannondale CAAD10
• SFSU Cycling Team Commenced 

Despite all the bads, life goes on. When it was time to start planning for the 2013 Season, I assessed myself with those assessments in Joe Friel's "The Cyclist's Training Bible" and noticed I scored terribly lower than both 2010 and 2011. So I decided it was definitely time to get more serious and focused because I also started noticing that I couldn't drop my teammates from SFSU on the climbs anymore (which isn't a bad thing--for them at least =p); in fact they're now able to drop me! Due to this, I knew I had lost a lot of the skills I had trained for in 2011, so it was time to get them back and ultimately improve them.

After all the planning, the 2013 training season started around the beginning of November with base miles and low-key speed work. I was skipping workouts especially in inclement weather. Every time I would skip a workout or hours I would write in red sharpie: IMPROVE on my Weekly Training Plans. I guess it worked because I haven't skipped workouts ever since...unless there was an emergency or I just didn't see something like a family commitment coming.

Speaking of family commitment, my grandfather was getting old and we decided to visit him in the Philippines during July. I'm glad we were able to, because in December he passed away and we went back there on Christmas Day and attended his funeral there as well. I completely disregarded all my training and it was a totally legitimate reason to postpone everything. 

I think that's the important things to say. I only did about less than 5 races in 2012. I really lost motivation because there was really nothing motivating me until my teammates started kicking me in the butt. That's why, for 2013, I came in with a lot of motivation, but there are other factors which fueled my motivation even more...

--DB

Let's Get This Rolling! (Again)

Ahhh, here I go again, neglecting this poor blog and resurrecting it out of nowhere again. Here's to another attempt at constantly updating this blog for this upcoming (and already initiated) 2013 Racing Season.

In the next few days where I am either not riding, studying, or washing my family's cars, I will post/add the following:

• Announce plans for this season
• Introduce Collegiate Cycling plans
• Change list of active sponsors
• Post my own 2013 Racing Season Calendar
• Post what happened during the 2012 Season
• Post whatever else comes to my head.

One thing I can say is that I have a lot more motivation than I did in 2012 so I pushed my goals a bit. Hopefully I can constantly update this because I enjoy looking back at my old posts from 2 years ago =).

--DB

Gentlemen, Start Your Planning!

I'm not sure if it was just me, but the NCNCA's calendar didn't show all the events. Last year, all the event dates were available around the first week of December, so my year was planned well in advance. However, since the first few months of the year are very general training, it doesn't really matter much.

Today I checked the NCNCA's website, and all the races were available. However, it won't be until tomorrow that I actually finish my yearly training plan. However, this Monday does mark the beginning of the Base 2 period.

That being said, starting tomorrow I'll begin updating this regularly (hopefully). Not daily, just regularly like at the end of the week or for a race report or any spontaneous thoughts.

I'm looking forward to planning out my year, which will include the list of the potential races I'm going to do. Here's something interesting: my two favorite races, the Pescadero Road Race and Burlingame Criterium, are on the same weekend! Looking forward to that!

And that's all for now, I will write again tomorrow for my training plan, and also my weekly report.

Here's the NCNCA schedule: http://ncnca.org/allevents

--D

I Forgot I Had This

Hi, I forgot I had this. I might keep updating this just like I did before. I'm planning to be more active in the blogging and Training Diary aspect of training. I actually thought it helped me.

Now I'm just going to say what I want to say in bullet points.

• In July I crashed and it left me off the bike for 2.5 Months. Didn't finish the NCNCA summer races.
• I will be racing at the 2012 San Bruno Hill Climb as a CAT4
• I will buy a Strava Membership eventually early 2012

So far that's what I have in mind. Today I will be setting my season goals =)

That's pretty much it. Just for fun, I will throw in my To-Do list before the race...

• Change Handlebar tape
• True Front and Rear
• Swap Cassette (9spd 14-25t) back to (9spd 12-26t)
• Buy Racing Tires
• Swap Training Tires with Racing Tires
• Buy New Water Bottles for the season
• Renew Team Membership and Pay Dues
• Renew to 2012 USACycling License

Sounds like a lot, but I'll get it done! That's about all! I'll update when I'm done with my season goals and after I've planned what I could.

Thanks, Dom

A New Way of Training

Hello! Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas!

I'd just like to say that I'm now able to further share my training information with the use of Strava and GarminConnect. I'll be posting some meaningful rides using those sites and softwares.

Now that I have my hands on a Garmin Edge 500, I'll be able to monitor Heart Rate which means a little more accurate calorie counting and training zones. I'll also be able to find out Elevation gain.

Thanks to this, it will add more resources to training and better logging of information. Hopefully in the near future I can get the final piece of the training tool; the power meter.

On another note, I have a flat tire and I don't know If I'm going to purchase a new one or try to patch the tire up, but It did give me a 2:30:00 deficit which means my hours that I need to reach are 5:24:00 by tomorrow, but I'm not going to push myself to reach that because of San Bruno's race. I have a 17 Hour annual surplus anyways.

Officially a Peninsula Velo Rider!

I'm officially in the Peninsula Velo Cycling club/team for the 2011 cycling season, and hopefully for many years to come. I decided to choose Penvelo, despite the lack of juniors (except now, there's 4 Juniors on the team now) because of all the friendly people I've met, and to represent the San Mateo County in the races to come. I'm planning on joining the Performance Team to further enhance my riding skills and my racing skills.

Getting Back Into the Training Season!

That's right, starting Monday, December 6, my official training season will start. Of course, the hardcore training workouts don't start until March-April, but this is still the time where I completely overhaul my diet and my schedule. Of course, I'll be starting the Base 1 Period, which is pretty much like what I've been doing for the past month. That is, I'll continue cross-training through running and strength workouts, but I'll have minimum weekly hours.

On another note, I sent my application to join the Peninsula Velo Bicycle Club. I'll also be doing the San Bruno Hill Climb race. I've been very happy with some of the times I've been getting during regular rides, but I need to do at least 3 race effort trials before the actual race. This race is pretty important to me, because San Bruno Mountain is pretty much my training mountain and I think it's necessary for me to do okay! I'm going to post up my schedules and season goals as well.