Aconcagua 2009 Expedition

Well, I didn’t make the summt, but I had a wonderful trip…  if you’d like to follow my next adventure, you can read my triathlon blog at http://www.season1racing.com/blog

That is really it…  Fantastic day.  Not much else to say.  Averaged over 18 mph including a 5 minute rest at calero.

62 mile ride - San Jose to Almaden to Gilroy and back.

Unexpectedly, my training for Aconcagua over the last few months that included “Brick” training every Tuesday and Thursday has caused me to discover a new love…  the bicycle.

I have always been a runner, not a cyclist, and never had more than a BMX bike until the last 5 years, and got my first mountain bike (other than the one I borrowed during college to get to class and back) about a year ago.

Starting with the Bricks every T/Th on the spinbike, I started to really enjoy cycling…  I would take the dog for a run on the bike a couple times a week, and even went about 10 miles a couple times for a “ride”.

Well, the last month has made me realize I REALLY enjoy being on the bike… I even went and replaced my stock pedals with clip-ins so i can get more out of the mountain bike I have.  I took this to the next level two weekends ago when I decided to go for a ride on a Saturday…  I posted on facebook on Friday night a question – “I mapped out several possible routes for a ride – 25, 30, 40, or 60 miles”…  I had two people immediately say 60.

I thought about it for a bit, went to bed, and when I got up the next morning, I thought… sure, why not…  So I got dressed, told my neighbor where I was going, and set out with a 1L camelback of water, 1/2 liter bottle of EFS, honey stinger chews and a bonk breaker bar for my trip.  I turned on the headphones and pedaled away… down Almaden Expressway, through Almade Valley, past Calero reservior, past Uvas, turned towards Watsonville, down to highway 152… on and on I went… wind in my face, legs just pedaling away.  I was elated.

I took the 152 to Monterrey Hyw in Gilroy, and turned towards home… now pedaling into a good 10-15 mph headwind, I hit the WALL big time.  I pulled over, finished off my EFS (water was already gone), had a couple energy chews and stood in the shade behind a tree for a few…  about 5 minutes went by, and I got back in the saddle and felt much better pedaling again…

It was at that time, that I looked down and saw a squishy front tire… oh crap!  I am in the middle of nowhere with a flat tire and no repair kit – brilliant.

I got off the bike, and in my oh so comfortable bike shoes begin walking down the road, I stopped and quickly took out my iPhone, pulled up Yelp, and searched on “bike” near my “Current Location”  Sunshine Bikes – 3.2 miles north on Monterrey.  Sweet!

I continued walking, and decided I might not make it in time, so I raised my thumb… I have never hitchiked in my life, but at 34, why not start now.  I walked about a mile and a half with every “fancy” pickup truck that passed not even slowing down… lame.

Finally, a car pulled over.  and started honking… I hobbled in my bike shoes as I ran over the bridge to the car stopped ahead.  A nice woman had a pig trailer on the back of her SUV, and she helped me put the bike in and gave me a lift the remaining 2+ miles.

I offered her the $8 in cash I had and she refused… a real nice lady, and I thank her for helping me out.  The guys at Sunshine Bikes pulled out the thorn, gave me a new tube and pointed me to the nearest 7-11 on the way out of town (now in Morgan Hill).

I stopped and picked up 1.5 L water, and 2 16-oz bottles of gatorade.  I refilled the camelbak with water, downed one of the gatorade’s and poured the other into my bike bottle… drank what I could of the remaining water and poured the rest over my head… and with that I was back on the road.

I ground-out the remaining 18 or so miles – Monterey to Blossom Hill, to Snell, to Branham…  I pulled in, dropped the bike in the driveway, let my neighbor know I was fine, and went to take a shower.

I felt surprisingly well, though had trouble concentrating… I uploaded my HR data, and found that I had burned over 4700 calories…  it was time for food and quick.

I downed a glass of First Endurance Ultragen, then went and picked up a medium pizza, jalapeno poppers, and potato skins…  I ate about 1/2 of everything and felt much better in the morning (except for my sore feet from running in bike shoes).

All in all, it was a really enjoyable experience… now all I need is a road bike so I can enjoy it much more comfortably, and with less nerve pinches (numb ring & pinkie finger from the position on a mountain bike for 5 hours)

Data  Value  Unit�
Duration 5:36:35  �
Sampling Rate 5 s�
     �
Energy Expenditure 4699 kcal�
Number of Heart Beats 50163 beats�
Recovery -63 beats�
Minimum Heart Rate 89 bpm�
Average Heart Rate 149 bpm�
Maximum Heart Rate 179 bpm�
Standard Deviation 14.1 bpm�
     �
Minimum Speed 0.6 mph�
Average Speed 13.5 mph�
Maximum Speed 48.7 mph�
Distance  63.1 miles�
     �
Minimum Altitude  217 ft�
Average Altitude  413 ft�
Maximum Altitude  810 ft�
Ascent 1138 ft�
Descent 741 ft�
Slopes 2  �
VAM 203 ft/h�
      

Notice the super-fast speed about 2/3rds through my ride... that is when I was sitting in the car

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve updated my blog and training  log.  The last few weeks have been much of the same training-wise, so detailing day by day won’t really say much.  In essence, you can look at training over the past few months and that’s pretty much what the last couple weeks has been…  It has been tough lately with some personal items going on at home, and work stress to-boot, so despite hitting some big accomplishments trainin-wise (below), I know I am not yet reaching my potential.

I haven’t had a training hike in 4 weeks now, which is unfortunate, but the physical training has continued to get more intense…  I am now hoping to have 2 big training hikes – Shasta in mid-October, and Mt. Whitney again the 1st week in November.  I have several maybe’s for the trip, and am really hoping I will get at least one confirmed climbing partner for each trip.

The intensity as I said of my workouts continues to increase.  I read a book called “Sports Nutrition for Endurance Athletes” by Monique Ryan (http://www.amazon.com/Sports-Nutrition-Endurance-Athletes-Monique/dp/1931382964/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252611058&sr=8-1) and have found several items in the book incredibly effective at helping me step my work up a notch.

The key takeaways for me from the book were pre and post exercise nutrition…  Making sure I have the fuel and hydration going into a training session, and how to refuel for the quickest recovery to be ready for the next round are becoming more and more important for me to maximize my effort and training effectiveness.  By following some simple steps around carbohydrate and water timing before training, I have been able to see really incredible results, and so far have been able to get my peak heart rate during cycling exercises from 169 bpm (91% of max) to 181 bpm (97.8% of max) sustained for 15 seconds.

Through my training, I have also really begun to fall in love with cycling…  now, all I have to do is really start to like swimming again, and I’ll be mentally ready to start preparing for triathalons after the 1st of the year , which is when I am also hoping to purchase a road bike…  Until then, I have bought a pair of Shimano M324 SPD pedals for my Canondale F5, and a pair of Sidi Giau MTB shoes so I can clip-in and really push myself on the bike.

Last weekend, I decided to mix-up my training hikes, and went to Big Basin to try something different than Black Mountain and Mission Peak for a change…

Big Basin Hike - 7/25/2009 (note the wrong-turn detour on the lower right)

I loaded up the car at around 8am, make a couple breakfast burritos, filled all the water bottles and headed out at around 8:30…

The drive to Big Basin took about an hour and 20 minutes, and I arrived at the parking lot at around 9:45…  As I pulled into the parking lot, I had a rush of panic… uh oh… I took the superfeet out of my hiking boots and had them in my La Sportiva Spantik’s for training…  and the original insoles I left in the truck… oh CRAP!!!

I pulled into a parking spot, and peeked into my boots that were sitting on the passenger seat and sure enough…  no insoles.  double CRAP!  I sat in deep thought for a couple minutes:  If I drive home, I’m done for the day; If I hike… what about my feet – Are insoles absolutely necessary?

Well, I decided to give it a shot… I might as well get a couple miles in, so I put liner socks and smartwool mountaineering socks on, slide on the boots which definitely had extra room, and went and paid for parking.

I got back to the car, and loaded up my pack -
    1 puffy jacket in the sleeping bag space�
    2 - 8 lb dumbells
    1 – 3 liter dromedary bag
    3 – 1 liter bottles
    1  – 1/2  liter bottle
    2 – 1 liter camelbaks
    1 – 1 liter bottles (w/ drinking water)
    1 – 1 liter REI thermos
    1 – 2 liter insulated camelbak (for drinking)
    1 – 1/2 liter sports bottle w/ EFS

I set off from the parking lot and within the first mile was mildly concerned… I already had a little tingling in my right foot, and my feet felt weird…  I kept going, figuring I would turn around as soon as it became a problem.

A short detour because the skyline to the sea trail was closed, and I’m heading up the hill on the Sunset trail.  I followed the trail up and over the hill, and then started down the long and gentle decline towards the berry creek falls trail.

I reached the berry creek falls trail, and my feet were feeling surprisingly well, so I took the sharp left turn and went down to check out the falls…

Berry Creek Falls, Big Basin, CA 7/25/2009

The falls were really nice, but with every step down, I wondered how much fun I was going to have going back up…  I stopped for about 3 minutes, had a peach and a couple honey stinger energy chews, adjusted the weight in the pack, and kept going…  down, down, down all the way to the bottom…

I decided I wanted to make a loop, and take the skyline trail back to where the sunset and skyline to the sea trail almost meet, so I headed up the valley, as my feet started to ache…  uphill with no insoles is definitely much worse than downhill.

After a while, I reached the connection with the sunset trail again… and my feet were on FIRE…  my heart rate was moving up with every step, and I was taking frequent stops just to readjust the weight in the pack, which had all settled to the bottom back of the pack.

I made the connection, and up over the hill… I was almost home!  I walked down the hill towards the parking lot, met the dool trail, and wass now in pain but happily ignoring it as I knew I was .3 miles from the headquarters…  I reached the road and walked towards my car… looking forward to getting my boots off, which I now felt a sharp burning in the bottom of my left foot. 

I walked, and walked, and walked, and walked… what the hell!!??  I stopped and looked at the map by one of the day use bathrooms, and realized I had made the wrong turn at the road and had now walked a mile in the opposite direction from my car.  Now my feet really started to hurt.

Slogging my way back, each step on the asphalt hurting more than the one before, I made my way back to the car… what a relief it was once I finally made it back.  I dropped the pack in the trunk, and sat down in the front seat to take off my boots.  I got out of the car after examining the silver dollar sized blister on the bottom of the ball of my left foot, and found it quite difficult to walk… plenty of pain, a little swelling, and some sore muscles that were screaming at me…

I grabbed my wallet and phone out of the pack, and got in the car and headed home… a good 11 mile long hike without insoles had taught me a lesson I won’t soon forget.  I stopped at chipotle on my way back, got a chicken bowl for lunch (at around 4:30 pm), and went home to rest…

All in all, it was a good hike, and I’m sure helped me with my pain threshold.  I have always known that insoles add comfort, and the superfeet really help support your weight, and now I know they are not optional…  I know I could make it a good distance without them, but I’d pay the price later (my feet consequently hurt for several days once I had insoles, and my feet readjusted to having some shape).  I’ve added “insole check” to my regular checks now before I leave for a hike!

Here is my workout data:

Sunday I kept to my commitment for a nice long training hike.  I loaded up my pack with about 30 lbs of water in various 1-3 liter jugs plus other stuff to the tune of 45+lbs total including the pack and headed for Rancho San Antonio park & Black Mountain.  Unfortunately, I ended up getting stung by a honey bee on the way there (bounced off the car side mirror and landed stinger first right on my arm).  It’s still a bit swollen and itchy, but since I didn’t seem to be having a dangerous reaction I decided to tough it out and continue with going on my hike.  I parked along Moody road in Los Altos hills and started walking around 12:00 pm.

I also made the mistake of watching stage 9 of the Tour in the morning, and thus paid for it with 93+ heat for the entire hike…  a good portion of the trail was in shade, but it was still hot, and much worse in the exposed areas of the hike. 

Black Mountain trail overview with mile markers

I completed the 10.4 mile round trip in just under 4.5 hours (2400′ elevation increase), stopping only twice for maybe 2-3 minutes to refill my camelbak from water bottles and to grab some honey stinger energy chews (the BEST!!!).  My legs felt good on the way up, but I was most happy with my knees and how good they seemed on the way down.  My training and workouts seem to be really helping both with my endurance and joint tolerance (not to mention overall strength).

Overall, it was a great hike… glutes and shin muscles are still a bit sore, and one blister on a toe (not to mention the bee sting), but otherwise great!  Having myPolar RS800CX Multi on, made it a great exercise in monitoring my breathing and effort versus heartrate, and distance and pace.  I am hoping to get another hike in the next two weeks, with some extra weight up past 50 lbs and a total of 5-6 hours of hiking.

Vuelta a Baja road ride and vacation... for fun!

I know… I’m still preparing for the trip to Aconcagua, and I’ve already started thinking about my next adventure.  Well, to celebrate the kickoff of the Tour de France this weekend, I have started the Vuelta a Baja site – http://vueltaabaja.com/.  The goal is to have a tour style road ride from Tijuana to Cabo San Lucas.  I have just started working through the itinerary but it looks like it will be 6-7 days riding, then 5 days in Cabo relaxing, then two days driving back. 

The best thing I think about the concept of the vuelta is that it allows serious riders, non-serious riders, and plain old vacationers to have a great trip.  The cyclists will take off from the stage starting point in the morning with a support car following, and the lead car taking off to spot any issues with the road where we may need to dismount for a distance.  Anyone can ride one day and skip the next (or the rest), or a partial day.  The stage starting and ending points will be located to provide a good day’s ride out on the open road, and will avoid dangerous city areas or hazerdous areas of road.

Anyhow, I’ve just started working on the plans for the Vuelta, and hope it will come together.  I think it could be a great experience and a great time for everyone.

honey stinger peanut butter energy bar... Wow, get one today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have previously reviewed the Honey Stinger Peanut Butta Pro protein bar, but I had not yet reviewed the Honey Stinger peanut butter ‘n honey energy bar…  Well, I just finished my first bar and holy-moly that thing was good!  peanutty, a little chocolate but not too much, a nice crackly-crunch…  yum!  The bar did not suffer from chalkyness the way a lot of other bars do while still delivering 10g of protein.   There is a slight chewyness that upon reflection is softer but along the lines of the chew in a power bar, but the crispies embedded made the chew pleasant in a much different way and I didn’t even think powerbar while eating it.  I didn’t even need a drink to get the bar down completely…  though I might have started salivating a bit more after I tasted the bar…   overall 1st bar rating – 9/10

I’ll take this opportunity to also provide my first impression of the First Endurance EFS Energy powder (lemon lime)…  I poured 12 ounces of water-cooler cold water into a 16 oz glass, followed by one level scoop of EFS.  The first thing I noticed is the volume of powder to water… it is a pretty big scoop for just 12 oz of water… seems strange.  Next, I found myself stirring frantically, with white powder still settling at the bottom after only a few seconds… it reminded me of creatine suppliments, and since this contains glutamine, I am guessing it may be what was sitting at the bottom of my glass.  I took my first sip, and the flavor was quite strong and sour.  it reminded me a bit of crystal light.  I added another 3 ounces of water and drank the entire glass over the next 2 minutes. 

Overall, I enjoyed the EFS… I will try it again during a long workout hopefully next week.  My baseline for sports beverages is gookinaid (vitalyte) which has a light flavor, dissolves easily, and is easy to drink and digest while running…  This fell far short of my baseline for running, though have not ruled it out from mountaineering, and look forward to giving it another try… first impression – 6/10

La Sportiva Spantik's... awesome boot, but can I get the right size for my feet?

So, after much thought and several times in the gym with the boots on, I decided to re-order the 44.5 La Sportiva Spantiks…

The 45’s I currently have with the thin superfeet insoles have a good amount of movement, and I am concerned they are too big and will be heavy, clumsy, and could put me at risk for falling.  Ultimately, I think I returned the original pair of 44.5’s I ordered prematurely (after only wearing at home and walking 10-40 feet or so in them).

My plan this time is to put the thin superfeet in the 44.5 boots, then put them through their paces at the gym during my next trainer workout after they arrive.  I need to be nimble on my feet on Aconcagua, and some balance and stability exercises should help me know if the 44.5’s will be better for me than the 45’s and not put my toes or feet at risk.  It’s a cold mountain, and a heavy trek up and down Aconcagua, and I can’t afford to have a boot fit less than perfect.

I ordered the new pair from REI yesterday and anxiously await their arrival sometime between now and the 30th.  Thank goodness for REI – they are the best!

I will post again once I have tried out the new 44.5’s with black superfeet…

Today I will review several more snacks I have been working with over the past couple weeks during my training…  I have also ordered a tub of EFS endurance drink mix powder that I will be testing in the coming weeks.

Snacks:

Sharkies fruit chews – I tried a couple more bags of these over the past couple weeks… I really like them.  sweet, chewy (but not gummy), and organic.  I have yet to try them out of the freezer though to see how they perform in extreme cold. 8/10

sharkies fruit chews... yum!

honey stinger chews - the best so far.

Bonk Buster bars – these are good… real good.  tried the peanut butter chocolate chip and it was almost like a peanutbutter cookie.  soft, chewy, and very tasty… I ordered a couple more of these from REI (great discount at REI when you buy 12 or more food items… this time it was 20% off).  8/10

Drinks:

Vitalyte - Good ‘ol gookinaid.  I still think this stuff is great and the best drink mix for during exercise… slightly sweet, goes down almost too easy (it’s easy to drink too much and get bloated especially when pounding it after a workout!) and seems to not sit in the stomach long… still a 9/10

Jelly Belly Sport Beans variety pack from jellybelly.com

Next up will be the various flavors of honey stinger chews (if I mention them enough, will I get sponsored? )…  I am also going to be trying the honey stinger energy bars which come HIGHLY recommended from my triathalete friend David…  we’ll see and I will report back on the various flavors in another week or so.