Landis on Larry King - Transcript.

The full transcript of Floyd on Larry King was posted on Velo:

http://velonews.com/news/fea/10609.0.html

As a cycling fan, a cyclist and primarily, someone that has admired Landis' character and toughness, the whole situation has left me somewhat numb. I'm definately taking the "wait and see" position, waiting for the B sample results.

No matter what your opinion is about the test, results, etc., the hardest part of the transcript to read was the discussion about his parents. There's very little peace available in this world, even for those who actively seek and promote it, there is always someone there willing to take it away if it serves their interest.

Innocent or guilty.... may God's peace be with his family.

Over-hydrate? Is that possible?

The first time that I came across the idea that a person could overhydrate was during a SCAN educational session I went to. In my prior exercise physiology classes I had been taught about all the dangers of dehydration and the impact that dehydration has upon performance, but overhyration seemed foreign.

During the session, Bob Murry, Ph.D talked about proper hydration and why a "water only" hydration plan, was not always safe, especially in ultra-distance events. The thing that brought home the message was a set of before and after photos of a lady completing an Ironman event. If I remember right she had gained over 20 pounds! (I don't remember the exact stats, but it was a lot.)

I have come across two different blog posts this month that have discussed hydration and weight gain in an ultra event. (Post one.) One of those blog posts was an interview posted today with Brian Morrison about his Western States 100 finish.

It raises the question: How do you find the proper solution of water and electrolytes (and carbs for energy) to use when competing in an ultra event? I don't have any great tips in fine tuning this process.... so hopefully some of you can help out.

For now, check out the Gatorade Sports Science Institute website. It has a lot of good research and info on the subject.

Share the Road Signs

I saw this article about "Share the Road" signs being put up in Montana. "Taking a Giant Step Toward Solving the Conflict Between Cyclists and Motorists"

It made me think about the signs that George and I saw on our way to Slade.



I guess Kentucky is right up there with other states in our attempt to create a cycling friendly state. Now... if we could just figure out a good way to get the dogs off the road!

Tri America Relay and photos...

It has been hard keeping up lately, but at least my training is consistent!

This past weekend I did a relay for the Tri-America race in Louisville, Kentucky. The race went well as we (team Pedal the Planet) placed first, but we were pushed by another team from Lexington, the 3 J's (Jen, Jay and Jim). The results of the race are here: Tri-America Relay results.

As far as my run, I was pretty happy. I rode a pretty good ride on Saturday morning (42 miles) that included climbing up Halls, Grimes, McCalls and the climb on Elk Lick road. That left my legs feeling a little heavy during the run, but I still managed to run 38:04. It helped that I was running scared for most of the race. Jim is a good runner and I didn't get my watch started, so I didn't have any idea how fast I was running. Thus, I just tried to run as well as I could.

There were a lot of Lexington triathletes at the race, but there were two pretty good stories and results. Colleen, who runs with the Tuesday / Thursday group finished first overall for females in the sprint race. And Tony White finished first overall in the international distance race.

Tony finished first, but to make it more impressive - he had the best overall swim, best overall bike and best overall run (at least it appeared that way from the results). That's impressive. As a fairly new athlete to the sport and at 21 - I call that impressive and serious potential. (Sponsors out there might take notice.)

The photos from the race: Tri America race photos.

Floyd Landis is my hero!

When I posted about Landis last week I was amazed by his toughness. Seriously - who can ride the Tour de France with a hip in that condition? Well Floyd can.

When Floyd had his "melt down", I was almost sick. I decided that I didn't want to watch the tour at night, because I didn't want to feel saddened again. Even with the stage on my DVR, where I could easily skip the bad moments, I decided not to watch. It seemed better to get some sleep.

After the stage today, Landis will forever be one of my favorite sports stars of all time. (Look at his picture on that link! Or how about this one: Landis showing his "fight"). I never really knew about or followed cycling when I was a kid growing up in Nebraska - only football counted anyway. But since I started cycling and following the sport, I can't remember a more exciting or more impressive ride. And by seeing the response from others that watched the stage, I think many people agree.

This article's title pretty well sums up my thoughts and feelings: Landis topped Lemond - and Lance.

Floyd (not that he reads this - but just in case) - I apologize that I told everyone on my morning run today that it was impossible for you to take back 8 mins..... I have been proven wrong once again.

You're a hero - good luck Saturday.

The longest ride for me to date.

So I've been busy this past weekend. I took a day of vacation on Friday and then spent the weekend with Nikki (and others) at Cave Run Lake. I'll be brief, but I had a lot of fun. Here's how the ride I did on my day of vacation broke down:

Friday - Paris / Natural Bridge / Paris : Google Map

George and I have been talking about trying the 200 km Brevet that starts in Paris (Kentucky) and turns around in Slade. We started the ride about an hour later than we anticipated, but finally got started about 9:15am.

The great thing about the ride is that it was marked out (the whole course is marked!). The 200 Brevet is one in a series of brevets that Johnny Bertrand and the Bluegrass Cycling Club put on. I was also able to get in touch with him the night before and he gave me some guides about starting the course.

I'm not going to recap the entire ride, because it did take us a little over 11 total hours (9:25 riding time) to do the ride. And that would take a long time to describe, but here are the highlights.

1. Kentucky is a beautiful place and this ride allowed us to see some of the different features the state has to offer. There is so much of this state that I have not had the opportunity to explore yet, but when I get the chance, I am always amazed about the great natural resources that Kentucky has to offer.

2. The small towns along the way have character. We actually didn't spend much time in Paris, Kentucky because we were anxious to get on the rode, but when we rode through Mount Sterling, I found the "downtown" streets whispering secrets of Kentucky history. The entire town doesn't come out looking this way, because they do have the typical stripmall shopping areas, but the downtown strip was great.

Of course I don't have a photo to share of it either?

3. While riding your bike on the country rodes of Kentucky - watch out for dogs! George says that we had over 50 dogs chase us. I estimated 30 to 40? There were two instances that got my heart rate up. The first dog came charging as we crept up a hill, which made the scenario even more grim. Luckily the dog knew it's boundries, otherwise we may have been rottweiler food.

The second instance was more heart pounding. We came rolling through a lose association of homes about 20 miles(?) past Mount Sterling, when George noticed two dogs running at us. They didn't look friendly or trained so he started riding faster. I looked back as I started peddling faster, only to see a third dog (meaner and much faster looking) come out from under the car to join the chase. I rode much faster! Luckily the dog gave up after a quarter mile because he could have caught us. I hit my highest speeds (to that point - 31.5mph) and heart rates running from them.

There were many other dogs as I mentioned, but none that got me quite as much as those two. Well... the pit bull around 116 miles was close, but he really never got to close.

I need to learn better tactics to manage the dogs, as they seem to love the chase, making matters worse.

4. Kentucky has hills. When I moved to Kentucky from Nebraska in 2002 I had never cycled on terrain like here in Kentucky. While in Nebraska you search for climbing practice, here in Kentucky it seems rare to find an extended flat road. There is one extended climb on this route that comes around the Powell County line, that left George and I pleading for one more smaller gear. I ended up criss-crossing the highway in order to have the leg power to get up and over.

The climb left George wondering, "what happens if I can't get over coming back" while we ate lunch at the Shell station in Slade. I was worrying about being taken out by dogs.

5. The area around the Gorge is great cycling and people seemed to respect us on the rode. I was amazed by the number of "Share the Road" signes posted, but sometimes the signs are there to change peoples' behavior towards riders. It didn't seem to be the case around Slade. Maybe the people are used to tourists being around for the Natural Bridge or the Red River Gorge, in anycase, I felt welcomed.

Where do we turnaround?

We were not completely sure where we turned around, so we turned and headed towards the Natural Bridge. We ended up turning around at the first entry to the park. Even though we were not completely confident that we went the direction the course had been laid out, we were sure that we would complete 200km.

I had actually wanted to complete 212km for the day because the Tour de France route was that distance on Friday. By adding the extra few miles in the middle, it didn't give me much choice but to finish the longer ride. I am glad that we did it this way too. I am not sure I would have chosen to add any miles once I got within shouting distance of Paris.

In total, George and I rode 129.5 miles according to my bike computer. That is the longest single day ride I have ever ridden. My previous best was day two of my ride across Iowa.

Idea of the ride

I kept thinking during the ride that Kentucky needs a resource that describes some of the rides around the state and allows people to comment on the ride. I know that some books are out there (I just bought this one), but it might be very useful to have a site similar to kyba.org, but for roadies? Maybe it exists?

Ride on! - Check out the 200km photo set in our gallery.

50 marathons and 50 states....

in 50 days. I have always had a little idea about completing a marathon in every state and DC. (Check out my progress) For me, it is a lifetime acheivement goal. A goal that I would like to finish in my 60's or 70's.

When Nikki and I bought "Ultramarathon Man" by Dean Karnazes, it came with a little flyer explaining his "Endurance 50" attempt. We spent some time talking about the attempt and the accomplishment it would be to finish a test of endurance like that. Wow!

Today, Nikki's uncle sent her a story about a guy that is currently on the same journey. Sam Thompson is doing the 50in50in50 challenge in order to bring attention to (as he mentions we've kind of forgot) and raise money for the Katrina rebuilding effort.

The news story about him running the marathon in Seattle is here.

Looking at his home page it says that he has had 62,041 visitors since 6/27/06. That just doesn't seem like enough movement! Dean has The North Face as a title sponsor for his attempt, along with the flyer in the book, which has sold many(?) copies.

Sam has had some publicity regarding his effort, but he could use some more attention (in my opinion). Running bloggers unite and get the word out about Sam's attmept to accomplish this amazing challenge of endurance. And more importantly, raise funds to help rebuild the portions of the gulf coast that remain "un-fixed".

join my community on endurance.

One great thing about keeping this blog since last December has been all the local (Lexington, Kentucky) training partners and runners that have shared some insight with me after reading my thoughts and articles on training.

For me, it has been a great opportunity to share my attempt to continually challenge my endurance while remaining balanced and healthy.

As the blog continues to grow, I have also found that others (not local) have come on board and shared their ideas too. I would like to help foster this community of runners and endurance minded athletes.

2 ways to improve the community dynamic

1. Join my blog community at mybloglog.com. I found this community site by reading FeldThoughts and have liked the dynamic it has added to his site. (Brad Feld is attempting to complete the 50 States and DC challenge. Which is how I found his site.)

The www.mybloglog.com/buzz/ feature is something that could help foster the community with all of us running (endurance minded) bloggers. So if you have an endurance focused blog, try it out. And join my community.

2. The other way that I hope to continue building this community is through our forums on our website.

The best outcome of using the forums was for the Sugar N Spice ultra. It was through that race and Nikki's blog that we met Angie. And through the forums were able to discuss with her some things about the race before she made her way to Kentucky.

Over the years, I have used Gordo's forum's to seek advice and pass ideas by other triathletes. They have been very valuable. Unfortunately he had to take them down this past week. I hope that our discussions can be as helpful to others at some point.

There are a lot of endurance minded athletes out there. Hopefully these two methods with help to strengthen some of those communities within my circle.

Floyd Landis is one tough mother &%#$%

Before the tour started I read the article in Outside Magazine about Floyd Landis and it made me feel a little better about the upcoming tour. He seemed down to earth and not too self-important, which is sometimes nice to see in an athlete in today's sporting world.

Although, I remember reading an article about Landis a couple years ago (?) that talked about him growing up in a Mennonite family and how he could ride a wheely on his road bike for blocks (kilometers?). That article also gave me the same impression.

Today the news about the problematic hip came to the surface.... and all I can say is that he is one tough dude. (Most people knew about the surgury, but as he says in the article, even his mother didn't know the extent of the necrosis until last week.) I cry when the little aches and pains happen, he is riding in one of the world's most difficult endurance challenges and has pain when he walks and sleeps.

here's the NY Times link: Landis's hip will need surgury after bid for tour

NY Times story by Daniel Coyle: What he's been pedaling

(Coyle is the author of the Outside Magazine article and the book Lance Armstrong's War)

Good Luck Floyd! You're one of the few good things that I can cheer about in the TDF.

A review of my attempt to become "fit".

I thought that it might be a good thing to review what I've been doing since the Derby Marathon as I've had a renewed focus on getting fit.

(I've had a lot on my mind during this recovery week, so this will likely be long. Hopefully there will be a nugget or two that you may benefit from?)

Weekly Total Hours Summary

May 1st - 4:33 (week after marathon, got back on bike)

May 8th - 5:36 (another easier week with easy runs, cycling and swim sessions)

May 15th - 6:25 (easy week with Memphis in May triathlon relay on the weekend. I ran a 40:15 run leg for our relay team.)


May 22nd - 15:46 (big week due to the Horsey Hundred Weekend and first major test of endurance in couple years, other than maybe hiking Pikes Peak?)

May 29th - 10:29 (took a couple days of rest after HH then ran Mutt Strut with Kelty, capped the weekend off with 67 mile ride on Sunday... trying to keep cycling mileage going to reap the benefits of the HH.)

June 5th - 14:18 (stuck to the "standard" week that I've been doing and rode 60 miles on Sunday, feel the bike endurance developing, despite very slow riding speeds)

June 12th - 13:10 (used Saturday to test my endurance again, ran 17 miles in morning, 12.5 at Todd's road and 4.5 with client, then rode 67 miles. first attempt at a "big training day" in couple years. actually felt pretty good.)

June 19th - 15:33 (June's "big cycling weekend", rode 102 with Eric on Saturday and 68 with George on Sunday... felt tired Sunday night. I think the hills that we rode on Saturday made a major impact on the intensity level of the rides.)

June 26th - 10:46 (second attempt at a "big training day", more detail in the BG Race ideas post)

Ideas on endurance and/or improvement

1. One thing that should be noted is that all training done within this period was on the low end of the intensity scale, because my goal was to obtain fitness and wasn't thinking about performance. When I mentioned this to an individual, he commented that I was already fit. But I disagreed :) The little intensity that was inserted into my schedule were the two 10k races I did (highly intense sessions) and the 2 rides I did that included some extensive hill climbing (Elk Lick, Halls, Grimes and McCalls).

2. My "base" started developing again around the middle of June, but has a long way to go still. Looking back, I'm a little disappointed in myself about getting caught up in the Derby Marathon training, without having a fully developed base fitness. A great sign of my fitness developing was a Tuesday Hill run from John's Run / Walk. I completed the entire run, felt great using a sub moderate effort, heart rate average was 145 bpm and we ran around a 7:30 pace. That's way better than any pace/effort/hr ave result I had during the training for the Derby.

3. The little bit of intensity that I did was enough to require some additional recovery / easy sessions.

4. Nutrition was a key focus for a solid three weeks and the benefits were pretty drastic. My energy levels were steady, insteady of up and down and my weight came down 3-5 pounds. Unfortunately, I dropped the ball after my first "big training day" and have seen the negative effects of using too much processed sugars as "recovery fuel" again. As noted before, the use of sugars is commonly more of an emotional crutch than a necessary "re-fueling" practice.

5. The three weeks of: big training day, big ride weekend, big training day was followed up by a BG 10k run of 37:58 (or 38:01), either time is better than I've seen since 2003. Although that race along with the effects of slight dehydration, left me using the rest of the week as recovery and light exercise. (I anticipated this though and had it planned into my schedule)

6. July through October, I'll include 1 big training day session and one big cycling weekend per month to continue building my fitness. At this stage of my development there's no reason to think "fast", because there's nothing fast about the race ability I have now. (Maybe in 2008, I'll change my approach). In August and September, I still plan on using 2 half ironman distance races as the big training day sessions, so that should be fun.

7. Currently, my "standard week" is all aerobic work at approximately 13 hours. I would like to get to a point in 2007 were my standard week is around 18 to 20 hours. I told Jeff yesterday that a goal I have set in my head would be to complete a 20/20 block. 20 weeks of 20 hours. The consistency and volume of that is scary at this point, but exciting too.

8. The 20/20 goal will also take a complete commitment but also an understanding from those around me, which always creates a little anxiety. There will have to be some serious social engagement declines, less time used maintaining our www presence and maybe even a look at my work commitments, as working 50+ hour weeks (with both jobs) and training like that would put a pretty big stress on the balance in my life.

Hey everyone smile... because this endurance life is fun. And remember: health then fitness and then performance!

Bluegrass 10k ideas.

I have now run the Bluegrass 10k 3 times and each time I have learned one lesson: you must take all precautions to endure in the heat. (I thought that I wrote something similar to this after the Memphis in May triathlon, where I did a relay, but I can't find it now?)

As miserable as I felt running in the no-shade, pavement steaming run of the Buffalo Springs Lake triathlon a couple years ago, the Bluegrass 10k has been just as bad 2 of the 3 years.

July 4th, 2006 (yesterday's) Race Recap

Leading up to the race:

On Saturday, I had a "Big Training Day" scheduled, which for me right now equals a long swim Friday night, then the run and bike on Saturday. I had hoped to run about 1:30 in the morning and then bike for a little over 5 hours (or to 80 miles) in the afternoon. I ended up running for an hour and cycling for 68 miles (4:23).

The reason that this is important to yesterday is due to the hydration (or dehydration) aspect that resulted. Knowing that it was hot saturday I weighed myself before the ride (136.7 lbs) and after (132.3 lbs). That seemed like a lot of weight to lose after a ride like that, especially considering that I went through 6 20oz bottles of Gatorade and water while riding. Mistake to Remember: because I felt pretty beaten up, I ended up drinking and eating whatever I felt like. Mostly poor food choices. By Sunday night (I skipped my swim on Sunday) I was back to normal weight, but was most likely still dehydrated.

The feeling still stuck around on Monday with the new problem of having most of the liquids I was taking in (coffe, water, diet soda's) leaving out the other end as liquid too. On Tuesday morning, I got up and the problem was even worse. So I didn't eat anything, but tried to drink a little Gatorade Endurance. It only made my stomach feel worse. Nikki can testify to my complaining and whining.

Once I got to the BG 10k starting area, I had started playing a mind game on myself that the issue was race day nerves, not hydration issues. It seemed to ease my mind a little, but I learned later that my body didn't listen too well.

The race:

At the start, I saw several people that I run with on Tuesday / Thursday and at Todd's road. That part of the race is what makes the BG 10k so fun! (Otherwise the race is not a top 10, because of conditions).

The first mile went by fast. We (Duane and I) had planned on running around 6 minutes, but with the people and adrenaline, I misjuged our pace. I had thought that we would come in around 6:05-6:10 based on effort (and HR) but I ran through the mile check at 5:48. Oh no!

The second mile, I held back a little, but didn't want to give up all the time that I foolishly gained. And to be honest, miles 2 through 5 were pretty uneventful. It is always fun to run the BG 10K with someone that knows a lot of people, and Duane does. About every half block someone was yelling out his name, urging him further on. (I always pretend they're yelling for me.) This same thing happened a few years ago when I ran beside George VanMeter.

The one thing that really helped me out during the run was Tony White running with his brother. On a normal day, Tony would be minutes ahead, but as he paced his brother I found that the pace suited me well. Thanks Tony!

Mile 5: things started to go not so well. I mentioned the issues before the race, which caused a major problem during the race - I couldn't drink any fluids. I tried. But when I did my stomach instantly cramped. So all throughout the aid stations, I used the water to dump over my head and try to keep my core temperature down. But by mile five, my stomach said enough. The cramp came and never went away. My breathing became even more pathetically shallow.

It sometimes takes a moment like this to realize why you do certain things in training. Like practice breathing. Nonsense you say! Maybe your right, but I still believe that some of my best results have been supported by my focused yoga sessions (3-5 times a week), something that hasn't been consistent in over 2 years now. My feeling is that the yoga does a lot for the body in balance and strength, but it also allows some great training for your breathing and mental focus.

In the end

The result of the race was very exciting for me, even though I felt like crap all afternoon. The paper this morning said I (Gary Didseh?) ran 38:01, but the results on the website (Bluegrass 10k) had my net time at 37:58. I'm not sure why they use chips if they don't us those times as the offical times, but either time is way better than I could have hoped for yesterday.

I've had a lot of ideas on why my time was better now than when I was running a lot more in March. Especially since the fastest mile I've run in training the last 2 months hasn't been below a 7:30 pace. Maybe I'll share some of those thoughts later? It might have to do with Gordo's Fit vs. Fast idea?

Congrats! There are so many people that run the race that it would take another hour to post everyone. But everyone should be very happy about yesterday. Surviving this thing is becoming the goal!