Its been a a while since I have posted to the blog and I need to complete my posting on supplementation. I will! As we all know life get in the way. I have been very busy with my bike racing team as we have already started woring on next year’s team plans. I am also working on a new business venture that I hope will benefit many cyclists and I am still trying to get my legs back after a long illness this summer.

So I decided it was time to get out and participate in a group ride. Several of my teammates and I decided to ride out to the Ford Iron Man bike course Sunday and cheer on some friends and watch some spectacular athletes in action!

The cycling/Triathlon community is still reeling from a recent death of a cyclist in a Triathlon held in my home town of Louisville Kentucky. This athlete was hit by Drunk Driver from behind and killed. The community has come out in  great support of the family of the fallen Triathlete.

As my daughter of 9 years old gets closer to racing as a sanctioned Junior I am concerned for her safety as she picks up on her father and mothers love of cycling and fitness. We do not live in Louisville any longer and my daughter only knows rural roads, bike friendly neighbors as well as a community that supports cyclists. She has not had to deal with distracted drivers, irate municipal workers and the rough and tumble life of riding a bike in a city.

Fast forward Ford Iron Man Bike Leg of the Race. My teammates and I arrived to see a very active course with several athletes giving it there all on all manner of bikes. We parked our bike at a 4 way intersection and began to cheer on the racers while the local Law Enforcement managed the traffic at the intersection. Moments later an irate motorist is at the intersection and begins to whine and then yell “It’s my turn to go, I have been waiting for 5 minutes!”

Did I hear this person? “I have been waiting for 5 minutes” and they are upset? Then the same motorist made like they were going to drive through the intersection anyway. I was blown away and I just acted. I told the driver that they needed to wait and listen to the officer directing traffic. The driver, an adult, then got mad at me and decided I needed to know that she has been waiting for 5 minutes to get across. I then explained to this driver that the safety of these athletes was what mattered right now.

The driver got the turn to go and sped away indignant with the whole situation. The point in this is that I will on occasion confront a motorist no mater how big or small when it come to my safety or the safety of others. When I was younger I was taught by other older and wiser cyclist than me to “Speak Up” and be heard. “You do what it takes to be noticed and heard when you are on the bike!”

As an adult now I am not proud of some of the things I did or said to get a motorists attention when  out riding on busy streets. I am here today so i must have done something right. The point is we have to protect ourselves form those who do not care!

Do you find your legs sore, tight, and achy when you get done with a race or the weekday hammer fest with your bike club? There are a few things you can do to reduce the amount of soreness or junk in your legs. Try some of the following on your next ride or race.

Start your training ride slow and finish slower. What I mean is warm up before you begin to hammer and when you fininsh your ride or race go right back out and ride for 10-15 minutes at your Zone 1 Heart Rate. Starting slow gives your legs/body a chance to warmup. Riding out aftr a race or ride allows your boddy to flush out built up lactic acid that contributes to sore muscles.

Stretching before a race or training ride is not recomended! Do not stretch cold muscles you will get hurt eventually. Instead as soon as you complete a coold down take 5-15 minutes to stretch. make sure to use stretches that work your quadriceps, ham strings, calves, lower back, abs, shoulders and neck.

You can also limit soreness by supplementing your in-ride nutrition. You can by sports drinks now that have protein or you can add Branch Chain Amino Acids (BCAA) and Glutamine to your sports bottle. Also I have found that using a Calcium supplement can decrease the burn in my legs during a hard ride or race.

All of this will help you recover faster and get you back into the race!

How do you prepare to succeed?

I first write down what I want to accomplish usually a performance oriented goal. Then I take a day or so to let it sink in and read what I have written. Then I write how I think I can accomplish this goal. Then I write out a time table to reach the goal. Once all the writing is done I start to day dream about it.

Now I practice creative visualization once I have my goal written and I have fully internalized it.

• I Breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth and evenly I have cleared my mind.
• I Begin to relax my muscles by flexing and releasing each muscle group starting with my neck and working down to my toes. I am just trying to show my body what it feels like to relax.
• I start thinking about my performance goal by letting my mind roam with it.

I then start adding detail to my thoughts:

• Weather: Is it hot, cool, sunny, windy, humid
• My performance: I imagine that what I am doing is easier than my previous performance. I am realistic, bike racing is hard and my efforts being visualized should still be difficult.
• Other things to consider: I will add other racers in my visualizations, the sound of others labored breathing, smells, sounds of shifting drive trains and the calls of team mates

Now I will just tell myself, once I have exhausted all possible details in my visualization, “there we go you can do this.” Now its time to put the thoughts away for the day.

This takes some practice but I believe you will find this exercise handy for training and racing. Give it a try but remember to remain positive it will not work when focusing on negative imagery!

To learn more check out the book that started me on Creative Visulization..