More supplements to take...

Quick update since last week... seems that my iron levels are all fine.  What I neglected to notice was that I wasn't getting enough magnesium with my "normal" diet.  Hence this week I have been back onto (my "favorite") pineapple Endura,

lots of foods high in magnesium (spinach, almonds, beans, whole grains, fish, apricots, and even dark chocolate)

and the occasional extra supplement.

In addition to the magnesium deficiency, I have also been diagnosed with early Hashimoto's thyroiditis.  My mother had this endocrine problem, and if you have been reading other cycling blogs, you may recall that both Nikki and Sandra have been through it too. 

So onto another medication (which conveniently may NOT be taken at the same time as my iron supplements)... but hopefully in a few weeks / months everything will be back in order.  :)

Good nutrition but muscle cramps... why?

Training is going well, power is improving, lots of miles have been banked in the last few months, so why am I now having an issue with muscle cramps?
Some people never experience them, others get them occasionally, and I seem to be plagued with them on long rides of 3 hours + at the moment.  It's annoying.  You feel good, you put the power down, and your leg muscles lock up.  And they hurt.  Probably worse is the muscle pain and tightness you get the day after the cramps.  I wouldn't be so worried about the cramps if my next race was short, but the problem is that my upcoming race is 3 hours +, so I need to get the muscle-cramp-thing "sorted out" asap.

And before you ask... yes I am seeing a dietician, and yes my diet is good.  Sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium intake are all fine, and I am taking in adequate carbohydrates and water.
Even still, several studies have been published, and all of them showed no relationship between any electrolyte levels and the risk of cramping in athletes during exercise.
Some other recent studies (thanks for the links Cycling Tips) showed that distinct risk factors for developing exercise associated muscle cramps (EAMC) include:
- (1) Aggressive pacing strategies (trying to go faster than your current personal best over a set distance)
- (2) Racing at a higher intensity then what you normally ride in training
- (3) Riding for longer than you‘re used to
- (4) Doing another type of exercise you’re not used to (eg. a cyclist running a one-off marathon)...
... and unfortunately none of these really apply to me and the times I get muscle cramps!
Oh well, another trip to the Sports Medicine doctor this week.
Maybe it will be related to my previous Iron deficiency, but right now I'm not so sure it will be.
Or maybe I just need to harden up?

Quadrant analysis... what the?

Since acquiring my power meter a few months ago, I think I am only just scratching the surface of its usefullness.  Something I have recently come across is the "QA" graphs on Training Peaks.
Basically it is a graph of pedal velocity and pedalling force, and helps to show you where you were at with a particular workout.
It can help determine whether you are training correctly for different types of cycling events, and then further improve upon your neuromuscular power and your cardiovascular fitness.

There are 4 areas on the graph:

QI: High Force and High Cadence- An example of this would be sprinting.
QII: High Force and Low Cadence- An example would be steep hill repeats, big gear intervals and a lot of Mt. Biking resides in QII as well.
QIII: Low Force and Low Cadence- An example would be a recovery ride or just an easy ride around town.
QIV: Low Force and High Cadence- An example would be a Criterium or fast pedaling drills.

As an example, if you, or your coach, set you a particular training program for the day, once you have downloaded your data, you can review the QA graph for that workout and see if you targeted the correct QA "zone".  Was your recovery ride really all in QIII?  Was the workout that was designed to help improve your criterium racing mainly in QIV?  Was the workout that was designed to help improve your climbing in road races mainly in QII?  Retrospectively via QA on Training Peaks, I can now see that with my workouts from Nick's training program over the last few months (http://www.cadencecycling.com.au/), they are putting me spot-on within the zones I need to improve upon.  Maybe I will be ready for that race early next year after all!

Share The Road 2011

An amazing experience it was during 2010, the Amy Gillett Foundation Tour for 2011 is only a few weeks away. 

This year the foundation has chosen Tasmania as the location, riding through areas such as Launceston, the Tamar Valley and Mt Roland from Nov 17 to 20.  Although I can't partipate this year, I will be supporting the riders in spirit, as they ride to promote safe and responsible road use, by both cyclists and motorists. 
Some of the riders returning for the challenge from last year (and even the year before) include: Felicity Dales, Duncan Murray, Matt Dimattina, Steve Hodge, Tony Gaudry, Andy Sheats, Carla Ryan, Rochelle Gilmore (and Rachael Kininmonth and Margaret Grant as part of the super support crew).

So take a moment to think about donating towards their important and worthwhile cause.
http://www.amygillett.org.au/sponsor-a-rider

Nice one Loren!

Local Qld girl Loren Rowney won the Honda Hybrid Women's Tour this week!

A really well deserved result... so happy to see her win consistently this year and see some hard effort start to pay off, especially after some setbacks earlier in the year.  Congrats!  :)

Photos thanks to Cycling News.

Bridges

So much of my training each week relies on these things...

bridges. 

Story Bridge, Goodwill Bridge, Redcliffe Bridge,

Victoria Bridge, Eleanor Schonell Bridge,

William Jolly Bridge, Indooroopilly Bridge, and more. 
 

Sometimes I probably need to take some time and appreciate the view from the bridge, rather than hurriedly riding across it.

"A bridge is like a relationship.

It is built from hard work, and for a long time.
It is made strong and then you can expect
nothing to change, so when
the relationship has to carry
an unexpected heavy load,
it can withstand it, and remain strong." - Amira

Power... finally...

After considering it for over 18 months, I finally splashed out and bought myself a power meter a few weeks ago... with Sram/Quarq cranks (... thanks Velo Bicycles). 

It seems to be working well (very easy to use with my Garmin Edge 500), and the data so far is quite interesting, especially from my last few races at murrarie, synergy and pimpama.  All I can say is that a thousand watts is a lot of power... (I will be lucky to ever hit that number!)... and I have a new found respect for riders such as Cancellara who can put out huge numbers well above 1000 watts. 

Now I just have to go through the process of setting the zones, and finding my FTP (with help from coach Nick Formosa).  Unfortunately (since I really dislike time trials) this involves quite a few hard efforts this week, including a 30 minute TT.  Oh well, at least once it is all done, I will have some more useful numbers to base my future training on!

And on a slightly different topic, but still within the cycling theme, good luck to all the Australians at the UCI world champs in Denmark this week!!!