Mike Across America

My RAAM is still over one year away, but now is the time to “experiment” with my training to see what I will need to do next year. This past Memorial Day weekend I rode 100 miles on Friday, 140 miles on Saturday, 80 miles on Sunday and 140 on Monday – 460 miles in 4 days. I wanted to see  if any potential issues arose. I’m happy to report that there weren’t any! No saddle, feet, hand, neck or back problems. Of course these daily totals are nothing like what I’ll face doing RAAM. During RAAM I’m facing 250-300 miles per day for 10-11 days. So this will necessitate experiment #2 – more miles per day. I’m thinking 4th of July weekend 150-200 miles per day and see what happens. Lucky for me I really like riding my bike and I have a very understanding (I hope) wife. I’m up to 2904 out-door miles for the year. Stay tuned!!

The greatest cyclist ever – Eddy Merckx – was once asked the “secret” to becoming a great cyclist. His response “ride lots”! As you can imagine the “secret” doesn’t just apply to cycling. Hard work is the key to success in just about everything in life. Of course hard work also has to be joined with “smart work” for the best chance of positive outcomes. The balance between training and recovery is delicate. Too much work and too little recovery leads to over-training. Instead of getting better – you get worse! Too little training and too much recovery leads to sub-optimum results. Hum….which side do you think most athletes lean to? Ya, the typical endurance athlete is probably going to push the limits and hope for the best. After 38 years of doing this, you would think I’d have the training/recovery thing figured out – wouldn’t you? We will see. Just to bring you up to date – In January I rode outside 1 day. In February I got outside 6 days. March – 16 days. April – 18 days. So far in May – 9 days. So 50 days of outside riding – 2248 miles.  I also have 45 hours of indoor riding during this time. I figure each hour indoors is worth 20 miles – so 900 miles of indoor riding.  So for the year – so far – I’ve ridden approximately 3148 miles. I plan to ride somewhere around 10,000 miles this year in preparation for RAAM 2010. The key is hard work and recovery. Like Eddy said “ride lots”.

Our bodies have three fuel sources: fat, carbohydrates and protein. As endurance athletes we work to train our bodies to work at the highest level possible using fat as our primary energy source. At 9 calories per gram- compared to carbos and protein at 4 grams – fat is a high energy fuel.  Even a 150 lb athlete with only 5 % body fat has 7.5 lb of fat which would yield well over 27,000 calories of energy – enough to run approximately 270 miles! Of course you have to have the bio-chemistry/enzymes in place to convert fat to energy. You also need to have carbohydate and water and oxygen available and an efficient transport system, respiratory system, muscular/skeletal system.  What I’m talking about is training to maximize all these processes/systems.  And I’m talking a lot of training. Endurance athletes have to spend hours and hours performing whatever event they participate in – running, cycling, swimming, etc. to develop the ability to perform at the highest levels. We really do become “flex fuel hybrids” in the world of sport. So to become a “better butter burner” get out there and start putting in the time and watch those fat burning enzymes grow.