If you’re a long-lime reader, you might remember, almost 6 years ago when I “did something” to my neck when I was sitting in my office chair at University of Memphis. If you haven’t been reading for 6 years, here’s the post: http://www.brickhouseracing.com/?p=446

Side note- yes, I used to teach college students. I like fixing bikes better.

Since then, I’ve suffered from the same neck issue 2 or 3 times per year. It seems to be brought about by doing a neck bridge type extension while strongly contracting my trapezius muscle (like what you’d do if you put your hands on the back of your head, pushed against them with your head, and leaned back to stretch in your office chair). I basically get to a chiropractor as quickly as possible, which will help a good bit with my range of motion, but not alleviate the extreme soreness that hits the muscles as soon as they spasm into their vertebrae-twisting position.

Tuesday, I was in full-on kick ass training mode. I trained jujitsu in the morning, then went to Shelby Forest for Red Loop Repeats (there was a chance of rain in the nightly forecast, and I didn’t want to get burned on the MRTC track workout like last week), then turned around and went back to the gym for some weight training. I was doing pull-ups, when the stabbing mid-back and neck pain hit. It was intense and instantly crippling. I went home and took lots of ibuprofen and laid on a heating pad. In the morning, it wasn’t much better.

I went to the chiropractor Wednesday morning. I’ve recently started seeing a new guy (Dr. Neal) when my usual doctor (Dr. Rynes) was out for health issues for an extended time. This was the first time Dr. Neal had seen me for my periodic neck problem, and he’s also the first to actually tell me what it’s called- Acute Torticollis. He stretched it and adjusted it, and I immediately felt a tiny bit better (as usual). He also applied some e-stim and heat before I left, which was really nice.

So now, I’m dealing with the severe after-pain of my neck spasm-ing out and trying to tie itself into a knot. It should be good enough by the weekend to make it through the Enduro Clinic, but I’m having to take it easy until then, which means no jujitsu until next week. I could really use a few doses of muscle relaxers, but I don’t have a prescription, so I’m making do with ibuprofen, heat, and copious amounts of Biofreeze.

I’m just going to sit at home and watch this video on repeat, since it gets funnier every time I see it.

 

Hey, two days in a row! That’s a new record as of late…

I just felt the need to make a somewhat motivational post after my workout last night. I’d found a group track workout on the Memphis Runners Group Run list, and figured that it’d serve as a good “intensity day” for my training program.

I started my morning off with a nice jiujitsu training session at UFK. My nose is just now feeling normal after spectacularly losing my first MMA fight back in July, so I haven’t been doing any sparring or hard training where punches to the face are the norm. Instead, I’ve been hitting pads for conditioning and working on my grappling. John suggested looking for a grappling tournament, and I found this: NAGA Mid-South Championship. Since my MMA birthday is December 1st, I qualify for the “novice” division. It should be a good time. I like grappling, and, after being in an actual fight (no matter how short and one-sided it was), everything else seems pretty easy.

Side Note: I told Thomas Turner that MMA was way harder than mountain biking, and it seemed to slightly peak his interest.

Anyway, that somewhat leads me to yesterday. Yesterday made me highly aware of my own personal training ethic. When I arrived at the track for the group workout, I started warming up, and more people gathered and were out there warming up as well… probably around 20-30 people. It was a healthy crowd of all shapes, sizes, and speeds, everything from a fast triathlete who I’ve raced road against in the past to dudes who looked slightly exhausted from their warm-up. I figured, hey, this is great- I’m sure I’ll find someone close to my speed that can help push me through this, and it’ll be awesome.

The coach arrived a few minutes later, and everyone gathered around. Before he could finish his first sentence about the night’s workout, the sky opened up with a massive downpour and a flash of lightning. He immediately cancelled the workout, and people were astoundingly eager to jet off to the safety of the nearby parking garage. I nearly pleaded for people to wait inside the building for the worst (and yes, potentially dangerous with the lightning) part of the storm to pass, but they were dissipating like grains of sugar.

Frustrated, I had the coach tell me the workout before he walked off. With that in mind, I grabbed my water bottle and ran off to wait the lightning out in the safety of the Fieldhouse. However, in the time it took me to trot from one end of the track to the other, the rain had slacked off to just “steady,” and the lightning and wind had passed. So, no waiting was necessary. I started in to the workout- 400m x 2, then 800m, repeated 4 times (at least, I think that’s what he’d told me… it was kinda loud). It was raining pretty hard for a while, but eventually slackened to a drizzle before stopping altogether.

While I was flogging myself, two other people “appeared” on the track. First, a Marine from the nearby ROTC building. He was jogging laps while holding what looked to be a weighted ammunition box. Then, another runner… I don’t know if he was a straggler from the group like myself, but he was totally killing a speed workout similar to mine. It was slightly surreal. The three of us, giving the finger to the weather, pushing our own limits of comfort and physical ability. We never talked, though we occasionally exchanged small nods of respect.

I’m not going to fault the mass of people who left when the rain started. By the end of the four sets, I was soaked head to toe, and my hands had lost enough circulation that I could barely push the “lap” button on my watch at the end of each interval. That’s not for everyone. But, I’m here to say, when you find yourself coming up short in a competition, it’s pushing through workouts like those that are the likely crux that you’ve yet to climb. The person beating you probably isn’t turned away by rain, cold, or other unperfect conditions. It’s both physical and mental resistance to attrition that you only get by challenging yourself to take on anything. The guys out there running with me probably agree.

Before I stop talking about fighting for a couple of posts (maybe), I would like to give a bit of a redux on my fight now that it’s had time to sink in, and I’ve looked through some pictures/video. I’ve dubbed my first fight experience as “panic braking into the rock garden.” From the get-go, I did exactly everything I’d practiced not doing for months and basically acted like an aggressive heavy bag. However, I did notice one thing that sucks… the punch that suddenly took me from, “I’m gonna stick this out no matter how much I’m getting my ass beat” to “Get the eff out before you are seriously injured” was illegal by the rules given to us prior to the fight. I’m guessing that from where she was standing across the ring (you can see a blue glove in the first photo below) the ref didn’t see it. Watching the video, it looks careless at worst, and not intentional… it’s not like she needed to sucker punch me to keep winning.

Like I said before, I’m not worried that I went down in flames the first time. It seriously reminds me of when I first started mountain bike racing. In my first real endurance race, the Fool’s Gold 50, I came in waaaaay too hot down a descent on Bull Mountain, and, in a similar fashion, I did exactly what I shouldn’t have done by grabbing both brakes and locking my eyes on to every solid object that could end me if I hit it, essentially guaranteeing that I’d hit something and yard sale at 30+ MPH. Aside from scaring the hell out of everyone who was in the general vicinity, I cracked at least one rib, severely pulled a groin muscle, bruised my arm enough that I thought it was broken, and punctured the shell of my helmet. I still finished, and held on to 2nd place. A broken nose is waaaaaaaay less painful than a broken rib.

Did I give up on descending? Well, hop in your way-back machine and ask the pros from TSE 2013…

It’s true… when I first started mountain biking, I sucked at it.

I no longer suck.

Speaking of not sucking, after last week’s volume of techy-climby stuff in Michigan followed up with a handful of rest days, I’ve started back in to my pre-Vapor Trail training camp in all-out wattage cottage form. Monday, I killed some 10 minute intervals. Tuesday, I lifted heavy stuff, then Wednesday, I had a kickass tempo ride, nailing 78 miles in about four & a half hours (water stops inclusive).

In case anyone else who reads likes to rely on the hose at the Wagon Wheel Rd. VFD, the water is cut off now. I had a sad…

But, there’s a church a few miles from there on Old Hwy 59 with a nice shady/cold spigot

…and a church on Hwy 196 in Galloway an hour or so later

The strong start gets me amped for workouts to come. It’s mostly hard training and good fitness with a side of “everything seems easy compared to fighting.” Not that Vapor Trail will be easy… I’m incredibly excited about it, though. The very loose plan of attack for the next month is to train hard, race the state championship XC race on August 17th, then leave for Colorado sometime in the week following that.

 

 

If you don’t care about reading MMA Content, scroll to the bottom for a very important bike-content/f*ckcancer message. Otherwise…

Weight cut week has been quite a roller-coaster experience. Since it’s not 100% over yet (I’ve still got a little sweating to do between now and weigh-ins at 5:30 tonight), I’ll save the gory details for my post-fight bloggings and just give you the highlights.

The biggest thing is that I’ve had only incidental quantities of sugar and salt since after lunch on Sunday. This has its ups and downs. On one hand, once I was over the initial violently cranky sugar cravings (I now wholeheartedly agree that sugar is physically and psychologically addictive) and everything stabilized, my appetite also stabilized. On the other hand, by Tuesday, a 1.5 hour bike ride became an act of what felt like pedaling through molasses.

This is a delicious lunch that will remain a staple from now on- salmon, 1/2 an avocado, walnuts, “supergreens” mix from Whole Foods, and a little balsamic vinegar & olive oil.

Since Tuesday, I’ve had to keep my physical activity pretty light. I hit a heavy bag bag a little on Wednesday and have taken the dogs for a few walks as well.

We have to walk at Old Man Indy pace. His stubby little 14-year-old legs get worn out too quickly otherwise.

All-in-all, it’s been a very laid back week. I’ve spent hours laying on the recliner and watching The Tour, during which time, I began to notice the fruits of my weight-cut labor-

I also discovered the beauty of the Aeropress. I can make a quad-shot espresso that allows me to get my normal quantity of caffeine with just a fraction of the water…

Has it been hard? Yes. On the bright side, though, it’s given me something to focus on other than getting nervous about fighting Saturday night. Like a bike race, I’m much less nervous than I am very anxious and excited. The guys at the gym have worked hard to get me prepared, and I fully trust in my training.

Important Bike-Related Content: 

On that note, speaking of guys at the gym, John, who has selflessly spent hours of his time teaching me everything he knows (and in the process, has let me punch/kick him full-force in the head and body) needs your help. He’s signed up to participate in the St. Jude ride- a 24 hour lap “race”/fundraising event on the roads in downtown Memphis. Most people sign up as a relay team, but he’s going at the 24 hours solo. Right now, he’s trying to reach a fundraising goal of $10,000.

If you haven’t heard of St. Jude, just know that they’re one of the biggest fighters of childhood cancer in the World. Families come from all corners of the globe for cancer treatment, and none of them pays for any treatment or housing when they’re here. Being the epicenter of such a great organization is one of Memphis’ best attributes.

So, if you want to help him help St. Jude, click on over to his fundraising page and throw a few (or more) bucks his way: Help John Trent raise money for St. Jude

It was a pretty quiet 4th of July weekend around the compound. On Friday, Matt had to go to his family’s house for lunch, so we were all up early to get in a ride before that. What started as a 3-person group ended up as just Matt and myself when one of Ryan’s Crank Brothers pedals fell apart just blocks from the house. The rest of the ride was pretty sedate. We rode some of the Wolf River Trail (which is not in great shape right now because of flood-induced overgrowth and downed trees), then took the Greenline to Overton Park, wandered around that area, then headed back home. I wasn’t feeling good until later in the ride, when we stopped for donuts, and afterwards, I decided to feed off of my own misery.

After that, Ryan, Matt, and I went out for a somewhat spontaneous bout of car shopping. Ryan’s Escape is getting pretty clapped out, so we test drove a Honda Fit and poked around at Ford and Subaru for anything similar. Afterward, I made the guys an early dinner then headed out to El Toro Loco for delicious Mexican Food and UFC 175 Fight Night.

I didn’t pick a favorite for the Rousey vs Davis fight, because I was just hoping to see a good fight. Quite to the contrary, it was over in 16 seconds. If you watch the video, the death blow combo started by her connecting with an overhand right and finished with repeated punches until the ref stopped the fight. You can see a bootleg youtube video here, or, if that one is taken down, just search “Rousey versus Davis” and it’ll pop up in some way or another (it’s such a short fight, it’s already been turned into an animated GIF).
Ronda Rousey is a total animal. Seriously… I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again- she is to women’s fighting what Marianne Vos is to women’s cycling. There’s her, then there’s everyone else. People are calling for her to fight Cris Cyborg, however, with Cyborg’s history of getting caught using steroids, and the UFC’s stance of “no steroids allowed,” I personally don’t see it happening soon (though, it doesn’t mean I don’t want to see it as badly as anyone else out there). The UFC president alluded to the possibility of it, and, considering the amount of money that matchup would draw, I’m crossing my fingers.

Sunday morning, I was feeling rough. the fights went on waaaaaay past my usual 10:00 bedtime, and the dogs have an internal alarm clock that goes off every morning between 5 and 5:30. While I was trying to convince my body that it really wanted to get out and do 15 minute intervals, Matt washed half the bikes in the house. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside to witness the awesomeness of the collection…

Interesting side note- all of those bikes have a powermeter of some sort on them.
It took a few cups of coffee to get me mobile and onto my bike for the last interval workout before going in to “fight taper/weight cut” mode. Though I started out a little slow in my warm-up, the intervals were surprisingly awesome- I hit a season PR wattage for 15 minutes with a little to spare. In my educated opinion, the addition of intense sparring to my training regimen has helped improve my top-end fitness. Essentially, it’s 3-4 minute bouts of full-body, zone 5 intervals separated with 1 minute breaks. Sparring follows the old training adage that’s so incredibly true… it’s like wrestling a gorilla. You don’t stop when you get tired, you stop when the gorilla gets tired.

Following my ride, I had a recovery shake, which would be the last deliciously sweet thing I plan on eating until after weigh-ins Friday night. I’ll go into the weight cut strategy a little deeper once it’s over, but let’s just say that it involves lots of water, very few carbohydrates, and food without salt.

P.S. No amount of herbs and spices can replace salt in scrambled eggs…

As I alluded to in my Facebook Post yesterday, training right now is an exercise in pushing my limits. (If you haven’t already, click that FB link and “like” the Brickhouse Racing page. Lately, when I post something about MMA, I seem to lose a FB follower). I’m not asking you to become an MMA fan- I understand, it’s not for everyone. However, I would expect most of my readers to have an open-minded appreciation for the journey of finding new challenges in a multitude of modalities.

Aaaaaanyway…

On the cycling side of things, I’ve made the move to dragging my LT up by its hair while still maintaining the vast expanse of base fitness I solidified prior to DK200. It’s been a mix of 10-20 minute intervals and Strava Terrorism Fartlek rides punctuated with the occasional 4-5 hour Tempo ride. The intervals have gone well… power numbers are creeping up a handful of watts at a time.

I had some dark weather roll in for my last 15 minute interval on Tuesday.

The long rides are proving to be difficult. Last week, I split my prescribed four hour ride into light/dark loops on the trail, starting from my house around 6, riding a two hour loop, then picking up my lights and riding a couple more hours. Aside from lots of spider webs, it was definitely a good time. However, repeated afternoon thunderstorms have saturated the trails again, so this week, I was forced back out to the road for my four hours of saddle time. Not only did the 100-degree heat index prettmuch kill me by the final hour, I also started getting the same foot/hamstring numbness/pain I’d been having problems with in the past. It looks like I’ll need to see the doctor for another course of hamstring injections to band-aid the area around my sciatic nerve through the remainder of the season.

I’d thought that my “need a race to do in early August” had been fulfilled when I saw this: Six Hour Race to the Sunset, and I was really stoked for about five minutes. However, the realization of how hot it will be in Atlanta on August 9th hit me like…

(that’s Trey, one of the instructors at the gym, KO-ing his opponent on Saturday night)

I am kinda over heat exhaustion… even though, relatively speaking, it’s not even “that hot” yet. Ever since Kanza, it seems worse. Almost seven bottles of water and drink mix yesterday (not including the 20oz of electrolyte drink I put down while I prepped to ride), and I was still lightheaded and five pounds dehydrated when I arrived home. Short of moving someplace less humid/hot and/or starting an IV and attaching a bag to my bike, I don’t know what else to do other than avoid any prolonged exposure to the heat… including a 6 hour afternoon race, in August, near Atlanta, GA.  It looks like I’m going to be forced into the wee hours of the morning and night to keep the tempo train rolling.

On the other end of the training continuum, my ass is getting thoroughly busted (by both myself and others) at the gym getting ready for my July 12th fight. While bike fitness is definitely a solid start to fight conditioning, the exertion you feel in three minutes of fighting is far greater than any three minute pedaling effort.

It’s been a mix of intense mitt/thai pad work:

With some wrestling, rolling, and sparring thrown in…

…and some lifting of heavy isht for good measure

The best way I can describe my current training is Expert Mode. The other day, after a particularly hard bout of sparring where John hit/kicked me far more times than I hit him, he reassured me that I shouldn’t get discouraged, because he was just trying to make it harder than my actual fight. Quite to the contrary, I can really appreciate that, because it’s basically how I learned to bike race- soon after I’d purchased a road bike, I was seeking out the group “A” rides. Since I rolled with (and was sometimes dropped from) the fastest people in the city, when I got into my first season of road racing, I was often like, WhyTF ARE WE GOING SO SLOW?!? It wasn’t nearly as difficult as the group rides back home, because I’d learned in Expert Mode.

So, that’s how I’m doing things right now- always picking the hard way, whether its dealing with adverse weather, peeling through layers of gym soreness to do intervals on the bike, choosing the big kettlebell, or getting my ass kicked by someone who is stronger and a much more experienced fighter than myself. The combination of all those things (along with an equal or greater quantity of eating and putting my feet up in between) is elevating my physical and mental abilities to new levels. I live for this!

It’s like I told the intermediate group of ladies at the Women’s Weekend… there’s no shame in taking the shuttle to the top of the mountain, but just remember, you don’t get better at climbing by doing it that way.

I figure that, since it’s a month away now, I should go ahead and officially let the proverbial cat out of its bag. My half-secret July 12th goings-on that I’ve eluded to lately is going to be my first MMA fight.

As an 0-0 person fighting someone who is 2-4 (Toni Tallman), our photos didn’t make the poster… especially since the other female fight on the night’s card includes a former Kansas City Chiefs cheerleader who has been in the MMA world for a lot longer than “threw my first punch back in the 2013 cyclocross season.”

How do I think it’s gonna go? Well, what I lack in experience, I make up for in natural born athleticism, extreme aerobic fitness, and killer instinct. So, I think it’s going to be a good matchup. I’m definitely not nervous yet, though I do often lay in bed at night rehearsing all the possible scenarios that could unfold in 9 potential minutes of fighting.

My “training camp” of sorts has been starting up since I came home from Kansas. I was back in the gym that Tuesday (more in an attempt to reset and get back into “normal” life than anything else), but that whole week was somewhat slow because I prioritized recovery over anything else. Now that the gravel is out of my legs, and I’ve got my head on a little straighter, everything has been going full-swing. I feel like a learning sponge- every day a little stronger, faster, and more confident than the previous.