6th post in 2016? Get addicted to riding.

Ok, I am not posting enough. As a professional writer, 6 posts in 2016 is beyond dismal. And there is so much to talk about in the world.

I understand that the TV show 60 Minutes is going to do a segment in late January about mechanical doping. Why?

Mechanical doping seems to be more of a Euro problem at the moment. While I am sure that there might be a hidden bike motor or two in the US, the reality is that someone rich has it, because the technology isnt cheap. Few if any teams have that kind of budget to fund a motor being installed.  Maybe some masters rider has one, but again, the main guy behind this that does the engineering and installs is in Europe, so it is harder for the technology to be here at the moment.

Shows like 60 Minutes should really focus on the drug culture in America. But there is too much money from drug companies in marketing right now. The public doesnt want to face the ugly truth that we are over medicated, and rely on any drug or alcohol to make us feel good or whatever. Pointing the finger at Americans and their behavior is probably not a good thing, but it is the truth. We dont want to listen about our eating habits and how obese we are. Last thing we want to hear is that doctors give us too many drugs.

Are we a nation full of addicts?

I may have written about this before, but I think the most addictive substance is sugar. I think most people are addicted to sugar as a minimum. Perhaps there are other addictions in their lives.

It would be cool if we could be addicted to healthy things, like riding our bikes. Or going to the gym. Isnt it weird that addiction doesnt seem to work that way.  We would call going to the gym every day a habit. It might be rare to even see a chemical based reaction in our bodies for this habit.

With other known addictions, a chemical reaction happens, and our brains react. I have learned that my sugar addiction starts in my intestines, and the bacteria secretes a chemical to the brain and that is where the cycle begins. Breaking the cycle is difficult, because the bacteria doesnt go away easily, and they will keep emitting the chemical to our brains requesting more and more sugar.

Back to riding...

The racing season begins in just a few days. Everyone will be amped up to race in January here. I am enthusiastic with a healthy dose of realism. I look forward to racing once or twice in January as motivation, but the reality is I want to start performing well later in March.

I think I can survive enough in the races to have a good experience and use that as motivation. I also am looking forward to racing at Ontario again. Last year there was not any events at Ontario, they were moved to Riverside. In 2017 they are back in Ontario, and I love racing there. It is just so comfortable to do so.

The Arizona racing calendar is posted. It seems like it is dwindling and becoming smaller every year. That is such a shame since there is so much potential here. Many great roads and areas, but the riders do not support events deep enough. In 2014 I put two races on here in Phoenix. We lost money. No promoter wants to lose money.

I didnt get to race enough in 2016. I look to change that in 2017.

Feeling Crappy

I was just reading Tilford's blog where he was mentioning not feeling very good for the last couple of weeks. I think something is going around, but I know where mine is from.

Last week I rode too late in the day. I got burned pretty bad, like the skin on my arms is peeling.  That doesn't happen to me very often.  Every couple of years at the most. The joy of being used to the sun around here, it is kind of automatic.

I hear other people in different parts of the country have issues, I don't generally have problems in the heat. This morning it was already 90 plus degrees early on the ride, like before 7 am. Eventually you get used to it, and it and 90 doesn't seem that hot.

Riding at 3pm isn't fun, our hottest time of the day. Even at noon it gets pretty yucky, but it still feels better than later in the afternoon.  What a weird perspective. We have already exceeded the average number of 110 degree days here.  We normally see around 30 of them, not a great statistic.

I was good for around an hour on the ride, then just didn't have anything.  I rode hard on the fast part, made it up the first hill, but then blah. I did win the sprint though, like you were all worried. Hit 39mph on it and decent wattage. A week ago I was doing better, and was through 2 hours riding harder. I did hit the wall at 2 hours though. I guess there is a time to take it easier and this is one of them.

I haven't had high expectations since my last race in California. I wanted to race this weekend, but didn't have a place to stay in San Diego. I will try to make it over at the end of the month, and maybe do Manhattan Beach GP.  A totally fun race, out of the heat and near the beach. After that, there isn't much racing for the rest of the year.

Most of our Saturday group ride in this part of town covers our old State Championship course from back in 1985. About 10 miles from my house we used to have the International Harvester proving grounds. Yes, in the desert and all that, but they were testing plows out here.

When the roads of the test track were first converted to streets. The area in the background is now an elementary and middle school. That is South Mountain in the far background, where the TV and radio towers are.

This area is now a huge housing development, and the main test track was turned into a 4 lane divided road. Soon a few miles of that road will turn into a full fledged freeway.  In areas of the development you can see graded roads on the hills where they used to test bulldozers and other earth moving equipment.

Back in '85 our championships were later in the year, like in June or May. It was super hot out. Like get a bottle on every 8 mile lap type hot. You could see riders melting, a total race of attrition.

I don't know if we need races like that still, or what.  Amazingly we had a good turn out for it, better than we see in many races now. We also had races as late as November, a split season so to speak. It was great, you would peak in the spring for a big race, chill for part of the summer, then hit it again in the fall.

It helped string the year together better. You would rest during Thanksgiving, and then get back on the bike in December to get ready for February. You never really were off the bike very long to lose fitness and go through a monster building period.  After I truly learned about periodization at the Olympic Training Center, I would just keep riding, but didn't go crazy doing intervals until early spring. That meant you could race early, but not be in peak form, and carry a bunch of stress throughout the entire season. You could ride through the waves, compete more, but not worry as much about peak form.

Now people get worried about being in peak form here in late February, and then the season falls apart right after that.  Valley of the Sun SR is their world. Such a shame as there are great races all over the west, or even back east to hit. Expand your horizons and have fun somewhere else. It also takes more than 10 races per year to become a good bike racer.

Understanding Data - Part 2 of 3,768,002

I just built up an old bike, and was lucky enough to pick up an older SRM power meter for it.  My current team race bike has a different type of power meter on it, dual sided and wireless. The sensors bond onto the crank arms with little pods that transmit to a Garmin or similar computer. A consideration is where exactly do you place those sensors onto the crank arms?

The logic is that there is an optimum placement, or sweetspot. But does that differ between both sides?  The spider plays a role in the right side crank stiffness. The left side has fewer factors. If you are off by a millimeter, you get uneven readings. In my case, I have a 58-42% balance consistently. In reality I dont know my true wattage.

Now bring in my "new" SRM. At first I forgot to set the zero offset. So going downhill or pedaling lightly had me putting out zero watts, even with the cranks moving. There should be watts displayed when the crank moves, since there has to be force involved.

I did a few hills on Wednesday. My watts were lower than my race bike.  Holding 300 seemed difficult.

So, in understanding data, how we derive it is quite important. It is very difficult to get alternate means of capture to agree.

It will take a while to iron out the issues with both bikes and hopefully I can get similar numbers from both.

Update - Losing weight with Thyroid Cancer

In 2014 I wrote this blog:  http://comingbackfromcancer.blogspot.com/2014/06/losing-weight-with-thyroid-cancer.html

I have learned so much since 2014. While the blog above has some good information and insight, it doesn't really scratch the surface for what I have experienced. 

A few things that I want to cover:

• Metabolism without a thyroid
• Special diets
• Digestion
• Hydration

As I have stated above, this is my own experience. Everyone is different, in fact we are a puzzle that takes quite a bit to solve. Then cancer happens and your puzzle is ruined and you have to start all over again. The picture has changed, the pieces have changed, and you might even be missing a few as a result. Just lie myself, missing a few pieces.

Late in 2014 I started up with a new doctor in Portland. I was in bad shape since my previous doctor in Chandler messed up the dosing protocol for the thyroid replacement I was on. You have to remember that dealing with a lack of thyroid isn't about taking a pill and everything is cool. It is very complicated with many parts of the body competing and having influences overall with the uptake and usage of the hormones. Thyroid hormone is dosed in micrograms, which is a tenth of a milligram, and variances are usually in around a 7-12.5 microgram increment. Without significant fillers added, most thyroid hormone pills are smaller than a tic-tac.

If your body is not working right, such as the adrenals are overloaded from stress and other chemical factors, you will act like you are overdosed or underdosed. That happened to me this year, a couple of months ago. I was working 2 jobs, training and stressing pretty hard. My diet was too high in sugar, and my body just couldn't compensate correctly so my adrenals were overloaded. As a result I had been in a pre-diabetes state. My blood tests showed that I was pooling a portion of my thyroid hormone and severely overusing another portion. I effectively was hyperthyroid, and had difficulty sleeping, but could not lose weight.

That is when I started to learn something that I thought made sense earlier. Simply if I took more thyroid hormone, I would raise my metabolism and lose weight.  It doesnt work that way. I also learned that my thyroid balance affected my performance in specific ways. That my heart rate could be elevated or suppressed as a result.

Diet and Metabolism
I needed to help correct my adrenal issue this year, so my doctor suggested I go on a specialty diet. It is called Elemental. The goal is to detox and reset several of the bodies systems. One type of Elemental has no sugar to speak of, perhaps 10-20 grams max from honey. The other is protein specific. This is the nastiest liquid diet ever!

I lost quite a bit of weight on this diet. I was bloated very badly due to sugar and gut absorption issues. This diet is meant to starve the gut of sugar and rid itself of this bacteria overgrowth that contributes to bloating as well as severe cravings for sugar. I certainly did that and dropped quite a bit of water weight. I was astounded to find out that the gut bacteria tied to processing sugar puts out a chemical in the body requesting more and more sugar in a never ending process.

I can't recommend this diet without proper supervision. Many people get to the point where their brains do not function due to the lack of calories. Operating cars, thinking, and even functioning can be difficult if you do not know what you are doing and how to compensate. I went for over 3 weeks on this diet, and was eventually riding my bike near the end of it. I dropped a good 25 pounds, and it took a short period until I could eat and have energy again.

I learned about my metabolism during this diet. My caloric intake was far less than 500 calories per day. Perhaps 200, and the diet drink is all vitamins and amino acids.  Remember how I thought I could change my metabolism with more thyroid hormone? Well doing this diet proves something. That eating actually can raise your metabolism. Not eating can slow it down severely.

I had heard rumors about various things in regards to diets and eating and the like. But again, we are all different.  My metabolism is not normal. I cant just barely adjust my diet and lose weight. I have to be overly aggressive, and get into a depleted state until I stop losing, then I can start eating slightly to jumpstart loss again. If I just train, I dont really lose weight. If I don't control my sugar intake, I don't lose weight at all.  If I eat too much sugar and get overloaded, I bloat up and retain many pounds of water, sometimes 5 pounds or more of water per day. Yes, that is nearly a gallon of liquid, and you can hear it sloshing about. Very weird indeed.

Digestion
It has been said that we have literally billions of bacteria in our digestive tract. We need it to help us break down food. There are dozens if not hundreds of varieties that work to extract everything from sugar to vitamins and minerals to even hormones for what we hope is proper absorption.

Ultimately, we cant absorb everything good in what we eat. we only get a portion. For instance if you take an iron supplement you are likely only to absorb 30% of it. Even less if you partake in caffeine.

The body loves sugar and carbs. A good deal of the energy we spend is derived from sugar and carbs. Unfortunately the upper intestine does much of the work of finding, breaking down and processing sugar for usage. For myself, the bacteria that does this work got a bit out of control, and causes me to blocked and backed up, bloating me out, and even hampering absorption of water. You could swear you are hydrated, but in reality you digestive tract is fooling you.

The elemental diet I alluded to above was part of the treatment for SIBO.  Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth. This is pretty treatment is extreme, and difficult to do.

Now, I would normally tell you that so much of this stuff is so fringe, so supposition. Things like gluten intolerance. Perhaps many people are searching for anything that is an answer to whatever ails them. There is an abundance of self diagnosis, and I find it less than believable. Additionally, I wouldn't believe it for myself.

Apparently having thyroid cancer is not good for the body. Newsflash there! Having gone through this has unearthed issues, and allowed some to become huge influences in my wellness. Sometimes we have to go to extremes to teach ourselves these facts, to have things pointed out with direct evidence within our own bodies.

Once I completed this SIBO diet, I found it a little easier to lose weight, and maintain a lower number. Gut and digestive issues are real! I didn't put much credence into it before. I attempted to eat Paleo previously, but I can honestly report that grains are not good for me, and cause a certain amount of inflammation. Tie that in with too much sugar consumption and you have a recipe for a mess.

Hydration
I live in Arizona. During a recent heatwave that had temps reaching 120 degrees we had some deaths out on the hiking and biking trails. I did some experimentation at this time. There were times that I wouldn't drink 20oz of water during a 40 mile ride. This sounds crazy, but it isn't if you know how to monitor your body.

If you stop sweating, get chills, get brain fog and other telltale signs, yes you are dehydrated and in danger. Many heat related deaths are not entirely due to dehydration, but more of a factor of exacerbating pre-existing health concerns. Getting dehydrated puts severe stress on the body, and those health issues rear their heads and become a huge problem.

Generally, one would aim to drink somewhere around 20oz of water per half hour to an hour in this kind of heat. Some people over drink, and as a result flush valuable minerals through their body too quickly. Others do not drink enough. A key here is this: as we train, we should learn about ourselves. How to perform optimally is a set of experiments meant to teach you how you feel both bad and good.  How else do you know how little fluid you can intake, and vice versa whether drinking a lot helps?  How much is just right.

So yes, drinking so little is not a good thing. I gained knowledge though. I know how I feel, and how much my performance drops off.  Effectively my heart rate goes up around 20 bpm and I lose a good 40 or more watts. Granted, you wouldn't do this during a race. Unless you had to. But, to drop weight, and remember our bodies are over 90% water, could you use this method to reset your baseline? Potentially yes. Dangerous, but yes.

Unfortunately, it seems I have to take drastic measures now to reset my body and improve my performance. I try to do this in small increments, then recover to a new set point. I still can't control my sugar intake very well, but I am doing better.  My performance is significantly better now.  My output and work level under effort is so much higher.  I can train now to improve, rather than just get exercise that didn't lead to improvement. That is fact was hard to swallow.

Understanding Data - Part 1 of 2,789,003

I got into an interesting debate with my dad yesterday. To qualify, he claims he is not all that tech savvy, but he is a better than average user of computers, phones and the like. Part of the discussion was about too much data.

I don't believe it is possible to have too much data, especially now that we have so many tools at our disposal to make sense of what we capture. I even have a spreadsheet where I try to capture all of the results of my blood tests, before and after cancer. It paints a certain picture.

Now in regards to blood tests, I can potentially see where having a test every week is overkill. I get tested at least 4 times a year, and last year had 6 or 7 tests. Through those tests I was able to detect that I had gone from being hypothyroid to hyperthyroid in early spring, and that I was actually having issues back into November 2015. Data can be good.

Back in the early 1980's we were all so happy when the Avocet computer came out. We could get miles, speed and things like that in a fairly accurate little unit. It was funny how we even advocated taking the battery out on January 1st to start over on our data collection. Now Strava does that for us.

I used to be a premium member on Strava. I recently shut that off. I didn't feel that I was getting much from this tool as I couldn't really work with my data. It was not even equal to the Garmin site where I could break down power a little bit better, see balance, and get peak numbers. I was a bit disappointed with Strava in regards to number crunching. However, I do love comparing times on segments and the like, in reality this is one type of number crunching, and kind of old school. When we didn't have power and heart rate, if you got dropped, you knew you had work to do. If you stayed on, you were doing ok.

I have been using the Watteam PowerBeat, a low cost ($499) power meter that is DIY installation. 
Effectively, you are given a tool that locates the sensor on the right of the picture onto the crank arms, and then bond them into place. The sending units on the left send a signal and data to a Garmin or similar computer for calculation and storage of the data.

I have been happy somewhat, since I didn't have a powermeter for a while, and feel that when paired with many things that power can be a valuable tool.  I did have an issue with one sensor, and had to replace it. My other issue that I currently have is that the sensor placement is a little vague. If that sensor it placed a few millimeters too close to the bb, it will not register enough watts, or too close to the pedal and it will detect more flex and register too many watts. How do you really know what the most optimum placement is and get an accurate number?

Simplified Powermeter Theory

A small part of the power debate is getting a number and sticking with it. Most people are happy with that. They get their power number and they can brag or whatever. Here is the reality, why do you even capture data about your training?

I would hope that the goal with using a Garmin, or some type of computer is so that you can analyze the data, and use it to improve. Now here is where the debate begins, what data is important, how much helps, and can you focus on the data to make sense of it and derive value? How exactly do you adjust and improve? What is the best way to do so?

In our scenario, how exactly is your power meter sampling? Remember the meter is digital, and not analog. Based on the processor, it will read from its sensors so many times per second. Next, your computer is recording data, but how often? The default interval on Garmin is 2 seconds. So, your powermeter is sampling potentially 10 or more times per second, it might be sending a data point to the computer less times, and the Garmin is recording every 2 seconds. You might see a potential fallacy building there. But again, you are getting a number from your powermeter to judge performance on. Is it the best number that can be calculated, maybe yes, maybe no. It depends on the time period, and how many times it can derive that accurate number in the time frame.

Realizing this, other manufacturers spec out their own computer, such as SRM or Pioneer. While it is possible to record data from either manufacturer with a Garmin or similar computer, the results will be more accurate using the manufacturer specific computer. Like we were discussing above, the powermeter itself is capable of sending a reading multiple times per second, the sending unit may perform some localized calculations and then send data to the computer, but it is possible to get more data points with this scenario.

Data Points

So, you may hear someone on a ride or a race boasting some power number. Or you hear about watts per kilogram for Tour de France riders. What does all that matter? Well it is a relationship that we are attempting to define, and it all revolves around data points.

We all love big numbers. There is a reality though, big numbers can be nice at the right time. But think about this, I don't want big numbers all the time. Actually I want small numbers most of the time, more specifically I want small watt and heart rate numbers in the middle of a race, and to maintain those small numbers while remaining in contention for the win. At a given time, I want max or near max numbers to be available to win the race at either a climb or sprint point. A realization is that, yes, we must be able to maintain big numbers at the right times.

But big numbers. What if that number is a single data point? Is it good? Yes, it is good, you got the number, maybe one time in 50 miles. It means something. If you did it twice, even better. Maintain that number over a longer period of time (data points), and you are on to something.

But... Is your powermeter capturing your big numbers? This is where you need to record many data points. The more the better. In the case of a Pioneer unit, it attempts to capture a reading every 30 degrees throughout your pedal stroke up to 120rpm. Because it is capturing data that frequently, it can start to do more with that data. It can start to paint a picture of your pedal stroke.  
In red, it shows to varying degrees how much power is being applied, in this case during the down stroke on the left and right hand side. By having significant data points, it can draw this picture accurately and provide something that a single power number cannot.

The goal with training, and any of these tools is to improve your performance. Yes, you can improve your performance tracking a single number at a single point. Yes, you can improve by having an overwhelming amount of data as well. If you take the time to make the data mean something, build a relationship with it. Effectively Strava does that one way, which is time over distance.  We are not yet sophisticated enough to understand power over distance, or to equate with sensitivity power to effort and given results. Yes, there are a few of us that might be able to, but unfortunately the majority of us are fixated with 20 min power, or even 5 second surges. It makes us feel good, and in a way, that did improve your performance.

Getting into shape, for real

I really wish the cycling season was longer.  Many of the races in my area of the country are over with for the year.  It would be nice to have some fall events to do, but I guess I will have to take whatever is available out there and make do.

As of August, I have lost 45 pounds since January.  I have been able to race quite a few times in Portland, and in California. My last criterium was in Ontario, CA and was over 100 degrees during the race.  I made a few mistakes on hydration that day, but all things considered I did just fine.

What I realize now is that I have made outstanding progress this year. I was able to prove to myself that I still have skills and abilities to tap into.  I look forward to reaching new levels post-cancer in 2016.

I still have more weight to lose.  I am finally under 200 pounds, but for me to realize more of my potential I need to get to 170 and below.  The next 5 months will encompass quite a bit of training, and a very low carb diet.  My doctor wants me to do a no carb diet, but I will have to see if I can convert to training on fats and proteins.  It takes a while to train the body in that way and to become efficient in burning proteins as fuels.

Overall, I am realizing I am happy with my progress.  Although I wish I was winning races, I realize that I can in the near future.  I still have a sprint, some power, and can hang pretty well.  I have much more training to complete to build more endurance, but I look forward to doing that.  I also look forward to training in a more proper way, to push myself to a level that makes me competitive on a national level.  I can see that happening very soon.

On water alone...

I was thinking about this yesterday.  After riding around 50 miles and seeing my performance drop off around mile 35 I was contemplating a few things, mainly why?  Paris Roubaix was yesterday as well, dozens of water bottles were used, but what was in them?

Is it really possible in this day and age to race, or train hard on water alone?

I do think it is possible to train on water alone.  In that, there is a drop in performance, and that if planned for, you can adapt and overcome those aspects.  It is training after all, not where you have to see the performance of a lifetime.  You are to gain fitness. So another question is will you gain more fitness on water, or some type of replacement drink?

Can you actually use a replacement drink too much to where it become ineffective? I do believe so.  Your stomach can only handle so much, and is not 100% efficient.  When using a replacement drink during exercise, we expect the stomach to transfer into our system those liquid contents, some of which do hit the intestines with hopes we derive benefits at some point.  The reality is that the stomach cant pass all of that liquid, sugars and other goodies through at a massive rate.  It really shouldn't after all, because if it passed all sugar through, we would have massive sugar blues afterwards.

So why would we have troubles on water alone? Well part of this is that we have to access stored reserves.  Some of these reserves are in the muscle, and others held in other areas of the body.  Again we are not terribly efficient in accessing those stores, so at some point we pay the price.

To combat this, we train for endurance, as well as recovery time so we can complete a high workload using less energy.  It may not be as comfortable to do so, but using water only at this point should help to emphasize the natural systems in place, and build increased efficiency.

So perhaps the best thing we can do is to train on water alone, to emphasize the body's systems of building endurance, removing lactic acid and accessing energy stores.  On event day, supplementing with a replacement is a great idea since we can capitalize on our training, and provide a supply of energy to prevent full use of muscle stores. In between, light use of replacement drinks to where you do not become saturated, but can tolerate and perform well is to be highlighted.

There is one in every city

Perhaps there is more than one....

Up here in Portland there are several weekday rides for training to hit.  I go to one of them on Wednesday nights.  Just to get some miles in, 2 hours is 2 hours toward base or whatever. 

For the first time this year this other group was out on this course that I had been meeting people on.  They were big bad ass racers and all of that.  Of course there had to be one with a big mouth.  Acted like he owned the place.  

I guess there is one in every city.  I have traveled around a bit, hit a few races here and there.  I am by no means the big time bike racer anymore.  Maybe big bike racer, but I am losing weight.  

The reality that I see is that there are quite a few egos on full display for people that really should just be quiet and train.  When people like this get into real competition, against people that know what is up, they get shelled in a big way.  

I have maybe 3 weeks of training.  I am severely overweight.  I did not get training in during November or December.  When a loudmouth can barely drop me in my deteriorated, couch potato state, there is a lesson to be learned somehow.  I doubt he will.  I sure did.

Just ride your bike.

Bad week = Good week?

You know how you try not to stare at the scale or even weigh yourself often because you are afraid of the bad news?  I thought I was having a bad week.  I tried not to pay attention to the scale, I just expected to gain weight.

The weather was hit an miss this week also.  A couple of outdoor rides, but mostly everything was indoor.  I just didn't have high expectations because of what I thought were set backs.

Previously, if I went through a week like this, I would have gained weight.  My meds just wouldnt support me correctly to maintain a weight loss strategy.  I am happy though, I have found that it is possible for me to lose weight- even when things are not perfect.

I have my training plan drawn out.  So far I am reasonably on schedule.  My fitness is moving forward, and I am able to do more work without trashing myself.  I wish I were able to get a few long rides in this weekend, but it rained way to hard to be out on the road either day and get something out of it.  It was safer to stay inside.

This past week has truly taught me something.  With proper diet, and activities, I am capable of weight loss without lingering side effects.  That makes me quite happy.

I think I am going to stick to my schedule to the end of the month, and not get all crazy about massive amounts of training.  The reality is there are no events of interest until April.  That is plenty of time to build fitness, endurance and drop weight.  Besides, the building of good habits needs to start.  Eating well, and being active every day is my key right now.

So another week of hitting LA Fitness and laughing at the people there.  It is so comical seeing some people attempt to work out.  Good for them that they are there though and trying, even if a bit misguided.  I just never could understand how some women would use specific weight machines, at the absolute lightest settings.  Going through the motions is not beneficial.

I also hope in the next month to better balance the strength in my legs.  My hamstrings are a bit weak, so I am concentrating on building there to better compliment my quad strength.  I realize in the past that the closer the strength happens to be, the better my pedaling motion, and my ability to climb well.

I hope the weather improves, but I will try to hit the road on Monday evening and get some miles in even though it will be dark.  52 degrees sounds pretty decent to ride in as opposed to just a few days ago where it was 10 degrees cooler.

Getting focused

A ton has happened since I last posted.  This past summer did not go so well for me health-wise. I also moved from Arizona to Oregon at the end of the summer.  Trying to survive on my own is a challenge as well.

As the title suggests, I aim to be more focused in 2015. I realized in the last few weeks that I spread my efforts to so many things, that I would either finish something, and leave something unattended, or was not able to spend the time to do something well.  I also realize that the most important thing to me is getting back into shape so I can enjoy my life through cycling.

Last spring I made the decision to change the medication I was on.  I am not sure if it was a mistake, or that my doctor didn't approach the change properly.  Looking back, this killed my 2014 completely.  Come December, and I am still trying to get my act back together.

At the start of 2014 I was taking Synthroid, and when I increased my dose to better support my physical effort, my body didn't like it and made things worse.  I got frustrated with my current doctor at that time.  I had called the office and wanted to switch back to my slightly lower dose as I was pretty miserable at that point.  They were more than difficult, and wouldn't even notify my doctor of what was going on.  I had to do a blood test, and then an appointment over a month later. Living a month in this state is just plain stupid.

So I switched doctors.  I had been seen a naturopath that does endocrinology previously, but he wasnt on my insurance, and I had to do radioiodine scans at 5 years to make sure I was cancer free.  So it was a must to switch doctors, but here I was switching back.  At this point we took a look at switching to a bio-identical form of thyroid medications.

I am not sure if he had an old chart, or if it was inaccurate, or if he didn't calculate the dose based on my needs, but we made a switch. At first it seemed ok.  About two or three weeks in and I felt some decent effects on it.  The reality was that I had so much Synthroid built up, that I was in an optimal state of saturation.  Things would start to go downhill from there.

I saw my doctor again, and we added a small amount of Synthroid.  I had to pay for blood tests out of pocket since my insurance in Arizona wouldn't cover tests when ordered from a Naturopath.  We couldn't fully test me, but did the best possible with what I could afford.  This only helped slightly, and it seemed something else was going on.  I was gaining weight again, and massively bloated, even in my hands. The best I could figure is that from the start of the year my adrenals were overtaxed.  The adrenals help break down and build the thyroid molecule to usable compounds.

At the end of the summer I moved up to Portland for a new job.  I was up here by myself, and I resolved to try and change some things.  I got up here when the weather was pretty awesome, so I was able to get out on my bike, and was gaining some fitness.  Then I got sick with a pretty bad sinus infection.  My nasal polyps swelled up to the point they fully blocked my nose off and were bleeding.

When I went into urgent care, I found out that I was really heavy. But I had to go on Prednisone to shrink my sinuses down.  Eventually I would get over 235 pounds and I wasn't happy about it.

I knew I needed to find an Endocrinologist up here since I needed new prescriptions and a fresh approach to improving my health.  I tried to find a MD type Endo, and I am still waiting for that appointment which happens in February.  Apparently there is a massive shortage of Endocrinologists up here, and I had to wait for 5 months for an open appointment.

I was able to find a Naturopathic Endo here that specializes in Endo.  Previously, my doctor in Phoenix didn't specialize.  Now I realize that mistake.  In December my new Dr ordered full labs for me, and I mean full labs.  I had never had all of these labs done by any previous Dr.  That made me quite mad as it created a new picture for me.  Also, in Oregon, labs can be ordered by Naturopath Dr's and still covered on insurance.  AZ is so messed up!

So, just before Christmas, I had my doses increased, my diet radically changed, and a number of other things to help better support what was truly happening.  My adrenals were messed up, so I was not converting my Thyroid meds correctly, so we are trying to heal those.  I was severely inflamed as well.  That is starting to go down.  I also am insulin resistant at the moment.  Way to much sugar in my diet.  I am now on a strict Paleo diet to help reverse the insulin issues, and to cut my inflammation and bloating down.

Since I am living by myself, I have had time to reflect and try to organize myself better.  I started writing again.  I tried to organize the many writing projects I had started by dedicating walls of my apartment to a post it note type of outlining.  I then realized that I had way to many projects, and that I couldn't event pull out a half an hour of solid work on any of them.  I changed then.  I put up only one writing project, and fully focused on it.  I was able to write around 50,000 words on it in 10 days.
It was while working on that project that I knew that I had to be more focused.  I need to cut the other nonsense out, and apply my energy where it could be best used.  So I will add another 15,000 words to my first draft, and then do a rewrite to add in character and the like.  I will have a better product and look to shop for an editor and publisher.

I am able to also align my time to getting in shape.  I am not going crazy at first, a slow methodical process.  If I went at 100% right now, I would wear myself down fast.  I am just trying to do something physical every day.  So around an hour at the gym.  Time on the indoor trainer, and then get outside on the bike when the weather allows.

On January 3rd I went outside to ride.  Wearing 4 layers up top and thermal everything I was out in freezing to 38 degree weather.  There were ponds that were frozen over and ice in other places.  In a way I felt like I was back at the Olympic Training Center riding in the snow.

When you are at the OTC you are focused on riding and recovering.  I could modify that, I could work, ride and recover.  And that wont spread me too thin. So with much more focus, I hope that 2015 will be the first year that I can get back to being healthy.

Losing Weight with Thyroid Cancer

I doubt that I am going to cover something new, but the realization that I had may be new for some.  I had not read this, or been told anything about how my metabolism works when I have no thyroid anymore.  My realization is about eating habits, and meal timing.  I think I am on to something, and might help others.

As I understand from various books, literature and websites is that our thyroid hormone production goes through waves, ebbs and flows throughout the day.  There are times that is high, and low, or say exercise should trigger a burst of production.  There are other aspects that can influence your production as well.  But what happens when you don't have a thyroid gland anymore?  How do you get ebbs and flows, bursts when you need them to recover?

The answer is I don't think there is bursts, or a cycle, or there is a significantly lower cycle.  There may be some T4 hormone stored in various parts of the body in small amounts for future use.  Triggering a large release for metabolism and the like may not happen to an expected level, it may much less.

The reason I mention this, is to realize that the expectation to eat on a schedule the same as when one had a thyroid gland may not be possible.  As you exercise, or just perform your duties for the day we burn calories, and have to regenerate our energy and try to rid our bodies of the byproducts of the day.  Normally, we would eat dinner, and metabolize that food to help us recover.  We still do.  But it is harder at 6pm to have a hormone surge to help with that metabolism and recovery mode.

Statistically, during sleep we burn a good amount of calories in our regenerative process.  Many people are amazed the calories that are burned during our sleep cycle.  Part of this is triggered via a surge in thyroid hormone being available.

What I have realized is that via my body temp, I am not seeing that surge at night.  My body temp drops pretty far, well over a degree.  That is not unheard of, but to me, when I am struggling to maintain 97.5 with the drugs I am on, then having a drop that far also indicates that my body is not metabolizing as much at night.  It is struggling to go through the calories, to fuel up further and the like.

I realized that when I was struggling to lose weight, that the later I ate, the harder it was to lose.  When exercising, it was nothing to see 2 pounds lost on the scale over night because of those various processes going on.  Post Thyroid Cancer sees it difficult to see a 1 pound difference.  In a non scientific way, the low body temp, lack of weight drop at night and overall difficulty in losing weight indicates that the overnight cycle is not working perfectly.

What I changed was my eating habits and schedule.  I try not to eat dinner, but during the day spread out meals and food intake better.  If I eat dinner, I see problems with weight loss.  So I try to eat before 5 if possible, or have a sensible snack in the evening.  With this different schedule I am able to lose weight.  I feel more hopeful that things are going in a reasonable way.

Riding with a camera

If you have been aware - lately there have been more videos popping up where cyclists are documenting aggressive and life threatening behavior with a GoPro or similar sports camera.  I rode for the first time with one this morning.  I had it mounted on the drop of my handlebar, and messed up the orientation of the video, but corrected that in playback.  Tomorrow I will dial things in better.  I have mine set in 1080 30fps and saw reasonable video from it.  I have a JVC camera, it was on sale for about $100 from Fry's Electronics recently, and I am using a handlebar mount, right over my handlebar tape, on the bar end/drop.

I am still playing and figuring out what works and what does not.  The few moments I reviewed this morning needed quite a bit of work, and might argue to mount the camera on a helmet instead of a bike due to how bumpy the pics are.  If I import the video into Final Cut, I probably can manipulate and clean up the bumpiness a bit as the software can help that out.

The reality of this, using a camera, is why do we need to do this?  Especially, on a training ride?  I can see taking a camera on a special trail, or in a race to capture the action, the chaos and all of that kind of fun.  That makes sense.  Many are recommending using cameras out on all rides.  Why has our society made this happen?  We can't trust other road users to act responsibly, and that is a shame.

Earlier this year, when I was training in the afternoons, I had two incidents where I wish I had a camera on board to capture the license plate of a vehicle full of teenage boys that assaulted me.  One time I chased them down into a parking lot and attempted to stop them.  They drove in a massivly dangerous manner, in reverse across a full parking lot, nearly sliding into a pole, hitting other cars just to get away from me.  I turned them into the police two times, and I have no idea if they have been found, arrested or anything. If I had the plate, it would have helped out quite a bit. 

I wonder about this rise in assaults on cyclists.  I also wonder what would happen if bigger vehicles started doing the same to these drivers that assault cyclists.  Are we getting into some macho one upmanship of who has the biggest gun?  I used to ride, a few decades ago, with a friend that carried a holster and a .22 semi auto handgun right on his stem.  I used to always have a frozen water bottle with me, in the summer here it was welcomed, but I thought of it as a weapon, and have thrown it at two cars before, hitting one with a resounding thump. 

I still wonder why things have to come down to an arms race.  Would these same drivers appreciate aggressive vehicles brushing against their kids on sidewalks while walking, running, skating or even riding?  I would be just as mad as when they do the same to me. 

I have friends back east that have taken to mounting cameras in their cars to record bad drivers.  I imagine that video footage can be useful, and could be turned into the police and the like.  But I also wonder when the police start refusing, or not even using, or not pursuing these bad drivers.  I see that in the future where the police "claim" they cant do anything, even with the video proof.  Vigilantism will probably ensue.  There was an issue of that happening in the Bay Area, but it was taken too far, and the vigilante was charged. 

I hate having to video my bike rides.  I should ideally be able to ride my bike in my neighborhood and trust everyone to use the roads responsibly.  Mistakes and accidents do happen, that is understandable.  Outright rage and aggressive nature towards other drivers, road users and the like is not understandable.  Perhaps something will change in the near future where we are forced to act far more responsibly in regards to the vehicles we use, such as adding penalties for getting tickets for cell phone use, assault with a vehicle or similar occurrences where they will raise your insurance cost.  Hurt those with bad behavior in the pocketbook.  Some auto loans have the ability to end the contract due to breach because the car was used in an inappropriate manner.  Normally this is dealing drugs or things like that.  Expanding the contract language that if you assault someone, or use inappropriately could be added as a factor, especially if you are jeopardizing your insurance coverage and the safety of others.

Sleep, Bike, Eat, Work

Not necessarily in that order.... Since finishing my Masters, I have found things a bit liberating so to speak. I can actually concentrate on riding my bike. For some that will sound weird, just go and ride. However, with responsibilities it doesn't always go that way. I was amazed at how school was such a limiting factor.

About a month ago I switched to my previous Endocrinologist, Dr. Barnett in Chandler. I was seeing him when I had no insurance and paying fees out of pocket. I didn't mind because we had intelligent conversations about my care, and would work as a team to try things in order to improve. When I was working as a teacher I finally got insurance. In 2013, it was time for me to do a five year scan to see the status of my cancer. The problem was Dr. Barnett was not the right doctor for these scans and evaluations.

I had to switch doctors. So I switched, and for simplicity stayed with her after the scans. I was happy that I was clear, and thought that my meds were ok, but nothing great. It did get to the point that I was being treated solely based upon my blood work, and I hate that. It takes little into account in how I feel, my exercise performance and a list of reasons beyond that.

I switched back to Dr. Barnett. I was feeling so bad in February I simply stopped taking what was my previous doses, and started putting on weight like crazy. Mind you I wasn't feeling any better. On my first visit we decided to try something different, that we had not tried before, and that my previous Endo would never consider. We designed a dosage of Naturethroid and synthetic Synthroid. Standard Endo's normally prescribe just Synthroid to someone like me. They feel if the body is working correctly, that it will strip the T4 Synthroid down to T3, T2 and T1. Mine will to some effect, perhaps not super efficiently though.

Naturethroid is a natural desiccated thyroid, meaning that it has naturally occurring levels of T4, T3, T2 and T1. This is the best I have felt in a very long time, years in fact. My testosterone seems to be working better (a factor of the T1 availability). Through this week I have been trying to ride and lose weight. I am actually able to lose weight without a supreme struggle. Now this is not to say that I have a normal life and diet, far from that, but I have finally found something working for the time being.

A few weeks ago I was at 230 pounds, and felt that I couldn't do much about it. Short of fully starving, not much was slowing down my weight gain. This week I have been progressing down, and probably will be around 220, maybe lower on Sunday. I was about to hit 222 today in fact. This week has finally showed me that I was never in a reasonable balance with my meds for way over 5 years, I was fooling myself when I felt ok.

I was listening to the Dr. Drew Podcast that had Bald Bryan (Bryan Bishop) as a guest. Bryan works on the different podcasts and radio shows of Adam Carolla. He recently went through a type of brain cancer, and has written a book that I want to buy and read. While we have different cancers, he advocated one great thing: you have to seek out the best care for yourself. He had to switch doctors, and it wasn't a case of being told what he wanted to hear, but to find someone to work as a team with. In his case, he was able to find one of the best doctors in the world in Los Angeles to help him. I agree with Bryan, you have to do what is right for you, find the best, find someone that works with you. It is your life, and you have to Come Back from Cancer on your terms.

Getting back into the swing of things

Last week I rode three times for 91 miles. Not much, but it was a start. I rode a few times in the morning, and did the Saturday ride. I know I need more riding for sure. My goal this week is to ride every day. I rode Monday so far, a few miles in the evening. When I woke up this morning, the wind was gusting pretty badly, and I didn't think I would get much out of riding. I should have went anyways. I guess I am spoiled in AZ with light winds and decent weather year round. If I was in Kansas, there is nothing but wind. I hope to ride twice on Tuesday. About an hour or so in the morning and then an hour in the evening at the Underground Crit. But I realized something today. I am not training right now. I am not in good enough shape, nor do I have my weight down to actually train. With that, I need to enjoy riding and not put pressure on myself. I need to get my 200 miles per week in, watch my weight drop, and have fun. I am not going to get anything out of doing intervals, or something special. I need to save that for a few months from now when 50 mile rides are easy. Then I can actually start being productive on the bike. I wonder if I can get this thin again? 145 pounds?

My body is confused

I am a frequent reader of Steve Tilford's blog. I know I am out of shape, but I feel envious, especially today, when he laments about feeling off and then riding himself into feeling good. I had the opposite happen this morning, and now here at work, I feel worse. I started off pretty well. It was cool out this morning, if just below 60 is cool. It is for Phoenix. I was warming up reasonably well, and holding a decent cadence in the small ring, even uphill. Got out to the first hill on my weekday route that gets me around 25 miles total, and then things went downhill from there. I know I am struggling from lack of fitness and being grossly overweight. My body is confused. It seems to love being out and riding, but is tearing itself up in the process. So now I sit here writing, about 4 hours post ride, and I am a bit tired, and some muscle aches. I also wish that I rode myself into feeling better, but with the wind, and not enough endurance, that is not going to happen. Oh well, I now able to focus solely on riding, and getting back into shape. I have a very long road ahead of me. No big deal, one focus and all that.

Making progress

I finally spent a little time on the bike today. This last week didn't go quite as planned. I was still feeling tired, so there were several days that after work I came home and crashed instead of riding. Since my scan I have lost 11 pounds. I am averaging 5 pounds a week coming off, and I really can't complain much about that. I hope I can do much the same this week, and get somewhere close to 210. I have my diet pretty dialed, and no soda or excess sugar is really helping out. If I can start burning extra calories, I know some good will happen. I also know I was quite bloated going into my scan to drop so much weight. I gave my endocrinologist paperwork so I can get a TUE or therapeutic use exemption. All of the drugs I take are on the banned list. I take Synthroid, Cytomel and Testosterone. I have zero thyroid producing tissue in my body, thus the need for Synthroid and Cytomel for replacement. My total testosterone sits at 100 and many times below it. I am not sure what happened to me, but I got the double whammy of cancer and major low testosterone. When injected, my total testosterone hits around 500-600. It isn't like I am getting some massive amount and have an unfair advantage. I will try two days of training in a row tomorrow. It is all just a big experiment in how much I can take, and how fast I snap back from efforts. I really hope I can keep cutting weight. I really would love it to be easy to get below 200, then I can focus on taking the rest of my weight off slowly over the next 6 months or so. I would love a pound or two per week once below 200.

Day 1 of training

After finishing my last blood test this morning, I was able to take my meds again, and actually see clearly about an hour afterwards. I had been having so many troubles from being off of Thyroid meds, that it had even affected my vision. It is weird to notice that your vision clears up and becomes vivid again. It is nearly like getting new glasses. Late this afternoon I was able to get out on my bike in the warm sun. It was around 80 degrees so I threw on my new kit, helmet and glasses and put in an hour. I had ridden on January 10th a little bit, but today was my first real riding. I actually felt reasonable considering. I focused on spinning, since I need to get my pedal stroke back and become efficient there. I also will gain fitness faster spinning than trying to hammer with power at this moment. With having no thyroid activity, or replacement at all for the last two months my weight went all the way up to 225-227. There was nothing I could really do about that. On Friday everything was so bad that my eyes were nearly swollen shut from retaining so much water. My hands barely worked. It sounds like I am complaining, I really am not, more explaining what it is like to go through something like this. It is not massively painful like a wound, but the aches and pains from nearly every part of the body sure do get your attention. It will take a couple of weeks taking my normal meds to get stabilized again. I will be able to recover from workouts, so that my muscles won't ache as if I did 3 hours hard and in reality I just spun an hour. My heart rate is suppressed at the moment, so my max is very very low, around 160. My normal max is around 200-202 even at my 44 year old age. When my weight comes down fully, and training pays off, I should be able to get to a reasonable VO2max and have great power output yet again. I just have to get there and be patient. I think that is positive, and I appreciate the genetics more now that my mom and dad gave me.

Starting 2013 the right way

I know this has happened several times before. The starting over, or restarting, or whatever to call it. 1/21/13 will be my true start back. On 1/18/13 I had the scan that should have occurred a few years ago that would have cleared me, and proven that Thyroid Cancer was fairly unlikely to happen for the rest of my life. I had been living under a bit of a cloud for the last few years. Since my surgery, I had lost my job, and had no insurance for quite a while. Since I changed vocations and became a teacher, I was able to finally become insured, and with that I planned out late last year into right now to do a radio-iodine pet scan which proves the amount of thyroid tissue left in my body, particularly in the neck area where the vast majority resides. It is weird in that for a long time I really never knew what my status was, I just took my thyroid medications and hoped for the best. I had tried a few come backs, but without knowing, and also having some medical issues that I tried several doctors with, I found only difficulties, and no solutions. I am now set with better doctors, and I am confident that I can get everything correct now. I have the ball rolling in the correct direction as it were. The last two months, from November 2012 to January 2013 were difficult. Getting ready to scan, coming off my medications, and trying to live a normal life was difficult. I got to the point that I could not even see clearly. This morning was awesome, after two days back on the drugs, I was starting to see better! I could concentrate again, and my brain was working a bit better as well. I have a long way to go. In the last month a bunch of weight packed on for me and there was nothing I could do to prevent it. My hands are swollen so badly right now. My face is so puffy that I look like an alcoholic. In the next few weeks I expect 10-20 pounds to come off with much of it being water weight. Then I have the challenge of trying to drop my weight into the 180 range which will be the lightest I have been post cancer. I hope to be there by April, and with that I should start to become competitive racing. This summer I will work to get my weight down even further. I will get back to a 150 range where I belong, and with that become nationally competitive again. That is my goal.

More progress

Trying to find positive to build on is difficult for some. Without having an inventory of yourself available, and in constant use, seeing improvement is not the easiest thing. I try to advocate really paying attention to your body, as well as other environmental aspects so that you can judge any number of things as you try to make yourself better.

In the last couple of weeks, I have changed dosages after having spoke with another athlete. I made a case with my doctor, and we adjusted upwards, and have had great results. My heart rates have changed, and moved closer to what I used to experience. A good 10 beat drop overall has been experienced, and my resting HR is moving down. This is quite helpful, and could be seen in last weeks rides. Strava was showing that last Sunday was super fast, perhaps fastest in a couple of years. I was able to stay on, have activity, be in the sprint, and not get into trouble.

Another change was to increase my testosterone. I am not sure where I am at currently, but with mild therapy I was at the bottom of the normal scale. With a bit more of a boost, I should get just above the bottom of the scale. Currently, I am seeing faster recovery. Several times I have tried injections, but had no real results that could be noticed. With my current program, I am actually seeing results that can be documented.

Having ridden over 110 miles this past weekend on two group rides, with some decent efforts, I can see that things are going in the right direction for me. Having a national champion on the ride, as well as other strong riders proved that it was no fluke in speed and quality. I was scared for a bit this year that I couldn't come back. I am now seeing otherwise, and have a chance of being competitive.

8 rides

I really know I need to train more. It seems that so many things impact that ability. I was checking out my stats on Strava, and found that I only had rode 8 times in 3 weeks. Somehow I rode better though throughout. Certain reactions are going on, which is always promising.

My goal for this week was to have some good training and then race this coming weekend. Rain on Sunday was expected, so I rode hard on Saturday. Then I get a cough, runny nose and flu like symptoms. Wonderful, those plans are thrown out the window.

We will see by the end of the week if a race is possible. I am fooling myself, but I want to get a race in, and motivate further to get my house in order. I was hoping with some riding that I would lose weight this week. So much conspires to ruin those best laid plans.

Well, it is Doctor time tomorrow morning. Another change which should help me out is in the works. I am happy so far this year, this is the best I have done since having cancer. I am happy as well since I know much more is possible.