14 Days To Go (August 24)
My return home from Half Ironman Mont-Tremblant necessitated two stops before I had even unpacked.
(Please tell me you at least put up the first load of wash.)
My quad needed some love.
(Your what?)
“Quad” is short for quadriceps. There are four muscles that make up your thigh and they all connect to the patella tendon that stretches over your knee cap.
(So, knee pain while running isn’t actually your knee?)
Well … most of the time it isn’t and can be solved by stretching, but I’m a coach, not a doctor. If you have knee pain seek out medical attention.
The quad hadn’t bothered me at the half Ironman, but I could tell I still wasn’t 100%
(Not the first time you’d felt this in your quad?)
I’ve lost track. It comes with the sport. It’s maintenance.
(So you went for physical therapy?)
I love PT. I always emerge stronger. Besides, Martin had put me back together before.
(What’s his #?)
Email me and I will share his Teaneck number.
(Even when the PT is rubbing out the knot in the muscle?)
- Maybe not my favorite part of rehab.
Then it was back to the bike shop. I had beaten the daylights out of my bike and I wanted to be sure nothing was going to go wrong in Nice, France.
A bike tune up is like a car tune up.
You have your simple tune up.
For a car that’s an oil change. For a bike it’s lubing the chain and gears.
(Cassette.)
A more detailed car tune up might be replacing the air filters and differential fluids.
For a bike it might be replacing the chain.
A major tune up might be removing the engine block to replace the head gaskets.
(I take it you’ve been there.)
Oh yeah and that’s an all-day event.
(So, a major tune up for a bike?)
This tune up was what NASA used to call an “all up test.”
I asked the bike shop to test everything:
- How was the fluid in the brake line?
- Did the tires need replacing?
- Were the gears shifting smoothly?
(We are still talking about your bike, right?)
Yes.
(This is sounding like your car.)
My bike doesn’t have a cabin filter or headlights.
The only change was a big one.
The chain ring AKA the crankset was worn down.
(What do you mean by “worn down”?)
The teeth that the pedals “hold” looked like they had been filed down.
(So, that is why the chain fell off while climbing hills at Half Ironman Mont Tremblant.)
The teeth were too smooth to hold the chain when climbing.
(And you were about to do a lot of climbing.)
To give me more help, we switched out my cassette and upgraded it.
We went to a 50-34 from a 52-36.
(I don’t understand.)
To quote my friend Shlomo Rosenzweig the engineer again, “Pulling fewer links in the chain each rotation, would mean less rotation on the cassette. So, 53 teeth means 53 links of the chain each revolution of the pedals; and 50 teeth means 50 links in the chain each revolution.”
Fewer teeth in the front and more teeth in the back gears would give me more help climbing the mountains of France.
After that upgrade I was down to the last week of training. By this point I was riding up to three hours a day, simulating the climbing of France.
(Did you anticipate climbing those 13 miles for 3 hours?)
I was really hoping not.
(So, what was your estimation for the ascent to the top of the mountains of southern France?)
Mile 0-5 was flat, we would be on the Riviera, so I estimated 20 minutes.
(That’s 15 mph, you can ride faster than that.)
True, but I wanted to start slow and save my legs.
Mile 5-13 was not flat, so I estimated 25 minutes.
(Wait, you just said, “not flat.”)
Yes?
(So wouldn’t you need more time?)
Mile 13-30 would take me 90 minutes.
The first major climb also had a descent on the other side where I’d be going very fast.
Then at mile 30, I had the 13 mile climb to mile 42. That would take me 90 minutes.
A total of two and a half hours to reach the top by 12 noon.
(You are making all this up.)
I am. I originally estimated that it would take me four hours to reach the top with two and a half hours alone to climb 13 miles. But that math didn’t work, so I just reworked the math.
(What if you were wrong?)
I didn’t want to think about it.
David Roher is a USAT certified triathlon and marathon coach. He is a multi-Ironman finisher and veteran special education teacher. He is on Instagram @David Roher140.6.
He can be reached at [email protected].
