Systolic, Blood Pressure, Heart Rate and Athletes

My questions:

 

1. If an athlete has a very low resting heart rate (45 bpm and lower) does that mean that it would be `normal' for the heart muscle to contract harder with each beat? 
2. If that is the case would it follow that the systolic pressure in an athlete is typically higher (greater than 120 but less than 140)?
3. If the diastolic (bottom number) is less than 80 would that support a conclusion that the higher systolic pressure (e.g., 140/68 with a heart rate of 45 bpm) among athletes is `within normal limits'?

Closing Out a Good-(ish) Year: 2015

From `the neck up' it has been a good and informative year.  In my heart, however ... eh!  Not so good. 

A few months from entry into my eighth decade I find that I'm more alert to signs of aging than I am aware of them.  It's like leaning into a curve and then ... no curve.  Am I just fatigued?  Or is this `age?'  Despite the numbers I don't really have anything to compare it to.  When I was `younger' I worked like a slave and got tired.  Got up the next morning and did it again.  And got tired. 

Now, I do the same amount of work but don't feel the hot breath of fear and panic on my neck.  And I get tired.  And that means?????

Opening a door and closing another.  2016 Should be the `year of the body.'  The `body' came in a distant fourth or fifth this year. 

Started up a new private practice. 

Got back into indoor rowing (ergometer), did some team competitions.  Tore a major peripheral nerve (ulnar) and was `impaired' for three months.  No cycling.  For that matter, no sleep either.  Enormous pain.  Did I say ENORMOUS?! Pain killers send one into a semi-conscious purgatory ... without the hope.  

And then spent the last 4 months squeezing the last drops of design capability out of my stick bike.  I'd be on a 100 mile training ride only to stop half a dozen times to adjust this, tweak that.  More a test of the equipment than of the rider. 

Ended the `season' with a perfectly adequate performance at the Borrego Springs 12 Hour Time Trial in mid-November.  `Perfectly adequate' just short of embarrassing.  I got out what I put in.  What I would call `rule outs.' 

So, aside from family priorities -- always first and last -- the private practice is more than thriving.  Such that I have to be deliberate about setting limits.  The bike design considerations have been dealt with.  No more `adjusting' or `tweaking.'  More on that at a later time. 

2016 is to be `the year of the body.'  A tightly designed training plan to increase power and endurance.  And here are some learnings along the way.

When I moved to the mountains I was determined to learn how to climb tens of thousands of feet in a few thousand miles.  In three years I climbed more than a million and a half feet on the bike.  Long Slow Distance (up!). 

I did a few Arizona brevets and realized that there are only two lane highways with trucks, RVs and other vehicles travelling at 80 miles per hour out here.  The accomplishment was not athletic.  Long Slow Distance. 

Long.  Slow.  Distance. 

I.  Don't.  Have.  Patience.  For.  That.  Anymore. 

So I bought a high end power meter and will be pushing harder on the pedal for longer in order to go faster and faster and faster.  High Intensity Training. 

Who wants to live forever!!!

Borrego Springs 12 Hour Time Trial: 2015

My (very) short report.
 
1. The most well organized and well run invitational I've ever attended.
2. Almost perfect weather for the 12 hour (but the 24 hr racers experience temps as low as 38F).
3. Not as flat as I previously noted. (Living in Prescott makes most everything else seem `flat').
4. A high racer with a 0% - 4% angle of seat recline makes it difficult to start and stop ... feet too high off the ground. I fell over twice starting and stopping. 
5. For flat courses (like Borrego) I will need a low-racer (rear wheel drive). I'm looking.
6. My training will now include a major focus on power (pedal harder go faster).
7. The CA2 ... I'm going to raise the seat incline and move the seat closer to the headset. A high racer just doesn't accomodate low seat inclines with bike maneuvarability.
8. The CA2 will be my bike for varied terrain. 
9. I'll be building up my Ti Aero for dirt road (not mountain) riding ... suspension, fat tires, Tweener bars, etc. 
10. I'm in the market for a low-racer (M5, etc) for flats.  (Seat height below 48cc).
11. I did as well (185 miles) as expected for the kind and amount of training I did and the fact that I was self-supported. 
12. If life circumstances permit next year and the bike and training goes according to plan I think I can break 225+. 
13. I really, really enjoyed the time I spent with friends and the chance to meet new people.

UPDATE: Nov 19, 2015:

The M5.  I'm going to put off any consideration of getting one.  Balance and priorities.  The real gains to be made are in my own power and endurance, rather than with equipment. 

I have a LeMond Revolution trainer and will be getting the power meter attachment next month.  A dedicated training program to improve power and endurance over the winter is in order.

I think that the very extreme (0% - 4%) degree of recline on the CA2 may help in fast descents but has little impact on flat terrain.  I'll experiment with the degree of recline on the LeMond power trainer to assess body posture, distance from the crank and power. 

I like the tiller much more than the superman bars.  More control.  Less stress with having to hang my arms on the bars for long hours of riding.

The Ti Aero and CA2 are the best climbing bikes I have ever experienced and know of.  If they have competitors the difference is essentially miniscule.  Again, the rider climbs, not the bike.

Bentcyclist, VAD and many others have done remarkable things with making the stick bike frame dirt road worthy.  That will be the next equipment order of business for me this winter. 

My mileage goal for the Borrego Springs time trial was 225; I completed 185.  Thank god for simple problems.  I think I can set a goal of 250 next year if I maintain fidelity to a training plan and some competitive events. 

Barring the unknown, next year will have fewer distractions from cycling and I should be able to keep a balance in my life while investing more time (less time driving to flatlands) and intensity into training. 

AZ Randonneurs Making a 600K Brevet Much More `Doable'

Spring 2012:

This year I've done pretty well with participating in the local Arizona Randonneur events.  A 200K, a 300K and, next Saturday, a 600K through SE Arizona. 

The 600K will start in Tucson and wend it's way S and SE to Tombstone, Bisbee and back again through Sierra Vista, Ft. Huachuca and then back to Tucson.  374 miles. 

It is a fact, in my case, that on the longer brevets I wind up being the only recumbent.  And, because of the different pacing characteristics between the DFs and recumbents ... I'm often riding solo. 

I prefer not to ride solo through very desolate desert terrain in the dark.  Especially so close to the US/Mex border.  So the plan this year is to start just before the break of dawn and stay in a motel overnight. Starting again just before dawn the next day. 

To my pleasant surprise the AZ rando folks are doing a bag drop for all of us at whatever location we choose to spend the night.  I assumed, then, that I'd be loading whatever was dropped in my bag onto the bike and carrying it the next day to the finish.  Asking that question I was told that, `no,' the AZ rando folks will pick up the bag the next morning and transport it back to the finish for me. 

Wow!  That means I can really streamline and minimize what I carry: minimal tools, tubes, etc.  Minimal clothing in event of unexpected cold. 

Several weeks ago I did an organized double century through the remote CA desert.  Even though there were `rest stops' they were just water and food.  Given the early season and my lack of familiarity with the CA desert location I loaded up on water, clothing and tools/tire/tube.  I felt like a pack mule. 

The 600K will be more challenging as far as time is concerned.  But now that the overnight bag will be dropped off and picked up I can exploit that fact and include not only sleeping and hygiene stuff, but extra tubes and the like just in case I run into real trouble the first day (using tubes, cartridges, sunblock, riding clothes). 

B-b--b-umpy but f-f-fun.

Got my hill climbing experience for the year on the Heart of Az invitational yesterday. I've been focusing on flatland riding for the past several months in anticipation of the 12 hour TT in Borrego Springs this coming Saturday. So the HoA was an opportunity to spice it up with some gynormous mountain climbing.

Riding characteristics on mountain roads are dramatically different from flatland riding. Grinding up long ascents and then screaming/coasting down the descents. Flat road cycling requires constant, uninterrupted pedalling. Places different demands on the body/legs. (With mountain descents you get a `break' and the body literally rests while you (mostly) coast and build bike handling skills with speed and switchbacks ... and road surface). 
 
The first 20 miles of the HoA had me `threading the needle' on Kingman Highway (AZ 93). White fog line to my left, next to that deep rumble strips, and then next to that a foot to a foot and a half of road surface. Not much. To the right of the road surface a dropoff into dirt, gravel and, in some cases, a steep descent into bushes and desert. Every now and then there would simply be nothing but rumble strips ... Given the option of riding to the left of the white line ... with speeding trucks, tankers, rows of cars doing 80 mph ... I just got off and walked. Walked probably half a mile. Better than being road kill.

Finally the course turned off `Road Kill Highway' into absolutely beautiful AZ 97. AZ 97 has no name. It is an 11 mile road that is used almost exclusively by big ore-laden trucks from the open pit mining complex. Not really meant for regular traffic. Short, steep, spikey, inclines and declines (11-13%), sharp right and left turns when cresting a hill, no shoulders ... but fairly good road surface. Grinding ascents and screaming descents. I love that road. Situated in some of the most remote and beautiful area of the AZ high desert. 
 
Then a right (east) turn onto 40 miles of washboard AZ 15. This is the road from the mine that the mining trucks don't typically use. Cars, pickup trucks .. the vehicles that mineworkers use to get to and from towns with stores. 
 
I had forgotten just how `rough' that road surface was. Two lanes. No shoulder. But lots of steep ascents and descents, twists and turns that tends to keep traffic going slower. (They have to be careful not to go flying off the road into the canyons below). 
 
Made for slow going on the bike. If there were any parts of the bike that were not tightened down they would certainly have been shaken loose! I had to keep my head from resting on the headrest because the rattling would have impaired my orientation while riding. 
 
Along the way I had, of course, the obligatory flat tire. And then, a series of jarring bouncing while climbing a hill rocked the chain off the big ring in back so that it became jammed between the spokes and the rear cassette. That took about 15 minutes to get freed up again. And then, while descending a half-mile hill the rough road surface managed to shake up the bike so bad one of my rearview mirrors just popped off the bike. This required me to carefully slow and stop, get off the bike, and walk slowly back up the hill in search of the mirror. I found it, reattached and secured the mirror and continued on.

And then there was that 8.5 mile relentless - no relief - climb from the Santa Maria river (dry, of course). Seven to 13% grade the entire way. Try that some time! My lowest gear ratio is 42/36 ... which works for me ... but for 8.5 miles solid?!! No cramping but I knew that if I were to stop at any point along the climb it would have been hell to get going again. Just grind, grind and grind. Does it hurt? "Hurt? Yeah. So what. That's why god made death. To stop the pain. So, dammit, grind or die." Simple decision. Just grind. Leave the `die' thing to mother nature. 
 
Finally crested the climb. Stopped to empty a bottle of my own concoction of maltodextrin and protein powder. Emptied another bottle of electrolyte mix. Rolled down the sleeves on my jersey for the cold descent ( I was wet with sweat). About four miles down the road a staffed rest stop with food and water. Wasn't hungry so just filled the bottles again and took off. 
 
More washboard. More climbing, though less steep and less long. At that point I had about 4500 feet of clmbing on my legs and lungs. Though I had ridden 60 miles, 30 of those miles were flats or descents. So the 4500 feet of climbing was done in 30 miles ... waaaay beyond TdF category. 150 ft per mile. 
 
Finished up another 22 miles of washboard rollers to reach the last rest stop. By that time it was 4pm, the sun was casting long shadows and the HoA ride organizers looked pretty knackered. The remaining 25 miles would have been on flat road with about 15 miles of that descending Yarnell Grade back to Congress. There is no interest on my part in just coasting down to the finish line so I accepted a lift from a sag vehicle. 
 
I got what I came for at the Heart of Arizona. Swarthy and relentless spikey climbs, shakedown assessment of the bike's mechanics and road worthiness. And, yes, reassurance of my climbing muscles and power. 
 
Twenty miles of life-risking highway traversing. Short, spikey hills. Mechanicals. Flats. Long, relentless steep mountain ascent. And 50+ miles of washboard road. 
 
Amidst some of the most amazing geological landscape on the planet. 
 
Lucky. Just plain lucky.   http://ridewithgps.com/trips/7027100

Arizona Live

Returning from southern California (a very good place to leave) I found a few interesting features of life and living here.

East of Salome, across from the Wedden dump, not far from Gladden and west of Aguila ... and

 

BEYOND HOPE

 

I responded to the `call of nature.' 

 

There, amidst all of god's creation I spied this:

 

 

 

EARTH COVERED STOCKPILE OF WEAPONS

 

DEFENSE NATIONAL STOCKPILE CENTER