I’ll be spending many hours and a reasonable amount of money on a bicycle over the next few months. To be efficient, comfortable, and injury free, I want the bike to fit me closely. So, I sought the advice of Scott, a professional bike fitter.
Scott has an interesting contraption that is the various parts of a bike, each adjustable, with which he can recreate any frame geometry. He started out with a Trek Domane as a reference point and had me ride it for a few minutes. Then with an assortment of rulers, protractors, and lasers, he measured me, moved parts, measured again, and optimized the fit. Once the fit was established, he generated a detailed report for me of all the various lengths and angles that I can use to confirm the size of any bike that I find.
I also learned that my tibias are longer than my femurs (not by much) which is not typical (most people have longer femurs). This ends up affecting my optimal bike geometry, since it affects the angle of my knee and hip when at the top of a pedal stroke.
Now that I know what size of bike to get, I’m on the search. The COVID-induced supply chain challenges are definitely affecting availability.
As a benchmark for upcoming training, my coach had me run a 5k time trial. This is also useful for determining my heart rate training zones. I started off too fast and paid for it near the end, but managed to hold a good pace from KMs 2 to 5 🏃♂️
I’ve been in a pool with my Apple Watch before, though only either to splash around with the kids or with a beer at an all-inclusive resort. Today was the first time I’ve used it for an actual swimming workout. It has also been a long time since my high school swimming days back in the early 90s. So, an important day!
My coach gave me a straightforward workout:
Warm up 2 x 50m and 4 x 25m
Main set 10 x 50m with 20s rest and 10 x 25m with 20s rest
2 x 100m with 1 min rest
As expected, using the Apple Watch was simple. When you start up the workout, it asks for the length of the pool and then automatically figures out when you stop for a rest. This shows up in the “Auto Sets” in the screenshot below. Based on this, it looks like my rests were longer than planned, though I’m not entirely sure how precise these are and when it decides to start and stop. Something to keep an eye on next time.
I enjoyed being in the pool again and my muscle memory seemed to return. Way back in high school, I specialized in the 1,500m and was very familiar with the seemingly endless flip turns of a pool swim. One thing I need to work on is breath control. I’ve gotten very used to just breathing whenever I want and had some trouble getting in three strokes before breathing near the end of the workout. No doubt this will improve with practice.
I also need to work on my wardrobe. I was the only one in the pool wearing board shorts and no swim cap 😀
After 2.5 years of faithful service (which, honestly, is far too long), I’ve updated my trusty Sauconys with a new pair. The red is a bit flashier than my usual style, but they’re comfortable 🏃♂️
In preparation for Tremblant, I had my gait analyzed to find out if there are any issues with my running form. I found the process surprisingly thorough and interesting.
Katie (a registered physiotherapist) started out with a general discussion about my running history and goals. Then she filmed me running on a treadmill for about five minutes. We set a fast pace, since that quickly exposes any sloppiness in my running. I have to admit that watching myself running in slow motion was a bit awkward, though my form wasn’t as bad as I’d imagined.
Katie identified two issues: too much side to side rotation of my arms and a pronounced dip on my left side.
The arms are pretty easy. I just need to be more mindful of how they’re swinging and focus on moving them forwards and backwards, rather than side to side. This better directs my energy towards forward movement.
The dip is more complicated. Katie tried a bunch of different strength tests to isolate the muscle and we found that my left glute was much stronger than my right, which is odd, given I’m right handed. To distinguish between strength and muscle activation, Katie tried an acupuncture needle in my right hip. Remarkably, just a couple of minutes later, I was then much stronger on the right side. We did another round on the treadmill and my hips were now nicely aligned.
This suggested to Katie that my strength is fine, rather it’s insufficient muscle activation that is leading to the dip. She prescribed some warmup exercises to help. I know that I have a deficient warm up routine (as in there isn’t one, I just start running), so this is a good excuse to improve this component of my running routine.
As someone that generally just puts on running shoes and gets going, I’m glad I put in some time to understand my gait and identify some opportunities for improvement. I hope to be running for many more years and this should help minimize injuries.
After likely too much deliberation, I’ve registered for the Ironman 70.3 in Tremblant. Although “only” half an Ironman, it is still daunting enough to make me both nervous and excited (nervouscited, as my daughter often says) 🏊♂️ 🚴♂️ 🏃♂️
