Time heals all wounds

Time does heal all wounds - well most of them...if they aren't fatal... or cause a limb to drop off... or get infected with gangrene...ok so it heals some wounds and doesn't do anything for others...

But what do you do when you dont have time to let the wounds heal? we have just over three weeks now before the cycle and we need to ramp up the training so that we can have a few days carb loading before hand with absolutely no exercise at all.

I'm sure you have read about my interest at studying foliage up close by now. Three days later I'm good to go despite the cuts still healing. How did I do it? (note this is not a miracle cure).

Well...there were three issues to address:
1. Cuts
2. Tissue Damage
3. Ligament Damage

There is nothing in the world that I am aware of that will cause a cut to heal any quicker than naturally so I let this go on its own.

Tissue Damage was a big problem, the muscles in my right thigh were hit badly by my bike and those branches did a fairly good job of opening up my thigh. Once the cuts had sealed I used a combination of contrast baths to stimulate blood flow and chemical heating (Deep Heat - a menthol and eucalyptus oitment - watch out for open cuts though) to maintain the inner temperature of the muscle to ensure that it was able to heal. The result is, very little discoloration of the skin where I would have expected a large black/purple bruise.

Ligament damage to my left ankle was also an issue, it got twisted up in the bike and bush. The ankle is still swollen but strong enough to allow me to run up the four flights of stairs this morning without pain. This time, by keeping the ligament cool I was able to reduce the swelling, and allow the ankle to move more freely. Keeping it mobile was the key to ensuring good blood flow and faster healing.

I'll find out tonight how the healing has gone as I'm going to do around 20 miles on the bike. Next week and the week after I'll be cycling to/from work each day to ensure that I have enough training done for the cycle on the 22nd!

So, the next time you decide to take a plunge into your nearest hedge, make sure that afterward you treat your wounds with the respect they need.

Up, Up and Away!

Well...Up, up and up some more until your legs are fit for bursting then up some more into the clouds. As promised here are some pictures of the scenes we saw yesterday (the more astute amongst you will note there is a complete lack of mauro lying in a shrubbery photography).

Got my head in the clouds!

Today was meant to be a nice short but steep hill climb to the top of a local high spot. As we began the ascent of the 400metre hill we knew it was going to be tough going. The hill was a steep incline that ensured that even cars could barely get up it.

As we neared the top we were looking down on cloud cover, it was quite eerie being able to see down on to clouds. At the same time the views were stunning (I'll post some pictures when I feel less pained).

It was a long 8 miles on an off road track and grass section. Pedalling on grass and rocky terrain is a lot harder than you think but we made good time and managed to complete the section in just under an hour.

We then continued on the same sort of track for another 5 miles to Weemys Bay, 4 miles in the descents began and the track gave way to paved road. However the road was potholed and overgrown. We were making good time, Tom, John, Sean and Douglas were doing about 33mph and I was catching them when it happened. I had set my suspension to super soft for the top of the hill and hadn't switched back - big mistake. As I dodged a pothole on a right hand bend by going over some grass I didn't see the other pot hole in amongst the over grown verge.

I had the bike leaned over and was doing around 33-35mph when I had to snatch the brakes. That was another mistake. I was catapulted clean across a 1.5lane wide road and into the hedge. The bike followed me in and entangled itself in me. I lay there for what seemed like 10 minutes trying to get myself out before Bob arrived. Bob called the rest of the guys and told them we had a man down.

I managed to climb out eventually. Checked my bike over (thanks Giant for making my bike unbreakable)...checked myself over and found that doing an A-Team airswim through a hedge is not good for you (as you can see from the pictures - this is the only one that isn't subject to censorship). My entire torso, both legs and arms are covered in small scratches. My right leg seems to have taken the worst of it and ended up with a two inch gash on the knee and a 5 inch cut on the thigh itself. You gotta admit though, those muscles look uber tough. And yes I am part Hobbit.


There was another 16 miles to go though so I got back on and unfortunately had to take my time averaging a measly 8mph instead of the usual 12mph. Still at least I did it.

Exhausted

Mental fatigue affects us all at some point. It can actually be more debilitating than physical exhaustion which is easily fixed by a good meal and rest. Mental exhaustion leads to problems like sleep loss, low concentration, irritability, lethargy and so on. You specially dont make sense any more.

What causes it? Well, stress/anxiety/lack of sleep...being always on.

I've found that it takes me a long time to wind down from work - specially when you work longer hours to catch up or are taking calls at home. To combat these issues I've decided to dedicate only 2 hours a night at most to catching up with work; after that its a physical change to a different environment and clothes to help mentally switch off.

Hopefully maintaining a set routine will help too. The other thing that I need to control is my attention levels. These can be helped with nutritional supplements such as vitamin B-complexes.

Increasing blood oxygen levels also helps aid concentration and reduce mental fatigue as well as physical fatigue. All this cycling is surely helping me to do that!?!

I'm going to start a slight diet modification next week in the hope it will help and will keep you posted.

Travelling without moving

Today I travelled from Gothenburg to Norway. It took me 7minutes. All in the comfort of my chair.

No I wasn't in a supersonic jet. I was following our route on the maps that were delivered. Unfortunately the maps don't show much in the way of the topography of the land. Nor do they make it easy to understand the scope of the journey ahead of us.

I always prefer to map a route out on paper instead of the pc. For a start you get a sense of accomplishment, also its a bit of a challenge finding the best route, and lastly...computer algorithms aren't always the best.

We will be taking a laptop with us to update the blog each day during the cycle, however its just not practical to cycle with a laptop on your handlebars. You'd get arrested in about 4 and 3/4 minutes.

So I'm going to try to mount a map on my bike somehow so we can see where we are going each day. The very worst case is tape it to my leg (a la home-made top gun fighters), wonder how that will go down in the land of the giant good looking blond people? a wee short skinny dark haired (well I used to be) scotalian with a map taped to his leg...I'll be arrested by the police for making their country untidy!

Ah well, I'll just have to add any embarrassing memories like being ejected from Disney World, Orlando.

Mr Average

Today was a great day for cycling. The wind that had been threatening to blow me away over the weekend had subsided to a barely noticeable breeze. The cloud cover had parted to allow some sun to shine.

I set off pretty early this morning, about 9.20am. I set off for my old office first and made really good progress. By 10am I'd covered the 10 miles there. After a short break, I set off for the next 10 miles. Again I'd managed to cover the next 10 miles in just over 40 minutes.

That meant my average speed had risen from 12mph to 15mph. It doesn't sound like much but believe me, when you are on a mountain bike with off road tyres that are slightly soft you do notice that the pedalling ain't as easy as you wish it was.

The amount of cycling I am doing I'd have thought that my general fitness would be much better than it is. However, last night after just 17 press-ups I was out of breath. Bench-pressing? forget about it! I was able to only do a few reps of the normal weights (30Kg) before my arms were trembling. I knew I had been feeling a little bunged up from a cold for a while but hadn't thought it would affect me as much as it did. Today proved otherwise. 5 miles in I had real problems breathing, but I managed to press on regardless. I just hope having to breathe as heavily as I did that I didn't make the cold any worse. Oh well! Lets wait and see. In the mean time, the heating is on and I'm enjoying a nice cold Nastro Azzurro.

Hardening our resolve..

This week I saw Jacks' life story on the front page of the Daily Record. Jack (the reason we are raising money for CHAS) affected us all in different ways. You can read the story here at the Daily Record site (the link and video are not for the faint of heart). Reading his story and watching that video on you tube brought it home just how important it is to complete the cycle.

I'm not as eloquent as Melanie so I'm not even going to attempt to describe Jack's effect on people.

No we are not going to change anything but Jack and his memory deserve something special.

And so it begins...

Last night was a really productive one. We managed to get a route almost sorted. Booked 4 of the 7 nights accomodation. And designed the tshirts - mostly.

The Tshirts are being very kindly paid for by the company Tom works for (Northern Marine Management Ltd.). I used to work for them too and have to admit that if it wasn't for working with them after university I would never have got where I am today, nor would we be doing this cycle for charity.

The Shirts (printed by http://www.streetshirts.co.uk/) are going to look like this - and no I am not showing you the front as its a surprise (and we dont have the high res images yet for them anyway).

We'll be staying in hostels most of the time; it's something I've never done but am looking forward to it. Specially since I emailed some last night about 10pm (UK) and got responses from them before I went to bed - despite them being hours in front of us! Now thats what I call service!

The Upshot of this is that so much stress has been relieved that I actually woke myself up from a dream because I was laughing so loud in it.

Honestly, despite knowing that we are going to be in pain most of the time we are cycling and that its a long long cycle, I am really looking forward to the trip. It's going to be an amazing journey of self discovery and time to figure out my real priorities in life.

Generally speaking...(weak stomach advisory)

Ok, I hate talking about this but it always comes up so I may as well get it over and done with. I suffer from Crohns Disease. I've had one major operation in which I had to have most of my colon; the terminal ileum and various sections of my small bowel removed.

Whats all that mean? Well, Crohns is an auto immune disorder where your body effectively rejects parts of your Gastric System. It affects everyone differently. Some people just from the colon down, others from the teeth down. How does it affect you? Well, you've all had those dodgy prawn salads before? or that bad curry? how about that bad pint?

I live with Nausea every day. I live with the other associated effects - The Scoots, Deli-belly, The runs, the green apple splatters. Whatever you wanna call them. Every day. Imagine yourself back when you had food poisoning. Imagine it for a week. Now...Imagine it for the rest of your life.

I also live with the problems caused by having so little bowel. I eat like a carnivorous horse! Yep, I strap a bag to my face and munch away on horse sandwiches all day. And if you believe that, I'm actually a world famous scientist only pretending to be into cycling. I eat to try and cope with the poor absorption I have which puts me at a disadvantage when training as my body struggles on most days to absorb what I need to get by, never mind to actually cope with the massive energy expenditure on long cycles. So how do I do it?

By balancing liquid intake with the right minerals, electrolytes and amino acids I am able to reduce the amount of liquid I put into myself. Which makes it easier for my body to absorb the nutrients as they aren't being flushed out.

In terms of food, I use a low residue diet but take it to extremes. I eat no or little insoluble fibre (soluble fibre like bananas and pears are actually a good thing for me) and massive amounts of what most people would call bad foods. Highly refined white flours, processed meats, american orange plastic squares of cheese (I know its a travesty) and chocolate. I know it sounds unhealthy but I don't fry any foods. I don't use oil (apart from Olive Oil) in my cooking and I dont eat cream or butter.

All in - on a rest day I eat around 4000 calories. On a training day I eat around 5000 to 6000 calories. Thats probably enough to keep most people going for 3 days. So where do I put it? Well I've always had a fast metabolism and this exercise makes me burn calories just sitting still.
If I have so many issues just getting myself to maintain my weight why am I still cycling? Cycling and any other long term endurance sport reduces your immune system. Thats exactly what my doctors need my body to do, so really it's just a complementary therapy to my medication. Although the more cycling I do the more efficient the leg muscles get at burning energy and mean I need to offset less and less energy. For example four weeks ago I used to need 2 sandwiches, 4 mars bars and 2 litres of still lucozade to do 20 miles. Yesterday I cycled 58 miles on 2 mars bars and 1.5 litres of water.

Oh and you get to meet loads of people while you are out cycling that you would never meet if you were at home drinking beer.

I bow before you, King of the mountains!

This week saw us cycling a shorter route but much tougher than last week. Last weeks 72 miles was mentally demanding due to the never ending canal next to us. Always present, hardly ever more than 10ft from us. This Sunday was a more physically demanding cycle.


Tom and I always start with a brisk cycle to the train station where we set off to our ultimate destination. This week it was Weemys Bay to get the ferry to Rothesay. From there we headed south along the coast and up some punishingly long hills. The gradients weren't too bad but they did seem to go on forever. We made good time and got back to Rothesay before we knew it and then started on the long and arduous journey north to Colintravie where we could get a ferry back to the mainland. Once we crossed the water it was a long long long climb up hill to Achenbreck where we had our first downhill section. The roads were a lot smoother than we had experienced earlier in the day so speeds started climbing. Unfortunately after a short 1 minute downhill we got stuck into the long uphill sections.


Crossing the spine of the headland we arrived near a hydroelectric power station that makes electricity by using the power of falling water to turn the turbines. Now, that should give you an indication of how steep and long those hills were. We finally crested the hills about 4pm and could see that there was some killer downhill sections coming up. Tom, I salute you, you truly are king of the mountains.


I sat back on my saddle, leaned my head as low as it would go and cycled as fast as I could to begin the descent. Sweeping round the bends with the bike leaned over on the camber of the road felt amazing. It's possibly one of the fastest downhills I've ever done, however we had one major mishap on the way home. Bobs tyre literally blew itself apart at the seams. I guess the heat build up from those downhills meant it couldn't cope with the increased internal pressure any more and let go.


A short 15 minutes later we were on our way - bike repaired and legs rested somewhat. We made it to Dunoon just in time for the Ferry at 5.30 and then on to Gourock for some fish and chips. After a gruelling uphill struggle like most of the day, those fish and chips - drenched in vinegar and sparkling with salt - was probably the best meal we could have had.

"Does this make me look fat?"

Now, normally I am not one to talk about clothes and fashion. I just don't understand it. I wear what I am comfortable in. That's my rule of thumb. Am I comfortable? It will do!

But sometimes comfort isn't the be all and end all; sometimes you need to wear clothes that fit the purpose. Up until last week I had been wearing heavy cotton cargo shorts for training. Yeah the length of them kept me from getting cold but they soaked up a lot of water and added extra weight when I really don't need that!

I invested in several new pairs of shorts - not those anatomically uncompromising cycling ones but rather some surf shorts. The reason behind that is that the length will provide me some insulation against the weather but also they are designed to be light, to not hold water and to allow full range of movement and so leave me unencumbered enough to continue cycling.

Up top...well I always carry a waterproof training jacket thats breathable - to stop me overheating when I am cycling. I normally cycle in a football top/underarmount which is half lycra again to help keep me warm but also allow sweat to get out.

In total all my gear weighs less than 500grams which is extremely useful when you have to carry everything you need.

AND...lastly regardless of the weather I always wear full mountain bike gloves. They provide protection as well as making the handlebars a bit more comfortable on those long long long long long long cycles. They also have the added advantage of kevlar / carbon fibre knuckle protection so when I am careening down hills through bushes my hands wont get scratched and possibly loosened from the handlebars.

Rest your heart...

If you are anything like me and do a bit of reading about training you will see that there are three heart rates which figure heavily in most literature.

• Resting Heart Rate
• Training Heart Rate
• Maximum Heart Rate

Your resting heart rate is the base rate for your heart to pump blood around your body, the lower the rate, the more efficient your heart is at getting blood where it needs to be.

Maximum Heart Rate isn't what you think; it does not stand for the rate just below that which would make your heart explode. Instead it means the maximum rate during exertion. To measure it normally takes a lot of equipment but can be emulated by doing something like cycling for 10-15 minutes and increase the pace every minute for five minutes, at the end of it, sprint as fast as you can. Now measure your heart rate for a FULL 60 seconds, no cheating though because your heart will be slowing down gradually over these 15 seconds (unless you are having a heart attack in which case its probably going to resemble a 5-4 beat in a Jazz ensemble - I don't even know if that's possible or not but it gets the point across).

The Training Heart Rate is the most important for me, the resting heart rate will come down through training on its own, my maximum should stay level or fall too. The training heart rate is the rate at which your body is most able to provide oxygen to the muscles. Get the rate too high and your body is taking in more oxygen than it needs, get the rate too low and your body will turn all that aerobic exercise into anaerobic and start to tire out your muscles a lot faster. Getting the rate to between 50% and 85% of your maximum heart rate (see there was a reason for torturing you) will ensure you are able to work the muscles without unecessarily depriving them of the oxygen they need.

I am amazed at how little exercise it took to drop my heart rate from 80BPM to 60BPM at rest. I could imagine it being a lot lower if I trained more consistently. Maybe I should start taking a note of it.

In-pain in the membrane

Deltoid Ligament to be exact, located in the inner side of the ankle just in front of the joint where the Tibia and Fibia join.

Last night I knew I had exerted myself beyond what I was able to do but stubbornness, drive and determination ensured I managed to complete the cycle. I spent a few minutes in a cold bath before refilling it with HOT water and easing the muscle pain through massage (well pummelling them with the heel of my hand). Trouble is I neglected my ankles and now I am paying for it.

The problem all started because of my pedalling technique. It works for me 95% of the time but when I get tired I find that I start to toe in which forces my foot to bend slightly inward; to counteract that my leg stiffens up the ankle and it's this that has caused the swelling and pain.

The other contributing factor is not wearing the right socks. I don't like to feel confined when cycling so tend to wear very short socks or shoe liners, which means ankles get no support however flimsy.

So tonight it's a regime of contrast bathing my foot, and then applying a little pressure and keeping it mobile. That should help enough blood circulate to the soft tissues to help them heal.

Failing that there's always the good old Ibuprofen tablets to help reduce the inflammation and paracetamol to reduce the pain!

I'm on the road to nowhere...

72 miles. Rain. Mud. Pain.


That sums up today. We started at 9.30am with a brisk 3 mile cycle to the train station to get the 10.30 train to Edinburgh. We got there wayyyyyy early so decided to buy some snacks and pump up the tyres on our bikes to prepare them for the cycle.


We got on the train at 10.30am and almost got chucked off by the BIGGEST train conductor in the world! In the end though we managed to stay on as long as one of us moved to another carriage as we were blocking the exits. Thats where our problems started. The guys decided to get off at Haymarket instead of Waverley street and as my phone was in my bag I didn't know. I got off the train and had to peg it back to Haymarket. A few laws were broken and a few taxi drivers were suitably annoyed.


The cycle was straight-forward enough, nice and flat along the canal from Edinburgh on the east coast to Glasgow in the west. We made good time, mainly due to my overzealous, grande cappucino fuelled first stint and saw some amazing scenery on the way.

Due to the usual rain from the east coast though the path was really muddy and slowed us down quite a bit. Eventually though we made it to the Falkirk Wheel where we drew several looks of disgust from a number of tourists...no offence dudes but GET OFF THE SLOW BOAT AND EXERCISE A LITTLE! Anyway, after being suitably recharged we set off again. 40 miles in to the cycle I hit a wall. I think due to the food not having been digested, and the caffeine slump kicking in I was suffering. Tom and John managed to keep a 12mph pace though so I soldiered on. Bob, is to be commended, he set his own pace, and with far less training than any of us managed to never lag more than 3 minutes behind us.

Anyway...slowly...inch by inch...minute by minute we racked up the miles. Getting dirtier by the minute. As we neared Kirkintilloch we noticed someone had been having fun with the signs. Distances varied wildly. We started off with signs saying 22miles, then down to 7 miles, then up to 30 miles, finally back down to 14 miles. We never deviated from the endless canal though so we couldn't have taken a wrong turn.

We arrived at Glasgow Central Station - where we were to leave Bob for his train home and cycle a further 3 miles to my house - 6 hours after we had left Edinburgh. Legs burning and trembling from constant use- but not yet exhausted.

We cycled on for the last three miles where we had to begin the job of cleaning the bikes. Unfortunately to make the task easier we didn't hang about to take pictures of the bikes before they were washed so you will have to use your imagination with the aid of the pictures below.

Good Things come to those who wait..

This weekend sees us do our longest cycle yet...72 miles. Twenty two miles more than we have ever done in one day. The route will take us from Edinburgh Waverley Street station to Falkirk (past the Falkirk Wheel) to Glasgow. Thats 66 miles. Tom and I will also do an extra three miles each way to Glasgow, once in the morning to get the train to Edinburgh and then from Glasgow Centre to our respective flats at night after the 66 miles. And the thing is I am looking forward to it.

I feel like the guy from the guinness advert. Waiting. Poised to spring into action and get that 72 miles under my wheels and start to see the miles go by.

Tick. Follows Tock. Tick. Follows Tock...

Here's why I am getting excited about it. This week we burst through the £500 barrier for donations already. A company I used to work for and that Tom still does work for has kindly said they will provide shirts and give us a donation too. And to top it all off, a site I signed up for ages ago http://www.athletefocus.com/ has been talking to me to get a blog set up there to help motivate others and may also provide us with some sponsorship. All in all, much more positive than I thought things were going to be.

I've recently given myself a much more streamlined haircut (read as: shaved it all off with a number 1 clipper) and gained enough weight to tip the scales at 62kg last thing at night. I haven't ever done that since I became sick with Crohns Disease (a story for another time) apart from a long time ago during a period of heavy medication from my doctors. Ever since then I've been struggling to get my weight up to 59kg, never mind 62kg.

And that is where my philosophy in life comes in, EVERYTHING, no matter how hard it seems to deal with it at the time, has a positive aspect to it. Jack inspired Tom to decide to raise money for the charity that looked after him, but I reckon its made all the guys taking part better friends and made us learn a lot about ourselves. So yeah cycling for 5 hours is a real pain in the arse. Yeah, I am in pain the next day. But by doing this every week I learn more about my limits, what I can cope with and what I am willing to go through to ensure that we dont let anyone down in Sweden. At the same time I get fitter, a bit heavier and I get to see parts of Scotland I had only ever dreamed of...so whats a day of pain compared to all that?

hey, lets go for a coffee sometime!

Well...it goes against all previous thought. Coffee is actually good for you when you are training.

Yeah you heard me. GOOD. FOR. YOU.

Coffee is a stimulant which can have positive effects on your mental ability when you are having one of those days at the office. BUT its also good for those hours AFTER exercise. See I bet you thought I was going to suggest taking it during or before exercise for a boost.

Taking a cup of coffee (and it has to be the one with caffeine) with dinner will help your body recover the carbs into your muscles Glycogen stores much more quickly. I read today that if you take coffee with food it will make your body metabolise the carbohydrates much more quickly than if you just ate normally. In fact, up to 66% more glycogen will be present in muscles if you have coffee with your meals.

So how does that help? Glycogen is used throughout the body for different things. When it is stored in muscles it is used entirely by that muscle alone, so there is no waste of energy being passed round your body. Its basically the fuel tank for your body. If your car had 66% more fuel would you be able to go faster and for longer in it? Your muscles work exactly the same.

I'm not saying everyone should drink coffee with food, but if you are suffering from muscle fatigue as opposed to tiredness it may help. If you also team it with simple carbs (white refined flour products instead of wholewheat/wholemeal) you should see a big improvement.

If you are in town, lets go have cakes and coffee! Honestly its all for training!