10,000 MILES AND COUNTING

10,000 Miles done, time for a rest. Who I am kidding, let's ride!

10,000. An arbitrary number. When you think about it, it really is not a significant number in the grand scheme of things. If you won $10,000 in the lotto you’d be happy but you would not quit your job. If your car hit 10,000 miles you would not consider it a milestone; but for some reason after riding and running a combined 9,755 miles in 2017 I decided I wanted to break 10,000 miles in one year; and 2018 was going to be that year. Again, totally arbitrary, reaching 10,000 miles for the sake of reaching it would not make me significantly faster or stronger or look better in skinny jeans (no one wants to see this with the size of my quads, but now you are stuck with that mental image), but I wanted to do it anyway.

I wrote about this goal at the beginning of 2018 (https://mtbmitch.blogspot.com/2018/02/goals-who-needs-goals.html).
I also set some personal ground rules:

1. No logging miles for the sake of logging miles. My rides would serve a purpose, whether it was intervals, an active recovery ride or taking my kids for some easy trail riding it was still a purpose. No soft pedaling around my neighborhood just to bump a ride from 49.7 to 50 type of stuff.
2. I was not going to risk injury due to over use or poor technique. No pushing through an issue and hoping it got better. If rest, stretching, or foam rolling was needed instead of a ride, that is what I would do.
3. Most important, I was going to enjoy my time training. Well, as much as anyone can enjoy a brutal workout or awful set of intervals. I had no intention of burning myself out or dreading every time I looked at my bike or thought about going for a jog. I do this for fun.

Enjoying the trail at the Alma MTB TT

So how did I find time to get in the over 580 hours of training time (more than 24 days) it took to reach 10,000 miles while working a full time job, raising two of the most energetic children on the face of the planet, and supporting a wife with a triathlon habit? I wish I had some magic answer for this and I’m still not really sure some days, but it came down to a few main things:

1. Make time, do not try to find time. I was not willing to sacrifice what time I did have in the evenings with my family so unfortunately for me this meant waking up at 3:58am six days a week for most of the year. There were a few weekends here and there where I was able to substitute an early morning workout for an afternoon ride or I was able to make it out to a trail for a few hours on a Saturday with friends, but my default alarm was 3:58 am Tuesday – Sunday. Monday was my much needed rest day and I got to sleep in until 5:45am. I also used my lunch breaks to get in jogs or on really nice days squeeze in an extra ride.
2. Make a plan and make it work, even if that means adjusting it sometimes. I sat down in early November 2016 and started setting up my race schedule. I then set my training plan to make the best use of the time I had before my first race at the end of April (Cohutta 100). Once racing started it was more a matter of keeping the fitness and strength I had gained from Nov – Apr. I was not able to hit every workout exactly on target, but I have been riding long enough to know when I can push through feeling a bit “off” or when I need to dial it back and have an extra recovery day or just an easy active recovery ride. I did have to turn the intensity down a bit in May and June due to an overly aggressive race schedule, but that is another post that will come later.
3. Take a little time for myself. I think this saying is a little over used and a bit cliché in most of life, but I guess that is because it is true. If you don’t treat yourself a little you will quickly find yourself not enjoying what you are doing. I did this by joining TNR (Tuesday Night Ride) with the Capital City Cycling Club (www.tnrcycling.org) just about every week during the summer. This may seem to go a little against what I said in #1, and I would agree if I put this ride above everything else going on, but I did say “just about every week” because I did miss a few to make sure I did not miss out on real life.

Mid TNR water break

Some Thoughts from the Year:

For the first few months of the year I would check to see how my mileage compared to the same point in the previous year, but my focus was really on getting ready for the upcoming race season. I was doing a very similar training plan, but the same workouts were netting me a little more mileage thanks to a higher FTP, therefore higher wattage requirements for these workouts.

I never dwelled on where my mileage was. I was a little worried going in to the year that I would check this constantly and spend more time making sure I was on pace than making sure my workouts were doing what they were intended to do. I never found this to be the case; I really was focused on getting the most out of each workout and race. I did keep a much closer eye on it once I got over about 9,500 miles, I did not want to miss knowing when I cracked that magic arbitrary number and the mini-celebration that came with it. And a celebration I got, my wife and kids came down to the basement with bubbles and blinking light toys to cheer my on as I hit the mark. My oldest son even made me a metal to commemorate the occasion.

Fish and Chameleons like bikes too

Going into the year I was 99% certain I was going to be able to achieve this goal, but it still felt great when I did it.

Mileage by month and Year to Date as of 12/9/18

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Month	845	804	933	885	1,045	899	1,035	895	849	888	700	224
YTD	845	1,650	2,582	3,467	4,512	5,411	6,446	7,341	8,190	9,078	9,778	10,002

As of writing this I am at 10,285 with 11 days to go before the end of the year.

There is still time for more training

So would I recommend everyone try to reach 10,000 miles? There is no good answer to that. I can not think of any reason a healthy and devoted athlete should not try. There was nothing a driven and focused cyclist could not do with a few years of buildup and a good plan. On the flip side, there are a few sacrifices needed to make it happen. First off, it is hard to have much of a social life when you are ready to go to sleep at 9:00pm on Friday and Saturday night. Along those same lines, when you’re a bit too sore it can make a simple day like walking around the zoo or an amusement park a challenging task.

A last thing to consider; nutrition. I am not as strict as I should be about my diet, but I do a good job of not eating a ton of junk food and I try to avoid processed foods as much as possible (not to mention homemade usually tastes better). However, I could tell a little difference in my performance when my eating habits slipped a bit in the wrong direction. I also went through a lot of pre, during, and post ride fuel, not to mention vitamins and supplements. The body burns through an incredible amount of resources when you are putting in 10-15 hours per week and if you do not keep the tank brimmed with the right fuel it cannot keep going or rebuild all that muscle. You can’t shortchange your body if you want to get faster; Hammer Nutrition had this covered.

Keep going, even when your legs change color

A 12 hour endurance race sure helps add to the miles

A few of the products I added to my repertoire this year to really aid in my success and help me continue riding are:

Hammer Whey Protein: Every night before bed I took one serving. This naturally helps your body boost HGH and a little more surprising really help stabilize my weight.

During races I added BCAA+ and Anti-Fatigue Caps: This combination stimulates energy production and helps prevent and clean up ammonia (a byproduct of the breakdown of protein) keeping muscles feeling fresher, longer.

Big rides need lots of fuel

For post workout I have used Recoverite for years and will continue to recommend it to anyone who wants to set themselves up for a successful workout day after day. This year I started using a Globus EMS unit to aid in recovery. There is a lot of science behind how these and similar devices help increase blood flow, flushing out toxins and relaxing muscles much quicker thank without the unit.

Is there anything I missed out on or regret not being able to do in the past year while striving for this goal? No. Would I do it again? Without a doubt, and I have a feeling I will log a few more miles in 2019 than I will in 2018. Would I change how I reached my goal? I wish I could have gotten on the trail a bit more, but I have not really found a good way to make that happen. I won’t stop scheming though.

Up next will be my 2018 race recap. I’ll try not to take two months between posts this time though.

Enjoying the fruits of my labor after 212.5 miles in the saddle.