There is always one ride each year that pushes the envelope a bit and beats me up pretty hard.  Usually it’s the first time each year that I really push further than I’ve ridden in the few previous months, and today was no exception.

Otto and Manny met me at my house, and we headed out to preview the majority of the Ride For The Mission century route.  With the ride looming in three weeks’ time, I wanted to get the full experience and do some trouble shooting.  As the ride director, I’m constantly making adjustments and trying to find the safest and smoothest and most scenic roads.  Fortunately, there are no problems with the ride . . . except that it’s just too damned long! (Just kidding!)
My body wasn’t ready for such a long ride, but I’m happy we did it.  It was a gorgeous day, the route was beautiful, and the company was awesome.  Manny is always in amazing shape, and Otto has trimmed down to a super-lean 185 lbs, the lightest he’s been since Marine boot camp.  We cruised through the first half easily, enjoying the long climb over Sourland Mountain and the beautiful stretch along the ridge of the mountain.  Stunning views all around, quiet traffic-free roads, and nice weather made it an amazing day.

After lunch in Stockton we continued on, heading back east into the wind.  My legs were fading, and the heat was rising.  We passed mile 70 and I ventured into “overdistance” territory, going further than I have any time this year so far.  My energy came in waves, and I alternated between hanging on desperately to Otto’s wheel, and then periodically taking my own long pulls.  Working together, the three of us kept a terrific pace into the wind.  I held up pretty well until about mile 85, when the cramps set in.  Tremors deep in my quads kept threatening to worsen, and I had to drop a gear and try to spin them away.  Manny and Otto protected me from the wind until I managed to push through them, and fortunately we were on the homestretch by then.  We rolled in to North Plainfield with 95 miles and a decent average speed.  Great endurance day!

The verdict:  Ride For The Mission is going to be awesome.  If you’re thinking of doing a century this year, this is the one.  It’s a great cause, a wonderful route, and Streetlight Mission is making the investment to do it right and grow it into a premier event.  We have some wonderful sponsors whose contributions will help make it an amazing event.  (Rita’s Italian Ices and Starbucks, plus the kitchen at Evangel Church will be putting out some terrific food).  If you sign up before the end of today (Thursday 5/27) you’ll get a really nice technical training tee with our custom design - which alone is worth the entry fee.
It’s a full moon night, so Jenn and I are heading down to Lambertville for the one night each lunar cycle that Full Moon Cafe is open for dinner.  One of our favorite places:  good healthy food, great service, nice atmosphere.  Enjoy the full moon, the nice cool evening, and rest up for Memorial Day Weekend cycling adventures.

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Jenn and I kicked off our multi-sport season on Sunday morning with our favorite race, the Long Branch Duathlon at Pier Village.  It’s a great sprint-distance run-bike-run event put on by the Sandy Hookers Triathlon Club.  Jenn had a good race, holding 19 mph on the bike over 10 miles, and running sub-8:00 miles, making an improvement over last year’s performance.  I had a surprisingly decent day, collecting 3rd in my age group for the second year in a row. (The new Transition tri bike was fantastic - I passed lots of people in the short 10-mile bike leg.)  Best of all, I managed to push pretty hard without injuring my left knee, which has been problematic for the last few months.

Injuries are a nuisance, to say the least.  What I do all day at The Sneaker Factory is help people choose the right footwear to help them prevent injuries.  So it was kind of silly that I was still struggling with my own injuries after over a year of pain and limited training.  It’s not easy to turn an analytical eye on yourself, but I had to look back through my history of running shoes to find out what worked and what didn’t.  The last pair I had run in successfully were a pair of Pearl Izumi Synchro Pace 3s that a sales rep had given me to test out a few years ago.  I like them a lot, but I didn’t know much about them or even what type of runner they were targeted for.  Back then, I was using lightweight neutral shoes designed for a very biomechanical sound runner with high arches.  For years, neutral cushioned shoes had worked well.  But in January of 2009 I started having pain in my left knee that kept me from running consistently through the winter.  And then in the fall when Jenn and I started training for the Philadelphia Marathon and the LBI 18-Miler, I started having extreme pain deep in my left hip.  That injury kept me from running or cycling most of last fall, and has bothered me continuously this spring.

Thankfully, I’m surrounded by people at The Sneaker Factory who are extremely good at diagnosing running injuries and have seen all sorts of injuries over the years.  Danielle and Kristina (and Sara McElroy from Superfeet) helped me figure out that what I had been told was a leg length discrepancy by several people, including a famous custom bike fitter and frame builder and the top orthopedic surgeon in the country, was actually a functional discrepancy caused by my left foot over-pronating dramatically, while my right foot remained completely neutral.

Once we diagnosed that issue, the solution came only after testing dozens of shoes to find the right amount of stability and cushioning that would accommodate both of my feet.  Three pairs seem to work well:  The Asics Gel Kayano, the Nike Structure Triax, and the Saucony Omni.  All of them bulkier and more stable than anything I had used before, but now a necessity.  Slow shoes are better than a crippled body, and I’m happy to say that for the first time in what seems like an eternity I’m looking forward to racing this year.

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