Day: March 9, 2006

Open Letter to Amazon.com

So, about 7 years ago, when I was building my kayak, I ordered a couple of books (actually, about a half-dozen) off of Amazon to learn how to keep my head above water, literally and figuratively. Likewise, before the first kid, ordered a couple of baby-type books to have something to thumb restlessly through while trying to figure out why Pinky wouldn’t stop crying.

However, it’s been nigh-unto six years since I’ve even looked at another kayak book – water’s still wet, paddling in bad weather and rough seas will still leave you exhilarated or dead, and there’s still a dozen potentially life-threatening conditions that could be happening for every observable feature of a baby.

So, Mr. Bezos (or lackey) – run on down to the folks who draw up your algorithms. Hand them this idea:

Instead of recommending based on who I used to be, see what folks who used to be like me are buying now, and offer me that crap instead of the fifth edition of a book of which I bought the third edition…

S l o w D o w n

So, I’ve been reading “Lance Armstrong’s War” by Daniel Coyle. Great book, pretty even-handed on the whole Lance subject.

But the phenomenal part are his details of the training regimens and strategies of the ProTour riders. The #1 concern? Weight.

Which kind of meshes with one of the bugbears I’ve been wrestling with lately, and kind of cemented in my strategy for the year: Get thin. Not cyclist thin, or even triathelete thin. But to hit target weight before really cranking up the training. Or at least get down to below my thinnest from last year.

Last year, I think I made a pretty big mistake in leaping into racing. Dunno what it is, but it seems to me that there’s mechanisms in the body that go into protective mode as soon as you start really stressing the aerobic system. Which is why regular folks in marathon training can fail loose weight when mileage gets too high. Every extra pound puts extra stress on the body for every extra step, so if you’re up in the higher BMI, the effect is multiplied. Just my opinion, but what is life if not a big sandbox in which to play?

Where I’m going with this is to a strong appreciation of the idea of heart rate training, and keeping the rate way, way down to encourage fat burning (say 65-70% of max) instead of going fully aerobic to build capacity. After a week, it seems to be working – the scales have shown the beginnings of a steady decline again. Plus, in talking to my skinny wife, it’s what she did over the last year after she stopped nursing – moderate pace, at least 30 minutes a day.

So – Tuesday was another 30 minutes at lunch. Measured it in the car, and it’s not much more than 3 miles.

Wednesday was back to the pool – 5 laps breast, 30 laps free, 5 laps free – standard 2000 yard workout.

It’s kind of tough to focus on slowness after so long of going out and letting it rip, but I can feel something distinctly different going on with my body. But it’s kind of nice, and relaxing in its own way.

So.

Am I nuts?

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