Velochimp: Astrochimp on Cycling

eDiets.com has a good writeup by Raphael Calzadilla who can pass for a younger looking Jack Lalane. The hair and puffed up chest make the resemblance seem uncanny. Anyway, Raphael Calzadilla has some very good points about getting fitness and losing weight. Most of these tips jibe with the Abs Diet program I have been following this year. Point number 4 seems to get to the core of the Abs Diet theory:

4. Calories are the only thing that counts when trying to lose body fat or gain lean muscle. FALSE!

Ratios of protein, carbohydrates and fats are also important. The key in losing body fat and getting lean is controlling and manipulating insulin levels. In simple terms, when we consume excessive calories or excessive amounts of high glycemic carbohydrates at one meal, the body’s blood sugar rises. When this happens, the pancreas secretes the hormone insulin to lower the blood sugar levels.

7. The best way to lose fat is to eat very few calories. FALSE!

Always consider your body from the inside out. Your body’s main objective is to survive. It doesn’t care if you want to lose body fat. In fact, it would prefer to increase fat in case of famine. Internally, the body has no idea that it’s the year 2003. It could still be 10,000 years ago for all it cares. Survival is its number one objective.

If you eat very little (less than 1,200 calories), the body perceives an emergency and will accommodate you by holding onto stored body fat. As well it should, because it has no idea when it will be fed again…

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I finally have something to write about in the Weekend Warrior section as I completed the Concrete Crit and Circut Race in Rome, NY today. While Giuliano Figueras won the Giro de Lazio on the outskirts of Rome, Italy I was racing in the outskirts of Rome, NY around the former Griffis Air Force Base now a technology park with heavy miliatry presence.

The Concrete races are a low key event. Not a huge turnout for a day that had several other bike related races going on all over upstate New York. The flat natureof the course tempted me to come out and stretch my legs. I have not raced at all in the month of July. The last race was the Rochester Twilight Crit way back on June 24th. The low key nature of the event was a perfect place to test out the legs and see how the fitness has improved.

The Team:
Noel Bonk, Matt Howey and Andy Ross were some of the other Colavita guys present for the races. Rob Walters came by later for the Crit with great results.

Race Options:
The choice of which race to compete in was interesting as the races were broken down to the A race which contained Cats 1 through 4. The B race which contained Cats 4 and 5, the C Race, Master men 45 + and women and fnally the D race which contains Cat 5 citizens. As I’m still a Cat 5 the first thought would be the D group, but the distances were very small and competition not so challenging. So I signed up for the B races.
That race was probably the largest field of the whole event with 18 riders, half of them were from one team, the Schuss Ski team who are local to Rome and the Mohawk valley. A few Dick Sonnes guys were sympathetic to the cause too. Noel and I were the lone Colavitas as Matt and Andy raced the A race with five other guys.

The Circuit Race:
Race started off slow, much like a club ride. I took to the front expecting the pack to turn up the pace around me, but nobody was anxious to go. The slow speed made me want to take a flyer, but I decided to wait a bit. After a corner a Schuss guy took off and I immediately got on his wheel. Racing finally started and I felt good. Noel and I were mixing up attacks in the first lap to shake up the field. We quckly noticed that since Schuss had almost hal the field, they pretty much controlled the pack and raced defensively most of the time. Noel and I would either attack to get a break going or if a break going, but did not get much room as we were marked by the Schuss guys. A few breaks went up the road and got a few seconds, but Noel and I had to chase them back down since Schuss was riding a very defensive race. During one chase I found myself out front for too long, as I tried to pull to the side to let someone else chase I found that it was only Schuss guys behind me and they did not get off my wheel. I had to zig zag across the road to try and shake them off. This was so frustrating that I said to one of the Schuss guys “Hey, anybody got some Draino? We need to loosen this clog” Not the wittiest comment, but I was frustrated.

Eventually on lap 2 of 3 I decided that I am using too much energy and tried to cool off for a bit. That was tough since if a break went with a Schuss guy, then the pack slowed down and Noel and I were the only ones able to get a chase going.

All of this chasing of breaks made it difficult to mount a counter attack since we were tired from the chasing. On lap three two break were up the road. We caught the second one, but the first group of two were able to get enough daylight. I was pulverised from all of the attacks and chasing and eventually blew when I was caught between a few accelarations. I limped home near the back.

The race finished in about an hour with around 25 miles completed. That was at 11am. The Crit did not start until 2pm, so there was some waiting around.

The Crit:
The.6 mile crit was basicaly a rectangular course with a cross wind making it tough. Pancake flat with some sand in the corners.

Crit result
Rob Walter took the win in the Crit which was raced with a combined A and B group. Colavita had five guys in the group. Schuss only had five since half the team went home. The race started OK. I jetted up to the front to get in the front group. My legs were feeling a bit tired and I felt a slight cramping in my right hamstring just before the race started. As the paced kicked up I was slowly drifting back through the group as I could not keep up the accelarations in the corners. I was too pooped from the morning’s effort. Eventually I was able to establish a good rythm going at about 22 mph.BTW, I was way off the back. Eventually I got pulled. The pace was pretty high for most riders and the field broke up and quite a few others either ditched or got pulled.

Luckily I was able to videotape the last few laps and capture Rob Walters great sprint victory.

Overall I am glad that the team got a win. Andy Ross and Matt Howey did a great job of blocking in the crit to help the break keep its advantage.

My fitness is better since I was able to animate the Circuit Race instead of simply surviving. Two more races underm y belt and two steps closer to upgrading to Cat 4. Most of my training and racing is now with an eye to next year, but I will get a few other races in during August. Some possible races are Owsego’s Tour de Loop which has some short hills. Chris Thater a huge Criterim in Binghamton, NY and possibly the Ascenson Crit next Sunday in Buffalo.

Abs Diet:
The Abs diet os going well. The results have not been as dramatic as originally expected, but my belly fat is going down. I am getting compliments from folks saying I look thinner and my parents think I am just thin enough. I still want to lose about 10 to 20 lbs, but I think if I do this gradually it will stay off.
There were a few photographers on the course today. I will have to see what I looked like on the course compared to the earlier pic from the Syracuse Race Weekend that prompted me to get more aggressive with losing the belly fat.

(photo courtesy of Photoradius)

Last Saturday I raced in the Rochester Twilight Criterium. The race circles around downtown Rochester with several corners, and uphill and downhill section that are not very difficult, but get worse as you are going around at full speed. My race was the Cat5 over 30 competition which had a field of around 50 guys. The Cat 5 field was split between over 30 and under 30 probably to keep the fields smaller especially for Cat 5 fields which tend to be sketchy. The race started out with a bang as I was near the front of the group at the start of the race.

Through the first set of S turns a crash unfolded right in front of me as two guys touched wheels. The result was a mass pileup as riders were riding into the crash. I was able to avoid the crash and was lucky enough to not be right behind it. Unfortunately, the crash caused enoug of a gap that I had to chase back on in the downhill section, but the CCY team was controlling the front and keeping the pace resonable for a few laps as a three man break formed with a CCY guy in the mix.

This even pace allowed me to be in the front group for a bit. I was surprised after the first two laps to be in the front group which was down to around 25 or 30 guys. The crash and initial pace cut down the field to a resonable size. On each lap I was in the group, but could not stay near the front. Being in the back was tough as the accordian affect makes you use up more energy than necessary because you are either speeding up or slowing right down.

In the back section there is a figure 8 where I would be able to gain position which is just before the hill. Each lap, the hill would wear on me a bit and I would be dangling off the back of the group. Finally after I don’t know how many laps the rubbar band snapped. I just felt that I lost power at that point. Maybe I needed a breather, but I was just not fit enough to go the distance with the front group. I kept chasing, and was within sight of the front group for a few laps, but could not manage to get enough speed to get back on.

The race was eventually won by Brad Crosby a potential new Colavita teammate. His win allowed him to move up to Cat 4, a move that could have come much sooner since Brad has been tearing up the Cat 5 ranks this year placing no less than 3rd or 4th in most races.

As for my season, I feel like I am getting fitter, but am not anywhere near my best cycling form. This is the first season of full racing as the most races I’ve ever done in one season was two. This year I’ve done four races with mixed results. The form is coming along, the weight is going down, so it is only a matter of time before the ftiness comes together for a good result.

Next up may be the Glenns Falls Criterium on June 9th. Before then I may ride a century this weekend with my club to get a few miles in between the short Crits.

The Abs Diet Update
The Abs Diet is going well as I am into the second week. The weight is coming down, but it is hard to gauge since I use different scales which give me various results. The scale at the gym shows I lost about 5 pounds. I got a body fat scale which is all over the board. Overall, my pants fit looser and I did get some compliments on looking thinner. My belly seems to be a bit trimmer too. Watch for more info on this soon.

Yikes, after the Syracuse Race Weekend two weeks ago where I performed poorly, I vowed to get a little bit more serious about my training regimen. I train regularly by doing a combination of weight lifting, lots of miles and other cardio such as a stair master. With this workout plan and a “sensible” diet I was able to lose about 10lbs so far this year. I am still much heavier than I’d like, but my fitness is improving.
The ugliest factor of having all of this extra weight is the gut that comes out during a hard ride or race.

The picture above was shocking to me. It was taken by Bill Goffe who had some excellent shots of the whole race weekend. The gut bulging out of my jersey certainly makes the sponsors happy since everyone shows up, but it doesn’t make me happy. So, I have been looking at what to do to kick start another round of weight loss. It seems that in the past few weeks I have leveled off in losing weight and have stayed around a stagnant weight of…..ready for the number to be public…. 226. Ouch, that hurts to write and admit, since I have been coy about the number of my true weight. I carry the weight around in normal clothes fairly well, but in bib shorts and jerseys it is a different story.

The other day while going to the gym during lunch I ran into Grant who recommended the “Abs Diet” book. He liked the plan since it was a very sensable diet. There is no quick fix where you eliminate an entire class of foods. You eat many different and good foods, but it is more common sense than any real diet. Plus, it attacks the area that I definately need help in, the abs. I trust Grant especially since he looks like he is in great shape. He runs regularly and took up cycling to do triathlons. His wife is a nutritionist, so he would certainly not recommend anything like Atkins or the Scarsdale diet.

This weekend I picked up the book and started reading. Most of the book deals with explaining things like metabolism, the dangers of high fructose corn syrup and other great info. The book is also a quick read. Some of the basic tenants of the book are that you should eat six times a day. Stay away from high fructose corn syrup and other sugars. Soda is very bad for you etc. Blueberrys, tuna, almonds, and other foods are good. Your should eat a little more dairy since that helps to wash out fat, and many other useful tidbits. The plan does not seem too hard to follow and I was already trying to eat six times a day.

I started on the plan yesterday and it was super easy to follow. Looking at labels of food is important since some foods do contain hidden sugars. One package of oatmeal by Quaker had high fructose corn syrup. I won’t eat that too much as I will switch to eating the plain stuff and adding fresh fruit.

Posting to the velochimp site will make me stick with this longer since I feel like I must report on the progress and actually show progress in this plan. My goal is to get to 200 or less pounds, but I am not placing a time limit. The Abs Diet plan last for about six weeks and claims in the plan range from losing 8 lbs to 25lbs. I will aim for the high of 25lbs and hope to be around 200lbs hopefully be August.

Next up will be a posting of my “before” shot and a weekly update shot. Now I can’t hide.