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I know as well as anyone that most MaxHR calculators are guides, and that the only true way to determine your max is to have a VO₂Max test done … but the calculators should be relatively decent estimates for everyone but elite athletes.

According to the most common forumula (220 - age), my MaxHR should be 178 bpm. In practice, I know that my MaxHR can reach about 183 bpm, but definitely not comfortably.

Today was not a good day, and I knew it wouldn’t be when I started off at 123 bpm before even turning a pedal.

Typically, anaerobic threshold is considered to be about 90% of max, so using the two numbers above, my AT level should be 160-164 bpm. I spent nearly half of today’s ride above 160 bpm, and averaged 155 bpm (87%) for the entire ride; even on the slight downhill sections on my way back home through Millcreek into Holladay.

So much for today’s “yeah-right” goal of doing twice as many miles as last weekend. I didn’t think that was likely, but was hoping for at least as many miles; but I don’t even think I managed quite half, and I am spent. This didn’t feel like the usual lack-of-fitness struggle, but rather that it was going to be a rough day no matter what.

But I still got out there, and that’s what’s most important.

From the New York Times:

Study Shows Problems With Olympic-Style Tests

Although athletes have said EPO is in widespread use, few have tested positive. Most of the athletes who have been linked to doping in recent years have been caught not through drug testing, but rather through criminal investigations. In the August 2006 issue of the journal Blood, the American lab accredited to conduct EPO testing reported only 9 positive tests out of 2,600 urine samples.

The new study may help explain why: the test simply failed.

The study, to be published Thursday in the online edition of the Journal of Applied Physiology, was conducted last summer and fall by a renowned lab in Denmark, the Copenhagen Muscle Research Center. The investigators gave eight young men EPO and collected urine samples on multiple occasions before, during and after the men were doping. The men’s urine samples were then sent to two labs accredited by the World Anti-Doping Agency, and EPO tests were requested.

The first lab found some samples positive and a few others suspicious. (A suspicious result does not bring sanctions for doping.) The lab also declared a sample positive, although the man had stopped taking the drug and it should have been gone from his urine. His previous urine sample, obtained when he was taking EPO, was negative in this lab’s test.

The second lab did not deem any urine sample positive for EPO and found only a few to be suspicious. The two labs did not agree on which samples were suspicious.

… [Investigators] realized they had an opportunity to investigate the validity of the EPO test. So, without telling the anti-doping labs what they were doing, the investigators sent the men’s urine samples for EPO testing.

One of the two labs, which the researchers refer to as Lab B in their paper, never declared a sample positive, even when the men were taking high doses of EPO every other day. Lab A was inconsistent. It found EPO during the high dose phase. But in the maintenance phase, it found EPO in only 6 of the 16 samples.

Great news, eh?

Not like “I never tested positive” meant a whole lot before, but with this news, anyone who claims not to have doped and “never testing positive” can have the “yeah, but the tests detect it every time” argument thrown back at them …

And clean athletes will never be able to prove that they haven’t doped … all winning riders are going to fall under suspicion.

“You won the race? You must have doped.”

Blood tests show 23 “suspect” riders - Yahoo! Eurosport UK

A programme to create biological passports for professional cyclists, giving details of their blood analyses, has revealed 23 riders with suspect samples, the International Cycling Union said.

UCI Anti-Doping manager Anne Gripper said 1,500 blood samples on 854 riders had been analysed since January and that 23 riders had given samples “needing further examination.”

There will be no disciplinary proceedings as the tests are not recognised dope tests.

Separately from the passport programme, Gripper told a news conference that the UCI was pursuing five suspected doping cases following traditional anti-doping tests on riders, either during races or out-of-competition.

Significantly, the decision to test one of those riders had been prompted by his previous sample for the passport profile.

Another 11 riders are under investigation for a possible breach of anti-doping regulations after failing to give their whereabouts, Gripper said.

Almost 12,000 tests are scheduled for 2008 at an estimated cost of 5 million euros (£3.9 million).

I’m surprised … the doping stories don’t usually start rearing their ugly heads until the Giro d’Italia (with another ramp up in the weeks before the Tour de France). But we’re still 8 days away from the start of the Giro …

On the bright side, no names have been listed thus far … not even in light of this story:

Unnamed cyclist to face doping charge - Yahoo! Eurosport UK

At least one top cyclist is to face doping charges after thousands of blood samples were analysed as part of the International Cycling Union’s blood passport programme.

The UCI did not reveal the identity of the cyclist concerned, but said he is one of 23 riders who “warranted further scrutiny” following 2172 tests on blood samples as part of their far-reaching passport scheme.

Introduced as the UCI’s new weapon in the fight against doping, the aim of the scheme is to catch cheats, and ultimately deter doping by relying on previously recorded data from athletes’ blood samples.

The UCI believes that because of the comparative increase in the number of tests and the introduction of individually tailored, and more effective, profiles, most riders are now thinking twice about doping.

Proof of that may not be seen until the end of this year’s Tour de France, where the lure of international fame and glory has traditionally tempted many riders to cheat.

The UCI said Friday that of the 2172 tests carried out to April 30, only 23 had warranted further scutiny by anti-doping experts.

And it reassured organisers of the Giro d’Italia by adding that “all riders set to compete in the Giro have adhered to the blood passport scheme”.

Protesters building steam in S.F.

On the day before the Olympic torch was to be carried along the citys waterfront, hundreds of protesters took to the streets today to rally support for freedom in Tibet and to decry the Peoples Republic of China rule there.

The roving demonstration moved from United Nations Plaza to City Hall to the Chinese Consulate at Geary Boulevard and Laguna Street in the Western Addition. The consulate building was protected by dozens of San Francisco police officers.

The protesters remained peaceful throughout the day, waving the colorful Tibetan flag, singing the Tibetan national anthem and chanting slogans denouncing China. They watched the lighting of the Tibetan Freedom Torch and cheered as caged white doves were released into the sky.

The gathering was timed to coincide with the appearance of the Olympic Torch, which is scheduled to make its only North American appearance in San Francisco Wednesday as part of a five-continent relay leading up to the Summer Games in Beijing.

“This is not about disrupting the torch-bearers. This is about China using the torch for political purposes and we using it right back,” Lhadon Tethong, executive director if Students for a Free Tibet, said through a bullhorn in front of the Chinese Consulate.

Protesters, upset with Chinas policies in Tibet, Sudan and with the Falun Gong spiritual movement, have disrupted the relay in Athens, London and Paris. San Francisco officials also are bracing for demonstrations by China critics and counterdemonstrations by pro-China supporters.

Previous posts on this blog illustrate what I feel the athletes should do when it comes to the Beijing Olympics, but all of the news about the protests surrounding the torch made me wonder how the whole torch carrying thing came about.

So I do what many people do when confronted with one of those odd questions … what is the history of the Olympic Torch relay?

Well … according to a 2004 article in the New York Times, the torch relay was introduced by none other than Adolf Hitler for the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, as part of his Nazi propaganda machine.

According to the London Times:

The torch relay is a celebration of the ancient fires that burnt through the original Olympiads but the idea of carrying the flame from Olympia to the host city each year was invented by the organisers of the 1936 Berlin Games.

The relay, captured in Leni Riefenstahl’s film, “Olympia”, was part of the Nazi propaganda machine’s attempt to add myth and mystique to Adolf Hitler’s regime.

Hitler saw the link with the ancient Games as the perfect way to illustrate his belief that classical Greece was an Aryan forerunner of the modern German Reich.

Surprisingly, the use of the Olympic rings, originally adopted as a symbol of the Games at the 1914 Olympic Congress prior to the cancelled 1916 Olympic Games, were also widely promoted by Riefenstuhl’s film (when she had the rings carved in stone at Delphi).

Joy.

Perhaps it’s a good idea that the torch was extinguished not once, but twice by the French, and the American leg of the journey tomorrow (Wednesday) in San Francisco may actually be cancelled because of the protests.

It certainly seems fitting that the Chinese government has promoted the this year’s relay as a Journey of Harmony … but it’s too bad their harmonic convergence seems to be more in line with with the powers of oppression and genocide, rather than truly of peace.

… to skip this year’s Olympics in Beijing.

Beijing pollution risky for endurance athletes

BEIJING (Reuters) - Endurance events at the Beijing Olympics could pose a health risk if they are staged on heavily polluted days, the International Olympic Committee said on Wednesday, although it was prepared to reschedule such events.

Hein Verbruggen, chairman of the IOC coordination commission, said there was a small chance of athletes suffering some damage to their health if they took part in events lasting longer than an hour, such as the marathon and cycling road races.

Beijing is one of the most polluted cities in the world and, despite a 120 billion yuan ($17.12 billion) clean-up over the last decade, air quality remains a concern for many athletes coming to the Olympics, already a lightning rod for rights protests worldwide.

Last week I posted an entry supporting a boycott of the opening ceremony at the Olympic Games. Thor Hushovd listened. Okay, maybe not to me, but the idea is taking hold amongst athletes.

VeloNews | Hushovd considers opening ceremony boycott

Crédit Agricole’s ace sprinter Thor Hushovd says he is prepared to boycott the opening ceremony to the Beijing Olympics in August to protest Chinese repression in Tibet.

“We sports people do not have any particular responsibility to take a stance over what is happening in China,” he told Norway’s Faedrelandsvennen newspaper.

“But all the same we can have some influence by snubbing the opening ceremony in Beijing. That would be a valid form of protest and I am prepared to do it,” Hushovd said. “However, from there to boycotting the Games entirely is a huge step.”

Now, in my world, this is a huge thing … but in the grand scheme, cycling is not a major sport, at least not in the United States; as evidenced by the slim amount of television coverage it gets from NBC; and as Hushovd is a Norwegian, it’s likely to make little impact. But if Hushovd’s decision can start affecting other cyclists from other nations, and if those nations’ cyclists can inspire their compatriots participating in other sports, then maybe, just maybe the impact can be felt.

We need more athletes to step up and speak. In the United States, it will take a vocal stand by the stars of Swimming, Track & Field, and Gymnastics. Unfortunately, I don’t know who they are … is Amanda Beard still swimming?

You know you’ve got issues when even your therapist is bugging you about starting to date again …

But it’s like this; I’m scared. I’m scared to death of repeating the same mistakes that I made when I was married. I’m afraid that I will still not be able to open up and share who I am with the person I love. So right now, it’s easier to just avoid the situation.

And then there’s this … my competitive days are long behind me. I’m not intimidated by women who are better at something than I am; in fact quite the opposite, I find it extremely attractive. I prefer active, fit women, but my corresponding fitness is not there, and it will take time to retrieve.

I’m not looking for a training partner; if you’re racing, I’ll be the guy on the sidelines who makes sure you’re being taken care of during the race. Need food/water/clothing hand-ups? I’m your man. I prefer to be behind-the-scenes making an event a success for others, rather than killing myself to finish mid-pack or worse. I want to be with someone who wants support from her partner, not competition.

But it seems that most of the women I am meeting not only have this huge competitive streak in them, but are looking for the same in their partner; which just doesn’t make sense to me. I don’t see how two people can have a healthy relationship when they’re always competing with each other, and yet it seems like when athletes get together, much of the competition is within the relationship as well.

And to me, that’s just wrong.

I ride my bike to ride my bike … and the main reason why I seldom ride with more than one or two other people (when I’m not riding alone) is because most group rides turn into some sort of big swinging (virtual or actual) dick contest. That’s not what I’m about. If I’m not paying money and pinning a number on, then I’m not racing … and it’s really easy for me to just say “see ya!” when the people I ride with start acting as though every ride is a race.

The downside of this is that I spend a lot of time alone … which when you are dysthymic is not really healthy either. I reach out to my friends, but unless we have made specific plans, I tend not to follow-through and nothing happens. And thus I get lonelier and feel like my friends don’t want to hang out with me; when in reality, they could very much feel like I don’t want to hang out with them either, because I don’t follow-through or flake. I know that friendship is a two-way street, but I find it very difficult to offer much of myself, even when I think that the people I’m with are some of the nicest, kindest, and coolest people I’ve ever met.

I’ve been this way nearly all my life … and I know that much of it is a protective measure from how much I used to move around when I was a kid; a different school every year or two doesn’t lend itself to long-lasting relationships … and when I do start building a relationship that means something, inevitably I feel like I’m going to sabotage it somehow.

And so I keep working on myself; keep seeing the crazy doctor, keep taking the happy pills, keep reaching out … and keep trying to follow-through.