Review. The Time-Crunched Cyclist. Fit, Fast and Powerful in 6 Hours a Week by Chris Carmichael and Jim Rutberg

Fit, Fast and Powerful on the bike in six hours a week? Awesome! Count me in!

But ummm... on second thought, six hours is not exactly nothing.
IN fact, six hours is sort of kind of ....  a lot.

I rarely ride six hours a week on the bike unless I am training for something long like a half or full Ironman. Carmichael is not addressing his book to triathletes, though. He is talking to bike people, and in that context six hours isn't much, I suppose. If you are only biking and maybe doing a few plyometric exercises, six hours might actually be downright doable.

For that reason alone I would recommend this book to "the time-crunched cyclist". I would also recommend it to the time-crunched triathlete, and also the non-time-crunched cyclist or triathlete who is interested in whether he/she could actually get away with doing a lot less than he/she is currently doing. (Yep. That would be me.)

The book is well-written. The prosy parts flow, and the more conceptual parts are presented simply, articulately and without pretention. I can slog my way through just about anything if I think there might be a granule of worthiness buried within its pages. I didn't have to with this one. I read it from first page to last and I found it refreshingly enjoyable to read.  It was also a relatively quick read, which I thought fitting since the book IS addressing an audience of time-crunched folks and all.

But on to what the book actually had to say.

It said this:
If you want to be really fast and fit and powerful on the bike you only need to spend six hours a week on it.
Then he tells you how to achieve this.

Here's how.
Intervals just below threshold and intervals just above threshold. Lots of 'em--and not much else.

Carmichael makes it clear that this type of fit and fast and powerful is a only a superficial layer of fit and fast and powerful. It's like a nice coat of shellac atop an otherwise lusterless pet rock. (Okay... maybe you didn't make pet rocks with your kids this week. Shellac is so cool. I love shellac.) Okay then... His program works much like a toupee, or a heavily padded bra, or a spritz of perfume when you really need a shower. It gets the job done on a superficial level, but dig deeper and you come up hairless, or flat, or smelly. Are any of these comparisons working for you? I didn't think so. Oh well.

Stated differently:
Apparently you can go through a season using his program and actually do very very well, but the program is not something you can do over and over again and get the same initial, WOW--look what I did on six hours a week effect you did the first time through.  I'm not sure exactly why this is true. I think it may be like drug use. The initial hits are pretty potent, but after awhile your body is like, whatever. Give me more or I won't give you want you want. I need that bike floating through my veins, Man. (That is a bizarre image.)

At core, Carmichael is still of the more is more and more is better and more means you are more fit and fast camp. But if you have no time, like basically everyone in the free world who has a job, a family, or a really time-consuming internet life that needs to be tended to pretty much 24/7--or all three--there are short-cuts to winning that cat 5 crit, and these short-cuts can work if you execute them just so.

I really appreciated Carmichael's section on using a power meter. I've digested quite a few books on using the data a power meter provides, and this was the most straight-forward, easy-to-understand rendition of the basic concepts I have read.. He also has sections on maximizing what you've got when racing (there are a few good tips in there), a section on nutrition,  a section in which he describes a few essential strength/plyometric exercises to do (even if you are time-crunched) and a section on how to incorporate more endurance miles into the program if you suddenly find yourself with time on your hands--which would likely not happen, of course, unless you got laid off or divorced or something of that nature. But those things happen, so you never know, right?

I am not time-crunched. After struggling through a mid-life crisis of Herculean proportions, I rebuilt my life so that I have the time to do the workouts and the races I want to do. Hence, I can do things the "right" way, which is to say I make sure I log my fair share of endurance miles.However, Carmichael's program has me intrigued.  What about the triathlete who has a great base because of years of endurance work, but who needs to shake things up because of boredom? Or the girl who has just finished an IM , but still wants to race well and fast for the rest of the season? Could one apply this program to that situation? No more hugely long rides for a bit--just intervals balanced with significant rest for six weeks?
The program's application in this light got me completely fired up. Instead of the Time-Crunched Cyclist, the title could be The Burnt-Out Endurance Cyclist: How to Add Zip to your Endurance Diet (even if it is for only six-eight weeks).

Carmichael comes across in this book as a wise, measured and experienced coach. He made me trust him. That's saying something since I had previously believed he is a money-making tycoon who is out to exploit his coaching relationship with Lance to sell books. He still may be just that, but he is also a good writer (assuming he wrote the book and not a ghost writer) and a clear thinker. I dig clear-thinking writers. So he's in. You should read this one. I give it very high marks.

I love Nora Ephron

She is hysterical. I loved this book. I laughed aloud (especially at the article about purses), and I connected emotionally to her final essay about death.

I read several Amazon "reviews" about the book, most written by people who loved the book. But I also read the reviews by people who were really disappointed by it--and you know? They made me angry! I get so defensive when I really like a book and someone disses it. Some described it as vapid and too short. Vapid? Are you kidding me? And it is what it is, length wise. She said what she had to say and what she wanted to say, and then she was done.

The thing is, I connected with this collection of essays more than I thought I would. She is writing about being over 60 much of the time, and I still have 23 years before 60. Nevertheless, I have been going through such a crisis about age and death since the birth of my last baby. And Ephron found me there, and she made my laugh at it, and she validated it and she made me sad about it. Thank you, Nora Ephron. I hope you stay well, and later die well. I think you'd know what I mean by that.

Cupcake, etc.

I finally got my hands on Cupcake. I had wanted listen to it as I had to Gingerbread and Shrimp, but I don't think it's out on recording yet; either that or libraries haven't purchased it. It was fun to read, though. I didn't love it as much as I did the other two, but it was still yummy. I love the detailed descriptions of what CC eats--or wants to eat--. Oh! I just wanted to chow down on cupcakes! I think it's great that CC fills out, and loves that she has filled out. But I think I have finally tired of her, even though I still adore her character.

Although I have not talked about training yet, I am about to begin talk about it. A lot. I thought I could make this blog purely about my reading, but what I really want to talk about is triathlon--and training--and figuring out how to train without over-training and without abandoning my family. I am competing in Timberman, a 1/2 Ironman, in a little less than a month.

Tomorrow I go for a 48 mile bike ride followed by a 60 min transition run. I go on most of my training rides alone (probably inadvisable) but I find it's not efficient enough to ride with a group. If I have to work out for four hours on a Sunday, I'd rather not add an hour or two in travel, set up, schmoozing, and taking breaks, even if I do have company, and even if it is safer, and even if I do learn a great deal from riding with other people. I am too tried right now to be insightful or funny, so I will report in tomorrow.

Blogs by Authors

I've been reading the blogs of a few YA authors I really like--namely those of Sarah Dessen, Meg Cabot and Rachel Cohn. Cohn actually has a website and a My Space page, not technically a blog, and Sarah Dessen and Meg Cabot actually have Live Journals, but whatever. I don't know why I'm drawn to these sites. Dessen's is really a legitimate journal, and I assume she maintains it just so she is writing everyday and has an audience every day. I have to wonder if she has another journal still, a journal that she doesn't share with the entire world. Meg Cabot's journal is really an extended advertisement for her various books with a few tidbits about her life mixed in. I don't begrudge her this--but it definitely feels more faux then Dessen's.

Sarah Dessen is pregnant with her first child. I have to restrain myself from posting comments on her site when she writes about the travails of being pregnant. She's having trouble focusing, has cravings, is trying to finish a book which is difficult when pregnant. I just want to scream, OhmiGod! Just wait, honey! Being pregnant is no picnic, I agree--but having the actual baby (and by that I don't mean just the actual giving birth part) rocks your world like nothing you've ever known. It doesn't even rock it--it decimates it--and you must attempt to re-create it and you while being unbelievably drained and exhausted. The actual birth process is akin to running several marathons back to back, after which there is not rest for the weary--but instead the beginning of non-stop soothing, nursing, rocking, crying (both you and the baby), sweating, and identity crisis all done on little to no sleep. I really think that God planned it this way on purpose. The first months are like Motherhood Boot Camp. It's like you are slammed into motherhood with such overwhelming force that after you make it through those first months nothing can ever shake you in the same way again (barring war, death, homelessness--etc. you can get the point.) Not even having future children affects you the same way as the first. For subsequent pregnancies you have no time to ponder how tired you are or the craving you have. You just move, move, move! Your perspective completely changes.
I say all this only because I'm curious to see if Dessen will continue to write in her livejournal during the months after she gives birth, and if she does, how her public presentation to the world will be manifest.

On a slightly different note I have been thinking about how so many teachers I know have decided not to have their own children. They want to work with children all day, every day, but they don't want to have their own little rugrats. I find this curious. I also find it curious that so many of these incredible children's/YA authors don't have kids--Meg Cabot and Rachel Cohn for starters. They get kids, they write for kids, yet they don't have their own kids. It could be that Cohn is single and therefore doesn't want a child or doesn't feel she is in a position to have one. Who knows. Cohn doesn't really keep a published journal, so it's hard to know who she is or about her life.

I love reading people's journals. I'm not exactly sure what this means about me. I love first person narration as well, though, so perhaps I'm just interested in story--people's own versions of their own stories. It's different reading a journal by someone who is publishing to the world, with the intent of being read by as many people as possible. I suppose it's a good move in terms of marketing and in terms of writing practice. But how does one decide what is appropriate to share and what is not? How much of Dessen's journal is a contrivance? I think reading people's private world in bonafide journals (ie, finding your Grampa's journal in the attic long after he has passed away) much more interesting in that the words weren't intended for a mass audience. Or were they? I always imagine that someday someone will read my journals, even though they are ostensibly private. I still feel I am writing to or for someone, not just myself.

Enough.
I have been reading two books simultaneously this week, Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld and Prom by Laurie Halse Anderson. I have quite a bit to say about both. I love the both. Do I ever hate a book? That is the big question. Maybe I've just gotten really good at picking out books I know I will like? Anyway, I have a lot to say about these books, but I'm sick of writing. Ciao!

Shrimp and Other Yummies

YA BOOK REVIEW

I read the sequel to Gingerbread--Shrimp, by Rachel Cohn. Loved it! Cyd Charisse is just so delicious. I think my favorite aspect of her character is her sensuality. She loves boys and food and music. She is just such a full, living, sensual character. She makes you want to lick the frosting off of cupcakes, dress up in wild clothing, and cut loose. It's fabulous that CC indulges in what she loves and doesn't worry about becoming fat, or frowned upon or labeled. She is who she is. It completely works that she will end up at culinary school. I also love that she eats what she wants and stays slender. Anything is possible in fiction! All of the characters, in my opinion, are full and developed. They are perhaps all a little too gorgeous, especially the oh so perfect Amber, but again, anything is possible in fiction and I love that I want to become a part of CC's life and be inspired by her vim.
I don't want it to work out with Shrimp. Not that I don't like his character; I do. It's just that CC needs to find herself in NYC, and being with Shrimp clouds that , I think. I'm eager to read Cupcake to find out how things turn out. I love that each book in the trilogy uses a food as its title. Works given CC's character.

Are Gingerbread , Shrimp and Cupcake okay for you to read? Lots of high school content in these books. I think they are really only for Grade 8 and up. Nevertheless, it's not up to me, and I encourage you to write about your reactions to these books in your log if you do happen to read them.

Because I loved Shrimp so much and Cupcake wasn't available at the library, I checked out Pop Princess, also by Cohn. Loved it too! I loved it like you love a choclately brownie, though. It was sweet going down--I read it in one sitting--but it's not exactly "good" for you reading. The characters, including Wonder, the title character, is not partcularly developed and the plot is predictable and shallow, much like a pop princess hit song. But also like a pop hit, it's catchy and fun and definitely tasty.

It seems pretty clear that the book is modeled after Britney Spears and co, who began as Musketeers and are now media sensations with top-selling pop albums and scandal and hype surrounding their every move. I found it very hard to believe that Wonder could just return to everyday life after her shot to stardom, but naturally I was glad, as I was supposed to be, that she went home (or close to home, anyway) again to grow up. I wanted her to at least have somewhat of a relationship with Dartmouth man (was it Dartmouth?) but I thought the scenario was believable. The fact that Wonder gives it up to him was disappointing but also real, and I appreciated that. Wonder, no matter how much of a flat character, was more real to me than say, Mara in this regard.

This is another book that is for the most part harmless, but does include some s.e.x and drinking. Again--grade 8 and up.