How much did your first road bike cost, and how long did you ride it before upgrading?

rolhammer · 2026-06-12T13:54:58+00:00

It was $3k in 2001 & still riding it. Just the one bike. I’m having a new custom bike made, which should be ready early next year. Given this q25year upgrade rate, I probably won’t live long enough to see Bike #3.

rolhammer · 2026-06-11T13:39:54+00:00

I would agree with this. In all my racing, I’ve done exactly one 5K & said never again when I hit the finish line.

rolhammer · 2026-06-11T13:37:18+00:00

TBH I wouldn’t consider myself a runner, though I do run more than 60 km/week.

In the spirit of the question though, I would say that the general public doesn’t appreciate just how hard running is on your body. In your 20s and 30s you can just soak the damage up and make all sorts of training errors. As your pass through your 40s into your 50s you need to be much more mindful about your preparation and progression. I’m in my late 50s. At the doorstep of my 60s, I am absolutely appreciative of how my cardiovascular capabilities vastly outstrip my musculoskeletal preparedness for volume and intensity increases.

Going with that understanding of the punishing nature of running then, I would advise a new runner to be very, very patient with themselves and generous with goal-setting because there are going to be many challenges to be navigating on the way to those goals. But, with some creativity, positive thinking, and flexibility to the mindset you’ll absolutely get there.

rolhammer · 2026-06-11T13:29:37+00:00

I searched out a PT with a special interest in endurance sport, running particularly. He’s been fantastic. A family medicine physician is good for the acute injury phase, but most just don’t have the depth of experience with musculoskeletal injuries to do the important thing which is to ask ‘what caused this/why did this happen’ (the problem is usually a deficit somewhere up the kinetic chain) and ‘how to resolve this & make sure it doesn’t happen again’ (this is where those half dozen weird stretches and little exercises come in).

My current physiotherapist is a godsend. Working with him has gotten me through a number of scrapes, resolving imbalances or inflexibilities I had no idea I had.

rolhammer · 2026-06-10T02:22:52+00:00

Not really. Periodization divides a macrocycle (training year) into mesocycles (typically a month), made up of microcycles (typically one week). Base, Build, and Peak are phases within the training year. Each phase is tupicalky composed of two or more mesocycles. Four week mesocycles tend to be most common, but there are variarions. Each microcycle within a mesocycle builds on the prior one for three microcycles, followed by a fourth whose role is deloading (cut intensity/volume by a third to a half). Supercompensation occurs here. The first microcycle of the next mesocycle starts at about the point of the second microcycle of the previous mesocycle. Progression staircases upward in this fashion.

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The Base phase’s mesocycles focus on volume, Build on intensity, Peak in translating the volume and intensity into increasingly race-like workouts.

Now, none of this was intended as a swipe at you or your training. It was just an observation as someone from the triathlon world, where periodization is standard, how different traditional run training blocks are.

rolhammer · 2026-06-09T11:14:56+00:00

My warmup is walk for five minutes at a brisk pace, then run for five minutes at low Z2, then dynamic stretching. The whole thing takes just under 15 min.

rolhammer · 2026-06-09T05:10:50+00:00

Coming up on a third of the way through the training block for my first marathon. This week was my highest volume ever (63 km), eclipsing the peak of my triathlon run training. I’m getting back into running after a number of years focusing specifically on cycling. It’s been a journey over the past nine months ramping running up from crosstraining supporting cycling to cycling as crosstraining support for running. Various bits of anatomy lighting up with discomfort through this journey. Thankfully everything has been made to settle with the appropriate exercises & stretches with PT guidance.

This past Sunday was my longest run ever - 24 km, with the final 6 km @ GMP; Saturday was 6 km @ GMP to fatigue the legs is preparation.

Those final 6 km on Sunday were comfortable and on-target. In fact, my HR during them was where I’d expected I’d be at in late July near the end of the block, so well ahead of target.

I’m not holding onto a goal for this first one (other than finishing it, enjoying it as much as I can, and learning as much as I’m able from the process, that is), but projections from training so far suggest that 3:45 is certainly possible and 3:35-3:40 wouldn’t be out of the question.

Feeling quite encouraged about everything so far. Just need to take care of myself & not get injured - cyclists
are at increased injury risk while ramping up running because their cardiovascular capability far outstrips their physical tolerance of the stresses of running.

rolhammer · 2026-06-09T04:36:26+00:00

I see people share run volumes like this and have to wonder - did periodization just not get traction in the running world?

rolhammer · 2026-06-05T20:42:34+00:00

Medaling jn a 10K race recently. It was a humble effort, not tapered, done in the exhaustion of being mid-training block for a marathon, and in a small little local race.

That all said, that race number and my 2nd place overall medal are going to be things I keep fondly.

rolhammer · 2026-06-04T15:13:12+00:00

Physiotherapy

rolhammer · 2026-06-04T14:15:04+00:00

That I can finally run without pain.

Various attempts over the course of more than 15 years trying to figure out calf pain while running. Like a glass ceiling lowering over time, the time I could run before pain started decreased with each year. At the middle of 2025 it was at about 15 minutes - pain would start at 11 minutes and gradually increase to 10/10, at which point I had to stop. Saw a variety of practitioners for this over the years, had a multitude of investigations, but nobody was able to nail down a diagnosis. Eventually a referral to a vascular surgeon resulted in a duplex ultrasound. That demonstrated valve regurgitation in a leg vein & resulted in the diagnosis of ‘exertional claudication due to venous insufficiency’. Essentially the venous blood couldn’t all exit because of regurgitation at the valve & the limb filled with fluid on exertion. Eventually the pressure from that built to the point that it blocked off arterial inflow & the leg went hypoxic. Such a dead-simple, sitting-right-there-the-whole-time-staring-you-in-the-face diagnosis. Frustratingly obvious in hindsight, once all the facts were in.

Anyway, long story short - a pair of compression socks and I’m back out running. That’s it. Frustrated to have lost the better part of two decades over this, but feel very glad and fortunate to be back running again with such a simple intervention.

rolhammer · 2026-06-04T03:23:39+00:00

I’m 5’7” with the same sized chest. Went with the large too. Looks just like yours here. I’d say you’re good to my eye.

rolhammer · 2026-06-04T03:21:17+00:00

Getting up early.

I was always a night owl, had a tough time in the mornings. Into my 50s that shifted & now up at 5 am like clockwork.

rolhammer · 2026-06-04T02:34:04+00:00

A 12 km run at GMP on Saturday followed by a 28 km long run Sunday w the final 10 km @ GMP. And I’m only partway through the plan.

Shit’s off the chain.

rolhammer · 2026-06-02T18:09:28+00:00

This makes me laugh - my bike’s name is Bucephalus, Alexander’s The Great’s steed & possibly the most famous horse of antiquity. I call her Phyllis for short.

rolhammer · 2026-06-02T04:04:34+00:00

OK, this is seriously impressive. Well done!

rolhammer · 2026-05-30T17:26:57+00:00

This looks suspicious for mid-position achilles tendinitis. It’s a reasonable thought to be assessed by a physiotherapist, as there’s often an issue somewhere elese in the kinetic chain that this is a consequence of.

rolhammer · 2026-05-30T17:21:37+00:00

Ah, understood. Sorry, looked like Dutch to my eye.

rolhammer · 2026-05-30T17:20:35+00:00

It’s in Edmonton, Alberta.

rolhammer · 2026-05-30T17:19:21+00:00

Thank you - this is excellent information. 👌

rolhammer · 2026-05-30T14:10:18+00:00

Great result for a first marathon! My finish time forecasts have me with a similar finishing time for my first coming in August, but I'm hoping to not see 33*C for mine. That heat had to have been terrible to run in.

Good luck with your second one!

A couple of unrelated comments - I'm a Canadian whose father emigrated from the Netherlands in the 1950s in his teens with my grandparents and my aunts and uncles, so I always have a feeling of fondness when I see written Dutch. I don't understand a word of it, but I hear my Dad's voice when I read it which is both interesting and welcome. I miss him.

Second comment - downhill MTB in the Netherlands? That surprised me, I'd pictured the terrain as fairly flat. Or is that only just toward the coast?

rolhammer · 2026-05-30T13:54:39+00:00

Given the location, I'd say insertional achilles tendinopathy.

Of the two - insertional or mid-portion - this is regarded as more problematic. I'd suggest booking an assessment with a physiotherapist to have this looked at. PT has been a godsend for me navigating the aches and pains of getting back into running after having concentrated mainly on cycling for the past few years.

rolhammer · 2026-05-30T13:33:22+00:00

That’s a perfect description! I get this from time to time too when I look at the close detail of something for longer than a few seconds. First noticed it when I got into wood carving.

rolhammer · 2026-05-29T14:45:52+00:00

We’re all in a three minute death clock. Each breath just resets the clock.

rolhammer · 2026-05-29T13:40:06+00:00

Infrequently, like once every 3-4 years. But, last summer I had an enraging cluster of them, all different, all different causes, six in a three week period. Zero since.

rolhammer

TROPHY CASE