Ski #4 (No More Nicotine Patches)

The weather hasn't cooperated for 2 weeks. I had a small window on 1/25 - 1/26, so I went up on 1/25. The slopes were crusty. It didn't snow as much as I hoped for and it has been warm. It probably has been melting in the afternoon, only to freeze in the morning. I went to East About, a narrow and steep run and instantly regretted. The skis picked up speed quickly and I couldn't make turns quickly enough. I'll have to wait till we get a better snow to go back there.

The rest of the day wasn't bad. I spent most of time on Castle and Lower Dynamite off Grand View Express. I was having so much fun, in fact, I ended up skiing over 5 hours. I had to rest after about 1.5 hours because of the ordeal getting out of East Run. Then I spent another hour before taking the lunch break. I went to the West Bowl in the afternoon, but the black runs were closed. I came back to Grand View, spent more time and then I was ready to go home.

My skiing is progressing nicely. I did what I wanted to do this time: stay straight and fall into the fall line. Looking at the video, though, I'm still not straight enough. I'll have to correct that the next time.

I didn't use nicotine patch at all this time. The post-exercise recovery progressed fine for 3 days, and then I crashed on the 4th day. It might have been triggered by watching the NFC championship game with emotional ups and downs. SF won, but I was feeling crappy through the evening. I'll repeat the same thing the next time -- no exercise for 4 days other than 4 block walking -- and see I'll get away with not crashing. In any case, not using the nicotine didn't make it any worse, so that will be the end of nicotine patch.  I could use it recreationally every once in a while, but it no longer has any effect. I'll use up whatever I have left and that will be that.

Ski #3 and Aftermath (Nicotine Patch Doesn't Work)

After the ski #2, I crashed on the 3rd day. I did 2x8 pushups the night before and then I slapped on the nicotine patch on the top of the old one by mistake in the morning. So, the plan to stay on the patch didn't get executed. 

The mountains got another foot of snow, and I went back up on 1/12. Most of the lift were open this time. Castle run, which I remembered as Rook instead, was open too. It was great at the top, but then you have to paddle to get to the second half of the run. So I went up there only a couple of times. West Bowl Express was open too, but I didn't make it there. I got lost on the way there in the afternoon and ended up at Nob Hill instead.  I'm going back next week for #4 and I'm sure I'm make it to West Bowl Express then.

I stayed on the nicotine patch this time for 4 days. I still crashed on the second day. It wasn't bad, but it still was a crash: I ended up spending 5 hours lying down during the day.  So, I'm coming to the conclusion that nicotine patches don't help preventing crash. I'll stay off nicotine the next time.

Ski #2 and the Aftermath

18 more inches of snow from the storm over the prior week allow them to open up more lifts and slopes. Both Grand View Express and Nob Hill had sections of black runs open, and I went up those chairs and down the bumps all day long. 2 hours in the morning and then 1.5 hours in the afternoon were enough to tire me out. Maybe skipping lunch made me tire out quicker than I would have. I was going to come back to my car for my lunch, but it was a little too far. I had enough for the breakfast and wasn't hungry anyway, so I decided to skip lunch and just rest. 

That was on Jan 4th. In the evening, something was cramping inside my knees. I don't know what it is exactly, maybe the ligaments or tendons, but it's been happening since last year whenever I ski hard. All the knee rolls that I've been doing on the slope must be taking the toll. I remember having to pull off coming back from Heavenly last year because my knees were cramping so bad that I couldn't drive. My thighs and calves then took the turn the next morning and became sore. The soreness turned into pain the morning after. Then they were all gone after 2-hour nap in the afternoon, and I seem to have fully recovered from skiing. Recovery from a hard skiing in 2 days? Not a bad aftermath performance. 

Anyway, I think I'll be able to get my 2nd degree black belt in skiing this year. I'm still hunching a little too long after the turns on steep mogul runs, but I'm getting straighter a little quicker. I'll have my back straight and be in the rhythm all the time by the end of this season.

I got on nicotine patch starting from the day 1 after skiing this time, and the bottom hasn't fallen out after 3 days. Being on the nicotine for at least 3 days may have prevented the week-long weakness like the last time. But then, it could be just that I struggled the last time because it was the first day of the season. I struggled after the first day last year too. Still, nicotine should've prevented the weakening, and it didn't. And the success this time could've been because it was the second time, not because of nicotine. So, the hypothesis that nicotine is not effective for hard exercises still stands. I'll keep using nicotine throughout this season and see what happens. If the aftermath performance becomes progressively worse, then it'll be same as the last year, or the year before. Which will mean that nicotine didn't make a difference. If the aftermath doesn't get worse, then it's either that nicotine made the difference, or I have made further recovery that I no longer get weaker as the season progresses.

Nicotine Patch Not as Effective for Strenuous Exercise (Aftermath of Skiing #1)

Sierra at Tahoe was known as Sierra Ski Ranch when I was there the last time. Which meant that I haven't been here since the 1990s. It's a minor resort off US-50 and that's probably why I didn't frequent it. US-50 is not as convenient as I-5, so I don't come this way for skiing too often at the first place.  When I come, I'd continue to Heavenly rather than stopping here. The exile to MECFS land for 15 years certainly didn't help either. But I got a season pass for it this year instead of the Epic Pass because the price for Epic Pass went up to $800. The first Saturday of December was the season opener. I went up on Monday the 11th.

The first day of the season, and I was lacking enthusiasm for some reason. I got up late -- the alarm didn't go off -- and I almost gave up. I was still tired from biking 5 miles and then jogging 4 blocks on the 9th and the thought of skiing didn't excite me enough to get me going. It must've been the been-there-done-that syndrome. It's the 5th season since I got back on the slope and the wonderment has been slowly fading since. This year is a continuation of that. But it sure felt nice to be back on the white mountains under the bright sky once I got on the lift chair.

Only one run was open. One foot of snow the week before wasn't nearly enough to cover up the rocks and other obstacles. But they managed to open one beginner slope with the aid of snow-making machines. The lack of challenging runs was a good excuse to work on my techniques and all that squatting to get my turns in shape was enough an exercise for the first day.  I skied for 2 hours in the morning and then 2 more in the afternoon before coming back. 

As usual, the morning after was fine. I had a bit of head pressure, so I swallowed a Sudafed pill. In the evening, I was full of energy. I was in the kitchen for a full hour rattling pots and pans, whistling all the while. I was in the best condition that I could ever be in. Then the bottom predictably fell out the next day. I slapped on the nicotine patch in the morning hoping that I'd stay on my feet, but that did not happen. The 1-hour nap in the morning didn't help either: I was groggy and horizontal all day long. I bounced back a little in the evening though. I stayed on my nicotine/Sudafed for 4 more days till the 16th. I was back on my feet on the 14th, with an aid of the patch and 2-hour nap in the afternoon, and then crashed again on the 15th. 

Back in 2020, I felt that getting knocked out for a day or two was OK. Now, getting knocked out even for a day seems too much. The more I improve, the more I expect, I guess.

So, is the nicotine patch losing its efficacy? Or was the skiing too hard an exercise to paper over with the patch? Taken together with the 40-mile bike ride after which I was under the weather for a week, the answer seems to be the latter. Nicotine patch helps, but not as much as living on the road or in the wilderness. I was able to backpack 75 miles through Yosemite in 7 days, but I'm keeling over after 4 hours of skiing. Which kind of makes sense. Nicotine is a powerful dopamine generator, but not as powerful as striving in places that you've never been before. But it is still more powerful than Sudafed.

40-mile Aftermath and 15-Mile Ride to REI

I was still a bit under the weather from the 40 mile ride the week before. But I had to test the new saddle. Well, I had to because I was itching to test it, not because of any exigency. 

The Bontrager commuter saddle didn't work out. The padding nicely softened after the first ride and provided ample support. But the cutout was too narrow, and it still applied pressure on my groin. I kept finding myself lifting my butt when going over bumps. So, I got this carbon saddle with flat profile and larger cutout from Temu. It was a bit larger than my butt, but it was only $10, so I figured it was a good way to try out larger cutout. If it works out, I'll get a new one of right size and more padding. Selle Italia Boost Free-flow, perhaps. Turned out, it wasn't too big. It fit my butt just fine. 

I wanted to make it another 40 miles, from Guy West Bridge to Rainbow Bridge in Folsom this time. A better sense prevailed, and I decided to do a run-of-the-mill 15-mile ride. I swallowed a Sudafed pill to get me out of the weather and then rode at a leisurely pace of about 7 mph, with 5-minute break every 2.5 miles.

The saddle was a success. At last, I could leave my butt attached to the saddle when going over bumps with confidence. The saddle hardly had any padding, but that didn't matter: the cutout was THE culprit, not the padding. Now I'm itching to get back on the saddle for a long ride. I'll eventually make it to Auburn and back for 80 mile ride. For now though, the ski season is about to begin -- they got a foot of snow in the mountains this week. So I might have to put away the bike till Spring.

The day after the ride, I went on a nicotine patch. I've been up and running like a busy bee, relatively speaking, for the next 3 days. No crash, in other words, except for a 30-minute nap the day after. If that was a crash, it was the shortest one ever. 

So, 15 miles is a piece of cake with Sudafed and nicotine patch. 40 miles is a bit iffy. The patch 2 days after the ride prevented the crash, but I was left weaker and more susceptible to crash for the rest of the week. That is typical of hard crashes. They leave you weaker even after you recover from the crash, so you have to remain well below your baseline for a while. I managed to dodge the crash, but not the weakness that followed. I may have to be on nicotine/Sudafed for a week after a long ride. A lesson learned.

Here is what happened after the 40-mile ride on 11/27. (I recorded it as 35 miles because I didn't account for the detour through the city):

The "Total" column is the number of hours I spent lying down the following day. The total of 3 on the row for 11/24, for example, means that I lied down for 3 hours on 11/25. 

On 11/27, the day of the ride, I had to rest in the evening after 40-mile ride. So, I ended up with 4 hours spent lying down on 11/27. The next day, I only spent 2 hours lying down. That's an excellent performance. Then I spent 4-5 hours lying down starting from 11/29, 2 days after the ride, till 12/3. I colored 12/2 red because spending 5 hours or more (on 12/3) constitutes a bad day. That meant I spent 5 days under the weather. Again, I should stay on nicotine/Sudafed for a week after a hard exercise the next time and see if I can stay out of the weather.

40 Mile Bike Ride

Time to test the new set of Conti 5000S TR. Last Monday, I set out with the goal to get to Sunrise Recreation Area along American River. It would've been 45 miles round trip if it went with no hitch. But the construction work on the levy between REI and Guy West Bridge forced me to take a detour and get lost in the city. I ran out of time and had to turn around at Harold Richey Bridge. I skirted the construction on the way back by riding on the other side of the river. There was a construction around Hwy 99 overpass too, but I snuck in through the construction site and made it to Sutter's Landing on the other side. Including the detour, it was about 40 miles in 5 hours total.

I knew I'd be fine the next day. The dopamine from a heavy exercise would last another 24 hours. I slapped on the nicotine patch on the second day to prevent the bottom from falling out. It seems to have worked. I managed for 3 days without crash. But then, I had to pace for the rest of the week because I became more susceptible to PEM. I may have to stay on nicotine/Sudafed for a week following a heavy exercise, not just for a few days.

So, did I avoid crash with nicotine? It may have. But then, I usually manage without crash at the new season of any activity for a few weeks. So I can't tell with this sample of 1. I'll have to repeat a few times in a month or two and see.

Nicotine Patch Trial

It came to my attention that people's been trying nicotine patch for MECFS and long COVID. The theory goes: the virus antagonizes the nicotine receptors, impairing cholinergic transmission. I don't buy the theory. If the theory is true, people should recover once the virus is gone. Besides, no neuro-impairment does explain Post-Exertional Malaise. But nicotine turned out to be strongly dopaminergic. And dopamine is what downregulates activated microglia. So, I figure it should work at least as well as Sudafed. 

I bought a box of no-name nicotine patch from Amazon and tried 35mg for 6 days. As expected, the effect did not last long. It was effective exactly for 2 days. It was super effective though, while the effect lasted. It's not a viable long-term treatment, but I could use it tactically: with Sudafed, I may be able to keep PEM under control for up to 3 days. My PEM these days usually last less than a day. 3 days at the most after a backpacking, which resembles a normal recovery. (It's more like between normal recovery and PEM). If I can keep PEM under control, I should be able to exercise to my heart's content at home. I already tried it after biking to REI on the 21st, and it appears to be successful. I'll continue the tactic and see if I can keep PEM under control for good.