GREAT week, AWESOME week! I am training, and feeling pretty good considering. I am always surprised every season when I kick it in, and while I do get tired like everyone else, it isn't as big of a deal as I think it will be.
Today I rode with a friend, Dan (who doesn't read my blog), and while I am not quite as fast as him, for the most part I can keep up, and he kept me motivated to push it the entire ride. I ended up riding at IF (intensity factor) of .85, meaning I averaged 85% of threshold power for the entire ride. That's like 1/2 Ironman wattage. So cool, for my first "big" ride out. We had wind, plenty of wind, heat, and some hills, although without the wind they would have been nothing. I totally enjoyed the way LGL handles in the wind--head, cross, you name it. I am still strong riding into the wind, even though this was my first time out this year! I had a blast passing lots of triathletes, who couldn't tell I was one of them since I was riding in "stealth" mode. At one point there was an entire pack of Italian bikes (a Pinarello, a few Colnagos, a Serotta and something else that escapes me), but unfortunately, we couldn't keep pace with them. Give me a few more weeks of solid saddle time, and that will surely change!
I am measuring my wattage based on my FTP from the end of last summer, 186. Even though I thought it had gone done to maybe 170 this winter, I think it's almost back, because 85% is a solid ride for first time out. We shall see.
I also met someone in person today that knows Dan that also knows me, just from reading my blog. That was pretty neat. His name is Fred, and he knows Lora. Apparently, Lora told Fred to read my blog. At one point, Fred emailed me about all my pink stuff, and I thought he was a perv (and I told him so today), but turns out he's just a regular guy. By the way, he had nothing but nice things to say about Lora, as did I!
The ride we did is called the Easter Ride, and they have egg salad sandwiches afterwards. YUM! I LOVE eggs. Earlier this week, I made some egg salad for myself and it was great. I still am a big protein craver/eater--I think it has to do with my Croatian heritage. I don't eat much pork (my pork weakness boils down to Italian prosciutto), really not much beef, either (but when I do it's usually a Porterhouse), but lots of chicken, turkey and fish.
As I was waiting in line to pay up for the ride, we heard that a few miles were being cut out of the farthest distance. The guy in front of me turns to me and says, "So you can ride 50 miles twice." I asked him sweetly (at least I thought so) what made him think I wanted to ride 100 miles today, and he said, "Because you are here early, and the early birds usually want to ride a lot." I told him I didn't really need to ride 100 miles today, then asked if he was going to do so. He proceeded to tell me about what he did the day before, and I surmised he was probably a triathlete, so I asked him what he was training for. "Ironman," he said. What a dork. The correct answer is either a) an Ironman or b) Ironman something (fill in the locale). The way he said it was such that I am sure he hoped to impress the hell out of me, so then I asked him, "Which Ironman?" Then he said, "Wisconsin." I said, "Great!" At one point he did manage to ask me if I had ever done "any triathlons," and I said, "A few."
Now hear me out on this. I respect anyone and everyone who trains for and competes in Ironman. But here's a little revelation: it is not the biggest deal in the whole wide world. I suppose I used to think it was, too, but it's not, and nowadays I'd rather cyclists assume I'm a biker, runners assume I'm a runner, and swimmers assume I'm a (not too great!) swimmer. There are those clever individuals who can tell from my physique that I am probably a triathlete, and probably a long-course one, at that. I always award such people extra points.
I do enjoy it when I meet a new person who says enthusiastically, "I'm training for my first Ironman!!!" That's cool. Be excited, be bursting at the seams wanting to show everyone how great you feel. But don't be, "Oh...I'm training for IRONMAN," like I should worship the ground you stand upon. Not cool. If you're like me and have done a few Ironman races, be the self-assured voice of calm, the voice of experience, ready to help anyone who needs it, but let them talk about their concerns. Listening can be so much fun!
There were these two women that were maybe going to ride with Dan and I, but man, were they helpless or what? Both had just gotten new tri bikes, and apparently, they didn't know how to pump the tires??? I said to one of them, "You mean you don't pump your tires before you put your bike in the car and drive to where you're riding?" I suppose it was a bitchy thing to say, but if someone tells me we are riding at 7:30, then I am READY at 7:30, and it was past that. So then we go to the tech area so these two can get their tires pumped, and they are worried because I tell the dude to go to 120, and the one chic is like, "I don't like them that hard it's not comfortable to ride." WTF??? This girl is not going to like her Ironman race, I can tell you that much. Finally, I grew impatient, and Dan whispered to me that they weren't very fast anyway, so we politely told them we were taking off. PHEW!
Before I started riding today, and I am not kidding about this, there were a few men that looked at my bike like it was a piece of ass! I guess you don't see too many women riding Pinarellos, at least I have never seen one. Then at the last aid station, a few men became enchanted with LGL and even took pictures of her (and me)! I am not sure whether they were "official" photogs for the ride or what, but they were very nice gentlemen, and I was happy to chat with them.
We shall see how I recover from my first big training week of 2007 tomorrow, but truthfully, I don't feel too badly at all. I think what helps is for me to stay on top of my recovery eating. Like last night, I passed out watching TV at 8:00PM, then I woke up at about 8:40 and ate a sandwich and went back to sleep. This morning I ate a Power Bar and about 350 calories of Glycoload, and I think I had enough calories while riding, but I still put a bunch in afterwards, and in the next hour I will be attacking a roast chicken and some green beans. I should have saved a few cannoli from yesterday, but I really don't need to eat that stuff, now do I? However, place your bets now, I bet I will be on the Food Channel (my term for needing to eat rather continuously from failing to replace all calories burned in preceding days) tomorrow, which probably means breakfast, swim, breakfast again, run, eat, snack, lift, snack, dinner, snack, bed (don't worry there is also WORK in there).
Here are the happy totals for the week. Notice for once, SOLID swimming! This is Ironman training, except for the bike volume, he he!
Weekly Totals 04/16/2007-04/22/2007
Swim: 10100 yards (5.73 miles) in 3.57 hours; 20% of weekly workout time; approx. 1249 calories burned
Bike: Approx. 128.92 miles in 7.62 hours; 43% of weekly workout time; approx. 3760 calories burned
Run: Approx. 34.91 miles in 5.15 hours; 29% of weekly workout time; approx. 2336 calories burned
Strength: 1.57 hours; 9% of weekly workout time; approx. 393 calories burned
All Sports: Approx. 169.56 miles in 17.91 hours; approx. 7738 calories burned
Sleep: 8.36 hours avg./night
Stretching: 3.43 hours. Massage: 0 hours
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Saturday, April 21, 2007
AWESOME!
It's Saturday, and I am fucking tired, but happy! I am TRAINING, it is HARD, the weather is BEAUTIFUL and I'm EXHAUSTED!
14 hours through today; tomorrow I'm going to try and pound out 68 miles on LGL.
Today I rode 2:15 on the Bitch, then ran :40, then swam :20. The ride was fairly easy stuff, although I did crank up the watts whenever I could. In retrospect, I am sure it will be a GOOD thing that I rode easy today. When I started running, I felt like crap, like leaden legs, like puking, like I didn't want to keep going. But I forced myself, and went out against the wind, hoping I might gain an advantage on the way home. I felt like I was running in slow motion, but it turns out I ran 8:15/mile??? Where the hell did that come from? Oh, yeah, I guess running 4 days in a row will do that. The swim was just to recover from the shit.
I washed Bitchie, since I hadn't given her a good scrub down since last September--when I returned from Miami last November, it was too cold outside for me to wash her outdoors, so I only gave her a "sponge bath." I know she appreciated the cleaning today, and then I dropped her off at the bike shop for her annual tuneup. I also took a box of cannolis for the guys at the shop, and I know they are totally appreciated! I joked with all of them: "Leave the bike; take the cannoli." Extra points if you know what movie a line like that came from.
I'm a bit pissed that I can't really fit 2 "normal size" bottles in cages on LGL--I am not sure what I'm going to do about that, but I am sure there will be some sort of custom solution. DAMN ITALIAN BIKE WITH SMALL FRAME!
On a good note, I weighed the Bitch and also La Gazza Ladra to compare notes. Bitch weighs 21.6 lbs. (probably 3 less with race wheels on) and LGL weighs in at 17, so noticeably lighter.
At one point today while I was riding, the song, "I Think I Love You" by the Partridge Family came into my head. What was THAT about? Although I modified the lyrics to "I think I'm Hungry" and proceeded to down a gel.
EVERY cyclist I saw today had this huge grin on their face. It made it almost to 80 degrees today, although I was riding when it was still cool--in the 60's--and I was wearing shorts and a short-sleeved jersey and everyone else had tights and long shirts on. I guess I must run hot or something.
I'm getting a suntan, and at least when I look at myself in the mirror I don't think I look quite so disgusting. AGING SUCKS! But then again, I HATE the way I look in the winter, and spring and summer bring higher humidity which my skin absolutely loves and just being outside and riding my bikes and running even when I feel crappy and then the world seems right.
Another thought I had today was that you have to every so often think you are AWESOME. Think about all the awesome-ness you have in whatever areas of your life, and celebrate how AWESOME you are. I had that feeling for awhile today, and it made me think how sad it is for someone to go through life never feeling that way. Even if all it is is that you feel AWESOME right at that moment. That's what living in the moment is all about. Giving yourself unlimited opportunities to feel AWESOME, so that you are able to seize them and feel the AWESOMENESS that is you and your life and everything. Especially when there is so much bad and evil and sadness that also goes on in life (that you need to experience, too), you need to be open to the AWESOMENESS or else you will miss it. Sometimes you have deferred AWESOMENESS, as for me today while I was running I felt like SHIT, but I persevered (which is one of the things that makes me AWESOME), and when all was said and done, I had run much faster than I thought I was, and then I got to feel AWESOME.
Anyone reading this--go out and be, feel and experience AWESOMENESS for a few minutes, or more than that. It truly IS AWESOME!
14 hours through today; tomorrow I'm going to try and pound out 68 miles on LGL.
Today I rode 2:15 on the Bitch, then ran :40, then swam :20. The ride was fairly easy stuff, although I did crank up the watts whenever I could. In retrospect, I am sure it will be a GOOD thing that I rode easy today. When I started running, I felt like crap, like leaden legs, like puking, like I didn't want to keep going. But I forced myself, and went out against the wind, hoping I might gain an advantage on the way home. I felt like I was running in slow motion, but it turns out I ran 8:15/mile??? Where the hell did that come from? Oh, yeah, I guess running 4 days in a row will do that. The swim was just to recover from the shit.
I washed Bitchie, since I hadn't given her a good scrub down since last September--when I returned from Miami last November, it was too cold outside for me to wash her outdoors, so I only gave her a "sponge bath." I know she appreciated the cleaning today, and then I dropped her off at the bike shop for her annual tuneup. I also took a box of cannolis for the guys at the shop, and I know they are totally appreciated! I joked with all of them: "Leave the bike; take the cannoli." Extra points if you know what movie a line like that came from.
I'm a bit pissed that I can't really fit 2 "normal size" bottles in cages on LGL--I am not sure what I'm going to do about that, but I am sure there will be some sort of custom solution. DAMN ITALIAN BIKE WITH SMALL FRAME!
On a good note, I weighed the Bitch and also La Gazza Ladra to compare notes. Bitch weighs 21.6 lbs. (probably 3 less with race wheels on) and LGL weighs in at 17, so noticeably lighter.
At one point today while I was riding, the song, "I Think I Love You" by the Partridge Family came into my head. What was THAT about? Although I modified the lyrics to "I think I'm Hungry" and proceeded to down a gel.
EVERY cyclist I saw today had this huge grin on their face. It made it almost to 80 degrees today, although I was riding when it was still cool--in the 60's--and I was wearing shorts and a short-sleeved jersey and everyone else had tights and long shirts on. I guess I must run hot or something.
I'm getting a suntan, and at least when I look at myself in the mirror I don't think I look quite so disgusting. AGING SUCKS! But then again, I HATE the way I look in the winter, and spring and summer bring higher humidity which my skin absolutely loves and just being outside and riding my bikes and running even when I feel crappy and then the world seems right.
Another thought I had today was that you have to every so often think you are AWESOME. Think about all the awesome-ness you have in whatever areas of your life, and celebrate how AWESOME you are. I had that feeling for awhile today, and it made me think how sad it is for someone to go through life never feeling that way. Even if all it is is that you feel AWESOME right at that moment. That's what living in the moment is all about. Giving yourself unlimited opportunities to feel AWESOME, so that you are able to seize them and feel the AWESOMENESS that is you and your life and everything. Especially when there is so much bad and evil and sadness that also goes on in life (that you need to experience, too), you need to be open to the AWESOMENESS or else you will miss it. Sometimes you have deferred AWESOMENESS, as for me today while I was running I felt like SHIT, but I persevered (which is one of the things that makes me AWESOME), and when all was said and done, I had run much faster than I thought I was, and then I got to feel AWESOME.
Anyone reading this--go out and be, feel and experience AWESOMENESS for a few minutes, or more than that. It truly IS AWESOME!
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Very Bad Girls
Cindy didn't tell me she was on the cover of Rolling Stone. I SWEAR that's her on the left. Now if only that was me on the right (sigh).
It's a good thing Cindy and I didn't go to college together. We truly would have been VERY BAD GIRLS.
Someday we will make good on one of our fantasies which is to host a talk show simply called, "The Critics." She and I would wear referree shirts and just criticize anything, anyone, anytime.
OK, so that goes against my generally Buddhist-esque ethic, but I'm entitled to a few vices every now and then, right?
Here's a short list of things Cindy and I would rail on:
- Clueless minivan drivers on cell phones
- People with too much hair. And we are not just talking about on the head.
- Women who don't know how to change a flat tire (ooh, I'm so HELPLESS!). Bike or car, take your pick!
- Anyone who is naive enough to think that all of their personal idols are absolutely clean (drug-free), God-fearing individuals
- Passive-aggressiveness
- People who don't drink coffee and act like those who do are on drugs
- People who wince when seeing either Cindy or me wearing a Crackhead shirt
- Anyone who thinks I'm too old to wear a lot of *PINK*
- Overly-PC individuals. Hey, I'm the first to admit I'm a fairly bleeding-heart liberal, but even I have my limits. I'd like to attend a bachelorette party with Chief Illiniwek doing a strip-tease, for example. Or Ricky Martin. Or Daniel Craig. Speaking of which, why aren't there James Bond bike jerseys? I would be all over that!
Today's deviation from the normally tame, triathlon-oriented subject matter is brought to you by a combination of it being spring (FINALLY!), a new bike, and getting back on the training horse!
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
LGL and I Rode Outside Today!!!!!
I still have the hugest shit-faced grin on my face. I only rode for 1:40 (planned 1:30), but I wanted to ride for 4 hours.
Here's how it went down:
I loaded up one bottle of lemonade flavored Gatorade in a suitable (until I get an "official" Pinarello one) bottle. I chose my outfit: black/white/red Horribly Hilly Hundreds jersey and red tri shorts (sorry, roadies, I have a lot of those and they fit me well), low cut socks, silver Rudy Project sunglasses. I suited up and got ready to go.
Temperature: 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Winds 10-15MPH, gusting to 25. Perfect Tuesday interval weather!
I was a bit anxious what with the new pedals and all, so first I rode down my street to a stop sign just to try out the old brake and unclip on the right side. Seemed fine! Did a U-turn, and while doing it I am already starting to think, "OMG, OMG, OMG!"
The bike weighs NOTHING. It feels like an extension of my body--it flows with me. It's stiff, responsive, and did I say STIFF? The wheel hubs make a really nice sound when coasting.
This is just riding 2 blocks to the first T-intersection. I'm looking at the Ergomo and yes, WE HAVE POWER! WE HAVE LOTS OF POWER! WITHOUT MUCH EFFORT! Now I'm looking forward to some gentle hills, even though I am just warming up.
I got the hang of unclipping really quickly, although I did unclip a bit earlier than I usually would before coming to a full stop. Clipping in--I'm working on that. A few times I got in without looking, but it will take a little getting used to. No worries!
I couldn't help but keep this smile on my face as I'm getting close to my interval loop. I have never ridden a bike like this, and I kept thinking, "Is this REALLY my bike?" And then it was time for some intervals, and I was stinking happy the entire time, and I hit all my wattage targets. I was HAPPY when the wind picked up, and I was HAPPY when a stinky cloud decided to sprinkle on me. It was all good! I almost even took a spin on this side street that is, I kid you not, COBBLED. But I'll save the cobbles for another time.
The bike is a dream, and I can't wait to get her on some REAL hills. Sadly, my Bitch is going to get a bit dusty for a few weeks, but she'll have her opportunity in June and July.
I called my LBS to tell them how happy I am with this, and especially that they recommended this frame to me. It's absolutely PERFECT for me. My only concern is that a stiff crosswind will literally blow me over, the thing is so light! Tough problem to have, I think!
Here are some snippets from my thoughts during my ride today:
Here's how it went down:
I loaded up one bottle of lemonade flavored Gatorade in a suitable (until I get an "official" Pinarello one) bottle. I chose my outfit: black/white/red Horribly Hilly Hundreds jersey and red tri shorts (sorry, roadies, I have a lot of those and they fit me well), low cut socks, silver Rudy Project sunglasses. I suited up and got ready to go.
Temperature: 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Winds 10-15MPH, gusting to 25. Perfect Tuesday interval weather!
I was a bit anxious what with the new pedals and all, so first I rode down my street to a stop sign just to try out the old brake and unclip on the right side. Seemed fine! Did a U-turn, and while doing it I am already starting to think, "OMG, OMG, OMG!"
The bike weighs NOTHING. It feels like an extension of my body--it flows with me. It's stiff, responsive, and did I say STIFF? The wheel hubs make a really nice sound when coasting.
This is just riding 2 blocks to the first T-intersection. I'm looking at the Ergomo and yes, WE HAVE POWER! WE HAVE LOTS OF POWER! WITHOUT MUCH EFFORT! Now I'm looking forward to some gentle hills, even though I am just warming up.
I got the hang of unclipping really quickly, although I did unclip a bit earlier than I usually would before coming to a full stop. Clipping in--I'm working on that. A few times I got in without looking, but it will take a little getting used to. No worries!
I couldn't help but keep this smile on my face as I'm getting close to my interval loop. I have never ridden a bike like this, and I kept thinking, "Is this REALLY my bike?" And then it was time for some intervals, and I was stinking happy the entire time, and I hit all my wattage targets. I was HAPPY when the wind picked up, and I was HAPPY when a stinky cloud decided to sprinkle on me. It was all good! I almost even took a spin on this side street that is, I kid you not, COBBLED. But I'll save the cobbles for another time.
The bike is a dream, and I can't wait to get her on some REAL hills. Sadly, my Bitch is going to get a bit dusty for a few weeks, but she'll have her opportunity in June and July.
I called my LBS to tell them how happy I am with this, and especially that they recommended this frame to me. It's absolutely PERFECT for me. My only concern is that a stiff crosswind will literally blow me over, the thing is so light! Tough problem to have, I think!
Here are some snippets from my thoughts during my ride today:
- OMG, OMG, OMG, this thing is so light
- This bike is FUCKING AWESOME
- My bike is nicer than YOUR CAR
- I'd rather have this bike than YOUR CAR
- DON'T TRY AND OUTRUN ME YOU WILL LOSE!
- I can't wait to ride in some mountains!
- I need some roadie kits
- I don't care what kind of funky tan I get from wearing gloves.
- I don't know if it's possible to have sex with a bike but I think I just about did!
Sunday, April 15, 2007
La Vita e Bella and Weekly Workout Totals 04/09/2007-04/15/2007
I haven't been outside on LGL (abbreviated name for La Gazza Ladra) yet, but I did get to ride her for 4 hours over the weekend. New bike, new trainer, new shoes, new orthotics in the shoes, but as one of my LBSG's noted, "But everything else is the same."
I've been trying for over a year to find a new trainer that works for me. I've had a Blackburn Defender (magnetic) since 2001, and let's just say I put the hurt to that piece of equipment. I can still use it, but it's become noisy, and I wore down the roller. I tried a unit from Performance Bicycle (hated it--gave it to my brother, Tom), and then I got a Cycleops, which I used begrudgingly, but didn't feel was still the right one for me. A couple of weeks ago, I bought and tried the newest Blackburn, the Ultra. Aside from a stupid way of adjusting the overall resistance (you have to take apart the roller mechanism, which trust me, involves a critical spring flying across whatever room you are in, and of course the thing is nearly invisible unless you are on white carpet), I thought it might be OK for me, but after 2 tries, I decided not and returned it.
I was back on the old Blackburn contemplating what to do, when I received an email from Bike Nashbar about a sale on the Tacx Satori. I looked at its specs online, and it seemed like it would work for me, but the nice thing was that I was able to do an online chat with someone at Bike Nashbar and I told him specifically what my parameters are for a trainer. He assured me it would work, but that I could return it if it didn't. I placed the order Wednesday, and I didn't expect to receive it until next week sometime. But it arrived on Friday, and I knew it was supposed to be cool this weekend, so I figured, what the hell, may as well put it together.
So late Friday afternoon, I'm sitting on the stairs with parts all over my foyer floor drinking a beer, trying to interpret the assembly instructions. There weren't that many parts, but of course, the pictures and words seemed a bit incomplete. Once I figured out what they meant by "shove magnetic unit into part K," I was in business. They really meant shove! I thought I was done with the hard stuff, but then I couldn't figure out how the roller was supposed to fit to the rear tire. I'd had enough with the thing Friday night, and decided to sleep on it.
Saturday morning, I look on the Tacx website, and voila, they have ACTUAL INSTRUCTIONS on how you are supposed to adjust various parts to get the roller to the wheel and make the thing go! Yee-haw! I printed the online FAQ and stowed it with the instructions that came with the unit (why they didn't include this last critical bit in the box I will never know).
Next order of business was learning how to and performing the offset crap for the Ergomo. Most power meters have a pre-ride ritual to them whereby you ensure the computer in the meter on the bars is properly communicating with the computer in the bottom bracket (for Ergomo and SRM) or the rear wheel hub (for Power Tap). The SRM process is really simple--while the bike is stationary, you "awaken" the meter and spin the cranks backwards for a few seconds, and then capture the offset reading. Easy-peasy. For the Ergomo, though, you need to spin the cranks FORWARD in the HIGHEST POSSIBLE GEAR, and then watch the meter at the same time, so basically this means the bike needs to be clamped to something (for most normal people) in order to perform the procedure. So guess what? Now I am going to buy a professional bike stand, which will be a good thing to have anyway, since it makes washing the bikes much easier. But I need to be sure that the one I buy can both clamp onto the nice, elongated seat post (gently) of LGL as well as the freaking aero seat tube of the Bitch.
Anyway, I did the Ergomo offset thing with LGL on the new trainer, and finally got a ride going. Woo-hoo! All KINDS of fucking power with this new trainer. I mean the thing is (almost) infinitely adjustable to the point where you can pick a gearing, a cadence, and have at it, meaning there are many combinations you can choose from in order to generate a given wattage. I HEART THE TACX! For those of you who don't ride with power, well, you are missing out on a ton of fun--a good trainer plus a power meter can actually make trainer riding tolerable.
And then there were the new bike shoes. I kept adjusting the straps to get them "just right" on each foot. Since I was a lazy ass and got started late and had to figure out the trainer and then the Ergomo, I cut my ride short to only 1:45 so I could get in a short recovery swim while there was open lap swim between 12:00 and 1:00PM. When I got to the pool deck, 2 of my favorite guys were sharing a lane--Chad and Mike. We had some chuckles, and at one point Mike (oh, the HORROR) grazed my thigh from his lane while doing backstroke! I just laughed about it, because he's an awesome swimmer, and for some reason, I don't mind when GOOD swimmers are touching me! When we both got to the wall, I had a great laugh with Chad and Mike, and I told them that THEY are allowed to touch me whenever they want but nobody else.
After swimming, I inhaled some lunch and then headed out for what I call an "odyssey," i.e., a bunch of errands arranged in such a way that I keep going for several hours. Did you know that Fedex sets their driver routes so they optimize the number of right-hand turns they make, which ends up saving gas? I should have patented my odyssey routing! I do the same thing. As much fun as it can be to be driving around on a sunny day, it is wasteful to "just drive," so I had set a route to get a number of things done.
First stop: Oriental market. Dried shiitake mushrooms (they have nearly a whole aisle of dried fungus), Moon cakes, miscellaneous condiments, and I scored some freshly-made spring rolls and seaweed salad (for snack food). I ate one of the 3 Moon cakes as soon as I got back to my car. The filling was GREEN! I don't know what type of bean paste was used in these, but I guess it was green. Not the greatest Moon cake I've had, but it was good enough.
Next stop: Home Depot for a grounded outlet to replace one that has gone bad in one of my bathrooms. Nice of them to have the old self-checkout so I could do the old in-out quickly.
Next stop: Fabric store, to get 8 pillow forms, zippers for said pillows (to be made for family and friends) and buttons for some things to be made for family and friends. It was my lucky day, as the pillow forms were 40% off! Only thing is being how recently I had worked out and rehydrated, I had to piss like a race horse, the checkout line was too long, and they wouldn't let me use their restroom. I nearly did a "metal shrubbery" pee (ask Cindy about that--she knows I will pee almost anywhere--the metal "shrub" is the car door, opened of course), but in the interest of being in plain sight in a suburban mall parking lot, I went into Toys 'R Us, assuming they would have a public restroom, which they did, and while I was there, I looked around and almost bought another Barbie doll. But I had will power! So I was able to head back to the fabric store and complete my itinerary, since I didn't want to have to come back in a couple of weeks.
Next stop: Grocery store. By the time I got there, lunch was long gone, and I was beginning to feel hypoglycemic. But I made it through, got home, and began eating more or less continuously until sleepy time.
When I woke up today, I wasn't optimistic about an outdoor ride since it was 22! I was OK with it, though, as I would only need to go 2:15 (:15 extra to make up for Saturday), and then run :35 off the bike. I asked my Magic 8-Ball if I would be able to generate my full power today, and it told me "It is decidedly so," and that got me motivated, PLUS my newspaper was delivered by 6:00AM (albeit he dropped it more or less on the street instead of onto my driveway, bastard), so I was all set to have a good ride.
And good ride I had! I just about hit my wattage targets for the first time in many, many weeks. And with this new trainer, I could generate whatever I wanted at whatever cadence I wanted. I tend to like to warmup at 90-100RPM, but then drop to 85-95 for intervals. I could tweak my gearing, tweak the trainer resistance, so I was happy, HAPPY!
The 2:15 passed pretty quickly. I was quite surprised at how un-bored I was. I have been eating Clif Bloks on the trainer rides, and let me tell you how much they SUCK. I mean the taste is good, but I am not that into CHEWING while I am riding. It would be nice if the damn things melted in your mouth, BUT NO! I would never take these on an outdoor ride because they come in a package which you basically rip open and then you can't close it up. 1 package has 6 blocks, and I can only "eat" one at a time, even though you need to eat THREE to get 100 calories, unlike a gel which is down the hatch like an oyster in one big gulp. But hey, they were free, so what the hell, I can eat free shit on the trainer, right?
And now, ladies and gentleman, for some running off a road bike. Last week's episode did not go so well, so I was a bit anxious. I did feel my adductors for about 1/4 mile, but other than that, it was just the usual sick-to-my-stomach-hard-brick feeling. Meaning I had put the power to the pedals! I ran a bit slower than I would have liked (8:50/mile for 4 miles), but with everything I did this week, that was fine. I am sure I will get down to more like 8:30/mile over the next few weeks.
Did I say that I AM FUCKING TRAINING NOW????? Yes, kids, I'm actually training. I made a schedule through Triple T, emailed it to my coach and asked him to bless it. It looks good on paper, anyway. I told him that as long as I had signed up for this shit that I might as well train, and well, 12-13 hours to me just does not qualify as training. So starting last week, I began stepping it up, and I had a GREAT week this past week.
What's awesome about the weekly training totals below is that this is the most average hours of sleep and total stretching time since early January! With the newspaper delivery noise issue fixed, I am not being awakened at 4:00AM, and I guess I had a bit of stress there over the new bike thing and the taxes thing (those are done and I don't owe a ton of money, phew!), and all of that is gone, and I am really prepared to train properly so that I can be competitive at Triple T and then maybe even get psyched for another Ironman? I guess mostly I am just ready to really train now, but I am grateful for this past winter because I learned some new things about myself.
I still love my "other" hobbies, and I laugh whenever someone finds out that I do "other" stuff besides swim, bike, run, lift weights, talk about those things, plan for those things, and associate with people who do those things. I absolutely LOVE sewing, cooking, gardening, listening to music, and I think I may get on playing the piano again.
But don't worry--I still LOVE this triathlon thing (even though a friend, Steve, after looking at LGL's pictures, insinuated that I would be done with triathlon), but especially this riding the bike thing, because it does give me great amounts of personal joy, and I still absolutely love sharing my knowledge and experience with others.
Here ya go. Now THIS is what I call starting to train!
Weekly Totals 04/09/2007-04/15/2007
Swim: 9500 yards (5.39 miles) in 3.43 hours; 22% of weekly workout time; approx. 1202 calories burned
Bike: Approx. 94.8 miles in 5.42 hours; 35% of weekly workout time; approx. 2500 calories burned
Run: Approx. 31.04 miles in 4.78 hours; 31% of weekly workout time; approx. 2168 calories burned
Strength: 1.97 hours; 13% of weekly workout time; approx. 493 calories burned
All Sports: Approx. 131.23 miles in 15.6 hours; approx. 6363 calories burned
Sleep: 8.79 hours avg./night
Stretching: 3.28 hours. Massage: 1.5 hours
I've been trying for over a year to find a new trainer that works for me. I've had a Blackburn Defender (magnetic) since 2001, and let's just say I put the hurt to that piece of equipment. I can still use it, but it's become noisy, and I wore down the roller. I tried a unit from Performance Bicycle (hated it--gave it to my brother, Tom), and then I got a Cycleops, which I used begrudgingly, but didn't feel was still the right one for me. A couple of weeks ago, I bought and tried the newest Blackburn, the Ultra. Aside from a stupid way of adjusting the overall resistance (you have to take apart the roller mechanism, which trust me, involves a critical spring flying across whatever room you are in, and of course the thing is nearly invisible unless you are on white carpet), I thought it might be OK for me, but after 2 tries, I decided not and returned it.
I was back on the old Blackburn contemplating what to do, when I received an email from Bike Nashbar about a sale on the Tacx Satori. I looked at its specs online, and it seemed like it would work for me, but the nice thing was that I was able to do an online chat with someone at Bike Nashbar and I told him specifically what my parameters are for a trainer. He assured me it would work, but that I could return it if it didn't. I placed the order Wednesday, and I didn't expect to receive it until next week sometime. But it arrived on Friday, and I knew it was supposed to be cool this weekend, so I figured, what the hell, may as well put it together.
So late Friday afternoon, I'm sitting on the stairs with parts all over my foyer floor drinking a beer, trying to interpret the assembly instructions. There weren't that many parts, but of course, the pictures and words seemed a bit incomplete. Once I figured out what they meant by "shove magnetic unit into part K," I was in business. They really meant shove! I thought I was done with the hard stuff, but then I couldn't figure out how the roller was supposed to fit to the rear tire. I'd had enough with the thing Friday night, and decided to sleep on it.
Saturday morning, I look on the Tacx website, and voila, they have ACTUAL INSTRUCTIONS on how you are supposed to adjust various parts to get the roller to the wheel and make the thing go! Yee-haw! I printed the online FAQ and stowed it with the instructions that came with the unit (why they didn't include this last critical bit in the box I will never know).
Next order of business was learning how to and performing the offset crap for the Ergomo. Most power meters have a pre-ride ritual to them whereby you ensure the computer in the meter on the bars is properly communicating with the computer in the bottom bracket (for Ergomo and SRM) or the rear wheel hub (for Power Tap). The SRM process is really simple--while the bike is stationary, you "awaken" the meter and spin the cranks backwards for a few seconds, and then capture the offset reading. Easy-peasy. For the Ergomo, though, you need to spin the cranks FORWARD in the HIGHEST POSSIBLE GEAR, and then watch the meter at the same time, so basically this means the bike needs to be clamped to something (for most normal people) in order to perform the procedure. So guess what? Now I am going to buy a professional bike stand, which will be a good thing to have anyway, since it makes washing the bikes much easier. But I need to be sure that the one I buy can both clamp onto the nice, elongated seat post (gently) of LGL as well as the freaking aero seat tube of the Bitch.
Anyway, I did the Ergomo offset thing with LGL on the new trainer, and finally got a ride going. Woo-hoo! All KINDS of fucking power with this new trainer. I mean the thing is (almost) infinitely adjustable to the point where you can pick a gearing, a cadence, and have at it, meaning there are many combinations you can choose from in order to generate a given wattage. I HEART THE TACX! For those of you who don't ride with power, well, you are missing out on a ton of fun--a good trainer plus a power meter can actually make trainer riding tolerable.
And then there were the new bike shoes. I kept adjusting the straps to get them "just right" on each foot. Since I was a lazy ass and got started late and had to figure out the trainer and then the Ergomo, I cut my ride short to only 1:45 so I could get in a short recovery swim while there was open lap swim between 12:00 and 1:00PM. When I got to the pool deck, 2 of my favorite guys were sharing a lane--Chad and Mike. We had some chuckles, and at one point Mike (oh, the HORROR) grazed my thigh from his lane while doing backstroke! I just laughed about it, because he's an awesome swimmer, and for some reason, I don't mind when GOOD swimmers are touching me! When we both got to the wall, I had a great laugh with Chad and Mike, and I told them that THEY are allowed to touch me whenever they want but nobody else.
After swimming, I inhaled some lunch and then headed out for what I call an "odyssey," i.e., a bunch of errands arranged in such a way that I keep going for several hours. Did you know that Fedex sets their driver routes so they optimize the number of right-hand turns they make, which ends up saving gas? I should have patented my odyssey routing! I do the same thing. As much fun as it can be to be driving around on a sunny day, it is wasteful to "just drive," so I had set a route to get a number of things done.
First stop: Oriental market. Dried shiitake mushrooms (they have nearly a whole aisle of dried fungus), Moon cakes, miscellaneous condiments, and I scored some freshly-made spring rolls and seaweed salad (for snack food). I ate one of the 3 Moon cakes as soon as I got back to my car. The filling was GREEN! I don't know what type of bean paste was used in these, but I guess it was green. Not the greatest Moon cake I've had, but it was good enough.
Next stop: Home Depot for a grounded outlet to replace one that has gone bad in one of my bathrooms. Nice of them to have the old self-checkout so I could do the old in-out quickly.
Next stop: Fabric store, to get 8 pillow forms, zippers for said pillows (to be made for family and friends) and buttons for some things to be made for family and friends. It was my lucky day, as the pillow forms were 40% off! Only thing is being how recently I had worked out and rehydrated, I had to piss like a race horse, the checkout line was too long, and they wouldn't let me use their restroom. I nearly did a "metal shrubbery" pee (ask Cindy about that--she knows I will pee almost anywhere--the metal "shrub" is the car door, opened of course), but in the interest of being in plain sight in a suburban mall parking lot, I went into Toys 'R Us, assuming they would have a public restroom, which they did, and while I was there, I looked around and almost bought another Barbie doll. But I had will power! So I was able to head back to the fabric store and complete my itinerary, since I didn't want to have to come back in a couple of weeks.
Next stop: Grocery store. By the time I got there, lunch was long gone, and I was beginning to feel hypoglycemic. But I made it through, got home, and began eating more or less continuously until sleepy time.
When I woke up today, I wasn't optimistic about an outdoor ride since it was 22! I was OK with it, though, as I would only need to go 2:15 (:15 extra to make up for Saturday), and then run :35 off the bike. I asked my Magic 8-Ball if I would be able to generate my full power today, and it told me "It is decidedly so," and that got me motivated, PLUS my newspaper was delivered by 6:00AM (albeit he dropped it more or less on the street instead of onto my driveway, bastard), so I was all set to have a good ride.
And good ride I had! I just about hit my wattage targets for the first time in many, many weeks. And with this new trainer, I could generate whatever I wanted at whatever cadence I wanted. I tend to like to warmup at 90-100RPM, but then drop to 85-95 for intervals. I could tweak my gearing, tweak the trainer resistance, so I was happy, HAPPY!
The 2:15 passed pretty quickly. I was quite surprised at how un-bored I was. I have been eating Clif Bloks on the trainer rides, and let me tell you how much they SUCK. I mean the taste is good, but I am not that into CHEWING while I am riding. It would be nice if the damn things melted in your mouth, BUT NO! I would never take these on an outdoor ride because they come in a package which you basically rip open and then you can't close it up. 1 package has 6 blocks, and I can only "eat" one at a time, even though you need to eat THREE to get 100 calories, unlike a gel which is down the hatch like an oyster in one big gulp. But hey, they were free, so what the hell, I can eat free shit on the trainer, right?
And now, ladies and gentleman, for some running off a road bike. Last week's episode did not go so well, so I was a bit anxious. I did feel my adductors for about 1/4 mile, but other than that, it was just the usual sick-to-my-stomach-hard-brick feeling. Meaning I had put the power to the pedals! I ran a bit slower than I would have liked (8:50/mile for 4 miles), but with everything I did this week, that was fine. I am sure I will get down to more like 8:30/mile over the next few weeks.
Did I say that I AM FUCKING TRAINING NOW????? Yes, kids, I'm actually training. I made a schedule through Triple T, emailed it to my coach and asked him to bless it. It looks good on paper, anyway. I told him that as long as I had signed up for this shit that I might as well train, and well, 12-13 hours to me just does not qualify as training. So starting last week, I began stepping it up, and I had a GREAT week this past week.
What's awesome about the weekly training totals below is that this is the most average hours of sleep and total stretching time since early January! With the newspaper delivery noise issue fixed, I am not being awakened at 4:00AM, and I guess I had a bit of stress there over the new bike thing and the taxes thing (those are done and I don't owe a ton of money, phew!), and all of that is gone, and I am really prepared to train properly so that I can be competitive at Triple T and then maybe even get psyched for another Ironman? I guess mostly I am just ready to really train now, but I am grateful for this past winter because I learned some new things about myself.
I still love my "other" hobbies, and I laugh whenever someone finds out that I do "other" stuff besides swim, bike, run, lift weights, talk about those things, plan for those things, and associate with people who do those things. I absolutely LOVE sewing, cooking, gardening, listening to music, and I think I may get on playing the piano again.
But don't worry--I still LOVE this triathlon thing (even though a friend, Steve, after looking at LGL's pictures, insinuated that I would be done with triathlon), but especially this riding the bike thing, because it does give me great amounts of personal joy, and I still absolutely love sharing my knowledge and experience with others.
Here ya go. Now THIS is what I call starting to train!
Weekly Totals 04/09/2007-04/15/2007
Swim: 9500 yards (5.39 miles) in 3.43 hours; 22% of weekly workout time; approx. 1202 calories burned
Bike: Approx. 94.8 miles in 5.42 hours; 35% of weekly workout time; approx. 2500 calories burned
Run: Approx. 31.04 miles in 4.78 hours; 31% of weekly workout time; approx. 2168 calories burned
Strength: 1.97 hours; 13% of weekly workout time; approx. 493 calories burned
All Sports: Approx. 131.23 miles in 15.6 hours; approx. 6363 calories burned
Sleep: 8.79 hours avg./night
Stretching: 3.28 hours. Massage: 1.5 hours
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Introducing La Gazza Ladra
Forgive me as I just got the digital camera 2 days ago, and also excuse my decor, etc. Yes, I have a lobster light, and no that ugly cage is not the final one--I'm getting Arundel Tridents, and they haven't arrived yet.
I am ordering my custom decals this week--as per previous post, "La Gazza Ladra" will be on the front forks (see photo in previous post), and the little magpie birds will be on the white area of the top tube just in front of the seat post.
Giddy up!
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Weekly Workout Totals 04/02/2007-04/08/2007 and Bike/Misc. Update
I got the bike, I GOT THE BIKE! It is absolutely gorgeous. I think the entire thing weighs under 10 pounds. I don't have the cages yet, but should have them this week or next, and I've configured the lettering I want for the front forks and found a great picture of her namesake that will go on both sides of the top tube. Whaddya think??? The lettering will be about 4" long, and will be white to go on the front forks, and the bird will be over the white part of the top tube, wait until you see the frame!!!
I also broke down and got a digital camera last night, so the battery is charging, and I will be taking pics and hopefully posting them tomorrow.
Since I acquired a new power meter (Ergomo), I had to mess with that today as well to get it set up for me to use it.
It has been snowing/raining all day--it sucks, but I guess it's a good thing while I get all my electronic gadgets configured and software installed on my computer.
My taxes are almost done and I don't owe much money (relatively)!
Serendipitously, I received an announcement about a sale on a particular trainer that I think (according to the tech guy I chatted with this morning) may fit the bill as a replacement for my old, trusty Blackburn, so I ordered that today. I picked up the newest Blackburn 2 weeks ago, tried it, and it's a no-go. The one I have ordered is a Tacx Satori, which is fairly top of the line, and given it has TEN resistance settings, and it's magnetic and not progressive resistance, AND it's used by pro cyclists, I am thinking third time is a charm. Let's hope, anyway! I told the tech guy what my FTP is and he said it would work. We shall see! Hopefully, by the time I get the thing I won't need it!
It looks like it will still be rather cold this weekend, so I will probably break down and change the rear tire on La Gazza Ladra and stick her on the trainer (I just can't stomach wearing down brand new Vittoria's on the trainer even for a couple of rides) to try her out and adjust the cleat tension and get used to those.
I tried my new bike shoe inserts (orthotics) with my Speedplay pedals on the Bitch, and while they do help me pedal better and put my legs/knees in a better anatomical position, it's creating some new aches and pains as my body adjusts to them. I rode indoors on Sunday with them for about 2/3 of the ride, and when I headed outside to run, my legs were totally fucked up--my adductors were like I had been on a horse for hours or something. But I'm strong, and I expect all this to resolve this week and next.
I may be heading to Colorado for a week on business, and if I go, I will probably take the new steedlet so I can ride some mountains!
I'm getting my real contact lens prescription tomorrow so I should be able to see properly again--the temporary lenses aren't bad, but they aren't my exact prescription.
So you can see I've been rather busy, and to boot, I'm inching up in my so-called "training." I still don't feel like I'm really training--just "working out." But I'm getting my volume back up, and I think a change in the weather for the good will be just the motivation I need to get prepared for Triple T. I'm still not excited about an Ironman, but who knows what can happen when the weather turns warm and you've got a beautiful new bike to ride?
I do not have a buyer for my Trek and I also have a Cycleops trainer for sale (CHEAP!) if anyone is interested.
Here's what I got done last week in the midst of a lot of other activity:
Weekly Totals 04/02/2007-04/08/2007
Swim: 8600 yards (4.88 miles) in 3.03 hours; 22% of weekly workout time; approx. 1062 calories burned
Bike: Approx. 84.59 miles in 4.83 hours; 35% of weekly workout time; approx. 2288 calories burned
Run: Approx. 28.99 miles in 4.5 hours; 33% of weekly workout time; approx. 2048 calories burned
Strength: 1.45 hours; 10% of weekly workout time; approx. 363 calories burned
All Sports: Approx. 118.46 miles in 13.81 hours; approx. 5761 calories burned
Sleep: 8.46 hours avg./night
Stretching: 2.25 hours. Massage: 1.5 hours
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
More Crap
Wow, I even just created a new label for the category CRAP.
So the woman who swam into my skull on Monday sent me $150 cash. Why do I feel bad about using it? I guess I am almost in shock that she owned up and was kind enough to compensate for my loss of contact lens, although really it's not so much the money but the thought that counts.
The kid who's dog bit me lied about his phone number--but I will find that dog and its adult owner.
I don't have La Gazza Ladra--that happens on Friday. I had made an appointment for yesterday, but I called on Monday to check whether this was going to happen or not, and they weren't sure. So I call again Tuesday morning, and the bike was ready, but they don't have my shoes, cages or skewers. So I ask when they will be in, and they say Thursday. Great! Only Thursday I can't come in (massage day plus 2 hours of workout--sorry, no more time in the day for me!), so I'm going on Friday.
This morning I was awakened again by the same car/truck that has been waking me up at least once a week for the last 4 weeks or so. I really wanted to go back to sleep, but it was 4:15, and today that was not happening. So I put on my coat and go outside and guess what? There is my newspaper! So it's the newspaper delivery person's vehicle. Now it makes perfect sense, that that vehicle slows down in front of my house (the neighbor across the street gets the same newspaper) and then goes up the street slowly, makes a left, throws some more papers and then does a reverse back onto my street. I called the newspaper company today and had a nice chat with Customer Service. It was entertaining when the woman began saying, "Yes, ma'am, I will make sure that..." and then she sort of stuttered, and I knew she didn't know exactly what she was going to be able to guarantee me. I could tell (since I'm in Customer Service myself) that she was following some sort of script/process, and I wasn't going to be satisfied with some pat answer. So I chimed in and told her that I wanted to be sure she understood the issue, which is that this vehicle sounds as if it has no muffler (which is illegal, as far as I know), and that it is waking up myself and others on my street, and that the company will lose a number of subscribers if this persists. I also told her I don't want the driver fired--I am just requesting that he/she get the vehicle repaired so that it makes less noise and doesn't wake us up! She assured me she'd speak with the person's Supervisor. She had better!
It seems to me that the more crowded this world becomes the less many people consider the impact of their behavior on others. Couple that with a deep fear many people have of saying anything to these offenders out of concern for one's own safety, and one can infer that there's a lot of unnecessary stress going on. I'm sure not suggesting that if you are cut off while driving that you attempt to catch up with said driver to let them know or even flip them off (responding to poor drivers like that just compounds road rage incidents); but when an opportunity presents to have a rational discussion with another person about their behavior, do it!
Under duress, I can become quite vocal. When I was bit by the dog, it hurt like a sonofabitch, and it induced a screaming response from me. I know that must have frightened the young boy, but once he regained control of the dog, I calmed down, which is when I asked for a phone number (he gave me one but he lied). When I was slammed in the face on Monday and my goggles broke and flew off my face, my first response was to ask what the other person was doing. I always figure if there's some sort of rational explanation, I'd like to hear it, because sometimes there can be extenuating circumstances. Like let's say the dog's leash broke--OK, it wasn't the kid's fault entirely. Or I suddenly decided to swim in the middle or on the other side of the lane, even though I had been swimming on the one side for 2,000 yards. Hey, if it's my fault I owe an apology. If something truly couldn't be helped, then, well, that's life.
But nowadays people run into parked cars and don't leave notes, they clip their freaking toenails in public view in a locker room and think nothing of it even while being told it's disgusting, they get stoned and drunk and blare their stereo at 2:00AM, they blare their stereo while washing their car, they drop cigarette butts in your yard, they piss their dog in your flower bed, they walk their child in a stroller on an indoor running track, they let their young kids run around like wild monkeys in a gym, they believe turn signals are optional, they fail to look both ways when making turns and nearly run you down on your bike, they don't vote and then complain about elected officials.
Life is about 4 small words: DO THE RIGHT THING
To which I would add: AND WHEN YOU FUCK UP, BUCK UP.
Because we all fuck up every now and then. Lord knows I'm not perfect! And let's hope I never forget an "I'm sorry" or "Thank you." Because it's just as important to reinforce GOOD behavior as it is to own up to our own bad behavior.
So the woman who swam into my skull on Monday sent me $150 cash. Why do I feel bad about using it? I guess I am almost in shock that she owned up and was kind enough to compensate for my loss of contact lens, although really it's not so much the money but the thought that counts.
The kid who's dog bit me lied about his phone number--but I will find that dog and its adult owner.
I don't have La Gazza Ladra--that happens on Friday. I had made an appointment for yesterday, but I called on Monday to check whether this was going to happen or not, and they weren't sure. So I call again Tuesday morning, and the bike was ready, but they don't have my shoes, cages or skewers. So I ask when they will be in, and they say Thursday. Great! Only Thursday I can't come in (massage day plus 2 hours of workout--sorry, no more time in the day for me!), so I'm going on Friday.
This morning I was awakened again by the same car/truck that has been waking me up at least once a week for the last 4 weeks or so. I really wanted to go back to sleep, but it was 4:15, and today that was not happening. So I put on my coat and go outside and guess what? There is my newspaper! So it's the newspaper delivery person's vehicle. Now it makes perfect sense, that that vehicle slows down in front of my house (the neighbor across the street gets the same newspaper) and then goes up the street slowly, makes a left, throws some more papers and then does a reverse back onto my street. I called the newspaper company today and had a nice chat with Customer Service. It was entertaining when the woman began saying, "Yes, ma'am, I will make sure that..." and then she sort of stuttered, and I knew she didn't know exactly what she was going to be able to guarantee me. I could tell (since I'm in Customer Service myself) that she was following some sort of script/process, and I wasn't going to be satisfied with some pat answer. So I chimed in and told her that I wanted to be sure she understood the issue, which is that this vehicle sounds as if it has no muffler (which is illegal, as far as I know), and that it is waking up myself and others on my street, and that the company will lose a number of subscribers if this persists. I also told her I don't want the driver fired--I am just requesting that he/she get the vehicle repaired so that it makes less noise and doesn't wake us up! She assured me she'd speak with the person's Supervisor. She had better!
It seems to me that the more crowded this world becomes the less many people consider the impact of their behavior on others. Couple that with a deep fear many people have of saying anything to these offenders out of concern for one's own safety, and one can infer that there's a lot of unnecessary stress going on. I'm sure not suggesting that if you are cut off while driving that you attempt to catch up with said driver to let them know or even flip them off (responding to poor drivers like that just compounds road rage incidents); but when an opportunity presents to have a rational discussion with another person about their behavior, do it!
Under duress, I can become quite vocal. When I was bit by the dog, it hurt like a sonofabitch, and it induced a screaming response from me. I know that must have frightened the young boy, but once he regained control of the dog, I calmed down, which is when I asked for a phone number (he gave me one but he lied). When I was slammed in the face on Monday and my goggles broke and flew off my face, my first response was to ask what the other person was doing. I always figure if there's some sort of rational explanation, I'd like to hear it, because sometimes there can be extenuating circumstances. Like let's say the dog's leash broke--OK, it wasn't the kid's fault entirely. Or I suddenly decided to swim in the middle or on the other side of the lane, even though I had been swimming on the one side for 2,000 yards. Hey, if it's my fault I owe an apology. If something truly couldn't be helped, then, well, that's life.
But nowadays people run into parked cars and don't leave notes, they clip their freaking toenails in public view in a locker room and think nothing of it even while being told it's disgusting, they get stoned and drunk and blare their stereo at 2:00AM, they blare their stereo while washing their car, they drop cigarette butts in your yard, they piss their dog in your flower bed, they walk their child in a stroller on an indoor running track, they let their young kids run around like wild monkeys in a gym, they believe turn signals are optional, they fail to look both ways when making turns and nearly run you down on your bike, they don't vote and then complain about elected officials.
Life is about 4 small words: DO THE RIGHT THING
To which I would add: AND WHEN YOU FUCK UP, BUCK UP.
Because we all fuck up every now and then. Lord knows I'm not perfect! And let's hope I never forget an "I'm sorry" or "Thank you." Because it's just as important to reinforce GOOD behavior as it is to own up to our own bad behavior.
Monday, April 02, 2007
Bunch o' Crap
That's all I can say. I'm not even posting my totals for last week--I will just summarize things that have happened in the past 3 days:
- Friday night: stupid stoner neighbor's dad is blaring stereo again until 2AM. I should have been able to fall back asleep, but I took some Tylenol sleep just to be sure.
- Saturday morning: Have a hangover from the Tylenol sleep, and I bag my bike workout after 1:15, and no run afterwards.
- Saturday afternoon: The chainrings that came with the Ergomo are defective, but my LBSG is going to swap out some Franken-combo of Shimano and FSA. I also now have a Campy front derailleur because the Dura Ace didn't fit on my miniature frame.
- Sunday: Get a good night's rest, but feel dizzy-ish; not sure why. Manage to have a good 1:30 run on a flat trail.
- Today: Having a great swim, almost done, and bonehead woman swims into my face! My goggles literally break in half and I lose a contact lens to the water. She calls it an "honest mistake." Not me, lady. On the plus side, she's offered to pay money to replace the lens. On the negative side, I'm not sure I have a legitimate phone number for her. I think she's got some mental issues. On the plus side, got an eye exam and switched to soft lenses, which will be a lot more comfortable, and the eye doctor is a triathlete!
- Today, continued: Call my insurance company to get them to fix THEIR PROBLEM of sending my flood insurance bill to the mortgage lender! This happened last year, and my mortgage holder yelled at me like it was my fault!
- Today, continued: Call my FSA holder because they sent me a statement but no check. Thankfully, they are cutting a new check for $200 to me.
- Today, continued: Received notification that my primary care physician is no longer part of the network I am in. It will suck to switch, but switch I must.
Some days, it seems like life is a bunch of mostly crap with some bright spots thrown in there just to keep you from "snuffing it," as my buddy Alex would say. While I am not having those sorts of thoughts, sometimes things can appear a bit overwhelming. And then I hear about others, like my coach, who has had a couple of bad bike crashes in the last few weeks (he's OK, thankfully--I told him to stop crashing), and yesterday I spent about an hour on the phone with my friend, Matt, who's in hospital in Germany recovering from back surgery. At least Matt will not be redeployed to Afghanistan, so in a perverse sort of way, his back injury was a blessing in disguise.
I'm sure that once the eyedrops wear off and I am no longer light sensitive or nauseous (light sensitivity and nausea go hand in hand for me) and I get in a short run and some weights that my outlook will improve! I don't think the week can get any worse, so here's to things picking up!
Friday, March 30, 2007
A Good Week, So Far
Even though I'm still having trouble getting enough sleep a few nights a week, it's not stopping me from doing anything.
Spring is HERE! I've been out early in the morning (well, once the sun's up) cleaning up my flower beds, and boy are things growing a lot this week! My front yard is almost officially ready for viewing--I just need to add the gazing ball back to its pedestal and use Roundup on my white trash neighbor's invasive sweet pea vines. In the back yard, I only need to cut down one more 5x8 foot area of perennial stems, and then we are good to go! Daffodils are blooming, and the hyacinths have swollen blooms that will perfume my front yard along the sidewalk within the next week. I received the seeds I ordered, but they can't be planted until late April or early May, depending on when we are about to receive our last frost. I just love this time of year when you have spring bulbs blooming, yet the trees haven't leafed out. I really love when the leaves are just appearing and they are a "young" green color, the forsythia bushes are blooming, and then you get magnolia trees blooming, and it's just beautiful.
I swam 3 times this week, and today, although I didn't sleep well last night, I am seeing my speed beginning to return! I'm so excited--me and my massage therapist have honed in on the offending muscles in my upper left back, and so far my left arm continues to be able to extend fully and PULL like it knows how! I told my coach about this, and that I am planning on a 1:10 swim split at IMLP, and this time I FUCKING MEAN IT! I definitely have the power--I know my upper body has developed a bit from my extra strength training and I'm lifting heavier on my lats and pecs, so now I'll just begin inching back up to a solid 10-11,000 yards a week and that should do it.
My house looks like a Fedex bomb went off in it--I received some Clif Nectar Bars I ordered (to replace the errant cereal they sent last week but that I ate half of anyway--the reason I don't eat cereal is that when I buy it I will pretty much eat an entire box in one or two sittings), I got my Ergomo 2 days ago (and of course, I lovingly fondled the carbon cranks), and today I got a box of Kona coffee and my other bike parts. Lots of gifts for me!
When the bike parts arrived, I was so happy, because now that I've taken them to the bike shop, we are ready for assembly to begin. I met the Sidi representative at the shop today, and he's a really nice man. This guy reps for Sidi, Colnago, Pinarello and all this high-end bike stuff. He told me my wheels (Fulcrum Racing Red) would provide a nice, stiff ride, and of course, I used the opportunity to reel off a line I've been saving up: "Well, you know, I definitely like a very stiff ride myself." Can you say 3 men turning a bit red in the face? It was fun.
I also ordered some more fabric--I spent some time browsing and found something for my Dad--he had asked me if I had any more shark fabric, and I said no, but I found something he will REALLY like as a shirt--it has classical composer busts all over it. Since he doesn't read my blog, no worries, he won't see this--but I know he will absolutely love receiving something I have made for him (as do most people). That's the cool thing about sewing--you can pretty much find something that fits people you know to a T. I also found some Star Trek and Star Wars fabric that I bought to make some pillows for my nerdly brother, Tom. I know he'll appreciate that. And then a few more things I can't talk about yet...it's all good!
I bought a new trainer for my Bitch. The old Blackburn is about dead and not calibrated well for me, and the Cycleops is made for someone much bigger than me (anyone want to buy my Cycleops? I'll sell it for $200 plus shipping--it cost close to $300 and has barely been used). I got another Blackburn, and I hope this one does the trick.
I'm looking forward to trying out the new trainer tomorrow, as it's supposed to be rainy here. And then Sunday, I'm looking forward to a nice long run on a trail that I dearly love, and I'll be cooking up some great Italian stuff again.
I'm still on target for 13.5 hours of training this week, and considering everything else that I'm getting done, this has been a wonderful week so far. My LBSG said he can get me decals from any image I can make, so that's my next project (until the fabric arrives!).
I located a new Fractal generating program (Google Fractint) that is AWESOME, and also some great tessellation websites (see my sidebar under "Mental Stuff"), that I highly recommend you visit if you are at all into M. C. Escher, my favorite artist.
And then another thing I need to do is acquire tickets for The Barber of Seville which will be performed by the Lyric Opera here in Chicago next year. OMG I looked at how much tickets are and yikes! But it will be worth it, PROVIDED I can get tickets when they go on sale in August. We shall see...who knows...maybe I'll be viewing opera at La Scala sometime in 2008!
Life is good!
Spring is HERE! I've been out early in the morning (well, once the sun's up) cleaning up my flower beds, and boy are things growing a lot this week! My front yard is almost officially ready for viewing--I just need to add the gazing ball back to its pedestal and use Roundup on my white trash neighbor's invasive sweet pea vines. In the back yard, I only need to cut down one more 5x8 foot area of perennial stems, and then we are good to go! Daffodils are blooming, and the hyacinths have swollen blooms that will perfume my front yard along the sidewalk within the next week. I received the seeds I ordered, but they can't be planted until late April or early May, depending on when we are about to receive our last frost. I just love this time of year when you have spring bulbs blooming, yet the trees haven't leafed out. I really love when the leaves are just appearing and they are a "young" green color, the forsythia bushes are blooming, and then you get magnolia trees blooming, and it's just beautiful.
I swam 3 times this week, and today, although I didn't sleep well last night, I am seeing my speed beginning to return! I'm so excited--me and my massage therapist have honed in on the offending muscles in my upper left back, and so far my left arm continues to be able to extend fully and PULL like it knows how! I told my coach about this, and that I am planning on a 1:10 swim split at IMLP, and this time I FUCKING MEAN IT! I definitely have the power--I know my upper body has developed a bit from my extra strength training and I'm lifting heavier on my lats and pecs, so now I'll just begin inching back up to a solid 10-11,000 yards a week and that should do it.
My house looks like a Fedex bomb went off in it--I received some Clif Nectar Bars I ordered (to replace the errant cereal they sent last week but that I ate half of anyway--the reason I don't eat cereal is that when I buy it I will pretty much eat an entire box in one or two sittings), I got my Ergomo 2 days ago (and of course, I lovingly fondled the carbon cranks), and today I got a box of Kona coffee and my other bike parts. Lots of gifts for me!
When the bike parts arrived, I was so happy, because now that I've taken them to the bike shop, we are ready for assembly to begin. I met the Sidi representative at the shop today, and he's a really nice man. This guy reps for Sidi, Colnago, Pinarello and all this high-end bike stuff. He told me my wheels (Fulcrum Racing Red) would provide a nice, stiff ride, and of course, I used the opportunity to reel off a line I've been saving up: "Well, you know, I definitely like a very stiff ride myself." Can you say 3 men turning a bit red in the face? It was fun.
I also ordered some more fabric--I spent some time browsing and found something for my Dad--he had asked me if I had any more shark fabric, and I said no, but I found something he will REALLY like as a shirt--it has classical composer busts all over it. Since he doesn't read my blog, no worries, he won't see this--but I know he will absolutely love receiving something I have made for him (as do most people). That's the cool thing about sewing--you can pretty much find something that fits people you know to a T. I also found some Star Trek and Star Wars fabric that I bought to make some pillows for my nerdly brother, Tom. I know he'll appreciate that. And then a few more things I can't talk about yet...it's all good!
I bought a new trainer for my Bitch. The old Blackburn is about dead and not calibrated well for me, and the Cycleops is made for someone much bigger than me (anyone want to buy my Cycleops? I'll sell it for $200 plus shipping--it cost close to $300 and has barely been used). I got another Blackburn, and I hope this one does the trick.
I'm looking forward to trying out the new trainer tomorrow, as it's supposed to be rainy here. And then Sunday, I'm looking forward to a nice long run on a trail that I dearly love, and I'll be cooking up some great Italian stuff again.
I'm still on target for 13.5 hours of training this week, and considering everything else that I'm getting done, this has been a wonderful week so far. My LBSG said he can get me decals from any image I can make, so that's my next project (until the fabric arrives!).
I located a new Fractal generating program (Google Fractint) that is AWESOME, and also some great tessellation websites (see my sidebar under "Mental Stuff"), that I highly recommend you visit if you are at all into M. C. Escher, my favorite artist.
And then another thing I need to do is acquire tickets for The Barber of Seville which will be performed by the Lyric Opera here in Chicago next year. OMG I looked at how much tickets are and yikes! But it will be worth it, PROVIDED I can get tickets when they go on sale in August. We shall see...who knows...maybe I'll be viewing opera at La Scala sometime in 2008!
Life is good!
Monday, March 26, 2007
Weekly Workout Totals 3/19/2007-3/25/2007 and Free at Last!
Thank God those indoor tri races are over!
Yes, I raced yesterday, and no I didn't take first place. Just call me Avis! On the plus side, though, I found out SBH is a track coach, so I am honored to lose to a "runner." I did have a good swim and of course, won the bike. My run sucked for whatever reason, I don't know, but I gave it my all. SBH and I did a great job of beating almost the entire 40-49 age group, though. I saw a friend of mine, Lori (sorry no blog for her), who is about my size, looking fit as hell. She's a great athlete, and smokes me easily, but she's younger than me, so no worries.
I ended up getting about :45 of massage yesterday, which any way you look at it, is a wonderful gift! I had Ken work on my upper back before I raced, and then he gave me at least :30 afterwards. We talked about food (he used to be a chef), exercise, music and other stuff. Ken commented to me that everyone he works on after these races has stringy, tough muscles except for me, so apparently all my stretching and massage is doing what it's supposed to do.
It was in the mid-70's here yesterday, so all of us racing were thinking, "What the fuck are we doing working out indoors?" So I thought how nice it would be to run outdoors afterwards. Bad idea. After the last 3 races I ran on the treadmill afterwards. After 1 hour on the road yesterday, my knees were so beat up that I decided it was enough! On the plus side, though, I got the beginnings of a suntan. I pretty much brown up if I just LOOK at the sun. I enjoyed that 1 hour run so much, though--here I had numbers on an arm and a leg, and I am sure that perplexed the hell out of onlookers.
Because of the thrashing my legs took yesterday, I'm going to take a day off from running and instead get back on my swimmng. I'm excited to see what I can do now that we're working out those trigger points on, under and around my left scapula. I should hit around 13.5 hours this week, and next week I'll add about another hour, and then before you know it I'll be riding a lot more outdoors on La gazza ladra!
Ciao!
Weekly Totals 03/19/2007-03/25/2007
Swim: 5225 yards (2.97 miles) in 1.82 hours; 15% of weekly workout time; approx. 636 calories burned
Bike: Approx. 92.34 miles in 5.27 hours; 42% of weekly workout time; approx. 2415 calories burned
Run: Approx. 25.95 miles in 3.92 hours; 31% of weekly workout time; approx. 1782 calories burned
Strength: 1.45 hours; 12% of weekly workout time; approx. 363 calories burned
All Sports: Approx. 121.26 miles in 12.46 hours; approx. 5196 calories burned
Sleep: 8.29 hours avg./night
Stretching: 2.55 hours. Massage: 2.25 hours
Yes, I raced yesterday, and no I didn't take first place. Just call me Avis! On the plus side, though, I found out SBH is a track coach, so I am honored to lose to a "runner." I did have a good swim and of course, won the bike. My run sucked for whatever reason, I don't know, but I gave it my all. SBH and I did a great job of beating almost the entire 40-49 age group, though. I saw a friend of mine, Lori (sorry no blog for her), who is about my size, looking fit as hell. She's a great athlete, and smokes me easily, but she's younger than me, so no worries.
I ended up getting about :45 of massage yesterday, which any way you look at it, is a wonderful gift! I had Ken work on my upper back before I raced, and then he gave me at least :30 afterwards. We talked about food (he used to be a chef), exercise, music and other stuff. Ken commented to me that everyone he works on after these races has stringy, tough muscles except for me, so apparently all my stretching and massage is doing what it's supposed to do.
It was in the mid-70's here yesterday, so all of us racing were thinking, "What the fuck are we doing working out indoors?" So I thought how nice it would be to run outdoors afterwards. Bad idea. After the last 3 races I ran on the treadmill afterwards. After 1 hour on the road yesterday, my knees were so beat up that I decided it was enough! On the plus side, though, I got the beginnings of a suntan. I pretty much brown up if I just LOOK at the sun. I enjoyed that 1 hour run so much, though--here I had numbers on an arm and a leg, and I am sure that perplexed the hell out of onlookers.
Because of the thrashing my legs took yesterday, I'm going to take a day off from running and instead get back on my swimmng. I'm excited to see what I can do now that we're working out those trigger points on, under and around my left scapula. I should hit around 13.5 hours this week, and next week I'll add about another hour, and then before you know it I'll be riding a lot more outdoors on La gazza ladra!
Ciao!
Weekly Totals 03/19/2007-03/25/2007
Swim: 5225 yards (2.97 miles) in 1.82 hours; 15% of weekly workout time; approx. 636 calories burned
Bike: Approx. 92.34 miles in 5.27 hours; 42% of weekly workout time; approx. 2415 calories burned
Run: Approx. 25.95 miles in 3.92 hours; 31% of weekly workout time; approx. 1782 calories burned
Strength: 1.45 hours; 12% of weekly workout time; approx. 363 calories burned
All Sports: Approx. 121.26 miles in 12.46 hours; approx. 5196 calories burned
Sleep: 8.29 hours avg./night
Stretching: 2.55 hours. Massage: 2.25 hours
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Deserving Happiness
Ever have one of those days when everything feels perfect? Your frame of mind, your health, your self-esteem, your financial security, your outlook for the future? When you feel relaxed yet excited, productive yet lazy, fortunate yet deserving?
I am having one of those days today.
When you're having one of those, ever have the simultaneous sense that something HUGE must be about to go wrong, and that maybe you don't deserve to feel this great, that somehow you are about to be punished for some misstep?
I had those thoughts briefly, but have decided to plow ahead with the good stuff.
In the past, when I would have the sense of everything being perfect, I would literally not allow myself to revel in it because I feared the bottom would fall out. When I would fear the bottom falling out, it would be just as bad as the bottom actually falling out, because whatever we think we tend to experience emotionally and neurologically (stress, eh?).
Is my life really perfect? No. There are some things missing from it that would be nice to have, and I'm not talking about money or possessions. But today, right now, it feels perfect.
Maybe it's because I was wise enough to tone things down a bit this week on training.
Maybe it's because my massage therapist and I have worked through an issue in my left upper back that allowed me to swim 5 seconds faster per 100 yards yesterday!!! And that on insufficient sleep!
Maybe it's because my new bike is coming together.
Maybe it's because it's springtime, and my bulbs and plants are beginning to poke through the ground, which means flowers are on their way!
Maybe it's because I've done a good deal of spring cleaning and my house is in "order."
Maybe it's because the weather is breaking and I rode my bike outside twice this week and may do it again today. I am reminded of just how much I love riding my bikes, how much I love being fit enough to ride fast, how I know I'm enjoying myself on a ride when I'm drooling slightly, when my legs are burning yet I have this perverse grin across my face (is she really smiling or is she gritting her teeth?).
Maybe it's because last spring I was so concerned with my Mom's condition and an upcoming Ironman and this spring feels like a cakewalk in comparison.
Maybe this feeling is because I'm racing tomorrow, and I really could care less how I match up against SBH, because even though she's beating me, I am still racing damn well considering I shouldn't even BE in race shape this soon. And I know I have put in 8 solid weeks of fairly hard-core training to prepare for Triple T.
Maybe this feeling is because I have been getting more sleep this week. Sleep tends to make or break me, and I have to honor my body's needs.
Maybe this feeling is because I have been eating a higher than usual amount of fat this week--avocados, cheese, steak, butter and even a little chocolate (I had to get some Fannie Mae Cream Eggs, damn the holiday candy makers!). I tend to eat so little fat much of the time that I neglect to treat myself, but realize now that I'm able to handle things in moderation.
In the end, why I feel this way is irrelevant. I am hereby turning off the analytical part of my brain and am going to proceed to continue on having a perfect day. I've already eaten breakfast, done the dishes, gathered up ingredients for tonight's cooking (Scallops Double Pepper Sauce from my Tabasco cookbook and Penne Puttanesca from a garlic-specific cookbook, so plenty of flavor in both dishes), planned out what I need to get done today, and now I'm going to get ready to ride.
Today is a fabulous gift that I've received, and the word "deserve" is irrelevant. It really is about Carpe diem!
I am having one of those days today.
When you're having one of those, ever have the simultaneous sense that something HUGE must be about to go wrong, and that maybe you don't deserve to feel this great, that somehow you are about to be punished for some misstep?
I had those thoughts briefly, but have decided to plow ahead with the good stuff.
In the past, when I would have the sense of everything being perfect, I would literally not allow myself to revel in it because I feared the bottom would fall out. When I would fear the bottom falling out, it would be just as bad as the bottom actually falling out, because whatever we think we tend to experience emotionally and neurologically (stress, eh?).
Is my life really perfect? No. There are some things missing from it that would be nice to have, and I'm not talking about money or possessions. But today, right now, it feels perfect.
Maybe it's because I was wise enough to tone things down a bit this week on training.
Maybe it's because my massage therapist and I have worked through an issue in my left upper back that allowed me to swim 5 seconds faster per 100 yards yesterday!!! And that on insufficient sleep!
Maybe it's because my new bike is coming together.
Maybe it's because it's springtime, and my bulbs and plants are beginning to poke through the ground, which means flowers are on their way!
Maybe it's because I've done a good deal of spring cleaning and my house is in "order."
Maybe it's because the weather is breaking and I rode my bike outside twice this week and may do it again today. I am reminded of just how much I love riding my bikes, how much I love being fit enough to ride fast, how I know I'm enjoying myself on a ride when I'm drooling slightly, when my legs are burning yet I have this perverse grin across my face (is she really smiling or is she gritting her teeth?).
Maybe it's because last spring I was so concerned with my Mom's condition and an upcoming Ironman and this spring feels like a cakewalk in comparison.
Maybe this feeling is because I'm racing tomorrow, and I really could care less how I match up against SBH, because even though she's beating me, I am still racing damn well considering I shouldn't even BE in race shape this soon. And I know I have put in 8 solid weeks of fairly hard-core training to prepare for Triple T.
Maybe this feeling is because I have been getting more sleep this week. Sleep tends to make or break me, and I have to honor my body's needs.
Maybe this feeling is because I have been eating a higher than usual amount of fat this week--avocados, cheese, steak, butter and even a little chocolate (I had to get some Fannie Mae Cream Eggs, damn the holiday candy makers!). I tend to eat so little fat much of the time that I neglect to treat myself, but realize now that I'm able to handle things in moderation.
In the end, why I feel this way is irrelevant. I am hereby turning off the analytical part of my brain and am going to proceed to continue on having a perfect day. I've already eaten breakfast, done the dishes, gathered up ingredients for tonight's cooking (Scallops Double Pepper Sauce from my Tabasco cookbook and Penne Puttanesca from a garlic-specific cookbook, so plenty of flavor in both dishes), planned out what I need to get done today, and now I'm going to get ready to ride.
Today is a fabulous gift that I've received, and the word "deserve" is irrelevant. It really is about Carpe diem!
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
New Bike Porn!!!!
My bike frame arrived at the bike shop yesterday, so I HAD to go look at it! OMG, the thing is a work of art! Photo above, plus pics of some of the components. Don't worry--once she's put together, I'll post pics of herself here!
- Frame/fork: Pinarello Dogma FPX, magnesium alloy (go here to read more about it)
- Gruppo: Dura-Ace 10-speed (no I did not go Campy--I trust Shimano and like it)
- Wheelset: Fulcrum Racing Red
- Pedals: Dura-Ace 7800
- Skewers: Salsa Titanium Flip-Offs, Red
- Bars: Salsa Carbon Poco (yeah, I'm small, he he)
- Cages: Arundel Trident
- Power Meter: Ergomo Pro, compact carbon crankset (yes, I would have liked the SRM Pro with FSA compact carbon crankset, but a girl's got to save SOME pennies)
- Tires: Vittoria Open Pave CG green sidewalls (to complete the Italian flag)
- Shoes: Sidi Genius 5 Mesh (of course I had to pick friggin' expensive shoes, to boot, but you know they HAD to match!)
- Helmet: Limar 908 (amazingly I did not spend over $100 on the helmet!)
You cannot believe this frame--to me it's just plain sexy--to my LBSG, it's "bad-ass." Yeah, I'll be a bad-ass on that thing. The frame/fork weighs maybe 1.5 lbs.? I held it up by my pinkie finger! Both the fork and the seat stay are unpainted carbon fiber, and are just plain beautiful! I have seen a lot of nice bikes, but this is in a different league!
It's tough to say just how excited I am about this--I should have my parts next week, meaning I may be on the thing in under 2 weeks!
And her name? La Gazza Ladra. Figure that one out!
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Weekly Workout Totals 3/12/2007-3/18/2007 and Miscellaneous Stuff
Sorry this is a little late.
Recap of last week: I toned things down as I have been feeling like these crazy weekend race/long run combos have been doing a number on me. I've still got 2 1/2 months until Triple T, and I'll be ready for it, and then another 2 1/2 months until Ironman Lake Placid. No worries! Can you believe the Crackhead is not concerned about her training volume?
Truth is, I've been doing a bit of spring cleaning in the house. One thing led to another, and I am going through much of my house and doing detailed cleaning, which to me includes assessing every object and whether it needs to stay or go. I ended up shredding a bunch of old checking account ledgers (I've switched to paperless) and other financial stuff (word to the wise: if you are going to buy your own shredder, GET A GOOD ONE! The one I bought is a piece of crap and gets jammed if you look at it the wrong way), cleaning all exposed hardwood floors, vacuuming every closet to remove spider webs and dust bunnies, etc. I've got 2 cell phones that I am going to recycle, and an old IBM Thinkpad that is probably toast that I need to find an environmentally-friendly way to dispose of.
The other thing that's happened is buying a new bike has unleashed a spending binge of sorts, but on stuff I need. I already got 4 new swimsuits (my Splish addiction grows; but 3 of my old ones are nearly worn out so this is justified), I ordered shoes to match my new bike and the Bitch (I'm not talking about bike shoes here--these are REGULAR SHOES THAT MATCH!!!), ordered seeds and plants, some underwear (my basic Jockey stuff), a few CD's, a new triathlon book (I'll review it here when I've read it), a helmet, and I just ordered some winter cycling clothing for later this year and next year in my "big cycling year of 2008."
I used to be a real stickler about an insanely clean house, and then I took up triathlon. My house is still usually cleaner than any friends' homes I visit, even though they mostly have cleaning services, but I always think it could be cleaner. I've let go of a lot of my former cleanliness obsession, but getting back in touch with it on a temporary basis has been kind of fun. I remember in my pre-triathlon days when I'd have the house just so, and I would love spending a leisurely Sunday reading, cooking or sewing in a fully clean house! Now I'm just happy if I get the dishes done....
I've located a buyer for my Power Tap, and I'm close on selling my Trek road bike as well. Both will have great new homes and bring much enjoyment to their new owners. I hope I have the new steed next week!
I wrote to the head of a local bike club regarding membership, and I included my typical training paces. The response I received was that there are a "few" riders in the club that go that fast, but that most are recreational riders. Oh well, I'll keep looking...
Oh yeah--I have my last indoor triathlon this Sunday. Frankly, I don't care if I beat SBH--she's already won the series by beating me 3 times--but I decided this week that all my exercise is easy aerobic stuff--I am not doing a track workout on Wednesday, and I am not doing hard bike intervals except maybe today, and then next week will be my last week of rest, and then I really need to START TRAINING! My sleeping is improving--this morning I woke up at 3AM, and I read for 1/2 hour and then fell back asleep.
Have I commented yet about how my strength training has paid off this season? My arms, chest and back are all bigger and stronger than a year ago. My legs, hips and butts are still the same size, so WOO-FUCKING-HOO! For awhile there I was doing an extra session of upper body work, so I guess it has paid off. Funny thing is I haven't gained any weight, so my guess is my body fat went down maybe another .5-1%? Whatever, I can certainly tell how my new swimsuits fit that I've gotten a tad bigger across my chest and back. Now if only I would start swimming faster...whatever.
Happy Spring, by the way! It's only a matter of time before the daffodils are blooming, and I'll try and remember to take some photos of my flower beds, as the beautiful parade of blooms begins!
Weekly Totals 03/12/2007-03/18/2007
Swim: 7700 yards (4.37 miles) in 2.65 hours; 22% of weekly workout time; approx. 927 calories burned
Bike: Approx. 81.39 miles in 4.65 hours; 38% of weekly workout time; approx. 2131 calories burned
Run: Approx. 22.04 miles in 3.39 hours; 28% of weekly workout time; approx. 1532 calories burned
Strength: 1.48 hours; 12% of weekly workout time; approx. 370 calories burned
All Sports: Approx. 107.8 miles in 12.17 hours; approx. 4960 calories burned
Sleep: 8.21 hours avg./night
Stretching: 2.27 hours. Massage: 1.5 hours
Recap of last week: I toned things down as I have been feeling like these crazy weekend race/long run combos have been doing a number on me. I've still got 2 1/2 months until Triple T, and I'll be ready for it, and then another 2 1/2 months until Ironman Lake Placid. No worries! Can you believe the Crackhead is not concerned about her training volume?
Truth is, I've been doing a bit of spring cleaning in the house. One thing led to another, and I am going through much of my house and doing detailed cleaning, which to me includes assessing every object and whether it needs to stay or go. I ended up shredding a bunch of old checking account ledgers (I've switched to paperless) and other financial stuff (word to the wise: if you are going to buy your own shredder, GET A GOOD ONE! The one I bought is a piece of crap and gets jammed if you look at it the wrong way), cleaning all exposed hardwood floors, vacuuming every closet to remove spider webs and dust bunnies, etc. I've got 2 cell phones that I am going to recycle, and an old IBM Thinkpad that is probably toast that I need to find an environmentally-friendly way to dispose of.
The other thing that's happened is buying a new bike has unleashed a spending binge of sorts, but on stuff I need. I already got 4 new swimsuits (my Splish addiction grows; but 3 of my old ones are nearly worn out so this is justified), I ordered shoes to match my new bike and the Bitch (I'm not talking about bike shoes here--these are REGULAR SHOES THAT MATCH!!!), ordered seeds and plants, some underwear (my basic Jockey stuff), a few CD's, a new triathlon book (I'll review it here when I've read it), a helmet, and I just ordered some winter cycling clothing for later this year and next year in my "big cycling year of 2008."
I used to be a real stickler about an insanely clean house, and then I took up triathlon. My house is still usually cleaner than any friends' homes I visit, even though they mostly have cleaning services, but I always think it could be cleaner. I've let go of a lot of my former cleanliness obsession, but getting back in touch with it on a temporary basis has been kind of fun. I remember in my pre-triathlon days when I'd have the house just so, and I would love spending a leisurely Sunday reading, cooking or sewing in a fully clean house! Now I'm just happy if I get the dishes done....
I've located a buyer for my Power Tap, and I'm close on selling my Trek road bike as well. Both will have great new homes and bring much enjoyment to their new owners. I hope I have the new steed next week!
I wrote to the head of a local bike club regarding membership, and I included my typical training paces. The response I received was that there are a "few" riders in the club that go that fast, but that most are recreational riders. Oh well, I'll keep looking...
Oh yeah--I have my last indoor triathlon this Sunday. Frankly, I don't care if I beat SBH--she's already won the series by beating me 3 times--but I decided this week that all my exercise is easy aerobic stuff--I am not doing a track workout on Wednesday, and I am not doing hard bike intervals except maybe today, and then next week will be my last week of rest, and then I really need to START TRAINING! My sleeping is improving--this morning I woke up at 3AM, and I read for 1/2 hour and then fell back asleep.
Have I commented yet about how my strength training has paid off this season? My arms, chest and back are all bigger and stronger than a year ago. My legs, hips and butts are still the same size, so WOO-FUCKING-HOO! For awhile there I was doing an extra session of upper body work, so I guess it has paid off. Funny thing is I haven't gained any weight, so my guess is my body fat went down maybe another .5-1%? Whatever, I can certainly tell how my new swimsuits fit that I've gotten a tad bigger across my chest and back. Now if only I would start swimming faster...whatever.
Happy Spring, by the way! It's only a matter of time before the daffodils are blooming, and I'll try and remember to take some photos of my flower beds, as the beautiful parade of blooms begins!
Weekly Totals 03/12/2007-03/18/2007
Swim: 7700 yards (4.37 miles) in 2.65 hours; 22% of weekly workout time; approx. 927 calories burned
Bike: Approx. 81.39 miles in 4.65 hours; 38% of weekly workout time; approx. 2131 calories burned
Run: Approx. 22.04 miles in 3.39 hours; 28% of weekly workout time; approx. 1532 calories burned
Strength: 1.48 hours; 12% of weekly workout time; approx. 370 calories burned
All Sports: Approx. 107.8 miles in 12.17 hours; approx. 4960 calories burned
Sleep: 8.21 hours avg./night
Stretching: 2.27 hours. Massage: 1.5 hours
Saturday, March 17, 2007
That's Amore! (free recipe included)
That's the helmet I just ordered online for the new steed. Hint: Italian. I love Italian stuff--Italian red wines (favorite is Barolo), Italian food (been cooking it for years), Italian men (Mario Cipollini would be proud of my soon-to-be bike styling), Italian cars (if only I could afford or even RIDE IN a Ferrari), Italian bikes (he he).
Speaking of Italian food, I must be cooking too much. My freezer is jam-packed with goodies! But they should last me a few months, and come in handy once I begin doing double long rides on the weekend.
I don't know what's up with my body--but I keep waking up starving. My guess is that I am way off on my calorie needs, especially since I don't wear my HRM any more to give me a clue as to what I'm burning. I feel like a damn Ferrari--I run on high performance fuel! A few other very low body fat athletes I know report the same phenomenon, so I'm really not complaining--it's just a bit unnerving to wake up at 4AM because my body is done processing my last meal (if you know what I mean, wink-wink!) and my stomach is growling!
This racing every other week with big, intense weekends has been fun, but man, it's exhausting. I am truly glad this will be over in 2 weeks. But the intensity has been revving me up in other ways, as evidenced by a recent sewing binge, and today I pulled down drapes in 2 bedrooms and took them to the dry cleaners, drove around looking for a helmet to match the new bike (gave up on bricks and mortar as you saw above), ordered seeds and plants for my flower beds (I always order a bunch of annual seeds and I need some fill-in perennials as well), managed to get in a 2:15 workout (I actually cut it short because I was bonking because I started late and should have eaten another meal before I started but oh well) and I just finished making 2.5 batches of the following, which you just HAVE to try, especially if you love garlic! If you don't love garlic--what's wrong with YOU????
Linguini Fini con Salsa di Noce (Thin Linguine with Walnut Sauce)
Ingredients:
1 pound Linguini Fini (the smaller linguini), or Spaghetti works great, too.
Sauce:
1 cup walnuts
1/2 cup pignoli (pine nuts)
2 large cloves garlic (I’m like Emeril LaGasse—more garlic is better, so you might go for 3-4 large cloves)
4 TBSP lightly chopped fresh parsley (do NOT use dried parsley in this recipe--basically remove the stems, and your food processor will do the rest)
1 TBSP softened butter (salted, please)
1 TBSP olive oil (good, extra-virgin)
3/4 cup ricotta cheese (I used fat-free, and it works just great—otherwise you might need to drain the regular kind)
1 TBSP water (more if needed)
1/2 tsp salt (Kosher salt is the best in almost all recipes)
liberal grindings of fresh pepper (at least 1 tsp.)
pinch of dried oregano (actually about 1/8 tsp., which is like a pinch to me—you can use ground oregano, and it works quite well)
1/2 cup grated fresh Parmesan or Romano cheese (Locatello Romano works best--don't use the stuff in a can)
Put all the ingredients into the bowl of your food processor, and process until smooth--there might be some chunks of nuts visible (not in my giant Cuisinart, though), which is OK. If it is too dense, add drops of water sparingly. This makes enough to fit into one of the 1-lb. deli containers, and keeps in the fridge for several days. It's good by itself! It also freezes well.
To serve, cook the pasta al dente (which is 8-9 minutes in rolling, boiling, salted water), add the sauce and toss with forks until blended. Yum!!!
You can double the recipe and only use a bit of the sauce at a time and freeze the rest. It freezes quite well.
Friday, March 16, 2007
More sewing and bike shopping
I made this shirt for my coach for his birthday, shown above finished and also a close-up of the print. I had this fabric in the house for a few years--I bought it in Kealakekua, Hawaii (on the Big Island) 3+ years ago. At one time I was planning on making a dress from it, but I ran across it and thought, hey, that would make a cool guy's shirt. I have no idea if the coach will wear it other than perhaps camping, but I think it's cool, and if it were mine, I would wear it when I was in a "Bite Me" sort of mood!
I have located all my new bike's parts except for the shoes I want, but those should not be a problem. It's been interesting finding things in my CORRECT size for this bike--turns out my existing road bike wasn't fitted too well to me, but the new steed will be perfect. I went nuts on the components, as this is my dream bike, so everything is going to be top-notch. This bike will be more precious than my Griffen, which itself is pretty high-end. Of course, I didn't NEED another power meter, but hey, that's what I like, so the new girl gets one, too.
If anyone is interested, I have a Power Tap built into a 700cm wheel that I am looking to sell for a good price. It's a Powertap Pro, very lightly used, but needs service, probably just the battery. Contact me if interested.
I seem to be recovering from the last weekend pretty well, although I'm still not sleeping consistently over 8 hours. Maybe I've just been too excited about too many things, who knows? If I can make all my scheduled workouts this week, though, that will be good. Only 2 more weeks until I'm back on a "normal" training regimen!!! Which is good, because by then, it should be more reliably warm out and I'll have a new bike and I'll be ready to rock and roll on it!
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
I'm in Love
...with my soon to be new road bike. My Bitch (pictured above chillin' in Kona) is going to have a new sister, and my existing road bike is going to be sold (anyone interested, let me know and I'll send you the specs and pricing information).
My new frame has been located. I'm told I will have a one of a kind because this frame is a rare bird--I suppose I could have named her "rara avis," but once I have her, I'll reveal her name.
In some ways, I'm a miser--I don't spend money on the "typical" things many people do--going to the movies, stylish clothing, makeup, fancy car, home renovation and decor. Since my 20's I've been saving as much money as possible, because I have never felt financially secure. Why? Because growing up I wasn't. My Dad had his own business for awhile, and when that folded due to technological advances (even though he's an extremely intelligent man), I believe he fell into a depression of sorts and didn't work for many years, and my Mom took over the family upkeep. I can't complain too much, though, because we still had a roof over our heads, we didn't suffer for good food (my Mom was a great cook--not the way I cook, but great for the family), and we still received Christmas and birthday presents, although they were usually necessities. I did spend a bit more while I was married because we had 2 incomes, but it's just me now, so I'm still careful.
I never felt like I was missing out on much because I had many things going for me--we had a piano, and I could play it. Out of 5 kids, I was the only one who was drawn to it instinctively. I began playing tunes I had heard in cartoons by ear at the age of 4. Mom threw some music in front of me by age 5, and I picked up the notation as if it were my native language, and I began lessons by age 6. That piano is still in my childhood home, and I believe my Mom has left it to me in her will, but I do not wish to take it away while my Dad is still living. It's a beautiful, upright Wurlitzer with real ivory keys. You cannot get ivory keys on a piano now, and I would not want them--but the piano was made about 70 years ago, and back then we thought we could kill as many elephants for their tusks as we wanted to make pianos and jewelry! I loved playing the piano--now I just have an electric Rhodes (88 keys, though), that I just tinker on every now and then.
Sometime during grade school (while my Dad was still employed), our ONE TV died, and Dad decided not to fix it (he had at one time worked for Admiral TV, so he knew how to fix it) for an entire summer. No problem! I went to the pool to hang out every afternoon, I taught myself to crochet, and Dad made us read books and do book reports. So I developed a love for handicrafts and reading.
I was into school from the get-go. Back when I was in grade school, it was acceptable for teachers to single out the brighter kids. Lucky for me, because I was one of them, and there were competitions held in reading and math, and I was all over that. So my competitive streak was developed beginning in the first grade! If there was a prize, I was going to win it, dammit, even though the age group was coed!
In 3rd grade, we had the first "election" for a Class President. It was me against a boy. The boy won by one vote, and I was crushed. Welcome to sex discrimination! That one incident set me out to excel even more and show that I could play with the big boys--I DID win the very next election, so I guess I was pushing for women's rights way back then!
By 5th grade, my teachers knew they needed to do something special with me, as I was well beyond the rest of the class, even the other bright kids. My parents did not have money to send me to a private school, and they had tried skipping me 3 grades when I was in first grade, but the principal wouldn't do it because he didn't think my emotional development could take it (in retrospect, I bet if I was a boy they would have skipped me without batting an eye). So early on I was progressing beyond the rest of my classmates, no thanks to a rich intellectual environment at home--we played a lot of mental games including "Go to the Head of the Class" (the precursor to Trivial Pursuit, only it wasn't about trivia), watched a lot of National Geographic and Jacques Cousteau specials on TV, and my Dad took me on regular trips to the Art Institute of Chicago and Ravinia Festival.
So in 5th grade, my teachers allowed me to "fast track" myself in math, reading and Spanish, and I would just "sit through" the other subjects and keep quiet, unless the teacher specifically called on me to answer a question nobody else could. I went to summer school beginning in 7th grade, not because I HAD to, but because I WANTED TO.
My high school was forewarned about me (still public school), since they would need to do something for me lest I be royally bored. So I studied 3 foreign languages at the same time (Spanish, Russian and German), became a teacher's aide in all three, and they put me in math and English classes with kids 2 years older than me, and I was still rather bored and threw off the grading curve. Yes, back then we had ACTUAL GRADES and we were all evaluated against one another. It was a beautiful world to me! I graduated high school as one of 4 valedictorians, but I am always careful to point out that I was the only 1 of the 4 who had perfect straight A's for the QUARTERS, not just at the end of each year! I also graduated with twice the credits required to graduate.
Oh, and the only sports I did back then was badminton--I was on a coed intramural team with this guy and we beat the pants off everyone else. The very first arrow I shot in gym class was a bulls-eye, but I never pursued that. I sucked at golf and kickball. I would ride my bike recreationally as a way to cool the mental jets and get fresh air.
7th grade was when I took up sewing and cooking and learned to type. My typing teacher was amazed at how fast I was right away (80+ wpm), and I told him I played piano, and I asked him if that explained it, and he grinned and said, "Yes, it most certainly does." I moved up to 100+wpm over the summer, and this enabled me to begin working part-time alongside my Mom.
The sewing thing was initially a necessity, as my Mom had been sewing my clothes, but since she had to return to work because my Dad decided to stay unemployed for awhile, she wouldn't have time to sew so much, and as a young girl, I wanted to be somewhat fashionable, so I taught myself.
My academic glories paid off, as I earned a full scholarship to Northwestern University, where I decided to "have fun," and didn't worry so much about my grades. In the end, I graduated with an A minus average, and I was perfectly OK with that. I started out pre-med, then switched to biomechanical engineering, then education, and finally, I majored in math. If I had honed in on math right away, I would have had a graduate degree in 4 years, but I wasn't worried.
I worked while I was in college, too--for 2 years as an assistant to a genetics professor (mostly feeding and cleaning up after fruit flies, ah, Drosophila!), and then doing night office work typing from dictation. The night job was a buzz, because they paid me for 4 hours no matter how long the work took! Since I was still a speedy typist, I would get the work done in 1.5-2 hours max. But I was so honest, I kept telling them to leave me more, and they just couldn't believe I was getting it all done so fast. After a few months, I began CORRECTING what I was hearing and putting little notes on the finished product to let them know what I had changed. After another month or so, they told me to stop leaving the notes, because they trusted me to correct things! What was I typing? Group insurance quotes from Underwriters. So as I typed, I learned another new skill. The year I took off from college to earn some more money (the academic scholarship didn't include extracurriculars like my Sorority dues), this company (Washington National Insurance) happily allowed me to work full-time, and even as they saw me work live, they couldn't believe what I could do. So they immediately promoted me (much to the chagrin of some other young women who had worked there for a few years), and asked if I wanted to become an Underwriter. But lucky for me, the Group Actuary asked to speak with me about a career as an Actuary. So I began taking those exams, finished up my last year of college, and during my last year I got a job at a consulting firm doing actuarial calculations and working with computer programs to calculate numbers required to be reported to the government about pension plans.
Through all of this, I lived frugally, because it was just how I had been raised. When I got the job at the consulting firm, though, I couldn't believe how much money they were going to pay me, and yet I still didn't go wild spending. And even as my career marched on through my 20's and 30's, it was always difficult for me to make big purchases. Still is.
So now I'm about to drop major cash on a new bike. All I needed was some encouragement from a few "enablers" to convince me I deserved the new bike. I do have the money, and even though I don't live as frugally as I once did, I still do not spend to the same level that many people I know do. But I also love the fact that I can cook really well, sew really well and even fix a few things myself. My Mom said, right up until her death last year, that she was always conflicted about how "independent" I grew up to be. Needless to say, it can get me into a bit of trouble with men, because I am not one to act dumb or helpless. But it applies equally well to other women, who can be puzzled by my assertive nature. Triathlon is a good thing for me because it allows me to be myself 100%, even if at times I appear overly aggressive in my goal setting or race expectations.
And I'm still cheap in some ways. But now it's more of a selective cheapness. I could care less that my kitchen could use an overhaul--I'd rather have a new bike! I should have the entire interior of my house painted, but I can't stand the thought of how much time it would take to move all the furniture (which invariably leads to assessing every single object and whether it should stay or go) and all that--I'd rather be out riding my bike!
My new bike comes at a good time for me. It seems that I go in 5-year cycles, where there is some major change. I suppose this new bike is sort of a mid-life crisis, but I don't feel like I'm in a crisis--just that it was time for me to be a little frivolous.
I'm not saying what the new bike is--when it's built, I will take pictures (good ones), and tell all about it. And now I need to begin saving for my 2008 exploits, which will involve my butt on that bike for many miles. I'm definitely going to California in February to ride the Tour of California ahead of the peloton, and someone gave me another idea for one of my dream trips--cycling in Italy! So those 2 things will bracket my next year, and I have no clue what will come in between, but I suspect my Bitch will feel left out if I don't fit in a few triathlons, at least 1/2 Ironman distance. But so far, 2008 does not include an Ironman.
I suppose I'm also feeling good today because I slept a solid 9 hours last night, even though I had my first near-death experience riding outdoors. Yes, that's right--my first outdoor ride, and I almost got killed! Good thing I was paying attention to the stupid fool turning right trying to run me over and was able to swerve to avoid being hit. The man apologized to me, but I told him, "You need to look BOTH WAYS AND USE TURN SIGNALS." Of course, that nice statement followed on the heels of an extremely loud diatribe, whose contents I will not reproduce here.
It's spring, I'm in love, life is great!
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Weekly Workout Totals 3/5/2007-3/11/2007 and Race Report
I failed to best my nemesis, SBH (Surly Bitch Hag) today. What can I say? She was better than me on the day. But at least I looked good doing it and smiled and was encouraging to the rest of the racers and extremely thankful to the volunteers. Unlike SBH...
Maybe you think I am using a strong name for a person because I didn't take first place today. Not so. Me--I just didn't have it, even though I gave it the old college try, and I was bested by a worthy competitor. I am chalking it up to still getting less than optimal amounts of sleep and a crazy workout/racing schedule that has been making it difficult for me to recover. Oh well, my choice (except for the sleep thing)!
Two weeks ago I thought I had spotted my nemesis, and I was right, but today we got to be up close and personal, racing in the same wave. I am positive she knew who I was (#2, we tri harder, right?) and she commenced scowling at me from the get-go. Geez, lady, lighten up a bit! I know I am damn competitive, but that has never stopped me from wishing my fellow competitors good luck, thanking the volunteers (today my man was Ken, who had lost his wife to MS just 2 years ago-- the race proceeds go towards MS, so it was very poignant), and doing at least one thing to make the day fun, even in the midst of a hard effort.
Today I wore a hot pink/black zebra stripe bra top and my lowest of low-cut black Desoto tri shorts. NOTE TO ANONYMOUS: YEAH I LIKE SHOWING OFF MY ABS AND YOU CAN KISS MY NEAR BUTT CRACK THAT WAS SHOWING TODAY. And I looked damn good in the outfit. So SBH is glaring at me, perhaps because of how I'm dressed (tough shit, bitch I have aged better than you--just ask all the men taking a gander), or perhaps that's her way of getting her "game on" (I may get serious looking, but I don't think I've ever scowled at a competitor), and she knows we are closely matched in speed, and we are probably both out for blood today. No smiles for her, though! I am smiling, trying to be relaxed (as relaxed as I can be at the start of a race), SO thankful that Ken is my guy, encouraging the woman I am sharing a swim lane with (who I can tell is a poor swimmer--she ended up doing some combination of pretend backstroke/treading water, but hey, she's here, right? Better than 99% of the people out there) and frankly, as is the case with every race I do, just incredibly grateful that I can DO this shit, you know?
There was no snow to shovel today. I stretched for 20' at home and got a nice pre-race massage. The pool was a bit warm for my tastes, but I should be able to swim OK today, and I did. Still not quite as hard as I would have liked, and I may have even equalled SBH (who is at least 4" taller than me and quite the swimmer, but she was breaststroking there at the end).
Nice, quick shower, change out of my swimsuit bottom (I wore a black swimsuit bottom because I don't like swimming in the tri shorts and we have TEN WHOLE MINUTES FOR COSTUME CHANGE), and on to the bikes. I know SBH and I are pretty equally matched here, as I complete the first mile first in the wave. As we bike, there's a white board where volunteers move a little bike next to your bike number each time you hit a mile, so you know who is on which bike, and me and SBH were scoping one another out. She did complete 1 of 6 miles before me, but I was first on all the rest. So we had to have finished the bike leg neck and neck in terms of mileage completed.
Get off the bike, nearly puke, change shoes (I wear trail shoes on the bikes because they are stiffer than running shoes, and since the bikes don't have clipless pedals, this allows for a bit more power transfer), and head upstairs to run. About 5 other women in my wave, including SBH are at the front of the line. My thought is they can't all be that fast--and I was right--since the entire lot took off like stuntmen who had been shot out of a cannon. I thought to most of them, "I'll see you in a few laps," and I was right. I am certain some of them were surprised to be passed by me, but hey, I think I know what I'm doing.
I didn't even look at my watch or bother with splits, as I thought I was running well enough, but when I hit 1 mile I did look and it was uh-oh, I suck today. I did manage to pick it up for the remainder, but it just wasn't good enough today. SBH may have gone 3/4 lap more than me on the day. Even once when she passed me, I said to her, "Nice run," and I meant it. What did she do? She made some waving hand gesture like "WTF are you doing talking to ME?" Oh well, I tried anyway. When someone says that to me in a race, I try and at least make a thumbs up sign to show that I heard them and I appreciate it, since I may not feel like talking. When I would pass other girls, we invariably exchanged words of encouragement like, "Nice job," "Good pace," and mutual, "Thank you's," even as we are barely able to breathe!
As competitive as I am, hey, it's called COMPETITION for a reason. The word is derived from the Latin word competere, meaning, "to strive together." If there are no other people, it ain't no competition, and I am grateful for others out there pushing for their best and also pushing me to do my best.
So when it's over (after nearly puking, so I did give it my best), I see SBH, and come on, she knows who I am. I extend a hand to congratulate her and she puts her hand out like it was some big inconvenience! I think she only did it because there were other people watching. And of course, she didn't smile. I should have said the big, "Fuck You" right then and there. But I didn't. I said to her, "Great race!" with a smile on my face, and I meant it. But seeing that woman continue to grimace, you can imagine what I was thinking. I feel sorry for her if she couldn't get a bit of good feelings from doing what she did, especially since she won!
And next, I needed to run 1:30, but I couldn't use the treadmills at the race facility, so I gathered up some takeout snacks (they had pizza and pretty good guacamole and chips, YUM!), and drove home to run at my Y. I could have run outdoors, but I just wanted to control my effort and I did NOT want to run hills, and that's all there is from my house.
I had a pretty good run, considering, and I am pretty fucking beat up right now. Tomorrow I have to put on my happy face and give 2 presentations at a conference. Too bad I won't be wearing shorts, because I love to show off my numbers! If anyone tells me I look tired, I will be more than happy to roll up my left sleeve and display the evidence!
All in all, I really can't complain about my performance--it's my own damn fault that I am stacking these nasty fucker workouts over the last 6 weeks, but thankfully only 2 more to go and then hey, a 4 hour ride sounds like a piece of cake! I mean really! So that's the beauty of what I'm doing right now--it's all about making the next stage of training as well as the Desoto American Triple T go well, although let me tell you that will be no cakewalk.
No news on the new bike yet--stay tuned, this shall be done!
Weekly Totals 03/05/2007-03/11/2007
Swim: 5735 yards (3.25 miles) in 2 hours; 16% of weekly workout time; approx. 700 calories burned
Bike: Approx. 89.06 miles in 5.08 hours; 40% of weekly workout time; approx. 2388 calories burned
Run: Approx. 26.91 miles in 4.08 hours; 32% of weekly workout time; approx. 1850 calories burned
Strength: 1.43 hours; 11% of weekly workout time; approx. 358 calories burned
All Sports: Approx. 119.22 miles in 12.59 hours; approx. 5296 calories burned
Sleep: 8.14 hours avg./night
Stretching: 2.6 hours.
Massage: 2 hours
Goals for Next Week:
Maybe you think I am using a strong name for a person because I didn't take first place today. Not so. Me--I just didn't have it, even though I gave it the old college try, and I was bested by a worthy competitor. I am chalking it up to still getting less than optimal amounts of sleep and a crazy workout/racing schedule that has been making it difficult for me to recover. Oh well, my choice (except for the sleep thing)!
Two weeks ago I thought I had spotted my nemesis, and I was right, but today we got to be up close and personal, racing in the same wave. I am positive she knew who I was (#2, we tri harder, right?) and she commenced scowling at me from the get-go. Geez, lady, lighten up a bit! I know I am damn competitive, but that has never stopped me from wishing my fellow competitors good luck, thanking the volunteers (today my man was Ken, who had lost his wife to MS just 2 years ago-- the race proceeds go towards MS, so it was very poignant), and doing at least one thing to make the day fun, even in the midst of a hard effort.
Today I wore a hot pink/black zebra stripe bra top and my lowest of low-cut black Desoto tri shorts. NOTE TO ANONYMOUS: YEAH I LIKE SHOWING OFF MY ABS AND YOU CAN KISS MY NEAR BUTT CRACK THAT WAS SHOWING TODAY. And I looked damn good in the outfit. So SBH is glaring at me, perhaps because of how I'm dressed (tough shit, bitch I have aged better than you--just ask all the men taking a gander), or perhaps that's her way of getting her "game on" (I may get serious looking, but I don't think I've ever scowled at a competitor), and she knows we are closely matched in speed, and we are probably both out for blood today. No smiles for her, though! I am smiling, trying to be relaxed (as relaxed as I can be at the start of a race), SO thankful that Ken is my guy, encouraging the woman I am sharing a swim lane with (who I can tell is a poor swimmer--she ended up doing some combination of pretend backstroke/treading water, but hey, she's here, right? Better than 99% of the people out there) and frankly, as is the case with every race I do, just incredibly grateful that I can DO this shit, you know?
There was no snow to shovel today. I stretched for 20' at home and got a nice pre-race massage. The pool was a bit warm for my tastes, but I should be able to swim OK today, and I did. Still not quite as hard as I would have liked, and I may have even equalled SBH (who is at least 4" taller than me and quite the swimmer, but she was breaststroking there at the end).
Nice, quick shower, change out of my swimsuit bottom (I wore a black swimsuit bottom because I don't like swimming in the tri shorts and we have TEN WHOLE MINUTES FOR COSTUME CHANGE), and on to the bikes. I know SBH and I are pretty equally matched here, as I complete the first mile first in the wave. As we bike, there's a white board where volunteers move a little bike next to your bike number each time you hit a mile, so you know who is on which bike, and me and SBH were scoping one another out. She did complete 1 of 6 miles before me, but I was first on all the rest. So we had to have finished the bike leg neck and neck in terms of mileage completed.
Get off the bike, nearly puke, change shoes (I wear trail shoes on the bikes because they are stiffer than running shoes, and since the bikes don't have clipless pedals, this allows for a bit more power transfer), and head upstairs to run. About 5 other women in my wave, including SBH are at the front of the line. My thought is they can't all be that fast--and I was right--since the entire lot took off like stuntmen who had been shot out of a cannon. I thought to most of them, "I'll see you in a few laps," and I was right. I am certain some of them were surprised to be passed by me, but hey, I think I know what I'm doing.
I didn't even look at my watch or bother with splits, as I thought I was running well enough, but when I hit 1 mile I did look and it was uh-oh, I suck today. I did manage to pick it up for the remainder, but it just wasn't good enough today. SBH may have gone 3/4 lap more than me on the day. Even once when she passed me, I said to her, "Nice run," and I meant it. What did she do? She made some waving hand gesture like "WTF are you doing talking to ME?" Oh well, I tried anyway. When someone says that to me in a race, I try and at least make a thumbs up sign to show that I heard them and I appreciate it, since I may not feel like talking. When I would pass other girls, we invariably exchanged words of encouragement like, "Nice job," "Good pace," and mutual, "Thank you's," even as we are barely able to breathe!
As competitive as I am, hey, it's called COMPETITION for a reason. The word is derived from the Latin word competere, meaning, "to strive together." If there are no other people, it ain't no competition, and I am grateful for others out there pushing for their best and also pushing me to do my best.
So when it's over (after nearly puking, so I did give it my best), I see SBH, and come on, she knows who I am. I extend a hand to congratulate her and she puts her hand out like it was some big inconvenience! I think she only did it because there were other people watching. And of course, she didn't smile. I should have said the big, "Fuck You" right then and there. But I didn't. I said to her, "Great race!" with a smile on my face, and I meant it. But seeing that woman continue to grimace, you can imagine what I was thinking. I feel sorry for her if she couldn't get a bit of good feelings from doing what she did, especially since she won!
And next, I needed to run 1:30, but I couldn't use the treadmills at the race facility, so I gathered up some takeout snacks (they had pizza and pretty good guacamole and chips, YUM!), and drove home to run at my Y. I could have run outdoors, but I just wanted to control my effort and I did NOT want to run hills, and that's all there is from my house.
I had a pretty good run, considering, and I am pretty fucking beat up right now. Tomorrow I have to put on my happy face and give 2 presentations at a conference. Too bad I won't be wearing shorts, because I love to show off my numbers! If anyone tells me I look tired, I will be more than happy to roll up my left sleeve and display the evidence!
All in all, I really can't complain about my performance--it's my own damn fault that I am stacking these nasty fucker workouts over the last 6 weeks, but thankfully only 2 more to go and then hey, a 4 hour ride sounds like a piece of cake! I mean really! So that's the beauty of what I'm doing right now--it's all about making the next stage of training as well as the Desoto American Triple T go well, although let me tell you that will be no cakewalk.
No news on the new bike yet--stay tuned, this shall be done!
Weekly Totals 03/05/2007-03/11/2007
Swim: 5735 yards (3.25 miles) in 2 hours; 16% of weekly workout time; approx. 700 calories burned
Bike: Approx. 89.06 miles in 5.08 hours; 40% of weekly workout time; approx. 2388 calories burned
Run: Approx. 26.91 miles in 4.08 hours; 32% of weekly workout time; approx. 1850 calories burned
Strength: 1.43 hours; 11% of weekly workout time; approx. 358 calories burned
All Sports: Approx. 119.22 miles in 12.59 hours; approx. 5296 calories burned
Sleep: 8.14 hours avg./night
Stretching: 2.6 hours.
Massage: 2 hours
Goals from Last Week:
- Finalize bike frame and component: Well, I have the parts list together...waiting on some details.
- Kick ASS at the next race on Sunday 3/11. I gave it my best, and it was only good for 2nd place, but I'm good with it.
- Kick down the coffee one more notch. DONE.
- Enjoy the fact that I'm on MAINTENANCE STRENGTH TRAINING!!!! Yeah, baby!
Increase the sleep. Did better than the week before, but still needs work. - Lose that last stupid pound of weight that is hanging around (although I suppose it could be muscle, so it's not really a concern). DONE.
- Hope that nothing weird or strange happens and nobody close to me or any wild animals die in front of me or bite me. It was a good week.
- Enjoy the heck out of my next week of life. DONE.
Goals for Next Week:
- Improve sleep to over 8 hours per night.
- Less alcohol (hey, I couldn't eat pizza without a beer after a race, could I???)
- RECOVER!
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