I am now uploading bulk photos to my Flickr account (they were happy to take my annual fee for unlimited uploads) rather than posting all of them here, since I am starting to take a lot.
Enjoy!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8737154@N04/sets/72157600400629771/
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Weekly Workout Totals 06/11/2007-06/17/2007
Weekly Totals 06/11/2007-06/17/2007
Swim: 10200 yards (5.79 miles) in 3.65 hours; 18% of weekly workout time; approx. 1278 calories burned
Bike: Approx. 163.98 miles in 11.15 hours; 54% of weekly workout time; approx. 5534 calories burned
Run: Approx. 32.35 miles in 4.96 hours; 24% of weekly workout time; approx. 2238 calories burned
Strength: 1.08 hours; 5% of weekly workout time; approx. 270 calories burned
All Sports: Approx. 202.12 miles in 20.84 hours; approx. 9320 calories burned
Sleep: 7.29 hours avg./night
Stretching: 1.58 hours. Massage: 1.5 hours
And for those of you keeping score at home, here are my total weekly hours for the past 8 weeks:
19.13
19.45
20.08
18.31
20.78
16.54
21.08
20.84
What the hell??? Guess I'm training a lot this year...I think someone's slipping me extra training hours, cuz I sure as hell don't know where they're coming from! Sometimes I feel like Jim Carrey's character in The Mask when he says, "Somebody STOP ME!"
Swim: 10200 yards (5.79 miles) in 3.65 hours; 18% of weekly workout time; approx. 1278 calories burned
Bike: Approx. 163.98 miles in 11.15 hours; 54% of weekly workout time; approx. 5534 calories burned
Run: Approx. 32.35 miles in 4.96 hours; 24% of weekly workout time; approx. 2238 calories burned
Strength: 1.08 hours; 5% of weekly workout time; approx. 270 calories burned
All Sports: Approx. 202.12 miles in 20.84 hours; approx. 9320 calories burned
Sleep: 7.29 hours avg./night
Stretching: 1.58 hours. Massage: 1.5 hours
And for those of you keeping score at home, here are my total weekly hours for the past 8 weeks:
19.13
19.45
20.08
18.31
20.78
16.54
21.08
20.84
What the hell??? Guess I'm training a lot this year...I think someone's slipping me extra training hours, cuz I sure as hell don't know where they're coming from! Sometimes I feel like Jim Carrey's character in The Mask when he says, "Somebody STOP ME!"
Well they don't call me Crackhead for nuthin.
Sunday, June 17, 2007
2007 Horribly Hilly Hundreds 200K Ride Report
As always, it was an epic ride. I apologize in advance for all the foul language herewith. I would have published this on http://trifuel.com/, except I didn’t want to censor the way I actually thought and talked on the day, and I think it’s a better read this way.
Photos can be viewed here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8737154@N04/sets/72157600380989626/
I made the trip with my friend, Lori, who also raced Triple T 3 weeks ago (and handily won the coed team division with her SO, Marc). Lori graciously volunteered to drive her van, but we would be leaving directly after the ride on Saturday rather than staying overnight.
Back up to Thursday. I had an outstanding 2:30 run, covering 16.5 miles. I have never felt so good on such a long training run. The workout protocol had me warming up easy for :30, then moving into Z2 and upper Z3 (half marathon pace) work. I ran in my favorite place, Waterfall Glen, which happens to be adjacent to Argonne National Laboratory, so I am getting in my extra protons and neutrons while there! That day, the way I controlled my pace was by paying acute attention to my breathing. I still had some soreness in my left serratus and upper intercostals from the run crash the week before, and labored breathing, coughing and laughing still made my ribcage hurt. So for the easy pace stuff, my mantra was “barely breathing,” which translated to about a 10:00/mile pace. Z2 I pegged as “breathing a little bit,” and that came out to about a 9:30/mile pace, and the half marathon breathing pattern was “definitely breathing,” for a pace of about 8:50/mile. For reference sake, tempo pace would be “breathing a lot.” It was the first time I was so in touch with my breathing, and it was amazing how it translated to the correct paces for me. The actual paces I ran varied due to the terrain, which is rolling hills. During the run, I had 3 deer jump across the path in front of me, I assisted one painted turtle across the path (to avoid being run over by cyclists), I saw a bluebird up close and personal, and I ran into a guy I know from the Y. Chris was on his hybrid, and I took a few minutes to stop and chat with him when I was about 9 miles into the run. He asked how much I was running, and when I told him, he said (like he says to me regularly), “When do you take easy days?” I told him that usually Mondays and Fridays were “easy” for me (Monday is usually a swim and a form run and Friday is a swim and perhaps a short run). I told him I thought I actually had a couple of easy rides on my schedule, and we could try and do one of those together. He’s a much faster runner than me, but nowhere near as fast a cyclist. I’d date him, except that I think he prefers less active bimbos. Once he said to me point blank that I would be a hard woman to date because of my drive. Nice, huh? Oh well, it is what it is.
I took Friday off from work. Rich hadn’t scheduled any workouts for me, but I was certain I’d do a swim, and contemplated a short, easy run, just to see what’s what after Thursday’s run, plus I wanted to get in 4 runs for the week. I swam 3200 yards at 7:00AM, and wore a 2-piece swimsuit, so I could just take off the bottom and put on running shorts and head out right from the Y. It made me smile because for a few years, I did my swim/run workouts back to back during the summer, and would always be running out with a wet, cool top! I decided to only run :30, and to try and run real easy, so again, I focused on “barely breathing.” I ended up running about 9:30/mile, which I rarely do outside of long runs. Within 2 minutes, I ran into Larry, who is an awesome runner that I know from the Y, who is doing his first century ride this fall and wants to borrow my bike box. He had put on a little weight (but he has never by any stretch been fat) about a year ago, but he’s totally leaned out, and he was on his bike as we chatted. I told him I got a new bike, and he guessed its cost at $3,000, and I laughed at him. Anyway, it was nice to see him, because usually he runs on the treadmill (go figure), so I don’t see much of him in the spring through fall. Since he was heading TO the Y and I would need to circle back to retrieve my crap, I decided I’d write my contact information down for him and pass it to him, which I did, as he was on the treadmill. I thoroughly enjoyed my short run, and my legs didn’t feel bad at all. As always, I got all sorts of stares, as I was sporting my low-cut Desoto shorts. I have just gotten used to running in those, as they are extremely comfortable for me. Yeah, I have washboard abs and it makes people (men AND women) look, and that’s cool. I’m a bit of an exhibitionist (stop laughing right now!). Side note: during my Wednesday run, while dressed in a similar fashion, a woman driving a truck looked at me and flipped me off! How sad and angry she must be to do that. I was clear on the opposite side of the road up on the sidewalk climbing a hill. Usually I get a few whistles from men, so this was unexpected.
I finished swimming and running by about 9:00AM, which gave me time to do some house cleaning (the incessant bottle manipulation continues) and pack. In the process, I knew I had better start loading up on the carbs, so I drank some Endurox R4, a can of guava juice, and ate 1.5 bananas. I couldn’t choke down the whole second banana, as I could feel my insulin spiking as it was, and I already had about 700 calories worth of carbs in my tummy. I hadn’t worked out enough to need that much, and my eating automatically adjusts to my workout load; however, when I have a big day following, my brain puts me into calorie acquisition mode. I figure I had blasted through all my glycogen stores on Thursday and was probably a bit in the hole from a short swim and run, so the stocking began.
I arrived at Lori’s Friday afternoon around 2:45PM. She was all packed and ready to go, so we transferred my bike, 2 bags and 2 coolers to her van and we took off, after making a quick stop to get gasoline.
Let me tell you, I consider myself pretty high energy, but Miss Lori seems to be in the stratosphere to me sometimes! She is younger than me with 5 boys (ages 10-21), she’s a really fast triathlete (my idol) who trains even more than I do, and she’s going to school for her nursing degree. Needless to say, she and I have some extremely animated discussions. Lori’s Italian, to boot, so you have blond Italian chic and blond Croatian chic both talking with not only their hands, but their entire arms!
We made good time to Verona, Wisconsin (where our hotel was), and decided to continue on to Mt. Horeb to pick up our ride packets. Mt. Horeb is only another 11 miles west of Verona. On the way there, we were both looking at the beautiful countryside, since we’ve both done Ironman Wisconsin, and go up there to train quite often.
Packets in tow, we headed back to Verona to check into the hotel. I will be staying there twice more this summer with different people, so I am sure the front desk woman will start to recognize me! We dropped our bags (bikes were left in the van), and headed to dinner.
Lori had forgot to pack bottles and gels for her nutrition. She was concerned about getting this stuff, and I told her not to worry we’d get it under control. We went to the store, "World of Variety," first (note to self: need to go shop there--they have a lot of campy looking stuff!), but they were closing, and told us they didn’t carry empty bottles, so we went to Walgreen’s. Walgreens had some cheap bottles that would do the trick, even though Lori was worried they would be too big for her Profile cages in the XLAB. I told her they would fit (she doesn’t know another nickname of mine is “Volume Queen”), and that we’d snag gels en route on Saturday. While she was shopping for necessities, I browsed the toy aisle (I tell you the Verona Walgreen’s ROCKS!) and picked up two bouncy things that light up and are rainbow colors (yes, I am such a little kid in many ways).
Next, we headed to dinner at the one sit-down restaurant in Verona, Avanti’s. I had been there before on a training expedition, and I knew they had decent food. As we walked into the dining area, it was obvious there were a lot of other cyclists eating there, some of which one or the other or both of us knew. I initially met Lori through a guy named Dan who I met once when I captained a team for Hustle up the Hancock, when another guy I knew, Jim, recruited Dan (who’s an awesome fast climber) for the team, and as Lori told me yesterday, Dan told her she needed to meet me because we were very similar.
Anyway, Lori ordered a glass of wine and I got a Bell’s Oberon, which was tasty. They had Blue Moon, but I had that at home, and the waitress said to go with the Bell’s, which is brewed in Michigan. We decided to order a pizza, and what we asked for was pepperoni, garlic and tomatoes. What we got, and ate anyway, was pepperoni, sausage, garlic and pepperoncini! We both like the pepperoncini, but they were a bit much on the pizza. Still, we ate a good deal of a large, and I took the 2 remaining slices for later. It seems that I eat the most of anyone I train with lately!
We went back to the hotel, where we got ice for our coolers, laid out our outfits for the next day, and then tried to relax. Lori had brought along some paperwork, and I was amazed at how she kept at things, while I was basically just laying around, so I did get on the floor to stretch for about :20. All the while, we are talking, and of course, watching the Weather Channel. The forecast called for high 80’s with afternoon thunderstorms, and the little local map had the thunder clouds everywhere in the area. Oh well, what are you going to do.
I had brought temporary tattoos with me, and showed Lori the selection. She opted for the hibiscus flower ring (that I bought in Kona the last time I was there—sigh—I need to get back somehow), and I opted for the thorn ring for an arm and a death skull for one of my calves. Note to self: need to find some more good temporary tattoos for the next few weeks and also for Ironman Lake Placid—I am not sure what I would like to sport there.
We decided we’d get up at 4:45AM and shoot for a 6:45AM start. Technically, the ride starts at 7:00AM, but there was no chip timing this time, so as long as you have a map, why would you wait around until 7, especially when it was hot and humid and just going to get hotter and more humid?
Well, with all the pizza in my tummy (I managed to eat the toppings off the last 2 slices) and the excitement of knowing what we were going to do the next day, and the fact that I generally haven’t been sleeping much past 4AM lately, I awoke at my usual 3:30AM because my body had processed the food (draw your own conclusions here). I got back into bed, and just lay there, knowing it wasn’t long until it was wake up time. At 4AM, I heard Lori stir, so I just asked her if she was awake and could we get moving. She was cool with it, laughing at me for being so excited, and I clicked the coffee pot (which I had set the night before) to on, let Lori languish while it brewed, turned on the TV (it was brilliant that it automatically tuned to the Weather Channel), and took a look outside.
I saw some clouds, which was probably a good thing, and then Lori got up, we had coffee and our breakfast, and then I pulled out my pre-mixed Ultrafuel and drank it. At that moment, I realized I had a “normal” bottle that Lori could use for her bike, which made her very happy. I had another bottle from the ride bag, so Lori ended up not using the Franken bottles from Walgreen’s. I had pre-mixed 2 bottles of Infinit. Each bottle contained about 900 calories (and I wrote “CALORIES” on the generic bottles!), and I would also carry 2 smaller bottles in my jersey for plain water to chase it with. All the while we are setting up, we are taking turns sighing and making various noises, and we laughed at one another whenever we caught each other in a sigh. We also both talk to ourselves out loud while we are getting ready, saying stuff like, "OK," "All right," and "Huh." Cracks me up!
We suited up and left at 5:30 for Blue Mounds, which is where the ride begins. On the way there, we could see the big ball of a sun rising, and we knew it would be a warm day. We smiled watching the terrain get progressively hillier.
We got a primo parking spot right across from the little store at the base on Mounds Park Road, right next to porta-potties. We got our stuff ready, I had a guy who had never done the ride before snap a few photos, and we were off and rolling at 6:19AM.
Lori is a brutally strong rider, and I didn’t want to hold her back (I’m a big girl), but we both agreed we’d stay together for the first 2 stages, in case either of us decided to bag the 200K and just do 100K. This was good for both of us because we both kept ourselves in check.
The ride is organized in “stages,” or perhaps we should call them degrees of difficulty, as the climbing progresses from hardly any on Stage 1 to what the fucking hell idiocy in Stages 4 and 5. Each stage is 20+ miles long, and each one changes your concept of mileage!
During the first stage, you do the 2.9-mile Mounds Park Road climb, after they take you away from the mound for some easy flat to rolling riding. The first time you make the ascent, it doesn’t feel so bad, but then you know you are going to do it again like 115 miles later and that it won’t feel so good then. Anyway, we climbed it easily and then made the big descent back to where we started and it was close to 7:00AM and there were lots of riders congregating to begin their days.
Some girls I know spotted me and said hello, but Lori and I were all about getting on with the day (and those girls were probably just doing the 100K), but there weren’t good markings for where we were supposed to go. I spotted a guy with “VOLUNTEER” on the back of his shirt sporting a Viking hat, and yelled at him, “HEY VOLUNTEER!” He was up on stairs to a bar and ignored us, but a woman on the ground pointed us in the right direction and we were off.
The first stage isn’t bad at all, aside from the Mounds Park Road climb. You can see the map here. Basically, you circle around Route 78, managing to go up every stinking climb on either side of it, passing through the Town of Vermont all day long. Moen Vally and Scherbel have some climbing, but it’s not bad at all. The stage ends at Festge Park, though, which is up a fairly steep climb that sucks donkey balls, because you go a bit downhill before crossing the busy Route 14, where you hope you don’t have to full stop before ascending. We got lucky, as the nice policeman was holding traffic for us!
Rest stop 1 was basically fill up water bottles, grab some gels and go. I also grabbed a banana, but could only choke down ½ of it. Since we had started early, they were pretty much just setting up the rest station, and while I looked around at a lot of the food, I didn’t really want any. The Infinit was doing its job.
You leave Festge Park the same way you came in after Stage 1, meaning you get to scream downhill while watching others climb slowly. The first bad climb in Stage 2 is Barlow Road, and I remember it fondly from the last 3 times I’ve done this ride. As soon as I saw the road sign, I shouted to everyone within earshot, “I remember Barlow—this one really sucks!” Lori is yelling at me to shut up already, and I keep telling her, “I’m just saying.” But, it was during this first suck-ass climb that both Lori and I are happy for having done Triple T just 3 weeks prior, which featured tons of nasty-ass climbing, so our legs were primed for this shit.
Barlow Road is bad enough, but then they top you off (or should I say pop you off?) with part of Mineral Point Road. Now, do the math people—names of roads that have any of the following words in them cannot be good: Point, View, Ridge, Hollow, Valley, Mound, High and Pinnacle. Horribly Hilly features all those and more! You wouldn’t think something called Barlow Road or Zwettler Road would be bad, but they are as well!
Anyway, Stage 2 ends up at Festge Park again, so you get to climb into the rest stop again. On the way up this time, I heard a rider calling out her watts at 260, and a guy behind her called out 250, and I started laughing and shouted out my watts, which were only 209, yet I was climbing at about the same speed as them! I fucking love being small! I had been trying to cap my climbing watts around 210, and if I could climb on less, I would do it whenever I could. There were a few short and really steep climbs where I ignored the Ergomo, but glanced once or twice and saw between 250 and 300. Whatever—nothing you can do about those short and steep ones (OK, shut up Rich if you read this). A girl has got to have some fun, right?
I had just opened an Espresso Love Gu (for some reason I thought I should add 100 calories for the fun of it) and stuck it in my mouth, and this guy I’ve known a few years comes up and picks me up in his arms, and I’m trying to scream, “JOHN!” but I have this gel in my mouth, so we had a huge hug, he put me down, I sucked down the Gu, and we caught up quickly. John is a hottie (sadly, he’s engaged to be married, but I’m happy for him) that I’ve ridden with in the past and we just seem to run into one another a lot during the summer. Wait—that’s most of the people I know. My world keeps getting smaller, but that’s a good thing. I think it was 2 years ago I was riding by myself on a group ride wearing a swimsuit bottom (it was very hot), and from behind I hear a guy screaming, “I’d recognize that ass anywhere!” It was John, and we laughed and rode together for awhile until I got stung in the forehead by a rogue bee, at which point I started cursing, but it was OK, since we were near an aid station where I demanded ice while the bee venom coursed through me (like I need another reason to be even more wired).
John asked me if I was riding 100K or 200K, and of course I looked at him like what a silly question, of course I’m riding 200K today! I told him about Triple T and told him he could read my race reports or go to my blog, and I guess this was the first time I told him my nickname is Crackhead, and he just looked at me and said, “It figures.”
So I’m catching up with John, and Lori comes over, and I introduce everyone and then Lori and I took off to begin Stage 3. Stage 3 features my favorite part of the ride—an area known as Enchanted Valley. I don’t believe it’s the actual name of a town. It sure is beautiful in there, and while in it (knowing full well that since you are in a valley that you will need to CLIMB THE FUCK OUT) you can see the surrounding hills in relief against one another. It really is enchanting!
There are a few “bad” climbs in Stage 3, but to me and Lori, it is still feeling quite manageable. I hadn’t stood up on any climbs, and didn’t want to, because if I didn’t stabilize myself exactly right (I did try it once), my left ribcage would hurt like a sonofabitch. We got to some fork where you could decide to bag the 200K and just do 100K, and Lori turned to me to ask me if I wanted to cut it short, and I said nope. After that, some guys rode up on us, and one guy says, “Sheila?” And I say yes, and he says it’s Mike of 3Iron. We had never met in person, but he said he recognized my bike from the photos on my blog. That was cool meeting him, and we all rode together for a bit, before I could sense Lori wanting to go hang with the fast boys, so I shooed her on.
I rolled into the Black Earth (home of the awesome restaurant, Heiney’s) rest station not too long after Lori and the boys, and here I saw John again. You get a little crazed doing these rides with all this climbing, especially when it’s stinking hot and humid. We all looked like wet rats or something. So as I’m taking a cold, wet towel to my face, I ask John why am I not getting any love from all these men? And he says it’s because I ride too fast. I told him there are plenty of guys who ride faster than me, but then again there are plenty who ride slower than me, and I shared how on one ride a guy asked me whether men I date need to be faster than me. I thought it was an odd question, but John laughed at me and said, “Well, they at least need to be able to hang with you.” John accused me of being a shameless flirt, but truthfully I don’t think I am—I really don’t know how. I just do what I do and be who I am, and if that comes off as flirtatious, oh well!
Lori took off from Black Earth ahead of me, which was fine by me, since I wanted to let her ride her own ride, even though I felt like I was riding within myself and doing pretty well on the day. Stage 4 is where you begin to notice whether you’ve been pacing yourself properly, as it’s loaded up with fucking hard climbs. The first one is Midland Road, which while on, kept reminding me of the infamous Midtown Road that’s on the Ironman Wisconsin course. But I couldn’t remember the name of the Ironman course road name for awhile, so I began scrolling Mid this and that in my head. I find it entertaining the things my brain does while I’m doing this shit. At any rate, I’m noticing that my legs don’t feel bad at all—I guess doing 80-mile and 104-mile rides back to back last weekend was a good thing.
I think it was on Midland Road that John and his crew rode up on me from behind, and John yells at me really loudly, “YOU SEXY BITCH!!!” As he rode up on me, I shouted, “Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about!” That kept me going for miles, for some reason.
Midland Road sucked (but I kept smiling because, hey, I’m a sexy bitch!), and then we got to Fesenfeld Road, which also sucked, and THEN Sutcliffe Road which was pretty bad, but next up was Zwettler Road. So you see, during this stage, they are just piling it on you, one after the other, with hardly any rest in between. Although I will say, I appreciated the descents a lot this year, and would do them in mad bomber mode, topping out at 45MPH on many of them. I can only imagine how fast some bigger guys went!
Anyway, Zwettler Road is a stinking, fucking whore. It has, I think, a series of 4 climbs. The first one is bad, the second one is fucking bad and the last two are really bad. On the second one, the steepest of the bunch, I was just pissed, and decided, what the fuck, I’m standing on this one. So I stood up, and my ribcage hurt, and I didn’t care, and I was yelling, “You stupid, stinking, fucking whore” while doing it. Some guy climbed about the same rate as me, and when we got to the brief reprieve before the next step and started up again, he laughed at me and said he was hearing other expletives all day, after I apologized for my little outburst.
There’s more shit on Stage 4 after Zwettler Road, and by this time you are starting to want this to be over, but I knew from years past, that Stage 5 is where the rubber meets the road. When you roll into the last rest station, which is just on the side of a road—no park, nothing fancy—you begin to see how the day is wearing on people. Some are laying on the ground moaning, many have this crazed look in their eyes thinking that they had just finished 100 miles of crap that felt like 200 miles and aren’t sure whether they can go on. I was just hoping they had hard-boiled eggs! In years past they did, but this time they cheesed out at the rest stations, and didn’t have them. But they did have make-your-own sandwiches, so I took a piece of good, old white bread, slapped on a big slice of turkey breast (they were HUGE slices), and stuffed my face. I just felt like I needed a bit of protein, but then I knew I’d have to chill for a few minutes, since once you roll out of this rest station, they fuck you in the ass by sending you up Pinnacle Road, and the last thing you need is to have a belly full of food and Gatorade or Infinit or whatever crap you are using.
So I see John with his buds here, and just because I was getting a bit giddy, I go up to him and say, “What did you say to me back there?” even though I knew what it was--I just wanted to hear him say it again. And he says, matter-of-factly, “I called you a Sexy Bitch.” And one of his buddies smiles broadly at me and says, “And that’s a compliment!” I already knew it was, and we all started laughing and making our decisions about moving on. I think I took off before those boys.
Secretly, I was hoping they had taken Pinnacle Road out of the ride, and for some reason, I was thinking there was no fucking way I was doing it and that I would walk my bike up. I have no clue why my brain was giving me this grief. Literally, you go .2 miles out of the last rest station, and then it’s a right turn, kiss your ass goodbye, here’s Pinnacle Road! Pinnacle Road is 2.5 miles of blissful, stinking, fucking crap, capped off with the worst crap you can imagine (unless you’ve done the infamous Shop Hill Road in the Dairyland Dare). At least it starts out not so bad, progressing to bad, really bad, and finally really, fucking, stinking bad you think you are going to fall over on your bike and that you can’t turn the pedals anymore because you are going nearly vertical.
But I did it, shouting, “FUCK YOU I’M NOT WALKING” to myself as I passed people on the way up, and when I did, we would quietly say to one another, “Good Job!” I mean, anyone climbing this shit is doing a great job, don’t you think?
Well, you wish that Pinnacle Road was the end of the crap, but if you’ve done the ride before, you know it isn’t, and you have this pit in your stomach that is just waiting for the bottom to fall out before you start climbing again. I started thinking about Barneveld, remembering there is a bad climb into that town, and then of course, the grand finale, climbing 2.9 miles up fucking Mounds Park Road for the second time just to let you know your legs are fucking toasted.
But there’s some not so bad stuff after Pinnacle Road, but now I’m thinking, wait, this ride is supposed to be 200K and we are not yet to Barneveld and then it’s a ways to Mounds Park Road, so how many fucking miles are they making us do today? On any other day, extra mileage is welcome. Not today!
In the brief respite stretch we get after Pinnacle Road, what jumps into my brain but Steve Martin? I have his first recorded record, “Let’s Get Small,” and there’s a routine on there where he says: “Sometimes people come up to me and say, Steve—how did you get so fuckin’ funny?” And I just keep rolling this over and over in my head, laughing out loud, smiling, and it amazes me that through all this crap that I am still laughing and having a great time. I alternate that with thoughts of “what the hell is wrong with me?” I wonder if other people go through similar thought processes when doing this shit. I think the dilemma of whether this is fun or stupid is the classic endurance ethos. I truly believe there ought to be a race that includes “fun AND stupid!” in its advertising. You’d get everybody and their brother signing up for that shit.
Well, we get to Lake View Road, which ostensibly, starts out as quite pretty. But, you know, it has the word “view” in it, so it can’t be good. It was here that I started to experience almost feeling like I couldn’t put out the 200-210 climbing watts that I thought I now needed. But I figured what the hell, I am still making it up, so I changed my perspective to thinking that I was saving it for the grand finale, and in fact I was! I hadn’t walked, I hadn’t stood up except on that stinking whore of a climb on Zwettler Road, I was 100% on my nutrition (calories are wonderful!), but now I was ready to get this show off the road. So while on Lake View (which is still a whore in my book), I’m wondering where is fucking Barneveld, and hoping maybe it was wiped off the map by a tornado. One year that actually almost happened in Barneveld, so it was no coincidence that my brain picked that scenario.
Well, I begin to scan the horizon for the Barneveld water tower, and pretty soon I am seeing it and figure I’m fucked. Sorry, Barneveld still exists, and you still need to climb the hell into it. It hurt like a mofo, and then I began thinking how much longer until Mounds Park Road? It was here that I heard someone say that the ride would end up being 130 miles today because of some construction bypass. What the fuck? WHAT THE FUCK???
So I look at my odometer, and sure enough, I’m in fucking Barneveld and I’m already at 118 miles and I know there’s more than 6 normally to the end, and I have to steel myself to the fact that I’ve now still got another 12 miles to go. It was when I saw the roadblock sign and we turned back onto County HH that I knew my fate.
And then it’s just a matter of time, my friends. You can see the stinking Mound wherever you are. At least 5 times while looking at it, I flipped it off, sometimes punctuated with a big “FUCK YOU!” Because the thing is just standing there, looming, laughing at you because you are such a dumbass and will ride up the whore even though you could circle the bottom and end up at your nice, cushy car.
Well, I had hoped to break 9 hours on the day, but with the extra miles, I knew that wasn’t going to happen, but I was secretly pretty damn pleased with myself because I had done the ACTUALLY ONLY 200K ride 2 years ago in 10:03. It was looking like I was going to make my second goal of 9:15, which was reasonable, considering the extra miles.
As I approached Mounds Park Road, I decided I would dump out my bottles so I was as light as possible climbing. This is the first year where I have never once had a thought that I would like to be any lighter in weight myself. Even last year, there were many times while climbing where I thought that 5 lbs. lighter would be nice. Not anymore!
So I start dumping bottles, and I flipped the top off one of my water bottles which is a Headhunters bottle that I got from a guy named Dino that I met in Brazil last year who lives in Madison. I was so pissed, but it was merrily swimming its way down a little brook, and I had a job to finish.
I was wondering if I’d be able to make the entire climb without walking. At this point, the sun had come burning out, and right as I started the ascent, I said to a pair of riders, “Thank GOD it’s hot and sunny out now!” They got my sarcasm, and we had a good laugh. It was about now that I was thinking that Lori was probably finished. I guessed she’d finish in about 8:30, and hoped she wasn’t too angry waiting for my sorry ass.
So I am climbing Mounds Park, and now I just ignore the Ergomo, because it doesn’t matter. What matters is not stopping and not falling over, because there are few places where you could actually stop your bike without falling over backwards. So I start to have visions in my head of just rolling backwards down the hill, but those visions are quashed by the sensations in my legs, which are now pretty much feelin’ it. I am proud that I haven’t bailed so far, but man, this is getting fucking HARD. The climb is 2.9 miles, and they even have races up the stinking whore, which someday I should do. I wonder how it would feel to not have already gone 127 miles?
As I’m going up, believe it or not, I am passing people who had whizzed by me a few miles back, which at the time, I thought, “Good for you!” I mean either they are just faster than me or else they will suffer more than me on the grand finale, because I’m tiny and climb pretty well for a girl. There’s a guy in front of me who is looking good, and I’m thinking he can stay ahead of me, but when he shouts out (because he knows I’m behind him), “that’s the end of the gears,” I realize I’m not in the 27 yet, and I kerchunk it in and feel like I’m going to be OK. And then I pass him, and he says, “Awesome job!” And I say back to him, “You, too!”
Because we are all awesome and we are all sweaty pigs and the sweat is just streaming off of us at this point and the bugs don’t even want to land on you anymore and we know how stupid we are and we know how much fun we’ve been having and that it’s all going to be over soon enough so just hang in there and turn the fucking pedals and keep cranking and don’t look too far ahead because it’s getting steeper and your quads are burning up and feel like exhausted pistons and you think you might not be able to make it and you see some people who are walking their bikes and you think THAT IS NOT GOING TO BE ME I CAN SEE THE TOP OF THE NEXT RISE AND MAKE IT THERE and you keep cranking and I’m maybe ½ mile from the top and here comes Lori to fetch me and she asks if I want a ride, and I say NO FUCKING WAY that I’m going all the way and I’ll see her at the bottom of the hill. But man it was so cool that she turned around and drove next to me for a bit and kept telling me how great I was doing and I really felt like I had done a great job and I was all smiles, and then I finally hit top, turned left (I bagged the final 900-feet of HELL and we wanted to get the hell out of Dodge) and began screaming down the hill. 2 guys in a car pulled up next to me and said, “The finish line is the other way,” and I said, “Been there, done that!” and I let go the brakes completely and flew down, full well knowing I was holding up traffic behind me. Or not. I was probably going 35 to 45mph.
And I got to the van, and Lori grabbed my bike for me and put it away and handed me a cold, wet towel to towel off, and I asked her what her time was, and it was 8:35. She’s such a stud! And then I told her I went 9:19, which was a serious chunk of time off my previous best, and I felt like a stud, too (Lori’s 44 and I’m 50), and Lori drove off and we hit the road, and we talked nonstop the entire way back. I did request a stop for McDonald’s at the Belvedere Oasis, and I got 2 cheeseburgers and fries. Lori didn’t want to eat real food since she was going out for dinner with Marc, and because she’s trying to lose weight! Now, you look at photos of her and you think she doesn’t need to lose an ounce, but I’ve been there myself, so I know.
For those of you interested in the power stuff, here's my data:
Duration: 9:19:34
Work: 4682 kJ (that's CALORIES for those of you without power meters)
TSS: 748 (intensity factor 0.896) (for reference sake, an Ironman ride should be about TSS 300)
Norm Power: 167
VI: 1.19
Distance: 131.933 mi
Elevation Gain: 10853 ft
We got back to Lori’s house, moved my crap to my car and I drove home with this shit-faced grin. I thought it was just 3 weeks ago I pounded out Triple T and now this, and I think I’m going to be in some great shape for Lake Placid, or at least it looks good on paper!
I want to thank Lori so much for driving and also for being my inspiration to stay on top of my personal goals for the day and for listening to me babble about some stuff I can’t write about here—it’s our secret—and just getting to know her better. She’s an incredible woman, and I think a Kona slot is in her future.
Back home, I was so wired from all the caffeine and just from, well, YOU KNOW! I had a couple 2 or 3 beers, a little food (I really wasn’t that hungry), set my A/C down to 70 because I knew my body would be having temperature control issues, and then slept fitfully as I had to pee like 10 times and drink water, but hey, it’s all good. I am about to go for a little ½ hour swim just to move around a bit, and then I’m taking my Dad out to lunch for Father’s Day. I’m happy I didn’t stay overnight in Verona so I could do all this today. I also need to go grocery shopping and, big surprise, clean and mix fucking bottles!
So I guess that in addition to calling me Crackhead, you can now also call me Sexy Bitch!
Photos can be viewed here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8737154@N04/sets/72157600380989626/
I made the trip with my friend, Lori, who also raced Triple T 3 weeks ago (and handily won the coed team division with her SO, Marc). Lori graciously volunteered to drive her van, but we would be leaving directly after the ride on Saturday rather than staying overnight.
Back up to Thursday. I had an outstanding 2:30 run, covering 16.5 miles. I have never felt so good on such a long training run. The workout protocol had me warming up easy for :30, then moving into Z2 and upper Z3 (half marathon pace) work. I ran in my favorite place, Waterfall Glen, which happens to be adjacent to Argonne National Laboratory, so I am getting in my extra protons and neutrons while there! That day, the way I controlled my pace was by paying acute attention to my breathing. I still had some soreness in my left serratus and upper intercostals from the run crash the week before, and labored breathing, coughing and laughing still made my ribcage hurt. So for the easy pace stuff, my mantra was “barely breathing,” which translated to about a 10:00/mile pace. Z2 I pegged as “breathing a little bit,” and that came out to about a 9:30/mile pace, and the half marathon breathing pattern was “definitely breathing,” for a pace of about 8:50/mile. For reference sake, tempo pace would be “breathing a lot.” It was the first time I was so in touch with my breathing, and it was amazing how it translated to the correct paces for me. The actual paces I ran varied due to the terrain, which is rolling hills. During the run, I had 3 deer jump across the path in front of me, I assisted one painted turtle across the path (to avoid being run over by cyclists), I saw a bluebird up close and personal, and I ran into a guy I know from the Y. Chris was on his hybrid, and I took a few minutes to stop and chat with him when I was about 9 miles into the run. He asked how much I was running, and when I told him, he said (like he says to me regularly), “When do you take easy days?” I told him that usually Mondays and Fridays were “easy” for me (Monday is usually a swim and a form run and Friday is a swim and perhaps a short run). I told him I thought I actually had a couple of easy rides on my schedule, and we could try and do one of those together. He’s a much faster runner than me, but nowhere near as fast a cyclist. I’d date him, except that I think he prefers less active bimbos. Once he said to me point blank that I would be a hard woman to date because of my drive. Nice, huh? Oh well, it is what it is.
I took Friday off from work. Rich hadn’t scheduled any workouts for me, but I was certain I’d do a swim, and contemplated a short, easy run, just to see what’s what after Thursday’s run, plus I wanted to get in 4 runs for the week. I swam 3200 yards at 7:00AM, and wore a 2-piece swimsuit, so I could just take off the bottom and put on running shorts and head out right from the Y. It made me smile because for a few years, I did my swim/run workouts back to back during the summer, and would always be running out with a wet, cool top! I decided to only run :30, and to try and run real easy, so again, I focused on “barely breathing.” I ended up running about 9:30/mile, which I rarely do outside of long runs. Within 2 minutes, I ran into Larry, who is an awesome runner that I know from the Y, who is doing his first century ride this fall and wants to borrow my bike box. He had put on a little weight (but he has never by any stretch been fat) about a year ago, but he’s totally leaned out, and he was on his bike as we chatted. I told him I got a new bike, and he guessed its cost at $3,000, and I laughed at him. Anyway, it was nice to see him, because usually he runs on the treadmill (go figure), so I don’t see much of him in the spring through fall. Since he was heading TO the Y and I would need to circle back to retrieve my crap, I decided I’d write my contact information down for him and pass it to him, which I did, as he was on the treadmill. I thoroughly enjoyed my short run, and my legs didn’t feel bad at all. As always, I got all sorts of stares, as I was sporting my low-cut Desoto shorts. I have just gotten used to running in those, as they are extremely comfortable for me. Yeah, I have washboard abs and it makes people (men AND women) look, and that’s cool. I’m a bit of an exhibitionist (stop laughing right now!). Side note: during my Wednesday run, while dressed in a similar fashion, a woman driving a truck looked at me and flipped me off! How sad and angry she must be to do that. I was clear on the opposite side of the road up on the sidewalk climbing a hill. Usually I get a few whistles from men, so this was unexpected.
I finished swimming and running by about 9:00AM, which gave me time to do some house cleaning (the incessant bottle manipulation continues) and pack. In the process, I knew I had better start loading up on the carbs, so I drank some Endurox R4, a can of guava juice, and ate 1.5 bananas. I couldn’t choke down the whole second banana, as I could feel my insulin spiking as it was, and I already had about 700 calories worth of carbs in my tummy. I hadn’t worked out enough to need that much, and my eating automatically adjusts to my workout load; however, when I have a big day following, my brain puts me into calorie acquisition mode. I figure I had blasted through all my glycogen stores on Thursday and was probably a bit in the hole from a short swim and run, so the stocking began.
I arrived at Lori’s Friday afternoon around 2:45PM. She was all packed and ready to go, so we transferred my bike, 2 bags and 2 coolers to her van and we took off, after making a quick stop to get gasoline.
Let me tell you, I consider myself pretty high energy, but Miss Lori seems to be in the stratosphere to me sometimes! She is younger than me with 5 boys (ages 10-21), she’s a really fast triathlete (my idol) who trains even more than I do, and she’s going to school for her nursing degree. Needless to say, she and I have some extremely animated discussions. Lori’s Italian, to boot, so you have blond Italian chic and blond Croatian chic both talking with not only their hands, but their entire arms!
We made good time to Verona, Wisconsin (where our hotel was), and decided to continue on to Mt. Horeb to pick up our ride packets. Mt. Horeb is only another 11 miles west of Verona. On the way there, we were both looking at the beautiful countryside, since we’ve both done Ironman Wisconsin, and go up there to train quite often.
Packets in tow, we headed back to Verona to check into the hotel. I will be staying there twice more this summer with different people, so I am sure the front desk woman will start to recognize me! We dropped our bags (bikes were left in the van), and headed to dinner.
Lori had forgot to pack bottles and gels for her nutrition. She was concerned about getting this stuff, and I told her not to worry we’d get it under control. We went to the store, "World of Variety," first (note to self: need to go shop there--they have a lot of campy looking stuff!), but they were closing, and told us they didn’t carry empty bottles, so we went to Walgreen’s. Walgreens had some cheap bottles that would do the trick, even though Lori was worried they would be too big for her Profile cages in the XLAB. I told her they would fit (she doesn’t know another nickname of mine is “Volume Queen”), and that we’d snag gels en route on Saturday. While she was shopping for necessities, I browsed the toy aisle (I tell you the Verona Walgreen’s ROCKS!) and picked up two bouncy things that light up and are rainbow colors (yes, I am such a little kid in many ways).
Next, we headed to dinner at the one sit-down restaurant in Verona, Avanti’s. I had been there before on a training expedition, and I knew they had decent food. As we walked into the dining area, it was obvious there were a lot of other cyclists eating there, some of which one or the other or both of us knew. I initially met Lori through a guy named Dan who I met once when I captained a team for Hustle up the Hancock, when another guy I knew, Jim, recruited Dan (who’s an awesome fast climber) for the team, and as Lori told me yesterday, Dan told her she needed to meet me because we were very similar.
Anyway, Lori ordered a glass of wine and I got a Bell’s Oberon, which was tasty. They had Blue Moon, but I had that at home, and the waitress said to go with the Bell’s, which is brewed in Michigan. We decided to order a pizza, and what we asked for was pepperoni, garlic and tomatoes. What we got, and ate anyway, was pepperoni, sausage, garlic and pepperoncini! We both like the pepperoncini, but they were a bit much on the pizza. Still, we ate a good deal of a large, and I took the 2 remaining slices for later. It seems that I eat the most of anyone I train with lately!
We went back to the hotel, where we got ice for our coolers, laid out our outfits for the next day, and then tried to relax. Lori had brought along some paperwork, and I was amazed at how she kept at things, while I was basically just laying around, so I did get on the floor to stretch for about :20. All the while, we are talking, and of course, watching the Weather Channel. The forecast called for high 80’s with afternoon thunderstorms, and the little local map had the thunder clouds everywhere in the area. Oh well, what are you going to do.
I had brought temporary tattoos with me, and showed Lori the selection. She opted for the hibiscus flower ring (that I bought in Kona the last time I was there—sigh—I need to get back somehow), and I opted for the thorn ring for an arm and a death skull for one of my calves. Note to self: need to find some more good temporary tattoos for the next few weeks and also for Ironman Lake Placid—I am not sure what I would like to sport there.
We decided we’d get up at 4:45AM and shoot for a 6:45AM start. Technically, the ride starts at 7:00AM, but there was no chip timing this time, so as long as you have a map, why would you wait around until 7, especially when it was hot and humid and just going to get hotter and more humid?
Well, with all the pizza in my tummy (I managed to eat the toppings off the last 2 slices) and the excitement of knowing what we were going to do the next day, and the fact that I generally haven’t been sleeping much past 4AM lately, I awoke at my usual 3:30AM because my body had processed the food (draw your own conclusions here). I got back into bed, and just lay there, knowing it wasn’t long until it was wake up time. At 4AM, I heard Lori stir, so I just asked her if she was awake and could we get moving. She was cool with it, laughing at me for being so excited, and I clicked the coffee pot (which I had set the night before) to on, let Lori languish while it brewed, turned on the TV (it was brilliant that it automatically tuned to the Weather Channel), and took a look outside.
I saw some clouds, which was probably a good thing, and then Lori got up, we had coffee and our breakfast, and then I pulled out my pre-mixed Ultrafuel and drank it. At that moment, I realized I had a “normal” bottle that Lori could use for her bike, which made her very happy. I had another bottle from the ride bag, so Lori ended up not using the Franken bottles from Walgreen’s. I had pre-mixed 2 bottles of Infinit. Each bottle contained about 900 calories (and I wrote “CALORIES” on the generic bottles!), and I would also carry 2 smaller bottles in my jersey for plain water to chase it with. All the while we are setting up, we are taking turns sighing and making various noises, and we laughed at one another whenever we caught each other in a sigh. We also both talk to ourselves out loud while we are getting ready, saying stuff like, "OK," "All right," and "Huh." Cracks me up!
We suited up and left at 5:30 for Blue Mounds, which is where the ride begins. On the way there, we could see the big ball of a sun rising, and we knew it would be a warm day. We smiled watching the terrain get progressively hillier.
We got a primo parking spot right across from the little store at the base on Mounds Park Road, right next to porta-potties. We got our stuff ready, I had a guy who had never done the ride before snap a few photos, and we were off and rolling at 6:19AM.
Lori is a brutally strong rider, and I didn’t want to hold her back (I’m a big girl), but we both agreed we’d stay together for the first 2 stages, in case either of us decided to bag the 200K and just do 100K. This was good for both of us because we both kept ourselves in check.
The ride is organized in “stages,” or perhaps we should call them degrees of difficulty, as the climbing progresses from hardly any on Stage 1 to what the fucking hell idiocy in Stages 4 and 5. Each stage is 20+ miles long, and each one changes your concept of mileage!
During the first stage, you do the 2.9-mile Mounds Park Road climb, after they take you away from the mound for some easy flat to rolling riding. The first time you make the ascent, it doesn’t feel so bad, but then you know you are going to do it again like 115 miles later and that it won’t feel so good then. Anyway, we climbed it easily and then made the big descent back to where we started and it was close to 7:00AM and there were lots of riders congregating to begin their days.
Some girls I know spotted me and said hello, but Lori and I were all about getting on with the day (and those girls were probably just doing the 100K), but there weren’t good markings for where we were supposed to go. I spotted a guy with “VOLUNTEER” on the back of his shirt sporting a Viking hat, and yelled at him, “HEY VOLUNTEER!” He was up on stairs to a bar and ignored us, but a woman on the ground pointed us in the right direction and we were off.
The first stage isn’t bad at all, aside from the Mounds Park Road climb. You can see the map here. Basically, you circle around Route 78, managing to go up every stinking climb on either side of it, passing through the Town of Vermont all day long. Moen Vally and Scherbel have some climbing, but it’s not bad at all. The stage ends at Festge Park, though, which is up a fairly steep climb that sucks donkey balls, because you go a bit downhill before crossing the busy Route 14, where you hope you don’t have to full stop before ascending. We got lucky, as the nice policeman was holding traffic for us!
Rest stop 1 was basically fill up water bottles, grab some gels and go. I also grabbed a banana, but could only choke down ½ of it. Since we had started early, they were pretty much just setting up the rest station, and while I looked around at a lot of the food, I didn’t really want any. The Infinit was doing its job.
You leave Festge Park the same way you came in after Stage 1, meaning you get to scream downhill while watching others climb slowly. The first bad climb in Stage 2 is Barlow Road, and I remember it fondly from the last 3 times I’ve done this ride. As soon as I saw the road sign, I shouted to everyone within earshot, “I remember Barlow—this one really sucks!” Lori is yelling at me to shut up already, and I keep telling her, “I’m just saying.” But, it was during this first suck-ass climb that both Lori and I are happy for having done Triple T just 3 weeks prior, which featured tons of nasty-ass climbing, so our legs were primed for this shit.
Barlow Road is bad enough, but then they top you off (or should I say pop you off?) with part of Mineral Point Road. Now, do the math people—names of roads that have any of the following words in them cannot be good: Point, View, Ridge, Hollow, Valley, Mound, High and Pinnacle. Horribly Hilly features all those and more! You wouldn’t think something called Barlow Road or Zwettler Road would be bad, but they are as well!
Anyway, Stage 2 ends up at Festge Park again, so you get to climb into the rest stop again. On the way up this time, I heard a rider calling out her watts at 260, and a guy behind her called out 250, and I started laughing and shouted out my watts, which were only 209, yet I was climbing at about the same speed as them! I fucking love being small! I had been trying to cap my climbing watts around 210, and if I could climb on less, I would do it whenever I could. There were a few short and really steep climbs where I ignored the Ergomo, but glanced once or twice and saw between 250 and 300. Whatever—nothing you can do about those short and steep ones (OK, shut up Rich if you read this). A girl has got to have some fun, right?
I had just opened an Espresso Love Gu (for some reason I thought I should add 100 calories for the fun of it) and stuck it in my mouth, and this guy I’ve known a few years comes up and picks me up in his arms, and I’m trying to scream, “JOHN!” but I have this gel in my mouth, so we had a huge hug, he put me down, I sucked down the Gu, and we caught up quickly. John is a hottie (sadly, he’s engaged to be married, but I’m happy for him) that I’ve ridden with in the past and we just seem to run into one another a lot during the summer. Wait—that’s most of the people I know. My world keeps getting smaller, but that’s a good thing. I think it was 2 years ago I was riding by myself on a group ride wearing a swimsuit bottom (it was very hot), and from behind I hear a guy screaming, “I’d recognize that ass anywhere!” It was John, and we laughed and rode together for awhile until I got stung in the forehead by a rogue bee, at which point I started cursing, but it was OK, since we were near an aid station where I demanded ice while the bee venom coursed through me (like I need another reason to be even more wired).
John asked me if I was riding 100K or 200K, and of course I looked at him like what a silly question, of course I’m riding 200K today! I told him about Triple T and told him he could read my race reports or go to my blog, and I guess this was the first time I told him my nickname is Crackhead, and he just looked at me and said, “It figures.”
So I’m catching up with John, and Lori comes over, and I introduce everyone and then Lori and I took off to begin Stage 3. Stage 3 features my favorite part of the ride—an area known as Enchanted Valley. I don’t believe it’s the actual name of a town. It sure is beautiful in there, and while in it (knowing full well that since you are in a valley that you will need to CLIMB THE FUCK OUT) you can see the surrounding hills in relief against one another. It really is enchanting!
There are a few “bad” climbs in Stage 3, but to me and Lori, it is still feeling quite manageable. I hadn’t stood up on any climbs, and didn’t want to, because if I didn’t stabilize myself exactly right (I did try it once), my left ribcage would hurt like a sonofabitch. We got to some fork where you could decide to bag the 200K and just do 100K, and Lori turned to me to ask me if I wanted to cut it short, and I said nope. After that, some guys rode up on us, and one guy says, “Sheila?” And I say yes, and he says it’s Mike of 3Iron. We had never met in person, but he said he recognized my bike from the photos on my blog. That was cool meeting him, and we all rode together for a bit, before I could sense Lori wanting to go hang with the fast boys, so I shooed her on.
I rolled into the Black Earth (home of the awesome restaurant, Heiney’s) rest station not too long after Lori and the boys, and here I saw John again. You get a little crazed doing these rides with all this climbing, especially when it’s stinking hot and humid. We all looked like wet rats or something. So as I’m taking a cold, wet towel to my face, I ask John why am I not getting any love from all these men? And he says it’s because I ride too fast. I told him there are plenty of guys who ride faster than me, but then again there are plenty who ride slower than me, and I shared how on one ride a guy asked me whether men I date need to be faster than me. I thought it was an odd question, but John laughed at me and said, “Well, they at least need to be able to hang with you.” John accused me of being a shameless flirt, but truthfully I don’t think I am—I really don’t know how. I just do what I do and be who I am, and if that comes off as flirtatious, oh well!
Lori took off from Black Earth ahead of me, which was fine by me, since I wanted to let her ride her own ride, even though I felt like I was riding within myself and doing pretty well on the day. Stage 4 is where you begin to notice whether you’ve been pacing yourself properly, as it’s loaded up with fucking hard climbs. The first one is Midland Road, which while on, kept reminding me of the infamous Midtown Road that’s on the Ironman Wisconsin course. But I couldn’t remember the name of the Ironman course road name for awhile, so I began scrolling Mid this and that in my head. I find it entertaining the things my brain does while I’m doing this shit. At any rate, I’m noticing that my legs don’t feel bad at all—I guess doing 80-mile and 104-mile rides back to back last weekend was a good thing.
I think it was on Midland Road that John and his crew rode up on me from behind, and John yells at me really loudly, “YOU SEXY BITCH!!!” As he rode up on me, I shouted, “Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about!” That kept me going for miles, for some reason.
Midland Road sucked (but I kept smiling because, hey, I’m a sexy bitch!), and then we got to Fesenfeld Road, which also sucked, and THEN Sutcliffe Road which was pretty bad, but next up was Zwettler Road. So you see, during this stage, they are just piling it on you, one after the other, with hardly any rest in between. Although I will say, I appreciated the descents a lot this year, and would do them in mad bomber mode, topping out at 45MPH on many of them. I can only imagine how fast some bigger guys went!
Anyway, Zwettler Road is a stinking, fucking whore. It has, I think, a series of 4 climbs. The first one is bad, the second one is fucking bad and the last two are really bad. On the second one, the steepest of the bunch, I was just pissed, and decided, what the fuck, I’m standing on this one. So I stood up, and my ribcage hurt, and I didn’t care, and I was yelling, “You stupid, stinking, fucking whore” while doing it. Some guy climbed about the same rate as me, and when we got to the brief reprieve before the next step and started up again, he laughed at me and said he was hearing other expletives all day, after I apologized for my little outburst.
There’s more shit on Stage 4 after Zwettler Road, and by this time you are starting to want this to be over, but I knew from years past, that Stage 5 is where the rubber meets the road. When you roll into the last rest station, which is just on the side of a road—no park, nothing fancy—you begin to see how the day is wearing on people. Some are laying on the ground moaning, many have this crazed look in their eyes thinking that they had just finished 100 miles of crap that felt like 200 miles and aren’t sure whether they can go on. I was just hoping they had hard-boiled eggs! In years past they did, but this time they cheesed out at the rest stations, and didn’t have them. But they did have make-your-own sandwiches, so I took a piece of good, old white bread, slapped on a big slice of turkey breast (they were HUGE slices), and stuffed my face. I just felt like I needed a bit of protein, but then I knew I’d have to chill for a few minutes, since once you roll out of this rest station, they fuck you in the ass by sending you up Pinnacle Road, and the last thing you need is to have a belly full of food and Gatorade or Infinit or whatever crap you are using.
So I see John with his buds here, and just because I was getting a bit giddy, I go up to him and say, “What did you say to me back there?” even though I knew what it was--I just wanted to hear him say it again. And he says, matter-of-factly, “I called you a Sexy Bitch.” And one of his buddies smiles broadly at me and says, “And that’s a compliment!” I already knew it was, and we all started laughing and making our decisions about moving on. I think I took off before those boys.
Secretly, I was hoping they had taken Pinnacle Road out of the ride, and for some reason, I was thinking there was no fucking way I was doing it and that I would walk my bike up. I have no clue why my brain was giving me this grief. Literally, you go .2 miles out of the last rest station, and then it’s a right turn, kiss your ass goodbye, here’s Pinnacle Road! Pinnacle Road is 2.5 miles of blissful, stinking, fucking crap, capped off with the worst crap you can imagine (unless you’ve done the infamous Shop Hill Road in the Dairyland Dare). At least it starts out not so bad, progressing to bad, really bad, and finally really, fucking, stinking bad you think you are going to fall over on your bike and that you can’t turn the pedals anymore because you are going nearly vertical.
But I did it, shouting, “FUCK YOU I’M NOT WALKING” to myself as I passed people on the way up, and when I did, we would quietly say to one another, “Good Job!” I mean, anyone climbing this shit is doing a great job, don’t you think?
Well, you wish that Pinnacle Road was the end of the crap, but if you’ve done the ride before, you know it isn’t, and you have this pit in your stomach that is just waiting for the bottom to fall out before you start climbing again. I started thinking about Barneveld, remembering there is a bad climb into that town, and then of course, the grand finale, climbing 2.9 miles up fucking Mounds Park Road for the second time just to let you know your legs are fucking toasted.
But there’s some not so bad stuff after Pinnacle Road, but now I’m thinking, wait, this ride is supposed to be 200K and we are not yet to Barneveld and then it’s a ways to Mounds Park Road, so how many fucking miles are they making us do today? On any other day, extra mileage is welcome. Not today!
In the brief respite stretch we get after Pinnacle Road, what jumps into my brain but Steve Martin? I have his first recorded record, “Let’s Get Small,” and there’s a routine on there where he says: “Sometimes people come up to me and say, Steve—how did you get so fuckin’ funny?” And I just keep rolling this over and over in my head, laughing out loud, smiling, and it amazes me that through all this crap that I am still laughing and having a great time. I alternate that with thoughts of “what the hell is wrong with me?” I wonder if other people go through similar thought processes when doing this shit. I think the dilemma of whether this is fun or stupid is the classic endurance ethos. I truly believe there ought to be a race that includes “fun AND stupid!” in its advertising. You’d get everybody and their brother signing up for that shit.
Well, we get to Lake View Road, which ostensibly, starts out as quite pretty. But, you know, it has the word “view” in it, so it can’t be good. It was here that I started to experience almost feeling like I couldn’t put out the 200-210 climbing watts that I thought I now needed. But I figured what the hell, I am still making it up, so I changed my perspective to thinking that I was saving it for the grand finale, and in fact I was! I hadn’t walked, I hadn’t stood up except on that stinking whore of a climb on Zwettler Road, I was 100% on my nutrition (calories are wonderful!), but now I was ready to get this show off the road. So while on Lake View (which is still a whore in my book), I’m wondering where is fucking Barneveld, and hoping maybe it was wiped off the map by a tornado. One year that actually almost happened in Barneveld, so it was no coincidence that my brain picked that scenario.
Well, I begin to scan the horizon for the Barneveld water tower, and pretty soon I am seeing it and figure I’m fucked. Sorry, Barneveld still exists, and you still need to climb the hell into it. It hurt like a mofo, and then I began thinking how much longer until Mounds Park Road? It was here that I heard someone say that the ride would end up being 130 miles today because of some construction bypass. What the fuck? WHAT THE FUCK???
So I look at my odometer, and sure enough, I’m in fucking Barneveld and I’m already at 118 miles and I know there’s more than 6 normally to the end, and I have to steel myself to the fact that I’ve now still got another 12 miles to go. It was when I saw the roadblock sign and we turned back onto County HH that I knew my fate.
And then it’s just a matter of time, my friends. You can see the stinking Mound wherever you are. At least 5 times while looking at it, I flipped it off, sometimes punctuated with a big “FUCK YOU!” Because the thing is just standing there, looming, laughing at you because you are such a dumbass and will ride up the whore even though you could circle the bottom and end up at your nice, cushy car.
Well, I had hoped to break 9 hours on the day, but with the extra miles, I knew that wasn’t going to happen, but I was secretly pretty damn pleased with myself because I had done the ACTUALLY ONLY 200K ride 2 years ago in 10:03. It was looking like I was going to make my second goal of 9:15, which was reasonable, considering the extra miles.
As I approached Mounds Park Road, I decided I would dump out my bottles so I was as light as possible climbing. This is the first year where I have never once had a thought that I would like to be any lighter in weight myself. Even last year, there were many times while climbing where I thought that 5 lbs. lighter would be nice. Not anymore!
So I start dumping bottles, and I flipped the top off one of my water bottles which is a Headhunters bottle that I got from a guy named Dino that I met in Brazil last year who lives in Madison. I was so pissed, but it was merrily swimming its way down a little brook, and I had a job to finish.
I was wondering if I’d be able to make the entire climb without walking. At this point, the sun had come burning out, and right as I started the ascent, I said to a pair of riders, “Thank GOD it’s hot and sunny out now!” They got my sarcasm, and we had a good laugh. It was about now that I was thinking that Lori was probably finished. I guessed she’d finish in about 8:30, and hoped she wasn’t too angry waiting for my sorry ass.
So I am climbing Mounds Park, and now I just ignore the Ergomo, because it doesn’t matter. What matters is not stopping and not falling over, because there are few places where you could actually stop your bike without falling over backwards. So I start to have visions in my head of just rolling backwards down the hill, but those visions are quashed by the sensations in my legs, which are now pretty much feelin’ it. I am proud that I haven’t bailed so far, but man, this is getting fucking HARD. The climb is 2.9 miles, and they even have races up the stinking whore, which someday I should do. I wonder how it would feel to not have already gone 127 miles?
As I’m going up, believe it or not, I am passing people who had whizzed by me a few miles back, which at the time, I thought, “Good for you!” I mean either they are just faster than me or else they will suffer more than me on the grand finale, because I’m tiny and climb pretty well for a girl. There’s a guy in front of me who is looking good, and I’m thinking he can stay ahead of me, but when he shouts out (because he knows I’m behind him), “that’s the end of the gears,” I realize I’m not in the 27 yet, and I kerchunk it in and feel like I’m going to be OK. And then I pass him, and he says, “Awesome job!” And I say back to him, “You, too!”
Because we are all awesome and we are all sweaty pigs and the sweat is just streaming off of us at this point and the bugs don’t even want to land on you anymore and we know how stupid we are and we know how much fun we’ve been having and that it’s all going to be over soon enough so just hang in there and turn the fucking pedals and keep cranking and don’t look too far ahead because it’s getting steeper and your quads are burning up and feel like exhausted pistons and you think you might not be able to make it and you see some people who are walking their bikes and you think THAT IS NOT GOING TO BE ME I CAN SEE THE TOP OF THE NEXT RISE AND MAKE IT THERE and you keep cranking and I’m maybe ½ mile from the top and here comes Lori to fetch me and she asks if I want a ride, and I say NO FUCKING WAY that I’m going all the way and I’ll see her at the bottom of the hill. But man it was so cool that she turned around and drove next to me for a bit and kept telling me how great I was doing and I really felt like I had done a great job and I was all smiles, and then I finally hit top, turned left (I bagged the final 900-feet of HELL and we wanted to get the hell out of Dodge) and began screaming down the hill. 2 guys in a car pulled up next to me and said, “The finish line is the other way,” and I said, “Been there, done that!” and I let go the brakes completely and flew down, full well knowing I was holding up traffic behind me. Or not. I was probably going 35 to 45mph.
And I got to the van, and Lori grabbed my bike for me and put it away and handed me a cold, wet towel to towel off, and I asked her what her time was, and it was 8:35. She’s such a stud! And then I told her I went 9:19, which was a serious chunk of time off my previous best, and I felt like a stud, too (Lori’s 44 and I’m 50), and Lori drove off and we hit the road, and we talked nonstop the entire way back. I did request a stop for McDonald’s at the Belvedere Oasis, and I got 2 cheeseburgers and fries. Lori didn’t want to eat real food since she was going out for dinner with Marc, and because she’s trying to lose weight! Now, you look at photos of her and you think she doesn’t need to lose an ounce, but I’ve been there myself, so I know.
For those of you interested in the power stuff, here's my data:
Duration: 9:19:34
Work: 4682 kJ (that's CALORIES for those of you without power meters)
TSS: 748 (intensity factor 0.896) (for reference sake, an Ironman ride should be about TSS 300)
Norm Power: 167
VI: 1.19
Distance: 131.933 mi
Elevation Gain: 10853 ft
We got back to Lori’s house, moved my crap to my car and I drove home with this shit-faced grin. I thought it was just 3 weeks ago I pounded out Triple T and now this, and I think I’m going to be in some great shape for Lake Placid, or at least it looks good on paper!
I want to thank Lori so much for driving and also for being my inspiration to stay on top of my personal goals for the day and for listening to me babble about some stuff I can’t write about here—it’s our secret—and just getting to know her better. She’s an incredible woman, and I think a Kona slot is in her future.
Back home, I was so wired from all the caffeine and just from, well, YOU KNOW! I had a couple 2 or 3 beers, a little food (I really wasn’t that hungry), set my A/C down to 70 because I knew my body would be having temperature control issues, and then slept fitfully as I had to pee like 10 times and drink water, but hey, it’s all good. I am about to go for a little ½ hour swim just to move around a bit, and then I’m taking my Dad out to lunch for Father’s Day. I’m happy I didn’t stay overnight in Verona so I could do all this today. I also need to go grocery shopping and, big surprise, clean and mix fucking bottles!
So I guess that in addition to calling me Crackhead, you can now also call me Sexy Bitch!
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Triple T Race Report - It's Finished!
Installment 1: http://www.trifuel.com/training/general/american-triple-t-an-epic-race-report-for-an-epic-race
Installment 2: http://www.trifuel.com/training/general/american-triple-t-an-epic-race-report-part-2
Installment 3: http://www.trifuel.com/training/general/american-triple-t-an-epic-race-report-part-3
Installment 4: http://www.trifuel.com/training/general/american-triple-t-an-epic-race-report-part-4
Installment 5: http://www.trifuel.com/training/general/american-triple-t-an-epic-race-report-part-5
Installment 6: http://www.trifuel.com/training/general/american-triple-t-an-epic-race-report-part-6
If you just want to look at the pictures, they are here:
Race 1: (sorry no evidence)
Race 2: http://flickr.com/photos/8737154@N04/sets/72157600332655691/
Race 3: http://flickr.com/photos/8737154@N04/sets/72157600336898968/
Race 4: http://flickr.com/photos/8737154@N04/sets/72157600336937280/
Installment 2: http://www.trifuel.com/training/general/american-triple-t-an-epic-race-report-part-2
Installment 3: http://www.trifuel.com/training/general/american-triple-t-an-epic-race-report-part-3
Installment 4: http://www.trifuel.com/training/general/american-triple-t-an-epic-race-report-part-4
Installment 5: http://www.trifuel.com/training/general/american-triple-t-an-epic-race-report-part-5
Installment 6: http://www.trifuel.com/training/general/american-triple-t-an-epic-race-report-part-6
If you just want to look at the pictures, they are here:
Race 1: (sorry no evidence)
Race 2: http://flickr.com/photos/8737154@N04/sets/72157600332655691/
Race 3: http://flickr.com/photos/8737154@N04/sets/72157600336898968/
Race 4: http://flickr.com/photos/8737154@N04/sets/72157600336937280/
aaaaaaaaaAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!
Thanks for letting me get that scream out!
It's that time when I'm in it--the BIG training, the "I better start thinking about this fucking Ironman I said I'd do," the "don't do anything stupid or get hurt," the "work is becoming totally annoying," the "I feel like I'm being overstimulated" time.
But I feel totally great, mentally and physically. I don't think I've ever felt more at home in my mind and body, or felt so sure of who I am. My new friend, Ling, that I met at the YMCA and with whom I've swapped plants (and I've also given her swim caps--I have piles of them) said to me yesterday as I was waxing exuberant about some birds in my yard that my heart is very full of love. I think Ling was sent to me to be a mirror into my own soul.
It's interesting that it's been a regular occurrence throughout my life to leave an impression with others of confidence almost to the point of arrogance, that they sometimes classify as "intimidation." Yet there are a few hardy souls who see beyond that and welcome all that is me, over the top tendencies and all, and Ling is helping me to see that I am just very full and spilling over. I work every day at channeling all that fullness, and feel like I'm allocating pretty well, even though at times it truly feels like all I do is eat, sleep, train and talk about those things. I'm managing to fit in more and feel more and be more.
I am never sure what forces are at work in the universe that provide me with such blessings--it's surely a combination of hard work, seized opportunities, an openness to alternate perspectives and some other magic ingredients that I can't put my finger on. Maybe there really is something to riding and running in nuclear research facilities!
Life is truly excellent!
It's that time when I'm in it--the BIG training, the "I better start thinking about this fucking Ironman I said I'd do," the "don't do anything stupid or get hurt," the "work is becoming totally annoying," the "I feel like I'm being overstimulated" time.
But I feel totally great, mentally and physically. I don't think I've ever felt more at home in my mind and body, or felt so sure of who I am. My new friend, Ling, that I met at the YMCA and with whom I've swapped plants (and I've also given her swim caps--I have piles of them) said to me yesterday as I was waxing exuberant about some birds in my yard that my heart is very full of love. I think Ling was sent to me to be a mirror into my own soul.
It's interesting that it's been a regular occurrence throughout my life to leave an impression with others of confidence almost to the point of arrogance, that they sometimes classify as "intimidation." Yet there are a few hardy souls who see beyond that and welcome all that is me, over the top tendencies and all, and Ling is helping me to see that I am just very full and spilling over. I work every day at channeling all that fullness, and feel like I'm allocating pretty well, even though at times it truly feels like all I do is eat, sleep, train and talk about those things. I'm managing to fit in more and feel more and be more.
I am never sure what forces are at work in the universe that provide me with such blessings--it's surely a combination of hard work, seized opportunities, an openness to alternate perspectives and some other magic ingredients that I can't put my finger on. Maybe there really is something to riding and running in nuclear research facilities!
Life is truly excellent!
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Triple T Race Report - Installment 4
Regarding today's photos: They changed the graphics on the Ultra Violence cans. Do you think it's a coincidence that the colors match up to my beloved LGL? I think not. I highly recommend you visit the website, and ramble around until you get the prompt to enter a number. Enjoy!
The other photos are new things in bloom in my yard. See if you can spot the Monarch butterfly caterpillar. I've got several on several (curiously enough) Butterfly Weed and Milkweed plants. The caterpillars grow really fast! I hope to have several chrysalises going, and I'll get shots of those, too. They are absolutely beautiful!
Installment 4:
http://trifuel.com/training/race-reports/american-triple-t-an-epic-race-report-part-4
Installment 3, in case you missed it:
http://www.trifuel.com/training/race-reports/american-triple-t-an-epic-race-report-part-3
Installment 2, in case you missed it:
http://trifuel.com/training/race-reports/american-triple-t-an-epic-race-report-part-2
Installment 1, in case you missed it:
Installment 3, in case you missed it:
http://www.trifuel.com/training/race-reports/american-triple-t-an-epic-race-report-part-3
Installment 2, in case you missed it:
http://trifuel.com/training/race-reports/american-triple-t-an-epic-race-report-part-2
Installment 1, in case you missed it:
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
A Strauss Sighting
The non-training (yet still quite tan) species of the Strauss creature was sighted in my home yesterday, after arriving on its mobile habitat, a striking blue motorcycle (we hope to obtain a photo of it in its "Action Figure" phase next week).
Its call alternates between, "Where is the nearest Starbucks," and "Where can I work wirelessly?" which I've learned are its primary animalistic drives, seeking to satisfy both simultaneously; yet it can quickly adapt to home-brewed coffee and an actual couch.
The non-training form of the Strauss appears to thrive on bratwurst, caffeine and cookies. It was also observed stealing most of the filet from a just-off-the-grill Porterhouse steak--so one can only guess the makeup of its usual diet. It also has this weird habit of having packages delivered to my house with instructions to do something with the contents. Usually there's something for me in the package, though, so I really can't complain. If anyone knows of a way to encourage it to send carbon bike parts, please let me know.
I am attempting to stimulate the metamorphosis of the non-training Strauss creature into the rarer training/racing form (sometimes known as the "triathlete" phase). So far, I've been coaxing it gently with the words "Miami Man 1/2 Ironman 2007" and "Triple T 2008," but I'll need to be careful before using the words "diet" and "run." I'm pretty sure it doesn't understand the word "swim," although it seems to know how to force other species to do it while it watches (voyeuristic tendencies are a surefire clue to identifying the coaching form of the Strauss).
So I'm asking all of you to help me out here before the training Strauss becomes an endangered species by allowing it to subsist on its in-the-wild diet of Infinit, Gatorade, lean protein and veggies. I'm told this metamorphosis can take several months. I think it can be done over the next 5 months by Miami Man 2007 this November.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Triple T Race Report - Installment 3
http://www.trifuel.com/training/race-reports/american-triple-t-an-epic-race-report-part-3
Installment 2, in case you missed it:
http://trifuel.com/training/race-reports/american-triple-t-an-epic-race-report-part-2
Installment 1, in case you missed it:
http://trifuel.com/training/race-reports/american-triple-t-an-epic-race-report-for-an-epic-race
Installment 2, in case you missed it:
http://trifuel.com/training/race-reports/american-triple-t-an-epic-race-report-part-2
Installment 1, in case you missed it:
http://trifuel.com/training/race-reports/american-triple-t-an-epic-race-report-for-an-epic-race
Weekly Workout Totals 06/04/2007-06/10/2007
I'm tired. My coach is showing up soon, so I decided to take 1/2 day off from work. I'm working on my patio!
Read it and believe it:
Weekly Totals 06/04/2007-06/10/2007
Swim: 9850 yards (5.59 miles) in 3.52 hours; 17% of weekly workout time; approx. 1231 calories burned
Bike: Approx. 206.93 miles in 11.65 hours; 55% of weekly workout time; approx. 5243 calories burned
Run: Approx. 30.9 miles in 4.84 hours; 23% of weekly workout time; approx. 2185 calories burned
Strength: 1.07 hours; 5% of weekly workout time; approx. 268 calories burned
All Sports: Approx. 243.42 miles in 21.08 hours; approx. 8927 calories burned
Sleep: 7.86 hours avg./night
Stretching: 0.97 hours. Massage: 1.5 hours
Read it and believe it:
Weekly Totals 06/04/2007-06/10/2007
Swim: 9850 yards (5.59 miles) in 3.52 hours; 17% of weekly workout time; approx. 1231 calories burned
Bike: Approx. 206.93 miles in 11.65 hours; 55% of weekly workout time; approx. 5243 calories burned
Run: Approx. 30.9 miles in 4.84 hours; 23% of weekly workout time; approx. 2185 calories burned
Strength: 1.07 hours; 5% of weekly workout time; approx. 268 calories burned
All Sports: Approx. 243.42 miles in 21.08 hours; approx. 8927 calories burned
Sleep: 7.86 hours avg./night
Stretching: 0.97 hours. Massage: 1.5 hours
Saturday, June 09, 2007
Triple T Race Report--Installment 2
http://trifuel.com/training/race-reports/american-triple-t-an-epic-race-report-part-2
Installment 1, in case you missed it:
http://trifuel.com/training/race-reports/american-triple-t-an-epic-race-report-for-an-epic-race
In other news, I had a GREAT 79 mile ride today, and then I headed out to run. When I was about 1.5 miles from home, I must have failed to step up over a rise in a sidewalk and I crashed. I didn't hit my face--just my left deltoid and outside knee, but I sensed a hurt rib. A nice woman pulled over in her car to check if I was OK, offered me a ride home, which I took, and I've iced everything. I don't think I broke a rib; rather I think I strained either an intracostal or internal oblique. We will see how things go tomorrow! I think this was partially the fault of new running shoes (upgrade of my now gone model) making me run a bit more on the balls of my feet. I'll try riding the bike before I drive 60 miles to ride 100. I have a feeling riding will be fine, and I don't have to run again until Tuesday, so no worries there. I wanted to swim for :20-:30 today, but decided against it. I'll test out the swimming muscles on Monday.
During the ride I saw 3 chics on tri bikes, and 2 of them had matching outfits and aero helmets. Well, I didn't think they were going very fast, and I was cruising about 80% of FTP, so you know what had to be done--I cruised on past them, said hi, and then they sort of followed me, but they didn't exactly take chase--I didn't think they could keep up. They followed me down a side road (I was in Fermilab again), and I circled out and then to the start of my Fermilab loop to pee. I had time to leisurely pee, and watched the girls come around near me and circle back. I gave them a head start, got back on Bitchie, and shortly passed them again. If you are going to wear a fucking aero helmet, you better be able to bring it. Bunch o' posers!
I was thinking I should have been riding my disk wheel today--it was one of those perfect June days with a clear sky, barely any wind. Maybe I'll whip it out tomorrow and go as a poser. NOT!!!
I'm starting to feel good about my cycling. I felt like a slacker this winter--I just wasn't into pushing myself that hard--but I'm getting the old drive back to ride really hard. Let's just say I'm scared shitless with Horribly Hilly coming up, and I don't want to ride like a loser on the day. A few times today I was thinking of cutting the ride a bit short, and just by feet, not miles, and my brain reminded me I have to ride 200K with 10,000 feet climbing next Saturday, so I better put in my 225 miles this week!
In other news, I tried out my new Infinit mix--it's DA BOMB!!! Lots of caffeine, a bit more flavor than the last mixture I tried, and a bit more calories.
In other news, where I live the price of a gallon of gas is approaching the price of a pack of cigarettes. I've decided that when gas costs more than cigarettes that I am going to stop driving and start smoking. I'm sure all the smokers are secretly laughing that their habit will soon cost less than what we consider a basic service!
There were no cicadas in Fermilab. When I got within 4 miles from home, I started hearing them again, and it was comforting. It's truly special that we have these visitors. I mean, come on, they are 17 years old and they come out of the ground and they have sex for about 4 weeks and then die. Not a bad way to go, if you ask me!
Installment 1, in case you missed it:
http://trifuel.com/training/race-reports/american-triple-t-an-epic-race-report-for-an-epic-race
In other news, I had a GREAT 79 mile ride today, and then I headed out to run. When I was about 1.5 miles from home, I must have failed to step up over a rise in a sidewalk and I crashed. I didn't hit my face--just my left deltoid and outside knee, but I sensed a hurt rib. A nice woman pulled over in her car to check if I was OK, offered me a ride home, which I took, and I've iced everything. I don't think I broke a rib; rather I think I strained either an intracostal or internal oblique. We will see how things go tomorrow! I think this was partially the fault of new running shoes (upgrade of my now gone model) making me run a bit more on the balls of my feet. I'll try riding the bike before I drive 60 miles to ride 100. I have a feeling riding will be fine, and I don't have to run again until Tuesday, so no worries there. I wanted to swim for :20-:30 today, but decided against it. I'll test out the swimming muscles on Monday.
During the ride I saw 3 chics on tri bikes, and 2 of them had matching outfits and aero helmets. Well, I didn't think they were going very fast, and I was cruising about 80% of FTP, so you know what had to be done--I cruised on past them, said hi, and then they sort of followed me, but they didn't exactly take chase--I didn't think they could keep up. They followed me down a side road (I was in Fermilab again), and I circled out and then to the start of my Fermilab loop to pee. I had time to leisurely pee, and watched the girls come around near me and circle back. I gave them a head start, got back on Bitchie, and shortly passed them again. If you are going to wear a fucking aero helmet, you better be able to bring it. Bunch o' posers!
I was thinking I should have been riding my disk wheel today--it was one of those perfect June days with a clear sky, barely any wind. Maybe I'll whip it out tomorrow and go as a poser. NOT!!!
I'm starting to feel good about my cycling. I felt like a slacker this winter--I just wasn't into pushing myself that hard--but I'm getting the old drive back to ride really hard. Let's just say I'm scared shitless with Horribly Hilly coming up, and I don't want to ride like a loser on the day. A few times today I was thinking of cutting the ride a bit short, and just by feet, not miles, and my brain reminded me I have to ride 200K with 10,000 feet climbing next Saturday, so I better put in my 225 miles this week!
In other news, I tried out my new Infinit mix--it's DA BOMB!!! Lots of caffeine, a bit more flavor than the last mixture I tried, and a bit more calories.
In other news, where I live the price of a gallon of gas is approaching the price of a pack of cigarettes. I've decided that when gas costs more than cigarettes that I am going to stop driving and start smoking. I'm sure all the smokers are secretly laughing that their habit will soon cost less than what we consider a basic service!
There were no cicadas in Fermilab. When I got within 4 miles from home, I started hearing them again, and it was comforting. It's truly special that we have these visitors. I mean, come on, they are 17 years old and they come out of the ground and they have sex for about 4 weeks and then die. Not a bad way to go, if you ask me!
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Triple T Race Report--Installment 1
As the other installments become available, I'll aggregate them in a new post.
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
TTT Race Report Update
I have received clearance from http://www.trifuel.com to publish my report there. It will be in SIX installments (the Word document is 22 pages WITHOUT PHOTOS); first installment should appear in a day or so. I scrubbed my F-bombs and S-bombs, can you believe it?
I will hyperlink to the installments as they roll out here on my blog. I think this is going to be good. At least it cracks me up when I read it!
I will hyperlink to the installments as they roll out here on my blog. I think this is going to be good. At least it cracks me up when I read it!
Monday, June 04, 2007
Weekly Workout Totals 05/28/2007-06/03/2007 and Neighbor Episode (*FREE* Scenes from my yard)
Check out this guy's blog: http://projectbreathe.net/ Please leave him encouraging comments. He's riding from Seattle to Fort Worth, TX, for cystic fibrosis, trying to average 100 miles per day! I have already snagged a quote from it that fits me perfectly:
"i don’t train to race, i train to get up the next day and train harder. "
--Matt Young
Sounds a lot like my Crackhead motto:
"Harder, longer, faster, tougher--REPEAT "
--Crackhead
I still haven't finished my Triple T race report...this week, I swear!
Saturday morning, I woke up about 1AM to go to the bathroom, and I noticed some extra light coming into my bedroom. I looked outside, and my stoner neighbor was out in his back yard with friends and a campfire. They weren't making too much noise at this point, and I was very tired, so I went back to sleep. I've had concerns over the legality of their fire, and I had spoken to the kid's dad, Gary, stating that I wasn't too happy about them.I finally woke around 4:30AM for the day, and guess what? The boys were still going hard next door. All I could think was that they are really hard core. I think of myself as hard core, but not in that way. I overheard them discussing politics and war. Yeah, right, like drinking all night and talking about it is making a contribution to society!
I wanted to begin riding by 7 or 7:30, and I did some stuff in the house. At about 7:30 I went outside to get my bike ready and I smelled smoke, and I wondered if the boys were still going at it. So I went to my back yard, and I can see smoke from the fire pit, but no bodies. Now I'm pissed. And there's a beer can in my yard. Apparently, they have gone to sleep and left a fire burning! I could feel myself approaching postal at this point. I've already had 3 very adult discussions with these people, and this was it.
But, I thought, OK, one more chance (why I am this nice???). So I walk over and ring the doorbell. Nobody answers. I know one car had left, so I thought maybe they all went to breakfast after their binge. I decided I was not going to put out THEIR fire with MY water, and now I picked up the phone and called the police.
While I was waiting for the officer to arrive, I saw my neighbors across the street outside, so I decided to let them in on what has been going on. Turns out, one woman, Vicky, had someone drag a magic marker on her car during the night! Luckily, I told her I know how to get it off (the things we learn in triathlon, huh?) by using suntan lotion or other lotion, but that the cops were on the way, so it could be a twofer for them.
Officer Dave arrives, and I tell him everything--how the father, Gary, bought the house for the kids, it's in disrepair, they are partying hard over there regularly, that I've had 3 civil discussions with them, but that this is the last straw. When I told Dave that I had seen the fire at 1AM, he said I should have called them right then.
Dave asks if I want to file a criminal suit against them. I said not this time. He asks me if I want him to go over and knock on the door. I said go ahead, but I had rung the bell and nobody answered.
Well Dave goes over and after a few minutes, he disappears into the house! I can only imagine how he knocked. I would guess it was pretty hard, accompanied by, "It's the POLICE!" I was secretly wishing Dave saw drugs laying around, but I honestly think they had to move some stuff around before answering the door.
So Dave comes out and tells me I am living next door to a frathouse. DUH! He said the kid seemed like a reasonable person and that he (Matt) said he was going to come and talk to me. Dave says to be adult and civil, and I told him that I work in customer service, so I am very familiar with these sorts of situations. But Dave also said I should tell the kid straight out that the next time I call the police there WILL be a drug bust. See Dave figured out that part all on his own.
So asshole boy has seen me come and go and has had ample opportunities to come and "talk" to me. I hope that boy is scared shitless. He knows I'm strong, and he should also know by now that the surrounding neighbors all know and like me and NOT HIM. I truly don't think he or his drunkard father are malicious, but I have no trust in these people any longer. I am not fearing for my own safety, either. I have a sneaking suspicion the local police will begin keeping an eye on these people.
And now back to our regularly scheduled topic--training! I had a great week, even though it was a little dicey recovering from Triple T. However, I am happy to report that based on my recovery, it is NOT at all as bad as an Ironman, because I knocked out some good stuff this week and I'm back on my build for Ironman Lake Placid. Now, recovering wasn't easy, and on Saturday when I finally got to riding, I rode easy for 2:45, and then I ran :40, came home, ate, and I passed out for an hour. Usually it's hard for me to nap, but I went down HARD. I got up and spent 4 hours trimming the shrubs in my foundation landscaping--photos above.
Yesterday I rode 104 miles at a pretty good clip--18MPH average--which was amazing considering how fucked up my legs felt from the prior weekend. But I brought along plenty of caffeine, which at least made the somewhat boring ride tolerable. I even got rained on for the first time. I rode Bitchie, and boy was I happy to be laying in the aerobars all day. The route was flat to rolling, and in the last 5 miles there was a 3-mile climb! WTF!!! I was laughing since it really wasn't that bad. At the rest stop while we waited out the worst of the rain, some chic who was only doing 62 commented on how hilly one section was. I just looked at her and laughed and said, "These are NOT hills." I told her about my adventure last weekend which included one climb called "Godzilla." Anyway, hills and wind are just a matter of perspective. I am so used to riding hard all the time that I just had to yesterday. Of course, I rode steady, and in the last 20 miles of the ride, I smoked past hordes of triathletes who don't know how to ride. Why? Because they really don't know how much effort they are putting out. Power meters RULE!!! Now I'm to the point where I just can tell how much effort I'm putting out and so I don't need to stare at the thing. During that last 3-mile climb, I had an interesting discussion with a roadie (I get respect from them since I'm a good cyclist) about my "usual" training rides: Warm up a little bit, do some hard crap, do some harder crap, do some EXTREMELY HARD crap, rest a little bit and repeat. When you are regularly used to riding at 80% or more of FTP, an easy-peasy 75% ride (which is what yesterday was) feels like cake. Although it didn't feel totally like cake because of my fatigue, but if I was able to ride like that being THAT tired, I think it means I am getting some major bike fitness going, which is precisely where I need to be right now. We get to test the old bike legs seriously next weekend with a 4 hour ride and another 100-miler back to back. Yee-haw!
As you can see from the photos above, my roses are beginning to bloom. Ah, June! Did I say I love June? I think my favorite month is May, and then June, closely followed by September and April. As much as I became enchanted with Colorado Springs, I absolutely love my current home and yard. Believe it or not, I sort of look forward to winter because it means I get to train less and have more time for my indoor hobbies, like sewing, reading and cooking. But I'm nearly done getting my yard all fixed up and it's a work of art that I take great pleasure in as do the passersby. A man was passing by Saturday while I was working on the shrubs in the front yard and commented how, "Your landscaping is looking really good." And then he shook his head and said, "But it's a lot of work." Like that's a bad thing? I just smiled. I could have said, "Dude, if you only KNEW what I do that is REALLY a lot of work." And after all, anything in life that's really worth it or that you want to be good at is a lot of work, right? I got nothing against work, unlike my neighbors, although I'm thinking beginning next year I will start paying for some level of yard maintenance--that is, if I intend to not retire from Ironman and assorted crazy stuff. Stay tuned...
Happy totals:
Weekly Totals 05/28/2007-06/03/2007
Swim: 8100 yards (4.6 miles) in 2.98 hours; 18% of weekly workout time; approx. 1045 calories burned
Bike: Approx. 177.79 miles in 9.97 hours; 60% of weekly workout time; approx. 4454 calories burned
Run: Approx. 14.75 miles in 2.39 hours; 14% of weekly workout time; approx. 1085 calories burned
Strength: 1.2 hours; 7% of weekly workout time; approx. 300 calories burned
All Sports: Approx. 197.14 miles in 16.54 hours; approx. 6884 calories burned
Sleep: 7.32 hours avg./night
Stretching: 2.55 hours. Massage: 1.75 hours
Friday, June 01, 2007
What the Hell????
Registration Details:
Registration Date: 06/01/07 11:28:43 AM
Payment made by: Sheila J Plemich
You are registered as: Sheila Jean Plemich
Your racing category is: Female 50-54
You are registered for: Individual Registration for Miami Man 1/2 Iron Triathlon 11/11/2007
It's a disease, I tell you.
Registration Date: 06/01/07 11:28:43 AM
Payment made by: Sheila J Plemich
You are registered as: Sheila Jean Plemich
Your racing category is: Female 50-54
You are registered for: Individual Registration for Miami Man 1/2 Iron Triathlon 11/11/2007
It's a disease, I tell you.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Random Thoughts
It's asphalt driveway sealing season here in Chicagoland, and I've seen a company called "Paveman." You think my first thought was to assume it had something to do with driveways? No. I thought, "Where is that race and I bet the T-shirt is awesome!"
The very first flower picture in previous post played host to a ruby-throated hummingbird today! In case you don't know what the flower is, it's a Louisiana iris that was transplanted from my front yard to the back when the sidewalk was put in 2 summers ago. The thing is blooming like the dickens now and spreading faster than you can say JAM!
I am still working on my TTT race report. I'm up to 5 pages, through Race 1! I am going to publish it on trifuel.com so that I can include boatloads of photos and not clog up Blogger.
Yesterday I swam 2900 yards in the morning, then did a 1:30 super easy bike ride on my MTB in the afternoon followed by a :20 run (really slow). It wasn't until later in the day I realized I had essentially done ANOTHER triathlon. I suppose that after Triple T, a lot of my training just won't feel like that big of a deal.
My legs and feet are still a little puffy, but going down. I had dinner with a friend yesterday and she and the waiters kept laughing because I just kept eating and eating, and I had to unscrew the salt shaker so I could SEE the salt come out. It had miniscule holes that just didn't do the job on a big plate of boiled potatoes!
Finally, I'm having one of my "suppliers" locate one of the Catlike helmets. I saw one at Triple T and I think they are just MEAN looking, and I want one (silver, medium, please!).
Later.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
What's Blooming in My Yard 5/30/2007
Anyone who can name all the flowering plants in the photos wins a prize!
Weekly Workout Totals 05/21/2007-05/27/2007
I'm working on the epic race report for Triple T. It's up to 3 pages and that's just getting through the first race! I hope to finish it today or tomorrow while the memories are still fresh in my brain. I realize now that registration for 2008 will open in a few weeks, and I need to be ready to sign up again!
When I estimated how long the TTT races would take for training purposes, the only one that I got remotely close to was the first race, the prologue. I didn't look at results from past years to find someone similar to me so I could figure it out, and then you don't know how people paced anyway. But the good news is that I ended up with more training hours last week than planned! That can never hurt, as long as the recovery is appropriate. I've already drawn up my training plan through Lake Placid, and it looks solid, and we'll get to my race predictions another time.
I don't usually post my cumulative totals until the end of the year, but now seems like an appropriate time to show you how far I've come since last fall:
Weekly Totals 05/21/2007-05/27/2007
Swim: 12059 yards (6.84 miles) in 4.2 hours; 20% of weekly workout time; approx. 1471 calories burned
Bike: Approx. 136.65 miles in 8.98 hours; 43% of weekly workout time; approx. 4519 calories burned
Run: Approx. 37.66 miles in 6.85 hours; 33% of weekly workout time; approx. 3110 calories burned
Strength: 0.75 hours; 4% of weekly workout time; approx. 188 calories burned
All Sports: Approx. 181.15 miles in 20.78 hours; approx. 9288 calories burned
Sleep: 7.96 hours avg./night
Stretching: 2.3 hours. Massage: 1.5 hours
Season Totals 09/18/2006-05/27/2007
Swim: 281309 yards (159.65 miles) in 98.83 hours
Bike: Approx. 3164.52 miles in 181.66 hours
Run: Approx. 1028.05 miles in 159.27 hours
Strength: 52.26 hours
All Sports: Approx. 4352.22 miles in 492.02 hours; approx. 210182 calories burned
Stretching: 92.48 hours. Massage: 50.92 hours
So I've almost hit 500 hours of training in 36 weeks. Not too shabby! And I've done 8 triathlons and 2 road races in 2007 so far, and I've got 2 more triathlons to go. SHIT! I just realized I said I'd do the Ironman Wisconsin race the week after the "real" race, which we are calling "NothingMan." What is wrong with me? It's only 8 weeks after Lake Placid. I just took a break to make a schedule through that, and I should end up with about 750 training hours for my season.
I better get back to training now...
When I estimated how long the TTT races would take for training purposes, the only one that I got remotely close to was the first race, the prologue. I didn't look at results from past years to find someone similar to me so I could figure it out, and then you don't know how people paced anyway. But the good news is that I ended up with more training hours last week than planned! That can never hurt, as long as the recovery is appropriate. I've already drawn up my training plan through Lake Placid, and it looks solid, and we'll get to my race predictions another time.
I don't usually post my cumulative totals until the end of the year, but now seems like an appropriate time to show you how far I've come since last fall:
Weekly Totals 05/21/2007-05/27/2007
Swim: 12059 yards (6.84 miles) in 4.2 hours; 20% of weekly workout time; approx. 1471 calories burned
Bike: Approx. 136.65 miles in 8.98 hours; 43% of weekly workout time; approx. 4519 calories burned
Run: Approx. 37.66 miles in 6.85 hours; 33% of weekly workout time; approx. 3110 calories burned
Strength: 0.75 hours; 4% of weekly workout time; approx. 188 calories burned
All Sports: Approx. 181.15 miles in 20.78 hours; approx. 9288 calories burned
Sleep: 7.96 hours avg./night
Stretching: 2.3 hours. Massage: 1.5 hours
Season Totals 09/18/2006-05/27/2007
Swim: 281309 yards (159.65 miles) in 98.83 hours
Bike: Approx. 3164.52 miles in 181.66 hours
Run: Approx. 1028.05 miles in 159.27 hours
Strength: 52.26 hours
All Sports: Approx. 4352.22 miles in 492.02 hours; approx. 210182 calories burned
Stretching: 92.48 hours. Massage: 50.92 hours
So I've almost hit 500 hours of training in 36 weeks. Not too shabby! And I've done 8 triathlons and 2 road races in 2007 so far, and I've got 2 more triathlons to go. SHIT! I just realized I said I'd do the Ironman Wisconsin race the week after the "real" race, which we are calling "NothingMan." What is wrong with me? It's only 8 weeks after Lake Placid. I just took a break to make a schedule through that, and I should end up with about 750 training hours for my season.
I better get back to training now...
Monday, May 28, 2007
Triple T Quickie Race Report
This race was very difficult, but it was so much fun doing it as a team. Team Crackheads rocked the course IN STYLE! One of the pink things I bought for our team was the streamers you see on our race belts--the photos are from the finish of the 1/2 Ironman on Sunday. Cindy and I both have race belts with the spring toggles, so I was able to attach bicycle-handle streamers (that I got at Target) to them, and we wore them Saturday and Sunday during our runs. The streamers were a HUGE hit with the racers and spectators. We were definitely hard to miss!
Cindy and I won our division handily, even though there was only one other team in it. It was pretty close through Saturday afternoon, but I had a strong feeling we would prevail on Sunday, which we did.
Cindy is a bit stronger than me in short course, but I am the endurance queen, and I think I paced us well on Sunday. It was the slowest 1/2 Ironman I've ever done (7:33, I think), but the most satisfying and HARDEST. I mean, WOW, is all I can say!
A full race report will take me days if not over a week to write, but I will. I felt really, REALLY strong and well-prepared for this. I think I could have gone faster, but this was a team effort, and that's the way we did it. I didn't mind waiting a minute here, a few minutes there--it wasn't like we were racing, anyway--my primary objective was to not be DFL overall and to not be doing a death march on Sunday.
I gotta say all that Colorado trail running I did paid off in SPADES, as our run course was 3.25 miles pretty much up (click the race link on my sidebar to see a profile, I mean WOW) and then down, repeat twice for the 1/2 Ironman. Sure we did some walking, but it was on Sunday where we were able to pick off a lot of people on the run.
The folks I travelled with all did great, too. Lori and Marc took first in the Coed division, and Kevin bested his time from 2 years ago.
This race is the most mellow triathlon event you can imagine, and small, and just tons of fun. I had SO much fun riding LGL on the hills, I can't even tell you. Even when we were climbing, climbing, climbing, I was happy to be on her, and the descents were just fun. I really just enjoyed riding my bike this weekend. I wouldn't mind going to the area for a week of training--it is an excellent venue, with a 25-meter pool at the lodge, a lake for open water swimming, and obviously, gobs of hills to ride and run on.
I swam well, biked well and ran well, and I hope this "race" makes Ironman Lake Placid seem like a piece of cake. I want to do Triple T again next year, again as a team. It gives a whole new perspective to pushing one another, and I think my biking will be improved after spending over a week in late Feb./early March riding the Tour of California.
As tired as I am right now (got home late last night and couldn't stay asleep due to hunger), I can say nothing but great things about this race. I hope they don't make it any bigger (don't think they can in order to accommodate everyone for lodging purposes) or any flatter. And as much as Cindy and I had to dig deep (I never once felt like I was suffering), we had just a TON of fun together. It's been awhile since we've raced together, and doing it side by side almost all day for 2 days and change was just the best.
Cindy and I decided that we are prouder of this finish than we are of our Ironman races. It's tough to explain to anyone who hasn't done this race, though. At least an Ironman happens all in one day, and it's not too hard to plan for. For this, I had an entire spreadsheet (yes, people make fun of me for doing that, but hey, they work, so STFU) to note what I needed to wear and put on the bike and carry for the run and eating between races to keep up with my calorie needs. It all worked like a charm, and I think I've converted Cindy over to the old Ultra Violence. For the Saturday runs, I carried Coke for both of us, and Sunday I had my giant, 6-banger Fuel Belt loaded with the old Ultra Violence. It was just the thing to keep us going.
I am babbling now, and I need to decide whether I am going back to sleep now or later. I have no plans for this day off other than to rest and eat and SMILE!
Cindy, you ROCK--I hope we get to enjoy one another's company again in Lake Placid!
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