My bags are packed, and in about :30 I will load my car and drive over to pick up Kevin, and then to Lori's house to load my stuff into her van, bikes on car, and off we go, including Marc.
I have a bunch of stuff for Cindy, her husband and son, just because they're my friends and also for our team spirit. I even brought a length of rope so we can tie ourselves together during the run on Sunday, which I heard is a good thing when *someone* doesn't want to climb yet another hill. We shall see which of us that is!
I have my nutrition all planned out, and hopefully it will work out. Coke, Ultra Violence, caffeine-laced Infinit, coffee, pretty much all forms of caffeine! And in case you were worried, I've been using it in training the last few weeks. Coke is good, but Ultra Violence is just plain MAGICAL! I think I have enough in my giant Fuel Belt for Sunday's run for both Cindy and me. We'll be needing all the help we can get!
Weather looks hot but dry; it's been hot here this week except today the temps have dropped somewhat, and I'm not sure I'm totally heat acclimated, which is one of the challenges of May races for me. May temps can go up and down. Oh well, nothing to do now but race!
My back lawn was CRAWLING with emerging cicadas last night. Something tells me this 17-year thing is going to bring me good luck at the races all season. So far so good--I've knocked out a pile of running including a marathon and half marathon, 4 sprint races, and here come 4 more this weekend!
Enjoy your weekend, especially if you have Monday off, and I'll see you on the other side of yet another adventure!
Friday, May 25, 2007
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Cicada (Brood XIII) Update
Oh, boy are they here! This morning, the trunks of mature trees were pretty much covered with newly-emerged nymphs, and the lawns are crawling with more trying to reach tree trunks. They have not begun singing though; that will be any day now, even as more emerge.
Birds are going nuts with all the extra food. I witnessed a few bird "fights" today, but those will stop once they all realize just how much food there is. Most wild birds don't live long enough to witness this event more than once, so I can only imagine how excited they must be! Can you imagine when you normally have to go to some trouble to feed yourself and your young how you'd feel if food was literally crawling out of the ground faster than you could eat it? They are still singing non-stop (when not eating), and I've seen many frantically preparing new nests for their second set of offspring.
A lot of my perennials have cicadas on them, but that's cool; they won't hurt those plants a bit (although if I recall, there are other bugs attracted by the cicadas that will do some damage).
It's a warm day, and I'm starting to see the cicadas "flying." They don't really fly so much as move around a bit hoping to run into a mate or tree.
If you want to learn more, head to www.cicadamania.com. I'll get some more decent pictures once we're fully loaded up with bugs. Whereas the last time they were here, I was bothered by their presence; this time, I am amazed by what they are and how much of a good thing this is for the wildlife, and for my trees and garden. Once eggs are laid in trees' twigs, they will fall off, offering a free pruning service. The soil becomes enriched by the nutrients of the dead adults, the birds hopefully multiply to extreme, and maybe the damn rabbits will stop eating my plants!
In other triathlon news, I was completely shelled yesterday, and I wasn't too surprised. I had a scratchy throat that worried me, but it's gone today after I OD'ed on vitamins and carbs. I am still finding it difficult to sleep; I'm just so excited to start my day this time of year (and I still have many more perennial seedlings to yank), and I'm almost finished with a secret project that will be revealed this weekend (hint: it involves Cindy and there is an extreme amount of *PINKNESS* involved).
Stay tuned...more excitement coming from Mind of Iron, as I head into non-stop gonzo training and racing, bugs and flowers, whoring around with various buds and general enjoyment of life! I got the nicest compliment from a woman at the Y yesterday, although I took it mostly as an affirmation of my life--she knows that I am competitive at triathlon, and we got to talking gardening, and I'm generally pretty exuberant about a lot of things. She said to me that I "have the nicest life, with my competitions, gardening and positive attitude." At that very moment, I felt extremely grateful and blessed, and all I could do was smile back at her and said, "Thanks, and I feel that way myself!"
Birds are going nuts with all the extra food. I witnessed a few bird "fights" today, but those will stop once they all realize just how much food there is. Most wild birds don't live long enough to witness this event more than once, so I can only imagine how excited they must be! Can you imagine when you normally have to go to some trouble to feed yourself and your young how you'd feel if food was literally crawling out of the ground faster than you could eat it? They are still singing non-stop (when not eating), and I've seen many frantically preparing new nests for their second set of offspring.
A lot of my perennials have cicadas on them, but that's cool; they won't hurt those plants a bit (although if I recall, there are other bugs attracted by the cicadas that will do some damage).
It's a warm day, and I'm starting to see the cicadas "flying." They don't really fly so much as move around a bit hoping to run into a mate or tree.
If you want to learn more, head to www.cicadamania.com. I'll get some more decent pictures once we're fully loaded up with bugs. Whereas the last time they were here, I was bothered by their presence; this time, I am amazed by what they are and how much of a good thing this is for the wildlife, and for my trees and garden. Once eggs are laid in trees' twigs, they will fall off, offering a free pruning service. The soil becomes enriched by the nutrients of the dead adults, the birds hopefully multiply to extreme, and maybe the damn rabbits will stop eating my plants!
In other triathlon news, I was completely shelled yesterday, and I wasn't too surprised. I had a scratchy throat that worried me, but it's gone today after I OD'ed on vitamins and carbs. I am still finding it difficult to sleep; I'm just so excited to start my day this time of year (and I still have many more perennial seedlings to yank), and I'm almost finished with a secret project that will be revealed this weekend (hint: it involves Cindy and there is an extreme amount of *PINKNESS* involved).
Stay tuned...more excitement coming from Mind of Iron, as I head into non-stop gonzo training and racing, bugs and flowers, whoring around with various buds and general enjoyment of life! I got the nicest compliment from a woman at the Y yesterday, although I took it mostly as an affirmation of my life--she knows that I am competitive at triathlon, and we got to talking gardening, and I'm generally pretty exuberant about a lot of things. She said to me that I "have the nicest life, with my competitions, gardening and positive attitude." At that very moment, I felt extremely grateful and blessed, and all I could do was smile back at her and said, "Thanks, and I feel that way myself!"
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Weekly Workout Totals 05/14/2007-05/20/2007, Spectacular Bonk and They're Here!
First, they're here:
After spending about 1.25 hours early this morning yanking phlox out of my front flower bed, I noticed at the base of a nearby tree that there was a newly-emerged cicada on it. I walked up and down the sidewalk, checking other parkway trees. Yep, many, many more. The one at left is clinging to my garage. The numbers aren't yet spectacular; that will happen in a day or so. There aren't yet enough to make the big racket, either, but that's only days away, too.
As I rode my bike very locally today, I saw numerous children picking up the bugs, some just to put them into containers probably to take with them to school. I also saw dogs being walked that couldn't help but look at and sometimes eat the bugs.
This emergence is of Brood XIII. This site says there can be 1.5 million per acre, so that means my yard might play host to over 300,000! Yesterday morning, I was spreading sand over my Unilock patio, and one crawled out from between the stones. There are probably several hundred trapped under there, as I used to have a little leaf linden tree adjacent to the patio, which used to be flagstone. Whenever I see one of the bugs helplessly moving its legs while on its back, I can't help but say in a squeaky horror movie voice, "Heeeeeelp me."
The birds and squirrels are already devouring the insects. Great for the birds, since I know that robins and cardinals are fledging their first batch of young right now. The other day I saw a pair of cardinals that I'd seen hanging around my yard and caught a glimpse of one of their youngsters. It was so cute--about 5" long, grayish brown, and it already had the characteristic crest on top of its head! There's a robin's nest in a pine next to my driveway, and I saw Mom and Dad robin feeding the chicks, probably cicadas. We had a lot of rain this spring, so there are tons of earthworms and assorted bugs, and now you add cicadas, and it's a veritable feast for any animal that eats those sorts of things. I hope this improves the bird population even more, since it was decimated a few years' back by West Nile virus. Turns out that the worst hit birds are crows and jays--although I've been hearing a good number of blue jays, crows have been ubiquitously absent for a few years. I used to hate their constant cawing, but it turns out they are a form of rabbit population control (crows take baby rabbits, YEAH!), so now that I know that, I want some crows to return.
And now the story of a spectacular bonk. Well, not really spectacular, but it was quite entertaining. As you know, I've been training hard, preparing for Triple T and also IMLP. Last week I only did 1 brick workout, but the week before I did 4, so I am quite used to running off the bike. What I forget is that once I add serious yard work to my already heavy training load, that I need to add even more calories to my diet to ensure I am replacing my glycogen reserves. But hey, it's tough to chow down 4,000+ calories per day (about what I am needing lately) when I'm busy working out 2-6 hours, working, and doing 1-2 hours of yard work per day.
Yesterday I did a 4:30 ride followed by a :40 run. I thought I was eating continuously after all that, but I guess I forgot to shove a whole pound of pasta down my throat which is probably what I needed. I woke up hungry this morning, as expected, but nothing unusual. I dumped in 600 calories before heading out to bike, and then within the first hour of a 3 hour ride, I put in probably another 300 (I typically only need about 250 per hour on the bike), stopped back at home for more Gatorade, inhaled a banana and a couple more peanut butter and cheese crackers (I figure good for another 200 calories), went back out for 2 more hours, drinking another 150 calories of Gatorade, 150 of Coke and 2 gels for another 500 calories which should have been plenty. I changed into running shorts (it was rather cool today so I wore long tights, a long shirt and jacket to ride), grabbed a 12 oz. bottle of Gatorade and figured I was all set to run :40. I drank at 1 mile and 2.5 miles and then 1/2 mile later I noticed I was a bit dizzy and bonky, so I immediately drank the remainder of the Gatorade, but that didn't help much. I knew I needed more calories NOW.
Luckily, I was right near a park, and I saw that there were at least 3 picnic tables chock full of food. I was hoping that someone would take pity on me and give me something fast. I approached a table of food with a young woman and a baby sitting at it (watching a baseball game which is where most of the people were). I pleaded my case to her--I told her I was flat out of calories and had another 1.5 miles to run and asked her could I please have a handful of chips or something? She said go ahead, and that's when I spotted 2 containers of cookies. I inspected the first, chocolate chip, which are not my favorite, and then she pointed out the peanut butter ones. SALVATION!!! I grabbed two and just crammed them into my mouth. Boy were they tasty! I thanked the woman profusely, and jogged over to the water fountain to wash them down. The cookies took immediate effect, and while under normal circumstances I would not be able to eat cookies and keep up a decent run pace, today was the big exception! I returned to running well, feeling good (well as good as you can feel doing your third brick of the week), and knowing I could make it back home.
Surprisingly, when I got home, I wasn't all that hungry, but I had some store-bought sushi-type rolls, and immediately ate 6 pieces, drank 16 oz. of water, and then showered and settled in for Endurox R4. I still needed to mow the lawn (my last act of physical activity for the day), so I figured I had better get it done before falling into a pile of spent muscle. As I mowed, hunger occurred, and when I finished, I made a plate of nachos, which went down very well.
I figure I am still a couple thousand calories in the hole, but I am going to do my level best to get them in today. Thankfully, tomorrow all I have to do is swim (a measly 2,900 yards) and I will also lift. I made a promise to myself that there is no more yard work this week, as I need to rest and stock up on glycogen in preparation for Triple T.
I feel pretty good considering how much intensity I was able to kick out today even while I was in a depleted state, and all I could think while doing today's workouts was that if I "only" feel this bad next weekend, I'll be doing pretty darn well. Today was a valuable lesson, in that I will need to take in more calories per hour on the bike next weekend than I would normally like. My metabolism is already in a maximum revved state, and with virtually non-stop racing for 2.5 days, it's going to move into the stratosphere. Knowing how difficult it can be to replace burned calories, I will need to stuff as many in my face while biking as possible.
And here are my happy totals for the week:
Weekly Totals 05/14/2007-05/20/2007
Swim: 10300 yards (5.85 miles) in 3.57 hours; 19% of weekly workout time; approx. 1249 calories burned
Bike: Approx. 153.71 miles in 8.78 hours; 48% of weekly workout time; approx. 4297 calories burned
Run: Approx. 33.39 miles in 5.08 hours; 28% of weekly workout time; approx. 2298 calories burned
Strength: 0.88 hours; 5% of weekly workout time; approx. 220 calories burned
All Sports: Approx. 192.95 miles in 18.31 hours; approx. 8064 calories burned
Sleep: 8.11 hours avg./night
Stretching: 2.73 hours. Massage: 0 hours
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Last Big Run Before the Madness
I really should say the madness has begun. Triple T is about a week away, but this week will make 5 straight 18+ hour training weeks, race week should be around 17, and then it's 9 weeks until IMLP.
FUCKING YIKES!!!
Between now and the end of July, there's a lot of racing and eventing that I'll be engaged in:
5/27 Start of Triple T
6/11-ish My coach, Rich, drops by on motorcycle, leaving bike at my house and flying home
6/16 Horribly Hilly Hundreds 200K ride (on LGL, of course!)
6/18-ish Rich flies back in to get back on motorcycle and ride to IMCDA (I am not going)
6/29-6/30 IMLP Race Rehearsal weekend for me and Cindy
7/4 Fabulous 4th of July Ride 100 miles. Maybe my bitch, Cindy, can do it, too
7/5 Rich flies back in for IMWI camp.
7/6-7/8 Attend and speak at Rich's IMWI camp (if you are interested in attending, let me know or just head to http://ironcamp.com/midwest.html)
7/18-7/23 IMLP travel and race, Rich and I traveling together (and him yelling at my sorry ass while I race)
8/11 Dairyland Dare 300K ride. Last year, I was sort of laughing at people doing it who had done IMLP. This time, other riders get to laugh AT ME (and Cindy)
8/26 Bike Psychos 200K ride. Did this one last year. AWESOME ride!
9/7 Rich flies back into town and we head to IMWI to ride moto/officiate
9/15 I do IMWI course with other crazies the week after the official race (because I was officiating, see???)
9/16 End of madness, unless someone ropes me into something stupid
That's a whole lot of Rich and Cindy. Good thing they are 2 of my most favorite people in the world, even though I don't usually get to see them this much!
I should be a travel agent. I've been coordinating sleeping arrangements for a small hoard for Triple T, and working with Rich to figure out where he's going to be (he's doing IM camps all over the country, mostly traveling by motorcycle), figuring out what sort of training I should be doing and trying to rope Cindy into as much of it as possible. This is going to be one helluva summer, and I'm tired just thinking about it! But I'm also very excited, this is what I love doing.
Speaking of tired, I ran 13.5 hilly, asphalt miles as a double out-and-back from my house, so it included the notorious Clarendon Hills Road to Cass Avenue 1-mile hill twice. I averaged 9:09/mile the entire way, my stomach felt like crap and I didn't get enough sleep last night. So I figure that was a pretty solid last long run before Triple T. All the hills I ran last week in Colorado Springs have definitely paid off. I feel like I can almost glide up hills now, and I prefer going UP to coming DOWN, because my quads don't get beat up going UP. I didn't even start going OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD until I was about 11 miles into the run climbing the 1-mile hill for the second time.
And there will be no such thing as a taper for Triple T. Must train through. I mean how do you effectively taper for something like that anyway? Might as well just keep right on going.
Thankfully, I don't have to run or bike tomorrow--just swim freaking 3,800 yards! But I swam that much yesterday, so it's really not that big of a deal--it just gets a little, um, boring, swimming that much in a pool. But it's intervals, so it's not really that bad. And I'm going to wear my wetsuit so that I am used to it before the race.
The madness has officially begun! Embrace the madness! I just hope the time doesn't fly TOO quickly--it's beautiful right now, and it's not even officially summer!
FUCKING YIKES!!!
Between now and the end of July, there's a lot of racing and eventing that I'll be engaged in:
5/27 Start of Triple T
6/11-ish My coach, Rich, drops by on motorcycle, leaving bike at my house and flying home
6/16 Horribly Hilly Hundreds 200K ride (on LGL, of course!)
6/18-ish Rich flies back in to get back on motorcycle and ride to IMCDA (I am not going)
6/29-6/30 IMLP Race Rehearsal weekend for me and Cindy
7/4 Fabulous 4th of July Ride 100 miles. Maybe my bitch, Cindy, can do it, too
7/5 Rich flies back in for IMWI camp.
7/6-7/8 Attend and speak at Rich's IMWI camp (if you are interested in attending, let me know or just head to http://ironcamp.com/midwest.html)
7/18-7/23 IMLP travel and race, Rich and I traveling together (and him yelling at my sorry ass while I race)
8/11 Dairyland Dare 300K ride. Last year, I was sort of laughing at people doing it who had done IMLP. This time, other riders get to laugh AT ME (and Cindy)
8/26 Bike Psychos 200K ride. Did this one last year. AWESOME ride!
9/7 Rich flies back into town and we head to IMWI to ride moto/officiate
9/15 I do IMWI course with other crazies the week after the official race (because I was officiating, see???)
9/16 End of madness, unless someone ropes me into something stupid
That's a whole lot of Rich and Cindy. Good thing they are 2 of my most favorite people in the world, even though I don't usually get to see them this much!
I should be a travel agent. I've been coordinating sleeping arrangements for a small hoard for Triple T, and working with Rich to figure out where he's going to be (he's doing IM camps all over the country, mostly traveling by motorcycle), figuring out what sort of training I should be doing and trying to rope Cindy into as much of it as possible. This is going to be one helluva summer, and I'm tired just thinking about it! But I'm also very excited, this is what I love doing.
Speaking of tired, I ran 13.5 hilly, asphalt miles as a double out-and-back from my house, so it included the notorious Clarendon Hills Road to Cass Avenue 1-mile hill twice. I averaged 9:09/mile the entire way, my stomach felt like crap and I didn't get enough sleep last night. So I figure that was a pretty solid last long run before Triple T. All the hills I ran last week in Colorado Springs have definitely paid off. I feel like I can almost glide up hills now, and I prefer going UP to coming DOWN, because my quads don't get beat up going UP. I didn't even start going OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD until I was about 11 miles into the run climbing the 1-mile hill for the second time.
And there will be no such thing as a taper for Triple T. Must train through. I mean how do you effectively taper for something like that anyway? Might as well just keep right on going.
Thankfully, I don't have to run or bike tomorrow--just swim freaking 3,800 yards! But I swam that much yesterday, so it's really not that big of a deal--it just gets a little, um, boring, swimming that much in a pool. But it's intervals, so it's not really that bad. And I'm going to wear my wetsuit so that I am used to it before the race.
The madness has officially begun! Embrace the madness! I just hope the time doesn't fly TOO quickly--it's beautiful right now, and it's not even officially summer!
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
A Poem
I composed this mostly yesterday while I was riding. Just goes to show you that exercise stimulates creativity!
Who I Am
by Crackhead
I don't peddle idle thoughts; I pedal my bike.
I don't meddle in others' affairs; I medal in races.
I shoot for the stars; but I prefer running through chutes.
I'm not staring at you in the pool; I'm watching the pace clock.
I'm a triathlete.
Who I Am
by Crackhead
I don't peddle idle thoughts; I pedal my bike.
I don't meddle in others' affairs; I medal in races.
I shoot for the stars; but I prefer running through chutes.
I'm not staring at you in the pool; I'm watching the pace clock.
I'm a triathlete.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Home Sweet Home
Now that I have a digital camera, I figured I should take some pics of stuff I talk about, so above are photos of my house and yard. I should have done an April photo so you could see all the tulips and daffodils, but I missed that boat, so we will begin with May, and then I'll give you a digital "tour" at least once a month as all the flowers begin to do their thing.
The house "came with" the Colorado Blue Spruce trees (one of which I had removed to make way for more flowers) and the shrub border next to the house. The front of the house faces East (is that Feng Shui?). On its south facing side, there is another shrub border, and there were perennial beds on the north-facing side as well as next to a privacy fence that attaches to the garage (not shown in this series). There was a 2-foot diameter circle around the lamp post. Everything else was added by me (I had help from my ex-husband for some of the front borders).
The photos as lined up are of: the back border that continues on in both directions, connecting to the one behind the garage as well as along the entire west-facing side of the back yard; the back of the garage; the front (and yes, the flower beds go right out to the street with maybe a 3-foot area that is taken up by a drainage culvert, and there's a sidewalk through it since 2 years ago); and a close-up of one of my Japanese tree peonies (which are woody perennials that take many years to get to the size of this one, which is about 3 feet tall).
As much as I enjoyed being in Colorado Springs last week, I truly love what I've done to my yard, and it brings me great joy. The front beds include 10 rose bushes, way too much phlox, lots of day lilies, a good amount of oriental lilies, wandering Echinacea (coneflowers, for those of you lacking Latin skills), tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, columbine, bee balm, and gosh, I can't even remember them all. At one time I catalogued all the perennials that I have, and it's well over 100 different types across the entire yard. I used to also plant about 20 hanging baskets which adorned my garage and various hanging devices, plus another 10 patio pots. While I have the time to do the planting still, I don't have the patience or energy to water all of them every day, and you absolutely must water potted annuals pretty much daily. But I still do 3 hanging baskets of geraniums as a sort of "tradition," and this year I've got tuberose bulbs that will fill some patio containers as well as some heliotrope. Tuberose and heliotrope both have the most delicious smells, and that's why I planted about 60 oriental lilies 2 years ago. Unfortunately, the damn rabbits have nibbled many of them down this year, but I should still get at least 1/2 of them. And then we are scheduled for 17-year cicadas any day now, so who knows what the actual bloom output of my yard will be this year?
Right now, the perennials are mostly 1.5 feet tall, but some of them are going to top out at 6 feet! It's this time of year that makes working at home a bit more difficult, since my office looks out on my back yard, and it's easy to pop outdoors for a little weed this, pick that. But I suppose gardening is one of the things that balances me against all the frenetic training and racing activity that I also love so much, and I also enjoy the fact that anyone who walks in front of my house gets a little slice of my paradise, and they typically let me know how much they appreciate it! I may enter my home into a local garden walk--plus, I only need to provide a winter heated water source and a nut-bearing tree or shrub, and I would easily be able to have my yard certified by the National Wildlife Society as a backyard wildlife habitat!
Spring, glorious spring! I am so grateful for all the natural beauty around me and the pleasure it gives to the local wildlife (even the damn rabbits) and passers by. The hardest thing for me to give up should I move away would be the gardens. I need to stick my hands into dirt (at least 1/2 the time I don't wear gloves--who cares?). I need to see the struggle that is nature in a suburban area--bees, bugs, birds, rodents (I have a chipmunk that lives in my yard). I need to feel that I am improving a small piece of Earth. That in and of itself, would be enough for most people, and I know this is something I will have no matter my physical condition.
Now maybe you can understand why I am not so concerned as to the interior condition of my house (which I could easily spend $75K on remodelling)--I get a whole lot more satisfaction and pleasure from the grounds and then running and biking outdoors!
Namaste!
Monday, May 14, 2007
Weekly Workout Totals 05/07/2007-05/13/2007, and I want an Altitude Tent!
So I got through last week in one piece. The only downside to it was a lack of sufficient sleep, but the funny thing is I barely noticed, what with the altitude and all that I was at. Plus, when I am at about 18+ training hours per week, the metabolism is so revved and I'm so excited (despite sheer exhaustion many days) that I stay up a bit late. Now that the sun is up at 5AM, no more sleeping in until 5:30!
Weekly Totals 05/07/2007-05/13/2007
Swim: 13850 yards (7.86 miles) in 4.98 hours; 25% of weekly workout time; approx. 1744 calories burned
Bike: Approx. 129.79 miles in 7.42 hours; 37% of weekly workout time; approx. 3367 calories burned
Run: Approx. 42.14 miles in 6.73 hours; 34% of weekly workout time; approx. 3048 calories burned
Strength: 0.95 hours; 5% of weekly workout time; approx. 238 calories burned
All Sports: Approx. 179.79 miles in 20.08 hours; approx. 8397 calories burned
Sleep: 7.68 hours avg./night
Stretching: 2.58 hours. Massage: 1.5 hours
Saturday's ride was done, as I expected, at less than optimal intensity. My quads were shot from all the hilly (mountainous???) running, and I hadn't biked in about a week. Plus we had some stiff winds. I did as best I could and just put in the time. I rode Bitchie, which was nice, because at least I got to relax in the aero position a lot (especially into the wind).
After biking, I decided it would be good to hit the pool for :20 just to chill out my legs. And the pool had a special on FREE OXYGEN!!! Normally when I swim after a 4+ hour ride, the swimming is, well, not so much. But Saturday it felt easy. I definitely got a red blood cell boost from just a week at altitude.
After swimming, I got a massage and then hit the grocery store, got home, ate steak and pasta with walnut pesto sauce (I believe I've posted the recipe here), watched the finale of my favorite TV show, "As Time Goes By," and passed out.
Yesterday morning it was chilly, and my heat was on! But the forecast called for a high of 70, so I figured, what the heck, tank top, shorts and arm warmers. I was riding La Gazza Ladra (there are no magpie birds here in Illinois, so I had to make do). Since my legs were still toasted, I figured I'd head out east :30 and then back. I was cold. I stopped back at home and added a short-sleeve jersey. I went back out. Having stopped in my nice warm house, I think my body figured out just how cold I really was. I rode about 2.5 miles and turned around for more clothes. This time, I added fleece-lined cycling tights and a brand new Giordana jacket that I had never worn. The jacket cost like $200 or something, and turned out to be the perfect gear for what felt like 48 degrees and windy. Now I was in business, and I headed to my interval loop and banged out some decent intensity, even though my quads were literally fried. I saw various roadies, and I was happy that I was representing well in all my Italian splendor.
I put in almost exactly 3 hours, which is what was called for, and of course as soon as I finished, the sun came out! Great, because I had to run. So I stripped off the jacket, jersey, arm warmers and tights, and was left with my original outfit of black tank and shorts. I added a hat, running shoes, and I was off.
FREE OXYGEN ALL DAY!!! Normally a brick run after a hard ride feels like crap, but this felt like a piece of cake! Except for the fact that my quads protested mightily from running on asphalt (which I had not been on since the prior weekend), I was running easily, breathing easily (and freely!!), and feeling, well, GREAT. Ah, if brick runs would always feel like this! Maybe my brain will play a psychological trick on me from now on having felt like this!
I ran :40 at a little slower than tempo pace, but I did not feel badly at all. AND, I had no issues at all charging all the hills! I should have run a race.
I was putting things away when I decided to leaf through the USAT booklet, and noticed that the coaching certification classes are in Colorado Springs! Yee-haw! I'm going to book the Level 1 for 2008 and get that process started finally. And stay in the area for a week and find a road race that I can run right after I get back down to sea level. I am noticing that the universe is presenting me with things to guide me in the direction that I should be going. It's a wonderful ride, so far. When I look at my event calendar, I think I must be nuts, but despite being highly fatigued this morning, I'm happy as a clam.
La Vita e Bella!
Weekly Totals 05/07/2007-05/13/2007
Swim: 13850 yards (7.86 miles) in 4.98 hours; 25% of weekly workout time; approx. 1744 calories burned
Bike: Approx. 129.79 miles in 7.42 hours; 37% of weekly workout time; approx. 3367 calories burned
Run: Approx. 42.14 miles in 6.73 hours; 34% of weekly workout time; approx. 3048 calories burned
Strength: 0.95 hours; 5% of weekly workout time; approx. 238 calories burned
All Sports: Approx. 179.79 miles in 20.08 hours; approx. 8397 calories burned
Sleep: 7.68 hours avg./night
Stretching: 2.58 hours. Massage: 1.5 hours
Saturday's ride was done, as I expected, at less than optimal intensity. My quads were shot from all the hilly (mountainous???) running, and I hadn't biked in about a week. Plus we had some stiff winds. I did as best I could and just put in the time. I rode Bitchie, which was nice, because at least I got to relax in the aero position a lot (especially into the wind).
After biking, I decided it would be good to hit the pool for :20 just to chill out my legs. And the pool had a special on FREE OXYGEN!!! Normally when I swim after a 4+ hour ride, the swimming is, well, not so much. But Saturday it felt easy. I definitely got a red blood cell boost from just a week at altitude.
After swimming, I got a massage and then hit the grocery store, got home, ate steak and pasta with walnut pesto sauce (I believe I've posted the recipe here), watched the finale of my favorite TV show, "As Time Goes By," and passed out.
Yesterday morning it was chilly, and my heat was on! But the forecast called for a high of 70, so I figured, what the heck, tank top, shorts and arm warmers. I was riding La Gazza Ladra (there are no magpie birds here in Illinois, so I had to make do). Since my legs were still toasted, I figured I'd head out east :30 and then back. I was cold. I stopped back at home and added a short-sleeve jersey. I went back out. Having stopped in my nice warm house, I think my body figured out just how cold I really was. I rode about 2.5 miles and turned around for more clothes. This time, I added fleece-lined cycling tights and a brand new Giordana jacket that I had never worn. The jacket cost like $200 or something, and turned out to be the perfect gear for what felt like 48 degrees and windy. Now I was in business, and I headed to my interval loop and banged out some decent intensity, even though my quads were literally fried. I saw various roadies, and I was happy that I was representing well in all my Italian splendor.
I put in almost exactly 3 hours, which is what was called for, and of course as soon as I finished, the sun came out! Great, because I had to run. So I stripped off the jacket, jersey, arm warmers and tights, and was left with my original outfit of black tank and shorts. I added a hat, running shoes, and I was off.
FREE OXYGEN ALL DAY!!! Normally a brick run after a hard ride feels like crap, but this felt like a piece of cake! Except for the fact that my quads protested mightily from running on asphalt (which I had not been on since the prior weekend), I was running easily, breathing easily (and freely!!), and feeling, well, GREAT. Ah, if brick runs would always feel like this! Maybe my brain will play a psychological trick on me from now on having felt like this!
I ran :40 at a little slower than tempo pace, but I did not feel badly at all. AND, I had no issues at all charging all the hills! I should have run a race.
I was putting things away when I decided to leaf through the USAT booklet, and noticed that the coaching certification classes are in Colorado Springs! Yee-haw! I'm going to book the Level 1 for 2008 and get that process started finally. And stay in the area for a week and find a road race that I can run right after I get back down to sea level. I am noticing that the universe is presenting me with things to guide me in the direction that I should be going. It's a wonderful ride, so far. When I look at my event calendar, I think I must be nuts, but despite being highly fatigued this morning, I'm happy as a clam.
La Vita e Bella!
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Running in Colorado Springs
Yesterday was my last day in a HUGE slice of paradise, and I was lucky to need to do a 2 hour run. The photos were taken with my phone, which I forgot I had brought with me, so they aren't great, but good enough for being out on the trail.
The place I ran is called the Santa Fe trail. You can pick it up in boat loads of places, but I started from the office.
Let me back up a bit. Last week, since I wasn't going to bring a bike with me on the COS trip, I biked a whole lot, and I "only" ran about 28 miles total, including FOUR brick runs. My schedule for this week called for swimming Monday-Thursday and running Monday-Friday (and I've got one more run tomorrow, a brick, of course!).
Since I ran last Saturday and Sunday, this meant I would be running 7 days running! And not easy running, at that.
My Thursday evening "run" was a quad buster. I was supposed to meet a group at the base of Pike's Peak, run 30' tempo and then go up this thing called The Incline. Well, traffic in Manitou Springs and on I25 were a bit worse than predicted, so I arrived late to meet the people I was supposed to meet. However, there was another group of runners at the base waiting to go up, and since I was there to run, I chatted with them to figure out what they were doing and decided to join up from the rear. The objective was to run up for 30' and then down. Needless to say, as soon as you begin you are going up, up. I did run for a bit, but then it turned into a really fast hike. It didn't bother me, because I'd done something similar before--climbing the stairs of the John Hancock building. So it really didn't feel that bad to me, plus, I passed 3 people! They had asked if this was my first time on this trail, and I told them not only that, but my first time in this area ever, and that I was from Chicago. They told me I was doing great, and truthfully, I felt fine. When we were all about 30' up, they told me to mark how far I had gone, and I told them I had no idea when I'd be back and that I'd just have to start over! Anyway, I asked where was The Incline, and they pointed it out to me. OH.....MY....GOD!!! It was even steeper than where we just climbed, and it looked like someone had strewn railroad ties, rocks and asssorted rubble. I made an executive decision not to do it, because while I would have no trouble (except the usual) going up, my knees would not like the down part, particularly my left knee which has no ACL and is therefore not too stable. So I picked my way down on the trail I went up on (the Barr Trail), and let some of the runners fly by me. And I mean FLY. They were running and jumping over boulders, limbs and such. Of course, they must do this regularly in order to take it so fast! On the way down, I could feel my quads getting a bit upset at the effort, and when I got to base, I still had to walk downhill to my car, which sucked, let me tell you!
My quads didn't feel too badly yesterday morning. My biggest concern for yesterday's run was whether I had acclimated a bit more to the altitude. It seemed during the week that every other day I would feel crappy running. Since I had felt great Thursday night, I had a slight concern.
However, all concerns for my long run were erased when I woke up yesterday morning and looked out my hotel window at Pike's Peak while listening to the local weather forecast. It was almost 50 at 5:30AM with a scheduled high in the lower 70's and clear skies. Perfect! I stretched a bit, loaded up my bottles and went to my car.
As soon as I started the car, who should fly out from underneath it but a HUGE magpie? I tell you, those birds are magical! He/she mosied into a small tree next to my car where I could see the full, up close, size of the bird. They are nearly as big as a large chicken! Beautiful! I knew that once again, this was an omen that I was about to have a great experience.
I drove to the office, grinning all the while since I'd be parking there before 7:00AM not to work, but to RUN. I had the heat on in the car during the short drive, because there was a chill in the air. As I got outside, I could feel the chill, but knew that I would warm up quickly.
I started running easily, and I felt great. I wondered if there would still be flowing water in the tunnel, which is about .6 miles in. Yep! There's this short tunnel you run through to get to the main trail, and when it rains heavily, you probably can't even run through it, which is why I didn't use the trail on Monday. There was maybe 1/2" of flowing water in the tunnel, and I happily dance-splashed my way through it to the other side. Right after the tunnel there's a good sized hill to climb. No matter! One thing I learned on this trip is that I'm a pretty good climber--running or biking.
I must've begun the run yesterday with a huge grin on my face that never left the entire time!
The trail runs more or less parallel to the mountains, and parts of it are on the Air Force Academy grounds, so no matter when you are out during the day, you will see a glider being towed for practice or going solo, parachutists and assorted airplanes that I am not sure what they are. Yesterday I also saw a BNSF train, which made me laugh, since that line owns the commuter trains in my hometown of Downers Grove.
I also saw a Western Oriole, several magpies, goldfinches, red-tailed hawks and assorted bugs.
With all the running I'd done during the week and a revved metabolism from being at altitude, my body had been processing food pretty quickly, so I (gross filter on) had to poop twice and pee three times during my 2 hours out there yesterday (gross filter off).
I was on my way back in maybe :40 from finishing when I realized I had my phone with the camera with me, and serendipitously, a woman was running the opposite direction, so me being the un-shy person that I am, I asked her to take a picture. She shot the one of me. She didn't zoom it (click on it--it's halfway decent when viewed full size), but I am sure you can tell I have a huge smile on my face! My quads were already burning by that point, but no matter. I had started the run wearing a singlet which I removed right before the picture was taken. I definitely got my brown on during the run! How nice to be able to get a suntan before 10:00AM!
I managed to run about dead-on 10:00mpm for the run, which considering how hilly it was and the altitude and the fact that it was my 7th day straight of serious running, I couldn't complain!
As I neared the office to finish, I got all choked up. Not because of the effort, although my quads were telling me it had been great--but because of the beauty around me and that I was so fortunate to have been in it. Again, the stinky camera phone pictures don't do it justice, but you get the idea.
When I got back to my hotel, I immediately drank 3 8-oz. glasses of water plus my Endurox R4, so about 40 oz. total of fluids. My body just soaked it up, and then I quickly showered and headed to the airport, where I had to beg someone to let me cut into line to get some food!
So, from last Saturday through yesterday, I ran 7 days in a row like this:
- Sat: :40 brick off of 4:30 ride, ran slightly slower than tempo pace , moderate hills
- Sun: :40 brick off of 3:00 ride, ran slightly slower than tempo pace, moderate hills
- Mon: 1 hour easy (sucky, first day at altitude), averaged about 9:50/mile on treadmill
- Tues: 1 hour moderate on Santa Fe trail heading out south at lunchtime (felt great), averaged about 9:40/mile, hilly
- Weds: 1 hour moderate on Santa Fe trail heading out north after work (felt crappy), averaged about 9:20/mile, moderately hilly
- Thurs: 1 hour, up and down Pike's Peak to officially initiate quad busting! Um....WAY hilly.
- Fri: 2 hours LARGE, on Santa Fe trail heading out south, hilly
That's a lot of running, and the only one that was totally flat was the one treadmill run! It came to about 47 miles in 7 days. As I sit here writing this, my quads are aching--almost like I had run a marathon. But it feels great, and I'm glad to be back in the land of FLATNESS AND OXYGEN!!! I have to go ride 4 hours today, and it's gorgeous here back at the ranch--the trees leafed out while I was away. But I'll be riding out with a tailwind and back with a headwind. We shall see how my quads hold up today--I will back off on the intensity as necessary, plus I find I don't ride well the day after a long run, although 2 hours isn't really that long.
I already have a message from a realtor that my boss referred me to in COS, and I'll call him early next week just to get the lay of the land. I can definitely see myself living there, but for right now, I have some races to get ready for, and a lot of OXYGEN to soak into my lungs. It will be interesting to see if I get a fitness boost from the prior week, but thankfully, no running today--tomorrow I'm back at it with a brick run.
Have a FANTASTIC weekend--I know I will!
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Final Update from Colorado Springs before I Head Home
We are 4.5 days into the week and I have already completed 8.62 hours of training. I have a 1-hour "ish" run tonight and a 2-hour run tomorrow. Almost 13,000 yards of swimming DONE.
Last night after work I went out on the trail onto the flat portion. Apparently, I'm not really acclimated to the altitude because I felt like crap and had to stop and walk about every 5 minutes. Oh well, it was beautiful, and I saw another magpie. This one flew ahead of me and landed in a tree so I could get a good look at how large it is. I turned off my tunes so I could hear the bird making a racket (which it does), and then it flew over me to some other tree.
It was pretty awesome running to the side of the mountains, although I25 was on the other side, but no matter. I kept thinking how much it would suck to trip and fall into a yucca plant! I didn't see any snakes or mammals, although I was hoping for an elk (doubt they hang out that close to population).
After the run, I went to grab some sushi, ordered what I thought I could finish, and then proceeded not to eat all of it! Perhaps it was the heavy-ish lunch I had had at The Church in Castle Rock. No worries, though, I boxed up the leftovers which I ate after this morning's swim.
I actually needed my alarm clock to wake me at 5:30AM today, which is unusual, but I truly needed the sleep. I got up, made coffee, rearranged my workout bag contents, did a little bit of core work, and went to the pool. I figured :45 of swim would be enough, but as it turns out I had time to do a full hour AND spend almost :15 in the awesome whirlpool to stretch.
I chatted with one of the lifeguards who, as it turns out, is a runner and triathlete and who is running the Chicago marathon this fall. I got her name, and I may have located her phone number, but I'm sure I can find it out nonetheless, now that I have "contacts" in this area. She said she was staying at a hostel, but I figure I should invite her to stay in my house. Someone I work with wondered if that would be "safe," and I told her that hey, someone who is a runner, triathlete (she's done one Ironman, too), lifeguard, and seemed like a genuinely nice person is probably a very safe bet.
After the swim, I headed to the office, saw another magpie on the way there (I believe this is an omen indicating I should live here), and then I ate my sushi leftovers, which were great, did some meetings, need to do some more this afternoon, and then I'm running up the Incline tonight, which should put the hurt to my legs and lungs, but what the hell, I am not here to loaf, am I???
I can definitely see myself living here. It's gorgeous, it has seasons (snow doesn't really bother me), it has great running and biking, nice people and a decent cost of living from what I can gather. So far I haven't found anything NOT to like here, except maybe there are a few too many large religious organizations that congregate here, but I can deal with that, and then there's the Air Force presence, which is cool. I tell ya, I fit right in here, except that maybe I tend to drive a bit faster than the locals, you know, being from Chicago and all.
My next post won't be until the weekend sometime. It should be interesting getting back to sea level!
Last night after work I went out on the trail onto the flat portion. Apparently, I'm not really acclimated to the altitude because I felt like crap and had to stop and walk about every 5 minutes. Oh well, it was beautiful, and I saw another magpie. This one flew ahead of me and landed in a tree so I could get a good look at how large it is. I turned off my tunes so I could hear the bird making a racket (which it does), and then it flew over me to some other tree.
It was pretty awesome running to the side of the mountains, although I25 was on the other side, but no matter. I kept thinking how much it would suck to trip and fall into a yucca plant! I didn't see any snakes or mammals, although I was hoping for an elk (doubt they hang out that close to population).
After the run, I went to grab some sushi, ordered what I thought I could finish, and then proceeded not to eat all of it! Perhaps it was the heavy-ish lunch I had had at The Church in Castle Rock. No worries, though, I boxed up the leftovers which I ate after this morning's swim.
I actually needed my alarm clock to wake me at 5:30AM today, which is unusual, but I truly needed the sleep. I got up, made coffee, rearranged my workout bag contents, did a little bit of core work, and went to the pool. I figured :45 of swim would be enough, but as it turns out I had time to do a full hour AND spend almost :15 in the awesome whirlpool to stretch.
I chatted with one of the lifeguards who, as it turns out, is a runner and triathlete and who is running the Chicago marathon this fall. I got her name, and I may have located her phone number, but I'm sure I can find it out nonetheless, now that I have "contacts" in this area. She said she was staying at a hostel, but I figure I should invite her to stay in my house. Someone I work with wondered if that would be "safe," and I told her that hey, someone who is a runner, triathlete (she's done one Ironman, too), lifeguard, and seemed like a genuinely nice person is probably a very safe bet.
After the swim, I headed to the office, saw another magpie on the way there (I believe this is an omen indicating I should live here), and then I ate my sushi leftovers, which were great, did some meetings, need to do some more this afternoon, and then I'm running up the Incline tonight, which should put the hurt to my legs and lungs, but what the hell, I am not here to loaf, am I???
I can definitely see myself living here. It's gorgeous, it has seasons (snow doesn't really bother me), it has great running and biking, nice people and a decent cost of living from what I can gather. So far I haven't found anything NOT to like here, except maybe there are a few too many large religious organizations that congregate here, but I can deal with that, and then there's the Air Force presence, which is cool. I tell ya, I fit right in here, except that maybe I tend to drive a bit faster than the locals, you know, being from Chicago and all.
My next post won't be until the weekend sometime. It should be interesting getting back to sea level!
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Awesome Run
TODAY'S run was awesome...yesterday's not so much.
Last night I hit the treadmill at the Briargate YMCA in Colorado Springs. Whereas at my local Indian Boundary YMCA in Downers Grove, IL, I am probably the fittest person there, at the one here I am one of many! It was nice to look around and see so many uber-fit people. And it was humbling to need to stop and catch my breath every few minutes while trying to run a 10:00mpm pace, which I rarely do. But I knew I needed to tough it out, that it would get better as the week wore on, and today made me happy for sticking out a 1-hour run last night.
Today I got to run outside in the beautiful sunshine, accompanied by a coworker on his MTB. We went out on a trail that you access right from the office, and it goes through the Air Force Academy property at the base of the mountains. I was suprised after :15 to look at my watch and realize that I hadn't needed to stop and catch my breath. I think the breathtaking beauty around me cancelled out any physical weakness I might have!
We went out for :30 and back, and even though the out piece was more downhill, I didn't run that much more slowly on the way back in. And I got to run through rushing water--it rained like all heck yesterday, and I expected some wetness, but this was serious water. Not very deep, and it actually felt good! Also, at one point, we saw a magpie! I took this to be a good omen, and it made me wistful for LGL, who I won't be riding again until Saturday (I rode Bitchie all last week, and for the record, enjoyed it very much--she's still a solid ride, and aerodynamic as hell).
I managed the run after waking up at 4AM today (still managed a little over 7.5 hours of sleep--my body is still on CST though), stretching for :30 and then doing a :30 core workout before heading to the pool to swim. I thought I had calculated today's workout at 3,400 yards, but when I saw how long it took me to do it, I thought that can't be right. Back at the ranch, I figured it out, and I swam 3,600 yards today! And I'm doing it again tomorrow. Lungs are feeling pretty good in the water, and they felt pretty good running today, but now I seriously need some sleep. Maybe a good, heavy dinner will do the trick (copious amounts of Chinese last night were not enough to prevent me from waking up starving). We are going here: http://www.craftwood.com/ I am craving protein, so I will definitely get what I need tonight.
I continue to meet really awesome people out here--plenty of endurance freaks, to say the least--and they don't even think I'm crazy!
Last night I hit the treadmill at the Briargate YMCA in Colorado Springs. Whereas at my local Indian Boundary YMCA in Downers Grove, IL, I am probably the fittest person there, at the one here I am one of many! It was nice to look around and see so many uber-fit people. And it was humbling to need to stop and catch my breath every few minutes while trying to run a 10:00mpm pace, which I rarely do. But I knew I needed to tough it out, that it would get better as the week wore on, and today made me happy for sticking out a 1-hour run last night.
Today I got to run outside in the beautiful sunshine, accompanied by a coworker on his MTB. We went out on a trail that you access right from the office, and it goes through the Air Force Academy property at the base of the mountains. I was suprised after :15 to look at my watch and realize that I hadn't needed to stop and catch my breath. I think the breathtaking beauty around me cancelled out any physical weakness I might have!
We went out for :30 and back, and even though the out piece was more downhill, I didn't run that much more slowly on the way back in. And I got to run through rushing water--it rained like all heck yesterday, and I expected some wetness, but this was serious water. Not very deep, and it actually felt good! Also, at one point, we saw a magpie! I took this to be a good omen, and it made me wistful for LGL, who I won't be riding again until Saturday (I rode Bitchie all last week, and for the record, enjoyed it very much--she's still a solid ride, and aerodynamic as hell).
I managed the run after waking up at 4AM today (still managed a little over 7.5 hours of sleep--my body is still on CST though), stretching for :30 and then doing a :30 core workout before heading to the pool to swim. I thought I had calculated today's workout at 3,400 yards, but when I saw how long it took me to do it, I thought that can't be right. Back at the ranch, I figured it out, and I swam 3,600 yards today! And I'm doing it again tomorrow. Lungs are feeling pretty good in the water, and they felt pretty good running today, but now I seriously need some sleep. Maybe a good, heavy dinner will do the trick (copious amounts of Chinese last night were not enough to prevent me from waking up starving). We are going here: http://www.craftwood.com/ I am craving protein, so I will definitely get what I need tonight.
I continue to meet really awesome people out here--plenty of endurance freaks, to say the least--and they don't even think I'm crazy!
Monday, May 07, 2007
Weekly Workout Totals 4/30/2007-5/6/2007
I made it through last week, and here I sit in Colorado Springs looking out at the Front Range. Beautiful! Although I'm pretty toasted from yesterday's festival of bike, run, travel, lack of sleep, gain of altitude and a 3,150 yard swim workout this morning. I have yet to run, and then it will be a hearty meal and early bedtime!
I couldn't believe yesterday that I could do a FOURTH brick run, and at a pretty good pace, considering, although I could only manage 1/2 marathon pace. I did not bike back into Fermilab, as I couldn't deal with 15 miles of headwind on the back end of the ride, so instead I headed east into the wind first, which meant less than perfect quality riding, but it was good enough considering all that I did last week.
So not much running last week, but we will take care of THAT problem this week, as I've got about 6:40 worth of it to do, almost 14,000 yards of swimming, but only 7:00 biking. And as it turns out, I have no excuse NOT to lift weights, so I may try and fit that in this week, too.
Weekly Totals 04/30/2007-05/06/2007
Swim: 10000 yards (5.68 miles) in 3.5 hours; 18% of weekly workout time; approx. 1225 calories burned
Bike: Approx. 191.04 miles in 10.92 hours; 56% of weekly workout time; approx. 5117 calories burned
Run: Approx. 27.87 miles in 4.18 hours; 21% of weekly workout time; approx. 1889 calories burned
Strength: 0.85 hours; 4% of weekly workout time; approx. 213 calories burned
All Sports: Approx. 224.59 miles in 19.45 hours; approx. 8444 calories burned
Sleep: 8.32 hours avg./night
Stretching: 2.78 hours. Massage: 1.5 hours
Sunday, May 06, 2007
The Beatings Will Continue Until Fitness Improves!
The title is, of course, a take on a saying or cartoon that I'm sure you've seen: The beatings will continue until morale improves. And so it goes with fitness. You don't become fit by sitting around doing nothing, and you don't become really fit by going out and doing things the easy way. When you first start out on a path to fitness, JFT (just fucking train) works pretty well. But there comes a times when you have to sweat the details and change/increase the stimulus in order to see gains. If you ever read the Slowtwitch forums (which are soap opera, in and of themselves), you will see regular threads about "more is more" which basically means that in the context of becoming fit, the answer to the question "how?" is always more of something.
Over the past 7 years, I've been mostly coached, but sometimes I go without, but no matter, I am always learning about what works and what doesn't. The only thing that I know for sure is that I have to work hard to improve. And to work hard, I need to take care of my body as best I can so that it's willing and able to do the hard work. I'm not a monk like some pro triathletes, but I do pretty well compared to many people I know. But I don't hold that against them, as this really is just a hobby, and I happen to take it pretty seriously. Why? Because that's how I am with anything. I'm a little OCD, a little bipolar (PC term for manic-depressive), cursed with an extremely high IQ, a social klutz, and I get my kicks out of doing things well.
My coach knows this stuff about me, which makes me quite easy to coach, since I am all over the Protestant ethic of hard work for its own sake (although I was actually raised Catholic, but that's another story). Now, even if you do everything right--sleep, nutrition, stress reduction, body composition management, adherence to scheduled training program--it still takes (unless you are genetically gifted which I certainly am not) years to get to the point where you can execute the really hard stuff and not only survive it, but flourish.
I think I'm there, but I can't tell you how many days I'm doing the work and thinking, "What the hell? I'm 50. Should I be able to do all this?" And my answer is yes, because there are women my age who are faster than me. Not that I'm ever going to best them all; it just means there is room for improvement on my end! At some point, I will reach the inevitable maximum potential and my performances will begin to decline. That may already be happening with swimming--either that or I just don't care that much, since I don't have sufficient time (and by that, I mean like 5 hours per week) to dedicate to it. But biking and running--I am getting stronger, fitter, and faster.
This week has been a buzz so far. Yesterday I rode hard for 4:30 (80% of FTP, for those of you who are on the power train; :40 of that was at FTP or higher watts). That's like 1/2 Ironman pace for some people (I can do 1/2 Ironman at about 85% FTP). And then I ran a bit faster than 1/2 marathon pace for 4.5 miles. Today I'm doing the same thing, but only 3:00 on the bike (same brick run, though). Now, people talk about training hard and say they did this or that, but do they know the truth? To me, truth on the bike is watts. I don't wear my HRM any more, because it's not the truth. With watts, either I can hit them or I can't, and when I can't, I don't obsess about why. Truth is, I couldn't do it. But the quality of my workout is going to equal the watts I cranked out--nothing more, nothing less. When you ride by HRM or (ridiculous) pace, it's not the truth. There were periods yesterday where I was going 30MPH, and others where I could only go 16MPH. What's the truth about how hard I was working? It was the same.
Now running. Again, I no longer wear an HRM. It's all about pace. And either I can hold pace, or I can't. Pace will vary depending on how far I'm going or how long I've biked beforehand.
Sometimes I wish I was a lot younger, because I can feel now that I'm at a point where I could really kick some serious butt racing. But there are other rewards for my efforts--I get to ride with guys, I have people asking me to run with them (good runners), and I get a lot of respect, for if nothing else, I look fast. And I usually look like I'm enjoying the work, even while I may be yelling "OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD" going uphill into a 15MPH headwind during a brick run like yesterday or needing to push 110% of FTP watts on the bike. And especially when I'm going the opposite direction of a whole peloton of roadies, going fast, like yesterday, tucked low into the aerobars cranking out some serious wattage.
This fitness doesn't come easily, but I'm happy I have it for whatever "rewards" it might bring. Mostly I just enjoy training when I have to really work at it. Don't get me wrong--every now and then a nice, leisurely bike or run is called for, but those workouts are few and far between. I do stop and smell the proverbial roses. During yesterday's ride (my first of the year in Fermilab, I made 2 nature stops (aside from 2 stops to pee). The first was to inquire as to a group of folks with binoculars looking up at Wilson Hall (the main administrative building). I asked what they were looking at, and they said a peregrine falcon, and did I want to look through the scope? I looked up, clearly saw the bird, and declined the scope. I related that when I used to work downtown Chicago, I once observed a parent peregrine teaching a youngster how to dive. I wished them a happy day, and soldiered on. Later on, I noticed what I thought was a small turtle in the road, attempting to cross. I kept going, but my nature loving self got the best of me and I stopped, went back, and sure enough, it was a baby painted turtle! He might have been run over trying to get to the pond on the other side of the road (there are many ponds in Fermilab--click on the previous link to see all about the nature stuff in there!), so I picked him up, put him in my bike jersey, and transported him as close to the other pond as I could get him. It smelled so nice in there yesterday--lilacs are blooming, there is wild phlox everywhere, and it's just gorgeous. Lucky me, I get to go back there again today!
My bags are nearly packed for Colorado, my yard looks absolutely beautiful (I promise there will be photos once I'm back home on a weekly basis--you wouldn't believe it), and believe it or not, I feel pretty great this morning considering I'm already to 16 training hours through yesterday and I've got 3:40 more to go today.
Have a great Sunday and remember to really see what's in front of you!
Over the past 7 years, I've been mostly coached, but sometimes I go without, but no matter, I am always learning about what works and what doesn't. The only thing that I know for sure is that I have to work hard to improve. And to work hard, I need to take care of my body as best I can so that it's willing and able to do the hard work. I'm not a monk like some pro triathletes, but I do pretty well compared to many people I know. But I don't hold that against them, as this really is just a hobby, and I happen to take it pretty seriously. Why? Because that's how I am with anything. I'm a little OCD, a little bipolar (PC term for manic-depressive), cursed with an extremely high IQ, a social klutz, and I get my kicks out of doing things well.
My coach knows this stuff about me, which makes me quite easy to coach, since I am all over the Protestant ethic of hard work for its own sake (although I was actually raised Catholic, but that's another story). Now, even if you do everything right--sleep, nutrition, stress reduction, body composition management, adherence to scheduled training program--it still takes (unless you are genetically gifted which I certainly am not) years to get to the point where you can execute the really hard stuff and not only survive it, but flourish.
I think I'm there, but I can't tell you how many days I'm doing the work and thinking, "What the hell? I'm 50. Should I be able to do all this?" And my answer is yes, because there are women my age who are faster than me. Not that I'm ever going to best them all; it just means there is room for improvement on my end! At some point, I will reach the inevitable maximum potential and my performances will begin to decline. That may already be happening with swimming--either that or I just don't care that much, since I don't have sufficient time (and by that, I mean like 5 hours per week) to dedicate to it. But biking and running--I am getting stronger, fitter, and faster.
This week has been a buzz so far. Yesterday I rode hard for 4:30 (80% of FTP, for those of you who are on the power train; :40 of that was at FTP or higher watts). That's like 1/2 Ironman pace for some people (I can do 1/2 Ironman at about 85% FTP). And then I ran a bit faster than 1/2 marathon pace for 4.5 miles. Today I'm doing the same thing, but only 3:00 on the bike (same brick run, though). Now, people talk about training hard and say they did this or that, but do they know the truth? To me, truth on the bike is watts. I don't wear my HRM any more, because it's not the truth. With watts, either I can hit them or I can't, and when I can't, I don't obsess about why. Truth is, I couldn't do it. But the quality of my workout is going to equal the watts I cranked out--nothing more, nothing less. When you ride by HRM or (ridiculous) pace, it's not the truth. There were periods yesterday where I was going 30MPH, and others where I could only go 16MPH. What's the truth about how hard I was working? It was the same.
Now running. Again, I no longer wear an HRM. It's all about pace. And either I can hold pace, or I can't. Pace will vary depending on how far I'm going or how long I've biked beforehand.
Sometimes I wish I was a lot younger, because I can feel now that I'm at a point where I could really kick some serious butt racing. But there are other rewards for my efforts--I get to ride with guys, I have people asking me to run with them (good runners), and I get a lot of respect, for if nothing else, I look fast. And I usually look like I'm enjoying the work, even while I may be yelling "OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD" going uphill into a 15MPH headwind during a brick run like yesterday or needing to push 110% of FTP watts on the bike. And especially when I'm going the opposite direction of a whole peloton of roadies, going fast, like yesterday, tucked low into the aerobars cranking out some serious wattage.
This fitness doesn't come easily, but I'm happy I have it for whatever "rewards" it might bring. Mostly I just enjoy training when I have to really work at it. Don't get me wrong--every now and then a nice, leisurely bike or run is called for, but those workouts are few and far between. I do stop and smell the proverbial roses. During yesterday's ride (my first of the year in Fermilab, I made 2 nature stops (aside from 2 stops to pee). The first was to inquire as to a group of folks with binoculars looking up at Wilson Hall (the main administrative building). I asked what they were looking at, and they said a peregrine falcon, and did I want to look through the scope? I looked up, clearly saw the bird, and declined the scope. I related that when I used to work downtown Chicago, I once observed a parent peregrine teaching a youngster how to dive. I wished them a happy day, and soldiered on. Later on, I noticed what I thought was a small turtle in the road, attempting to cross. I kept going, but my nature loving self got the best of me and I stopped, went back, and sure enough, it was a baby painted turtle! He might have been run over trying to get to the pond on the other side of the road (there are many ponds in Fermilab--click on the previous link to see all about the nature stuff in there!), so I picked him up, put him in my bike jersey, and transported him as close to the other pond as I could get him. It smelled so nice in there yesterday--lilacs are blooming, there is wild phlox everywhere, and it's just gorgeous. Lucky me, I get to go back there again today!
My bags are nearly packed for Colorado, my yard looks absolutely beautiful (I promise there will be photos once I'm back home on a weekly basis--you wouldn't believe it), and believe it or not, I feel pretty great this morning considering I'm already to 16 training hours through yesterday and I've got 3:40 more to go today.
Have a great Sunday and remember to really see what's in front of you!
Friday, May 04, 2007
Big Training Weeks and Miscellaneous Stuff
I'm IN IT--my term for training a lot, hard, and barely finding time to do other things besides work, train, eat, sleep, stretch, fix bottles, wash bottles, acquire food.
This week I'm doing FOUR brick workouts because next week I'll be in Colorado Springs on business, and I'm not taking a bike so I'll be running pretty much every day, pretty much A LOT. I am fortunate, though, in that there are a lot of people out there who run, so I have 3 running dates (out of 4 days) lined up. One of them is for this: http://www.inclineclub.com/ I'll be doing the Thursday workout, which is essentially running partway up Pike's Peak (and also down, I assume!). What the hell! I may die doing it, but it will be fun. My hotel is only 2 miles from the YMCA, so I'll be swimming in the morning and running either at lunch or after work. What's awesome is that I don't have to goad anyone into running--there are many volunteers! I just hope I don't hold any of these folks back. I get to meet a host of people that I've worked with but never met in person, so that will be fun, and I've got some nice lunch and dinner dates, too, including my favorite, SUSHI! It will be a nice change of scenery, and I guess that this will qualify as my "high altitude camp" for the year! I should finish out next week with over 40 miles of running, and I'll be home Friday night so I can get back on my horses Saturday and Sunday and still get in 7 hours of biking for the week (and knowing me like I do, probably more than that).
I am shocked at how quickly I transitioned from itty-bitty 12-hour training weeks to 17+ gonzo fucking shit! But I'm here, and it's going well. The only downside is that when I train this much, sleep tends to go down. Partly because the days are so long now and the sun comes up so early and that's pretty much my alarm clock (along with the birds singing, which I love). Partly because (put on your gross filter NOW) with all the training comes a revved up metabolism that wants to dispense with waste products EARLY and OFTEN. Aside from maybe the sun waking me up, I am waking up hungry and I have to crap NOW. Funny how I never see articles in the triathlon magazines about THAT part of Ironman training! I think I have just passed the point where my body actually doesn't have to shit every time I go for a run! Although it knows that it's OK if I have to, because the porta-potties have been placed at all the parks along my running routes, so I'm never that far from sweet relief! I swim M/W/F, and there have been a few times where I wake up, eat, go to the pool, I'm hungry while I swim and/or I have to get out to use the facilities, and we are not talking about #1 here. Thankfully, everything is pretty much "through the system" by mid-afternoon, and I can focus on just eating and working.
You KNOW the feeling when you are running--maybe you have to go, maybe not. But once you see that porta-potty, your brain is screaming LET'S GO RIGHT NOW and there is no stopping the urge at that point. During one run last week, I was on that program and there was someone in the porta-potty, and I was knocking on the door and admonishing him/her to hurry it up!
This spring it seems as if a switch has been flicked whenever I run off the bike. I mean I KNOW how to do it, and I'm running really well. Maybe because of doing back-to-back brick workouts for a few months late winter? Maybe because I've spent the last 2 years running just a whole lot? Whatever, it's nice when you experience breakthroughs. And wherever I go from my house, there are hills. I just have to decide whether I want to go out with or against the wind, and how steep I want to go. Plus I'm scared shitless that I am going to die next week in Colorado Springs, so I have been thinking about that when I want to slow down or walk during the brick runs. There's been a lot of "OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD" during these runs lately (and I do say it or yell it out loud, and sometimes even F bombs while climbing hills), which is a combination of the usual it being a brick run which sucks in and of itself, I'm training a ton and my body would be happier in the horizontal position, I'm starving, I'm asking myself why am I doing this, and yet I keep going. I know I'm incredibly lean--I feel like I'm leaner than ever right now based on how my face looks--you know--the drawn cheeks that are sculpted from all the miles. But don't worry--my thunder thighs are not going anywhere!
Anyone with a gun is welcome to come over to my house and shoot all the rabbits that are multiplying in my white trash neighbors' yards. I expect some rabbits, but when people leave huge brush piles, they are just inviting more rabbits and way too much rabbit sex. Oh well, one of my good neighbors said he had one of the local red-tailed hawks munching a bunny in his front yard! I LOVE food chain action! It's part of nature. He commented that the burgeoning rabbit population would attract foxes and coyotes, to which I said, "Bring it on!" And then maybe the coyotes would also kill off the little rat dogs that are yipping constantly.
I only have to swim today!!!! Well, and maybe lift weights, because I haven't done any of that this week. We shall see about that!
Have a great weekend, and if I don't post next week, it's because I'm passed out on some mountain in Colorado!
This week I'm doing FOUR brick workouts because next week I'll be in Colorado Springs on business, and I'm not taking a bike so I'll be running pretty much every day, pretty much A LOT. I am fortunate, though, in that there are a lot of people out there who run, so I have 3 running dates (out of 4 days) lined up. One of them is for this: http://www.inclineclub.com/ I'll be doing the Thursday workout, which is essentially running partway up Pike's Peak (and also down, I assume!). What the hell! I may die doing it, but it will be fun. My hotel is only 2 miles from the YMCA, so I'll be swimming in the morning and running either at lunch or after work. What's awesome is that I don't have to goad anyone into running--there are many volunteers! I just hope I don't hold any of these folks back. I get to meet a host of people that I've worked with but never met in person, so that will be fun, and I've got some nice lunch and dinner dates, too, including my favorite, SUSHI! It will be a nice change of scenery, and I guess that this will qualify as my "high altitude camp" for the year! I should finish out next week with over 40 miles of running, and I'll be home Friday night so I can get back on my horses Saturday and Sunday and still get in 7 hours of biking for the week (and knowing me like I do, probably more than that).
I am shocked at how quickly I transitioned from itty-bitty 12-hour training weeks to 17+ gonzo fucking shit! But I'm here, and it's going well. The only downside is that when I train this much, sleep tends to go down. Partly because the days are so long now and the sun comes up so early and that's pretty much my alarm clock (along with the birds singing, which I love). Partly because (put on your gross filter NOW) with all the training comes a revved up metabolism that wants to dispense with waste products EARLY and OFTEN. Aside from maybe the sun waking me up, I am waking up hungry and I have to crap NOW. Funny how I never see articles in the triathlon magazines about THAT part of Ironman training! I think I have just passed the point where my body actually doesn't have to shit every time I go for a run! Although it knows that it's OK if I have to, because the porta-potties have been placed at all the parks along my running routes, so I'm never that far from sweet relief! I swim M/W/F, and there have been a few times where I wake up, eat, go to the pool, I'm hungry while I swim and/or I have to get out to use the facilities, and we are not talking about #1 here. Thankfully, everything is pretty much "through the system" by mid-afternoon, and I can focus on just eating and working.
You KNOW the feeling when you are running--maybe you have to go, maybe not. But once you see that porta-potty, your brain is screaming LET'S GO RIGHT NOW and there is no stopping the urge at that point. During one run last week, I was on that program and there was someone in the porta-potty, and I was knocking on the door and admonishing him/her to hurry it up!
This spring it seems as if a switch has been flicked whenever I run off the bike. I mean I KNOW how to do it, and I'm running really well. Maybe because of doing back-to-back brick workouts for a few months late winter? Maybe because I've spent the last 2 years running just a whole lot? Whatever, it's nice when you experience breakthroughs. And wherever I go from my house, there are hills. I just have to decide whether I want to go out with or against the wind, and how steep I want to go. Plus I'm scared shitless that I am going to die next week in Colorado Springs, so I have been thinking about that when I want to slow down or walk during the brick runs. There's been a lot of "OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD" during these runs lately (and I do say it or yell it out loud, and sometimes even F bombs while climbing hills), which is a combination of the usual it being a brick run which sucks in and of itself, I'm training a ton and my body would be happier in the horizontal position, I'm starving, I'm asking myself why am I doing this, and yet I keep going. I know I'm incredibly lean--I feel like I'm leaner than ever right now based on how my face looks--you know--the drawn cheeks that are sculpted from all the miles. But don't worry--my thunder thighs are not going anywhere!
Anyone with a gun is welcome to come over to my house and shoot all the rabbits that are multiplying in my white trash neighbors' yards. I expect some rabbits, but when people leave huge brush piles, they are just inviting more rabbits and way too much rabbit sex. Oh well, one of my good neighbors said he had one of the local red-tailed hawks munching a bunny in his front yard! I LOVE food chain action! It's part of nature. He commented that the burgeoning rabbit population would attract foxes and coyotes, to which I said, "Bring it on!" And then maybe the coyotes would also kill off the little rat dogs that are yipping constantly.
I only have to swim today!!!! Well, and maybe lift weights, because I haven't done any of that this week. We shall see about that!
Have a great weekend, and if I don't post next week, it's because I'm passed out on some mountain in Colorado!
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Weekly Workout Totals 04/23/2007-04/29/2007 and Progress
Today was another absolutely gorgeous spring day here. I headed out just after 6AM to drive to Union, IL, to do the Spring Forward ride. My plan was to ride the 62 miles and then go out again for another 18 to get in a solid 80. The weather called for increasing winds, no worries, I like wind.
I drank probably 48 oz. of water throughout the night last night, probably because I ate a lot of highly salted food, and probably also because I am just running high octane lately, so I didn't make it 57 miles without needing to stop and pee. But I made a quick stop, and shortly I arrived at the ride start.
I asked some stranger man next to me to put sunscreen on my upper back, to which he gladly obliged, paid the money and declined the bag of stuff, except for the required bib number and a fun-size Snickers bar, which I knew would come in handy later.
I was rolling by 7:28AM, and I started out with arm warmers, which worked out great. Starting temp was about 55, but projected high was 80. The winds were fairly calm for about 1 hour, and that was enjoyable. The course was mainly flat with rolling country/farmland roads. There was ONE hill, and I remember approaching it thinking, "Cool! Bike on hill action." And then I realized what I thought, like being in a porno flick. It made the climb go quite easily.
I was passing people all day, men and women, and was just riding what I thought to be upper steady. When nearing the one and only rest stop in a park called Marengo Ridge, there was a cute sign as you turned in that said, "OH SHIFT!" I got a great chuckle out of that. At the rest stop they had a TRAY O' MEAT, which I totally appreciated (it was chunks of lunch meat, and I gravitated towards the salami), as well as a huge assortment of other goodies. I had some meat, pound cake, a Rice Krispies trest, and then reloaded my bottle to circle around and come back to the same place.
There was a long stretch into a now fairly stiff headwind. Here I passed lots of people. It seems that many people just give up in the wind. Since I ride by power, I just focus on holding a good wattage, and whatever speed that gets me is just fine. Plus, I knew we would eventually turn and go back the other way, which when we did, I just hammered away.
Back to the same rest stop for more meat, pound cake, and this time, I slugged down about 8 oz. of Coke, which I had brought with me. I have no idea why they don't have cold Coke on these rides. I told one of the volunteers that they should, and she was all like, "oh but the fizz." I told her that a lot of pro riders do the Coke thing, and that the fizz really isn't a big deal at all. My Coke went down just fine, although mixed with spicy meat I had a bit of a bloaty tummy for a few miles, but no worries.
All day there were plenty of farm animals to view--chickens, sheep, pigs, horses and cows. At one point a rooster started crowing, so I crowed right back at him! There were lots of dogs, but all of them were either leashed, fenced or invisible-fenced, so none of them were chasing after us.
About 5 miles from finish, I rolled up on a small group, and it appeared one of them was a bit faster than the rest. I passed them all, and then the guy comes up beside me, and I said, "Come on, let's go!" He said he needed to wait for the others and that he had been holding back all day, and I told him if they are truly friends they will understand if he peels off at this point. I convinced him. His name is Harold, and it was nice to push it in (against headwinds) with someone else, but we were chatting the entire time, too. Harold gave me his email address, and maybe one of these days we'll be able to ride someplace else.
Back at my car to get some more Coke, it turned out this one guy who had passed me going into the rest stop (to which I yelled at him, "SHOW OFF") was parked right next to me. He and his buddy and I talked about power meters, which was fun, and how we train with them and all that. It was nice to be talking with men who weren't all condescending as if I wouldn't know anything. And of course, they complimented my "awesome rig."
As I headed out for another 18 miles, I thought I didn't need to do all of that and that I would just ride out for maybe :15 or :30 and turn around, but then I decided to follow the course. Boy did the wind pick up! I was about dying on this one stretch, and a SAG wagon asked me for my number, and I tried to tell the guy I had enough fluid and such. I was hoping he didn't think I was just out for 18 miles on THAT BIKE!
I managed to throw in a bit of lostness at the end just to complete my day, and I ended up with 85 miles overall, not bad. I made sure to stop at the registration area to let them know I was done and OK, and the SAG drivers were pretty smiley at me and said they were happy to watch after a pretty girl! It did make me feel good that they were out there and I thanked them heartily, drove home, ate, went out into the yard for about 3 hours and I am about ready to pass out!
The totals for the week are pretty happy, and knock wood, I am still feeling pretty good! Let's see if I can wake up tomorrow morning and swim 3500 yards!
Weekly Totals 04/23/2007-04/29/2007
Swim: 10000 yards (5.68 miles) in 3.48 hours; 18% of weekly workout time; approx. 1220 calories burned
Bike: Approx. 156.62 miles in 8.95 hours; 47% of weekly workout time; approx. 4839 calories burned
Run: Approx. 34.34 miles in 5.13 hours; 27% of weekly workout time; approx. 2328 calories burned
Strength: 1.57 hours; 8% of weekly workout time; approx. 393 calories burned
All Sports: Approx. 196.64 miles in 19.13 hours; approx. 8780 calories burned
Sleep: 8.07 hours avg./night
Stretching: 3.3 hours. Massage: 1.5 hours
I drank probably 48 oz. of water throughout the night last night, probably because I ate a lot of highly salted food, and probably also because I am just running high octane lately, so I didn't make it 57 miles without needing to stop and pee. But I made a quick stop, and shortly I arrived at the ride start.
I asked some stranger man next to me to put sunscreen on my upper back, to which he gladly obliged, paid the money and declined the bag of stuff, except for the required bib number and a fun-size Snickers bar, which I knew would come in handy later.
I was rolling by 7:28AM, and I started out with arm warmers, which worked out great. Starting temp was about 55, but projected high was 80. The winds were fairly calm for about 1 hour, and that was enjoyable. The course was mainly flat with rolling country/farmland roads. There was ONE hill, and I remember approaching it thinking, "Cool! Bike on hill action." And then I realized what I thought, like being in a porno flick. It made the climb go quite easily.
I was passing people all day, men and women, and was just riding what I thought to be upper steady. When nearing the one and only rest stop in a park called Marengo Ridge, there was a cute sign as you turned in that said, "OH SHIFT!" I got a great chuckle out of that. At the rest stop they had a TRAY O' MEAT, which I totally appreciated (it was chunks of lunch meat, and I gravitated towards the salami), as well as a huge assortment of other goodies. I had some meat, pound cake, a Rice Krispies trest, and then reloaded my bottle to circle around and come back to the same place.
There was a long stretch into a now fairly stiff headwind. Here I passed lots of people. It seems that many people just give up in the wind. Since I ride by power, I just focus on holding a good wattage, and whatever speed that gets me is just fine. Plus, I knew we would eventually turn and go back the other way, which when we did, I just hammered away.
Back to the same rest stop for more meat, pound cake, and this time, I slugged down about 8 oz. of Coke, which I had brought with me. I have no idea why they don't have cold Coke on these rides. I told one of the volunteers that they should, and she was all like, "oh but the fizz." I told her that a lot of pro riders do the Coke thing, and that the fizz really isn't a big deal at all. My Coke went down just fine, although mixed with spicy meat I had a bit of a bloaty tummy for a few miles, but no worries.
All day there were plenty of farm animals to view--chickens, sheep, pigs, horses and cows. At one point a rooster started crowing, so I crowed right back at him! There were lots of dogs, but all of them were either leashed, fenced or invisible-fenced, so none of them were chasing after us.
About 5 miles from finish, I rolled up on a small group, and it appeared one of them was a bit faster than the rest. I passed them all, and then the guy comes up beside me, and I said, "Come on, let's go!" He said he needed to wait for the others and that he had been holding back all day, and I told him if they are truly friends they will understand if he peels off at this point. I convinced him. His name is Harold, and it was nice to push it in (against headwinds) with someone else, but we were chatting the entire time, too. Harold gave me his email address, and maybe one of these days we'll be able to ride someplace else.
Back at my car to get some more Coke, it turned out this one guy who had passed me going into the rest stop (to which I yelled at him, "SHOW OFF") was parked right next to me. He and his buddy and I talked about power meters, which was fun, and how we train with them and all that. It was nice to be talking with men who weren't all condescending as if I wouldn't know anything. And of course, they complimented my "awesome rig."
As I headed out for another 18 miles, I thought I didn't need to do all of that and that I would just ride out for maybe :15 or :30 and turn around, but then I decided to follow the course. Boy did the wind pick up! I was about dying on this one stretch, and a SAG wagon asked me for my number, and I tried to tell the guy I had enough fluid and such. I was hoping he didn't think I was just out for 18 miles on THAT BIKE!
I managed to throw in a bit of lostness at the end just to complete my day, and I ended up with 85 miles overall, not bad. I made sure to stop at the registration area to let them know I was done and OK, and the SAG drivers were pretty smiley at me and said they were happy to watch after a pretty girl! It did make me feel good that they were out there and I thanked them heartily, drove home, ate, went out into the yard for about 3 hours and I am about ready to pass out!
The totals for the week are pretty happy, and knock wood, I am still feeling pretty good! Let's see if I can wake up tomorrow morning and swim 3500 yards!
Weekly Totals 04/23/2007-04/29/2007
Swim: 10000 yards (5.68 miles) in 3.48 hours; 18% of weekly workout time; approx. 1220 calories burned
Bike: Approx. 156.62 miles in 8.95 hours; 47% of weekly workout time; approx. 4839 calories burned
Run: Approx. 34.34 miles in 5.13 hours; 27% of weekly workout time; approx. 2328 calories burned
Strength: 1.57 hours; 8% of weekly workout time; approx. 393 calories burned
All Sports: Approx. 196.64 miles in 19.13 hours; approx. 8780 calories burned
Sleep: 8.07 hours avg./night
Stretching: 3.3 hours. Massage: 1.5 hours
Happy, Happy!
Thought I'd post since I woke up early (I rarely need an alarm clock), since I'm riding long today.
Yesterday it was a little chilly in the morning even though the high was supposed to be 70 or so, so I did some house stuff in the early morning while everyone else in my neighborhood was asleep or something. It was an absolutely beautiful day. The birds were singing, geese were honking, ducks quacking, and not much car traffic. It makes me laugh when people say they need to "get away" to experience nature. Get outside at 5 or 6AM and enjoy it!
After a bit of yard work, I checked the clock to see if I still had time to make it to the grocery store before riding--I decided I needed to start riding by 9AM in order to get in 2 hours on the bike, a :45 run and then make it to the pool between 12 and 1PM to swim :20.
I was smiling at the grocery store, because my cart clearly reflected that I'm training a lot now--Nutter Butters, Cheetos, peanut butter and cheese crackers, Gummi bears, deli salads and lots of Gatorade. Sounds like a lot of junk food, but trust me, I don't eat a lot of it on any given day. The Nutter Butters are more for Triple T (Cindy and I LOVE them) and for a race rehearsal weekend or two before IMLP. The Cheetos are for salt replacement after 2+ hour workouts (lots of those these days). The crackers are to stash in my jersey on long rides. The Gummi bears are to top off my calories at the end of the day when there is no more room in my stomach for bulk yet I need more calories. The deli salads are to ensure I get some veggies with dinner, as I won't have time to "cook" for a few weeks. And then the Gatorade--I am going through 6-7 of the 32 oz. bottles a week now.
I started my ride a bit late, but no worries. I warmed up fairly easy for about :30, and then I decided to just "ride hard" for :20 intervals, but when I got to :20, I figured I could go for :30. So I did 2 of those plus a bit more, and man, I banged out 2 full hours at 92% of threshold power! Not bad considering the first :30 was just noodling around. While I was out riding, I saw 3 people I know--Debbie, Jennifer and Craig. While they have never seen my new bike before, somehow they recognized me. I think it must be my legs or something that gives me away--I dunno. All I know is that I was smiling a lot while riding, and enjoyed every minute of it, and there were very few asshole driver moments.
As usual, I didn't know how I'd be able to run after such an intense ride, but I had no trouble at all, even though, as expected, I felt like puking most of the time. But it seems this spring there is something different about when I run off the bike--almost like the harder I ride the better I run. I guess in retrospect it was a good idea to do those stinky super sprint races over the winter.
I didn't start in time to hit the pool between 12 and 1, so I ate some lunch and went to swim at 2PM. I was pretty tired and didn't really feel like swimming, but I know that these short recovery swims are good for me, so I did it; and besides, I wanted to hit 10,000 yards for the week! After the swim, I hit the sauna to stretch for about :10, and then I headed to the bike shop to pick up Bitchie. I stopped at the running store to chat with a friend (the owner, Pat) and met a guy, Fred Faller (sp?), who's a good rider and just a nice man. We shared "bike rage" stories and talked about all who we know in common. My world gets smaller every day, but that's a great thing! Each of us knows someone who the other knows. Actually several. There was a woman buying stuff, and to me she looked 5-10 years older than me. Turns out she's younger. That gave me a boost, as even though I'm feeling my age, I guess I still don't think I look as (excuse me, here) "haggardly" as some women who do this stuff. Maybe I have good skin or something. I think there's a fine balance between leanness and muscularity, and some women are quite lean, but don't have a lot of muscle, and that doesn't make your skin look so good. So I guess if nothing else, that's where my years of strength training pay off. I work very hard to retain the muscle I have, and OK, so I'm a little vain about it, but it sure beats just being skinny!
When I got home, I fired up the grill, and then proceeded to hand dig every dandelion (I don't have too many but somehow I counted 80!) in my lawn and flower beds, then mowed the front yard, swept the garage, watered some new grass I'm trying to grow and got soaked because my hose sprayer is kaput, grilled a bunch o' meat, and finally went inside to eat and then pass out at 8PM.
I call that a very full, fun day, and I'm about to begin another one. There's bike crap all over my house, and that can mean only one thing: It's riding season, and I'm happy, happy!
Yesterday it was a little chilly in the morning even though the high was supposed to be 70 or so, so I did some house stuff in the early morning while everyone else in my neighborhood was asleep or something. It was an absolutely beautiful day. The birds were singing, geese were honking, ducks quacking, and not much car traffic. It makes me laugh when people say they need to "get away" to experience nature. Get outside at 5 or 6AM and enjoy it!
After a bit of yard work, I checked the clock to see if I still had time to make it to the grocery store before riding--I decided I needed to start riding by 9AM in order to get in 2 hours on the bike, a :45 run and then make it to the pool between 12 and 1PM to swim :20.
I was smiling at the grocery store, because my cart clearly reflected that I'm training a lot now--Nutter Butters, Cheetos, peanut butter and cheese crackers, Gummi bears, deli salads and lots of Gatorade. Sounds like a lot of junk food, but trust me, I don't eat a lot of it on any given day. The Nutter Butters are more for Triple T (Cindy and I LOVE them) and for a race rehearsal weekend or two before IMLP. The Cheetos are for salt replacement after 2+ hour workouts (lots of those these days). The crackers are to stash in my jersey on long rides. The Gummi bears are to top off my calories at the end of the day when there is no more room in my stomach for bulk yet I need more calories. The deli salads are to ensure I get some veggies with dinner, as I won't have time to "cook" for a few weeks. And then the Gatorade--I am going through 6-7 of the 32 oz. bottles a week now.
I started my ride a bit late, but no worries. I warmed up fairly easy for about :30, and then I decided to just "ride hard" for :20 intervals, but when I got to :20, I figured I could go for :30. So I did 2 of those plus a bit more, and man, I banged out 2 full hours at 92% of threshold power! Not bad considering the first :30 was just noodling around. While I was out riding, I saw 3 people I know--Debbie, Jennifer and Craig. While they have never seen my new bike before, somehow they recognized me. I think it must be my legs or something that gives me away--I dunno. All I know is that I was smiling a lot while riding, and enjoyed every minute of it, and there were very few asshole driver moments.
As usual, I didn't know how I'd be able to run after such an intense ride, but I had no trouble at all, even though, as expected, I felt like puking most of the time. But it seems this spring there is something different about when I run off the bike--almost like the harder I ride the better I run. I guess in retrospect it was a good idea to do those stinky super sprint races over the winter.
I didn't start in time to hit the pool between 12 and 1, so I ate some lunch and went to swim at 2PM. I was pretty tired and didn't really feel like swimming, but I know that these short recovery swims are good for me, so I did it; and besides, I wanted to hit 10,000 yards for the week! After the swim, I hit the sauna to stretch for about :10, and then I headed to the bike shop to pick up Bitchie. I stopped at the running store to chat with a friend (the owner, Pat) and met a guy, Fred Faller (sp?), who's a good rider and just a nice man. We shared "bike rage" stories and talked about all who we know in common. My world gets smaller every day, but that's a great thing! Each of us knows someone who the other knows. Actually several. There was a woman buying stuff, and to me she looked 5-10 years older than me. Turns out she's younger. That gave me a boost, as even though I'm feeling my age, I guess I still don't think I look as (excuse me, here) "haggardly" as some women who do this stuff. Maybe I have good skin or something. I think there's a fine balance between leanness and muscularity, and some women are quite lean, but don't have a lot of muscle, and that doesn't make your skin look so good. So I guess if nothing else, that's where my years of strength training pay off. I work very hard to retain the muscle I have, and OK, so I'm a little vain about it, but it sure beats just being skinny!
When I got home, I fired up the grill, and then proceeded to hand dig every dandelion (I don't have too many but somehow I counted 80!) in my lawn and flower beds, then mowed the front yard, swept the garage, watered some new grass I'm trying to grow and got soaked because my hose sprayer is kaput, grilled a bunch o' meat, and finally went inside to eat and then pass out at 8PM.
I call that a very full, fun day, and I'm about to begin another one. There's bike crap all over my house, and that can mean only one thing: It's riding season, and I'm happy, happy!
Friday, April 27, 2007
Sad Anniversary/Happy Anniversary
Tuesday was the one year anniversary of my Mom's death. It sucks not having a Mom. Physically, she's gone, but all I have to do is look around and she is everywhere. She gave me the freedom to be my crazy, driven, creative self. She understood me even as others couldn't figure me out. She instilled in me a desire to always be creating. She wrote me this poem a few weeks after I finished Ironman Hawaii and had a birthday the same month:
Hurray! Hurray! Hurray!
Have the greatest birthday!
You finished the race
With a smiling face
What more can we proud parents say?
We tracked you along the way
and we're so happy to say
That you did so well
and so what the hell
Celebrate for the whole day!
I have a number of things in my house that Mom made--some ceramics, some crewel work and a paper cutting that's framed in one of my bathrooms. I also have a bunch of phlox in my flower beds from her--curiously enough, they seem to have taken over, but how can you treat a plant that self sows so easily and rewards you with sweet smelling pink blossoms year after year as a weed?
I got my love of gardening from my Mom, but she thinks I got it from her Mom. Well, both, actually. Grandma (I never really knew my Dad's Mom, as she passed when I was only 4) could grow anything, and I still remember every time I went over there in the summer, I would quiz her about what each plant was and how to make it grow well. I didn't really start gardening until I met my ex-husband, Ken, and we rented a house that had a weeded-over vegetable garden, that we decided to till and plant vegetables, mostly. But then a neighbor gave me a bunch of zinnia seeds, and my penchant for flowers took off. When Ken and I bought our own house (the one I still live in), it had a few small flower beds, which we immediately expanded, and since my divorce, I probably tripled the amount of flower bed space all by myself.
I've given my plants to other people as well. I always say, "Show up with a shovel and you can take 1/2 of anything you can dig up!" I get to look out of my "office" window into my back yard and watch birds, squirrels, rabbits and bugs doing their thing. Occasionally, I have to go chase a rabbit away from munching my plants or a woodpecker from pecking on my house!
This summer, we get our crop of 17-year periodical cicadas! Turns out I was born in a year when they hatched (1956), so this will be my 4th time to experience them! I bet my Mom was none too happy being pregnant with me during a summer when these things were swarming all over the place. I don't really remember my first 2 times, but I definitely remember the last time they were here. It sounded like being on the runway at O'Hare airport, it was so deafening loud.
But what I'm really looking forward to is running and biking while they're here. If you think you have bugs around you while biking, you should come here in June! These things will be slamming into us people doing our thing outside! Since I didn't run or bike 17 years ago, this should be really entertaining. I am sure everyone will be complaining. Already the newspapers have an article about the bugs almost daily. Some women are freaking out that planned their outdoor weddings while they are here. I think this time I will actually eat one of them, since they are supposed to be quite healthy and tasty. I mean, come on, free food falling from the sky! How often does that happen?
My Mom only had four sightings of the 17-year cicadas in her lifetime. This is my fourth time, and I hope to have at least 2 more!
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Mango Tuesday
I love mangoes, among other fruit. Today I got such a smile on my face while lining up my fruit selection for today: 2 mangoes, a banana and an avocado (avocado yet to be eaten). Good stuff! When I eat mangoes, I cut the skin off thickly, then cut the flesh into a bowl, and then suck on the hard pit thing (or whatever it is) over the sink to get all that great juice. Then I eat the flesh off the skin (the same way you'd eat artichoke leaves, which if you have never done, you are missing another real treat), toss the skin, and finally use a fork to eat the remaining flesh in the bowl.
I swear I can eat 3-4 mangoes at a pop, at least normal sized ones. I have had mangoes while in Hawaii that were monstrous, and the same with avocados. I once bought an avocado in Kona that must have weighed 5 lbs.! It was delicious, too. God, I miss the fruit stand in Kona, and all the different flavors of bananas--apple, pear, strawberry and even ice cream flavors. Dragon fruit, fresh lychee (in season), papaya, lilikoi (passion fruit), guava and even the ubiquitous pineapple.
Today's mangoes were so ripe and luscious I almost ate the skin! But I figured I was getting plenty o' fiber without it, so I only ate a tiny bit of it just to prove to myself that it would taste good on a piece of fruit so ripe.
Our basic Chiquita bananas taste better after eating a mango, too. Writing about this makes me want to make one of my (in)famous Hawaiian smoothies--throw fruit (whatever you have, including some frozen strawberries) into a blender, add 1 can Cream of Coconut, maybe 1/2 can of guava or lilikoi juice, about 1/4 to 1/2 bottle of rum (cheap is fine--it's all sugar, anyway), a bit of ice, blend until slushy, and then try not to drink the entire blender full by yourself! Or, as in my pre-endurance sports days of going to Hawaii just to spend time at a bunch of different beaches laying around and snorkeling, drink until you fall pleasantly asleep!
The weather was still nice today, so I rode LGL outside again. Wednesday through Friday are supposed to be cool and rainy, and that's fine by me--I have no issues with treadmill running, but I am officially on a trainer strike!
For some reason, I chose mango Gatorade to take with me. About :45 minutes into the ride, I was feeling hungry (despite the 2 mangoes and a banana and 1/2 bottle of Coke and my usual 250 calorie breakfast), and remembered I had Clif Shot with me. What flavor? Mango, of course! I laughed to myself that I was on some sort of mango binge, but you know what? I rode like a freaking maniac today!
So next time you want to put some zing into your riding, chow down on some mangoes about 2 hours before you ride (follow my eating instructions above), chug about 12 oz. of Coke right before you leave, and have at it! You won't see THAT in any of your sports nutrition books!
I swear I can eat 3-4 mangoes at a pop, at least normal sized ones. I have had mangoes while in Hawaii that were monstrous, and the same with avocados. I once bought an avocado in Kona that must have weighed 5 lbs.! It was delicious, too. God, I miss the fruit stand in Kona, and all the different flavors of bananas--apple, pear, strawberry and even ice cream flavors. Dragon fruit, fresh lychee (in season), papaya, lilikoi (passion fruit), guava and even the ubiquitous pineapple.
Today's mangoes were so ripe and luscious I almost ate the skin! But I figured I was getting plenty o' fiber without it, so I only ate a tiny bit of it just to prove to myself that it would taste good on a piece of fruit so ripe.
Our basic Chiquita bananas taste better after eating a mango, too. Writing about this makes me want to make one of my (in)famous Hawaiian smoothies--throw fruit (whatever you have, including some frozen strawberries) into a blender, add 1 can Cream of Coconut, maybe 1/2 can of guava or lilikoi juice, about 1/4 to 1/2 bottle of rum (cheap is fine--it's all sugar, anyway), a bit of ice, blend until slushy, and then try not to drink the entire blender full by yourself! Or, as in my pre-endurance sports days of going to Hawaii just to spend time at a bunch of different beaches laying around and snorkeling, drink until you fall pleasantly asleep!
The weather was still nice today, so I rode LGL outside again. Wednesday through Friday are supposed to be cool and rainy, and that's fine by me--I have no issues with treadmill running, but I am officially on a trainer strike!
For some reason, I chose mango Gatorade to take with me. About :45 minutes into the ride, I was feeling hungry (despite the 2 mangoes and a banana and 1/2 bottle of Coke and my usual 250 calorie breakfast), and remembered I had Clif Shot with me. What flavor? Mango, of course! I laughed to myself that I was on some sort of mango binge, but you know what? I rode like a freaking maniac today!
So next time you want to put some zing into your riding, chow down on some mangoes about 2 hours before you ride (follow my eating instructions above), chug about 12 oz. of Coke right before you leave, and have at it! You won't see THAT in any of your sports nutrition books!
Sunday, April 22, 2007
WeeklyWorkout Totals 04/16/2007-04/22/2007 and GIDDY UP!
GREAT week, AWESOME week! I am training, and feeling pretty good considering. I am always surprised every season when I kick it in, and while I do get tired like everyone else, it isn't as big of a deal as I think it will be.
Today I rode with a friend, Dan (who doesn't read my blog), and while I am not quite as fast as him, for the most part I can keep up, and he kept me motivated to push it the entire ride. I ended up riding at IF (intensity factor) of .85, meaning I averaged 85% of threshold power for the entire ride. That's like 1/2 Ironman wattage. So cool, for my first "big" ride out. We had wind, plenty of wind, heat, and some hills, although without the wind they would have been nothing. I totally enjoyed the way LGL handles in the wind--head, cross, you name it. I am still strong riding into the wind, even though this was my first time out this year! I had a blast passing lots of triathletes, who couldn't tell I was one of them since I was riding in "stealth" mode. At one point there was an entire pack of Italian bikes (a Pinarello, a few Colnagos, a Serotta and something else that escapes me), but unfortunately, we couldn't keep pace with them. Give me a few more weeks of solid saddle time, and that will surely change!
I am measuring my wattage based on my FTP from the end of last summer, 186. Even though I thought it had gone done to maybe 170 this winter, I think it's almost back, because 85% is a solid ride for first time out. We shall see.
I also met someone in person today that knows Dan that also knows me, just from reading my blog. That was pretty neat. His name is Fred, and he knows Lora. Apparently, Lora told Fred to read my blog. At one point, Fred emailed me about all my pink stuff, and I thought he was a perv (and I told him so today), but turns out he's just a regular guy. By the way, he had nothing but nice things to say about Lora, as did I!
The ride we did is called the Easter Ride, and they have egg salad sandwiches afterwards. YUM! I LOVE eggs. Earlier this week, I made some egg salad for myself and it was great. I still am a big protein craver/eater--I think it has to do with my Croatian heritage. I don't eat much pork (my pork weakness boils down to Italian prosciutto), really not much beef, either (but when I do it's usually a Porterhouse), but lots of chicken, turkey and fish.
As I was waiting in line to pay up for the ride, we heard that a few miles were being cut out of the farthest distance. The guy in front of me turns to me and says, "So you can ride 50 miles twice." I asked him sweetly (at least I thought so) what made him think I wanted to ride 100 miles today, and he said, "Because you are here early, and the early birds usually want to ride a lot." I told him I didn't really need to ride 100 miles today, then asked if he was going to do so. He proceeded to tell me about what he did the day before, and I surmised he was probably a triathlete, so I asked him what he was training for. "Ironman," he said. What a dork. The correct answer is either a) an Ironman or b) Ironman something (fill in the locale). The way he said it was such that I am sure he hoped to impress the hell out of me, so then I asked him, "Which Ironman?" Then he said, "Wisconsin." I said, "Great!" At one point he did manage to ask me if I had ever done "any triathlons," and I said, "A few."
Now hear me out on this. I respect anyone and everyone who trains for and competes in Ironman. But here's a little revelation: it is not the biggest deal in the whole wide world. I suppose I used to think it was, too, but it's not, and nowadays I'd rather cyclists assume I'm a biker, runners assume I'm a runner, and swimmers assume I'm a (not too great!) swimmer. There are those clever individuals who can tell from my physique that I am probably a triathlete, and probably a long-course one, at that. I always award such people extra points.
I do enjoy it when I meet a new person who says enthusiastically, "I'm training for my first Ironman!!!" That's cool. Be excited, be bursting at the seams wanting to show everyone how great you feel. But don't be, "Oh...I'm training for IRONMAN," like I should worship the ground you stand upon. Not cool. If you're like me and have done a few Ironman races, be the self-assured voice of calm, the voice of experience, ready to help anyone who needs it, but let them talk about their concerns. Listening can be so much fun!
There were these two women that were maybe going to ride with Dan and I, but man, were they helpless or what? Both had just gotten new tri bikes, and apparently, they didn't know how to pump the tires??? I said to one of them, "You mean you don't pump your tires before you put your bike in the car and drive to where you're riding?" I suppose it was a bitchy thing to say, but if someone tells me we are riding at 7:30, then I am READY at 7:30, and it was past that. So then we go to the tech area so these two can get their tires pumped, and they are worried because I tell the dude to go to 120, and the one chic is like, "I don't like them that hard it's not comfortable to ride." WTF??? This girl is not going to like her Ironman race, I can tell you that much. Finally, I grew impatient, and Dan whispered to me that they weren't very fast anyway, so we politely told them we were taking off. PHEW!
Before I started riding today, and I am not kidding about this, there were a few men that looked at my bike like it was a piece of ass! I guess you don't see too many women riding Pinarellos, at least I have never seen one. Then at the last aid station, a few men became enchanted with LGL and even took pictures of her (and me)! I am not sure whether they were "official" photogs for the ride or what, but they were very nice gentlemen, and I was happy to chat with them.
We shall see how I recover from my first big training week of 2007 tomorrow, but truthfully, I don't feel too badly at all. I think what helps is for me to stay on top of my recovery eating. Like last night, I passed out watching TV at 8:00PM, then I woke up at about 8:40 and ate a sandwich and went back to sleep. This morning I ate a Power Bar and about 350 calories of Glycoload, and I think I had enough calories while riding, but I still put a bunch in afterwards, and in the next hour I will be attacking a roast chicken and some green beans. I should have saved a few cannoli from yesterday, but I really don't need to eat that stuff, now do I? However, place your bets now, I bet I will be on the Food Channel (my term for needing to eat rather continuously from failing to replace all calories burned in preceding days) tomorrow, which probably means breakfast, swim, breakfast again, run, eat, snack, lift, snack, dinner, snack, bed (don't worry there is also WORK in there).
Here are the happy totals for the week. Notice for once, SOLID swimming! This is Ironman training, except for the bike volume, he he!
Weekly Totals 04/16/2007-04/22/2007
Swim: 10100 yards (5.73 miles) in 3.57 hours; 20% of weekly workout time; approx. 1249 calories burned
Bike: Approx. 128.92 miles in 7.62 hours; 43% of weekly workout time; approx. 3760 calories burned
Run: Approx. 34.91 miles in 5.15 hours; 29% of weekly workout time; approx. 2336 calories burned
Strength: 1.57 hours; 9% of weekly workout time; approx. 393 calories burned
All Sports: Approx. 169.56 miles in 17.91 hours; approx. 7738 calories burned
Sleep: 8.36 hours avg./night
Stretching: 3.43 hours. Massage: 0 hours
Today I rode with a friend, Dan (who doesn't read my blog), and while I am not quite as fast as him, for the most part I can keep up, and he kept me motivated to push it the entire ride. I ended up riding at IF (intensity factor) of .85, meaning I averaged 85% of threshold power for the entire ride. That's like 1/2 Ironman wattage. So cool, for my first "big" ride out. We had wind, plenty of wind, heat, and some hills, although without the wind they would have been nothing. I totally enjoyed the way LGL handles in the wind--head, cross, you name it. I am still strong riding into the wind, even though this was my first time out this year! I had a blast passing lots of triathletes, who couldn't tell I was one of them since I was riding in "stealth" mode. At one point there was an entire pack of Italian bikes (a Pinarello, a few Colnagos, a Serotta and something else that escapes me), but unfortunately, we couldn't keep pace with them. Give me a few more weeks of solid saddle time, and that will surely change!
I am measuring my wattage based on my FTP from the end of last summer, 186. Even though I thought it had gone done to maybe 170 this winter, I think it's almost back, because 85% is a solid ride for first time out. We shall see.
I also met someone in person today that knows Dan that also knows me, just from reading my blog. That was pretty neat. His name is Fred, and he knows Lora. Apparently, Lora told Fred to read my blog. At one point, Fred emailed me about all my pink stuff, and I thought he was a perv (and I told him so today), but turns out he's just a regular guy. By the way, he had nothing but nice things to say about Lora, as did I!
The ride we did is called the Easter Ride, and they have egg salad sandwiches afterwards. YUM! I LOVE eggs. Earlier this week, I made some egg salad for myself and it was great. I still am a big protein craver/eater--I think it has to do with my Croatian heritage. I don't eat much pork (my pork weakness boils down to Italian prosciutto), really not much beef, either (but when I do it's usually a Porterhouse), but lots of chicken, turkey and fish.
As I was waiting in line to pay up for the ride, we heard that a few miles were being cut out of the farthest distance. The guy in front of me turns to me and says, "So you can ride 50 miles twice." I asked him sweetly (at least I thought so) what made him think I wanted to ride 100 miles today, and he said, "Because you are here early, and the early birds usually want to ride a lot." I told him I didn't really need to ride 100 miles today, then asked if he was going to do so. He proceeded to tell me about what he did the day before, and I surmised he was probably a triathlete, so I asked him what he was training for. "Ironman," he said. What a dork. The correct answer is either a) an Ironman or b) Ironman something (fill in the locale). The way he said it was such that I am sure he hoped to impress the hell out of me, so then I asked him, "Which Ironman?" Then he said, "Wisconsin." I said, "Great!" At one point he did manage to ask me if I had ever done "any triathlons," and I said, "A few."
Now hear me out on this. I respect anyone and everyone who trains for and competes in Ironman. But here's a little revelation: it is not the biggest deal in the whole wide world. I suppose I used to think it was, too, but it's not, and nowadays I'd rather cyclists assume I'm a biker, runners assume I'm a runner, and swimmers assume I'm a (not too great!) swimmer. There are those clever individuals who can tell from my physique that I am probably a triathlete, and probably a long-course one, at that. I always award such people extra points.
I do enjoy it when I meet a new person who says enthusiastically, "I'm training for my first Ironman!!!" That's cool. Be excited, be bursting at the seams wanting to show everyone how great you feel. But don't be, "Oh...I'm training for IRONMAN," like I should worship the ground you stand upon. Not cool. If you're like me and have done a few Ironman races, be the self-assured voice of calm, the voice of experience, ready to help anyone who needs it, but let them talk about their concerns. Listening can be so much fun!
There were these two women that were maybe going to ride with Dan and I, but man, were they helpless or what? Both had just gotten new tri bikes, and apparently, they didn't know how to pump the tires??? I said to one of them, "You mean you don't pump your tires before you put your bike in the car and drive to where you're riding?" I suppose it was a bitchy thing to say, but if someone tells me we are riding at 7:30, then I am READY at 7:30, and it was past that. So then we go to the tech area so these two can get their tires pumped, and they are worried because I tell the dude to go to 120, and the one chic is like, "I don't like them that hard it's not comfortable to ride." WTF??? This girl is not going to like her Ironman race, I can tell you that much. Finally, I grew impatient, and Dan whispered to me that they weren't very fast anyway, so we politely told them we were taking off. PHEW!
Before I started riding today, and I am not kidding about this, there were a few men that looked at my bike like it was a piece of ass! I guess you don't see too many women riding Pinarellos, at least I have never seen one. Then at the last aid station, a few men became enchanted with LGL and even took pictures of her (and me)! I am not sure whether they were "official" photogs for the ride or what, but they were very nice gentlemen, and I was happy to chat with them.
We shall see how I recover from my first big training week of 2007 tomorrow, but truthfully, I don't feel too badly at all. I think what helps is for me to stay on top of my recovery eating. Like last night, I passed out watching TV at 8:00PM, then I woke up at about 8:40 and ate a sandwich and went back to sleep. This morning I ate a Power Bar and about 350 calories of Glycoload, and I think I had enough calories while riding, but I still put a bunch in afterwards, and in the next hour I will be attacking a roast chicken and some green beans. I should have saved a few cannoli from yesterday, but I really don't need to eat that stuff, now do I? However, place your bets now, I bet I will be on the Food Channel (my term for needing to eat rather continuously from failing to replace all calories burned in preceding days) tomorrow, which probably means breakfast, swim, breakfast again, run, eat, snack, lift, snack, dinner, snack, bed (don't worry there is also WORK in there).
Here are the happy totals for the week. Notice for once, SOLID swimming! This is Ironman training, except for the bike volume, he he!
Weekly Totals 04/16/2007-04/22/2007
Swim: 10100 yards (5.73 miles) in 3.57 hours; 20% of weekly workout time; approx. 1249 calories burned
Bike: Approx. 128.92 miles in 7.62 hours; 43% of weekly workout time; approx. 3760 calories burned
Run: Approx. 34.91 miles in 5.15 hours; 29% of weekly workout time; approx. 2336 calories burned
Strength: 1.57 hours; 9% of weekly workout time; approx. 393 calories burned
All Sports: Approx. 169.56 miles in 17.91 hours; approx. 7738 calories burned
Sleep: 8.36 hours avg./night
Stretching: 3.43 hours. Massage: 0 hours
Saturday, April 21, 2007
AWESOME!
It's Saturday, and I am fucking tired, but happy! I am TRAINING, it is HARD, the weather is BEAUTIFUL and I'm EXHAUSTED!
14 hours through today; tomorrow I'm going to try and pound out 68 miles on LGL.
Today I rode 2:15 on the Bitch, then ran :40, then swam :20. The ride was fairly easy stuff, although I did crank up the watts whenever I could. In retrospect, I am sure it will be a GOOD thing that I rode easy today. When I started running, I felt like crap, like leaden legs, like puking, like I didn't want to keep going. But I forced myself, and went out against the wind, hoping I might gain an advantage on the way home. I felt like I was running in slow motion, but it turns out I ran 8:15/mile??? Where the hell did that come from? Oh, yeah, I guess running 4 days in a row will do that. The swim was just to recover from the shit.
I washed Bitchie, since I hadn't given her a good scrub down since last September--when I returned from Miami last November, it was too cold outside for me to wash her outdoors, so I only gave her a "sponge bath." I know she appreciated the cleaning today, and then I dropped her off at the bike shop for her annual tuneup. I also took a box of cannolis for the guys at the shop, and I know they are totally appreciated! I joked with all of them: "Leave the bike; take the cannoli." Extra points if you know what movie a line like that came from.
I'm a bit pissed that I can't really fit 2 "normal size" bottles in cages on LGL--I am not sure what I'm going to do about that, but I am sure there will be some sort of custom solution. DAMN ITALIAN BIKE WITH SMALL FRAME!
On a good note, I weighed the Bitch and also La Gazza Ladra to compare notes. Bitch weighs 21.6 lbs. (probably 3 less with race wheels on) and LGL weighs in at 17, so noticeably lighter.
At one point today while I was riding, the song, "I Think I Love You" by the Partridge Family came into my head. What was THAT about? Although I modified the lyrics to "I think I'm Hungry" and proceeded to down a gel.
EVERY cyclist I saw today had this huge grin on their face. It made it almost to 80 degrees today, although I was riding when it was still cool--in the 60's--and I was wearing shorts and a short-sleeved jersey and everyone else had tights and long shirts on. I guess I must run hot or something.
I'm getting a suntan, and at least when I look at myself in the mirror I don't think I look quite so disgusting. AGING SUCKS! But then again, I HATE the way I look in the winter, and spring and summer bring higher humidity which my skin absolutely loves and just being outside and riding my bikes and running even when I feel crappy and then the world seems right.
Another thought I had today was that you have to every so often think you are AWESOME. Think about all the awesome-ness you have in whatever areas of your life, and celebrate how AWESOME you are. I had that feeling for awhile today, and it made me think how sad it is for someone to go through life never feeling that way. Even if all it is is that you feel AWESOME right at that moment. That's what living in the moment is all about. Giving yourself unlimited opportunities to feel AWESOME, so that you are able to seize them and feel the AWESOMENESS that is you and your life and everything. Especially when there is so much bad and evil and sadness that also goes on in life (that you need to experience, too), you need to be open to the AWESOMENESS or else you will miss it. Sometimes you have deferred AWESOMENESS, as for me today while I was running I felt like SHIT, but I persevered (which is one of the things that makes me AWESOME), and when all was said and done, I had run much faster than I thought I was, and then I got to feel AWESOME.
Anyone reading this--go out and be, feel and experience AWESOMENESS for a few minutes, or more than that. It truly IS AWESOME!
14 hours through today; tomorrow I'm going to try and pound out 68 miles on LGL.
Today I rode 2:15 on the Bitch, then ran :40, then swam :20. The ride was fairly easy stuff, although I did crank up the watts whenever I could. In retrospect, I am sure it will be a GOOD thing that I rode easy today. When I started running, I felt like crap, like leaden legs, like puking, like I didn't want to keep going. But I forced myself, and went out against the wind, hoping I might gain an advantage on the way home. I felt like I was running in slow motion, but it turns out I ran 8:15/mile??? Where the hell did that come from? Oh, yeah, I guess running 4 days in a row will do that. The swim was just to recover from the shit.
I washed Bitchie, since I hadn't given her a good scrub down since last September--when I returned from Miami last November, it was too cold outside for me to wash her outdoors, so I only gave her a "sponge bath." I know she appreciated the cleaning today, and then I dropped her off at the bike shop for her annual tuneup. I also took a box of cannolis for the guys at the shop, and I know they are totally appreciated! I joked with all of them: "Leave the bike; take the cannoli." Extra points if you know what movie a line like that came from.
I'm a bit pissed that I can't really fit 2 "normal size" bottles in cages on LGL--I am not sure what I'm going to do about that, but I am sure there will be some sort of custom solution. DAMN ITALIAN BIKE WITH SMALL FRAME!
On a good note, I weighed the Bitch and also La Gazza Ladra to compare notes. Bitch weighs 21.6 lbs. (probably 3 less with race wheels on) and LGL weighs in at 17, so noticeably lighter.
At one point today while I was riding, the song, "I Think I Love You" by the Partridge Family came into my head. What was THAT about? Although I modified the lyrics to "I think I'm Hungry" and proceeded to down a gel.
EVERY cyclist I saw today had this huge grin on their face. It made it almost to 80 degrees today, although I was riding when it was still cool--in the 60's--and I was wearing shorts and a short-sleeved jersey and everyone else had tights and long shirts on. I guess I must run hot or something.
I'm getting a suntan, and at least when I look at myself in the mirror I don't think I look quite so disgusting. AGING SUCKS! But then again, I HATE the way I look in the winter, and spring and summer bring higher humidity which my skin absolutely loves and just being outside and riding my bikes and running even when I feel crappy and then the world seems right.
Another thought I had today was that you have to every so often think you are AWESOME. Think about all the awesome-ness you have in whatever areas of your life, and celebrate how AWESOME you are. I had that feeling for awhile today, and it made me think how sad it is for someone to go through life never feeling that way. Even if all it is is that you feel AWESOME right at that moment. That's what living in the moment is all about. Giving yourself unlimited opportunities to feel AWESOME, so that you are able to seize them and feel the AWESOMENESS that is you and your life and everything. Especially when there is so much bad and evil and sadness that also goes on in life (that you need to experience, too), you need to be open to the AWESOMENESS or else you will miss it. Sometimes you have deferred AWESOMENESS, as for me today while I was running I felt like SHIT, but I persevered (which is one of the things that makes me AWESOME), and when all was said and done, I had run much faster than I thought I was, and then I got to feel AWESOME.
Anyone reading this--go out and be, feel and experience AWESOMENESS for a few minutes, or more than that. It truly IS AWESOME!
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Very Bad Girls
Cindy didn't tell me she was on the cover of Rolling Stone. I SWEAR that's her on the left. Now if only that was me on the right (sigh).
It's a good thing Cindy and I didn't go to college together. We truly would have been VERY BAD GIRLS.
Someday we will make good on one of our fantasies which is to host a talk show simply called, "The Critics." She and I would wear referree shirts and just criticize anything, anyone, anytime.
OK, so that goes against my generally Buddhist-esque ethic, but I'm entitled to a few vices every now and then, right?
Here's a short list of things Cindy and I would rail on:
- Clueless minivan drivers on cell phones
- People with too much hair. And we are not just talking about on the head.
- Women who don't know how to change a flat tire (ooh, I'm so HELPLESS!). Bike or car, take your pick!
- Anyone who is naive enough to think that all of their personal idols are absolutely clean (drug-free), God-fearing individuals
- Passive-aggressiveness
- People who don't drink coffee and act like those who do are on drugs
- People who wince when seeing either Cindy or me wearing a Crackhead shirt
- Anyone who thinks I'm too old to wear a lot of *PINK*
- Overly-PC individuals. Hey, I'm the first to admit I'm a fairly bleeding-heart liberal, but even I have my limits. I'd like to attend a bachelorette party with Chief Illiniwek doing a strip-tease, for example. Or Ricky Martin. Or Daniel Craig. Speaking of which, why aren't there James Bond bike jerseys? I would be all over that!
Today's deviation from the normally tame, triathlon-oriented subject matter is brought to you by a combination of it being spring (FINALLY!), a new bike, and getting back on the training horse!
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