Thursday, May 27, 2010

A Thursday Three

1. I woke up thinking it was Friday and then wishing it was Friday when I realized it was Thursday.

2. Despite the nasty early heat and humidity I am opting to run instead of ride tonight. Since I had noted in a previous post that I need to run more, I should follow through! I road last night for a wee bit and I am riding a long ride on Saturday, so tonight I will run with the fine folks at Fleet Feet to get a little social interaction along with my run. Running with others will help me ignore the heat and humidity I hope!

3. I have been working on my calendar for the past few days. Coordinating my daughter's Summer schedule, with my schedule and her Dad's schedule. Who has her which weekend? When is she away? When are you taking her on vacation? And so on... Whew! And how does all of this coordinate with my race and training schedule? Pretty good! I am thankful for a cooperative and flexible ex-husband. It makes all of the scheduling so much easier. I am also thankful that my daughter is 100% behind me and my activities.


The Catoctin Challenge will be here before I know it! Please donate! Every $1 helps!
Thank you so much! Go to: http://CatoctinChallenge.kintera.org/faf/r.asp?t=4&i=333612&u=333612-225415862to visit my personal web page and help me in my efforts to support Catoctin Charities

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Catoctin Challenge- Time to raise funds

This will be my third year participating in the Catoctin Challenge. Please help me meet my fundraising goal of a $1000. Every little bit helps! See more below!

I am riding in this year's Catoctin Challenge benefiting Habitat for Humanity of Frederick County Maryland and 1 in 6.org. The Catoctin Challenge is a very difficult and mountainous journey. My personal goal is to finish this two-day ride alive! The overall goal of the Catoctin Challenge is to raise $150,000, or enough to support the building of a new home for a family in need and to provide support for the 1 in 6.org initiative to help adult men who experienced unwanted sexual experiences in their childhood.

Would you please consider sponsoring me in this year’s Catoctin Challenge? You can do so in two easy ways:
1. Follow the link on this page (credit cards and bank account drafts accepted)

2. Send a check made out to Catoctin Charities inc. to Catoctin Charities inc. Catoctin Challenge Bike Ride, 8322 Jordan Valley Way, Frederick, MD 21702

Thank you so much! Go to: http://CatoctinChallenge.kintera.org/faf/r.asp?t=4&i=333612&u=333612-225415862
to visit my personal web page and help me in my efforts to support Catoctin Charities

Monday, May 24, 2010

No Race = No Race Report

So, yeah.. umm well.. it was raining. Since I am TRULY a novice bike racer and not a big fan of riding my road bike in the rain, I (and my teammate) opted not to go to the race on Sunday. Now, I know that I could hit a triathlon event and have to ride in the rain, but that kind of riding is so completely different than hammering as hard as you can on a 1 mile loop and trying to draft. It is better I didn't risk myself or anyone else. Of course as Sunday went on the weather got better. I hope that the later afternoon races went well.

So what did I do this weekend? Friday I worked until 6 pm, the office was absolutely dead when I left. I know I lead SUCH an exciting life. Then I got to wait around for my teen to let me know which movie she and her friend were going to and what time I should pick them up. Gotta love teens!

Saturday was my normal training ride with my tri club. I did 27 miles. One day I will bring a camera to take a picture of one of the best views in the county. And it is fun descent too! :-)
We had one newbie woman that joined us and did our 24 mile ride. It was her first time riding that far! We gave her lots of encouragement to return next week. She could have done the 27. The woman on the mountain bike returned too, she is a trooper. That bike weighs a ton and she is chugging along. If she gets a road bike we all better watch out. Along our ride, some dude in jeans and tennis shoes on a road bike starts riding with us. He just appeared in a creepy kind of way. He said he had ridden all the way from New York. He was asking which way was south. We provided him with some directional help, but then he followed us. We were not going south. Finally he left us when he realized we were going where he had just come from. DOPE. I am glad that we were a mixed group, I think I could have out ridden (out road???) him if necessary, but you never know. He had a few screws loose I do believe. I will say Saturday that I did get more head nods and waves from other cyclists out. They must have been happier. I am certain I see the same people each week. My little sociology experiment - see who acknowledges a fellow cyclist.

Sunday, once the decision was made to not race in the rain, I was a big girl and instead of going back to bed I went to swim practice. I was bummed that the weather was crappy. I wanted to race! I wanted to leave it all on the course and puke! I am glad that I did not go back to bed though. Swim practice was good - all 3100 meters of it.

28 days until my first Olympic Distance Tri. Hmmm My swim and bike are in great shape. I am not so sure about the run. Well, since it is the first time at this distance what ever happens will be a PR. LOL!

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Consistency & Whining

My training consistency has been a little (probably more like a lot) lacking lately. I am not happy about this. I need to get my act together or June 20th is going to REALLY SUCK! I had this epiphany yesterday morning while getting ready for work. Does anyone else gets some good thinking in while in the shower? I usually start the process while I am out walking the dog and then when I am in the shower I am trying to assess, problem solve, and make a plan. Of course, if I had a coach or personal trainer perhaps this would be so much of a problem, but I am not in a position at this time for such and REALLY I am a true amateur out for the enjoyment of the sport, is a coach really necessary other than being a motivator? That being said, I would like to try it sometime (having a coach or personal trainer) and of course in my fantasy life I do hit the podium. For my reality, I just want to make sure I am prepared to be able to perform to the best of my ability considering the realities of my world.

So after my shower epiphany and planning, etc., I take my daughter to school. First, We have to stop at CVS to get some prints of photos from her camera for a class project. As we are walking into CVS, my left foot bumps up into the graduating curb from where the wheel chair ramp is - and down I go. I am sure it looked lovely in my dress and heels. Anyway, I now have lots of pain in my left knee. I have iced and taking Anti-inflammatories, etc. Externally it doesn't look bad, but man it HURTS. So much for the consistency plan - especially when it comes to running until this stops hurting so much. NOT HAPPY ABOUT THIS. Then of course I have work and family commitments that are clashing with my normal training routine, ugh......... I know I am whining. I am not normally a whiner EVER, but I just feel like whining today. Perhaps it is my hormones. Blaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I want to get all my training in consistently!

Okay, back to you regularly scheduled programming.

Up next for me: Kelly Cup/Bike Jam in Baltimore on Sunday. 15 mile crit on a 1.1 mile loop.
I hope my knee issue isn't going to impede my cycling. Of course, I am not a contender in any sense at this point, I am still learning. I will have at least one other teammate racing with me that has experience. I am hoping this will be a good experience for me.

I hope others are having better days!

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

People are unreal!

This happened at last Sunday's bike race in Leonardtown, MD . I know I shouldn't be surprised that some idiot or idiots think it is funny to cause other people harm, but I am just amazed.

Wednesday is the National Ride of Silence. It is a shame that we have to have such a day. There are three rides organized in my area. Unfortunately due to work and family obligations I will not be able to ride. Accidents can happen, but so many driver's don't think that cyclists should share the road. I also recognized that it is a cyclist's responsibility to follow the rules of the road, ride with confidence, and be aware of the traffic. While I am still so much of a road cycling novice, I feel I am a safe rider and a confident rider (even in traffic!), but you never know who is driving around you. Recently, I was nearly clipped by a bus. It was moving into the lane I was in, as if I wasn't there. Thankfully, a woman I was riding with saw what was about to occur and alerted me to MOVE OVER and I was safe. So even if you have never gotten on a bike, think a little thought tomorrow evening about those who have been injured or lost their lives while riding a bike.

Stay safe out there!

Monday, May 17, 2010

Nice Ride in Frederick County and I lurve KT TAPE!

So dear readers I did not take any cow or goat photos during my ride on Saturday, but I did see some some very cute calves and cows along the way. It was an awesome day and a great ride. There were about 14 people that started out the day. Some were only doing the short ride, 40 miles, and myself and a few others were going for the 52.5 (according to the ride genius's cue sheet). All riders are together for about 22 miles. I stayed with a group of 4 others for the whole ride, we all kept a similar pace and it worked well. We got to the first rest/refuel stop at 18.5 miles and little convenience store in the wee town of Adamstown, Maryland. While we were at the stop, one rider gets a call from Phil, the ride genius, that another one of our riders got clipped by a car crossing a rather crazy intersection. OH NO! Thankfully, she was not seriously injured and her bike not totally damaged. She was also lucky that Phil and a couple others were close by. Her left pinky finger was tore up and she ended up having surgery, but was out of the hospital by the evening on Saturday. She was very lucky. The driver who clipped her stopped too. Whew! Glad that wasn't me!
The temp was great the whole ride. There was a bit of a breeze, but it wasn't too bad. This ride had some good climbs. You know you will have a climb when you hit roads with MOUNT anything in the name. Most of the ride was rolling hills that you can maintain a decent speed to get up the next hill without having to get down in the lowest gear to get up the hill. When we were at 35 miles, one of our group had a flat. While we waited for him to change the flat, three other riders caught up to us. It turns out they were supposed to do the shorter ride, but missed the turn. Two of them needed to get back to the start point soon, but were unfamiliar with the area. So all together, with the knowledge of some locals who were riding, we made a changed in the route and ended up at 47 miles for the day. I'll take it!

Sunday was swim practice and I was supposed to get at least a 5 mile run in. Well, I did go to swim practice - 3950 meters! If I had known while I was still in the pool that I was shy 50 meters of 4000, I would have done the extra 50. Oh well. We (my lane) are generally in the 3000 - 3200 m range at practice, so this was a big one today. Coach was challenging us. Some how between picking up my daughter from her Dad's, doing some grocery shopping and house chores, the run never happened. It was a nice day too. Oh well.... TODAY I will get the run done.

KT TAPE - I had a sample of this at home from a women's cycling even I had attended. As I had mentioned in another blog post, my Piriformis or is Periformis?? has been giving me pain. A TRUE PAIN IN THE ASS ha ha ha - :-) It was so bad Friday, it hurt to sit!
Well, KT TAPE has an application for the SI area (the low, low back) that should help- I decided to give it a try and see if it would help me. YEP! I was a happy girl, I road pain free on Saturday, was pain free Saturday night and on into Sunday. I ended up removing the tape Sunday evening as it was starting to come off (yes I swam and showered with it on ). I still have some pain in that area, so I will have to purchase a roll. I am thinking this has helped!

Okay back to the tasks at hand here at work. I am trying to get things done, but stymied while I wait for others to deliver things that I need in order to get my part done. UGH !!!!!

Friday, May 14, 2010

FRIDAY!! The weekend training plan

I ended up working from home today. I love being uber productive - doing the work from the office that I need to do and getting some loads of laundry done at the same time! That means I can play all weekend without the nagging thought of laundry. I LIKE THAT! The reason I am working from home today, though, is my darling daughter woke up feeling not so hot. She is off to her Dad's for the weekend too. After sleeping all morning though, she is feeling better.

All week I have suffered with my periformis acting up and my IT band aching - both on the left side. It is hard to roll the periformis out or stretch, but I have been trying. Lots of Pigeon Pose for me! I have had total running/cycling fail since Monday. I ran a nice 5 miles on Monday no problem, but then the bottom fell out of my week and feeling the pain didn't' help! Other than core class on Wednesday, I have been a slug. I hate it when that happens and I really have no one to blame but ME!!!!!!!!!!!! and a thunderstorm Wednesday evening that decided I would not be running. I'm certain I would feel less stressed out if I had done some of the miles that I was scheduled to do!

Saturday, I have the choice of 40 or 57 miles with my friends up in Frederick County. The weather is supposed to be awesome, so I am hoping that I can hang for the 57 miles. Hopefully, there is a good group riding. Lots of hills up that way and Phil, the ride master, always sticks the hilliest roads he can find. If I remember to take my camera, I'll take cow and goat pictures along the way.

Sunday, will be the regular swim practice and then if the body is feeling up for it I would like to get in a 5 or 6 mile run.

Next week is another Crit race. This one is in Baltimore!

Enjoy your weekend!

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

The usual stuff

First, If you love Peanut Butter check out Early Morning Run's giveaway. Yum I love peanut butter!

I was consistent in my training last week. GO ME! I got runs in, bikes in and a swim in!!!!
Saturday I did a 23 mile training ride in horrible wind. It was blowing all over the place - but never at our backs. I was stiff Saturday night after battling the wind. It almost blew me over a few times. Good training experience though. We had a few mishaps on our ride. One guy broke his chain right at our turn around point. Another guy, a true newbie, had a flat and had NO spare tube, NO air or CO2 cartridge NADA NOTHING ZIP. Guy with broken chain had tube for him. One rider actually had a mini pump with her. I had a tube and cartridge in my bag and would have given them up, but was happy that I didn't have too. :) Guy with broken chain broke out the I-phone and found the nearest bike shop. It was just down the street from us, but it didn't open until 10 am. I was only 9 am at this point. We left him there, he went on to bike shop. Another member of the group, went to find him after we got back to our start point. Always fun out on the roads.

Sunday, Mother's Day, I went to swim practice. My back and shoulder were stiff and after an hour and half of practice they were done. So I showered and took myself to breakfast. My daughter was out of town on her class trip, so I was on my own. She returns tonight! Sunday night I had dinner with my brother, sister-in-law and nieces. It was nice. My brother is good with the grill.

Okay... enough with the boring chatter. Hope all are having a good week!

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

A Nugget for Your Wednesday

Not sure where I got this from, but it is on a post-it note on my desk:

You only have control over 3 things in your life.
  • The thoughts you think,
  • The images you visualize, and
  • The actions you take

I think I must have written this down when my life was feeling a bit out of control. I still look at it often (probably because it is on my desk in front of my face), but it is good stuff. My life is no longer feeling out of control, actually it is rather sedate.

Trying to decide what to do with my weekend. Crit race on Saturday? Try, try again? Will she get her ass into the pack at the start and stay there? (I think I need to visualize this happening!) Or stick to the schedule of training ride/run brick on Saturday morning, swim on Sunday morning and if I don't get a long run in on Friday, a long run on Sunday afternoon. I think I may need to stick to the training plan. June 20th will be here before I know it. What will be the actions I take?

Monday, May 3, 2010

Bunny Hop Criterium Race

Me in my Velo Bella Jersey.

First to note, the guys that I usually ride with on Saturdays from my tri club all congratulated me on my cycling improvement Saturday. It is nice that they noticed! I will say compared to a year ago when I was just starting out on my road bike, I know that I have improved. I can feel it. It is great to have it confirmed from others. I often ride with those that are stronger and faster cyclists, as I think it helps me improve. I guess it is working!


So Sunday, the Bunny Hop Criterium Race! This marked my second attempt at bike racing. I should have not done the race last month, as there were premiums for first time CAT 4 women racers in this event and it turned out there were only 2 in the CAT 4 field. I think I probably would have gotten a premium if it had been my first time. (that sounds kinda of funny). Anyway... There was an awesome showing of women at this race. There were nearly 50 women in the CAT 4 race. I did not race in the CAT 4 race, though. I decided to race in the open Women's 35+/45+ race. ha ha ha ha Little did I know that I would be out there with some amazing women, who are VETERANS of bike racing. There was about 30 women it this field. GREAT showing of women! I did absolutely get my ass handed to me, but I had FUN! The course was fairly flat and even with the wind blowing head on the slight incline of the course is was fast. I need to pull my computer numbers to see my average speed (I will). I only stayed with the main pack for part of the first lap. These women were zooming! The course was a 1km loop. The race was for 45 minutes, so the officials time the first few laps of the fastest group and then determine how many laps will be done. You are pushing it the whole way in this kind of race. Around lap 4 or 5, another racer and I, who was also without other team mates in the race ( and might I add a high level duathlete racer as I met her earlier) , helped each other out drafting and pulling around the course. She had done the earlier CAT 4 race and she was doing this one too. She was tired and still going! At some point, when I took my turn to pull she dropped back. I don't know how many times I got lapped by the lead group, but each time they did I certainly tried to grab on the to pack and get a little drafting help for as long as I could. I know I finished in the back of the group, but I don't think I was dead last. It was still FUN FUN FUN and I want to do more!
Other highlights of the weekend, I bought new running shoes on Saturday. My 10k PR left me with a lovely right shin splint. As I mentioned before, my sign that new shoes were needed. I didn't run at all last week. I was on my bike 3 times though. I am hoping my shin is happier this week as I return to getting my run on. My swim schedule and other working schedule had totally been out of wack. What is going on here! So I do hope to get some swim time in this week and get back to the gym for core class. Why does my job have to interfere with my lunch time core class! Get the memo people, Michelle goes to core class Mon,Wed and Fri - that means no afternoon meetings before 1:30!!!
Have a great week!