Last Saturday was an "off-week" for the cycle team, meaning we had a buddy ride organized by the team, but not supported by coaches and staff. Since the start of the ride was only a few miles from my house, I decided to ride over instead of driving, which added about 6 miles roundtrip.
I expected most of my pacegroup to be there, but - much to my dismay - only one showed up! Craig and I decided to join another group, which turned out to be another rider named Kevin. The three of us braved the hills of Los Altos together, and each of us took a turn pulling the group, or waiting at the top of a hill, or being waited on as we climbed! We rode very well together, and really enjoyed our group, despite how small we were!
About halfway through the ride we passed a group of riders heading towards Edgewood. I said, "On your left" as I passed, and they responded with "MCNUTT!" Two of my teammates who missed the start of the ride had taken a shortcut and caught up. We had a bit of our group back together - it's amazing how much we've bonded in the short time we've ridden together.
I knew Ken was running with Jodi at Edgewood and Canada, but didn't expect to see them. When I got closer and saw Ken's car still on the side of the road I got really excited! I was going to leave some stuff on his car to take back home with him (arm and leg warmers) and was even more excited to (almost literally) run into Jodi and Ken just as they finished their run. Talk about perfect timing! Ken filled up my camelback for me and took my sweaty gear. It's amazing how emotional endurance sports makes me. I was so excited to see him! He even gave me a big hug, which was a big deal considering how yucky I felt after 2.5 hours of riding.
The rest of the ride went fairly well, but I was glad to get home after 56 miles and almost 4 hours on my bike. I'm so proud of myself for all I have accomplished on my bike thus far, and can't wait to cross the finish line in Tahoe. I'm still not sure how I'll survive the rest of the training, though. I was an absolutely mess for the rest of the day and I only went half of the distance as my goal event!
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
The Half-Way Mark
Work has been crazy this week and I haven't been able to update my training blog - but believe me, I've been thinking about it! I'm proud to report that Saturday I hit my half-way mark for Tahoe ... drum roll please ... 51 miles along the coast of Northern California!
We started out in Half Moon Bay, hoping to be back and off the raod before it started raining. The first few miles were flat, a nice warm-up along Hwy 1. After 10 miles we turned off the highway into the hills around Pescadero. We rode, we climbed, we descended, we felt good, we felt great, we felt terrible, I got a headache, it started raining, we climbed some more, we descended some more, we ate, we drank, we took a break, we headed back and finished 51 miles (see route map below).
I was very tired when I got home, a zombie actually. I think Ken was a little worried about me (I couldn't stop staring at the walls and even though we were watching Band of Brothers I couldn't pay attention). I tried to nap, but couldn't fall asleep so I read my People magazine. I looked at the clock and it was 5pm. 5PM! I like cycling, but man is it time consuming. Perhaps that is a hint to either ride faster or shorter?
This weekend's ride is about 50 miles throughout the familiar areas of Foothill, Los Altos, Woodside, etc. I'm riding from my house and back, so that means it'll be about a 55 mile ride for me. I'm hoping for no rain (and no hills! yeah right) and looking forward to dinner at my favorite restaurant afterwards.
We started out in Half Moon Bay, hoping to be back and off the raod before it started raining. The first few miles were flat, a nice warm-up along Hwy 1. After 10 miles we turned off the highway into the hills around Pescadero. We rode, we climbed, we descended, we felt good, we felt great, we felt terrible, I got a headache, it started raining, we climbed some more, we descended some more, we ate, we drank, we took a break, we headed back and finished 51 miles (see route map below).
I was very tired when I got home, a zombie actually. I think Ken was a little worried about me (I couldn't stop staring at the walls and even though we were watching Band of Brothers I couldn't pay attention). I tried to nap, but couldn't fall asleep so I read my People magazine. I looked at the clock and it was 5pm. 5PM! I like cycling, but man is it time consuming. Perhaps that is a hint to either ride faster or shorter?
This weekend's ride is about 50 miles throughout the familiar areas of Foothill, Los Altos, Woodside, etc. I'm riding from my house and back, so that means it'll be about a 55 mile ride for me. I'm hoping for no rain (and no hills! yeah right) and looking forward to dinner at my favorite restaurant afterwards.
Monday, March 16, 2009
A weekend off (plus a few days)
I had to take some time off from training last week and this weekend due to a stomach bug, and for the first time in my life I was rather upset that I couldn't train. I wish I could say that it is because I love cycling and exercise and activity so much that I can't live without it, but the truth is I feel like I NEED every training day I can get to cross the finish line in Tahoe!
Thankfully I'm feeling fine now and I have a week full of activities to prepare for this weekend's long ride in Half Moon Bay. I'm still working on my flexibility with yoga and prepping for Tahoe's hills with hill repeats in Woodside. I learned last week that I'm a very slow hill climber, but I do make to the top eventually! Practice makes perfect.
I sometimes forget how lucky we are in the Bay Area (and really in California in general) to have such great places surrounding us. Can you think of a better place to spend a Saturday morning on a bike ride than Half Moon Bay? Notice I qualified that last question with the term "bike ride." Unfortunately, I can think of many better places to be on a Saturday morning, but if I'm going to be riding - why not Half Moon Bay!
Thankfully I'm feeling fine now and I have a week full of activities to prepare for this weekend's long ride in Half Moon Bay. I'm still working on my flexibility with yoga and prepping for Tahoe's hills with hill repeats in Woodside. I learned last week that I'm a very slow hill climber, but I do make to the top eventually! Practice makes perfect.
I sometimes forget how lucky we are in the Bay Area (and really in California in general) to have such great places surrounding us. Can you think of a better place to spend a Saturday morning on a bike ride than Half Moon Bay? Notice I qualified that last question with the term "bike ride." Unfortunately, I can think of many better places to be on a Saturday morning, but if I'm going to be riding - why not Half Moon Bay!
Monday, March 9, 2009
Tuesday evening rides and Wednesday evening hill repeats
With the time change yesterday came more sunlight after work, which means I get to ride my bike instead of going to the gym!
Tuesdays I'm riding with a friend of mine from work, who is on the on the tri team and training for Wildflower. We'll be riding from home to Mt. Eden and back - a 20 mile ride with some nice scenery and a good hill at the turn-around point.
Wednesdays I'm riding with my team in Woodside, doing hill repeats at Huddart Park on King's Mountain Road. Yikes! I know that doing hill repeats will make me a better cyclist in general, and better prepared for Tahoe, but that doesn't mean I'm looking forward to my Wednesday night trainings!
Tuesdays I'm riding with a friend of mine from work, who is on the on the tri team and training for Wildflower. We'll be riding from home to Mt. Eden and back - a 20 mile ride with some nice scenery and a good hill at the turn-around point.
Wednesdays I'm riding with my team in Woodside, doing hill repeats at Huddart Park on King's Mountain Road. Yikes! I know that doing hill repeats will make me a better cyclist in general, and better prepared for Tahoe, but that doesn't mean I'm looking forward to my Wednesday night trainings!
Sunday, March 8, 2009
35 (aka 40+)
The calendar on the team website said our ride on Saturday was supposed to be 35 miles, starting and ending in Los Gatos. I woke up, drove to Los Gatos, ready (well, sort of ready) to ride 35 miles. During annoucements, our coach asked us to raise our hands if we thought the ride was supposed to be 35 miles. Looking around sheepishly, I raised my hand. Slowly, other participants, coaches and mentors raised their hands. I thought it was a trick question. It wasn't, but it did have a tricky answer.
Our ride on Saturday was 40+ miles. I say 40+ because my computer said 44.8 (clearly a bit off) while the coaches said 40 and MapMyRide.com said 41. So I'll say I did 40+ miles of riding on Saturday - the farthest I've ever ridden! I was nervous to start the ride and incredibly proud of myself when I knew I would finish. I know that sounds weird, but it's true.
Somewhere around mile 23 of the Rock 'n Roll Marathon in 2005 I had the "I will finish this" epiphany. Seeing the finish line was an emotional and incredible feeling at mile 26 or so, but the best feeling I had that whole day (and in all of my days either training for or doing other events) was at the exact moment I realized I would finish the race. It was my "Aha!" moment, as Oprah would say. Note: I don't actually watch Opera because I have boycotted her show ever since she ripped James Frey to shreds for his memoir "A Million Little Pieces," but I think she has copyrighted the term "Aha!" moment. I wish I could find the shortcut to put a copyright stamp next to that phrase.
I won't bore you with the logistics of the ride or my super-boring turn-by-turn analysis, but suffice to say it was long, fun (at times), hard (at times), flat (at times), hilly (at times), and 40+ miles.
I'm almost to the halfway mark, which is really exciting yet REALLY terrifying to think about. I can hardly believe that by June 7th I'll be ready and prepared (and willing) to ride 100 miles on my bike.
Thank you to my coaches, my pacegroup, my very generous doners (not the kind that are willing to give me a lung if one should collapse during training or the race, but the kind that donated money to help me meet my fundraising goal!), and Ken for letting my borrow his car so that I can take my bike places and for putting up with my never-ending-stories about my adventures in cycling. It really can't be that fun to listen to because I secretly loathe hearing the same thing from other people. Shh, don't tell.
Our ride on Saturday was 40+ miles. I say 40+ because my computer said 44.8 (clearly a bit off) while the coaches said 40 and MapMyRide.com said 41. So I'll say I did 40+ miles of riding on Saturday - the farthest I've ever ridden! I was nervous to start the ride and incredibly proud of myself when I knew I would finish. I know that sounds weird, but it's true.
Somewhere around mile 23 of the Rock 'n Roll Marathon in 2005 I had the "I will finish this" epiphany. Seeing the finish line was an emotional and incredible feeling at mile 26 or so, but the best feeling I had that whole day (and in all of my days either training for or doing other events) was at the exact moment I realized I would finish the race. It was my "Aha!" moment, as Oprah would say. Note: I don't actually watch Opera because I have boycotted her show ever since she ripped James Frey to shreds for his memoir "A Million Little Pieces," but I think she has copyrighted the term "Aha!" moment. I wish I could find the shortcut to put a copyright stamp next to that phrase.
I won't bore you with the logistics of the ride or my super-boring turn-by-turn analysis, but suffice to say it was long, fun (at times), hard (at times), flat (at times), hilly (at times), and 40+ miles.
I'm almost to the halfway mark, which is really exciting yet REALLY terrifying to think about. I can hardly believe that by June 7th I'll be ready and prepared (and willing) to ride 100 miles on my bike.
Thank you to my coaches, my pacegroup, my very generous doners (not the kind that are willing to give me a lung if one should collapse during training or the race, but the kind that donated money to help me meet my fundraising goal!), and Ken for letting my borrow his car so that I can take my bike places and for putting up with my never-ending-stories about my adventures in cycling. It really can't be that fun to listen to because I secretly loathe hearing the same thing from other people. Shh, don't tell.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Flexibility = -3
On a scale of 1 to 10 on flexibility, I'm at about a -3. Seriously. I blame it on my incredibly large and toned muscles and because I am "athletic," which I have heard a lot lately (I'm beginning to think it's a nice way of calling someone fat).
As part of our training, the coaches encourage us to participate in strength and flexibility exercises, like yoga and core strength. I went to yoga for a good four months or so back in 2007 with my friends Erin and Kristi at Planet Granite in San Mateo, which I would highly recommend. The instructor (is that what a yoga leader is called?) was awesome and the workouts were intense, to say the least. I noticed my flexibility increasing, even if I spent a large portion of the class trying not to laugh at some of the things we had to do.
Before that, I had tried yoga once at the Genentech gym, but decided not to go back after the instructor asked me, in front of the whole class, if I was trying to lose the "baby weight." What baby? Recently I started going back to the Genentech gym, who has since swapped instructors, and I'm finding the flexibility I gained in 2007 is completely gone. In fact, it regressed. Thus, the -3.
Yesterday during yoga class I noticed an odd trend. The poses everyone else could easily do, I couldn't do. And the poses nobody else could do, I could easily do. When we were doing poses I found difficult, I was embarrassed and ashamed of myself. When we were doing poses I could easily do, I was proud and cocky.
I may not be able to fold my legs over each other and have the soles of my feet lie flat on the ground on the opposite sides of my body, but I can hold a warrior-1 for hours.
As part of our training, the coaches encourage us to participate in strength and flexibility exercises, like yoga and core strength. I went to yoga for a good four months or so back in 2007 with my friends Erin and Kristi at Planet Granite in San Mateo, which I would highly recommend. The instructor (is that what a yoga leader is called?) was awesome and the workouts were intense, to say the least. I noticed my flexibility increasing, even if I spent a large portion of the class trying not to laugh at some of the things we had to do.
Before that, I had tried yoga once at the Genentech gym, but decided not to go back after the instructor asked me, in front of the whole class, if I was trying to lose the "baby weight." What baby? Recently I started going back to the Genentech gym, who has since swapped instructors, and I'm finding the flexibility I gained in 2007 is completely gone. In fact, it regressed. Thus, the -3.
Yesterday during yoga class I noticed an odd trend. The poses everyone else could easily do, I couldn't do. And the poses nobody else could do, I could easily do. When we were doing poses I found difficult, I was embarrassed and ashamed of myself. When we were doing poses I could easily do, I was proud and cocky.
I may not be able to fold my legs over each other and have the soles of my feet lie flat on the ground on the opposite sides of my body, but I can hold a warrior-1 for hours.
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