Flat Road

Last night I biked some country roads from a friend's house. The area was mostly flat with a few gentle hills. It only took a few miles for me to realize that biking and really pushing my speed on the flats could be as difficult as some of the more hilly courses. Training out at Walnut Creek for the Sprint triathlon I encountered rolling hills everywhere except for a 2-3 mile section. Here it was just the opposite. On all the flats there isn't a change in how your muscles are being used, just keep pushing hard. Definitely built some muscles.

That being said, I was able to 13.52 miles in 54 minutes which averages out to 15mph. Not bad considering my fastest time on the Walnut creek course is an average of 13.5 mph.

Tour de Madison

On Saturday Guillermo (henceforth referred to as G) and I did the Tour de Madison ride. It is a yearly ride that Madison County puts on to tour the country-side of rolling hills. This year 280 riders did one of three courses - 15 miles, 40 miles, 62 miles. It was an absolutely gorgeous day. Just barely 70, some wind (but not enough to push us over), and clear skies.

G & I got there around 7:45 to pick up our t-shirts, enjoy a pancake breakfast, and watch the impressively in-shape people arrive. It seemed like most folks had some sort of sponsored jersey from a previous ride and that was rather intimidating. If I knew anything about bikes besides they have two-wheels and some gears, I might've been more impressed with the quality of bikes there too. Some of the riders were clearly in groups with matching apparel and some even had support vehicles following them. We also saw a handful of tandem road bikes. I can't imagine riding with someone else on a road bike, I can barely keep myself stable.

They started the ride at 9:30 with a bag-pipe player and the 62-mile group going first then having the rest of us roughly stage ourselves behind that group. The entire ride was nicely organized and set up. There were bright arrows painted on the roads for all major turns and even straight arrows for minor roads we were supposed to pass by. In addition, for the 40-mile ride, there were 3 rest stops set up. Gatoraid, water, fruit, pretzels, and cookies.



The first little bit was nice flat (for VA) road where the group could really spread out and I felt rather comfortable just taking off on it. The first real hill of any sort G & I passed a bunch of people on the way up and that felt great. The route we do from work has a much worse hill, so we know how to keep going and climbing, where as a handful of the folks got off and walked it.

The real b*tch of a hill went on for what was probably 3 miles and a good 30 minutes. (All times in this paragraph are relative because I didn't check my watch). At first I didn't think too much about it, but after about 20 minutes of riding up hill it was getting rather tiring and steeper. I just stayed in first gear for what seemed like forever. Not really passing anyone, not being passed, just slowly grinding up the hill. The one thing that made me smile is that just when I was getting to the point of physical and mental exhaustion of "when will this ever end?!" I came across a note painted on the ground "Almost there!" It made me smile and meant the folks marking the course weren't actually trying to kill us and did want us to make it.

After that b*tch of a hill, I was determined to enjoy all of the downhills from then on out. Up to that point I was rather scared of going too fast and losing control, but now it was just a matter of shear "me against the hills." The hills may get their pain on the way up, but I was going to take my pleasure on the way down!

After that first killer hill, none of the rest were all too hard. Right before the 3rd rest stop there was a rather long one, but we took a break mid-way up so I could eat (not quite the right word) a power-gel because my energy was starting to fade.

All in all, I kept up with G reasonably well. We did approximately 10 mph. That is pretty slow all things considered, but hopefully as I do more hills (both up and down) I'll be able to speed that up.

At the very end, I was rather sore but I accomplished a lot of my goals of just making it all 40 miles with minimal whining. I enjoyed a nice rest in my car and plenty of advil (see picture).

Thump

The sound Nicki and her bike make as they fall over. I'm told that pretty much everyone falls over at some point when they are learning to ride a road bike clipped in. True to what I've also been told, there is that instant you realized you are falling over (because you didn't unclip and tried to put your foot out) and there is enough time to anticipate the fall but not enough time to stop yourself. You also don't want to stop yourself at that point with your arm because you'll likely break it, it's much better to just tuck it in. Also true to biker form was "Oh, I hope I didn't break anything on my bike." I heal, my bike doesn't.

Bike Goal

Yesterday I did a group brick workout (biking then transition into running). We biked 11.6 miles then did a 1.7 mile trail run. Wow, I am not used to so many biking hills and it just killed me both in my cardio and in my leg muscles. Though I guess that is why we practice because the short bike distance is ~16 miles and as I am now, I wouldn't make it.

Also, given that I really don't like going fast and was rather frightened that I hit 28mph, I'm a bit worried about making the time cut-offs. Even for the running because it is trail running and that takes a different set of muscles to stabilize everything. Guess it's time to hit the woods.

First Two Weeks of Training Plan

The first couple weeks on my training plan have not gone overly well because I still haven't placed proper emphasis on the Tri over SCA. Last week I choose to go to an SCA event all day Saturday which left me wore out for Sunday. Then on Monday and Wednesday I did SCA stuff which reduced my planned exercise (though I still got some). Then this weekend I will be doing yet more SCA stuff. Thankfully, this should be it for a while.

That being said, I do need to go back and adjust the training plan based on what it appears my pattern will be. For instance, group ride with work folk on Thursdays, and possibly group runs on Mondays.

Now to today's group ride. It was my first one with my road bike. First off, I hate hills. Not just going up them. I'm not a great fan going down them. I topped out at 22 mph going down at one point and that just scares the heck out of me. In contrast, riding really fast on flat, straight areas is enjoyable and perhaps even fun. Interestingly enough, I got up to 19mph on a flat. I guess it is not so much the speed as the relative "I'm going to die" feeling that gets me.

A final thought... I'm a white & pasty girl. Thankfully I only burned a little.

New Bike

I finally gave in and bought an entry-level road bike. Lots of folks with much more biking experience than me kept telling me how much easier the ride portion and training would be, and as much as I hate to admit it... they might be right. I rode it around the loading area at the store today and it is a much different feel but I was amazed at how easy it was to get going rather quick. They might be onto something here.

I need to do a fair bit of practice in the upcoming month but then I'm going to put it (and me) to the real test doing the Tour de Madison in mid-May. 27 mile course with a fair number of hills.

Really... now I'm done buying new modes of transportation...

Retaking 7th grade shop

In 7th grade we had a required tech course which taught us all sorts of useful skills such as reading transistor strengths, welding, and bike repair. Guess which one I took a refresher course on tonight.

The Cville triathlon club organizes group work outs, races, social get togethers, and some skill building workshops. Tonight the workshop was on bike repair so when (not if) your bike breaks down in the rain on the side of the road, you have an idea what to do. So much of what they were teaching seemed completely new to me and I realized I hadn't remembered a thing from 7th grade. Therefore tonight I learned what to listen for when trying to diagnose an issue, how to change a flat tire, and the importance of 50 cents worth of oil.

As for the training, I've been doing a fair amount but no great accomplishments recently. I'm working on endurance in the pool. I'm fighting a re-occurring blister from running. I'm doing spin class when I can until it warms up. I'm taking boxing in case something goes terribly wrong. I'm adding in brick workouts (where you ride for quite a while then go run).

Remember how your legs always feel funny when you first get off a bike. Now take that wobbly feeling and go run 6 miles. It will hurt greatly for the first mile or so while the muscles shift but then life should be fine. Therefore to train those muscles to do the shift, we practice that transition - called a brick.

15 Miles bike inside - I think

I completed the 15 miles biking inside goal... I think. I went to the cycle cinema class where we watch a movie while biking. Those bikes are notoriously inaccurate. I biked for about 90 minutes and I went about 16 miles. Yes some of that was up 'hills' but we also had some down hill down. So it is probably right, or at least close enough. While it is good to work the muscles some, my next big push is to start getting outside for running and biking (no... not crazy enough to swim outside yet ;) )

Goals

I work best by setting small incremental goals and trying for the next highest one. I may not make it in the next work out I do for that portion, but it is what I'm trying for. On the right side it displays my current goals. Some have two goals for inside & outside since I know the treadmill, stationary bike, and pool are nothing like the trail run, roads, and lake that I will be doing. Whenever an outside distance is accomplished it will automatically fill the inside goal if the inside one has not already been achieved.

Swimming
One length = 25m. So 60 lengths = 1.5km of race.

• 30 lengths of any style w/o stop - DONE 1/25
  
• 40 lengths of any style w/o stop - DONE 4/25
  
• 50 lengths of any style w/o stop - DONE 5/1
  
• 60 lengths of any style w/o stop - DONE 5/1
• 40 lengths freestyle w/o stop - DONE 5/1
• 50 lengths freestyle w/o stop - DONE 5/1
• 60 lengths freestyle w/o stop - DONE 5/1
• 30 lengths freestyle w/o stop in under 18 min
• 30 lengths freestyle w/o stop in under 15 min
• 60 lengths freestyle w/o stop in under 35 min
  
• 60 lengths freestyle w/o stop in under 30 min
• 750 m in open water
• 1500 m in open water
• 1500 m in open water in under 35 min
• 1500 m in open water in under 30 min

Biking
Full length for biking is 40K (~25 miles)

• 15 miles inside - DONE 1/27
  
• 20 miles inside (see outside)
• 25 miles inside (see outside)
• 10 miles outside - DONE 4/27
  
• 15 miles outside - DONE 5/17
• 20 miles outside - DONE 5/17
• 25 miles outside - DONE 5/17
  
• 25 miles outside in under 90 min
• 25 miles outside in under 85 min

Run
Full length for running is 10K (6.2 miles)

• 5K in under 30 min inside - DONE 1/21
  
• 4 miles in under 40 inside (see outside)
• 8K in under 50 min inside (see outside)
  
• 5K in under 30 min outside DONE 3/8 (Appears to be about 28:30)
  
• 4 miles in under 40 min outside DONE 3/8 (Appears to be about 37:30)
• 8K in under 50 min outside DONE 3/8
  
• 10K in under 60 min outside

Combining
Eventually I need to combine them and get my body used to the transitions. I'm not entirely sure what those goals are going to specifically be. My training plan will be to do things in the correct order and perhaps start small. For example bike for 30 minutes then run for 10. Then up it to bike for 30, run for 30. When I get closer to really focusing on these I will revise these goals with actual distances.