Memorial Weekend

It's finally summer!  Well, sorta.   Mostly it's just wet and a bit chilly.  Nonetheless, Memorial Day has come and gone, which means it's summer as far as I'm concerned.   Despite the rain, I managed to get in two rides (mostly) dry, and had some fun camping with some of the OBC crowd.   And, since I decided that my blog has too many words, and not enough pictures, I took a few to show folks how things went.

Bikes, Bikes and Brews
The Faribault Flyers invited us up to help them celebrate their first Bikes, Bikes, and Brew festival.   The gist of it was that a bunch of cyclists, motorcyclists and hobby brewers would show up and have a good time.   As I'm totally behind having a good time, I was in.   Saturday dawned a bit dreary and damp looking, but the rain was holding off for a while, at least.  Since we had a really solid south wind, I tagged along with a couple guys and rode up to Faribault (with absolutely NO intention of riding back).   I posted a 19 mph average for the trip, which I will continue to try and pretend is a speed that I can hold without the help of a strong weather front.  

Once there, we gathered with the Faribault and Northfield bike clubs and milled about blocking a city street for about a half hour.  Introductions were made, groups were sorts and we took off.   The A group was doing 50 miles at ridiculous speeds, so I wisely rode with the B group, who were doing a much more reasonable 35 miles.  

Getting ready to roll

The ride started with the wind at our backs, which led me to lead out a pretty fast pace.  Probably a bit too fast, but it's hard to go slow when you have fresh legs and a tail wind!   The wind got its payback, of course, as we had to turn back into it to get back.   We stopped at a lovely cafe in Waterville that had fantastic scones and very tasty tea and then took the Sakatah Trail back to town.   The rain started just as we rolled into town, so pretty good timing.  

Brats and root beer in the shelter of the Crafty Maven, whose owner kindly offered us a place to  sit and eat out of the rain.

Random observation from the ride:  I think I honest to goodness bonked for the first time on that ride.  I was 40 miles in on < 200 calories and even after eating I never did get my energy back.   In fact, I got so tired I actually started to nod off while riding back along the trail.   Good thing I have many years of practice driving half awake!

Leinenkugel's Chippewa Valley Century Ride
Saturday evening a group of us drove up to Chippewa Falls to camp the night before the Chippewa Valley Century.   I wasn't planning to ride the century, but I had vaguely committed to the 75 mile route.  The only problem with my plan was that my knee was once again giving me issues and actually was bad enough that I was having trouble climbing stairs earlier in the day.   Nevertheless, I was pretty sure that ibuprofen and stupidity would get me through.  

Later, we discovered that shoes will melt.

Camping was great fun.  I had found Eagle Ridge Campground from the ride's website, and the owner/manager was super friendly and helpful, even though we were staying only one night on a holiday weekend.   It was a bit chilly, but not too bad, and the weather even cleared enough for the full moon to shine.  

Bikes in the moonlight (courtesy of Dave Chabot)

Naturally, we stayed up much too late, laughing and telling stories around the campfire.   As we tucked in for the night I knew 6:00 was going to come very early.  

The day of the ride was surprisingly nice, though quite windy.   We got started a bit late, but frankly, I don't think anyone in our group was complaining too loudly. My knee was not in good shape, with a sort of tearing sharp pain shooting through it anytime we started to climb a hill.    I told Ann to ride on without me, and I was already starting to wonder how I was going to manage the whole 75 miles.    As chance would have it, unfortunately, Ann also was having issues.   When we got to the first rest stop we had to choose to continue on the 50/75/100 mile route, or turn and follow the 35 mile route.   After much soul searching and evaluation of our bodies, we decided that the shorter route was the safest choice.  

Honestly, it was a beautiful route, and with the pain I was in, I was glad to be able to enjoy a least a bit of it. I maybe could have done one of the longer routes, but I'm not certain I would be walking now if I had.   Once we were back at the starting point we got brats (amazing, btw) and hung out until the rest of the crew got back.  I tried to hike around a bit, but I couldn't climb anything so I was limited to flat paths.  

They had a petting zoo.   

So, in the end, a pretty fun weekend, even with some unfortunate events.    I'm still waiting on my knee to recover, and have taken the week off.   I went to the shop and got my fit adjusted, so hopefully that will help.    In the meantime, I'm going to focus on running and swimming for the next week or so and hope that the lakes warm up before the 9th!

Riding clean

While I often joke about the amounts of painkillers I use while out swim/bike/running, truth is, I'm not very fond of them.   Firstly, it feels like cheating, especially since reading Taylor Phinney's interview on the matter. Now, I'm pretty sure I don't agree with him 100%, especially as a recreational/enthusiast rider, but it's something to consider.  Regardless of philosophical considerations, there is the issue of physical cost.   For me, that is expressed either as headaches from Tramadol or a ripped up stomach from NSAIDs.   Neither is pleasant, and the cumulative impact just gets progressively less so.

That's why rides like I had Tuesday are such a joy.   Tuesdays are the local tri-group's mini-camps, where we go and play at being triathletes for a few hours (well, some folks are doing more than playing).   Basically, it amounts to a brick workout and it's quite a bit of fun, if you are into that sort of thing.   Since I'm still waiting for the weather to warm up, I tag along with my kayak on the swim leg, then get on my bike and running shoes for the rest.   This Tuesday was a rather damp and chilly day, but that didn't matter in the least because my back and knee were completely pain free and I was loving it.

Thing is, even with the pain meds, if I'm in pain my performance suffers.  It's logical, really; my back pain results from a mess of swollen tissue and inflamed joints, and no amount of pharmaceutical intervention can eliminate the reduced mobility.   To be able to ride without pain is a whole different experience for me, to the point that I think it would be interesting to have a power meter to be able to see the output difference between the rides.  Unfortunately, it's still a pretty rare experience, but that makes it all the sweeter.

Anyhow, Tuesday was one of those rare days, and it was glorious.   Hills were effortless, the flats were fast and even though I wasn't trying for a really fast ride, I posted one of my faster MPHs of the season.  I'm a little sad, to be honest, that I didn't go head down and pound it out, just to see what I could have done.   Hopefully this will become less of an exception as I continue to work on my low back issues, and I will have ample opportunity to see how fast my body is willing to take me.

As it stands, I got a good ride in, though by the time I started the run my window of opportunity had run out. I wanted to do three miles, just to say that I had, but it was not to be.   The upside, is that even though my back was unhappy at that point, it's back to more or less normal levels of complaint now, so it appears recovery is happening fairly quickly.   I've got a couple of rides coming up this holiday weekend -- fingers crossed!

Rest and recovery

Well, that knee pain I mentioned in the last post has proven to be a bit obnoxious.   My attempts to self-diagnose through Google have proven largely unsuccessful (unless I really did manage to acquire a torn MCL through overuse).    Given that my faux-medical degree is of no use here, I've decided to go with my gut and take a few days off.  That ends tomorrow, or at least that's the plan.  We'll see how the morning run goes.

My plan was initially to take the whole weekend off.  However, Saturday dawned with a lovely south wind and a misty beauty that was impossible to resist.  So, I saddled up and headed out on the Coffee Grind with some folks from the bike club.  It was pretty awesome, with the wind at our backs for long, long stretches.   There is nothing quite like clipping along at 26 mph while not even breaking a sweat.    Even better, since it was such easy going, I had time to look around and enjoy the scenery.

Sometimes I feel like it's easy to get lost in the competitiveness and challenge of group riding, and sort of lose sight of awesome experiences that being out on the bike brings.  Saturday morning was one of those experiences, with the mist draped over the land and the freshly tilled fields spreading out to either side like a checkered quilt of earth and grass.   The sun was filtered through wispy clouds and lent an ethereal quality to the whole scene.  And there I was, wind at my back and peace in my heart.  It was the kind of ride that refuels the soul.

Sunday presented another opportunity to revel in the fun side of this crazy sport I've become a part of.   A couple friends decided to go to Albert Lea and compete in their little tri.   Even without the knee, I would have been out as the water was chilly and I am still sans wetsuit.   So, I tagged along with some other folks to cheer on our peeps and enjoy the day.  It was a bit stormy to start, but the weather cleared (mostly) for the tri and there was actually enough sun at the end to get my neck burned.

Watching the tri was pretty fun, as the last time I watched one I had no concept of what I was seeing.  This time around, when the first guy exited the water ridiculously quickly (5 min??) (edit:  official results say < 4) I was suitably impressed.   Not to mention I think it's good fun to be the obnoxious cheering squad at these sorts of things.   As someone who has run solo and also had folks to cheer me on, I'd much rather have the support crew and its nice to pass it on from time to time.   Even better, our local folks pulled down a few medals!  While they may be all modest and self-effacing, it was pretty damn impressive.   Good motivation, too.

Hopefully tomorrow comes (mostly) pain free, and I can get back to my training (such as it is).  In the meantime, I think I might go write some poetry about early morning rides.

Where pride goes...

I stopped by the Trinona web page the other day.  Turns out there is less than a month to go 'til show time.  How did that happen?   I've been pretty solid on the workouts lately, though.  I finally convinced myself I was going to drown unless I got my butt in the pool, so that's going better.  I've been turning in some solid (for me) runs, enough that I think it's time to up my long distance runs by a mile or so.   And well, I love my bike, so that's all good.   Nevertheless, I decided it was time to start two-a-days in earnest this week.   So, contrary to all logical and sane advice I doubled/tripled my workout load in the course of  week.

Shockingly, that didn't go so well.   I mean, I was doing okay to start, feeling good, losing weight and all that jazz.  As the week went on, however, the fatigue piled on, showing up in a crap run here, a poor showing on the bike there until everything basically came undone on Thursday.   I tried to go for a run Thursday morning and called it a mile in because I just couldn't muster the energy to move.   Then, displaying my startling brilliance, I decided to do the club ride that evening.  Needless to say, I got dropped HARD.   I ended up turning in early (though I still managed a 20+ mile ride).   Even better, by the end of the ride I had developed a sharp pain behind my left knee.

The thing that kills me is I know better.  I read ridiculous numbers of articles and books and training plans.  I know the rules about increasing workout load and building endurance and macro and micro cycles.  I even read enough to realize that most of that has no bearing on a person at my level.    Regardless, somewhere in my head I feel like I should be able to play with the big dogs despite being light years behind them in terms of fitness and conditioning.   In short, I'm very bad at running my own race.

I've been working on the mental game, or trying to.  I've been trying to embrace the positive mindset that I mentioned a while back.   Honestly, I think I'm doing better.  I'm telling myself that the wind is my friend and have been pretty stoked with my performance on the run.   All of that falls apart when I do group training though.  Suddenly, it's a contest, and I'm nowhere near first place.  I firmly believe competition is good.  I know that the sour taste I have in my mouth when I'm dropped or end up wheeling into town solo is a driving force behind the improvements that I have seen.   There are limits, though.  In my saner moments, I realize that there is a difference between recognizing those limits and giving up, but sanity is hard to come by when I'm trying to convince my body to do what my pride wants.

Parched

I drink, I think it's fair to say, a tremendous amount of water on a daily basis.   I pretty much live with one of those ridiculously over-sized insulated mugs next to me, and I drain it frequently.   As such, it would seem dehydration should be somewhere behind diseases with odds a lottery ticket would covet in terms of things that could be wrong with me.  Sadly, that isn't the case.  For whatever reason, my body needs vast quantities of H20 just to maintain a baseline.  Sometime, especially on the road bike, that can cause difficulties.

Sunday I went with some OBC folks to Winona to escape the snow and ride some hills.  It was supposed to be about a 40 mile ride, with mention of possibly a bar or two.   Lately, I'd been getting by on one of my 28 oz bottles on the weekly rides which tend to clock in at 25-30 miles, so I figured I'd be safe with two.   Two things worked against me from the start.  1) We were climbing and 2) it was much warmer than I had been accustomed to so far this season.

Our first stop was in a tiny town that had an inn that wasn't open and a museum that was, but had no running water.   I was already into my second bottle by then, but one of the guys was kind enough to give me half of one of his, so I figured I was good.   However, fairly soon after this stop, it became apparent that 40 miles was a rather large under estimate of how long the ride was going to be.   And, there was another brutal climb.

Enjoying the day at the mill

At the top of the second big climb, I had two issues.  One, I was pretty much dry and two, my painkillers had given out on me.   It worth noting that Tramadol gives you dry mouth, so in that regards the painkillers were actually a double-edged sword.   I swallowed my second pain pill and kept riding, but at this point I was scanning ahead for some kind of spigot or friendly looking farmer to get water from.    Finally, I saw someone out cleaning their lawn mower and I pulled in and did my best "harmless girl" look.  Replete with two full bottles, I hurried to catch up to the rest of the group.

The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful, but I did manage to finish off both of my bottles in that time.   At the time I had got my bottles filled by the helpful stranger I figure I had gone through 70 oz of water, and was dehydrated enough that I had a headache.   When I got back to my car, I had added another 56 oz and polished off a smaller 20 oz bottle on the way home.    I realize for a lot of people that would be enough water for two or three rides of the distance we did, but judging from the normal signs, I was still working at a pretty massive water deficit.

So, what to do?  Normally, when I plan long rides for myself, I plan them such that I can regularly refill my bottles.  However, with groups, especially with groups of normal people, that's not always the case.   The only thing I can really think of is to wear my hydration pack in addition to bringing bottles.  Not ideal, certainly when it's warm out, but better than hoping to find an unguarded hose or outdoor faucet.

Edit:  I just got a very timely email from Final Stretch Inc. that suggests that I should need 64 oz of water A DAY.   

The ride: Garmin Connect

Row Ride Run - Part 2

I have never had so much trouble getting into my clips as I did on Saturday.   All I can say is thank goodness I was at the end of the kayakers, because I would have run into someone trying to get clipped in if there had been someone to run into.  Other than that, I was pretty happy to be on the bike.  The race followed a good portion of the Trinona routes, but subbed the Garvin Heights climb with a long slog up Highway 43.   That's 5 miles uphill, if you are counting.  However, as a much smaller race, they didn't have the crossing at 61 closed, so I got to sit for the longest red light EVER.   Frustrating, but it did give me a chance to suck down some water.

The beginning of the battle with my shoes

Once the light changed (and I got clipped back in...), I was off.   This was my element, and I was feeling good.  Since I had come out of the water so late, I had lots and lots of folks to chase down and pass, which I did with great pleasure.   I had no idea how fast I was going, because I was wearing my Forerunner instead of using the Garmin 500, so other than a beep for each mile I had no idea how I was doing.  The ride was pretty fast all the way up to the turn  onto 43.  There, I slowed, but I was still passing folks.  Passing was a actually a bit interesting because 43 is not a quiet road, and despite a large shoulder I was frequently forced into the traffic lane to get around groups of people riding abreast.  

Turning off the highway was a marvel.  The road was recently resurfaced and smooth, with a gentle roll that lent itself to riding fast, which I did my best to do.   After the slow climb it felt like I was flying...then the road turned down.   You would think that would be a good thing, but I'm pretty much a chicken on descents  and this was a monster.   I hit 36 mph riding my brakes, and I was passed by folks doing somewhere near the speed of sound.   Once we were back on the flat, I re-passed most of them though.

The transition from ride to run was a bit rough.  The road leading to T2 was in very poor condition, so instead of cruising in and taking advantage of the hills I ended up having to slow down and go pretty cautiously.  On top of that, there was a hill up to the racks.  Larry told me one guy was forced to a complete stop by a vehicle on the road prior to the climb to T2.

I had passed that guy like three times, but he was braver than me on the potholes

After getting my shoes on and grabbing a water bottle, I was off.   Running while drinking is some sort of arcane art that I have not mastered, so I mostly spilled the water on myself, but by that point it felt pretty good regardless.   I had worn arm warmers for the ride which ended up being overkill, so I was a bit warm.  Larry and my friend were waiting to cheer me on at the start of the run, which was fantastic and highlighted the advantage of a unique nickname:  no wondering if folks are cheering for you or someone else.

Still riding the bike euphoria 

The run was obviously sort of cobbled together, and basically was an out and back with a few little offshoots to get the 5k distance.   Seeing as it's Winona, there was still a nasty climb in the midst of it.   I did my best, but my back was pretty shot by that point and I was just trying to hold on to the finish.   I managed to only get passed by a few people while out on the run, so I didn't lose too many spots, I think.

The finish was a bit mean, I have to say.  The ramp to the finish line came off the road and went up a little hill.  Well, little most of the time, but at the end of the run it felt like a mountain.   I did it though, and didn't walk (though that might have been faster).  

All in all, I am pretty pleased with the experience.  I got my first time jitters out of the way (hopefully), and even got to experience a bit of what I'm sure the melee of the swim start will be like.   I'm reassured that I'm not horrible on the bike, and know that I need to work on the run.  Honestly, at this point, the biggest hurdle I see is getting my back to play nice long enough for me to finish.  (Oh, and if you were curious, I was pretty much smack in the middle of the women.)

Row Ride Run - Race Report Part 1

Last Saturday was gorgeous, a perfect Spring day, sunny and not too windy.   So, all in all, a pretty good day to get my first triathlon under my belt.   Fingers crossed my luck continues for the rest of the season!

The morning of was pretty uneventful.  I had eaten something the prior night that upset my stomach, but a solid breakfast of protein and snack bars put things at ease.   I even managed to wake up before my alarm clock went off at 6 AM.

Laying out the gear

We got to the lake just as they opened registration, so I got to be race bib #2.   I know, be jealous.   There are some disadvantages to small events, I quickly learned, things like no maps and a distinct lack of concern over basic things like how to get your gear to T2.   Still, I got things sorted and Larry helped me move the kayak down to the water.  That was where I had my first moment of trepidation.  See, I knew I wasn't exactly bringing a "racing" kayak, but I figured since people were renting from the school lots of folks would be in the same boat (ha ha).   Sadly, Current Designs is apparently a local company.  So, while I was paddling something like this:

Short and fat, like me!

The other folks were using something a bit more like this...

Long, sleek...and way faster

So yeah.  That was gonna be interesting.