Let the training commence

I made sure to get a good night's rest and surprisingly woke up at 6:45 with minimal effort. I headed to my first 7:30 training session at Headquarters this morning and it kicked ass.

Joe told me I'd be working my legs today which was a little concerning since I race at Pacific tomorrow, but so far I feel pretty good -- I guess I'll see how I feel tomorrow. His workout consisted of several circuits that each had 2 sets of 3-4 different exercises. I started with a short warmup on the elliptical machine and some stretches and ab exercises.

My first circuit I was on the leg abduction / adduction and leg curl machines. I'm trying to remember all of the exercises I did, but I had a second circuit that used the leg press and leg extension machines combined with a workout that was a variation of a lunge that targed my quads.

Another circuit had some walking lunges combined with stepping up and down boxes and lastly I did a circuit on the seated and standing calf machines. Joe said about 15% of your leg strength is from your calves, so I need to bulk up there. After each round of workouts I hopped on the elliptical machine for a 1-minute high cadence spin. This really helped to stretch and relieve my legs and definitely helped my muscles from being tight.

At the very end of the workout I felt good but then started to get a little nauseated. I probably need to eat a bit more next time and make sure I hydrate well the night before. Friday I'm set to work my core so he told me to be ready to be sore for the weekend...I can't wait!

San Francisco photos

IMG_0114,
originally uploaded by grepgirl.

I just added a bunch of photos to Flickr from my trip to San Francisco last month for management training. There's pictures of everything from the San Francisco International Film Festival to a Friday Congo Line to awesome graffiti.

This picture shows some of the graffiti I saw in the Haight-Ashbury district.

Weekend ass-kicking

An old roommate of Marcus' recommended her trainer to me, so I spent yesterday and today getting a fitness assessment from him. Joe runs Headquarters Health & Fitness downtown and does serious training for a lot of athletes as well as body builders.

I spent three hours yesterday doing a lower body assessment and about two hours today with an upper body assessment. Joe pushes you to find out what you can and what you can't do and to find out how hard you're willing to work. I was surprised because I lift at the gym regularly and always thought I had decent strength and abs, but boy was I wrong! I could barely do the ab exercises he had me doing and at one point I thought my legs and arms had turned to jello.

Joe rocks and has a great energetic personality. I felt right at home at the gym and I'm looking forward to getting started. He said I need to bring the right attitude and be prepared to work because his goal is for you to meet your goals and get into serious athletic shape. He trains professional and elite athletes and body builders and many of his lifters hold state and regional records, so he's serious. Monthly dues include personalized training and nutrition. He guarantees results every 30 days.

I signed up for M/W/F workouts at 7:30am, which means a brutal awakening to mornings again. I used to be a morning person but have fallen out of the routine. It's really the best and only time I have to workout, so I guess I have to commit and make it work. I start this Wednesday so we'll see how it goes.

Here comes a 6-pack in 30 days I hope...

rain rain go away

The Thursday night Women's series at Pacific Raceways is on a bye this week so I was looking forward to racing at Seward Park instead. Wouldn't you know it was dry all day until about 4:30 rolled around. I didn't feel like taking a chance at racing there in wet conditions so I took the night off.

I think I'll be doing a long team ride on Sunday with some climbs over Squak Mountain and the Zoo Hill. I'm not sure if I'll stay out there as long as some of the guys want to ride but I'd like to get out there on another team ride again and put in a good effort.

I'm seeing a trainer tomorrow that was recommended by a friend. I've really fallen in love with cycling but I just don't have the fitness yet to be competitive so I figure I need to go that extra mile to get my butt in shape. I have to keep reminding myself I've only been biking seriously since December and it wasn't until late December that I had my first-ever 50+ mile ride. I'm hoping to use the fall season and cyclocross to get into really good shape and be ready to kick butt next year.

new blogger site

I've decided that I'm storing way too much stuff on my website so I decided to move my blog off of my hosted site and just set up an account with blogger. I moved a few choice posts from my old site and so far so good!

I survived the CLAW...

I survived my first stage race this weekend in Enumclaw. The schedule was a Saturday morning 10K time trial, a 25-min criterium race Saturday afternoon, and a 40-mi road race on Sunday with some major hill climbing. This was going to be my first crit outside of one race at Seward Park, so all week long all I could think about was how totally frieked out I was. Everyone kept telling me that Enumclaw was quite technical and not a good first-time crit. As it turns out, that was the most fun part of the race and I'm now a crit-addict -- I need more!

Time Trial (10K)
I still suck at time-trialing and did the usual "not quite last but almost last" thing. I guess I need to add twice the bulk to my legs and I'll be set. It seems that I just have a very difficult time maintaining a constant effort through the time trial. The small out-of-the-saddle roller about halfway through threw me as I really wasn't ready for it and was mashing way too big of a gear. Whenever you get passed by the rider who set off 1:30 behind you, it's never a good thing. I posted a measly 19:56 time.

Criterium (25 minutes)
When I lined up for this race I was so nervous I thought I was going to either faint o throw-up...I wasn't sure what would happen first. Then the gun went off and once I grot around the first corner without dying I started thinking, "Holy crap, this is awesome!" I had no problem cornering on the course and managed to stay right behind the pack for most of the race. I finally started to die on the last few laps and ended up getting pulled from the race on the last lap.

I did learn that I should pay more attention to the rider in front of me. The Starbucks racer I was drafting started to get gapped from the small pack we were riding with and I didn't notice it until it was too late. I tried to bridge up but just couldn't get there. Ah well, one more valuable lesson learned!

Road Race (40 miles)
It seemed strange but the Cat 4 women started 5 minutes ahead of the Master's field. We questioned the official since we knew at some point our race would get neutralized to let them by. Sure enough, about 7 miles into the course that's exactly what happened and the poor condition of the roads made it a very tense few minutes as we all tried to move as far right as possible to let the Masters around. To top it off, some lady in a support car started yelling at the women's field "What do you ladies think this is -- some casual Sunday ride? You should be ashamed getting passed on the first lap...why don't you girls start racing?" We couldn't figure what her problem was, but I didn't see her out there on a bike.

The pace was pretty easy until the first hill climb where a few girls pushed ahead. I managed to stay with the pack but then as usual got dumped on the flat part at the top of the climb. I really need to learn to grab a wheel and stick there. The gap got worse on the descent -- I seem to be the only person in the world that gets dropped on descents. I rode solo for a while until I noticed two Starbucks racers, Carol and Heather, behind me. I slowed and decided to let them catch me so we could work together. We were doing well until Carol pulled over with a flat. We all decided to wait for the support car and ride together rather than go solo since none of us were really in great GC standing. I'm not sure if that was a good decision or a bad one since once we took off again we pacelined together until the second pass up the hill where I ended up pulling away from them. At the top I wasn't sure if they had bailed or continued so I decided to just go for it and get this race done. I solo'd in for the finish about 25 minutes behind the main pack. That third time up the hill was utter brutality and after thinking "I quit!" after the first lap I can't believe I made it.

The road race was good experience and I'm happy I finished. As usual, I'm disappointed that I can never finish with the pack, but I have to remind myself that I really just started riding in December. I just don't have the fitness level yet, but I'll get there! Overall, a great race and good experience and I'm now addicted to crits! I ended up placing 24th in the GC out of 29 women. Here were the final results.

Here's some great photos from the race courtesy of Amara Boursaw at Wheels in Focus.