My knees have been a bit sore this week from running, which is pretty typical for me. They should ease up after a few more runs. Yesterday I completed a 3-miler, which is the longest I've run in probably 2 years. Scary. My shins got a bit tight and complainy but they loosened up halfway through and I felt pretty good at the end.
Yesterday afternoon I had massage therapy with Laurel -- she's the best! She could tell my legs were a little hammered from running so she worked on them but tried to take it easy since I told her I was planning on biking later. Ugh...bad idea! Marcus and I met JoAnne on our team for a little flyer around Mercer Island and I was practically crippled the second I got on the bike.
My knees were so sore I could barely climb so JoAnne pulled us all the way around the island, which was awesome. By the time I went to bed last night my entire lower body was debilitated. One knee is still sore today but my butt is killing me! Laurel worked on my glutes so I'm guessing that's the culprit. I may turn my run into a walk today and rest up. I woke up with a sore throat anyway and I'm not feeling so great so time for some magical herbal tea.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
So far so good...
...the running is going pretty well so far. I'm now allowed to skip the 30/30 routine (thank goodness) and start running between 1.5-3 miles a few times a week. I'll be doing this for a few weeks and seeing how it goes. Today I have a big whopping 1.5-mi run on the schedule. Woohoo!
I ended up having a very lazy weekend and didn't travel for the Boston Harbor race. Part of me wishes I had, but I certainly don't regret it. I guess the roads were pretty slick, the field was small, and spending a day doing some things besides racing was rather nice. I'm gearing up for the Des Moines crit this Sunday and possibly the Capital Crit on Saturday if the weather holds. I'm definitely down for Matava and Derby Days and then it's off to Eugene for the Co-Motion tandem stage race. That should be a blast!
Believe it or not, here I am fretting about the rest of the race season and as it turns out, there's really not much left! It dawned on me that once I get back from Eugene the only races left are Volunteer Park, the Velo series, the State TTT, Crystal, and Seward. Can that be right? Wow.
I guess it's perfect timing really. I'll finish up the season best I can and by August I should be running more mileage. I'll get a nice break and then cross picks up. Perfect!!
I ended up having a very lazy weekend and didn't travel for the Boston Harbor race. Part of me wishes I had, but I certainly don't regret it. I guess the roads were pretty slick, the field was small, and spending a day doing some things besides racing was rather nice. I'm gearing up for the Des Moines crit this Sunday and possibly the Capital Crit on Saturday if the weather holds. I'm definitely down for Matava and Derby Days and then it's off to Eugene for the Co-Motion tandem stage race. That should be a blast!
Believe it or not, here I am fretting about the rest of the race season and as it turns out, there's really not much left! It dawned on me that once I get back from Eugene the only races left are Volunteer Park, the Velo series, the State TTT, Crystal, and Seward. Can that be right? Wow.
I guess it's perfect timing really. I'll finish up the season best I can and by August I should be running more mileage. I'll get a nice break and then cross picks up. Perfect!!
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Back to my roots?
I was just thinking last week about how much I miss running and got teary-eyed. I'm such a sap. Cycling was supposed to be something temporary to keep me from going mad since the IT saga halted my running two years ago. Since then, I've run maybe 2 miles. I can't believe I've become so cycling-consumed. Just recently I've been thinking about running and realizing how much I miss it. And...I still haven't done the friekin' Boston Marathon.
I talked to my physical therapist and kicked off the whole 30/30 routine yesterday. So, for 30 days, I do a 30-min running program that consists of 10-mins walking, 15-mins jogging, and then 5-mins walking. Ugh....so boring but I know it's the safest way for me to get back to running and not reaggravate my injury.
I'd love to train for the Seattle Half in November and then try to qualify for Boston with the Pacific Shoreline Marathon in February. So the big question is where that leaves me with cycling? I have to say that this year has been a little disappointing in that I really thought I had improved my fitness enough to be in contention for some top 10s and podium finishes. It's pretty clear I haven't quite done that. Despite my frustration, I'm still having a ton of fun but I think I just might have set my goals a little too high.
I guess I'm just trying to figure out if I should continue to really hammer with road cycling for the next few months or if I should just call it a season and realize that I need to really train up more this fall for next year. I'm not sure how to fit in road cycling, running, and cyclocross without having a serious burnout of some sorts. I guess I have too many damn hobbies and not enough time...
...don't worry though, I'm definitely hitting the crit scene next month and the Crystal Hillclimb. The reality is that I'll probably just train myself into the ground until I have a serious flameout like I did last September after Eugene :)
I talked to my physical therapist and kicked off the whole 30/30 routine yesterday. So, for 30 days, I do a 30-min running program that consists of 10-mins walking, 15-mins jogging, and then 5-mins walking. Ugh....so boring but I know it's the safest way for me to get back to running and not reaggravate my injury.
I'd love to train for the Seattle Half in November and then try to qualify for Boston with the Pacific Shoreline Marathon in February. So the big question is where that leaves me with cycling? I have to say that this year has been a little disappointing in that I really thought I had improved my fitness enough to be in contention for some top 10s and podium finishes. It's pretty clear I haven't quite done that. Despite my frustration, I'm still having a ton of fun but I think I just might have set my goals a little too high.
I guess I'm just trying to figure out if I should continue to really hammer with road cycling for the next few months or if I should just call it a season and realize that I need to really train up more this fall for next year. I'm not sure how to fit in road cycling, running, and cyclocross without having a serious burnout of some sorts. I guess I have too many damn hobbies and not enough time...
...don't worry though, I'm definitely hitting the crit scene next month and the Crystal Hillclimb. The reality is that I'll probably just train myself into the ground until I have a serious flameout like I did last September after Eugene :)
Monday, June 18, 2007
Poopy Methow
This might be the third time I've used the word "poopy" to describe a race this year...not good! Ok, first off, I had a BLAST at the Methow SR this past weekend. The area is gorgeous and the courses were beautiful, fun, and challenging. We had a lot of Zoka teammates there and even had three of us ladies in the stage race!
The TT course was really challenging with several steep climbs and as usual, I did pretty shitty. I ended up 33rd out of 35 I think. I never even looked at the results because I really didn't want to know. I honestly didn't get enough of a warmup in and I really need to work on that. I have such a hard time being on the trainer that I find lots of ways to burn time so I don't end up on it. I really need to work on my time trialing skills this fall and really force myself to get on the trainer and get in a good warmup.
After the TT a teammate and his fiance hosted a sandwich bar at their rental cabin, which was awesome. We all got to hang out for a little while, talk about the courses, look at photos of the TT, and eat some grub. The time went by a little quickly though and we had to take off to get ready for the afternoon crit.
The cat 4 ladies lined up at 2 and again, I got there a little late and didn't get in much of a warmup aside from pre-riding the course. The first few laps around made me nervous and I wasn't particularly thrilled about the course. Corner three had some loose dirt and gravel inside and bad pavement outside. The first two laps I slipped on the inside line, so I tried moving outside and then bounced my rear tire up on the bad pavement. After three near incidents in as many laps at a fraction of race speed I got a little spooked and just lost my nerve.
Again, I was a victim of bad positioning. I'm frustrated because I keep making that same mistake over and over and I really need to work on it! Argh. I started too far back, hit the brakes way too much in corner 3, and had to work way too hard to stay on the pack. After a few laps I finally got my rhythm, laid off the brakes, and started working my way through some carnage, but it was too late already. I held on as long as I could and got pulled with about 5 laps left. I was pretty pissed but that's how it goes. I realized shortly after I was pulled the field was down to 10 still together and around 6 gals in a chase group half a lap behind. Considering nearly 40 women started, that's some serious carnage.
JoAnne got pulled shortly after me and we were both pretty annoyed. Our teammate Alyson was still out there looking strong with the chase group so we were cheering her on. She did a fantastic job in her first crit and won the group sprint for 11th place.
Saturday night I was pretty irked with my performance so I set my sights on a top 15 finish for the road race Sunday. I wanted some points!! The rollers and small hills on the course suited me so I had a good chance. The wind was horrible on Sunday and we heard tons of stories from the men's fields coming in from the morning races. There were times during our race where we were working hard just to go 11-12mph. Shortly before the turnaround there was an open area where the sidewinds were gusting so strongly it practically pushed everyone over. I nearly got blown into the gravel a few times, which was a bit scary.
I felt great the whole race, my legs felt good, and I was climbing well. At the midpoint turnaround (around mile 22) the woman in contention for the overall win went down. I'm not sure what happened but there seemed to be a lot of confusion over the course and she said she wasn't sure which way to go. Luckily she got right back up and to the front of the pack and didn't get hurt too badly. Shortly after that there was a small riser that started to split things apart and I got gapped off a bit. I was working with a group to chase back on when we hit the base of a small climb and I dropped my chain. I'm always able to get my chain back on quickly but this time I kept shifting and shifting and just couldn't get it back on. Then all of a sudden I couldn't pedal anymore and I looked down and noticed I had wrapped my chain around my pedal. Are you kidding me? Who the hell does this?
The follow car came up and I hopped off and a guy helped me get it back together. I saw the pack about halfway up the hill and thought I still had a chance to get back on if I really worked. The support guy gave me a push and then I tried to draft off the car for a few seconds but they sped away. Drat! For several miles I could see the pack not far ahead but just couldn't get there. Damn! At that point the sobering idea that I had a 17 mile solo ride ahead of me pissed me off so I decided "F...., if I'm riding 17 miles solo I might as well practice my f**** TT skills". I pretty much hauled ass as best I could to the finish and thanked the cycling gods that I had a nice tailwind most of the return trip.
So...all in all, a great weekend with crappy results! The good news is that Alyson managed to stay with the lead pack in the road race and might have gotten a top 10 GC finish. JoAnne hit a wall pretty hard towards the end of the road race and she and I were both a little irked about our lackluster results. But hey, we had an awesome time and can't wait until next year!
The TT course was really challenging with several steep climbs and as usual, I did pretty shitty. I ended up 33rd out of 35 I think. I never even looked at the results because I really didn't want to know. I honestly didn't get enough of a warmup in and I really need to work on that. I have such a hard time being on the trainer that I find lots of ways to burn time so I don't end up on it. I really need to work on my time trialing skills this fall and really force myself to get on the trainer and get in a good warmup.
After the TT a teammate and his fiance hosted a sandwich bar at their rental cabin, which was awesome. We all got to hang out for a little while, talk about the courses, look at photos of the TT, and eat some grub. The time went by a little quickly though and we had to take off to get ready for the afternoon crit.
The cat 4 ladies lined up at 2 and again, I got there a little late and didn't get in much of a warmup aside from pre-riding the course. The first few laps around made me nervous and I wasn't particularly thrilled about the course. Corner three had some loose dirt and gravel inside and bad pavement outside. The first two laps I slipped on the inside line, so I tried moving outside and then bounced my rear tire up on the bad pavement. After three near incidents in as many laps at a fraction of race speed I got a little spooked and just lost my nerve.
Again, I was a victim of bad positioning. I'm frustrated because I keep making that same mistake over and over and I really need to work on it! Argh. I started too far back, hit the brakes way too much in corner 3, and had to work way too hard to stay on the pack. After a few laps I finally got my rhythm, laid off the brakes, and started working my way through some carnage, but it was too late already. I held on as long as I could and got pulled with about 5 laps left. I was pretty pissed but that's how it goes. I realized shortly after I was pulled the field was down to 10 still together and around 6 gals in a chase group half a lap behind. Considering nearly 40 women started, that's some serious carnage.
JoAnne got pulled shortly after me and we were both pretty annoyed. Our teammate Alyson was still out there looking strong with the chase group so we were cheering her on. She did a fantastic job in her first crit and won the group sprint for 11th place.
Saturday night I was pretty irked with my performance so I set my sights on a top 15 finish for the road race Sunday. I wanted some points!! The rollers and small hills on the course suited me so I had a good chance. The wind was horrible on Sunday and we heard tons of stories from the men's fields coming in from the morning races. There were times during our race where we were working hard just to go 11-12mph. Shortly before the turnaround there was an open area where the sidewinds were gusting so strongly it practically pushed everyone over. I nearly got blown into the gravel a few times, which was a bit scary.
I felt great the whole race, my legs felt good, and I was climbing well. At the midpoint turnaround (around mile 22) the woman in contention for the overall win went down. I'm not sure what happened but there seemed to be a lot of confusion over the course and she said she wasn't sure which way to go. Luckily she got right back up and to the front of the pack and didn't get hurt too badly. Shortly after that there was a small riser that started to split things apart and I got gapped off a bit. I was working with a group to chase back on when we hit the base of a small climb and I dropped my chain. I'm always able to get my chain back on quickly but this time I kept shifting and shifting and just couldn't get it back on. Then all of a sudden I couldn't pedal anymore and I looked down and noticed I had wrapped my chain around my pedal. Are you kidding me? Who the hell does this?
The follow car came up and I hopped off and a guy helped me get it back together. I saw the pack about halfway up the hill and thought I still had a chance to get back on if I really worked. The support guy gave me a push and then I tried to draft off the car for a few seconds but they sped away. Drat! For several miles I could see the pack not far ahead but just couldn't get there. Damn! At that point the sobering idea that I had a 17 mile solo ride ahead of me pissed me off so I decided "F...., if I'm riding 17 miles solo I might as well practice my f**** TT skills". I pretty much hauled ass as best I could to the finish and thanked the cycling gods that I had a nice tailwind most of the return trip.
So...all in all, a great weekend with crappy results! The good news is that Alyson managed to stay with the lead pack in the road race and might have gotten a top 10 GC finish. JoAnne hit a wall pretty hard towards the end of the road race and she and I were both a little irked about our lackluster results. But hey, we had an awesome time and can't wait until next year!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
