Monday Monday – the Best Laid Plans

Posted on March 30, 2009 by 21cm

Here’s what I did this weekend on Saturday:

3bears-insp-pt2
3 Bears via Pig Farm + Inspiration Pt.

When I told my inadvertant coach Monica about it I got this response:

WHY did you ride 4 hours today?  WHY did you ride 57 miles!!!!  There is absolutely no need to ride anything over 2 hours!!!  You will not gain in fitness now.  Only maintain what you have and keep yourself moving.  Enough said.  The 5k tomorrow would have been perfect for you, but not now.  Everything needs to be short, some easy, some with short efforts.
Yes, you are in trouble, in case you have not guessed.  Be smart now.  Your race is next weekend, and I would hate to see all of your training wasted.

Enough said.

I am done lecturing you.

 oops – I was in trouble.  I can’t say as I’m sorry to have missed out on a 5K for a PR because contrary to what Monica thinks that would have killed my legs but still – I felt chastened.  I took the opportunity to go for a nice, easy 20 mile ride with her in which I was NOT to use the big chain ring AT ALL.  Being the naughty girl that I am I cheated once, going downhill, because I didn’t want to get dropped and I was soundly admonished to get dropped and spin easy so I did.  It was a lovely ride.

I’m actually glad I did what I did Saturday because I feel like I can recover from that and it gave me the confidence that I can manage a big hill after managing a lot of miles and some other big hills.  My pace was not good but my legs were not fresh and I wasn’t racing so I’m not going to worry about that.

I have little, easy workouts with a few 20 second pick-ups scheduled for the rest of the week and then it’s show time.  I am done worrying, done being nervous and just really anxious to do it. I don’t know if I will ‘rock the course’ but I will race and I will finish and unless I have a problem I will finish in the top 10 so   BRING IT!

Posted in Cycling, Monday Monday, Pain and Suffering | 4 Comments

Race Ready!

Posted on March 27, 2009 by 21cm

Greetings Sports Fans!  I’ve gone from performance anxiety to race ready and that is a welcomed thing, indeed.  How did Iget there?

First of all, I know how to make use of a neglected weight bench.  I turned it into a bike stand so I could clean my bike to a state of race ready shiny bright goodness.  Observe:

Working the weight bench like it's never been worked before

Working the weight bench like it's never been worked before

 

Just add PVC and voila!

Just add PVC and voila!

 

So Shiney I couldn't get it in focus!

So Shiney I couldn't get it in focus!

 

I also looked up how to fix a problem I was having with the chain dropping.  I have a triple on that bike and although I do my level best never to use the small chain ring (thereby making me work harder than you people with a compact double and yes – I mean YOU Cheryl 🙂 if I want it I don’t want to fall over because the chain jams between the ring and the frame.  So, thanks to the largess of the interwebs I found out how to fix it by adjusting the cable and now it’s fine.  Very excited about that!

Tomorrow I will do this ride again:

3-bears-from-danville

That ride compares pretty favorably to Oceanside except it’s a little harder:

Three Bears vs. Oceanside

Three Bears vs. Oceanside

This will be the 4th or 5th time I’ve done this ride this year and so far so good so I think that means I’m ready.  Sunday I run easy for 90 minute and then I will rest Monday, easy spin ride Tuesday, swim easy with a short easy  run Wed, drive to Oceanside on Thursday and rock the chaise lounge, pick up my stuff Friday and rock the chaise lounge some more then eat a nice dinner, hit the hay early, get up in the morning and race!

The weather is supposed to be nice. I have a bunch of people doing this with me and I’m trained.  I don’t think it gets any better than that.

Posted in Hell Yes!, Racing | 5 Comments

Performance Anxiety

Posted on March 21, 2009 by 21cm

    I think we’re all familiar with this phenomenon.  You want it.  You want it bad.  And you want it to be good.  You want it to be really good.  You want it to make you quiver with vitality and fullness and with the promise of reaching heights you’ve never reached before.  You’re pretty sure if you go a little harder for a little longer you’ll get there – that magic place in the land of bliss.   

And then it hits you – what if I can’t?  What if it won’t?  What if I get ready and really try and it just doesn’t happen?  And then all goes flat and dull and nothing works.  Oh yes – you’ve been there, my friend.  We’ve all been there.

That’s where I am right now.  I’m just not sure I can pull it off.  I know I’ve gotten  there before through true dedication and attention to detail and it was good, no – it was great.  But this time?  I don’t know.  I’m feeling unsure, like maybe my experience will fail me and I’ll go all rookie and go out too fast and then fizzle out.    I’ve got it bad – race day anxiety.

Oceanside 70.3 is but 15 days off and I’m having some trouble adhering to my training plan. I feel done with that and just want to go and sort of  hold my breath, squeeze my eyelids together good and hard and go for it!  And yet training is not done.  It’s not time.  It isn’t even taper time.  It’s also very difficult to race while holding your breath and not looking at where you are going.

I will try to stop looking up the results of all my competitors and worrying about in what place I will finish.  I will try to remember that it’s all about fun – FUN!  This is fun!  Yes – FUN FUN FUN!!!  I love fun.  Who doesn’t love fun?  Do you love fun?  I love fun and worry is not fun.  Going to the beach is fun so I will go to the beach and I will have joyful beach fun.  Want to come?  

 

Posted in Racing | 9 Comments

Interesting Post Coming This Way, Soon!

Posted on March 18, 2009 by 21cm

My poor neglected blog… oh how I miss you – NOT!  But I do have a few things to say and I will say them soon.  I’m sure not having an update from me is just about killing all 3 of my readers but hold tight!  I’ll be back soon with something… something…. and hopefully it will be something worth reading.

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Landing on the Hudson – Amazing Simulation

Posted on March 7, 2009 by 21cm

I got this in email from my friend Kim.  Truly remarkablehudson river landing. 

 

Posted in Hell Yes! | 5 Comments

Hump Day Miscellany – Better!

Posted on March 5, 2009 by 21cm

1). Let me just apologize for the picture in my last post.  Those are just fluffy bits of lovely cotton, you know.

I’m better – almost 100%!  I didn’t workout today but I also didn’t sleep.  I didn’t take any cold meds.  I am almost all better and so very grateful for that. 

2).  Does  anyone who watches food advertisements on TV really think “YUM!”  I mean really – does greasy pasta drowning in cheese sauce with a side of garlic, butter infested bread sticks look good?  How about lobster swimming in 2 pounds of butter with a side of fish covered in cream sauce and a baked potato with sour cream?  Tasty?   GAG!  The mind boggles until I think about the endless reports of obesity in this country.  Well duh!  If people really think eating like that is a good idea then no wonder we are a nation of lard asses.

3).  Oceanside is a mere 4 weeks away and I am trying not to panic about it.  Not that I’m really panicked.  I could “do it” tomorrow but it would suck and it would not be worth the price  of admission.  Between the rain and the cold I have not been able to get in the training on the bike that I really, really need. I’m sure I could have been working harder on the trainer doing intervals but what concerns me is the hills and to be a good climber you need to climb.  And climb I will – just as soon as I can.  I just hope it is soon enough.

Posted in Cycling, Hump Day, training | Tagged | 5 Comments

Monday Monday – Buried Under A Pile of Snot Rags

Posted on March 3, 2009 by 21cm

I am sick with a cold.  A really nasty one. Maybe it is the flu but I don’t have any body aches so I don’t think so.  There are 2 things I can’t stop doing – blowing my nose and eating.  This is what my trash bin looks like right now:

 

Snot rags and candy bars.

Snot rags and candy bars.

I bought a lifetime supply sized box of PayDays at Costco “for the bike”.  Ha ha!  I hope there are some left when it stops raining but I doubt it.  Never again.  I will only buy them at the convenience store while out on the bike and not before!

I am under the influence of Theraflu right now but it doesn’t seem to be working all that well.  Might have to do a shot of nasal spray to sleep.  God I hate being sick.  Besides missing my workout yesterday I’m going to miss my workout tomorrow.  Monday is my normal day off.  Maybe I can hit the trainer tomorrow – who knows?

On a brighter note I did a 10K trail race on Saturday and took first in my age group!  It was a 10 year age group 50-59 with 5 women in it and I came in first by 8 minutes.  I just stayed on the heels of these 2 girls whose combined age I figured  may have equaled my own.  Turns out their combined age is only 52.  WINNER!   So that was fun.  It was a really great run, too with lots of hills and mud and rocks and roots – the real deal!  My time was 1:17 so that’s not too bad for a muddy, hilly 10K.  At least I have that to be happy about because this cold really sucks!

Posted in Monday Monday, PR!, Racing, Running | Tagged | 7 Comments

Tour of Ca – I was This —>

Posted on February 26, 2009 by 21cm

I had an invitation to go to Winters to watch the Tour come through and then to have dinner at the somewhat famous BuckHorn Grill.  The plan was to go up there with the Good Doctor, bikes in rack, watch the Tour come through, go for a ride around Lake Barryessa and then have our dinner.  Sadly, TGD had to go to traffic school and it was pouring rain.  Sadder still, I decided not to drive up there and watch the tour come through – big mistake.  I did get  something out of it, though.

The invitation came from my Ex who is a super nice guy.  Since I couldn’t be there he took care of me, though.  A week after the tour he delivered this shirt via TDG who is treating his Dad right now.

I thought it was a great shirt and immediately noticed that it had been signed so I took a colser look at the inscription:

Any Time!

Any Time!

 

Awesome!  I sent the Ex an email thanking him for the shirt and telling him how funny I thought his signature was and asking him if he used a laundry pen.   This was his reply:

ME?!?! You mean Lance, don’t you? And sorry, we were both pedaling so fast, I couldn’t see what kind of pen he was using.


Let me tell you how it all happened…..It was sleeting a side-winding cold, and very wet rain, as I lay in wait on Railroad Ave for “The Pack”. My frigid knuckles ached as they wrapped around the hand grips of “Old Blue”, my 1969 Schwinn Varsity. Through the sea of umbrella-wielding, wet well-wishers, I glimpsed Armstrong leading “The Pack”.
Of course, I let them pass through downtown Winters. Then, I sloshed down a side street, my blue jeans and converse high tops heavy with rain water, but managed to catch up to the back of the pack as they hit the grade to Monticello Dam.

Visibility was poor, with water dripping off the brim of my Black Angus ball cap, but I squinted hard and moved on the pack up their left flank. Many of the less experienced riders started dropping back on the 15% grade, and that opened a hole for me to get up front. I had to be aggressive and a bit rude in order to muscle my Schwinn in between Lance and the guy to his left, but I did it.

He looked amazed…looked me right in the eye as we stroked the spokes at 25 mph uphill, side by side. “What the fuck are you doing, you old fool?!?”, Lance politely asked me.
“Just autograph my shirt for my friend Pamela, Junior, and I’ll wait for you in Santa Rosa”, I responded, just as politely.
“Jesus H. Christ”, he shouted, “I’m in the middle of a race!”
“Just lean over and sign the goddam shirt, will ya? I’m in a hurry”, I said calmly.
“OK Grandpa…gimme a pen”. (Just a ballpoint, to answer your question).

As I threw it into high gear, and sped away from the pack, I heard him mutter, “Where did that old fart come from, and what was that piece of crap he was riding?”
 
Enjoy the t-shirt, my friend.
 

 

 

 

 

Best shirt ever!

Posted in Cycling, Family, Fun in a tub | 5 Comments

Monday Monday – No PR For YOU!

Posted on February 25, 2009 by 21cm

Oh well – I did not have a 5K PR in the couples relay but I did have a great time!

I rode a really hard ride on Saturday along with a bunch of people from Forward Motion Race Club and with a match.com guy I had had one other date with.  He’s nice but so not the guy.  His group ride behavior left something to be desired, too and then he was late for Slum Dog Millionaire to which I had bought the tickets since he was late and about which he said nothing so buh-bye to him.

Anywho.. this is about my race, not my date.  The day dawned wet and dreary and pretty much stayed that way.  My better half in relay running showed up at my house and we drove together to Oakland for the start.  Look how excited we are – we’re glowing!

Cutest Couple at the race!

Cutest Couple at the race!

We picked up the bibs and my partner asked if she could go first so she could get it over with.  That was fine with me.  When she got back to the start we did a nice running hand off (you just have to touch) and it was game on!  I turned my iPod on to The Pretender by the Foo Fighters and took off at a 7:55 pace.  Brilliant.  It was pouring rain, I had no pocket for the iPod and I started out way too fast.  The iPod died, I died, and then  our 12 year old teammate streaked past me calling out “good job!” and I settled in to about an 8:25 pace which was much better.

I managed an 8:22 for the first mile and a 8:17 for the second but I kept getting passed and then the rain picked up and it was pouring.  I guess  I backed off a whole lot because mile 3 was a 9:25 and then I picked it back up a bit and the last little bit was an 8.50 so my overall time was a 26:55 or 13 seconds under my PR.

After the race we all hung out and ate coffee cake and bagels with cream cheese and fruit and drank coffee and shivered together because it was wet and cold.  But it was fun – very fun.  Thanks to all my team mates for coming out to play in the rain!

We Know for Fun - Right?!!

We Know for Fun - Right?!!

Posted in Monday Monday, Racing, Running | 6 Comments

Hump Day Miscellany – Whose Idea Was That?

Posted on February 19, 2009 by 21cm

I had a double experience today that just left me shaking my head.  It comes under the category of “did they really think that would work?” 

1). First off my dealings with Comcast – my internet/phone/cable TV provider.  On December 12th I called to have HDTV installed and to get their ‘triple play’ bundle that included phone/internet/TV.  The actual installation didn’t happen until January 5.  My bill reflected a credit on my old service from 12/16 – 2/6 and payment for my new service for the same period.  Hmmmm…. I thought.  Why would I be charged for something I didn’t have installed?  The conversation went like this:

Me:  Why are you charging me for service from 12/16 when I didn’t get installed until 1/6?
Her:  We turned your HDTV service on you just couldn’t get anything in HD.  You had those extra channels, though
Me:  Well- I didn’t know that and I couldn’t use the HD so why would I pay for it?
Her:  Ma’am – you had it.  You just couldn’t get the HDTV channels until they did the install.  But you had those extra channels
Me/Her… 3 or 4 more times of me explaining that having extra stuff come through the wire without me knowing it and without me being able to use it didn’t constitute ‘having it’ and her contradicting me and  with me getting more frustrated.  Then  a light went off when I noticed the term ‘bundled’ in the higher charge.
Me:  Well – you are charging me for a phone/TV/internet bundle but I didn’t get your phone service until the installer came out.
Her:  Just a moment ma’am while I check on something…….5 minutes go by….. Ma’am – I’m going to issue you a credit for $77 to cover the time when you were not receiving those services.
Me: Thanks so much for taking care of that!

I ask you – on what planet is it okay to charge for something  you have yet to deliver?  How much bank must they make on this crap?  Their system is set to start charging as soon as a work order goes in even though it is well known that it can take weeks to actually install the service.  Maddening.  But I solved the problem so I moved on to:

2).  Kaiser Bill for my son’s health insurance.  I went on-line in December to try to get him insurance.  I filled out all of the forms including giving them my ATM account information.  I finally was notified about 2 weeks ago that he was approved and insured.  Today I got a bill that showed they had charged me for 1 month and another charge  for 2 months retroactive.  Huh?  How can they charge for 2 months retroactive when they didn’t approve anything until 2 weeks ago?  So I have my son call them and she explains that they bill 3 months at a time. Okay fine but why are you billing me for 2 months when I had no coverage?  “Oh – no problem, sir.  When would you like us to change the start date to?”  SERIOUSLY??!!  This was optional!??  Sweet baby Jeebus who thinks this stuff up?  So we change it to start Feb 1 and she tells me I will get a new bill for Feb/March/April.  So then I ask about the money that’s already been paid and she says, “Oh yes – I see that you paid that already so we will apply that to February”  Awesome!  But really – WTF??

3).  In other news – let’s talk about training.  Yesterday and earlier today I was at that point where my training plan was really bugging me and wearing me out.  I was asking the questions we all ask at one point or another – Why?  Why do I do this?  Who do I think I’m kidding?  What is the point??!!!  Saturday the Good Doctor and I went for a ride on a route that is hilly and full of rollers and by the time we got to the top of a place called The Three Bears I thought I might die.  When TGD got there (and I’m so kicking his ass on the bike these days!) I said, “God that was HARD!  That makes climbing Diablo look easy” and he told me I was nuts.  It wasn’t hard at all and it was nothing compared to climbing the mountain.  You be the judge:

Ride up Mt. Diablo to Top

Three Bears from Reliez Valley Rd.

 

 

Note – the scale is quite different – Mt. Diablo goes up to 3500 ft and the 3 Bears is only 900 ft.

I think I was just tired – fatigued. 

I had Monday off and yesterday I did 90 minutes in the trainer.  This morning I swam but it was an easy workout.  Tonight I ran with my race club – one guy in particular.  I knew I was going at a really good clip for me and I was chatting.  After about a mile I started to fall off the pace but I kept going as hard as I could manage without feeling like I was killing myself.  My splits:

7:52, 8:45, 8:47, 8:34, 8:33 (last half mile)

So maybe the person who first got the idea that  training hard would make you faster was on to something  because that is my previous 5K race pace, not my ‘going for a run’ pace.  I’m running a 5K Sunday.  I hope it is somebody’s idea for me to PR.  I think it might be mine.

Posted in Cycling, Hump Day, Running, say what?, training | Tagged | 10 Comments