Time Trial

Today was supposed to be a Time Trial test. Every year for the past three years since I've been coached by Ann Trombley of TrailMaster coaching, I've done a time trial test along 36 from Boulder to Lyons in order to get a benchmark for the rest of the season. I'm supposed to go as hard as I can and then Ann is able to deduce what my Lactic Threshold power and heart rate is based on the Power Tap file I send her after the test.
This morning's ride started off fine. I warmed up for an hour, did a few sprints to wake the legs up, and then went for it. The first half was fine...the second half truly sucked. Here are my excuses for a less than stellar performance:

• It was windy
• I didn't have the proper gearing and spun out on the downhill sections
• I met up with a schmuck who refused to get passed by a girl and messed up my "flow" (I'm being sarcastic, but it was kind of annoying because I was breathing too hard to explain what I was trying to accomplish)
• About 3/4 in I realized my legs, correct that, LEG was shot-I've been having some knee issues with my left leg and must've been compensating because my right leg was totally worked over and cramping from doing more than it's fair share of the work.

I think that's enough excuses to cover me... :) Anyway, the test is over with and even though I have a lot of excuses, I still went as hard as I could and am happy about that.
After this wonderful effort, I started to really suffer from an excruciating headache and some severe nausea. Has this happened to anyone before? I'm trying to figure out if this is what happens when you go hard for the first time in many months...or if it was the blueberry Clif Bar I scarfed, or if I didn't have enough coffee this morning?

Yeah for intervals!

I was able to leave work a bit early today and get a good, hard ride in. The weather forecast wasn't that promising, but it actually turned out to be ok...even nice out. I love it when that happens. Anyway, I had some LT intervals in the plan-3 x 12 min with 10min rest between. My legs were burning...I think skiing last weekend took it's toll.

Creating a balance

I have been a bit busy lately, so don't really have anything new to blog about. But, I thought I would share what a typical week for me looks like as some of my cycling friends have remarked to me recently that they "Don't know how I do it". "It" being train enough to be competitive at the Pro level (albeit the Regional Pro level) while working full time as well as finding time to hang out with my husband. I do really try and maintain some sort of balance. Fortunately, I am an engineer and I have a relatively flexible schedule. Also, I have a very patient and independant husband. So, the balance looks something like this: Monday is an easy training day so I try and work a few extra hours to create a buffer for the rest of the week. Tuesdays I wake up at 5:30 and head to the gym, I try to get to work by 7:30 and I treat myself with a breakfast bagel on the way in. I then try to get a 1-1.5hr ride in over lunch or will ride my bike home after work. Wednesdays are usually longish ride days-too long to go during lunch. So, I will either ride into work, ride home from work, or arrange to work from home and go mid-day. Thursday's routine are the same as Tuesday's typically. Friday is a ride during lunch, or a ride into work. Saturday is a long ride day hopefully with my friends...this ride is typically pretty hard and long. Afterwards sometimes Ari and I will go for a mellow hike with Tucker, sometimes we'll run errands, sometimes we'll watch a movie. Lately, I've had to do some work over the weekend as well. Sunday is another longish ride, plus a visit to the gym, laundry, and also I do the grocery shopping for the week. So, there you have it! It basically comes down to a lot of planning!Ari affectionately calls me his bag-lady because I've been known to come home from work with 5-8 bags filled with food, gym clothes, cycling clothes, work clothes, work supplies, etc. The hardest part of maintaining a balance is that once you've got your plan you can't really deviate. For me this means that when I've scheduled a ride, that's the time that I have. I can't wait for the warmer part of the day or the week to get out. I also have to pass up on a lot of last-minute social events. But, that's ok because engineers aren't known for their social skills anyway!

Love the Skins you're in...

Today was the culmination of my "hard" week, meaning it was the last day of week 4 of a 4 week build. Yesterday's ride was pretty tough, and I felt good about the effort I was able to sustain. When I got home, I was pretty destroyed. As soon as I got in the front door I collapsed on a chair and couldn't move for awhile. Once I got going, I took a shower, ate some food, and got into my Skins compression tights. I gotta say, I am amazed at what a difference I feel after wearing these. Last year, a ride like yesterday's would've left my legs achy and sore. But, after wearing my Skins for several hours my legs felt awesome! So now I'm even more anxious for their Cycle line to be available in the US...I can't even imagine.

Yeah for mountain biking!

Today was just what I needed-a great day on my mountain bike exploring new, beautiful trails. The forecast called for high winds, but it didn't look too bad and I figured I could always spin on the trainer if it got worse. It was a bit windy, but really beautiful and fun. I am SO excited that Boulder Open Space and Boulder Mountain Bike Alliance are continuing to work together to develop awesome new trails in South Boulder. I feel truly blessed to be able to ride great trails so close to my house.

Way cool!

This is what I saw on my ride today. I was riding by Baseline reservoir when I saw this bald eagle come swooping down and snag a fish. If I was really cool, I would've whipped out my snazy camera phone and snapped a video. But, I alas am not that cool. The rest of the ride was pretty dang cold, and yes, windy.
PS. I should specify that I did NOT take this picture. My phone doesn't even have a camera. I found this picture on the web.

Is this some kind of joke?

Hmm, the Powers That Be must have read my blog yesterday, because today was an absolutely perfect day until I clipped into my pedals. Very funny.
Anyway, it was still a beautiful ride.
P.S. I am an enginerd who happens to be obsessed with the weather. This pic is from the NREL Wind Station website. It is updated every minute.

Worst Ride of the Year

Today as I was getting ready for my ride, I commented to Ari that "It's days like these where I am so excited to ride my bike!" It was a balmy 50 degrees out, I was recovering from my cold and feeling good, and I was going to go for a beautiful ride on my road bike. HAH! The Powers That Be looked down on me in my naieve excitement and smirked. It was a bit breezy as I was merrily rolling along, so I thought to myself "head east, it will be calmer"! So I went east, and it got windier. So, I said to myself "head north, it'll be better there"! So, I went north, and the Powers That Be laughed out loud. I was heading west on Nelson watching a 200+lb man swerving on his bike in front of me because the wind was blowing so hard he was having a hard time staying upright and going forward...it was really, really windy. And I was really, really grumpy and miserable...and scared. I just really hate the wind. Give me cold, give me heat, give me rain, just not WIND!!
To make myself feel better, I decided that today's ride was the Worst Ride of the Year because, as my friends and family know, I like to focus on the negative. But really, if today really was the Worst Ride of the Year-then that's not too bad I guess. So, really I'm being optimistic!!