GRD

So despite a weak hammy and inability to train 100%, I've managed to occupy my time quite nicely with laying the ground work to grow women's track locally.

Knitting season is officially over. (So I have a total of 15 rows to go to complete Ryan's fuzzy wool sweater - but after that, I'm done for a while.)

Spring is almost here - the weeping willow in our back yard is starting to have bright green buds poke out all over... which can only mean one thing - racing beginnings. Gone, hopefully soon, will be the days of 36 degree pouring rain 6 hour training rides. Hello shocking white knees that will blind you if you look at them without sunglasses. Hello funny tan lines and embarrassing bikini lines.

Oh! I almost forgot! I did a PR yesterday - an hour 45 on the bike with an average of 120 watts. (If I really think about it, that's pretty pathetic.) But this time I only got passed be one commuter and passed quite a few granny's. That lifts my spirits. Let me tell you how important it is to be able to pass someone, anyone, even if I'm 40 years their junior. At least their hamstrings work. Ha!

And even better than that - we got our kits last night. Hello Team Capitan Incredible. Bright red with a black superhero Ti Cycles logo. I'm going to Archie McPhee's today and buying masks.

taking it easy and playing it safe

Talk about a hard thing to do - when everything around you continues at its normal speed and you're not there. I just keep repeating to myself, "you have to go slow to go fast." Well if that's the case, then I'm going to be unstoppable. :0

Just watched the ToC - nice work to all the fellas putting in an early season effort.

I'm working with Carol and Izette to grow our local women's track scene. Hopefully we'll grow the fields so we have a 1/2/3 field again.

39 degrees and pouring rain

but I had a grin on my face from ear to ear. I got to ride outside today for the first time in 16 days! It felt awesome! My hammy cooperated - and although I've got a long ways to go - I'm tickled to death it's finally getting better. Actually this injury has been good for me - it's forced me to take some down time and work on mental training. It's been going really well actually. I'm super excited and motivated to get back on the bike - just in time for racing!

Hope you're training's going well. Keep smiling - that's why we do it!

tour of cali

If you're looking for some serious surfing coverage - check out the Tour of Cali;

www.amgentourofcalifornia.com

Their live coverage is sweet - you can follow them on satellite and track your favorite rider. Coverage may be a little hazy today due to the heavy rain but it still does the job.

My hammy's getting better!!!! I'm able to do a steady 30 minutes in zone one around 100 watts! I went and saw Erik Moen yesterday and he said I could ride outside this weekend too. Boy am I excited to get off of the trainer.

Smith Rockin' Good Time

Ryan and I canceled our Beaver Creek trip last minute due to my hamstring issue - which saved us quite a bit of dough and put more time off in Ryan's bank. Instead we ventured south 6.5 hours to Smith Rock - just outside of Bend, Oregon. Ryan drove Maggie (our 1990 VW hippy bus) the entire way. For entertainment we turned on the always strange hick talk radio through Biggs, OR to be pleasantly rewarded with a debate on cock fighting. Should men be allowed to fight their cocks legally? It was funny. (On another trip we were listening to the same station and some guy called in to say, "we should bomb Mecca.") And oddly enough we heard a Colorado Mountain Pass report stating that Vail pass was super slow moving and battling a severe snow storm. Dang. Oh well.

The weather on Saturday was super nice - it was great soaking up the rays and Vitamin D. Ryan and Orien were climbing buddies for the day and Katy and I got to hang out. She has a gimped leg so we hobbled around together and got some much needed exercise. The following day we planned on hiking around the odd volcanic formation and do some water painting. We took Makiah and Hobbes, Orien's pup. Hobbes is crazy.

Sunday the weather was chilly - with a strong prevalent wind blowing the entire day and making temps chilly. You could see Hood and the surrounding mountains were blanketed in snow clouds and nasty weather - and slowly but surely it worked its way toward us. By 4pm it was too cold to hang out so I headed back to the van and the fellas were only 10 minutes behind me. We hit snow in Cle Elum and luckily the temps were hovering right around 33/34. If we had waited another hour we would've gotten stuck.

It was a great trip and really nice to get out of the city for a weekend. My hammie's starting to feel better - and I'm starting to be able to do a little more than before. It's healing - but will take more time. I had a strange voicemail this morning from Gary, Ryan's dad. Apparently there's some missing mountaineers on Mt. Hood and he thought he heard we were in the area. My heart goes out to those people - I hope they're found soon!

It's really hard to come up with alternative exercises that don't involve your hamstrings and get your heart rate up... any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

I went to see my primary care doctor this morning and his response about the hamstring was what do you have planned in the next 6 months? 6 months? Yep, that's how long it could potential take to heal. It's a long slow healing process and in order to avoid 100% of fitness loss then I'm going to have to figure out something to do.

More importantly I have to keep my spirits up.

WahWah

Just saw Genevieve. She rules. Basically there's nothing major going on muscle wise - just a bunch of little bumps, which she rubbed out and maybe a slight tear. So time will tell how long I need to recover. But that makes my day and is something positive to focus on!

mental training

Even if I have to keep rereading the same passage over and over again -it's helping. Focusing on the positive and accepting injury is the first step in healing. It's all part of the natural process we call life.

All of this down time allows me to concentrate on the most under emphasized aspect of racing - the mental prep. And I picked up my paint brush again .... look out Picaso! We head to Colorado Friday for a fun weekend of skiing. Yeah!!!!

WTF? A neighbor up the street has belfor over to do some emergency water repair. Crazy - that means 4 houses on my block are in construction zone. Parking's TIGHT.

Record slow ride

All I kept thinking to myself today was - you gotta go slow to get fast. Don't worry - this is only temporary. You'll be 100% in no time.

I attempted an outdoor ride today. I'm not even close to being healed. I realized that about 12 minutes into my ride, right near the U when a ZING ran through my inner tendon on the back side of my right knee. It felt like it was going to seize up. I stretched it out and slowly continued on... man, this sucks. I'm itching to be back where I was. Did my mental strength out grow my physical self? It took me 45 minutes in what usually takes 20. Sad. You have to go slow to get fast.

I'm getting a massage tomorrow to hopefully knock it out. Bummer. Oh well - my body is telling me it's time to chill.

How to Kill time when you're injured...

1. Surf - I'm seriously almost pro at surfing the web. I spend hours of day on the puter and can't seem to tear myself away..... yet I frequent the same sites in hopes that someone has updated their content. Nope. Same shit. But I look again any way.

2. Knit. Yes, I'm a closet knitter. I used to knit socks - until I got sick of using these tiny needles which would take forever to show any progress. Ryan heckled me until I finally recently committed to making him a sweater. It's been 5 days since my hamstring pull and I'm already 3/4 of the way finished. (Usually it would take me all winter to complete one.) Yes, I'm compulsive. That's okay though - at least it's not something bad for my health. But now my wrists are clawed with carpel tunnel.

3. Eat chocolate. I am still searching for the world's best milk chocolate. Thank goodness my face doesn't show it. Yet. Scientists have found chocolate is a sure fire way to cure a slightly torn hammie.

4. Ignore chores. I'm really good at this because I can occupy myself doing all of the things listed above.

5. Clean my entire fleet of bikes with a tooth brush. Just kidding. I've never done that. That would take a lot of time - and I have sweaters to compulsively knit.

6. Stare into my back yard and imagine how nice it would be to have grass that would grow. I honestly went back there this weekend to fix our sagging planter boxes, only to discover our drill won't fit inside of the boxes for me to sink some lag bolts into the decking. Thankfully I didn't empty all the dirt out first to discover I didn't have the right tools. I must be getting smarter. Ha!

7. Read. Actually I really enjoy this one. Lately I've been reading a Tao Sports book and it's giving me great insights to often neglected mental aspect of sports. I'm trying to use this time to strength my mental preparation for the season - and eagerly look forward to each section I read and reflect on. Two seasons ago I pulled my achilles tendon right before racing started and had to sit out ML#1. I visualized the race and what it would be like for two weeks - to wind up 3rd in my first race, and come back to win the second one. Nice. Now if I could just do that for something more than ML's.


That's all I got.

Owie

I think I over did it this time.

After Tuesday night's slaughtering (really, my legs felt like lead weights later that night) - I had this great idea it would be a good time to test my FTP and do Cougar. Miller thought it was a good idea too - testing while I'm fatigued, just like what will happen during a stage race.

I felt fine - although I had a little soreness behind the knee - but it didn't hurt while I pedaled. IDIOT!

Up the hill I went - in record time too. But that night I started feeling some tenderness and then yesterday I had to hobble around. It was swollen - not like ligament swollen, but swollen from over use. Dang it - I had a to miss a 4 hour ride - with NO RAIN. Oh well.

Here's what I think happened - after doing this one monster climbing Tuesday night - I stopped at the turn around point and waited about 10 minutes while everyone else rolled in. I had this brilliant idea to stretch - and because my muscles were open - I over stretched it. Then I did some more climbing that night - followed by another day of climbing.... thoroughly fatiguing my leg. And now I sit - icing and maintaining positive thoughts to heal back up and get back on my bike.

Lesson learned - if you feel the slightest inclining that you might have over done it - don't continue and then beat your body to shit through hundreds of thousands of revolutions. Chill out - figure out what you did and relax. An injured leg won't help you at all.

Tuesday Climbing and Wednesday Testing....

Last night I made it to the weekly Tuesday night hill climb ride. TGH gets together at T-Mobile in Factoria for a 2.5 hour jaunt up some of the local hills on the east side. Melinda clued me in to going - and now I'm the lonely non-groupie who showed. Although we do a lot of hills - I think my climbing is coming along at a great pace. I finally feel like I'm getting in shape - and the fitter I am, the more hurt I can do. :)

We sprinted for the city limit sign - Trish, Erin and Izzette were lined up ready to give it a go. I had no idea where the sign was - so happily pulled. They sat in and I could tell it was coming up. Finally they got sick of sitting behind me and making me pull so Trish, Erin and Izzette all came around me. I sensed the upcoming jump - Izzette went first, Trish to her left and Erin coming up from behind. That's when I threw the after burners on and flew by. Trish said, "FUDGE" and then Izzette, a little further up the road, "FFFFUUUUDDDDGGGGEEEEE." And I just giggled in glee. Oh I can't wait for the road season to start. I haven't used the sprinting efforts in a while - they feel a little dusty. But I'm sure it'll come back in no time.

This morning I woke up with heavy legs - knowing full well today was another Cougar test. I've built up some confidence from attending the Tuesday nights - but it's hard when you go solo to truly 100% push yourself. I parked on Mercer Island and warmed up to the bottom of Cougar via McDonald's. The first section went well - shaving another minute off my PR last November. Then I hit a wall and for the life of me could not put out any power. Where did it go? I can guarantee it was partly due to last night's effort and then letting those negative thoughts seep into my consciousness. Oh well - I still did a PR to the summit - 34 minutes. It felt good - but I know I still need to work on thinking the best and getting into a rhythm even when I'm in the hurt locker.

Racing starts in little less than a month - and I'm excited to see what happens this year.

Fixed Gear Fever has been interviewing the new women attending the Manchester World Cup. This includes Kele Murdin and Liz Reap-Carlson. FGF showcased Liz today and had a link to a recent blog she wrote. It was super inspiring to read it - especially considering I just met Liz this year and have literally watched her get to where she is now. Check it out if you have a moment....


http://womenonwheels.bicycling.com/2007/02/livin_the_dream.html

Both are shining examples that you can do anything you put your mind to.

brownsvilleholio

Did some great riding this weekend and met the newest addition to the family. Ryan joined me for about 80 miles - not too shabby for off the couch. He pushed me up the climbs - I averaged a high of 326 watts for 1 minute - not bad, not bad at all. Now if I could just kick that out at all times - that would be amazing. The roads down in brownsville are fantastic - I highly recommend it.

Boring blog, I know. But I haven't gotten in my quota of surfing yet.

Ridin ridin ridin

The past couple of days have been amazing riding weather - with temps almost reaching 50 in the afternoon and clear blue bird days. Every morning I wake up, choke down some breakfast and coffee, head to work for a couple hours and then jump on the bike. If only every winter ride could be like this - it would make more sense for us to have racing start in March!

Days have been filled with tempo and sub LT work - making me one tired and hungry puppy when I get home at night. I love it! So far I've already logged 10 hours on the bike... shooting for almost 20 by the end of the weekend. Solid. It's been a slow process but I think I'm finally starting to build my aerobic engine. And yes, it has a long ways to go. :) But it all fits into my bigger picture.

Looking forward to pounding out some racing mileage soon!