8 days, and counting

That's right... It's been 8 days since I've ridden indoors on the trainer! Bitchin'. Luke said that once Build starts it's best to get all the riding done OUTside. So, that's what I've been doing. Sometimes life'll get in the way, but I'm planning to keep riding outdoors unless it's really dangerous weather or I just can't manage it any other way.

With the upcoming time change, though, I hope to be able to do some evening rides where I don't have to work super early or super late at night to make up for my time out. So far they've been understanding, but it's tough walking across "campus", getting ready, riding for an hour or so, getting changed back, and walking across campus again. It's like a time suck!

Justin and I hit the intervals pretty hard on Tuesday. I was left drooling on the top tube more than once doing 5-9 minute V02 max intervals. I made sure to get in better and longer recovery periods than I had the week before.



Weather was nice enough (after our massive heat wave last weekend) to ride in shorts!



Wednesday was a jaunt up the other local hill for some steady Sweet Spot Tempo and shorter recoveries (only on the descents where the HR drops anyway). We did a few power jumps and sprints. Felt totally worked at the end.

I've been eating a ton, and enjoyed an evening out (complete with a Fat Tire and loads of focaccia bread). I had plenty of chicken and rice leftover for lunch on Thursday (one whole chicken breast and about a cup of white/Jasmine? rice). Thought my nutrition was spot on all week.

I constantly WANT to eat, whether I am hungry or not. Not really sure what to do about that. I'll eat a big lunch and then be checking the clock 5 mins later to see if it's time to eat again (going 2.5-3 hours between meals/snacks). I'm literally not remotely hungry, I just want to be eating.

So, Thursday I snacked and had my decent lunch and tried to sit and be ready to hit the hills last night offroad. I'm getting excited since there's more and more daylight everyday. Next week we should be able to get in about 1.5 hours without even needing the lights. Made it about 50 minutes last night before I turned mine on. It's killer being able to ride in the waning daylight.

It was fairly chilly last night (high 50s when we took off), but the sunlight is great.



Sorry, Matt, more Wiens-style jerseys are in my closet now :)

















Luke peeled off just before sunset as his quest for the evening was complete.

It wasn't too long after that I started to feel like crap. I felt like I couldn't see anything. Eventually I realized it wasn't a vision issue, it was a concentration issue. I couldn't focus on anything. The trail features were like 1D. Then I started to have a breakdown mentally. Just got super emotional for no reason and couldn't put out any power. I stopped, and shaking, grabbed for my gel flask and finished my water. I was only about an hour ten or so into the ride. I'd had a massive gel shot before taking off, and cereal and an apple 2 hours before the ride. I'd hydrated well all day. So, it didn't occur to me until it was too late that I was quite possibly mid-bonk. Ridiculous, because I'd felt REALLY strong the entire ride up until that point. I was putting power down, middle-ringing up steeps I'd never made in the middle ring before, and charging the descents. I was mentally feeling good, physically feeling great. The boys beat me up the hills, but I still felt really good.

I finally told Justin I had to call the ride. I did about another 15 or so minutes of Z1 spinning, and was really freaking cold. Temps had been dropping apparently. Once back to the truck I downed my post-ride EAS shake and some water, and felt a little better. I made us a pretty big salad when we got home, and we had some left over pasta with olive oil and lentils mixed in. YUM. Then I got to business making lunch, and figured I'd enjoy some dark chocolate while I was at it.

Oh no you di'int...



Oh yeah. I did.



It was damn good, too.

Today I did a regen spin. It was windy as all get out. Weather says wind gust is 5.1MPH? Pshaw. Other local stations are reporting anything from 13-20 MPH gusts. That's more like it. Made concentrating on the spinning a little difficult. Also, I kept wanting to get up and GO. Reigned it in since I've got plenty of GO planned for this coming weekend!

Parting thoughts for the weekend... tomorrow is the annual event which has basically consumed my fall/winter for the past 2 years. I spent November 2006 to March 2007 training for the little giant, and November 2007 to March 2008 training for its big brother. I got my feathers both times, despite a bit of hardships early on. I don't remotely regret not signing up this year. I set my personal record on the course over a month ago, and that's all that mattered to me.

However, I do wish my buds the best of luck out there tomorrow and hope that I make it out to cheer them on in some of the lower points of the race. Actually, I'll be up midway up the "mountain" so it will technically not be a low point! :)

Make sure to check out their blogs next week for full reports (hope I'm not missing anyone!):

Luke
James
Slater
Monique
Ryan
Jordan

TGIF!!

Dinner and the lunch ride

Justin made some really good pizza for us the other night. All ingredients from Trader Joe's!

Whole wheat dough
Lite mozzarella
Marinara sauce
Steamed lentils
Canned chicken
Bell peppers
Red onion
Mushrooms
Pressed garlic

Before:



After:



It was so good we ate the entire pizza!

Got a few pics from the intervals today (before and after).







We even saw a familiar face!

Time's fun when you're flying…

Back-up title: If I knew then what I know now…

I spend quite a bit of time in a quandry as to where I belong in the racing world. I feel like at local races I am sandbagging, but it is often mentioned to me that these aren't "national level" races, and the competition is a lot better on the bigger stage. I don't have delusions of grandeur thinking I can hold onto Georgia's wheel any time soon (first off, she's probably been racing Pro longer than I've been riding a bicycle), but I also don't feel that good not giving any of the "local" Cat 1 racers a chance at the top step of the podium.

USAC feels that I don't belong in the Pro category, and since their site has been down all day, I can't check on any updated racing info (and I heard over the weekend they changed a few things?).

If I knew in late 2007, or beginning of 2008, that I'd be this serious about racing, I would've upgraded to Cat 1 (nee Expert) following Fontana last year. I would've gotten my butt handed to me at quite a few Expert races last spring, but I would've learned something. I had no idea. I didn't know I should've been moving toward something else. No one told me I was wasting my time. USAC didn't mind that I was winning most of my races, and podiuming the others.

I upgraded a bit too late last summer, so only had half a handful of results that went to USAC, and they were all for really local events. My result from the CA State race is a bit skewed, since I got a flat tire (tire glued to the rim = long tire change). I was 3-4 minutes up on my field and felt great. That's racing. I set my sights on not having a DNF for the race, and accomplished that.

Either way, I am where I am right now, and have a decision to make.

Now, let's back up.

I knew I wanted my nutrition to be stellar leading up to the race since we'd be basically training through. Saturday we were hoping for 3.5-4 hours, so I wanted to have the tanks topped off after a slow week, nutritionally and ride-wise.

Dinner Friday night - yellow sweet potatoes, chicken, and Trader Joes' Brown Rice Medley (super bomb stuff)



Since I mentioned it last week, I thought I'd get some shots of my new oatmeal concoction. I'd eat it more often if it wasn't so loaded!!





While we were packing stuff up I figured I'd shoot for some extra protein in my weekend diet, and I threw together some berry protein shakes for us for after the ride. I need to find a way to make them more liquid and less solid, but they're pretty good.



The taste of the protein powder is fairly overwhelming whether I have yogurt or not (Sunday I didn't have yogurt in there - it was thicker than it had been WITH it, also). Guess I'll have to live with that!

Not too long after we started the drive up north to pre-ride the course a few times!

Justin took some shots of my new bling



Mentally preparing for the start!



Preride shots







Luke











We got in 4 laps. One was race-pace, and the other 3 were mostly SST. I was super worked after the ride, and easily downed my protein shake and some water, then we went to check in and pick up our race packets.

I didn't really look in the bag until we got home, but we got hooked up! A ton of swag!



Cool number plates, free t-shirt, free water bottle (event "personalized"), a bottle of H20 Overdrive, sample of Rapidade (I've never tried it), sample of E2 Hydro (looking forward to trying this one), Gu pack, KMC power-link type deal, and coupons for Rock N Road and ESI Grips.

Figured I'd try out the H20 Overdrive post-race since it's 3:1 carbs:protein.

We both spent too much time on our feet (Justin prepping bikes, and me prepping food, drink, and clothing), but since I was having some pain and discomfort behind my knee Justin had me sit with my feet elevated (laying down) and had me take 4 Ibuprofen. I couldn't feel my feet after 20 minutes, so got up to shower and hit the foam roller.

I had half a cup of Kashi Go-Lean (non crunch) in some milk and went to bed.

Got up Sunday morning after a fairly poor night's sleep (I spoke too soon - the upstairs neighbors have spent the last 3 nights making noise), made some more oatmeal and got together post-race PB&J bagels and the berry protein shakes, along with coffee!

We packed up and headed north with Luke.

We were there plenty early, but we got a pretty primo spot. We hung out and chatted with James, Eric, Ryan, Herber, Jason Ranoa, and the Fletcher's, and eventually Justin and I headed over to the start to watch the Cat 2's take off! It was really warm already, and not even 11 am yet.





Once it got close to 11 we went back to hydrate, have some food, and get changed into race clothes for the warm-up. I did a fairly long warm-up, but spent a good amount of time spinning the legs out, and did a few hard efforts to get the body really warm and ready to go. It was seriously hot out.

Added a few new stickers!





Luke thinks it looks like a NASCAR body!

Slater got this shot of Justin and I warming up



I told Justin good luck and we both lined up in our respective locations. The Pro's took off, and shortly after the Cat 1 men were out of site. It was hot standing in the line, but no worries. We were moved along really quickly, and I think started some time around 12:50. I sort of lined up wrong - I wound up behind someone who wasn't on it when the women started, and then my gearing was a tad off. I worked pretty hard to bridge from the last 3rd of the pack up to the front half. I had no idea whose wheel to grab, but we were all jostling for position on the early climb.

I held on one wheel, went around, held another, went around, held another, went around, soon I only saw Melanie McQuaid and Krista Park in front of me, and we started to pass some of the older Cat 1 men. What!

I continued to hold Krista's wheel where I could, and she and I traded spots for most of the 1st lap. She gapped me a bit in the transition, and I managed to catch back up by the time we hit the feed station. I hit the lap button late, and up we climbed, trading spots here and there.

Lap 2 it got really hot. I had little desire to drink my Cytomax, but continued to take it in anyway since I knew I needed the fluids. This one bottle cage situation is less than ideal, so for hot races this summer I think I'll be trying a weaker mix.

Krista started to pull away a little more than halfway through the lap. I could've dug deeper and held on, but it wasn't really necessary, and my legs were begging for mercy. I sort of wish I would've gone and done a 3rd lap anyway, to see if I could've held off 3rd in the Pro field, but since I wouldn't have been "racing", I'm not sure it would've done me any good. I pulled off after my obligatory 2 laps, and spun around for awhile, after grabbing some ice cold WATER!

Had a good time cooling down with Rachel and Heidi and chatting about the race and stuff. I managed to make it back to the finish line area and catch Justin coming through! He finished 8th out of 24 in his first Cat 1 race, despite cramping up for most of lap 3! Way to start out the season!

We both had a killer day of racing. Sho-Air has definitely breathed some good life into the US racing scene and I'm really looking forward to Fontana later this month!



Since I shoved so much food in my mouth after the race (lots of water, H20 Overdrive, berry protein shake, PB&J bagel, half an In & Out burger - my first taste since 4/04, no joke) I wasn't even hungry until about 8 last night. I enjoyed some "victory cereal" and a small bit of pasta and olive oil.

I slept poorly again last night, but the legs are feeling good and physically and mentally I'm ready to hit the tarmac for some hard intervals this week. No matter what category I'm in come later this month and year, I've got to be ready to hit it and do my best.

This training thing really pays off.


Next up - more food info, and list of stuff I liked.

US Kenda Cup - Bonelli Park

Well, race number ONE is in the books! It was super hot out at Bonelli today (and probably everywhere in So Cal). Sho-Air put on a killer race and started the season out with a huge race (I think I heard 650+? And over 400 Cat 2/3 racers).

Had 7 racers in my Cat 1 race (6 finishers). I finished 1st in my race, and was holding a steady 3rd in Pro/Cat 1 women when I finished (no, I did not keep "racing" a third lap!).

Photos and full report tomorrow.

Looking forward to Fontana!

'Round the outside

My first ever cycling cap!

Weekday updates...

Few and far between, lately. Haven't had much to say! The weekends are jam-packed with goodies and weekdays not so much.

I have a few weight updates for ya, and I bought a bunch of goodies at Trader Joe's. I'm more and more coming to seriously love healthy eating and good food. I don't eat a ton of "rich" foods anymore, and try to stay away from sweets as much as possible. I've nearly cut out all alcohol and have been feeling pretty good and sleeping well (shocking!!).

After our all-out retaliation last Sunday morning the nights have been quiet. Sunday night I did shoring up of my own situation to ensure sleep (Tylenol PM, wax ear plugs, and a shot of Vanilla Rum - YUM) and slept great. I haven't even worn ear plugs all week since and I've been sleeping off and on. I've also made great efforts to be as quiet as possible whenever I'm home (not letting the door slam shut, not having the TV overly loud, not having the radio loud, etc.). I hope this lasts!

However, I have become OBSESSED with food. I live my day around food and when my next snack is. I haven't even been hungry. Maybe I just need to find something to keep myself busier during the day? It's a possibility. Riding is not a big focus this week (it's all about recovery and regeneration for the next cycle - starting this Saturday).

I've got my calories pretty well laid out, and while I essentially eat the same thing every week, I'm trying to change up breakfast and dinner enough that I'm getting a variety.

Cereal is a low calorie breakfast (Kashi Go Lean and Cheerios mixed, with blueberries when I'm lucky).

Bagel and cream cheese is super filling and a great way to kick start the day with a LOT of energy.

New for today - I tried making my own oatmeal that wasn't processed and full of sugar. (I'm a big fan of the Instant Maple & Brown Sugar.) I was eating a ton of that for years as breakfast, and have since moved away from oatmeal. But, we have an entire bag of plain oats that Justin's mom gave us over the holidays (she wasn't eating them) and I can't stand them plain. At all.

So, I asked (and received) lots of suggestions for what to put in oatmeal, and I made some today that included it ALL!

1/2 cup of oats
1/6 cup of Craisins
1 tsp honey
1 tbsp ground flax seed
1/6 cup almond slivers
1/6 cup walnuts
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup of milk
1/3 cup blueberries

It was pretty freaking good! In all honesty, I think the blueberries made it, but it was tasty and seemed filling. At the time. It's chockful of calories (530~), but a little high on the fat:protein ratio - mostly due to the nuts, I think. I figured with that kind of calorie intake at 6am I'd be full for the day. Not so! Wound up kind of hungry again at 8:30-9, just like always.

The cereal has been really filling this past week, but my calories are a bit lower than normal since riding is all easy spinning and really low volume.

Cereal (Kashi/Cheerios mix), milk, and blueberries comes out to 320 calories and a way better mix of fat:protein (7% fat, 21% protein calories vs. 35% to 12%).

Sorry for the extraneous info, but like I said, I'm obsessed lately!

Justin I think hooked it up with a DA cassette over the XTR for a weight-savings of 65g



and then switched out the chain to a KMC (uber pimp - pics this weekend of it installed) for a savings of only 21g.



But, it's supposed to be a killer chain, and not much difference in price from the Hollowpin SRAM chains (correct me if wrong).

With the added weight savings of -45g from removing the chainguard I'm now at minus 131g. Which is good, because next he added some weight.

At SRC #3 I was running the Specialized Fast Trak SLK tire on front with the MaxxLite 310 on the rear - 790g total.

This weekend I'll more than likely be running Kenda Karma's fr/rear (these are amazingly consistent tires when it comes to weight; we got 3 and they were 480, 480, and 481g). New tire weight is 960g. Difference? 170g.

So, we added 41g of rotating weight, but I'm also picking up a bit of rear tire traction. I have no idea how the Karma up front will behave, but I hope it functions okay.

I really liked the Karma on the back of the Dos last year toward the end of the year. It wasn't as fast/light as the 1.8 Bontrager, but it was close!

Just wish the rear tire would seal. It's been flat 2 days in a row.

Last up - the TJ's goodies:



I bought a lot more than that, but there's a selection. We got some whole wheat pizza dough so we're gonna make a chicken/veggie pizza Sunday night (whole grain dough, mixed bell peppers, red onion, marinara, black beans, lentils, canned chicken, lite mozzarella shredded cheese will be used sparringly).

I'll take pics of the oatmeal concoction if I make it this weekend, and also the pizza.

Now it's time for lunch!