Thursday, February 28, 2008

Not So Good A Last Two Weeks

So the last two days were a little bit terrible. But we're not going to talk about it. Let's just say I'm working for myself again. And have ALOT of time to train.

Since the weather got better right after the race on Sunday (sigh), I did a hard brick and swim workout on Monday. And now my rest week is killing me.

No job, no training, no sleep.

Today, with no sleep and my second root canal and a rest day, I laid on my bed and watched Judge Joe Brown.

Also, prepare yourself for updates to the website and blogs. it'll come.

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Didn't do the Race

This is why I didn't do the Davis race this morning.

If you're not suppose to drive in this storm, why would I want to bike.

No. I was intending to do it. I got up and did my activation ride at 7, ate, then we headed over. And it was windy and raining sideways and shitty, but I was like eh.

We got to the race and left everything in the car and went to check out like what was going on, where they were at in the schedule, etc. And it's all super super shitty being outside. But I'm figuring out all the bike in, bike out, transition stuff. And then I'm standing there in the sideways rain and one of the guys comes in from our team, shaking, scraped all the way down his stomach. He got hypothermia and then hit a pothole and flipped off his bike. Then Dwight hit the same pothole and comes running in carrying his bike.

The winds are so bad they're blowing all the tents and barriers over. People are finishing and they're just kind of in a daze and like wow, that was, wow, bad.

So Christi starts telling me I shouldn't do it; that I don't have a whole to gain by doing it, since it's just a training race for me, and it's really bad out. And I'm starting to shake I'm getting cold and there are puddles inside my rainboots. Then Dwight starts in about the same thing; he's like it awful out there, don't do it, you have more to lose than gain. You don't want to crash and be hurt for races you actually care about.

At the last minute, ok, 15 minutes before my wave, I decided not to race. Then of course the rain clears up. But the winds were so bad driving home that our car was getting like blown across the freeway.

So, yeah, maybe that was a good call.

Friday, February 22, 2008

Racing as Trees Fall Down


Today I ran 3.5 miles, with some half mile pickups in the middle. But it started to rain as I was running, so I really didn't feel like going to swimming. Biked on my trainer and watched Little Miss Sunshine instead.

Natalie's on her way up from LA right now and we're going to go to the pool tomorrow. Then I have the Davis race on Sunday. But the storm is suppose to be so bad that by Sunday morning it's going to be 25 mph winds, with trees falling and all kinds of crazy shit like back in January.

This is what it looked like last time:



SO maybe there won't be a race? I don't know what's going on, but it's going to be nuts.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

SO TIRED

Yesterday, it took 3 hours to get out the door on a ride. It was just one of those days.

Then I got a flat.

So after a 2 hour ride in the morning and an hour in the afternoon and lifting, then I was walking over to the pool for swim practice and I was just so tired I almost started to cry.

I think this whole needing a new job, searching for a job constantly, all this shit, is wearing me out.

Team Dinner




This is Bobby Julich. He is now my favorite. Fucking hilarious guy.

We went to the team dinner Tuesday night. Not like one team. Like THE team dinner. I mean the tour people have to feed the cyclists somehow. It was in this big banquet hall and all the teams had different tables and they just kinda wandered in in thier sweats and ate and talked and hung out.

It would have been cool no matter what, but there were these tables seperate from the team tables where we were suppose to sit and we ended up next to these two guys: this guy who 'owned' a part of the race and with Andrea Peron, this former CSC rider. Andrea knew everyone and both of them were full of all this inside info, so they basically introduced us to everyone who walked by.

And we were sitting behind the CSC table, so at one point the guys at the CSC table start talking to the two guys sitting with us. So I turn around in my chair and am in the middle of a conversation between Bobby Julich and Fabian Cancellara. It was basically making fun of Fabian for being European. And talking about how crazy it would be if they had their team camp in South Central LA.

We didn't really take pictures or try to get autographs or anything, just kinda enjoyed it. And Steve talked training with Andrea and power with everyone else. Did get a photo with Tom Boonen, but since our digital camera isn't working, it'll be awhile before that gets developed.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Tour of California

Ran 9 miles this afternoon. It was the best I've felt running in awhile, so I picked it up the last few miles. I geuss this is one of the benefits of not having a job right now.

Then spent the rest of the afternoon at the Tour of California. Spent it in the VIP section, next to Oscar Sevilla! It was pretty awesome; and we're going to a team dinner tonight. sweeeet. But now my legs hurt from standing.

I know that people doing half-Ironmans and fulls do way more hours than me, but I've been trying to build up my hours slowly and doing what'll be best for me. And I'm fucking exhausted.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Just an Awesome Week

Between Bearathlon last weekend and Davis next Sunday I'm suppose to get in about 27 hours. The only problem is that with a day or two easy/rest after Bearathlon and before Davis, I have really a limited number of days to get in lots and lots of training.

So, it's been a little exhausting.

Yesterday was a long ride. I did the first hour and half with Steve, we just rode the bike path (along with every person in the Sacramento area) and then I was going to do the airport loop (which, yes, does loop around the airport). It was a little windy and rough on the way out, but once I turned in the loop it was nice to have the wind at my back coming in. That combined with 2 water bottles, 1 bottle of Gu2O, 2 bars and 1 gel made sure that I didn't bonk and felt good. So when I got to the turn-off to go home I was only really at 3:45, so instead of just riding back out and back again I decided to loop through Sac State again. Which did mean that I did the bike path between Sac State and my house 3 times, but at least I didn't do it 4.

Ended up being 65 miles, just over 4 hours, 1520kJ. This is in sharp contrast to my 58 mile ride 2 weeks ago, where I almost needed to go to sleep on the side of the road.

This was my ride:



No, I didn't actually bike through the river; there's a bike path there.

Friday evening I went to Masters and apparently Friday is the day that all the fast people go. So it was 10 guys i the fast lanes and me swimming in a lane by myself. It was a series of free sets and the coach was just, 'so, kelly, why don't you do it like 10 seconds slower and take off a 50y'. and then there would be times where they were all waiting for their interval and I would have to go and he'd be like, 'OK, everyone cheer Kelly now.' awesome and not wierd at all.

Today I tried to do some speed running. Since there wasn't a soccer game I figured it'd be good. It was rough.

All in all, an awesome week. Though since I don't have a job now what with the magazine going under because the woman is insane, I may have ALOT of time to train soon.

Friday, February 15, 2008

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Root Canal

I got a root canal this morning. It turns out when they said 'It'll be fine, it won't hurt' they may have been lying.

It's not that bad now, though, and I haven't taken any medication. But when my nose was still numb and I started having a sneezing attack and my mouth was swollen, that was awesome.

Yesterday I rode 2 hours in the morning. I think something may be wierd with my powertap because although it was suppose to be easy I don't think I was really going 50W. I would be riding along and then look down and be like hmm, I don't think I'm going that slow. Oh well...

Did drills and then muscular endurance work.

The Bible said in Base 2 (which I'm kinda in) I should start with 10-20 minutes in Zone 3 and build up. I don't love Zone 3, so I figured I'd do low Zone 4 instead. Only problem is I think my zones are a little different than the last time I got tested. My threshold when I tested was definitely like 170W, but this past weekend at the race I definitely did like 186W for 57 minutes, including descents. So yeah, I test badly. I did 10 minutes yesterday around 160 and it was totally not hard. I mean I was sweating, but I wasn't even breathing hard. The only annoying thing was some guy decided to draft off me on his way to work and he didn't even say anything. Awkward. I don't really like random people near me when I'm biking by myself. Actually I don't really like random people talking to me when I'm doing anything.

I went to the gym then in the afternoon. The whole time I was lifting (more weight, slow reps), people kept commenting on the numbers I still had bodymarked on my arms and legs. I never really know what to say to someone when they're like 'how'd it go?'; i'm like do you really want a detailed race report. Also, again, I don't like random people talking to me when I'm working out. It's like lift, strain, uh, hi. Wierd.

Did 1300y (which apparenlty are shorter than m, lame) easy, kicking, pulling, before Masters started, then did, with them:
400 warm-up
5 x 100 drill, swim, kick, swim stroke
4 x 50 free descending

then they were going to start a broken 1650y set, but I needed to get home, so I just cooled down. It was pretty fucking windy, so the ride home in the dark was bitchy.

Now I'm suppose to go for a long run. I geuss I should do it while my face doesn't hurt.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Sleep and TV

Easy. Let's take it nice and easy.

WIll start training again for real tomorrow, but right now...

Monday, February 11, 2008

Let's Do a Triathlon

Steve's coach, who's also a physical therapist, wanted me to come in on Friday morning since I've been having some bad problems with my left knee since we moved around my cleats two weeks ago.

So I rearranged my Thursday-Friday schedule and biked out to his office. It ended being a good move, my knee felt way better on the ride home and the rest of the weekend.

But I was so tired after a short 20 min swim on Saturday that I took two naps.

Bearathlon Sunday.

Woke up at 5am and did an activation ride. Didn't do a great warm-up, was too distracted by feeling like I was forgetting something important that I couldn't remember about triathlon.

The swim wasn't too bad. I just started swimming and when I got to the first buoy I found myself next to the leader and in the front group. Shit, I did get better at swimming. Only problem was as I fell back to draft off the leaders I got totally trampled. It was a little rough swim; I may have hit Nicole and Kim many times. But when I got out (which was hard to do), I was 5th I think. Course I don't know what people do in transition, because as Nicole and I got on our bikes at the same time there was only one person in front of us (Kim). The rest of you need to get your shoes on faster.

As we pulled out on our bikes, I heard the announcer person say, "and here comes Mary-kate out of the water, you know she's going to be making up alot on the bike." and i thought, huh, shit.

I was in the lead on the bike for all of a half mile and then the Davis girl (who was first out of the water but stopped to put on a jacket and gloves) passed me at the start of Centennial. I just stayed about 15 ft behind her as we climbed. No point in killing yourself up the really really really steep hill.

As I'm thinking this, here comes this girl (who I assume to be the 'mary-kate') standing and pushing herself up the hill, rocking back and forth. she asks me if the girl in front is the girl in first.

she catches the davis girl and so do i, then the davis girl passes me sometime later and we all kind of chase each other, though I mostly stayed behind the two of them. I hate killing yourself to pass someone when you know that means they'll just push harder to hang with you. So we were all hammering pretty hard and, wham, all of sudden we're at the turnaround. The girl in front makes the turn ok. But I slam on my brakes and skid all the way out, taking out a cone and nearly a volunteer. Mary-Kate drops her chain at the same time. So Davis girls get way ahead and I pull into 2nd.

At the turnaround it becomes pretty clear that we're quite a bit ahead of the next people.

I made up almost all the gap on the descent (I got up to 48mph!). So even though my dismount was awful [I never do the flying shit, but I usually manage to not have to skip, hop, skid on my feet to a complete stop before I get off], I left the transition a step behind the girl in 1st.

I passed her in the first 25m and was running pretty strong. I knew the run was going to be the hardest part, because I hadn't run for 6 months and haven't raced in longer, but I was going along pretty good, opening up a gap. the run is up and down and up and down, pretty f-ing hilly.

Around the bottom of campus, about 2 miles, Mary-Kate catches me and I figure I'll just go with her and see how this goes down, so I fall into stride next to her and everything's good. Then we get to this whole series of stairs and she leaps the first set in one bound, so I figure I'll do the same, b/c I'm trying to hang with her, though I just barely make it. Then the next set comes up and it's longer, like 10 or 15 stairs. And she gets down in 2 fucking leaps. I don't even know how she does it. So by the time we get to the bottom of the whole flight, she's got a 10 ft. gap on me and just opens it up as we turn to run uphill to the Campanile and then down into the finish line. I end up losing by 30 seconds or so.

I ask her about, because I figure there's no way anyone could have done, and she goes, "oh yeah, i practice running down the stairs yesterday".

I didn't really have anything to say to that.

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Tired



That's how tired I've been feeling. I always get exhausted when I'm in my hard weeks, it's like a perpetual state of feeling tired, I should ease into them better because it's such a shock coming from 5 nice easy days.

So yesterday I was planning on doing a 7 mile run and then going to Masters, but I decided to skip the Masters and go tonight instead of the shorter swim I was planning tonight. I'm already going to be a little overtaxed this week with Bearathlon, and I'm just in my first week of Base 2; I need to be building up my mileage and volume. I'm also suppose to add some basic force and muscular endurance work right now. Um...

The run yesterday was not super fun either. My hips and knees were aching and I tried to run up and down the levee a bunch of times to simulate hills (since Bearathlon's going to be hilly). And I stopped in the park on my home to do strides; it definitely took 3 before my knees were even caught up with me. SIgh

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Bearathlon



This is why I'm not excited about doing my first triathlon since April. Geuss it's time to find my race stuff and practice my dismounts.

Monday:
Lifted a short MT set and swam 2800 y. of mostly 300s rotating IMs and free

Tuesday:
Easy 37 mile ride around the airport. It's always pretty windy out there and I was taking it pretty easy.

Today:
Going to do an easy(ish) 7 mile run after I go to the endodontist or whatever the guy is for a consultation on a root canal, then go to Masters swimming tonight.

Monday, February 4, 2008

The Weekend

Friday:

I ran 5 miles over on the levee over by the landfill, next to the Skate Park, and did strides. One of those days where you go out slower than you come back.

Cleaned the house Friday night for like 5 hours, and then, since it was suppose to rain hard in Marin on Saturday morning, the ZGirls that I was going to meet up with from ZteaM and I decided to postpone our ride.

Saturday:

Planned on heading over to Berkeley, instead for a short ride of the Bearathlon course.

I couldn't find an elevation picture, but suffice it to say it's steep. It goes straight up Centennial Road, above the football stadium. I was putting out around 190W and doing 5mph. Then it goes across Grizzly Peak, which is a false flat, and then down, down, down Claremont, where I easily hit 40mph, even with getting stuck behind a car that was going slower than me.

This is what it looks like during the ride:



Not that it looks like that when it's raining (which it was) or when you're racing (which I will be).

450kJ in an hour, that's some steep shit.

Had hamburgers and watched MTV with Sachini, then it was over to Marin.

Sunday:

I wanted to do a nice, medium, 3 hour ride. I'd have been ok with 2 and a half or 3 and a half. So imagine my surprise when we're about 2 hours out and Steve's like 'yeah, so if we want to get back in 4 hours, we may have to just turn around now'. um, what.

Ended up coming back around Nicasio resevoir and then I went by San Geronimo and Steve went farther through Lucas Valley.

This is what marin looks like: (you can't say it isn't pretty and shit)



After Steve turned to add on Lucas Valley, it was a little after 3 hours, I had maybe 10-15 more miles and I just died. Dead. Gone. Thought about laying down by the side of the road and just going to sleep. Part of it is that I haven't done a ride that long in a few months (been mostly stuck in the mid-40s), part of it was that my legs were dead from climbing the day before and it doesn't help that everything in Marin is hilly and partly it's just that riding with Steve can be hard. Not really, really hard, but a little bit too fast for me and if I stop paying attention for a second or slow down a second, I fall off his wheel and then it's even more of a bitch. So, I stopped and had the last two bites of my bar and started to feel better about 15 minutes later. And eventually I made it up over Whitehill and then coasted into San Anselmo. 4 hours, 58 moderately hilly miles, 1440 kJ. Not bad for the weekend.

Then this morning someone asked me what I did this weekend and I was like, 'eh, nothing'.