Santa Fe Half Century

What a weekend!  Had so much fun and was so happy I had a friend to share in the moment with me, even with bad jokes and all! :-)  I packed my stuff the night before to be ready to be picked up in the morning and kept feeling like I was forgetting something but that could just be because I'm use to having to pack for 3 sports not just 1.  This was going to be my first bike only event (not including the fun ride I did with my son last Halloween).  I was a little bit nervous and not even sure why I wasn't even entered in the timed one (they don't allow aero bars on the timed events and after the very involved bike fit I had I wasn't about to mess with those).  I had been having some dizzy spells on previous rides so maybe that's why I was nervous but I knew this ride would be well supported if anything happened and I had a ride home so no worries there.  Morning of I was desperate to get my usual "buenos dias" call in to my son and for him to wish me well.  I finally got a hold of him as I was standing in the port a potty line just minutes before the start.  He was more excited to hear about me having to chase Lexi, our dog, down the middle of the street that morning than he was about the fact that mom was doing race :-)  But for some reason out of all the things I do or have done cycling feels like one of the more dangerous things I do only because of potential run ins with cars.  Ever since I had my son I am usually chanting to myself as I ride, please don't hit me, please don't hit me.  And after coming across a bike/car accident one day I went straight to get a will and all that done for my son.  So for some reason I just always want to tell him I love him before every ride or race.

photo bombed!

We started about 15 minutes after the rest of the group but there were other stragglers too.  After making it through town I was much more relaxed.  I'm not use to riding in groups of people so once I got on the open road I felt much better!  Then my chain fell off which is frustrating because that seems to happen on my bike a lot more than it should.  It's really the only complaint I have about my pretty bike but it's a big one.  After that there were no hitches.  There were nice rolling hills for most of it.  We stopped at one food stop where I had a PB&J which is the only fuel I had on the ride and I had drank a full bottle of Accelerade and about half of a bottle of water and felt pretty good.  There was a Popsicle stop that provided my already loopy riding partner with some pretty cheesy jokes that I got to hear over and over, but hey if it made people laugh as we passed by and gave them a little boost who am I to complain!! :-)  Thankfully only dizzy spells I had were about the last 5 miles of the ride and it passed quickly soon after I was done with the ride.  Stayed after to eat some lunch and chat it up with fellow riders.  The last 15 miles of the ride had some pretty decent climbing but my legs felt surprisingly fresh after I was done.  Total ride time was about 3:19 but that doesn't include our time for stopping for food and mechanical issues.  Lots of friendly riders and the wind was not bad.  I could feel it at the end as we got closer to noon but nothing that I couldn't handle.

Lastly as we were loading up our car these two women rode up to a nearby car and were congratulating each other and so happy with each other that they had just completed their first 50 mile ride.  They said whatever you do don't stop moving, keep going!! They told us they were 65 and 68 and were so happy to have done that ride.  They said eat healthy, exercise and stay happy!  They had so much energy, gratitude and camaraderie that it was contagious and made us smile!  Keep it up!  You inspire me to keep going!

Fun day to end the weekend.  Then I went with my son to go get him a real bike so he wouldn't have to get frustrated with spinning out on his old plastic trike.  He was very happy riding around the neighborhood and my guess is the training wheels won't be on there for too long!  I'm going to need to focus on the good and I'm happy I have training to keep me positive and up beat and in great shape to keep up with my son.  This morning I received an email with some heartbreaking news of a small personal battle I'm going to have to deal with in the upcoming months.  All I hope for is the best outcome possible no matter what it may be.  I hope my son comes out the winner and most of all that he will always know his mom loves him more than anything in the world!  I hope to have plenty of bike rides with him to come!  He's already revving to go for the bike ride I promised him this afternoon after school/work.  To new and old training buddies!

Happy Training! 

Adventures in hiking and riding!

Another great weekend in the books.  On Saturday I went with my brother and an old friend of his for a ride.  Even though my brother commutes on his bike and doesn’t own a car I hardly ever get to ride with him so this was very exciting!  It was also really nice to get to see him and his friend interact it reminds me that no matter how much he’s grown up there’s still a little bit of that goofy carefree kid somewhere in there.  It made me smile the whole time I was on the ride as I rode behind them and got to hear them talk. 

 So let me tell you a little something about commuting versus distance riding.  I commute 1-2 times a week on my bike during the summer and I thought I finally had this commuting thing down.  But the thing is I take my commuter bike which is clunkier and doesn’t make you clip in.  I also take back roads (non-congested) and/or bike path the whole way to work.  What this means is that I am forced to go slower and am not on the defensive for very much of my ride.  When I do my longer weekend rides I take my lovely tri bike (did I mention how much I love my bike!) which you do clip in to and is very light I can go fast!  When I ride this I usually am not in town I’m on a road with no stop lights and I can go for ever without having to clip out.  Well, when I rode with them this weekend we went from my brother’s house out, which meant lots of city riding.  Now my brother is both a pro and fearless when it comes to this so he was whizzing in and out of traffic using his hands to command which direction he was going.  I on the other hand was timid and doubting my moves which cause more confusion and probably put me in a little more danger.  Also add clipping in and out a gazillion times which let me tell you that and the brain power I was using made me TIRED before we even got to the hills we were going to ride!  J  I of course got a flat right at before having to head up a 6% grade hill which meant once I had the flat changed I had no momentum to get up the hill.  I’ve decided I need to buy new tires I think I’ve worn through these I can’t even remember if I’ve ever replaced them since I bought the bike, YIKES!  I also need to try and be more like my brother when riding in town!  I wasn’t able to keep up with these two guys but was thankful they let me tag along because I had fun.

Sunday I was up at the crack of dawn to join some friends for a hike up the La Luz trail.  I did a little bit of a run first just so I could say I ran then went back to meet up with them and hike the rest of the 9 miles with them.  I had never actually been all the way to the top and it was beautiful!  We took the tram back down.  It’s only my 2^nd time riding that even though I’ve lived here for over 8 years.  This was a tough hike and my legs were tired after but so much fun!  It was great seeing lots of people from my running club out there too they were running up the entire thing in preparation for the race that goes up that in August.  So I didn’t get a long run in this weekend but I figured that long of a hike should count for something?  What do you think?  I mean it does have about 3,775 feet of elevation gain!

Of course I had to end the weekend with some lovely ladies I had over for homemade empanadas and one of the brought over homemade strawberry short cake!

Happy Training!

Trying something new in training.

I had a great weekend of workouts and was exhausted mentally, physically and emotionally by the end but IN A GOOD WAY!  I feel like I had a little bit of a breakthrough with my training.  I don't have to be able to do each workout perfectly but I do have to give it my all and sometimes I will be tired when I start a workout but I am learning how to push through that and still get the best out of my training.  Learning to listen to your body is a fine line between knowing when to back off and when to push through.  Being tired is ok and part of endurance training is to learn when you can get through the tired and still give more.  Knowing when you are over trained versus your body just getting use to longer distances.

Another thing I did is try lighter gears and higher cadence on my ride.  I have been riding with a new friend and when he realized the gears I was pushing he asked if I had considered riding with a higher cadence.  I laughed because he seemed a little reluctant to suggest this (he knows most cyclist are sensitive) and told him yeah I've been told that before.  I'm willing to try it.  It's just mentally when I've tried it in the past it feels like I'm doing more work and not going any where.  I had a successful first ride trying this and I'm willing to try it again but I am still struggling with it mentally.  Every time he got too far ahead of me I really wanted to get into the tougher gears and mash it :-)

I did a little bit of research and have decided I at least need to get a cadence sensor and become aware of my cadence and figure out what works for me.  A few tid bits I found interesting are:

http://www.bikesplit.com/bsa14.htm

My recommendation for finding your optimal cadence is simple; count your stride rate during a run and match it on the bike. For most athletes this is 85 to 93 strides/ pedal strokes per minute, but there are a few exceptions. I've trained with one of the all time top athletes for OD to 1/2 IM distances and he stays at 80-85rpm on the flats, and it matches his slow run (and swim) turnover.

http://www.bikeradar.com/fitness/article/technique-cadence-matters-16394/

No substitute for training

However, elites are known to pedal faster than beginners, and with more oomph on the down stroke of their pedal action [2]. The exact reason why pros get more force down through the pedals is not clear. But (unsurprisingly) it seems to be due to their muscles, which contain higher blood capillary density and the type of muscle fibres that can only really be built up through years of endurance training – not to mention hill climbing, combined with fast riding in groups that allows high speeds and low effort. This produces high pedalling power and the ability to spin fast.


So while I find these concepts interesting I find my main focus while on my IM journey will still be getting in the miles.  Volume is what I need to work on the most and cadence awareness will be secondary.

Any thoughts on cadence?  How do you decide what's important in your training?