Issues in my life

I have issues. 

No really. I do. 

Jeff tells me about it all of the time. I'm not trying to be difficult - in this case. I'm just a little oblivious sometimes. I really thought he was making it up until I saw these pictures from IMLOU.

Once you see it, you actually have to believe it. Oh. My. Gosh. I am pathetic.

YEP, This is me.

Pretty much, I could be the entire graphic. I have helmet issues. New goal for 2013: PUT YOUR HELMET ON STRAIGHT. 

Bike Maintenance 101

This weekend is something I have been looking forward to dreading for a while. With assistance from an incredible group of people from I AM TRI, I will be able to ride the bike route for Ironman Louisville.  When contemplating doing an Ironman, I knew I did not want to sign up for IM-Wisconsin which is known for its tough hills. I was not looking for hills. I was looking for a nice flat course. So I signed up for Louisville.


DUH!

A dirty Dolce

The Louisville bike course has a total ascent of 2198 ft. Yah, good idea. "No hills". I guess that was back in the days of my naivety. 


As I've learned more about myself, I put my best foot forward when I have a clear understanding of what I'm facing and I have my mental game 100% turned on. So when  I AM TRI  posted several opportunities to come down to Louisville and experience the courses first hand, I knew I had to do it. 


In order to have a great weekend of riding, I wanted to make sure my Dolce was in the best possible shape. I've chosen to stay with a road bike instead of investing in a tri bike. So I've tried to make sure adjustments which will allow me to have a comfortable ride without sacrificing too much speed.
Dirty, grime and goop With temperatures expected to climb to 103 on Saturday, I wanted to get an Aero Bottle installed on the front of my bike. I spent the morning at Little Ade's in Pekin where I learned a little bit about bike maintenance.


Apparently, I am a bad bike owner because I haven't been properly taking care of my baby. I'm surprised I didn't get shamed out of the shop bringing my Dolce in looking like this. My chain was covered in red dirt. The frame covered in muck and goop. Slowly, I was introduced to the joys of cleaning a bike chain, joint and chain lub and walked out of the shop with an armful of products.

Abby cleaning the Dolce.

My little princess, Abby, came out to help me with the bike cleaning. She helped me wash and dry the frame, joints and chain. Of course, on a day where the temperature exceeded 90, she was more than happy to come out and play in the hose for a while. On the other hand, I think she's been rather bored for the last few days and having a little project probably captured her active little mind.

All cleaned up and ready to ride!

We finally got the Dolce all cleaned up. She looked all bright and shiny,  ready for some lub. This is the part where I started to feel a little nervous. What if I lubbed something which didn't require it? Using a wax based lub for the chain, I about broke my back squirting, turning peddles, wiping the excess lub off and lubing some more. I think I burned quite a few  calories just cleaning up the bike. The staff at Little Ade's explained when lubbing plan on spending 10% of your time putting on the lube and 90% of the time wiping off the excess.

Look at that shine!

Unfortunately, I had to take a drive into Peoria to visit a second bike shop to see about the Aero Bottle for my Dolce. With the clip on bars, I wanted to make sure I was getting the correct bottle for my specific needs. Luck be a lady tonight! I found the right system (in stock) for my bike; however, reading a black and white instruction sheet with 2x2 pictures explaining the details of the installation is where my patience came to an end. I decided it was time to wait for my road crew to come home from work and with assistance from a YouTube video, the bottle and bracket was installed with ease.
I was a little worried about cutting the straw on my aero bottle however.  I decided to take it for a spin with the extra long tubing just to make sure the bottle wouldn't fall off before cutting the tube. Some reviews of the Profile Design Aero bottle did mention issues with splashing, but the YouTube video made it sound as if the splashing would be minimal, if any.  Now call me crazy, but that aero bottle made a mess even with the yellow mesh properly (?? maybe ??) installed. My hands were sticky as they gripped the aero bars. My legs were dripping in a red stream from my knee down to my shoes. I'm not sure if there is anything I can do to make an adjustment and reduce the splash. The roads around the county can be bumpy, but I'm not sure I will find smoother roads to train on any time soon.

My other concern is finding the correct motion to dump a bottle of fluid into the aero bottle without dumping half of it down me and my Dolce. 

I guess I'll have to wait until the weekend to talk to the real Ironman experts to see if they have any advice for me. Maybe there is some secret devise to enable me to have fluids available at the ready without turning into a sticky bun!

Algebra on a Dolce

Sometimes it's the littlest things in life that make me the happiest. Wednesday night I met other members of the T3 group to start a Winter Cycling Program.

Lesson #1: Try your trainer out before you actually plan to start your workouts. I started pedaling on that dumb thing and realized my legs were so out of shape. Heck, I felt like I was pushing through mud and that was just in the warm-up. On top of that, I could adjust the resistance on the trainer, but I honestly couldn't tell which end of the spectrum had the most resistance.

Lesson #2: Don't ride your trainer for the first time in a room full of macho, speed riders. I guess I thought the trainer would feel just like it does when I ride on the road. The first portion was a 10 minute warm-up followed by 1 minute intervals at 80-85%. As soon as my legs started moving in the warm up, I could tell this was going to be a tough workout. I needed to do a warm up and then have a few minutes to stretch and then resume my time on the bike, but in a group situation it's tough to stop and make everyone else wait for you.

Lesson #3: Learn how to set your bike up on the trainer before the first group ride. I arrived a little late for the group ride and as I was getting my shoes out of my van, my fine T3 teammates set my bike up in the trainer for me. Chivalry is not dead! At the end of the work out, I was chatting with some of my fellow bikers and someone else took my bike off the trainer and carried it to my car. Wow! So sweet! Maybe it's not so bad to ride with a bunch of macho, speed racers.

Dolce on a Trainer thanks to Camo-Man

On Friday morning as I was taking the kids to school, I pulled out of my garage and saw this.
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It is the little things in life that make me happiest. Camo-man knew I was worried about setting my trainer up for the first time. He took time out of his hunting preparation Thursday night to set my Dolce up in my trainer. Now I know I need to take the time to learn how to set up my trainer and I WILL! I just tend to procrastinate a bit. But until I do, it's nice to know that Camo-Man is out there and does what he can to make sure I am not stressed out about my workouts.

I tried to read the cycling plan by myself this morning.(Remember? I admitted that I procrastinate.) It was like looking in an algebra textbook for the first time. WU: 10' 75% + 5' 85. MS: 3x10 (2' B) 1st 75% 2nd 85% 3rd 95%. How would you solve for B?

Needless to say I need to work on my cadence. But that's what training is for - it's a chance to identify your weaknesses of which I have many and try to make them your strengths.

BOOK: Every Woman's Guide to Cycling

Anyone have this book? I need to readit & put the principles to work.
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Searching for inspiration

With the Wine & Dine Half-Marathon now over, I have become a sloth. A piece of s@*t, lazy bum. It's partially my fault, partially work's fault, partially Camo-Man's fault and partially....ah, I'm just lazy.

I'm a goal oriented girl. I truly am. I like to have a deadline and work towards it. Now that my last race is complete for the fall, I'm becoming lazy and rather sloth-like. Not a person I really like. So, I am searching for inspiration.

My niece, Tiff, sister of Awesome Cheryl, has been inspired by Cheryl & I and our adventures in running. She's been working at it for a few weeks and now feels ready to sign up for some late fall races. BRING IT ON! So, of course, I've spent the evening looking at fall races, events and even some training plans. I love a plan! Have I mentioned that lately?

One of the programs we are developing at the park district is a winter cycling program. Participants can bring their bikes and trainers to the park district building and participate in winter rides every Monday, Wednesday & Friday for an hour each night for 17 weeks. 17 weeks! I plan on participating in that. I know I won't be able to attend every night, but even if I can't I can still follow the training plan on my own in my garage. BTW - have you heard how loud those trainers are? Now I understand why people do these in the garage. It's a better sound barrier. All I can say after this training program is that my cycling portion of the triathlon will be smoking next year! Certain people better be looking for me on the course...as I pass them!

Dolphin Touch

On another note, I received an early birthday present from my in-laws. My mother-in-law purchased a Dolphin Touch for me! Can you say excitement???? The Dolphin Touch is basically an mp3 player for swimming. Normally, my dear, sweet MIL gets me something really useful like a purse. I often wonder "Does she really know my interests at all?" I know she is thinking she's doing something nice for me because I won't spend the money on those kinds of things, but really....a purse? Naw, that's not me. Luckily, the timing was perfect when I mentioned that I wanted a Dolphin Touch to Camo-Man. He was looking at them while working on my MIL's computer and she snagged the idea. Awesomeness! Now I have a new toy to learn how to work! I guess I have to be nice to the outlaws for a while. Bummer.

So I'm working on my training plan. I need to focus on my eating. I've become the pantry vacuum from 3-5 pm every afternoon this week. Sooo bad. Time to stop and get re-focused. Time to establish some new goals and get working on them. Time to really start counting calories. Grrrr.

Today's workout was a short one since Camo-Man is still out of town. I had 40 minutes at the fitness center. I warmed up and then did 8 speed intervals running for 30 seconds at incline 1, speed 8.0, resting 15 seconds in between. Then I moved on to squat press, bench press, dead lifts with clean & press and worked on my back bend. It was kind of depressing when Diva Princess laughed at me trying to push up in the back bend. She didn't really want to hear "When I was a kid, I could do this!" Heck, I'm her mom. I'm just old.

Stay tuned for a workout plan coming soon!

She's Back!

After the triathlon on Saturday, Camo-Man and I dropped my Dolce off at Little Ade's for a tune up. While I was there, we scheduled my custom bike fitting with Mike Antonini, the owner. Mike attended a clinic taught by Dr. Andy Pruitt, who directs the center for sports medicine in Boulder, CO. A custom bike fitting will enable you as the rider to minimize your movement in order to attain maximum power.

I started my appointment promptly at 10 this  morning. Mike asked me first about my flexibility.

"Yah, I'm fairly flexible." I replied.

"When you pivot at the hip, can you reach your toes?" he asked. I bend over and place my full palms on the ground. Yes, I'm flexible. I didn't walk as a kid. I did somersaults. When I watched TV, I didn't sit on my butt. I did Chinese splits.

I strapped on my bike shoes and straddled my Dolce which was set up in Mike's trainer. The first thing to check was my foot position on the crank of the pedal. He adjusted my cleats on my shoes making sure they were set up evenly. Next he checked my saddle position. With my foot at the 5 o'clock position, he verified the knee forms a 30 degree angle with a large three foot protractor. He raised my saddle approximately an inch. Next he checked the fore and aft of my saddle by verifying my patella was directly over the end of the crank. Again, he adjusted my saddle by moving it aft about a centimeter. He watched me pedal from behind to make sure my hips were not shifting and made some fine tune adjustments on everything we had already covered.

Because of my flexibility, Mike suggested dropping my handlebars to allow more efficient use of my glutes.Yah, I want to use my glutes...tighten those suckers up, man! Plus, it will help reduce fatigue on my quads in the triathlon. Finally, Mike watched me pedal from the front. It's like he could read my mind. As I was riding, I felt as if my feet were much wider than my hips. Mike also thought I had a hitch in my right knee. For a final adjustment, Mike moved my cleats inward as much as possible. I got back on my dolce and spun my little heart out. I felt pretty good at this point.

Mike said I could come back after riding a few miles and he'd make some more adjustments if needed. He also mentioned the possibility of using inserts in my bike shoes. Similar to purchasing the correct type of running shoes if you pronate or supinate, the inserts will help you maximize your power when your foot is working inside your shoes. He also mentioned coming back another time in order to test where I sit on my seat bones and butt size (Ugh, can you imagine?) and get a saddle which may suit me better.

For now, I am happy to have my Dolce back in my garage where she belongs. She's all ready for me to take her out for a spin tomorrow morning....and I can't wait to see how much a difference my custom fitting makes.

I'm thinking spring.....

Spring is around the corner. Really. Just ignore the call for a wintery mix this weekend. It is just the news media's way of trying to destroy my optimism.

In the past month since I last posted, what have I done?

• I've run 2-3 times per week.
• Increased my long runs to 12 miles just last Saturday
• I've floundered with my swimming routine.
• I've rescued my swimming by changing my swim days to Tues & Thurs
• I've continued to lose weight (slowly, but it's coming off)
• Ohhh and I bought a new bike! YAY ME!

My new bike:
Isn't she beautiful? She has nice clean lines. A nice shine to her paint job, but she needs a name. What shall I name her? She's Turk maroon.

I haven't ridden her yet....other than up and down my street two times. I thought I'd ride her today, but I have slave masters for bosses who said "You must work on this goergeous day!" OK, maybe not. However, I week from now we'll be on the road for spring break. I have a lot to get done before then.

Last Saturday I ran 12 miles from Morton to East Peoria and back again. 12 miles. Yes, I've said it. I've done it. I'm still amazed by it. ME??!!?? No way. I am a runner. Oops, scratch that. I'm not a runner. I'm an athlete.