Training

Andrea

Vacation update/Ride report

Right now, Ryan and I are on a road trip/vacation visiting some of his family up North. The first few days were in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, where, along with a couple of very scenic rides through the rolling dairyland, we visited the Kohler factory (coolest part was definitely the foundry), a cheese factory, and hung out with his brother and sister-in-law.

Yesterday, we made the drive to his mom’s house in Marquette, Michigan. We tried to get in touch with several people from a local team about a Sunday group ride, but no one would answer emails about whether or not the ride was still active. So we took a look at Google maps and used Mapmyride.com to create our own route (I named it Bad Idea Jeans). Ryan’s mom warned us that some of the roads were gravel, but we generally enjoy those, so we figured they’d just make the ride more interesting.

So we started out by climbing Mt. Marquette within the first few miles. I also fell over a couple fo times when I slid out or stalled in the sandy gravel. The view at the top was nice.

Soon after (maybe 14 miles in), we turned off the main road to loop where we figured we’d find a bit of gravel. We did- it was well-maintained, and we kept going. Soon after, though, the road narrowed a bit, and the gravel turned to sand. Deep sand! We had to walk several times. Then the road turned into a single lane of hardpack sand and rocks… then to doubletrack sand/rock… then we rounded a courner and saw PRIVATE PROPERTY signs on each side of the further dimishing road. We were forced to turn around and go back the way we came in.

A rideable section of gravel
A rideable section of gravel
Deep sand- not quite so rideable (Im the blue spot further up the road)
Deep sand- not quite so rideable (I'm the blue spot further up the road)

Once we were back on the main road, we took a detour to get back onto the planned route. There was another surprise section of gravel (including a small climb- hard, but still do-able) before we crossed a highway, then we reached a third stretch of gravel and another big hill. Then the road narrowed a bit. It turned to hardpack dirt. Deja-vu? Yes. Within a mile or so, the road ended at another set of NO TRESPASSING signs- this time, complete with a wire gate across the road. So, we turned around and went back the way we came. Again.

Once we were back to the highway, we took to the headwind and detoured back in to Marquette. We still ended up with about 57 miles. Below is the tracing from Ryan’s Garmin GPS (blue) overlayed on the planned Mapmyride route.

Andrea

Training for August

The past two weeks have yeilded over 43 hours of training- mostly road riding, but also some running and MTB riding. You’d think that I’d be ready for a rest day like today, but I’m pretty itchy to be doing something besides laundry and bike wrenching. This week, I’m gonna cut back a little bit so I can be ready for the Smith & Nephew/ Marx & Benzdorf Grand Prix. I’ll be picking right back up afterward, though, and let that race start another high volume training week that includes some higher intensity efforts on the bike and a little more running.

It’s all in an effort to ready myself for August. The schedule is looking like this:

8th: Bartlett Park Ultras (probably doing the 50k)
15th: Fools Gold 50/100 mile Mountain Bike Race (Goal is to be ready for the 100 miler)
22nd: Berryman 6/12 hour duathlon (Um, 12 hour… duh…)
29th: Devil’s Den Sprint Adventure Race (gonna seem like just a warm-up after the 3 weekends before it!)

So I’ve got to be well-adapted to performing 12 hours of strenuous physical activity in the heat. It’s going to be a killer month, but I think I’ve got a good start on my training base so far. I need to incorporate some longer runs in so that the running during the 1st & 3rd weekends doesn’t kill me too much.

Also, for Fool’s Gold and for the Berryman race, Ryan will probably be off road racing, so if anyone wants to go with and fill camelbacks/kick my butt when I get tired, then shoot me an email.

Andrea

Brick-a-riffic

After washing bikes this morning, I thought up a fun plan for the day’s training. Jens was at Bikes Plus in Germantown getting a brake lever replaced (it wasn’t my fault! Warranty issue…), so I decided that I’d do a training brick (two or more activities back to back) and run to the shop then ride back home. I couldn’t fit my cycling shoes in my camelback, so I just wore my Saloman trail shoes, packed some flat pedals, and strapped my helmet to the back.

I didn’t set out until around 11:00, so yes, it was very hot and humid. It’s OK… there’s only one way to get better at racing in the heat, right? Along the way, I remembered that my dad had been bugging me to “help him” (read- do it myself under his direction) move a load of sand off of a trailer in his yard.

Side note: No one knows why Gerald felt compelled to buy 1 ton of red sand, but you can bet he got a good deal on it.

Anyway- the shop ended up being 11.5 miles away. I drank about two liters of water and ate a powerbar getting there. I chatted for a few minutes, refilled the camelback, and rode 3.5 miles to my parents’ house to move some sand. Surprisingly, it only took about half an hour. Afterward, my mom made a PB&J for me and I washed it down with a few ginger snaps and a dark chocolate truffle. I added some ice to my water and was out the door again to finish my day with a 15 mile ride home. The “nice” thing about riding back to my house from Germantown is that the last 4 miles takes you from the Wolf River up about 150 feet of elevation gain to my house. It’s not really that bad unless you preceed it with 3 hours of other activity, then it’s a bit of a hump.

Gotta clean up & go to the store now. Any suggestions for dinner?

Andrea

Time for a Recon Trip

Since part of my success at Village Creek last weekend was due to being a little bit familiar with the park’s layout and trail system, I’ve decided that I need to get out and do some more reconnaissance before the Devil’s Den and Ouachita adventure races. Unlike Village Creek State Park, those are not day trips! So, I’m going to go on a bit of a road trip next week and hang out for some riding/running in both areas for a day or two. Who knows- maybe I’ll stop by Lake Sylvia along the way back.

‘Til then, I’ve got some road racing to do at the Tour de Louisiane down in Covington, LA. Should turn out to be a great training week if everything goes as planned!

Andrea

Andrea’s Magical Saddle Sore Shrinking Oinment

So somehow I’ve got the folliculitis-type saddle sore from Hell right now (well, they’re all from that general vicinity, but you get the idea). I’ve had them before and tried various ointments and whatnot, but really the best thing is to just not ride for a day or two. However, as any serious cyclist knows, that’s not always possible. In that case, I present to you, my new recipe for saddle sore shrinking ointment…

Equal parts of the following:
PRID Drawing Salve (it smells gross and is really thick & greasy)
Preparation H Hemorrhoid Cream
1% Hydrocortisone Cream
Benzoyl Peroxide Acne Cream (careful- it will bleach any fabric it’s absorbed into)
If you’ve got broken skin: Triple Antibiotic Ointment (if the skin isn’t broken, then infection isn’t as much of a concern, so leave it out)

Mix all of these together. The drawing salve it tough to incorporate, but it’s important, so make sure it’s in there. Now, slather a thick layer over your (clean) saddle sore and cover it with a bandaid. Yes- put a bandaid over it… otherwise it just rubs off on your clothes. This may require some shaving and creative taping. Do what you have to do.

Then, just wait. Within a few hours, it should shrink down and not hurt nearly as badly. That’s not to say you’re cured- if you go and ride with an active saddle sore, it’s not going to heal very quickly if at all. However, this combination will really knock the swelling/pain down between rides. Good luck!

Andrea

Please… just 4 more hours…

Yesterday’s “Cat Smacker” run was tough- 7200 feet of elevation gain in about 20.5 miles. I was happy to run it in just over 4 hours.

So, with approximately 8 hours of the Ouachitas in my legs over the past two days, I’m pretty beat today. Time to wrap the weekend up with a 70 mile bike ride. My legs are protesting this descision. I told them that if they just get me through it, I promise they’ll get an ice bath when we get home.

UPDATE EDIT:
Not only did they give me 70 more miles, they gave me a kickass sprint at the end of Watkins mid-ride. Thank you, legs!

Andrea

And for my NEXT trick… (and motivational rant/speech)

I think I’ll run a 23 mile trail (er, forest road) race (The Catsmacker). Sure, I doubt I’ve run more than 10 miles since the Ouachita 50k, but I keep telling myself:

“It’s only 23 miles.”

And, no matter how hard I think about it, I cannot see the absurdity of this statement. I know that it’s almost a marathon, that rocks on the forest roads are hard on the joints, that the hills will be long and hot… I honestly think it’s not going to be that big of a deal. Sure, I’ll be sore, but that’s to be expected.

I’ll run ~7 miles today and probably throw in a couple more before the weekend. I think I’m gonna leave early on Friday and do some MTB riding from Lake Sylvia since my last attempt at doing so resulted in massive amounts of FAIL when I arrived to the campsite only to find it closed until the next weekend.

So yes, I plan on riding a bike for upwards of 4 hours on Friday and following it up with a difficult 23 mile run on Saturday. I’ve been thinking about stuff like this for a while. It goes without saying that the general population of people who don’t exercise on a regular basis are dumbfounded by just the thought of riding a bike a couple of hours or even running more than a few miles. However, I’ve grown increasingly aware of the fact that even some of my active “peers” view some of my outings as extraordinary.

I disagree. I think you’re all capable.

I think that everyone has their own standards of what’s “possible.” As long as you have these standards, you view anyone who surpasses them is doing something “crazy” or “amazing.” You’re also setting limits for yourself when you have such standards because, to you, such things are “impossible.” So I’m writing this to encourage everyone who reads it to open their minds a bit and stop thinking in terms of what is within your perception of “normal” physiological limitations and start exploring just how hard you can push yourself. Go ahead- do some two-a-days. Go for a ride or run that’s twice the distance that you’ve ever gone. Do those things on back to back days. Hell, do them on the same day. My point is, stop limiting yourself to the accepted standards of what’s “possible” or “normal.” You can be better than that.

Andrea

3, er, 2 state report and a Sunday ride

The rain began to fall as we rolled out from Finley Stadium on the 3 State 3 Mountain century. It began to pour as we crossed the top of Suck Creek Mountain (which was absolutely gorgeous, by the way). The descent was a bit scary, and it pretty much killed my brake pads. A lot of people at the bottom were gathered under any type of overhand they could find because at that point, the rain was torrential. A lot of people quit and called on friends to come and pick them up. I ate a powerbar and pressed on, and eventually the rain let up to a steady pelt rather than a constant dump. I warmed up and found a nice-paced group to stick with.

I had all intentions of riding the century, but for some reason, I was feeling homesick. When we reached the turnoff for the metric century, I bailed. Figuring I should make the best of my shortened ride, I put my head down and rode into the headwind at a steady sub-threshold/tempo pace. I passed one guy and didn’t think much of it. A little while later, I heard something behind me. Looking back, I realized that I had a train of about 5 guys sitting on my wheel. It was kinda funny. I kept going and one of them thanked me for pulling him around.

I didn’t care. It was good training, and, when you’re in front, you don’t get water spray in your face. I felt kinda bad for making the trip and only going 62 miles (2 states, 1 mountian!), but I was happy to get home before dark.

Today Ryan and I rode to the Cory Horton Cycle for Safety ride. On the way out, I stayed with the front group. The pace got a little bit brutal at times, but I was motivated to keep up by Maggie, an uber-strong tri-lady who was making it look easy. I told her she needs to road race.
When the group left the turnaround point, I didn’t even attempt to ride back with them. Instead I took it (sort of) easy and rode/talked with another rider who I graduated with from U of M. Eventually, I met back up with Ryan, who had left the front group and turned around to ride back to me. At that point, I was fried. Along the way back, I felt a bonk coming on, so I ate a powerbar (note to self- I like powerbars…Â need to get another box!) and stopped to watch some incredibly noisy guinea fowl wandering around next to the road. It headed off the bonk, but I was still hurting by the time we got home. I think that the hard ride out combined with using Ryan’s spare compact crank (with 175mm arms)Â zapped my legs and made my knees ache a bit (though I did adjust the saddle for the modified crank size… it’s still different from what I’m used to).

Now, it’s time to clean some gutters and move some gravel.

Andrea

Road Trip

Since Jens Voigt the mountain bike is still laid up in the hospital with a fractured derailleur, I made a late-week decision to take a trip to Chattanooga for the 3 State 3 Mountain century ride. It’s been rainy, but the rain has been patchy, and the weather channel was showing a break in the showers Saturday morning. I was also incredibly bored with Memphis area roads. So, last night I swapped a compact crank on to the BH (not that I can’t get up the mountains without it- it’s more of a question of do I want to go up the mountains without it) and this morning I set out on the road.

I made plans to stay at the Raccoon Mountain Caverns campground. However, when I arrived today, the place was packed… not with just the usual campers, either- it had been taken over for a large Bluegrass Festival! There were tents packed in to every open patch of ground on the property, and people packed in and around them in much the same manner. The guy at the front gate told me that there was room for primitive camping. “How much for one night?” I ask. He tells me ten dollars. Score!

At least I thought.

“Oh yeah, then there’s the price of admission to the festival, and that’s twenty bucks, so yer lookin’ at thirty total.”

I’d like to pause here and say I honestly think that hanging around a bluegrass festival tent farm could probably be pretty damn fun. However, with a long run planned for the afternoon, a century planned for tomorrow morning, and another 70 miles on Sunday, I really can’t justify doing that right now. I’ve got to race a 12 hour in a week!

So I tell him sorry, that’s a bit steep and head back down the road to find a motel. Best Western. I unload the car, change, and head back out to Raccoon Mountain for some trail running. Even though I took a trail map with me, a couple of the turns were not marked and I ended up only getting in about a ten mile run rather than the 15 I was hoping for. I gotta hand it to the SORBA people… that is a first class trail system! We could never have anything that nice in Memphis because people would tear it up the first time it rained. I didn’t pass a single spot that had been rutted or widened.

When I arrived back at the motel, I turned on the TV only to see that the area was about half an hour away from getting slammed by some thunderstorms. That, along with my own hot shower and indoor plumbing made $80 for a room seem not quite as bad. My tent has a rainfly, but I’m pretty sure it would keel over in high winds. Once I was cleaned up, I went to a nearby Chinese buffet where I heard a really good joke courtesy of the people at the table next to me. It was a husband and wife (I’m assuming), two teenage girls, and a ~8 year old chinese girl who appeared to be an adopted child. I wasn’t paying too much attention to them until I heard one teen girl say to the other, “Hey, you want to hear something funny? Hey Caroline (to the Chinese girl), where do babies come from?”

“From China!” Caroline answers happily. Everyone laughs. I giggled a bit myself.

So now I’m back at the motel. The weather forecast has changed, and it looks like tomorrow will be wet. I really wish I had a rain cape. Maybe I’ll go to WalMart first thing in the morning and get something waterproof so I don’t freeze on the descents. I think the weather was a lot like this last year except a little cooler (though apparently it cleared up later in the ride). I’m just glad I’m not too busy racing to do things like this. It’s a nice break, even if the weather is crappy.

Andrea

Weekend Fail Part II, The Saga Continues

So I went for my 4 hour ride this morning. I accidentally left one of my favorite water bottles at the Shelby Forest General Store. Luckily, Ryan gave me one of his when I ran out of water about an hour from home.
Once we got home, I grabbed a snack and headed back out to ride more at Stanky Creek. I wanted to ride a solid two hours in preparation for Dirt Sweat & Gears in a couple of weeks. Other than my legs feeling a bit sluggish in the first few minutes, I warmed up and actually felt pretty damn good. I really wanted to focus on not using my brakes as much, looking ahead instead of down, and generally carrying more speed into tricky spots where I usually tend to slow down.

I was doing this well.

Then I rolled over some leftover branches from a downed tree that had been cleared from the trail. I heard a stick hit my spokes, and a fraction of a second later, I felt as if someone had ripped my bike out from under me as something jammed into my rear wheel (maybe a stick between the spoke/frame?) Though the bike stopped abruptly, I kept moving, and ended up falling onto the handlebars and jamming a bar end into the meaty part of my thigh. It hurt too much for me to curse, so I just sat on the trail for a minute looking at my bike and trying to figure out WTF just happened. I’m not sure, because once I did get back on, the chain started skipping between gear and being generally noisy. I’m hoping it’s not a bent derailleur hanger, but the way my luck has been with those lately, it probably is. Whatever it was, it cut my afternoon ride time short by an hour.

So I’m officially labeling this weekend as a “fail” (though since the first part of yesterday was pretty good, I’ll reserve the label of “epic” fail).

fail-owned-flytrap-fail