Week 36: Sleeping in can be Overrated

I jumped at the opportunity to join the Redwood/Wine Country crew for a ride out of Santa Rosa around 1pm on Saturday. I can't remember the last time I slept in, so this sounded like the best idea EVER!

Unfortunately, I didn't consider all of the facts. Like that Santa Rosa is about an hour and a half away from Oakland or that it would be over 100 degrees by noon in Sonoma. I had gone to my friends' wedding the night before, so my hydration was lacking to say the least. We had a great ride group: Me, Moddie, Mike Kyle, Paul Kinney, Megan, Sedonia, Les, Wendy, Tony and Dan. We set out on our "short" 60 mile ride. Around mile 15, we started our 30 minute sustained climb up Pine Flat. The ride was beautiful, but it was hard to notice with the unbearable heat. The wind felt like the gust you sometimes get when opening a hot oven. My eyeballs were hot. At 29 minutes, I couldn't take it anymore, my heart rate was too high and I needed to stop. As soon as I clipped out, I started feeling dizzy. I felt like I was on the verge of fainting, so I put my bike down and took deep breaths. Eventually, the spins went away and I headed back down the hill.

As planned, we all met at the country store to buy some more ice. Mike K. had a broken spoke and Megan slashed her tire on the bead, so their day's were over. At this point, I was so overheated and dehydrated that I needed to go to plan B, and that was to shorten the ride. A group of us crept on to finish at 45 miles. I've learned that I need to do more to prepare for hot days. Once I get to the point that my stomach doesn't want to digest calories, I know I'm in trouble. And let's face it, Louisville is going to be HOT.

Pine Flat is a famous road for cyclists. Earlier this year, Team Asatna came out to Sonoma to train and used Pine Flat to simulate the long climbs on the Tour. Check out this video that some local cyclists shot.





Condition: Wilted

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Week 11: Louie Bonpua Memorial Triathlon

On Sunday, January 25th, we raced in an Olympic distance trithlon on Treasure Island in honor of Louie Bonpua. Louie embodied everything Team in Training is about: Finding a cure for cancer, pushing yourself beyond your boundries, and living life to the fullest. We carry his memory in our commitment to fundraise money and accomplish the impossible. Check out the below video!

Swimming in the bay was painful. At the start of the race, my teammate, Nick, dove into the water ahead of me. So I did the same...big mistake. The water was so cold that I could not keep my face submerged. So I swam out to the first booey with my head above water. I later paid the price for this with a 2 day long tender neck strain, but it didn't bother me during the race. We had to complete 3 loops and then out of the water, up the stairs and down the street to transition. The first stop was the wetusit strip. Volunteers unzipped and stripped your wetsuit for you, awesome! Since I wasn't really competing for time, I took advantage of the changing tent and put on dry clothes. The bike course was flat with lots of turns and crater pavement. I kept my gear in the big ring and averaged 17 mph for 24 miles. This is super fast for me and for my friend, LuLu. She said I pulled her along on the bike course, which was only fair because she pulled me along on the run course. LuLu and I put our run/walk strategy to work. Run for 9 minutes and walk for 1 minute. We averaged a 9:47 min/mile with walking, it's genius! We finished in exactly 3 hours.

The race itself was fantastic! Beautifu day, fun course, great volunteers, and a great benchmark for my training.

Condition: Happy to be alive!

Goal: 140.2 Miles in under 17 hours