Wine Country Century & China Camp “Hike”

Posted on by Sandy

Saturday, H and I did our “big event” – the Wine Country Century. Click HERE for the route map. We went into this having been told it was a “moderate to easy” route, and so we figured that what we would be conquering was more the distance than the “geography.”

Well, we were definitely misinformed. First big lesson: KNOW THE COURSE. But let’s start with the “good.”

It was a perfect day for riding, with great Wine Country scenery. There was everything – from vines with the grape leaves filling in, to California poppies, to redwood trees, big old wooden barns, cows…even GIGANTIC goats…you name it. (the gigantic goats were a definite high point. They looked like Texas Longhorn cattle!!!) The course winds through the Russian River, Dry Creek, and Alexander Valley wine appellations. There were gorgeous, perfect moments of stillness now and again where we would be pedaling along, no wind, good tarmac, with the smell of the roses growing along the vines wafting over us. (Roses are planted next to the vines because they get the same bugs, but roses get them first – sort of the “canary in the coal mine” deal.)

Also, the Rest Stops were FANtastic – with everything from hand-cooked breakfast burritos, lots of different electrolyte beverages, coffee with real cream (H loved that!), pretzels, hand made sandwiches, M&Ms, cookies, bananas, chips, oranges, etc. Of course peanut butter everywhere – since I’m allergic, I didn’t take anything that might have been “around” the peanut butter (e.g., didn’t eat any of the cookies – which looked great! – because they might have been lying next to the peanut butter ones, etc.) – but the pretzels, bananas, and the like were a welcome respite to my GU Brew, Carbopro and GU! (I am still working on fueling…so far, the no-protein, low solid fuel seems to be working.) Though we didn’t thankfully need to use them, the mechanics that were available at the Rest Stops received amazing ‘reviews’ that we were hearing along the road, so great kudos to all the volunteers who came out for this one.

There were SAG wagons available on the route as well and we saw them pretty “plentifully” (is that a word)? Unfortunately, we got off to a late start (started at 8:00 a.m.) and were near the tail end of the 100 mile “group” – so we missed one turn because we’d gotten used to a SAG wagon being at each turn and at this one point, it wasn’t there. Luckily, it was near Hall Road, which I used to live on – so instead of having to backtrack, we went forward and down Fulton, then cut back onto Hall and caught up to the course. It was actually kind of cool to ride down Hall Road, thinking of what my life used to be like when I lived there. I raised shire draft horses, learned to ride my first motorcycle on that street, and certainly never in a MILLION years would have imagined myself 2/3 of the way to an Ironman triathlon!

There were apparently 2,500 riders that day out on the course – that is a LOT of riders! – but we never had any issues with being in big groups or crowds. I didn’t even have that long of a wait at any of the Rest Stop Port-A-Potties, so again, great kudos to the Santa Rosa Cycling Club for this.

The 100 mile course apparently has about 3,600 ft. in elevation (someone with a Garmin said that at the last Rest Stop). The Metric Century is about 2,500 ft. total climb (again, I had this from someone with a Garmin at the last Rest Stop), avoiding the early, hilly portions of the 100 mile course and taking an easy, eight-mile shortcut to the main course.

Another WONDERFUL thing on the “good” side was that Les (my TNT Cycling Coach) had loaned me his house, which is only about 2 miles from the start of the Century. So we didn’t have the hour and a half drive the morning of the race. We did manage to have a sub-optimal pre-race dinner of BBQ Ribs, wine, martinis, and the like with a friend – but that was because we THOUGHT we were just facing the distance, and had somehow been misinformed that none of the hills were more than a “few rollers.” We walked into Les’s house, and the first thing we saw were tiny red satin slippers with red feather boa tops, by the front door. Herbert laconically said, “Are those Les’s?” I of course texted immediately to Lesandjen (remember – ‘Brangelina’) with this question, to give them a bit of a smile during their pre-Wildflower jitters. I had a “You Know You’re Married When” moment too – here we are, in our own little “B&B” (kinda sorta) and Herbert spent the night…in Les’s armchair at his stereo (which he dubbed “Ze Sweet Spot”)! I fell asleep listening to Les Miz and smiling to myself.

OK, so, now – The Ugly. The one thing that saved me, before I get down “to it,” was meeting up with Phil, Erin, Kathryn and Will at the last rest stop – because hearing from THEM that the day was Tough, Awful, “Totally Sucked” – well, that just made me realize how much of a difference it makes that it’s “not just me” feeling the pain. THANK YOU Phil, Erin, Kathryn & Will (and Skip, who we met at once stoplight early on). Meeting up with my Teammates hit my “reset button” (especially at that last Rest Stop)! THANK YOU THANK YOU!

So. The scenery was gorgeous. But I didn’t really see that much of it. H kept us going at a fairly good clip – we finished (including Rest Stops) in 8.5 hours – just over 7 if you exclude the rest stops. We didn’t stop for the lunch, which was apparently fantastic – because by that time, I was in such a bad way, I realized if we stopped, I would STOP.

So, this is how the ride went. We got out kinda late – the 100 mile folks were supposed to be on the road between 7:00 and 8:00 a.m., and H and I always seem to take a lot longer than we imagine that we will. It’s my job to “anticipate this” but I don’t seem to do this all that well. I got up early enough to get us some oatmeal (trying out an Instant brand from Trader Joe’s to see if it will work for IML), and to get the replacement drinks, etc. together, but then we wound up having a Fire Drill with things like “Where is the Chapstick?” “Did you get the pump in the car?” blah blah. One of my smiling “You Know You’re Iron When” moments was arriving at Les’s house, where instead of flour/sugar/coffee canisters on the counter or some such, there are big huge jars of CarboPro, Heed, etc. – and in opening the cabinet to look for a coffee cup, an entire shelf of bike bottles. (smile) OK – and the dozens of competition swim caps laid in a neat rainbow at the top of the stairs. (To which H said, “Is this like a low-key, in-the-know trophy room or something?”) No coffee in the house (and I didn’t think to pack any – bad me) so we wound up searching out some coffee for H,and then parking in the back parking lot that was closest to the Finish. I think if his bike bottles hadn’t already been filled with Accellerade, he might have poured in the coffee!

There were a few turns at the beginning of the ride, and as we were at the tail end, not a lot of cyclists to follow. I managed to drop my directions fairly early on – it was windy, and in trying to get them back in my Bento Box, they just blew out of my hand. We got offtrack as I mentioned above, but I got us back on the route because I knew the area. There were actually some 35-mile riders on the route by that time, and we even caught the tail end of some of the 200k riders too.

I needed a “pit stop” before the first Rest Area, and an old, overgrown cemetery “magically” appeared right at the right spot. NO, I did not pee on any graves – though I’m not superstitious, there are some things that even I’m not going to do (smile). The whole “ducking behind” situation reminded me of one of the “You Know You’re Iron When” quotes from the Becoming An Ironman book though – the author of one vignette, a woman, had talked about having “intestinal issues” at Kona, and thinking “Yes, I can just duck behind this twig, this is plenty of coverage…” You Know You’re Iron When a twig, or a leaf, looks like PLENTY of foliage to hide behind in an Emergency Pitstop Moment…

I can’t remember if we hit the first Rest Stop before or after the first Hill From Hell. The Rest Stop was great – as I mentioned above, handmade breakfast burritos, lots of cameraderie, etc. Also, there were message boards, and I spotted a “Go Team, IronTeam!” message, which made me feel GREAT! So. The Hill From Hell. NOT so great. It was pretty early on – maybe mile…20? Less?…and I got maybe 4/5ths of the way up and realized that I just couldn’t keep turning the pedals, even though I was in my compound low “super slo mo” gear. There was no way for me to “unclip” from the cleats to put my foot down; I wasn’t moving fast enough. I struggled to get the foot out and it just knocked me straight over.

So, I knew I was going down…and I did. The scary part? I was on the right side of the road – and the road went down into a STEEP ravine. Thankfully, there was a steel mesh fence (covered with poison oak, mind you) that was on the edge of the road, so I went down “into” it with a BANG. Without that fence? I would have dropped down into that ravine, still attached to my bike. It scared the crap out of me in a big bad way.

H was ahead of me, but the guy next to me shouted “You OK?” And I said – “Yes, no worries” – because I was. Nicely cushioned by the poison oak and saved by the fence. Fantastic. I got myself back up, and pushed the bike to the top of the hill, where H’s (also scared) reaction was “Why did you DO that?” Um – I didn’t do it on PURPOSE…

I tried to keep on top of my nutrition, and so by the 2nd Rest Stop, had finished off my Camelbak. That is 70 oz. of fluid, in which I had put the GU Brew (9 scoops) and 8 scoops of CarboPro. I had also taken 3 GU or so, and some Thermalytes. I did eat some pretzels, but I didn’t feel much like eating and was still unhappy from my experience on that hill. I queried the Santa Rosa Cycling dude what was coming, and he said basically “just easy rollers until lunch.”

Hmmmm. This next section actually nearly killed me. I guess it was between miles about 40 and about 70 (which is where lunch was). I lost my sense of humor, I was hurting, and I realized that the new handlebars that I had gotten from the bike fit were likely too narrow – because my shoulders started aching something fierce. I had to ride with my right hand tucked up to my chest, or hanging “next to” the handlebars, when I could (meaning, of course, when I wasn’t having to deal with changing gears or braking). I could feel racking sobs building up inside me. I mean serious, racking, “I just found out my best friend died” sobs. H was doing great – he would get WAY in front of me, as I was plugging along, feeling these sobs building up inside of me. He would wait for me, then we would join up again, and ride for a while, and he’d pass a clump of riders, and I just couldn’t keep it up, and so he’d get ahead, and then wait, and so on. At one point, he did point out that at the rate I was going, if I were to do that on race day, I wouldn’t make a cutoff in IML. I was just very quiet – because if I spoke, I was pretty sure these sobs would escape. He made me concentrate on WHAT I felt was “going wrong,” because he said that I “still had time to dissect and fix it.” I realized that I would have to “really get with the program”; though I was doing way more than I had ever done, the Ironman is a HUGE “bite” to “chew.” H also reminded me to think about how my legs felt – since on race day, I would have a marathon to do, after the bike. I started wondering whether doing an Ironman was such a good idea, after all.

At about mile 60, we were still 10 miles from the lunch turnoff, and H said that we would either have to “really hammer” to make it (cracks me up when he uses his new words, like “hammer” (smile)), or we could “treat it like an Ironman” and eschew lunch. We had been battling the winds for the bulk of the way from the Rest Stop, and I wasn’t sure what “hammer” meant for me at that point. I said we could make the decision when we came to the “T” intersection where left was lunch, right was continuing. As we approached, I realized that the decision was pretty much made “for us” by my speed – we would get to the lunch about 5 minutes before the cutoff, and that just didn’t sound worth it. I was leading at that point, so I just turned right and kept going.

About 5 miles more along the road, still being beaten down by the winds, I just stopped. It was flat, and H couldn’t figure out why I had stopped. I just said, “I just need to stop. I need a rest.” I couldn’t even talk, for fear of those sobs. They were like a huge welling force in my chest. Luckily I had my sunglasses on, because those sobs were leaking out of my eyes as tears. I just straddled my bike for about 5 minutes, not saying anything. He finally said, “Are we going to be picked up?” and I said “No, let’s ride 5 more miles.” That would put us at 80 – which was way farther than I had ever gone. And I could convince myself that “anyone” could go 5 miles. (SECOND BIG LESSON: Break things up into “bite-sized” pieces – and remember to STOP now and again. That little “rest” made all the difference.)

The road was pretty beaten up along the route, and by this time, my arms and wrists just ached from the potholes, bumps, etc. I was being good about the nutrition (now well into my 2nd Camelbak, which I had filled with water and a baggie of the Carbopro/GU Brew mix at the 2nd Rest Stop), but I knew that this mental/spiritual/physical hammering I was taking had to be something like bonking. I have heard that bonking generally has a real emotional component – and I was swinging from feeling irrationally furious at H (for going way out ahead; for trying to make me go faster), at myself (for not driving the course beforehand; for believing the folks who told me it was an ‘easy’ Century), to being right at the top edge of these sobs. Back, forth. Swing, swing. 5 more miles.

I got to the 5 mile point and was riding in front of H again, and realized I could just keep going. So I did. Another mile or so in I literally got blown sideways so my bike felt like it “skipped” to the left – no traffic, thankfully – and I was in “angry phase” so I just knuckled down and swore at it. (If I had been in “sob phase” I am pretty sure I would have quit.) I actually hadn’t realized that another Rest Stop was coming up (at Mile 86) – then when it arrived, I wasn’t even sure that I was going to duck into it. (Still at Angry Phase. I just wanted the ride “Done.”) I did know, though, that availing myself of any Port-a-Potties is a good idea, so I cut into the driveway and stopped.

On my way to the Port-A-Potties, I saw flames! It was Erin, from Ironteam! She asked me how it was going, and I waited a beat, trying to figure out if I was going to lie and just say “Fine, You?” I finally decided on “Not so great, You?” And she laughed and said “This SUCKS!” I started to laugh – and I could feel the sobs “pop” inside of me! She said that she had gotten going at 7 a.m., (an hour before we hit the road) but had only made it this far. I told her about my fall into the fence/poison oak. We talked about the winds, rough roads, speed demon peletons, etc. I WAS SO RELIEVED! It was NOT JUST ME! Erin was my “Reality Angel.” She said that she had seen Phil, Kathryn and Will, but surmised that they were “Way past by now,” and so we hugged and I wished her luck, and she took off for the last leg of the journey.

As I returned from seeing Erin off, I saw more flames – IronPhil was there! He said that Kathryn and Will were just behind him – which they were. (Sadly, I didn’t run into IronWu or Coach Helen, who were out there too.) H had gone off to find pretzels so the 4 of us talked for a bit – comparing how much the day SUCKED. The sob bubble completely disappeared and it felt as if a big beaming sun was in its place. I was still sore, bruised, tired, poison-oak’d, and not that happy, but not being ALONE in my pain changed every-freakin’-thing. THIRD BIG LESSON: Remember to “enjoy the camraderie of the misery of your fellows” during the actual race. I read this in the Becoming An Ironman book – but I really “got it” during the Century.

I was able to introduce H to Phil/Kathryn/Will, then we headed off on the last “leg” of the route. We had basically been following the Vineman route since before Guerneville (it comes down the long downhill that goes under Highway 101, then turns right on the frontage road to Guerneville, same course) – so I knew that the last 14 miles included the Chalk Hill hill.

I had made it up the big climb before Chalk Hill when we had done the Vineman course, and even had made it up the 350 foot “big climb” on it as well. It had been an effort, but I had made it. Unfortunately, this time, I was hitting those after about 90 miles of hard riding beforehand.

On the big climb before the 350 foot “steep part,” I had another fall. I realized that I wasn’t going to make it (which bummed me out, as I had made it when we rode the route 2 weeks previously). I was just not turning over the pedals enough, even in my super-slo-mo gear. So I tried to steer into a driveway to the side, which was flatter and I hoped I could get the pedal around to speed up and get my foot out of the cleat without just tottering to a topple. No dice. At least I went down in the driveway (gravel/grass) instead of in the road. H was a bit behind me, and so I said “I’m fine,” to which he answered “Stop DOING that, you are freaking me OUT!” (Thanks, I’d love to.) I knew that he was just as freaked out as I was with my falling – he gets very upset when I am in a situation he can’t “protect me” from.

By this point I didn’t have the sobs in my chest any more, but I started just feeling afraid – afraid of this inability to get out of the cleats. I pushed the bike up to the top of the hill (Phil blew past me when I was getting back on, shouting an Atta Girl – love you, Phil!). I didn’t even clip my right shoe in. I was really scared of falling now. As we approached the 350 foot “big incline,” I pulled over, and walked up it. A couple guys behind me were obviously puzzled as they blew past and said “Hey, you OK?” And I just said, “Yeah, I want to walk.” They laughed, but what can I say? I was too scared to try to get part way up, and then fall again. So I walked up.

By then, we were nearly done. I didn’t clip in, and was able to make it up the rollers and then back around to the car to finish. H actually put on my shoe (we are only 1/2 size different) and rode the bike, because he wanted to see if it was a cleat or shoe issue. Unfortunately, no. It’s a “me” issue. It has to do, somehow, with my physical mechanics of trying to unclip when I’m going slowly. As we got the bikes into the car and cleaned up a bit, we talked about it and he said he would help me, really watching what “part of the stroke” I was trying to uncleat from. His view was that I probably was doing it right at the bottom of the stroke, which is harder (hip-wise) to release from. So we’re going to have some “unclipping practice” some time this week.

We got some grub at the big end tent, and then headed back home. (I tried to avoid thinking about the fact that in the Ironman, I would be RUNNING the same distance!) On the way out, we happened to run into Steve Reagan, who had been on the South Bay Team, but had to drop out – he shouted “Go Team!” when he saw my Flames, and then actually recognized me because he had availed himself of my offer to use SendOutCards for donor thank yous. He’s going to do it again next year – so I said I would see him at a Boot Camp! (I have to stay positive – I would REALLY like to mentor next season.) All in all, I am glad I did it – but I CERTAINLY would never, ever tell someone that this is a “moderate to easy” Century. That’s craziness.

Once we got home, I was going to take an ice bath, but I was just too tired. H fixed me some miso soup (my ultimate comfort food – I think I was Japanese in a previous life), and rubbed my back a bit, and I was asleep by 7:30 p.m. I had wanted to check how Simon had done in the Utah Ironman, etc. etc. – just couldn’t do it.

Sunday, I was up and back out for more training – this time to China Camp, for what was supposed to be a 10 mile run. I didn’t feel that bad (surprisingly). I decided I would “do what I could do,” and so I picked up Mel and we met with Head Coach Dave, Mentor Margaret, Kathryn, Marina, and Michele (I think that was it?) out at the trail head. There were so few folks because our team was all over the map at competitions that weekend, including Alcatraz, Wildflower, and the rest (HERE is Paula’s writeup on Alcatraz – whohoo!). Kathryn delicately told me that my clothes were on inside out – ah yes, dressing myself, such a challenge.

We got started and  I was jogging in the back with Kathryn and we were talking about the Century and what we had learned, etc. when she tripped over a root and took a header right onto her hands and knees. She didn’t get up right away, which definitely concerned me. Once she was up, we realized that she had done a number to her knees – one was missing a flap of skin and she had a couple hematomas (hematomi?) starting. Dave had been wearing bike gloves “just in case he tripped” – Kathryn had given him a bit of a hard time about it and immediately said, looking at her skinned hands, that she “took that all back”! We cleaned her up as best we could with water from our Sports Belts, and headed on to find the big bottle of water that Dave said he had put “under an iron bridge” on the path.

That also led to our You Know You’re Iron When moment for that run – Kathryn had had her iPod playing in earphones, but when she tripped her iPod went flying (I retrieved it – it survived). When she went to plug it back in, she realized she had blood all over her headphone jack, AND her shoes. “You Know You’re Iron When…”

Kathryn decided to walk, and I was perfectly happy to walk with her. We walked at a pretty good clip – we covered 7 miles. Coach Dave came back looking for us and he gave us a different path to take, so we finished just after the main group, who had done the whole 10. We picked up and carried the liter water bottle he had stashed 1/2 way at “the iron bridge”, which was actually kinda fun – we kept offering water to folks along the path. It was a little amazing how many people were out there without any sort of water. One couple were obviously hot and thirsty when we asked, but didn’t even had a bottle – though he had a large covered coffee cup in his hand. When I asked if he would like to dump out the coffee and for me to put water in there for them, he looked like I had just said something sacreligious! Kathryn and I had a good laugh at that. We met a couple of bikers a few times (doing hill repeats) and near the bottom, one of them asked if we would be out with water next weekend, that they could “get used to that.” (smile). We also got to walk with Head Coach Dave for a bit, and had a hilarious banter about the “things that you do” when an Ironman athlete versus a “regular person” (including a number of “manscaping” issues that made us laugh out loud).

This morning (Monday) I am fairly tight and a little sore, so I’m glad that I didn’t push it any more than the brisk walk that we did. It was really fun walking together, discussing “all things Ironman, LLS, etc.” Kathryn had done a number of Teams In Training, so it was super interesting to hear where she had “come from” and such.

We were back at the cars and had a little cameraderie with our IronPeeps (HERE is Mel’s great writeup and a link to the China Camp area & some great Mental Techniques for getting back into Running). Then it was time for me to speed off for a shower and then the theatre! It was a very full weekend! Mom, Dad, H and I saw Girlfriend at Berkeley Rep, which was very entertaining. H and I headed from there to Larkspur to have some appetizers and – of course – cocktails at Left Bank, then he did some work down in the workshop and I watched some “guilty pleasure” TV while preparing a gi-normous assortment of grilled veggies (asparagus, mushrooms, Roma tomatoes, yellow squash, onions, cauliflower, broccoli). I’ve started doing this every Sunday night for us to eat during the week. Having all the veggies already grilled up makes it SO EASY to add them into our meals/salads/etc. – and I don’t mind all the chopping, watching, seasoning, etc. when I can catch up on “Biggest Loser” or “Oprah” during the preparation!

Today is a rest day (thank goodness!). I have been doing a few “honey do” chores and also today, pursuant to my conversation with H with respect to where I am in training and what is lacking, I’m going to go do some shopping, then come back and do a little Strength training. For the next 90 days, I am going to stop sandbagging the Strength training, and just knuckle down and start to Rock It. When we started training back on November 7th, I remember that Head Coach Dave said that Strength was the one thing that folks wouldn’t do, and that this was a BIG mistake. I hadn’t thought that I would be one of  “those” people, but the training had not worked for my knees and shoulders, I hadn’t been able to get “modified” exercises, and so I just quit. Stupid. Childish. And now I’m going to have to get going on it – because I’m quite sure that part of my issues are due to this lack.  Time to get the weights and DVDs out – I can do this!

You Know You’re Iron When…

…At the end of a run you have blood on your shoes. And your headphone jack (from Kathryn) – addition by Coach Dave, “…AND still continue to power walk 6+ miles of hills!”

…You know what “Yeah, this twig will hide me” is all about.

…You have a shelf full of bike bottles in the kitchen, and 4 huge jars of replacer beverage instead of flour/sugar/coffee canisters.

…Your “trophy room” consists of dozens of competition swim caps laid out nonchalantly on a shelf.

…Part of your day is dedicated to “manscaping” (courtesy of Head Coach Dave).

…You wander around a waterstop asking strangers for “butter” and get excited when someone hands you a mysterious gob of goo which you immediately and happily stuff in your shorts. (courtesy of Coach Helen)

…You start to break a sweat (for instance, on a crowded Bart train on an unusually warm SF day) and you immediately go to search your purse for an Endurolyte. (courtesy of Maria M-Dot)

…Your weekend includes meeting Macca!!!! (Check out Maria M-Dot’s blog HERE – where she talks about the goings-on about our teammates – I’ve included her awesome photo here, below!)

MCA and MaCcA!

Iron Quote (from Maria):

The attitudes and habits you develop in training will come out in races.  If you let up or give up in training when things get too tough, then you’re ingraining that habit in the face of adversity.  That reaction will come out when you’re faced with adversity in races.  A positive reaction to adversity comes from accepting the conditions and realizing that everyone else in the race has to deal with the difficult conditions as well.  A part of this positive reaction is not allowing yourself to become frustrated because your performance declines.  Stay positive and motivated even when the conditions are challenging. 

 -Jim Taylor & Terri Schneider

Quick Update – China Camp bike with H, training.

Posted on by Sandy

After the Saturday swim with the Team, Sunday was a “honey do” day. H also wanted to get out and do a ride – since we have the 100 mile ride coming up on this Saturday. Thank goodness that we decided to go out and ride at 5:00 p.m. – because unbeknownst to us, the Marin Marathon was running where we had decided to bike!

We did an hour and a half bike – from home, around China Camp (that’s where the Marin Marathon was), down past the Civic Center, and back. H got out WAY in front of me when we did the first half of the ride – it was a little windy, but more, I am discovering that it just takes me a while to get “in the groove.” He can get on the bike and get going and really pump it out right away – I take like an hour to get going! This happens to us a lot actually – sometimes we walk out the back of our property and over the hill to Peet’s in San Anselmo for coffee – he can climb the darned hill and be waiting at the top for me without breathing hard, and I feel like I’m going to have a heart attack after 10 steps. But I outlast him!

On the way back on the China Camp “loop” I was ready to pump it, and so I kept right on his tail. It was windy, so he was kind enough to ride in front. When we finished, he was really tired – and in fact, after we had dinner, he looked at me a little grumpily (is that a word?) and said “I bet you’re not even SORE, are you?” It hadn’t even occurred to me that I COULD be sore! So yeah, okay, that made me feel a little better about my pacing.

Monday was an Off day, Tuesday was Swim and Spin (which I always do back to back as a “brick” at the gym), and today (Wednesday) was an hour Run. I texted my neighbor Alex – I love her to death but we never get to see one another – and caught her just at the right time. So she came out running with me. I definitely run slower that she does, but she was willing to run at my pace (we brought her dog, Bailey, too, so he could get some exercise). It was good because we caught up and chatted as we ran down from our houses to the Dominican area and back. 4.75 miles – we actually went just under an hour.

So that’s the quick update! It’s been raining again – in fact, Alex and I got caught in a definite downpour near the beginning of our run – crazy weather!

Missy’s Country Music Marathon (longer post)

Posted on by Sandy
Missy in the Marathon

This was Missy’s longer post on the Country Music Marathon that she “completed” (see the writeup for why that comes with “bunny ears”) on Saturday. 22-Mile Marathon or not, she’s a rock star!

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Yes, it has taken me 48+ hours to send out any news regarding the marathon weekend.  Here it is.

First, congratulations to all who braved the weather, traffic and general mayhem that was marathon this weekend.  I’ve always prided myself on belonging to such a dedicated and tenacious group of runners.  We’ve got talent, make no mistake about it, but it’s the spirit that draws me back to this event with you all each year.  This is number four and for obvious reasons, it is as remarkable as the first marathon.  Thanks to those who rode to expo, ate a pre-race dinner together and thanks to those who braved the traffic with me on race morning.  No comment from that crew about my aggressive driving!

Out of 32,000 runners I ran into my next door neighbor (from the old neighborhood) while waiting in the shuttle line.  What are the odds of that?  She’s a fantastic lady who began walking as a form of exercise a few years ago.  A real treat to run into her and it would not have happened had we not faced the dreadful traffic back-up. 

I left Laurie and Becky in the potty line (sorry girls) and headed down town.  The race began early.  Who did that?!??!!?  In my haste to not be late, I just jumped into a coral.  I left about 5 corals early but the line was so loose and empty due to thousands not yet being at the start line.  I heard they left thousands stranded at LP field with no shuttle to the start.  I know there were a zillion folks there when we left, so that report seems credible.

Things were very congested for some reason.  I had not ran in a crowd that tight before and I attributed it to the fact that I had left with a faster crowd or that the coral behind us were actually faster than the majority in the coral with which I had left.  Yikes!!!!!  It was a free for all there for a while.  I personally was trying to run fast enough to make the cut off at 11.2 that they had said would be necessary in order to be allowed on the full marathon course before bad weather.  So at 11.2 after heaving, dieing a thousand deaths with the congested mob moving at a pace I did not intend for the morning, I made it to 11.2 and asked the course official if I had made the cutoff.  He informed me that I was fine “for now”.  Funny how you don’t process those little details at the time.  “For Now”

I allowed myself the potty break that I had staved off at the rabbit start.  I then began eating and drinking too.  That led to yet another pit stop all before the 13 mile mark.  Jeepers!  I knew I would slow down considerably once I had been allowed on the full marathon course and true to form, I did just that.  Things were going rather well.  I got some bananas and more drink.  I thought all was well.  Kudos to the large church on the route with full on choir and music singing “How Great is My God” that was remarkable and very motivating.  It made up for the absence of the nuns that I’ve always looked forward to seeing each year.  At about mile 16 the weather began to change.  People were beginning to slow and the folks you see each year who need to stretch on the curb or remove shoes due to blisters were mounting.  One guy was so out of it he asked me the time on three occasions, each of which were about one minute apart.  He reported that his knees were shot but I began to worry more about his mental state.  It was around this time that the first good strike of lightening shot across.  I listened for the thunder to see how close that was.  About 15 seconds.  I figured I was fine.  The profanity from “mental guy” suggested he thought otherwise.  We kept plugging along.  These were “my people”.  The people I run with each marathon.  The ones who really struggle in the later miles and are not your break land speed record runners.  I always feel at home when I get in these miles with these folks.  I stopped to offer body glide to one gal who had already removed her shoes.  She thanked me and we talked about what we still had ahead of us.  We then passed a group of girls over to the side comforting their distraught team member who was crying.  She was clearly in pain and obviously upset that she wouldn’t be finishing the race.  Later I saw her with the medics in their mobile unit.  There was another racer with her who looked pretty sick as well.  You start praying for those people right then and there.  The mental pain of disappointment would far exceed anything I might encounter on the route.  Shortly after this the actual rain started.  I had expected it far sooner so to have more than 17 glorious dry miles was a blessing and the rain was not the dread I had built up in my mind.  I considered it a connection with God.  He was pouring something out for me.  I took the opportunity to listen and reflect.  It was going well. 

The bullhorns blasting warnings from the police that we were “highly advised to take cover” seemed like noise but I was never concerned.  I kept looking at the faces of the volunteers and seeing what a blessing they were to stick it out with us.  We ( my people who run the slow race) were all thanking every volunteer as we passed.  It was incredible to see them with their rain gear handing out drinks and smiling at us.  I absolutely love this part of marathon.  At about mile 19-20 we begin seeing marathon #s coming back at us with no medals around their necks, still running.  I thought, “how strange”.  I then asked one of them if they were allowing us to finish.  They said they were rerouting us.  I assumed that meant they were keeping us close to the finish line in case of severe weather but they were allowing us to get in our full mileage.  I was way wrong.  Once you entered the shoot, they were having us finish.  I couldn’t believe it.  I was going to have a DNF due to weather.  For a millisecond I thought about doing what the other runners had done and that was turn around and go back out on the course.  I had no idea where to turn or how to get my mileage correct.  I figured I had about one more hour of running to do.  Then I realized what a bad idea that would be.  If I’m out there then volunteers are out there too.  I decided to play by the rules and go on in.  I picked up my finisher medal.  It didn’t have that same satisfaction as the 3 previous medals but I’ll hang it along side them anyway.  I keep this medal to remind me of those last miles with “my people” and the incredible volunteers who stayed out there until we were all across the finish line.  Like I told Laurie, we can always use a Sharpie marker to add in the “3/4” right before the word marathon on the medal and I think I’ll do just that!!!

Just for laughs and giggles, the marathon site list us DNF finishers as half marathoners rather than rerouted marathoners (yes, there is a category for that) which means we get the pleasure of appearing in the local paper as half marathoners with a 4 hour finish time.  That will give my pride a little bruising but I think I’ll survive.

Oh what a blessing it has been to train for another with you girls.  What a super group of friends!!!!

Enjoy your success and may we all run many more.

m.

S.F. Bay Aquatic Park Swim & Country Music Marathon; Run Marker

Posted on by Sandy
Missy in the Marathon

So, first, Missy’s update from doing the Country Music Marathon. Missy is my “Tennessee Teammate” – she found me via my blog, and we have been “training together” ever since. The best part was that I asked my IronTeam members to send her good luck emails for her race, and a bunch did. It meant a lot to her!

The marathon was supposed to be serious thunderstorms, gusting winds, etc. Not so fun! It was her 4th marathon, though she really styles herself more as a cyclist. (Ironman Louisville will be her first Ironman.)

This was her quickie report via email on the day (full report, next post):

They diverted the race at 22 miles. Bummer! I was on track for a slightly sub 5:00. That would have been my fastest of the 4. Drats!!!! We had tornado warnings, rain and lightning. The volunteers stuck it out and remained on the course. Amazing!!!!! 30,000+ runners is a bunch of folks to have out in a storm. The police kept telling us to take cover but most just kept plugging along. Oddly enough, I’m satisfied with the experience. I would have liked to finish the full 26.2 but it was a good training day, a memorable experience and I learned a heap about my nutrition, my limits and my post run recovery. Can’t really complain. Now if I had traveled a long way or it had been my first one I’d have been pretty disappointed.

Hope you’ve had a good training day with your swim!!!

Coach Mike Kyle and Mentor Margaret

I am not sure I can imagine sticking it out in weather like that – with that many people, to boot! BIG kudos to the volunteers, police, etc. who helped out at the Country Music Marathon through all that. Whoot Whoot!

So now for the “California” update. This week, I did the Swim Marker, and also the Run Marker. I wrote about the Swim Marker – for the Run Marker, I planned out a 6.2 mile route from Mom’s house, which was pretty funny. I had to do it in “pieces” on MapMyRide.com, because I don’t have a Garmin – and as I was supposed to keep on the flats, that entailed a bunch of out-and-backs! So I ran from her house (in Tiburon, on the bike path at Del Mar) to Blackie’s Pasture, from Blackie’s to San Rafael Avenue, from San Rafael Avenue back to Mom’s, from Mom’s to the end of West Shore Road, then back to Mom’s! It took me an hour and 12 minutes, which was good enough to up me one more VDOT. I’m slowly progressing – since the beginning, I am now 4 VDOT numbers “higher” which isn’t great, but isn’t bad, either. I think the best part is that I am really liking the running part, and except for a little tightness, I seem to have licked the shin splint problem (phew!). I was bothered by being “itchy” during the run – I have been nursing poison oak on my bum and calf, from a “pitstop” during last Sunday’s ride – for the second time this year. Another “You Know You’re Iron When” issue, I guess!

IronMel in her new monkey hat and new swimsuit!

So, back to Saturday. At about 8:00 a.m., IronMel and I arrived at Aquatic Park and slowly got our buns down to the water – just as Sedonia and BK were coming out! Apparently BK had an LLS Board meeting and so had to be in early, so Sedonia agreed to swim with him. Sedonia and BK you are SO IRON!

Today, we swam around the perimeter of Aquatic Park, and were to do as many times as we could in an hour. (Last time we swam around the buoys in the middle, which are fairly close to shore.) I had unfortunately had a rough night without a lot of sleep, and so I decided I would do as much as I could, but I wasn’t going to stress it.

The water was SOOOOO cold! I think it was colder than last time we swam in the Bay. It took me all the way from the shore to the first turn-around buoy to get my face in the water. Brrrr! Luckily though this time no trouble with my swim caps – Maria M-Dot reminded me to “pull them on tight” because of my experience last time. I was definitely NOT going to have a repeat performance!

Kristie in the Kayak

I did have some trouble with my goggles though (if it’s not one thing, it’s the other). I think – amazingly – that my goggles that have fit SO well all season are starting to “gap” a little because I have lost 22 pounds – and my “chubby cheeks” aren’t closing the bottom any more! I had to fiddle with them a few times, and need to figure out if it was “just the day” or if (sadly) I have to find ANOTHER style of goggles. This “goggle thing” is getting a little ridiculous. I thought I had that one licked!

I also “graduated” to Coach Mike’s slimmer wetsuit! He had to give me a “boost” into it (my “badunka” is still a little on the bootylicious side) but once “she” was in, the rest was fine. I was amazed because I looked at that suit and was pretty suspicious that there was NO way it would work. Surprise! Everyone took turns

getting ready to brave the water!

sticking their fingers into the hole in the small of my back – yes okay I got it, there is a hole… Stop that! It tickles! 😉 I also had gone to my friend’s salon Peace, Love & Grilled Cheeses to let them practice their new spray-tan on me (totally natural, uses a combo from sugar beets/sugar that develops naturally) – so there were a lot of comments about how tan I was. I didn’t even try to pass it off as real – though it sure LOOKS real and great! I love it. 😉

Once I finally got my face in the water I was taking it easy, and was swimming with Patricia and Jen Jay. Then I saw Dana‘s red cap behind me, so I swam back, and decided to keep her company. When swimming the perimeter, it just seems to me it’s safer to be at least in pairs. We had 2 kayaks in the water, but there are boats you are swimming behind, etc. I did have to smile that Dana was there in her full-sleeve wetsuit, insulated cap, mittens and booties – and I was in a no-sleeved wetsuit that came about mid-calf! We had a good time swimming together, practicing siting, and the rest. At one point when we were nearly done (about the 45-50 minute mark, when Maria had joined us in “braving the current” that was getting stronger) I was starting to get really cold, so I had to swim a little faster and would go out and

Dana, Patricia and Jen Jay (front line)

then back, keeping an eye out for her to be sure she was still OK, swim out, back, check, out, back… I felt a little like Jake (my border collie) and how he runs out and back and around and back, sort of “burning off steam” when we’re at the beach. I am pretty sure, though, he’s not trying to keep from freezing up! 🙂

Dana "suiting up"

Once we got out, I had the standard bay sludge all over my face (why is it always only ME that gets this? Thanks Coach Helen for giving me the “wipe your face” sign!). I couldn’t actually feel my hands and arms enough to wipe it off with a towel. I just took my (white!) sweatshirt and smudged it all over my face to clear the gunk. Icky. It took a while to be able to talk – getting out of the Bay feels a bit like novocaine. Your brain seems to be working fine, but it’s hard to make the mouth form the right sounds.

We had a Stretch and Strength session on the grass, but I had been so cold I actually couldn’t even get my shirt on. So I just zipped up my long hooded swim parka over my swimsuit and pulled on my sweats, and exercised in that. What a sight, as you can see from the pictures below. I also couldn’t get my hands to hold a brush, so I had very SPECIAL hair. Oh lord. Now I remember why it is that I need to BRAID it, not just “pony-tail” it, when swimming is on the schedule! (Thank goodness the photos were taken when my hat was on – in all the “Downward Dogs” we were doing, it kept flopping off and showing my “bird’s nest” coiffure!)

Jim modelling the Spirit Cape

Susie (who is a fire fighter) had gotten the Spirit Cape last week. Her additions to it were spectacular, including a handcrafted green and purple lei, and an actual fire axe and belt! She explained that fire fighters paint their axes with their engine company name and number and color. So she had painted the axe in IronTeam purple, with “IronTeam” on one side, and “2010” on the other. It was THE BEST! Jim won the Spirit Cape, and no one could deserve it more. He is always such a great, sunny, “Atta Girl” teammate. (Jim’s the one who paid our way through the toll gate the first Boot Camp weekend, if you remember reading about that. He, and BK, were also the cyclists that scared the heck out of me my first “team ride” around Paradise Drive, because I’d never actually met “real cyclists” before. They got to the route turnaround in Tiburon like 1/2 hour before I even showed up – and had ridden from San Francisco at the beginning, to boot!) Anyway – so here is the photo of Jim with the Spirit Cape – now decked out with the tiara from Tiffany, my boa on the bottom, all sorts of trinkets, the axe and belt – boxing gloves (not sure if Susie had added them or if BK added them when he got the cape the time before because I missed that one, at Wildflower Weekend)…This Spirit Cape is getting to be quite the work of art!

ParkaCize!!!!

After the Stretch and Strength/Spirit Cape with the Team and a big “GO TEAM, IRONTEAM” circle that surprised all the folks who had gathered to watch our craziness (yeah, we do look a little insane, I gotta admit, especially to tourists on the waterfront!), Melissa and I were off to Sports Basement. I needed to get some new nutrition and a few things for Marin friends who love that I make the “trek” in frequently enough that they can give me their Sports Basement shopping lists! Mel scoped while I shopped – she was going to do the 5K Fun Run the next day for Brenda Donato (an IronTeam member who succumbed to cancer a year or two ago) – which included a 20% off Sports Basement spree. I had to be home to do “honey do” chores and then a bike ride with H instead, so “Shopping R Us”.

Oh Yeah. So Sex-say. Bay-bee.

All in all, I felt super good during the swim, and even the strength (though I kept falling because I was slipping on the grass and couldn’t really feel my feet). Mentor Margaret even mentioned how “far I had come.” She always makes me feel like a rock star. She’s the best. The interesting thing that I mentioned to Melissa as we were driving home was that Sue Bird, my hypnotherapist (who did 3 knockdown amazingly great hypnosis induction podcasts a while back – you can download them free HERE, click on “Download” and then wait a bit), had “worked on me” with respect to my Open Water swimming. I realized that while in the water. Basically, Sue does “energy work” as part of her hypnosis practice. Through this, she actually “reads” your energy, and helps “shift” it to more “productive” energy for whatever you are concerned about. I started seeing Sue back when I was in law school, because I had a paralyzing fear of speaking in public. We became fast friends (and in fact, she was the officiant at our wedding). Sue herself is an amazing swimmer, and I believe still holds some of Stanford’s records from when she was there.

Mentor Margaret doing her version of the side plank

I had mentioned to her a while back that ever since I was a small kid (and saw someone die in the water in Ft. Lauderdale of a heart attack) – and especially after seeing the movie Jaws when pretty young too – I have had a fear of swimming in Open Water. Sure, I’ve done it – nearly all triathlons are in Open Water, and “back in the day” I was doing some form of a triathlon a number of times a year…but I have never, ever, gotten over the Fear Factor of it. She asked if I would like her to “work on it” for me and I thought – why not? (She does it from a distance, you don’t even have to be there.)

Well, I had forgotten all about this, though the last time I was at Aquatic Park, I had felt pretty great, and really didn’t think that much about The Dreaded Swim. (That was about a week after Sue and I had had our talk, which was precipitated by my having a rough time at our first Boot Camp in the lake, where Mentor Margaret had to swim and talk with me the whole way.) THIS time, I felt AMAZING. I am not kidding. I felt like an otter in the water. I was REALLY relaxed, having fun, etc., even when we were in the ‘deep water’ part of the Park, where the breakwater is open and lets out into the Bay. It was when I was doing the “border collie-esque” swimming forward and back, treading water, talking to Kristie in the kayak, teasing with Sedonia, etc. that I suddenly realized “Heeeeeey, WHO IS this OtterGirl?!” Of course, Sue lives down in Monterey – where otters are abundant, etc. Maybe she “sent me” some of their energy to “replace” mine…?

ParkaStretch!

I actually texted her, just saying “Whatever you did, it worked.” Wild. Completely and totally wild. The last time something like this happened to me was in Peru, where I was having issue after issue with my debilitating fear of heights. The shaman who had come to Willka Ti’ka (where we were staying) explained in Quechua (their native language) to our translator (who spoke Quechua, Spanish and English) that “all I had to do” was to “give up the fear” to Pachamama (the Earth Goddess) and “she would take care of it,” but I really had to want it gone, and really had to do it in a specific ceremony. Well, long story short – I did, and she did. I wound up bounding up trails that would have set me into a hyperventilating swoon previously – and even now, I am more just “aware” of heights than really afraid of them. I think there’s definitely “something to all that.”

I ended the day by seeing my friend Faye, who is now General Manager at Martha Graham Dance Company. They were in Santa Rosa for one performance on their world tour. They are doing a Retrospective of Martha Graham’s work, and I have to say, it was probably the best dance-related performance I have ever seen. They had some films of Martha Graham herself, did a couple of performances of where “dance had been” before she started doing HER stuff, had a “narrator” who explained a bit about what we would be seeing before the dancers came on…and then of course they performed some of her “greats” including Lamentations, Appalachian Spring, and the rest. H hadn’t known that Copland’s

Patricia looking very Zen in her ab workout

“Appalachian Spring” was written FOR Martha Graham and in accordance with her letters about what she “wanted” in a dance sequence, which the narrator talked about, even reading from her letters to Copland. Before the performance, Willi’s Wine Bar squeezed Faye, H and me in for dinner, where of course we got a few of their fabulous flights of wine, and ate WAY too much of all the things that I don’t make at home! (bone marrow, rabbit rillettes, foie gras, duck, curried crab pot de creme, chocolate chip bread pudding, cheese tray, dessert wines, etc.). So stem to stern, it was a wonderful day!

As I write this, H and I are preparing to do a bike ride, probably down to Sausalito and back. (After napping off the dinner/wine/late night until noon!) I didn’t do the “Athlete’s Choice hour and a half” workout on Friday (my “Athlete’s Choice” was a snooze!), and so H and I are going to go do that. It’s a gorgeous day, as it was yesterday.

 You Know You’re Iron When:
*wetsuit hickies. Enough said.
*you have poison oak. There. Again.
*…you have had 2 breakfasts, a bay swim, snacks, strength training, a long shop at Sports Basement, lunch, & lots of laughs before some folks are getting rolling on a Saturday.
*…there just ain’t NUTHIN sexier than your wild-mama bay salt wave crazy woman hair and salt encrusted bod. Oh yeah. Baby.
*…you have fun in the cold bay water rolling around like an otter, cheering on teammates, swimming back and forth, laughing, and the like – while your hands fold down into spastic Claws that you can barely move an hour later and you can’t really talk because your lips don’t move any more.
*…”Sports Basement” has become an entry on your monthly household budget. (Corollary from Rand: “You find that you’re spending more on ‘Sports Basement nutrition’ than you are on ‘real food’ per week.”)
*…your best accessory to an outfit is your smile – even if the outfit is a wetsuit! (Courtesy of Coach Sedonia)

 

Go Team! IronTeam!

Swim Marker Update – OK I feel better now…

Posted on by Sandy

This was the email from Sedonia about the Swim Marker I did yesterday – I feel better now 🙂 – for some reason I can’t get the “titles” to go on or the columns to space correctly, but so it goes. The columns are: Marker, Distance, Time, Min (not sure what the difference is there), predicted minutes for Ironman, predicted time for Ironman, 100 Distance, and then (last two) the difference in the “split” between the first 1000 and the second:

Hey Rock Star!

Thank you for sending me your results. I added them to your previous ones and listed them below

Marker 1 200 4:16 4.25 90 1:30* 2:08
Marker 2 800 17:56 18.00 95 1:35* 2:14
Marker 3 1000 20:23 20.33 86 1:26* 2:02
Marker 4/LBT 1500 31:01 31 87.30 1:28* 2:04
Marker 5 1000 20:08 20.13 85 1:25* 2:01
Marker 6 2000 43:15 43.25 91 1:31* 2:10 5:28 v 5:17
Marker 7 2000 42:18 42.30 89 1:29* 2:07 21:14 v 21:04
* It is important to note that predicted times based off of pool time are generally faster than actual open water times

These are PERFECT!

First: you negative split which indicates you have a strong understanding of your effort levels-which is key in being a successful Ironman racer

Second: you improved 2 minutes off your previous 2000 yard marker which (in the swimming world) is HUGE…this shows that you are continuing to strengthen your base.

At this point in the season many people hit a plateau in their improvement. Huge strides are made in the beginning, but as the work load continues to increase and fatigue on the body compounds, it is very typical for an athlete to simply maintain, or even get slightly slower. SO…to see improvement, no matter how small, is FAN-TAB-U-LOUS!!!

Great work Sandy! I’m so excited to watch you continue to grow and develop your IRON skills!
Congrats on getting this far!

Let me know if you have any questions or if there is anything that you feel I can do to help you reach your goals!

Argh – Swim Marker slowin’ down…

Posted on by Sandy

Was out today to do a 2,000 swim marker – finished it in 42:18. I actually checked my watch when I was at my 1,000 and it was 21:14 – so I am pretty solid at that time. Teensy negative split.

This means I’m actually slowing down. Grrr! And the funny part was that I thought I was totally “powering through” the marker. Once again, I was time-strapped, and HAD to get out before a certain time, as I had a meeting that I needed to get to. I had done the 1,000s during the “3×3 mini-triathlons” the other weekend at about 24 minutes (give or take), and I knew I had to beat that (or be late for my meeting). I thought that shouldn’t be that tough, since I had done those swims with the knowledge I was going to be biking/running (and repeating) afterwards. However, today, once I “did the math” and went back and looked at my previous times, I was a lot slower. I’m back to marker times like back in November/December! Grrrr!

I’m shocked, frankly. I really did feel like I was powering through the set, and that I was going to be WAY faster than my last marker. Instead, my 100 times have been: 2:08 (200 back in November), 2:14 (800 in December), 2:02 (1,000 in January), 2:04 (1500 in January), 2:01 (1000 in February). 2:10 (2000 in March). My 1/2 Iron was 2250 meters in 54 minutes (not sure how to compare that since I think my current pool is yards).

The email from Sedonia last time (when I slowed from 2:01 to 2:10) was this:

Considering where we are in the season, the magnitude of last weekend’s workouts and the fact that this marker is 1000 yards longer than your last marker I am pleased with these results.
 
We are getting to the point in the season where getting faster is not the primary goal, but rather being able to go the distance while maintaining a strong, steady and controlled pace is. 
 
You negative split your swim perfectly and this is a result of the solid base you have established and it is a testament to all the hard work you’ve put forth. 
 
As the season continues to progress improvements in time tend to slow (and most people actually get a little slower) due to the increased work load and those “sluggish” days seem to occur more frequently.  The key is to keep your eye on the prize, remember why your doing this and celebrate the little things!

Time to “celebrate the little things”!

Lather, Rinse, Repeat – Double Metric Century Weekend

Posted on by Sandy

Saturday H and I got up to Yountville to ride the Tour of Napa Valley route with a good portion of the IronPeeps. I hadn’t seen folks in what seemed like forever! (Pre-Half Iron/Sedona.) That day, there were a handful who went down to Monterey for a ride, another chunk were in the East Bay doing the Tierra Bella, and then about a dozen of us for the Tour of Napa route.

H rode on my old bike, Vlad, which he had “souped up” as much as one can on a 20+ year old bike! He had replaced the handlebar, stem, brakes, derailleur, chain…like I said, as much as he could. I was on my new bike, Angelina, for the first “spin” after having her fit at Aria Velo. I was a little concerned about getting “up onto” my seat, which now seemed pretty much at stratospheric levels! (Sure enough, until I got the “hang” of it, the bike shorts pad kept catching. Not so comfy.)

Here is the map of our route (pretty much). If you look at this map, we cut off the “bottom left” part (going out through Larkmead to Calistoga and back on Highway 128 to Highway 29/St Helena Highway ), just cutting down to Silverado Trail and back into Yountville, instead. It was somewhere between 50 and 60 miles.

H and I rode together most of the time, until we got to Ink Grade (between Mile 51 and 55 or so – 4.5 miles and 1110 feet of climbing). Teammate Will had told me that one of the things I would really notice with Angelina was the “power differential” of her geometry over Vlad’s, but I had sucked on my first ride on her with H (pre-bike fit, mind you) and I just thought that was one of those “cycling dude myths.” Well, post-bike fit…I TOTALLY got it. As we were going up Ink Grade, H (who has always been far stronger than me cycling) hit the first of the 12% portions and just said “I have to walk – keep going.” I did…and slowly, inexorably, I got up Damn Ink Grade. I was shocked. Seriously. I passed Patricia and JP on the way up – just going, going, going. Every time I pedaled, it actually moved the bike forward. Now, that sounds stupid. And it’s hard to explain if you don’t know what I’m talking about. But with Vlad, the “power transfer” was such that even though I pushed down, it didn’t push the bike “forward” as far, and I had trouble balancing, so that in the end, I would have to just walk. I was astonished. I got up to the top of that bad boy, and didn’t walk AT ALL. I realized at that point that though I’m not sure I could do Pig Farm or Wilson Hill, I am pretty sure I could take McEvoy Ranch Hill (Red Hill) grade now. Who-hoo! Wow! (OK, and my heart rate maxed at 185 – where my Lactate Threshold is 161. That’s Some Hill.)

I stopped at the top of Ink Grade to wait for H, and he was actually pretty close behind me. (I was a little bummed – I wanted to rest a bit!) We did stop to swap some nutrition out of our Bento Boxes, etc., and H securely stowed Liz’s glove, which we had picked up right at the beginning of the climb. (I nearly killed myself turning onto Ink Grade trying to shift and turn left – I wound up on the grass verge and muscled the bike back onto the road, with Coach Mike laughing in his Mini at me. Of course I would pull a bonehead “shift the wrong way” moment with an audience!) H and I talked a lot about the difference between the bikes, as well as how much of a help the clipless pedals were and that I was beginning to like them…even though I’d nearly bitten the dirt when getting Liz’s glove…I’d unclipped one foot and started to reach down on that side, and the bike is so light it pretty much twisted away from me and I had to do a little “hop” with the BIKE attached to my FOOT to stay upright – too freakin’ funny.

On the other side of Ink Grade – oh my Lord – was the most glorious downhill EVER. The day was perfect and gorgeous, first of all. But there you are – at the top of Howell Mountain – with all of Napa spread out under you. And the road was perfectly paved – not a rut or pothole – and wonderful loopy curves down, down, down. Patricia, H and I sped down and I got to 38 MPH – Patricia reached 40! Woah! There were many “Look, Patricia!” moments – with the glorious California poppies, new olive shoots on the trees, stark black lines of grape trellises up steep slopes, and the like. I was sad that we had forgotten our camera. My favorite was actually a weed field next to the road, in which a full-on tennis net was strung up between two green tennis uprights, left from God knows when! I think H and I might have to drive back just to take a picture of it, it was so incongruous! As H said, “Now THAT adds new meaning to the words ‘grass court’!”

The standard "bike tattoo"!
A cute little "bike tattoo"!

Iron Mel had come with us in the car. She’d been sick for quite some time with a bug that just wouldn’t let go, and this was her first outing. The three of us got into a gigglefest on the way into Yountville – don’t even ask. She blew past us on the first uphill of the day on Pope Valley Road – but ran out of gas after Ink Grade. On the way home, the 3 of us hit a deli because H was at his low-blood-sugar worst, and then had to wait about a year to receive our sandwiches (the deli staff kept taking what were obviously locals’ requests first). Skip and Nancy were there too (Skip did his own ride – Nancy SAG’d for us) – at one point, Skip asked Melissa if we had put in our order the previous week too, and we said indeed that we had!

Kudos to Coach Mike and Nancy for their SAG wagons – and especially to Mary and Marina for helping me corral H back in, when he got lost and did another 8 miles down Silverado Trail at the end of the ride! (I had ridden ahead with JP and thought H would ride with Patricia – they both missed the Yountville Road turnoff back, but when Patricia showed up without H, I realized something was not right. Luckily he had his phone turned on – I called from Mary’s phone and discovered he was just continuing to tool on down Silverado Trail! Marina headed off to see if she could find him, and as she left I realized I didn’t have Marina’s number, I wasn’t really sure she knew what H looked like, etc.! So Mary loaned me her car( H had our car keys!) – and as I pulled up to H way down Silverado Trail, Marina pulled up, laughing, behind us. She had realized the same thing – once down the road on her Good Samaritan Mission!)

H and I got back home after the ride and took hot showers, then bad me, I snuggled into bed (it was only like 3:00 PM!) for a little “snoozle.” H woke me up with a tray of treats he had brought back from Austria – champagne, cheese, chocolate, and the like! This was particularly bad, because of course I was going to be out riding again the next day! I am not sure that’s the ultimate recovery nutrition. (Added to the Pringles, Chips Ahoy, and Oreos at the end of the ride!)

Sunday, Iron Mel and I were off again – lather, rinse, repeat – this time to do the bike portion of the Vineman course. She is doing the Vineman for her Ironman, and navigated us to Windsor High. We were doing the whole course – though when she does it during the Ironman, she has to do the loop TWICE! (I hadn’t realized that.) After a pitstop at McDonald’s with 3 of the other girls (during which Coach Dave wound up having to wait in line longer than all 4 of us girls – the irony!), we were off.

I rode for a while with Patricia, Erin, Mary and Maria, and then for most of Westside Road and Dry Creek Road, I was by myself. It was once again a GLORIOUS day. Wow! I passed what seemed like 100s of wineries, many of them with balloons out and announcing tastings, art showings, and the like. I tried to keep my cadence up as Coach Sedonia had cautioned, to make it an “active recovery” day. I rode for a while with Melissa, Marina and Kathryn on Canyon Road, but then was on my own again for Hwy 128.

That's me, in front. What a beautiful day!

The directions we had were pretty good, but after going a number of miles on 128, I hit a stop sign (at about Mile 41 of the ride – around Jimtown). The signs to keep on 128 headed Left, but that didn’t seem correct. It also said that was towards Calistoga, and I wasn’t sure that was the right direction, either. I got a wave of uneasiness over me that I had somehow missed a turn – and the last turn had been MANY miles back. Just as I was getting out my phone to call Coach Mike, Teammate Sara pulled up. I was so glad to see her! She said she was sure we were in the right place, but agreed that a left turn didn’t seem correct. Coach Mike didn’t pick up, and I tried Mentor Margaret just as Sara connected with her boyfriend Gabe (who was in a SAG wagon). (I felt bad – once I got back, Margaret said she had been worried because she saw a missed call from me – whoops!) Gabe immediately knew where we had gotten “confused” (even before Sara asked him) and he said that yes, we had to go left at the stopsign, because the road actually turned back on itself and ultimately led to where he was in the SAG Wagon (at mile 45/beginning of Chalk Hill Road).

So Sara and I rode together, meeting up with him and Coach Mike at the stop. Now, Sara is a GREAT cyclist. The road between 40 and 45 wasn’t so bad – a few small rollers, but not much. So I decided to keep up with her. We talked about her impending “plunge” into law school in Colorado, the fact she had once again had trouble with a wheel (that’s why she was riding so “slowly” and had come up behind me), etc. After fueling up at the SAG Wagon, I decided that as it was “only” about 17 miles more (still sounds so funny to say that), and that I didn’t have a run afterwards, I would “ride until I bonked” and endeavor to keep up with her.

Whew! Every time I would think I couldn’t keep up and would gear down to an easier gear, Sara would pull away, so I would “Iron Up” and throw it back into the higher gear to keep pace. Of course, I was drafting – even though Sara is little, there is no question that this helps. We did hit a climb before the “big climb” at Chalk Hill, and I definitely fell behind as she hammered up it. She said she’d wait for me at the top – which she did.

We hit Chalk Hill at Mile 47-49. It’s not really that bad of a hill – the problem is that you have already been riding for so long when you hit it. (And the Vineman crew are going to hit it not once, but twice!) Just as we started climbing, Sara lost her chain. I realized there was no way I could get back going if I stopped, so she said no worries, to wait for her at the top. As I turned around to say OK, she did a “slow-mo” fall. I shouted “You OK?” and she was laughing, so I kept going.

We had been riding with 3 other gals (not IronTeam) for part of the way, and the first of them caught up to me as I was near the top. She had heard/seen what had happened, so first joked, “Nice way to leave your buddy back there,” then (laughing) she said, “You have to tell her that’s the most graceful fall I have EVER seen.” When Sara caught up, turns out she had just had one of those standard “not quite unclipping fast enough” situations. I told her I was so surprised to see her on the ground when I turned around, it looked almost as if she just decided to take a little nap there on the road!

I'm sitting behind Sara, in the middle, with sunglasses

I kept up with her all the way in to Windsor High, and was SUPER proud of myself. There is no way in the world that I thought that I could actually do that. I thought I would get maybe 5 miles in, and then just bonk. Her cadence is so high and strong. I felt ELATED as I saw the High School pull into sight – and I know that the “good bikers” who were already in (Coach Dave, Mentor Margaret, Will, Rocky, and the rest) were probably as surprised as I was to see me coming in with her!

As we waited for the rest of the pack to come in, Will had brought his tools/oil/etc. and worked on Angelina. He commented about how great she looked & what a good bike she was (which made me feel good). Ultimately everyone rolled on in – Melissa, Marina and Kathryn as a pack, Sedonia, Patricia, Maria, and Mary, and then Liz (who had actually had some sort of really weird wheel issue that Phil was helping her with, when I saw her on the road). I was all in exhausted (but happy and proud!), and just lay down on the sidewalk while we were waiting for our peeps to get in! It actually felt nice and warm on my back.

Iron Mel and I got ourselves on back to Marin, spending the drive planning our “first dinners” (of at LEAST two) when we got home! I opted for a miso soup and yogurt/fruit smoothie, in my ice bath! My inner thigh muscles all the way from groin to knee (adductor) muscles cramped up a bit on the drive home (and are actually still sore today). That has to be from the new bike fit. Otherwise, I was pleased that on the 2nd day, by and large, I didn’t have all that bad of a time – a little “chacha” discomfort, but not as much as I had imagined. (I was Butt’r’in’ up like a crazy person though, which I think was part of the serious problems I had in the 70.3.) The nutrition plan seemed to work – “GU Brew” with CarboPro, GU, Thermalytes, and Clif Shot Blocks. No fiber, no protein. I still have to see if that’s going to work with a bike and run combo, but I felt OK and didn’t seem to have that much G.I. distress. Once I got out of the ice bath, I started eating everything in sight…! Oh Lord, it was really bad. This morning in fact I was 2 lbs heavier – and I know it was all the crap I ate as if I was a starving person (leftover Oreos and chocolate, etc.) Yowzah!

I’m sure there is more to write, and I will annotate this later – just wanted to get the “broad strokes” down. Today is the Blessed Monday Day Off – whohoo! And it’s a recovery week – even better!

You Know You’re Iron When…

…You breathe a sigh of relief that your FIRST of two long rides back to back is “only” a metric century, not a full century!
…Salt & Vinegar Pringles, Chips Ahoy, and Oreos become “must have” Recovery Items.
…Your feet and upper thighs are the same shade of WHITE (courtesy of Maria M-Dot)
…Your bike mantra (JUST…KEEP…PEDALLING!) wakes you up out of a sound sleep at 2 a.m. Monday morning, and you sneak a peek at your husband to be sure you didn’t shout it out loud…(true, so true…)

My Own Special Boot Camp

Posted on by Sandy

Writing this a bit longer than a week after – trying to catch up!

As H was gone at his mother’s funeral in Austria for a little over a week, I was not sleeping well and therefore a bit of a basket case when last weekend’s “Boot Camp” came a-callin’.  As previously posted, I also had been told by my doctor not to run or bike – because she was afraid I would “get competitive” and strain my just-healing shin splint…so after Patricia and Iron Mel called in sick, I just stayed home Saturday. And pretty much did nothing. Bad grrl.

Sunday, however, I decided it was time to Pull On My Big Grrl Panties and get with the program again. After hearing that my teammates had done “as many sprint triathlons as they could do in 5 hours” (including having the air let out of their tires while in the water, etc. etc.) I decided to do my own “5 hours of sprint triathlons” at the JCC.

WOW, was the gym busy! It was a “kids day” in the basketball court, but as I walked in, it looked as if every machine was full as well. It was going to be a tough one trying to get in the groove, but I headed into the Ladies’ to “suit up.”

Just driving to the gym had been an adventure, too. There were high wind warnings, and severe flood/rain warnings as well. The rain was pelting down, and of course I had to park in the “secondary” lot (which should have clued me in on how full the gym was going to be). I got myself together before opening the car door – with my gym bag, bike/run shoes, etc. in one hand, and 5 hours’ worth of nutrition to try in the other! I opened the door into the sheets of rain, pulled the hood up on my raincoat, fumbled for the car lock button, and raced for the front door!

I set up the locker so that it could work as a transition area for me – run clothes on the bottom “layer,” then bike clothes and shoes, then nutrition. Coach Mike and I had been on the phone over 2 evenings going over my nutrition and issues I had had at the 70.3, and Coach Doug had also sent me an email. So I was trying Gatorade, GU, bananas, and some new organic/all natural GU and “shot block” type things from REI (Honey Stinger I think  they were called). I also had my Thermalytes and some Clif Shot margarita blocks. The idea was to stay completely away from protein, and as much as possible away from solid/fiber food.

I hit my timer for the 5 hours as I got in the pool for my first round. The wind was blowing so hard, that it was keening through the flags above the pool. The sound was super eery. The lifeguard was in his canvas “house,” hunkered down, and there were actually some other brave souls out there with me (though I did get my own lane). The rain had died down a bit, but the wind was REALLY serious. It whipped the pool into waves! The water was nice and warm, and I finished the 1,000 in something like 24 minutes (I can’t quite remember now and it wasn’t all that important – I just figured I would keep going until the 5 hours was up).

I got out and headed into the changing room, grabbing a couple of towels on the way. I had worn my 2-piece Tyr top under my 1-piece suit, with the thought of using that straight through as a jogbra (that worked well). As usual, it was a little tough getting the bike shorts on, but once those were on, the heartrate monitor and shirt were easy. I put my baseball cap on my head, as (even though braided) my hair was definitely going to scare folks out on the gym floor! Grabbing a bike bottle full of Gatorade, a couple GU and some Shot Blocks and a banana, I headed out to the bike trainer.

I was to ride 9 miles. I kept within my LT of 153-157 and RPM of 90, which necessitated moving up and down on the gears as my heart rate raised (and lowered). It made it a bit more interesting. I had my iPod and a new music set, and biked for 5 minutes before I took in any of the Gatorade or nutrition. Mike had postulated that one of the issues might have been taking in nutrition too fast after getting out of the swim, so I was careful about that. Then, it was just up to me to sit there and pump out the 9 miles. Just as I was finishing, I lucked out and one of the treadmills came open. I hurried over to it, but one of the Staff beat me to it – apparently something was wrong with it but he said he could “fix it quickly.” I threw my towel over it to make it clear that it was “mine” and then headed into the locker room, realizing that I had made a mistake only bringing one bike bottle. I added the Gatorade to it, and hustled back out, ultimately getting on the treadmill a minute or two later. I walked a little bit at first, but got it up to just shy of 12 MPH. That was fast enough for me. The gym was very crowded, and they had the “30 minutes max” sign up for the treadmills (not on the bikes though). So when I finished 1.5 miles, I was a Bad Grrl – I pressed Stop quickly, reset the machine, then started over! Ohhhh, bad. But at the speed I was going, I wasn’t going to be able to make 3 miles in 30 minutes, and I was going to be “darned” if I had to wait on the treadmill each round!

I got off, and it was time to head back out to the pool. One nice thing was there is a “spinner” in the ladies room, so my suit was only damp, not really wet. (I actually had brought 3 suits, just in case. Yes, I am SUCH a Princess 🙂 ) I had been in the training room (no windows) for the bike/run portion, and as I finished the run, my timing was such that I thought I would get 2 rounds plus maybe one swim in. (I can’t remember the time, but I remember thinking that.)

I turned the corner towards the pool and actually laughed out loud. The rain was coming down so hard, I couldn’t even SEE the pool. It looked as if I was literally looking at a waterfall. I shook my head, and headed on out there. Big surprise – I was the only one in the pool! The lifeguard raised an eyebrow at me from the guard shack, snuggled down in his big pool parka and hood. Yeah – I’m crazy, I know.

The water was markedly colder, and was actually sloshing over the edge of the pool. It was a little hard to breathe with the rain coming down so hard, and it felt odd on my shoulders and arms – super cold “pellets” pinging me for the entire time I was swimming. I did my 1,000, and hoisted myself out – and couldn’t see my flipflops (which I had kicked off at the head of my lane). They are bright pink, so pretty easy to spot – I scanned the pool deck and realized that they had washed all the way down the “short” side of the pool and 1/2 way around the “long” side!

I got out, and headed back in for Round 2. I actually felt really good, though the Gatorade was getting less and less appetizing (SO darned sweet!) I actually had to do a tiny bit more than 9 miles on the bike, as no treadmill was free when I reached the 9. I did my same “trick” with the 1.5 miles/1.5 miles on the treadmill the 2nd time, but I actually was able to go a bit faster. When I looked at my watch, I realized I had a LOT more time left over – I had “negative split” all the sports on my 2nd time around – !

I got off the treadmill, suited up for my last time, and headed back out to the pool. I had forgotten to take off my heart rate monitor – so I did discover the answer to one of the questions I have had (whether it is waterproof – yes, it is, thank goodness!). I got out to the pool, and the rain had let up a LOT since I had been out the 2nd time. (No way to tell from the gym, as the only windows face out onto the indoor basketball court.) The lifeguard unbundled just long enough to ask what I was doing (surprised, I’m sure, to see me for my THIRD time), and I said I had to do as many sprint-distance triathlons as I could in 5 hours. I mentioned that I was feeling tired, and so was going to go into the lane right in front of the guard shack. To which I got, “Um, you BETTER not have any trouble, I am SO not coming out there to save you!” Thanks – that makes me feel safe!

I got into the water and HOLY CATS was it cold!  It was obvious the heater couldn’t keep up with the volume of cold rainwater. It’s a saline pool, and it was also markedly less “salty” than usual. My first couple of laps, I could feel the goosebumps raising up all over my body. Brrrrrr!!!

While swimming that last set, I had a funny thing happen, with respect to Rand (the owner of Aria Velo, about whom I wrote in the ‘bike fit’ blog post). He and I had discussed the fact that we had had the same swim coach, Deann Joslyn, at Petaluma High morning swim. I used to go to the swim with my friend Lori, before we headed down to work. Neither of us was really good enough to join the Masters, who swam at the same time, so Deann (who coached the Masters and swam, too) gave us our own routine. I was thinking about this, and thinking about the folks in the Masters. Rand had mentioned Patrick (who was assistant coach back then), and I had described him and Rand said no, that wasn’t him – as I was swimming, I realized the guy I was referring to was named Greg. I remembered who Patrick was. Then I started thinking about this cute, tall skinny guy who had started after Lori and I had been swimming “to the side of” The Masters for about 6 months. He had had sort of “punk cut” (long in front) dyed black hair, lots of piercings and tattoos, etc. He was super nice, and actually swam with us in the beginning because he wasn’t much of a swimmer. I remember he often biked to the pool and would then bike after. As I was swimming my 3x Sprint Swim, I thought “Wow, that’s so weird, that guy’s name was Rand, too.” It took me 25 yards to realize – oh my Goodness! – that was RAND! The SAME guy who had fit me at Aria Velo. I laughed out loud (and choked on pool water) when I realized I “must be a little hypoxic” to think that there could be TWO “Rands.” Of course, now that Rand owns Aria Velo, he has short sandy-brown hair, he’s taken out his piercings, and he must still have the tattoos, but he wears sleeves to cover them. I couldn’t believe it! That was probably 2000, maybe 2001…small world!

I got out of the pool and back onto the bike – and was starting to feel a little surly. I didn’t even bring the iPod out…sort of like the 70.3, I was just “tired of” the idea of music. I looked at my watch, and realized that I was going to be able to finish a 3rd time on the bike, and probably about 5-10 minutes of the run – which is exactly what happened (I ran for 5 minutes which put me at the 5 hour cutoff, then turned the treadmill down and walked another 5 to cool down).

I hit the showers, and was in there a long time! The gym had cleared out by that time, so I was able to take my time packing up all the “debris” from the locker (GU containers, Gatorade bottles, etc.). I then sat on the edge of the towel cabinet, and ate an entire “Snack Pack” of Chips Ahoy cookies! All in all, it was a good day – and I was really glad to be “back in the saddle” again.

AriaVelo.com Bike Fit and a few more things from last week

Posted on by Sandy

On Tuesday (yes, I am “blogging backwards”), Coach Mike K, Helen, Mentor Margaret, Iron Melissa, Susie, Lessanjen (you know, like ‘Brangelina’ (smile)), Paula and I did our Lactate Threshold test at my house. It was a LOT of fun to have everyone over, especially on the day that H left for Austria. Doing the test basically involves riding your bike on a trainer until you puke. Well, not QUITE until you puke. But nearly. 😉

I had been having some issues with the gearing on Angelina when H and I went on the ride during the weekend – slipping out of the lower gears. He had worked on it a bit, and Coach Mike worked on it a bit and looked at my fit in general. But he, and Sedonia, and a number of others had urged me to get a “professional bike fit”…and that was on the books for the next day. After the LT test, I had that nagging ache in my knees that biking – since my USMC knee thing – leads to. I had told Coach Mike that on my ride on Angelina during the weekend (slipping gears aside) I had also had trouble climbing hills that I could climb with Vlad’s granny gear (H, on Vlad, actually went up and down the hill cheering me on…at least I didn’t walk!) Mike said that with a proper bike fit, I should have more power and it might affect both of these issues.

So the next day I was up to Aria Velo in Santa Rosa. Rand Libberton is considered by members of my Team whom I really respect to be one of the top bike fitters anywhere – and the price was 1/3 of what another team member had paid. So though it was still expensive (given my current low low income state), I figured I really HAD to do this.

Eight hours later, I walked out!

Okay, some of it was talking about the whole fitting “thing,” Ironman racing in general and the like. (Moi? Get someone talking? (smile).) Rand had been a TNT Cycle/Iron coach in the past and has 5 Ironmans (Ironmen?) under his belt and is doing IM Canada this year – so there was a lot to talk about. My favorite story actually had to do with when he decided to move from being an ultradistance cyclist to doing his first Ironman because a 56 year old family friend from his home town in North Carolina was doing IM Florida. I was in stitches when he explained the training regime he concocted for himself…which included the story of his first run. After he’d sent in the $ for the IM, he went out, bought some running shoes, and then figured (since he could cycle for hours and hours), that he’d go out “for just an hour,” on his first run. He wound up giving himself, all at once, the top 4 running injuries, including plantar fasciitis and shin splints!! (Then, in his first Swim – which he did under the auspices of my old swim coach DeAnn Joslin in Petaluma, small world! – he thought he’d “just swim for an hour”…and wound up getting 1/2 lap before he started to drown and gasp! 🙂 )

“Fitting” includes having all your “measurements measured” – from your shoulders, arms, hamstring flexion, hip and ankle flexibility, where the ball of your foot is, etc….to a special little number that you push down, stand over, and then let slowly rise up until it gooses you to show your “true” inseam! (Wonder if the guys step off this thing singing soprano for a few seconds…?)

Rand measures your bike, and transfers the measurements exactly to a machine that looks sort of like a bike/cyborg combo. Then he puts you on it, and sticks electrodes to your various “moving parts” (ankle, knee, shoulder, hip, etc.) so that he can “motion capture” you riding. The whole time, we were talking about “all things Ironman.” His girlfriend Lydia (who was one of the founding members of Counting Crows) actually also got bitten by the Iron “bug” and not only got into Kona the first time that she entered the raffle, but also had an AMAZING moment on the Ironman video that year! (He played it for me.) We talked a LOT about nutrition, and I recounted my ‘issue’ with the 70.3 and he had some ideas on what to potentially do to address it. Pedal, pedal, pedal. Compute, compute, compute. Chat, chat, chat.

The motion capture not only shows you in all your glory and where you should be straight instead of bent and vice versa (oy), but also it tracks where in your pedal stroke you are gaining (or losing) power. It was fascinating. Rand then shows you (off the bike, in chairs) WHY your power gets messed up if you are not in the right position. The one that really stuck with me is this: Sit in a chair, feet on the floor, sitting up straight. Now, stand up. When you go to stand up, you lean forward an exact angle (everyone does – I forget the angle but it’s specific). Your body “just does this” to engage all the best muscles to give you the power. If you lean forward farther than that angle, you don’t engage the muscles correctly (though you can do it, just not as efficiently). And if you lean BACK away from that angle and try to get up, you can’t even really engage those muscles at all (imagine trying to stand up from a “slumped back” position without leaning forward – impossible).

As Rand explained it, the fit on my bike as I brought her into the shop was more like that “leaning back” position. I had asked him in particular why I felt most comfortable riding in the drops – though all Cycling books and magazines detail that you should spend about 80% of your time on the hoods. He said that by getting down in the drops, I was trying to “get down to” the angle that would help me produce that power…up in the hoods, the “angle made” by my body in relation to my legs was more like that “lean back position” in the chair and my body just couldn’t sustain that for very long.

And then, he started to change the geometry. Everything. From where my cleats were on my shoes, on up. Hooooooly cow! The motion capture from the beginning to the end went from me with a bowed back, straight arms out of my shoulder sockets (and widely spread hands due to the “extra width” handlebar) and my knees (at the “up”/bent position) well below the bar, to a straight back, relaxedly (is that a word?) bent elbows, shoulders down, and my knee actually ABOVE the bar while pedaling. The only ‘change’ that cost me extra were the new handlebars (and they were only $40) – he threw in the new stem -and he even took all the stickers off the bike and the ‘pie plate’ behind the gears gratis so I “wouldn’t look stupid” (no mincing words there). Everything changed. Every-freakin’-thing. I guess the biggest one was that the seat went up –  nearly THREE inches. (He said it in centimeters, which sounded even bigger, of course.) I got up on the bike and started laughing and making “altitude sickness” comments! I haven’t actually been out on a ride with her yet – I don’t want to go alone – and I had ALREADY, before, been having trouble catching the tip of the saddle on the “pad” on the back of my bike shorts when I got going. I can’t even IMAGINE how I’m going to ‘get up there’ now!

Speaking of saddles, Rand said that my saddle is “OK for now,” though he had a number of woman-fit saddles for me to look at. My saddle on Vlad was rubbing me because it was too “flared” in back. Angelina’s new Fizik saddle is WAY harder, but it’s narrower and the shape seems good – so I’m going to see how it goes.

Aria Velo even has a room called “The Lab” with a trainer that you put your bike on, where you can queue up any race you want (including of course Ironman Louisville) from a biker’s perspective and ride it. The trainer simulates the hills, etc. Even the water stops and special needs stops are on the film! I definitely plan to take advantage of that.

I think my favorite times in the whole experience were when he said I had “professional cyclist level” knee/hip side-to-side movement (I had pretty much none, which he said is basically unheard of for a complete non-cyclist like moi, or even for most “real” cyclists). And also when he showed me how to affect my pedal/power stroke on the computer screen attached to my movement. I got very competitive on that one! He said that people generally stay under 50 or so (I think that was the number). I could get it up to 73. (He said that he can get it to 80 for a few counts). Yes, yes, I might not have the most expensive bike in the world, and I might not be the best cyclist in the world, but I have “world class” knee/hip (non-)movement and can “get the numbers” on the pedal/power machine. Who-hoo (laugh!) The thing that I learned and could dramatically SEE was that if you can get your RPM to hold at 90, your pedal stroke loses some of the “loss of power” points at just about 1:00 (on the clock of your pedal stroke) and 5:00 that it has when you pedal at a slower rate. Also, because you could see each foot’s power separately, it was very easy to see that you really only get power when you are on the “front side” of the circle, not on the “back side,” regardless of how many exercises you do to “pull up” on the stroke or imagine having “equal power” all the way around. Pedalling is all about the foot that is on the “forward side of the circle” pushing “out” not “stomping down”, and then “riding back up” when the other foot is doing the front side of the circle. Rand had me do an exercise where I tried to “relax” my foot and ankle (reminded me a lot about what I learned in the Chi Running seminar) and just keep the RPM up without “pushing down” but rather, by pushing “forward,” then riding the pedal around. That’s when I got the highest numbers and the flattest “power loss” profile. I explained to Rand that I found 80 RPM to be a good “sweet spot” for me – he said I really had to try to keep it in a lower gear and up at that 90 RPM as much as I could. He said he knew that, once I got used to it, the new geometry was going to help a lot.

Rand asked me how I had set up Angelina in the first place – and I explained that H had pretty much tried to match the geometry on Vlad – which had been matched to geometry from my bike before, and so on, and so on. And, of course, NO, I had never been “professionally fit” on “Bike Zero,” the bike that had started it all. Rand said that, given that my hip/knee movement were at “such a rock solid level,” he was pretty much 100% sure that all my knee issues on the bike were from the ‘completely idiotic geometry and positioning’ I had ridden with for so many years. (No mincing words there.)

After he realized that I could take his Love Through Sarcasm brand of coaching, Rand convinced me into replacing not only my under-saddle tool/tube case (“If you’re carrying that suitcase to put your jacket in it, suck it up and put it in your jersey back pocket like the rest of us”), but also my pump/CO2 combo (“Can you pump anything up using that? I didn’t think so. So why are you carrying it?”) When I explained that I was terrified of “doing a Chrissie Wellington” with a CO2 cartridge if I had to fill a tube since I’d never used one, he actually took the air out of my tire and made me fill it not once, but twice. (The Ironman DVD that we had watched with his girlfriend on it was the one where Wellington got a flat, then didn’t fit the CO2 cartridge on  correctly and had to go begging for one from a fellow competitor.) He threw those in, for free, an extra tube, some “non-idiotic tire levers” to replace mine, etc. Pity is a wonderful thing.

The thing that I was sad about was that my IM Louisville-training friend Missy couldn’t fly out to have her bike fit, too! She is a cycle “nut” (said with love) and Aria Velo would be an “ice-cream-with-whipped-cream-and-fudge-sundae-cherry-on-top” experience for her. She has been tinkering on her own with the fit of her tri bike, her road bike, and her mountain bike and I know that if she could bring her “rides” to Rand, she would be totally set.

So, there ya go – that’s my bike fit story. I gotta get on Angelina this week, and see how it goes! The geometry is so different, it’s almost like I got a new bike!