Climbing Clinic

After a light spin Monday night and the night off Tuesday I felt surprisingly pretty good for the climbing clinic offered by Stephanie Chase of Chase Cycling Group. Her coach, Tommy Gosselin, was the guest rider to help her out.  

We warmed up for a few miles on the way to the first climbing section. During the first section I wondered if I had gone too hard or wasn’t feeling it, but the second one, a more challenging climb, I did much better.

Stephanie urged us to all work on our cadence, keeping it high and in a smaller gear. It wasn’t supposed to be competitive but I wanted to work on my own technique in moving past riders and powering through on the top. It didn’t level off completely but it was much easier at the top. The plan was to keep the pressure on and not slack off, which is the norm for many riders. I did notice that I backed off towards the very end. When I did, I said to myself, “Oops, this isn’t what I’m supposed to do.”

It will take a little mental training to not give up as quickly or back off as early. That’s when all the attacks happen so I need to be mentally and physically prepared for them.

Everyone was starting to feel good so we went back and did that second section again. This time Steph took off like a shot and I got on her wheel. This girl rides so smooth so she’s a great one to follow! I sat on her wheel all the way down the hill and back up the other side. At the top I didn’t let up and I went by her. Or I should say, she let me go by her. We regrouped and set off to do the climb again.

Steph told me to sit on her wheel this time around and the plan was to bunny hop past all the girls, grabbing wheels when we could to take advantage of the rider in front of us. I sat right on her wheel. I was happy with myself that I could do it. I kept my cadence high and the pressure steady. We turned a corner where the incline continues but at a much lower gradient. Like a rockstar Teresa came up by us and took the lead. (This girl is pretty strong. She sneaks up when you least expect her but then she doesn’t last long – something she’ll need to work on.) Steph grabbed her wheel for a little recovery and on the last 50 meters blew past her in a full-on sprint. I just couldn’t go with her because of the effort and because I wasn’t expecting it. Eventually I will be able to.

I need to work on my mental expectations and learn to anticipate when someone is going to come around and attack, or just come to the front, like Teresa.

My climbing seems to be improving. Can that be attributed to my increasing fitness, a few pounds lost, and the climbing at Turtle Pond? It wasn’t a lot of climbing, but more than what I do on the flat roads in the Greater Portland area.

I’m undecided about the group ride tonight. Over the last two days I thought I’d go. However, I still need to focus on keeping it easy this week and not let my enthusiasm last night get the best of me.

If I can stay the course this week I should be able to work hard next week. My husband is out of town all next week so I’ll have a lot of time to ride, not to mention we are going to Bar Harbor over Mother’s Day weekend and there will be lots of individual training taking place there. I can’t wait!

Flat Legs

After a good showing at the crit yesterday my legs were extremely flat today.

The plan was to ride the PVC Monday night ride. I rode my bike there and my legs were very heavy, despite an effort to open them. There were five of us total – 4 women, including Meg, and 1 man. After a few miles I told Meg that I was pealing off. The legs just weren’t responding and I knew that Range Road would toast my legs and it would be a long ride home from there.

It was also freaking cold tonight. After 90’s Saturday, 70’s and 80’s yesterday, today felt very cold at 54-degrees with the wind coming off the ocean. I wouldn’t have felt it as much if I had ridden harder to get my heart rate up and my blood flowing.

This is supposed to be an easy week for me and even though I thought some of pushing that off, I think I’m going to stick to the plan and back off.

Tomorrow will be an entire day off. We have tickets to see Ben Folds. Wednesday is the clinic. I’ll ride easy Thursday and Friday, with an opener Saturday in preparation for the LL Bean Time Trial Sunday.

Sunday Crit Series Race

It’s been a couple weeks since I participated in the Scarborough Crit Series race. The last time the wind was blowing at 20 or 25 mph and gusting to 35 mph. It was time to get back out there again today.

I wasn’t sure if I’d have the legs for it after yesterday’s race. The issue was had I hydrated and eaten properly to recover.

The plan was to ride to the race. If the legs felt good I’d play. I told my husband I’d ride a couple laps to see how I felt and bail if I needed. He chided me to talking like a quitter and giving me an out. He urged me to ride it, dig deep, and not give up.

The first two laps were the worst. I dropped off the back but worked hard to catch back on, burning matches in the process. After the first two laps I settled in and acclimated to the pace. It was such a good group today and several of us were chatting in the back. I had on my Fatty jersey so that was a topic of discussion with some.

On the 11th lap someone took a flyer after the first turn and I couldn’t hang and dropped back. So it was a 1 1/2 lap time trial for me. Luckily I passed another rider, Scott, so I wasn’t DFL. Woo Hoo!

The first lap was also designated as the women’s preme lap. I was in the middle-back but watched Meg and Julie move up. I was able to hug the yellow line and move up, stealth like, and slide in just behind Julie. Neither one of them knew I was there until I blew past with more than 200 meters to go. I heard Julie speak an expletive and I grinned to myself. But as soon as I launched I knew I had gone with too much distance to cover. They eventually swarmed me on either side and Julie took the preme.

I might have been better off to sit on one of their wheels for a 100 meters before going. Even so, it was great fun. Eventually I’ll get it.

Turtle Pond Race Recap

What’s worse than DFL? DNF.

I went to the Turtle Pond circuit race today. My goal was to hang on, have fun and learn.

There was talk of launching the Pro1/2’s with the Cat 3/4’s but the decided not to do that after all.

We hit the road at 1:25pm. The first climb up Oak Hill Road was neutral, something I was very thankful for.

I managed to hold on throughout the first 8 miles of the 11+ mile course. It was the short steep pitch that I was dropped on, which I figured would happen.

I chased but most of the front group was gone.

I managed to hook up with a few CVC/Subaru team members and a few other gals. They got a little organized and started working together. I assured some of the CVC gals that I wouldn’t break them up (it looked like they wanted to remain together) so I hung out behind them. They worked their way to the front of our 7 man group and I offered to take pulls if they wanted. They were happy for the help and the 7 of us ended up taking pulls.

And then it happened. The thing that happens often when I ride hard, in particular during hilly routes: the cramps started to set in. Mostly in the inside of my thighs.

I was thoroughly disappointed. I would have finished the ride if it wasn’t for that.

I even got off the bike during the race and stretched, to no avail. On the next time they were still there, ready to cramp hard. I even had to embarrassingly walk up the steep climb for fear of a cramp setting in and not being able to get off the bike.

I didn’t eat much before the ride and even though I was drinking a lot, it wasn’t enough.

The weather was brutally hot in the afternoon. When we were done and heading home at 4pm the outside temperature gauge on the car, which is pretty accurate, read 90 degrees! Everyone was complaining about how hot it was. Out of 45+ riders, less than 30 finished the race. Many of the girls abandoned due to stomach cramps, so I guess I wasn’t alone.

Even though I didn’t finish, my teammate Meg had a very successful day and finished 8th and Julie finished 14th!

Shannon and I were both DNF and Teresa managed to finish, even after a crash going uphill. Luckily it wasn’t a serious crash and she nor her bike suffered much damage. Teresa even told my husband that she was going to soft pedal and wait for me to catch up but he told her not to bother. He knows all too well that I could be suffering in a way that would not allow me to go on.

In looking at the board at the end of the race I noticed where some of the CVC gals I was riding with finished and they were in the 20 mark. That’s probably where I would have been had I been able to finish. I would have been very happy with that.

Out of 50 starters, less than 30 finished. There were many stories of muscle and stomach cramps in addition to the effects of heat exhaustion. I’m glad to have warmer weather but this was a little much!

It was a good outing and I think everyone is fired up about the next big event: Lake Sunapee Road Race on May 16th.

Turtle Pond

There is a race in Loudon, NH today known as Turtle Pond. It’s an 11+ mile circuit race with 3 laps of the circuit.

Several team members are racing. A few weeks ago I was going to register. Then I decided not to and just stay put to work on my fitness. However, this week I had a change of heart and registered Thursday evening before it closed on BikeReg.

The weather is supposed to be terrific with temps in the 70’s or perhaps low 80’s. That in itself will be a shock to my system.

The Cat 3/4 field is almost full at almost 45 participants. The Pro1/2 is very light so unfortunately the decision was made to start all the women together. This will suck because the Pro1/2’s will go off the front and the 3’s, hoping to cat up, will chase hard.

My tactics for the day: try to stay on a wheel and in contact with at least the last group (certainly don’t want an individual time trial of 30 miles!), watch what goes on in the race, and above all – have fun! It will be a total learning experience.

With that in mind, no pressure. That said, I was still up pretty early this morning thinking about the race – my nerves wreeking havok again. It will settle down we are let go. Perhaps I can even harness some of it to my advantage.

I’ll post photos and my account sometime over the course of the weekend.

Is it Ever Going to Stop Raining?

It’s been a very cold, wet spring here in Maine. Surprisingly we’ve had a fire danger recently.

I think that’s been alleviated by all the rain we received over the past two days.

With the rain yesterday I took the night off. I had some cooking to do so it was a good time to do that.

Tonight Stephanie’s clinic series, which I am taking, got rained out. I couldn’t afford another night off so I hit the trainer. I couldn’t seem to get my heart rate up to save my life. I don’t seem to be feeling bad but was miserable on the trainer. That only reinforces that riding inside on a trainer is so different then actually riding outside.

The purpose was to just keep the legs moving. I accomplished that. I did a few “pick-ups”, as my friend Julie calls them, to try to open up. I’m not confident I was successful – I’ll have to wait until tomorrow’s ride to find that out.

The good news is that after tonight’s rain, we should have a nice stretch of weather.

Sports Bras, not Just for Sports

Okay, I know that I have a fair bit of male readers here. I’m sure the subject line has tipped you off to the fact that this is a post for the ladies who read this blog.

The subject, of course are sports bras.

I have found some good deals on sports bras lately. They are a necessary piece of clothing for biking, or other sports.

What I’m finding is that they are so comfortable that I have been wearing them in place of my other bras. Perhaps some of you don’t have this problem but many of my bra straps won’t stay on my shoulders, regardless of how much adjusting I do with the straps.

So the easy solution is wearing more sports bras. They are undetectable under a suit or many of my blouses that are worn for the office. My sports bras are no longer just for sports!

Journal of My Day Following a Strength Workout

5:30: woke up and rolled over to discover my legs were very sore.

5:45: getting out of bed was difficult due to the DOMS.

6:45: walking down the stairs I realized that my right quad was significantly more sore than my left, due to lunges and going deeper on one side than the other.

7:30: settling in my chair at work took a little while due to my tender glutes.

10:30: realized I sat too long because I was really stiff when I got out of my chair.

1:30: hopped on the bike for an easy recover ride. This ought to be interesting!

2:00: realized the my legs felt really good pedaling in circles.

3:00: felt like my legs were going to buckle and go out from underneath me, especially the right leg.

8:30: legs still sore but moving a little better.

I can expect another day like this tomorrow, though I hope it will be slightly better. The worst part is that I really need to wait until the soreness is gone before I can get back in the gym to do another strength workout. I’ll still get my easy spin on the bike though.

I only wish it hurt as much while you were doing it. That way I’d back off a little bit instead of working so hard that I can barely move the following day. And yet I do this sort of thing over and over. I just need to remember to do it more frequently so this soreness doesn’t persist and I actually gain some leg/core strength.

Last Day Before Two Recovery Days

Tonight needed to be another hard day on the bike. It was a solo ride for me. I thought strength intervals might be in order since the next two days will be really light on the bike.

These intervals included 3 10-minute intervals of big gear, low cadence, in Zone 3, followed by a 5-minute recovery period. I think some of the time in the intervals ended up being more in Zone 4.

I did start to feel some cramps coming on in my left calf, despite drinking an energy drink. Sometimes I don’t have cramps at all and sometimes they are really bad. I still don’t get it. They are highly annoying and can really ruin a ride. Luckily I kept them it bay, this time.

Not only did I push a bit gear for a little strength training on the bike, but I went into the gym during lunch at work to do  some core exercises, which also included some leg work in the form of lunges and squats. With the next two days as light days I figured it couldn’t hurt to load up on the strength work today.

I have plans tomorrow night after work so to get my easy recovery ride in I’m going to take the bike to work and get the 45 minutes in during lunch. It was the best solution, otherwise it would have turned into a day off.

Over a week ago I chose to ride the stationary bike at work during lunch for the same purpose but the big wide saddle was so uncomfortable I vowed never to do that again. My own bike is much better!

It’s predicted to be a nice sunny day tomorrow so I’ll also look forward to a little sun in my face. Now that will feel like heaven!

My Second Crit

What a difference a week makes! Today was a horrible day on the bike.

I was dropped on the first lap. UGH!

The wind was blowing at 20 mph and gusting to 30. At some spots on the back side, near the marsh, you felt like you were either going to come to a complete stop or get blown over.

There was a new guy in the field today and he did a good (?) job at stringing out the field. As soon as that happend, from the get-go mind you, I knew it only meant trouble.

So after being dropped I played it smart and pedaled easy to be ready to hop back in when they came around again. It took them two laps to get to me but I finally rejoined the group. That lasted yet another lap before I was dropped again. Well, if you don’t succeed, try and try again.

And that’s exactly what I did. Another two laps and I was back in the field. This time I managed to hang on a couple laps before being dropped on the final lap. In fact at one point during that time I was almost dropped early on but I dug deep and managed to get back on.

After the race I consulted with Steph about how I felt. We came to the conclusion that I might not have been open  enough before the race because later in the race I felt better. So I might explore other options to make sure I’m ready next week.

Perhaps it was the wind, or even the effort, but I was pretty spent for the remainder of the day. That said, there is no rest for the weary. I’ll be back on the bike for a couple big efforts over the next couple days. Luckily the weather looks like it’s at least going to be sunny, which I’ll take, even with a bit of wind predicted for tomorrow.

I actually looked official with an older PVC jersey which Stephanie lent me for the race. (Sorry about the blurriness.)