30 Miles on a bike makes my butt hallucinate!

Saturday, January 9th started off as any other Saturday. I usually prefer to remain somewhat ignorant as to the training at hand because the less I know, the less I worry. I remained fairly calm on this morning as I looked forward to exploring the new area of Ventura, and figured it couldn't be much worse than the week before with the hilly 15 mile ride.

As Debby and I arrived, we removed our gear, pumped air into our bicycle tires, and welcomed teammates. We searched for any reference as to what to expect, and the one mentor we found simply smiled and said, "I don't know what to expect, I've never done this before." Somewhere during our inquisition, I heard the words "We're doing 30 miles today" float into one ear and out the other but without another confirming statement, I chose to release the thought.

I searched for our newest teammates hoping to offer some sort of support since this would be their first time with clips. Now that I was a week past being brand new on clips, I sounded so wise suggesting that they practice in the parking lot. I passed the "new to bikes" stigma and my confidence went up a notch...

...Until they handed out the workout and the bottom number definitely has 30 before the decimal point. It also contained a street towards the end of the workout with the words "Conquer the hill" or something kick-ass, causing my mind turn to instantly turn to jello to prevent me from dreading the hill on my 27-mile approach.

As we pedaled into the empty business park road to begin our large 30-mile loop, my optimism (or gelatinous brain) got the best of me and I convinced myself, that it could be equal, but no worse than last week.

The first hill was already visible within the first 100 yards. It was a long but gradual uphill and push come to pedal, I talked myself out of stopping and resting, arriving at the top victorious and panting.

The city streets gave into residential streets, which melted away into beautiful horse country. The fields were waving in the wind, the roads became narrower, the scenery became relaxing. The ride, however, became a bitch! I don't recall when the wide open spaces became a vertical, rocky mountain road, but next thing you know, I'm riding up a 2-lane road trying to curse at myself again "Don't stop or you'll never get started!" I did exceed my first goal of making it to the turn but when I arrived there and saw how much longer the hill was, my legs started to shake. My muscles were very tired from the first hill, I didn't want to ride 'til I slowed down and fell over into jagged mountain rocks, so I stopped, took a breather and planned to push off a rock and sheer determination would get me started again.

As people started to catch up to me, I attempted to start again at least 3x with the last one toppling me over into the street right next to a moving car. Anticipating this fall, I was able to turn to land on my cushiest part of my body, and tried to make myself as small as possible to avoid denting the car, or having it dent me. I don't know how close I was, and my life didn't pass in front of my eyes, so I'm telling myself I must not have been that close - please don't try to talk me out of that idea for now.

My coach had caught up to me at this point and said my choices were to either ride downhill to get started then repeat the first part of the hill, or just get started. I opted for option "C" which was walk to the next part where a flat feeder road fed into the street so I could go long enough to get clipped in, then we screamed our way to the top of the hill - literally screaming, cursing, groaning - whatever it took.

Screaming down the backside of the mountain meant that I hit speeds of 32 mph on the downhill even bending down to be more aerodynamic! I sped past the roadside thoughts reading "What if you hit a rock," "Hope your tires don't blow," "Hope a bug doesn't sacrifice itself on your teeth!" If there was an aid station for us, I blew right past it. As the wind made that little windmill in my brain operate, the lessons learned so far that day became clear: a) When on a busy street, always remove the left foot so that if you start to fall into traffic you can catch yourself with a free foot and b) When going uphill, never, ever, under any circumstances, no matter how slow you're going, or how much it hurts - never STOP!

After shaking off the Post-Traumatic Hill Stress, the roads turned into suburban neighborhoods and things were challenging, but great. We regularly used our road-signals, turned from left-turn lanes and our support staff was fantastic as always about circulating throughout the riders to ensure we were still moving.

At one point, one mentor questioned me on the hills, and I excitedly reported that I'd ridden to the top of the first hill, but not the second. He replied, "Really? The first hill? Great job!!" Then when I explained my brush with death on the mountain roads of the second hill, he said, "I thought that was the first hill." Apparently the first hill I'd overcome didn't even rank as a challenging hill to the support staff. While I wanted to rip his legs off (for those of you who've never seen me crabby, come ride 20+ miles with me and get to know my Gemini darker twin side), at the same time, I felt calmly hopeful that someday, those hills will be small to me as well - if they can ever convince me to get my butt back on that course.

As we worked our way through the residential neighborhood, I noticed that my bike seat moved from side to side, my arms ached, my ass alternated between numb and throbbing, and my leg muscles roared. When the idea floated in one ear and out the other, "Hey, you still have that hill at mile 27 to worry about!" About that time, the support staff rotated back to me again and I told them I needed the bike seat tightened because it was moving, and I knew it had to be making my stroke less efficient. I did realize in my head that if it was really that loose, my seat should also have gone down, not just side to side, but immediately discounted that rationale.

Turns out, I was having butt hallucinations! My seat was fine! The support staff took me stopping them as a cry out for a rest, so I didn't argue that fact as we rehdrated. Finally, I took off to face the final frontier and my goal was to not be the last one back.

I don't really recall that last hill, except it was long, it was gradual, and I did stop one more time and was struggling to get started again, but this time the roads were wider and I didn't start when there were cars around for my own safety. I celebrated the fact that we were in the home stretch now and I couldn't wait to get rid of the bike and hit the road for 10 min - our first "Brick" workout!

As I started my mental celebration, the odometer on my bike crept upward to somewhere around 34 miles! I started to panic that I'd passed the turnoff for our parking lot and was just about to call someone when the welcome sign of the 101 Fwy showed up and I finally recognized where I was. Re-entering the business park loop, the 30 miles had taken it's toll and while I've never ridden a carbon bike, I was imagining that my arms would not feel like glass had I ridden a carbon bike rather than aluminum. I contemplated how 58 miles will feel and optimistically hoped that my body will be fine with a bit of glucosamine.

I pulled into the parking lot victorious, the support staff were there all clapping and cheering - MAN! I LOVE TEAM IN TRAINING! That makes it so worth it!

I rode to my car, changed shoes, put away my bike and saw that Meghan returned a minute behind me. As I waited for her to change so we could run together, I saw our coach scoping out our situation impatiently. He barked "Enough time girls, hit the road!" The coaches words of advice consisted of "Start slow!" Truly, that was the only option as after sitting on the bike for 30 miles, my hips felt like they were dislocated and that my pelvis bones were going to fall apart to pieces in my ankles. I realized that my posture and gait changed completely from my normal running form and I felt more like a triathlete, yet I chuckled at the thought that this form was because it was the only one that felt comfortable after the other 2 sports, not because it maximized efficiency. Somewhere along the route, my hips re-engaged with the rest of my body and I felt somewhat normal again. Meghan and I did our due 10 minutes and trotted back.

Debby magically brought chocolate milk for us to start our recovery and it tasted and felt like gold - THANK YOU DEBBY! She and I didn't linger in our success for long, as we both had to be elsewhere. We headed back to our hometown, speeding up to the pace of the rest of our day.

I surveyed my legs for new bruises or hints of a large one where I'd made impact, but didn't see anything. However, somehow, I managed to bruise my abs! A few bruises did show up on my legs within the next few days. I admit that I was proud that when I got home and shared with my ex, who was there watching the kids, how far we'd ridden, he sincerely showed his amazement stating it was farther than he ever rode back when he was a regular road racer. That and the fact that we now had one thing that we could talk about that was completely out of our regular carefully choreographed and scripted discussions on the children, made the day even sweeter.

I may have ridden 30 miles, but I felt like I covered even more ground!

The magical rule of 3s

A friend of mine recently reintroduced me to the Rule of 3 in her Fabulous Flirty Newsletter and I've been pondering the idea ever since. There are many theories and studies as to why we respond so favorably to number threes but, as my friend pointed out, even from a simple perspective, threes are used so widely throughout some of the most memorable works from our childhood that it’s likely that we are preconditioned to respond favorably to elements grouped in threes.

For my training, I've decided to draw inspiration from a few well-known quotes (notice the 3's): I will pour my “Blood, sweat and tears” into training and strengthening my "Mind, body and spirit" improving myself by always having "Faith, Hope and Charity" present in my life so that come May 1st, I can stand proudly and say "I came, I saw, I conquered."

Well today, I officially became a triathlete in training taking on my third, and most feared sport - cycling. I've told many of you that I haven't really ridden a bicycle since 1983 when I used to ride my bike 3 miles to school and then home again. I have been having a little difficulty with wrapping my head around the idea of training to ride 56 miles now 27 years later!

Back then I had a 10-speed bike and only used the most difficult gear all the time. Now I have 20+ gears and need to use them all! The shifting gears aren't even in the same place that I'm used to! Back then I rode with tennis shoes or barefoot, now I am expected to lock my feet to the pedals?! Back then I had tires that are 2x the size of what I'm riding on now, and if I get a flat I have to change it myself? I can't just call Triple A?

I realize that this is me and my well-defined comfort zone taking a stand! While my heart loves the idea of trying something new and fantastic, my practical head is still working to catch up, get on the same page, go along for the ride. I'm looking forward to exercising my heart and my head and hopefully getting them on a similar pace so that in the future, when my heart says "Let's go off in this fantastic new direction!" my head will agree with a hearty "Why not?!"

It took me a while to find a bicycle, partially because I was intimidated by making the right choice after our day trip to the bike shop. The other reason was I'm sure I was trying to postpone the inevitable just a bit. As our training progressed, and people were moving on ahead in that area, I realized that I had to bite the bullet, take the plunge and get back into the saddle - in other words, get a bicycle!

Last week was supposed to be my first ride, I did the ritualistic stay up late the night before and worry about it. Then when it poured all over Saturday, the ride was cancelled.

Sunday, when the sun revived the weekend, I took the kids for a ride on the bicycle. We have a few blocks between our house and the bike path so we walked to the path and took off riding! About a block from our destination, Lauren's training wheel fell off and that was potentially going to be the end of it all, or the beginning of a really long walk home. Fortunately we stopped at a friend's house, they tightened up a few things and we were on our way. For my second time out, I decided to leave the kids at home, and successfully rode about 3 miles on my own (on really flat tires as it turns out) but I was building my confidence and hoping that the third time would be a charm at the Rose Bowl (where 1 lap equals approximately 3 miles).

So then, as I'm leaving work Friday, I ask my fantastic campaign manager just how far we were going and she said, "Oh, only like 6 laps!" I immediately calculated in my head 3+3+3+3+3+3 = 18 miles for my first ride?! Sore padded butt, says what?! I immediately made a stop at the bike shop just 3 minutes before it closed and grabbed the first pair of padded shorts I could find. Then I was heading to a holiday party where I was considering drinking enough to take my mind off of it and to get me to actually sleep the night before my first ride! I stopped after 3... just kidding, 1 drink and called it an early night.

I got to practice early and was met by a helpful mentor who already tried to get my tools ready for learning how to change tires, my coach checked out the fit and felt that the bike was a good size for me and shortly my friends started arriving. Jen S. showed me her impressive bruise from a mid-week ride, which gave me a whole new set of goosebumps, but I was able to let that go because I knew I wasn't clipping in this week. I decided to make it my goal to get around the Rose Bowl 1 time and then anything after that would be gravy!

We went out for our first time around and I was still playing with the gears trying to learn which way they all work, trying to avoid oncoming foot traffic and trying to not hit sand. The route we ride around the Rose Bowl is slow steady ascent on the start then coming around to the back side where it's all downhill and fun from there! After successfully completing my first lap, we regrouped to practice changing tires. I felt like we were on the Amazing Race because we were told if we didn't do it ourselves at least once, we would not be allowed to continue our practice. I was so excited to change the front tire successfully and get back out there on the bike! If my energy could hold up, this would be great!

As I headed back out for my 2nd lap, we were doing pedaling drills alternating between legs, and then riding hard. Then we were supposed to do 2 laps hard (which means maximum exertion). I automatically felt myself protesting "How many times do I need to tell people that I only have 2 speeds, stop and go?" Then I realized as I was out on the course, that I have 3 speeds! Stop, Go, and Variable (anything that falls between Stop and Go). I've noticed it in running, I don't do as many walk intervals, I just slow down, I've noticed it in swimming, and today I found it in cycling.

After the drill lap and 2 hard laps, we took another break to try to change the rear tires (the one attached to the 8-gear wheel). By now, my legs had black marks on them, my hands looked like I was tuning engines, not changing tires, but I love getting dirty (stay tuned for a mud run post in June) and was ready for my last 2 laps!

The first one back out (fifth actual lap) I definitely started feeling it, and noticed that on the slight hills, I'd go from really fast to almost stopping because my legs didn't have the muscle in each rotation like they did the first 4 laps. When what to my wandering eyes should appear but CJ the singing elf (from work) and in his hand, a cold beer (no kidding, parts of that were a wishful hallucination). When I heard his "Hey-ya!" I got an extra boost of energy and continued that by sharing "Go Team!" with other TNTers along the course!

About 1/2 way around my last lap as I turned the corner into the downhill I got really pumped that I was actually going to complete the 18 miles! That is not only the longest I've ever ridden, it's almost 1/3 of the distance I'll have to ride on event day, and yay! I didn't fall!

Needless to say, I'm loving 3's today! I'm a big believer in the 3rd time being a charm, the magic of 3's, and am even willing to celebrate by not just giving second chances, but third chances now for my kids! I can't wait now to do three sports! So bring it on, double dog dare me (or should it be triple dog dare me?) and hit me with your best shot!

Time - Is it on my side?

So how is this work, life, workout balance going to mesh? This week is brutal and it's not over yet.
Monday - Soccer practice
Tuesday - Scout pack meeting
Wednesday - Scout den meeting
Thursday - Soccer practice
Friday - Soccer game - hopefully we'll win and go to playoffs (no pressure!)
Saturday - Hike, then Queen Mary for 9 year old's birthday
Sunday - Craft Fair
That's just the evenings! Not to mention that I had a sick child, the roll-over to a new season at work which requires a load of time-sensitive stuff. I'm not fitting in the workout yet this week. After staying up til 2am, I'm going to wake up at 6:30am to get in a run so I can say I did SOMETHING this week. I'll get a swim in there between now and Sunday but I will likely wind up avoiding my nemesis the bike til next week because it's just not fitting in.

Timing is one of the reasons for doing this race now, on both conscious and subconscious levels. I can't help but be reminded by the ringing of the bell today - I'm halfway around the year to my big round birthday. While I didn't come in saying that my birthday was a reason I'm doing the event now, I know it was one of the grains of rice (I'm asian) that tipped the scales. When I did my first marathon, I chose that one because it was on my birthday, the 10th year of the run, and in my home town, so I know I put significance on dates, round numbers, and proximity (although this race isn't really that close to home). On the conscious level, I know that I wanted to do a Tri event in the spring because I plan to do the Nike Women's Marathon again with my girlfriends as a celebration of that same round birthday and I didn't want to be training for a tri when I should be training for the marathon. Lastly, as some people know, I work for LLS and we are not allowed to train and fundraise for an event until we've been there for a year - which is a smart decision as the jobs can be complicated and take a while to learn well. So the timing of hitting my year mark helped push me forward to this event.

I'm not doing the event to try to meet any minimum time, purely to finish and have a great time doing it. I recently learned that once people put in 10,000 hours with something that they are an "expert" so I'm hoping after spending that many hours over a few years of doing events, that even if I'm not an "expert", I'll at least enjoy doing the activities just to do them and not have to sign up for events to push my butt out the door for a run.

I try to save time whenever I can too and multi-task when possible. I think my best example of that was a night when I was in Round Table Pizza and was there to buy pizza to take to my son's den meeting. We raised money for my son's school, fed the scouts at the same time, plus while I was there I asked if I could post Team In Training flyers, so I was canvassing at the same time. I'm still trying to figure out how to multi-task my training, but perhaps I'll just be satisfied when we start doing Bricks (I'm told they're called this because our legs will feel like bricks - swell!) and get to do 2 sports for the cost of one babysitter!

For now, after this week, time is on my side. I have from now until May 1st to prepare and we are taking little baby steps. The season is rolling now, though, and starting to pick up speed and I need to make sure to stay current and present so my teammates know who I am, and are beating my time on my bike!

You are now leaving your comfort zone - Part I

The first thing to say is Meghan is my favorite person EVER for making me sign up for this event! I have been obsessing over each sore muscle (which is due mostly to me not stretching properly after a workout) waiting to see if it leads to new definition in my physique!

The first few weeks have been fantastic, although I have to admit my attendance has been spotty. We have never ending (but always exciting) soccer going on, plus the holidays, and had a few sick children sprinkled in. So far I've run when I can, and dived back into a pool on regular Tuesday Team swim workouts!

As I mentioned before, I haven't been a swimmer in 20+ years. It hurts just to be able to say that and I was FREAKING OUT that my muscle memory would have alzheimer's. I swear I would have backed out of the first swim practice had I not arranged to carpool with Yvonne, a sentimental favorite because she was with me on my first marathon experience. She and I nervously chattered about the whole thing, our whole anticipated training, the event that will come at the end, and when we were pulling into the parking lot, I had a huge weight on my chest that I thought would make me sink to the bottom of the pool.

I decided to opt for the beginner lane at first because again, after 20+ years, I wasn't optimistic (which is so unlike me!). We spent the first day doing drills, working on form, kicking our butts off, and I LOVED being back in the water. Instantly I decided that when this ordeal, I mean event, is over and I've grown up to be an Irongirl, I will retire to being a swimmer who sometimes runs.

I did a few workouts in the beginner lane, then decided to try out Cam's Sunday SCAQ Practice. Cam is the husband of Debby, one of the crazy (but in the best way) full Ironman participants whom I've known since she danced her way into our hearts running her first marathon last year. I love Cam, but his workout was scary to me because well, he's hardcore! I was excited to find that although my arms felt like they were going to fall off, and I thought I'd die after my first 100m non-stop (4 lengths of the pool) I held my own and felt great! (I know, you're asking at this point why I consider this fun?!) So before I pulled my car out of the parking lot that day, I texted to ask Coach Paul if I could try out to move up to the faster lane in Tuesday workouts.

Tuesday came, I moved up into the faster lane - although I still have a little "cheat" that I swim behind a slower swimmer sometimes to allow me a few extra breaths before heading out for the next length of the pool. Turns out I am fast enough for the speedier lane, but I totally have to rework how I stroke, breathe, kick and hold my head to be able to be more aquadynamic for the event. I'm looking forward to the challenge and this week, my goal is to not breathe in any water when holding proper form. :)

I'm SO thankful too that Meghan's mom and dad offered to watch Carson and Lauren during the swim workouts that are so close to their house. The kids have taken to her folks after the initial visit and are looking forward to the next visit.

So far, I am a duathlete (biathlete?), continuing to run and picking up swimming (on that Sunday, I even did both - running 4 miles after the swim workout - and then had such a splitting headache I was convinced that I'd given myself an aneurysm by taking on too much too early but really it was that I hadn't had my normal dose of a Triple Skinny Latte by noon and my head was angry about that.

Speaking of headaches, let's talk bicycles. I'm trying to get a bicycle without spending too much money, but at the same time, it has to be comfortable enough for me and my shortness for 50+ miles - and apparently, I'm shorter than I've been boasting. It's partially finding a financially conservative investment of a bike, but partially it's the sport that scares me the most. I won't be at practice this coming Sat. because I'll be on a Team In Training HIKE! so that gives me 2 weeks to work this out in my head so that next Sat. the 12th, I can show up ready to ride!

Sarah signed up for what?!

It was a Monday like any other Monday. Meghan sweetly called me on the phone and asked if I'd be in the office so she could come in and sign up for an event. I'd been toying with the idea of signing up for Desert Tri - sprint (aka shorter) distance - but Meghan can be awfully sweet and persuasive and by the time she left, I was shaking, but smiling, and filling out the forms myself for Wildflower Triathlon - a half ironman triathlon.

The idea of a triathlon exhilarates me. I have done a couple of marathons, done many more half-marathons, but the idea of the halves just wasn't scaring me enough to train regularly. I needed to step up my game...

Wait, back it up... I'm talking like I'm an elite athlete, I barely call myself a runner, because although I've covered many miles through the last few years, I don't look like a runner, I don't even like running! I have a really loud internal (usually) fight with myself for at least the first 30 minutes of any run. While I do get the sense that if it's been a while since I've been out there pounding the pavement that I might pound something or someone else, we'll just say, running doesn't come naturally.

Now Team In Training is the most well-rounded training program and I highly recommend it on an athletic and philanthropic level. Still, I won't lie, when the training schedule said cross-training day, I'd cross my legs and catch up on facebook updates or episodes of Grey's Anatomy.

People always told me that if you really want to get in shape, try a Tri! So that was the start of my thought process. The rest is a blur, void of all logical thought, but here I am signed up to do 70.3 miles total in the water, on a bike and on my feet and damn, I am excited for the journey, the challenges, the victories, and the finish line!

...and then I remembered that the last thing that Meghan wanted me to sign up and train with her for I wound up running alone because she was busy being a rockstar paddler! Oh Crap, what have I done?!