Today is Not That Day

My poor beat-up bike

Training has been going pretty well and I'm getting psyched for Big Kahuna in two weeks! This weekend was a training ride down in Santa Cruz where we rode the course and did a brick run. The course is hillier than I'd expected (2500 ft of climbs) -- always need to remember to add 30% more elevation than what MapMyRide.com tells me (1800 ft). 

The drive home should have been 1.5 hours, but it turned out to be close to 3 as I missed my turn and ended up driving the wrong way on Hwy 1. My friend and I were deep in conversation when she interrupted, "Hang on, that sign said we're going to LA." Oops. Eventually we got back to SF, I dropped off my friend from the tri club and then drove home. I don't know if it was being in the car for hours, or perhaps my brain thinking I'd already removed my bike from the top of my car, but I ended up driving into my garage with my bike still on top. ACK! 

Fortunately (or unfortunately), my bike is in better shape than my car. But I took it in to the bike shop today and it looks like I need to replace the fork:

See the black part? I was hoping that was just chipped paint, but turns out the carbon has a deep crack in it. They are hopeful that they can order a new one from Cervelo pre-race but told me not to hold my breath. So... I have a race in 2 weeks and maybe no rideable bike. Trying to find a place that will rent tri bikes now... cross fingers... 

Oh, and check out my lovely scratched up top tube:

So sad. The guys suggested markers and nail polish... either that or send the entire frame in for a paint job. I'll try the markers. 

My gear shifters are scratched up too, but t least I didn't crack the frame. I have to look on the bright side, right? 

Bike fit, round 2

I wrote a couple weeks ago about my bike fit and new saddle. Alas, I still wasn't comfortable... my last long ride had me jacking with my seat (raise it, lower it, raise it) to keep my right foot from going numb, and my shoulders were hurting. 

So I just went back for round 2. My fitter replaced my 172.5 cranks with 165's, and wow... what a difference. I was a bit worried about making that big of a change, but it's not overtly noticeable. I can tell I'm spinning more easily, and my knees aren't bumping up against my torso... so now I can relax with a flatter back in aero, which puts less pressure on my shoulders. If you're not 6 feet tall and you're riding 172's, I'd highly recommend getting shorter cranks. 

We also swapped out my stem for a longer one, so now I'm a bit more stretched out and comfortable on the bike. And lastly, switched out my seat to another of the same brand. The shape was just a bit off, with the right side slightly higher, which I think may have caused the numb foot. 

And ta-dah! New fit is on the left, old/original position on the right. I look at the one on the right, with the seat so much lower and farther back, and can't believe I rode my bike in that cramped position. Really looking forward to my long ride this weekend to try it out! 

Bike fit and new saddle!

Just got home from a 4.5 hour bike fit at 3D Bikefit in Sausalito. I had no idea why it would take that long, but I was eager to try anything to get comfortable on my bike. I signed up for Retul, but Kevin talked me into a video fit instead. I was glad he did; it's amazing to see yourself on screen, watch him draw body angles and point out problem areas, and then compare before & after footage side by side.

The first thing we did was talk for 30 minutes over coffee about cycling and my specific needs and issues. Then I received a very thorough physical assessment and I got an earful of knowledge about the human body: why I am likely having my recurring left-leg problems (knee, hamstring, etc.) and why my right foot goes numb when I ride. My left leg is longer which may be throwing my pelvis/hips out of whack... this, combined rigid feet and high arches, could be the cause of a lot of my problems. He also showed some new stretches that should help my crazy-tight hips.

Then... the saddle. I tried three different Adamo ISM saddles and one of them (the Typhoon) was a "wow." It's not exactly like riding on a cloud, but close. He said this particular one is great for women with wider sitbones like mine. This is the first time I've sat on a bike longer than 15 minutes and not felt the urgent need to dismount. In addition to being wider, it's also softer. If you are having saddle problems you should try this one (and also try it with a pro fitter who knows how to place it correctly.)

One the saddle was squared away we spent a lot of time on the right saddle position; my final position is higher and much farther forward than it was previously. After changes to shoes, insoles and cleats, plus correcting for leg length imbalance, my legs are now tracking nicely and my hips no longer rock.  Wider aerobars and my shoulders are more stable.

The last change is crank length; he'd like to take me from a 172 mm to 167.5, but I'll ride this set-up for a couple weeks (and do my stretches) so I can get used to a higher drop before he switches those out. Shorter crank = higher seat = higher drop. I've suspected my cranks were too long, so I'm looking forward to that final modification. 

I can't wait to ride this weekend!

The arc of awfulness

I'm happy to have finished up my first training block of the season and am now into recovery week. So far so good, except that I've gotten horribly out of bike shape during my 6 months off. Last year I was soooo uncomfortable on the bike and tried everything: 3 different seats and finally a new bike before I was comfortable. I assumed (incorrectly) that after all of that effort, this year would be easier.

Not so fast. My crotch assumed (incorrectly) that I was done with cycling so decided to resensitize all the nerve endings. My shoulders joined the club. I have been so ridiculously sore on my bike. This past Saturday I had a mere 30 mile ride and was completely DONE after mile 18. Pathetic. It was partly due to my loss of ability to ride hills -- my legs were shot -- and partly my crotch pain. I am bruised. So here was the "arc of awfulness" of my workout:

Start: WOW. It's a gorgeous 70-degree day on the peninsula. The sun is shining, the lake is glittering, and I'm SO HAPPY to be on my bike!

After trying to keep cadence up per coach's instructions: Holy crap, this sucks. My legs hurt. My girl bits hurt.

90 minutes in: The pit of despair. I can't believe I am going through this again. I'm only 3 months away from my race. I didn't give myself long enough to get back into shape. My crotch hurts. I wanna catch a ride.

100 minutes in: Maybe I should take a gel. Ahh. Ok, my crotch still hurts but I'm not as cranky about it.

110 minutes in: My crotch and sit-bones really hurt. Seriously, maybe I'm causing permanent damage. I'm going to roll on all the flats and downhills and stand on the pedals. (note: my TP data shows I rolled once for 4 minutes. I think that's a PR!)

End of the ride, putting on my running shoes for my first brick: I'm so happy to not be on my bike.

5 minutes into my short run: It's a gorgeous day! I'm running off the bike! This is fantastic... I'm so happy that I can do this. All is good with the world.

All I can say is, I'm so happy this is a rest week. Happy on behalf of my crotch and sit-bones. Fingers crossed they've gotten the memo to HTFU before next week starts.

Operation "I ❤ Hills": Alpine Dam

This former Texas flatlands girl has resisted hill climbing since moving to San Francisco 5 years ago... a futile fight. Since it occurred to me that I might like hills if I got better at riding them, I've decided to start embracing the vertical. And when I decide to do something, I'm all in.

A couple friends invited me to do the Alpine Dam loop this weekend. 4000+ feet of climbing. Yes sir, may I have another?

It really wasn't as hard as I'd expected, although I couldn't have done this on my old bike. Climbing is much easier on my new bike; I did a good job staying out of my new easiest gear but definitely was glad to have it for a couple pretty steep ascents.

The scenery on this loop is fantastic. After the initial climb from mile 20 - 25, you drop down to a lake nestled in the hills; we stopped on the dam to eat and take pics:

Notice the fog coming over the hill in the pic below? From Alpine Dam, we climbed up another 1400 feet directly into that fog bank.

... which made the temps drop from lower 70s down to lower 60s. The fog was so thick that the condensation created "rain" from the trees. It was beautiful (albeit cold):

After climbing out of the trees, we hit some rollers along a ridgeline that probably has a fantastic view on a clear day. Unfortunately the fog was so thick that visibility was minimal. For most of this section, the fog was blowing hard up the hill on our right and going straight over our heads, leaving this small bit of visibility at eye level and below.

Then some pretty technical downhill cruising into Mill Valley (along with gusty blasts of refrigerated air), where we stopped to warm up and have lunch (buffalo burger, yum) and get back on the road. 8 miles from home, we made a sharp right turn to get onto the bike path, and I should have unclipped my right foot, not my left. This is what happened:

Honestly, not too bad. A bit bruised and bloodied, but I'm fine. We were pretty close to my friend Rich's house so I headed there to clean it up, and he offered to drive me back to my place. I waffled a bit; I'd really wanted to get the full mileage and elevation in, but between my sore, stiff knee and the bike lane being closed on the bridge (creating a nightmare of tourists, locals, bikes, pedestrians) I took him up on the offer. Forgot to stop my Garmin so my last few miles I averaged a speedy 60+ MPH. Ha. Wish I could figure out how to edit Garmin data.

So: the first assignment in Operation I Love Hills was a success. Looking forward to more climbing on the bike and run, and getting a lot stronger!

Monterey ride

The day after I got home from Hawaii, I turned around and left for Monterey, CA for a conference. I brought my bike and was looking forward to an easy recovery ride in one of the most gorgeous places on the coast. It turned out to be chilly and foggy, but still so enjoyable... I rode a 33-mile out & back from Monterey to Carmel along the coast and 17 Mile Drive.

Here's the really weird part: with my old road bike, my feet would go numb and my glute/piriformis would cramp up. I had none of these symptoms when I rented the Cervelo P1 for the race in Hawaii... but on my new Cervelo P2 (with a proper fitting) both of these symptoms returned. Numb feet by mile 15, cramp in my glute by mile 25. What's up with that? To my knowledge, these bikes have the same geometry; maybe I was a few millimeters off somewhere on the fit between the two bikes, but I can't imagine the fit was different enough to create these symptoms on one bike vs another. I also used the same saddle and cleats on both. Grrrr....

Ideas?

I love my new bike!

So a few days ago I put down a deposit for a new Cervelo P2, which I was planning to get after I returned home from Hawaii. But I had a ride on the schedule for this weekend and I couldn't bear the thought of ever riding my road bike another.freaking.mile. So I rearranged my schedule to run on Saturday morning, buy and get a fit on my new bike on Sat afternoon, and then ride it this morning.

This turned out to be the best upgrade I've ever made. I think I mentioned this in the title, but I LOVE MY BIKE. 

It feels like I just upgraded to a high-end BMW. It's stiffer and more responsive, but it also floats. Such a smooth ride. The biggest difference is the seat position... wow. The front of my seat is directly above the crank set on the Cervelo, whereas my seat is a full 2 inches behind the crank set on my road bike. So not only is it more comfortable (my hip flexors are much less crammed and I'm not reaching so far to get into aero) but I get more power with each pedal stroke. Which means I'm faster. 

The other change was getting an 11/28 rear cassette, which makes for easer (and slightly faster) climbing. The only thing I'm not faster on is the downhills... definitely slower at the moment. Two things I miss from my road bike: descending in the drops -- it will take a while to build up the confidence to fly downhill in aero -- and being able to shift gears while my hands are on the brakes. Getting used to shifting in aero is going to be a process! I'm fine if I'm on a flat, but descending I'm pretty much stuck in whatever gear I put it in before I headed down the hill. Hopefully I'll get better about that over time!

So... I actually feel better about the bike portion of next weekend's race. I'll still use the rental P1, but as it has the same geometry as a P2 I know I'll be far happier (more comfortable and faster) on it than on my old road bike. I'll take a practice run downhill from Hawi on Wednesday -- totally nervous about the 25 - 35 MPH gusting crosswinds! Never have I encountered much above 13 MPH. This should be interesting. 

Stay tuned, I'll have a bunch of fun posts and pics from Hawaii! I leave on Tuesday... can't wait. And when I'm back home, first on the agenda is cleaning up and selling my road bike and a few other odds & ends to pay for my splurge this weekend!

Love at first ride

When I found out that TriBike Transport was booked up for Honu, I rented a Cervelo P1 online from a bike shop in Kona. The date for cancelling has long past, and I've been debating on bringing my bike anyway as a backup. I currently ride a Look road bike with aerobars, and was worried that the geometry of a tri bike would be a bit too different to make a change on race day. But every time I ride my bike lately, I want to hurl it off a bridge. It's designed as more of a "comfort" road bike and I can't get the right fit. Longer rides have been killing me. I don't really understand how "more upright" = "comfort" because my ass hurts when I sit upright... I'm more comfortable in aero, but my bike isn't designed for aero.

So today I called around and found a shop that carries Cervelo TT bikes and took a P1 for a test ride. LOVED IT. I could tell that it fit me so much better than my current bike; I'll just bring my saddle and peddles and I'll be good to go in Honu. I definitely need some practice on shifting; it's really weird not having the shifters right next to the brakes. But my hip flexors were less crammed, my legs could stretch out a bit... I could tell a big difference just spinning around the block a few times.

I loved it so much that I put a deposit down for one of these:

  

A Cervelo P2, which is carbon (versus P1 which is aluminum) and Ultegra components. Nice. I wanted to spend 56 miles on the P1 before making the big commitment of buying a new bike, so I can't wait for next Saturday... my first half IM and a test ride for a new bike.

My body has been so unhappy going longer than 38 miles on my current bike (and lately just 1.5 hrs on the trainer) that I'd pretty much decided that 70.3's were not for me. My secret hope is that maybe it was the bike. Cross fingers.

This has gotten me excited about triathlon again.

Time to HTFU

I had a long bike ride on tap yesterday. Mind you, "long" for me is not nearly as long as it is for many of you. I've finally gotten to the point where 45 miles doesn't kill me, so yesterday I did a 58 mi ride that I found on MapMyRide.com over in the East Bay. (East Bay because it's been cold up & down the coast and I wanted to get some heat training in... usually it's much warmer over there.)

Since I don't have a car, I took the bus to the downtown BART station and then caught the train out to a small town called Orinda. A cool front came in on Friday night, so instead of 70, the weather forecast called for mid-60s for Orinda. Ok fine, that's still not too bad; it usually feels warmer if the sun's out. Thankfully I layered up in order to get out of chilly SF --  jersey, arm warmers, and a wind jacket over all of it -- because it wasn't much better in East Bay. I only took off my jacket twice, once in the beginning of the ride when the sun was out, and once grinding up a very long hill that was sheltered from the wind. The rest of the time I wished for tights to keep my legs warm.

Oh, did I mention wind? I got a lot of wind training yesterday in the middle third of the ride, which is much needed and I wouldn't have minded if it wasn't freezing and I was dressed more appropriately. A few other issues contributed to the negative chatter in my head and the pain in my body: first, I needed to bring a small Camelback to put a change of shoes and my jacket (as I'd assumed I wouldn't need it in East Bay), and discovered that it's rather awkward being in aero wearing a backpack. So I sat up a lot, and my butt paid the price. I'd also adjusted my seat before I left and must have tilted it up just a bit... so midway through the ride anything touching the saddle hurt. I was also having trouble unclipping my left shoe at stop signs; at the time I had no idea why.

Midway through the ride was the ugliest stretch of road along a highway with cracked pavement, high (cold) gusting headwinds & crosswinds, painful butt, and the worst negative chatter you have ever heard. "I'm only 35 miles into a 58 mile bike ride and I'm done... this wind sucks... I'm cold... my ass hurts... how am I going to do a HIM in 4 weeks if I can't make it 40 miles... I'm cold... OH, a BART sign, I could catch the train home early... of course I won't do that, time to HTFU... this wind sucks...I'm going to die of heat stroke in HI if I keep training in 50-ish degree weather... blah blah blah...."

By mile 41 I'd turned off the ugly road and hit my first hill... steep but not too bad. And then after a fun downhill, the road turns through 10 miles of regional parkland that was absolutely beautiful. It was sheltered from the wind but slow and steady climbing for a good chunk of this section of the ride.

I finally started to warm up and feel ok -- although my body hurt, something about birds chirping in the forest and no other human beings around made for a nice ride. VROOOOOM!!!! WTF? Ok, seriously?... a motorcycle safety class was practicing fast cornering on these curvy roads through the park. Up and down, up and down, occasionally cutting the corners a bit close (and I happened to be on those corners slogging up the hill very slowly!) So much for "no human beings"... Grrrr. Share the road, Jen...

And then I started hitting some beautiful views... my crappy iPhone camera doesn't do it justice:

I stopped to take pics, adjust my seat, and take off my jacket as I was pretty warm from climbing. Oops... a half-mile up and I hit the wind again. BRRRR. Jacket back on. I make it through the park and by this time I am definitely hurting. My body is not happy being on a bike for this long... my shoulders, neck, lower back, butt... everything hurts. I am done. 2 miles to the nearest town and 7 miles to the BART station.

I end up pulling into the first fast-food joint I see... a Jack-in-the-Box. Yuck, but I don't care. I AM SO DONE. I eat a burger, email a couple friends, and work on unearthing my happy "I love riding" attitude so that I can make it back to the train station. Just 5 miles.

Ok... ready. Through the parking lot, apply brakes to stop before I get to the street, unclip... UNCLIP... *(&#$@!~! UNCLIP ALREADY!... crash. Hmm. Turns out I lost a screw in my cleat. Ouch -- my first biking "incident" in years. I know, I'm lucky:

A woman who saw my "incident" checked to see if I was ok and offered a ride somewhere. "The BART station?" I said hopefully. The look on her face was priceless... total stress. I told her never mind, I'd be fine ... and I was, although both knees were hurting and I was wondering how I'd make it 5 miles without one functional cleat. (I need to learn bilateral unclipping... I can only unclip left and start riding on my right.) Anyway, I finally make it to BART without incident and head home. I've never been more happy to end a ride in my life.

After icing my knee and sleeping 10 hours, I'm getting ready to head out on my long run... my longest yet. Usually the wheels fall off the bus around mile 9, and today I'm meant to push 10 - 11. I'll be honest, the confidence I felt after last weekend's race has vanished and I'm worried about being able to do these distances on the bike and run in less than a month. I am hoping that a couple more long rides and runs will convince my body to HTFU.

 

Hill repeats as therapy

I sat down at my computer in a total funk; this week has been enormously stressful. Not that I'm asking for sympathy -- I know you guys have plenty of stress in your life too -- but it's funny how perspective can change in a split second by something as random as photos from your hill-repeat session.

To back up, some of my stress is actually fantastic -- I just landed J&J as a client (whoo hoo!) and we kick off the project tomorrow. But that comes on top of a client deliverable due today, and preparing for departure Saturday morning for Oxford UK for a week of 7 am to 10 pm work. Then one day at home followed by 4.5 days in Illinois.

On top of feeling overwhelmed while preparing to head out of town for two weeks, I'm totally PMSy (sorry guys)... ladies, you know that feeling when if you don't hear from someone you think they hate you? And tons of small things get blown out of proportion? Your head knows you're being irrational but your emotions say otherwise. Argh... the curse of womanhood. Today I was thinking about triathlon and my perfectionist curse has kicked in over the past couple days -- I was feeling like I'd bitten off more than I could chew, that I wasn't cut out for this, that I should stick with what I'm good at, blah blah blah. 

And then I just uploaded these pics tonight of my hill repeat session yesterday. It was ridiculously hard -- my HR was red-lining -- but I did it... and then headed home for another 45 minutes on the trainer with some extra sprints. My legs actually felt ok. Not great, but good enough to power through. These are the workouts that will get me where I want to be, and I felt good about it. We'll call this a "confidence-building ride."

So here, check these out. See that curvy road at the bottom of the photo? That's where I'm headed... that's halfway up. Ride with me:

Continuing down that road...  (and ooh, I tiny glimpse of sun before it starts pouring again!)

See those houses straight ahead in the photo above, and the green point off in the distance? That's where we're headed... to this hill below, which is about 10% grade with a few reprieves:

Ready, set... go! Stand up and hammer. Holy crap. Has it been a minute yet? No, only 40 seconds... I gotta sit down, my HR is red-lining... 2 seconds sitting... back up... hammer... slower hammer... has it been 2 minutes yet? Nope, barely 1... keep going... I hate my coach (not really :-))... done! Phew. Hard stop. Glance to my right... ahh (pant pant)... lovely:

Ok, let's do that again... one more time. But for the rest of them I'm headed closer to home. Let's backtrack to that road we were just on earlier...

4 times up this puppy. Each time I felt stronger, surprisingly. Went a tad slower but I stopped needing to sit down at the halfway mark. I actually felt... kinda good. Huh. Oh, here's the elevation... I don't understand when I ride up stuff like this and my Garmin averages it out to 1% grade, but if I do a point-to-point measurement in mapmyride.com it seems to be more accurate (although there is actually no flat/yellow on this road):

Yeah, that's a lot of dark purple and black... parts of this are 20% grade. Maybe you hard-core athletes think this is a piece of cake, but this was HARD for me and I was so excited to rock up this 4x even if I wasn't exactly a speed demon. 

Last pic at the rest stop before heading home and beating the rain:

As I looked at these pics I was about to say, "I love riding here." And paused... and then I said it. Huh?? Where did that come from? It's been 50 degrees and raining for days. It's lovely, yes, but the hills are freaking hard, and it's cold, and I miss riding on hot flat ground in Texas (sorta). But from somewhere inside this grumpy, crabby, PMSy, overwhelmed, athleticly frustrated girl, out popped: "I love riding here." Ok then. The confidence-building ride worked its magic. 

Maybe I can do this. Maybe I can suck it up and deal with being mediocre on my way to being good. This is hard for someone with perfectionist tendencies; I've avoided putting myself in the position for years. I have no idea why I've become so hell-bent on transforming myself into an athlete -- I've certainly never been one in my entire life -- and I'm just hitting some bumps. Today was a real low point... mentally I almost chucked it today.

But that would be pretty dumb. I'm not going to give up. I'm learning a lot about myself, and I strongly suspect I'll end up transforming much more than my body when I've finished this season. I think I've just hit that low point right before things start getting good, and it's time to just put my head down and power through.This stuff is better than therapy. :-)

So I'll be packing the TRX and fitting in some training where I can. And I'm looking forward to 3 weeks of freakin' hard work before Wildflower on May 1. Bring it.