First Crash

First (and hopefully last!) Crash…

So there I am… climbing Mt. Palomar, in position 2… ready to take the lead for a while to preserve Levi’s strength for the final breakaway…

Wait! No, that wasn’t me! That was the Astana peloton taking force on the Tour de California. Meanwhile, I was pedaling up nearby Rancho Santa Fe Road, just minding my own business, about to have my third and final Snickers mini of the ride, 3 miles from home… when…

BAM! I’m no longer riding, I’m skidding along the pavement, as my bike wrenches out from under me. Rest assured, all my three loyal fans, I stood up, albeit wincing, and was able to remove myself and my bike from the road. Thankfully the car behind me stopped traffic, as I became a minor traffic obstacle (or spectacle, depending on how you look at it). Actually about 8 more stopped as I took heed of my injuries (pretty scraped up elbow, badly bruised knee, cracked helmet (but no concussion); it was amazing how many nice people were out there. I had to smile and reassure them, right after I called Mike to come and get me. A woman named Kristin stopped, and she and her daughter and lab named Vader actually kept me company until Mike arrived. Truly amazing! I was very touched by all the concern.

But wait… Blue Steel! Not so pristine any more… I haven’t taken it to the bike doctor yet, but I’m a bit worried. A few scrapes on the left pedal and brake, but even more disturbing is that my left handle bar is essentially bent inward. I don’t know yet what Nytro will say, but I’m hoping they can either bend it back (unlikely) or replace the bar for cheap (warranty??).

Mike says I’m allowed 4 more crashes (are you kidding me!?!?) and then he’s boycotting the Ironman… so I better be careful, and apparently way more coordinated than I’ve been.

Moral of the story: unwrap your Snickers Minis before you put them in your Bento box. I know, I know…

In other news: I scored (I think!) a PR on a 5K last Saturday, the San Diego Monarch School 5K in Mission Bay. I came in under 24 minutes, but I’m not sure the exact time. Yay!

UCI Zot Trot, 2.14.09

Well, it’s on… I just did my first tri race in a long while… I think the last one I did was the Jamba Juice sprint tri in Mission Bay, in 2004… so yes, it’s been a little less than 5 years! Yikes! The Zot Trot was fun, fast, and different, as it was a reverse course. So we ran, then biked, then swam. 5K run, 11 mile bike, and a 250m swim, in the ARC (that’s Anteater Recreation Center, for those non-UCI folk out there) pool.

The run was fast, and I think I came in a little under 25 minutes, which is okay for me, since I’m not a super fast runner, and it was a little hilly. The bike was great; really made me love Blue Steel! It was kind of a weird course though; we basically did a short “X” course, 4 times, which meant 16 u-turns… and it was hilly, which meant both up and down hills, which was fun. I know I need to get faster, but I’m working on it, and I definitely had fun with it.

The swim, was a bit hard, which I wasn’t expecting, considering it was only 10 laps! I got in the pool with about 4 people, though, and we had very little room. Plus, we had to duck under lane lines to do the zig-zag course. I was happy to get out of the pool.

I heard someone shout my name on the bike course, a guy named Eric who I had a class with last year. It was really great to hear my name! His wife was doing the race and was part of the UCLA team.

Well, I’m blogging instead of biking today, on account of the rain… I know, I know, no pain, no rain, no gain, but you get so muddy. Jackie and I had a fun ride through Camp Pendleton 2 weeks ago in the rain, but to go it alone didn’t sound as fun today. I had a really funny moment as we were coming back through Camp P. I couldn’t clip out at the guard station, but I couldn’t very well ride past the guard station, so I practically had to fall over on top of the guard so I could stop and show him my ID. I rode up saying, “Um, hi, I can’t clip out, so, um, I’m going to fall now.”

Quote of the week, from some new HBO pilot called “Eastbound Down and Out.”
Principal of a school talking to a former pro-baseball player: “Well, you’re not the only athlete around here. I’m training right now for my first triathlon.”
Baseball Player: “Yeah, see, I actually play real sports, I don’t just try to be the best at exercising.”

Carbo-Pro Contemplation

What is this carbo-pro stuff about, anyways?

Okay, so not all training weeks are made equal… but I’m doing the best I can during this build phase! I’m already a little nervous about when training officially starts (I’ll start with an Olympic distance training plan in March, and switch to a full-ironman distance training plan in June (a 6 month plan)), because when push comes to shove I’m a Ph.D. student first. My number 1 goal, of course, is to finish, no scratch that. My number 1 goal is to survive Ironman relatively suffering-free, and then finish, and then finish strong. This becomes my mantra when I get really nervous that I may have bitten off more protein bar that I can chew!

So this past Saturday (1/31) I had a lovely 50 mile ride up in Orange County. I hopped on Back Bay ride and took it to the San Diego River trail, which ends somewhere on Jeffrey and I think Barranca in Irvine. Not really knowing where I’d go next, I followed a pack of cyclists (tried not to seem like I was stalk-drafting) on Jeffrey past the 5, and then since I didn’t really know where I was going, I finally broke right at Irvine Blvd. and took it to Sand Canyon. After a brief detour to go see where the Great Park balloon was (now I know where it is if I can ever find someone to go up in it with me), I took Sand Canyon up to Shady Canyon (my favorite part), up to Bonita Canyon, then over Newport Coast, where the going got tough. I crossed paths with a Cyclist (when I have more legitimacy as a triathlete-in-training, I’ll blog more about cyclists with a capital “C”), who was nice and complimented bike… which of course makes me feel like a huge Poser (yes, with a capital “P”). He was riding up and down Newport Coast, which is crazy. What a hill. Anyway, I then decided to ride to Laguna, to add some miles, which was probably a mistake, because it gets super crowded down there, and there’s very little bike path to speak of. Finally I made my way up back through Corona del Mar to Jamboree, and back through the Back Bay to San Joaquin Hills, which is right when I ran out of water, and back to my parents’ house.

OK, things I am learning about/struggling with on the bike:
1. Nutrition: I know I need enough calories not to bonk, but how to get those in is a challenge…
2. Hence, Carbo-Pro, the powder choc-full of carbohydrate energy that you can add to any beverage for calories. The uber-size container it comes in suggests you need 4 calories per lb per hour of exercise, which for me at about 140 lb, is 560 calories an hour. That is a s-load of carbopro. I think I added about a scoop (240 per scoop) to my water, and then another half to my electrolyte mix (which I then dumped b/c I realized I hated the taste). I’m thinking that what I need to do instead is mix up a batch, put it in a water bottle and add a cage to my bike solely for calories… because…
3. I got pretty bloated I think either from that or the protein bar I took with me to supplement those calories.
4. My neck and shoulders are still getting pretty tense on these long rides, and I’m not sure still quite what to do about it. Meredith said she had to adjust her bike fit like 5 times before she got it right, so I might be riding on down to Nytro pretty soon.
5. The whole numb-toes thing; yes, I can live with it, but I’d rather not! I thought at first they were cold but Saturday was really warm, so I think it’s a blood flow thing. Not sure what to do about this.
6. I’m a little bit of a whiner, don’t you think?

Anyway, I’m working on these above items right now. Anyone out there with advice?

Well, I’m off to go sign up for my first tri this season… the Zot Trot at UCI on Valentine’s Day. It’s actually a reverse-tri, so we run then bike then swim. Who knew! Not sure how the swim is going to work since it will be in a what I’m sure will become a very crowded pool.

I’m off to Arizona for a conference… I better find some time to train!