June is here! (tomorrow)

I totally hate that we have to make up snow days at school. Some districts don't, but not Battle Ground. We hang in there until June 25th. Yes, that's a 2 followed by a 5. There's talk to actually PLAN some snow days into the calendar next year. Novel.

I raced with the women out at the track tonight. There were 10 of us- more than in the cat 3 men's race, which is a surprise. I got second in the omnium behind Miranda. It was fun battling it out with the girls I train with.

So, I'm going to be seeking some sponsorship for my Nationals/ World's trip coming in October. Any folks with money out there? I've figured out that the cost of both national events and then to Sydney will cost me around $6000. I have my proposal ready and plan to hit the pavement in Battle Ground next week. Hopefully I can use the "great teacher going for gold and following dreams" angle to pull on the heart strings of the town I teach in.

Only 5 weeks until Alpenrose Velodrome Challenge (AVC)! Hey, you track riders out there- Come to this race July 6-8th.

Kara- I saw your signature in my guest book. I need to get your email address.

Is Summer Here Now?

I sure hope that we're done with the sogginess. Last Saturday I went to the roller derby at the expo center with Per, Amelia, and Emily. Totally fun. It's like track racing on skates with a lot more contact. They draw in crowds of a few thousand. Sunday was the Swan Island Crit. I think I mentioned before that I decided not to race because I had some chest illness. They canceled the women's race anyway. but Casey and Dean raced in thei monsoon and did well. Sadie and Norrene hung out in the rain with me.

This week's training has been a little more positive. My weights are tough enough to really tire me out now.. I completed all of my intervals Wednesday- even with much distraction (another story not suitable for blogging) and survived that first points race of the year. I raced with the cat 3 guys for 40 laps and only went down 2 laps. I consider that pretty good right now. Last night we sprinted and I rode smart, so overall a good week.

There's been some talk on the OBRA chat about lack of women's racing. I voiced my opinion about why some women race with the guys, which did nothing to solve the problem (i.e. PIR.) There was some good talk overall. I hope the road events see more ladies out there.

Swan Island Swimming

The weather stunk, and there were a giant amoumt of trucks that just had to do their deliveries. About 90 minutes before the women were scheduled to race, they canceled it because no women had registered. Emily and 2 other women raced with the cat 3s. If I was feeling healthier, I would have too. But I decided to sit on the trainer for a little over an hour instead. I'm not sure what crawled into my lungs- allergies... asthma... those mucous monsters from the Mucinex commercials. I had much more fun watching Casey and Dean roll in the rain for an hour.

Aaron Tuckerman finished 3rd in the overall GC at Tri Peaks Stage Races. AWESOME

Dull Edge

That's how someone described it to me. "You don't seem to have you usual snap." Another said, "You seem to just be going through the motions without the fire." And tonight I got some point blank advice- "You don't like what's going on, then you have to do something different to fix it.

So, I'm beginning my worst track season ever. I crawled through a 4:48 pursuit last night. Now, we all know that a pursuit is not my event. But it certainly wasn't my event back in 2002 when I did my first pursuit at 4:47... in drop bars... road helmet... with no clue. Last night was officially my worst time. And I was complaining last year about a 4:40. I know it's May and I'm not supposed to care about track times, but it's hard to ignore the worst times I've ever posted. Well, that's not totally true, it was my second worst 500 time. I realistically expected my 2007 coming out times to be a little better than the beginning of last year- maybe a 200m. less that 14 seconds...a 500m. in the high end of 40 seconds, and something around a 4:35 pursuit.

I feel like I did my homework this winter. I didn't date anyone, I drank less, I ate better, I followed instructions. And I've so far been rewarded with disappointment. I'm a little in shock to be honest.

Overtrained? I'm not sure how. I had 2 weeks totally off. I eased back into training after my crash, so I should be golden. I'm more like lead.

"QUITCHA BITCHIN HEATHER! I know, I know. I just need to vent and the nice thing about a journal, blog, a friend, whatever, is that once I get it out, I can move on.

So... we started racing at the track tonight, but it started raining. I won my first sprint, then we were done. The weather is getting yucky. Swan Island is Sunday. Party on, folks.

The Latest...

Racing hasn't been phenomenal, but it hasn't been bad either. I'm a bit of a different schedule this year, so I have to be satisfied without being fast right now. It's funny because I look at my times from last year at this time and how upset I was that those times were so lame. So far this year, I've posted all slower times than even that. I can only move forward and trust that what I'm doing now adds bits and pieces to the master plan. My 500 TT last week was a 41.43, which is about a second off my best time. I know I'm building a good base in the gym and having great workouts.

I got 2nd place in the omnium for the track race last Saturday. I felt tired the whole day- just a little beat from the week's work. There were only 4 women racing, including myself, Darien (who did a great job helping), Emily, and Jen. Jen won the omnium easily, by taking 1st in all 3 races.

On a totally different note, my little bro got married. This one if for real. we all love Shannon and she's a smart chica- and buff! They got married outside of Las Vegas. Here's a shot I stole from Snapfish, after I rightfully ordered a few shots. I'm not sure what Charlie and Shannon find so funny here, but it was one of my favorites.

3 weeks Healed

So, when asked if I"m back 100%, I've replied, "More like 85%." Almost everything does not bother me. Riding- no problem, getting out of bed- no problem, sniffling and laughing- no problems, lifting the beer to my mouth- for sure no problem.

Restarting my weight training? Problem.

Luckily, the lower body stuff, like squats, single leg presses don't bother me too much. I started going to LA Fitness, since Mavericks went bankrupt. This new facility is very nice with all new equipment. So, incline chest press- ouch, chest flies- ouch, side shoulder flies- ouch, most ab stuff- eventually ouch. But since I already look like this girl,
I guess I have no worries.

That Clock Has Got To Be Fast!

Or maybe it's just the beginning of May and I'm that slow! Yesterday, we got showered out for doing the 500s- next week it will be much nicer. Tonight, the wet finally stopped about 2 hours before race time. It was 200 night at Alpenrose Fast Twitch Friday. My muscles were more like bubble-gum-on-the-third-day twitch. A few factors included:
Being off the bike totally for a week, and lightly another week
It's May
Eating a big shrimp Mediterranean salad two hours before racing- no offence to the Greeks or to shrimp, but that meal is officially on the do-not-eat-on-race-day list.
It's May
The temperature was around... 54ish?
It's May
It was windy
And... It's May

So, my official worst times ever were achieved this evening with a 14.49, 15.04, and a 15.? There was a small group- we got to go until the sun set.

Good news though is that Dean Reed and Bike Central (plugging the folks sthat take care of my track racing needs) scored me a used, but totally awesome pair of old school sprinter pedals- "Go Fast Upgrade" #1

The weather is shaping up, so tomorrow's workout will be warm, yet painful