And on the 11 month... She Started Up Again

Well, I'm back in the saddle, so to speak. After 3+ weeks of eating junk food and drinking too much, I have managed to gain back my love handles and lose some fitness. Based on the 3 workouts I've done so far, I'm surprised that I don't feel worse. I guess I had some money in the bank.

Saturday I showed up at the coffee shop, North Star, which is one of the best in town on north Interstate Avenue, just north or Lombard. We executed our Saturday morning activities, that I would tell you about, if it wasn't super secret. It was fun. On the off season you realize what you learned during the season. What I noticed is how much I count on the lines (sprint lane, stayer's line) on the track! When they are not there, I find myself looking ahead more to see where I'm going!

Sunday I led a little 2.5 hour ride around west and northwest Vancouver. I remembered this ride having rollers, but in early November, those suckers are HILLS! I was wasted the rest of the day. Yes, a 2.5 hour ride completely destroyed me the rest of the day.

Monday.... I did nothing and went to bed early. I highly recommend a feather (or fiber) bed to put over your mattress. It feels like I'm cheating and sleeping on a blanket. Heaven!

Last night was core/circuit training. My plantar faciitus (I know that's spelled wrong) came back and almost made me fall over getting out of bed this morning. My least favorite excercise thus far is the pull ups on the rings. Wow- that sucks. Thursday is another round!

So... that's the latest. I must get ready for school. happy hump day!

Rest Session

So... I haven't seen my track bike for almost 2 weeks and I don't miss her yet. Lolita (the raod bike) had been hanging in the garage since before I left. I bet if I go check, I can find a couple cob webs. I asked Brian not to write me a schedule for the rest of the month and I'm going to enjoy it with no regrets. Here's a short list of things I have managed to do in the past 9 days...

1. Raked the first round of leaves from my big (I don't know what kind) tree out front.

2. Put on about 3 pounds. This might be an exaggeration, but the pants are already fittin' tighter.

3. Watched Blades of Glory. Awesome

4. Bought a crock pot. I'm looking forward to many dinner/ lunch combinations.

5. Get caught up at school

6. Finished a book that I started over a month ago.

7. Update my blog

Home Again

Sorry I didn't write yesterday. I was just tired and not really looking forward to reporting more bad news. Well, not totally bad news, but not super exciting either.

I posted 12.8 in my 200m. TT This is my slowest time on this track. Not really sure what happened there, but it seems that everyone's times were a bit slow. Anyway, it set me 7th and 8 sprinters make it into the tournament. This was also the closest I've ever been to not making it in to the sprints!

I rode against a super fast, Liz Reap. She won in two rides. In the 5-8 ride, I did a good job of controlling in the first 2 laps. But it is important to know how to count to 3 with a 4 up ride. As I was controlling my outside, I left the lane open and the girl that one slipped in there.

Kara and I rode a decent team sprint, although it didn't put us into the finals. We "won" 5th place by default. But our start assured me that my 500m. loss was ALL about the start. My split to the first tape was a 14.01 and ours was 13.13.

I'm home now, after waking up at 5:00am and hopping on a big bird. Now I'm looking forward to grading some writing projects!

Elite Nationals Day 2

Today was the keirin. Last year, it seemed that everyone did the keiren, whether they were a sprinter or not. This year, just the sprinters came out- all 12 of us. This was awesome, though because it made the first ride difficult from the start. Since there were only 12 riders, we didn't have heats. We went straight to a semi-final ride. I was in the first ride, with 5 others, including Anna Lang and Jennie Reed- 2 very strong ladies.

I drew lane 5 (like I have doing all season it seems) so for me to get anywhere near the motor was going to be hard. When we started, the girl above me, basically ignored that I existed (good move, really) and I was squeezed like a little watermelon seed somewhere near the back. I chose to give up the position fight early and sit behind Jennie, who sat behind Anna. This provide a great draft and I could see any moves they'd make.

The motor dropped us off pretty fast and in the first lap nothing happened. I thought about making a move over the top to at least surprise, but being that we were going a quick tempo, I wasn't going to be much of a surprise, coming over slowly or I risked getting gapped by losing Jennie's wheel just for a second to swing high and go.

The unfortunate choice was to wait for them to make a move, since reacting to either of these riders means you're too late. Somewhere in the fury, there was a crash the happened in front of me. It didn't effect me too much, but since I wasn't going to be one of the top 3 to go through to the finals, i let up, knowing that my next rider would been soon.

Gearing has been weird this year for me. I'm starting to think... well actually pretty sure that I want to go back to my 170mm cranks. This year, I'm stronger, my leg speed is faster... and I'm going slower. I have long legs. Maybe the longer lever is better for me. That's not so much gearing, but I did feel under geared for my 500m ., which ended up being the same gear I rode in the keiren. I decided in the final ride for 7-12, I'd go up and see how it felt.

Turned out that was a good decision. In the next ride, I drew lane 6 and there were only 5 riders! Yes, I still have the skills of getting the outside lane. Luckily Matt gave me a nice shove. I fought a little for the second spot and finally got there behind Emily. When to motor pulled off, she ramped it up a titch which was awesome. With two laps to go, I came around her and led for that lap. Good and bad. Many keirens that I have won or been in the top 2, I've led out, so it was possible that this would work. Going into the last lap however, another rider came around me, but not fast enough to clear my wheel. This forced me to back off a bit and I wound up on the blue line a bit. This is racing and I didn't think anything of it, but later she was relegated for this move. Mark the day that Phil Miller made a call on my behalf (inside joke for those that know some of the officials.) So although I came across the line 3rd, I was awarded 2nd in that ride and 8th overall. Later I went with the other girl to talk to the official just to see what he'd say. I guess they saw her come around as a bit more dangerous. Oh well, I think it's just racing.

It's strange because even thought I'm not doing very well in the placing, I'm having a good time. I'm not stressed and I'm enjoying racing my bike! You have to love your sport. If you don't love your sport, you have to step away from your sport- or at least be able to answer yourself as to why you're out there.

Today is the sprints!!!

Here are some pictures from yesterday. There is a short movie clip at the end of Emily in the scratch race.

Elite Nationals Begins

In a nut shell... it's starting off not so well. This actually began before we got here, when our flight out of Portland was 2 hours late. Here is a picture of Donna waiting for our plane.

After getting to Los Angeles, then to the house, then stretch, then get a massage, then shower... it was probably around 1:30 am before I got to sleep.

Today was the 500m.time trial. I hoped to ride under 39 seconds. My time last year was 39.1. I'm not sure what the main problem was today, but I think it was a mixture of a lot of little factors. In the race itself, I should have had a stronger start. When you don't get going fast enough in the beginning, it chips away at the overall time. My time today was my almost slowest on this track at 39.59. I think I was 10th overall- not good. If I got the time I was hoping for, I would have been 6th I think. Brian and I talk about a few things and one idea for next year might be to go back to my longer cranks....

Tomorrow afternoon is the keiren. Hopefully I get home a little earlier tomorrow night to report.

This is Molly our massage girl. She rode her bike ALL THE WAY HERE from Portland. She left Portland about 3 weeks ago. She often gives massages at our track and we love her. I don't know that guy on the table.

This is the view of the track from the infield, where all the riders warm up and wait to ride.

I just finished my last workout before going to nationals. Similar to studying for a test or working on a project for a long time, before we go to a big event, someone will say, "Well, the homework is done." I won't get any faster or stronger before Wednesday. Actually, these workouts the past week, leading up to the final showdown are easy ones. It's to get the muscles ready for what's coming.

Check back tomorrow night. I'll try to get on to tell you about the sweet beach house we're staying at!

The Final Countdown

Well, it's getting close to Elite Track Nationals in 11 days. I'm feeling good about my workouts. Tonight's motorpacing was tough. I sighed something about it being hard to "stay on as long as I can," without a for sure end.

"It's supposed to be hard!" reminded Dean.

Good point

I'm feeling snappy and have a much better attitude about nationals this year. I just have to stay healthy for another week or so.

My realistic goal is to be on the podium for all of my events. My ambitious goal is to kick ass all around.

We all know that racing is 90% in your head, so I'm going to focus ambitiously!

Going and going and going and...

Here's a whirlwind recap of the past week. We opened a new school this year, so besides the buzz of the beginning of any school year, there are so many new things, or things not yet in place, and there are more kids than we expected, and it's just overall busy. Mix the job with a birthday party, a visit with my brothers and niece, and other general errands, and I'd be busy without cycling. Now, finally add on a few workouts, and I haven't stopped for about a week. Here was today. Punctuation was left out for affect.

Thought I planned it all very well. I have my cycling clothes packed in my bag, I had a shower bag and towel packed, and I had a plan. This plan was to get through my school day with one class that is very well behaved and the other, containing about 3 kids that fill in every mili-second of dead air with chatter. I was going to do my intervals on the beautiful roads of north Clark County, then go to Haley's to shower, eat, and rest for curriculum night, where we talk to the parents about expectations and procedures in our classroom.

I get to school in the morning and start to tell Haley my plan. But I got stuck on the first step, because at the part where I was about to tell her that I was going to do my ride... it dawned on me that I forgot my bike.

I live 23 minutes from school.

I can leave school at 3:30

I make it to my car at 3:47, because no one ever leaves school on time the first couple of weeks, contemplating what I will do- skip the workout and be disappointed that I did so, or go for it.

Gentlewomen.... Start your engines!

I drive 23 minutes home, eating some pretzels and an apple on the way, then I get changed into my cycling clothes that were in my car all day, so they are toasty warm, I fill 2 water bottles- one with water and the other with ice, since it's 90 degrees on September 11th, then I hit the road. The workout was 40 on-20 off- 40 on (seconds that is). I'm supposed to do 7-8 intervals, but I didn't have that valuable resource of time, so I cranked out 3 into the wind and 2 with a tail wind- out to Vancouver Lake and back. Then I hung the bike, put the Lean Cuisine in the microwave for 2.5 minutes, and took the protein smoothie out of the freezer, hopped into the shower, then managed to get dry in the heat, by pointing my floor fan into the bathroom. I took about 4 minutes to get looking presentable, ran downstairs, fed the cat, inhaled my Lean Cuisine, and grabbed the protein smoothie along with a spoon. I was back in the car 65 minutes after I got out of it, including my 42 minutes power workout. I made it back to school and even had time to shoot the breeze with some other teachers before the 2 waves of parents came in to hear all about their kids classroom.

Bed will be good.
Photos of nationals and others coming soon, I promise.