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.

Here's a little tour of the Lehigh Valley Velodrome. This video is shot from the bridge that stretches across the track just past the finish line.

And a photo that I stole off of Juicey's blog. I'm not sure where she found this photo. I'm working on finding out.

And in the Sprints...

It was a dark and storm night….

Nawt!

It was a hot and humid Pennsylvania afternoon. It was the kind of day where you start to sweat by simply walking outside and every breath is like breathing through a Burgerville milkshake straw. Sounds fun, huh? As Donna described it, she needed gills to survive. The countryside is beautiful, however, Trexlertown and surrounding, similar mini-towns are icky and sticky in late August, To quote my 3 year old friend, Grayson Hunt, it was….”Haaaaahhhhtttt!”

I’m writing this on the plane from Chicago to Portland. It’s almost a 4 hour trip. I have the cutest toddler suffering a cranky fit, but it’s tolerable with my headphones plugged into itunes. I had to fly with my niece last Christmas, so I feel bad for her parents. She’s just tired. Anyway, I have lots of time to write, so get comfortable….

Wednesday began with the 200m. TT for sprint seeding. I was hoping for something around 12.8, so was a little irked with a 13.008, only a breath of a hundredth faster than my time on Marymoor last month. I learned how important a race gear full effort is before racing. I sacrificed track time in my race gear for sleep. I got to the track an hour after racing began. A couple of the men’s groups had pursuits first on the schedule- about 20 heats. When they opened the track for about 5 minutes between the pursuit rides and the 200m., I was still in a warm up gear. So, by the time I put on my 94”, I just had the rollers, which offered little resistance. I could spin the heck out of it, but not really tap the leg muscles. I think that was the biggest factor affecting my ride. However, that time earned me front row tickets to the sprint show, .8 seconds up on the second seed. Since there were only 4 of us, there would be no rounds and we’d go straight to the semi-finals in the evening.

Went back to the hotel, peeled off the wet skin suit (not as sexy as it sounds), took a shower, ate, and cuddled into bed for a lazy afternoon of TV and cat naps. Donna and John granted my every whim, from juggling laundry to filling my water bottle. I was queen for a day. Amelia even gave me a much needed leg massage. My left quad has been giving me grief on and off for about a month. Tight.

Fast forward to my first ride of the evening. All rounds were best 2 out of 3 rides. My first was against a woman named Sara (I forget her last name.) Her qualifying time was around 14 seconds. The plan was to be in control and work as little as possible. Coming up on the final lap, I drifted up track and much to my enjoyment, so did she! Quick fake up to the right and an Abers dive to the left and I was gone. By the time I got to the first turn, I had a safe gap. I think my 200m.time for the lap was in the neighborhood of 15 seconds. The next ride was similar without the fun swerving. This time I popped over the top and took the ride.

My final rides were against Kara Vidaca. She’s a strong road sprinter and her 500m. time was less than .2 away from mine. Hopefully, she enjoys my recap, as I know she reads my blog J I drew the first lane for ride number one. I guessed that she would go either from the start or within the first lap. I had my holder, John Simmons from Helyer Park, and frequent visitor to Alpenrose, set me up as high as possible to reduce the chance of an attack from the start. John gave me a big boost. I was wrong. Kara went for the lane, so I closed that door, taking the lane. She came along on my right, and we picked up the pace a little. Eventually she dropped back behind me. I wanted a better look, so I drifted up track a little, staying aware of if she chose to pull up on my left for a press. But she stayed behind me. As I remember it, she floated underneath coming out of turn 2 in our final lap. The staight- aways on the Lehigh Valley Velodrome are short. The track is pretty round, I didn’t waste any time by dropping behind her. I went for the come around right away. It took awhile, since we were in the turn, but out of 4, I pulled ahead for the win. It was a fun ride. It’s always fun when a rider likes to play match sprint.

The final ride, we basically traded places. The ride was similar, with me following her around for a bit. She rolled up the speed in turn 1-2 of the final lap. I waited until we were out of the turn, took a run and came around. This sprint was a bit closer, but I was victorious.

Podium time was fun, as Kara and I played a game of “Queen of the Mountain” from the top step after the awards. It was a tie. Later her coach reminded us to be nice and safe to each other since we are now teammates for Elite Nationals in the team sprint. Then Donna and I hogged the podium for some fun photos. Happy times.

So, poor me gets to drag home 2 more jerseys and some hardware. The fun will be over as soon as I get home though. It’s time to cram for the beginning of school on Tuesday. I hope Haley forgives me for being absent last night for our “open-house-check-out-your-teacher-and-ask-a-billion-questions” evening.

Donna and I took about a billion pictures, so check back for those later. She gets home Saturday after the team sprint. They should win.

The Donnanator!

So, Donna is 51 years old, which puts her in the 50-55 age group. BUT, they only have a 45+ category for match sprints, because until recently, there haven't been many strong women in the 50+ group. So, today, Donna posted the second fastest 200m. time this morning out of the group of 13 in the 45+.

Time gap....

Not only did she win her age group, which they decided to award a separate medal for... she won the whole 45+ group!!! She and Annette Hansen had both won their age group, but the officials said that they had to sprint in order to finish the tournament. She beat Annette in 2 rides. She made it look easy :)

Masters National Titles Defended

Donna and I both defended our titles this morning! Weeeeee are the Chaaaaaampions!

The track was a little slow. I only posted 39.95, but it was the fastest time of the day among all women, and was .3 from second place. Donna was 4th fastest overall, behind me, Kara, and Annette. I wish there were more than 3 women in my field, but it's OK. A win is a win! Per has his kilo tonight, John has a 2K, Donna sprints tomorrow. The pressure is off me until Wednesday. Photos to come later.

Off to Master's Nationals

John Forbes, Donna Smith, and I are here in Allentown, about 8 miles from the track, concluding a short adventure. We left Portland without error, headed for Chicago. I was worried that we'd have trouble with weather there, but no drama. Our next gate was about 20 meters from where we exited.

A little while into our layover, we heard that our flight was going to be delayed about a half hour due to weather in Newark. OK, no problem. Blah, blah, blah... we get on the plane and start to taxi and the captain gets on and says we have to sit there because the delay is extended. This was not good news, as a baby was having a fit behind John and I. But eventually we take off, almost an hour later.

"Ladies and gentleman, we are going to be a little longer getting into Newark, due to some storms in our way. We'll be going around...stay in your seats..." We safely made it around and those of us on the left side of the plane were treated to an amazing light show, the cloud firing up with lightening, the currents dancing through the clouds.

Applause answered our soft touchdown and we were in Jersey. HUMID! I could barely get a breath in the jet way!


Our bikes seemed to have gotten here before us. They were stacked up against a wall when we got downstairs and it was about 20 minutes before our baggage carrosel. Within another half hour, we were stuffed into our Xtera, driving about 80 minutes to Allentown.

Next, was a treat. I used my card to check us in. The $189 a night quote was crossed out and handwritten along the side was $119. Sweet, a discount- not sure why. Then we hiked to our luxury suite! We have 2 bedrooms with 2 full bathrooms, a living room area and small kitchen. It's pretty awesome.

So, now it's time to build bikes and get to the track. The weather is still a little shakey, so hopefully we get to ride.

That's Me Bum!

Two people told me today that there was a picture of me in Willamette Week. Too bad it's a picture of me falling back in a race. Oh well, that's the second time my bum has been in a Portland publication.

Tonight was my last interval workout before Master's Nationals. We leave for Pennsylvania on Saturday. Speaking of bums, I'm a little bummed that there is only one other woman registered in my age group.

Today, Haley and I unpacked about 50 boxes at school. We only have about 6 left to get out, but all are opened. Tomorrow is another full day at school, getting stuff put away. It's so crazy in the building still. There's construction stuff everywhere and we have families coming in just one week!!!