going the distance... between updates. oops.

Haven't posted a new blog since July 6th. What is wrong with me? Alright, this needs to be a PR of a recap because I have a lot of fun workouts to go over, (especially since Ryan was nice enough to put a training plan together for me after Racers and Chasers!) and I don't want to put anyone to sleep here.

Well the week after my race was kind of a mile stone for me, training wise. It's funny when I think about it, because I only worked out twice (totally not counting pilates classes). And I'm pretty sure that to most of the cyclists I know and to the ones who have blogs that I now read, only working out 2 times in a week would be a humongous step backwards and would make them feel like ultimate fat asses. Well, I made those 2 days hard, ok??! :)

Here's what happened. Tuesday morning I set out for a solo 35 mile road ride at 19 mph avg- my most challenging solo ride yet. I knew that it would be hard, especially without Ryan's back wheel out in front of me to hug... and that I would have to stay disciplined the entire time. Knowing how I am when it comes to long distance stuff, I knew that I would have to ride 17.5 miles out in one direction before turning around to come back, if I was going to hit 35. Otherwise, I'd come up to Ryan's apt and make some excuse to just go back instead of passing it by to reach my goal. I honestly just get really bored after even 10 miles on the road by myself and when I get tired, the excuses start to flow. Sucks to say but I can't deny it... And it always ends up being a battle against myself. So, that's what I set out to do. I went from Ryan's in downtown HB towards Laguna Beach. I can't even guess how many times I looked down at my computer to see how many miles I'd gone and thought, "That's it??" I realized at about 10 miles in that focusing on a certain number of miles for a new goal is great, but it shouldn't be about the distance. It should be about the effort you put into reaching that distance, and how you feel along the way. Cliche, I know... but it really is true. Even on a road bike. So at the 10 mile mark, I switched my computer over to Average MPH mode for good and left it there for about as long as I could resist. I actually had a lot of fun flying solo although it's always a lot more fun to ride with my boy, for sure.. But I was kind of excited to see what I was made of as I climbed the rolling hills that lead into Newport and Laguna- a bunch of them I've never climbed before and parts of them were brutal for me... just longer than the 2 ant hills I'm used to in HB and long beach. Side note- the further south I went, the more worried I got though because I didn't realize until about 7 or 8 miles into the ride that I had no spare tire or any gear to change a flat; Ryan took it off for a ride with his dad a few days before and I totally forgot to put it back on my bike, of course! Mental note- don't forget the spares next time, nerd. But anyway, I felt super strong... (shocker to me) so I was amped on doing a 35 miler!! Thennnn I got to Laguna. Ocean Avenue to be exact. And as if drivers in OC don't force you into the gutter enough as it is, coming up on Ocean in the heart of Laguna Beach.. well you might as well take up street sweeping while you're at it. That's what I felt like anyway. So I caved, and I looked down at my computer to see the distance I rode at that point and was somewhat satisfied with it but not totally- 16 miles. Not too shabby... but it wasn't 17.5. Welp, to sum it up, I decided to avoid the single track of a street and all it's oblivious drivers.. and headed home. But I went as fast as I could the whole way back to make up for what I knew would fall short of 35 miles. With all the climbing and stops I did, I ended up averaging 19 mph!! (When I ride with Ryan and his dad, their averages will usually be around 21 when mine will be around 18 after the same exact ride (mine counts everything but 0 mph when theirs stops counting at 10 mph or something). So I was excited. Definitely plan on doing that ride again soon.

Wow I just talked a lot about that when I totally didn't need to.....

The following Sunday (7/12) was my second and last workout of the week, and it was with Ryan, mountain biking through Aliso. He did a great recap of it here (I say great because he's so awesome the way he talks about our rides together :) and also because he actually knows the names of all the trails we ride, whereas I come on here to write about them, but end up saying stuff like, "we rode up that long, and like, really steep trail.. you know, that one that's got some rocks and stuff on it... and some trees) ok maybe not that bad, but I still need to get better at learning names of trails, for sure. Anyway we ended up riding up Cholla (Ryan timed me- 6 minutes I think. definitely gonna work on improving that but Ryan said that's a good time, so I'll believe him. haha) Then we headed down Rock It and up Mathis to the Top of the World. About half way up Mathis, I seriously wanted to puke. It was hot as hell and I didn't want to stop for water because I knew it would take me forever to get going again. Stupid I know, but true. But I looked ahead at Ryan and knew I couldn't stop; The fact that he did a century with Slater and some other guys the day before totally motivated me to finish... and definitely left me no excuses!! I stopped to catch my breath once but kept going til I reached the top... top of the world baby! I finally did it. I'd been wanting to for a while and when I finally got there, physically, it felt like shit, but mentally, it felt AWESOME. I will be back!!! I especially want to descend down what I think is called meadows again too, because I went down it like a grandma in a motorized cart for my first time. And I know it could be part of a really awesome trip back to the car. Next time!

Last Monday (7/13) marked the first day of a new training plan that Ryan set up for me. I told him I really need/want to get my endurance up and that I want to get stronger. I know those sound like extremely broad goals, but I've noticed that my endurance has been what's killed me at both mtb races. So we figured that was a priority, and that strength will naturally follow. Since I signed up for another triathlon, I'd like to focus on being ready for it (by ready I mean totally healthy and pain free as well as able to complete it without feeling held back primarily by my endurance level.. if I'm held back by a technical issue on my bike or because something weird happens, like a crazy steals my running shoes while I'm on my swim... basically if anything out of my control holds me back, I could care less in the end. But I don't want to finish another race saying, "god, I really need to get in better shape!!"). Anyway.. I want to be ready for the tri without neglecting any progress on my mountain bike and lastly, nurse my bad knees back into shape. Surprisingly, that's been my biggest challenge yet through all this...

So Monday (7/13) I was scheduled to run for just 10-15 minutes to start. 10-15 minutes... No problem, right? Yeah. Well I just made it to 10 before my right knee started locking up on me. I knew it would happen as it always does after a certain amount of time, but I didn't expect it to so soon after staying off off it for MONTHS now and trying to build the muscle around it with cycling and pilates. But it did, and all I can do is deal with it the best I know how... which I believe is giving it the right balance of training and trying to expand its limits, and rest/recovery.

Tuesday (7/14) had a 60-90 minute road ride for endurance lined up. No hard efforts, just meant to get the base miles in. So I went out for another solo ride up PCH towards Long Beach from Ryan's. I started out feeling great... Didn't realize how great I was actually feeling until I looked down and saw that my avg was 21 mpg at about 8 miles in! Knowing the head wind on the way back would be a downer to my average (it always is when I take that route in the morning- damn off-shore winds!!) I decided at that point to see if I could average 20 mph for the first time ever on that ride. Welp, to sum things up for the sake of what will be this massive post, I'm bummed to say that didn't happen... almost, but it didn't. Came in at 19-point-freaking-8 mph. I knew it was going to be on for my next endurance ride..

Wednesday (7/15) was my first time back in the pool for laps in a lonnnng time. And it showed. I did a single-paced 1000m and it took me about 45 minutes. I stopped a lot. In fact I don't think I did more than 100m one time, without taking a break before starting my next lap. Had to think to myself afterward, "Well, I can only go up from here, right??" :/ haha. Had another 10-15 minute run scheduled after this swim. I did it basically right after I got out of the pool, thinking I'd be much looser than Monday's run which would help, but I wasn't even a quarter of a mile in when it locked up on me this time. Yeahhhh that's all I have to say about that....

Thursday I had off but Friday was time for another ride. I decided to hold off a couple days before attempting the LB test again, and wanted to get a good climb or 2 in. Thought it might help my endurance more than a flatter ride to LB. So I took off south, down to Newport Coast Drive. I remembered the spare tube this time (yessss!) but TOTALLY forgot to ask Ryan to fix my gears... they've been having issues staying on the smallest 3 rings so climbing a 2 mile hill without them was just going to suck (noooo!). After riding 11 miles to get to Newport Coast, I thought, "Oh well.. time to suck it up and climb standing." So I did. I timed myself on the whole climb- got to the signal at the top in almost exactly 10 minutes. And since I always enjoy a climb a LOT more if I get to ride down it, that's what I did... and went back home at a solid pace. Was a pretty good ride in the end- 27 miles, 18 mph avg.

Took Saturday off to spend the day with my sister Val, who came in from Arizona for the weekend. Had a lot of fun riding beach cruisers around with her, Ryan, and my other sister Liz. Had an even better time seeing my sister Val try to hop up the curb in front of Ryan's apartment at the end of our ride... hahahha. Something to keep in mind- if someone you know is ever riding on a fat beach cruiser and says to you, "watch out, I'm gonna jump it!" then you LET THEM TRY!! Because when they don't even come close to making it, and you see their back wheel go a good 5 feet in the air, it is one of the most comical things you'll ever see. If you have a sense of humor that is. ;)

Sunday (7/19) I headed out to PCH again for another ride to get some more base miles in, this time with Ryan and his dad. I was really excited to ride with them because it has been a while and we always have a good time. They planned to do 50 miles and I only wanted to ride for 60-90 minutes. So since we went south for this one, I decided to do the same ride I did a few days before and go up Newport Coast. It was kinda bizarre to me how good I felt, riding with them, strength-wise. Usually I fall back several times, even though I AM always drafting behind Ryan and/or his dad when we ride together. But I didn't fall back once and it was sweet!! So when I got to Newport Coast I had a lot more energy conserved in me for the climb, which I wanted to time again. although I forgot again to ask Ryan to fix my chain/gears before we left!! crap... But I thought of forgetting as a good thing because I was forced to climb it the same way I did a few days before, leaving my strength as the only variable that could affect my time. Sure enough, I did it in 9 minutes that time.. a whole minute faster! Granted, I drafted basically the whole 11 miles there, but I still feel like it was a better effort which is always a good feeling to have.

This past week's training plan was structured almost identically to last week's, to get some more base training under my belt. Monday (7/21) I started off with a swim, and pushed my total up to 1300m- same pace as last week's swim. Nothing crazy.

Next up on Tuesday was another road ride. This time, my sister Liz and I decided to go to a spin class though. Liz is actually the one who talked me into the LB tri although she's only done one race herself, and she also managed to talk her boyfriend into doing his first triathlon this year (we're all doing the same one.. should be fun!). She's definitely on a health kick right now, trying to get back into working out, and since she doesn't have her own road bike yet the spin class was great for us to go to together as we train for this thing. Anyway it was just a fun class for me, especially with Liz and also with the old guys that go to that class every Tuesday and Thursday morning... they just sit in the back and talk crap on the instructor and each other. It's hilarious. So Liz and I definitely had fun time.

Wednesday was my day off from riding, but included a short run. So I hit the gym at lunch for my pilates class then went upstairs afterward to run on the treadmills (can't STAND treadmills, but I figure they're better for me to run on once in a while compared to concrete obviously or the uneven grassy trail right by my house). I ended up running a half a mile before my knee started hurting, but out of frustration I guess, I decided to run another half mile after walking for a few minutes. I always get so frustrated stopping after only a few minutes, and since it hasn't seemed to help lately, I wanted to try something different. The 2nd half hurt and I definitely finished it with a gimp, but I did. And I felt a whole lot better finishing the complete mile in a little pain this time, than to stop 1/4 or 1/2 of the way in because it hurt.

Thursday I hit the pool for some more laps. This time I figured I needed to start pushing myself to swim certain, longer distances without stopping. So before I started, I planned to do a 300m warm-up, 2 sets of 450m and a 300m cool-down.. all without stopping. Surprisingly, I made it and I actually didn't die too much! :) I also threw in a couple water sprints at the end to see if doing that would help loosen up my hip flexors (also a consistent problem for me, besides my IT band) and let me tell you, that crap was wayyy harder than I thought it would be! I only did 100m and my quads and everything were fine, but running in water was a bitch for my calves! They cramped like crazy, it was so unexpected. Kinda funny actually... :)

Friday was another road ride for endurance, and I definitely had not forgotten my goal to average 20 mph from Ryan's to Long Beach and back. I kept thinking about it throughout the week as "My Quest for 20" like it was the title of some really cheesy documentary that no one cared about. I don't even know why I just included that thought in here just now.... alright, so back to it.... :) I didn't want to kill myself too early and have no steam left to fight the head wind on the way back, and more importantly, I didn't want to force a dumb injury on myself because I didn't warm up. So I gradually increased my pace on my way to LB and found myself refusing to drop below 20 on the way there, no matter what. Well, of course, I hit every damn light there was. Seemed like it anyway. When I got to the street I turn around at, I looked down to see my average at 22. 22!! Hell yeah!! I was at 21 last time at this point, so being at 22 put me in a good spot for the ride back. sweet. I started off, going a little faster than I did the way back last time to leave any doubt behind me. I got to the the little climbs that go into Huntington Harbor and it hit me- I did exactly what I told myself not to as I warmed up; I gave it a little too much gas, too soon. My legs were just tired, riding up and over those stupid things. And I couldn't get my speed back up as I rode down them. Some guy flew past me a few minutes later, with about 6-7 miles to go. HUGE calves, some team jersey with a kit to match his bike perfectly... I knew he'd be pissed if some girl like me could hang with him, let alone pass him. So naturally, I tried to do both! :) I hate it when people are riding "slower than molasses in the dead of winter" as Ryan would say :) then see us fly past them, THEN start working by trying their hardest to keep up right behind us and on our wheels. So retarded to me. So I wasn't going to draft but try to use him as motivation to keep my pace up. And although he eventually left my sight, I guess it worked because I finished my ride with a 20.3 mph average! Woo hoo!!! Good times.

If you actually just read this entire post, thanks and.. sorry it was so long!!! Now that I have this blog going, I'll need to stay on top of updating it weekly instead of once a month, or just updating a little bit here and there as I go. Because super long posts that are just about training and not about the fun stuff at all are just lame. So no more of that from me!!

On Tap: Ryan will be racing up in Big Bear with James tomorrow for Rim Nordic #2 so that should be pretty awesome!! It's always fun cheering them on and it'll be cool to be Ryan's #1 fan again, this time without having to worry about my race. Been a while now since that's been the scenario. Training wise, well, we'll see what Ryan has in store for me next week. :)

Racers and Chasers and Beers, oh YEAH

It wasn't that long ago (about 2-3 years) that I thought it was a little crazy for someone to be out on their bike 5-6 days a week because they WANTED to be, and not because someone was in their ear telling them to be for whatever reason. I never looked at riding a bike as something other than either a leisurely activity or, on the extreme end of it, something that consumed your life because it was your job.. like it is for Lance and all the other cyclists on the tour. I'm sure that probably sounds dumb and extremely naive but I honestly never knew there was such a huge range of riders. What can I say, I grew up with AYSO soccer, volleyball and lots of baseball!! Basically anything on a court or on a field, we played it. Trails and courses were only good for camping, and roads were only good for driving on to get to those courts. But once I started learning all about bikes and the cycling world from Ryan, an addiction to them became fathomable to me. I couldn't actually picture myself getting addicted to any form of it to be honest, but I could see how someone would....

Last week though, I think I might have. :) I started off with a short road ride (and I mean REALLY short- 18 miles up and down PCH). My plan was to get in 25 miles by doing the loop from Ryan's apartment to Long Beach and back at a solid pace (which for me is about 19mph on a good day going solo) but about 20 minutes in I saw some lady off the side of the road with her bike flipped on its handlebars. Not sure why since she only had a flat... but whatever. So, I stopped and asked if she needed help but wasn't expecting her to say yes... Ryan has shown me how to do it once before, but he's always been there to fix any actual flats I've gotten! Anyway she just had a flat on her back wheel and surprisingly, I fixed it up for her!! It only took me probably 20 minutes to do it.... oops. but the point is, I did. :) So after that I decided to make it a time-trial ride and just charge it the whole way back so I wouldn't get too far behind on my work day. Felt good. Wednesday morning I got my 25 mile ride in and just totally cruised. It was weird but I never got out of warm-up mode and actually really enjoyed taking it easy (I averaged a molasses-paced 17mph). It was one of those care-free rides that felt great during the middle of the week, but something I don't plan on doing again for a long time. I followed both rides up with an hour of pilates at lunch and felt the strongest I have at one of those classes, so I'm sure riding was a great warm up for that and something I plan on keeping up on. I think it helps my form out a ton, giving me better results in my core. Thursday morning I did my first solo mountain bike ride but I already went into that in my last post... so I reached my goal of 3 rides + 2 pilates classes during the week- might sound ridiculous to some, but that was the most I've ridden in 5 days before. So I was happy about that. Baby steps, right? :)

Friday night, Ryan and I headed out to Carlsbad to crash at James and Beth's place for Racers and Chasers the next morning (4th of July). We were all scheduled to start around 8 so we got up around 4 and pulled up to the site around 6:30. And we were basically the ONLY ones there besides the volunteers. It was... awkward. But kinda funny. At the end of the day, there was a decent turn out. Thank god there was, not only for better competition but for the volunteers- you could tell they put a TON of time into it, so we were happy to see their work pay off when more racers showed up before the start. Since this was the first year of this race/location, we didn't really know what to expect in terms of the # or racers and for the course itself. They started building the course 2 weeks ago and had just completed it so we were thinking it would be beginner-friendly, which it definitely was. It wasn't very technical, which I like for a race.. but it was freakin sandy as hell!!! It was a totally different challenge of a course for all of us because we're used to either super packed-in fire road and/or single track or somewhat rocky terrain (or both!) throughout our local trails, and not sand. I think the 4 of us were irritated with it as we pre-rode a lap and tried to push through all the resistance, but at the end of the day, I think we all agreed that it was a great opportunity to work on the weaknesses that come out in a course like that. I have to admit though, I'd be saying that after ANY course at this point... I really do need to work on everything!! But that's expected. My time was about 1:10:something and I'm happy with it, but not thrilled. Happy that both laps were almost exactly the same considering my first lap was horrendous; I got off and hiked-a-bike way too many times because I couldn't pedal hard enough to get around people at first, so I was winded early on and tried to make up time too quickly, just making my 2nd lap an awkward struggle for air and a slower heart rate... So considering how out of it I was on the 2nd lap, I'm glad it wasn't slower than my first. But the point is, both laps should have been much better and more thought-out in the first place!! Something to keep in mind for the next race, for sure. Anyway we all had a lot of fun in the early heat before celebrating the 4th, and team tall and team small pulled through again to reach podium! (Beth 1st, James 4th, Ryan 2nd, me 2nd).

action shots! (from james' blog and chan photography)



daaa boys.


love the vest, james!


this picture cracks me up for some reason.. but also makes me very proud. :)


daaaa girls.


After the race Beth and James took us over to Stone Brewing Co. for a really awesome lunch and some beer tasting. Even though I think we got the only bad server at the place (haha poor Ryan, got his beers screwed up twice), it was magically delicious. Seriously, the food was great, the whole place had really cool architecture throughout (they even have a Stone Garden outside!) and obviously their beers were really good. Even of their stronger/hoppier beers, I was fan. On our way out, we picked up some gear- pint glasses for Ryan, and a gargoyle shirt for each of us. We hopped in the pool when we got back and Ryan definitely took charge of the entertainment... with the help of a little too much liquid courage... and let's just say we didn't get to see the fireworks this year. :( I'll be a good fiance and spare him of posting the details on my blog!!! so all I can say is maybe next year...haha. All in all, it was another great weekend with Beth and James and a great 4th of July.

Next up: finalizing a training plan for the Long Beach Tri that will get me feeling ready and healthy for race day, and continuing to build endurance/strength on the bike. I think sticking with 3 rides and pilates twice during the week would be a great way to do this without offsetting the balance I finally found between family/Ryan time, work and all the other stuff. So we'll see how it all pans out. Hope everyone had a great 4th of July!!

Roses are red, poison ivy is stupid

Kind of a lot has happened since my last post, all of it being great. Well, I did catch my first minor rash from brushing up against some poison ivy while on a ride last week with Ryan in El Moro which wasn't great. But luckily, I got it taken care of before it got too crazy. That stuff is sneaky though! It acts like it's a mosquito bite or something at first, tries to be all incognito.. then all of a sudden it spreads into this gross, bumpy and red formation. I had to laugh when I found out it was poison ivy because it was the first time Ryan ever told me not to worry about something and that I needed to get over it. haha so great.

I'm sure he'll talk about this in his next post (hopefully he will anyway) but one of the awesome things that happened this past week was Ryan moving up to Cat 1!!! He is officially a stud. well, an even bigger one now. :) Seriously, I am really really proud of him. I think it will only be a matter of time before he gets a feel for a new pace and a new level of competition, and before he gets back up to that podium again! It's just awesome seeing him constantly push himself to get better and to go faster, and I know he's gonna tear it up.

This week was also kind of a milestone week for me, although not all of it is as related to mountain biking as Ryan's accomplishment... But a couple days ago I decided to take the dive into full-time freelance as a graphic designer and web developer. This probably won't seem like a big deal to anyone reading this besides Ryan, which is totally understandable but it's huge to me for a few main reasons: 1 being that it's gonna be an all-new challenge for me to build a solid client base on my own rather than working through agencies and other companies to find myself work. The second reason is that I can finally just run on my own schedule instead of on someone else's, at some company that's in LA (where most of the good design jobs are) or somewhere else that would take years off my life just driving to... I basically run on my own schedule now since I've been freelancing mostly. But now that I'm officially done looking for work through another company, I can put more time into mountain biking and just getting outside or to the gym. And I'll have that time because I'll be able to make that time for it, because I won't have to drive to work everyday or stress about having enough time for the people and things that mean the most to me. I know it's going to be a huge challenge, to do everything on my own. But I'm definitely ready to take it on and to break free from having another 9-5 job that would just force me to make sacrifices I don't want to make! So I'm excited and extremely optimistic that I'll make it out to be a successful decision.

Today I decided to celebrate my new situation by starting my work day around noon instead of 7am to go on my first solo mountain bike ride. It was pretty sweet... Well actually, not at first to be honest. At first it sucked- I was all paranoid by the unfamiliar, awkward silence and I totally had my moments of feeling lost and lonely. It really was kinda depressing not having Ryan there! I mean, who else is going to show me where to ride, or laugh at my dumb jokes (or entertain me with his own) or surprise me with caffeinated jelly beans after a good climb? haha I sound like a freakin baby... but what can I say? It's loooooove. :) Anyway I eventually warmed up to the feeling of riding, sans cat-1 fiance, and actually had a LOT of fun riding a mellow version of what the 2 of us typically do at El Moro. I felt strong for once.. I think because I did 2 road rides this week- Monday and Wednesday mornings, the days I also go to pilates for my lunch break. So I think that all got me pumped for this morning. It just felt good and really made me want to stick to some kind of routine for weeks to come. Pilates twice a week + 3 rides... Yeah. That would be good!

This weekend should be a great one with the fourth of July alone, but Ryan and I will be heading out with Beth and James to race on Saturday too at Racers and Chasers, which will be even more fun for the day! Always good times with those 2. This will be my second mtb race and my plan is to do what I did at the first race, but obviously a lot better. :) I had a lot of fun the first time around and that's all I want to do this time again, except I need to be better about coming up to the more technical descents. Instead of going fast on them and then slowing down when I start to loose control, I want to try and gain speed as I go so that I don't loose as much momentum. (Read that pointer from Shonny Vanlandingham in some magazine- so thanks Shonny! We'll see if it pays off... And hey if it doesn't, it's the 4th of July!!! Yay-yeah.