Week Twenty-Five

Mostly, I felt like this week was very hard. It must be because 1)I'm still getting over my cold, and 2) last week was so light.

On Tuesday, I had a blast! Richard suggested hill repeats on the bike path at UCSC. I had no idea this was practically right in my backyard. It is a paved bike path that climbs a little ways through rolling green hills and views of the ocean. The downhill riders are separated from the uphill riders, so that when you are going down, you can totally let it go. It felt like you were about to fly off the bike path and land in the ocean. It really was beautiful. I tried to descend my time for each repeat: the first one I lost track of time, but it was over 8 minutes. By the end, I was climbing it under 6:30!

I wanted to note my Thursday training as well: I decided to do a super loop around my neighborhood, going up every hill I could find. I first went up Western, which climbs 621 feet in about 1.25 miles. Then, I went up Arroyo Seco, which climbs 243 feet in about 0.3 miles. Next... oh boy! Next was Miramar. I've always wanted to climb Miramar, but I've always avoided it. It climbs 243 feet as well, in less than 0.2 miles. It's one of those hills that when you drive up it in your car, you think that there is no way even your car can make it. So, I went to the bottom of Miramar, and just looked up at the monster. I started pedaling. I made sure I was in a super low gear and just kept cranking. About halfway up, I lost steam and had to clip out of the pedals. The hill is way too steep to keep going up after a rest. I decided I needed to try again. I rolled back down to the bottom, and caught my breath while staring up at the top. Take two: I decided that I wasn't going to look up to see how close I was; instead, I was just going to keep pedaling. It was really ridiculously hard. My chest hurt while I gasped for air. My legs were screaming, "Uncle!" But, I made it to the top. It took a good couple of minutes to recover my breath and heart rate from that one! Anyway, after Miramar, I went up Bayona, then Bay, then Laurent. I then went down to the bottom of High Street, rode up High, turned right, and had myself a grand finale of one UCSC bike path hill repeat. Phew! It was hard work, but great exercise!

On Saturday I had a solo ride of 70 miles. In hindsight, I should have ridden with the team (they were going 60), and just did my extra 10 on my own afterwards. (My event comes earlier than the team's so my calendar is different). In the future, I'll try to ride with the team more often. Anyway, for my solo ride, I thought it would be a good idea to.... get more hills in! I rode down highway 1, up Bonny Doon Rd to the Pine Flats loop and back down, up Highway 1, around the Swanton Road Loop, out Highway 1 a little more, and then back the way I came (repeat on the Swanton Road Loop and the Bonny Doon Loop). I climbed about 4200 feet with a very slow average of 11.1 miles an hour. Granted, there were fierce head winds, and lots of 3 mph climbing, and I fell while turning to pick up my dropped water bottle so blood was dripping down my leg for 35 miles of the route, but I still think my pace should have been better.

I talked to Coach Mike about it and he pointed out that I shouldn't always want the kind of ride that is totally filled with hills; that perhaps I should alternate what kind of ride I do so that I get practice at going faster for a longer amount of time. He talked about muscle memory; that I don't want my muscles to only remember one cadence (especially if it's 50 rpm while going uphill!).

Today, we swam about 3,000 yards and then ran 14 miles. I was exhausted during the swim and had to leave the pool to get an energy gel before I could do more. The run was much better, though... I ran an average of 10:48 minute miles, and that was with a 9/1 run/walk combination. I ran with Christina K. who has a Garmin and was able to monitor our pace. Plus, she's just plain fun to run with!

I know that it's the nature of the beast, but when my workouts get hard, I start to question my abilities in completing this event within the time parameters. I know I would finish if given all the time in the world, but I only have 16 hours. It's the bike I'm most concerned about, and I really want to make sure I'm doing everything I can to get as strong and fast as possible. I just have to keep doing what I'm doing and believe that I am in fact getting stronger with every workout I complete. Even if it was a hard one.

THIS WEEK'S SUMMARY
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: Hill Repeats at UCSC, 7 repeats, 75 minutes
Wednesday: track practice - 7 miles covered!
Thursday: Super Duper Hill Loop around the neighborhood, 12.8 miles, about 1:10
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Ride 70 miles, climb 4200 feet (average 11.1 mph - waaah!)
Sunday: Swim 3000 yards, run 14 miles (average 10.48 m/m woo hooo!)

BODY CHECK: Well, my knee and shin are certainly scraped up a bit, but I really don't think I actually hurt my knee. My lower back is still tender at the injection sight, but the muscles around it are fine. General soreness and stiffness all over from working so hard. REALLY tired and under the weather.

NUTRITION: I've been using Perpetuem for my calories and thermalyte for the electrolytes. No nausea this weekend, thank goodness. I only took one thermolyte an hour. I like have my calories, water, and electrolyte separate so that I can monitor what I need individually. I still think I need to break out the gels on the run, however, in addition to the perpetuem. I'm not sure if that should be necessary or not. NOTE: NO GI problems at all with doing what I've been doing.

TOTAL FUNDRAISING TO DATE:
$12,366. I have a meeting with the choir and dance parents to talk about the benefit concert. I'm hoping that we can bring it a lot for LLS!