Running and pedaling...

Here are some pics from my weekend. In my last post I mentioned that I ran my first 5K. It was pretty awesome. Not because of the running part, but because of the cause. There were thousands of people running or walking and the event raised over $200,000!

I joined a few friends/co-workers/stair team, and they did a great job. They've been running for less then two months, and were initially worried that they wouldn't be able to run the whole thing. We decided that we would just wing it and see what happened....

Even spidey was out racing for a cure....
There was no need to worry, as everyone did a great job. They kept running, and running and running...
Straight to the finish line!!!!
I was so proud of everyone that I took a million pictures...while running. I'm shocked that I didn't fall flat on my face.

So yeah, while I'm not a huge fan of running, I do like to do a little bit of it so that I don't completely die during Le Mans starts. Not to mention cross. And I do like stairs!!! But I will never be serious about running, that's for sure. I reached this conclusion the moment I got passed by a ten year old boy and his grandma. They ran past me like I was standing still!

After the race I went back to bed for a million gazillion hours. I was still completely wiped out from taking the red eye back from Vegas...not to mention getting very little sleep while I was out there.

The next day I woke up early again to do a XC race at Pando ski hill. I decided to race on my Selma because I think it's a really great for strength training. Plus, the bike just rocks...

The women's elite class was ultra tough, and I knew I was in for a good and REALLY HARD race. At the start we went straight up the ski hill, and I instantly felt oxygen deprived. I don't ride my SS on a regular basis, so I'm still getting used to having to mash up steep climbs. My right cleat popped out of my pedal at the top of the hill, and I lost contact with the two lead women, Tara and Erin. It was weird chasing after them with only one gear, because at times I felt like I was completely spun out and at other times I felt like I had an rpm of 10. Eventually I was able to catch them, but they did not make it easy.

The course was a blast with some fun singletrack, and a few hard climbs. One climb in the back was particularly tough. I could barely make it over the crest, and had to use my entire body to make it over. Even my arms are tired today. Once I took the lead I refused to look back. Ok, that's a lie. I did look back a few times, but tried to keep it at a minimum :-) For the most part I just hammered as hard as I could to the finish line.

Thanks to Jack Kunnen for the photos!!!

I crossed the line in 1st place with a time of 2 hours exactly. It was a great race with great competition, and I was definitely pushed the entire time. I was in a zone that I rarely go into during endurance races and I liked it a lot. Hopefully I can work a few more XC races for training into my schedule next year.

I still like gears best, but I think I'll try to do a few more XC races this year on my Selma!!!

A first and a 1st!

I'm back and finally recovered from Vegas. It took a few days of constant napping to finally feel normal again.

This weekend was pretty busy too, as I did my first 5k for the Susan G. Komen foundation on Saturday, and then raced the Pando XC race on Sunday. The elite women's class was super tough, and I had to work my butt off to get the win!

Pics to come...but first work. Blech.

Off to Sin City

Heading off to Interbike!

I'll be back on Friday with lots of pictures of bike goodness!!!

It's 3 a.m. I should be.....

I should be doing anything other then what I'm currently doing...

which is blogging and eating chips and salsa. A perfectly normal snack for the middle of the night, right?

Today has been one of those days. The good news is that I got an awesome bike ride in. The bad news is that we were supposed to be driving all day to Wisconsin to race the Chequamegon 40. However, Scott's back is still really sore, so we had to nix the trip. It was a last minute decision not to go, but I think it was a smart one. Driving 13-14 hours each way and then sleeping in a tent can't be good for a herniated disk. I think it would have been brutal!

So, instead of a road trip I ended up going into work until 2 a.m., which explains why I'm wide awake and eating chips and salsa at 3 a.m.

I'm a little disappointed because this was a race that I always wanted to do, but there's always next year. If I'm lucky enough to get in the lottery, that is. The good news is that I'm still going to get a hard workout in on Sunday. It's time for another cross race. I guess I must really like that "bleeding from the eyeballs" feeling because I keep going back for more!

Well, finally getting tired. I'm am 100% sure that I will be sleeping in until noon!

Kisscross double header!

This weekend was fun in a very painful way.

The only un-fun (still not sure if that's a word, but I'm making it one!) part was that Scott's back has flared up again. He's had to deal with herniated disks repeatedly, and seems to be having problems again. It's awful. Back injuries are the worst because they affect everything that you do. His surgeon gave him an emergency pack of medicine to take and I'm hoping it helps quickly.

So while Scott was taking it easy at home with the wonder dog, I woke up early on Saturday to watch my friend Bonnie race in the Reed's Lake triathlon. I can't even imagine having to swim in cold water at 7 a.m., but there were a lot of people doing it!

Blair and I shivering...we were completely frozen by the end!

Bonnie finishing. She was 4th in her age group and 10th overall!
Happy to be done! I know that feeling well :-)
The race was over just in time as it started pouring, and continued to do so all day. Ugh! It was back to bed for me.

My coach had me scheduled to do a group ride so that I could get a hard workout in, and I still managed to do that. The first kisscross race of the season was scheduled that night, so I jumped right in.

I raced at 8 p.m., and most of the rain was over. While I was getting ready for the start Scott asked if I was going to practice going over the barriers. I told him that I would practice during the race. Brilliant, eh???

OMG. I wish I could explain exactly what it felt like to go from racing a 24 hour race two weeks ago to racing cyclocross. Basically I thought I was going to DIE!!! Never once during the 24 hour race did I think I wouldn't be able to finish, but within 5 minutes of cross I started to think that I was going to pass out. All I have to say is thank you lungs for not collapsing on me!!!

I ended up being the first female finisher during the night race, but only because Kim Thomas (who was initially in first) had a mechanical.

Here I am chasing after Kim. She would put so much time on me over the barriers it wasn't even funny. Notice how she's actually running over them and I look like I'm walking? That's basically what was happening. The only thing I had going for me were my socks!!! Not that you can see them in the dark....

After the race I told Scott that I thought there was something wrong with me because I felt awful. He was like, "what do you mean?" When I told him that I wanted to puke he started laughing. Apparently if you don't feel like you are going to puke after a cross race you aren't going hard enough! I definitely got the intensity my coach wanted.

We were at the race venue until 12:30 a.m, but managed to wake up early enough to meet my parents for breakfast. And that's when the fun started. I convinced my parents to do their first race.

I hopped on my Selma, and rode behind my mom for the race, cheering her on. I got really into it and started screaming at her to pass people, and to dig deep! Eventually she told me to shut up!

Here I am trying to keep up with my mom....
Scott brought Naomi to cheer us on. She was her usual energetic self!

My dad was really into going over the barriers. From now on I'm going to call him "Air Frank!"

I hung out with my mom and Jason a bit after the race. My mom was saying that she was never going to do another cyclocross race again, but I don't believe that for a second. Because two hours later she was calling me and telling me what she was going to do differently the next time! Plus, she won beer for getting third place. My dad was very happy about that :-)

I could tell while riding behind my mom that my legs were absolutely dead, but decided to race the B's anyways. My second day of racing was interesting to say the least. I actually raced backwards the entire time. I guess I was the second female finisher, but barely. One more lap and I would have been caught for sure!!!

Feeling the burn.....
I was a mess going over the barriers. I dropped my chain 2-3 times, and it was totally my fault. I kept inadvertently shifting while picking up my bike..

More burn....
There is something addicting about cross. Even though I don't practice for it whatsoever, I have a blast doing it and plan to do as many races as possible. I love it!

Do you know what I really need???? Scott pre-ordered a frame, and I am going to be so freaking jealous when he gets it!!!

Back to my regular schedule of training...and blogging

I can't believe that it's already been a week and a half since the Salsa two-four.

So what have I been doing?

A whole lot of recovering.

It never fails to amaze me how freaking long it takes to recover from a 24 hour race. In my case, it takes almost two full weeks before I start to feel normal again.

I've been riding, but only about two hours a day (if that) and it's been slow moving. So slow in fact that I got dropped by my parents this weekend when I joined them for a ride. In my own defense, my parents are pretty fast. But still....I got dropped by my parents!!!

This weekend my coach has upped the intensity and I think I'm ready for it. I need to do something fast so that I won't go into complete shock at the start of Chequamegon 40. This is a race I've been wanting to do for a long time, and I'm really excited for it. I don't know much about the course, but have been warned repeatedly about some fountain that's in the middle of the course. I would hope that I wouldn't ride right into a fountain, but I think we all know that that's exactly what I would do :-)

Salsa two-four...Part two!

Race Day!!!

We arrived at the race venue about two hours early so that we could finish setting up the pit area. I always get really nervous the morning of the race, and start doing dumb, absentminded things. Like that time a few years ago when I rode my bike over to the bathroom, walked back, and then spent 15 minutes freaking out because I couldn't find my bike. Things like that!

Once my hydrapaks and gels were ready it was time to line up. For the Lemans start we had to run straight up a grassy hill, and I felt pretty good. Thank you stair workouts!!!

I felt really great the first couple of laps, and tried to conserve energy. My coach told me to be really observant of the course, and nail down my lines for riding in the night. I also made sure that I was remaining hydrated. Temps were in the low 90's and the open grassy sections felt like an oven. It was pretty brutal. The sun was beating down on us, heat was radiating back up from the grass/sand, and I felt like I was melting!

Towards the late afternoon my stomach started to shut down. I think it was from a combination of the heat, and too much sugar. I've never had stomach problems before so I went into the race completely overconfident about my nutrition plan and without a back-up plan. We had to do a bit of ad libbing and switched my hydrapak over to water, put coke in my water bottle, and a bagel in my back jersey pocket. That seemed to work and eventually I was able to switch back to gels when the temps cooled off.

I was actually happy once darkness fell because it cooled off. However, my legs were really starting to feel it. Sections that had been easy to clean during the day became not so easy, and towards 2 a.m. I became convinced that the entire course was uphill. I was always excited to get to the last long climb (the Man Handler) because volunteers were camped out at the top cheering us on and playing music. After riding alone in the dark for so long it was nice to see other people!

Throughout the race I would switch between my Mamasita and Dos Niner every couple of laps. By night the course started to get really sandy and choppy in certain sections, so I decided to stay on the Dos for the rest of the race. It was nice having a little extra suspension every time I hit a bump!

Finally daylight started to creep up. The moment I had been waiting for all night! It's always the best feeling to see the sky start to lighten and hear birds start to chirp. And what's better then the arrival of daylight???? BACON!!! No seriously, they were cooking it down in the pits and Scott had it waiting for me along with pancakes. All I have to say is that the bacon sealed the deal. This race moved up to one of my favorite 24 hour races ever :-)

Here I am coming in for my last lap. One would think that I would be thinking how great it was to be done, but really I was wondering if Scott was going to have more bacon and pancakes for me!!! ha ha!

I was able to cross the finish line 1.5 hours early with 21 laps. That was good for 1st place in the female division and 2nd place overall!!! Woo hoo! I had a blast at this race and it was a nice reminder that 24 hour racing is still my favorite type of racing to do. Granted, there were times during the race where I was not loving it, and there were times in the middle of the night where I was seriously wondering what the heck I was doing. But crossing the finish line is indescribable. Not to mention all of the encouragement I got from all the other racers and people in the pits. It was great!

I have to send a huge thanks to my #1 pit crew member...Scott. I could not do it without him. After a while I get so whacked out that he has to keep track of everything. For example, making sure my light batteries are switched out at the right times, making sure I'm getting the right amount of calories, keeping track of competition. Plus, he doesn't get any sleep either.

He was tired but still managed to have a beer (or 2!) after the race!

An example of how organized Scott is....

After the awards we went back to T6 Brent's house for a few hours of sleep. I woke up feeling surprisingly good, so we all went to the Minnesota fair. It was slightly surreal walking around and looking at baby animals and fried foods on a stick, but it was fun.

For some reason Brent and I decided that we wanted to eat fried twinkies on a stick. Bad mistake my friends, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad mistake!!!!

I am such a dork!All in all it was an awesome weekend. I'm not sure what my schedule is going to look like next year, but I would LOVE to go back to this race!!!

Now I'm in full recovery mode. Today I'm finally starting to feel better and think I'm ready to get back on the bike :-)

Salsa two-four race report...Part One!

****It's impossible to sum up a 24 hour race weekend in one report, so this one is going to be divided into two parts! Plus, I'm still in full-on nap mode :-)

Part one...

Scott and I arrived in Minnesota a few hours earlier then planned on Thursday and immediately headed over to the race venue at the Afton Alps ski area. Since my teammate Tim and I were leading a group ride on Friday, I thought it would be a good idea to pre-ride the course and see what I was in for.

Many, many people had warned me that doing a 24 hour on this course wouldn't be easy, but I was still surprised by how challenging it was. I should point out that no course is easy to race on for 24 hours because eventually something is going to start to hurt. In the case of Afton, I could tell that several parts of the course were going to hurt really fast, since I was in my granny gear during the first lap!

The course basically ran up and down a ski hill and was a mixture of short but steep climbs, longer gradual climbs, grassy doubletrack, and sandy singletrack. You basically had to be ON the entire time.

It was getting dark and lots of deer were out and about....

This was my favorite little downhill. I have a new appreciation for rocks now that I'm on a 29'er!

This climb was called the Man Handler. We climbed from way down there...

to way up there....

After our pre-ride Scott and I headed over to my sponsor T6 Brent's house for pizza and sleep.

The next day we got a tour of QBP, which was freaking awesome. There were so many different parts of the company, and I was way, Way, WAAAAAY overstimulated. It took a huge effort to not jump on a bike and start riding around or trying on gear. Of course, my favorite part was the Salsa division. And no, I'm not biased at all!!!!

Even the bike racks are cool....

After our tour we gathered up last minute race provisions and headed back to the race venue. It's crazy how fast time flies when you are preparing for a 24 hour! My second pre-ride went much better then the first, and I started to become really excited about the next day

Hanging out with my teammate Tim...

Lucky hydrapak winners....

After our clinic we headed back to Brent's for dinner and sleep. I tried not to think about the fact that it would be my last time sleeping in a bed (or sleeping at all) until Sunday!

To be continued....