Dread. That's the best word to describe how I was feeling about exercise in general today. It was the last thing I wanted to do. Sure, it was sunny outside, but the wind was howling like you wouldn't believe. It kept people up at night last night, it was so bad. It was a great excuse, and I didn't even need to make it up!!
But given the choice of going in the (unfinished) basement and slugging away at an exercise tape, or the treadmill, or on my trainer..........the wind couldn't be all that bad, right?
So I bundled up, and reasoned to myself that it could be crazy windy on ride day, so I'd better train in it just in case.
As is almost always the case, it wasn't bad once I was out there. I was dressed warm enough, and that made all the difference.
I did hill training. Basically just circuits of hills over and over again. I only did 18 miles (30KM) of riding, but half of it was climbing. And to make it more of a challenge, I did it all in my big chain ring.
And once I was done, I was soooooo glad I went. :-)
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Being humbled
How many times am I going to do the old 'size up the other riders at the start of the ride' thing? You know the one.......you arrive and don't know anyone.....so you look around to determine if it'll be a good group to ride with. Will you be able to keep up? Will *they* be able to keep up? Will you be bored? Will you be the slowest? The fastest? All that, just by checking out their body types and/or ages.
WRONG!!!
Got my ass kicked at the start of a group ride today by an older lady that I figured would be my saving grace. I was only going out with her and two other men I'd never met-who both looked to be strong (and hey-I was right about those guys at least). I *thought* I'd be fine.....reasoning that at the very least I wouldn't be the slowest. Wrong.
Seriously, within 4 minutes of leaving the departure point, I was dropped. Thankfully, one of the guys took pity on me and slowed down to pull me (ride out front to break the wind and make it easier on me). Humbling.
Luckily, it was just that I needed more of a warm up before starting. A race horse out of the gate, I am not. So with time (and a gradual incline out of my way), I hung in there just fine.
The woman in question turned around after about 9 miles so that she could get a total of an 18 mile ride in. The boys and I pressed on, and they took no mercy on me (but I LIKE that!). I want to be pushed to my max. I want to have that questionable feeling as to whether I'll be able to keep it up for the ride. It only works though if you aren't maxed out the whole way. Thankfully, we were doing some rollers and I had relief on the slight downs. For the longest time we were FLYING (my idea of flying anyway) at 24 miles an hour. I really didn't know what that meant when I was doing it, other than it took everything I had not to get dropped! When I got home I looked up the conversion. Ai ya yai!!! We were cruising at over 38 kilometers and hour. *THAT*, I understand! Wow.
All in all, we did about 38 miles (61kms). Although technically I should have been in the saddle for about 80kms on this week's long ride.....I'll take it. My legs were DONE at the end of the ride. I went to stand up for a climb and had nothing left to give. Thankfully, we were within 1 mile of the finish by then.
Just have to keep this up, and it'll get better and better each time.
The last week had me doing two 75 minute spin classes on the trainer, a day snowboarding, an hour of Kenpo and a 1/2 hour run. It's a start! Trust me, with the beautiful weather we've been having, exercising isn't the top of the priority list!
(P.S. I can't remember the last time I rode my bike in the rain or wet ground. Probably in October of 2011? I *really* hope it doesn't rain on Ride2Survive day, or I'll be in big trouble! It just doesn't rain here to get any practice (I know, I know....tough problem to have!). And on the rare occasion it does rain, you don't need to go out in it-because guaranteed the next day will be dry. These guys don't even own fenders! Don't worry, we still have ours from Vancouver, and will bring them with us *just* in case).
WRONG!!!
Got my ass kicked at the start of a group ride today by an older lady that I figured would be my saving grace. I was only going out with her and two other men I'd never met-who both looked to be strong (and hey-I was right about those guys at least). I *thought* I'd be fine.....reasoning that at the very least I wouldn't be the slowest. Wrong.
Seriously, within 4 minutes of leaving the departure point, I was dropped. Thankfully, one of the guys took pity on me and slowed down to pull me (ride out front to break the wind and make it easier on me). Humbling.
Luckily, it was just that I needed more of a warm up before starting. A race horse out of the gate, I am not. So with time (and a gradual incline out of my way), I hung in there just fine.
The woman in question turned around after about 9 miles so that she could get a total of an 18 mile ride in. The boys and I pressed on, and they took no mercy on me (but I LIKE that!). I want to be pushed to my max. I want to have that questionable feeling as to whether I'll be able to keep it up for the ride. It only works though if you aren't maxed out the whole way. Thankfully, we were doing some rollers and I had relief on the slight downs. For the longest time we were FLYING (my idea of flying anyway) at 24 miles an hour. I really didn't know what that meant when I was doing it, other than it took everything I had not to get dropped! When I got home I looked up the conversion. Ai ya yai!!! We were cruising at over 38 kilometers and hour. *THAT*, I understand! Wow.
All in all, we did about 38 miles (61kms). Although technically I should have been in the saddle for about 80kms on this week's long ride.....I'll take it. My legs were DONE at the end of the ride. I went to stand up for a climb and had nothing left to give. Thankfully, we were within 1 mile of the finish by then.
Just have to keep this up, and it'll get better and better each time.
The last week had me doing two 75 minute spin classes on the trainer, a day snowboarding, an hour of Kenpo and a 1/2 hour run. It's a start! Trust me, with the beautiful weather we've been having, exercising isn't the top of the priority list!
(P.S. I can't remember the last time I rode my bike in the rain or wet ground. Probably in October of 2011? I *really* hope it doesn't rain on Ride2Survive day, or I'll be in big trouble! It just doesn't rain here to get any practice (I know, I know....tough problem to have!). And on the rare occasion it does rain, you don't need to go out in it-because guaranteed the next day will be dry. These guys don't even own fenders! Don't worry, we still have ours from Vancouver, and will bring them with us *just* in case).
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Weather woes
When we moved to Colorado last March, we were unaware of what weather we would encounter. To our complete amazement (and bliss) we arrived to find the most incredible, sunny, warm days that carried us right from spring, into summer. Not one of them. EVERY day. People kept telling us it was about 10F above normal, but it was all we knew. And frankly, even if it was 10F cooler, it would have STILL been nice. Outside lounging in the backyard with short sleeves enjoying a glass of wine kind of nice. In March. Crazy.
Payback has arrived. This March has been anything but. We've had some nice days with no coats and beautiful weather (sunshine is a given here, that we've learned after a year of almost every single day being sunny), but we've also had a LOT of snow. Dry and warm one day, and over a foot the next day type thing. And wouldn't you know it, it always seems to be on the weekends. AKA: The times we want to be outside on our bikes.
This is worrisome, and must stop. We are hosting a training camp weekend in April for a few R2S riders, and we need good weather! Can you imagine if they fly all the way down here and we get snow? ACK!
My distain for my trainer is growing. I struggle to stay on it for the 75 minute training DVD that we own. It bores me to tears (even though it does offer me an excellent sweatfest).
What we really need is some decent days to do several hours on the bike. We should be increasing our mileage at this point, and we just haven't been able to. Why is it that I can ride for 5 hours outside and love every minute of it, but hate the trainer after 20 minutes?
So here's hoping for better days ahead (which thankfully, the forecast is calling for......65 this week. AWESOME!).
We're training, but not enough. And I found out about another few friends in the last few weeks that have been closely and tragically affected by cancer. It pisses me off so much, and makes me deeply sad for them. I know what it feels like, and I don't want anyone else to know that feeling.
We have to get our donation page up and running too. Just over 3 months to go until ride day. We'll be driving up to B.C. this year in the days before the ride. It'll be 2 loooooong days if we can do it that way again (as opposed to 3 days). On the way down it was about 11 or 12 hours on the first day, and 14 the second. Good thing we're supposed to be off the bike that week to rest our legs. I'm not sure they had a 24 hour car ride in mind though....... :-}
Payback has arrived. This March has been anything but. We've had some nice days with no coats and beautiful weather (sunshine is a given here, that we've learned after a year of almost every single day being sunny), but we've also had a LOT of snow. Dry and warm one day, and over a foot the next day type thing. And wouldn't you know it, it always seems to be on the weekends. AKA: The times we want to be outside on our bikes.
This is worrisome, and must stop. We are hosting a training camp weekend in April for a few R2S riders, and we need good weather! Can you imagine if they fly all the way down here and we get snow? ACK!
My distain for my trainer is growing. I struggle to stay on it for the 75 minute training DVD that we own. It bores me to tears (even though it does offer me an excellent sweatfest).
What we really need is some decent days to do several hours on the bike. We should be increasing our mileage at this point, and we just haven't been able to. Why is it that I can ride for 5 hours outside and love every minute of it, but hate the trainer after 20 minutes?
So here's hoping for better days ahead (which thankfully, the forecast is calling for......65 this week. AWESOME!).
We're training, but not enough. And I found out about another few friends in the last few weeks that have been closely and tragically affected by cancer. It pisses me off so much, and makes me deeply sad for them. I know what it feels like, and I don't want anyone else to know that feeling.
We have to get our donation page up and running too. Just over 3 months to go until ride day. We'll be driving up to B.C. this year in the days before the ride. It'll be 2 loooooong days if we can do it that way again (as opposed to 3 days). On the way down it was about 11 or 12 hours on the first day, and 14 the second. Good thing we're supposed to be off the bike that week to rest our legs. I'm not sure they had a 24 hour car ride in mind though....... :-}
Friday, March 8, 2013
Combining my two passions
I love to make cappuccino drinks and play around with the designs.
This one seems appropriate as my message to cancer (I'll keep working on it. I made it for a friend this morning for a different reason, it was my first attempt. It can only get better)
This one seems appropriate as my message to cancer (I'll keep working on it. I made it for a friend this morning for a different reason, it was my first attempt. It can only get better)
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