Friday, February 25, 2011

My New Bike (and Bike FIT)

Being 4'10" has many challenges, but none so frustrating as of late as trying to find a bike that fits. My first bike (which I still have and use) was a mountain bike. It fits because it's a children's frame.

Then I got serious about triathlons. Unfortunately, they don't MAKE serious road or tri bikes in kid's sizes, so I settled on a 43 cm. Trek 2.1. She worked great as a road bike, but once I added aerobars I ran into nothing but trouble. And back pain. Great back pain that caused me to ride half the Vermont Half with one hand on the horn and the other on my lower back.

So with no end to my tri infatuation in sight, I started looking at Gurus last year. They made (at the time) a custom aluminum bike for around $3000. Unfortunately, they stopped making the aluminums and now only make carbon frames, which is WAY out of my price range.

Luckily, Brian at High Peaks Cyclery NEVER gave up and found me a potential bike. I came in, got on her, and it looked like she would not only work, but be a vast improvement.

So without further ado, everyone, meet Roo.



And for fun, here's a quick little picture I made to compare the fit on my old road bike to the fit on my new tri bike. Needless to say, I'm much more comfortable.



(Sorry for the blurriness - it was a quick phone pic.)

She should be ready to come home tomorrow. I can't wait!

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

"Recovery" Week

Well, it has arrived: My first recovery week. I thought it would free up time to catch up on work and household stuff before I dive in for another three weeks (including the annual canoe camping trip with Dr. Z.), but as it turns out, I'm busy as ever with tri stuff:

Monday: Short swim - only 1200 yards, but any time saved was more than lost with my rest week chiropractor visit. (As it turns out, my upper back was screwed up and I really needed it.)

Tuesday: Short bike, but once again, any time saved was taken up by stopping at the tri shop to see about my new bike.

Wednesday: Regular distance run, so no time saved at all.

Thursday: VERY short swim. This will be the one day I save time.

Friday: My first full DAY OFF since training started. Time saved? HA! I have my bike fitting in the morning (Probably a couple hours), followed by a one hour sports massage in the afternoon.

Saturday: Shortened bike ride, but there's an extra Karate class. Not tri stuff, but still - BUSY.

Sunday: Short run. Okay, I'll save time here. Unless the new bike is ready, then I'll be busy fussing with her and getting her on the trianer.

So, yay for rest weeks? I guess? LOL!

Friday, February 11, 2011

Killer Swim Set

Yesterday was the first (and only in these first two weeks) tough, non-Zone 2 session I had. I had been dreading it ever since receiving my schedule from Coach Karen. (Actually, it felt good to actually bust it out a bit. Zone 2 is essential for early-season HIM/IM, I know it, but it still gets BOOOOOORING for this former miler/5Ker/go-balls-to-the-wall-all-the-time girl.)

So it was 50's, but on less rest than I had ever done hard 50s on. The first two came in at 1:05, not bad for being sore from shoveling and not having anyone pulling me along. (I have trouble going fast in the water without a rabbit in the next lane.) Unfortunately, the times went quickly downhill from there.

I took my pulse using the lap clock right after finishing (before going into my cooldown) and my heartrate was about 180. WOW! Any other discipline, Coach Karen would have my head. Because it was swimming, she was doing the online equivalent of cackling evilly:

Wednesday, February 09, 2011

YAWN!

Don't know if it's the craziness at work, adapting to being in training again, or the weather which just keeps dumping more and more snow which needs to be shoveled, but I am POOPED!

Luckily,

1.) My workouts have all gone really well except for Monday's swim, which was affected by spending all weekend shoveling out from the Snowpocalypse. So far my coach's biggest value has been as someone I'm accountable to. It has really helped me to get in the workouts knowing she's looking over my shoulder.

2.) My team won the Superbowl. GO PACK!

So I'm too tired to write up a REAL post. In the meantime, here's a totally random commercial that cracks me up EVERY. TIME. I lose it when he says, "Bang."

Thursday, February 03, 2011

100 in 2:11! Woohoo!

I know, I know...I haven't posted since Monday. Between still catching up on work after being gone for a week and instituting Coach Karen's Plan of Pain, I've been busy.

(I kid, I kid. She really is easing my out-of-shape ass into the swing of things.)

Anyhoodle...

Tuesday - First official session on the trainer. Nothing hard, just Z2 right now, but BOY do I need to harden my ass back up. Even with bicycling (as opposed to tr) shorts I was squirming around. The lady-parts were NOT happy. (And nobody likes unhappy ladyparts.)

Wednesday - Hit the roads. That's right, a light jog in SNOWPOCALYPSE. Who am i kidding? I freakin' LOVE running in the snow! Will be buying YakTrax however - all that sliding around got me out of Z2 even at a ridiculously easy (i.e. Turtles were passing me) pace.

Today - SWIMMY SWIM SWIM! After I warmed up, I hit my first 100 in an insane 2:11! Crazy! Unfortunately, I paid for that (and the FIVE TIMES I shoveled during SNOWPOCALYPSE) and my times went steeply downhill from there. Still, not a bad workout at all considering.

Tomorrow is another run - it's been sunny and low 20s all day and supposed to be more of the same for tomorrow, so the streets should be much clearer. Hooray for radiant melting!