May 30, 2011

What Doesn't Kill You...

Wow, it's been a long time friends and all I can say is it's been a blur. This has been the busiest spring ever and summer doesn't look to be much better. There have been ups and downs, good and bad, and rather than try to fill in all the blanks, I thought I'd share some highlights and start with a clean slate. Here we go...

Week of May 9

Right after my last post, I left for a business trip in Chicago followed by a weekend in Wisconsin. The departure was stressful - my cat Otis got sick again Sunday night and Monday was spent scrambling to the vet and back and barely making my flight. All was well with the kitty and I made it to the Windy City unscathed where I ran every day along the lakefront to keep my training levels up and enjoy one of my favorite cities.

"The bean" in Millennium Park

I also got to go to a Cubs game, but not in the actual park. Instead we went to the Brixen Ivy Rooftops, one of the many buildings around the park that make up the Wrigley Rooftops. It was a really fun experience.


Next up was Madison, home of the Ironman, my family, many friends and lots of good eating and drinking. I managed to fit in all during a long weekend. I was in town for a friend's wedding and decided to rent a bike for a little IMMOO course preview and grab some quality time with the family as well. It was an incredibly fun weekend even if our course ride was in 30mph headwind with 50mph gusts and a wee bit of a hangover.

Out of wine... probably a good thing

Week of May 16

Busy. Just busy. I blame work. I felt drained every day and put in long hours that made training difficult. I slogged through and only missed one workout, but I felt like I'd been put through the ringer. So of course while overwhelmed and exhausted, I decided to add another trip and challenge to my schedule - Horribly Hilly Hundreds! I bought a transfer and am doing it on a rental bike. I'm such a badass. We'll see if I tip over, implode or just pass out.

The weekend rolled around and I was out for a beautiful ride on Saturday with friends. Forty-five miles into the ride and 28 miles from the George Washington Bridge my shifter snapped off my bike. Yep, snapped right off... while I was in the hardest possible gear. It took six people, a tiny screwdriver and a little MacGyvering to get me back on the road in a rideable gear, but I only had that one gear. Twenty-eight hilly miles on a Cervelo fixie is an interesting experience to say the least. But the tragedy was my bike being out of commission and my other bike sitting covered in dust with a flat tire.

I dropped off the dead bike, got the tri bike fixed and waited. They wanted to see if SRAM would cover it under warranty, no one had ever seen a mechanical failure quite like it. Lucky me. My tri bike had to be dropped off by noon Wednesday for shipping to Alcatraz so I rode it every possible moment I could in case I'd be bikeless for a week or more. I logged over 100 miles in just three days and with the broken bike ride I had six consecutive days in the saddle:

Friday - 15.33 miles
Saturday - 72.29 miles
Sunday - 20.39 miles
Monday - 24.06 miles
Tuesday - 23.86 miles
Wednesday - 52.8 miles

That's what I call time in the saddle. I loved it.

Week of May 23

I did the biking above, shipped my bike for Alcatraz and hosted a wine tasting benefit to raise money for Team Cindy. I'm about $150 shy of goal now and really proud of what I've accomplished. On Wednesday I booked a rock climbing day trip figuring if I didn't have a bike, I might as well try a new challenge. There will be a second post all about that because it was too incredible to squeeze into this paragraph, but it's fair to say it was one of the coolest (and scariest) things I've ever done. I am hurting all over in muscles I didn't even know I had.

My first climbing attempt, Shawangunk Ridge in New Paltz

Rapelling - so much easier than climbing!

My bike was fixed as of Friday night and SRAM covered all under warranty. Things were looking up. Then I woke up this morning to a thunderstorm, went back to bed and decided to just ride in Prospect Park. I had 80 miles on tap and figured I'd get in 40 if I was lucky. I was having an ok ride until Mile 28 when some jerk ran me off the road. First crash of the season and my ride cut abruptly short. I'm now icing my legs and slathering Arnica all over my aching body. This isn't exactly how I envisioned I'd be just six days from my first race of the season. It will be interesting to see how I feel on Sunday.

Road rash and street dirt. Good times.

And finally...

I'm traveling what feels like nonstop in June so my bike mileage will suffer and I'm likely to be pretty run down. I'm going to do my best to stay healthy, consistent and keep a positive attitude. I'll be in San Francisco for Escape from Alcatraz in one week, Wisconsin for Horribly Hilly Hundreds in a few weeks, and Athens, Greece at the end of the month for work. After that I'm off to the Cape for a much-needed vacation with my family. Summer has arrived.

7 comments:

  1. Busy, busy, busy. I don't know how you fit it all in!

    Glad that you bike was covered by warranty and the you survived the crash more or less unscathed.

    I just found out my uncle-in-law is racing Alcatraz too. It is on my "to do" list for the future.

    Good luck at HHH! Which level of suffering did you pick this year?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Busy gal - I've missed you!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Kevin already posted my comment.

    How do you like this heat? I'm not ready for it!!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wow - sounds like a crazy couple of weeks. Glad the kitty is alright. Amazing bike numbers - especially on a fixie. And I'm glad that the crash wasn't more serious!

    ReplyDelete
  5. wow, you've been busy! you make my "busy" weeks look pretty lame : ) great job on the bike miles, especially with everything you've got going on. hope the bike is fixed up soon, too. looking forward to hearing how alcatraz goes!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wow! Busy girl. Glad you weren't seriously hurt on your bike...grr. I had the same thing happen a few weeks ago and it was quite the ordeal.

    Good luck at the upcoming race!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wow! That was quite a month! I am just starting to train for my first triathlon! I don't know how to swim so I need to work out that angle, and all I have is a used mountain bike that someone gave me, but I'm going to go for it with everything I've got. Can't wait to ready more of your adventures. My life isn't nearly as excited but if you're interested I just started a blog as well. It's pretty much about life but will include tales about my triathlon training and first full marathon.

    ReplyDelete

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...