New bike? The saga never ends also Tri en France: last day of practice

In recent history, I've been having some serious troubles with my bike (sheila, the pink one, in the states) one of which includes, you know, getting hit by a car. Oops.

Anyway, given the Christmas season I've been thinking about buying myself a new bike. Thus the posts this summer about bikes. However, as most plans go, this girl is not going to have enough money to buy the bike she wanted (doesn't that always happen) so I was depressed and then the bonktown gods heard my tears and said "Andrea, it's going to be okay. We're going to post a $1500 bike for less than half price."

Now I'm sitting here, comparing the geometry of my bike to this beautiful bike... deciding whether or not the bonktown gods are presenting me with the best possible choice.

In other news, it was my last day of practice in France. I wasn't finished with the workout when everyone started congregating around our coach (as usual) and I ran up and said "I'm not done!" to which my coach respond "How many have you done? 5 reps? You have still earned a small piece of chocolate anyway..." to which we all cracked up laughing... and then he whipped out a box of chocolates and handed them out. I am going to miss that man. Hervé Delaunay was a positive influence on my tri experience.

Tri en France: French for "mud" is "la boue"

Raacce day.
When I arrived, about an hour before my race (I learned from my mistakes when I arrived too early last time) the whole race site was covered by a haze of fog. How foreboding!

Oooo scary, right? It was also cold.

 The men's race took off before us at 9:45, and I quickly recognized two of the guys from the tri team who were running the course. I considered watching them start, but decided to go warm up around the track. I did some strides and drills and a little easy jogging, and then went to watch the men loop around the muddy course in the trees. Albain (who is the fastest guy on the team) was hanging in the pack with the top 4 guys and they were way far away from anyone else. The other (who looks like a baby-Pre... before facial hair) was hanging out in the middle of the pack. I think he can do better and was having a bad day :/

About 20 minutes before the women's start, Albain won the race! The 2nd and 3rd guy were a decent distance behind him, and the 4th guy in the pack apparently couldn't keep it up and ended up coming in 4th, quite a bit behind the top 3. I was impressed and excited to know the kid who won... but then it was time for my race.

I started jogging a bit in the start area, realizing that there was mud uh EVERYWHERE. Great. Cross country races. Right. I've never really felt a desire for spikes until today and then I thought "Hmm, I wish I had spikes or... any experience wearing them." I looked around and quickly realized I was not going to come anywhere near winning this one. (A) I wasn't being ranked by my age group, but only among the ranks of these 70 women on the course (B) these women were infinitely more athletic than the women at the other race... although still not all that legitimate. :P Some of them were fake-boxing with each other before the race. I mean... whatever gets you pumped right? One woman changed into her spikes and her legs were so intense she looked like she could pick me up with one of them and throw me to the finish line.

The race then immediately became about time. My goal was to come in at 18:30 and to stay focused. Then this French guy shot a gun and we went trampling through the mud. Lots of women took it out WAAAY to hard. I spent the whole race passing people. Some women walked... in a 3.465 km race. I understand fitness goals, but a 3.465km race? Whatever.

We wound through trees, uphills, through LOTS of mud, grass, and dead leaves. The men all watching as we suffered through what they just had. All I could hear was "Allez, filles!" and I just kept passing. I only looked at my watch twice. Once to see I was disappointingly climbing a hill at 9:21, and one happily to see I was pushing a flat a 7:50.

In the second loop, I knew the end was near, but my abs were crying. I kicked myself for biking 6 miles to a race. I wondered if I had warmed up too much... or not enough, or if I took the first loop too hard, but whatever it was, I was paying for it. I pushed through anyway, passing another woman in purple. Her shirt said "Nelly" and she was always exhausted. Ohhhh Nelly. We came down the finishing hill, and she ripped right by me with her friend, stealing two places. Wish I was better at short distances... ah well.

winding and rolling through the trees - don't worry, this time it WASN'T during the race

I ended up coming in at 18:58, which wasn't quite what I'd hoped, but it wasn't too terrible either. 8:48 pace is not all that beautiful though when you know you can do better. I crack it up to the mud and it being my first trail race. Still, it was tons of fun and a really cool experience. I definitely would want to try that again. Definitely not easy, but also it was over SO FAST! And it was free, so there's that.
I asked a woman to take my picture at the finish and after some questions about where I was from and if I actually did the race, she did.

Notice how I'm not nearly as dead as I was at the end of the last race.

mmm muddy

But honestly, the best part was the races for the little kids. I couldn't handle the cuteness. I considered crying, just saying.

LOOK AT THESE MUNCHKINS!

I biked home, but on the way, stopped at the entering Nantes sign! Important! NU triathlon has been to FRANCE!

Rocco says "Hi."

Deal is first team member to get here gets dinner on me at a nice restaurant in Nantes!

Tri en France: Nobody no nobody is gonna RAIN ON MY BIKE RIDE

Today was one of THOSE days. I skipped my workout yesterday to be normal and walk around with friends... and then the Gods of triathlon looked down on me and laughed. In all their power, they called my phone at 4 am this morning, which woke me up until 6. Then they made sure it was cold, windy, and pouring rain all morning...
Well, Gods of triathlon, nice TRI.

Against my better judgement I took my biking and running stuff down to the basement around 10 am this morning, and suited up. I left my sneakers in a pile with my bike lock, turned my lights on, and left the apartment building "oh puhlease, this isn't that bad." I probably shouldn't have thought that.


My ride was relatively horrifying. The rain got harder and I made a wrong turn that took me onto a highway that I really didn't want to be on in this weather. By some miracle, after a 10 min detour I found my way back to my route and went the correct way this time. I turned around at my usual round about. I'm not TOO scared of this one, but I am generally scared of round-abouts and corners. As I took this corner nice and tight... on wet roads, in the rain, the first car decided to blow the yield sign and sneak in ahead of me. Thanks dude. Then as approaching MY exit, this other car decided to take the round about at warp speed and almost cut me off. I literally saw my life flash before my eyes before he hit the brakes. Seriously dude? I'm exiting. CHILL OUT.


Needless to say, at this point I had already taken my glasses off because they were like a windshield with no wipers, but as soon as I exited that round about, I kind of wish I left them on. The wind was SO bad that I felt like my jacket was a parachute and I may have flown backwards into the air with my bike. Then on a downhill where I normally gear out going 26 mph, I was pushing to keep 17 mph.


Not having bricked in a while, I forgot how difficult it is to settle into a run after a bike. All though one good thing did come of it - I found a quicker path to the university (you know, 2 weeks before I leave).


But ultimately, I came home victorious, 75 minutes of workout later, covered in mud.
TAKE THAT STORMY DAY.

... I cannot say as much for my cleats, socks, and sneakers which are all cuddling by my radiator.

I swear this doesn't even do it justice

Tri en France: Swimming in a pool of doggy-paddlers

I haven't posted in SO long and I didn't realize QUITE how neglectful I was being. Oops.

The news of the month is that I started swimming again. In fact, I've gone TWICE this week! I know, who am I?

Here's the thing. Good things about swimming in France: 50m lanes which means (a) I'm doing more than I realize because it's METERS not YARDS and (b) 50m lengths so fewer walls. GREAT. Bad things about swimming in France:

The pool is not 25m wide, so that blows. Which means it's always set up long ways. Ok that's fine but means fewer lanes... always. Then it's divided very oddly with 3 empty lanes of swim space, a backstroke lane, a fast lane, and a lane where you can use odd equipment like... fins. Also, the "fast lane" and the "equipment lane" are frequently closed for school swim practice so now we're odwn to the free-for-all and the back stroke lane. Crap. About 18-25 people try to cram in this big lane at any given point in time, which may actually work if they all staggered their push-offs nicely but no. I would estimate that only 15% of them are doing any real sort of work out which additionally seem to conveniently consist largely of breaststroke repeats. AWESOME. Upon further inspection, I realized what I thought was breaststroke (because I saw heads bobbing in/out of the water) is frequently just a more elegant form of doggy-paddling. This "stroke" is favored by French women. SURPRISE. Apparently they swim like the run.

On Thursday, a pair of women - both in beach bikinis, decided their workout would consist of doggy-paddling a 50m every so often and then chilling on the wall to chat. One even had a waterproof MP3 player to help her get through her grueling occasional 50m drill. Then they managed to hang out on the wall exactly where I needed to push off for about 300m of my workout. Seriously? MERCI. VOUS ETES TROP GENTILLES. Needless to say, after pushing off, I frequently managed to surface a bit sooner than usual and give a nice dolphin kick in their general direction in hopes of splashing them as much as humanly possible.

On Monday I was blessed enough to get kicked in the face by one of the real breaststrokers. I forgive him - it's not his fault that these crazy French people set up their pools in the WORST WAY HUMANLY POSSIBLE. Also, in his defense, I think he stopped after realizing he walloped me with his foot. Being mildly accustomed to group-starts and being free-style karate chopped in murky lake water, I continued. I wasn't too perturbed until I felt it start stinging. Then when I got out of the water and realized "Wow, this actually really hurts. Wait..." and that I had a legitimate cut on my face I was truly agacé'd with this system.

wounded. lol

Ah well. At least I'm swimming and conveniently enough, once I got back in the water I loosened up a lot and my pace dropped significantly. I'm down to running a cool 9:15 pace mid-distance run (which for me is 4-6 miles) so that's super exciting. Looks like swimming really does help!

Morals:
French women don't too well swim either.
Swimming may truly help running.
Getting kicked in the face is not that fun, but a necessary evil.

Also - plug for triathlete lit. Brad got an email from this triathlete who is trying to market his new book, Sex, Lies and Triathlon. I started reading it and was thoroughly amused. I'm sure a review will follow once I finish it.

Tri en France: Winning?

This French guy friended me on facebook to tell me I won the race for my age group. OK. lol

Out of a total of 3 of us. Proof that French women don't run.

Tri en France: Stairmaster wanted

Today was race day and I was, as usual, nervous as hell.
At first I proceeded into the building for bib pick-up. Found myself on the list and standing out next to my name it said (USA). Great. Whatever.
Then I was incredibly amused by French etiquette. The men's toilets were porto-potties. The women's toilets were in the building, one-person bathrooms. BAHAHAHA That's right. Sucks to be a guy.

Then I panicked about two things the French don't really have under control: bib pins and a place to drop your stuff. First, I mustered up my courage to ask 3 people about bib pins in French. Then a women saw me standing around looking... alone, so she decided to interview me, in French, about why I was doing the race and how often I run. After that, I reluctantly hid my new rainproof/windbreaker/running jacket next to the stairs in the building and hoped no one would steal it. There simply was no way I was going to race with it, but I also didn't want to leave my electronics sitting behind in it (both good decisions).

The race started an I was 95% sure I REALLY had to pee, but I sucked it up. The first 2 miles were pretty uncomfortable due to that. It started like a normal race. The roads were kind of congested and a little too small for people. We twice ran into paths that they blocked off that we simply too small for us to run through, so we had to walk. It was a two-loop course, and I wasn't looking forward to experiencing that four times.

Around the 4k point, the course turned into a park, which included a run up-hill through muddy grass and navigating some paths over rocks/tree-roots that required a little hiking skill. My quads did not thank the people who planned the course for throwing this my way just after I'd walked in a huge pack of smelly French people. Speaking of smelly French people, if you think French guys smell bad already, you should not run races with them - learned that the hard way. BLEH. Anyway, I hated the leg through the park and thought, "well, how much worse can it get?" I thought too soon.

A lot of the course was already proving to be mostly uphill and I was excited to find that that was ACTUALLY to my advantage. I was passing people uphill! Then came the first set of stairs. Then the second. Then more uphill. Then the third, which led you immediately to the fourth - the pièce de resistance with spectators lining the other side and then FINALLY about 100m after - the 5th. I prayed I would not encounter these on the second loop, but I did. 10 sets of ascending stairs and 4 sets of descending stairs (which allow them to add the additional 6 sets of ascending stairs). Between that, the park, and the tiny trails that were too small to fit the group, I knew a PR wasn't happening today.

These are the epic stairs - on my second lap

My second lap was just about conquering it. Finishing the race strong....enough. It was rough and I knew I just needed to have fun and treat it like a hard workout and not worry about pace. So I took some pictures of the stairs - to commemorate the experience.

Then I asked someone to take this gross photo.

What I'm really thinking: Thank God it's over!

That was definitely one of the hardest races, workouts, PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES I've ever done! Now back to tri.

Tri en France: 2 degrees of separation

Remember that time my coach was the coach of the Sables Vendée Triathlon elite team? Remember that team Brad Kahlefeldt was on that team and was 3rd in the world? Also has the two junior champions of France?

You know. No big deal.
Hervé Delaunay. Look it up.

http://www.les-sables-vendee-triathlon.fr/

He must find me trivial.
"Who is this weird American girl who thinks she can be a triathlete?"

Tri en France: the American proves that she is not a complete imbecile

I'm a little sick. This whole weekend I had a sore throat and then woke up yesterday with a pretty bad cough (but thankfully no sore throat). I was feeling pretty crappy today, and it was cold and rainy but SOMEHOW I motivated myself to go to tri practice.

I ran there in the rain/cold. It really wasn't all that bad especially compared to what I have to deal with in Chicago, but it kind of sucks to be sick and wet and cold. I got there 10 minutes before practice is supposed to start and as I suspected - the French are fair weather athletes. We've had nearly 30 people at practice before... today we had MAYBE 10. The track team, which usually has upwards of 60, had about 20.


Based on our performances on the test last week, our coach figured out our paces and had specific charts for each of us. The workout, as I understood it, was 1000m followed by 5x200m. My coach told me to take the 1000m at 6:40 or better and my 200s between 1-1:03... so I ran the 1000m in 5:04. Whoops. So then my coach was like "WHOA TOO FAST!" and I tried to explain to him that I didn't understand the test last week and that my stats were inaccurate. To which he responded by telling me to try my 200s between 49-52 sec. Yeah, that didn't happen. I couldn't break 53, but by the end I was so glad it was over. Or at least I thought it was over until he said "ok, 3 minute break then do it again."

That second 1000m wasn't too awful, but was 16 sec slower. Then I took all my 200s at 57 sec. I didn't think I could finish all of them, but the coach was there... waiting for me to finish. It was rough and one of the hardest workouts I've EVER done, but thankfully it also resulted in a change in my test results. Now my workouts will be based around a max of 12.5 km/h (7:43 min/mile). Apparently I'm a LOT better at 1000s than 200s - which is not surprising. I literally have no ability for sprinting and no experience in short distance.

Then I ran home and looked at my garmin. I did a total of 2.9 miles at an average of 8 min pace! EEEEK And the run itself was just under 7.4 miles - longest in France yet.

Je suis crevé. I'm gonna go collapse now.

Tri en France: Lost in Translation

Last week our coach told us we would be completing a running test, which I figured would suck about as much as any normal running test and I spent the whole week mentally preparing for a hard run.

When I got to practice, I was my usual freaked out self, but surprised to find that the whole team said hi to me, gave me bises (those little french hello kisses) and basically made it known that they were comfortable with/acknowledging me now. WIN OF THE DAY.

However, the female head count is back down. There is only the weird girl from the first day (who has at least started wearing slightly more athletic clothing...and who actually talks to me and who, I found out, is named Agnes) and the super fast girl from the week before, and, well me.

Our coach explained the run test to everyone and I didn't understand a word of it, something about cones and 8,5 km. I was lost and confused why we had such a LONG run test. 5-ish miles would take me around 45 min. Eek

After everyone headed out around the track to stand next to a cone, I asked him to re-explain it. Something about speeding up every time he blew the whistle and again... something about 8,5 km and paying attention to the people around you. We were staying in for as long as we could...? I can run for a really long time... What? As I usually do, I decided I would just go with the flow and follow everyone else after asking Agnes a few questions. She clarified that the distance was not set and that she didn't really understand the test either.

Agnes and I started at the same cone at a very very slow pace and I was super worried. HOW IS THIS A RUN TEST? But I looked ahead and the elite guys in front of me were barely jogging. Okay...so we make it around the first lap and I'm thinking, so should I go run with them? Then the coach sees me and yells "you're between two groups, slow down, wait up..." But... it's a run test? Ok so I slow down. Then Agnes says "oh, I get it!" after catching me and TAKES OFF. Now I understand that the point is to stay with Agnes but she has dropped me hard core and I am working to catch her. I finish my second lap and still haven't caught Agnes, so the coach tells me I'm done and pulls me off the track.

I walked off, not feeling the least bit like I had just done a running test, or even worked that hard for that matter and he looks at me and says "You've never done a test like this before, have you?" I, of course, say no, that I usually do 30 min tests for distance. He tells me I didn't do poorly, but I simply don't believe him. Then I spend around 17 minutes waiting for the rest of the team to finish and after another lap, I begin to understand the test:

There are cones assembled around the track at every 50m. Each pair started at a cone and you start at a speed of roughly 8,5 kmh (which is very slow - for all you Americans -which is probably all of you- that's an 11:20 mile). Each time he blows the whistle, the team increases their speed as a whole around the track. The objective is to maintain that 50m distance between the group in front and behind you/stay with your partner (if you had one). Mind you, we're increasing speed about every 50m - so each cone. Just by a touch, but nevertheless increasing. Once you get your speed up high, the challenge is well, the pace, but also that you have a few miles (well, km) on your legs and it's harder to keep pushing faster. The longer you can stay in, the higher the speed you were able to maintain.

At the end he figured out some calculations. I'm not sure if it was our max speed in the test, our estimated race pace for an hour, or our estimated max capability, but what I DO know is that mine was an 8:33 mile. WHICH if it is my estimated race pace for an hour... would be pretty accurate, BUT I'm thinking that it was my estimated top pace in the test, which is actually a joke. So, that practice was an overall failure, and I only ended up running for a total of 26 minutes (of which the first and last 10 were warm-up/cool-down) so I decided to run home, which pleasantly was mostly uphill and was a nice hard run.

Yesterday I finally got my distance up above 6 miles (woo hoo!) and tested out a new route. It was a slow run, but it was my longest yet in this country to prepare for that race. Speaking of which, got an email from the directors that said I need a doctor's note. Seriously France? I promise I won't die running 8-ish miles. Well, guess I'm going to have to figure out that one now...

After being disappointed with my slow run yesterday, I decided to seek out the pool and finally get some swimming in, only to find it's closed for cleaning. Not my week for athletics.

Tri en France: HR malfunctions and (NOT)Men's Track Practice

Good news: My ankle is generally doing better, which is pretty sweet and I'm excited about that. A few days ago I went out for a run and that didn't go so well because I was having this pretty bad chest pain that I've gotten a few times this summer. My coach is a little freaked out by that so... we'll see where that goes. More good news though, today with the French triathlon team I didn't experience any pain at all and I was working at some pretty crazy HRs (I looked down once and was at 181) so I'm feeling less scared about that.

The nice thing about this practice is that there were 5 more girls there!!! One was really good and I got the idea she was dating one of the guys on the team. She looked very legit and then proceeded to keep pace with the b-level boys for the workout. The middle 4 of us are all pretty close in pace and we were pretty much together for most of the workout. The other seems completely new to exercise and didn't finish much of the workout. We're a motley crew we are, but at least we're a crew!

The workout wasn't the best of my life, but I can't expect to come back fast off a week of misery and rest.

Tri en France: Le maillot jaune

Warning: I'm on the keyboard in the center which makes for tough typing. French keyboards are weird. This will not likely be a long entry.

My ankle is doing better, BUT not great. I decided it was good enough to ride yesterday which it WAS except I was having some serious issues clipping out of the pedals for SOME reason so the extra force it took to get my cleat out wasn't exactly helpful to the ankle. In the end it was on a 45 minute ride and some guy yelled at me out his window, though I'm not really sure why or what he said. It's a lot easier dealing with that in France because I literally have no idea what they're saying and I just tell myself they don't know how to deal with people on road bikes (because they don't) and move on to the open shoulders of big old scary roads.

Despite the fact that my ankle is a little better it's still not the greatest and I'd rather not push it since I've got an 8-ish mile race at the end of October that I need to get back to training for ASAP. So that 45 minute ride has been all my exercise this week aside from some corework and girly push-ups (because I can't put that much weight on my ankle, and let's be real I can't attempt one-legged push-ups... not that cool). So you know, if you can't do a sport, why not read about it?

Thus, I have come close to the end of Lance Armstrong's bio It's Not About the Bike. You know, I'm disappointed in the fact that when I finish this book, I will put it down and say "Wow, that guy is a jerk. Talented, but a jerk." You would think someone's autobiography about how they had cancer and suffered through sustaining life would make you sympathize in some way. I have never seen/heard such a prime example of using people and treating them like absolute crap. I'm shocked that he admits acting the way he did/does, unapologetic and only somewhat appreciative to the people who patiently worked with and for him along the way. I think there are a lot of really abrasive aspects to Armstrong that grate on readers of this book. Overall it has been an interesting read, but I have to say I'm not proud that Lance Armstrong is an American athlete. I'm not proud that he holds 7 wins in the Tour de France. Especially after the EPO allegations which his teammates, whom he considers his close friends in this book, confirmed this year, I don't think I would ever wear a single article of Livestrong or Mellow Johnny merchandise.

Tri en France: out of commission. Tune in next week

Sometimes you sprain your ankle while trail running and they tell you you can't run again for 15 days and then laugh at you when you ask if you can swim.
Then they give you a big ugly and generally unnecessary brace.
Guh. Until I break free from injury jail...

Tri en France: Monster hills, road work, and round abouts

This is a short one about my second ride in France. There's a ton of road work, so once again I spent about 25 minutes just trying to figure out how to get to a main route. Finally I found another cyclist!! Literally the FIRST other cyclist I've seen on my rides, and the second I've seen in general. (By cyclist I mean someone on a road or TT bike clearly treating it like a sport). This was a good idea (as it usually is in unfamiliar territory), but I lost site of him after I got stuck at a light while he beasted it up a hill. Still, it took me over some REALLY BEAUTIFUL pavement and took me to somewhere I knew, so I took the EXACT route as yesterday, but kept going and following signs to Angers.

I'm getting better at taking round abouts. I've learned to stay WAY on the outside and have faith that the cars will not kill me because that ruins their day AND mine. I definitely felt a lot less scared for my life. On the way out, this ride felt great, and I was cruising along for the middle portion at 20-22 mph. Then the scenery started to become beautiful and I was pushing up a LONNNGG but not too steep hill at about 14 mph, chilling with some goats. All of a sudden there was this HUGE downhill. I mean huge. Then I looked ahead and its sister CLIMB was staring me in the face.... after my nice long climb there. That was NOT happening, but I was already screaming down the hill, geared out, going 32 and BRAKING. Immediately after the end of the downhill, this identical climb was going to happen and I knew I could not make that climb, turn around, and then do it again, so I decided to pull over in the approximate 2 meters of flat road that I had and wait for the traffic to clear so I could turn around. Mind you... I had just geared out and had problems getting my bike to go slow enough to stop. Once on the other side of the road, I picked up my rear wheel and shifted to the easiest gear. I told myself "this is going to suck, but just push through it."

So once their was a break in traffic, I got on and started climbing at 9 mph. Yeah. Cool. I got so far into it and for the first time in my life on a ride I had to get off and walk the hill. It was just insane. My heart rate was through the roof and though my legs were hanging in there, my HR was not. haha

If anything, I will get some serious hill experience in this country. The day when I stop freaking out on that down hill and make it through those hills twice, I will be once powerful cyclist. That day, however, is not today.

Tri en France: Rocco's first Ride

Today Rocco and I set out for our first adventure. I debated taking a camera and then decided not to because I didn't really intend to stop.

I had done some googling and I figured that the best thing to do was ride along the Loire. So the first thing I set out to do was find the Loire. CHECK. Then I was getting confused about whether I was supposed to ride east or west, but I knew the Loire was south of my house and the Atlantic was west so I went east. I think.

First I found this awesome deserted road. I mean, it was neither completely deserted nor totally awesome. It was a little chopped up and had some sand on it that made me nervous about handling, but if anything went wrong it was unlikely that I'd hit a car because there were about 5 for... 5 miles. Some parts were very cool because I rode through some forest and later under some tiny little bridges. Eeek.

But as most good things do, it came to an end and I was back on a busy road riding through some random city. There are lots of signs that have bikes with slashes through them which to me means I can't ride there.... but then there are bike lanes on the other side of them...? I don't really know, but I generally stick to the bike lanes and ignore the signs because they confuse me and it doesn't seem like anyone ELSE pays attention to them.

After that I decided to follow some signs towards Angers. Then I ended up on a highway.... which is apparently allowed in this country? Cycling on highways... uhh ok. Nonetheless, it freaked me out so I got off after a few minutes and found a round about where I could turn around and follow signs back to Nantes. (This is about 40 minutes out.)

So I'm back on a very busy street (though not a highway) following signs back to Nantes, and apparently my nice convoluted route out could be literally cut in half, because I was home in 20 minutes. Soon enough, I began to realize that was completely necessary because as soon as I got off the bike my abs were throbbing in pain. It was one of the worst little "episodes" of ab pain I've gone through, but as we know I get those. I'm starting to just get used to them at this point and I really think they're just from fatigue.

Tri en France: My new baby boy

Everyone, this is Rocco!

Rocco is Sheila's new baby brother. He came home today weighing approximately 10,5 kg. We're so happy to have him in the family!

Rocco and Sheila are very similar. Rocco has Shimano 2300 components like ShiShi, but his frame is a little bigger (51 cm) and his wheels are a little smaller 650x23c.

He had a rough first ride this morning First we had to take him back to Decathlon because his chain was rubbing against the front derailleur in the big chain ring (not when he was cross-chained... just in general) so that wasn't okay. In broken French I explained this to the nice bike-doctor and he's all better now. Then we had to ride through construction and bumps, but he's a tough little guy.

Rocco lives in the private bike storage space under my apartment which we share with a few other people. Hopefully they're not baby bike thieves. At the very least, Rocco has a nice big lock to keep him (and his front quick-release wheel safe).

I think we'll be going on our first ride tomorrow afternoon!!! EXCITING STUFF!

Tri en France: speeeeeddd work

Today I joined the Université de Nantes triathlon club for their weekly workout. I told my host grandma that I expected it to be only guys because I never see women running here. She wasn't so sure and thought there'd be some girls... When I first got there, I sat on the track and there were a handful of girls. I waited and waited and then asked a girl "Etes-vous ici pour le traithlon?" No. They were there for "athletisme" which is essentially track practice, but she pointed me to the building where she thought they met last time. So I walked down the hill and asked "Etes-vous triathletes?" and sure enough, this skinny blonde guy was like "Yeah...." and then I presented myself, in French, and they were like "Ok..." so I stood there. I was REALLY hoping we'd go in the building to find spin bikes ready for our use.

Then the coach came, decked out in Dextro ITU world championship pants and a Portugal "triathlo" vest. He started shaking all the guys hands, and I had been told that generally upon first meeting people, they shake hands in France. But then he came to me, the sole girl, and COMPLETELY ignored the hand I half offered. Only in France do girls kiss their coach upon meeting him. I think if I tried to kiss coach Brett he would've jumped backwards about 10 feet. lol (Ok, well strictly speaking the french "bisou" is not a kiss, you essentially touch cheeks. No ACTUAL kisses. Still...) Then he asked if we were ready to go, and we all headed back up to the track. BOOOOOOO. I need to do SOMETHING other than running.

As we marched up the hill, me and 11 guys, I laughed quietly to myself at being right. We stood up there awkwardly and just as he told us to start our "chauvement" (warm up) ANOTHER CHICK CAME... although she looked pretty masculine to me. I found out late she races TT and has never done a triathlon.

After the chauvement, we did "edjucatifs" which YOU GUESSED IT are DRILLS. Funny story: they called skips "la petite fille contente" which yes, means happy little girl and if your "petite fille" was "trés contente" you lifted your knees higher. French people are nuts.

I held in there on the warm up and the drills, but then came the workout and I suddenly realized that I might as well have been working out with the men's cross country team. First we did 4x (200 m fast + 1' active rest + 300 m fast) RI = 35", then 5x (300m) RI= 1', then 3x (200m fast + 100m easy). OH HEY SPEED WORK. We started and OFF WENT THE GUYS. I watched them round the track and thought "holy crap... they can't be serious." Then I remembered the coach saying "the goal is to work hard at your level" and looked down at my watch. 7:30 pace and hurting. Ooohhhh yeaaah. So then while they all whipped around the track I kept pushing all my hard reps to hit between 7:30 and 8 min pace (per mile, this is). It was rough. Very rough. The last rep of the 300m with 1 min rest I was ALL BY MYSELF (although ahead of the other chick!).

At the end of the workout, the coach asked who had a TT bike at their disposal and at least 9 people raised their hands (remember, with me there are 12). After practice I asked the coach where I could find a used road bike and he was essentially like "yeahhhh idk."

In the end, I really like the coach and he actually gave me pointers between reps. The guys, well, they're guys. They're not really interested in that random American girl who is bringing up the rear. The other girl is nice but seems a little weird... idk. Maybe I'm being quick to judge but she runs really strangely (although pretty fast) and wore the oddest outfit to practice.

I'll keep going because, hey, what the heck, it's speed work on a track for the next 13 weeks and I really am a fan of the coach and I think I can get something out of it. It's no NU tri though <3 Haha I think it's funny that we worry about only having 60 members in our school of 8,000 when there are 34,000 people at this school and they have 12 people on their team. I'm telling you - French people don't work out.

*correction: I have found out that VTT means velo toutes tourrain aka mountain bikes... but perhaps it ALSO means trial du temps. Ugh. FRENCH

Tri en France: French directions

I posted this on Facebook because I'm just really excited, but I bought two books about cycling through this region of France.

One is a book full of "round trip" circular routes of sight-seeing and the other is an 18-stage trip from one side of the region to the other. I'll definitely do the last two of the 18 stages once I get a bike (one is from Nantes, one is to Nantes, so I'll have to try that backwards). None of the trips are all that long. The longest will be (I think) 56 km one way, so that will be one ambitious 70-mile day.

I'm going to the Université de Nantes triathlon team practice on Wednesday. haha eek! That will be interesting being like "hi, I'm American and I'm clueless..." Maybe they'll sell me a bike. If no one wants to be my friend, maybe I'll just go swim laps in the piscine by myself.

Tri en France: The daily run

On the first day I got here I told my host grandma I was a triathlete. I mean, how many things can you really tell people when you only speak their language pretty simply. Well, actually, yesterday I was talking to her about how scared I was of open water swimming and how much it freaked me out the first time and how much I hated Lake Michigan.... but that's beside the point.

ALORS, she immediately said "Oh yeah, all the French people run along the water here. You run out of here, take the second left, descend and then run right forever." (Except, you know, en Français.) However, the next day I was whisked off to Vannes (two hours away from Nantes) for orientation, where I ran twice. Then I came back and to my malheureusement the sun doesn't rise until 7:45 and I had school/orientation/French class everyday from 9-6 so that wasn't really working but FINALLY FINALLY yesterday I had some time between the end of school and dinner to courir. I was exhausted because I had just spent 2 hours talking a "historical tour of Nantes" by foot and I'm sorry but walking/standing is just so much more painful than running or, well, a different pain. It's bad pain. Still, I knew how bad I wanted to go, so I mustered up my last ounce of energy and went.

Oh. My.
I pushed myself to just exceed an hour yesterday and then went back again to take pictures this morning. You will now get the electronic tour of my run.

#1: This is the start of my run, right by a boat house for crew teams. The flash made it look brighter, but this was actually right around sunrise.

#2: This is the entrance to the trail that runs along the river.

#3: The start of the boardwalk aka the BEST part of the run.

#4a: The boardwalk. Don't be fooled. That thing on the right is a moss-covered platform and NOT the shore. You literally cannot see the shore, only the trees and folliage that lead up to it. It's breathtaking.

#4b: There are little gates in the boardwalk. I think they're to prevent cyclists from using it, but they're super cool and work on their handling skills by zig-zagging through them. Then there is a little hill which I find absolutely hilarious because I don't understand why it's there.

#5: The view of the land to the right of the boardwalk. You know, HUGE French houses. Whatever.

#6: A little entry for boats. Yesterday I saw two huge white swans, you know, just chilling.

#7: A covered entrance as you get back on the trail.

#8: The view across the river from the trail. More BIG French houses.

#9: There are lots of patches of wildflowers when the trail is a little more paved and park like. I love them. They often then run into little footbridges. Je les adore!

#10: This is the BIG SCARY IMPOSING hill that leads up to my house. Nothing worse then ending a run with a big scary hill. I'm proud to say I ran up it yesterday! Yeah that's right, knee drive. lol It was rough and I'm pretty sure my heart rate was like 192 once I finally hit the top. This may not look so big, but don't be fooled, this is literally one of the hardest, steepest climbs I've ever experienced on foot and it's deceptively long. I chickened out this morning though. Whoops. But tomorrow afternoon... it's happening!

I also found out (word to the wise), in France I have to have Civil Responsibility Insurance (l'assurance de responsibilité civile) to ride a bike. If I get in an accident, someone can ask for my insurance soooooo that's a little red tape I wasn't expecting. I went to the insurance company today but the line was too long and they closed in 45 minutes. Of course, since France is old and European, they aren't open again until Monday... so guess that's what I'll be doing next Monday at 10 a.m.

I hope you enjoyed your tour of my run that has literally left me speechless. If I get out a little further I hit a park with a garden, but I would've had to run for about 30 minutes out to find that and my legs were beaten up this morning. I hope I can get some pictures soon though and also... BIKE RIDES? THROUGH FRANCE?
I hope.
I also hope you enjoyed your subliminal French lesson. Did you even notice it happening?

Tri en France: Running in the dark

I've been in France for 5 days and have run 2 times. I cannot WAIT until I buy a bike and, to my surprise, I am actually looking forward to receiving my student ID for Universite de Nantes so I can use the damn pool.

This morning I set out for a nice 6.5 kilometers in the dark. I couldn't sleep so gave up around 5:45 and headed downstairs, but it was still dark and rainy out. I tried waiting for the sun to rise or the rain to stop, but by 6:30 I still wasn't having in luck so I decided to suck it up and go.

WELL first I was completely freaked out by this crazy French guy who was cursing and banging on the glass at the bus stop (as if the rain and complete darkness wasn't enough). Luckily for this run I was able to find a nice little pedestrian path to take so that was fun.

I feel like the people in this program identify me as the triathlete/theater major who wakes up at the crack of dawn to run. When we talk in French, the people who don't know me as well ask me "as-tu couru ce matin? Ah, oui? Combien de temps?" Ah well.

Plus, two days ago we biked around an island and I met another cyclist on the trip. We had some fun tearing down hills on cruisers. My friend couldn't figure out how to shift and his legs were killing him. While attempting to help him, I dropped his chain (such a pro...) but at least I was able to fix it. Plus, it was comfortably familiar to be covered in bike grease. :]

I was looking in my little guide book and it looks like I can bike from castle to castle in the loire valley. Get EXCITED?! Pictures of castles and bikes? oh my.

b-b-b-b-bonk

Well, I promised a race report.

I have some bad news. This girl died pretty hardcore at the Muncie Labor Day Triathlon aka Conference Championships. Whoops.

My swim was awful. It was one of those things that was awful and you have no idea what precisely made it so awful. You know?

Well, I got out of the water extremely disappointed, but went through T1 telling me to put it behind me and work on the bike. I did work until I stopped being able to work. I'll spare you all the gritty details but I knew bad things were imminent if I continued on to the run. I mean, I was already in some pretty bad pain and experiencing some extreme fatigue. After T2, I voluntarily DNF'ed. It sucked, but it happens.

I talked to my coach, and Brad and Kendyl (who also raced). It was a rough race for all of us. Kendyl was extremely fatigued on the run after it started hitting her on the bike and Brad crashed over his handle bars at the start of the bike leg around a guy who flatted in front of him. My hypothesis (which my coach agrees with) is that skipping workouts from hurting my foot and being unmotivated to swim in addition to the two days of hardcore moving I did helping my roommate move into his new apartment really fatigued me and broke me down. I suffered through our national championship race with that kind of fatigue and it wasn't worth it to me to continue the same way.

Anyway, OFF TO FRANCE FOR A NEW EDITION!

The saga of a new bike

If you haven't talked to me in a while, you may not know that I have basically convinced myself that I am going to buy a new bike... yep. In my searching I've basically narrowed it down to a Cannondale CAAD 10:

Cannondale CAAD 10 w/ Ultegra... currently sorta my dream for January

or a Felt F5

Felt F5 with 105 components. Need to ride this baby.

Right now the CAAD 10 is winning by quite a bit. I road a CAAD 9 with tiagra components. FYI, as I understand it: components meaning the things that make your bike shift. This often includes brakes and sometimes the crank, but when people are taking about components they're usually talking about the shifters, derailleurs, and the cassette. I really loved that bike. I can't imagine it souped up with nicer components and set up to fit the way I ride.

I have yet to get on an F5, but I was put on a F95 and didn't love it. Didn't hate it.

Some other experiences I've had: rode a Trek madone 3.1. That was a fun one but also a little out of my price range and an old Felt ZW, which is their women's series. I didn't love that bike, but it was a very old model and not set up the best for the way I ride.

Recently, I rode some bikes that are waaaayyy out of my price range. If you really want to nerd out with me here, there are two big companies that produce components: Shimano and SRAM (I mean... there are others, like campagnolo and stuff, but for most purposes...). I went to the local bike store, Turin, that sponsors the team and asked if they had any road bike with a frame between 50-52 cm with SRAM shifting. My bike has Shimano shifting and I had never tried SRAM. I have the option of getting SRAM on a new bike but it is different in operation. Anyway, the manager found a Cervélo S2 (which is a $5000 bike...eek) for me to test ride.

The cervélo S2 with SRAM Red components. MSRP $5000. EEK! Honestly though, I felt every extra grand in this ride <3

After getting over the fact the bike was so expensive, here is my experience with SRAM vs. Shimano:

Let me explain the basics for any non-cyclists out there still reading: On Shimano, there are two configurations of shifters. The nicer shifters have two levers: a front and a back shifter on each handlebar. For the rear derailleur the front bar shifts to a larger chain ring make it easier, and the back bar shifts down to a smaller chain ring to make it harder. For the front derailleur, the front bar also shifts to a larger chain ring... but this actually makes it harder, and the back shifts to the smaller chain ring which makes it easier. Confused? Yeah. You get it once you ride a bit. On the cheaper versions on Shimano, there are little thumb levers (affectionately called "mouse ears") that serve the same purpose of the back bars.

OK so now that I've given a run-down of Shimano let's talk SRAM.
I was nervous about my test ride because they literally put me on one of the nicest bikes they could've put me on just to "figure out" SRAM shifting. I did a little online research so I didn't completely screw anything up. Here is how I can best explain it. SRAM looks a lot like Shimano. I've heard that SRAM has bigger hoods so someone with smaller hands might not like it as much. I didn't really encounter a problem with this (and then later I rode a Specialized with SRAM and didn't have an issue either). There are still the two levers, however only ONE (the back bar) is a shifter. The front bar, like Shimano, is the brake, but it is different because it is ONLY the brake and not the shifter. The way this one bar shifting works is that you push once slightly inwards (a single tap) if you want to shift down/into a smaller chain ring/to make it harder. You push once, but further inwards (a double tap) if you want to shift up/into a larger chain ring/to make it easier. Again, it is backwards for the front derailleur (so once slightly inwards aka a single tap still gets you into the smaller chain ring, but makes it easier; once further inwards aka a double tap still gets you into the bigger chain ring, but makes it harder...).

I got used to it pretty quickly and fell in to a very deep committed love with that S2, but you can't always get what you want, so I reluctantly returned it to Turin and cried a little as they hung it back on the wall. Well, not actually, but it really was one awesome bike and probably was my favorite test ride so far and that is saying a lot since it had shifters that I didn't really know how to use AND I later rode two even more exorbitantly expensive Specialized S-Works bikes (MSRP: $8100.... did you almost pee your pants? Because I almost did...). In the end, I actually think I could really get to like this whole SRAM thing and may get it when I get a new bike. :]

This is the Specialized S-Works Amira I rode. MSRP $8100. HA! Never in a million years. It was a good ride, but I couldn't honestly tell the difference between it and some of those bikes I mentioned before. I'm probably just too clueless, but SRAM red shifting was fun to experience again.

Now, if you also know me, you may know that I don't do anything without picking the heck out of Brad's brain because he is literally a walking triathlon encyclopedia (though he probably wouldn't admit to it). Brad was the one who told me about SRAM hoods being larger and attempted to explain how they shift to me, but it was one of those things I just had to do myself. He and I both went to the Specialized test ride thing where we rode incredibly snazzy and expensive bikes, and he also got himself on a cross bike with SRAM components to give them another try. In his most recent experience, he thought the SRAM hoods felt slightly more ergonomic than Shimano... but he still loves his Shimano (he has many bikes, but his two good ones have Ultegra and Dura-ace... if you're curious). He also told me this, which I think it interesting:

It is his understanding that Shimano components will more easily adapt to new gear, or as he put it SRAM is good if your bike is always going to be "your bike." SRAM apparently can be adjusted to really fit you and the wheels/cassette/whatever you're riding with, but for instance if you flat during a race and someone hands you a new wheel, you're going to have an easier time getting your shifting to work the way you want/need it to with Shimano than you would with SRAM. I believe this has something to do with how you set up your shifting. I'm too much of a novice to really understand how that all works... BUT it's still part of the information I am weighing on my decision to get the SRAM Rival or the Shimano Ultegra outfitted version of the CAAD 10 (you know.. if I get the CAAD 10... which I think I may).

Whoa. I have a lot to say. Don't I?

Well, I really need to go run right now, BUT in my next update on the saga of a new bike, I can talk about pricing and components and frames and what I've been finding in my search for a new bike. So far I've looked at Trek, Cannondale, Felt, Cervelo, Specialized, Giant, andddd briefly at Diamondback to get my brain wrapped around this huge undertaking. Lots to write about/notate/keep track of.

Until then, it's not like there isn't enough to read here....

Triathlon en France

Well, in 9 days I will be leaving for Nantes, France, where I will somehow attempt to keep up my training. My incredibly understanding mother ultimately realized that I need a road bike. This makes me approximately 85% less anxious about this undertaking. I'm not getting anything snazzy like the bikes I'm looking to buy when I get back to the States in January, but a super-entry level road bike (kind of like I have now) that will let me get in a few hundred miles. I'm pretty excited because I have heard Nantes is pretty temperate. I mean, sure, it gets cold, but not Chicago-cold. In other words, I may be able to bike through my entire stay.

Luckily, I found this store called Decathlon only 3.5 km away from where I'm staying!! YES. WIN. While I'm tempted to look at these road bikes with the critical eye I have developed from learning more and more about bikes, I am attempting to force myself to recognize that I will only use this for a few months. Regardless, I'm excited to have this store so close to me because I know I will spend entirely too much time developing a triathlon-related vocabulary. Haha So far I have learned that cadre = frame, fourche = fork, and a road bike is "vélo route" now... how to say "shifters." I have a feeling derailleur might be derailleur...

After conference championships (which is this weekend, on September 3) this blog will almost certainly completely focus on my experiences of attempting to continue tri in another country. AH!

A race, a PR, a recap

Finally my summer classes and internship are down. Now I have nothing to do but prepare for France and focus on tri. Get prepared for an influx of updates! It's about time.

I just raced the Sylvania olympic-distance triathlon in, you guessed it, Sylvania, OH.

Brad, Kendyl and I drove out to Ohio on Saturday, stuffing our faces with entirely too many Matt's fig bars. Matt's, excitingly enough, is one of the newest sponsors of NU Tri, thanks to yours truly. We (slash I) really could not be more excited. We all use fig bars as pre-race nutrition especially for our carbo-loading and now we get them at a delicious discount. om nom nom nom

I had set myself up for a pretty disappointing race. My running and biking had been very slow in the past few weeks since I'd finished Evergreen back in July. After being hit by a car a week before the race (oh yeah, I was hit by a car. It was at a stop sign and I'm totally fine, but FYI it happened), I wasn't even sure if I would race, but my coach told me to stay signed up and only quit if I absolutely felt awful. So I listened and was feeling fine so I raced.

A few weeks back, Kendyl (who is a fantastic swimmer) helped me out with my swimming technique. Since then, I had really been focusing a lot on practicing my swim stroke. The water in Olander lake was very warm. Honestly, in comparison to the air temperature, it felt like taking a bath. I was lucky enough this time, to stay with my wave for a good portion of the swim and then as soon as they dropped me, the next one caught me and I hung on to them. In the end, I was out of the water in 35 min! That's a full 6 minutes off my time from Evergreen. We had a looonnnggg run to transition so in the end it was a 37 min swim time which is still 4 min off my swim time. When I got out of the water to see my watch said 35 min, I was newly inspired to actually give this race a shot. I had a pretty average 1:34 transition and then headed out to the bike.

The bike course was flat and WINDY... oh and rainy. My new burst of adrenaline was quickly depleted when I struggled to push 17 mph on the bike. This is MY leg. If I can't perform on the bike, my race is kind of a disaster. So for the first 10 miles, I alternated between being depressed that I couldn't keep pace and yelling at myself to keep pace. It didn't go all that well. Then on a nice right turn on to a bumpy road I lost my pack of shot bloks, my only race nutrition, only having eaten 2 of them thus far. I panicked a little that I would get side cramps from lack of electrolytes, but decided there was nothing I could do about it. I chugged my water and continued on my depressing bike leg in the wind and rain. But soon enough we came to the turn around and with 14 miles to go, the wind was at my back so I cranked it up to 20 mph and told myself I could hold it and make up for the bad first half. Thankfully, I did hold about 19.5-20.5 for those last 14 miles. I didn't quite make up for the bad first 10 miles, but I yanked my average speed up to 18.6 and was off the bike in 80 min. It wasn't as good as my 76 min finish last time or as fast as my 20 mph average goal pace, but it wasn't the worst either.

The run was the one thing I wanted to push in this race. It was a flat course. It was gently raining. It was mild if not cold weather and my goal was to break 9 min/mile pace. I took the first mile easy which ended up being about a 9:30. I had found a running buddy who was chatting me up and I realized I couldn't let him drag me down. I pushed a little harder on the second mile and he stayed with me. Still, I finished that mile a little too far over the 18 min mark. On mile 3 I finally started kicking it into a higher gear. I saw a guy loping along from Ohio State and thought "time to snag another place for NU" so I barely pulled past him and then dropped him (unfortunately, along with my running buddy). Soon enough, my running buddy caught up to me and managed to keep pace. Another guy joined us and I was happy he started to talk to him and not me, but also happy to hear this conversation taking place to get my mind off the pain. Soon enough, I began to feel a pain in my chest - something I'd been experiencing lately on runs if I took it out a little too hard. I tried to push through it, but the pain began to escalate so I knew that the best thing to do would be just walk my heart rate back down to zone 1. My chatting runner friends dropped me while I waited a few seconds for recovery. Soon enough I was back to normal trying to bridge the gap I'd created. In a few minutes I found my running buddy walking a bit. I asked if he was okay and he assured me he was fine and quickly attempted to meet my pace. We cruised over the mile 4 marker and I thought "2 to go, let's pick it up." I knew I was hitting pace there and it hurt. My thighs were dying but 2.2 miles was nothing - 20 min max. as we rounded the corner to find the 5 mile mark, I continued to speed up a bit. At a half mile to go, my running buddy completely dropped me. I was disappointed to see how much energy reserve he had as I cruised along, probably now holding a very painful 8:30 pace. Finally seeing the finish line, I picked it up to probably around an 8 min pace, crossing at 2:56:56. Again, breaking 3 hours and a little bit better than last time. In the end, I only kept 9:05 pace and was a bit disappointed, but it was still 19 sec/mile better than my pace at Evergreen.

It was an interesting race and next I'll be met with rolling hills on the bike course of Muncie, IN for conference championships. I took 17th in the collegiate women's group. Kendyl took 14th. Brad took 7th and had the best bike leg in the collegiate men's group by 7 secs!

The dish on running lit

I am a little more than halfway through Once a Runner by John L. Parker. You may now, of course, commence your judgments as they may be. I have been told/heard that the two running books TO READ are this and Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. I am no authority on Born to Run as I have not yet read it and I will post a review on it once I've finished (probably by Friday, considering I started reading on yesterday). So far it's an easy read with a some flowery passages complete with big words thrown in here and there. Follows this great college runner and the whole destructive path of achievement that runners (aka cross-country, track, track-ers) put themselves on. I am not unfamiliar with it. Though I happily call myself a "recreational runner" I would say I have had enough friendships/relationships with these cross-country, track, track-ers to be familiar with the lifestyle. Similarly, I'd say with triathlon I have grown to be a little more serious about the sport than your average "recreational runner."

Conveniently, Amazon.com  has compiled lists of both the "most popular running literature" and the "best running literature" just in case you're hungry for more, but this is what I am going to give you.

But for my next bite out of running "literature," I would like to bring up the topic of Runner's World magazine. Forgive me for saying this, but Runner's World seems to be a bit of a running joke among runners. A loving running joke, but a running one, nonetheless (pun conveniently intended). I had my first year-long subscription to Runner's World this year. Up until this past fall, RW was something I picked up in airports for plane rides - which were, indeed, rather common. As I got more knowledgeable and serious about running, I became acutely aware of how little I was actually getting from my hour+ long reading sessions of the magazine. Slowly I began to read less and less until now I'm not even sure I've looked at my past few issues.

"There are three things that make you a worse runner: a car, a girlfriend, and a subscription to Runner's World." By a show of hands, who has heard that one before?

Depending on who you are, you may or may not know I have a little bit of background in journalism and when I'm not being an over-enthusiastic triathlete, I work on marketing and public relations for theater. Journalism is one of my secret loves that I use to salt-and-pepper all the other things I do with my life (thus the blog...sort of). My take on RW (and that of many runner's) is that they're so focused on catering to the "recreational runner" who is trying to motivate themselves into their first race that they sort of lose sight of what more competitive runner's are looking for in literature about, well, them.

What are they doing right?
Well, personally, I think they're doing a lot right. The recipes for efficient, healthy and delicious nutrition for athletes are a big win. Their feature stories on elite and pro athletes in addition to inspiring stories about runners? Into it. Plus, there are great articles on fun/scenic runs and interesting races.

But then comes the training plans... pages and pages on how to run 5Ks, recommendations on how to do a core workout, and total catering to new runners. Sure, the newbies are important too and probably the key demographic they're aiming to hit (and the larger demographic...) but what happens when the newbies become more serious? They lose them. They've already lost the more elite runners who think their magazine is a joke.


My question is what does an addition spread or two of hard-hitting running news add to their print cost and how much would that add to their demographic?
I mean, I'm sure these big shmancy professional editors have worked this out, but I wonder if there is a viable market for a more hard-hitting running publication. What about adding current stories about elite runners? What about the further development in research and debates about foot strike? What is gained from not catering to more elite runners?

I'm not saying I'm any elite runner or that I really know entirely what I'm talking about, but what I do know is that a lot of material is left out of RW (or as I have a bad habit of calling it: Runner's) and among very serious runners... it isn't taken seriously. I lament this fact and thus decided to muse on the topic for entire too long. :]

The verdict

Kendyl made the 75-ish minute trip up to Evanston today to teach me how to swim! YAY!
We talked a lot about breaking down the freestyle stroke. Some I knew, some I didn't. Still, here is the breakdown.
Components:
The reach - making sure you not only put your hand in the water, but reach out a little before you start pulling back
The pull - after you reach, begin bending a bit at the elbow. Your hand takes almost an hourglass shaped path as it pulls in close to your body then push back down to your hip. This is where you are literally pushing the water out of your way. Your fingers really need to be closed!
- The back half of your stroke is super important. After you get to your waist, you want to continue pushing the water all the way to your thigh. Once your arm is fully extended you put a little extra effort in to flick the water away from your hip.
The recovery - So your arm is fully extended and it may feel a tad awkward, but you must immediately bend your elbow and pull your hand up, almost to your armpit ... then extend ahead of you and it starts all over again.

Swimming 101. I needed that.

Technique media fun time

I had a friend today ask me if she could do a triathlon if she didn't know how to swim. The irony is that I am the WORST swimmer literally in almost every field I race in. Whoops. Obviously, I told her I found it to be a big challenge and that I cautioned her that swimming is a big hurdle. In short, I think I talked her out of it.

Anyway, I'm back to fixating on my swimming... problems - so here's a "fun" video to break up the text! (At the very least, here's a really impressive guy swimming.)

As you may remember from an earlier post about the exhalation debate - this analyzer seems to be an advocate of the constant exhalation thing... but the fierce iron man dude isn't doing it and he's a fierce iron man dude. Just saying.

Race recap: Evergreen Lake Triathlon

For my first race of the season and first successful olympic-distance triathlon, I was off in Hudson, IL racing with the team. It was supposed to be 90 degrees and utterly miserable, but instead it was like 80 degrees with lots of cloud cover and just generally mild climate.

The swim, for once, was fairly successful or as successful as it can be considering I'm such an awful swimmer. I didn't panic and sighting went well and I swam pretty close to the buoys.

My bike was better than I expected. I averaged 19.6 mph which is 1 mph higher than my goal of 18.5 mph. It was nice to look down and see that I finished my bike leg 4 minutes early. That being said, the hills really slowed me down and although I have been working on standing climbs, I wasn't able to do it at all during the race. The corners were awful and I didn't take them nearly as aggressively as I took Memphis.

My run was not awful, but not as fast as I wanted it to be. Partially this may be because I knew I had a full 60 min after the bike to reach my overall time goal so I took it easier than I may have. That being said, just after the 4th mile my chest really hurt... awesome. I finished strong and came in 1 minute and 13 seconds under my time goal of 3 hours.




Lot's of people on the team had great races yesterday and I'm excited for us to head out to Sylvania next month. For now, I've got lots of stuff to work on and nicer bikes to dream of.

My First Road Flat and Other Bedtime Stories

It's hard to believe that I have been cycling as long as I have and haven't actually flatted on the road. Especially when you consider how many tires I've changed and how fast I can change a tube/tire. There is an explanation: I have a training tire and am on my second upgrade of tires-- so really my changing skillzzz are due to my addiction to souping-up my ride.

But this time, the first flat I had to deal with on the road wasn't even my own! My friend Erin, who I have spent a few of our recent long Saturday rides exploring Illinois with realized her tire looked a little... strange before we left. It kind of looked lumpy/dented. I can't really explain it. Enough to worry that the actual wheel might've been warped (thankfully, it wasn't). We decided to exchange her tire with my spare and still use her tube because it appeared okay. Unfortunately, it must've not been so "okay" because she flatted 12 miles into our ride. So I lent her my spare tube...

SO HERE IS THE IMPORTANT PART OF THE STORY:
CO2 is a PAIN THE BUTT
My first time dealing with CO2 was with Erin's tire. This time the canister didn't screw quite "correctly" into the charger and we lost all of it before we could even put it in her damn tire.

Oh no! What did we do you ask?
Well I went all out for about 15 minutes to the nearest bike store: Trek (which is conveniently located next to VQ so they know our team) and bought some more CO2 and tubes. In the meantime, some nice cyclist with a hand pump found Erin and put air in her tire. She met me at Trek and topped it off.

We were on our merry way for a little over an hour until, apparently, it was my turn. Baby's first flat. At first I wasn't even sure I flatted, and then I was sure when my wheel started thunking. :] Again, Erin and I attempted the magical feat of changing a tire. This time, the CO2 worked!... but I couldn't get it off in time (because I had a 16g canister) and so it overfilled my tube and popped it. So then I tried to use what little was left in the second tube and then some of the other CO2 canister I bought, but it all was an ultimate failure and I ended up biking around 4 miles on a flat. AWESOME.

Advice.
16g CO2 fills up to about 130 PSI. Great if you have some control... not great if you don't. Probably good for races when you need the air pressure, probably not the best for general rides.
12g CO2 fills up to about 90 PSI. Sure, this doesn't put you at a great inflation, but it's good enough to ride for a few miles to the nearest bike store! (Especially if you are in a semi-urban/sub-urban/bike-friendly setting where bike stores are common. There is probably one about every 3 or 4 miles for 16-18 miles out from Northwestern.)
Also, CO2 sucks for longevity. If you are going to be around a bike store and you are on a long ride... I'd say stop, empty out your tires, and have them refill entirely with a pump/air compressor. Even if you don't, be sure to do so when you get home/before your next ride. Don't top off CO2 filled tires with a pump. Take the extra minute to totally deflate them and refill.

Happy riding!

Also, race this weekend: Evergreen Lake Triathlon! Pictures, I'm SURE will follow. (Even if they aren't mine.) Second Olympic of the season!

Cycling is not as easy as it looks... seriously

This weekend I was biking with a friend on the tri team and we were discussing how challenging it is to be a truly "competent" cyclist. Sure you think it's "just like riding a bike," but even the most seasoned cyclists make mistakes. Brad was talking about his experience on a group ride with a bunch of very skilled cyclists (seriously, they kept like 26 mph WITH stops for lights). He made one mistake and the other cyclist it affected made a fuss about it and cued the whole group to start judging Brad. It's a rough world out there.

I feel like each time I go on a long ride I make another break-through, be it speed, skill, what have you, but there is always something you can do better. Sure, now I can get on and off/stop my bike (remember that post? yeaaahh challenge accepted) and I'm even doing pretty well with this drafting thing or balance and riding one-handed, but I've still got so many challenges to face.

When people say "it's just like riding a bike," sure you've got muscle memory but building up the skills it takes to signal, eat on the bike, do standing climbs/sprints (that's so difficult! and is consequently my next challenge), corner or do a flying mount/dismount, it takes a TON of practice. It's frustrating. Basically, that cliché is only 50% accurate. If everything people described as "it's just like riding a bike" was actually like riding a bike, do you know how bruised I would be?

Call me a noob. Go ahead.

Nutrition obsession and the verdict on swimming

I finally dragged myself reluctantly to the water for a 2000 y swim on Monday. Despite my long entry on swimming, for the first 500 y I couldn't remember anything I wrote about, so I kept thinking of Mr. Smooth.

Then I remembered the sinking exercise, so after my warm-up I did that. I'm sure the lifeguards judged me, but I had just swam 500 y successfully so I don't think they thought I was drowning. My conclusion: Yep, I really hate just chilling underwater. That whole "feeling peaceful" thing doesn't really happen to me and there was just no way I was getting my butt to stay on the floor of the pool. Needless to say, upon remembering this exercise I remembered the whole exhalation thing. Part of my workout consisted of a 4x300 so for that I worked specifically on the strong exhale thing and you know what? I felt pretty good because it relaxed me and gave me something else to focus on so I'll probably keep trying it. It makes being underwater so LOUD! haha

That being said, a few days later I told Brad about my exhaling and he was told precisely the opposite by some seasoned swimmers- that air in your lungs makes you more buoyant, it may make it easier to focus and.. oh, you know, the pros don't. AWESOME. Brad exhales into the water all at the last minute, ultimately creating that pocket of space next to him, making it easier to inhale and not gasp in water. I'm trying to find more writing on what he's talking about, but it seems that may be the more "elite" way of doing things and all this online literature is geared towards beginners. Brad did find a post from Olympian Gary Hall, Sr. on Slowtwitch about this whole topic. Here is what he said: "No matter what breathing pattern you use, keeping air in your lungs as long as possible is extremely important. The added buoyancy of the air in the lungs lifts the body in the water and reduces drag. Therefore one needs to burst exhale just before taking the next breath. In other words, don't trickle your breath out under water (except on backstroke off the wall to keep water from going up your nose). With a 2:3 pattern, so long as one is not using a super high stroke rate (mine is in the 60's...but I use a strong kick), there is time to take a good breath and exhale before taking a successive breath. No one gets a 'full' breath when swimming, nor exhales completely. There just isn't enough time for that. But getting a fresh load of oxygen in and CO2 out more often than 20 to 30 times per minute is physiologically desirable.....with the corollary that you do not slow your stroke rate too much nor drag your upper arm underneath you under water in the process. The former reduces inertia and the latter increases drag." 

The contention kind of confuses me, but hey... I'll just keep trying different stuff until I'm faster, right? Right. Here is the whole thread in which people sort of hash out this issue.

In terms of the other topics: body roll is something I always think about, and generally fail at, but just keep swimming... right? I'll probably think about these core things tomorrow. I have to take things one step at a time.

Speaking of core, I have two goals for this summer: educating myself on healthy sports nutrition and incorporating strength training. So far I have lifted twice this week, and generally I'm aiming for 3x a week to start out.

I have also been working with our teams nutritionist Linda Samuels to better my diet. I'm already a pretty healthy eater, but now I'm learning the ins and outs of athletics and food. I'm also reading Nancy Clark's Sports Nutrition Guidebook which is surprisingly fascinating. Today I've learned all about fruits/vegetables as well as the truth about vitamins and minerals. It's a good book if you're into this sort of this thing - think about it.