Ooh La La

<editors note:  feel free to barf a little>


Dating someone who is also training for IM creates a new twist on romance. Late night date nights?  But, we have to be in bed by 10pm if we want 7 hours sleep!  Vacation?  I've already found a place for an OW swim and he wants to hit up the Energy Lab and Ali'i Drive.  For Christmas, he got me a bike trainer.  For his birthday, one of his gifts was a Park Tool stand.  His Valentine's Day gift had a Specialized logo.  After a week away, I wasn't welcomed home with flowers.  Instead he surprised me with a new Bento box!  He cleans my bike.  He rinses my wetsuit.  Last week, I drove us to the pool and I'm pretty sure that's the first workout where I've actually driven him!  If he's lucky, I'll end up washing all 9 of the water bottles from a single day's workout or do his laundry.  And the cherry on top?  Last week, he said to me, "I think Sedonia should stay with us for Ironman."  I asked why.  He responded, "Because you're going to be a basketcase and I'm not going to be able to help you.  I'm going to be focused on the race.  She can be the one to calm you down."  So even when he knows he can't be there for me, he's already figured that out and found a new sherpa for me.  Is that enamoring, or what?

A Victorious Failure

This past weekend was our Halfway training weekend.  The training was held on the Wildflower course at Lake San Antonio, which is about a three hour drive away.  Unfortunately, the weather has been miserably wet in the Bay Area the past week.  We loaded up the car with all of our camping and tri gear in a torrential downpour.  And, luckily, by the time we arrived, it was sunny and we were able to set up camp (on some really soft ground) without any issues.

I think blogging about my anxiety before I left was therapeutic because I was really ok on Friday and actually kind of excited about Saturday.  Gasp!  We woke up at 5am, got ready, made breakfast and headed down to the lake.  I got in the water about five minutes to 7am to get used to it.  Since I had a bit of a panic attack a few weeks ago, I wanted to make sure that didn't happen again.  It was painfully cold, but I got my hands and face adjusted the best I could.  The swim went ok.  I had some tricep pain in my left arm (something that's been bothering me for a few weeks), so after about 20 minutes, I had to flip to backstroke every couple minutes for a few strokes to compensate. Toward the end, I also started cramping in my left calf.  And, I was pretty dizzy as I got out of the water as my blood went rushing to my lower half.  We have discussed several times that it's a little disorienting to get out of the water, but I hadn't really experienced that yet, because my other swims have had me gradually walking up on a beach.  I wanted to be done with the swim in :48 and I was out in :55.  But, it's the first time I swam that distance in open water so I did recognize and congratulate myself as I was walking back to Transition.

Transition was difficult!  I was frozen.  I couldn't feel my feet and it's really hard to walk as far as we did when you can't feel your feet and you're trying to grip your toes around a flip flop!  The rain had started up again while we were on the swim so my bag was all wet.  Because it was so cold, most of us changed clothes, which also takes a long time when you're not only wet, but you also can't feel your fingers!  I was frustrated because I can typically get through T1 in 4 minutes, but every event we've done on this team has taken me a really long time because of weather.  Once I'm ready, I eat a PB&J sandwich, take two salt pills (to prevent more cramping) and hop on my bike.  I had a bit of a mishap in the beginning because I wasn't sure if I was going the right way so I turned around and rode back (and ended up having a few others follow me...SORRY), only to later find out that I was going the right way in the first place.  So that set me back mentally.  Once we get back on track, we start climbing, but I'm still trying to get my head in the game from the not doing as well as I wanted on the swim, the 15 minute transition, and the backtracking and time wasting on the bike so far.  I had to get off my bike and walk it for about 5 minutes (first time I made a decision to just stop and walk), in order to get my head back in a good place.  After a few minutes, I was ready to finish the climb and I was off. 

Wildflower is not an easy course.  It is supposedly the second hardest triathlon course in America.  So while it took me longer than I wanted to get going on the bike, at least I was in a good place to take on a pretty rough day ahead.  I got to the first water stop and it was also the turnaround for the teams out there practicing on the Olympic course.  That was the first time I ever said, "Why the hell am I doing an Ironman?  I can't believe I could be turning around already if I was doing Olympic!"  As time goes on, the weather just gets worse and worse.  I'm not a skinny girl and the wind almost knocked me off my bike at one point.  There were flats where I was only going 8mph because of the head wind.  The rain gets progressively worse and is literally slapping me in the face.  By that point, I am just laughing at how ridiculous the ride is.  Michelle, our roaming SAG, came by around mile 24 and asked if I wanted a ride for some of it.  I told her I wanted to keep going, but that I probably would need to be SAG'ed because I already knew I wasn't going to make the cutoff time.  Around mile 27, I see her picking up Jen and Susie.  I told her to take them and by the time she comes back, I could get picked up.  I ride another 10 miles before it's my turn to get picked up.  She takes me to the "top" of Nasty, but it's a false summit, so I still have some of it to climb, but not nearly as difficult as the bulk of it below.  Unfortunately, I am just freezing, shivering, and my teeth are chattering because I am so wet from the rain and I had just sat in a warm car for 10 minutes.  However, the little bit of climbing I have to do there to get to the true crest of Nasty warms me up just in time to have the steepest descent I've been on so far. Despite the wet roads, I had a great descent, clocked 41mph, and had a perma-grin the whole ride down.  And, then it's time to climb again.  As I'm heading toward Bee Rock, I could not even fathom how I was in my little ring.  I stopped to make sure I didn't have a flat tire that I was unaware of because why else would I be moving so slow?  But, when I did that and I looked back, it was pretty clear I was on a hill.  Just another one of those "false flats" this course is known for.  I finally get back to Transition and my watch says 6:45.  Coach Mike sees me and says, "Girl, it doesn't get any worse than this."  I tell him "5.5 hours and I even got SAG'ed for 6 miles!"  And he tells me that everyone is coming in 60-90 minutes later than they expected.

I attempt to put on socks and shoes (mind you my toes are still frozen from the swim, so I haven't been able to feel my feet in nearly 7 hours).  I got out of my soaking wet bike jacket and I found a windbreaker.  I grab a hat (because it's still raining), my run bottle, another PB&J sandwich, and more salt pills to take with me.  They tell me that because everyone is coming in so late that I am only going to do one loop of the run, rather than two.  I'm bummed because I just wanted to get as close to a Halfway as I could, but I understand that we have a cutoff.  So off we go.  My plan going in to the weekend was to walk the uphill and run the downs because this run course aint no picnic either.  It took me a good 20 minutes to adjust to running.  While my heart rate was ok, I was just out of breath...probably partly because I was trying to get some food in me.  I'm running with Phil, and at one point, I couldn't run anymore because the mud was so bad that when I was running behind him, he looked like he was running in snow shoes and I'm engaged in hysterical laughter.  Finally, we get out on to the street and head into "The Pit."  There we find Sedonia waiting for us at a water stop and she runs up the hill with us.  I tell her I'm doing great and she said she thought for sure that I would have been shedding some tears today! :)  At the top of the hill, Phil and Sedonia go back down as there are still others on the course finishing their first or second loops.  I finish it out in 1:40.  It's not a great time, but considering the rain, the mud, the hills, and that it took me two hours during the Louie Tri, I'm ok with the time.  After I finished, I told Coach Mike I wanted to do a quick out and back while we waited for the rest to come in.  So I went another 1K out and back so that I could have some sort of victory on the run (since I have yet to run more than a 10K).

Summary:

Swim 1.2m :55

T1 :15

Bike 50m 5:45

T2 :15

Run 7m 1:58

OK, so those times are terrible.  I failed at meeting all of my goals.  I failed at completing a Half distance.  But, surprisingly, I don't feel bad about it.  I learned awhile go that we have to take the emotion out of the word "failure" because failure isn't bad.  It's just failure.  It is what it is.  It can't be considered bad, when sometimes failure is a good thing (i.e., physiologically your muscles don't repair and get stronger unless you work them to failure).  I was still smiling despite not meeting my goals and that says a lot.

After welcoming everyone back, we head to the showers and then get to our camp site, which is a muddy muddy mess!  Fortunately, LLS provided a pasta dinner for us on Saturday night so we didn't have to deal with cooking.  Once dinner was over, we had a brief meeting to talk about how "brutal" the day was, our victories, and to celebrate that we were more "iron" than we have ever been, even if a lot of us didn't complete the mileage in the swim, the bike, or the run. 

At breakfast on Sunday morning, the coaches reminded us that one of the reasons we do this event is to practice our plan for when the big day does arrive.  And, Coach Tony encouraged us to write down what worked and what didn't.  Since this is my journal, here are the things I learned:

• Take in more salt the day before to retain more water and prevent cramping.
• More flexing and harder kicking as I'm coming up to shore where there isn't a beach to walk up on (like in AZ).
• Bodyglide my wrists.  I keep forgetting this, despite getting symmetrical itchy bumps on my wrists after each swim.
• Bodyglide up into my hairline.  My wetsuit rides up as I lift my head and I've got a couple lovely wetsuit hickeys.
• Backstroke when/if I need it.  I'm still moving forward.
• It's ok to take the time to get my head back in the game.  If I just kept going and tried to do that, it would have been a long and nasty day because I don't think I would have gotten happy until maybe Mile 20 of the bike ride.  But taking the few minutes to just stop (well walking), remind myself what I was doing, and pump myself up that it was going to be a great day, made all the difference in the world.
• When wearing a base layer, tuck my shirt in BEFORE I leave.  The rain and wet roads kick up all the dirt, sand, and gravel right into the spot where the shirt rides up.  Not fun.
• Since I recently installed water cages behind the seat, I need more practice getting the bottles in and out while still pedaling.  
• Chamois butter or Bodyglide at the edges of the bike pad. 
• Need to do some experimenting with food on the run.  I was truly hungry and needed some substance, which is why I ate the sandwich when I came back from the bike.  If I only ate half, would that have been ok?  Because a whole sandwich was too much and I felt the effects of possible GI issues that luckily never happened.  Toward the end of the run I also ate 3 gummies and then I got a stitch.  I am thinking I probably need to stick with powders/gels.   
• Keep smiling!

Keep Going

Last night my conference call ended up going until 7pm so I missed spin class at the gym.  Because it's still raining, I decided I would put my old bike back together and get on the trainer.  Except that I ended up getting in a fight with him (My old bike is a boy named Hank.  My new bike is a girl named Ruby).  Hank won.  I was trying to put my old pedals back.  I have a nice wrench for taking my pedals on and off, but it's at Nick's house (with Ruby), so I was using a plain old open wrench.  I got one side on ok, but after a good 20 minutes of unsuccessful attempts, I decided it would be easier if I put my tire on (ok, don't ask me why I was even bothering to do this without having my back tire on as we all know hindsight is 20/20).  It's not hard to put a rear tire on.  But for some reason, it did not want to cooperate with me.  After another 20 minutes of cursing and yelling and beginning to cry in frustration because the frame was refusing to align with the spindle, I leaned over my bike and it plopped in to place.  Just. Like. That.  Of course, now the chain was giving me problems.  So another five minutes and ten even greasier fingers later, the chain is cooperating and shifting normal.  But, I still have unfinished business with the pedals.  By now, I'm a mental mess, my hands are disgusting, my jeans have grease marks all over them and I am done.  I'm pissed.  I'm stressed.  I'm frustrated.  I leave to get to Trader Joe's to stock up on food for the training weekend.  Unlike most people who enjoy working out when they are angry, I am the opposite.  I have tried and it's a pure waste of time.


Any other day that whole ordeal probably would have taken me 10 minutes to fix everything.  But, I know I'm pre-occupied about this weekend.  I didn't  realize how much I was thinking about it. What is so worrisome? I know I can swim the distance.  I know I can bike the distance.  And, I can't say that I *know* I can run the distance, but I think it's true that once you get to a certain level of running you can just keep going.  I've been feeling good about my endurance.  I am capable of completing 70.3 miles.  BUT, can I do it in the time allotted?  That is where I am stuck.  Yes, I know this is just "training" weekend.  But, this is a tough course and a pretty good indicator that if you double your time on this course, then that will be your predicted time.  I think it will take me 9 hours, which means not meeting a 17 hour cutoff time come November (Originally, I had 10, but Sedonia challenged me to shave 30 minutes off the bike (doable) and 30 minutes off the run (extremely uneasy about)).


So while I am sitting here, still pre-occupied despite my best judgment, I know there is nothing I can do about this other than to try.  Try to be ok with the rain.  Try to be ok with whatever happens on Saturday.  And, if it doesn't go the way I want, I have to remind myself that I do have 8 more months until my official event rather than 4 months (Vineman) to work on speed and endurance.  I have to remind myself that I went from competing in a sprint tri in 2010 to training for a full Ironman in 2011 and the absurdity of that concept.  I have lots of little mantras I say to myself while training.  And, I'm adding two more this weekend: 1)  This is not the hardest thing you've ever done; and 2) Courtesy of  Winston Churchill, "If you're going through hell, keep going."

Rinse and Repeat

Weekdays
06:30 - Wakeup
08:00 - Start working
06:00 - Stop working
06:30 - Change
07:00 - Workout
08:30 - Make/Eat Dinner
09:00 - Shower
10:00 - Bed


REPEAT X4


Weekends
06:00 - Wakeup
07:00 - Drive wherever
08:00 - Train
02:30 - Eat
03:30 - Drive home
04:30 - Foam roller
05:00 - Ice bath
05:15 - Shower
05:30 - Wash water bottles
05:45 - Vegetate
07:00 - Eat again
09:00 - Pack for next day's workout
10:00 - Bed


REPEAT X2

Halfway Training Weekend

This upcoming weekend is our "Halfway to Ironman" training weekend.  We will be spending the weekend in Lake San Antonio and training on the Wildflower Long Distance course.  One of many things that makes Wildflower so unique is that you have to camp!  So not only will we be training on one of the most difficult triathlon courses in the country, we will also be sleeping in tents, on the cold and hard ground, the night before and the night after having swam 1.2 miles, biking 56 miles, and running 13.1 miles.  We will have to prepare our food out of ice chests and gas stoves or BBQs.  I'm already at a loss for how the heck I am going to eat a sufficient breakfast to start 9 hours of training at 5am in the dark.  Oh, and have I mentioned the weather is just awful these past few days?  I think this weekend will be more about testing my mental abilities than my physical abilities.

This course terrifies me.  One of the hills is called Nasty Grade.  And, I have already been told to go into the run expecting to "hike" rather than run for the first 6 miles of it (mind you, I've never even ran more than 6 miles to date and now I have to do 13)!  Last year, I went down with Nick to help volunteer for the training weekend.  I never imagined that I would actually be doing the same course a year later.  I brought my bike with me and did my volunteer bit in the morning and attempted to ride the Olympic distance bike course that afternoon.  I did not make it.  I think I went about 9 miles out, gave up, and turned around.  It was so difficult for me and I had to walk my bike in a couple places.  Granted, I was an extremely novice rider then and I didn't learn to properly change my gears until about a month later.  I'm hoping that was half my battle.

Yesterday, I was thinking about how when I went there last year, I just assumed how much these people had been training to get where they were and how they all finished.  And, here I am thinking about how I am nowhere near close to their level at the same time last year.  Yet, yesterday, Sedonia commented that we have biked more and swam in the open water more than they did last year before Wildflower weekend.

A few weeks ago, our coach was talking to us about instituting cut-off times for our training weekend.  Since I am officially an "Aquabiker" for Vineman, they asked if I would rather be allowed to finish the bike and they just SAG me forward to the run or if they should cut me off at the bike.  Since Vineman comes first, I want to be allowed to finish the bike.  But, I was laughing at the concept that we were already discussing the plan for me knowing that I will have a difficult time meeting the cutoffs.  My silver lining is that even though this is our team's "Halfway" weekend, IMAZ is three months after the other events we are training for, so it's truly more like "Quarterway" weekend for me.

You Will Do This

I need to do my track workout tonight.  I don't want to go.  It's raining, which isn't really a bad thing when you're running.  However, it still makes me not want to go.  It's 7pm and I'm not in workout clothes yet.  I was looking for some sort of motivation to get me out of this chair.  I remember a guy that made a professional poster of his partner at IMAZ that says, "You Will Do This" and I recalled one of the main IM videos that says the same.  Of course, the video mainly features the pros and not the every day people and slow pokes like me. :) But, I will do this.  And, I will go change now.  I'll even wear an ASU workout shirt to make me smile.

Panic Attack

Yesterday was my first open water swim in salt water.  We were at Aquatic Park in San Francisco.  I really have no idea how or why or what caused it, but I had some sort of panic attack as soon as I got in the water.  I'm not afraid of swimming and I'm not afraid of open water.  But for whatever reason, I simply freaked out.  I was cold when we swam in the snow, but something was different this time.  It was painful.  My feet were ok.  My face was ok.  But my hands were shooting with pain.  Sedonia came to the rescue and coached me through the pain and getting my hands moving.  After several minutes of what felt like a 7 year old (me) being given swimming lessons (by Sedonia), I was able to calm down and attempt the swim.  I kept stopping every hundred feet or so for reasons unknown.  But, once I finally got more comfortable, I was able to get in a rhythm and practice my sighting.  I'm a bilateral breather, but found it much easier to sight when I did same-side breathing so that will be one of many adjustments I need to make.  I hope that any future panic attacks that come my way will happen during training so there will be no meltdowns when it really counts!

Very happy to be done!

After the swim, we had a 100 minute run to the bridge.  Unfortunately, I was having some knee pain so I never made it to the bridge.  Besides the knee pain I was having yesterday, it's frustrating being so slow.  While most of my team got 10 miles in, I only logged 6!  I just have to remind myself that I'm getting stronger every day and not to compare to everyone else.  

Picture break at the Warming Hut

The Gift

Yesterday's training was a 60 mile bike ride in Napa Valley.  When we arrived, I pumped my tires and headed to the restroom.  On the way there, I heard a gigantic boom, which sounded like a shotgun, but I knew it was a tire busting and I thought, "Wow that sucks."  So I come out of the bathroom and see my bike lying on the ground.  It was MY bike that made that awful noise!  Either I had an old tube or I just pumped it with too much air and it burst.  By the time I ran over there, Nick was already in the process of changing it for me (thank you!).  

My surprise that I have now blown through 2 tubes in
 a row that were never even ridden on the road!

After the tire was fixed, we rode over to the group and started to roll.  But, silly me, I forgot my bottles in the car.  Once those were recovered, I realized I needed to make an adjustment in my new shoes that required scissors so I had to fix those.  Then I had some trouble with my new cleats, but we start riding.  Except that my cadence and my speed are not working.  So I stop (again) and get the cadence fixed.  And, about 8 miles later I finally get the odometer working.   


After that very slow start, I'm finally feeling good (and I'm by myself, which means I ride better).  I ride for about 20 miles with some healthy climbing.  The descent is a terrible road full of patched potholes making it extremely bumpy and painful.  I make it to a little general store (in the teeny tiny town of Pope Valley) for a potty break.  There are a bunch of cyclists there and they ask me where I'm going.  I tell them Ink Grade and they give me the lay of the land, which turned out to be good mental preparation for me.  It was a 4.1 mile climb and I figured with that kind of incline, I would only be averaging 4 mph, which means it would take me an hour to get up that hill!  Holy crap!  I find the road and make a note of my mileage and time.  I'm surprisingly doing ok.  I stop at the halfway mark to refuel and continue on.  Around the 3/4 mark, Captain Les rides by and informs me that he's the sweep.  What?!?!  Again, I'm last?!?!  There were three people behind me, but due to some bike issues, they had to stay back.  So as I'm continuing to struggle up the hill, Les tells me I'm doing great because the first three or four times he climbed this hill, he said he walked his bike (ok, so I feel a little better).  He then informs me the downhill is a "gift" and said he would climb this hill six times if only to have that downhill gift every time.  When I reach the top (I made it in 50! yay!), I'm really looking forward to this "gift" as he so called it.  And, it was exactly that.  A gift.  A smooth, clean, straight road, with only a few turns, and it was absolutely amazing!  

There's a SAG stop at mile 43.  From there we have the option to do a 7 mile loop and head back or just head back.  I'm interested in the loop, and know I'm capable of the extra miles, but I'm already at 4 hours and it's going to take another hour to complete the last 15 miles to the finish.  So we skip the loop and just head back.




We have a nice wide bike lane on the Silverado Trail so three of us are riding together.  As we are passing by winery after winery, I mention that we should at least hit up one since we are there.  Les, being the Assistant Winemaker at Korbel, offers to take us somewhere since he has industry privileges.

Vineyards on the Silverado Trail

After we get back and head to lunch, I get another unexpected gift -- a beautiful winery and free flight.  Les took us to Darioush for the architecture, which was Persian.  It had a little more of the the Vegas feel to it rather than quaint Napa, which means I definitely felt out of place in my sweaty bike gear!  But, I really didn't mind because I was still enjoying my gift.  

Oh I'm Just A Girl

Last year, I was enrolled in a program where we had to identify our values.  The objective of that exercise was to review those values on a daily basis and rate them on a scale from 1-10 with how well we "lived" those values that day.  What I would quickly discover is that on days where I had lots of 7s, 8s, 9s, and 10s, then I had a great day.  And when I had lots of 5s and 6s, it was no wonder why I felt in a funk that day.  

Much to my surprise (or maybe not to my surprise), I have an awful lot of high numbers since joining Ironteam.  It allows me to connect and network.  It helps me relate to people.  It supports health and well being.  It provides another outlet for accomplishment and achievement.  My good friends know I have this strange fascination/obsession with Princess Diana (I still have no idea where it came from other than she died on my 21st birthday).  I couldn't articulate the name of one of my values, so I called it Lady Di.  It's about femininity and dignity and beauty. 

Each day when I review my list, "Lady Di" is the one line item that makes me cringe.  Since I am only in the office 8 days a month, I am living the remaining 22 days of the month in workout clothes, pajamas, or clothes that could easily pass for pajamas.  My hair is either in a ponytail, or wet from the shower (and, what's the point in doing it, when it's just going to get sweaty again in 10 hours?).  Makeup?  Oh, how I miss thee!  Because putting on a full-face just means I have to remove the makeup in a few hours.  And, then there is my prized possession....those cute feet!  However, my poor feet are battered and bruised and have one angry toenail from all the running they have been subjected to as of late.  Not to mention that because I seem to be short on time these days, I have succumbed to giving myself pedicures rather than having someone else do it.       

So today I had enough!  I saw an opening at work and shut down my computer at 1pm.  I did my hair, I put on makeup, and I got a pedicure!  Today, Lady Di will be a 10.

Ride N Tie

I had been looking forward to this past weekend's training for a couple of weeks now because we had a Ride N Tie on the schedule.  Not only did we have to find a partner (preferably one of the same height because we had to share a bike), but we were highly encouraged to wear costumes!  Right up my alley!  I pretty much knew the only person I could be partners with that would a) be just as excited as I was to get a costume; and b) be the same height was going to be Sedonia.  After throwing all kinds of ideas around for costumes, we narrowed down on being some sort of play on words.  And, due to all sorts of reasons I won't go into here, we picked Two Peas In a Pod.  

The morning started out with an open water swim.  One of my many many "issues" I am trying to battle with this training is to keep reminding myself that this is my own event and I can't care what anyone else is doing or even remotely feel bad about my own abilities because I'm comparing myself to others.  I must constantly reiterate to myself that I am only racing against myself and no one else.  So during the first round of swimming, I start to freak out that a) I'm out of breath; and b) feeling like I'm last.  In my head I am trying to rationalize why I am so out of breath.  Is it because it is so friggin' cold?  Is this a shock to my system?  After I get out of the water, I realize it is because I am one of the early ones out so my "out of breathness" is my own idiocy of thinking that I was last!  

Each time we finished a swim and ended up on the beach, we had to wait for our partner to get out of the water and do things like lunges while holding hands, wheelbarrow races, 3 legged races, and carrying an egg on a spoon.  BTW, do you know how hard it is to walk wheelbarrows in the sand????

After the swim, it was time to get in to our costumes.  Since we were running on trails, we were on mountain bikes this weekend instead of road bikes.  The goal was that one person had to ride the bike and another had to run.  There was a strategy on when to ditch the bike and when to run, but basically, we both had to arrive at a specific location and wait for the other person to get there.  Once we got there, we had to spin a wheel and do whatever the arrow landed on like burpees, squats, pushups, etc.  We were leapfrogging the same people for most of the time, but at some point we took a wrong turn because all the sudden no one was around us anymore.  Despite running and riding longer than we should have due to our detour and being hot as hell from running in a silly pea costume, we still had so much fun anyway!  

A Different Kind of Training

I missed my workout on Wednesday due to a special work event, so last night I was planning to get my spin workout in.  “Planning” being the key word here.

As mentioned in my previous post, I got a new bike a few weeks ago.  I logged just under 1000 miles on an aluminum frame entry level bike with "chubby" road bike tires.  And, those chubby tires never failed me (which is a good thing because I have an irrational reaction to with getting my hands dirty)!  I knew that as soon as I upgraded my bike, I would start getting flats because the tires would be a lot thinner.  Lo and behold, with less than 50 miles on my new bike I got my first flat.  Of course, the irony in all this is that I got the flat because during bootcamp weekend, while we were out on a run, one of the captains deliberately deflated our tires so we could practice changing flats.  And, I am pretty sure that my flat came from that exercise because my idiotic self pinched the tube when re-inflating it, resulting in a perfect slit.  Being out of town for work last week and being gone last weekend, I didn’t realize until a few days ago that my tire was flat….like really flat….the tube had to be toast.  So last night, I actually changed the tube and even managed to get the rear wheel back on the bike.  Woo hoo!  Of course, it helped that I was sitting in my house and not on the side of the road.  Plus, I had a sink nearby to wash my hands.

However, between changing the flat, taking the bike in for a tune-up, getting new pedals, installing new cleats, and all the subsequent playing around of clipping in and out (switching from SPDs to Speedplays) to get it just right (which I'm still a little weary of), I never actually did my spin workout!  Oh well.  At least I can say I changed the tire by myself.  But, I'm still on the hunt for a bike pouch I like that will hold wet wipes. :)

Big Girl Bike

A couple weeks ago I finally got my Big Girl bike.  I took me forever to get a bike because every weekend we have training, and I just never had the energy to get to the bike store before the store closed.  And my work schedule was limiting me on the weekdays.  So on a recent Sunday, we finally made it to the bike store and I test rode a smaller bike than I have today.  It felt so much better!  Even though my height puts me in a 48, my arms put me just a tad too short to rest comfortably on the hood.  So I had them order me the bike I wanted in the smaller size.  Once that bike came in, it was time for more test riding.  It felt good, but the sales guy really thought I needed to be back in a 48.  Fortunately, I had the foresight enough to bring my current bike and shoes to the store with me so we did all kinds of measurements between all three bikes, took the pedals off my bike, and put them on the test bikes, and then spent the better of 2 hours hopping on an off the trainer between a 48 and a 44 doing all sorts of adjustments.  In the end, I went with the smaller bike.   And, it’s so dang cute!