solar squirrel

Here I am only a few days away from August and I have to wonder where the summer went? It seems like taking a summer class makes my summer go in fast-forward and before I know it the leaves are falling off of the trees and it’s dark at 5:00. The good news - I’ve been out of school for a little over a week and I’ve done something every night so far, so at least I am taking advantage of it. The bad news: my work project is still incomplete, so I may have to start working longer hours, although I’m not sure being clueless for 12 hours is any better than being clueless for 8.

I did my first century ride this past Sunday at Sweetcorn. Of course I was running late as usual so I didn’t start with everyone else. I hadn’t ever ridden more than 62 miles before that so this was a fun new treat! Honestly the worst thing about it was the pain in my shoulders and neck. Todd was trying out his new frame (his old one had a defect but was still under warranty) so he was a little hesitant on the downhills, but I flew down them as fast as I could. There was one uphill where I swear I almost died - I was in the lowest possible gear my bike would go — haven’t put my bike in that gear in over a year — but I was still barely able to get up it! Needless to say the hills were mostly humbling experiences.  At least I didn’t get off my bike and walk - which I see people do there every year.  Can you imagine???  OMG how embarrassing!!

So I have managed to get right back into working out.  I have done my track workouts 3 weeks in a row exactly as the training program says.  (A little longer recovery time…but I blame the heat for that).  I’ve even managed to squeeze in swimming (that’s for Brian R.)!!  We’re planning on going to the Highland pool at lunch on Friday which should be fun.  I do need to get back on board with paying attention to my nutrition.  I was doing so well there for a while and I don’t know what happened.  Part of it is that it’s really difficult to make healthy meals when you have no time, and going to school 2 days a week after work made it really hard.

This was a big race weekend, with the Buckeye Trail 50k on Sat. and the Xterra O.N.E. off-road triathlon today (Sunday). Since I knew I couldn’t do both, I opted to do the triathlon instead of the 50k, since I’ll be getting plenty of running later on this year and I also HAD to take advantage of the opportunity to do a trail triathlon - duh! I just want to say that I have some of the most incredible running friends ever! They all did so well and I was SO IMPRESSED with EVERYONE. Elizabeth was incredible, finishing 8th overall and coming in 2nd place female overall. Everyone else did incredibly well, too. It was just an awesome time cheering everyone on. Todd barely trained (I think he only ran once in July (muddy paws race) and maybe 2 or 3 times in June!!!) But he can go out and run 31 miles without training - insane!!!! I’ll post more details for the 50k and my trail triathlon - but for now here are the photo’s!

(I took 3rd overall female at the triathlon!!! YEA!!)

XTERRA O.N.E. trail triathlon

2008 Summer BT50K

Tuesday evening I planned my second mtn. biking excursion at Westbranch.  Joe C. met me there at around 6:30 and after a few minutes of prepping our tires and getting on our gear we were off.  I felt like I was more afraid this time than my first time.  For some reason I had this fear of getting hurt that I didn’t have last time.  I guess maybe it was because I knew that the triathlon was this weekend and I didn’t want to get injured??  Not sure, but I felt more afraid.  I told Joe to take it easy on me for a while so that I could get warmed up.  Lucky for me Joe knows the trails so I can just follow him and not have to worry about where I am going and I can just concentrate on not falling or running into anything.

It seemed to take me forever before I felt comfortable enough not to have my brake on constantly - but then Joe taught me something that I didn’t know - you’re not supposed to use your back brake as much as your front brake.  I didn’t know that and I was using my back brake the majority of the time.  This was causing my bike to slide sideways on the downhill scary parts, in turn causing me to be even more afraid.  After Joe told me the secret about using the front brake and sitting back on the seat, I was doing MUCH better on the downhills.  Also this time I took off the straps I had on my pedals.  (Actually Joe took them off since he had tools).  Last time I had a heck of a time trying to get my feet in them especially on the up-hill parts where you are trying to get moving as quickly as possible so you don’t lose your momentum.  This proved to be very helpful.  I was able to just pedal whenever I needed to rather than trying to get my foot in the strap or flipping the pedal around.  I also noticed that because my feet weren’t strapped onto the pedal I was using my legs to help me navigate around rocks, tree branches, roots, etc.  I think this might be bad, since whenever I do get clipless pedals for my mtn. bike I’m going to have to re-learn not to do that.  Joe said it should be ok, since I will have more skills by the time I get them.  (Sheesh, I sure hope so!)

I felt kind of bad because Joe had to keep waiting for me.  I fell quite a few times - the one time catching my leg between a rock, my bike, and me.  It hurt pretty bad and I thought I broke my ankle, but after a few min. I was ok.  (My knee still feels a little weird…I hope I didn’t do any damage.)  Another time I was starting to fall so I tried to grab onto a tree, but I was going too fast so my arm got pulled and it felt like I pulled it out of socket.  It ended up being fine, though.  I think that mountain biking (especially for beginners like me) has got to be one of the most physically intense activities you can do.  I come home completely EXHAUSTED.  It’s a TOTAL body workout - no joke.  And you know what?  I think I am addicted!!!

Yesterday I decided to do a trail race, not really as a race, but more of a training run. Bridget was doing it and Todd thought it would be fun, too. E-Speed and Daisy joined and even Barb was there! It was awesome to have so many of the SERC running girls (and Todd) represented!

Before even starting I was sweaty and overheated, so I knew it was a smart move to treat this as a training run and not push myself too hard. Besides, I was going at a pretty hard effort biking to and from work yesterday, so I was still a little tired. (Oh - and eating Mexican food and drinking a huge margarita at 9 pm the night before didn’t help much either!!) Daisy and Bridget had the same idea, but of course E-Speed was out to win it! First 500 feet of the race she was out of site. Daisy and I stayed together talking for about the first 3 miles and then I started to say something to her and she wasn’t behind me anymore…she basically biked a century the day before so her legs were more shot than mine. I figured I would just stick with these other 4 girls in front of me for a while - but even their pace was a bit slow for me so I ended up passing them. It was cute because this one girl and I kept going back and forth between who was in front. I would pass her on the flats and downhills and she would pass me on the up-hills (I walked all of the up-hills). Then at the first 5 mile mark (and the 5-mile finish) she picked up her pace and passed me on the flat part on the grass and I realized that she wasn’t even doing the 10-miler. Darn it. There went my running partner. So I was pretty much alone for the 2nd 5-mile loop. It was boring because there wasn’t anyone around for a while. Eventually I got to some guys but I passed them, then I passed a couple more girls and some more guys. It was fun passing people! I guess they all started out too fast or they just weren’t used to trail running. Even though my pace was relaxed I was starting to get really hot and tired the last 2 miles and was looking forward to finishing. I walked the entire grassy hill part because I was SOOOOOO HOT and sweat was just dripping off of my face and chin and my stomach was a bit icky from the Mexican food. Even with walking so much no one passed me…I was hoping someone would catch up to me so I didn’t have to run alone…it’s really boring running alone. About 1/4 of a mile to the finish I passed 2 girls but I don’t think they were doing the 10-miler (to be politically correct I will leave it at that). So I finished at 1:36:06. Todd and E-Speed had been done for over 10 minutes!! I felt good, though, and I was really glad I didn’t try to kill myself. Daisy and I even managed to place in our age group! Technically I got 5th, but because 1st and 2nd were overall finishers I got 3rd! Woo Hoo!!!

Next weekend is the Buckeye 50k, Winking Lizard, and the XTerra triathlon - I’m going to have a lot of posting to do! (I’m not doing the 50k, but Todd, Daisy, E-Speed, Barb, and a ton of others are - I’ll be cheering them on and taking pictures)

A sweaty freak excited to have placed in her age group!

So yesterday the storms put a wrench in my plan to do my track workout after work at the Solon track.  Today the group at work decided to bike at lunch (it’s become sort of a normal routine now to bike at lunch on Wednesdays).  Joe F.  just rode 200+ miles this past weekend so I would have thought that he would have been tired when I tried to ‘race’ him up Ox Lane hill in N. Chagrin Reservation, but I was out of breath and he looked like he wasn’t even breathing!  Tomorrow we’ll try running again, this time a relaxed 6 miles to the park and back.

Oh!  I am going to get an MRI tomorrow!  Not because I need one for a medical reason, but because they need volunteers at work.  I’m excited to see what it’s like ‘on the other end’.  I worked in CT for 5 years and now I’m in Nuclear Medicine but also working closely with MR people.  I have watched people get CT scans, but have never had the experience of laying on the table and going inside any medical imaging machine of any kind.  (You don’t have to have a Dr. order an MR since it doesn’t use ionizing radiation like CT)

I will document the entire experience and hopefully have some cool pictures to post!

I always thought that 2 weeks without running, let alone not working out would be absolutely un-doable. Wouldn’t you know it I had a chance to experience what it feels like not to run or exercise for 2 weeks! Due to my traveling and then being sick, over the duration of more than 2 weeks I managed to only exercise one time - and it was a half-effort track workout during lunch. Incredibly I found it was SO easy to stop exercising! Your time gets absorbed by other things and then you start making excuses as to why you can’t make it running or biking or swimming or fill-in-the-blank exercise routine.

Luckily I am fortunate enough to have some pretty hard-core friends who inevitably got me out of my exercise funk. Daisy sent me a text message earlier this week (Wednesday) asking if I had class, and if not to meet her up at West Branch for some mtn. biking.  Wouldn’t you know it my prof. canceled  class Wed. due to 4th of July Holiday, so I didn’t have class.  I also have been meaning to go with Joe C. so we made a social outing of it.  Wow.  Mtn. biking is no joke!  My friends at work said that West Branch wasn’t real mtn. biking - that it was easy - well you know what - I thought it was tough!!!  We didn’t even go on the expert trails and I had to walk my bike for a lot of portions where there were super steep hills or lots of rocks.  Daisy and her hubby are totally into it and I felt bad because I didn’t want them to have to wait for me.  Joe kept saying ‘momentum is your friend’, but I was so scared because I couldn’t see what was ahead on the trail.  I’m sure the next time I go I will be more confident.

I was a muddy mess when we were done (my bike and I were literally covered) so Daisy and I went down to the lake and I washed off my bike.  (Daisy got pics - I’ll post them soon).  It was such a fun time.  I can’t wait to go back!

That was Wed.  Thurs I rode my bike again - this time on the streets of Cleveland starting from Slavic Village and going to the Tap House and then to Bier Markt.  What a riot!  It’s fun riding with the guys and hanging out and drinking beer.  Friday was relaxing and lazy hanging out with Maryellen at her new place.  Sat. I decided to try running again and met Daisy at Lock 29 and we did about 16.5 on trails.  Not too bad for not running in a while.  I was pretty tired when we were done, but it felt good to be back running again.  I would have never done it if it weren’t for Daisy.  She waited for me so we could run trails because I was late after getting pulled over for going too fast.  (No ticket, phew!).

Let’s see what next week holds in store for me - hopefully lots of strong running, biking, and swimming.