Better

It's become fairly obvious to me that people are angry with my decision to not do nationals.  I'm also beginning to understand, however, that it doesn't matter what other people think about this; they don't know how much it hurts, and they don't know what really went into my decision.  They don't have to like me, and they don't have to believe me.  That's perfectly fine with me because I know that I made the right decision.

I wanted to do triathlon nationals.  I wanted it to be my last hurrah in the triathlon world before embarking on the life of a roadie.  In February, my training was on track, and I felt like I was setting myself up for a great race.  But then I got busy bike racing, and then I got injured.  I'm doing well with cycling this year.  I'm currently ranked #1 in the conference.  I planned to do some last minute, super intense training during these two weeks prior to nats to jump start my system and get back on track for a good race.  The problem is that I cannot do this.  I cannot run or swim.  It may improve in the next week or so, but by then, what's the point?  Why should I waste my efforts on something that I'm not prepared for and will put me in excruciating pain when I can focus on something that I am prepared for?  I had to make a decision quickly so that I could focus my efforts on one thing, not both.

It's true.  I was torn over doing nationals instead of regionals, but I was going to do it anyway for the team and for the experience.  When this injury prevented me from training properly for nationals, it no longer became worth it.  In the mean time, our cycling team is on the brink of qualifying for nationals.  This is something we haven't done in probably 10 years, and it probably won't happen for another few years.  Instead of wasting myself to finish a triathlon that I won't do very well in, I'm going to help my team go to cycling nationals.

Otherwise, training is going well.  Yesterday I lead a "moderate paced" ride which consisted of Kyle and Pete Schilling going really fast for the whole Whitmore Lake loop...I felt good, though, despite not doing any work. Ain't towin. Today I rode about 25 miles in the rain and did about 8x15 second flat sprints.  I shifted into a hard gear, slowed down, and just sprinted as hard as I could.  I'm getting more used to sprinting in the drops, which is good and that was my main objective for the workout. 

Ouch

Ignore what i said in my last post about doing triathlon nationals.  

today i went for a 50 min ride on my TT bike and a 20 min run, and my neck was in a lot of pain afterwards.  the pain is worse than ever, and my shoulder periodically goes numb.

i went to UHS, and i didn't leave with a clear diagnosis.  they took x-rays (which were really blurry and probably not done very well).  he said that there was some degeneration in the back of my neck, which doesn't sound like a good thing, but he didn't seem to be too concerned.  other than that, i signed up for physical therapy.

i'm bummed and i feel so flaky, but i just cannot do triathlon nationals.  i can't imagine how much pain i would be in after a whole race considering how bad it was today.  i didn't even attempt swimming.  

Sketch City

I felt off this weekend at the Marian and Purdue races.  I'm not sure if it was from being tired, nervous, or a combination, but my bike handling just felt off.

The crit on Saturday was super sketchy.  There were 3 crashes during the race, one of which was right in front of me (there are rarely crashes in women's races).  It was also about double the field size of the crits I've done.  Some of the corners were sharp, and I over-braked throughout the whole race but still stayed with the pack (in the back because I was having trouble drafting due to my over-braking).  I got some prime points, and I think I finished near the top 10.  Not too bad considering that my biggest focus was staying upright.  With my neck injury, crashing would not have been good.

Sunday was much better.  I was still feeling a little off and I was having some trouble riding in the pack of about 30 riders, but luckily, it broke up pretty quickly.  It was a short 20 mile race with 5 laps and a big hill on each lap (but we did the hill 6 times).  Someone attacked on the second lap, and I found myself in a 6 person breakaway.  I was feeling pretty good, but I got forced into pulling at the bottom of the hill.  A Wisconsin girl accelerated in the middle of the hill, and I gave her too much of a gap.  I started accelerating towards the top and I was really gaining on her, but the finish line came up too quickly.  I shouldn't complain about 2nd place, but the more I think about it, the more it eats away at me.  So close!

I'm still torn over triathlon nationals vs. cycling regionals, but I made my decision to do tri nats.  It's still eating away at me, along with my 2nd place finish.  Oh how it stings.

The Fatigue

I'm starting to feel the fatigue of racing every weekend.  

 I've had trouble balancing my bike racing with my triathlon training.  It's always been obvious to me that if I really want to be good, I have to choose one or the other.  This is becoming even more obvious.  I'm still pretty sore from that track workout on Tuesday.  My neck is also hurting from riding and running but mostly running I think, and my legs are feeling pretty dead.  I'm a little nervous for the weekend, but sometimes it seems like I race better and find this magical power when my legs are tired (like last Sunday).  I was still able to hold the same power in my pre-race ride I did today as last week (4x[1:00 @300 watts, 20 seconds at 375-400, 10 seconds max sprint]).  And truthfully, I think it's all because of the Espresso Love GUs that pretty much save my life in every race (sorry Powerbar).  

Anyway, this all creates a bit of a dilemma.  Right now, it's also obvious that I'm in much better bike racing shape than triathlon shape.  Collegiate triathlon nationals and cycling regionals conflict with one another.  I'm planning on doing tri nats, but if my neck keeps hurting the way it is, I may be more inclined to try my luck at cycling regionals and improve our chances of qualifying a whole team to cycling nationals.  This is risky, though, because I'm already qualified for cycling nats, and the men's A team would really have to pull it together to qualify since the competition is pretty stiff.  Even with our huge point collection last week, it might not be enough.  Plus, I don't want to abandon the tri club since I'm our #1 seed.

I want to do tri nats to race with the team and mainly for the experience, but my future lies in cycling (I've been looking at cycling teams out in Seattle, not triathlons).  I've always sort of known that tri nats would be my last triathlon for awhile, and I was hoping that I could  put everything together just once to race really well (like 2:15).  With my lack of running and swimming, though, I don't know if that's possible.  But if I skipped it, I might always wonder "what if?"  I also have to remind myself that I did fairly well at tri nats last year without training much at all, and I'm definitely faster now.  I just want to lay down one of the fastest bike splits.  Hopefully the Espresso Love will pull me through the run.

A New Use for Zip Ties

Today I rode my bike to Whitmore Lake High School, which is probably about 8 miles away.  Then I did 8x400s on the track, and rode home.  I intended to do 3 minute power intervals on the way out and the way back, but since there were 35 mph crosswinds, I decided to just ride as hard as I could so that I could put a steady force against the wind.

I did encounter another problem, though.  How do I transport my running shoes?  I thought of using my cycling vest pockets, but with my size 11 feet, that did not work.  Then I thought of using a carabiner, but I couldn't find one.  Finally, I settled on using zip ties.  I had to bring some clippers and extra zip ties for the way home, but it seemed to work pretty well.  

Overall, the workout went pretty well.  I currently can't upload my powertap data because my uplink is broken and the new one hasn't come, but I probably averaged well over 200 watts on the bike.  For the 400s, I did them all in about 90-93 with less than 1 minute recover.  I was surprised with this because in recent weeks, I haven't been running more than a total of about 3 miles.

le train bleu

The races this weekend were great!  Saturday was a 42 mile road race - 9 laps on a 4 mile circuit with 1.2 miles of dirt on each lap.  I was a little nervous about this because I've only ridden on a dirt road once, and I did not go fast.  It was actually, however, a lot of fun!

The first lap was a little nerve-wracking. We started on the dirt road, and it took me awhile to clip in.  While I was trying to clip in, I wasn't paying much attention to the line I took, and I rode over some pretty nasty mud/gravel/pot holes/death traps while practically one-leg pedaling.  Despite almost crashing in the first 20 seconds of the race, I regained my composure.  The dirt section got much better towards the end of the stretch, and on the first lap, Julie pulled me back to the group because I got a little dropped.  

We rode really slow for a long time, and Julie attacked a lot.  The group narrowed down to 4 mostly because of the dirt section.  I kept thinking of Phil Liggett talking about the pave sections in the Tour and Paris-Roubaix and how important it is to get in the front before you get on them.  I kept trying to get to the front, but somehow I'd get stuck in the back, and this Wisconsin girl somehow always got in front of me and went really slow.  I had to play catch up for the second half of the dirt for a few laps, but eventually Wisco girl got dropped.  In the end, Julie took the win and I got 2nd.  The guys also did really well by placing 5 people in the top 10, so we really racked up some points.

Today, we did a 2 mile circuit race with a pretty decent hill, and Julie attacked from the line and stayed out for the whole race.  I sat in the select pack (most people got dropped on the first lap) for a little while until it seemed pretty clear that Julie wasn't coming back.  Then I sort of accidentally attacked on the hill.  I meant to just keep going with the other girls, but I got a gap, and I rode solo for a few laps.  Finally I saw that they were catching up, so I sat up and waited for them.  On the next lap, I attacked again because I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to out-sprint them.  I got a gap again, but I sat up a little bit again and made them work some more to catch me.  For the 2nd to last lap, I just rode with them and listened to them all breathing really hard while I rode up the hill pretty easily.  Finally, on the last lap, I really gunned it up the first part of the hill, I got a big gap, and I held it to the end.  Another 1-2 finish for the Wolverines. :)

We also had like a 3 mile time trial.  I finally got to pimp my aero helmet and my zipps together, but not the TT bike.  I felt really tired, though, and I couldn't really go above lactate threshold because my legs just wouldn't let me.  I kept my HR around 174 the whole time, and just did the best I could.  I don't know what place I got yet or how fast because I didn't have a computer.

Bike racing is so much fun, especially when I'm feeling strong.  I know that my circuit race tactics weren't the smartest, but I also knew that I was the strongest out of the small group we had, and I wanted to have a little fun.  I also felt great every time I attacked, and I probably could have done it 5 more times.

Erin was here for the weekend, but now he is gone.  It is sad. :(

Entertainment

Yesterday, I:

-rode a single speed mountain bike with a chicken sausage in my hand.  by the time i got to my destination, the chicken sausage was no longer warm.

-tried to go to a concert but it was "sold out" even though the venue was not full.  despite trying to throw a bunch of money at the ticket man, he wouldn't let us in.

-tried to sneak in from the bar downstairs, but a nasty bouncer dude yelled at us while sean sneaked by and got in.

-watched mattison climb on the roof and try to get in through the roof.  it was unsuccessful.

-watched mattison break down a door. walked up the dark fire escape to a door that had no handle. knocked on the door and encountered another bouncer dude. "we thought this was the entrance.  our friends told us the entrance was in the back." despite this being obviously untrue, the bouncer seemed to believe us.

-made one last mad dash past the downstairs bar bouncer, but got caught as he yelled "oh, hell no!" and ran away. 

-abandoned the single speed mountain bike.

-developed a blister larger than i ever thought possible on my heel.

Today I:

-rode my bicycle in the rain.  It was cold.

-ran in the rain.  It wasn't as cold.

-watched Americas Next Top Model while I should have been doing my lab report.