Countdown 60 days....

Holy crap!!!! 
It is now 60 days until the Michigan Titanium race.



So what comes to mind?:

1) Am I going to be ready?
2) How should I taper?

Well, I think I'm on track for the bike portion of the race. But I'm struggling with if I will be ready for the swim. I've been swimming regularly, but only 2 times a week. Then with the bronchitis I was out of the pool for two weeks and then back only once a week. But as of this week trying to get in 3 swims a week. As any working woman or full time mom knows, finding the time is a struggle. Wish I didn't have to work, take care of a house and run errands. Life would be so much simpler.

Three weeks ago I was supposed to start back with my swim coach once a week. But between early morning conf calls and poor weather I hope to see her Thursday. Also been trying to get some open water swim practice in the mix. But there again the weather hasn't been on my side. Chicago has had a lot of storms in the mornings and evenings. We are at the point of too much rain. Go figure after last year.

I do have an open water swim race July 12th. This will be a good test to see how I fair at 2 miles. I'm curious to see what my time is, how I feel after the swim. I also plan to get in a 30-40 mile ride post swim race. Figured it would make for a nice brick workout.

As far as tapering. This will begin about two to three weeks before race day. Putting in a little less miles and intensity on the bike will be key. So difficult for me as I really love being out on the bike. Not sure how much I'll reduce my swimming distance prior to race day, but will reduce intensity and not stress my body so much. The key during tapering is to let your body rest, recover and repair so you are stronger come race day.

Wow, 60 days. It's both exciting and daunting.

Enjoy the ride,
Sheri

Century of the Month - Celebrating the Summer Solstice

As part of my training program I have targeted to ride at least one century a month. As you recall my last one was in May during the Horsey 100 in Kentucky. Yesterday I completed one up in the Kettle Moraine area of Wisconsin. It was one of our club rides called the City of Os. It's a beautiful ride on quiet rolling hills in Southern Wisconsin with about 3500 feet of climb.

The regular route is 88 miles. A few of us decided to add a few more OOs and go for a century. Why not? It's just 12 miles more. Sounds like nothing but we had a little rain towards the end of the ride and at the official end there was lightning. We hemmed and hawed and decide to hunker down on the porch of the LaGrange General Store and wait it out. It took longer than we expected for the storm to pass and our enthusiasm was starting to wain. It's also really hard mentally to get back on your bike when you are done with the "official" ride.

But I'm glad my friends and I decided to tough it out and head down the road for 12 miles. And as luck would have it, we saw the sun for the first time that day. Was it a sign? We had lucked out with cool and overcast for most of the day.

Outside the LaGrange General Store. Not a glamor selfie, but what do you want after 101 miles and getting caught in the rain?

As we pulled into the parking lot for the second time that afternoon I panicked. One of my friends said he thought the LaGrange General Store closed at 5pm. It was 5:05. I drive an hour and a half, bike 101 miles just so I can have this awesome turkey sandwich and a peanut butter ball post ride. The General Store is a haven for cyclist both mountain bikers who do the local trails and roadies. Everything is fresh, homemade and awesome....or does it taste so good because I'm exhausted and famished? Or maybe both.

Well they didn't have to see a grown woman cry. The store was open to 8pm. So I got my sandwich and dessert. As yummy as I remember from last year.

It was a great ride. Stats are below. The one thing that went wrong was my nutrition. I didn't eat enough so was close to bonking at the end. Honestly I thought I did have enough but calculating calorie input, not good.

Total miles: 101
Elev gain: approx 3,500 ft. (everyone's Garmin read different so an avg)
Avg Speed: 16.4 mph
Total calories consumed during the ride:  575
Total calories burned: 3,230
Strava Suffer Score: 197 extreme
QOM awards: 1

This past week was a tough training week. Tuesday I hadn't planned to ride with the fast guys in our club. But somehow ended up doing intervals for 49 miles. Thursday had planned to take it easier but ended up doing more intervals for 44 miles. Saturday the century. Today was 45 mile ride where I planned to do more of a recovery ride. But we had some great long stretches and ended up averaging 17.2 mph.

Looking forward to getting into the pool tomorrow and resting my quads.  Still very happy with how training is going on the bike. Need to start focusing on the swim. There just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day. Who would think 24 hours isn't enough.

Also need to start figuring out my century for July. 

Enjoy the ride,
Sheri

Vermonster's first Time Trial

I got up at 545am today, still hacking up a lung from my ongoing battle with bronchitis, ate breakfast and headed off to Wisconsin to race in the Bong and a half time trial. The temperature was 57 degrees, overcast, with an 18+ mph winds gusting from the north. Not the most favorable conditions. As I pulled up to registration all I could see was a lot of lean men in skin suits, wearing time trail helmets, and unloading very expensive time trial bikes from their cars. Oh crap, am I out of my league?

It's been two years since I last did a time trail and about 5 years since my first. I quickly remembered not to be intimidated by all the 0% body fat bodies, team uniforms and aerodynamic everything. I was there to ride my own ride and do the best I could do...not compare myself to everyone else.

I was quickly greeted by very friendly volunteers at registration and we all had a good laugh when it seemed my registration showed me being 31 yrs old. Maybe in dog years. Also my fellow competitors in the parking lot were smiling and greeted me with a friendly hello and "have a good race."

I got my bike ready and headed out to warm up before my start time of 9:01am. I had an hour and wanted to get in 10 miles or so in. I headed down the road into the wind. That was a rude awakening. The 18+ mph gusts were knocking me around. I was a little leery hanging out in my aero bars, but eventually I got used to it.

It was 8:50am so I headed over to the start and got in line. You go by bib number and they send you off every 30 seconds. You chat with your fellow cyclists, down some GU, and checkout each others equipment...bikes that is. Okay, some of the guys were nice to look at in their skin suits. But then this older guy, with about 40 pounds to lose, squeezed into a skin suit, wearing a TT helmet approaches me. Why me? He goes "What's my number?" I just rolled my eyes because his bib number was "69". I told him his number and said "you just wanted to hear me say 69 didn't you?" He plead innocent. But it made for a good laugh and cut the tension.

It was soon my turn on the start line and off I went. I was hoping to average 19mph for the 30K, but to be honest I didn't know what I could maintain. I tried to keep it over 20 mph as much as I could. It was easy with the tail wind but definitely more challenging with the head and cross winds. Turning the corners you almost got blown over.

At one point in the race I heard this loud noise coming up behind me. Many of the bikes have a solid rear wheel so they can sound like a car or even a freight train coming up on you. I had to smile as this one tandem passed me. I was honored to see them fly past. This was a very special team and the only tandem on the course. The man in the back was blind. He has a sighted rider in the front. I can only imagine the freedom he feels when he gets on a bike. I know the joy I feel so I'm sure it's 1000 times more joyful for him.

I crossed the finish line pretty spent but felt good about the race. Final stats were:
Avg. speed - 19.7 mph
Max. speed - 30.6 mph
Distance - 30K
kJ - 578
Avg heart rate - 164 bpm
Avg cadence - 79 rpm (Very exciting as I've been trying to increase this number)

I did bring home some hardware. Second place. But truth be told there were only 2 women in my age group. As I've written in a previous post, how can we get more women in the game? Today's race was dominated by men. I'd say 95% of the 160 entrants were male.

I'm thrilled I got up early and went out and raced a good race. Vermonster proved to be a great ride, can I compare her to California Chrome? My next race is July 12 which is a 2 mile open water swim. This will be a good test to see how prepared I am for August.

I appreciate everyone's Facebook posts, texts, emails and calls. Your encouragement and friendship mean the world to me.

Enjoy the ride...I did today!
Sheri