Well it's finally here - Italy 2011. Our flight leaves tonight from Pearson direct to Rome where we'll be until Saturday. Saturday we take the train to the Tuscany region where we'll spend the week cycling, going to the beach, and eating wonderful food fresh from the local markets.
60 - 120km a day of riding is on the agenda that second week with lots of village stops for panini and gelato. A couple of epic days are planned including a 110km trip to Voltera (Twilight fans will recognize the name of this place) that includes LOTS of climbing.
I'm nervous and excited and will return in two weeks with lots of pictures. Until then - trilikemary out...
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Monday, May 9, 2011
97 Is Less Than 100
I just noticed my ticker today and it says 97 days. I'm less than 100 days from my first Half Ironman. Oh boy.
Sunday, May 8, 2011
The Most Fun I've Ever Had Getting My Ass Handed To Me!
My first ever team time trial was yesterday and ended up being one of the funnest days I've had on a bike so far. The local Bike Sabbath group organized it and eight teams of four participated. If you go to the link that's me in the white helmet at the top of the collage.
The weather gods were smiling on us because it was the most perfect day weather wise for riding. Sunny and clear, about 60 degrees at race start time and best of all, negligible wind! My team was one of two all female teams. My friend Dawn was the only other woman and raced on a team of boys (and held her own btw - they took second place).
We went all out for 60k and finished in 2 hours and 7 minutes for an average speed of 28.3 km per hour (or just over 17.5 mph for my US friends). That's pretty decent for newbies over the course of 60k and was certainly faster than we thought we'd go. We learned that next time we can certainly benefit from some proper pace-lining but we got it done! I must admit that the final 10k was a test of mental toughness for me and when we crossed the finish line I got off my bike on really shaky legs. Immediately following the race Sydney and I changed into run gear and did a 15 minute transition run because we're tough like that. ;-)
Even with a 20 minute handicap we came in last place but crossed the finish line strong which was really the main goal in the first place for me. It was a great day with friends riding bikes with the added bonus of some eye candy in the form of a skinsuit.
I hope everyone is experiencing the beautiful weather we're having here. I'm off for a one hour run (we'll see how the calves like that!) and then some gardening!
The weather gods were smiling on us because it was the most perfect day weather wise for riding. Sunny and clear, about 60 degrees at race start time and best of all, negligible wind! My team was one of two all female teams. My friend Dawn was the only other woman and raced on a team of boys (and held her own btw - they took second place).
We went all out for 60k and finished in 2 hours and 7 minutes for an average speed of 28.3 km per hour (or just over 17.5 mph for my US friends). That's pretty decent for newbies over the course of 60k and was certainly faster than we thought we'd go. We learned that next time we can certainly benefit from some proper pace-lining but we got it done! I must admit that the final 10k was a test of mental toughness for me and when we crossed the finish line I got off my bike on really shaky legs. Immediately following the race Sydney and I changed into run gear and did a 15 minute transition run because we're tough like that. ;-)
Even with a 20 minute handicap we came in last place but crossed the finish line strong which was really the main goal in the first place for me. It was a great day with friends riding bikes with the added bonus of some eye candy in the form of a skinsuit.
I hope everyone is experiencing the beautiful weather we're having here. I'm off for a one hour run (we'll see how the calves like that!) and then some gardening!
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
April in Review
It's that time again! Let's review how April went training wise.
Swimming - 14,950 meters in 8.83 hours (32.08% of my training time). That is 5,150 meters more than last month is 3.58 hours more time. Wow! That is a huge increase. March was a bad month for swimming though considering the amount of time I was sick.
Biking - 8.92 hours mostly on the trainer (32.38% of my training time). That's a couple of hours less than March. Why is that? Hmmm. I did manage two rides outside at the end of the month. Hopefully May's stats will include distances and average speeds.
Running - 87.96 kilometres in 9.78 hours (35.53% of my training time). That is almost 9 kilometres more than last month.
May should be an interesting month. I have a 60km team time trial bike race this Saturday. We will come in last, without a doubt, but were encouraged to enter a team by a good friend that is organizing it. There are no prizes and times are reported on the honour system so it's SUPPOSED to be a fun event. We'll see how it turns out. I'm hoping for decent temperatures and no rain!
I'm also headed to Italy for two weeks. The first week in Rome and the second in Tuscany for the cycling part of the trip. I'm a little nervous about missing two week's worth of swims but will certainly get my riding time in!
I hope you all had a successful month of April and that May is good to you!
Swimming - 14,950 meters in 8.83 hours (32.08% of my training time). That is 5,150 meters more than last month is 3.58 hours more time. Wow! That is a huge increase. March was a bad month for swimming though considering the amount of time I was sick.
Biking - 8.92 hours mostly on the trainer (32.38% of my training time). That's a couple of hours less than March. Why is that? Hmmm. I did manage two rides outside at the end of the month. Hopefully May's stats will include distances and average speeds.
Running - 87.96 kilometres in 9.78 hours (35.53% of my training time). That is almost 9 kilometres more than last month.
May should be an interesting month. I have a 60km team time trial bike race this Saturday. We will come in last, without a doubt, but were encouraged to enter a team by a good friend that is organizing it. There are no prizes and times are reported on the honour system so it's SUPPOSED to be a fun event. We'll see how it turns out. I'm hoping for decent temperatures and no rain!
I'm also headed to Italy for two weeks. The first week in Rome and the second in Tuscany for the cycling part of the trip. I'm a little nervous about missing two week's worth of swims but will certainly get my riding time in!
I hope you all had a successful month of April and that May is good to you!
Sunday, April 24, 2011
First Ride Outside
Happy Easter everyone! The weather today turned out to be pretty nice so Sydney and I headed outside for our 45 minute ride to be followed by a 20 minute transition run. This was my first ride outside this year and I have to admit I was a little nervous. I've become pretty comfortable on the trainer (though bored some days for sure) and was wary about what things would be like outside with the elements coming into play.
Fortunately it turned out pretty good. I was dressed properly so didn't freeze or overheat. The traffic was really light (I guess everyone was at church?) so not alot of cars buzzing by. And, by some miracle the gale force winds we've been experiencing here were alot calmer!
I did have a hard time keeping my heartrate in zone 2 which is where I was supposed to do this ride. I wasn't feeling overly taxed but for some reason as soon as I would get my cadence anywhere near 90 rpm it would shoot up to high zone 3.
I spent some time in aero as well. My goal this year is to really get comfortable in that position because until now I've felt really out of control in my bars. I do think they need to come back a touch still as I still feel a little too stretched out which messes up my centre of gravity and my control of the bike. The problem is that I'm so damn small that the bars have to come back so far that I don't have enough sticking out the front to attach my aero bottle to and still have something to hold on to. I was really hoping to use the aero bottle this year because I have a hard time getting bottles in and out of the cages. Again, because I'm so small and the frame of my bike is so wee regular bottles are too long to fit into my bottle cages and I really have to fight to get them out. Even the smaller bottles are tough to maneuver and I'm not nearly coordinated enough to wrangle with them while maintaining any semblance of speed. As a result I ended up not drinking enough on rides last year. I've though about getting one of those seat post holders but have heard that they tend to launch the water bottles if the road isn't perfectly smooth. Oy vey!
What's a 5' tall girl to do? Suggestions are welcome although I've already thought that this makes a great case for me to get a tri bike. ;-)
Fortunately it turned out pretty good. I was dressed properly so didn't freeze or overheat. The traffic was really light (I guess everyone was at church?) so not alot of cars buzzing by. And, by some miracle the gale force winds we've been experiencing here were alot calmer!
I did have a hard time keeping my heartrate in zone 2 which is where I was supposed to do this ride. I wasn't feeling overly taxed but for some reason as soon as I would get my cadence anywhere near 90 rpm it would shoot up to high zone 3.
I spent some time in aero as well. My goal this year is to really get comfortable in that position because until now I've felt really out of control in my bars. I do think they need to come back a touch still as I still feel a little too stretched out which messes up my centre of gravity and my control of the bike. The problem is that I'm so damn small that the bars have to come back so far that I don't have enough sticking out the front to attach my aero bottle to and still have something to hold on to. I was really hoping to use the aero bottle this year because I have a hard time getting bottles in and out of the cages. Again, because I'm so small and the frame of my bike is so wee regular bottles are too long to fit into my bottle cages and I really have to fight to get them out. Even the smaller bottles are tough to maneuver and I'm not nearly coordinated enough to wrangle with them while maintaining any semblance of speed. As a result I ended up not drinking enough on rides last year. I've though about getting one of those seat post holders but have heard that they tend to launch the water bottles if the road isn't perfectly smooth. Oy vey!
What's a 5' tall girl to do? Suggestions are welcome although I've already thought that this makes a great case for me to get a tri bike. ;-)
Friday, April 22, 2011
Giveaway...
Click on over to Shut Up and Run and check out the cool giveaway she has going on right now. I would really love the "I Am Not Afraid" necklace by Sporty Girl Jewelry (ahem - Paul) Read her blog too. She's a semi-okay runner :-) with a funny sense of humour and lots of good potty stories related to her running.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Three Things Thursday
1. I am sick AGAIN! So tired of this sinus infection, nasty cough thing I've been battling for three of the last four weeks. I finally saw my GP about it today because it's become obvious I require some professional intervention to be rid of this once and for all. She prescribed antibiotics (she doesn't do that alot) and a nasal spray. She also reviewed my blood test results from the bloodwork I had done a couple of months ago. Her office had called me the day after I had it done and advised that I needed to start taking iron supplements. Turns out that my iron was 2. Normal is 80. Ooops.
2. I'm typing this post on my new shiny MacBook. Love it! My HP bit it last week. A problem with the videocard overheating regularly and finally frying the motherboard. This last HP was a replacement that HP sent me after months of fighting with them about my previous HP biting it for THE SAME REASON! This time around HP is not acknowledging any problems and not extending any warranties. The Internets are full of people ranting about this as it's fried ALOT of laptops. I don't have the time or patience to fight with HP again and am officially done with them. I have gone to Team Apple.
3. I swam 2,400 meters on Tuesday. I went to a Master's swim in the evening instead of my usual morning swim at the pool with no Coach to do the workout Coach Mary sent me. I feel pretty good about finishing that workout as 2,400 is the longest swim workout I've done so far. I got home really late though - 10:30 p.m. which is WAY past my bedtime. This is the only workout I've done this week as well, and it's not looking good for tomorrow's ride because have I mentioned the I'm sick AGAIN. Grrrr! Cross your fingers for me that I'm feeling up to the 1.5 hour run on my schedule for Saturday.
I hope you all have a great holiday weekend!
2. I'm typing this post on my new shiny MacBook. Love it! My HP bit it last week. A problem with the videocard overheating regularly and finally frying the motherboard. This last HP was a replacement that HP sent me after months of fighting with them about my previous HP biting it for THE SAME REASON! This time around HP is not acknowledging any problems and not extending any warranties. The Internets are full of people ranting about this as it's fried ALOT of laptops. I don't have the time or patience to fight with HP again and am officially done with them. I have gone to Team Apple.
3. I swam 2,400 meters on Tuesday. I went to a Master's swim in the evening instead of my usual morning swim at the pool with no Coach to do the workout Coach Mary sent me. I feel pretty good about finishing that workout as 2,400 is the longest swim workout I've done so far. I got home really late though - 10:30 p.m. which is WAY past my bedtime. This is the only workout I've done this week as well, and it's not looking good for tomorrow's ride because have I mentioned the I'm sick AGAIN. Grrrr! Cross your fingers for me that I'm feeling up to the 1.5 hour run on my schedule for Saturday.
I hope you all have a great holiday weekend!
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