Its been awhile since I did a blog entry and race report, mostly because I've been doing most of my writing and traveling the last few weeks for work. As many people know, my job and career is as a research entomologist (someone who studies insects) and assistant curator at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History. This means I do a lot of writing of grants to get money, equipment and supplies for our Recent Invertebrates Collection and for research, a lot of traveling for getting specimens, outreach with ExplorOlogy, and conferences to present my research. Especially in the summer, when school is out and many of the events that can't be done during the main semesters. Unfortunately, this bustle of activity also coincides with triathlon season, so the summers really test my time management skills to the maximum.
Thankfully while in college I learned the majority of my skills with managing a DI running schedule and a full academic schedule, with at least 16-18hours a semester of school and labs and 3-6 hours a day for running. All of us on the XC and track teams at William and Mary got very good at studying at track meets and doing the best we could with training while traveling to meets. Eventually when I got to graduate school and my ability to pull 3-6 hours of training a day was long gone, I found ways to at least throw my shoes in my travel bags so I could run around Europe, Australia, South Africa, and Central America when I had the opportunity.
And...there is now. I have a full time job in a career that I love and is a once-in-a-lifetime job position, and I try to fit in as much triathlon training around that schedule as a I can. So far its been using the skills I learned in college and grad school for multi-tasking...times 10. Granted I don't have a family and kids to try to balance that too, but trying to figure out how to haul a bike to Black Mesa to find opportunities to train while I'm working with high school kids 12+ hours a day has its challenges too. Since my job is #1 and pays my bills, inevitably things like the blog and sometimes extra training has to slide in months like July as I try to juggle it all, and to do the best I can in both. Unfortunately this also means I've become pretty anti-social, since every 15 minutes I would spend commuting is an extra 15min I could actually train, so lately I've stuck to training near home and Norman to maximize every ounce of time I can get.
So since Rt. 66, I've mostly just been training, working, and traveling up until the Norman Conquest and the Du Draper On Road duathlon. The Norman Conquest was a lot of fun, despite the 4 miles we accidentally cut off. It was hot and hilly as expected, and a bunch of us (Rob, Kevin, Mike, Dan, etc.) stopped at most of the SAG sites to refill our water bottles at every opportunity we could get, taking it mostly easy. Getting to ride my road bike again was a plus since I really enjoy riding it; I had a lot of fun with it at Tulsa Tough, and definitely had fun again this time in Norman. Honestly I didn't feel like the hills were that bad since we Normanites train on them all the time, but my butt was a little sore that afternoon as a warning that tomorrow might be rough. My goal on signing up was to get used to biking longer before a race so I could really get used to running on tired legs, and the next day for the Duathlon.
Sunday rolled around and again I got up at 5:30am (ugh...) to head to Draper for the Duathlon. I knew going into it that my STOKEs teammate Kirsten Chapman was a force to reckon with for the overall win since she killed it last year as well and does really well in heat (MIO this year was a testament to that!). My other teammate Sarah Bell also did really well last year and passed me on the bike, and I only caught her on the last run. Since she is focusing on her Ironman in Kentucky I knew she had a lot of fitness coming in and did really well on the Conquest the day before too, so my goal was to at least get top 3 so we could get a STOKE sweep if we could. Our guys team was set and ready to rock for top places too, so it was exciting to have all of us race in our new kits and to represent!
The first run 3K I took out pretty conservatively since my legs were just not feeling it and I didn't want to burn them out any more than I had to before the bike, so I stayed in visible distance to Kirsten until she slipped away on the bike as the stealthy biker she is. My first transition was a lot faster than it has been in the past now that I figured out my new helmet clasper, and I managed to get up and on the bike fairly well despite still not being able to do the on-the-shoe mount (yes...I know I need to work on that...). The ride felt pretty good considering, and I was passed a few guys while trying to keep my pace a solid tempo effort. The hills, though...hurt. I wasn't completely recovered from the day before and being in aero position didn't really make my butt any happier. My favorite and happiest moment was how I maintained control (and sanity) as I rode all the descents on North Draper Road at full speed in aero position on my Trek bike while dodging pot holes and other obstacles. Granted the whole time in my head I was screaming "Holy s#Y%, I'm flying!!", but for someone who is still a bit twitchy after my concussion, I was happy I could do that and not panic.
Rolling into T2 I didn't do my new skill of getting my feet out of the shoes, mostly because it was such a steep decline to transition and I didn't want to break and reach down at the same time, and I swear Roger gave me a look of shame as I unclipped out (lol). Rob snuck up right behind me on the bike, and we both exited the run around the same time. Surprisingly my second run wasn't too far off my first run pace, which was comforting since it felt a ton harder and I didn't make the mistake of last year of burning all my bridges by then. I snuck up a few places passing a few more guys on the second run, and finished in with a 10 second PR and second place overall for women. Considering I had fried legs and was pretty conservative on the race, I was happy about that!
As usual the Duathlon this weekend was really well run and a ton of fun, with great races by everyone. The next few weeks for me are traveling to DC for a conference, which again means serious time management and creativity to figure out how I'm going to train (rent a bike? where can I find a pool? The sessions start at 8am and go to at least 5-6pm...what is still open after 6?), and then more traveling to Nationals and Worlds. Yowza!
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
Wednesday, July 2, 2014
Tulsa Tough
About a month ago I did my first Fondo at Tulsa Tough, deciding it was the closest thing I would ever get to doing a cycling event there since Crits were out of the question. So, I chose to ride on Sunday and helped Dan out by taking his car so he could do a long ride to Tulsa and we both drive back after Crybaby Hill (more on that later...). My white Specialized Dolce Road bike had a new chain, was tuned up, and ready to roll road-cyclist style.
The Medio distance seemed the right choice (63 miles) for where I was at, and gave me the opportunity to experience a group-ride/race. The weather was unfortunately pretty stormy and rainy, which although it kept the temperatures down, meant that the ride itself had to be delayed 2 hours while the officials navigated what to do about the lightning. In the end, I figured if I had to wait around I might as well look for a coffee shop to hang out and dry off while the weather resolved itself, and found Cafe Cubano not too far off.
Waiting around soaked like a wet dog from the downpours with a soy latte in my hand, an older couple that drove all the way from OKC to do their annual Tulsa Tough viewing came over to me and immediately started asking if I was doing the crits since I looked like a cyclist (score!). I told them I did triathlons, not crits ("oh....thats pretty cool too, I guess") and ended up chatting with them for half an hour about how great Tulsa is for cycling and that OKC is headed that way too. Very neat people!
Around 9ish I headed back to the start to try to find another parking spot that fit Dan's car, and hid in the rain under the tents along with the hundred or so other fondo riders while they made their decision about what to do. Standing around all these "real" cyclists I just stood in a corner admiring their matching outfits, fancy rain jackets, water-resistant booties...all gear I was now becoming extremely envious of as my regular gloves, triathlon shoes, TriOKC shorts and sort-of-matching-in-color-scheme Tour de Colorado jersey turned into sponges. The race director told us a few minutes to the start that we were a go, so we all rolled to the start as it started to pour again and prepared to head out. At that point I got a better view of the other cyclists around me, and there was a woman with a Rudy aero helmet and another woman riding a TT bike...so I felt fabulous, because whatever hint of triathlon stereotype I might have conveyed was quickly erased in comparison to them. Muahaha!
And we were off. There were a few women ahead of me at the start and one or two of them zipped away, but I tried to stay with the top 30 or so cyclists just because I was feeling pretty good. The rain quickly started picking up again, and the roads were pretty slick and muddy in patches. Immediately I was grateful I was on my road bike since handling is a lot easier on the Tulsa hills and slick roads, and I managed to hold a fairly decent pace zipping around the early turns and bypasses. Unfortunately, though, I made the mistake early on of slipping into "triathlon" mode where my first instinct was to pass...and stay away from everyone. I've had this problem a lot in group rides where I'm just not comfortable riding in close proximity to others, and triathlon has kind of fostered that since legally I can't. So, after duking it out by myself for the most part for the first third of the ride, I decided to connect up with two other guys to work together for the middle of the ride on the flat part of the course, and at least practice it.
I've never really worked a paceline like that before, and when I snuck up on the two guys they were both surprised they had someone behind them (traffic stop for all of us let me catch up), and that it was a chick. My Colorado jersey threw them off too, but seemed to give them the impression I was from there and must have riding credibility to ride with them they said (ha...I wish I was a Colorado climber!). And I'm really proud to say I held my own for their accepting me in their group, switching out with the two guys every 2 miles or so to pull the pace close to 20mph in the downpours. They even waiting for me and checked in on me if I pulled back too far due to visibility (its really hard to bike in the rain with glasses), which I thought was really awesome. One guy was from Arkansas, the other Tulsa, and with me being the pseudo-Colorado Virginian living in Oklahoma, we held together for quite a while.
When we started to hit the hills again, though, they pulled ahead since they definitely had more cycling experience with hill climbing than me. They slowed at the top of the first hill to see if I wanted to stick with them, but I declined and figured at that point my legs were going to have to determine my pace on those hills, not holding a paceline. At the last stop I caught up with them again as they refueled (and learned myself that cold Coke is the best stuff ever for a long-ride), but chose to stay on my own again as the last set of brutal hills pretty much killed whatever quads I had left. I met up and chatted with a few other people in the last miles returning into the city, and overall had a really fun experience. I'll definitely have to do it again next year and try out both days...and see if I can do a better job hiding my triathlon side.
More stories and recaps later!
The Medio distance seemed the right choice (63 miles) for where I was at, and gave me the opportunity to experience a group-ride/race. The weather was unfortunately pretty stormy and rainy, which although it kept the temperatures down, meant that the ride itself had to be delayed 2 hours while the officials navigated what to do about the lightning. In the end, I figured if I had to wait around I might as well look for a coffee shop to hang out and dry off while the weather resolved itself, and found Cafe Cubano not too far off.
Waiting around soaked like a wet dog from the downpours with a soy latte in my hand, an older couple that drove all the way from OKC to do their annual Tulsa Tough viewing came over to me and immediately started asking if I was doing the crits since I looked like a cyclist (score!). I told them I did triathlons, not crits ("oh....thats pretty cool too, I guess") and ended up chatting with them for half an hour about how great Tulsa is for cycling and that OKC is headed that way too. Very neat people!
Around 9ish I headed back to the start to try to find another parking spot that fit Dan's car, and hid in the rain under the tents along with the hundred or so other fondo riders while they made their decision about what to do. Standing around all these "real" cyclists I just stood in a corner admiring their matching outfits, fancy rain jackets, water-resistant booties...all gear I was now becoming extremely envious of as my regular gloves, triathlon shoes, TriOKC shorts and sort-of-matching-in-color-scheme Tour de Colorado jersey turned into sponges. The race director told us a few minutes to the start that we were a go, so we all rolled to the start as it started to pour again and prepared to head out. At that point I got a better view of the other cyclists around me, and there was a woman with a Rudy aero helmet and another woman riding a TT bike...so I felt fabulous, because whatever hint of triathlon stereotype I might have conveyed was quickly erased in comparison to them. Muahaha!
And we were off. There were a few women ahead of me at the start and one or two of them zipped away, but I tried to stay with the top 30 or so cyclists just because I was feeling pretty good. The rain quickly started picking up again, and the roads were pretty slick and muddy in patches. Immediately I was grateful I was on my road bike since handling is a lot easier on the Tulsa hills and slick roads, and I managed to hold a fairly decent pace zipping around the early turns and bypasses. Unfortunately, though, I made the mistake early on of slipping into "triathlon" mode where my first instinct was to pass...and stay away from everyone. I've had this problem a lot in group rides where I'm just not comfortable riding in close proximity to others, and triathlon has kind of fostered that since legally I can't. So, after duking it out by myself for the most part for the first third of the ride, I decided to connect up with two other guys to work together for the middle of the ride on the flat part of the course, and at least practice it.
I've never really worked a paceline like that before, and when I snuck up on the two guys they were both surprised they had someone behind them (traffic stop for all of us let me catch up), and that it was a chick. My Colorado jersey threw them off too, but seemed to give them the impression I was from there and must have riding credibility to ride with them they said (ha...I wish I was a Colorado climber!). And I'm really proud to say I held my own for their accepting me in their group, switching out with the two guys every 2 miles or so to pull the pace close to 20mph in the downpours. They even waiting for me and checked in on me if I pulled back too far due to visibility (its really hard to bike in the rain with glasses), which I thought was really awesome. One guy was from Arkansas, the other Tulsa, and with me being the pseudo-Colorado Virginian living in Oklahoma, we held together for quite a while.
When we started to hit the hills again, though, they pulled ahead since they definitely had more cycling experience with hill climbing than me. They slowed at the top of the first hill to see if I wanted to stick with them, but I declined and figured at that point my legs were going to have to determine my pace on those hills, not holding a paceline. At the last stop I caught up with them again as they refueled (and learned myself that cold Coke is the best stuff ever for a long-ride), but chose to stay on my own again as the last set of brutal hills pretty much killed whatever quads I had left. I met up and chatted with a few other people in the last miles returning into the city, and overall had a really fun experience. I'll definitely have to do it again next year and try out both days...and see if I can do a better job hiding my triathlon side.
More stories and recaps later!
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