February wrapped up my club's inner-NCC challenge. I am happy to say that somehow I really am getting it all done while working full time. The base mileage continues to climb and it really shined during my February events. My January base building has gone well. I hope to continue to improve so I can beat my previous March races: SD Half and Oceanside 70.3I wrapped up the club's NCC Challenge by completing significantly over the swim and cycling mileage and squeaked in the run mileage. This challenge encouraged me to add small volume nearly daily to achieve 52.4 mile goal. I think it really helped my running base solidify. I swam over 11 miles instead of the required 4.8 miles. I cycled 327 miles instead of the required 224 miles. I think there were approximately 10+ club members that achieved this goal and probably most were ironmen so this was a real confidence booster for me. the NCC stats currently show me in 5th place out of 169 in my age group. Over the next couple months, my runs will continue to increase as I prepare for my 3rd full marathon on May 25. I will ride a century the following weekend.
I watched the weather closely for the Tour De Palm Springs Century. In 2012, this was my first century and riding across the wind tunnels took 1 hour for 6 miles with 40mph horizontal winds. It was a terrifying experience because controlling your bike, staying upright, and "just moving forward" was a considerable challenge for one solid hour. This year, the weather looked tame. The winds were 2-5 mph. I was really looking forward to it. (umm this weather report was for downtown Palm Springs apparently). As we approached the 3 mile mark, the trees started to lean and the closer we rode to the wind tunnel the stronger the winds howled. Again, I was terrified, but with experience I knew this would end if I just kept pedaling to the other side. In one hour, we rode 10 miles this time. It was so exciting to reach the other side and know that it would just get better from here! Dillon road was more of a treat this time because my confidence allowed me to ride over 40mph with the wind to my back! It was a lot more fun this time! We stopped at 3 of the 5 SAGs mostly because my neck/shoulders hurt so much. This is a huge hurdle for me to figure out. I'm not quite sure how to solve this pain problem but it's incredibly painful to hold my head up in aero for long periods of time. The good news is that running helps the pain disappear quickly. I am pretty sure I will be crying in pain down the final bike chute at IMAZ! We completed the century in 6:17 with 3 stops. We rode conservatively because we had not run 13 miles after a century before so this was a training ride to figure out how things worked.
 |
| My Sherpa, always checking on me! |
I don't usually mind the first 60-70 miles of a bike ride. I love the freedom and sights all around. I love seeing new things, street signs, and just taking in the fresh air and warm sun...and then I get bored...so we had a 30 mile stretch until the next stop and so I started singing every tune I could think of until finally Marcus started to join me! Neither of us can carry a tune so we either entertained our fellow cyclists or completely annoyed them. Anyway, it really made the time fly so I need to improve my repertoire of songs for IMAZ so I have more songs to sing!
We stayed at the Marriott Renaissance again which is about 1 mile from the bike and run start. We were fortunate to be upgraded to a huge Junior suite. The pool and Jacuzzi were extremely helpful as we relaxed for our half marathon the next day.
The Palm Springs Half weather was a little warmer but I still wore my compression pants to keep the circulation going. I loved all the turns and houses because they were beautiful distractions! We had a couple baby rollers but it was pretty flat with well placed aid stations. I had planned to run 10minutes/walk 1 minute but found that it wasn't necessary. All my small daily running miles had really helped me just keep running! I didn't carry a fuel belt this time as a first so I had to rely on jogging through the stations and drinking from cups which I hate! This will be like IMAZ so I needed to get used to it. Although it was warmer, there was so much shade on the street that it really helped keep the temps down!
As I rounded the final corner of the half, I thought about the IMAZ chute and remembered that Chrissy Wellington was always smiling even through incredible pain. So as my eyes welled up in tears, I gave my best, ran hard down the chute and smiled....right into the arms of my Coach Julie. What a magnificent treat!
We just loved the little baby brick awards for racing both days! It was a wonderful training experience and one I would recommend to everyone!
QUARQ POWER METERS: So I was excited to finally earn 100 miles of cycling data for my coach. I checked my gadgets the night before to notice I had no pairing on my Edge 800. I have been dropping my chain often and have dropped the magnet before so I was horrified this had happened again. I knew Moment had moved the magnet and I couldn't find it now. I asked bike shops at the entry of the century but they didn't have the magnet. I was screwed. All I could offer was HR and time/avg speed. I periodically asked Marcus about his cadence to ensure I was at least trying to make the mark. SAD...no data. damn.
LESSON: IT HAS A BATTERY????????????? WTH!!!! and it last 2-3 months????? omg. I must have missed the memo because I had no idea that's what that little black circle thingamagiggy was on the big chain ring!!! Moment showed me the magnet was there, but it was covered in white puddy so I didn't recognize it. Jim then double stacked the magnet for a closer range to the Quarq. They also added a chain guard to help my chain stay on when I shift down since apparently I'm not very smooth at it. AND I bought an extra battery and marked my TP calendar to change it since there is no notification of low battery! You know it will always die on race day!!! However I will always have a fresh battery on race day now!
GPS ON GARMINS:
The Morning of the race: I'm getting up earlier now because I'm told I need to eat earlier. So now I have to watch the time...so I turned on my watch inside the hotel for the clock. No problem.. ARE YOU INDOORS??? it asks. Well yes I am, thanks for asking...OOMMGG. Get to the start line. GOOO.. whoopee...start your garmin people...umm where's my pace?? Took me .20 mile to recognize I had NO GPS signal and had to stop and manually go to the GPS setting and turn it on! LAWDY! Mr. Garmin... I am no longer inside so why can't you auto change or at least ask me if I am now OUTSIDE??? fine... my avg pace was screwed up, my distance was off.. but AGAIN I had total time. Whatever... I basically didn't look at the watch again while my watch tried to figure out what was happening!!! ARRGGHHH... ok. got it. good lesson Mr. Garmin. That won't happen again.
