Publix Half

Before I knew it, the weekend of Publix Half marathon came around the corner. I picked up the race packet with Ken and Elishia. We left the office at 11.30AM. I was fine taking Marta to go to downtown but Ken insisted that driving there was a better idea. Since I wasn't the one who drove, I was okay with that. Traffic on Friday afternoon in Atlanta can be a crap shoot. This was one of those weekends. Getting on the exit ramp was taking forever. The traffic was slow after getting off and there was a long line to enter the parking garage. We finally found a spot, parked and went into the Georgia World Congress Center. Seeing the race signs, walking into the expo, picking up my number... really brought back old memories when I ran 2007 ING Atlanta Full Marathon. It was my first race ever. I never did a 5K or 10K before the marathon. After we picked up the packets, we walked around and went from one food station to another, basically we started the carb loading that afternoon. From Greek yogurt, crackers, bread, lemonade, chips & hummus, tomato soup, almonds.... anything that was free. After we were full, we went back to the office.

On Saturday, Susan, Sarah and me rode 42 miles. It was a leisurely bike ride. I felt I could go all day riding 15 MPH at Silk Sheets. We were planning the Gap camping trip on April 14th. I'm excited thinking about it since I've been wanting to ride the Gaps. After the ride, I quickly went home and took an ice bath. I wasn't sore but I felt more confident running the half knowing that I did everything to keep my legs fresh. Plus I learned from the previous weekend. I didn't take an ice bath and kinda did minimal stretching and foam rolling after a pretty hard 60 mile ride. I was suffering a bit when I ran on Sunday. My legs felt heavier and didn't have the speed. I drank plenty of Powerade Zero & water and went to bed early.

I got up at 3:50AM and did my normal routine. I was out the door at 5AM. I was meeting Sarah and Susan at the Marta station at 5:30AM. I was surprised to see there were only a few people on the platform. This was nothing like the morning of Peachtree 10K race. I saw Wendy sitting on the bench. Not long after that, Sarah came. We still didn't see Susan. Then, the train came.... still no Susan. We decided to walk past the first car and surprisingly... Susan called us from inside the car. It turned out that she got on the North Springs station, one stop before the one we were on. We got off the train around 6AM. Potty break was the number one destination. The lines were long but moved quick. It was still dark when I heard the Star Spangled Banner... the race was about to start. I went to my corral. I started to feel nervous. It was the first race of many this year. I prayed for strength. My goal was to run 9 min pace. I was pretty sure I could do it, but I didn't want to be overly confident. I didn't taper. This was just another training day. At least, that was what I kept telling myself.

The corral started moving....walking...jogging... I heard the beeping sound when runners in front me crossed the timing mat. Ready or not, here I went. I pressed the start button on Garmin. I tried to maintain a quick pace and ran very carefully so I didn't trip over somebody's feet or step on pot holes. It was a little crowded but it was expected. I skipped the first water stop at Mile 2. It was too early. I peeked at my Garmin. The average pace was 8:46. After a couple more miles, the air felt pretty humid. I was sweating even though the sun wasn't out yet. I ran passed a few people that I knew. After the second water stop, I checked my pace again, it was 8:35... Holy cow! I thought I was going to be in trouble. I couldn't run this pace the whole race, especially after mile 9 when there were hills after hills until the end.

My strategy changed a bit. I didn't slow down, at least not right then. Sometimes I had to run faster to pass people. I really like the changes in the terrain. Up. Down. Flat. Up again. Down again.... you got the idea. I wanted to get to mile 9 first and checked my pace and figure out what the pace for the last 4 miles. I ate the first gel at mile 6. It was nice to see people that I knew on the course spectating. I saw Kristin, Karen, TNT staff, Sasha and a few more friends. At mile 10, after running a long hill, I was tired. I was running 8:33 average pace. I blamed myself a bit for not slowing down a bit in the beginning. My strides weren't light and easy anymore. I was passing another TNT girl. Normally I would say Go Team but I was tired, then I heard she called my name. It was Katy Aguilar. I ran besides her and she asked me how I felt. I said tired. She said we had 5K left and I could do that in my sleep. That was true. It was a big help running with somebody. I pushed her pace and she pushed my pace. A couple times I lost her but she pulled up besides me again. She was a strong runner. My calves started to twitch. I was nervous that I was going to cramp. I just prayed a lot.
We chatted a bit, talked about the next race and the Blowing Rock weekend. It's funny that I wasn't out of breath, I could speak normal, not gasping for air even though I was running 8 min pace but my legs just hurt.

I started doing the count down when I was at Mile 12. One more mile. Then I  saw the 3/4 mile left sign but we were going uphill, so the thought of 3/4 mile to go was annoying. Then I saw the 1/2 mile left sign, again we were on the last (I hope) hill. My calves were still twitching. After the last hill, we turned left. I'd better see the finish after this turn. Sure enough I saw the arch. Finish line!!! I kicked harder and crossed in 1:53. Personal Best. I was really happy with the result because this was the first race which I didn't taper. It gave me confidence that I could do Zooma Half, Rev3 Knoxville Half IM, Eleven Lake Oconnee Olympic tri well without proper taper.

Stone Mountain Park

I went to Stone Mountain Park on Sunday to run 12 miles. It had been a while since I went there to run or ride. The park had a five mile loop and half of it had lanes just for runners and cyclists. I thought it was a perfect training place since it was hilly and I could run on asphalt, much easier on my knees.

One loop's elevation gain was approximately 180. The plan was to run 2 loops and add 1 mile out and back, a total of 12. Since I didn't want to pay $10 for parking, I parked at the trail entrance on Main Street. There was a restroom across from the parking lot which was so convenient. I listened to Pandora's Taylor Swift radio. Feelin' a little country this morning. The first few miles were fine. There were some downhills and a little bit of uphills. I felt a little hot and took off my right glove. Every time I feel warm during a ride or run, I just take off my gloves and it cools me off right away. After 3.5 miles, the terrain was up and up and up. This time the wind really picked up and my visor was hanging on for dear life. Wow... it's really windy (later I found out that the wind was 14-17 MPH). I felt like running on treadmill a little bit. My feet kept moving but I wasn't going forward. Finally I got to the main parking lot, I saw Frank. I knew the Spring team was meeting for a ride. I said a quick hi and started my second loop. I peeked my Garmin. My average speed was 9:12 min pace. Too fast! Mary says run 9:30, but I thought a little quicker was good, so I could sand bag on the second loop when my legs were more tired.

The temperature was cooler than the start. I was happy that I wore gloves. On the second loop, I passed the same runners that ran on the opposite direction again. It was nice to see I wasn't the only one who ran more than 5 miles that morning. The hills towards the end of the loop felt longer. I could see my own shadow. I just focused on keeping my torso straight up, no slouching. Work the abs and lower back muscles!
Finally I got to the top. That's 10 miles. I ran 2 more, it was hard not to keep looking at my Garmin. I just peeked at the distance, not the average speed. Finally, it was 12.0 miles, 10 feet away from my car. I hit the stop button right away. I was pleasantly surprised to see my pace was 9:14. Awesome. Perfect pacing even with hills and wind. I couldn't stop smiling, but then I was feeling guilty that maybe I had a great run today because I didn't push hard enough during yesterday's 50 mile ride (which should've been 55 miles). Oh well.... can't win...

Habis Gelap Terbitlah Terang (trans: After Darkness, Light Is Born)

I know it was a weird title for a post, but that's what happened this weekend. First of all, After Darkness, Light Is Born is a letter that was written by Kartini, an Indonesian woman born in late 1800's. It was about the move for women's emancipation. Anyway, the ride didn't have anything to do with women's emancipation. The only thing that came close to that was Sarah and me were the only two female cyclists on the Silk Sheet route this morning. Back to the title, in the past few days, the weather had been pretty rough. There were tornado touchdowns in several states and last night at 9.15PM, my eyes were glued on local channels. A tornado was passing Marietta and heading to Johns Creek. That was just 10-15 miles away from me. I was a little nervous. Thank God. It didn't touch down here in Atlanta. We still didn't know what the firm plan was for Sat morning. Plan A was to ride at Silk Sheets at 9AM. Plan B, if we had persistent rain, was to ride at Cadence Bikes. My butt was already protesting Plan B. Sitting on a trainer for over 3 hours was pretty painful. I had my share with Will's classes on Tuesday and Thursday for 1.5 hours each. I don't need more quality time with a trainer.

Long story short, I got a hold of Sarah. I think her childhood dream to be a meteorologist was fulfilled this morning. After reading the radar, she said it should be okay riding outside. We may get a little bit of rain but it wasn't going to pour. Susan was sticking to Plan C, which was riding in her basement by herself. Sarah and I wheeled down at 9.30AM. It was just a little cloudy, not a single drop. We were good to go. 0.5 mile from the start, this is what we found....

Raging river... well okay, it wasn't a river but the river was overflowed to the street. I asked her if there was a way to detour. Sarah just shook her head... so, we decided to cross carefully. She took the plunge first and I followed. After she got to the other end, she turned around and was laughing at me. As I was pedaling, the water was splashing up pretty high like a fountain. My right foot, because it was at the bottom, was soaked. Crap! It was going to be a cold ride. After that, the road was actually pretty dry. There were some puddles but it wasn't bad at all. We crossed South Fulton Highway, and we noticed that the sun came out and the sky was blue. It was really great.

Around mile 23, I shifted to the big gear and snapped... The shifter was up but I got stuck in the small gear. what's going on? I told Sarah and she said, oh that's your cable. It's busted. Nice! No wonder I had a problem shifting last week at Brookhaven. I thought it was because my chain was dirty so it was a little sticky. We still had 27 miles to go. I was a little mad but at least I could still shift the rear cassettes. It would really suck if it was the other way around. I've had the bike for almost 2 years and the cables had not been replaced. I guess it was time. We stopped at the gas station to pee. I was hungry and I had to eat something solid. I bought Nutter Butter. I've been wanting to try them during rides. It hit the spot.... so tasty. After the stop, I felt much better. I wasn't annoyed anymore with the busted cable.

We stopped at one point and took some pictures. Look at the blue sky in the background. Who knew we had a tornado watch the night before.

We had a little fun coming back. We had to cross the raging river again. This time, we took some pictures and videotaped them to show Susan what she missed.

When we got back to the parking lot, I was stopping and turning around at the same time. I unclipped my left foot but accidentally was leaning to the right. I went down. My right knee kissed the ground. I had long tights but I still managed to scrape my knee. Oh well.... a rookie mistake.

Silver comet

The last time I rode at Silver Comet trail was two weeks prior to Gulf Coast triathlon in Spring 2009. I remember that I rode 50 miles by myself. My speed was around 15 MPH. I rode it again last weekend with Susan since Sarah and Eric were out of town. Same distance. This time was over 17 MPH. What a difference 3 years made.

Bitter cold windy day

Just a few days ago, I was talking to some people about how nice and warm this winter was. No ice storm like last year. I had to wear a winter coat only once or twice. We had some rain. The temperature had never been below 25F. What a mild Georgia winter! Lo and behold... this weekend surprised us with the dreaded winter cold snap.

We agreed that we would wheel down at 9AM. Instead of meeting at the Bud plant, we decided to start from the Sosebee Bike Park, just 2 miles from the plant. When I was on I-75, snow flurries hit my windshield. Just a tiny bit but that confirmed what the temperature was like. The current forecast was 38F with 15 MPH wind, it felt like below 32F. According to the forecast, the wind picked up 2 MPH every hour and the temp kept dropping. I wasn't concerned about the temperature. The wind was what scared me. As I was driving, I had to grab my steering wheel tight because I could felt the wind sway the car. I was looking at the pine trees. The branches were waving quite a bit. I got to the park and nobody was there. I checked my iPhone nervously. If they backed out on me, they would be in so much trouble. A few minutes later, Susan came. As soon as I saw the expression on her face, I knew she doubted whether she wanted to ride outside this morning. I said to her "is this stupid or what?". She couldn't agree more. We called Cadence Bikes to see if the spin room was open that morning. And... they were. Awesome! Apparently TNT Summer team had their GTS over there that morning. Cadence told us we could come this morning to spin. That was great news.

Sarah and Eric pulled up to the parking lot and we told them what our Plan B was. I knew they would not want to ride indoor, which was fine. At this point, we each had to decide what worked best for ourselves. You made a decision that you can live with for the next 3 hours (on the bike, that is). Michael joined Sarah and Eric that morning also. They were going to try to ride. If it was too cold and windy, they would drive down to Cadence. Susan and I left and got to Cadence around 10.30AM. As soon as I got from the car, the cold snap hit me. I was so glad we decided to ride indoor.

Cody set us up on the Computrainer. This time we rode the Ironman Germany course. It was a 2 loop course. Computrainer had 51.5 miles programmed, not sure why it was a few miles short. I found out later the elevation gain was 1,300. I forgot to mention something important. I got a new compact crank yesterday and got refitted also. The ride felt different from last week since I managed to stay in the big ring a lot more. I felt my right leg was over-extended a bit. My right knee kept brushing against the cable and my elbow when I was on the aero position, which was annoying. I may have to go back to Curtis to get adjusted.

After we rode 10 miles or so, Sarah, Eric and Michael came. They rode for 3 miles. Michael couldn't feel his fingers and decided to ride back. I felt bad for Eric, I don't think he could stand riding on the trainer. He was done after 28 miles, I think. Michael was done early also. Susan finished the course first. She was getting stronger on the bike. I finished second. I was so glad to be over. My sitting bone had a nagging pain after riding for 2 hours. The next morning I ran 9.5 miles on the treadmill. I was such a wimp. I didn't even want to walk to my townhouse to the club house which was around 1 mile. I drove and parked by the lake. I forgot what cold 14F felt like. I could hardly breathe.

The weather forecast from this weekend

It’s all about the journey

I'm prepping myself for tomorrow's ride. It's 30F with 15 MPH wind. I found this ....

It’s all about the journey

It’s not the destination but the journey that holds the best memories. It only takes a second to cross the finish line, but the real story is how you got there.

Sometimes that journey involves a cold and tough ride. I'll tell you all about it tomorrow. Stay tuned.

A taste of IM Canada course

This Saturday the forecast again wasn't ride friendly. A few days before I emailed the gank to ask them what they think. I was hoping that Susan would want to ride indoor at Cadence. I was very curious about the climbs. I needed to decide soon whether I wanted to change the crank from standard to compact. Susan jumped on the idea. She had a cold this week so she would prefer ride indoor. I got up on Saturday morning and the first thing that I did was checking the weather. It was actually really nice, now the chance of rain was just 10%. Sarah and Eric rode outside. We arrived at Cadence at 9AM and started rolling around 9.15AM.

Computrainer was so cool. It looked like just like a normal trainer. I didn't remember tightening the wheel to the roller, so I assume it adjusted automatically. Susan and I set up our bikes side by side. In front of us was a giant projector that was playing some old stages of Tour de France. To the right, there was a flat screen TV that showed the IM Canada course and our statistics. Current speed, average speed, output in watts, average output, how far behind you were from the leader, the grade of the course and so on. That's what was so cool about Computrainer. Lots of data... even some that I don't know what they meant.

The course looked very deceiving since it was so stretched out in length, but not in width. John came in to the room and made a comment about how flat the course was... I thought Canada was hilly. Hold on! This is when you put a disclaimer, the objects on the flat screen may appear (a lot) flatter than they are. 2 hours and 20 minutes were on the schedule that day. I thought about applying the 15% rule meaning the required time spent on the trainer was 15% less than the time spent on the road. But this was the actual course, it should feel like riding outside, so we stuck with 2:20.

If I can dissect the course, there were 5 parts. First from Penticton to the base of Richter Pass, around 40 miles. It's relatively flat but there was one hill with 9.8 grade. Still quite steep. Second, Richter Pass, the first big climb. Third, the seven rollers or sisters. Hilly but not quite as challenging as Richter Pass. Third, Yellow Lake, the second big climb. Fourth, back to town. It was a nice descent, getting the legs ready for the marathon.

IM Canada Bike Elevation Chart

 We rode the first part (see red circle on the chart). It was weird since you couldn't see what was coming up, you couldn't really shift gradually. Some inclines and declines took you by surprise. The spin room was quite dark so I couldn't see my cadence without pressing the light button on my Garmin. We had different visitors coming in to the spin room. There were two TNTers that Susan knew from past events. They stayed and chatted with us a little bit. Then, towards the end of the ride, Mary showed up. Sarah told her that we would be riding at Cadence. It was great. It took my mind off the trainer since my butt started to hurt and I started getting a headache. I knew she was looking for a new tri bike. She wanted to see what bikes Cadence had.

I was glad that I got to taste the course a little bit. My conclusion is I need a compact crank. I'm going to call Curtis on Monday. I looked at my options. I think I want to go with FSA Energy. It's a step up from the one that I have now. It's around $175 including the bottom bracket.