I'm In!

The Pig is full. The Pigman Sprint Triathlon has already registered 900 participants. I'm one of them. Registration opened in December and filled within five weeks.

Let the training begin!

Music

It's time for a new workout playlist. This is the play list I've been running to since sometime last spring. I love it because:

• the acoustic version of "Babylon" by Sublime makes me feel like I'm going out for a run with some friends
• just when I'm getting a little tired, KOL pops on and kicks me up with "Genius"
• Charles Bradley gives me a cool down after a 5K, the Decemberists pick me back up and Mighty Mouse makes me feel like I could "float on" through the end of the workout.

+Missing:"Every Morning" by Keb 'Mo and  "Genius" by Kings of Leon 

RAGBRAI 2010

Today is day two of our ride. So far, so good!

Day One: Sioux City to Storm Lake. We had an almost 70 mile day today - with over 3500 ft of elevation. Jamey and I really felt our lake of training on this day! My legs were sore and tired by the time we got to Storm Lake. Jamey commented that today's mileage probably topped what he'd ridden all year! We're doing something different this year and just going with the RAGBRAI sag. It's sort of liberating...but I really appreciate having someone find a nice location for me and having iced beverages waiting! Storm Lake was beautiful. We camped right on the lake (crowded, but scenic). The day was perfect weather-wise! I kept waiting for the humidity, but it was pleasent. Sleeping in a tent was nice, too!

Best Food: found Pizza on Wheels, twice! The first location had a line that was probably 45 minutes long; then we rode on, and found them again and waited only about five minutes. Jamey was overjoyed.

Day Two: Storm Lake to Algona. Longer mileage, but much flatter! We rode 79 miles today. Walked through the amazing grotto in West Bend. Some priest built it - first spending 10 years collecting rocks, shells and other interesting things, then spent 40 years builting them all into this grotto.

My legs are much more refreshed tonight...not really sore at all!

We saw a family with a triple-tandem, a tag-along and then a trailer (with two kids...a baby and a toddler!). I think I love my kids TOO much to do that! But it does make me think about when it will be right to take them on this ride. Jamey and I decided we'd probably do something a bit more mild, like TRAM or SAGBRAW or Tour D'Kota with them rather than RAGBRAI. This year seems particulary crowded and congested.

Best Food: monster cookies in Varinda.

Tomorrow - short day on to Clear Lake.

Run & Ride

I meant to get to the pool yesterday, but time got away from me (at least the time that the pool is staffed) so I had to change my plans. Instead, I decided to run to Summit to pick up Willa, and then make an attempt to take public transit back home. We tried this once last fall after running club, but we missed this bus.

This time, we made it work. I find the bus schedules and maps difficult to decipher, but we now know the Route 3 bus hits Old Marion Road/Regent Street stop around 4:40PM. Unfortunately, this is an outgoing bus, so we ride the route all the way up around Target before heading back downtown. It was about a 20+ minute ride to get back to the stop at Franklin/27th, about four blocks from our house. Willa loved it!

A friend recently sent me a link to Velo Routes. This is a great site! Plot your bike or your run; or like me, plot it afterward to see exactly how far you ran (now I know that it was a 2.6 mile run from my house to Summit). You can save your routes, or you can download them and import them into your GPS unit if you're lucky enough to have a toy like that.

Now that Willa and I feel like city bus experts, we're excited to do it again. I'll plan at least one more run there before the end of the school year.

Bike Route: North

I've been riding the Cedar Lake Trails as my training route. On Monday, I took the route South, starting at Coe, and turning around a few miles past C Street. Yesterday, I went North, starting at Coe and turning around at the head of the Cedar Valley Nature Trail. Here's the route I took with my commentary about the route (click the pin icons, zoom in to see the route):



View Bike Route North in a larger map

Let the training begin

This blog originally started out as a place to ruminate on my training efforts, so I'm going back to those roots.

According to Eric Harr, in "Triathlon Training in Four Hours a Week" the first step is tell everybody you're doing it. So, I'm doing it. I've signed up for the Pigman Sprint Triathlon. This will be my fourth. I skipped last year, feeling much too insecure about my body after Cam's birth in late January. This year, there was no excuse.

The Pigman is one of the earliest outdoor triathlons in the region and it's a qualifier for bigger competitions, so it usually fills quickly. It is, in fact, already filled for this season. Luckily, I sent in my $60 registration about a month ago, and secured myself a space.

Now, the hard part. I've been running inside and have started a weight lifting routine (using the suggested lift-stretch routine outlined in Harr's book), but have yet to get in the pool for laps. I got near the pool once a few weeks ago, does that count? I actually got my suit on, got my goggles out, and walked into the natatorium. I sat on the deck trying to find a lane. The pool was busy; a class plus quite a few swimmers. There was only one lane with less than two people in it and I knew the single lane swimmer would find my slow laborious laps a real pain. So I walked back out and went to the fitness center instead. Now it's spring break on campus, so there is NO ONE in the pool and I've convinced myself that I will get it in tomorrow. Yes, tomorrow I will swim laps, pretending it's the splashy, cold water of Pleasant Lake.

A Long Windy Day

Just a short post today: the good things: no rain, apple-cinnamon-pecan french toast, Dutch Lettters pastries. The bad things: WIND, WIND, WIND. We just couldn't catch a break with the head winds today from Ottumwa to Mt. Pleasant.

Tomorrow is our last day. We're scheduled to leave Burlington around 1pm, arrive at CR by 3pm, and then Jamey and I will drive to Clear Lake to pick up Willa & Cam. Can't wait!

Indianola to Chariton: SUNSHINE!

Finally...after two miserable, long, cold, hilly days we finally get some fun. Woke up to a very dense fog cover this morning, but now we're having fun. We've got sunshine and some tail winds, so we can get a nice pace going. Every one seems almost giddy about the ride. In addition to the fabulous weather, it's a short day. Much needed after two 70+ mile days.

We're in Lacona at the moment, 14 miles from the end of our day.

The most interesting things we saw today:
1) two guys on unicycles
2) guy rollerblading the whole route
3) banana guy - we've seen him every day. He's a guy riding a three-wheel 'bent with big banana peel covering, plus he's wearing a banana costume. Yesterday he had Chiqita girls riding with him. Funny.

"A Less Than Pleasant Ride"

We're in Fontenelle, IA currently - six miles from the overnight stop (Greenfield). Current conditions: WET. I'd say today is not the best day I've had on a bike, but it's not the worst either.

We got started under heavy, gray skies around 7am. I kept waiting for the rain, but a few hours in it looked like we might get lucky and see it blow over. No luck. By the time we got to Corning (the half-way town) and got out of the United Methodist Church's basement, it had started to sprinkle. We did get lucky and got some of the last pie available there (in addition to a heavy plate of mashed potatoes and pasta).

We're ready to get these last few miles out of the way and set up our tent before it gets too wet tonight. Fingers crossed for a dry day tomorrow.

RAGBRAI DAY 1

We made it through Day One: Council Bluffs to Red Oaks.

We left from Cedar Rapids yesterday around 10:00AM, and arrived in Council Bluffs around 2:30-3:00PM. The best story if that our host family moved without informing Lonnie, our ride director. So, we drove up to the house (about seven miles from RAGBRAI central) and no one was home. Neighbors came out and said Wyatt have moved over a month ago. Fortunately, the neighbors were nice. Jamey and I camped on the lawn of Barry and Diane. They were so friendly and generous, and they told great stories. They'd just returned a few hours before we arrived from a week of camping. Jamey and I were commenting that we hope we're just like Barry and Diana in 25 years.

The ride today was nice, a little hilly, but the weather was good. We took off around 7am (after chasing a cicada off of Jamey's bike that wanted to ride along), and we found Farm Boys Burritos around 8:00. Perfect. We shared a burrito, and a new item, Vanilla Mocha (not recommended) and rode on. We were at the last pass through town by 11:30, so we decided to hang out for awhile and find some lunch. Found corn on the cob, kinky fries, and lemonade.

Now we've showered and set up tent and it's time to find the next meal! First, we'll take advantage of the Red Oak hospitality; they've set up a whole carnival for us! Jamey's intent on riding the zipper. I'm feeling more like the Ferris Wheel.

Tomorrow: 77 miles...a few more hills. Yikes!

Riding WITH my Girl

Last week was "Bike to Work" week. Willa and I had been talking about trying a bike commute with the tag-along to Summit, and Bike to Work week seemed like the week to do it. Unfortunately Bike to Work week turned out to be a pretty bad week, weather-wise. The only sunny day was Thursday. On Wednesday night we got the tag-along hitch transferred from Jamey's bike to mine, and Willa and I prepared for our adventure the next day. When we woke up on Thursday morning, we did have sunshine, but we also had very strong gusting winds, and it was only 46 degrees! So, we chickened out. Instead we loaded up the tag-along and locked it into the bike rack at Summit. Then after work, I dropped off the 4runner at home, hopped on my bike and headed to school. We made it home in one piece! This was our first time together on the bike this season.

Today, we went out for a ride and decided to time ourselves on the ride to Summit. We didn't take the most direct route, but this route avoided some of the heavier-trafficked streets. It took us 17 minutes. That's not that much longer than it would take us to drive. Of course, I'll still have the ride to Coe from Summit, but that shouldn't take long at all.

While this isn't putting a lot of miles in my RAGBRAI training log, it's certainly building up my leg muscles! Willa doesn't have the best balance, and she is easily distracted from peddling (today's distraction "Mommy, did you know these pedals pedal backwards and forwards?" - my response "Only pedal forward!!!"), so I'm counting these commutes as mini-workouts!