Ride Cat, Ride!*

Switching...

2009-02-26T16:54:00.002-05:00

I'm about to head off for a spin class, but before I do I just wanted to leave a quick note that I am working on a complete overhaul of the site. Either tonight or in the next few days it will be complete. I am hopeful there will be no problems with the cutover and shouldn't have to change any of your links.

Keep your fingers crossed for me anyway. It's been a long time since I did this much digging around in HTML/XML/CSS and the like.

Just a Few More Hours in the Day...

2009-02-25T18:57:00.005-05:00

As I expected, having a class uptown has completely trashed my exercise schedule. Additionally, the class itself has somewhat sapped my will to live.

I will be getting out early enough tomorrow to get home and get to a spin class. I'm not terribly worried about this week, since we'll be doing 25 miles again this weekend and it's the third weekend in a row that I'll have done at least distance. If anything, I think the time away from the bike has helped my knees a little. They feel fine now, as opposed to Monday when they were aching.

In fundraising news, I reached $3,900 today! $4,000 is so close I can almost taste it.

Woo hoo! A new sponsor!
Helping me get to that $3,900 was Ms. Conni, who owns Sew It Up. You'll see her name and a link over there under my sponsors list, and I'm very grateful for her generous donation. If you're in the Charlotte area and you need things like curtains, slipcovers, etc. you really should give her a call. I met Conni a few years ago when she came to our house to make some curtains for our bathroom. Last year she made slipcovers for all of our furniture downstairs. She does great work for very fair prices. If you do contact her, tell her I sent you. :-)

Pictures and Yesterday's Route

2009-02-23T17:57:00.005-05:00

Time management will be a challenge this week. I have an 8-5 class in uptown Charlotte every day. I'm not used to having to leave the house before 8:30 and I'm certainly not used to rush hour traffic. I've become a commuter weakling.

I am going to stick straight to the coach's plan this week, meaning only 2 one-hour spin classes and 2 core workouts. I will try to get to Stacie's spin class tomorrow night, and then another one on Thursday. It all depends on how kind Charlotte traffic is to me. Tonight I'm taking off. I'm going to grab our stretching "bible" later and stretch out my legs which are still tight from yesterday.

Below are some pictures from yesterday's crazy ride with the 22+ mph wind gusts that threw me off the road once, and nearly took me off my bike many times. I have never in my life felt so unstable on a bike. There were downhill portions of the ride where the headwind was so strong that I had to pedal furiously to keep moving forward. It defied reason. I dreaded cresting a hill or riding through a road with open fields on both sides, because I was battered by the wind at every point. We all were.

While I wouldn't recommend riding in that kind of weather for any cyclist, much less a newbie, I will say that it did a lot for my confidence that I completed the ride upright. On yesterday's ride, I passed the very spot where I took my huge spill last year, and I went on for 25 more miles successfully, in harsh conditions. It was a good feeling. As I told Coach Mike yesterday, "Mental high five!" (I wasn't about to take my hands off the handlebars.)

I dressed up more for yesterday's ride than for any other previous ride because the winds were so hard and strong. (Wind chill, anyone?) On the bottom I wore regular women's tights, with my cycling shorts over them, and my cycling tights over both. I had one pair of socks on over my tights, but put some small chemical "hand warmers" in my shoes. They worked well. My toes were not freezing.

On top I wore a base layer short-sleeved shirt stolen from Jay's closet, then my jersey, plus arm warmers, plus the bright green windbreaker. I then put on a fleece neck-liner/hoodie that I have from back when I used to ride motorcycles in cold weather. It might have been overkill, but I was glad to have it.

On my hands I wore my fingerless cycling gloves, with padding, covered by a pair of knit gloves. And on my head I wore a cotton scarf. If it's this cold next week I'm replacing that with Jay's running cap. I should have done that this week.

Western NC cycling team, pre-ride.
In the center, in the red, white & blue jersey, is our honored teammate and fellow cycling enthusiast: Doug Wagner. Doug is a five year survivor of lymphoma. He's also got an amazing attitude and smile and seemed up for anything. Hopefully Doug will join us on many more rides to come; his positive attitude was infectious and his presence reminded us all why we braved the harsh cold and gusty winds.

Me, coming into the midway point in Waxhaw.
While I make no claims that I'm skinny (I'm not!), I will say that I'm puffed out like the kid from "A Christmas Story" who can't put his arms down here, because I have on so many layers of clothing to buffet against the winds.

Cat & Cheryl in Waxhaw.
I had more layers than an onion! As prepared as I tried to be, I forgot protective eyewear (grit and dust in eyes, ouch!) and I forgot to bring my Clif bar for some much needed mid-ride fuel. I'm clutching some gummy sports stuff Cheryl shared with me at our mid-ride pit stop. Thank you, Cheryl!

Another thing that impressed me yesterday? Motorists. I must have looked miserable going up some of those hills because while I was doing my slow speed work (i.e. hoofing it up a hill at 5.6mph in the granny gear because the wind kept trying to push me back down) they showed an infinite amount of patience. I was quite grateful. Motorists on these roads tend to expect cyclists, which I think made a difference as well. This ride went a long way toward making me feel more comfortable "sharing the road".

Yesterday's route is below. It really is a beautiful ride when you're not fighting gale-force winds. I will have to remember this route, because it's so close to our house and it's quite scenic.

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/nc/charlotte/754954274409"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;25 miles from stonecrest&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br/&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyride.com/find-ride/united-states/nc/charlotte"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Find more Bike Rides in Charlotte, North Carolina&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

AWESOME Day For Flying a Kite!!

2009-02-22T17:00:00.003-05:00

Unfortunately, I was riding a bike.

Just walked in the door from team ride #4: 27 miles out to Waxhaw, in Union County, and back. It would have been a great ride without the 22+ MPH wind gusts. With the wind gusts, it was my toughest ride to date.

My complaints about the wind in Myrtle Beach? Bah, that stuff was child's play. Today was so windy that I was concerned about being knocked off my bike at several points during the ride. I was blown off the side of the road onto the grass at one point. I'd crest a hill, out of breath, only to be greeted with a massive headwind that caused me to have to pedal even harder just to get rolling downhill. I have never had wind blow me back like this before. It was brutal.

We all made it out and back. And as a bonus, our honored patient hero Doug Wagner joined us for the ride! This week he's going for his 5 year anniversary cancer-free. At one point, Doug and Mike took a tumble while drafting. They were talking about how fortunate they were that it was so minor when Doug remarked, "Though I've always said I'd rather die from a bike accident than from cancer." Good point.

We did get to practice drafting today. I got a chance to benefit from it a little, but keeping the same pace as everyone on the draft line was tough.

I made two crucial errors today:

I left my biking glasses in the car. NOT a good day to be without protective eyewear. My eyes are still blurry.
I didn't bring the second half of my Clif bar with me to eat an hour in. Cheryl shared some of her sport stuff with me. No clue what it was but I needed something. I was close to a bonk when we got back.

HRM claims I burned 1485 calories on that ride. With all the chocolate milk and almonds I've just scarfed down I'm pretty sure I've made up at least 1,000 calories of that in the last thirty minutes.

Pictures to come later. Cheryl and Mike took some. Meanwhile I'm off to a long, hot shower.

Duration: 2:03:50
Avg. Heart Rate: 157
Max. Heart Rate: 180

Distance: 27.0 miles
Avg. Speed: 13.0 mph
Max. Speed: 25.7 mph

Steeling their Courage - Repost

2009-02-22T10:30:00.007-05:00

This was posted by my friend Courtney on Facebook. A humbling Sunday morning reminder of why we have to continue this fight. Thanks Courtney!

(Read the full article.)

Ironworkers at Dana-Farber resume a beloved ritual, providing moments of joy for young cancer patients
By Michael Levenson, Globe Staff | February 21, 2009

Eighteen-month-old Kristen Hoenshell has a rare and aggressive form of cancer. What began as a tumor behind her eye has led to surgery and 38 weeks of weekly visits to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, where she receives powerful doses of chemotherapy that leave her weak and occasionally sick.

Yesterday, when she showed up for another round of treatment, she was greeted by something special. As her cousin Megan Souza pointed out the window of a third-floor walkway, ironworkers perched on the sixth floor of a partially constructed building nearby hoisted a massive I-beam into place. It was emblazoned, in bright pink spray paint, with Kristen's name.

"Look out the window," Souza said, as she held Kristen in her arms. "There's your name up there. There's your name, Kristen." The girl, bald from her treatments, smiled shyly.

It has become a beloved ritual at Dana-Farber: Every day, children who come to the clinic write their names on sheets of paper and tape them to the windows of the walkway for ironworkers to see. And, every day, the ironworkers paint the names onto I-beams and hoist them into place as they add floors to the new 14-story Yawkey Center for Cancer Care.

The building's steel skeleton is now a brightly colored, seven-story monument to scores of children receiving treatment at the clinic - Lia, Alex, and Sam; Taylor, Izzy, and Danny. For the young cancer patients, who press their noses to the glass to watch new names added every day, the steel and spray-paint tribute has given them a few moments of joy and a towering symbol of hope.

"It's fabulous," said Kristen's mother, Elizabeth, as she held her daughter and marveled at the rainbow of names. "It's just a simple little act that means so much."

Most days, the walkway fills up like the passageway of an aquarium, packed with children gazing through the glass. When a new name goes up on the building, the children cheer and clap. Yesterday, Juclaubern Palmer Osias, a 16-year-old from Holbrook who was diagnosed with cancer last year, saw his name immortalized in green paint on a beam on the seventh floor.

"It's your name," he said. "It makes you feel important."

(Read the rest of the article.)

I Hate it When He's Right

2009-02-21T16:05:00.010-05:00

I did not want to go to spin class this morning. I rolled out of bed and was just not motivated at all. This was one of those mornings where the only reason I went is because I have to write about it here, and because people have donated money for me to ride, not for me to sleep in on Saturday. I even reminded myself that there were people waking up today who really did not want to have cancer either, and that considering both situations, I should be thankful that mine was so trivial.

So I went, but I wasn't really excited about it. An incredibly loud woman started yelling at me while I was setting up my bike. Oh, she thought she was chatting me up, but since she only had one volume, and it was LOUD, it sounded like yelling to me.

"WHERE DO WE PUT OUR TICKETS!!!?" she shouted at me.

Without looking up I said, "Over in the bin by the door, I think."

"WHERE'S THAT!!!!?"

I gestured to the door.

"WHY DO THEY EVEN MAKE US GET TICKETS!!? WHAT'S THAT ALL ABOUT!?"

Still not looking up I said, "Probably because there are 40 bikes and more than 40 people want to ride in this class." And with that I headed for the bathroom for some peace and quiet before the class started. Yes, I was not nice. That much talking before 8AM is like a verbal assault.

A friend of hers arrived and became the object of her attention, thankfully. Still, she didn't stop talking/yelling until after our warmup was over and her heart rate got too high for her to comfortably talk. Thank goodness for small miracles. The instructor was amusing: "Don't drink coffee when you exercise, it's bad for you and raises your heart rate," she said as she chugged a Starbucks during the warmup. But with my knee aching, I decided to do my own ride again and just pegged a moderate heart rate for most of the workout.

When I told Jay that I wasn't feeling the love for spin class, and that in fact I wanted nothing more than to not spin today, he asked me how much I'd cycled out this week. So there were the 2 hours on Sunday, and then 2 hours I went all out on Wednesday, and then today. He asked me how much our coach advised us to ride during the week this month.

"2 times, 45 minutes apiece," I said.

"At what intensity?" he asked.

"Easy," I said.

That's when the lecture began.

"I hate it when people do that on our running team. 'Ooooh I'm injured, I don't feel so good.' And I ask how much they've run and they say, 'Oh ten miles this week... You said to only do 3 but I felt like I could do 10' You're still starting out, you shouldn't be doing back-to-back spin classes at a high intensity. You're overtraining and you're going to injure yourself. Lay off. There's a reason Mike's the coach and you aren't."

I hate it when Jay's right. I suspect he is this time.

Next week I'm in class uptown all week, so fitting in my usual classes will be tough. I will try to get in 2 spin classes, no doubling up and no going crazy, and do core for the rest of the week.

More after tomorrow's ride...

Duration: 55:05
Avg. Heart Rate: 175
Max. Heart Rate: 150

They Can't All Be Gems

2009-02-20T08:55:00.000-05:00

Last night I was planning on heading into uptown for "Thirsty Thursday" with other TNT participants, but work has been stressful and busy, and when I left the office I was just beat. I wanted a quiet night at home more than anything else, so I didn't go. Maybe next month.

I have my gym bag with me at the office, but I'm not sure what kind of workout I'm going to do tonight. The last cycle class is at 5:00 sharp. There are no evening yoga classes on Fridays. Whatever I do, I'm going to take it a little easier tonight. My left knee started talking after Wednesday night's sweatapalooza and it's still aching. The cold weather does not help.

Sunday's forecast calls for a high of 48. This annoys me. I am just about done with riding in the cold. It makes me tense up more, which brings on the shoulder and elbow pain. It's not yet March, but I'm ready for winter to end.

Here in Charlotte, we've already been teased with signs of spring: cherry trees are beginning to blossom and daffodils are sprouting. At the first sign of green stuff poking out of the ground and buds on trees, I psychologically switch to "Spring!!!" and get peeved when the weather doesn't follow along appropriately.

Yesterday's contribution to the blog came in the form of the countdown clock over there on the right. I'm very proud of myself for making it with Sproutbuilder.com's widget maker. I have searched high and low for a countdown clock for many months, to no avail. So I love this one.

Not much interesting or exciting to write today. As Jay likes to remind me, "they can't all be gems".

Double Header

2009-02-18T20:09:00.010-05:00

I am pooped. Beat. Wrung flat out. I needed a big workout tonight to make up for taking the past two days off.

I went to a class with a new (to me) spin instructor at 5:30. It's so popular that they issue tickets for the 40 bikes, and those tickets usually are gone by 5:00, so I left work a little early today. I didn't know what kind of ride to expect, but based on her popularity I hoped it would be good. I figured I was in for an interesting ride when she showed up, let out a loud woop and put on the Blackeyed Peas, specifically "My Humps", one of the worst songs out there but one that never fails to make me laugh.

I gave my all during her class, and toward the end I decided to stay on and do the 6:30 class as well. While everyone got off their bikes to stretch, I got off mine to go refill my water bottles. (Yes, plural. I drink like a maniac when I exercise.) The 6:30 instructor did not impress me that last time I took her class. She's rather boring. She doesn't do intervals or anything creative. Essentially, her class is 10 minutes of a hill, 3 minutes of recovery, 10 minutes of a hill, lather, rinse, repeat.

However, she did bring in a road ride DVD to play on the big screen tonight, so I appreciated the effort. I have seen road ride DVD's advertised on Amazon and always wondered about them. Essentially someone had the bright idea to film from the front of a car while driving slowly on roads with beautiful scenery, so it's supposed to mimic what it would be like on a bike. I prefer the Tour de France on the big screen myself. It's not as much fun to pedal furiously up a hugely steep hill on the bike while looking at a downhill or flat road passing slowly before you. Meanwhile, But I'll happily follow a cyclist in Liquigas/Astana/Rabobank/CSC spandex all day long.

I don't know why, but for some reason I was stronger at the beginning of the 2nd hour than the first. This always happens. An hour and 45 minutes in however, and my legs started to cramp, as did my left foot. I also stopped sweating. It was my fault, I was only drinking water, nothing with electrolytes or potassium. I definitely began to feel the beginnings of a "bonk" toward the end.

So I went to Teeter and bought a variety of sports drinks to have with me for the next ride. I also bought a half gallon of chocolate milk, full fat.

After last night's nutrition clinic, I've decided to play around with my caloric intake. I suspect that the reason I'm losing weight so slowly is because I don't take in nearly enough calories most days, and then I eat like a trucker on weekends. By my estimates, I've been eating 1,000 to 1,200 calories most days when I was being "good" and probably thousands more on weekends when I stopped tracking.

So I am going to make a concerted effort to eat a minimum number of calories every day, and try to also watch what I eat on weekends. According to the calculations Tricia gave us last night, I'm burning around 2335 calories on days when I'm training. She recommends that we eat no fewer than 500 calories less than that, or 1835 calories for me.

I went to the Livestrong website and set up their food tracker, the Daily Plate, which is free and much more specific than the Weight Watchers Points system. (Never mind that WW has no plan for endurance athletes.) I tracked my calories today and after my class I still needed to consume roughly 1,000 more calories to get to my 1835 minimum.

Holy cow.

So I came home and had 2 cups of chocolate milk. 500 calories right there. And the banana, and now I'm going to have to figure out how to fit in some chicken or almonds or something.

This is the part of training that's fun, figuring out all the science behind the numbers and nutrients and what works best when you're burning 1,200+ calories while exercising (as my HR monitor claims I did tonight). I know it's boring reading, for which I apologize. :-)

Oh, and the tragedy of it all! In last night's nutrition clinic Tricia specifically said that we shouldn't dive into Krispy Kremes or cookies after our workouts. How did she know? Spooky. I even bypassed the free kiddie cookie at Teeter tonight, which I never do after a hard workout!

Duration: 1:56:49
Avg. Heart Rate: 162
Max. Heart Rate: 180

So Much Stuff, So Little Time

2009-02-17T21:24:00.005-05:00

Today has been a prolific posting day. There's been a lot to talk about. I'll ease up tomorrow.

Last week, Stacie mentioned that she wouldn't be teaching class tonight, so when Stacey ('ie' vs. 'ey' for those keeping track) at LLS told us that there would be a nutrition seminar tonight at their offices, I went. Jay also said I should go. And Jay knows what a nutrition nerd/know-it-all I am, so if he says I should go, then clearly there is information he thinks I could stand to learn.

So tonight I went to the seminar instead of spinning. I was planning on doing some core work after the discussion, but our nutrition expert Tricia had a lot of information to convey and a lot of interested participants involved, so the talk went 90+ minutes. No working out tonight for me.

I find it interesting that I feel like a total slug, in a bad way, after 2 days with no major physical exertion. I must get in a hefty workout tomorrow. I have heard promising things about the 5:30 class on Wednesdays at my Y. In fact, I'm probably going to have to be there by 4:45PM to get a ticket to reserve one of the 40 bikes because it is such a popular class. I have one of two choices tomorrow: Show up at a 5:45AM class, or show up extra early to work (by "extra early" I mean 7:15AM) and ditch at 4:30 PM for the 5:30 class. Which do you think I'm going to choose?

I got the chance to talk to two of my cycling teammates tonight. Scott, one of the most advanced cyclists on our team, gave me some good ideas for weight training work to improve strength in my legs. I need to figure out how to fit some cycle-specific weight training into my workout. I'm deficient in that area, and I think I can improve my speed if I focus on it equally with the spinning/cycling cardio work and core strength. It's just a matter of fitting it all in.

Speaking of fitting it all in, my social calendar has officially become too full. It only took 4.5 years in Charlotte to get that way. I'm a slow starter. I keep on having to turn down invitations to do things in the evening because I'm training. Even tonight's TNT gathering meant my spin workout was neglected. We've been invited by our coach to "Thirsty Thursdays", which are done by the tri and marathon groups. Basically they get together and do a very easy run/walk on select Thursdays. The goal is to get to a finishing area with a bar nearby and to hang out. I'd love to do T.T. but I can't neglect the spin class I have for that evening.

I have a sinking feeling that 5:45AM spin classes may be in my future. I really don't want them to be, but I don't want to miss out on the social aspects of being a part of a larger team. If only I could bend time and space.

Sponsor Spotlight: Town & Country Toyota

2009-02-17T17:15:00.002-05:00

I am kicking off what I hope will become a regular feature on my blog. When a business owner sponsors my ride, in addition to the regular Team in Training publicity they get from their sponsorship, I will also feature them in an entry here and on my fundraising page.

And I'm thrilled to report that I have my very first sponsor! Town & Country Toyota here in Charlotte responded to my sponsorship request so quickly I was taken by surprise. I mailed off my first batch of fundraising letters, and within a couple of days I received an email from Jim, the Customer Service manager at Town & Country. Jim noted that budgets are a little tighter this year, but asked how they could still help as a sponsor.

In a way, I wasn't surprised. I contacted Town & Country Toyota because I have always had great experiences with them. I've purchased two cars at Town & Country, and when I eventually buy a newer Prius, I will be going back to them. Both times we purchased our cars through their Internet sales manager, and both times the prices quoted at the start of the process were excellent, without having to endure the haggling that's been the hallmark of my experience with other dealerships. And their service after the sale has been excellent as well. I am very happy to have them as my first corporate sponsor!

Town & Country Toyota
9101 South Boulevard
Charlotte, NC 28273
800-268-4793
http://www.townandcountrytoyota.com

The Results are In

2009-02-17T15:17:00.005-05:00

My results are up for the ride!

I finished 88th out of 197 riders for the 30 mile ride. My official chip time was 2:07:37. I'm not the speediest, but I'm not the slowest either. I'm just happy to be in the upper half!

You can view the full results, and Jay's excellent marathon results (he's a much faster runner than I am a cyclist) here:

Myrtle Beach Event Results

The geek in me wants to plot the results in Excel to view the distribution. The slacker in me doesn't remember how to do that from my statistics classes and doesn't care enough to try to re-learn it.

Yes, We Are a Little Crazy

2009-02-17T09:38:00.003-05:00

I wanted to share this video sent to me by an online friend of mine, John of jamiam.blogspot.com fame. John filmed this when he did his first century ride for Team in Training.

John's story is an interesting one. He was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma in 2006. After successful treatment, he recovered and rode for Team in Training in 2007. This year, he's coming back, as a coach for his local TNT cycling team! He's passed on the fundraising torch to his daughter Sara, who will be riding in her first century ride.

John's experience echoes that of many of my fellow TNT teammates. A number of them are cancer survivors (sorry John, winners!) who are looking to reach new heights after their ordeal, and to make a difference in the lives of others affected by cancer.

John plans to make another video this year, but I wanted to show you the video he made for his first ride. It tells his story, and shows him riding. If you watch it, you'll see firsthand what cycling is like, particularly when you're training. I can't get over the fact that John's comfortable enough to film one-handed, and that he wasn't worried about dropping the camera! (I have fingers made of butter, myself.)

Going for the Commemorative Water Bottle

2009-02-16T12:57:00.028-05:00

Jay and I arrived home about two hours ago. We sat down and watched coverage from the past two days of the Tour of California before we even started unloading the car. I've still not unloaded my stuff.

Yesterday's ride was great. The only part that I really didn't like about doing the ride was waking up at 6AM, leaving a warm and cozy bed, and putting on various layers of spandex to get on my bike and go ride on a cold, windy morning. This sport would be perfect if rides began after say, 11.

Cat, wondering why mornings must
start so early.

But get up, I did. Our hotel was located a block or two from BB&T stadium, the start/finish for the ride. I pedaled over to the stadium and followed the steady stream of cyclists into the corral. As organized and efficient as the Myrtle Beach Marathon is, it's like they forget there's a cycling event the day after. We were all clustered in to start, when they announced that the 63 mile ride would leave first over a quiet PA system. I never heard the announcement, but started shuffling to the side as word got out through the crowd. Some stragglers barely made it over the line before they started lining up the 30 milers.

I was only a few back for the start of the 30 mile ride. They set us off, with Queen's "Bicycle" playing in the background. I imagine that's played at the start of many rides. I found it helpful to have the song running through my head, particularly when the going got rough. It becomes quite a mantra:

I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride my bike
I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride it where I like

As we rounded the corner to exit BB&T stadium I wound my way up through the gears until I'd maxed out on my middle chain ring, which surprised me by coming up so early. "Oh, so it's going to be that kind of ride," I thought, as I switched to the largest chain ring, getting my speed up to to 20 mph right at the start.

The first several miles, which wound south down Ocean Boulevard, past the kitschy "Gay Dolphin" and other classic Myrtle Beach landmarks (what, does the Ripley family own Myrtle Beach?) flew by unbelievably fast. Everything whizzed by so effortlessly that I didn't have much of a chance to soak in my surroundings. I hit my peak of 20.5 mph for the ride early. I loved the flat ride that I'd so been looking forward to.

Then, we exited the strand and started riding without any buffer, down around mile 7. Suddenly the easy ride got progressively a little more difficult. And the headwind! It blasted for the rest of the ride. It quickly dawned on me that "flat" is not the only variable that makes a ride easy. As I rode into a gusty headwind, my 18/19 mph speed slowed to a crawl. I learned the other lesson about "flat" rides too: A nice, flat ride means no downhills either.

Still, I was having fun. Getting passed by a couple of people here and there, but I wasn't sagging far behind. At mile 15 I turned into the marina/halfway point, to find Jay there with the iPhone. There, he snapped this photo of me.

Arriving at the marina: Mile 15

I hopped off the bike to take off my windbreaker, to give to Jay to take with him. As I tore open a "Gu", he got another lovely shot of me.

Mmm... Gu.

After downing the Gu, I headed back out for the back half of the ride, happy to be at the halfway mark. The last half was tough. I was expecting less of a headwind, because I'd battled such a beastly headwind on the way out. I was wrong. The headwind didn't let up. If anything, it got stronger. Traffic had increased on the roads as well. I gritted my teeth as I fought against the wind, and on the inside I sang to myself, as if it would make it true right then: "I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike..."

I quickly noticed that a lot of people who had passed me on the first half, were coming up in front of me on the second half, having slowed down considerably. Eight of them were clogging up the entire lane in front of me for a few miles. I don't know what kind of etiquette I expected from 30 mile riders, but I noticed two things I did not expect:

1) I'm reasonably sure it's bad form to frequently spit out to your side when you're riding anywhere but in back. Fortunately, I was far enough behind the spitter to not get hit with his gifts, but I was close enough to be suitably appalled and disgusted. 2) I was surprised by the pair who wheeled right up alongside me, one on my right, and one on my left, and proceeded to carry on a conversation over me!

Finding myself stuck with this group grated on my nerves quickly. I slowed down to separate from the annoyingly chatty couple and the phlegm-thrower and maneuvered over to the side, at the back of the pack. Looking back for a break in traffic, I found an opening, shot up in the saddle and yes: broke away from them all (BOOYAH!!!) as fast as I could. I kept up the pace, bracing against the headwind long enough to scoot through the green light at a major intersection just as it was turning yellow, leaving my newfound "buddies" behind. Safely on the other side, I slowed down, enjoying the silence, and mentally thanked Stacie for all those little reminders in spin class about using speed and time out of the saddle to break away from a group.

By the time I reached mile 27, I was about done. I was wearing Jay's mittens/gloves that he uses when he runs and my hands were constantly slipping without any way to grip the bars. My left shoulder was killing me and my lower back was starting to ache. Another rider and I had buddied up and as the headwinds battered us, I decided to just relax and enjoy the final three miles. Quickly, we picked up with another pack of riders, and rode back into the stadium to finish our ride.

30 Miles - Done!

I finished the ride in a respectable 2:10, and it was a blast. More importantly, getting 30 miles under my belt in traffic gives me a little more confidence. And now I know a little more about what to expect from a group ride when we head to Tahoe. And that commemorative water bottle? Well really, who needs a medal when you can have a water bottle!

Next week: Back with the Team, for a 25 mile ride on Sunday just down the road from my house.

Duration: 2:09:53
Avg. Heart Rate: 157
Max. Heart Rate: 170

Distance: 30.5 miles
Avg. Speed: 14.0 mph
Max. Speed: 20.5 mph

Checking in Briefly

2009-02-15T15:20:00.002-05:00

I can't post a full update right now, because I'm in the hotel room with Jay, which means the television's on, which means that I can't concentrate enough to write much. But I wanted to briefly check in to say this morning's ride went great! I have plenty to post about it, and I will tomorrow once we get back home and I can sequester myself up in my office and write properly.

Jay had a wonderful run too, and a personal record for him.

It's been quite a successful Valentine's Day weekend. Hope everyone had a great one! More from me tomorrow.

Settle in Folks, It's Gonna Be a Long One

2009-02-12T19:10:00.005-05:00

Today has been much more emotional than I expected it to be. For 28 years, Page's birthday has come and gone with varying degrees of emotion associated with it. As you'd expect, the first couple of years reeeeally suck, as in "rip you inside out" suck. And then you settle into a routine. Remembrance, but not really making a big deal out of it. And after twenty or so years, you remember, but you forget what you miss and you get adept at not really feeling much about it.

So this year, feeling emotional today hit me out of the blue, for a couple of reasons. The first was due to my cousin and my mom, who both visited my fundraising page today within moments of each other and floored me with the generosity of their donations on her birthday, along with the wonderfully encouraging words that they wrote. Suddenly it felt like I was celebrating Page's birthday. And realizing that I haven't had cause to celebrate her birthday since she was alive did me in too. So it's been an emotional day. As a rule of thumb, I hate emotion. It gets me into trouble or embarrasses me at inconvenient times. But today, it's been okay.

I went to the gym today because the gift I've been bringing to the party lately has been sweat. I was looking forward to a nice, difficult ride. I had just that, but my heart rate monitor's been telling me weird things lately. At first I was convinced I was picking up someone else's signal from their chest strap, but then I did research and found that my strap is encoded. I shouldn't be picking up someone else's signal. Then I thought the contacts were messed up, but I went to the manufacturer's website and followed their instructions to wash the strap in hot water in the laundry and tighten it up.

After doing all that, I connected the strap today nice and tight and the heart beats were clear as a bell. I sat near no one else in my spin class. There was nothing to interfere with my reading. And yet I still noticed this bizarre anomaly.

My heart rate has come down to new lows. I know, it sounds crazy to me too, but there's no other explanation for it.

Being a professional couch potato, I've always taken a twisted, perverse pride in the insane cadence at which my poor little heart can beat when I move. I have actually gotten my heart rate up to 191bpm while running. This qualifies me for dead, I think. If I had any risk factors for a heart attack besides a weak, puny heart, I would have surely had one by now. And for the first month or so, my heart rate regularly maxed out in the 180's. At one point it hit 189. Check this blog, I've written it all down religiously.

But today, no matter how hard I killed myself on the spin bike, I could not for the life of me get my heart rate above 176. And it occurs to me that it's been this way for about two weeks now, right about the time I started sweating like a beast during my workouts. I can only assume that my puny little heart has grown (even if not "to three times its size" a la the Grinch) substantially over the past several weeks. It's somewhat telling that I'll presume my heart rate monitor is broken before I move on to the assumption that I might actually be getting fit.

In other news, even though it was Page's birthday it felt like my birthday today. I got all sorts of goodies in the mail! The business cards I ordered from Zazzle and the bandanas I ordered from Campmor - I have to find something to keep the sweat off my face and several of the cycling/spin chicks wear them. I can only hope I don't look dorky wearing them myself, but the potential is certainly there. But even cooler, my super cheap Team in Training cycling jerseys came in the mail today!

Yes, that's right, TNT cycling jerseys - for under $20 each. I discovered eBay again this week. I wanted some cycling jerseys and I found two Team in Training jerseys from past rides available on eBay for $19 or so each with free shipping! Much cheaper than the $70-$90 you'll pay for a new cycling jersey and bonus they are Team in Training jerseys! I can wear one on my ride this weekend.

I would have never thought to wear a TNT jersey at a non-TNT event, until Jay wore one for one of his non-TNT marathons. I asked why and he told me that the TNT staff actually love for people to wear TNT jerseys at events, even if they're not Team in Training events. They love the promotion of the team. And I am happy to wear my purple to promote Team in Training!

Check 'em out:

This appears to be the newest of the two jerseys. Doesn't have specific event information on it.

This one is from the "Solvang Century" in 2003, the No. California Chapter of TNT.

Jay and I leave tomorrow morning for Myrtle Beach. I haven't been there since I was 15 and Jay's never been there. His marathon is on Saturday morning. My ride is on Sunday morning. I'll post updates whenever I can.

Duration: 58:03
Avg. Heart Rate: 161
Max. Heart Rate: 176

Happy Birthday

2009-02-12T07:40:00.004-05:00

Today would have been Page's 41st birthday. Wow, it seems unreal. In honor of that, and to celebrate her day, here's a picture of her from right after I was born, back in 1971.

Page Stanton

I still miss you. Happy birthday.

A Long, Lukewarm Workout

2009-02-11T19:10:00.004-05:00

Today was another long day. At least I remembered to eat a banana before working out.

I went to the 75 minute power vinyasa class. More "hot" yoga, which was really "lukewarm" yoga. It was still a good class though. I have a feeling my ankles are going to be aching tomorrow. The human body just wasn't meant to do certain things. Or rather, this human body wasn't meant to do certain things.

Trying to get everything taken care of that I need to do this week, since it's a short week for me. Jay and I have Friday off. We'll be traveling to our respective events this weekend.

No HRM tonight, it was all core work.

The Food Blowout

2009-02-10T19:17:00.011-05:00

Thank God for those crazy fast men riding bikes in the hills of France. Because if it weren't for them, my motivation would have flat out abandoned me tonight. It was Stacie, my favorite instructor tonight, along with my favorite visuals on the big screen: Guys in bright jerseys riding as if their lives depended on it in the 2006 Tour de France.

I did not plan well today, and I had a fuel blowout before I even left my desk. Breakfast was an apple. Lunch was a small salad, with no protein whatsoever, come to think of it. Snack was... nonexistent, actually. I grew more tired as the day wore on. I had to drag myself out of my office chair at 5:05PM to go change to head to the gym. I did not want to leave my desk. Every step to the gym was pure drudgery.

But I posted about my lack of motivation on Twitter & FB, knowing full well that would entrap me into having to workout. That, and the fact that I'd have to fess up here. It's quite a nice system of accountability I've got going on.

I didn't have 100% to give tonight, but I gave what I could. I expected to perk up about 15 minutes into the ride, but the second wind never arrived. 25 minutes into the ride I realized how little of substance I had eaten today. And the banana! I forgot my stinking banana! I had been blaming my sour demeanor and lack of energy on work stress and generally having a downer of a day.

Stacie was in a real place tonight. She set up a hard workout, and she clearly was having fun with it. She said toward the end, "I was thinking nothing would beat curling up for a nice nap before I came here tonight. Now, not so much!" The very mention of "nap" made me want to yawn, but I definitely had more energy after the ride.

A group of people started streaming by our class door toward the end of the ride, which was cracked open. Stacie couldn't resist a dig. "See them? That's the 'athletic conditioning' class. Look at them walking out to the parking lot. 'Athletic conditioning'... Come on! Oh sure they'll burn four, maybe five hundred calories. But it's taking them 20 minutes to mosey out to the parking lot for their sprints! We're going to burn a thousand calories tonight, and we don't have to waste time walking to the parking lot!"

I don't think I quite hit the 1,000 calorie threshold in tonight's 75-minute class, but I gave it a whirl. I counted tonight. 34 people at the start of the class. 9 left when the last song ended. You can tell from my HRM stats (below) that I didn't get near my usual peak (180+ bpm) which was just a factor of me not being able to move my muscles as much.

I have, however, started to gain that lovely side-effect of being more fit: The capacity to sweat early and often. "Studies have shown" (I hate that phrase when there's no citation, but there you go) that a fit person will sweat more readily than when they're out of shape. I can attest to this. When I started riding, I was amazed (and a little disturbed) at the people who would sweat buckets during their ride. Everyone had hand towels, if not full-sized towels. Me, I'd get prickly and a little sweaty, but that was it. Certainly no dripping. (Eww.)

At some point within the last week or two I have found the need for a towel. I'm just a sweaty mess in those classes now. It's incredibly inconvenient, but I guess it's another indicator that doing these rides, even when I really don't want to, is helping whip me in shape.

A little administrative note: I have added a new box over there to the right. It's a list of books I recommend. If you're using a browser that blocks advertisements, you won't see the books I actually recommend, but there's still a link. I've also added a "Shop my Store" link at the top. These all link to my Amazon.com associates page. I get 4% (or more, depending on how many sales I make) of everything you buy at Amazon.com if you shop through these links. All my proceeds will go to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society as a part of my fundraising. So shop early! Shop often! If you've been wanting to buy the fancy-dancy new Kindle, it's there too - and I get 10% on that. A little retail therapy will do you good!

Duration: 1:16:44
Avg. Heart Rate: 162
Max. Heart Rate: 176

Gravity

2009-02-10T06:49:00.008-05:00

Training for this cause keeps you honest. It keeps you grounded.

I have been flying high for the past week. My training is going well. I feel better than I have in years. My fundraising's underway and I've overcome my introversion and shyness to finally write in this public, open blog; and to reach out to people I haven't spoken to in years to ask them to help this cause that means the world to me. I've extended myself far beyond my comfort zone and I've been proud of myself for doing it.

But today that bubble was popped, and in a way I think it needed to be.

An old friend from college made a donation last night. And he filled out the form to make his donation in memory of someone else I knew in college, Greg. I don't know much beyond that. But what I do know is that Greg was a level-headed and kind soul, who stepped in more than once when my temper got the best of me back in those days on the Internet. And I can't believe he's gone. I had a hard time writing my thank you e-mail, because the words I typed seemed so shallow and they were all overshadowed by my emotions. What happened to Greg?

And as I added Greg to the list of people I am riding in memory of, I was struck by length of that list. It's too long. It's just way too long. And you know, that list sits over there to the right of these posts, and I'm sure it's just glanced at by many readers, without a second thought. Heck, many days I just glance at it without a second thought.

But every single name on that list represents a microcosm of crushing heartbreak. Every person on that list touched hundreds or thousands of people. Their lives were so much more than their names can convey. Cancer, not just leukemia, has derailed too many lives and cut short too much promise. That list weighs heavily on me. Each person has a story. Before my ride, I would like to tell all their stories here. I feel like the people who follow my training and support my ride should know the people behind all these names that I'll carry with me over the hills around Lake Tahoe.

Riding Logistics and a Few Photos

2009-02-09T08:55:00.000-05:00

No riding or spinning today. I'll be doing core and stretching exercises at home this evening instead. It looks like my spinning schedule for February will be Tu/Thu evenings and Saturday mornings. Once DST kicks in and it's light later, there will be plenty of road rides to choose from during the week. The Y hosts at least two, the bike/tri shops nearby each host 2, and there will be some organized Team rides as well.

The trunk of my car is beginning to resemble a locker room, even before I add my gym bag to it each day. I purchased a basket to hold my loose cycling gear. When I start riding after work, I'll store my bike inside the Prius during the day, so I need to be able to easily move my gear.

Mobile locker room.
My bike pump, yoga mat & cycling gear.

The gym visits and rides have doubled my weekly laundry output. To keep up with it, my routine during the week includes doing a load of laundry each night. Jay's been very patient with my sporadic, sometimes nonexistent, laundry habits for his laundry. He's not said anything, he just does his when he needs to. He's a saint. I hope that I figure out my usual routines again soon. I feel bad when I skip his laundry. After all, he does cook dinner for me every night!

I feel good after yesterday's ride. My left elbow is a little tender; I think I still lock my arms too much when I ride. Yet another "development opportunity". And my left knee aches ever so slightly. I'm surprised its taken this long for my knees to start "talking". They're usually the first things to hurt whenever I exercise.

We didn't take too many pictures yesterday. Cheryl's husband Mike got a funny (although not exactly action-packed, the humor came from his narration) video of me yesterday. I wish I could figure out how to link to it. I will have to find a "beater camera" at home to take on our rides. We have at least 2 old cameras that wouldn't break the bank if they crashed to the ground. I need my iPhone too much to whip it out and take photos while I ride.

Cat and Cheryl enjoy a much warmer second ride together.
(Ever notice that no one looks sexy in a bike helmet?)

Coach Mike got a quick shot of me on my way in from the ride.
I wasn't ready for it to end!

Sunday in the Park

2009-02-08T16:49:00.010-05:00

I suppose it's technically feasible that there could somehow be a better day for riding than the day we had today, but I have a hard time imaging what that day would be.

We met up in Huntersville again at 2 for our team ride. It quickly became apparent that we were not the only group of cyclists who thought going for a ride from Huntersville was a good idea. The parking lot was packed with cars, all laden with bike racks. Our ranks have grown a little, and I got to meet a couple of other team members. The plan was to go a little longer today, 1:15 or 1:30.

I really enjoyed the ride and I felt great the whole time. I had eaten a small chicken sandwich and plain baked potato about an hour for the ride, so I had plenty of energy to ride on. I kept getting second, third and fourth winds. Just as I thought I felt a little tired, my legs would randomly pick up and I realized I had more in me than I thought.

I rode mostly by myself today, only occasionally talking to other teammates when we synced up around the loop. I took it as a positive sign that neither of our coaches felt the need to shadow me today. I guess it means they don't worry that I'm a danger to myself or others if left unsupervised.

The time to myself meant plenty of opportunities to tweak my riding. I played with gearing today, with great success. I love my bike because it has three chainrings, giving me a lot of usable gears, particularly for hills. I went from the smallest to the largest throughout the loop, getting familiar with transitioning between them all in a short period of time. Using my gears more wisely this week gave me a noticeable boost in speed over last week. Finally, I broke away from someone! Woo hoo! I felt like a speed demon, even though I'm sure I didn't look like one.

I also worked on getting comfortable with grabbing water while in the saddle. I only dropped the water bottle the first time putting it back into the cage. For obvious reasons, being able to hydrate without coming to a complete stop is a valuable skill that should be practiced early and often.

I went just under 20 miles, and I would have happily kept riding but the team was clustering at the parking area after 1:20 or so. I felt like I could have kept going forever. Just 4 more "rides" like that one would be 100 miles. Undoubtedly I suffer from a false sense of security. I'm sure I'll tap my ceiling in no time.

Next week I have to miss the team ride because I'll be riding in the Myrtle Beach Michelob Ultra ride. I'm doing the 30 mile course. They say Dasani water and Powerade will be provided at the finish line, but I'm secretly hoping there might be some Michelob Ultra at the finish. You know, just a little something to put into the awesome "commemorative water bottle" they'll be giving out to the finishers.

Duration: 1:22:02
Avg. Heart Rate: 162
Max. Heart Rate: 181

Distance: 19.7 miles
Avg. Speed: 14.4 mph
Max. Speed: 23.6 mph

Music = Good. Soliloquy = Bad.

2009-02-07T10:53:00.008-05:00

Did the 75 minute spin class this morning, with a new instructor. She seems like a nice person but wow - too much talking. Way too much. It's a spin class, not therapy.

Also too much out of the saddle riding for my taste. One of the things I love about Stacie's class is that she's a road cyclist, so she only sprinkles in a little amount of time out of the saddle, for attacks and hill peaks, the same way it would be on a road ride. I just don't get the point of doing five minutes of speed work out of the saddle. I'd rather be down in the saddle, the way I would be on the road.

So I turned the class into 75 minutes of my own ride, that somewhat followed her ride, had her music, and had loads of talking. Please do not ask me to count or do math while I'm on a bike. Do not turn down the volume of the song so you can talk to me over it about how I should be feeling for the tenth time. Music = Good. Soliloquy = Bad.

I followed my HRM religiously after the warm up period, once I decided I was going to do my own ride. Since we have our ride tomorrow, I didn't want to beat myself up today. I went for more of a conditioning workout. I tried to peg 80% of max. heart rate for the workout and stay there and it worked pretty well.

I am very much looking forward to tomorrow's team ride. Getting on a real bike again will be fun and the weather looks like it will be great.

Duration: 1:20:03
Avg. Heart Rate: 146
Max. Heart Rate: 175

Body by Chick-Fil-A™

2009-02-06T17:05:00.012-05:00

Today is a rest day so I figured I'd reflect on the 4 weeks that have passed since I began training for the ride. When I started, shoulder and saddle soreness were big problems for me, and I was nervous about spin classes. The soreness went away after a week, and just last night I found myself reassuring another spin newbie who nearly walked out when she heard us joking that the instructor was hard. My favorite instructors know me by name, and I'm beginning to make friends with a couple of the regulars. In fact, I'm becoming one of "the regulars".

The physical improvement has been amazing. After a painful first week, my endurance began to improve. Last month my blood pressure was 120/80 at a doctor's visit, which is borderline pre-hypertensive. Today it was 112/75 when I had it taken at the eye doctor, which is in the normal range.

I haven't lost a lot of weight, maybe just five pounds. But I'm trying not to pay attention to my weight so much. I am focusing on eating healthier (at least during the week) and using food as fuel. I have started making a concerted effort to eat an apple and a banana every day. I've never been a big fruit eater, and in the past week alone I think I've eaten more apples than I did in the 37 years prior to last week. While I'm not losing massive amounts of weight, my bodyfat percentage on the scale has dropped by 3% to a new personal low for me.

And I'm beginning to see an improvement in my knees. I've had problems with grinding cartilage and knee pain for ten years. A doctor once told me that the most important thing I could do to help my knees would be to ride a bike for at least 30 minutes every day. He said it would develop my VMO (vastus medialis obliquus) muscles, which would help my kneecap track properly and reduce pain. But a Cat at rest tends to stay at rest. And rest I did.

Not anymore.

In last night's spin class, I sat by the window where the sun was setting. I was surprised to notice shadows on my legs and I was floored to see the beginnings of actual muscle definition along my VMO. It wasn't fat, it was actual muscle working as I rode! I shamelessly ogled my knees, fascinated to actually see muscles on my body work, the very body that I joke should be tattooed with "Body by Chick-Fil-A™"! With all the aches and pains I've had this month, my knees feel great.

There are so many reasons why I'm doing this ride. I've wanted to do something with TNT for Page for many years, and I still get choked up when I'm reminded that I will get to honor her in my very own way at my own TNT event, not Jay's (or Amy's). Training with an intensity and clarity of purpose has made all the difference in the world. There's no way I would have been as disciplined this past month if it weren't for Page. The end result is to help others live because of my love for her; the physical benefits are a wonderful side effect that's her gift to me.

The Best Laid Plans of Mice & Spin

2009-02-05T19:34:00.004-05:00

Not up for writing much tonight. It's been a stressful day.

I went to the 5:30 spin class, expecting an instructor I'd never heard of. I planned on having an easy ride and just clearing my head. More a spin therapy session than a brutal workout.

Alas, it was not to be.

The Drill Sergeant walked in, substituting for the regular instructor. She attempted to kill, as always. The guy next to me shook his head when she walked in, "Oh man, I was not expecting this to be a tough one tonight." Yeah me neither, pal.

We shared a chuckle over our mutually destroyed plan.

Duration: 1:01:48
Avg. Heart Rate: 165
Max. Heart Rate: 182

Finally, a Good Yoga Class

2009-02-04T19:13:00.003-05:00

You've got to love a form of exercise that both kicks your butt and lets you meditate at the same time. A good yoga class will do that, and tonight's "Power Vinyasa" class was a good yoga class.

Cheryl joined me, and she managed to rope in her husband Mike, the poor guy.

It's been about five years since I regularly practiced yoga. I've missed Pat, our yoga teacher at (believe it or not) Gold's Gym in Virginia. Every yoga class I went to here in Charlotte seemed to be some random peppy person stepping the class through boring, basic moves with no explanation and no flow. Of course, Peak Fitness is probably not known for their high quality yoga.

And they have all chintzed on the savasana period at the end, which frankly is my favorite part of yoga. After you wind yourself up and hold all sorts of difficult poses, there's a nice, meditative, relaxation period at the end. Done right, it's a little meditative kick of endorphins.

To be fair, my old high school friend Michelle teaches at an actual yoga studio in Charlotte that I've not yet been to, so I have been somewhat remiss myself.

Tonight I realized just how much I have lost in terms of flexibility and stamina. I already knew how much I'd gained (just a few pounds, thanks) since I last practiced yoga. My lower back is much weaker than it used to be and tonight it aches a little more than usual.

It was a great core workout, though. I think Cheryl agreed. And the yoga teacher was fabulous. During savasana she came around the room and put a dollop of mint lotion (if you wanted it) into everyone's right palm, so you could rub your hands together and inhale a nice invigorating scent. I love it when yoga teachers do stuff like this. There's something very warm and caring about such a gesture that you're just not going to find in that Tae Bo class.

The room was warm, but not intensely hot, which worked great for me. Cheryl and I were both prepared to sweat our butts off, so it was nice that we didn't have to. Merely attempting a shoulder stand or a crow pose or any one of the dozens of other flowing poses was enough of an effort for tonight.

The thing that always amazes me about yoga is how much effort it takes to simply hold still. I love that about it. And tonight as I was dripping sweat and beet red in the face, while not moving an inch, I found myself wondering why on earth I ever stopped going to yoga.

What kind of fool am I?

Vive le Tour!

2009-02-03T19:18:00.010-05:00

Way too tired to type much, but I find that getting something down here, no matter how brief, keeps me accountable.

I opted to go to Stacie's new extended 75-minute Endurance spin class. Now with 50 percent more torture!

Stacie treated us to the 2006 Tour de France on the big screen. Given the extra time, she mercilessly chose not to use any of it for slower recovery routines. Toward the end I was nervous. I felt like I was going to burp ... or puke. I wasn't really sure which. I was beyond relieved to find it was the former.

Half the class packed it in after the 60 minutes. I don't blame them. Only a sadistic streak a mile wide kept me on my bike. That, and I feel fiercely competitive, even in the dark on a bike. I won't get off my bike until everyone else is getting off theirs.

I only sandbagged one hill routine, right after I thought I might be a little sick. Oh yeah, I'm in tune with my body. It was all very zen.

As for zen, tomorrow I'm going to a "hot yoga" class with Cheryl. I'm getting pretty adept at throwing myself right into uncomfortable situations for at least an hour most nights.

As a bonus I forgot the actual computer for my heart rate monitor strap. I took it off the strap the other night when I washed it. So I have no idea what my HR was. I would have loved to have known what it was tonight, because I think I found a new max.

Duration: 1:20:23

Zazzle and Naughty Acronyms

2009-02-02T18:22:00.009-05:00

Yay! My Zazzle shirts came today!

I ordered 2 customized shirts from Zazzle. A fellow TNT cyclist on the west coast named Tammy made a beautiful design that I just couldn't resist. I think I saw a post from her on the TNT forums and followed it to Zazzle. She's selling shirts on Zazzle and using her proceeds for fundraising. Here's Tammy's design linked up to Zazzle. Just click on the image to go to the shirt at Zazzle. Zazzle's pretty fantastic in that you can change up anything about the shirt you like, including the shirt itself! You can customize just about everything.

Tammy even helped me out by letting me make a donation to her ride in return for using her beautiful purple heart design for my Thank You cards.

I also bought another shirt, this one not from a TNT themed store. I love the "Evolution" design so I customized the shirt with the TNT logo on front and the information on back. Click on the photo to go to the shirt at Zazzle:

In other news, I have posted a couple new items on the blog over on the right. The first is my TNT photo album, so you can scroll through the photos without ever leaving my blog.

The second is my "Time in the Saddle" cycle log. (The acronym for Time in the Saddle is kind of amusing, and the need for more T.I.T.S. is frequently cited by people when newbie cyclists ask what they can do to improve their riding.) Not wanting to offend all my readers, but rather just the subset that happens to read this entry, I have decided not to use the acronym itself for my cycling log widget. Note that this will only reflect actual time in a bike saddle - on two wheels - not on a spin bike. I'll update it after each ride.

Mike sent out a quick note that we're invited to the core training class tomorrow evening at LLS. Each season they host these workouts for a few weeks to get participants up to speed on what they need to do for their training. I'm up in the air about whether I want to go, since it's really the marathon team doing their thing and I'll feel a like an outsider. I will pack for both the spin and the core class and make a decision tomorrow afternoon.

Drill Sergeant Take Two

2009-02-01T16:22:00.005-05:00

Cheryl and I met up today for a spin class at the gym; this one was with the Drill Sergeant, the really fun instructor that Cheryl has never ridden with before. Cheryl sat a couple of bikes away so that our HR monitors wouldn't interfere with each other, but I'm pretty sure I was picking up the signal from the guy behind me because there is no way my max heart rate was 175 for the class.

My first class with the Drill Sergeant was 75 minutes, so this was a much more abbreviated version at only 50 minutes. She's just a lot of fun to ride with. She growls/yells at the class the whole time, and she's just so much fun when she does it that we're all laughing at the same time that we're dying.

I do believe I heard Cheryl let out a gasp of, "Madness!" at one point, even though she was a ways away.

I've really got to work on my hills, because yesterday's little half mile of a baby hill took more out of me than I'd expected. It doesn't seem like spin training translates exactly to a real ride, but I did benefit from some takeaways from my classes while riding yesterday. For instance, I worked on relaxing my shoulders while dragging the bike uphill. Stacie's always telling us to relax our shoulders and our grip on the hard hills, because tensing up like that takes a lot of energy that you need to use for pedaling. I also remembered to both push and pull on the pedals, something you can really only do with clipless pedals. The continuous mantra of, "push! pull!" was going through my head and it really did help me keep up my speed.

On our ride yesterday we saw at least seven deer clustered together at one point, in the woods. We were at one of the most beautiful "office parks" you'll ever see. It's like Disney decided to build an office park - complete with Bambi! There was a lake and fountains, and with all the wooded areas and secluded, architecturally beautiful office buildings, I think I liked it more than even Ballantyne.

I rode with the pack for awhile, and then had to hang back to get some water. (I still cannot ride and pull out a water bottle at the same time.) One of our coaches, Mark, came back to find me, and we continued on. He's a serious and strong rider, you can just tell from looking at him. But he's got none of the attitude I've found in real serious riders on other rides. He graciously rode with me, at my poky little pace, for most of the rest of the ride. We talked about his wife and his son, and about Lance's upcoming ride on Versa. Mark tried to encourage me to get more comfortable riding one-handed. I wanted to ask him a few more cycling questions, but to be honest I was pretty winded at points, and so I was a lot quieter than I'd normally be if I were just standing around holding a conversation. I didn't talk much at all along the ride, I was too busy concentrating on either staying upright on the fast downhills or getting up the the slow uphill climbs.

Cheryl wrote me last night that she'd had a blast and she was really looking forward to next week. I really am too. There's a lot more to relay about yesterday's ride, but I'll save it for other posts this week.

I'm going to take tomorrow off, and then do Stacie's 75 minute spin class on Tuesday. On Wednesday Cheryl and I are going to meet up at Ballantyne for a hot yoga class. Cheryl said that someone told her that he thought one of the best things for hills and high altitude was to do hot yoga, because you can't catch your breath in the high heat either. I'm not big on heat and sweating, but I'll give it a whirl since I can count that as a core workout!

Baby, It's COLD Outside!

2009-01-31T16:45:00.013-05:00

"All in all, a hundred percent successful trip!" - Cat from Red Dwarf

Had a great first ride with the team today. We met up north of the city in an office park with little traffic and a nice (nearly) 2 mile loop. Today was more about getting settled on the bike and having the coaches see who's comfortable with what before they throw us out onto the street.

Cheryl led a great "mission moment", a sort of inspirational time before each team ride when we talk about someone or maybe read a letter from someone who is now or has in the past fought leukemia or lymphoma. It gets us centered to remind us of why we're riding before we get started. In my own way, I did that today for my sister Page who is my inspiration for doing this ride, and also for Becca. I've put their names on my bike to ride with me during my training:

My inspiration.

We rode for a little over an hour and covered about 14 miles. Next week we'll go a little longer. Mike says that with this group, he's ready for us to head out on the roads, but we had a couple of people who couldn't make it so if they're not comfortable riding with traffic when we meet next Sunday we might be sequestered for one more week.

Sadly, I am not the speed demon I pretend to be when I'm on a spin bike. I'm a bit more "poky little puppy" on two actual wheels. I break away from no one. I was just starting to get in my groove when the ride was over. I find that the first 15 miles or so on a ride are always brutal, then my body figures out what I'm trying to do to it and gets a fairly sustainable second wind. At least, that's how it's been in the past.

It was cold and windy! It was around 45 degrees as we rode, and the headwind always hit as we were heading up a hill for about a half mile. I wore several layers and my toes are still cold. I dressed in my bike shorts, with thermal tights over them. On top I wore a bike jersey with arm warmers, then Jay's fleece vest, over which I put my cycling windbreaker. I could have used some head coverage underneath my helmet. Oh, and something on my feet.

Mike noted that in Tahoe, it's actually been in the 20's or 30's at the start of the ride, so he advised us to note what we wore today and how it worked when we're planning/packing for Tahoe.

A great ride, and we're going again next Sunday! Between now and then I've probably got at least 3 spin classes on the schedule, and definitely 2 core workouts.

Some more photos:

Loaded up and ready to ride!

Cheryl, looking great post-ride!

Cat, post-ride.

Just snagged this one from Cheryl's FB page:

Cheryl & Cat before the ride.

Duration: 1:10:25
Avg. Heart Rate: 157
Max. Heart Rate: 182

Distance: 14.1 miles
Avg. Speed: 11.9mph
Max. Speed: 21.6mph

T-1 Day

2009-01-30T07:53:00.006-05:00

Last night, instead of heading to YASC (yet another spin class) I met up with my awesome stepsister Erin for dinner. She was in town for work (a presentation at my company, at the building next to mine, no less) and we all met up at City Tavern. We had a great time with her, as we always do when she's in town.

Jay came straight from work and I came straight from a hair appointment where I had my hair lopped pretty short because I was getting sick of it getting in the way during my workouts. My hair isn't quite as short on top as I was planning, but I still like it.

As a bonus, it took me only 5 minutes to both dry and style my hair this morning. (The reason I look so bleary in the photo is because it was 6:30am.)

The last time my hair was this short was in 2000.

Tomorrow we're meeting up for our group ride in the afternoon. The high's supposed to be 48. I sure hope my new cold weather gear works well. I need to find my windbreaker and recalibrate my new cycle computer to my wheel size. And I printed out some silver labels to put on my bike for Page & Becca, to remind me of why I'm training for the next several months. I got the idea from this guy's post prior to his ride last year. However, instead of "In Memory of" I've put smiley faces and hearts around their names.

Why? Cause I'm a girl, that's why.

TNT 20 Year Anniversary Album

2009-01-29T12:48:00.000-05:00

Here's a neat 20 year anniversary "album" that Team in Training has put online. I screen captured this image from the album because I like all the ways that people remember honorees on their rides and runs: pictures, strips of names that flutter in the wind, writing on jerseys, etc.

Click on the image to go to the album.

via Marvin.

The Low Down

2009-01-28T21:08:00.007-05:00

So, last night I got a bunch of training information from Mike, our cycling coach. I have frequently seen the other side of the coaches' email with Jay getting up after dinner to go type up something while I cleaned up. I never realized team members were probably really looking forward to all those emails.

Mike attached a handful of documents, including our training calendar for the next four months, a couple of things about training for an endurance event, and a writeup from another TNT coach on cycling etiquette. I'm pleased that at least I know most of the cycling etiquette by heart, thanks to my days from riding on the W&OD up in Virginia.

The endurance training documents though, were another matter. Plenty of things I didn't know, and a few things that I should know, because Jay has said them to me, but I never really believed they would hold true about cycling. But aha! One thing I did know: Bananas are an excellent source of energy when you're exercising!

For instance, the recommended recovery drink after a long ride? Chocolate milk. Mmm... I wish Mathis Dairy were still around. I can totally get behind that.

The biggest thing I took away from the endurance information is that I'm probably training a little too hard during the spin classes. They talk about "base conditioning", which is required to go for distance, as opposed to speed. Base conditioning is that level of training where you can hold a conversation, and where it's fairly easy at a lower heart rate, around 60-80% of your max. It's that rate where you could pretty much go forever as long as you keep refueling.

And of course, base conditioning is what they really want us to concentrate on for the first month or two before we start adding in the hard stuff.

I really struggle with that kind of exercise. I'm impatient, and I'm the sort of person who doesn't feel like a trip to the gym is worthwhile unless I redline on the heart rate monitor and nearly kill myself. Going slow and going easy is not exercise to me, it's just mall walking without any opportunity to shop. Of course, this is probably also why I've "weekend warriored" myself into more than a few injuries in my time. Slowing down will be tough. Slow seems so counterproductive.

As for the degree of fitness needed to complete an endurance event, the training document notes that it assumes "...you are in some sort of shape. That means you quit smoking at least 2 months ago, are no more than 50 pounds overweight and can do some kind of effort for 45 minutes."

Digging into the training schedule, we're going to start off small for the next couple of weekends on our team rides. The rest of February will include 25 mile rides on the weekends. By April we'll be up to 50 and 60 mile rides on the weekends and it looks like we'll peak at 80 miles before we start to taper.

As for tonight's workout, I went to the later spin class at the gym and I really held back for most of it, trying to keep my heart rate within 60-80% of max. I wasn't that thrilled with the instructor and the format was boring (She didn't even try to put on a video, oh the humanity! I have become so spoiled...) so I actually found myself working through some lists and things in my head. Even at what I consider my easiest, I still averaged around 77% of my max heart rate according to my monitor.

Oy. This going slow thing is going to be real tough. I plan on giving myself permission to continue to kill myself in Stacie's classes.

Duration: 1:01:05
Avg. Heart Rate: 147
Max. Heart Rate: 164

Procrastination Pays Off!

2009-01-27T18:52:00.007-05:00

Now that is what I call a spin class.

Cheryl joined me again for Stacie's class this evening. Amazingly enough, she also did her usual 5:45AM class earlier today as well. Cheryl's got it goin' on.

Just one class for me, thanks. I made sure to eat a banana about an hour beforehand, and filled up one of my water bottles with Tang Sport, Tang's sugar-free drink with electrolytes. Some kind soul at the office brought in those little single-bottle packets of the stuff, so I tried it out. The verdict: Way too cloyingly sweet, and not at all good for guzzling. I'm going to have to cut it in half next time.

But I had plenty of energy for the class, and my legs didn't abandon me this time. Stacie told us that starting next week this 50 minute class will extend to 75 minutes. I'm looking forward to it. No, really... I am.

Today at lunch I headed over to the local bike shop in Pineville to pick up some cold weather gear in anticipation of it being chilly this weekend. Procrastination pays off! They just marked down all their winter gear by 30 percent yesterday. Bonus! I got a pair of thermal tights and some arm warmers. We're right on the edge of the warm season, but it's worth it to have both. The arm warmers will come in handy at Tahoe anyway, where it's chilly at the start.

No heart rate monitor conflicts today. Tomorrow is a core workout.

Duration: 1:02:12
Avg. Heart Rate: 166
Max. Heart Rate: 182

PS: Just as I hit 'publish' our Coach Mike emailed our entire training schedule and tons of new welcome material. YAAAY! I am going to go read it. I'll post about anything interesting in it tomorrow.

Oh, and one other thing, while I'm adding on random thoughts. I have got to figure out what to do with my hair. Too short for a ponytail. Too long to keep cool. Jay may not like my strategy for dealing with it.

Why We Cycle

2009-01-26T09:23:00.004-05:00

This video hits home the reason we're out there training and riding. A sweet video, that shows some of the kids out there fighting blood cancers for whom we're raising money.

And it's nice to see a cycling-based video out there. We need to represent a little more.

Via Marvin my new Twitter buddy from the Los Angeles TNT team.

Ow. Ow. Ow.

2009-01-25T16:04:00.004-05:00

Ow. Ow. Ow.

Make the pain stop.

Yesterday's exercises, particularly the "miniband walks" have me in agonizing pain today. The exercise is supposed to exercise your gluteus medius and oh yeah, it did. In spades. I went to swing my leg off the bed this morning and stifled a cry of pain. The exercise sheet said to do the exercise ten times to the left, and ten times to the right. It said nothing about repeating the move. Doing the exercise for a total of fifty times to both the left and the right may have been overkill. I'm just sayin'.

So I went to Stacie's 1:30 spin class today, in spite of the agony, and wow. I just had nothing left in my legs. It was a flat out bad spin class. She called for us to speed it up or go over hills and my legs just whimpered and said "no". I tried, but I felt like I was riding through water.

On top of that, I'm pretty sure my heart rate monitor malfunctioned today. I was crying out in agony from my legs, and my heart rate didn't get above something like 164. At one point I had to laugh because it read 120, and if I just look at the spin bike my heart rate goes up to 120. I think there might have been some cross-monitor interference going on. I'm not even going to bother posting my HR stats. I don't think they're accurate.

Tomorrow I am definitely taking off to rest my legs. Next time I will stick with the recommended number of reps.

And So It Begins...

2009-01-24T17:20:00.005-05:00

Our kickoff meeting with Team in Training was this morning at 9:30AM. Jay and I both went, him so he could meet his new team members, and me as a participant. A lot of people showed up for all the teams. There are so many people doing a marathon or half-marathon that they have three teams, a north, metro and south team. Jay's south Charlotte team is huge, even bigger than they expected.

I met my fellow cyclists and our cycling coaches! Our team is much smaller than the marathon group, although we'll have a couple more who aren't shown in these photos who will join us on our rides but couldn't make it to kickoff today. And the great news is that it looks like all of the team will be doing the Lake Tahoe ride!

We received our training materials for the month of February. Sadly, our first team ride isn't until next Saturday, which really bummed me out because I am getting bored with spinning. On the plus side, at least for the next month, I'm way ahead of the standard training program. We'll start off riding only an hour next Saturday, and about 90 minutes the following week. From there, we'll move up to 20 miles the following week (I'll have to miss this week as I'm going to be in Myrtle Beach doing 30 miles at the Michelob Ultra ride). Then we move up to 25 miles for the remaining weekends (2) in February.

During the week, our coach (Mike) asked us to do a core strengthening workout at least 2 nights, and then spinning (while the weather is bad and it's still dark after work) for 45 minutes 2 more nights.

Yeah, I think I can handle that.

Mike says that the weekday work will get harder in months 2 and 3, and then especially in month 4. He also told us that for some of our rides, we'll be meeting up out at Crowder's mountain.

But enough babbling, I met a lot of great people today. Here are a couple of photos.

We were asked to draw up a poster for our team. Mike's down in the lower right.

We opted to draw a picture of the lake on our poster. Mike's done the ride around Lake Tahoe so many times he has the shape of the route memorized.

Here's the actual team in a group photo. At left is Cheryl, our mentor. Then Mark, one of our coaches. Caroline, myself, Bill, Sharon and then Mike, our other coach is on the right.

Stacey's going to post a group photo of the entire chapter later, and I'll post a link to that here eventually.

After all of the festivities, I came home, grabbed lunch and then headed to the Y for a workout. I have been slacking on doing a proper core workout, so I decided to devote some time to that today. I did this workout that I got from Bicycle magazine, along with some simple plank poses, for about a half hour. It was definitely intense, and I plan to keep doing this, increasing reps, etc. for at least the next few weeks. After that, I was hoping to use one of the spin bikes but the classroom was locked (so sad) so instead I went up and spent about 40 minutes on the treadmill.

Here are today's stats from the heart rate monitor:

Duration: 1:10:31
Avg. Heart Rate: 154
Max. Heart Rate: 180
Calories: 704

I am going to talk with the group coordinator at the Y about getting access to the spin bikes outside of classes, since I can't always make a class. (I missed this morning's class because of the kickoff meeting.) The front desk woman seemed to think it would be no issue.

Tomorrow however, I'm going to another one of Stacie's spin classes. Woo hooo! Hopefully another cycle race on the big screen.

Excitement and Remembrance

2009-01-23T13:09:00.006-05:00

Kickoff is just around the corner. The kickoff celebration is tomorrow morning. We'll meet our honored teammate for the season, I'll get to meet my other cycling teammates and we'll get our materials for the season, including our training schedule.

It's especially meaningful to me to officially kick off training with the Team this weekend, because today is the 2nd anniversary of Becca's passing. I'm still somewhat shocked to have learned that she died. I will be dedicating my first training ride with the team to Becca.

Since I've started training, whenever the exertion level seems too much, I detach my mind a little and think of Becca and Page and all the others for whom I'm riding. For those that I'm riding in honor of, I remind myself that they can't push their bodies as I can today, right now, and so I push it harder for them.

I have no doubt that when I find that first hill and every subsequent hill on my actual ride at 6,000+ feet around the lake in June, I will dig deeper for all of those who no longer can. It won't just be me on the bike crossing that finish line, but all of them. But on my first training ride with the team, I'll be pushing it hard and digging deep just for Becca.

Another Day Another Class

2009-01-22T19:59:00.005-05:00

It's amazing what a great night's sleep can do. I felt great today, completely different than I was feeling yesterday, when I was powered mostly by Diet Coke.

I went to lunch with some friends/coworkers of mine, and we talked about my training. For so long I have been on the other side of, "Wow I can't believe you're doing that, I'm really impressed." that it was really a refreshing change to be on the receiving side.

I explained that I truly feel like this is my second job. People are paying for me to get my butt across that finish line. So at the end of a long workday, going to the gym doesn't feel optional anymore. If I don't work out, it ends up here, and so my job is to make sure that doesn't happen often.

Another night, another spin class. Now that I'm into my second week, the routine is getting a little tiresome. I can't wait for us to start up group rides with the team. Tonight's class was with a solid instructor, but no Belgian races, and no screaming and growling.

I was cocky because I felt so good going into the class. So I went all out for the first 20 minutes. Then came the sinking realization that I had 30 more minutes to go, and I had burned through quite a lot already. One day I will learn to pace myself, but clearly not today. And I wore my heart rate monitor for the first time tonight too. I should have known better.

It's a sign of what a social networking geek I'm becoming that I came home and immediately looked for some sort of gadget or widget that would allow me to post my heart rate monitor/calorie stats in my blog entries when I post a training update. I couldn't find one that just shows the few things I want to include. I guess that for the time being I'll add it all in manually.

So for tonight's class:

Duration: 59:22
Avg. Heart Rate: 162
Max. Heart Rate: 189
Calories: 656

Why they REALLY Run in Alaska's Marathon

2009-01-22T08:16:00.005-05:00

Last night I did not make it to my spin class. I wasn't feeling well, with a headache, running on a bad night's sleep, so rather than push it I decided to come home and just rest. I feel great and rested this morning though, and as an added bonus, my gym bag's already packed!

I've jumped headfirst into using social networks to publicize my run. I've done it on Facebook, and here with my blog. The other day I decided to try out Twitter. I've always been a little leery of Twitter and the "micro-blogging" concept. Who cares what kind of donut I'm eating?

But after the airliner crash last week, I read a news story about how a person using Twitter and a mobile phone on one of the ferries heading to the crash actually broke the story and scooped traditional media outlets. Then I read a story about how Twitter users have found great customer service from companies when they wrote about their problems with service.

Citizen journalism and griping to customer service? You can imagine how both stories completely appeal to me. So I have gotten a Twitter account of my own. Mostly I use it to update Facebook and Twitter with a brief status at the same time.

But what's interesting about Twitter is how other people, searching for keywords like, say "Team in Training" will find you. And then they start to "follow" you on Twitter, meaning they see your updates.

It was through Twitter that I found this guy Marvin and his website runningwithoutmusic.com when he started following me. Marvin is a coach, mentor for TNT out in Los Angeles and his blog is an excellent example of something I would love for our own chapter's coaches or staff to do. Jay said it had been tried before, with very limited success. But Marvin seems to totally understand the concept of what I like to call "exploiting social networking for fun and profit" and I think the way he posts updates via Twitter and his blog for the team are really interesting. Maybe when I'm done with my ride, one of the ways that I can contribute to TNT would be to set up/run something like this for our chapter.

Meanwhile, I leave you with one of the funniest things I've seen in awhile. You all have seen my sweet, happy picture up on my TNT fundraising page. Well, Marvin's fundraising page for his Alaska marathon (the same one Jay ran a couple of years ago) has an awesome photo. Tell me this guy doesn't look like fun!

Sweat Equity

2009-01-20T21:20:00.016-05:00

So wow... Tonight ended up being a lot more intense and inspirational than I was ever expecting.

I went to my spin class this evening with Stacie, she of Endurance Cycle training fame. She did not disappoint. Today we came in to ride with warm-up music that consisted of all the various Obama songs that have been released in the past year. It was a perfect way to start a ride on Inauguration Day.

Then Stacie did one better - she put up a video on the high def screen, a high def DVD of a big cycle race through Belgium. So while we rode, we faced images of these amazing cyclists in their peloton, breaking away, shooting up hills and sprinting along flat cobblestone roads in Europe. I just can't imagine a better set of visuals to ride to.

Tonight was a personal best for me: For the first time, I actually did crank my gear all the way up to 9 and 10, to the point where my legs could barely move the pedals, and did the workouts. Earlier this week I sandbagged just a little, in hopes of staying alive. Now that I know Stacie's routines, and with my banana for a little extra energy boost, I felt good enough to really hit the hills as she intended.

I'm amazed at how far I've come fitness-wise in just a week. That's the beauty of exercise, once you get over that first major hump, you begin to see development quickly. That I could go as hard as she asked, for the majority of the class, was a great improvement.

I have realized, however, that I'm still not one for major bouts of speed. Fast-twitch muscle fibers, slow-twitch muscle fibers, I don't know what all these things mean but I'm pretty sure I've got whatever doesn't go fast. It's always been this way. When I was a kid playing basketball, I was the slowest runner on the team. Amy Day was always the speed demon, followed by Wendy Washburn. I would carry up the back, and it looks like in cycling I'm in that back part of the pack still -- at least for now. I have to really work on my speed, but my endurance is clearly shooting up through the roof.

But my workout wasn't what made my night. I decided, at the spur of the moment as class wrapped up at 6:30PM, to ping our team's mentor Cheryl to ask about the info session that Team in Training was holding tonight. At the start of each season in the weeks leading up to it, informational sessions are held at various locations.

I went to an info session long, long ago when Jay decided to run his first marathon. We both went, and I was moved by the videos they showed and the stories, but Jay wanted to run and so I let him and decided to just be done there. This time around, I know as much as anyone can possibly know about TNT, being married to one of their coaches. So I've begged off all the info sessions for this season.

But for some reason, tonight I was in the mood to go after my ride. I didn't know what to expect but I sent a text to Cheryl and she told me exactly where it was and that it would run until 7:30. I thought it was kind of an "open door" thing, having forgotten what Jay's information session was like.

So I showed up at 6:45, sweaty with a heavy jacket and my TNT hat on that I wear whenever I cycle. The room on the side of the Earth Fare was packed full. I hung out by the door. Cheryl spotted me immediately and gave me a small wave. And then Scott, the other coach, gave me a grin. Scott's fiancee Mary waved to me, as did Chris, a TNT alumnus.

The only person who didn't notice me was Jay, standing there at rapt attention while other people talked. I didn't know he was going to the info session tonight, but I wasn't surprised to see him there. After the triathlon coach spoke, they punted it over to Jay to talk about the coaching he'll be doing for people running marathons.

Jay spoke, and it was really neat to listen to him as a "coach". He still had no clue I was there, and having the tunnel vision that you usually have when you're speaking to a group of people, he didn't notice my face underneath my hat. I heard him talk about his first marathon and what running for Team in Training has meant for him. And I heard him say that while he has personally never been affected by Leukemia, Lymphoma or other blood cancers, that his wife's sister Page had died of Leukemia back in the very early 80's, before Team in Training was formed. He said that he believed that had TNT and their research been around back then, he thought Page would have survived, and that if his coaching and participation can do that, then it's worth the time and the effort, and for the people on his team, it's worth the effort they have to put into raising funds.

A lot of people there are considering joining Team in Training, but they're daunted by the money they have to raise. It's the most obvious point of discussion, and Stacey, our TNT staff member made the point of saying, "I know it's hard to ask people for money, I have done it myself multiple times. But remember, you're not asking people for money for you. You're asking people for money to help other people." And she's absolutely right.

I left the informational session even more gung-ho about fundraising than when I showed up.

But another special thing for me was meeting a woman, just a little younger than me. She is one of our "honored patient heroes". Several years ago she was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, stage 4. For those who aren't familiar with cancer, stage 4 is the worst possible diagnosis. That means that cancer has spread systemically.

So here she was, nearly 8 years ago, at the age of 26, being told she had a very deadly, very advanced form of cancer. She had visited her doctor 6 months earlier with complaints about swollen glands and lymph nodes throughout her body, but her GP hadn't been alarmed and told her it was nothing to worry about. And then suddenly 6 months later it very much became something to worry about, and a doctor ordered a biopsy.

This beautiful blonde woman, who I found out lives just one street over from me in my neighborhood, was essentially handed a near-death sentence 8 years ago. She didn't know about LLS or Team in Training at the time, and had no idea the kinds of resources that could have been available to her. Fortunately, not knowing about it didn't mean she didn't benefit from the advances our teams have helped fund.

She was put on several experimental drug treatments, with some amount of success. She went into remission, and then six months later her cancer returned, worse than before. It was at that point that the doctors told her she could either wait it out and let the cancer take its course, or she could go through another extremely painful, extremely experimental procedure.

She opted for the experimental procedure -- a bone marrow transplant. She told me that 8 years ago, a bone marrow transplant to treat non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma was experimental in and of itself. But beyond that, she didn't have a sibling or related donor for bone marrow. They told her that she could get a non-related donor through the marrow registry, but that she stood a higher chance of rejection of the transplant.

Or, she could take the experimentation one step further and have her own bone marrow harvested, and somehow stored and cleansed of any cancer cells in a process that she told me she isn't quite sure she understands to this day, and then transplanted back into her body. That route meant a much lower chance of rejection, but it also meant a higher chance that the cancer might return.

She went with her own bone marrow, and she stood in a frigid, black parking lot to tell me about it so many years later. It was great to talk to her, because I've never in my life had a totally frank discussion with someone else who has ever participated in a bone marrow transplant in any way. This was a discussion I'd been wanting to have for a long time.

Apparently, bone marrow transplants are as awful for the recipient as I had been told. But I told her I was just so amazed that they could use her own marrow. That's a key advance I had never known about. That's part of what Team in Training has helped make happen. She wants to be a part of TNT because she feels she's alive today thanks to the money that people who run, cycle, swim and hike helped raise. Sweat equity, baby. She's living, walking proof of it.

It was amazing to meet her tonight; to be able to talk to a living, breathing, walking, healthy embodiment of the reason I'm going to do this ride. It brings the importance of what we're doing here up to a whole new level. I can't wait until kickoff this Saturday!

More Weekend Rotation Fun

2009-01-20T08:50:00.001-05:00

On Saturday night I got a message from Cheryl, a mentor on our team, asking me which cycling class I was going to on Sunday. I replied that I was going to the 12:30 because it was the same woman from the "Endurance" cycling class, so I figured it would be good.

It was indeed good, but Cheryl has threatened to divorce me as a friend. First, I committed the sin of not letting her know there was no towel service at this Y. (Ooops.) Second, Cheryl confirmed for me that Stacie, of Endurance Cycling instructor fame, is indeed tough. At some points during the ride, Cheryl was quietly muttering how much she hated me for talking her into taking Stacie's class. The way I figure it, Cheryl could still talk so her heartrate was in just the right zone! ;-)

But it was good to get confirmation that Stacie's class is intense from someone else. I was wondering if perhaps I was just a major wuss.

Yesterday I took the day off. I was considering going to a Pilates class for a core strength workout, but then I thought better of it. I wanted one day where I just stayed home and did absolutely nothing. I like to get in a rest day about once a week.

Tonight I'm back in the saddle for the "Endurance" class again. I'm more prepared today. I'm trying out having a banana about an hour before class to see if that helps to keep me from bonking midway through. I'm getting pretty good about eating for purely nutritional/training purposes during the week, although I tend to slip up on weekends.

The Drill Sergeant

2009-01-17T15:13:00.005-05:00

This has been a great week for getting back into the swing of things. My exercise routine sputtered to a halt last year after we got back from our trip to find our house had flooded. By the time the house had been repaired, the holidays were upon us. And all of my attempts to work out post-holiday were pretty miserable too -- until last week.

I finally feel like I've gotten back into some semblance of a fitness groove.

This week I've taken five spinning classes, and each time had a different instructor. I've seen a wide variety of routines, personality types and music. I liked all of my instructors, but the two standouts this week were my Endurance Cycle instructor and then today, the woman that I'll simply refer to as the Drill Sergeant.

This morning's workout began at 9:15 and went until 10:30. Most cycling classes are 50 minutes long, so this was 25 extra minutes of pure cycling pain^H^H^H^Hjoy. I also wasn't thinking straight this morning, and only realized at the last minute that I had to show up to class 15 minutes early if I wanted a bike. So there was no time for breakfast.

As it turned out, all those carbs from the extra helping of fries I had last night at Red Robin really came through for me.

I entered this class 15 minutes early and still had a hard time wrangling for a bike. The instructor was this tiny Asian woman with long hair. Now, I'm about to stereotype again here, but it's proven to be true. Just like the unassuming blonde woman from earlier this week, I have found that petite Asian women also like to try to kill people in fitness classes. It's just a trend I've noticed. No one this past week has compared to these two instructors in the lengths they go to deliver pain on the cycle.

But this woman was a standout, let me tell you. I loved her! She has a higher pitched voice, but she can yell like nobody's business, and better yet, at times she would manage to both yell and growl at us at the same time. It was pretty clear that the whole class loved her. Today's spin wasn't merely a class, it was at times almost a religious experience. There was whooping and hollering at different points after particularly tough workouts, and as she growled/yelled at us to push harder. I'm pretty sure a guy over in the back corner found Jesus three or four times. It was a really fun crowd.

She would pause her iPod in between songs to explain to us what the next drill would be. At one point, she started a hill workout and said, "Choose your cadence and choose your gear. Nothing will change for the next 5 minutes but your saddle position. Pick a moderate to challenging hill, and I don't want to see anyone slowing down or dropping their gear."

And so, we did as we were instructed. But I quickly discovered that what feels acceptably moderate after 15 seconds, feels a lot more intense after 2 or 3 minutes. She had us doing jumps (in and out of the saddle at various counts and intervals). The song was only half over, but we were all exhausted. Legs were slowing, and God help any soul who was caught reaching down to touch their gear.

Suddenly, out of this tiny little woman comes this loud growl, "I DON'T WANNA SEE ANY OF YOU SLOWING DOWN!!! WHO CHOSE YOUR CADENCE? WHO CHOSE YOUR GEAR? NOW MOVE! MOVE!!! MOOOOOOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!"

I'm no idiot. I moved. I moved fast. I was scared she'd come yank me off my bike.

This went on for the full 75 minutes. I am not normally fond of being yelled at, but she was so spirited that she whipped the whole class into a full-on frenzy. She actually had us do an intense hill workout that lasted for fifteen minutes before we could do a recovery.

And then for the end there was a 6 minute time trial/speed workout. She gave us our instructions before the song and said, "I want you to sprint as fast as you can to the finish line. How do you want to end this workout? You want to end it strong. You're racing to the finish line, and I want you to go as fast as you possibly can. You want to be the first to the finish line."

And then as she started her iPod up again with a laugh she said, "And did I mention the finish line will be on a hill?"

So for the last 6 minutes I went all out. She had us crank up the gear a little harder every 30 to 60 seconds. For the last minute, I had to get out of the saddle because the tension was cranked up so high. She yelled us right to the finish and I can honestly say that for that last song, my legs were moving as fast as humanly possible the whole time, even managing to speed up at the end. I had to close my eyes and visualize actually riding to keep the momentum up, particularly since I was running on empty.

I was really sad to learn at the end, as I was leaving, that she's not a regular yet. She just got certified, and I asked her when her classes were and she said that for right now she's just a sub. I went to the member services desk and left feedback begging them to get a class on the schedule for her.

I think this is the first time I've ever liked being yelled at.

What Went Down (Me)

2009-01-16T08:30:00.010-05:00

I love my Y. I’m not just saying that, it’s true - I have all sorts of affection for the place. In fact, I told Jay last night that we just need to cancel my other gym membership when it comes due next month.

I went to my third (in a row) spin class last night. I called over the instructor before the class started and explained to her the tenderness and pain I’ve been having in my neck and shoulders since I started the classes. I’d fiddled with my handlebar and seat setting and wanted her opinions. She reminded me to not clench up my shoulders as I did hills, which I don’t think I ever do anyway. Then during the class, as she was teaching she’d look over in my direction and catch my eye, and she’d either flap her arms loosely (loosen your arms!) or shrug her shoulders to tell me to lower them. I thought her nonverbal cues were great, and I didn’t feel singled out, “Hey dolt in the second row, loosen your shoulders!”

And through either a combination of the new bike position, her reminders, or the frozen peas I packed on my neck last night while watching TV, my neck and shoulders feel pretty good today. In fact, I could go for a 4th night in a row of spinning, but class starts at 5 and there’s no way I can make it that early.

After class she and I talked for awhile about more solutions and ideas. She agreed with me that I have to really work on strengthening my core while I’m training. Those are my 2 training goals for the next 5 months: get good on the bike and strengthen my core. Weak abs make for lousy riding, and I’m convinced that’s the reason I took my huge spill last year.

Speaking of the spill, I don’t think that I’ve written about it here yet. Here’s the story:

I woke up early on Saturday morning for my first ever group ride with a local cycling company. I showed up early for the ride to find a bunch of serious cyclists and another group of moderately serious cyclists. All of them were men. I was completely and utterly out of my league. No one even said “hello”. This was a focused, fairly unfriendly bunch.

The bike store representative, Michael, took me under his wing and opened the shop to help me reinflate one of my tires. I went out with him in the “beginner” group at the end, consisting of me and one other exceptionally patient guy.

We rode through heavy traffic at the beginning (during which I was seriously clenched) and then we got to the back roads that I take on the way to my house. About six miles in we were at the stop sign just a half mile from my house. I was so tempted to just pack it in, ride home, find the spare key and wait for Jay to come home so we could go get the car, but I didn’t. I had already done the walk of shame up one very steep hill and I wasn’t ready to cave to another humiliation.

Instead, I continued. I was in the back and Michael was probably killing himself to keep a pace as slow as mine. Around the 12th mile or so, we were making a right hand turn in traffic, coincidentally right at the corner of this Y that I love so much. I was trying to do hand signals properly, so I took my right arm off the handlebars to signal right…

At that point, everything went south. I think what happened is that my bike started to veer a little to the left, and I overcorrected, jerking my left arm (the only one on the handle) to the right. The sudden motion caused the bike to stop, with me still going, right over the front of the handlebars. I remember that my eyes were open when I hit the pavement, headfirst. I watched the pavement skid underneath me and I recall having a brief thought of, “Oh… so this is it. Great.”

Fortunately, the cars behind me stopped, and my helmet held up nicely. I was surprised to be conscious and intact there on the ground. Michael was right there, and I hobbled up and over to the side of the road. He brought my bike and called the store to get a truck. The patient other guy agreed to go on, after checking that I was fine.

I couldn’t move my left arm, and I felt pretty battered. Together Michael and I checked myself out, and decided we just needed to get back to the store. I presumed that I had just knocked the hell out of my funny bone, causing my arm numbness. We waited and talked for 30 or 45 minutes. I was impressed by the number of people out running, and driving by, who stopped and desperately wanted to help. We told them we were waiting for a truck for my bike, and they kept prodding me, "Are you sure? You’re okay?"

I got back to the shop after a nice ride with Mike (different guy) in the truck, who told me all the ways he’d beat himself up riding. Michael rode his bike back to the store, and was there not long after I was. (I KNEW he was sandbagging on the ride with me! Such a nice guy.)

This cycle shop, Bicycle Sport in Matthews, is amazing. They’re the ones who set me up with my bike. When we arrived, I was going to take my bike and head home. Mike would have nothing of it. He took my bike straight to the repair area where they started repairing and realigning my bike - at no charge. And Ben (the manager) came up to me as soon as I limped in to see how I was. "You need a new helmet," he stated, in a very matter-of-fact way. They had a ridiculously good discount program for a new helmet to replace a busted helmet.

Within 15 minutes I had a new helmet, and a newly repaired and perfectly aligned bike. Some of the hard core cyclists from the morning arrived, and after sizing me up and spotting the blood, they finally deemed me worthy. One offered me treatment advice, "Tegaderm, man. It’s the only thing. Your legs were shaved right?" (No, they were not. I probably had more leg hair than all the cyclists in the group that day.) The other showed me his scars from all of his road rash.

I limped home, bike mounted on my car. Michael made me promise to call him with an update after getting checked out. I went to the urgent care center just down the road where some really nice women fixed me up. One was apparently my neighbor. I felt like I was 12, as she knelt on one knee in an exam room, gingerly dabbing my severely skinned knee with a cleansing solution before carefully bandaging it. The verdict: no broken arm or elbow after an x-ray, but a fractured tailbone. "Not much you can do about that, honey," sympathized one of the nurse practitioners.

I didn’t get on a bike for a long while after that. It took months for my tailbone to heal to the point where it didn’t hurt anytime I sat more than 10 minutes in the car. I took a trip to Italy that included agonizingly long periods in both planes and cars. Sitting still was sheer torture. Ironically, when I warily approached my bike for the first time post-spill, I realized that the way the bike saddle is designed prevents the tailbone from actually touching anything. It was remarkably comfortable!

I did ride a fair amount after that one disastrous group ride. I tried another group ride with a more accessible riding group in Rock Hill. It was a beautiful ride, and there was yet again another sympathetic rider sagging behind with me. Unfortunately an intense summer thunderstorm rained us out after only 9 miles. I’m still not comfortable enough to ride in a driving rain.

Then I discovered the 4 mile loop at the Rock Hill armory. I started copping out on road riding, by taking the loop and riding it to get my mileage up. Then toward the end of the summer, my riding schedule fell apart. Which brings us up to today, and my weekly team rides that start next week. I’m rather glad they don’t start this week, since tomorrow’s low is 10 degrees. Brr.... Until next week, you'll be able to find me in spin classes!

That Which Does Not Kill Me...

2009-01-13T18:59:00.006-05:00

My first clue should have been that word "Endurance" placed strategically before the word "Cycle" on the spinning schedule from the Y.

I am not one for picking up subtleties, however. They could have called it "Death Cycle" and I would have still showed up all bright-eyed and stupid, thinking it might be a romp in the park, or perhaps a tribute to some 80's metal band.

It was not either.

"Endurance Cycle" on the Y schedule, for those who might wish to know, means that there is no rest period between songs. There is no wondering if the next song might contain hills, because you know it will. There is remarkably little wondering if the agony might soon end, because you full well realize it won't.

The instructor was a slight, unassuming blonde woman, and I long ago realized that the slight, unassuming blonde women are the ones who will take over the world, by brute force if necessary. It's never good to see one of them at the front of a class because you immediately know she will kick your ass, and she'll look better than you doing it.

To her credit, she managed to wring every ounce out of me for just about every song. I was stupidly hoping that perhaps this song would be the hardest and the next one might be easier.

I should have bolted when I saw all the extra lean cyclists there, in full cycling regalia, including the shorts and yes, honest-to-goodness cycling jerseys, hugging every lean line on their body and putting me and my dri-fit Livestrong shirt and love handles to shame. I'm surprised they weren't wearing helmets.

But I did not bolt.

And now that the pain is over, I have to admit it was a great workout. I'm still winded, and I've driven home and had a few minutes to rest. I will go back next week, if I can. This is a really good class for my indoor training repertoire.

Way Down in Kokomo....

2009-01-12T08:30:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I met up with Cheryl, who will be the mentor on our team, and we did a spinning class at the Y near her. It was a special "Virtual Vacation Cycle" class.

The instructor brought with her a projector, and she led us through a music/video projection-based class with songs and rides for various vacation destinations. We started off with a leisurely Miami-based ride (to Will Smith's Miami song), then moved into a roller coaster based song & visuals, with fast hills and sprints, and on to songs including a building hill workout, set to scenery from various mountains.

She was brutal toward the end, playing "Kokomo" (evil by itself) and telling us that each time they mentioned a vacation destination we had to crank up the tension (which they do about 6 times in the chorus) and we could only drop the tension when they got back to the Kokomo part of the chorus.

And of course, now I have the song running through my head.

But it was, and I am shocked to say this about a spinning class, a really fun and entertaining workout. The hour flew by. That's why I rejoined the Y.

The saddle soreness is still a problem, however. Ouch...

Any Movement Will Do

2009-01-11T10:01:00.006-05:00

Yesterday I went to check out the newly-expanded Y nearby. It was a madhouse. I don't think I have ever seen that many people working out at once. They did their grand reopening in January so you've got all the New Year's resolution people on top of the regular crowds. These pictures do not accurately represent the sheer volume of sweaty humanity at the gym:

Merely snagging an exercise machine was an Olympic sport in itself. I couldn't find a treadmill, my first choice. There were no bikes of any kind available. The ellipticals were completely packed. So I ended up on the only machine open at the time, the infamous Nordic TreadClimber. Yeah, that one that you've seen on TV. Late at night. They apparently have a handful of them at the Y.

It was a little jarring to walk on the thing, but I went for it. They're right when they claim that it does jack up your heartrate more than just walking. Imagine walking on a stairmaster with more forward motion and less height between the steps. That's kind of what it was like. But it was cardio, so I took it.

While I'm over the head cold that hit me 2 weeks ago, the congestion still remains, making it tougher to work out than normal.

I checked out the new cycling studio at the Y. I rejoined this branch because the Y's cycling/spinning classes are so much better (and more frequent) than the gym I usually visit. They offer cycling here every workday at 5:45AM, midday, and then in the evening at 5:30PM. 2 other days during the work week they also have a 6:30PM spinning class. The morning and evening options double the chance that I will get over there for a workout.

Today I'm off to go ride with a friend of mine who is training for the same ride, at her Y.

Well, the Deed is (partially) Done...

2009-01-05T19:15:00.003-05:00

Today I sent out my first batch of fundraising emails. It went okay, except for the snafu where I forgot to BCC: a subset of the people I emailed. Gah! It's one thing to commit a rookie mistake when you're emailing people in general. It's a totally different thing to commit such a rookie mistake and have, on your email distribution list, senior Internet and IP Security type folks. I sent out a brief, groveling apology to the same list (only this time using BCC!) and hopefully all, or at least most, of my stupidity will be forgiven.

I'm not good with "putting myself out there". Not good at all. This is one of the primary reasons I never contemplated going into sales. My father (hi Dad!) will say, "What's the worst they can do? Say 'no'. Big deal!" And he's right, logically. That's why he's so good at sales. But a person's neuroses are never, ever logical.

I will send out a few more fundraising letters tomorrow. I am both hopeful and incredibly nervous at the same time. I'm also approaching some corporations that are local to Charlotte. The last time I had to raise money like this, it was for the school magazine. I had to sell $1,000 worth of ad space in our literary magazine. I wrote a letter to the Atlanta Journal and Constitution, and they bought a full-page ad for $1,250. Poof - one letter and the whole requirement was wiped out. That was pretty sweet. In this day and age I doubt that lightning will strike twice, but fortunately I really am okay with rejection from corporations!

Getting Down to Business

2009-01-02T15:12:00.002-05:00

Attempting to write when you have writer's block is one of the most annoying things in the world. Last year when I was contemplating signing up for this ride, there were at least 20 times that I conjured up the perfect fundraising letter -- in my head. Being the lazy person that I am (and always mentally "writing" at the most inconvenient of times, right as I was falling asleep or in the shower, or driving) I never wrote down any of those letters.

And so I have sat in front of a blank MS Word document for the past few days, with no clue about what was in those awesomely fantastic letters I conjured up in my head many months ago.

This happens to me a lot. If I could write nearly as well in front of a computer as the words I come up with when I am just about to doze off, I'd have written a novel by now. In fact, I've started several of them in my head just prior to nodding off to sleep.

I have found examples, but examples don't help. Those letters are someone else's words, so they just look much better than mine will ever be. I have given myself a deadline of Monday to have the letter written. I always perform better with a good deadline.

But it sure isn't helping me right now. If I don't shake something loose soon, I will go mad.

The Awful Truth

2008-12-22T17:06:00.004-05:00

There comes a time, when you're not actually living with the day-to-day realities of cancer, that you begin to forget its devastating effect. Even when you've lost a family member to Leukemia. After enough years and enough success stories, you start to hope - and sometimes even believe - that we're so close to getting this thing licked.

And then suddenly out of the blue, you're blindsided by the awful truth: That no matter how many success stories you hear, we are still too far from a cure.

It's these times when we're reminded that "close" just isn't good enough for someone who has just lost their battle with Leukemia.

Jay was blindsided last month when a friend of his, an honored teammate from one of his seasons, passed away. He had run with Gaby, and coached her prior to her cancer returning. He'd get regular updates from his TnT team members and other coaches. She was put on experimental trials, and she went to some of the best hospitals in the country, but "close" still wasn't enough. For Jay, learning about Gaby was particularly hard. In all his years running and coaching for TnT, he had never lost an honored teammate.

We need for everyone to be a success story. "Close" just isn't good enough.

For me, a different version of the awful truth hit today. Since joining Facebook, I have reconnected with dozens of friends from my childhood. And then today in my Facebook "feed" I saw that a friend had joined a new group, "In memory, and in honor, of Becca".

I saw the one line while I settled in at my desk at work for the morning, in my comfortable, cancer-free bubble of a world, and it stopped me in my tracks.

The last time I saw Becca was on the portico at our church, sometime around the mid-1980's. Becca was three or four years younger than me. Not long after Page died, Becca was diagnosed with Leukemia.

Being ten and socially awkward at all levels, but especially at interacting with someone else who had Leukemia so soon after my sister's death, I watched Becca from afar. It wasn't difficult. Just as with Page, my church rallied around Becca, so updates on her progress, and on what members of our church could do to help her, were everywhere.

Becca underwent treatment, and I think (though my memory is fuzzy so I can't be sure) that she had a bone marrow transplant too. She went into remission, and after enough time, she was declared free of cancer. I was happy for her and her family, but my happiness carried a bittersweet edge: if Becca had beat it, why hadn't Page?

I moved away from the area, and the church, in my teens and I left with the knowledge that Becca had survived Leukemia. In my mind, Page and Becca were inextricably linked. Page's Leukemia came along too early, I thought, for her to be a success story. If it had just happened to her later, like it had for Becca, they would have been able to cure her.

For twenty years I lived with that certainty. Real or imagined, I just knew it to be true: we were so close. Just another year, another two years, and Page would have lived too, just like Becca.

What I didn't know was that Becca's battle with cancer didn't end as nice and neatly as I had always imagined. I found out today that she battled cancer two more times in her short life, and that she died nearly two years ago, at the still far-too-young age of 32. And learning that awful truth today was heartbreaking on many levels.

All of my life I have felt that we're just so close to having this thing licked. Just a little while longer, and there will be a cure. There are so many success stories, so many survivors. Surely a real cure is just around the bend.

But close just isn't good enough. We have got to get beyond close and somehow we have to leap beyond that ever-moving horizon to find a real cure. In memory of Becca, Gaby and Page... In memory of all the people for whom "close" just wasn't good enough. It's something we have to do, there is no other choice.

A Literal Exercise in Humility

2008-12-06T11:04:00.001-05:00

There are few experiences as humbling as that very first workout, post-Thanksgiving, and after taking a couple months off. Apparently, wanton consumption of party mix, pecan pie and alcohol is not without its consequences. Who knew?

I spent an hour on the treadmill today, figuring that if I couldn't go for quality I could at least go for quantity. Tried out several new songs on my iPod, and found a couple that are real winners. Every so often I go onto iTunes, look up "running" or "workout" mixes and download 2 or 3 songs from artists I've never heard of. This time around my favorite discovery* was Walkie Talkie Man by Steriogram. Lots of fun, but entirely too short, so I played it twice.

I'm considering doing the couch-to-5k program to give myself a good routine until cycling training gets underway. I'm going to just shoot for basic cardio this week and see if I feel up to starting it next week.

My hamstrings seized up impressively after my workout. I spent about twenty minutes after I got home doing some actual, real stretching. I seem to have reached the age where I can no longer just go all out and then stop without consequences.

Heading back tomorrow for more.

*Of course a quick Google search shows me that Apple has already used Walkie Talkie Man to create an iPod commercial. So once again I've "discovered" something already totally mainstream. I could not be less hip if I tried.

FAQs

2008-12-04T13:55:00.011-05:00

(Potentially) Frequently Asked Questions
To call this a true "FAQ" would be a bit of a misnomer at the moment, seeing as how I'm only just now setting up all of my webpages to start raising funds for my Century ride. This is really just a list of questions I expect people might have. If you have a question that is not answered here, please email me (diertac --at-- gmail --dot-- com) and I will be happy to answer it, and post it here too!

Why are you doing this?
That one is asked and answered in this entry.
What is a Century Ride?
A Century ride is a 100 mile bike ride. There is also a "Metric Century" which is a 100km (or 62 mile) bike ride. I'm riding the 100 mile version.
(I imagine that in Europe they call a 100km ride a "Century" ride and a 100 mile ride a "That Bloody American Century" ride)
Which Century ride are you doing?
I will be participating in "America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride" in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. Link and logo are over in that sidebar on the right.

3a. Why did you choose this ride?
If I am going to haul my rear over hills under my own power for 100 miles, the least I can do is enjoy the view. They say it's the "most beautiful". I believe them.
What is your training like?
That's an interesting question. The answer is: I don't know yet, but when I do you can be certain there will be countless posts describing it in great detail and almost certainly complaining about it here. Training starts officially at the end of January. According to an email I received from my coach, we will do a team ride on Saturday or Sunday each week, and we will train on our own and with team members two or three other days a week.

If the cycling program is like TNT's running program (and in this respect I understand it is) we will start with a base mileage that's not too bad, with guidance on how many miles our training rides should increase each week, and how many times per week we should ride.

Prior to the kickoff of my official training, I will be training on my own to get back into decent shape before I start with the team. I hate cold weather, so much of my training will be indoors at the gym. I'll be working out 3-5 times a week, doing a run/walk program and Spinning classes for my cardio.
Don't you have to be really fit to train for an endurance event?
Well, not at the start. "Reasonably" fit is more like it. Team in Training specializes in training people who aren't necessarily "athletes" to complete an endurance event. For instance, when I met Jay he had never run in his life. He certainly didn't consider himself a "runner". TnT trains for an average base.

To give you an idea of just how "average", when I asked what I needed to be able to do before my first team ride, I was told that it would be great if I could ride about 10 miles, and if I already knew how to ride with clipless pedals. And at the same time, I was told that there will almost certainly be people on the team on day 1 who had never ridden with clipless pedals, or 10 miles. I'm hoping they're right because I hate showing up and feeling out of my league.

(I tried to figure out a way to use more "quotes" in this answer, but I just couldn't come up with anything. Imagine accompanying air-quote hand motions with each set.)
How can I do a Team in Training event?
Funny you should ask, there are two good websites for that. Go right here:
Team in Training: Your First Time Here
and
Team in Training: Tell Me More
What kind of events can I do with TnT?
TnT hosts and coordinates a variety of athletic endurance events:
- Marathons & Half Marathons
- Cycling/Century Rides
- Triathlons
- Hiking Adventures
Is it hard to raise that much money?
I don't know yet, but I'll be sure to let you know! :-)
Here's a link to my fundraising page. You can see what kind of progress I have made so far, and even donate if you'd like! I won't stop you.

Team in Training works with participants, both locally and at a national level, to help them raise money. Local teams frequently hold fundraising events together and split up the donations.

There are many creative ways to raise funds. Now that Jay is a coach, I've had a chance to attend some great fundraising events for his team members. One team member worked out a deal with a local brewery for a beer tasting event. The owner kept prices low and she charged a cover to her friends for the event, taking the excess funds for her fundraising. I've also seen a Doggy Party, complete with dog ice cream, raffle tickets, fun and a lot of dog tails for our dog to sniff. I'm considering auctioning or selling matted, signed prints of some of my best photographs in order to raise funds.
Do you get a medal? (Alternative post-race question: So, did you win?)
I don't know if I will get a medal for finishing the ride. I know marathons and half-marathons hand out medals, but I really don't know what to expect from a big ride. I do know I will have a fabulous Team in Training cycling jersey that I will be riding in with all my fellow team members.

One question that I hear all racers are asked after an event is: "So, did you win?" The answer is almost certainly a "no" unless you're asking a renowned Kenyan runner after a marathon. In my experience, TnT participants aren't elite athletes, we're just your average people, happy to finish with a personal best time.

That's all I can think of. Send me the questions if you've got 'em!

Why I'm Riding

2008-12-04T13:19:00.005-05:00

I am not the most athletic person I know. In fact, I am one of the least athletic people I know. Oh sure, I get to the gym in spurts and I spent several months earlier this year attempting to run in a way that did not resemble a drunken penguin, but other than that, I'm not the type of person who seeks activity. As one old friend puts it, "I'm built for comfort, not speed."

So why do an endurance event? Well, there are many reasons, both obvious at not-so-obvious.

The primary reason I was inspired to ride was in memory of my sister Page. We didn't get to spend nearly enough time together before she died of complications from Leukemia when she was just a kid. I don't talk about Page a lot, it just doesn't come up in everyday conversation. And when it does, invariably I feel uncomfortable. But coming to terms with what Leukemia has done to my family is a big part of what has driven me to ride.

I wrote a check when my sister-in-law ran for Team in Training. I wrote checks and cheered my husband on when he ran two marathons for TnT. And I am immeasurably proud of how much of a difference Jay is making now that he is a coach for Team in Training's South Charlotte chapter. But as I watched my family members, who had never met Page and whose own lives have never been directly affected by Leukemia, work so hard to raise money to fight the disease on her behalf, I felt guilty. I felt like a slacker. And I felt envious as well, because I wanted to be the one to do something amazing to raise the money that will help eradicate the disease that took my sister. So, in a way, my reason to ride is pretty selfish. Still, hauling my own butt across 100 miles without complaining (much) will be a pretty amazing thing to achieve, and for a great cause.

My memories of Page are from a lifetime ago. It will be 28 years this week. What I do remember is that we were both left-handed. And I annoyed her to no end. I wanted to be just like her, and she wanted to be the first woman President of the United States.

There are other reasons I am riding, but this is the big one. Save the others for another day.

Cat (l) and Page (r) on Christmas Eve

Cat (l) and Page (r) - I was so happy to get my new bike!

My TnT Fundraising page

My First Event

2008-12-01T16:32:00.002-05:00

Jay woke up this morning and realized that he had double-booked himself for 12/13, with both a music gig and his marathon scheduled. This is what happens when you have too much energy, too much stuff to do and no social secretary, I guess.

Me, I don't have that problem.

Jay has been in a bad mood most of the day, seeing as how he trained hard for this marathon and all. He can't miss his music gig, so the marathon is out.

As a coping mechanism for his disappointment, Jay has been scouring the Internet all day long looking for a suitable marathon replacement. He has found it, in the form of the Bi-Lo Marathon over the Valentine's Day weekend in Myrtle Beach.

And as luck would have it, he discovered in his search that there's a bike event the next day, the "Michelob Ultra" ride. I can totally get behind a ride sponsored by beer. He's signed himself up for the marathon, and me up for the 30 mile ride, not the metric century. So it looks like next Valentine's day I'm going to be spending riding in Myrtle Beach after he runs.

Barring any disasters, it should be fun!

No Turning Back

2008-11-21T15:45:00.001-05:00

I sent in my paperwork to Team in Training yesterday and should be getting a fundraising page set up soon. At this point, there's no turning back.

I haven't been keeping up with updates previously, mostly because the riding was going fairly disastrously this past summer. I crashed my bike, broke my tailbone, and ended up rather discouraged. I got back on the bike, after a long hiatus and got back into riding, but I am still not comfortable with it.

The bike's hanging in the garage lately. With 30 degree days, and no one that I'm comfortable riding with, it's probably not going to get dusted off much until the training starts in January. I'm going to have to get used to riding in the cold!

Wind Is Not Your Friend

2008-02-12T19:37:00.001-05:00

What I learned in Ballantyne on Saturday: Wind is not your friend on a bike. I did my usual jaunt around Ballantyne for the first six miles, and then decided to ride a loop for the final four. The first half of the loop had me riding directly into a strong, gusty headwind. The second half was a dream, because I had the wind at my back. I was astonished by how a headwind could kick my ass on a ride.

What a Ride

2008-02-03T14:41:00.001-05:00

Today's ride was better than yesterday's ride. I don't know what I was thinking, riding around my neighborhood yesterday. Too many stop signs, too many cars, too many hills, too little pavement.

So today I put the bike rack on the Prius and drove myself about 5 minutes up the road to the Ballantyne Corporate Park. It has wide, winding roads, bike lanes, lakes, park benches and picnic tables, and very little traffic on the weekend.

And the ride rocked. I only went 6.7 miles, over the course of about 30 minutes. Again today, the only pain was in my hands, which are still getting used to the front brakes and the bars.

It was such a relaxing ride that I even had time to focus on my technique, like keeping my heels down to engage more of my foot than just my toes. I was regularly hitting 15mph for long stretches, and at one time got up to a max of 25mph. This time, I wasn't nearly as nervous as there was plenty of space in which to ride that fast. Pedaling up moderate inclines I even reached 17mph steadily in some of the more difficult gears.

I braved a real street, and rode the bike lane just a little bit. No traffic was around. I found a 1-mile loop and raced around it 3 times, each time in a slightly harder gear, trying to beat my previous time. I found new lakes I'd never seen, and enjoyed myself.

I returned to the lot where my car was parked and really just didn't want to stop riding my bike. It was just that much fun. So I did a couple of back and forth sprints along the empty side of the lot, cycling as fast as I could in a harder gear. Then, upon seeing a truck and a runner enter my lot, I slowed down and sadly headed back to the car.

In short, compared to today's ride, yesterday's ride sucked. There may be hope for me after all.

I will miss my bike this week. Here's a photo of her, isn't she pretty?

Day One: Feels like the First Time

2008-02-02T18:33:00.002-05:00

I bought a new road bike last night, a 2007 Trek Pilot 2.1 WSD. I spent two hours at the shop yesterday getting fitted and buying everything else a newbie cyclist needs to actually ride: Shoes for my clipless pedals, bike shorts, a bike jersey, a helmet, a bike computer. My local bike shop really appreciated the business I gave them yesterday.

Today was my first ride. It's amazing how riding a bike doesn't hurt your hands, arms, shoulders and butt when the fit is right.

What's also amazing to me is the speed: Previously, my only experience on a bike was on a low-end hybrid bike, back in Virginia on the W&OD. Sadly, Charlotte does not have anything at all comparable to the W&OD. But I digress - Speed.

My old hybrid bike only got up to maybe 13-15mph, as I recall, maxing out only a slight bit higher when I pedaled my hardest downhill. This road bike, she is another story. With little effort I was at 17mph, and going downhill I hit 23mph. Getting used to the speed is going to be my biggest challenge, I think. I'm just not used to going so damned fast without more protective clothing.

As for why I'm doing this, it's simple: I want to ride in Lake Tahoe's "America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride" in 2009. Yes, I'm getting an early start. I don't think I could get used to being a cyclist, and work up my mileage by June of 2008, so I've set my goal to get used to cycling this year, and to raise the money for Team in Training and do the full on Century ride next year.

Today: 5.8 miles just around my neighborhood. Far too many stop signs.