Bun Boy Motel

This past weekend the Moment Cycling team gathered in Baker, CA...home of the world's tallest thermometer. As Wiki says, it's located adjacent to the famous Big Boy restaurant, which also happens to be adjacent to the infamous Bun Boy Motel. Wow. Voted #1 of 3 hotels in Baker on Trip Advisor. Sweet. Thanks to team capt Brian Wilson for booking this place. I tagged along for fun since the back injury has been holding my training up.

Brian, Stephen, Seth, Ben, Shaun and JT after the race in front of the motel

We left SD pretty late arriving at our destination around midnight. An early wake up call and the race was off. The road wasn't closed but there were some state patrol cars following the packs. Key notes from the race director (who was also racing), "Center line = death. Do not go near it!" Alicia and I tagged along as team cheerleaders/SAG wagon/photographers, driving along the 65 mile out and back course. Feed station was interesting as the bag of gatorade I was passing to Ben busted open as he's grabbing it. Bottles flying all over the road...thank goodness for roadies and their bike handling skills; no one crashed!

Stephen and Seth all smiles before the race.Cat 5's on the course heading back. Shaun and Stephen, riding in the pack.

The race went well. The course was in the middle of the desert with no shade and no hills. Pretty much the same scenery the entire course. Nice choice boys. Made it home in time for Katrina's 30th Birthday party. Sunday we slept in and rolled out around 11am for my first ride back since my back injury. It went alright. 53 miles. 3 hours. sunburned back. lol. I suppose a 3 hour ride during the strongest UV portion of the day in a tri top without sunscreen wasn't the greatest choice. My back and leg felt alight. Not all the way better, but tolerable. Got a call from Stephen Banister asking if I wanted to get in a chill cove swim. Of course! 1/2 mile buoy is back out, so we had a nice relaxing 1 mile swim. So beautiful. This is where I live. Floating through the rolling waves. Not too much planned for this week, as I'm still trying to recover. Wildflower this weekend! Hopefully I'll be able to push the swim by then.
Oh I've been "cooking" lately. That isn't all butter...it's chicken broth. Thursday we had tri-tip with bacon wrapped scallops and yummy garlic potatoes. Got the scallops from Point Loma Seafood. Mmm. Sunday we made homemade pizza and watched Slumdog Millionaire. recommended. Last week I made bow tie pasta with homemade Italian sausage meat sauce. Mom, you'd be proud. (uh, I think we are having Chinese takeout tonight; that's Stephen's idea of cooking for me)

picture post

Here are some unposted pictures that I'll let do the talking. Enjoy!
At PCC's in San Jose hanging in the sub box.
Again at PCC's. Ready? Go!The melting slush from Snow Summit on my board taken on the lift.
Stephen at the San Fran tourney holding the roses Toly bought for Mysti and I.
The gang waiting for the cable cars. Stephen, Pat, me and Vineet
Vineet and I hanging on the cable carStephen and I at velodrome practice
Rainbow! Stephen in red, me in green and Nikee in purple. "on the fence" at velodrome. I believe that's Andy, Bethany's crush, in the swami's blue.
Osamu's picture of me at the April club race...wow I look fast!

Currently injured. Not really feeling like talking about it...low back is "stuck" and currently seeing an ART specialist/chiropractor. Had a fun laid back weekend. Two small bike rides, and the San Diego Underwater Hockey tournament. We got 4th. Had fun going out with everyone on Friday and Saturday night. Tomorrow a group of us are heading back to the Velodrome to watch the Tuesday night racers. Wednesday is my 2nd VO2 max testing...hopefully my back will hold out. Parting Glances:The perfect marshmallow for the perfect s'more. Fall Arizona trip to visit Meg.New Years party at the Doyle's (mystique's parents)

training with technology

After my fit stop testing I was interested to see which zones I'm training at. It's only been a week but the results have been shocking. Apparently my body really likes zone 5.
These were my results, keep in mind they are bike results on an indoor trainer. Add 5-7 beats for running.
Zone 1: 131-149
Zone 2: 150-168
Zone 3: 169-179
Zone 4: 180-186
Zone 5: 187-193 vo2maz
Zone 5: >194 anaerobic endurance

Test 1: Thursday I went on JT's cabrillo ride to test out the ticking heart on those killer hill repeats. hmm max 200bpm. lol. Went on a 20 mile ride, and Stephen had the monitor for 2 hills, but my average was somewhere around 160 for the entire ride. Probably about 25 in zone 4 and 5min in zone 5.

Test 2: Thursday after the ride, run coach put out a test. I programmed Garmin to do the following with the results in parentheses:
15 min warmup (157bpm zone 2)
5x3min at 8:15-8:30 with 1min rest in between
(#1 8:19 pace 185 zone 4)
(#2 8:15 pace 183 zone 4)
(#3 8:34 pace 182 zone 4)
(#4 8:07 pace 190 zone 5)
(#5 8:13 pace 189 zone 5)
10 min cooldown (185 zone 4)
Total run was 4.68 miles 176 average HR 44min

Test 3: Bethany met me at mission bay on Friday after work where run coach had me on schedule for a HR ladder.
15 min warmup (165 zone 2)
5 min zone 3 (172)
3 min zone 4 (181)
1 min zone 5 (193)
3 min zone 4 (183)
5 min zone 3 (177)
10 min cooldown
Somehow I managed to get this right on, but I felt like crap. 4.24 miles.

Test 4: Race Day!
11:31 swim felt strong. I was wearing my HR chest monitor so when i got to my bike in transition I put on the Garmin. 197!! wow, apparently transition runs are harder than I thought.
36:35 bike. It was windy and began to rain on the 4th lap. lovely. HR only got down to 193 after first lap and I couldn't get control. I also was breathing too hard to drink. Total bike average was 191 for 12.5 miles at 20.8mph pace. Uh zone 5 for 36 min. awesome.
33:09 run. 1st lap 18:07. ouch. 187 HR 9:00 pace 2nd lap 15:02 196 HR 7:30 pace.
4th place overall. 191 average HR; zone 5 for 1hr22 min. sweet. I lost to a lady in the final "sprint" due to my non-existent kick. The first two women are professionals training at the OTC in Chula Vista for the London Olympics. As for the weather, it was crap. Went home for a hot shower and a nap. Saturday afternoon was spent playing poker at a friends bbq. Delicious pork ribs.

Test 5: Ouch. Sunday Great Western Loop (clockwise).
Didn't wear the HR monitor because I didn't want to know how bad it was. Finished in 2:45 which is decent. Easter Sunday was spent at Mysti's parents house for a delicious dinner. Fun times on the VB court (bruised my wrist...I really wasn't meant for ball sports), on the trampoline and in the hot tub.

Test 6: Brick run on Tuesday after JT's ride. WTF, technology sucks! Garmin wasn't finding satellites for the first mile. No real data. 175 hr for the last 1.5 miles.

Test 7: Mile repeats. 1:30 walking in between each mile
15 min warmup (165HR 9:15 pace)
1 mile at 8:40-8:45 (178 HR 9:00) -still trying to figure out settings
1 mile at 8:25-8:30 (178 HR 8:36)
1 mile at 8:10-8:15 (185 HR 8:12)
1 mile at 8:00-8:05 (178HR 8:09)
cooldown (172 HR)
6.1 miles 174 average HR

I am so far impressed with what Garmin can do for me. I don't want to get too caught up in it, but I am a numbers person by nature. I'm used to swimming. Swim a pace, leave on an interval. I know what 1:15 vs 1:20 feels like in swimming. Learning to feel 8:30 from 8:15 isn't as easy...basically I'm feeling through HR...if I'm dying I'm trying. :) Run coach has been motivating and I think he's enjoying putting me through pain. I know my run is the weakest and I'm making a point to start getting strong. But it is about moderation. I'm having some hip and hamstring issues that are currently being dealt with. I had my first ART (active release therapy) session today and loved it. I found an awesome doctor located in liberty station (close to work and home!) and look forward to healing. Apparently my predictions about my right leg being longer are true. He's going to try to work through the issues, but I may need orthotics. Stim and heat...mmm back to college days of PT every day.

Looking forward to a fun weekend. Run and cove swim on Friday. Saturday is the San Diego Underwater Hockey Tournament. Some of us are biking from Solana to the wave house on Saturday morning before the games begin. Sunday is the Velodrome swap meet...maybe I'll find a gently used track bike! It's supposed to be a beautiful weekend...ah sunny san diego.

Cardio-Metabolic Exercise Profile

Today I began a two month study at the Fit Stop Human Performance and Health Enhancement Lab. The study is for a performance drink, however I'm in the placebo test, where I only consume water. Yeah for not having to store a case of the drink in my fridge. (and have angry roommates!)

They measure my aerobic capacity, metabolic fitness/lactate threshold, metabolic efficiency, and my biometrics (i.e. how fat I am) four times over the course of the study. Today they recorded my baseline levels. I arrived and the testing began.

Resting HR: 60 bpm
Blood Pressure: 120/78 which apparently is "textbook."
Skinfold: 20.9% Improving this will improve my VO2 max. Surprisingly better than college however, even with all that swimming and lifting!

Onto the real testing: we got the bike set up with the proper size and put on my pedals. HR monitor on. He then placed the mask on my face with the recording wires sticking out. Ready?
Must keep rpms above 70 for the entire test.
5 min warmup at 100 watts.
Then the "ramp up" began. Every minute he'd ask me my effort level from 1-10.
Constantly watching the computer. RPM's 85. okay. You're feeling good.
200 watts, getting harder.
Uh, the last 4 min were hard hard. Getting through that 280 watt 1 minute period was killer. That's all I had. I looked up, my HR was 207. wow.
He then pricked my finger for a lactate level blood test.
5 min cool down. HR 130 bpm
5 min sitting with mask still on.
5 min without mask. Then another finger prick.
HR 90 bpm
Results time!

Aerobic Capacity
-VO2 Max 51.2 which is high for my age group (good!)
Metabolic Fitness/Lactate Threshold (LT)
-LT 39.0 which is 76% of my max. Want to get this percentage up to 85%
-LT Heart Rate 175 bpm - typical Rachel Rate :) which is 86% of max.
Metabolic Efficiency
-Calculation 39.2 which is 99%. This should be over 100%
-LT Watts 188
-Max Watts 280

Decoding the numbers:
Aerobic capacity is my capacity to deliver oxygen to the working muscle. Higher VO2Max = better. This number will fluctuate in waves over the course of a season. My number is in the high category for women of my age (49-53). I'm almost to the athletic category (54-59), and a bit off the olympic category (60+). Losing weight will significantly improve this number.

Metabolic Fitness is a marker that describes how much of that aerobic capacity can be utilized by my working muscles. Higher means greater resistance to fatigure and higher sustainable work rate. This can take up to 5 years for someone to reach their greatest potential. Having only been cycling for less than a year, I'm the most excited to hear I haven't reached my potential...and knowing that may be around the time I age up.

Metabolic Efficiency is a description of my economy of motion and efficiency in doing physical work. Again, this needs to improve and will over time.

So now I have zones. I think I'm going to start back up with the garmin on bike days to see where my training is at. I can also use these numbers for my running, just add 5-8 bpm to each zone. Tomorrow is day one. JT's ride and my first tempo run. Eeek! Looking forward to the testing these next two months.

cheerleader!

"Recovery" week went well. Velodrome kicked my butt, Tuesday was an off day, Wednesday was a beautiful Fletcher Cove solo swim, Thursday was UWH, Friday I cheered for the bike racers at their time trial at Fiesta Island before work followed by an evening cove swim, and Saturday was my first real day back.I opted for the tri club Del Mar ride. 7am came rather early, after staying up late losing a poker game. Roll out at 8 from Starbucks and somehow I ended up turning on La Costa with the faster, longer, hammer inland riders on our way to Oceanside. I felt okay till mile 18 and then got dropped. Mmm, last night is starting to catch up with me (mistake 1). I waited for the 2nd group to catch me since I, miss navigational skills, didn't know where I was going. I didn't really pay attention (mistake 2) and didn't get a route slip (mistake 3). Anyway, I ended up pulling this group once we got to the 76 bike path (finally some flats!). We made it to Oceanside to watch the Cal Half (Ironman 70.3) and cheer on my fellow TCSD'ers in my kit and these crazy knee high tie dye socks from a 6th grade YMCA swim meet. Oh, I wore them for the entire 32 mile ride. Yeah it's spring here, but it was 80 degrees on Saturday. Hungover. At least I looked cheery! :) Anyway, it was all for the racers and the spirit at the "Love Stop;" the rockin aid station. Watched Nikee kick some major booty out there, as well as Brendan who just finished Superfrog (i.e. he's crazy). Here she is with her BF James and Bob Marley, elated to only have 1 mile left!I hung out with roommate Katrina as she was cheering on BF Chris (awesome JCC participant). Anywho, a great day of racing...but I had to get myself back to Solana Beach, 20 miles, headwind, solo ride home. Yuck. 52 miles though. Solid day. Finished up with "Without Limits," the movie about Prefontaine. Awesome! Uh, apparently Friday caught up with me. I "took a nap" at 7pm on Saturday...didn't wake up till 9am Sunday. Mmm, sleep, oh how I missed you!
Sunday morning Stephen and I went to breakfast and the mall (what is that?!! haha, and I even got a new dress! pictured above) before heading to his final bike race of the weekend. No, he wasn't taken away in the ambulance behind us. I watched him circle around a .7 mile loop (Criterium) for 40 min and pull his teammates to the win. Go Moment Cycle Sport! Afterwards we headed to my first tri club meeting for some food. Here are some race pics.Monday was the 2nd to last velodrome class. We did Italian Pursuits which was a really fun team race. Legs were re-dead after a morning run that bothered my hip. Today I peeled myself out of bed in time for JT's ride and I'm glad I woke up to spin out my legs. Tomorrow I'm taking part in a performance study. They are taking my bike VO2 max, HR, power outputs, lactate levels, and body composition analysis...and in return I have to replace my workout water with a drink they provide for two months. Should be an interesting experience at least to see how I (should) improve over the course of the study...hopefully in time for SDIT! I'm sending in my form tomorrow as I noticed it's 89% sold out already. Decision made. Thursday is JT's again and a tempo brick run with my new run coach...we'll see how this goes. :) Club race on Saturday!Bob with his ladies, me, Nikee and Bethay at the tri club meeting. Bethany also experienced her first 3 day bike race this weekend. She worked her butt off...glad it wasn't me! Congrats to all the 70.3 participants/finishers and the brave bike racers as they endured near freezing temps in Alpine for their Saturday road race.