Army Ten-Miler and Other Thoughts

I forgot to include the Army Ten-Miler in my race schedule. I'm doing that race for the first time. I'm going to actually try to train: I'd love to run a 65 minute race to keep up with the boys.

This weekend is Duathlon Nationals. I certainly don't have high expectations for this race. With work and my allergies, this hasn't been a good year for training. I'm hoping things will turn around soon and I'll be able to live up to my expectations.

Race Schedule

Decided to share my race schedule for the year in case anyone is interested. A lot of these are being used to race myself back into shape this year.

April 25 - Duathlon Nationals

May 1 - Bunny Hop Criterium

May 8 - Fort Ritchie Classic Criterium

May 16 - American Zofingen (tentative)

June 13 - Eagleman

July 11 - Long Course Duathlon Nationals (tentative)

July 25 - Peasantman (not really a race but can't anger royalty by leaving this out)

August 15 - Lums Pond Duathlon (tentative)

September 5 - Duathlon Worlds (fantasy: I'm not going to qualify this year)

October 3 - Half Full Triathlon

November 13 - Richmond Marathon

Now off for more work!

Makes You Stronger!

I didn't have a chance to update this sooner but I survived my first bike race and even achieved all of my goals. Goal #1 was to finish with the same number of teeth with which I started. For those who don't know my riding history, this is very important as I've already knocked out my teeth twice in bike accidents and I really don't want to do it again. Goal #2 was to stay upright. Maybe this was just a subset of Goal #1 but I really wasn't in the mood to deal with road rash or need to replace another pair of bib shorts after last summer's bear incident. Goal #3 was to be able to finish the race. I didn't expect to stick with the lead group the whole race (and I sure as heck didn't) and once you get lapped in a crit, the officials can pull you from the race. I assumed I'd get lapped once I got dropped but didn't know how badly. Thankfully, I didn't do too bad and it was a pretty wide course so I didn't get pulled. Although I have to admit that in the course of the race, when I saw them about to lap me, I was pretty close to offering to stop.

On the good side, I had set a sub-goal of sticking with the pack for 15 minutes out of the 45 and I did that. Only 13 times up the climb though - and I still need to get better on the climbs. Look for a future posting on how 'fat girl can't climb.'

Next up: The Bunny Hop Crit on May 2. Wish me luck!

What Doesn't Kill You?

This posting isn't about heart rate zones. It's about tomorrow. Tomorrow I'm racing my first road bike race, the Tyson's Corner Circuit Race. It's a 1.1 mile circuit and the women's Cat 4 race lasts for 45 minutes. I only hope to survive that long. But I think it'll be a great way to boost my training. 1.1 miles with a climb at the end of each circuit: If I make it 45 minutes and we average 20 miles an hour, that's 15 climbs. I could really use 15 hard climbs to get my legs ready for Duathlon Nationals in two weeks. Plus, I can use the inspiration of getting ridden into the ground to get me out riding more. So we'll see if this kills me or makes me stronger. Or a little of both.