Princess Runner

As you may recall, I wrote on Saturday that I was going to do my cycling time trial on Sunday. A twelve mile ride at high intensity to mimic race day conditions. Things did not go as I had planned.

The ride started out well and I was maintaining a pretty good overall speed of about 12 miles an hour which was my goal. I planned to put in the one big hill in the area toward the beginning of the ride (about 4 miles in). I have only done the hill once previously on the bike (and I have walked up it before a few times).

I think that I finally have gotten the hang of switching gears to prepare for hills. Going up the hill the first time, I managed to maintain a 9 mph pace which I was pretty happy with. I rested a moment or two before going back up the hill the other way, this time a bit slower.

I continued the ride and passed a few slower people. There were a lot less runners than on Saturday, but a lot more cyclists. I think that they probably choose Sunday to avoid all the marathoners on Saturday.

As I wound through a woodsy part nearing where I entered the preserve (I planned to bypass my start and go the other direction for a few miles), I heard a really obnoxious bird call. I had never heard this bird before and was glad I didn’t have one living outside my window at home because it would certainly drive me crazy. It sounded a bit like it was dying. As I rode another mile or so, the bird sound kept following me, which I found really annoying. A moment or two later, I realized that it was not a bird. It was my bike.

I decided to wait until I got back to the parking lot to check to see if I was losing air or something. That way Prince E could come rescue me if necessary. The bike was riding fine, except for that dying bird noise. I hadn’t made it quite to the parking lot when I could not take it anymore. I had to stop and see where that noise was coming from.

I pulled off to the edge of the paved path, clipping out of my right shoe. For some reason I did not lean enough to my right though and I toppled over to my left and onto the pavement. A couple walking up ahead turned at the noise and called to see if I was okay or if I needed help. I said, “I’m fine. It happens a lot actually!”

I was fine, except for a scrape or two and some bruises. I really have learned that I must concentrate completely on stopping and leaning to the right and putting my foot down or else it does not happen. This time I was thinking about what I would do if my bike broke during the triathlon and thought about how uncomfortable it would be to walk the bike course in my cycling shoes. I should have been concentrating on stopping instead because it is still not second nature to me. Lesson learned.

I was unable to determine what the dying bird noise was, so I went home, three miles shy of the 12. I had still managed to average 10.7 mph throughout despite the dying bird noise and riding slowly home after the fall.

When I got home, my live-in bicycle mechanic diagnosed the problem quickly. The wheel was unbalanced and was rubbing against the brake pad. Unfortunately “truing the wheel” (the term for making a wobbly wheel stop wobbling) requires equipment that we don’t have. It was off to the bike shop. Fifteen minutes and $12 later, the dying bird was history.

I had also had a rattling in my front wheel for a while which I thought was just the reflectors making noise. Prince E inspected that and it turns out there were two extra metal pieces in there, probably left since the bike was put together. Sort of like leaving sponges in a person after surgery. He was able to remove those, so now my bike is strange-noise free.

Here is a a photo of one of my latest injuries (the other bruises are too faint to show up on camera right now). I would also like to take this moment to remind you all to wear a helmet. Even if you don’t go fast. I fell at basically a stand-still and yet I would not want the bruises and scrapes on my body to be on my head. Just something to think about.

Knee

I have been doing several things lately to get ready for my triathlon which is now two weeks away. Here is a list of things I have been up to.

Last weekend I had a brick on the schedule of 35 minutes biking, 25 minutes running. After getting over my fear of crossing Really Big Road to get to the Forest Preserve, I have been doing all of my bike miles there. You will recall that this is where I did the majority of my long runs last year during my marathon training.

Right after I crossed Really Big Road and got into the parking lot of the forest preserve, I noticed that my chain was making weird noises. I got off and looked it and kind of hoped someone would stop and I ask if I needed to help. I keep meaning to read the bicycle mechanics book that my husband has, but just haven’t got around to it. I still don’t know all of the names of the parts of my bike, let alone what they do or how to fix them when they stop doing what they do.

I pulled on the chain a little and realized it was hitting one metal thing that it wasn’t supposed to be (I wasn’t kidding when I said I didn’t know the terms). I then remembered something about changing gears fixing chain problems, so I got on the bike and switched gears and the chain went back wherever it was supposed to. I was so proud of myself that I had fixed it and managed to do so without having to call the husband at work. I started on my ride.

All was going well for about 15 minutes or so. I was passing runners and wanted to yell to them, “Hey!! I am really a runner pretending to be a cyclist!” but I didn’t. When I saw some of them struggling as I zipped by, it reminded me how annoyed I got by cyclists last year when I was struggling to complete the last mile of a long run and they seemingly exerted no effort. (Of course now I realize that the “no effort” part is entirely untrue, but there is no question that it is more efficient than running).

As I passed by a runner and zoomed back into the right lane it happened . . . my shoe came unhooked from my bike . . . with the pedal attached to it. Although I may not be a cycling expert, I know that the pedal should under no circumstances be coming off of the bicycle.

(more…)

I had yet another dream about running a race indoors. This time I think it was a marathon. I was running really fast and was doing well until I didn’t know which way to turn at this one hallway. There were signs pointing each way that had writing on it in very small font. I didn’t have my glasses on so I couldn’t read which way to go. I picked right and ended up going down a narrow stairway. At the bottom was a small room filled with snacks like pretzels and donuts. I had two pretzels, but then the way that people were looking at me made me think that it wasn’t part of the race, so I thanked them and left. I then went the other direction in the hallway and ended up at the finish line. There was no clock so I didn’t know what my time was, but I knew that I had cheated because the people around me looked way faster than me.

Today’s workout was supposed to be 30 minutes on the bike and 20 minutes running. However, I got a late start and by the time I headed out it was already humid and near 80 degrees. Due to my shortened time frame before having to start work, I just did a mini-brick instead. (A brick is just two sports in a row).

I did 20 minutes on the bike and 10 minutes running. I even did a timed transition which was 4 minutes, 9 seconds. It involved me unlocking the door to my apartment building, getting my bike in the elevator, coming up to my floor, into my apartment, changing shoes, taking off my helmet and bike gloves, chasing Simba Kitty who had gotten out and run down the hall, and then taking the three flights down the stairs to get outdoors. Pretty fast I thought for all that.

Overall I felt fine, except I was really hot. I should have gotten up early enough to start at 6.

Schools let out this week in my area. When I got to the pool today, I was shocked to see about 40 LOUD children in the “open” part of the pool and only three lap lanes open. I took one and was soon joined in my lane by an older woman who bounced up and down in the corner on a noodle.

As I swam, doing an interval workout, I thought how awful it is going to be to spend the rest of the summer with all of these extremely loud children. They were running and jumping in the pool, screaming, and loudly play Marco Polo. In short: pool hell. Thankfully, after about 20 minutes, a whistle blew and they all got out of the pool. This makes me think it was some kind of pool party and the monstrosity will not be repeated everyday this summer. At least I hope so.

My workout called for 30-40 minutes total and, in my slacker ways, I planned to do the low end. After thirty minutes, I was at 800 yards. I thought about my goal of swimming 1000 yards and decided that since it was so peaceful and quiet, and the bouncing lady had departed, I would do the extra 200 yards at a very very easy pace. I finished the 1000 yards in 39:55.

I have weird dreams. It is just one of the facets of my personality. Often if I am under some kind of stress, even if it is only at the subconscious level, it will manifest itself into a bizarre dream. Case in point:

Last night I dreamed that I was participating in my triathlon that I have been training for. Or at least I thought I was at first. I realized later in the dream that this was just a practice run that they were letting people do the day before. My mom, sister, and I arrived to the Expo and then I realized that I needed to do the triathlon (not knowing it was just a practice run). I was worried because I had not brought sunscreen.

I started the swim and it was going along okay and then everyone was yelling that they were tired and then I felt tired, but then the swim was over. For some reason they then decided we all needed to put on ankle straps with timing chips (which in reality, of course, happens before you start swimming). Of course I got the one woman who could not figure out how to put my ankle strap on properly and took about 15 minutes to finally get it on. I was so frustrated that it had taken so long and everyone was so far ahead of me.

I tried to find the bikes, but there was no one there to tell me where to go (this is when someone told me in the dream it was just a practice run and I was glad to have practiced open water swimming and that it didn’t count) and I ran around and around the interior of a building. There were conference rooms and people shopping and then I found some bike racks. I scanned them and they were all old, rusted bikes, the kind you see locked to a bike rack permanently. Then I remembered that I did not even bring my bike that day!

I got my cell phone out and called my dad and tell him that we forgot my bike and he told me that it was raining.