Bikes, and Hills, and Snow, Oh My

I could have killed Hoz today! This week influenza is gone and it is back to training! So Hoz, being the sweetheart that he is, decided he would take me to go do hills today. I bundled up with my leg warmers and winter jersey garbed Phiona (my Cervelo P2C) and went out to hit the road. We started off our gentle ride with a 267ft climb over .47mi thats when I realized Hoz must really hate me. On a normal day I would have suffered through a few more killer hill sets but spending 2weeks in bed has made me so weak I felt my quads might give out any minute. Even so Hoz was able to trick me into doing 14mi of rolling hills until the snow started to pick up and I decided it was time to trough it in. All and all it was nice to be back on the bike.

West Mountain Ride Fail

While I am stuck here in bed it gives me time to reflect...

Two weeks ago I decided it was time to take the bike outside again. That Saturday was supposed to be nice and the UVU cycling team would be doing a group ride out by West Mountain. I don't know what meteorologist decided Saturday was supposed to be warm and clear but they were wrong. Even at noon when the ride was set to start it was a chilly 26 degrees out with a nasty inversion layer. A bunch of guys took off while we were unloading our bikes so our small group of four took up the rear. Kenton popped a flat on a set of railroad tracks only a few miles out from the start. Shea stopped to help Kenton while Hoz and I continued on, knowing they would catch up soon enough. I looked down at my arms during the ride and saw a build up of something white on my jersey. It took me a minute to figure it out. It was frost. Then only 9miles out my speed dropped from the low 20's to 16mph and I could not get it back up. What was wrong!? I hadn't heard my tire go out but it was the only thing I could think of. So I pulled to the shoulder and hopped off. Sure enough my front tire was flat. Hoz disappeared into the haze in front of me and I was alone on the muddy shoulder left to fix the flat. I took off the tire and pulled out my tools. Just as I was stuffing a new tube into the tire Hoz circled around to find me. I pulled out my CO2 cartridge to fill the new tube and nothing. I tired the trigger again. and again. Nothing it was empty. Good thing I had a second cartridge in my saddle bag. As I screwed the new cartridge in it exploded in my had covering my gloves in frozen CO2 that quickly disappeared. That was it. Nothing left. No way to change the flat and keep riding. So after discussing it briefly we decided I would hang out with my bike while Hoz rode back to his truck. In the hour it took for Hoz to come collect me 6 cars and 3 bikers stopped to offer assistance. Nice to know some places are still very biker friendly. It may not have been the best training session but it certainly was an interesting ride.

Flu Season

I spent the last week cutting back on workouts and catching up on sleep. Trying to delay the inevitable. Then Friday night it struck. I had been feeling crumby for a few days but by Friday it was unbearable. I finally relented and had Hoz take me in to urgent care. Then Dr. Carly confirmed it, Influenza B. Not only had I missed over half of my training hours for that week but I apparently still had another 11 days to go until I am fully recovered. I must come up with a better plan for side stepping the flu. Although I still feel faint with the exertion it takes to take a shower I am hoping that with in the next few days I will be able to make it through some nice zone 2 workouts. Its the right time of year for those anyway!

Off-season Yoga Kick

Over the off-season this year I decided to give yoga a try. So I have spent the last few months hitting an awesome yoga class once or twice a week at the studio 3B Yoga. I walk away after every class feeling mentally awesome and physically strong. I've loved the positive influence yoga has been in my life over this dreary winter but there was no way I could have predict the effect this would have on my triathlon performance! Over the past week I have been adding back in my sport specific workouts aka swimming biking and running, and kicking it up a notch!

Immediately I could feel the difference in my core. The first difference I noticed was on the bike. Through my bike rides I could feel my core supporting my torso and legs epically as they began to tire. Then on my swim I could feel my core supporting me and helping me to glide through the water. Even my run felt as though my body had something strong to pull against and propel me forward. Much of the literature spouts the benefits of off-season yoga practice but with results like these I think yoga has now become a staple of my training and is here to stay!

Namaste day!