Skull Valley Road Race

JR and I had an early trip down to Skull Valley (2.5 hr drive) on Sunday morning for the Skull Valley RR. It would not have been that bad, but we stayed up late after work and packing everything, so we only got around 4 hrs of sleep.

We got to the race at around 6:30 am. My start wasn't until 8:10, so I took a nap. I WAS OUT!!! It was crazy, but I am glad I set an alarm or I would have slept through the race.

The 90 km course is an out and back. The first 30 km are rolling hills and thanks to the TRIBE Team, the racepace was between 45 and 49 kmh on the way out. After a steep decent, we saw the cone for the turnaround. I went to the front, turning first, when I realized this guy from one of the catgories starting in front of us cut right in front of me. I had to unclip in order to avoid a collision and came to a complete stop. No worries, I thought as the rest of the field went around us. "Riders are not supposed to advance at the turn around or in the feed zone", which came up right after the turn. Yeah right, I just wish people would follow rules. About 4 girls attacked in the feed zone and I was stuck behind the rest. They got around 500 m ahead of me and I had to dig very deep on the now steep uphill to catch up. There was no neutral water in the feed and JR and I had no feeder. I caught the girls (good to know that I climb good at the moment), but realized at the top that we still had an hour to go and I was out of water. I tried to make the best out of it, but the 95 degree temps and no wind didn't help. I tried to prepare my body for 30 km back to Skull Valley with no water in 95 degrees. With 20 k to go, I was not able to pull through anymore :-( I had to let the small group go and TT back to town, but still finished in 6th place in the Pro, 1, 2 field.

Dehydration during a race is no fun (but I learned my lesson), as you get a headache first and then you just feel like throwing up. I tried to go a little harder on the hills, but every time I tried to put out a big effort I could feel the acidity in my body building.

I finished the race, got a great day of training in. Realized I climbed so hard that my trizeps were the most painful muscle in my body:-)

JR won the race for the 4th time, but this time was very special as he has had not a lot of time for training this week and he won in a solo breakaway!!!

Too bad I didn't have enough water, we had a great group going. But as I said it was GREAT TRAINING.

Back home I napped and still managed to sleep for about 9 hrs at night- I was pooped.

This morning I enjoyed the nice and cool Flagstaff weather during my long run. The pool opens up again today and I am really looking forward to a nice swim this evening.
In about 2 weeks I will be joining the Flagstaff swim team, so that I can built speed over the fall and winter for my 2010 season.

Fixing flats

The wheel I have been riding makes some really squeeky noises...after about 4 weeks of training with it and probably "keeping everyone around me entertained" it was time to ride a different

wheel. The only other one I found in the garage that was free (aka not on any of the bikes) was one that has had a flat for some time. Time to fix it. Thanks to my sponsor GENUINE INNOVATIONS it was not a problem at all. Today I used the GLUELESS PATCH KIT. It is so easy!!! So now I decided instead of carrying a tube around with me I will just take the tiny kit, my CO2 and the inflator and I am set.

Ready to go I enjoyed the beautiful day with NO smoke from wildfires in the air (yesterday was a day on the trainer, because it was so smokey-fire 13 miles out of town).

I am slowly getting ready for the second half of my race season, which will consist of the Skull Valley RR this weekend, the Nathan's Triathlon in Phoenix, Longhorn 70.3 and some more.

I am really excited for the remaining season but can't believe that it is almost September and that the season is almost over.

Off to go running now.

Longhorn 70.3

Just got done registering for the Longhorn 70.3. Austin, here I come once again!!!

Pool closure-what to do?

Flagstaff is a great place to train. One of the greatest in the world.

BUT: there is only one swimmable pool here. The NAU Pool. And every year the pool gets closed for cleaning at one point. This time it is the 2 weeks before Elite Nats. What to do? The plan was to swim a lot before it closes, which I did-so far.

This morning: Alarm goes off. Grumpy...grrr...too early...BUT I am a dedicated athlete and I GO. Get to the pool, change into my swimsuit. The guy checking the water goes: "I would not go in there." I say:"Aehhh, OK." I keep walking towards the water-I will swim. About 5 people have already started swimming. I am ready to go in. Then: the Chemist guy comes running (which means a lot, because I have never seen him running, and there are signs saying NO RUNNING all over).

He waves at us and says:" Noone go in there. Get those people out."

He said the measurements showed that there was NO chlorine in there, which equals Bacteria heaven.

I was so glad I didn't jump in yet. He also said it must have been like this since Friday (I swam twice after that).

So I went back home and did dryland exercises, which I know already, will make me way more sore then swimming.

They are shocking the pool which will take some time and then it closes-GREAT. I am not sure where I will swim. My friend mentioned that Sedona has a stream where you can swim against the current. Like a natural endless pool. I will definately try it!!!

Food cravings

Everyone has them. Athletes tend to have them more often and randomly.

Saturday group ride. Food is the topic. This time chinese-yum yum yum. Pam and I decide we are turning our cravings into reality-Chinese night!!! Homemade.

It was great. We had a delicious dinner sitting outside all evening. AND we got everything we wanted: Grilled Sesame Soy Chicken, Tempura veggies and shrimp, Shrimp and Beans with Garlic Ginger Sauce, Rice with Peas and Green Onion, Wine AND Beer.

We were unable to move after that dinner. It was sooooooooooo good. We made better Chinese Food then you can get at a Chinese Restaurant!!! And we knew exactly what went into the food which is often a mystery at a restaurant.

Then the next morning it was time to harvest the Apricots from our Apricot tree (full of Vitamins, good for skin, eyes, ...the list goes on - learned that from my Mama!!!). They were a lot smaller then the ones you can buy in a store. I decided the store bought ones are all on steroids:-)

After cleaning and cutting they got cooked:

And canned. I have Apricot jam for the next year :-) And that was only 1/3 of the harvest from the tree. What am I going to do with the rest of it?