A Little Off Balance...

Joy here...After Sunday's race, my coach has told me to take this week off the bike, otherwise I'll get a little mentally sick of it, so I figured I'd take a moment to talk about balance and stability.

I mean, my last post before the race outlined my fears of being a little wobbly out there on my bike with my new aerobars, and there's good reason for me to fear being wobbly and off balance.

That's me as a baby...I guess no one told me that the food
goes IN the mouth not ON the head.

You see, I have a long history of being accident prone.  I'm the sort who can't walk through a door frame without knocking her shoulders on it; I'm the sort who is attacked by the corner of a table whenever I walk by; I'm the sort who will trip on her own shoes; and at any given time, there's a good chance I have random cuts and bruises on various parts of my body.

As a kid I had to get stitches on my forehead.  Why?  Because I shoved my head into the opening between the door and the door jam as my brother was shoving the door closed.  Most people might stick their foot in to block a door from being shut.  Not me.  I used my head.  The door won.

And it would seem that my lifelong flirtation with clumsiness and being slightly off balance hasn't departed as I've aged.  In fact, when I was working out with the Trainer and she was having me do a relatively easy core activity, she discovered that I'm wobbly and off balance even now.  See the video below, where the first two tries (on one side of my body) I'm obviously more off balance than the final try (on the other side of my body):

Today I went to the physiotherapist again (as a follow up to my tight muscles causing back pain that I've blogged about here and here), and I showed her the video.  She agrees...I'm off balance.

But what she says is not that there's some quick fix or even something terribly wrong with me, but rather that I need to pay more attention to my body, be more attuned to it.

I recently read four-time World Champion IronMan Chrissie Wellington's book A Life Without Limits (which, by the way, I very much recommend; it's not just about sport, but her history with international development and the way that sport is about much much more than mere competition).  In it, she wires "I was a ridiculously accident-prone child (and adult)"* and later goes on to meet controversial coach Brett Sutton who after one of her accidents told her:  "Chrissie, you think these things just happen to you.  They don't.  It's because of the way you behave.  You've got to learn to take control, to think before you act."**

That sounds like good advice.  Instead of thinking that I'm just permanently off balance or a little on the wobbly side as though it is an essential part of my genetic make up, I'm going to make a concerted effort from here on in to think of it as something I can change.

If only I focus hard enough.

Over and out,
Joy


*pg. 11
**pg. 120

Race Report: Ontario Provincial Time Trial

Set up and ready to warm up.
(The smile masks the nerves.)

Joy here...The alarm went off at 5am today, and while it was still dark outside, I got up and started making my oatmeal so that I could be good and fuelled up for my Time Trial effort in the provincial time trial race starting first thing in the morning and carrying on into the afternoon, with the final rider starting down the racing chute at 1:30pm.

I drank my coffee and stirred my oats, spooning crushed banana and blueberries in for both energy and flavour.  With each swallow I tried to get the nervousness out of my throat, but I could feel it rising, settling in my gullet.

I methodically loaded up the car with my bike on top and all my gear as if this Sunday's Time Trial was no different from the other time trials I have done throughout this summer (like the three 10km ones I did back on May 15, May 22, and May 29 and the four 15km ones on June 5, June 12, July 3, and July 10). I tried to convince myself that today is no different than any other day, and I had nothing to be nervous about.

I still tried to convince myself as I drove us (me and The Man, my one-man cheering squad) out through country roads heading east east east towards the site of the race.  I was still trying to convince myself as I turned into the parking lot at the registration centre.  Then I got out of the car and looked around me, and I realized that it was futile to try to cover up my nervousness, because all those gathered just made me so much more nervous than I already was.  Getting over that nervousness was a battle I lost as soon as I parked my car.

Just focus on the warm up, focus, focus, focus...

There were girls in skin suits so that the seams in their clothes wouldn't slow them down.  There were deep dish wheels (i.e. no spokes) to make people more aerodynamic all around me.  Everywhere I turned I saw people with cool aero helmets making them look like intimidating cylons.  5 out of the 12 women in my category were on the same team!  They looked like some kind of super athletic clique.  I suddenly felt very very out of my league.

I mean, I only did my first bike ride with my new aero bars yesterday, and I still don't really know how to stand or turn on my bike with any great efficiency.  So there I was, hopping on my bike on the trainer to warm up under the hot morning sun feeling like some kind of fraud.  What was I doing here?

Please don't fall off, please don't fall off, please don't
fall off!

I tried to push those thoughts and questions away and just focus on my warm up, sweating all over my bike and my trainer, blocking out the uber fit folks all around me that look like they know what they're doing, and by the time I rolled over to the starting gate, I had almost convinced myself that I belonged amongst the racers, that I was where I should be.

Then I looked up at the starting gate, and realized that we would be starting off a ramp, real Tour de France style, yet another thing that I had never done before.

Okay...I swallowed and told myself, this is a ride of firsts:  first time trial with my aero bars, first time trial of a 20km distance, and first time trial with a starting ramp.  Nervous?  Yes.

But then the ride started, and my nerves had to be put aside.  I was out under a bright blue sky tearing into a terrible head wind.  Within the first 3 minutes, I was averaging 228watts into that headwind, trying to focus on a smooth and consistent cadence, to keep pedalling and keep the girl one minute ahead of me in my sights.

Just not 12th out of 12, not 12th out of 12 became my mantra as I pedalled.  So long as I wasn't last place, I told myself, I would be happy.  I was the second woman down that starting ramp, and I had no idea how fast they were going behind me, so I just kept the woman ahead of me in my sights, and tried ever so slowly to reel her in.

...not 12th out of 12, not 12th out of 12...

Tearing towards the finish line!

By the halfway point, I was down to averaging around 186watts, but by that point, the wind was a cross wind, tearing over empty fields and threatening to blow me sideways off my bike.  And, then, with about 8 kms left to go, there was a bit of a hill on the otherwise flat course, and I could really see the woman in front of me struggling, so I powered up that hill and past her like she was standing still.  I shouted encouragement to her, but all I could think was:  yes!  I'm at least 11th out of 12!  Knowing that I wasn't in last place, and turning into the final 5kms of the race also gave me a bit of a tail wind, so that even though my power had dropped down to 158watts, I was riding at 35km/hr (thank you tail wind!).

And even though I almost took a wrong turn about 500m from the finish line and lost some time there, I turned those pedals as fast as I could.  I may not have a fancy bike with disk wheels, or an aero helmet, a skin suit or booties to make me fly aerodynamically, but if you put me in a race, you'll get my competitive juices flowing, and there's a good chance that I'll rise to the occasion, nervousness be damned!

All done!

As I finished, the other women finished behind me, and we congratulated each other, and compared notes about the race.  One of the women behind me said that she passed the woman one minute ahead of her, and while I patted her on the back, I thought to myself yes!  I must be at least 10th out of 12!

So as I made my way over to The Man who cheered me on, I felt good about not coming in last place, and we went over to the registration centre to await the final results.  I knew that I wasn't as fast as I had been in those shorter time trials earlier on in the summer, but I had no idea how fast everyone else was.

It turns out some of them were quite fast.

But not so many of them as I might have thought.

In the end, only 5 of them beat my time, and I was only 2 minutes slower than the winner!  I came in 6th place in my first provincial-level time trial race!  Seeing as how I came in 6th in my first ever bunch bike race this July, maybe 6 is my lucky number.  I'll take lucky 6 over nervous 12 any day of the week.

Now maybe I'm going to go and have 6 beers to celebrate my 6th place!

Over and out,
Joy

Race Stats:
Distance:  20km
Time:  35:16
Avg Speed:  33.4km/r
Avg Power:  191watts
Avg Heart Rate:  166bpm
Avg Cadence:  90

A Little On the Wobbly Side...

Outside and ready to go!

Joy here...Yesterday (Friday) was my last indoor workout in preparation for tomorrow's Ontario Provincial Individual Time Trial Championships.  Needless to say, it was much like my other indoor trainer rides:  There I sat atop my bike saddle, pushing the pedals with all my might, sweating like crazy all over my bike computer, as I try my hardest to hit the wattage numbers outlined for me in my coach's plan.

Great.

Done.

Today the ride was just supposed to be an easy 45 minute spin to ride "nice and smoothly to flush the legs and where you feel comfortable without fatiguing yourself," according to my coach's directions.

My hero:  Clara Hughes (from my hometown), racing
herself to 5th place at the London Olympic Time Trials.
(Not bad for someone a month shy of her 40th birthday...
remember 40 IS the new 20.

So I pulled my bike with its new aero bars up out of the basement, away from the TV and off my stationary trainer, out to the hot sunny afternoon.

I dusted it off.  I got the tires pumped.  I put on my helmet.  And I was ready to go.

And as I rolled down my driveway towards the street, a strange truth developed from the legs up, or rather from the arms down.  That strange truth is the fact that I'm not actually used to riding outside with my new aero bars.  I don't have as much control over the bike, and I feel a bit wobbly.  The first 5 minutes or so of my ride were really tough for me, because I felt like I was going to fall over at any moment.  I started to really doubt the wisdom of signing up for this race tomorrow, and had visions of myself ending up ass over teakettle in the canal this afternoon as I wobbled all the way over.

But then I got into the swing of things, found my rhythm, felt my legs pedalling strongly, and got down on those aero bars and felt my heart burst as I channelled my inner Clara Hughes.

Even though it was to be an easy ride to "prep the legs for tomorrow," but it was all I could do to hold myself back under the hot afternoon sun, keeping myself steady and in check, keeping all my energy stored up for tomorrow's big effort.

Now let's just hope that I'm able to stay upright and not wobble over tomorrow during the race itself!!!

Over and out,
Joy

Friday's Indoor Ride Stats:                                     Saturday's Outdoor Ride Stats:
Time:  1 hr                                                              Time:  38 minutes
Effort:  warm up, followed by on/off                      Effort:  easy spin to get ready for the provincial TT

Wussing Out (or My Second Indoor Time Trial)

Those skies look pretty ominous to me!

Joy here...After my last FAILED attempt at replicating my 15km Time Trial effort indoors on the trainer, I was all set to head back out to the Airport Parkway where the Ottawa Bicycle Club runs its weekly women-only Tuesday night Time Trial.  Now that I've got a coach, a plan, this new blog, and some data from my workouts so far, I was convinced that I'd be out there pedalling my heart out, leaving everyone else in my proverbial dust.  I'd be going so fast, that people would just see me as a colourful blur whizzing by, the sound of my wheels catching up to me after I passed.  It was going to be epic.  It was going to be awesome.

It was not to happen.

Instead, as the time approached for my Time Trial, the sky got darker and darker.  The pitter patter of rain that had been lightly falling became a bit heavier, and there were threats of thunder and lightning.  Now, I'm not too afraid of riding in a bit of rain, but I'm not overly keen on riding in a full-fledged downpour just for fun, and I'm definitely opposed to riding when there's a risk of being struck by lighting.  I mean, the road the Time Trial takes place on is open wide with the river on one side and fields on the other, and I don't intend to be the tallest thing out there, with metal components on my bike just begging for me to be struck.  Yeah, sure, it's rare, but why take the chance?

Okay, so I'm a wuss.

The rain water running in rivulets.

And wuss out I did.  It was down to the basement (again) for me.  My coach has outlined a specific Time Trial warm up regimen which involves an easy 15 minutes just to spin my leg, followed by two 8-minute sets where I build up and maintain a 177-203w final for the last 2 minutes of each set.  After that, I have to do two 15-second really high cadence sets, followed by a cool down.  All of this took me 50 minutes in my basement, as I watched The Incredibles for entertainment and inspiration, as I could see the rain falling outside my window.

Then, I wiped the sweat off my computer and reset it so that I could start my Time Trial in earnest.  Now, you see, my coach told me that I shouldn't focus on my wattage, and, in fact, I should cover that up so that I can hone my ability to work based on "perception of effort" and not just be fixated on random numbers.  Makes sense to me.  So I covered up my computer's wattage display, and just looked at the kilometres to gauge how long I should ride.

In the end, I rode for 16kms (a kilometre extra than my outdoor Time Trial) and averaged 34km/hr with a wattage of 160w.  Generally when I do an outdoor Time Trial I average around 35km/hr and closer to 200w.  I don't know if my wattage/speed was lower because I was just a wuss and wasn't pushing myself as hard as I would if I saw that data there in front of me, or if it was lower because an indoor effort never really replicates an outdoor one.

However, when I compare my speed to that of the women who actually showed up last night and pedalled their little hearts out in the torrential downpour, I find that I still would have come in the top ten.  So I guess my wussy self just has to be happy with that!

Over and out,
Joy

Warm Up Ride Stats:                         Indoor Time Trial Ride Stats:
Time:  50mins                                    Time:  28:41
Distance:  23.62km                            Distance:  16km
Avg Speed:  28.3km/hr                      Avg Speed:  34km/hr
Avg Heart Rate:  121bpm                  Avg Heart Rate:  146bpm

A Sense of Adventure

A happy cyclist out on a Sunday adventure!

Joy here...I've blogged about riding in Gatineau Park, a beautiful park located just outside of downtown Ottawa that is maintained by the National Capital Commission (which basically means that it's a national park paid for by the Government of Canada).  It's where I competed in my first ever bunch ride and first ever bunch road race, and the location of many of the blog posts that make up my previous co-written blog (over at East and West Running).  Needless to say, that park has loomed large in my cycling life; its hilly terrain and rolling contours have shaped and informed my cycling experience and been the place where I've made good cycling friends (like my awesome cycling Sisterhood from last summer) and where I've honed my abilities as a cyclist.

However, I'm now learning that as a real cyclist who has taken the time to get a cycling coach and has her sights set on true improvement, I must reckon with the limitations of the park as a place to do real training rides.

You see, because the park covers rolling terrain, there are big sections of it where you can't keep your power/effort consistent.  You're either riding too hard (up a tough climb), or too easy (down a rip-roaring descent).  And what I'm learning now is that building base over long, steady endurance rides is what will make the difference between me as a casual cyclist signing up for the odd race every now and then and me being a cyclist who can race to her full potential (whatever that might be!).

This realization has led me out each Sunday for a long ride of some sort...a ride where I keep the effort consistent for 3 hours.  Last week and the week before, The Man and I pulled off this steady effort out on our cyclo cross bike rides on a fairly flat stretch of gravel pathway heading west out of Ottawa.

That's me parasailing in Mexico back in 1993.
Where did my sense of adventure go over the years????

But this Sunday, we figured that we'd had enough of that same ride and were up for getting back on our road bikes and exploring some of the countryside outside of Ottawa.

I mean, back when I was young, I was full of a sense of adventure.  I used to be game to pack my backpack and head off to Europe on my own or with a friend and see where the wind would blow me.  I've driven all across Canada--from Vancouver Island to Prince Edward Island and everywhere in between--often all on my own.  But somehow lately, adult conservatism has settled over my shoulders, and I find myself doing the same thing, or the routine thing.  And that extends to my rides, but also to how I spend my time in Ottawa.

The cute Pakenham General Store.

We moved here 5 years ago, and seriously, I really don't know my way around this city.  While I've perfected riding loops of Gatineau park and running loops around the canal by my house, and while I've become a regular at the 4th Avenue Wine Bar (which I totally recommend, by the way), I haven't made the time to explore the surrounding areas, all the little towns that dot the countryside.

So when we headed out on Sunday morning, we had a rough route mapped out (to the town of Pakenham and back again), but we were just out there under cloudy skies amidst vicious head- and crosswinds to explore a bit and get back in touch with our adventurous selves.

A country farm's picturesque outbuildings.

Okay, maybe talking about Ottawa Valley countryside in tones of "adventure" might be stretching it a bit, but we actually took the time to enjoy the rolling roads, the pretty towns, the friendly people who stopped to give us directions and generally chit chat, the near-harvest ready fields, and the wind in our faces.  Who knows how long we're going to live in Ottawa?  But we've decided that for as long as we do end up living here, we might as well get out there and really see what this place where we've ended up is like...outside of Gatineau Park!

Somehow, I feel like I'm always being watched!

And you know what?  There are parts of the countryside outside of Ottawa that are really beautiful.  There are quiet country roads where drivers give cyclists a wide berth and a friendly wave as they pass by; there are fields dotted with weather worn barns and outbuildings that stand out against the fields and speak of a lost agrarian era; there are rivers and creeks that wend their way through fields and beside roads creating ravines and vistas; and in general there is a sense of the world as a beautiful place to be and a place where you just might feel both utterly insignificant in the face of a big world and utterly connected to something larger than yourself at the same time.

And all in all, you just might find your sense of adventure along the way.

Over and out,
Joy

Sunday Ride Stats:
Time:  3:47
Distance:  98km
Avg Speed:  26km/hr
Max Speed:  64km/hr
Avg Heart Rate:  130bpm

The Trainer Knows Best

See how those muscles attaching to the lower back
actually wrap around from the front of the leg?
Duh! Those tight muscles are causing my pain.

Joy here...I wrote last week how I finally went to see both a physiotherapist and a massage therapist about the persistent lower back pain that has been showing up throughout the summer when I'm on a bike ride, annoyingly often when I'm on a bike ride that's being timed (ahem, like a race).  In that post, I  pointed out that both therapists were in agreement that the problem likely stemmed from me having some seriously tight quadricep and hip flexor muscles.

Well, The Trainer read that post and gave me heck, because she told me way back in July that my back pain was probably due to me needing to stretch more.  And, well, she's right.  So credit where credit is due:  The Trainer told me first where my problems may lie, and the physio and massage therapists just refined that insight.

So when I went for my weekly strength training session on Thursday, I replaced some of the more tiring leg activities with some serious stretching.  Now that my coach has me working my legs quite hard on some serious efforts on the bike, it seemed silly to tire myself out at the gym first!  So I'm now learning that in combination with the strength training that I do with The Trainer every Thursday, and the workouts that my new coach outlines for me on a week-by-week basis, I also need to make sure that I'm making time to stretch properly.

The above video was forwarded to me from my grad school friend aka half IronMan Triathlon beast (who I blogged about when he and his girlfriend took me and The Man on a great ride through the countryside around Oakville Ontario).  It's a quick, 5ish minute video outlining some important strength/stretching exercises that while focused on cyclists are actually rather helpful for anyone needing to make sure that they've got muscular balance in their core area.  So no matter what your sport, have a look at the video and see if it can help you out!

Over and out,
Joy

Friday's Ride Stats:                             Saturday's Ride Stats:
3X4mins efforts at 200++ watts          2X5mins efforts at 20sec on/40sec off (20 sec on at 200++ watts)
(max power = 258w)                          (max power = 324w)
Total Ride Time:  1hr6mins                Total Ride Time:  1hr

Déjà Vu!

All set and ready for an easy, long Sunday ride.

Joy here...I make a big deal about the fact that I never really rode a bike until 2 years ago.  And that's both true and not true.

Like many kids growing up, I learned how to ride a bike.  I could propel myself forward; I could stop when I needed to.  So technically I've ridden a bike for a long, long time.  I just sometimes forget all that in the newness and the excitement of learning how to ride a road bike, how to train, how to manoeuvre etc.

But sometimes memories from the past come crashing back.  All it takes is a song or maybe the smell of something cooking, and you find yourself wrapped up in a memory.  Now that many of my friends are at the stages when they have kids, memory plays funny tricks.  A kid will come home from school having learned a new song, and suddenly, you find yourself singing along to something you haven't thought about in 30 years, knowing all the words, even though if asked, you would have sworn you didn't know those words, but they were there, locked up inside your memories.

Memory is funny that way.

My roomie hamming it up for the camera in front
of the PEI hotel where we worked.  Note the date stamp
of the photo in the bottom right-hand corner...blast from the past
or what???

And my Sunday morning ride turned into a bit of a trip down memory lane.  You see, some 16 years ago, I lived and worked in Prince Edward Island.  I was the best damned waitress that I knew how to be, and I made some amazing friendships, some of which are still going strong after all this time.  On occasion, I would borrow my roomie's bike and ride for about 5kms from the house a bunch of us shared, down the road right beside the beach and the coast, into a trail that wended its way through the pine forest, and back out onto that coastal road again.  It wasn't much of a ride, and I sure didn't know anything about pace, power, or heart rate back then.  I basically just rode so that I could park the bike by a pretty view and take pictures.

And those pictures were stored right in my head until now.

This Sunday I loaded up my cyclo cross bike (like last week), and headed out to complete a 3 hour steady endurance ride as ordered up by my new coach.

The path through the trees in PEI in 1996.

The path through the trees in ON in 2012.

As I rode steadily through the gravel pathway, under the heavy and ominous sky that threatened rain, I seemed to be transported back to myself 16 years ago.  The air was thick and humid, a wetness that seemed familiar, and all around me sang the crickets and cicadas, buzzing their song under the pine trees, as I rolled the bike over the fallen needles on a gravel path, and suddenly a Sunday ride with me on the cusp of turning 36 turned into a Sunday ride with me on the cusp of turning 20.  My whole future lay ahead of me as I pedalled amongst the trees, transported back in time in my mind to when I didn't know who I was, where I was going, or whom I loved.  I felt my younger self within me, full of the fun and adventure of living and working far away from home, making friends and spending most of my days laughing and most of my nights intoxicated.

My roomie's bike that I borrowed.

Now I'm a grown up with a house and a car and a fledgeling consulting company, but all it took was a cloudy, humid day out on a bike through trees that rustled in the wind and brought up memories to take me back to a time and place when I was really just a young girl trying to figure herself out.  And in the end, I'm not so sure that I'm all that different now from that young girl.  There's still so much that I'm trying to figure out, and I guess that's one of life's constants.  You never actually "arrive," but just keep on pedalling and pedalling and pedalling.

Me, pedalling and pedalling.

Over and out,
Joy

My Sunday Cross Bike Ride Stats:
Time:  3 hours
Distance:  68km
Avg Speed:  23km/hr (over gravel)
Avg Heart Rate:  132bpm