Finding my strengths

My quads look exactly like this.

I had three main goals for training this year: find a team, get back into racing, and figure out my strengths and weaknesses. I've achieved the first two, but the third has evaded me. I still don't feel like I have a good handle on what I'm good at in cycling.

In triathlon, I always told people that I was best at transitions, because I didn't think that I was very good at any of the three sports. Of the three, cycling was my strongest and the one that I enjoyed the most.

Because of my background with triathlon, I'm pretty good at time trials. But that time trial skill doesn't carry over into races; I can't hold high power for long duration in races, like in a breakaway. Or the power that I can sustain isn't high enough to keep me away from a pursuing group, anyway. So I'm decent at time trialing, but it doesn't carry over to actual races.

I've considered that I might be a good sprinter, because I'm kind of built like a sprinter--small frontal profile with massive thighs. I've also assumed that I'm not a very good climber, because I'm so heavy relative to my size. But when I think back to this season, I've done well in hilly races. I think I might be a good climber. Sprint-wise, I have an okay kick, but I'm never positioned well enough for it to really matter. So I'm good at climbing, but I lack the right build to be excellent at it; and I'm good at sprinting, but only during workouts (I haven't won any races out of sprints . . . or at all).

Then the other day I did a TrainerRoad workout that got me thinking. It was intervals of 30 seconds overgeared (slow and heavy) followed by a ramp from just below threshold power to just above. And I was really good at them. I could lay down 500+ watts for 30 seconds. In my highest gear and with the resistance cranked on my trainer, I couldn't slow my legs down below 80 RPM. I don't suppose it should be very surprising, considering the size of my quads, but I'm really strong. I think that's my strength, cycling-wise. Strength. I'm strong at . . . being strong. Yay!

Now if I can just figure out how to use that in racing . . .

Race Report: Dirty BikenetiCrit

That's me! Face full of dirt, with my teammate Tina on my wheel.

This was a new kind of race! It was a criterium, but on dirt. Road rules, cross vibe, and free beer after!

I signed up for this race about a month ago. I also signed up for an online chemistry class, and the first lab meeting was on Saturday. It was supposed to run from 8 to noon, and my race was at 11. I'd given up on the hope of getting to go do the race, and was prepared to eat the $30 entry fee.

But then, wonder of wonders, we got out of lab at 9:30! A glimmer of hope emerged. I raced home, threw everything in the car, and drove to Haymarket as quickly as possible. Checked in and got my number at 10:45, ready to roll with 9 minutes to spare!

So I got no warm-up, and I didn't pre-ride the course. I rolled off the line with no earthly idea what was coming next.

The women's fields raced combined. A few of the ladies took the pace out hot, and I managed to catch onto the back. I had a teammate ahead and a teammate behind. I hung in well enough, at the beginning, but wasn't taking the right lines through the gravel corners. In road racing, you get used to following the wheels in front of you, if you know them, but not all of the wheels were reliable on the loose stuff. There were a few times where I missed a corner and had to push hard to catch back on to the lead group. With about 5 laps to go (out of 9 or 10, I don't remember), I went wide in a corner and fell off the lead pack. Drilled it to bridge back on (with two other riders on my wheel), realized I could pull the pin and finish the race or keep going and blow up in the heat, and pulled off. The girl behind me didn't appreciate losing her free ride. She said something as she came around me, and it didn't sound nice. But I was more interested in finishing the race without throwing up.

So I let the lead pack go and treated the rest of the race as an interval workout. Ended up lapping a few stragglers and passing a few for higher placing (including the wheel-sucker with the witty remarks). Ended up 5th in a field of 19, and that was stone cold at the start without a pre-ride!

Great race. Well run. A terrific warm up for the cross season. I hope they do it again next year! I'd definitely do it again!

#CXisHere!

Product Review: Skinny & Co. Coconut Oil

This is a review of a product that was sent to me by the manufacturer, Skinny & Co. I'm not being paid for this product review, but I also didn't pay for the product. It's a freebie. You can view my unboxing of the product here. Now let's get started.

Skinny & Co. make fancy coconut oil products. Raw, pure, vegan, extra-virgin, wild-harvested, single-source . . . any other catch-words I can include? It's coconut oil, so it's also gluten-free. They also emphasize their charitable work in Vietnam, whence they source their coconuts, and the fact that they recycle a lot.

The packaging is pretty cool. They sent me five of these little jars that are quite pretty. My only complaint is that it's hard to tell which one is which. All the jars look the same, and the product name does not stand out very well. So far I haven't put facial oil in my oatmeal or anything, but I could see it being a problem with this packaging. In this box, I have the coconut oil, body butter, sugar scrub, oil pulling, and facial oil.

If you've read this blog for a long time, you know that I went through a raw foods phase. I'm over that now, and I'll tell you why: it's really hard to do, it didn't make me feel any better, and it's based on scientific quackery. That's part of why I'm skeptical when it comes to the health benefits of things like single-sourced and cold-pressed. But I also really like coconut oil, so I've tried all of the products (even the oil pulling) with an open mind.

All of the products except the sugar scrub look just like this

Skinny & Co. Coconut Oil
Surprisingly, I already had organic, extra virgin, cold-pressed, unrefined coconut oil in my pantry (because that's the coconut oil that Trader Joe's sells). This coconut oil smells like the Trader Joe's kind, maybe slightly less coconutty. Tastes a little better on its own than the Trader Joe's brand, I think. I've put it in smoothies, and oatmeal. It adds a nice flavor. Seems like a good product.

And this is the sugar scrub.

Skinny & Co. Sugar Scrub
This is my favorite product of the five I've tried. It has a strong flavor of brown sugar, which makes me really want to eat it. The sugar is pleasantly abrasive and washes away easily in the shower. It's a nice alternative to exfoliating products with stupid microbeads, which I don't like to use because of the environmental concerns associated with them. Once the sugar is gone, the coconut oil in which it is suspended remains to leave my skin feeling very soft without feeling greasy. Love this stuff.

Skinny & Co. Body Butter
This is coconut oil with some essential oils so that it smells nicer (and maybe blah blah blah something about the health benefits of essential oils). Except that Emily and I both hate the smell. It smells strongly of black licorice, so I assume there's anise oil in there. It's a nice product, and I like it as a moisturizing product, but I do not like the smell. If you like black licorice or anise, though, you will probably like this.

Skinny & Co. Facial Oil
I was excited to try this product, too, because the skin of my face is frequently dry. It also has lavender and chamomile in it, so I thought it might be good as a natural sleep aid. Unfortunately, it has the same essential oil blend as the body butter, and that anise smell overwhelms everything else for me. I like the way it makes my face feel, though. I can't speak to how well it removes make-up, because I don't wear make-up.

Skinny & Co. Oil Pulling
Have you heard of oil pulling? I hadn't. I've done some research on it, though, and found that it's a traditional practice in Ayurveda (much of the empirical research that's been done on oil pulling is from India). I probably read about it in the Hatha Yoga Pradapika and didn't even realize it. In Ayurveda, it's traditionally performed with sesame oil, but Skinny & Co. sells coconut oil, so they advocate using coconut oil (preliminary research shows that coconut oil is also effective, though). I followed an online guide for how to oil-pull for the first time this morning. Coincidentally, I had a root canal on Wednesday, so my mouth hasn't been feeling awesome. I hoped that the oil pulling would help soothe my gums and make my breath better. It hasn't made any difference so far, but the studies I've read suggest it might not make a difference until after 5-8 days. It's kind of gross, though, and time-consuming. You're supposed to swish a tablespoon of oil in your mouth for 5-20 minutes. Not seconds; minutes. That's a lot of time when you have appointments starting at 5 a.m. I wonder if it's equally effective if you do it before bed.

That's about all I have to say about Skinny & Co. I like the product well enough, although I probably wouldn't have gone out and purchased it on my own. Health and beauty products in fancy little tins aren't really my thing. I do like the sugar scrub, though. I may even keep using that.

For more info on Skinny & Co., you can visit their website here. If you have other questions you'd like to ask or are a raw foodist who wants to attack me as a heretic, please do so in the comments below!

First ride on my Crux!

The dam at Lake Accotink Park

After a course of heavy-duty antibiotics and Vicodin, I'm completely over my root canal from a week and a half ago. I go back to the dentist tomorrow to close my crown up. Since the pain wore off, though, I was finally able to get out on my new bicycle!

One of the best parts of living in Northern Virginia is the terrain. Even in the developed, suburban area where I live, there are still parks full of greenery and quiet trails. I headed to one on Wednesday to remind myself how to ride off-road.

I took a few little spills, got mud and sand (and a little blood) all over my legs, and completely ruined a white jersey. It was a successful outing! You can see the highlights, which is mostly footage of me falling or nearly falling, below. I still haven't figured out how to record good footage with my action cam, so I didn't include the whole ride. If you'd like the full 45 minutes of footage (and I don't know why you would), please send me an e-mail; I'll gladly share it.
On Friday, I tried a trail that's closer to my home--the Pimmit Run Trail. I did many miles of run training there last year and the year before. The trail is too technical for me to ride, though; I only went a few miles before aborting the mission and coming home on surface streets. After that, I set up cones in my backyard and practiced flying mounts and dismounts. I'll post that video this weekend.

Until next time, spin & smile!

#CXisComing

I promised last week that I had an announcement related to the upcoming cyclocross season. Well . . .

I got a new bike!

That's a 2017 Specialized Crux E5. The groupset is Shimano Tiagra, with stock wheels, cranks, bars, stems . . . it's not a high-end bike. But it has disc brakes! And mud clearance! And good gearing for cross! So it's enough that I can go out and have fun. I may have mentioned that my goal for the cyclocross season is to hurt a lot during races and drink a lot immediately after. I can do that just fine on aluminum and Tiagra.

I had an emergency root canal on Thursday (only two hours after I picked up my Crux at the shop), and I've been resting with the help of Vicodin ever since. So I haven't even gotten to ride it yet, other than hopping on to adjust the seat height and angle a little bit. The pain is subsiding a little, so I hope to be on it either this evening or tomorrow sometime.

Many, many thanks to Jack at Spokes, Etc. (VWS's sponsor shop), for getting me set up with a brand new bike! If you live in the greater DC area, I highly recommend stopping in at the Spokes on Quaker Lane (near Shirlington). The crew there is friendly and knowledgeable, and they can help you with whatever you need.

New bike! Yay!

Skinny & Co. Unboxing

Got a box in the mail from Skinny & Co. last week. When I opened it up, here's what I found:

I'll be using the products this week. Look for my review next Friday!

End of Road Season, 2016

"And with that, the road season ends with a whimper."

That's a comment from my teammate, Sean, regarding the cancellation of our last road race of the season. Not enough registrants, apparently. There wasn't a cat 4 race for the women, so I wouldn't have been racing anyway. Based on what I've heard from other athletes, though, this road season has been a departure from seasons past, in terms of schedule; there have been multiple races canceled or not scheduled, relative to previous years. It will be interesting to see what happens to the MABRA racing scene, going forward.

If I had known that Tysons Corner was going to be my last road race for 2016, I would have taken it a little more seriously. As it was, my season also ended with a whimper.

I had three well-defined goals for this season: find and join a team that I like, start training specifically and exclusively for bike racing, and figure out what my strengths and weaknesses are on the bike.

I have a white helmet on order.

I accomplished the first one. I've been riding and racing with Veloworks-Spokes, Etc. since February. I accomplished the second goal. I started off training using my own plan, as I have in years past. I discovered after a couple of months that I don't know as much about bike training as I do about triathlon training, and I was too lazy to do enough research to figure it out. I ended up switching over to TrainerRoad about two months ago, and have been satisfied with the results so far. My FTP has increased by 21 watts, about a 10% increase. Mostly, I appreciate having an assignment each day. When I write my own programs, I don't trust them; I end up changing them on the fly, which defeats the point of writing them in the first place.

As for the third goal, I still don't feel that I have a good sense of my strengths and weaknesses. I know that I need to continue working on my handling in the pack, especially when I'm tired. I need to improve my awareness and critical thinking when I'm fatigued (I had the same problem when I was playing rugby, which is why I eventually moved from scrumhalf to flanker). My sprinting power is pretty good, although I'm not yet confident enough to control that maximal power at the end of a hard race. I think I'm good at sitting on the front of a group and pushing the pace, either to catch a breakaway or to force a selection. I lack the ability to combine those two things, though; I have trouble putting in a big dig, like in an attack, and then maintaining a high power to stay away or bridge across. That also ties into my mental toughness, which needs a lot of work. I hope I can use some of that knowledge to define goals for next year, although I'm not mentally ready to dig into yet.

I have about a month before I start CX racing. Goals for that are to experience extreme pain and then drink extreme beer. I should have a big announcement related to CX soon. Stay tuned.

Jamie's Diet Food: Broccoli Soup

Emily's doing this thing called the Dukan Diet, which (I think) is sort of like a low-fat version of Atkins. It focuses on lean proteins and low-sugar vegetables, with some allowances made for whole grains and fruits in the maintenance phase. Since I do most of the cooking, I'm showing my support by coming up with interesting things to eat within the bounds of the diet, so she doesn't get bored with the bodybuilder version of "riding paniagua": chicken and water, water and chicken. This is one of the things I came up with.

Tastes better than it looks.

Ingredients
1 bunch of broccoli crowns (about 1 lb)
4 cups of chicken or veggie broth (I used boiling water and chicken bouillon)
1 whole onion, sliced
1 teaspoon of cooking fat (I used bacon grease, but you could use any cooking oil)
Salt & pepper to taste
Spike all-natural gourmet seasoning (or other generic spice mix) to taste

Procedure
Slice onions. Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Add onions to the oil. They should bubble and hiss softly; they shouldn't spatter or spray. Let the onions sweat in the oil, stirring regularly, until they're soft and translucent and a little brown. This can take up to 20 minutes, but the longer you let them sweat, the tastier the soup will be in the end.

While the onions brown, chop the broccoli into small pieces. I used a food processor to pulverize mine. They don't have to be really fine bits, because they're going to end up pureed anyway. But smaller pieces cook faster.

When the onions are where you want them, add 4 cups of broth (or water and chicken soup base) and the chopped broccoli. Cover the saucepan and let it come to a rolling boil. Add salt, pepper, and Spike seasoning (or whatever you're using). Turn the heat down to a simmer.

Use an immersion blender to blend the soup. If you don't like soup with texture, strain the soup through a fine mesh collander. Otherwise, your soup is ready.

Obviously, this soup would be even better with cream and cheese, but then it wouldn't count as Jamie's (and Emily's) Diet Food. Even without cream and cheese, the soup is pretty good. Not particularly filling, so I recommend it as a side dish, or with a nice salad.

Trihardist Vlog Preview: A Short Ride on the W&OD

I bought myself an (inexpensive) action camera! I have some ideas of ways to incorporate it into the blog: I'd like to make some free video cycling workouts; I feel like my audio workouts are a little behind-the-times, now that there are so many cool tools like Zwift and Trainer Road and even GCN's training videos! It's time for me to innovate. I also have ambitions of doing a vlog like Cycling Maven and Vegan Cyclist do. And of course I want to take footage of my races like all the cool kids!

This is my first experiment with the new camera. Let me know what you think, and if there are specific things that you would like to see now that I can do more video!

Race Report: Tour de Tysons (Cat 4 women)

In which I blow up spectacularly on the last hill, maybe a minute from the finish.

This race is so close to home for me, I could have ridden to it in less time than it took to drive. I didn't ride, though, because I had to return a teammate's sandbags (I'm always sandbagging) for the team tent. I was more careless than usual in my race prep as a result, and ended up forgetting my jersey. N00b.

A teammate lent me a jersey (size X-small), so I didn't have to ride the 1.1 miles home and back to get mine. I warmed up about 15 minutes on the trainer. It was uncomfortably hot, but the occasional breeze kept the temperature bearable. I got about 10 minutes on the course, which gave me a chance to take a look at some sketchy pavement in the second-to-last turn. I had been apprehensive about the pavement, which a teammate had reconnoitered earlier in the week, but the race directors took good care of that within the constraints they had. It ended up not being a problem.

I knew the race was going to be hard because of the heat index. It was only 30 minutes, though. I figured I could survive for 30 minutes. I got a great start and led the first lap, fast on the downhill, nice and easy on the uphill. Other women came around me on the second lap, and I let them. I stayed in the front half of the field the whole time, keeping an eye out for significant attacks. I wasn't in danger of getting dropped on the climb, but it was really uncomfortable for me every time. I was able to re-position on the downhills without having to work very much.

I was wrong about surviving for 30 minutes. I made it about 28 before blowing up. I was sitting third or fourth wheel coming around the second-to-last corner into the final hill. My teammate asked if I could lead her out, and I said yeah, I think so. The pace didn't even increase very much, just a slight acceleration; I didn't have to stand and stomp the pedals to keep up. But the road was so hot and so unprotected. It was out of the wind and we were moving too slowly to generate a breeze. Something in my body said, "Nope." And my brain went along with it and said, "Nope." I think I might have even said "Nope" out loud. My body told me to stop and I listened and gave up. Barely pedaled up the rest of the hill. Came around the last corner ashamed and tired. Another woman tried to come around me and I accelerated just enough to hold her off for 15th or 20th or whatever. Pulled past the finish line and into the shade to dry-heave a little, with my legs shaking. Poured water over my head and got back on the bike for a cool-down lap.

I'm disappointed that I gave up so close to the end. It's not like I was going to die if I dug a little deeper. My body was on the edge, but it was my mind that shut me down.

Lessons learned: it's standard operating procedure on hot days for cyclists to stick socks or pantyhose full of ice down the backs of their jerseys, so the ice rests on the neck and cools the whole body. I probably need to do that. I struggled with heat exhaustion on a really hot ride on Thursday, too, so I need to be smarter about managing that; some of the lingering stress from that dumb move might have impacted my performance today. And I've read that women have higher basal metabolic rates between ovulation and menstruation, so that might be impacting my ability to cope with heat.

But the biggest thing is my mental toughness. I don't have enough of it. When the race gets really uncomfortable, I'm liable to pull the pin and give up; I don't care enough to hurt that badly. And maybe I never will really care enough to push past that kind of pain, and I'll join the Cat 4 For Life! club. But probably I'll get frustrated that other people are beating me, and I'll get stronger. Mental skills training will be added to the training schedule, in upcoming seasons.

My teammate ended up on the podium in fifth place, though! So still a reasonably good showing for the VWS women.

I don't have any pictures of me from the race, so in lieu of a race pic, here is a picture of the sandwich I made for myself afterwards:

And I still feel pretty nauseous from the heat. I'm gonna go lay down for a while.

Jamie's Training Food: Spam Musubi

Training food Hawai'ian style

I am shocked--SHOCKED--that I did not mention that I survived Ironman training almost exclusively on S'mores Pop Tarts. I have scoured my old blog posts, and I can find no mention of the fact that I brought two boxes to Spain (wasn't sure I could find them over there) and ate a box and a half on the Ironman bike course. In case you're unfamiliar with the packaging, that adds up to twelve Pop Tarts over 112 miles. I've come a long way from my all-natural, all-raw diet of a few years ago; I figure life is too short to eat like a rabbit.

Philosophy aside, the Pop Tarts worked great. They pack a lot of sugar for their size. They're compact. You can fit six packages in your jersey pockets, if you need to. That's about 2400 calories! I usually put two in the right pocket and two in the left pocket, then re-stocked at special needs (or a 7-eleven on a training ride). The s'mores were my favorite flavor, followed by frosted blueberry. The s'mores flavor dry out your mouth more, FYI. Just in case you want to try.

I completely burned myself out on Pop Tarts, though. I've experimented with several whole foods this season, using Potent Portables as a starting point and branching out from there. I've found a few things that I've liked, but most of them don't work for racing. I use drink mix (Skratch Labs) and gels (currently GU, but I'm still experimenting) almost exclusively when I'm racing; everything else is too hard to eat in close quarters at speed and intensity. I want to try Medjool dates soon, on the recommendation of a few prominent vegan cyclists.

All of which is to say that I use spam musubi in training, pre-race, and post-race. It would probably work fine for triathlons, though, assuming your tummy can handle spam during a race. Be sure to try training with it before you race with it; anything else would be stupid! Don't be stupid!

This is something my Hawai'ian friends made all the time. It's a staple at convenience stores and picnics. Super delicious, compact, with lots of carbs and salt; it might pack too much fat for some of you, though. Try it out and see what you think! I can almost guarantee that nobody else will have these at your next ride or race.

Spam Musubi

Equipment:

• Rice cooker
• Rice paddle or spatula
• Musubi press (seems silly, but they're not expensive, so get one anyway)

Ingredients:

• White rice (Jasmine, Calrose, sushi rice, something fairly sticky)
• Nori (cut the strips in half, so they're about the same width as your musubi press)
• Spam (cut into slices about 1/2 inch thick)
• Furikake (I bought mine on Amazon, but you'll find it at most Asian groceries)
• Soy sauce 
• Sugar

Procedure:

• Cook rice in the rice cooker. It needs to be done before you start frying Spam.
• Mix some sugar into some soy sauce. It'll take some experimentation to find the ratio that you like. Mine is different every time. The idea is to make a light syrup that will caramelize the sides of the spam. Another option is to season both sides of the Spam with Li Hing powder (a little-known ingredient that is worth having around for sprinkling on sliced apple, pear, jicama, pineapple . . .)
• Spritz some cooking spray into a pan (or use a non-stick pan). Put the burner on medium-high. Lay out your strips of Spam so they aren't touching in the pan. Cook until the bottoms start to brown, then pour in your soy sauce/sugar mixture. Let the Spam cook until the bottom has caramelized, then flip. Let the Spam cook until that side is also caramelized. Take the Spam out of the pan and keep it on a plate so it doesn't burn. By the way, the sugar/soy sauce mixture will burn in the pan around the Spam. Don't freak out about it. Just turn on your range hood fan or open a window.
• Lay a strip of nori down longways and put the musubi press on top of it. Spoon in a generous portion of rice. Use the handle to press the first layer of rice. Press it hard! You don't want your musubi crumbling apart in your hands! Sprinkle furikake over the rice. Lay in a slice of spam. More furikake, more rice. Press the whole thing together as hard as you can, then slide the press up and off the block of food. Wrap the nori around, overlapping the edges on the top. The nori will have steamed from the heat of the rice enough that it will stick to itself and seal naturally. You have now made your first spam musubi!
• I wrap mine in plastic wrap and keep them in the fridge until I'm ready to use them. Then I cut them into quarters if I'm going to eat them on a training ride or halves if they're for pre- or post-race and wrap them in non-stick aluminum foil. 

Coming Soon: Skinny & Co. Review

Since I'm taking a few weeks off from cycling, I've had time to catch up on other things, like e-mails. I got one about a week ago from the marketing director for Skinny & Co. Coconut Oil asking if I'd like to do a review. I'm not much into the "all-natural" scene, but what the heck! Coconut oil would be a nice, natural alternative to body lotions after an hour in the pool. And I might try trading my chamois cream for coconut oil on a few rides, just to see what happens. If nothing else, it will probably smell better than Chamois Butt'r.

I've also been promised a discount code for readers and followers. So if I like it and recommend it, you can get a few dollars off.

Stay tuned!

Blerg

I suppose this should technically be a race report, so here's what happened at the Shenandoah Speedway Points Race:

Got a poor start and spent the first five laps making up for it. Positioned poorly going into first sprint, came across line out of the points. Flatted before the next sprint. Didn't bring spare wheels. The end.

I probably could have found a spare front wheel, but I didn't really want to. I didn't want to do the race at all, actually. I paid $30 and drove 2 hours each way to do 8 laps on a race track. At least there was beer.

This post is really about me being burned out. In previous years, I would either get sick or hurt when I overtrained. I guess cycling affects me differently, because I feel cranky and unmotivated instead of sick.

Point is that I've pushed my body (and mind) too far, and now I need a break. Emily has orders not to let me sign up for any races for at least 2 weeks. I'll see how I feel after that. It may be that I lay off until cyclocross season starts. In the meantime, I plan to do a little running, do a little swimming, watch a lot of rugby, and ignore cycling.

See you in a couple weeks.

Race Report: Tour of Washington County TT and Crit

In which I redeem myself and then hang on by the skin of my teeth.

I elected not to stay overnight in Hagerstown. Emily didn't want to travel for the weekend. She spent the first week of June in Seattle, I spent the second week in Wichita, and she's in San Francisco this week. So she was (understandably) not feeling the weekend trip vibe. I caught a little bit of flack for signing up for a weekend stage race. So I elected to drive up and back on Saturday, then up again on Sunday morning. It takes a little over an hour to drive up there, and my TT starting time was 7:19:30. I woke up at 4:40 and left at 5:05 to get to Boonsboro in plenty of time to warm up for my TT.

Also, the drive to Washington County is about an hour and ten minutes. I've learned that I have about 45 minutes from the time I start drinking coffee to the time I have to go the bathroom in an emergency kind of way. Fortunately, I made it to the port-a-johns in time to avoid humiliation.

The 10-mile TT went well for me. I started 30 seconds after the GC leader (reverse alphabetical order by last name, not by road race placement) and one minute after one of the few athletes who finished behind me in Saturday's race. I saw them both at the turn-around, passed my one-minute rabbit at around the 8 mile point, but never saw Angela (who ended up getting first in the GC) again. The time trial was hilly, and I did it in 2:13.1, with an average speed of 21.3 MPH. Not bad, considering the terrain. I got third place and moved up to fourth overall in the GC.

My car has been leaking oil since I came back from Wichita, so I stopped between the TT and the crit to buy a couple of quarts of oil. Put them in the car, bought some food, drove to the next race venue with the intention of taking a nap. As I turned off my car, I thought I saw the oil light come on. And I thought, "Oh crap." So I got out and peeked under the car and it was spewing oil. Okay, not spewing, but dripping pretty steadily. And I was so worried about it! What if it was going to mess up the car to drive it home? What if I got stranded in Hagerstown and couldn't get home EVER? What if I ruined my car and had to buy a new one? Basically, my recovery sucked and I hadn't eaten enough food and I was really tired and stressed from all the racing . . . I couldn't sit still so I started riding the course, thinking the whole time about how I was going to get home . . . I literally made myself sick with stress over the stupid car thing. By the time we started staging for the crit, I thought I was going to throw up. I'm usually pretty mellow about stuff like this, but for some reason I could not get out of my own head going into the last race. I lined up wanting to fall off and get pulled and be done with it.

Then the racing started.

As I mentioned in the road race report, the cat 4 women raced with the 1/2/3s. Same thing in the crit, and there were some really strong women entered. Tour of Washington County offers a yellow jersey, a sprinter's jersey, and a QOM jersey, in addition to pretty good prize money. There was a good 1/2/3 field at this race. Before the crit, several of the girls were talking about Clarendon and Philly. Clarendon is on the domestic pro calendar and Philly is a women's World Tour race. These girls were good.

They took the pace off hot from the whistle. From the second turn, I was already thinking, "Oh no, I'm never going to be able to hang on for this." I needed to finish within about a minute of the 5th-place cat 4 girl to maintain my GC standing, and I thought I saw her in among the 1/2/3s, so I hung on to the back of the peloton for dear life, dangling on every turn. I lost track of time and space. My only thought was to stay in touch with the group for as long as possible. Angela and Theresa, who were in first and third in the GC, were in front of me within view. I looked back after a time--no idea how long--and the only thing behind me was the moto. There were several times where I dropped off the back of the pack and fought my way back on. There was even one time when the moto passed me, but I took a few corners well and accelerated enough to come back into touch with the main group. I was hanging--just barely--but hanging. It was the hardest racing I've ever done.

Theresa, Angela, and I all fell off and got gapped at one point. I was hanging onto their wheels as they fought back up to the group. I was so gassed that I couldn't help them--it was all I could do to hang on! Then (and, based on what happened next, I can only assume that everyone slowed up significantly) we came around the final turn on the course and I somehow managed to slingshot around Angela and Theresa and pulled back up to the main group! I even shot up the side a little bit and got back into the pack!

Then we turned the first corner on the course. By chance, I looked down at my Garmin. 7.85, it said. Halfway through the race. At that point, my mind broke. I could not overcome the thought that I hurt so badly and it was only halfway through. My brain told me that I couldn't do the second half of the race, and I listened.

The gap opened. Angela and Theresa came around me and chased back on. I gave up.

I drifted off the back, gasping for breath, but knew that I would have to keep pedaling at least enough to get back to the start/finish line, and probably past that before the officials would pull me. So I kept pedaling, taking the turns as quickly and smoothly as I could, trying to recover through the straight aways.

On one of those straight aways--this was probably two laps later--I noticed that Angela and Theresa had popped off the back of the 1/2/3s. They were within sight. I'd like to say that I decided then to chase back on, but really I just wanted it to be over. The officials left me in, though, so I figured I could at least try to bridge up to them; I wouldn't have objected to being pulled from the race, but there was no way I was going to quit without the officials making me. Spectators--not just people from my team, but from EVERY team--were cheering me on, calling my name, shouting out time gaps . . . But they couldn't see me slumping over my handlebars on the backside of every lap, gasping for breath like a chain smoker on an autumn walk.

The officials finally pulled me at four laps to go. Theresa and Angela hung on until two to go. Angela got first, Theresa got second, and I got third. None of the cat 4 women finished all 21 laps of that crit with the 1/2/3s. They drilled us good. I'm so glad that bike racing isn't my job. Makes me want to be a cat 4 FOR LIFE.

Hanging in the crit for as long as I did vaulted me into third place overall, with Theresa in second and Angela taking the win. It's cool to place well in the race, but it was a real bummer to have supplanted my teammate, Kim, who kicked so much butt in the road race. She had an extra 15 miles in her legs from finishing the road race, while I got pulled after the third lap. We talked after about how it might be a legitimate strategy in future years to drop off the back in the road race and make up the time in the TT and crit . . . But you never know. Bike racing takes fitness, but even with the best fitness, it's a gamble. Lots of fit riders never win a race. Sometimes it comes down to luck.

Overall, it was a good weekend. I'm glad I could represent my team, Veloworks-Spokes, Etc., and that we had someone on the podium. And I got a trophy! Even though the courses were tough and the racing tougher, I plan to be back on the starting line at Tour of Washington County next year with my fitness, recovery, and mental fortitude dialed in.

Race Report: Smithsburg Road Race

In which I try something risky/stupid and it doesn't pay off.

The race was 5 laps for a total of 41 miles. The tech guide described it as "a bit faster than in the past years . . . best described as rolling with some short but significant hills." I would call the hills a little more than significant. There was also a sprinter's jersey, which I had my eye on, and a climber's jersey, which I did not. The day was beautiful--perfect for racing with no wind and mild temperatures/humidity for this area and season.

Field was relatively small for the women's open and 4 fields combined, probably 30-35 women total, and we had the whole road to play with! I got a decent start and positioned well through the first lap. I felt strong. Kept pace with the pack pretty well. Came across for 4th in the first sprint for points. I had great feelings about the race.

Maybe I felt a little too great about my prospects. On the back third of the first lap, I was sitting third wheel in the peloton bringing back a lone rider who got maaaaybe 5 seconds on the pack. The pace slowed as we made the catch and the time felt right to counter, so I did. I got one other girl away with me and the pack was sitting up, so I buried myself to make some time. Little did I realize that the pack was sitting up because we were coming to the first big hill on the course. I hit the base of that hill already gassed. The entire peloton passed me and pooped me out the back. Two significant hills followed that first one, and I couldn't recover enough to catch back on.

I got well and truly dropped.

Passed three other women on the way through the first three laps. At the end of the third lap, the officials asked me if I wanted to be pulled. I asked how far ahead the main group was. "About 10 minutes," they told me. "Yeah, I'd like to be pulled." So I did 25 miles instead of 41 and I'm still having trouble going down stairs now. My three laps were good enough for 6th place, apparently, so yay? People make up 10 minutes in 10-mile time trials all the time, right?

If I hadn't made that attack in the first lap, I'm not sure I could have hung on to the pack anyway. There was carnage, from what I saw watching laps 4 and 5. Two of my teammates hung with the second group and got third and fourth out of the 4s though! My third teammate had a rough day: dropped, then lost, then flatted. She finished 9th and will still be eligible for GC awards, which means she can still start the TT and crit tomorrow!

I've given myself permission to make lots of mistakes this season. I'm happy as a 4, at least for now. I've decided to focus more on experience than on results (although results are awesome too). So I don't feel bad about my performance today. Although I felt pretty stupid going up those backside hills by myself for the third time.

Tomorrow, time trial and crit! Stay tuned!

Quick Update

I spent last week in Wichita, so I haven't been online much. I raced Ride Sally Ride in both the women's open and the women's 4. It was my first time doubling up with two races in the same day! I ended in the top 10 in the 4 and managed to finish with the pack in the open (although it was so painful I wish I would have been dropped).

Last Saturday I rode with some old buddies in Wichita and got my legs ripped off. But I never would have done that particular ride when I lived in Wichita before; I wouldn't have been anywhere close to keeping up! I'm much faster now than I was then.

Last Sunday I rode to a donut shop in Wichita for a recovery ride. I broke my chain along the way. I'm very disappointed in Wichita; I was stopped on the side of the road fixing my chain for about half an hour, and no one so much as slowed down to see if I was okay--including two or three other cyclists! Shame on you, Wichita; shame on you. I've had cyclists, runners, walkers, and motorists stop to see if I needed help here in the big city. Where's the Midwestern charm?

Tomorrow begins the Tour of Washington County Stage Race, with a 41 mile road race. This is another combined women's field, but there's no center-line rule! There's also a TT and criterium on Sunday. I'll let you know how it goes!

Jamie's Diet Food: "Paleo" Granola

It's been much harder to keep my weight down this year, since I'm not doing nearly as much volume as last year. I also want to try to stay lighter this year, because that's what cyclists do. I've been more successful than I anticipated on hilly races at staying up with the climbers, but I think it will be that much easier if I weigh less.

As a result, I've been leaning back towards a paleo eating style. I don't really subscribe to the theoretical side of paleo (although I used to, and you can read some of it in my archives) . . . I know more about human physiology now, and the paleo/primal movement strikes me as one more movement that's more about the tribe than about the science. There are some good principles, but it seems mostly like a chance for people who need to feel special to tell everyone else how special they are. I feel the same way about vegans. Go ahead and start penning your hate mail, now. Diatribe over.

Anyway, I may not be part of the great primal evangelical movement anymore, but I still like a lot of the ideas behind it. Eat as many whole, natural foods as you can; focus on lean proteins, vegetables, and fruits; have some nuts and seeds, minimize grains; enjoy things in moderation; and remember that diet is only a part of a healthy lifestyle.

Since it's hard to do lots of endurance training when you eat lower quantities of carbohydrates, I've also been doing some nutrient timing. On Tuesday, when I had some hard Trainer Road intervals on the docket, I had some pasta with my lunch and a sandwich for dinner. On Wednesday, when all I scheduled was yoga and an endurance ride, I stayed away from the grains in favor of extra veggies and some fish. I eat some calorie-dense foods, but I cluster them around my hard workouts.

For breakfast, I've been having nuts, seeds, and fresh fruit on yogurt. Then I found this paleo granola recipe on Pinterest. I just finished making a small batch to make sure that I like it. And I mostly enjoy it. It feels a little heavy, probably from all the nuts and seeds. I don't like it as much as real granola. Maybe it needs more salt, or more vanilla. Here's my version, if you want to try it:

Jamie's Paleo Granola

2 cups almonds (chopped or slivered or whatever)
1 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup coconut
2 tbsp flax meal
2 tbsp almond meal
2 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger

3 tbsp coconut oil
4 tbsp honey

Preheat oven to 275*. Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper. Combine dry ingredients in a big bowl. Warm liquid ingredients in a saucepan on the stove (don't put honey in the microwave). Combine and toss. Spread mixture on baking sheet. Bake for 45-60 minutes, stirring every 15.

Race Report: Meadow Farm Criterium (Women Cat 4)

Improvised podium in the wind and the rain

When I first started refereeing rugby, I began with 15s. That's the traditional form of rugby, in which team plays 15 people per side. As a referee, that means keeping track of 30 people, staying out of their way, positioning so that you can see the ball, and making sure that everyone is obeying the laws of the game. The pros have the aid of assistant referees on each side line and a television match official who can examine some plays that a referee might miss, not to mention players who know the laws well. In the low-grade games they allow beginner referees to officiate, you get none of that. Needless to say, it's a difficult job. And you get yelled at if you don't do it well (I didn't do it very well, especially at the beginning).

After a few months of refereeing 15s, I refereed at a 7s tournament. In 7s, each team fields 7 per side. That means there are fewer than half the number of people in a 15s game. The matches are faster and more expansive, with fewer pile-ups and better lines of sight for the officials. It's way easier to referee 7s than 15s. I wish I would have started with that; it would have allowed me the space to learn how to manage the game better, and that experience could have carried over to my 15s game.

That's how this weekend's race felt. The field was only 7 women deep on a flat course with open, flowing turns. It reminded me of racing in Kansas, where the women's fields were smaller, except now I have more skills and strength on the bike (because I'm not simultaneously training for swim and run). The small field size allowed us to hone our tactics, and the turns were technical enough to allow practice without being too risky. And the race was only 30 minutes. As I tell my cycling classes, you can survive just about anything for 30 minutes.

I had one teammate with me, and she and I decided that we would put the hurt on the rest of the field. The plan was for her to take the pace out hard (which she does really well) and try to keep a break to the end while I sat in. If she came back before the end, I would counterattack and try to stay away for the rest of the race.

Robin sprinted from the start and got a gap with one other cyclist (a junior from the Mermaid Winery team). One of the women was off the back from the start, leaving four of us to work together. The other woman from Mermaid must have had trouble clipping in, because it took her a lap or two to get up to us. I was sitting on wheels and not working. The group I was in wasn't able to work very well together, probably because I wasn't taking any pulls. One cyclist, who looked pretty young, didn't understand why I wouldn't pull; the other woman (Marie, from US Military Cycling) was trying to explain that I was just doing my job, and they would have to work around me, but they weren't able to trade pulls very well. At one point, the younger girl pulled through too hard and dropped Marie. I pulled Marie back to her wheel because I'm nice and it was more fun with the three of them together.

The other Mermaid woman (Giselle) managed to bridge up to Robin's group, but the younger Mermaid girl (Samantha) dropped off the pace and came back. With her in the group, they were able to get more of a rhythm going, and I took a few turns on the front. We had picked up one of the juniors (they started 30" ahead of us, another thing that made this race fun), and he ended up in our rotation . . . sort of. With about 4 laps to go, I ended up on the junior's wheel, and no one came around me. So I slowed waaaaay down; everyone else had realized that Robin and Giselle weren't coming back in the last 3 or 4 laps, or whatever we had left at that point. With those two safely off the front and everyone else sitting in on my wheel, I figured I would take a chance at going off the front myself for a third place, rather than leaving it to a final sprint.

The course was dumbbell shaped, with a big loop on one end and a big box on the other, connected by a divided straightaway. On the first half of the big loop with two laps to go, the young girl who didn't have much experience with tactics tried to take a flyer off the front. We all covered it, no problem, and I ended up sitting second or third wheel (don't remember for sure) coming into the right turn onto the straightaway. I went wide on that turn and kicked hard on the straightaway. Carried the speed into the next right, then a flowing left. After that, straight into the wind for about 100 m, then another left. I had a gap of at least 50 m by the first time I looked back, with my heart rate seriously in the red (I saw the number 186 when I looked down). I kept grinding, trying to keep the heart rate right around 180, especially through the tailwind section on the second half of the box. Hit the finish line and got the bell for the last lap.

As I took the right-hand turn into the loop, our team tent got caught in the wind and blew almost directly into my path. It didn't quite hit me, but the wind was getting mean and nasty. Looking at the weather data from yesterday, looks like the strongest gusts were over 40 MPH. But I know wind pretty well, and it felt more like 50 MPH to me. I was worried that the other girls, sheltered in their little group, would be able to catch me in all that wind. But every time I looked back, they were nowhere to be seen. I was also worried that the officials were going to stop the race early, because the weather was starting to look really bad. But they let it run to the finish, and I came across the line all on my own to take third place.

Robin got second. I think she had done so much work at the beginning that Giselle was able to ride her straight off her wheel. Still, Veloworks-Spokes, Etc., women went 2-3!

I am really pleased with my performance yesterday. Tactically, it's the best race I've ever done. I did exactly my job in the group, saved my legs, and timed my attack perfectly to get away and stay away. And I won $25 from my team and got to stand on the podium (sort of)!

The question now is if I can take some of the lessons learned in this 7s match (there were literally 7 of us) and apply it my next 15s match, probably Ride Sally Ride in three weeks.

Week Off

No race report for me this week. I'm home sick. I had everything all packed and ready to go last night, in the hope that I would wake up feeling better this morning. But no such luck.

One of my teammates got third place in the women's 4 field this morning, though! Way to go, Kim!

Cat 4 Women's podium at Poolesville Road Race

I've missed a full week of training with this stupid cold. I hope to be back to normal next week, so I can resume my training. I signed up for Trainer Road on Monday, but I haven't been able to do any of the workouts so far!

Race Report: All-American Road Race (Women 1/2/3/4)

My teammate, Sean, got a cool picture of us lined up at the start

Redemption!

This race went much better for me than last week's. Course was 4 loops with a few rollers and one long-ish stair-step climb after the first turn (Mt. Nebo). I lined up early to get a good spot, after last week's debacle getting pinned in the back of a slow combined field. Positioned nicely and had no trouble hanging on through a strong first few miles. First time up the hill was no big deal; I held my position well. A break tried to go up the road, but was brought back before the end of the first lap. Second lap, I found myself almost on the front, right behind a Sweet Spot/Cutaway rider who did a ton of work throughout the second lap. Pace stayed fairly low on the hill through the second round. More women pulled around us to take over pace-setting on the front.

A break went from the left side at the crest of Mt. Nebo on the third lap. I was blocked inside and couldn't go with the group. I was already riding the edge pretty hard from the hill, and almost got blown off the back from that move. I chased back on, though, and managed to work myself back to middle of the pack as the main bunch was bringing back the chase group. NCVC riders made up about half of the field. They were well-equipped to block for their riders up the road. It took multiple women bridging up to the break for them to work to bring it back. I sat in the group throughout the move, still recovering from chasing back on.

Last lap slowed down quite a bit, and I found myself near the back of the bunch with the slow-pokes and opportunists. With narrow, rough ("rustic") roads, a centerline rule, and 40 women, it was difficult to move up. I stayed on the inside line and sniped places where I could: gained a few places by following another rider up the gutter at a point where the road branched to the right; gained another few places on a left-hand bend; gained another place or two by riding up the gutter. At one point, I got pushed off the road and into the mud, but handled it with no problem. Coming around the last turn, I was positioned on the inside line 3 or 4 wheels back.

After the last turn, the road was closed and the centerline rule no longer applied. The attack went on the outside, and I was blocked in. I missed that move, which I think turned out to be the crucial one. I had to break a lot of wind to try to get on the back of that group of (maybe?) 12 girls. I found a wheel to follow, but I'd done too much work to get on it, and by that point I was blown. I sat down and hammered to the finish, but I didn't get a sprint in. Looking back, I should have pushed harder. C'est la vie. Next time.

Ended up 6th place, just off the podium and out of the money. But I felt really good about how I hung with the group, and my ability to position myself late in the race. There were some squirrely wheels in the group today (one girl, a junior, leaned into me twice and ran another woman into me another time), but I don't think I was one of them this time. I felt confident in my handling, stayed relaxed, and held my line (for the most part). After last week's performance, this week feels like redemption!

My teammate, Cinnamon, had a great result, too. This is her second race of the season, and she finished 7th, just behind me. She hasn't had as much practice with really tight groups like that, and she handled it really well.

Lessons learned . . . I want to get better at positioning and holding a good position in a tight pack. I'm not sure how to do that. Comfort level and experience are key, I'm sure. I think the more I race, the better I will become. In the meantime, I will take any advice I can get on that point!