Interval Training

Coach Dan has been nice enough to check in on me the last few weeks to see how my training is going.  I know the coaches have talked to each other about making sure I am ready for this ride.  Since I am so much further North than them, it's been hard to join in some of the group training rides.  God bless Coach Dan that he offered to come up my way to ride with me one night this week to see how I'm doing.

We've talked interval training.  I'm not happy with my overall average speed and was hoping that if I tried intervals that it would help improve my speed.  We were both able to take off work a little early and decided to meet about half way in Jackson Center to ride.  We both like to have head wind first, but we really didn't have a choice because riding North was the best option for us.  Heading out, we had a little warm up, then started out with a 1 minute sprint with a 2 minute rest.  After the second set he took pity on me and adjusted our times to 30 second sprint with a 2 minute rest. I've decided that I'm not a fan of intervals, but I need to buckle down and do them!

We went about 12 miles out and started coming back, but the head wind hit us and was horrible!  It's funny to see your speed go from 20-26 mph clear down to struggling to maintain 10 mph! On our way back we saw a love seat that was dumped right beside a wheat field and since we are both photographers, we had to laugh and joke about what a great picture that would be!  Well, what the heck... let's stop!!! How can you resist a photo op like this?!

Coach Dan was pretty impressed with the area.  It is definitely different from the urban area of Cinci and Dayton, and a nice little change of pace!  We are hoping to get others up this way for a ride some time soon so that I can show off my neck of the woods!  I can't thank Dan enough for taking the time to make the trek up here!  It really goes to show that these JDRF coaches care about the riders and are willing to make sure they are prepared for these rides!

Inline Skating

I think the best way to lose weight and tone muscle has got to be inline skating!  When I made my mind up a few years ago to try a half or full inline marathon, I practiced and worked on my technique, and I lost quite a bit of weight!  I finally got to the point where I like how I looked and I felt great!  After all the biking I've been doing the past few months, I'm not seeing any changes in my weight or even the muscle tone in my legs.  A few years go, just after a month or two of skating, my thighs and calves were more defined than they had been in years!

A year ago June I participated in my second Half Inline Marathon up in the Cleveland area.  The first one I did was in Columbus in August of 2009 and while my time was good, I was the second to last person to finish and it was a struggle.  But I was proud of myself and if anyone asked how I did, I told them the truth... I finished first in my age group!  That's the best part about being the only woman in your age group to compete!  ;o)  With the Columbia Station race, I improved so much (and they had a higher participation).  Instead of hanging back and letting all the faster skaters go like I did in Columbus, I jumped right up there and hung out at the front of the pack for as long as I could!

There was a lady who had passed me and stayed ahead for a majority of the time.  When I got to the last leg and headed towards the finish line, I made up my mind to catch up and try to beat her. At the very end was a hill that we had to climb, then a 20' flat stretch to the finish line.  As I came up beside her at the bottom of the hill I told her that we are almost done, let's finish!!!  We both struggled up that hill and at the top tried to gain any little bit we could to get ahead of the other!  I pulled up ahead of her in the last 5' to beat her!  I checked the stats to see that I took 3rd place in Women's overall and 1st place in my age group!  By no means am I the best skater or ready to compete with the big boys and girls, but I love the challenge of it!  


I've started watching my weight again and getting disappointed that with as much cycling as I've been doing, I'm not seeing any changes in my body, my weight especially. I took my bike in to have it checked out after my chain incident and to have the rear wheel squared back up. Saturday was the start of my first week of the summer of the girls being at their dad's house so I decided to break the skates out to take my mind off my depression.  Sunday I went out and had all intentions of keeping it casual, but I couldn't resist taking advantage of the head wind and testing to see how low I could get and for how long!  I finished 5.1 miles in 25.5 minutes, which is about where I was last year!  Excited about this, I went back out on Tuesday and when I realized that there was very little wind, I did a second lap for a total of 10.1 miles in 50.5 minutes!  On Wednesday the wind had picked back up, so I did a lap and a half for a total of 6.8 miles.


My ride in Wisconsin is 2 months away and after this week I've decided that I need to do more cross training with inline skating!  

Ride Cincinnati

The JDRF Team is not just about training for our National rides, they are also about helping out the community.  An email went out to the team about needing volunteers to either lead or sweep a ride for this event and what could I do but dive in head first again?! To play it safe, the coordinator set me up to sweep the 26 mile ride.  At this point I mention that over the past year or two the Dayton and Cincinnati area combined into one team and not everyone goes to every event. So at each event I go to, I'm constantly meeting new people!

A little about this ride: It is a fundraiser for Breast Cancer Research and this year they raised over $265,00!!!  RideCincinnati.Org

The day of the event, I had to be at the location and ready to ride by 8:15 to leave at 8:30. Not knowing where I was going or what to do, I was there way early.  Jan and I made our way to the starting point which was the top of the Purple People Bridge on the Ohio River.  We found other team members and waited for everything to get under way!  As sweeps, we were to watch other rides, if they pulled off to the side of the road, make sure they are okay and if they need help, we call the SAG or bike mechanic if we can't help.

I met Jason, who was diagnosed at 19 with Type 1, and because he was sweeping the 18 mile ride, we rode together and chatted about our experiences with Diabetes and how we got into cycling!

I went up ahead of Jason and around mile 6 or 7, coming down a hill and around a curve, I see some cyclist off to the side changing a tire.  I stopped to see if they needed any help, but they were getting it so I just hung around to make sure everything was okay once they got it back on.  The ladies who stopped to help and changed the tire, left after they got it inflated.  The younger gal and her boyfriend then tried to get the tire back on the bike.  I only had to watch for 10 seconds to see that they were going to struggle with this and I was very thankful for Coach Scott's maintenance class the month before!  Stepping in to help them out, we flipped the bike upside down and I showed them how to lift the chain, drop the tire down, then seat the chain.  The gal was telling that she had just bought this bike the day before and didn't expect to have a flat so soon, and who could blame her?!

Jason caught back up with me, so we continued on.  The route for this ride was very nice! The pavement in a few spots was sketchy, I didn't care for riding through the town as soon as we got into Kentucky, but it was a combination of rolling hills!  There weren't any that were too steep and the traffic wasn't too bad!  On a ride like this we did see inconsiderate drivers, but there were also inconsiderate cyclist.  It was enough to make you shake your head.  With cyclist like that it's no wonder drivers complain about them on the road.  On the other hand, with drivers who don't bother to move over to the legally required 3 foot, it's scary for any cyclist to see a vehicle with in inches of them.  Thankfully there were no accidents and hopefully everyone became a little more aware.

Instead of turning around at the 9 mile mark, Jason went down to the 13 mile rest stop with since he hasn't had a chance to get out on the bike much this year.  There he introduced me to many more of the JDRF team members who were returning from their longer rides!

Over all I really enjoyed this ride!  Even if we don't volunteer for it next year, I will still ride in it!

First Metric of the Season!

There is a guy I use to work with out at Meijers that I would run into every so often and he would talk about running or biking.  I some how talked him into meet me in Troy for the Strawberry Festival bike ride!  This will be my first Metric of the season and I was nervous about my stomach, but knew that if worse came to worse, I could SAG it back or take short cuts!

I met Ben and Brian down there, signed in, and headed out!  Listening to these guys talk about running full marathons and knowing that Ben has ran an Ultra (50 miles) I was worried that I'd slow them down.

One of the reasons I like biking, and even skating, is because it's my me time!  But I also enjoy riding with others, especially when they are better than me because I have to push myself.  And today was no exception!  I had never met Brian before but really enjoyed listen to them talk about running and tri's because that is something that I know I will never be able to do!  I didn't feel like I was slowing them down too much, and there were even some times when I was out ahead of them.

On the ride out, we could tell we had the head wind.  I prefer to have head wind going out, tail wind coming back, so this was perfect!  The roads were good, mostly flat with a few rolling hills.  Around 50 miles in, we went down a hill and it leveled out for as far as you could see below.  Stupid me made the mistake of saying "at least we didn't have to go up it!"  After all, I did read the sign that said trucks and buses prohibited and couldn't figure out why, that hill wasn't that bad!  To quote the ride director after we got back: "If you go down a hill and it was flat all around it... chances are you will have to climb a hill at some point!" When we entered the wooded area and came up to a road that did 90 degree turn to the right and steep, we knew we were in trouble!  What can you do but hunker down and go!  I bet I didn't even make it up 10 foot before I realized I needed to get into an easier gear.  There is that split second when you hear a noise and you know that things are not good!  I heard the chain shift, then a clank, and suddenly my feet were spinning around with no force.  The chain had popped off and the foot I got unclipped from the pedal was not the foot in the direction my bike wanted to lean!  It was inevitable that I was going down!  Luckily I wasn't hurt too bad and my bike was fine.  Brian and Ben stopped and started to come over to help, but by the time they got back down I was cussing up a storm and pulled the chain back on!  Yes, I am that type of woman who likes to be able to fix stuff herself because you never know when something like that will happen.  =)

At the top of the hill was the second rest stop and it was well welcomed to these exhausted legs!  It was at the neatest place - Burkner Nature Center.  I will be taking the girls back down there to hike and to see all the animals they have in their care!

The tail wind to help push us the last 15 miles back was wonderful!  We weren't sure if we had to check in or not, so we walked up there as they were cleaning up.  The ride director stopped and chatted with us for a little while, asked for feed back and shared stories!  He was very down to earth and we thought had done a great job with the ride!  He was even kind enough to take a picture for us!

Square to Square

I'm finding out that being part of the JDRF Cycling Team isn't all about going out and riding to prepare for the National events, it's also about volunteering!  The Square to Square ride is put on by a great couple, I don't think they charge anything for it, but any donations that are received go to the volunteers to help fund their National rides!  I signed up to help clean up afterwards because I had no idea what to expect and thought this would be the easiest thing to do with out being in the way!

Before going down, I was told that this goes through a few of the town squares of the areas that make up Cincinnati.  What is Cinci landscape known for?!  Yes... HILLS!  And I was warned ahead of time that we would be riding through urban areas.  I'm not thrilled with either!  Give me country roads any day!  Wanting to be a part of the team and see what all they do, I dove right in, head first!  I have to admit that I was thoroughly impressed!  We rode through beautiful areas, such as around Xavier College, and not so great areas, but over all, it was a great ride! Heading back from the rest stop in Kentucky, I rode with Coach Dan and M (who is around 20 and has been Type 1 for about 15 years).  Once we got across the river and started up the steep streets around the Reds' Stadium, she struggled and we called for a ride for her.  That or she was tired of me asking a million questions about how riding effects her sugar and how she manages it! I couldn't help it, Ellee wants to ride with me so bad and I'm nervous!  Any little tips to help for when she starts riding, the better!

From just North of the Ohio River, it's just Coach Dan and I.  This is great because he will be on the Wisconsin ride, and any cycling tips from as many different coaches, the better!  We some how missed one of our turns and kept saying that it's got to be right around this bend in the road!  Half way up the second hill I stopped him.  These are long, fairly steep hills and this second one looked like it went on forever!  I talked Coach Dan into stopping and checking the GPS to find a route back instead continuing to playing the guessing game!  We figured out where we went wrong, called another coach to let them know that we were off track and thought we had it figured out.  As we got closer to the finish, we mutually agreed that if we ever got directions for another ride where every other thing was "at the White Castle, turn..." that we would pack our bikes up and leave!  We ended up riding 36.2 miles and so far it's the story I'll be sharing years from now at team events!

Unfortunately since it took us so long to get back, they had everything pretty much packed up.  To make up for the shotty directions... they handed us ice cream as soon as we got off our bikes!!!  Wow, do they know me or what?!  That right there made up for every emotion that ran through my head when we were lost!!!

I told Coach Dan that if he wanted to test me on my climbing skills, all he had to do was say so, he didn't have to "accidently miss the turn"!  Again, I can't say enough about how impressed I am with this Team!  Everyone is great and I love talking to the others to find out why they ride!  Some have T1 themselves, for some it's their kids, and surprisingly a majority of them didn't have a connection but do this because some one asked them to!

Long Over Due

Wow! I am horrible about keeping up on this!!!  I guess it's that time of year when the weather is so nice that you'd rather be outside than messing around on a computer!  Let's see what I can remember to do a recap of my most memorable training rides so far!

First Ride of the season... and I know this will never happen again... St Patty's Day Eve!!! Yes, the middle of  MARCH!!!  We had unseasonable warm weather and it was hard not to get out on the bike and enjoy it!  Almost 27 miles right off of the gate and it felt GREAT to be back out on the bike!

The second ride was a different story!  I knew that we couldn't get lucky enough (we are in NW Ohio after all!) for the warm weather to stick around.  Kelli and I decided that since we will be rooming together when we go to Wisconsin for our ride, that we should start riding together!  We met up in Xenia and headed South on the Little Miami Trail.  And when I say it was cold, I mean it was cold!  We had rain the day before, and if it was 50 degrees the whole weekend, it was a cold 50 degrees!  I was underdressed because as cold blooded as I am, I never would have thought that I'd be out in that kind of weather.  After that ride, I have decided to stick with the warmer temps!  Our feet were so numb after we got done because of the way bike shoes vent!  That was 28.5 miles and for at least 15 of it I was miserable!

In the beginning of May, we had a training ride as part of the Young's Dairy Ride.  This is a great ride that Young's put on where you have an opportunity to ride from Youngstown clear up to Ohio Northern University in Ada for a whopping 83 miles! And you can even bike your way back the next day!  The money raised from this ride go to 4 different charities, with JDRF being on of them!  This training ride was also my first ride with other members of the SW Ohio JDRF Cycling Team!  I was stoked!  And 44.7 miles later I was exhausted!   But I did it and felt so good because that was a great accomplishment for being my third ride of the season! The hills right off the bat really got to me, but I managed through them and was glad the ride back was flat! I also got to meet other members of the team, and every single one of them are wonderful people!  On the way back from the last stop I got to ride with Coach Scott for a little bit and he gave some great pointers!

A few weeks later I participated in the Kenton Buggy Ride.  And that was 43.7 miles of pain! My exercise induced vomiting reared its ugly head and I worried that this would plague me for the whole season if this is how it's going to start out.  I signed up to do the Metric Century (which turns out to be around 60 miles).  14 miles in at the first rest stop and can feel my stomach turning and my legs are getting weaker.  I found from the previous ride that the bagels I ate at the stops didn't bother me.  Since eating bread helped, I had some delicious Amish cinnamon bread!  But I also made the mistake of eating some strawberries too.  Feeling so sluggish early on, I decided to skip a loop which knocked about 14 miles off of the 60.  I went the rest of the route and even took a short cut to take off a few extra miles.  I think my body knows me and decided that it will hold on until I am absolutely done.  I no sooner made it back to the parking lot and my stomach let me have it! I made a mental note to talk to the JDRF coaches and see what they think will help me with this problem.

Kelli and I were able to talk Coach Scott into doing a bike maintenance class for some of us newbies!  It was very early the morning after my Kenton ride and an hour and a half down to Centerville where it was being held!  The class was great and I took away two great pieces of advice... a simple way to get the back tire off & on and how to wash and grease your bike! I was sore from the day before and really didn't feel like riding afterwards, but Coach talked me into doing an easy recovery ride.  It was an easy 16.5 miles through some neat areas!  And being Dayton, it wouldn't be a ride without hills!  I was told by a few of the older guys that they were impressed with my climbing skills for 1) being from a Northern, flatter area and 2) for being a fairly new ride!  I'll take that as a compliment!