Archive for the ‘Training Ride’ Category

Restful Sunday!

Monday, March 8th, 2010

I had a great Sunday… but before I tell you about my Sunday here is a quick recap of my ride on Saturday.

Saturday’s ride was in Columbus TX, which is a good 1 hr 45 min drive from where I live.  Raymond was out of town on a business trip so I had to make this long drive on my own.   I met up with a friend half way and we drove in the rest of the way together.

There were two route options; 50 mi and 60 mi.  I had planned on riding the 60 mi route, but after talking to friends on the morning of the ride decided to do the 50 mi route and I am glad that I did.   HOLY HILLS!   They killed me.   There were people that would stop half way through the hill and walk up the rest.  My goal for the day was to finish my 50 mi without stopping other than the rest stops.

Ride states:
50 Miles of HILSS
12.2 mph avg
Total time: 4 hrs 30 min (including stops)

My eats for the day;
-  Green Juice to start the day
- Pecan Muffin on my long drive to Columbus
- Rest Stop 1:  1 Banana and 2 dates
- Rest Stop 2: 2/3 of a baked Sweet Potato and 1 date
- After the ride 1 Banana
- Lunch @ Panera Bread – Vegetarian Black Bean Soup & Veggie Mediterranean Sandwich

I was going to put a picture of my baked sweet potato that I took with me… but it didn’t look very pretty.

At lunch we all decided that we are beat from the ride and need a day to rest and vetoed the ride on Sunday (Thank goodness)

Raymond got home Saturday night at 9 PM and I had Baked Pasta ready for him to enjoy!

For the first time in so long (I can’t remember how long but at least 2 weeks) we have been up and running at 4:30 AM, including Saturdays and Sundays… This past Sunday though we slept in until 7:30… oh and it felt good.

We decided to go for a short ride around our house but my legs were so tired that we stopped after 13 miles.   After the ride we had pancakes and I went back to bed and got a nice 2 hr mid-day nap :)

Raymond and I went to the outlets mall on 290 in the afternoon and had a relaxing afternoon walking around.

Dinner tonight was spaghetti squash topped with red cabbage, zucchini, tomatoes tossed in Hemp Oil and Lime Juice.

This is a new week Set yourself ONE GOAL this week and try to achieve it!

My goal for the week, not get worked up at work.

~ G

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Posted in Everyday Stuff, Training Ride | 20 Comments »

I broke 100 miles!

Monday, March 1st, 2010

In October when I signed up for the MS-150 if you had asked me if I see myself EVER riding 50 miles in one day I would have said “NO WAY!”.   Even in January when we had our first training ride, which was only 22 miles I would have said holy moly how am I going to ride past 30.  Now 22 miles is not a big deal.   I was so happy to see my bike computer read 50 on Sunday and totaled 101 miles over the two days. I am going to be honest and tell you that it had its battles and it wasn’t the perfect riding weekend, but it felt really good finishing the goals I had set for myself this weekend.  

Saturday: Total miles 44+, Averaged 14 mph  

The weather was on the cooler side, I think when we started it was in the mid 30’s.  This was our Team Shell Anual ride and being my first time riding with them I didn’t realize that they just organize the rides and weren’t providing snacks at the rest stops.  Thank goodness for the dates in my camel back.  

 - Green Juice for Breakfast
- Orange in the car on our way to the ride
- Banana Nut Bread while waiting for the ride to start
- 2 dates @ Rest Stop 1 – Mile 20
- 2 dates @ Rest Stop 2 – Mile 32  

 - At rest stop 2, which was at a gas station, I waited in line to use the bathroom, by the time it was my turn and I walked out everyone had left.  I got on my bike and started riding, but since I didn’t have my map, I missed a right turn and kept on going straight.  Somewhere around mile 38 as I was wondering where in the world I am I had a crash.   I was trying to avoid glass on the road and ended up in gravel which just flipped me over.   I got my right knee banged up pretty good… with cuts and bruises and bruised my right hip, thigh and elbow.. OUCH!  My bike computer zeroed after the crash and I rode a few miles after that until I figured out where I was and could get back to the starting point.  

 I am assuming my average for the ride was at about 14 mph but since my computer zeroed I have no idea.  

Once home I had coconut water, which I really liked and will continue drinking it post rides.  

 - Lunch was 2 veggies sandwiches on Ezekiel English muffins and a slice of banana nut bread topped with 1 tbsp of Almond butter.  (I smuggled my lunch into the sports bar we had our game watch, I really didn’t want bar food after the morning I had).  

   

Dinner was a slice of leftover Polenta Pizza and a side salad.   

 

   

Needless to say we crashed at about 8 PM since we had to get up early the next morning for Sunday’s ride.Sunday: Total miles 56.57, averaged 13.7 mph (the wind killed my average)  

Thank goodness it was a warmer day.  I had made up my mind and I was going to break 50 on Sunday.   The temps were in the mid 40’s, which is chilly when you first start but perfect as your body gets warmed up :).  I remembered to take a route map with me this time :)  The big problem was that they ran out of bananas at most of the stops.  

- Green Juice for Breakfast
- Orange in the car on our way to the ride
- Banana Nut Bread while waiting for the ride to start
- Skipped Rest Stop 1 - Mile 12 - I was just warming up and had a pretty good pace
- 2 dates @ Rest Stop 2 – Mile 22 – There was only 1 porter potty and by the time it was my turn and I was ready to grab some snack they had run out of bananas 
- Stopped at Rest Stop 3 – Mile 33 – Only to see if they had any bananas… and they didn’t
- 2 dates while riding between mile 33 & 47 – at this point I was averageing 15.7 mph
- Rest Stop 4 – Mile 44 – I was starving hungry, they had bananas but not much and I wanted to be fair so I had half a nana and got on my bike.  

 Here is the highlight for the ride, after mile 33 the wind picked up… it must have been 15+mph because even going down hill I had to peddle to get the bike moving.  To put it in perspective, normally on downhill I pick up speed to at least 25 mph, on Sunday I couldn’t get it past 10 mph.  

 For lunch we went to a Mexican place right in the same parking lot as our start.   I had Spinach Enchilada with Vegetarian Black Beans and replaced the rice with side salad (not pictured).  The food was okay.   

 

On the drive home I was still hungry so I had another piece of banana nut bread :)  

 Once home we cleaned the house, did laundry and by 6:30 were hungry but had no energy to cook…. so we headed out to FreeBird for Burritos.   I had a veggie burrito on Cayenne tortilla (Spring mix, black beans, roasted veggies, cilantro, tomato, lettuce and pico)  

   

 I feel pretty good today, my right knee and hip are soar but I will be all good by next weekends ride :)  

One things I learned this weekend is I need to be prepared and not depend on food at rest stops.  Yes they had plenty of cookies, oreo, cheez-it etc but my goal is to go through this with all natural foods.   I was lazy and didn’t make my sweet potato to take with me, but you better believe that won’t happen again :)  

   

This is a new week and a new month – Set yourself one goal for the month and one for the week.  Work hard to achieve them.

My goal for the month, lower body strength training…. stronger legs are the only thing that can help me battle the wind.
My goal for the week, make it to at least 2 spin classes – I skipped the gym last week. 

 ~ G

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Posted in Everyday Stuff, Training Ride | 23 Comments »

It’s Rodeo Time in Houston

Friday, February 26th, 2010

….. which means today is Go Texan day!   We were encouraged to wear our Texan attire to work… I am from MA so I don’t own anything Texan.  Although I have to admit I wouldn’t mind a pair of boots :)  Its always interesting to see all the tight stretched jeans, big buckles, plaid shirts, the cow boy boots and hat on people.

Every year we get tickets through Raymond’s clients to go to the rodeo… the rodeo is usually followed by a concert.. mainly country singers but a random one like Jonas Brothers, this year though with our crazy schedule it doesn’t look like we are going to make it to any of the events.

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Yay its finally Friday!  I have been ready for today since 9 AM Monday!  It has been a rough week at work to say the list.  Monday started not very pleasant and it didn’t get better as the week went by…

This is a double ride weekend for us… my very first experience in riding two days in a row..

Saturday is the annual Team Shell ride there are two routes to choose from, 44 miles and 63 miles.  I talked to my riding buddy Sara and it looks like we will be doing the 44 miler and Raymond and his buddies will be doing the 63 miler.

The forecast for Saturday is;

which other than the 12 mph wind it looks like a nice day…  From the emails it sounds like we will be getting our team jerseys before the ride and I think I will be sporting tomorrow :).

Sunday we are back to our normal training group… this is week 6 of 12 weeks training Yikes! and according to the training leader this is our LAST FLAT ride for the training series.   The plan is to ride the 57 mile route, but Sara and I will re-evaluate on Sunday morning.

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Saturday afternoon WVU is playing Cincinatti and its our Nationwide game watch for the season.   The Almni chapters across the country are also holding a food drive and asking all memebers to bring dry goods to the game watch.   We will be competing to see which chapter will raise more lbs of food so wish us luck :)

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Alright my friends I am off to relax a bit and bed soon.   I probably will do a recap of both rides on Sunday.  Have a wonderful weekend.

~ G

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Posted in Everyday Stuff, Training Ride | 16 Comments »

TX is not FLAT & Hemp Product Giveaway

Sunday, February 21st, 2010

Thank you all for your sweet comments on my last post, I appreciate all of you taking the time and reading my blog and leaving me comments.

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My opinion of TX, especially the Houston area, since I moved here was that it is FLAT, and you have to remember that I am from MA and Raymond is from WV and neither are FLAT.  Well my opinion changed yesterday.   Last week we got an email from the ride organizers telling us that the routes have been reduced from 44 & 60 to 37 & 56 respectively, because they felt like the routes were hilly.  My first thought “ya right”, well my friends the ride yesterday kicked my butt.

I averaged 14 mph and it took me 2 hr 45 min with two stops.   I am really hoping by the time we do the big ride in April I can stop only every 20 – 25 miles, but my big problem is I need to go to the bathroom every 15 miles because of all the water I am drinking to keep hydrated.

The weather for Saturday morning was predicted to be comfortable riding temperature;

and the weather man was right… it was a beautiful day.

Here is what I ate before and during my ride;

-  16 oz fresh Green Juice at 5:00 AM
-  1 tall latte on our way to the ride & split a cinnamon swirl coffee cake with Raymond  -  I couldn’t sleep Friday night so I needed a little coffee boost otherwise I am not a big fan of coffee before a ride
-  1/2 banana + 1 date at the first rest stop
-  1/2 banana + 1 date at the second rest stop, I was hungry so I ate another 1/2 banana with some Peanut Butter on it
-  During the ride drank 1.7 L of water
-  After the ride on our way to lunch had another banana

The original plan for lunch was to come home, but we were both so hungry that we ended up stopping for lunch.   We went to Star Pizza, split a greek salad and veggie pizza between the two of us.

Well the pizza was too big so we brought home leftovers.

We also stopped at Sugarbabies to pick up four red velvet cupcakes for tonight, we have friends coming over for dinner and I didn’t think I would have time to make dessert.  I also didn’t want to buy more than 4 because I really didn’t want extras to eat later.

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Hemp Products Giveaway

You all know my love for Hemp milk and hemp products.   The lovely people at Living Harvest have sent me 4 coupons (2 for Hemp Milk and 2 for Temp Ice Cream) for two lucky winner.   If you don’t remember what I said about Hemp Products read my Hemp 101 post.

From the Living Harvest Website;

“Hemp’s nutritional makeup includes digestible protein, essential amino acids and valuable essential fatty acids (EFA’s) Omega-3 and Omega-6, known as “good fats”, and essential to everyone’s diet. But hemp’s benefits don’t stop there. It’s also an ideal renewable resource – a hardy crop that can be grown without pesticides or herbicides.”

Here is how to enter:

–  Leave me a comment and tell me why you are intrested in trying Hemp Milk & Ice cream

For additional Entry’s

– Add me to blog roll and leave me a comment that you have done so
– Follow me on Twitter and Tweet about this giveaway and leave me a comment
– Mention this giveway on your blog
– Become a fan on Facebook

I select a winner on Thursday February 25th.

Happy Commenting!

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This is a new week, set yourself ONE goal that you like to accomplish this week?

My goal for this week is to cut back on my sugar love. :)

- Gelareh

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Posted in Everyday Stuff, Training Ride | 90 Comments »

My Toes

Sunday, February 14th, 2010

Well my friends, I had a great ride yesterday morning, but the weather man was WRONG about the weather.   The prediction was that it would be 39°F by 9 am and 49° by noon.. that did not happen.  We started the ride at 8 AM and 29°F and when I finished at 11:15 it was 39°.     My toes froze…  I couldn’t feel anything from my toes to the arc of my foot, no matter how hard I pumped I couldn’t get my toes to warm up.

Here I am getting geared up in the AM

I picked the 41 mile route, which ended up being 43.75 miles… normally I wouldn’t care about the extra 2.75 miles… I mean what is an extra 2.75 mi if I rode 41 mi, except at 38 mi I needed to to go to the bathroom really bad and that’s when I started really counting every tenth of a mile.

To start my morning I had 16 oz of green juice before we left the house, 1 banana as we got closer to the location ( we had an 1hr 15 min drive) and a blueberry muffin at sign up.

There were 4 rest stops; 9, 15 27 and 31 mi.     I stopped at the 2nd rest stop to fuel up and get more water.    To fuel up I had;  1/2 banana and 1 tbsp peanut butter & 1 date (I packed 5 dates from home for the ride)

While at the rest stop… which was very quick, standing around in a cold weather is not fun, I saw a guy who had turned completely blue… his face was BLUE and he was shivering uncontrollably, they had 2 or 3 blankets around him and where trying to move him to a car.. Yikes!

My goal was to stop again at the 31 mi rest stop, but I had been drinking water, tons of it, so I really needed a quick batheroom stop, I stopped at the 3rd stop, which was only 12 mi, had another date, and decided not to stop the last 16-17 miles.

I averaged 14.5 mph up to the 38 mile, after I realized I needed a bathroom NOW I slowed down significantly, its not really easy pedaling with a full bladder.. so that dropped my Avg to 13.7 mph.   I felt great when I finished which I think had everything to do with proper hydration and fueling.

For lunch we stopped at Freebird for a burrito, I had my usual, Veggie on Cayenne tortilla;

and dinner was Pad Thai… Yum!

Today is Pancake Sunday and I am off to make some pancakes.. hmm

- Gelareh

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