Master's Nationals are in da Ville

This is not the first year for USA Cycling to hold the Master's National Road Championships here. But it's my first time experiencing it.
To participate you must be 30 years old and be able to pay the entry fee per race. Early registration is $60 per, a little steep, but late registration is over twice that. ouweee. In addition if you are male and 54 and lower or female and 44 and lower must be a Category 3 racer or higher. If you are older, you just need to enter, pay the fee and show up.

I am volunteering where I can this week. Saturday registration/packet pickup allowed me to meet and greet many of the racers. Early Sat morning I prerode the course, again. Then I met others and some put up hay bales and myself and another cleaned the course with broom and leaf blowers.

Yesterday the women's age groups and tandems raced. The course is just under a 5 mile loop. The older you are the fewer laps you have to ride. :-D The ladies thiry-somethings had 9 laps, forty-somethings 7 laps, and 50 somethings 6 laps. Those were the hardest, hottest 6 laps I've ever done. Failed to triple check my barrel adjustment and dropped a chain twice. Focus! I finished 14 out of 18. I'm amazed with that.

Tonight I joined the skirts for a recovery ride. Great group of women and guest rider. Met some new ladies. Rode 22 easy recovery miles. Had a tail wind down River Road that was very sweet. Wish the cars passing had been half as sweet. Crazy the chances people take on a double yellow line on a curve passing up to a dozen cyclists.

Tomorrow is my last full day of work this week. Hope to do some good short hard efforts and then ride easy for a while, later in the evening. Need to be as ready as I can for Wednesday's time trial. My last opportunity to participate in these races. It's so interesting to see all these expensive time trial bikes in addition to the road bikes many cyclists brought with them. Talk about a rich man's sport!

I must admit that I've met the most friendly, helpful and fun people in the cycling community. I will be volunteering at the criterium races, Thursday - Saturday. They are being held on the infield road at Churchill Downs. Those will be some fast races.

Dixie called and told me all about the venue at Senior Games in August. She prerode the course over the weekend. It's a month away and it's my A race. Main goal - Have Fun! :-) make the most of the adventure and expand my world.

Wednesday and the sun is shining!

Last week at this time I had a day of uncontrollable crying. I was a total mess. Wound up seeing Christine who is a shaman as far as I can tell. I've have some ups and downs since last week, but am starting to feel much more even keeled. That's not to say it won't come back. I'm trying to keep a calmness about myself and not overreact as much, because I have done that more in the last months than I'd like to admit.

She has me drinking hot lemon water first thing in the morning. I keep adding water to my cup and lemon throughout the day. It is like having some sunshine in a cup. I'm also taking mega minerals, hoping to see my halfmoons return soon. I am looking forward to Friday when I visit her again. Working together on healing mind, body and spirit.

This morning as I was driving to the office on a one-way street with 5 lanes and a pickup truck crosses from the far right into my lane, cutting in front of me, and decides to turn left! I yelled at that truck as loud as I could with my head out the window, "Good Morning' !" His windows were down, so I'm pretty sure he heard me. Decided it was better than honking and I was smilin' and calm afterwards, not all ticked off ready for a fight. Hope his day goes well.

Each day brings new lessons in life
peace

My first Duathlon

So, this was my first multisport event. I'd never been to this location before, never done an event solo before. Most of the team had other obligations. I was a little nervous. I knew I hadn't run nearly enough in preparation. But this was my birthday present to myself. Another goal, milestsone to reach. Still annoyed with myself for DNF at Tour de Olmsted.

Since the race was to start at 7:30 I set the alarm for 4:50, thinking one snooze and one hour prep would be good. I had loaded the car the night before, made my bottles up and they were in the fridge. So Mother Nature decided to put on a show and about 4:30, lightning, thunder and pelting rain on the windows rose me from my slumber. :-) Good morning, Sherri! I carried through with my normal routine, breakfast, loading the bike, checking and double checking the list in my head. No! it's not written down, hmmm.

I had google mapped and gotten directions, the ramp to 71 where it splits with 264 was closed. Oh dear, I wasn't sure I knew an alternate route! I figured it out. As I got off at the Buckner exit I was going through my list in my head again. I'd forgotten the water bottles! Not good. I stopped at a gas station and picked up a Gatorade. I arrived at the event with 45 minutes before start time. I kept telling myself there's no reason to get upset. What happens, happens. It will be all right. I went in, got my packet, wrote my check, had my number written on my right arm and left leg, 100. and with my packet they gave each of us an insulated water bottle! YES, I've been carrying a gallon of water with me in the car, because there is nothing worse than getting dehydrated.

Time to start. There were at lest 125 participants I think. We started the first run of 2 miles. It was on grass and gravel trails, up and down hills. My prep has been on pavement, with limited hills, truly mostly flat. The hurt was on! We've had buckets and buckets of rain, and of course the morning saw another nice dose. One area was downhill, jump across the creek and run uphill. Technical! All but about 5 people passed me on the run. I got to the bike and felt good about the transition and took off! I passed quite a few on the bike. Even up hills! I was feeling really good about my ride and only on one hill did I screw up and stay in the big ring too long. The second transition was fast and there were many sets of shoes still waiting for their wearers. I took a big gulp and started running. Within 100 yards both calves started cramping. It was like ripples running up and down, not the locking kind of cramps though. I walked, but as fast as I could and tried to relax. Talked to myself, breathe, focus, walk it out. Within about 400 yards the cramping subsided and I could run. I walked more than I wanted, all the uphill efforts. There were young girls cheering everyone on just before the finish. That means SO much! I ran as fast as I could muster the last 50 or so yards, smiling the whole way. While my time was 1:23:38, the overall female winner has just over 1:04. I couldn't believe that I came in first in my age group and I wasn't the only one in it! :-)

As I passed cyclists or saw faster runners go by when I started my 2nd run (I didn't pass any runners), I would tell them, good job! I met several people while waiting for the results. All very nice, varied backgrounds. This was my birthday present to myself. Friday I turned 51. It was time to raise the bar and I did something new and I can be proud of my effort. Though I have lots more work and training to do before my next. :-)

This week will be fairly light with a couple of hard efforts and a couple of easy spins, with a couple of runs. I've signed up to race in Sunday's Master's National road race. Not the brightest thing I've done. But, even if I get pulled, it will be good experience in prep for Senior Games in August.

Weekend of learning

mostly about me, but also about others. I got lost somewhere in my head on Friday. Completely and totally warped. I was still there on Saturday.

We went to watch our team mates compete in the Shelbyville Triathlon. Fun times, they did so well! Oli and I then packed it up and headed to Iroquois for Tour de Olmsted. What a great event! We warmed up a bit, riding the trail and uphill sprints. Then several of us took a warmup lap. Not good. I wasn't feeling it. I told Oli I didn't want to do it, that I was on the verge of tears. She did her drill sergeant impression, which I thoroughly appreciate. It didn't work. We started, pushed up the hill, they dropped me and I had nothing in my legs. No desire. I got back to the start/finish and cheered my team mates. Then it was fun again. They did very well! Later was a celebration for Oli getting her MBA and job offers. I had several beers, ate a lot of good food and enjoyed the company of many. So many fun people that like to run, cycle, and drink beer!

Yesterday saw the Ky State Time Trial Championship. It was a 40K (25 mile) distance. I'd never done that distance, only half. This was 2 laps. I went out with the thought that if I could maintain 18.5 - 19 mph average on the flats the first lap, I'd have plenty of energy for the second. Probably could've set the bar higher, hindsight being what it is. My goal was a PR and hoping I could do it in only twice the time it took me to do the 20K last month. That was 0:40:23 so I was thinking 1:20:00 would be nice. Wound up with 1:19:52 and a bronze medal too. :-D While we were waiting for the medals and putting our bikes back on cars I suggested going out to the Master's Natz TT course and check it out. Dave and Joan joined me for that. This is a 25K course (15 miles) and the first of it is a long low grade hill. It's on a 4-lane highway which will be interesting to see how traffic is controlled. As we rode the course I started realising how good and strong I felt, this a couple hours after the TT. We stopped for a quick drink break at the turn-around and headed back. With 2 miles to go it starts raining and then pouring buckets. We got soaked! But that downhill to the finish was exhilirating, no matter how stinging the rain.

Lots of other learnings too. Maybe I'll post about those at some point. Probably not

peace

Set myself up

for disappointments all the time. Not getting the training in I should, so my race tomorrow will be another "off the back". I'm good with that.

but there are times I allow others to disappoint. Do I set a standard that is unrealistic? Do I have some defect in my personality that blinds me to people that are inconsiderate?

I need to turn all of these into positives. Give me time, I'll find a way.

Learning is lifelong

and boy oh boy am I learning plenty these days. How easy it is to believe everything is as you want. rose coloured glasses, naivete', and on and on

disjointed thoughts

so I've not raced for a while, not a road race. Saturday sees a circuit race at Iroquois park. I've pushed myself over the last 4 days, but not sure it's enough. What's the saying? too little, too late? But this is where I must focus. 6 weeks and I'll be in Cali.

I haven't run enough and a week from Sat is the duathlon.

goals, milestones, markers we humans like to have these. it doesn't matter if it's work or play or domestic life

My firstborn called and talked to me today. It'd been a while since we had contact. She put a smile on my face!

I've stayed up too late again. I need to ride intervals tomorrow morning. and then run tomorrow night and then easy rides Thursday and Friday.

Sunday brings the Kentucky State Time Trial Championship. 40K it's not an easy course. I've ridden 20K twice the 40k is the 20 twice. oooohhhhh

Hello

or Good morning! Any greeting opens doors to new relationships. As I ride my bike and see people at the bus stop, in their yards, sitting in the cars at red lights I say a greeting. It's amazing! while many don't know how to react, most return the "Mornin'!" Lots of times, if there are several of us cycling together little ones will cheer.

Good times!

Closing in

on a beginning and/or end. All finallly agreed on the words, so I was summoned to sign papers. They will be filed soon. Time to rebuild what can be and start anew what will. Many things will be changed forever. Hopefully, most will be for the best.

peace