Beautiful Connecticut...in 52miles

This weeks practice has been going great. On Monday I rode 40 miles in record speed, Tuesday, and Wednesday I swam 3200 yards, and Thursday I biked another 52 miles.

Mondays right was fast...very fast...I averaged 21.79 mph and if it wasn't for the last hill in Farmington I might have broken 22 mph.

Tuesday and Thursday I finally switched up my swim practice from the usual 6x 500 to 10x 100 on 15sec rest, 5x 200 on 20sec rest, and 2x 500 on 30sec rest. I feel comfortable in the water right now and I am getting in a lot of distance. My major goal needs to be speed so I hope the 100yard intervals will help me with that.

Today I tested out a new loop and I must say it was phenomenal. Hills...just the way I like it...and talk about scenic...Connecticut is beautiful around the Canton area. Based on google maps I climbed at least 800ft to the Saville Dam in Barkhamstead, CT. I always wanted to go there and it was gorgeous. Besides the killer winds the ride was amazing. With a scenery like that riding becomes so much easier...have a look.

This is the link to my loop: 52 miles of New Britain - Farmington - Unionville -North Canton - Barkhamstead - New Hartford - Canton Center - and back to New Britain

This was the last practice session for the month.

April 2009 Total: 560miles on the bike and 20200 yards in the pool

P.S. Happy Birtday Rob! a

Rider down on Route 61...

Josie, Rob and I went out for a 62 (55) miler starting at the Quassy Amusement Park. The weather was incredible...almost too incredible. It was 84 degrees for the first time this year. We stacked up on water and gels and left towards Lake Waramaug. It was long ride #2 for Rob this weekend and without any substantial nutrition over the past three days his energy went down very quickly. I was concerned he will hit a wall at some point during the ride but he managed to stay with us for the most part. When we got to Lake Waramaug Aid Stations had been set up around the lake and runners where crawling over the pavement. At some point I saw 50k turn....100k turn written on the pavement. "=ultra marathon". The runners didn't look too happy at that time which wasn't very surprising with this kind of heat. RESPECT TO ALL OF THEM. After a little break I took the chance to break away from the other two for 1 1/2 loops around the lake for fast 10miles. I kicked it up in the big gear and gained about 5 minutes. Before we left the loop around the lake the helpers at the aid station refilled our water bottles for the last 20miles and off we went. Josie and I felt great so we climbed quickly up some good hills on 106. Eventually we hit route 61 which took us into Bethlehem were we started to decline. Josie followed my lead and Rob wasn't too far off.
At about 25-30mph we went downhill when all of a sudden I passed a pothole by about 2 inches. I didn't see it until it was right below me so I screamed "Pothole" but it was too late. I looked back and until now I have this picture of Josie at a 45 degree angle in my head. I slammed the brakes, through the bike on the road and ran back cuz Josie took a dive on the pavement. Luckily the car behind was able to stop. Josie took away a bunch of scratches on her hands, hips, knee, stomach, etc. The people were so nice to patch up Josies bruises with their first aid kit. The husband even called an ambulance from Bethlehem. The fire department and an ambulance moved out for her :) They blocked the entire street for Josie and with about 12 people they patched up Josie again :) Luckily no broken bones or other scary injuries so her wounds are hopefully healed in a few days. I will give her a rating of 10 for the dive. Great landing without head-pavement-contact. Well done. *crowd is applauding* The people that stopped drove Josie back to the car and Rob and me finished the last 8 miles. (For some emergency pictures check out Rob's blog)
After the shocking event we drove to Carvel to get some well deserved ice cream/hot dog to analyze the crash again. Josie then took me back to CCSU where she noticed that my tire was almost down to the tube. My OMFG brake slam resulted in this...
Good thing the Triathlon Club Summer Santa just brought me a new pair of continental tires. All the best to the fastest female triathlete that I know personally :)

38 pages lighter...

Wow....I just finished my longest paper ever. 38 pages on economic regression analysis and forecasting methods. I have never been so happy. The worst part is that this huge ass paper only counts for 10% of my final grade. There is still one tiny section missing but I can't even look at it anymore. I have to submit it by 12am tonight. The thought of having it done is almost as rewarding as finishing a race...almost..not quite as good. The result...Yesterday I went out to ride with Josie and Rob. We met up in Middlebury to ride down to Lake Waramauge for two laps and back. We totaled 58 miles and averaged a little more than 18 mph. The weather was amazing and New England roads still suck. At one point I thought I was going lose my teeth (the real ones) because the road was bumpy as f...k. Rob kept holding on to his water bottles that he stored in his jersey and Josie couldn't feel her hands anymore from all the shaking. I took some nice pictures of Rob in his Jan Ullrich jersey and of Josie now aka Rosie the Riveter. This has been my longest ride this season and I felt pretty good afterwards. The last two miles up hill I started a Lance Armstron attack to break off the two men field and I gained a two minute lead on the duo behind. It was a fun ride that ended with a large milk shake from Carvel's. Josie is officially the worlds slowest ice cream eat...it took her almost 20 minutes to finsh her cone one the way home. Increadable that it didn't melt and evaporate before.

what a smile after 58 miles...
not sure if that is pain in his face...

Ok I am out for a swim...laterz

fast ride and a bad quiz

This week I have bombed my first quiz for the semester and I am very glad it wasn't worth much. It hit me in the right moment to realize that the semester isn't over yet and if I wanna graduate with honors I need to keep up the work. I need to complete a huge ass 25 page paper by Sunday night, 3 past due lab reports and I just got a new research paper that is due next week. Well lets start working on it...
On Monday after my 30 mile ride I was kicked out of the CCSU pool 1000 yards to early because they life guards felt like going home. I don't think there was any other reason but I don't blame them. It's not the most exciting job to wait until someone needs to be fished out of the water. The next day I swam with Rob and Josie if you wanna call it that. They basically past me a million times just because they can. It is fun to at least have someone next to you that you can try to hold on to for 25 yards. I did 3300 yards that day +-100 yards for miscounting the lanes.
Today I was sitting in the library for 6 hours working on my paper but at the end I couldn't take it any longer so I decided to go for a 30 mile ride over Talcott Mountain into Simsbury were I turned and went back. The weather was amazing for the first time this season and using that enthusiasm of mine I cranked out my fasted ride for the season at 21.36 mph average. My goal for the season must be a 22 mph average over 56 miles....nothing else counts.
So now I will get back to my paper because tomorrow I am going for a longer ride with Josie and Rob...

3 days without training...damn you DC

Last Thursday I skipped class and went for a 50 miler managing a 20.32mph average. After almost 4 months training stop I have been highly motivated to get out on the bike. I have taken Josie's advice and prepared a training schedule (so far I have always done what I felt like) and the plan is to average 150 - 200 miles per week until I am done with classes. My week also includes 6k -10k yards swimming and minimal running. I have had bad knee problems over the winter and my doctor told me I have a light cartilage damage in my right knee. And since I stopped heavy running I feel good. After this season I will decide if I have to have surgery. It's called microfracture and it could cost me 2 years of recovery...this type of surgery can only be done if you have a lot of patience which I don't...big problem right there. But lets hope I can do 95% of my endurance workout on the bike and only run occasionally.

On Friday I left for a trip to Washington with a friend of mine. The Holiday Inn we stayed in had a gym so I can't say that I didn't have the chance to train but I just didn't. My fault and I feel bad for it. Stupid regrets...yeah the running guy in the picture below wasn't me.

The highlight of the trip was Sunday. The weather was perfect so we took the subway to Georgetown and started walking around. Georgetown was amazing...I could picture myself living there that's how nice it was.

Good news vs. bad news

Background: Over the summer I am working for a hotel & restaurant as the Assistant Controller. July and August are our biggest months and weekends during that time are crazy...especially the weekend we have the 4th of July fireworks.
good news first...
I have contacted my boss and he allowed me to take the weekend of my graduation off. That means my debate if I should walk or not on May 23rd is resolved.
bad news...
My boss did not allow me to take the weekend of July 12th off since that is the weekend we will have the fireworks. That means I won't be able to do the Ironman 70.3 Providence that I wanted to do so badly....sorry Rob. Instead I will be registering for the Griskus Sprint on July 8th. Goal is the podium.
If I can convince my boss to let me take off a weekend in August I might try to do the 70.3 Steelhead (August 1st) or the 70.3 Lake Stevens (August 16th). Lake Stevens is one day after my birthday so maybe I can convince my boss to give me off those days. Will see how it goes...

Debate: Today is gorgeous and it's a perfect day for a long ride...actually it's a perfect day to skip Calc III and do a long ride instead. My schedule says "OFF DAY" but I hope my body will forgive once my brain tells it to enjoy the scenery.

Mo: 3000 yards + 200 warm up
Tue: 3000 yards + 200 warm up
30 miles (20 mph average)
Wed: 40 miles (20 mph average)
Thur: ? probably a 40-50 mile ride :)

Midterms are over...Griskus Sprint 2009?

And another New England rainy day is coming to an end...
On Saturdays I remember Josie saying something like: "why does everyone wear jammers now a days" and today I became one of those guys too. I tested my new swim jammer and I gotta say it felt good. I went for a 3000 yard swim. 6 x 500yards plus a 200 yard warm up. This has been the longest I have gone so far and I feel great. Not like swimming is that exhausting but only three weeks ago I dislocated my shoulder so I couldn't really swim in the mean time. Last Thursday I still had some pain when I swam but today I felt some improvement. Shouldn't take too much longer until the pain is gone.
I finished my last midterm for this semester today at 8:32pm and I felt the relieve as soon as I walked out of that classroom. I am not sure how I did but I am just happy it's over. Not too far away finals will be bugging my mind but at least for a little while I can concentrate on the sport.
After Rob send me an email saying that he will be doing the Griskus Sprint again I thought about entering too. The race is on a Wednesday which perfectly goes with my work schedule over the summer. So if I can get him to pick me up in New London I think I will be in to give him some extra motivation on the bike. I will probably see you out there...

new start in April

Going out in the freezing New England weather this Saturday was what other people call crazy. Rob, Josie and I met up for a bike ride around Lake Waramaug. Rob's idea was to go for ONLY 70 miles but weather conditions stopped us at half the distance. The weather forecast predicted a 40% chance of precipitation but that was enough to rain when we started the ride. Almighty figured he could do better so he added some tornado like winds to the great conditions which made it feel like...where are my toes? has anyone seen my toes? oh there they are I just can't feel them. After 5 loops around the lake we called it a day but most important was that all of us finished strong....with an extra large pizza somewhere in the nowhere of CT.
After yesterdays weather Almighty had to make up for a crappy day so he created an almost perfect Sunday with a lot of sun and horrible winds. So I went out for another 40 mile ride. The wind like I said was crazy. Coming from West Hartford I went up Avon Mountain into Simsbury. For the first 20 miles I had head winds so I was excited to turn around for the way back. Going down Avon Mountain I tried to refuel so I figured I just let it roll...yeah that didn't work. The hill I usually go down at 40 mph wasn't steep enough...the wind was so strong that I had to pedal downhill at 18mph. On my way back I saw this awesome tree...Every child's dream for a tree house

...and I took some other pictures of the ride.
Random farm at the bottom of Avon Mountain...
Avon Mountain...I think...