My race report on elite nationals which took place in Tuscaloosa, AL over the wkd is ON THE WAY. CHILL OUT.
I'm following my typical post-race schedule which involves a few light days with a Costco trip thrown in the mix due to the extra LJ time. SNOW (owner/driver of SNOWTAXI--contact me if you're in the DC area and interested in a SNOWTOUR) and I are coordinating logistics for tonight's costco trip, or 'slutco' as some of you would correctly assume we call it. Tentatively, from work I will bike to Hains Point w/ backpack (loaded with empty tupperwear, work clothes, this morning's swim stuff and blank checks for Costco purchases) to meet Snow (ON TIME) who will pick up said bag, and meet me at Costco roughly 1:40 later. I will SOMEHOW navigate a labyrinth of new-to-me pedestrian paths in Northern Virginia and hopefully arrive at COSTCO where I will meet SNOW (ON TIME).
SNOW prompts a Lindsey/Lauren tirade on bike safety after suggesting we "lock down LJ bike before entering Slutco" on SNOWTAXI roof.
Lindsey: Would you leave your cervelo on a roof rack? with your race wheels on*?
Lauren: hell freaking NO
Lindsey: exactly
that's the response I was looking for
PASSION
Lauren: race wheels - 1800
cervelo - 4000
srm stuff - 1500
Lindsey: LAUREN'S SANITY - PRICELESS
Lauren: YESSSS
Lindsey: even if the frame is locked down, the rear wheel with PowerTap is NOT
Lauren: yeah those can just be stripped off the bike quickly if peeps know what they are
looking for!
Lindsey: lollllll THAT'S what people are looking for in slutco parking lot
Lauren: hahahah. i know
peeps don't know the difference between a huffy and a TREK TTX at costco
Lindsey: or that the bike sitting atop SNOWTAXI is worth twice as much as the car
Lauren: LOL
Lindsey: hell, I am preventing SNOW from car theft
Lauren: YES...an expensive bike is a GREAT car alarm... it encourages only BIKE theft..as in they take the bike but not the car. only good for cheap cars though, if we are talking porsche carrera with P3 on top with powertap wheel, they'd take the whole shebang
Lindsey: haha. on top of the car it says HERE! LOOK AT ME! COME STEAL THIS CAR WITH BONUS TEN THOUSAND DOLLAR BIKE
Lauren: bonus bike. haha
LESSON: don't leave bike 'securely locked' to the top of the car while Costco shopping--stick it in the trunk. Only AFTER Costco purchases are made can the bike be stored on the roof rack for the trip home as there will be NO SPACE in trunk for the bike. You just went to freakin COSTCO.
*my powertap is in my race wheel so for TRAINING purposes I MUST train on the rear race wheel
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Friday, August 14, 2009
Back to Nature: Mountain Lion Therapy
Lately I've been doing the majority of my running around a dirt track across the street from my house, as my foot had decided once again not to cooperate with my mind. This is more boring than watching Formula One or the painting channel. But, not to be deterred from the end game, I view this track running as mental prep for Ironman Canada. Clearly, if I can run around this track a trillion times, passing the same people over and over and over again (to the point of knowing the growth patterns of the hair on the back of their heads), then I can run longer with great scenery to keep me company.
Monday, though, I had had enough. I broke up with the track. Bay Area temps had SOARED into the 90s (THE HORROR) and the previous day's bike ride had left me dead tired and crabby. I needed diversion...new scenery….something to take my mind off my blasted foot. I decided to go BACK TO NATURE. I put aside all my fears of foot injuries on uneven terrain and pointed my car in the direction of Rancho San Antonio Park, my old favorite place to run until last fall when I saw THE Mountain Lion.
Mountain Lion - big, scary, LION looking creature.
Bobcat - overgrown house cat.... NOTE THE DIFFERENCE.
Note to slog readers: This mountain lion sighting is a sore point between me and my husband. I came across this creature hiding behind some rocks examining dinner (deer) while I was running at dusk. I KNOW the difference between a bobcat and mtn lion as I am adept at using google images, have multiple degrees in relevant fields (i.e. poly sci and int'l relations), and spend lots of time surfing the web for inane factoids. My husband, however, seems to think that if this truly was a mtn lion sighting, I would not be here to write this post and complain about phantom injuries.
Anyway, this “back to nature” run ended up having a great effect on my mind and body. Despite the horrific uneven terrain (these are fire roads people, but uneven for me) I had no pain. After a few minutes of shuffling at a really slow pace I got into a rhythm and dropped back to normal pace. Perhaps the pain went away because I was so focused on all the random noises and bush movements that clearly indicated a rattlesnake or mtn lion was prowling about stalking me. WHO KNOWS and WHO CARES. I’m cool with running in fear of mtn lions as I now realize this REAL and clearly rational fear will take my mind off the irrational fear of pain and injury.
If I posted this info on a highly-trafficked website, I’d probably get flamed by all the medical people. However, we are talking about “the slog” here, so for anyone interested, I’ve been reading some work by Dr. John Sarno about the mind-body connection and pain – pretty interesting. I first read about him last year when I found myself lying flat on the ground icing my spine with a frozen chicken breast only days before my wedding. I won’t attempt a book report, but will just say that I have found his work quite helpful. Feel free to hate on the guy if you want!
Anyway, I’m done with the track and am enjoying living in the rational fear of a Mountain Lion attack now.
Monday, though, I had had enough. I broke up with the track. Bay Area temps had SOARED into the 90s (THE HORROR) and the previous day's bike ride had left me dead tired and crabby. I needed diversion...new scenery….something to take my mind off my blasted foot. I decided to go BACK TO NATURE. I put aside all my fears of foot injuries on uneven terrain and pointed my car in the direction of Rancho San Antonio Park, my old favorite place to run until last fall when I saw THE Mountain Lion.
Mountain Lion - big, scary, LION looking creature.
Bobcat - overgrown house cat.... NOTE THE DIFFERENCE.
Note to slog readers: This mountain lion sighting is a sore point between me and my husband. I came across this creature hiding behind some rocks examining dinner (deer) while I was running at dusk. I KNOW the difference between a bobcat and mtn lion as I am adept at using google images, have multiple degrees in relevant fields (i.e. poly sci and int'l relations), and spend lots of time surfing the web for inane factoids. My husband, however, seems to think that if this truly was a mtn lion sighting, I would not be here to write this post and complain about phantom injuries.
Anyway, this “back to nature” run ended up having a great effect on my mind and body. Despite the horrific uneven terrain (these are fire roads people, but uneven for me) I had no pain. After a few minutes of shuffling at a really slow pace I got into a rhythm and dropped back to normal pace. Perhaps the pain went away because I was so focused on all the random noises and bush movements that clearly indicated a rattlesnake or mtn lion was prowling about stalking me. WHO KNOWS and WHO CARES. I’m cool with running in fear of mtn lions as I now realize this REAL and clearly rational fear will take my mind off the irrational fear of pain and injury.
If I posted this info on a highly-trafficked website, I’d probably get flamed by all the medical people. However, we are talking about “the slog” here, so for anyone interested, I’ve been reading some work by Dr. John Sarno about the mind-body connection and pain – pretty interesting. I first read about him last year when I found myself lying flat on the ground icing my spine with a frozen chicken breast only days before my wedding. I won’t attempt a book report, but will just say that I have found his work quite helpful. Feel free to hate on the guy if you want!
Anyway, I’m done with the track and am enjoying living in the rational fear of a Mountain Lion attack now.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Transit & Tribute
My camera is prone to saying 'change batteries' on most occasions when documenting my exciting endeavors, such as the Eat a Peach Challenge Bike ride I did "with friends" on Saturday. The guys I rode with dropped me a few miles into the 68 mile journey--they opted for the 100 mile ride! Ryan sold me on the affair:
"Are you going to do that Peach Ride on Sat? Sounds right up your alley. They have a farmers market at the finish."
On rare occasions I carry with me a camera with fully charged batteries and HAVE PROOF of, something... oddly enough the following pictures were sent to me via email so it looks like they were not taken on my camera?
So how does a girl without a car get to early morning races without metro accessibility??? Let's consider the Pike's Peek 10k I ran earlier in the year. This is your standard podunk race in suburban MD where Olympians show-up and a 37 something places you in the double digits among the women.
Here I am hailing the SNOWTAXI driven by SNOW, famed author of the stupid blog.
LJ: Snow, can you take me _______?
SNOW: NO! What? Yes.
I'm getting in the gov't contract engineer's "dependable but staid (aka 'bulletproof') Camry that has served SNOW so well for 180,000 miles."
LJ offers SNOW coffee in roomie's SNOWMUG.
I'm hastily compiling and burning PP10k mix CD. Note, this picture was taken before my July trip to California as the Timex Ipod watch is worn on my left wrist. One of LAHP's dogs took a liking to the watch and BURIED IT for safe-keeping in the Harrison-Pataky backyard. I stand by that story no matter what LAHP says...
Here comes the KLIMSLOG portion. At the race, SNOW and I spot the man known as the RED FOX. Jake Klim is the beloved captain/leader/viceroy of the Georgetown Running Company Racing Team.
Here we are, closer. Nice jacket, Klim - guess it only comes in men's sizes.
GRC is very generous is supplying me with running shoes of my choice. When I first joined the team in December, they were short-handed on singlets. Klim had me wear this monstrosity for my first race: the men's white singlet, size extra short. FUN FACT: This picture appeared in the Washington Running Report article covering the Jingle Bell All the Way 10k between the photo of Mayor Fenty and the pic of the woman running in a hot pink Mrs. Claus costume.
"Are you going to do that Peach Ride on Sat? Sounds right up your alley. They have a farmers market at the finish."
On rare occasions I carry with me a camera with fully charged batteries and HAVE PROOF of, something... oddly enough the following pictures were sent to me via email so it looks like they were not taken on my camera?
So how does a girl without a car get to early morning races without metro accessibility??? Let's consider the Pike's Peek 10k I ran earlier in the year. This is your standard podunk race in suburban MD where Olympians show-up and a 37 something places you in the double digits among the women.
Here I am hailing the SNOWTAXI driven by SNOW, famed author of the stupid blog.
LJ: Snow, can you take me _______?SNOW: NO! What? Yes.
I'm getting in the gov't contract engineer's "dependable but staid (aka 'bulletproof') Camry that has served SNOW so well for 180,000 miles."
LJ offers SNOW coffee in roomie's SNOWMUG.
I'm hastily compiling and burning PP10k mix CD. Note, this picture was taken before my July trip to California as the Timex Ipod watch is worn on my left wrist. One of LAHP's dogs took a liking to the watch and BURIED IT for safe-keeping in the Harrison-Pataky backyard. I stand by that story no matter what LAHP says...
Here comes the KLIMSLOG portion. At the race, SNOW and I spot the man known as the RED FOX. Jake Klim is the beloved captain/leader/viceroy of the Georgetown Running Company Racing Team.
Here we are, closer. Nice jacket, Klim - guess it only comes in men's sizes.
GRC is very generous is supplying me with running shoes of my choice. When I first joined the team in December, they were short-handed on singlets. Klim had me wear this monstrosity for my first race: the men's white singlet, size extra short. FUN FACT: This picture appeared in the Washington Running Report article covering the Jingle Bell All the Way 10k between the photo of Mayor Fenty and the pic of the woman running in a hot pink Mrs. Claus costume.
I'll end on a stupid note--a screenshot of SNOW's work inbox. Yep, that's just stupid.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)