*Pass the Bubble Wrap Please*

Solobally8

So I started the year feeling great. I was 12 weeks into a very intense bike focused plan with my coach. The first week in January was a 14 hour week, my biggest yet and I was feeling strong physically but not the best mentally. I was finding all the cycling on my own very lonely and isolating. I love training with others but I was willing to sacrifice club training as I had been promised great results with my highly individualized training plan.

That all changed of course when my coach texted me on Monday 6th Jan to say he was too busy to training anyone any more and that was it. I was on my own with no plan, my first race on the horizon and we were supposed to be moving from base training to build. I was very upset and even thought about throwing in the towel. I took 2 days off and then hopped back on the bike and decided feic him, I'm going to keep going on my own.

Since then I have made up my own training, from the sets the gave me and what I have learned over the last few months. I have done lots of reading on the net and have been given some great advice from my new cycling club, Nenagh CC. I am very lucky to get to train with such talented cyclists like Huff n Puff and the rest of the lads. It feels good to be the only girl training with the racing team.

So for the last few weeks I've been cycling and average of 11 hours per week, focusing on increasing the intensity with more tempo cycles, sweet spot efforts and climbs. I am having a step back week this week after a long build phase. My first race is 2 weeks away so we will see how I fare after all this training.

I'm 5 lbs lighter than the 1st of January and am currently the lightest I've been in over 16 years. Still about 7 lbs to go until I am at a decent cycling racing weight.

I havent swam and wont be until the local pool opens in April but I have started back running. All short, all slow but its a start. As biking is my priority I wont be letting running get in the way so if I have a niggle or any pain I will stop for a while again.

January Totals:
Bike: 22 cycles,1308.13 kms, 53 hours
Run: 4 runs, 12.32 kms, 1:15
Core: 4 sessions, 1:40

Dory Dory

Damn. You're the only girl training with the racing team AND you're the lightest you've been in 16 years? I say lucky guys. And I bet those final 7 pounds come off like magic. Great attitude, toughness and training. You totally rock, sb8!!!!

Solobally8

1st Feb
Took today easy as I needed to be in good form for Sunday's spin with the racing team so I did 1 hour on the turbo. After my usual 20 minute warm up of increasing cadence and 3x sixty second spin ups I did one pyramid set. I usually do 2 sets but I felt one was enough today. The pyramid comprises of 30 second spin up, 1:30 recoveyr, 45 sec spin up, 2:15 rec, 60 sec spin up with 3 mins recovery and back down to 45 and then 30. Just spun easy after that to make up the hour.

2nd Feb
The racing team cycle around Lough Derg most Sundays throughout the year. Its 120kms. They usually take it easy for the first 2 hours and then do some intervals of 2 up or 1 up and over. Today they decided to step it up as it's coming close to race season and so they were rolling from Borrisokane which was about 20kms in. I decided in my madness to make today the day I joined them on this spin for the first time! The aim was to make it to Borrisokane with them and then maybe turn for home or roll around the lake on my own once I was dropped. I really believed that's as far as I would make it as their warm up pace is my fast pace normally
Anyways there were 9 of us and I just sat at the back the whole time. Sometimes it was easy, sometimes it was very scary when we were hitting 40kph+ and it was lashing rain and I was trying to hang on to constantly changing wheels ahead of me as they rolled over. Made it to Borrisokane, made it to Portumna! Couldnt believe I was still hanging on. Finally was defeated by a few drags on the way to Whitegate. It was a confidence boosting spin. I need to be able to hang on to a bunch at these speeds at races. If not I will have a lot of lonely Sundays rolling home by myself after losing the bunch.
I cycled on along for a while on my own but it was getting very windy and I was tired and bored so I rang my hubby to come collect me. 81.5 kms covered in the end.

3rd Feb - Rest day

4th Feb
Club Turbo. My garmin wouldnt pick up my bike for some reason so I have no data for this. I estimated I covered 35k in the 1:25 mins. I'd say it was more but dont know really. 16 of us there, it was a good hard set. I sweat buckets as usual.

5th Feb- Unscheduled rest day
I was feeling very tired and unwell today and had a lot on so decided to have an extra rest day. It kills me to miss out on a day's training but I know I'm better off undertrained than overtrained at this stage of the year.

6th Feb
Beautiful morning. Decided to bring out the UNOVELO and do a 3.5 hr spin with 3x 20 min sweet spots. 45 minutes in I got a stupid puncture. No pump with me of course so I had to ring my mother in law to come collect me! I really need to become self sufficient, I spend so much time out on the road by myself its a bit silly to need to be collected any time I have one. I had 2 offers of help- one from a passing cyclist and one from a guy in a van. Restored my faith in humanity a little.

Back at home I couldnt face going out again on my felt so I set it up on the turbo and tried to finish the set in front of the tv. An hour and a half later I had enough. 58.2 kms covered in total today. So obvious I'm out of sorts.

7th Feb- Another rest day

8th Feb
Club cycle cancelled yet again due to the weather. Settled for a 2:20 turbo session in front of the tv again. Did some power and some sprint work with a lot of high cadence spinning in between the sets.

9th Feb & 10th Feb - More rest days
Have a sore throat and am very tired. This past week has been the lowest training hours in months and while that irks me no end I know that I cant keep training through sickness. The easy week with stand to me in the long run I hope.

Solobally8

Again another easy week for me. Found it hard to fit in many sessions. Maybe I didnt try hard enough though- still felt a little lacking in motivation to be honest. It's so different without a coach, much easier to skip a session with no one checking on you.

Tuesday 11th Feb- club turbo. This was the toughest one I've done yet. It was all aimed towards getting used to sprinting for long periods of time in a race. I felt like I was going to throw up numerous times. Was glad to see I wasnt the only one- some of the lads were pretty ill looking too

Skipped Wednesday's session as it took me an hour extra to get home with the storm and trees blocking the roads.

Thurs 13th Feb - Turbo. Easy spinning mostly with a few race paced sprints thrown in.

Saturday 15th Feb- Club spin. This was supposed to be a 2 hour easy recovery ride but at times it was much faster than what I was comfortable with for a pre-race ride. As I've no experience with bike races, I didnt think it would make much difference to do a club cycle the day before. I know better now and wont be doing this again.

Sunday 16th February - Ned Flanagan Memorial Road Race
So I finally got to see what all the fuss was about! 18 weeks of training and here I am at my first bike race.

Headed up to Monasterevin with 6 of the lads from Nenagh CC. As I've said before I'm very lucky to be in a club with these boys, in between all the slagging and messing they are very good at giving advice and tips etc. By the time we got there I was somewhere in between excited and terrified. Signed on nice and quickly- the line for the ladies race was non existent- there were only 4 other signed on before me and I was scared to see Ann Dalton was there, last year's National League winner.

Went for a very quick warm up with the boys and before I knew it the A1s and A2s were off. I was standing to the side watching the A3s line up and wondering what was happening with the women's race, when I noticed about 6 ladies in the middle of the bunch some with black numbers (A4 numbers have a black background this year). I went over to a girl from Orwell wheelers and she told me we were starting with the A3s. I nearly fainted! Yikes I was totally not prepared for that. I didnt have any time to think about it as the next thing we were off.

The speed was high from the outset and I really didnt think of much only trying my best to keep up and not die as my heart rate was sky high. I had been scared beforehand worrying about being in a bunch but the reality was much better, I felt fine and had no close shaves at all (for the short time I was in the bunch anyway ) Sometimes it seemed easy enough, the pace would slow and I would get my breath back but then there would be a surge and I wasnt able to hack the pace. Found myself out the back about 10k in.

After that I felt awful, wondered how would I make it the whole way round. I was wrecked already and I was starting to hate cycling a little. Then I was caught by another lady and we worked together for about 4 kms until the A4s caught us (they started 3 mins behind the A3s). I upped the pace and jumped into the middle of the bunch right where my club mates happened to be- how cool was that. For the next 10k I was doing well. I was keeping up and feeling good in the bunch then we came to a bit of a climb followed by a sharp left turn. I got up the hill ok but slowed way too much on the turn and found myself out the back again. Feic I was very disappointed. I wasnt even half way!

I trundled on and caught up with a lovely lady and we worked together for about 15kms. She did most of the work to be honest, I was wrecked and she was very strong. We did take a small detour after making a wrong turn and for a while I felt like it was a never ending cycle! Then with about 10k to go the girl I had been with earlier caught us and the 3 of us worked together to the end. Just before the line I was leading us out when the other girls went for a sprint finish. I managed to catch one of them just before the line! It was something I suppose!

The winning lady finished 20 minutes ahead of me!!! I really have a long way to go. Although I was disappointed not to last longer in the bunch the main aim of today was to get some race experience, to finish and to come back with body and bike in one piece. So I achieved all of those things. I really enjoyed it and have definitely been bitten by the bug. Cant wait for my next race!!

Dory Dory

Way cool, sb8!! Something I've never done before either but may want to try. What distance was the distance race?

Solobally8

I would highly recommend it Dory. It was just under 60kms

Dory Dory

That's not a bad distance. Were there mainly road bikes? Or some tt bikes too? How about any pointy helmets?? :eek:

Solobally8

Oh road bikes only, no TT bikes or bars or pointy helmets allowed. Big numbers definitely over 100 in the A4 race. Imagine the Tour de France only fatter, slower cyclists

Dory Dory

Solobally8 wrote: »

Oh road bikes only, no TT bikes or bars or pointy helmets allowed. Big numbers definitely over 100 in the A4 race. Imagine the Tour de France only fatter, slower cyclists

:eek: Not a good look in yellow or polka dots!!! :eek:

Oryx

Very cool. Well done on your first race. You're a braver woman than me. I can see you doing well at it.

Solobally8

If this was a report card it would read 'Could do better'. I missed a good few sessions this month. I was very tired and gave into it at times instead of training through it. So my totals for the month are much lower than I would have wanted. Its very early in the year yet so I don't mind too much. I'm still blindly stumbling along in this new cycling world.

My diet has gone to pot but have no weight on. I have to get it under control again in March though as I feel like crap from all the crap I've been piling into my body.

1 race done. I didnt do too well but I didnt embarrass myself and hit all my targets for the day. March will be a busy month. I have 3 races lined up, cant wait.

February Totals:
Bike: 20 cycles, 846kms, 33 hours
Run: 1 run, 3.83 kms, 0:24
Core/other: Nothing!

Solobally8

image.jpg


Bad day at the office. Beginning to rethink my cycling career :-(

Dory Dory

Holy crap!!!! What happened????? :eek:

But on the bright side, look how awesomely tough you look!!! :)

Solobally8

Ha ha not sure I look tough more like rough

Bad crash involving 12 of us at the Womens National League race in Slane today. I was loving it for the first 6kms. Felt strong and happy in the bunch. Next thing I see two girls hit the ground, had no time to avoid them, ended up slamming my breaks, hitting someone,landing on my face and skidding along the ground. 60kph to 0 in a split second. 9 stitches, lots of road rash, cuts and bruises all over my body. Hours in the hospital but I have to say the paramedics and nurses were fantastic.

Bike is broken but nothing fatal thank god.

Dory Dory

Thank god you and the bike are "okay". Wow. What a story you have! And look at you!!! Rough AND tough, if you ask me!!! You look great, in a twisted sort of way. Sorry you didn't get to finish the race, but it seems there's never a dull moment with Solobally8!!!!!

Happy St. Paddy's day, sb8.

Kurt Godel

That's rotten luck solobally8, but it could have been so much worse. You've made huge progress on the bike this year, hope you're back out racing again soon.

And look at you!!! Rough AND tough, if you ask me!!! You look great, in a twisted sort of way.

Hope you don't mind me saying so, but I agree with this strange assessment!

shotgunmcos

You fell on you FACE :eek: Ouch!! Wishing you a Speedy recovery SB, sorry to hear about the bike too

RacoonQueen

Ouch...the worst part of bike racing!

Hope it heals up soon A

BTH

Just saw a pic pop up on my Facebook. Looks damn nasty. Hope you're ok today and back on the bike soon.

zico10

Jesus, that's no incentive to take up cycling.
Hard luck, wish you a speedy recovery.

Solobally8

Thanks guys. It was a pretty nasty crash alright but I got off lightly compared to one or two of the girls. My bike has broken brake leavers and shifters and my front fork damaged too. Just looking at my strava there. Went from 60kph to 0 in a few seconds. Over my handle bars, somehow ended up still clipped in, in a pool of blood. Week off work, can't eat, lots of cuts inside my mouth too but I can suck on chocolate no bother

Tea Tree

ouch ouch ouch!
I just saw the pics on FB.. carnage! What a shock you must have got! Hope you recover quickly.

zico10 wrote: »

Jesus, that's no incentive to take up cycling.

there I am planning my new bike, club cycles etc... won't be showing my OH these pics:cool:

Mr.Fred

Ouch that's a nasty auld injury or injuries. From your description you seem to have managed to hang onto your teeth and no broken bones which is a win of sorts and you'll be able to make a show of us softer cyclists with scared knees/elbows.

Hope you've a speedy recovery.

griffin100

Hard as nails SB!! Wishing you a speedy recovery and an inexpensive bike repair bill!!!

Trig1

Jesus. I saw pics on sticky bottle and hoped it was a different Anita they had pics up of. Unfortunately it was you. Please god you feel better soon. You will have some cool scars though, and thankfully you didn't break anything. Wishing you a speedy recovery and happy st. Patricks day

mossym

first, never realised you were nenagh based, just up the road from me, for some reason thought you were connaught based.


secondly, sorry to hear about the knock. even the fact you're posting pics is good though, tough as nails, hope the pain subsides soon

Solobally8

mossym wrote: »

first, never realised you were nenagh based, just up the road from me, for some reason thought you were connaught based.


secondly, sorry to hear about the knock. even the fact you're posting pics is good though, tough as nails, hope the pain subsides soon

Yip I follow you on strava, we cycle around the same roads all the time. We must do a spin together maybe with Trig1 and MCOS when I'm back in the saddle :-)

mossym

Solobally8 wrote: »

Yip I follow you on strava, we cycle around the same roads all the time. We must do a spin together maybe with Trig1 and MCOS when I'm back in the saddle :-)

i had never made the connection that the follower on strava was you!! the visit nenagh classic goal in the sbr log makes a lot more sense now!!


Sound good on the spin...

shotgunmcos

Yep keep me in mind, would love to join ye

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Crikey SB that looks sore. That's the downside to cycling unfortunately.

Make sure you change bandages regularly on any areas of road rash, I remember last year when I crashed out in Clonard I ripped my elbow to shreds and left bandages on too long. Painful taking them off.
Speedy recovery.