oh, hi there

Seems that I got sucked into the Ironman Training blackhole.  Things are going pretty good, I'm just busy and hungry and tired.  Here's some random updates:

I GOT MY NEW BIKE!!



look at that sweet carbon work

I got full custody of it at 9 PM on Friday, April 12th.  Little irritated I got it so late that night, but hey, at least I got it.  Took it for a ride around Palmer Lake on Saturday.  Needed 70 miles.  Probably not the smartest idea to have my maiden voyage be that long, but I had training to do.  It was ridiculously windy, so we cut it short at 50 miles and then I initiated the new bike to 20 miles on the trainer.

My random impressions/thoughts:

• the bike is PURTY!  They did this irridescent pearl coat and this bike is blingy in the sun.  Seriously.
• Bike weighed 17 lbs 5 oz without pedals.  LIGHT
• leg geometry seems to be spot on.  I've done 2 long rides and my legs really don't feel wiped out afterwards. 
• I'm still not sold on the bar tape.  Its a bit too neon green and kinda clashes.  However, its comfy and I will notice it in transition.  And I don't have the energy to swap it out right now.
• Carbon frames are soooo awesome on cracks and chip seal.  There's this stretch just south of Palmer Lake that's pretty rough, and I'm usually going along muttering "ouch, ooof, ouch" on my aluminum frame.  The carbon really absorbs nearly everything.  Amazing!
• The bike isn't the "magic bullet" for climbing.  I was hoping it would be, but I knew that in reality, it wouldn't.  Palmer Lake felt pretty hard, but my friend (on her TT bike) thought that day felt harder than it should have.  I attempted Deer Creek and Highgrade this past weekend.  The canyon part wasn't bad but I was doubtful I'd make it past the first switchback.  I had to stop too much (3x) to catch my breath.  I gave myself a pep talk after the first switchback and made it through the second one and to the guardrail, where Highgrade really gets steep.  I just didn't have it in me to continue so I bailed and turned around.  Legs felt ok, but my breathing and HR would not cooperate.  Maybe due to training fatigue, maybe due to my lungs being angry at me all week.  I'll keep trying and we'll make it up on the new bike eventually.
• I have got to - NEED TO - spend more time in aero to get my forearms used to things.  Last Saturday, I was trying to make myself stay 15 min in aero in the last hour of my ride and I just couldn't do it.  My neck hurt, my arms hurt at the contact point with my pads.  And my index finger went numb and stayed numb for hours after the ride.  The only solution to this is more time on the bike.  I need to get used to this or 112 miles will be ugly.

I've been running up hills, which is new to me.  I've been instructed to do "easy runs on rolling hills", which is an oxymoron if I've ever heard of one.  I did a 10 mile run that had 1,000 feet gain and it actually felt good.  Weird!

We invested in a brewery and they had their first event the night after my maiden 70 mile voyage on the bike.  I had to make it awkward when they asked for volunteers, by explaining my training and asking for the option to sit down while volunteering.  Way to make an impression, Erin.....  The event was really good.  They rented out the Presidential Suite of a historic hotel and had ~30 people in for a tasting.  They had 4 beers.  a wild-yeast Saison, a british IPA, a chocolate stout, and a salted porter.  I think the salted porter would be BRILLIANT after a long bike ride in the summer.  They promised us dinner but all that they had was pretzels.  FAIL.  So we ate dinner at 10:30 PM.  Not awesome.

My nutition isn't all that great, I really haven't found a groove.  I've been travelling to Phoenix, and they keep getting bread-heavy food for working lunches.  And I'm starving, so I eat it.  And then I feel crappy because I ate bread.  I've also been relying on take-out too much.  Q'doba, cupcakes, Jamba Juice.  I need to spend some time getting good food and prepping it, so I can eat better. 

I'm also still fiddling around with my traning nutrition.  I've been going back and forth between Skratch Labs and First Endurance EFS for my drink mix.  I like Skratch but it doesn't have much in the way of calories, so I have to carry around a ton of food.  EFS has more calories, so less food is needed.  But the new bike only has room for 2 bike bottles or my 40 oz Profile bottle.  So I need to figure out how I'm going to store more drink mix and/or just do water and then have some Liquid Shot for calories/electolytes.  I really don't know what my plan is.  I'll probably just try something at St George and see if it works.  And I'll probably NEED to stop at special needs in CDA to re-up my nutrition.  Its probably a good thing I can't carry a ton of fluids anymore, because it is HEAVY.  And I really can't be carrying around extra pounds of water while climbing hills in a race.

And oh, I have a 70.3 in less than 2 weeks.  How the hell did that happen?  Why am I not more freaked out about this?