Riding to Work

I decided to ride to work today. It was 50* when I left in the morning, but for some reason 50* in the summer feels so much warmer than 50* in the winter.

To work: 1:01:44, 18.83 miles, 18.3 avg (32.6 best), 130 HR (168 max)
To home: 1:05:10, 18.83 miles, 17.3 avg (29.7 best), 163 HR (180 max)

CompuTrainer Class: Muscular Endurance IV

Today's CompuTrainer class was great. Anna and Cali were in there to challenge me, and I rode really well. I was also happy with the outcome of my two sprints. The first was not supposed to be at 100%, so I held back a little and still got to 611 watts. The second was supposed to be 100%, and I help back nothing to reach 681 watts, my max on these sprints so far. Hooray! Here are the stats.  4-07-11. 4-21-11. 4-28-11.

• 1:25:00, 157 HR (185 max)
  1:25:00, 164 HR (189 max)
  1:21:00, 165 HR (190 max)
• Trainer warm up: 13:10, 125 HR
  Trainer warm up: 11:51, 113 HR
  Trainer warm up: 13:08, 134 HR
• Real warm up: 13 min + sprint, 149 HR; 2 min active recovery (AR), 143 HR
  Real warm up: 12:39 + sprint, 159 HR; 2:20 active recovery (AR), 162 HR
  Real warm up: 12:56 + sprint, 159 HR; 2:03 active recovery (AR), 161 HR
• 6:50 tempo + sprint, 157 HR; 3 min AR, 160 HR
  5:39 tempo + sprint, 166 HR; 3:21 AR, 169 HR
  5:40 tempo + sprint, 170 HR; 3:22 AR, 168 HR
• 11 min high tempo, 174 HR; 4 min AR, 164 HR
  11 min high tempo, 181 HR; 4 min AR, 166 HR
  11 min high tempo, 179 HR; 4 min AR, 168 HR
• 13 min high tempo, 176 HR; 4 min AR, 161 HR
  13 min high tempo, 182 HR; 4 min AR, 168 HR
  9 min mid tempo, 178 HR; 4 min AR, 167 HR
• 13 min easy tempo, 169 HR; 3 min cool down, 155 HR
  13 min high tempo, 181 HR; 4:09 cool down, 164 HR
  11 min high tempo, 180 HR; 4:51 cool down, 165 HR

I got in a short ride after work before Inversion. Short like 40 minutes, easy.

At lunch, I went to the DHY for some isos: 35-second hold, 35 seconds of rebound reps.

• Lunge R, standing ham, 6 times
• Lunge L, standing ham, 6 times
• L-arm elevated push up, R-arm row, 3 times
• R-arm elevated push up, L-arm row, 3 times

After work, I hit the step mill at MFY. Too much rain to go outside. 32 minutes, level 13.

Bench Press

I went to the DHY at lunch to go on the step mill, but all 3 of those machines were taken. I hadn't looked at any workouts before leaving and didn't have my notebook with me so didn't really have a plan B in place, but I couldn't be there and not do anything. So, after 2 minutes on the treadmill while I considered my options. I ended up on a bench, doing only bench press, but at least I did something. 30 seconds (counting, because I didn't even have my watch with me!) extreme slow, followed by 15 altitude drop reps, repeated 3 or 4 times, with 45 pounds. It was hard and I'm sure I'll feel it tomorrow, but at least I did something!

Since I really wanted some quality step mill time (this is my simulated physical and mental crit practice), I stopped at the MFY on my way home for 31 minutes at level 13 (yes, I'm strange that way) of random play. I have to build up to 60 minutes for some of my races, so I'm working my way up in time.

Recycling

What I found in the trash cans by my mailbox

People throw away such good stuff! Today I had fun finding it. I scored a dozen free smoothies and took only 3 donut coupons, but neither Q requires a purchase, so it's basically free food. Hooray!

It's supposed to be rainy most of the week, so I took advantage of the dry afternoon and went for a ride. Riding down Old Hillsboro with the tailwind was super fun.

• Totals: 1:22:00, 24.68 miles, 18.1 avg (39 max), 163 HR (182 max)
• To Old Hillsboro: 33:00, 10.6 mi, 19.3 avg, 164 HR
• To Hillsboro: 16:13, 5.55 mi, 20.6 avg, 172 HR
• To Manley: 15:36, 4.33 mi, 16.6 avg, 160 HR
• To home: 17:11, 4.2 mi, 14.7 avg, 157 HR

Easter Weekend Report

 Beautiful sunrise (from Monday morning, but there wasn't one to capture on Sunday)

Aunt Renee and Lauren getting the eggs ready

Luke working his magic and Lauren drawing with food coloring—straight from the bottle

Some of our decorated eggs

The pictures show a little of what we did. Thursday I went to Farkas' for the afternoon; Friday I rode with Kat in the morning, went to Farkas's, and watched The Passion with Luke (neither of us had seen it; it is one of the most intense, true, powerful movies I've ever seen). Saturday I ran in the morning, then spent the rest of the day with Farkases and Grandma Rite and Grandpa Bob. That's when we decorated the eggs. Sunday I went to Fellowship, went to Farkas' church, hunted for chocolate Easter eggs and baskets, went for a walk, had some good Easter lunch at CozyMels, relaxed, did 5 minutes of work, then went to bed. It was a busy weekend!

CompuTrainer Class: Muscular Endurance III

I did the class last week but didn't make it through the first factory and thus didn't record anything. It was pretty much just plain awful. Today my legs weren't feeling any better than they'd felt last week, but I had my mind right and used that help make me continue even when I thought my legs were done. Thursdays must be the day when the previous weekends' rides catch up to me. 4-07-11. 4-21-11.

• 1:25:00, 157 HR (185 max)
  1:25:00, 164 HR (189 max)
• Trainer warm up: 13:10, 125 HR
  Trainer warm up: 11:51, 113 HR
• Real warm up: 13 min + sprint, 149 HR; 2 min active recovery (AR), 143 HR
  Real warm up: 12:39 min + sprint, 159 HR; 2:20n active recovery (AR), 162 HR
• 6:50 tempo + sprint, 157 HR; 3 min AR, 160 HR
  5:39 tempo + sprint, 166 HR; 3:21 AR, 169 HR
• 11 min high tempo, 174 HR; 4 min AR, 164 HR
  11 min high tempo, 181 HR; 4 min AR, 166 HR
• 13 min high tempo, 176 HR; 4 min AR, 161 HR
  13 min high tempo, 182 HR; 4 min AR, 168 HR
• 13 min easy tempo, 169 HR; 3 min cool down, 155 HR
  13 min high tempo, 181 HR; 4:09 cool down, 164 HR

Sunshine!

It was absolutely beautiful today, so instead of going to the Y, I went across the street to the pond near work to do a short workout. Because I wasn't at the Y, I didn't have all the equipment necessary and did only half the workout. I'd considered finishing it later, but that just didn't happen.

• Lunge R: 35 seconds; standing ham rebounds: 35 seconds; repeat 6 times
• Lunge L: 35 seconds; standing ham rebounds: 35 seconds; repeat 6 times

After work, I met a big crowd at Healthways in Cool Springs for a great group ride.

Just because I like these kind of stats, I'll continue my CompuTrainer method here. 4-12-11. 4-19-11.

• Total: 1:46:39, 31.9 miles, 17.9 avg (33.9 max), 1878 cal, 151 HR (188 max)
  Total: 1:47:30, 31.7 miles, 17.7 avg (35.5 max), 1875 cal, 160 HR (193 max)
• Warm up: 21:24, 5.9 mi, 16.5 avg, 120 HR
  Warm up: 23:38, 5.9 mi, 15.1 avg, 145 HR
• Ride: 1:04:09, 20.9 mi, 19.7 avg, 160 HR
  Ride: 1:05:04, 20.7 mi, 19.1 avg, 169 HR
• Cool down: 21:03, 5.1 mi, 14.5 avg, 141 HR
  Cool down: 18:47, 5.1 mi, 16.2 avg, 151 HR

Team Belladium Training Camp

At the top of the third climb Saturday
Lisa, Jonell, Shelly, Catherine, me, Parri
Anna, Valerie
Kat, Lee, Todd, Cali, Lisa

This weekend's team activity was a blast. We headed to Blue Ridge, Georgia to climb in the mountains and get some other good training miles in. I had so much fun and rode better than I expected to. Well, I didn't know how well I'd ride, I'd just determined to ride my best and have fun. And my best was WAY BETTER than what it had been last year. Very encouraging!

We did a couple of the same climbs we'd done the last couple years (Team Belladium in 2010 and Harpeth Team in 2009), climbing Woody Gap, Neel Gap, and Wolf Pen Gap on Saturday and including Skeenah Gap in our route Sunday.

Friday, we arrived at our cabins and went out for a short ride, arriving back just before the rain came. We did a little out-and-back route form the cabin and mostly stayed together. 53:52, 14.5 miles, 16.1 avg (41 max), 154 HR (188 max). After the ride and good pizza for dinner, we had a team meeting to discuss mental training.

Supper Friday...yummy pizza!

Saturday, we left pretty early to drive to the start of our ride. After a very short warm up, we started the first climb. We all climbed as we could, and then we regrouped at the top. Then we all descended as we could and regrouped at the bottom. We'd stay together until the start of the next climb and repeat. With 15 riders, that was a good way to do it. We could all work hard, but there was no pressure to be first or not last. However, Todd did give us a little incentive to reach the top first.

At the top of the first climb Saturday

Even though I knew I'd never be the first up, the incentive motivated me to keep working harder. 2:55:12, 41.8 miles, 14.3 avg (46.8 max), 148 HR (242 max hah!). I missed part of a descent, so we probably rode more like 43 miles and 3 hours. Regardless, it was a long, hard morning!

Ice bath in the river :-)

The team activity for the night was discussing team and personal goals.

Working on goals

 Getting ready to roll on Sunday

Sunday, we left early again and thankfully had sun to warm us, because it wasn't warm out! We had a short drive to our loop route, during which we all stayed together for about 45 minutes, played for about 30, chased for about 30, then finished together. It was so much fun being able to play, chase, accelerate, recover, and repeat. 1:58:39, 34.35 miles, 17.4 avg (41.8 max), 149 HR (184 max).

And, rolling. It was cold!

Harpeth Club Ride

I did the same ride as last Tuesday but was slightly faster today. I'm sure that has something to do with the fact that I was riding with around 8 other people rather than just 1. A group of 20+ started together, but I decided to not push to stay with the lead group and ended up in the second group instead. Happily.

Last week's 21-mile club ride took me somewhere around 66 minutes. Today was 64 minutes.

The lap markers (which you can hardly see and which for some reason don't show up in the elevation profile) south of mile 5 are where the group ride starts and ends. I rode from and to home to get in a longer ride (the group ride is about 21 miles).

• Total: 1:46:39, 31.9 miles, 17.9 avg (33.9 max), 1,878 cal, 151 HR (188 max)
• Warm up: 21:24, 5.9 mi, 16.5 avg, 120 HR
• Ride: 1:04:09, 20.9 mi, 19.7 avg, 160 HR
• Cool down: 21:03, 5.1 miles, 14.5 avg, 141 HR

At lunch, I did an iso workout, 15x10sec rebounds:

• Front delt with 3-lb dumbbell (all on right arm, 30 sec rest, all on left arm)
• Curl with stick
• Standing ham

Foothills Road Race Race Report

Yesterday we did the Sunny King Crit in Anniston, AL. Our Cat 3/4 crit was at noon, so we had plenty of time to drive today’s course and recover. We weren’t allowed to race in the big girls’ race yesterday, but today we were; the fields for today’s race were Cat P/1/2/3 women leaving at 9:20 and Cat 3/4 women leaving around 10:10. Because I’m a 3, I could choose which race I wanted to do and chose the P/1/2/3 race. I knew it would be tough, especially after we drove the course, but I also knew that riding with better women would push me to be and become better. Plus I was glad to not have ridden with the same sketchy riders from the crit yesterday.

Those first 6 miles = OUCH!

My goal was to do everything I could to stay with the group through the first major climb, from miles 4–6. I thought if I could stay with the group through that climb, I could stay with them for the rest of the race. Unfortunately, I didn’t make it. As I knew was going to happen, they pushed the pace up the hill and I got dropped. I wasn’t the only one who got dropped, but I was near the back. As I continued to climb, I was thinking that I’d have 50 more miles of riding, solo, before I finished the race. But I was determined to finish. Todd had reminded us that this weekend was one where we could prove to ourselves that we deserved to be out with women better than us, and that is the mindset I had.

I didn’t start out thinking that. I started out at the line thinking, I’m not sure I belong out here with these women. What am I doing here? That was at 9:05, our original start time. But the P-1-2 men had gotten a late start, so that pushed everyone’s start time back and we were told to return 15 minutes later. By the time we started for real at 9:20, I’d changed to thinking, I might not belong here, but no one else besides my teammates knows what my strengths and weaknesses are. These girls don’t know, and they don’t need to know. I’m going to make them think I belong out here, even if I don’t really. After I got dropped, I thought, Now I really have to prove to myself that I belong out here. I’m not with anyone else, but I’m still going to do this and do it the best that I can.

Much to my surprise, before 10 miles into the race, I saw at least 3 women give up and turn around. They’d evidently had enough (I heard later that they were likely the teams’ sprinters and didn’t have a chance at winning because they weren’t with the group so they didn’t continue) and didn’t want to finish. That was where I started thinking, I do deserve to be out here! I know I have 50 miles to race by myself, and I know what those 50 miles look like. Yet I’m still here, pedaling, doing the best I can. I deserve to be out here! I just kept telling myself that all race and kept going forward.

At 50 miles in, I saw a girl ahead of me. I decided I’d catch her before the finish line and caught her shortly thereafter. She climbed slightly better than I did though, and I lost sight of her. But I knew that with 4 miles to go, the road would flatten and I’d have that amount of time to catch her. As soon as I descended to those 4 miles, I went into TT mode, saw her, pursued her, and finally caught her with 1K to go. We pedaled together until the 100m mark, when I took off to sprint to the line. For some reason, I’m the last finisher on the final results list. I’m not sure the story there, but someone who’d seen the posted results at the venue said there were women who’d finished behind me and others who were listed as DNF or DQ. My time wasn’t super fast, and I know I’ll be tired tomorrow, but I’m proud of how well I did physically on those climbs and mentally throughout the race.

• 3:17:00, 57.05 miles, 17.4 avg (46.7 max), 161 HR (189 max)
• I hit a wall around 2:20 in; here are the stats until then: 2:21, 41.7 mi, 17.6 avg, 162 HR
• Even after I felt like that was the end, I kept going (obviously, since I finished!); here are the stats to the end: 55:11, 15.36 mi, 16.7 mph, 159 HR

According to the results, I finished 23/23. Kat and Parri did much better and finished with the field.

The first 5 or so miles that I stayed with the group were as smooth as I’d expected. There was no moving around aimlessly on the road, no crossing wheels, and very little chatter. It was fabulous. Kat said later that she’d figured it out: The pro women aren’t mean or not nice; they’re just busy. They’re focused on what they’re doing or supposed to do and what others are doing that they might have to react to, so they don’t have much time to be chatty on the road. That says a lot about the caliber of racers they are, and I hope to be one of them some day!

Sunny King Criterium Race Report

Lined up at the front, ready to go!

We left Friday afternoon to avoid having to drive early Saturday morning and then race at noon, that was a great plan. I had time to sleep in (if you’re one of those people), eat breakfast, go for a walk and watch a 5K race, and get to the race venue (downtown Anniston, AL) in time to ride a few laps around the course and get in a good team warm-up. Our race was at noon, we had our team plan, and we were ready to go. Kat, me, Valerie, Shelly, Anna, and Jonell all lined up to compete against the 30 other Cat 3-4 women.

Our race was 35 minutes long, and about 18 minutes in I looked at my watched and thought, Really, we’re only halfway through? Yikes! But I quickly forgot that and kept going. I stayed among the first 10 wheels all race, doing my best to stay behind Kat and stay aware of what was going on ahead and beside me. That paid off, because right around 18 minutes (likely the reason I looked at my watch), the girl in front of Kat stood up to climb the super short, not tough hill toward the start/finish line and caused Kat to crash. I saw it about to happen and avoided it, but I was concerned that Kat was hurt bad. For a split second, I thought I should see how she was, but I saw our team manager Todd running toward the crash and just continued.

In the middle of the crit

At that point, I really wanted to break away with a couple other people. But everyone seemed hesitant, like we weren’t sure what proper etiquette was: Do we go neutral, or do we continue racing? At least, those were the two choices I was deciding between. We continued racing, and for a couple laps I didn’t see Kat. But I did see Valerie. She’d stayed with the main pack and avoided the crash, and every once in a while she’d pop up next to me to say, “I’m still with you!” and then return to her position. I breathed a little sigh of relief the first time I saw her, knowing that I wasn’t alone. I also figured that if Kat returned to the race, she’d see us and know we had her back no matter what.

Kat eventually returned, going to the front so Val and I would see her then dropping to the middle of the field to catch her breath. No attacks stuck; in fact, no one attacked hard at all. I really wanted to but couldn’t (had to stick with the plan). With 2 laps to go, I tried to break off the front and hoped Kat would be with me. She wasn’t, and again it was pretty worthless. Coming around the last corner, the group was still about 20 strong, but I was close enough to the front to end up in 6th place. I don’t quite have my sprint timed quite right and would’ve liked to have been up a little closer to the front. But regardless of my position, I was super proud of Kat, who won the race. After her crash, she’d gone to the pit and gotten a bike from the neutral support crew. She finished the race on that bike, and finished well at that!

Still racing

After recovering from our race, we returned to the hotel for a little while and then headed to Piedmont, AL, a few miles east, to drive tomorrow’s road race course. Later in the afternoon we went back to downtown Anniston to watch the women’s P-1-2 race that Parri was racing in and the men’s P-1 race that was just amazing. Both the women and the men were so smooth around every corner. The women also displayed great team tactics and made us all realize that what Todd’s been trying to teach us really does work.

Start of the P/1/2 race

Our race began at noon and was 35 minutes. It was hot and sunny, about 80+ degrees. This was quite possibly the sketchiest crit field I’ve ever been in—almost no one was holding their line around the corners and we were constantly cornering poorly. I did learn, however, that the best way to get off the front is to move all the way over to one side and slow down, eventually stopping if necessary. I didn’t try that but will, because what I was trying didn’t work.

• 35:43, 13.2 miles, 22.2 avg (28.3 max), 819 cal, 180 HR (200 max)
• 6/36 total, 4th Cat 3

CompuTrainer Class: Muscular Endurance I

Last week was spring break week, so I haven't been in to Endeavor for two weeks. But I've been riding outside, so I didn't take two weeks off! I don't want to take the time to describe everything, so here's an abbreviated log:

• 1:25:00, 157 HR (185 max)
• Trainer warm up: 13:10, 125 HR
• Real warm up: 13 min + sprint, 149 HR; 2 min active recovery (AR), 143 HR
• 6:50 tempo + sprint, 157 HR; 3 min AR, 160 HR
• 11 min high tempo, 174 HR; 4 min AR, 164 HR
• 13 min high tempo, 176 HR; 4 min AR, 161 HR
• 13 min easy tempo, 169 HR; 3 min cool down, 155 HR

I did a short workout this afternoon before Inversion, and I'm looking forward to racing this weekend! After a 20-minute run (4 min run, 1 min walk, repeated 4 times), I did 3 min extreme slow:

• Bench
• Curl
• Plate front delt
• GHR

Hilly Wednesday

I got out to ride again today, deciding to do a few hills rather than fight the wind (the reports said gusts up to 20mph, but it felt like it was all 20mph with gusts even faster!). I've said before that the elevation isn't right, because the hills at mi 10+ and mi 12 are much steeper (albeit shorter) than the hill at mi 8+. It's still the case.

From March 3, 2011: I decided to warm up a little (30:22 with some strong headwind and tailwind). The 15+ miles took me exactly an hour. I climbed Lynnwood from west to east, and it took me 8:23 to get from South Berrys Chapel to Sawyer Road—a benchmark number to try to improve all season.

April 6, 2011: I did a slightly different warm up (30:20, riding to Hillsboro rather than shortcutting on Spencer Creek). The 15.75 miles took me 59:10. I climbed Lynnwood from west to east, and it took me 7:51 to get from South Berrys Chapel to Sawyer Road.

• 59:10, 15.75 miles, 16.0 avg (46.4 max), 1087 cal, 155 HR (181 max)
• Warm up: 30:20, 9.3 mi, 18.4 avg, 151 HR
• Lynnwood climb: 7:51, 1.16 mi, 8.9 avg, 173 HR
• Descent and more climbs: 16:29, 4.15 mi, 15.1 avg, 159 HR
• Cool down: 4:30, 1.15 mi, 136 HR

I Graduated!

No, I'm not in school (unless you count Financial Peace University). I graduated to level 13 on the step mill! I had been at level 12 for quite a while, and today I decided to bump it up to 13 for the 25-minute workout. Pretty soon I'll be up to level 14, then 20 in no time. The step mill is a great alternative to riding since I'm not running.

Even though it was cold, the sun stayed out so I rode with the Harpeth Bike Club tonight. However, I arrived at 6:01 and missed the group. Thankfully, two guys, Mark and Scott, had missed the start too but still wanted to ride, so I at least had a little company. We made the most of it and caught up to the 4 riders we saw, averaging 19mph with just the two of us fighting the wind (windy, but not as bad as when we raced this weekend).

The lap markers (which you can hardly see and which for some reason don't show up in the elevation profile) south of mile 5 are where the group ride starts and ends. I rode from and to home to get in a longer ride (the group ride is about 21 miles).

5 Minutes of Work--Harder than Normal!

Today's 5-minute wall squat pushed me closer to cramping post-work than any other time. Even more than the lunges (Jan 3 R; March 2 L), which took me forever to accomplish, and I did only 2 exercises in a row today. My quads typically dominate no matter what, so I usually don't have trouble completing 5 minutes on wall squat (it probably has a lot to do with the fact that I know I can do it). Today the completing wasn't the problem—it was the walking afterward! Maybe it was the tough race Saturday, maybe it was the standing ham just before the wall squat, maybe it was that I worked harder than other times, and maybe it was a combination of all the previous. Whatever it was, I struggled walking down the hall and back upstairs into my office! I did push up later in the day, but that was it for today. More of a rest day than my normal days, but I still did a little work because I'm not good at sitting still!

Windy Team Ride

We met as a team today and rode up and down Wilson Pike. The out was brutal (wind gusts around 20mph), but the back was fantastic! Then we had a little team training time.

• 52:00, 16.2 miles, 18.4 avg (32.4 best), 156 HR
• 22:00, 4.62 miles, 12.6 avg (32.1 best), 109 HR

Hell of the South Race Report

This was my first time doing this race, its second running. Earlier this year, we had ridden the race course as a team, preparing for the gravel section and the extremely rough roads. Any preparation I can get of courses is of immense benefit, and I was feeling very confident about the course. I knew where the turns were, knew where the hills were, knew where the headwind would really come into play. The only unknown was how rough or smooth that gravel section would be. It was fairly smooth when we’d ridden it earlier, but today it was quite rough—almost like they’d recently put a new layer of gravel down.

The gravel section is what split up the group. Earlier (after our 2-mile neutral zone, which was good for our safety and the safety of the finishing Cat 5 men, yet was probably unnecessary since they stopped the men and waved us through) in the race, we launched a few attacks and reacted to a few others. The pace was going between fast and easy, and nothing stuck until just after the gravel. I got stuck in no-man’s land here, and stayed there for the next mile or so until Stephanie and Olga (teammates) caught me.

I tried not to work with them much, knowing that I had three teammates ahead of me and one slightly behind (who might have been able to catch if I could have slowed the pace just slightly, but Stephanie and Olga were doing the majority of the work and not allowing Lisa to catch up). Before Olga fell off, I had still been debating whether to wait for Lisa or go up to Anna. Finally I said to Stephanie, “Let’s not play the race behind us (that is, let’s not worry about what’s going on back there) and play the race ahead of us (that is, let’s catch the girls in front of us).” That was the best decision I made all day and something I have to remember every race.

We worked to catch up to Anna and Amy, but it ended up being the 3 of us after Stephanie just couldn’t hold on. That was probably around mile 15 or 20, and we rode the remainder of the race together. We made a good team, pushing each other up hills and reminding each other that we were still racing those ahead of us, not just thinking, Oh, we can’t see anyone behind us who might catch us, so maybe we can take it easy for a few minutes. Actually, I was the one who didn’t allow any of that kind of talk! Anna and I did our best nonverbal communication about the final sprint and executed pretty much perfectly, finishing right next to each other at the line and leaving Amy probably 50 meters behind us. Cali came up to us after and said she’d been watching from behind and saw some good teamwork. Woohoo!

Unfortunately, we never did catch (nor see) the field ahead of us. In fact, we didn’t even know that Parri had taken off at mile 10 and stayed away for the remainder of the race. She won after basically a 40-mile solo TT.

Lisa was in the field and won the sprint (which was less of a field by the time she and Katy got to the line), so Team Belladium took first and second in this race.

It was a good local race with a fair women’s field, so we were happy with the results. I would have liked to have been in the field, and looking back maybe I could have been. It was a tough decision, though, because I didn’t know if anyone else would have come up with me and field would have been even bigger with possibly other stronger riders. So many things to think of while on the road!

I ended up in 9th place with Anna a close 10th, Lisa 13th, and Jonell 16th. The legs are feeling better and better each race, and I can’t wait to race again soon!

• Totals: 2:45:15, 50.03 miles, 18.2 avg (34.8 max), 173 HR (196 max), 3,155 cal
• 9 of 17, women 1-2-3-4; we were all racing together, but had we been separated, I’d have been 5/8 or 5/9 I think (I'm not sure of a few riders’ categories)

Later, after church, I headed to Farkas’ for dinner with Aunt Renee and Lauren. After dinner, Aunt Renee walked me through a genogram, which is basically a relational family tree. It was challenging to try to determine (within the given parameters) my relationship with grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and siblings, and their relationships with others.