BBC OWLS ride

Time: 1:51:16

Distance: 27.422 miles (+ 3.6 miles)

Average Speed: 14.7 mph (group ride 15.8 mph)

Max Speed: 31.6 mph

Calories Burned: 991.7

Fat Burned: 115.3

Rode with my friends, the OWLS. Today we rode the Down Nehrt route.

Couple of good hills on this route, but I felt like there was lots of downhills today. The pace was fast (15.8 mph before I split off from the group to ride through the death trap campus to go home. Also tons of people on the Clear Creek Trail really slowed me down. And all those stoplights. Riding for real makes commuting seem so slow. :D) I didn't really like riding on SR45 with rush hour traffic though. I find that nerve wracking. I actually ended up passing almost everyone when it was clear and just doing my own thing until we turned off. I don't like not being able to see in front of me. Drafting is nice sometimes, but I generally find it annoying if I'm not tired.

I'm still considering riding with the FOWLS. Is it better to be a faster OWL or a hang-on-for-dear-life FOWL? Although CycleFit is starting soon and the days are definitely getting shorter. Oh, summer, I hardly knew ye.

And for the record, Mint Chocolate Gu = pretty good. Definitely top three. Reminds me of how awesome Andes were on the MRT trip.

Run Report

I didn't feel like riding my bike the mile down the road to the B Line Trail to run today. So instead I mapped out a 1.8 mile loop around the neighborhood and ran it twice. It took me 42 minutes, for an 11:40 min/mile pace. I really felt like I was going fast, but I guess not. Also, my hamstrings say it was hilly! However, I really liked saying hi to all my neighbors and watching the kids play. I also raced a couple sprinklers. Good times.

Run Report

Week Three of Half Marathon Training is done!

Today my long run increased to 5 miles, which I did in ~56 minutes. I was reminded of this a lot today:

I'm so sad that the students are back. I love summer in a college town. This summer just wasn't long enough. I had to stop and wait at EVERY. SINGLE. INTERSECTION. today. For a long time! Damn, traffic. I didn't get pissed until the fourth one though. So I'm either almost a runner or an exceedingly patient one. :)

BBC OWLS ride

Time: 1:46:00

Distance: 27.215 miles

Average Speed: 15.5 mph

Max Speed: 49.3 mph

Calories Burned: 988.5

Fat Burned: 117.6

I couldn't decide between riding with the OWLS or the FOWLS tonight, but eventually chose the OWLS because I liked their route better.


This was pretty speedy for the OWLS and in fact, I heard some people asking if they had accidentally joined the FOWLS ride. I felt that it was fast, but not too fast. I talked to Kate again this week, a girl who has a pretty cool vintage bike with downtube shifters. And Laura is back in Bloomington from her summer at home in New York. As much as I enjoy going out and riding by myself, it's nice to have companionship and community too. Plus, there are some really strong riders around here and riding with them makes me a better rider too. In fact, this is my fastest average speed to date. And there's still a couple months of good riding to do. :)

It was an absolutely beautiful day (except for the headwind when we turned onto Old 37, but even that wasn't bad :D), but I didn't really have time to take in the scenery. I did notice lots of horses out today though and some really nice houses out towards the lake. And, after I split off from the group to make my way home via the Clear Creek Trail, I ran into another local blogger. I met Taylor from What I Wore (On My Run)! As a blogger and new runner/aspiring triathlete, I read a lot of blogs and hers is one I really like. The pictures are awesome and I like to think that one can be athletic and cute at the same time. Also, I was pretty happy that she liked my cycling shirt. This thing from REI in blue.

And finally, today concluded my experimenting with Clif products. I had a gel (vanilla) yesterday before I ran and had cherry shot blocks on the bike today. Although Clif definitely wins in the packaging department (I love the litter leash on the gel and the tube shape of the blocks so that squishing them out one at a time is super easy), I'm not the biggest fan of the actual products. I like the consistency of the gel (not as thick as Gu), but the blocks were pretty gross, especially since I generally like all things cherry. I may still try more Clif gels to see if it's just a flavor thing, but so far Gu is okay for gels and Honey Stinger takes the cake for chews. I need to get some Honey Stinger gels. I bet they're awesome.

Wish List

WANT!

Run Report

3.5 miles in just over 36 minutes.

All this running must be working 'cause I'm apparently getting faster. Although I have to say that even though the actual running part is getting easier, the next day my body still knows I ran. So basically my body hurts like all the time. Running is so much harder than cycling.

I'm adding some compression socks to my birthday/wish list.

But really I'm pretty sure I need an entire compression body stocking.

Lazy Report

I intended to ride with the FOWLS (the new fast OWLS!) yesterday, but then I left my afternoon snack and my Clif Shot Blocks (still experimenting) at home. Plus my neck still hurt and my legs could tell they ran four fast miles on Monday. Also, it's student move-in week for IU and road safety is at a minimum. I've already seen a fair share of people going the wrong way on one-way streets (no joke). So, being the lazy safe triathlete-wannabe that I am, I decided to just go home after work instead.

Well, being lazy certainly paid off yesterday, because twenty minutes after the ride start time we had a pretty crazy storm blow through that I would have hated to be on a bike during. Wind, heavy rain, lightening. Oh, my!

But I really think I may sign up for the Muncie 70.3 2012 half Ironman so that I don't give in to laziness too often.

Run Report

Um... I just ran four miles in forty minutes.

Where the hell did that come from?!?!?

I think I will be an Ironman. Apparently I just need to sit around and watch Netflix and eat pistachios the week before. Or get my boss to load me up with grants to read at work so that I'm chained to my desk chair.

Man, I'm, like, awesome. And full of commas.

But, seriously, for record keeping purposes. I had a couple Honey Stinger Energy chews (I'm buying stock in those things) before hand and used my cell phone to keep an idea of how well I was doing. Approximately:
Mile 1 - 9 min
Mile 2 - 10 min
Mile 3 - 10 min
Mile 4 - 11 min
So I did slow down, but I still felt great and even rode my bike up the hill in the big ring on my way home. I'm pretty excited about that. Especially the running four miles without walking at all and not dying part.

And one day I will be one of those people that can run around in a sports bra without feeling like an idiot that should be wearing a shirt.

Lake Lemon Loop

Time: 3:03:55

Distance: 44.444 miles

Average Speed: 14.4 mph

Max Speed: 38.0 mph

Calories Burned: 1569.4

Fat Burned: 181.0

I haven't been spending near as much time on my bike since Seth is now back from Purdue and I don't have to commute every day and I'm doing the half marathon training. So, since I enjoyed riding along South Shore Drive so much during The Goat Ride, I decided to do a little ride around Lake Lemon this morning.


I left my house around 8:30 after a bowl of oatmeal and a Chocolate Outrage Gu (not too bad). I had thought about leaving earlier, but it was pretty foggy out this morning. There was still some fog hanging around when I left, so I put my lights on and headed out, hoping it would clear up before too long and that I would make it home before it got hot. I'm loving these cooler mornings.

I started out really strong this morning and was having a great time. My legs were a little sore, no idea from what. I've been sort of lazy this week. Traffic was light, even on SR 45. I did see some road kill. A deer that startled me (it was hidden by tall grass until I was like two inches away from it. Ew.) and a snake. I didn't even know there were snakes in Indiana. Also the typical small things like squirrel, possum, and skunk.

South Shore Drive was just as nice as I remembered. Possibly even cooler with the fog hanging over the lake. It really is nice riding through there. And I was flying. When I checked between North and South Shore Drives (approximately halfway through the ride) I was averaging 16.0 mph for the trip! And I ate a second Gu for the day (Mandarin Orange, kind of meh, but fairly easy to eat on the move although I did get a little sticky). Despite the new Gu infusion, the second half of the ride was tougher than the first half.

North Shore Drive is a rougher road than South Shore Drive and although it follows Lake Lemon, you can't see it for the most part so the view isn't as lovely. It's also much hillier. By the time I got off North Shore Drive my average speed had dropped to 15.3 mph.

I made the turn onto Anderson (which wasn't marked and in fact, I passed it at first, but realized it almost immediately). I think that I don't really like riding on Anderson. My first time was Memorial Day, and I didn't do so hot on it then either. It's pretty flat, but maybe it's actually slightly uphill or something. I feel like I work really hard on that road without going nearly as fast as I think I should be. Also, it doesn't have a lot of shade so I feel like I'm baking.

Finally, I turned onto Old 37 and headed back to town. That climb through Cascades Park gets me. It's a long uphill, but is so slight you just feel like you shouldn't be working that hard and going so slow. Also, there's usually a fair amount of traffic on it. I enjoy watching the kids play on the playground though.

Once I got towards downtown, traffic was nuts. Students are starting to move in, which was evident from the line of moving trucks parked in the road with traffic backed up to go around them. So I headed over a block where I had to fight Farmer's Market traffic instead. Everything was pretty jammed up for a couple miles there and I took it pretty slow.

This post sounds sort of complainy, but it was a nice ride. I'm happy with how well I did, especially at the beginning. Maybe I should have planned for three Gus so I wouldn't get wimpy there in the middle? Although my legs never did loosen up. I learned from my bike fit that I have a tight IT band. Based on location, I'd say that's what it is today. My hips feel clenched. Ouch. Also, I got a new helmet just over a week ago. I dropped my old one and the plastic on the outside cracked. I've had it quite a while so decided it was about time to replace it. I wanted to get a Giro Skyla, but got the Indicator instead since our Dick's Sporting Goods didn't have the Skyla. Of course, I took the visor off first thing, but my shoulder sort of hurts after my ride today. I'm wondering if maybe the Indicator is too big for my tiny head.

Finally, I saw lots of other cyclists out today. A few young guys in team kit, a few old guys taking a leisurely roll, and even a group of four ladies, just to mention a few. I love that I live in an area with a high degree of cycling advocacy. It makes me happy to see others out enjoying life on two wheels too.

BBC OWLS ride/"Brick"

Time: 2:01:58

Distance: 27.904 miles

Average Speed: 13.7 mph

Max Speed: 38.4 mph

Calories Burned: 970.4

Fat Burned: 109.4

The BBC OWLS group has split into two groups: the original OWLS and the FOWLS, which are the fast OWLS. I rode with the original OWLS group tonight. We did the Up Harmony route.

Not really a lot to say. Not a very hilly ride, especially by Bloomington standards. Even the tough hill of the night wasn't bad. Although apparently a train derailed recently (I heard someone say about six weeks ago, but I hadn't heard anything about it) and we went by the crash. That was a crazy thing to see. The road had been torn up and there were a few twisted up train cars still there. Keep an eye on the BBC Blog for pictures.

I felt really strong today. I was at the front of the group and actually would have liked to be going faster most of the ride. At one point John caught up to me and said, "What are you doing all the way up here?" and then we talked about how I was kicking ass. There were some Little 500 riders in front of me and I even told them they could kick it up a notch. I don't like to lead due to my propensity to take the scenic route. The last thing I want to do is lead 16 other people the wrong way.

Anyway, I think the reason I felt so strong is because I had a Gu before I left work. The TriBerry flavor is the best I've had so far. And I didn't have any crampiness, so maybe that's a running thing.

Speaking of running, I attempted to run 3 miles after I got home from my bike ride. I changed clothes and scarfed down four Honey Stinger energy chews (Pink Lemonade flavor; holy cow they are delicious) and fed the dog. I think I should have eaten on the bike and taken some Tylenol in my little "transition" period. I say attempted because I think I walked more than half of it. The balls of my feet were hurting (I think from wearing my Chuck Taylors at work today) and my stomach was growling. And I had some crampiness, but it's been there all day and is completely unrelated to running and might could have been quieted with Tylenol, had I thought to take some.

So I had a good day on the bike (maybe I should check out the FOWLS?), but totally sucked on the run. Funny how that works. But, really, I'm just happy that I can bike and run. Not everyone is so lucky.

Commute

Time: 29:43

Distance: 5.920 miles

Average Speed: 11.9 mph

Max Speed: 28.1 mph

Calories Burned: 197.7

Fat Burned: 20.1

We have certainly had some wacky weather this year. July was blazing hot and August apparently thinks it belongs in fall. I almost went back for a jacket this morning. I still ended up sweaty though. Irrepressible need to make all lights possible makes me work too hard in the morning! And doesn't even really work out for me at least half the time. Oh well. This cooler weather is absolutely fabulous.

I may have to change my commute route again. I guess the kiddos are back in school and since my route goes right by Summit Elementary School, I had an interesting section of commute that I may not want to do every day. Although my other option is to go right by Bachelor Middle School. Which would you rather dodge: elementary school kids and their parents or middle school kids and their parents?

Run Report

Maybe I should subtitle my blog with "and Two Feet" or change it to "Jillann Tris" or something. I may have mentioned that I want to be an Ironman and that I'm considering signing up for the Hoosier Half Marathon in a few months. I made this blog to talk about my cycling adventures, but now I'm even more motivated than just cycling! I mean, I think only like two people read this thing and it's my blog so I can do whatever I want with it. I definitely don't want to try to keep up with two blogs! So for now, I'm sorry that my two readers will have to humor some posts with running in them. And maybe some like this that are all about running!

First of all, since I'm talking about running now, I have to say that I find running really difficult. I have never enjoyed running. However, that is slowly changing. I'm learning to enjoy it. It definitely helps that I no longer feel like I'm going to die when I do it. I'm still ridiculously slow, but I'm okay with that. I'm from the South. I do everything slow. :)

Anyway, I'm sort of following this half marathon training plan and have just completed Week 1. (Maybe I should mention that I never did make it past Week 5 of Couch to 5K...) I did the four mile run this morning. It was nice and cool and I got to wear my Hub Ride tshirt. I just mapped out four miles around my neighborhood and went. It was nice. I did 4.1 miles in 53 minutes (which was timed from my computer clock, so not super accurate and involves some pre run stretching I did in my driveway and coming back in to discover I left out a turn and still had to run 0.5 mile, so the almost 13 min/mile pace is closer to 12 than 13. I need a Garmin.) I saw lots of people in their yards. I love the slower pace of a bicycle and all the things that you notice that you never would in a car. Well, running is even slower (especially for me!). I said hi to lots of neighbors or their dogs in the yard when they barked at me. I even saw a little boy "watering" the bushes in his front yard. I even ran almost all of it. Which brings me to why I decided to talk about running...

I have also mentioned that I'm figuring out this nutrition thing. If I'm going to be an Ironman, I need to get a handle on that for sure! I've decided that the Honey Stinger Energy Chews are the bomb. I love them. But they're not as easy to eat on the go as an energy gel would be. So, I've been experimenting with Gu. I had one yesterday before I ran and one this morning. Both days I had some cramping-ness in the pelvic area and felt like I wanted to #2 around 1.25-1.5 miles in. I walked a bit until it calmed down and then was good to go. I'm not sure if it's my body telling me it doesn't like to run or my digestive system telling me it doesn't like Gu or if it's just a bad week to run these experiments. But at least I know the Honey Stingers are awesome! And I have plenty of time to figure out the rest. :)

HUB Ride for the Hungry

Time: 2:32:20

Distance: 35.161 miles

Average Speed: 13.8 mph

Max Speed: 39.0 mph

Calories Burned: 1253.3

Fat Burned: 141.1

My friend Brett convinced me to do the Hub Ride for the Hungry, which benefits a local food pantry, Mother Hubbard's Cupboard. I saw lots of people I know, and since Brett ended up not actually coming, I rode with John (fellow MRT rider) and some of the OWLS from the BBC (Clair, Allen, and Ron). I had wanted to do the 15 and 25 mile loops and they were planning on the 50 miler, which was two 25-mile loops. So we set out on Loop 1.


This was a nice little loop. Mostly flat, but there was one section of three steep hills in a row that were rough. I can't figure out where they are on the ridewithgps map though. John said they were on Louden Road, but that just shows up as one long hill for some reason. Trust me, there were three. And they were steep. I promise I'm not making them up.

I don't actually have a lot to say about the ride. It was really nice. I almost never ride out that way, so it was a nice change of pace. It's always interesting to ride with people you don't ride with a lot. There were definitely times when I would have liked to be going faster, but men really don't like it when they get passed by a girl. Every time I passed one of them, I felt like they were in a hurry to pass me back. Sort of annoying because then I either had to change how I ride or inevitably pass them back on a hill. I mostly just adapted and tried to keep my place in the group.

Anyway, we made it back and had lunch at the shelter. There was lots of pasta and pizza and bagels. It was really good. I should have eaten more! John decided that he needed to get to other stuff for the afternoon and I didn't put on enough sunblock for 50 miles (and have wristband and glove tan lines to prove it!), so we started the second 25-mile loop and then headed to our respective houses as we approached them.

I have to say that I actually really enjoy riding with John. He's a speedy dude, but I feel that we have similar styles of riding and I have ridden with him enough to trust his judgements on hills and things. I don't have to worry about anything (other than keeping up) when I ride with John. I like that. :)

Overall, I'm really glad I did this ride! What an awesome sense of community they have there. I wasn't expecting to see anyone I knew, let alone a whole group of people. Besides the guys I rode with, I saw an old colleague from the Geological Survey and a lady who works in the Biology Stockroom. Also, the dancing parrot from the Farmer's Market was there. It was a great time and a great cause and I'm already looking forward to next year.

Commute

Time: 21:53

Distance: 5.128 miles

Average Speed: 14.0 mph

Max Speed: 28.4 mph

Calories Burned: 180.6

Fat Burned: 21.1

I flew today! I was in an unofficial race with Seth, who was driving his car. A little Bloomington version of Carmageddon. Seth beat me, but just barely. :)

Commute & Running

Time: 27:09

Distance: 5.710 miles

Average Speed: 12.6 mph

Max Speed: 29.9 mph

Calories Burned: 188.1

Fat Burned: 20.1

Rode into work today. Was a great day to be outside. I discovered that there is more than one dog and skateboarder combo in Bloomington! Crazy!

Ran with Carman on the B Line trail this evening. I also rode my bike there today, but no numbers. However, we ran three miles in 35:18 (11:42 min/mile pace maybe?), which shaved a whole minute off our time from Monday (which was a 12:03 min/mile pace)!

My right knee was a little sore today, I think from the weird misalignment my CycleFit seat had yesterday. So weird.

And the Honey Stinger energy chews are definitely the best energy chews I've tried. They are delicious and definitely make my runs less painful. I probably could have run even more today.

Commute and CycleFit

Time: 31:09

Distance: 6.488 miles

Average Speed: 12.5 mph

Max Speed: 28.5 mph

Calories Burned: 231.4

Fat Burned: 24.8

That's just from the SRSC to my house. I started harvesting my viral prep kind of late in the day and therefore had to scurry to the SRSC to make CycleFit on time.

I am apparently having a blah kind of day. I only burned 394 kJ in CycleFit today. We had a substitute. Her name was Ronnie and she normally does the Little 500 Power Training class. So our workout today was a Little 5 simulation. Sort of interesting with some very intense bursts, but mostly not too bad. Although towards the end I did start having trouble making the cadences. However, for some reason, my bike set up had issues today. My seat felt crooked or something. I felt like I was sitting very heavy on my left side, but could never adjust to get comfortable. It was weird and has never happened before. But do to this, I now have some chafe in a really bad place.

Then on my commute home... stiff headwind. I should be used to it by now. But really I'm just glad it's cooler. I'm really looking forward to fall. Oh, and some old lady yelled "Stop sign" at me while going down first street. Thanks, old lady, but I was going sufficiently slow to stop if there were an actual car coming and slow enough to check that that was not the case. Trust me, I don't set out on my bike to get run over.

And all of this meh-ness may be because I didn't have an afternoon snack. I've mentioned before that I'm learning what to eat and the last couple weeks I've had a gel or a couple energy chews or something before "working out" but didn't have anything today. Not even a piece of fruit. So maybe those things do make a huge difference.

Commute

Time: 39:24

Distance: 8.465 miles

Average Speed: 12.8 mph

Max Speed: 30.4 mph

Calories Burned: 292.2

Fat Burned: 31.6

Couple extra miles because I'm garden sitting. And I got to ride home like this.

Nothing like "chicking" people with a bag of tomatoes strapped to your rack.

Now to go run a few miles with Carman. :)

Post Run Edit: Had a great time with Carman! We ran 3 miles in 36 minutes, talking pretty much the whole time. I think she may have convinced me to do the Hoosier Half Marathon in November. I'm pretty excited that for the first time in my life I can a.) run 3 miles and b.) not hate it.

Commute

Time: 22:59

Distance: 5.253 miles

Average Speed: 13.7 mph

Max Speed: 28.5 mph

Calories Burned: 190.3

Fat Burned: 21.9

Beautiful day for riding. Not too hot, no wind. I made pretty good time!

Although maybe it was the 30 minutes of running I did at the SRSC beforehand. Probably warmed me up a little. :)

Oh, and I ate three Honey Stinger Energy Chews Lemon Lime flavor before I ran. They were delicious and I definitely had a better run than on Monday. So those may be a keeper.

Commute X2

Time: 1:05:01

Distance: 14.085 miles

Average Speed: 12.9 mph

Max Speed: 31.5 mph

Calories Burned: 492.7

Fat Burned: 54.3

I will not complain about the wind again! It apparently reads blogs and decided to let me know this morning... coming from the opposite direction from yesterday evening so it was still in my face!

Commute and CycleFit

Time: 28:34

Distance: 6.445 miles

Average Speed: 13.5 mph

Max Speed: 29.7 mph

Calories Burned: 230.5

Fat Burned: 25.6

My commute was pretty uneventful. The weather, for once, wasn't omg-I-can't-breathe hot, either that or it didn't matter since I was already sweaty from CycleFit and riding home felt like a break! There was a bit of a headwind, but it wasn't too bad. Seriously, though, where is that wind in the morning?

Anyway, I totally kicked butt in CycleFit today. Another smashing PR at 508 kJ burned! I love CycleFit for the obvious improvements you see. I love riding my bike, but sometimes, even if you're riding better, it doesn't necessarily feel that way. But in CycleFit, the numbers just don't lie. Even on bad days now, I do much better than when I started.

Clearly I do need a better cycle computer! With more nerdy numbers to keep track of (or stroke my ego with). Also, I need one of these.

Commute

Time: 25:05

Distance: 5.449 miles

Average Speed: 13.0 mph

Max Speed: 29.2 mph

Calories Burned: 183.4

Fat Burned: 20.5

I still felt slow and got a later start than intended. However, I did see a guy walking his dog via skateboard. I couldn't figure out if the dog was really pulling him or not, but he was definitely having a good time. The crazy part is that this was downtown and they were in the middle of the road. I see lots of skateboarders in the road and I'm unsure how I feel about that. However, I just ignore it because I realize many people don't like cyclists in the road either. I don't know what the rules for skateboards are.

And when did rollerblading become popular again? I've seen so many people on roller blades. I feel like I'm back in middle school. Hello, 90s!

Commute

I rode in with Seth this morning, but took my bike with me for the afternoon. I'm hoping to not make that a habit.

I rode to the SRSC after work to run. I ran two miles, at a super slow pace. It took almost 24 minutes. I was pretty hungry though as I'd forgotten my afternoon fruit when I left the house this morning and I was really distracted by someone (I could never really figure out who) who apparently had a very gaseous run. So, I ran, but it was a smelly and at a snail's pace. But I have plenty of time to work on it.

Also, I took my cycle computer, but had forgotten to reset the numbers. Approximately, I went just over 8 miles in about 40 minutes. Apparently it was also a very slow cycling day.

Around 3:00, a friend of mine posted this on Facebook. Um, yes, that is a hostage situation happening right on my commute home. Luckily, it was resolved before I left work. Unfortunately, it was a bad situation and I'm sad it happened so close to home.