Reaching goals

[Pedal Wench]

Bike Sebring Race report!

I have to start by immediately making it completely and totally clear that I could NOT have done this race without the support of so many people. Grinding out most of the early miles with my teamates pulling most of the way is the only way I had anything left to give during the night, and without support of another friend, transitioning would have been a nightmare. I owe so much to the Sorella team for their help. Everyone who hung out on my training rides, and put up with my wacky schedule also helped tremendously. I can't say enough about Coach Lynda Wallenfels's training plans (www.lwcoaching.com) -- having a specific workout plan made training more fun, and apparently, so much more efficient than just riding.

Short version:
It was a blast! SO much better weather than last year -- practically hot during the day, comfortably cool at the start and at night. I need to write a gushing letter of praise to Dinotte lights. They were amazing! Batteries lasted significantly longer than advertised -- when does that ever happen?

What did I eat? Not enough, but drank enough calories to survive. Over the 24 hours, I had one banana, two pbj's, cheesy crackers, about 5 Gu gels, three or four packs of Shot Bloks, three or four Luna chews (yum!) and half a subway sub. All my plans for soup, hot foods, and granola bars went out the window. I did have 6 bottles with 3 scoops of Sustained plus 4 scoops of Gu2O, and about two bottles of just the Gu2O. I'll have to add up the calories, but I was probably a little light.

I broke the record I was going for, and won my age category and overall too in my division, with 329.8 miles in 24 hours. Couldn't have done it without my incredible team, Sorella Cycling, and my most amazing boyfriend.


There were many times that I didn't think I could do it. A bad cold a few weeks ago, a minor surgical procedure last week, and a headache the night before the race that made me dizzy, queasy, and almost blacking out at dinner (skipping dinner wasn't a big loss...) just hours before the start were all concerns, but knowing so many people were cheering for me was my inspiration. I had torn out an Armstrong Foundation ad that was my motivation. It says, "Whatever your 100% looks like, give it." I gave it everything I had.

There's a much longer race report, but it's quite boring, considering it covers a 24-hour race!

[OakLeaf]

Wow, that's great. You rock!

[jobob]

Excellent!!!

[Blueberry]

That's incredible I can't even imagine

Wow. And only a week after minor surgery

Are you planning to post the longer report (or did I miss it??)

You're an inspiration

[Starfish]

Wow, very impressive. Amazing!!

[Pedal Wench]

That's incredible I can't even imagine

Wow. And only a week after minor surgery

Are you planning to post the longer report (or did I miss it??)

You're an inspiration

I'll post the long version tomorrow. It's just SO long. What I can't convey is that I've never won anything. Exactly 2 years ago, I did a time trial on this same weekend and came in dead last. I'm always the one who gets dropped, and I'm know for just being slow. But, in this case, slow and steady truly won the race!

[Velobambina]

Excellent job! PBJ is the fuel of Goddesses!!!

[Blueberry]

I'll post the long version tomorrow. It's just SO long. What I can't convey is that I've never won anything. Exactly 2 years ago, I did a time trial on this same weekend and came in dead last. I'm always the one who gets dropped, and I'm know for just being slow. But, in this case, slow and steady truly won the race!

Cool We get to live vicariously!!

You may not have won anything before this, but 1) look at what you accomplished and 2) you have my admiration!!! I'm slow (I *always* get dropped), so it's nice to know that there's hope

[maillotpois]

Wow - that is amazing!! Covering that much road in 24 miles - I am impressed!!! You should come out to CA and do some of our doubles!

Great job!

[Pedal Wench]

Wow - that is amazing!! Covering that much road in 24 miles - I am impressed!!! You should come out to CA and do some of our doubles!

Great job!

I would love to do more doubles. This is gonna sound odd, but I've never done a true double. I've done back-to-back centuries over a weekend, and last year I did 257 miles at Sebring, but it's different. Sebring's setup is a century out on the roads, then 13-mile loops on the roads near the racetrack until dark, and then 3.7 mile loops on the racetrack. I think that mentally, it's quite different than a true double.

Maybe I should just pick one and come out for it. Oh -- are they any in April? I'm going to LA for a wedding.

[Veronica]

The schedule is on the Cal Triple Crown website. I think it's caltriplecrown.com But now I'm at work and don't have time to doublecheck. I hate how work gets in the way of more important stuff.

V.

[maillotpois]

http://www.caltriplecrown.com/

You'd have a lot of fun!

I wish I kept track of how many miles I did in 24 hours during my 600k. It was probably about 400k. I know where I was - I could go back and figure it out. But it would be fun to try something like what you did - a true 24 hour time trial. Some day!