This past weekend we had the Seattle Bike Expo ... always a great way to get motivated, see friends, and get some riding gear!
I got some sweet goodies from the Norco crew - a new kit sized Monilee style! I love it!!! The colors are different this year so look out for the new kit!
Best of all I got to see Jon from Veloce Velo, Steve, and the rest of the Norco crew ... and was reminded again how lucky i am to have such great sponsors - and ones who really love the sport!
Pedal on ...
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Monday, March 14, 2011
Budu Racing ... the season openers!
So race season has started already!!! And no, i wasn't ready :) Last weekend was my first race of the season ... and yes, it was good to be on the trails ... and trying to go fast! I've missed the racing, the trails, the girls, and the effort - and am very excited about the 2011 season!!! So now for the story ...
i got to the race venue with about 30 minutes to spare so my warm up was a little light (10 minutes) ... but i was stoked to be there, even if it was cold outside (7 celcious! ouch). I met Yvonne before the start as she was using my 2008 Norco Faze 1 for the race - i love that bike - so we got her all set and ready to go! I was on my 2010 Norco Faze SL ... a sweet ride for the technical course we had!
At the start line we were all chating - so much to catch up on and so little time :) everyone was sizing eachother up to see who looked like they might have trained all winter and who slacked off ...but you can never really tell until the rubber hits the trail. And then we were off!!!
Out of the gate i was hammering. I wanted to get a good position in the single-track. I'd never riden in this particular part of that trail network but knew that other parts were tight single track with minimal passing opertunities ... so i wanted to get in ahead of the pack. I had a great 30 seconds and then the effort started to hit me (I generally get 30 seconds for free ... where my body doesn't know what the heck is going on) and i slowed down a few notches. I was in 3rd going into the singletrack and then passed Yvonne on a downhill and moved to 2nd.
10 minutes in I realized my lungs were still not fully recovered from Bronchitus and that it had been a bad decision not to take my puffer before the race. My lungs were burning!!! But you do what you gotta do ... so i kept on peddaling, as fast as i could. This is a race, afterall :)
The race course was tight ... very narrow, tight corners, and lots of wet roots. It was slow going ... a fairly technical course!
Yvonne was on my tail the 1st and 2nd laps but into the 3rd we both wiped out, one of my pedals fell off, and she dropped me! I put my pedal back on (the hardest part was getting it off my shoe!) and tried to chase her down for the rest of the lap ... but didn't quite make it, finishing 3rd - nice work Yvonne!
It was great to get out there ... and dust the legs off! What a great way to start the season - good friends, good trails, and a good effort!
i got to the race venue with about 30 minutes to spare so my warm up was a little light (10 minutes) ... but i was stoked to be there, even if it was cold outside (7 celcious! ouch). I met Yvonne before the start as she was using my 2008 Norco Faze 1 for the race - i love that bike - so we got her all set and ready to go! I was on my 2010 Norco Faze SL ... a sweet ride for the technical course we had!
At the start line we were all chating - so much to catch up on and so little time :) everyone was sizing eachother up to see who looked like they might have trained all winter and who slacked off ...but you can never really tell until the rubber hits the trail. And then we were off!!!
Out of the gate i was hammering. I wanted to get a good position in the single-track. I'd never riden in this particular part of that trail network but knew that other parts were tight single track with minimal passing opertunities ... so i wanted to get in ahead of the pack. I had a great 30 seconds and then the effort started to hit me (I generally get 30 seconds for free ... where my body doesn't know what the heck is going on) and i slowed down a few notches. I was in 3rd going into the singletrack and then passed Yvonne on a downhill and moved to 2nd.
10 minutes in I realized my lungs were still not fully recovered from Bronchitus and that it had been a bad decision not to take my puffer before the race. My lungs were burning!!! But you do what you gotta do ... so i kept on peddaling, as fast as i could. This is a race, afterall :)
The race course was tight ... very narrow, tight corners, and lots of wet roots. It was slow going ... a fairly technical course!
Yvonne was on my tail the 1st and 2nd laps but into the 3rd we both wiped out, one of my pedals fell off, and she dropped me! I put my pedal back on (the hardest part was getting it off my shoe!) and tried to chase her down for the rest of the lap ... but didn't quite make it, finishing 3rd - nice work Yvonne!
It was great to get out there ... and dust the legs off! What a great way to start the season - good friends, good trails, and a good effort!
Monday, March 7, 2011
Phew! 2011 started with a bang :)
I don't mean it literally, but man, i can't beleive it's March already!!! What the heck happened to January and February??? Well, I'll tell you!
I started the year by returning from a fantastic visit home to visit the family. Christmas was amazing ... the kids were all there and the house was full. It was great to be home! I returned to Seattle to start a new role at Microsoft. I've joined the Azure Storage team and I have to say - it's pretty cool stuff :) I have so much to learn ... but am loving it!!
On the fitness front I've been running a lot (even ran Tiger!), hiking a bit, snowboarding a bit, swimming a bit (I can swim for 2km straight - freestyle), and not riding enough ... Um, does crosstraining carry over for fitness? Not quite ... but more on that later!
On the health front I got Bronchitus followed by the Flu which took me out of all training for about 3 weeks. Upon recovery I promptly went up to Big White in Canada for some good fun in the snow. Snowboarding ... snow shoeing, snow angels, etc. You know, the important stuff ;)
On the bike front ... I am getting two sweet new rides soon, thanks to Norco Bikes :) The Phaser 1 for mountain biking - supposed to be great at climbing and should be good for the shorter 50 mile races. And a road bike!!! A Norco CCR 1 (how hot is that?)!!! Sweet rides all around. Spoiled? Yup!!!!
So yeah, that is my year so far ...
I started the year by returning from a fantastic visit home to visit the family. Christmas was amazing ... the kids were all there and the house was full. It was great to be home! I returned to Seattle to start a new role at Microsoft. I've joined the Azure Storage team and I have to say - it's pretty cool stuff :) I have so much to learn ... but am loving it!!
On the fitness front I've been running a lot (even ran Tiger!), hiking a bit, snowboarding a bit, swimming a bit (I can swim for 2km straight - freestyle), and not riding enough ... Um, does crosstraining carry over for fitness? Not quite ... but more on that later!
On the health front I got Bronchitus followed by the Flu which took me out of all training for about 3 weeks. Upon recovery I promptly went up to Big White in Canada for some good fun in the snow. Snowboarding ... snow shoeing, snow angels, etc. You know, the important stuff ;)
On the bike front ... I am getting two sweet new rides soon, thanks to Norco Bikes :) The Phaser 1 for mountain biking - supposed to be great at climbing and should be good for the shorter 50 mile races. And a road bike!!! A Norco CCR 1 (how hot is that?)!!! Sweet rides all around. Spoiled? Yup!!!!
So yeah, that is my year so far ...
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Half marathon 'race' report
Hard to call it a race when I didn't go very fast :) But it was a race! So, the numbers:
Miles: 13.1
Time to finish: ~1:42
Time spent walking: ~10 minutes (bad stitch!)
Finished: 13 out of ~700 in my category
... and here is the story behind the numbers ... The race started off ok. I've been having what i can only classify as shin splint issues on my left leg, one of my friends refers to this as my 'wimp spot' so i will too :) So my wimp spot was really bothering me but i knew i wanted to finish so instead of fighting the pain i just relaxed into it. I think this was the best for the long run b/c it meant i didn't run funny. After a while the pain became my friend :) Once I relaxed into a nice stride the first half of the run was decent ... i was on target to beat 1:40 so i was somewhat happy with that ... but i didn't feel like i was pushing so i figured i could pick up the pace for the second half.
I had to take a bathroom break at the 1/2 way point and then ended up with a wicked stitch ... I tried walking for about 2 minutes, then realized it wasn't going away so i may as well run thru it. It was pretty painfull for about 10 minutes ... i don't think i was running very fast. More like a slow motion jog ... ok, i was basically walking :) Thankfully it subsided to a more managable pain just before the big climb and i really enjoyed the slow hill climb. At the bottom everyone was passing me and I felt really slow ... but by the time we got to the mid-way pont i was passing people back ...it felt good. I started picking up the pace over the hill.
Over the hill it got really cold. I'd been pretty warm up to this point and wasn't expecting it. My legs seized up on me and my quads were like dangling blocks of ice. The race turned purely mental at this point and I had no idea how far left in the race (or how long i'd been running - i couldn't find my watch the morning of the race) ... so i just kept running. Once people around me were speeding up i figured we were close to the end and then started recognizing street signs. I couldn't convince my ice block-legs to go faster so i just paced it out to the finish. I didn't break 1:40 so wasn't really happy with my time ... but not too bad i guess. But of course now i have to do another one ... i want to go faster :)
Miles: 13.1
Time to finish: ~1:42
Time spent walking: ~10 minutes (bad stitch!)
Finished: 13 out of ~700 in my category
... and here is the story behind the numbers ... The race started off ok. I've been having what i can only classify as shin splint issues on my left leg, one of my friends refers to this as my 'wimp spot' so i will too :) So my wimp spot was really bothering me but i knew i wanted to finish so instead of fighting the pain i just relaxed into it. I think this was the best for the long run b/c it meant i didn't run funny. After a while the pain became my friend :) Once I relaxed into a nice stride the first half of the run was decent ... i was on target to beat 1:40 so i was somewhat happy with that ... but i didn't feel like i was pushing so i figured i could pick up the pace for the second half.
I had to take a bathroom break at the 1/2 way point and then ended up with a wicked stitch ... I tried walking for about 2 minutes, then realized it wasn't going away so i may as well run thru it. It was pretty painfull for about 10 minutes ... i don't think i was running very fast. More like a slow motion jog ... ok, i was basically walking :) Thankfully it subsided to a more managable pain just before the big climb and i really enjoyed the slow hill climb. At the bottom everyone was passing me and I felt really slow ... but by the time we got to the mid-way pont i was passing people back ...it felt good. I started picking up the pace over the hill.
Over the hill it got really cold. I'd been pretty warm up to this point and wasn't expecting it. My legs seized up on me and my quads were like dangling blocks of ice. The race turned purely mental at this point and I had no idea how far left in the race (or how long i'd been running - i couldn't find my watch the morning of the race) ... so i just kept running. Once people around me were speeding up i figured we were close to the end and then started recognizing street signs. I couldn't convince my ice block-legs to go faster so i just paced it out to the finish. I didn't break 1:40 so wasn't really happy with my time ... but not too bad i guess. But of course now i have to do another one ... i want to go faster :)
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