Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Not homebound, just snowbound.

Will I ever get to train outside again?

My sources say "no."

Seriously, first I can't ride the century because I'm sick, then I'm basically out of commission and not riding outside because of my sinus infection, then it snows and the century is canceled, then just as the snow melts, another foot of it gets dumped on New Brunswick.

What the hell!?

That's Robbie, being the best boyfriend ever and shoveling off my truck. Note the snow-hawk that he made on top though! ...Even my truck is totally punk rock.

Anyway, there was one shining bright side to this whole midweek snow debacle. I have the day off of work! Well, so to speak, anyway. I'm still working from home, but at least this means time to clean the house, do a ton of school work and catch up on writing, and of course, build an epic snowman. And hopefully coerce someone into mountain biking with me.

In other exciting news, I have a new addition to my teensy apartment'o'bikes. Well, not new, but I haven't used it in a couple years. My pink fixed gear is making an appearance in New Brunswick for the first time since 2007, and I'm pretty stoked. It has two flat tires that I intend on repairing today, but other than that, it is ready and excited to ride again!

Why? (you may be asking. And I woudn't blame you.) I blame Matt and Cristian. Matt has a fixie, punk rock as he is, and riding to the gym with him on a beater mountain bike is just embarassing. And slow. Not to mention I kinda sorta may have agreed to at least try out riding at the track this summer... Also, Cristian has been bugging me for months to "be more punk" and "ride the fixie again," so I'll make him happy. That and the whole bike handling thing... I think riding fixed definitely helps my handling skills, and the ridicuous gear ratio on mine basically guarantees a workout wherever I go.

Anyway, training... This week (sunday onward) marked the beginning of a finally not sick training week. Between the infection and funeral/viewing stuff, it was a rough week. By the end of last week, I was feeling better but still wasn't swimming, and was taking it pretty easy. Easy meaning a 15 hour week instead of a 20 hour one. And my diet got chucked out the window (happily, I have to admit. I do love pie...)

But this Sunday was kicked off with a 4 hour trainer ride pre-Superbowl (Century canceled due to snow), and Monday was weights with Matt and a swim. It's amazing how slow your swim gets after 1 week out of the water. Luckily, by the end of the set, I was almost back to normal...

Then, yesterday was the 3 hour trainer ride and then an hour run later in the day. Both felt good!

After 3 hours on the trainer, this is how happy I look. On the bright side, I'm wearing one of my favorite t-shirts, it's gross and huge but so comfy!

But... Road season for us collegiate types starts in only THREE WEEKS! And in the past month, I've ridden outside a grand total of 2 times on a road bike, and crashed one of them. Not great odds. The weather has not been kind to us this January. Still, I did a great FAST and HARD trainer ride on Saturday for 1.5 hours, and felt awesome, so BRING IT ON road season!!

And bonus: women's A & B racers will be racing together, thanks to the addition of the Women's C option, which means longer races for us B's, thank god! At least I'll get some decent training in, instead of 20 minute races followed by 2.5 hours spinning on the trainer. (Instead, I'll only spin 2 hours...)

So to sum up:
STOP SNOWING ALREADY!! I am really really really ready for summer, even if summer brings 28 hour training weeks, races galore, and IM nerves.

5 comments:

Big Daddy Diesel said...

I am with you on the snow thing, 20 inches, ugh, enough. I am with you on the fixie. Reminds us of when we were kids and went up hills not problem, not like today when we can drop gears to get up the hills easier.

Mike Russell said...

28 hour training weeks is hard core. You are going to burn through your IM ma'am...

Where are your races at? Getting them done locally for you would be a little rough right now.

Anonymous said...

I am so so so over the snow!!!!

Molly said...

B.D.D: you're right, i miss the days when I just had to suck it up and go up the hill... in fact, I credit my past fixie riding for why I can go up hills in harder gears than most people!

Mike- damn straight I am!! and my IM in in Kentucky, pretty far from me, and my other A race in in CT, but other than that, the races in between are pretty local. And hopefully a trip to Hawaii in Oct. will be on the schedule as well...

OLTG: beyond over it. I just spent 1.5 hrs shoveling and it looks like I did NOTHING!

Keith said...

"stop snowing" and New Brunswick, and February all together, reveal the depths of cognitive dissonance. Good luck with that.