Victor Apple Farm Cyclocross

After my first cyclocross race in Ellison Park, I was hooked. So even though my cx buddy, Ari, was out of town last weekend, I decided to do the Victor Apple Farm 'cross race all by my lonesome. It was awesome because the race started at NOON and it was only 20 mins from my house. So I got to sleep in and chill out the morning of a race, which is UNHEARD of in triathlon! I also had to pack like a negative amount of gear - basically my helmet, sunglasses, gloves, shoes, bike, and then various layers of clothing (because I wasn't sure what the weather was going to be like at noon).

It turned out to be gorgeous and I even got sunburned!

I got to the race site at around 10, picked up my number, and then pre-rode the course. It was all grass, rolling hills, with a lot of serpentine turns, one steep run-up, one twisty downhill, and one barrier. Fairly non-technical and fast. I was racing the Cat4 race (men and women all started together) which was a 30 minute race, and I believe there were 7 women. I started way in the back to avoid all the men (and I am uncomfortable in a "group" riding situation) so it was a slow start. I passed a few women right in the beginning and soon found myself riding in 3rd. I passed #3 in the first loop and was sitting in 2nd for a while. I kept seeing the girl who I thought was in 1st not too far ahead of me (the course looped back on itself a lot) so I kept working the uphills as best as I could and I eventually passed her in what I think was the beginning of the 2nd loop. I then held that lead for the final 2 loops and ended up winning the race! I won a $25 gift card to a local bike shop, some Once Again Nut Butter, a jersey, and some other things!

I made Solveig take this!

Some interesting things: the run up was HARD.. it was so steep that it was hard to walk up! I found myself getting more comfortable with the course and the turning every loop I made - so that was good. And I did well on the barrier, which I thought was the hardest part, since you immediately had to go uphill after jumping the barrier, you had about 5 seconds to get on the bike and get going, otherwise you ended up running the bike up the long uphill section immediately after it. I managed to get on the bike and get up the hill 3 out of 4 times! Also, only 2 out of the 7 women (me and 2nd place) made it through 4 loops, everyone else was stopped after 3. The top guy did 5 loops! Craziness!

Dan laid down in the middle of the course
to try to force Josh to bunny-hop him!

A bunch of people came and watched - Dan and Solveig rode their bikes there, and Josh G. raced two races. I made some new friends, talked to some people that I met at the cross clinic and at Ellison Park. I ate lots of yummy "fair food" and just had a fantastic day overall!

Cyclocross!

So, a lot can happen in a week.

Last Saturday (Labor Day weekend), I went with Solveig to test ride a cyclocross bike at Geneva Bicycle Center. I had no expectations of buying this bike.. I just wanted to ride it, get a feel for that type of bike, and come away knowing what I was looking for in terms of size. Fast forward 3 hours later and I was driving home with an XS Women's Giant TCX in the back of my car. Part of that decision was the fact that I just really need a break from triathlon and I need something new to try. Part was also my dear friend Solveig (when forced with the decision of which one of us should buy it, because it fit us both and we both wanted it) telling me to take it, because I needed it more. And lastly, the owner of the shop, Jim Hogan, spent 3 hours with us making sure we were satisfied with test riding, making sure I liked the setup of the bike, got me a better saddle than the stock saddle, and sent me on my way with the best bike buying experience ever! All of those factors contributed to my spontaneous purchase of the bike. Mostly though.. I just need a change. All of the things that I have tried to change recently have not worked out so well. But the timing worked out with this bike so I bought it.

Sometimes money can buy happiness I think.

Meet: Dobby!

Anyways, a new bike brings new possibilities. I rode the bike on the Lehigh Valley Trail. I rode it at Dryer Road Park (mountain bike trails) with a few friends. I took it to a cyclocross clinic put on by a professional cyclocross racer where I learned flying mounts and dismounts and how to jump barriers. Then, I deemed myself ready to try to race.. 1 week after purchasing the bike.

My friend Ari (who has had her 'cross bike for a while but has never raced 'cross either) and I decided to register for the Ellison Park Cyclocross Race that was on Saturday. We showed up at 8 am Saturday morning (the Cat 4 Women's race was at 10:01) in order to register and pre-ride the course. We were both nervous for sure. (However, I was channeling my inner-Jennie Hansen and wearing my sparkly black eyeliner for intimidation purposes - I am not one to wear makeup while racing but I thought it was appropriate for this type of racing!). Riding the course calmed the nerves and pointed out the parts of the course that were going to be difficult (one section that you had to carry the bike up because it was too steep to ride) and then most of the 2nd half of the course was in the grass, uphill, and had switchback turns. There were also 3 barriers in total that I would have to get off my bike and jump over while carrying my bike. This is totally a new type of riding for me so I was scared and nervous, but excited to be getting out of my comfort zone (which is riding in an endurance heart rate zone in my aerobars in a straight line for like 3 hours). It was also a bit rainy, so we got wet during our warmup and the course was a little slick, but luckily it didn't rain hard until after our race was over.

I had a few friends there cheering which was nice (thanks to John for taking photos!), and I was racing with Ari so it was good to have a familiar face out there on the course with me! There's not much to say about the race - it was a hard, 38 minute effort, I crashed twice (both of them were minor) and I sprained my ankle when I tried to get back on my bike and fell off into a bush. I found that I can climb better than I thought, I actually made it through the uphill switchbacks all 3 times (except the very last one on the 3rd loop), nailed the barriers, and I ended up getting 4th out of 8 women in the race which I was totally happy with! I was even able to actually race a bit and make some passes (both men and women). Ari ended up coming in 5th (the announcer just LOVED it when I passed her because he must have seen that we were friends) but then she went back the next day and raced again and WON! It's hard, but it's REALLY fun, and I think I will see major improvement in my cycling just from switching things up a bit!

Ari! (I am also in the background here!)

me in my Ride Brooklyn jersey and unicorn socks

Ari and I after the race in the beer tent!
(she will hate me for posting this photo)

Amy, her baby, and me!

I actually raced the Finger Lakes Tri the next day (sprint distance), winning my age group and coming in 5th OA women. So not too shabby considering I hadn't swam in 3 weeks, my legs were toasted from the cyclocross race, and I just didn't care. I need to stop taking my athletic abilities for granted for sure, especially when going in with such a blase attitude and getting such a good result regardless of that. I think that may be part of the trouble I'm having with triathlon - I have plateaued and while I am still relatively competitive, I haven't figured out how to challenge myself and take that step up to play with the big girls. Yet I am not content running a few minutes behind them either. However, that is a problem to deal with next year. It was fun to see everyone at this race (which is a season-ender for many) and get cheered on by Mary and Rich who were both on microphones! Rich made sure to announce to the crowd that I have a habit of naming all of my bicycles (I now have Hedwig and Dobby, both in tribute of deceased Harry Potter characters) and Mary announced that I just raced my first cyclocross race the day before and that I was a 3x Ironman finisher! (It pays to know the race putter-onners)!!!

Anyways, I am glad that tri season is over and that cross season has begun. I have already registered for race #2 (this Sunday) and have plans to do several more in the area, and maybe even roadtrip to Staten Island to race with my brother! (I know he's excited that I am now racing cross because he does it too!).

Fall awaits me!

So here I am.. after another unaccounted for absence. Tri season is essentially over for me. I have a Timberman race report that I need to write, and I have a sprint distance tri next weekend (which I dropped down to from the olympic distance because I just wasn't feeling it), and that is it for me!

So what is on the horizon for me?

It's taking some time away from structured triathlon training this fall. As it goes with most other Type-A neurotic athletes, I struggle with taking time OFF - I made it a week after Timberman before I started to feel like a disgusting blob. So, not working out will not work for me whatsoever. BUT I am feeling the major effects of burnout. I need to do something about it so I that I can eventually return to triathlon with an excited attitude and kill my PRs like I was supposed to do this season (and that I KNOW I can do)! I was stuck for a while on what to do.. but after that week of doing nothing and a few days of just "meh" workouts, I think I have figured it out.

I am planning on doing a run focus in the fall (have already started actually) where I run 6 days a week, (with Monday as an off day with just a swim), ride long-ish on Saturdays, and then add other swim and bike workouts in during the week as I please. Long runs on Sundays. Running is what I really enjoy doing. I don't love weekly trainer rides, and I only really like to swim in moderation (i.e. when I feel like it). But I do love to run and I REALLY miss running for the sake of running itself and not for the sake of training and filling that workout in on my schedule. I also love fall races - especially trail races!

Another big thing is that I am shopping for a cyclocross bike. This is something that I have wanted to buy for several years, and I finally got my shit together and started saving money (turns out, you can't save money AND do Ironman if you're on the Alexa budget of can't save money worth shit anyways). I think it will add a lot of fun to my cycling routine, as I will be able to (attempt) to race cyclocross, go on shorter day tours on an actually comfortable bike, ride wherever I please (gravel trails, dirt roads, etc.) and ride slowly with other people to a fun destination with perhaps food and/or drinks (instead of just hammering away alone in my aerobars).

Test riding is going to happen this weekend with Solveig, on the one small cyclocross bike we were able to find in the greater Rochester area, and then I will go from there. Because I got so confused trying to compare bikes across multiple bike brands on different websites, I used my nerd skillz to create a crazy tiny cyclocross bike spreadsheet of all the bikes I could find in my budget and their tiny sizes. I was then able to eliminate some that wouldn't work (either too large, or didn't have the basics of what I was looking for) and narrowed the search down to 4 bikes that are all similar in size. I am hoping that by riding one of them (the one we found at  Geneva Bicycle Center) I can then make sure that this size bike WILL fit me, and I can look more in-depth at what each bike offers - spec-wise before I make the big decision and order the bike from a shop!

So this is my plan for fall - run a lot, get muddy, spend hard-earned money on a 'cross bike, get muddy on that, try not to fall on face in a 'cross race, and have fun! :)

And I am ALWAYS looking for fun people to get muddy with!!

I am done.

So, what has been going on with me lately? Oh, let me tell you. I have had it with structured training. HAD IT. Timberman is in 6 days, which I am "racing," and then I am done. I am so tired of forcing workouts that I don't want to do. The only thing I like doing these days is riding my bike, so I guess I should just do more of that and less of the swimming and running. Or maybe I will move my running to the trails.. that sounds way more fun! Or maybe some hiking/picture taking. I am already registered for Finger Lakes Tri which is sometime in September, but I don't even care. I'm not sure if I'm going to do it or not.. normally I would just race it anyways, but my 10 year high school reunion is the day before, so that pretty much screws with the race because I haven't figured out how it will be possible to do them both.

I have been saving money all year for a large purchase in the fall. At first it was going to be a nice road bike, then that changed to a cyclocross bike, then to a Quarq powermeter, which is what I had settled on for several months. After this shitty, shitty season continued on without improvements, I feel negatively about spending $2000 of my hard-earned money on something that should, in theory, help me race faster, but that I do not feel like I deserve. If I can't even focus on my workouts, WHY in the hell should I spend my money on a powermeter? To just highlight the fact that I suck even more?? So I am now back on the cx bike. I think it would allow me to have more "fun" cycling time (because it's not always my idea of fun to be hammering away in aero for multiple hours). I would be able to do some light touring, ride some trails, go on group rides, and even TRY CYCLOCROSS!

There are a few problems with buying a cyclocross bike. The main one is that I am short, very short, and most 'cross bikes are made for men. So first, I have to find a brand that makes a tiny 'cross bike, and THEN I have to find a shop that has one in stock so I can try it. So far, I have had zero luck finding the 44 cm Cannondale CAADX bike in which I am interested. The shop employee went as far as to say that I will never find that small of a bike stocked in ANY shop except maybe the factory shop. Wonderful. I have plans in a few weeks to go test ride a variety of bikes at Geneva Bicycle Center with Solveig - she has discussed this with them and they are going to assemble a list of tiny bikes for us to consider (she is rather small as well).

The second problem with buying bike #2 is that I have nowhere to put it in my apartment. I would be happy to hang it on a wall but I don't have any unused wall space. So this will be interesting to figure out as well.

On a TOTALLY unrelated note (and don't ask me how I even started thinking about this).. does anyone here remember playing with POGS in the 90s? I totally remember going to craft shops like A.C. Moore or trading card shops and digging through GIANT bins filled with cardboard POGS.. looking for super cool ones to add to my collection. Also, I had the sweetest slammer EVER. Aw and now I am getting all nostalgic for the 90s!

Ironman Fever

Today is my 2 year anniversary of my first Ironman - IMLP 2010!

That was also hands-down my favorite Ironman - best finishing time (12:18), best course scenery, most fun overall experience, racing with over 10 other teammates/friends, having Mary and my parents there as well as some friends. I got some of those things with my other 2 Ironmans, but not all of them. That's what happens when it's the "local" Ironman.. probably from now on I will know at LEAST one person racing IMLP!

I am starting to get a little of my Ironman fever back. I keep toying with the idea of registering for Ironman Mont Tremblant next month, but I am 99% sure I am going to wait until 2014. First of all, I think I need another year off from it. Going from a bad race season into an Ironman season is not exactly the mental preparation that I need. I would rather have a GOOD race season next year (*fingers crossed*) and then tackle Ironman again the following year. Second of all, I am starting graduate school next year and I'm not sure I want to juggle a new grad. school program AND Ironman training AND working shifts all at the same time. Maybe after I am settled into a routine with school, work, and regular training I would be able to handle it. And last of all, I just don't have the money for it right now. Or at least, I don't want to put the money into it (registration fees, travel expenses, passport renewal, etc.). Instead, I am close to having enough money to buy a Quarq Powermeter! So that is something that I am really excited about!

So I doubt I will even need someone to hide my credit card on August 20th! I have pretty much talked myself out of it. :)

Seriously.. why the f*&% do I even want to do more Ironmans? They are time consuming, they hurt like hell, they are expensive, yet..

 I still don't feel like I am done with the distance..

Or maybe I am just that much of an idiot.

(No commenting on that please!).



Carry on, my friends. :)

best laid plans..

OK first of all I want to say:

CONGRATS TO ALL YOU IRONMAN LAKE PLACID-ERS!! Special congratulations to Jennie Hansen on her 2nd OA pro finish in her debut Ironman, her husband Dave getting 4th in the M25-29 age group (also his debut Ironman), my Bradford County, PA friends Rachel and Mike Murphy (they crossed the line together!), Rochester QT2 athlete Tim Karch, and famous Rochester neurosurgeon K-Dub! Also many more that I am forgetting I'm sure. I wish I could have been there cheering like last year, but with our short-handed staff at work and me taking last Sunday night off, I just didn't want to do it. Plus, that's a really long drive to be making alone. But I was thinking about you all (and stalking tracking you too) all day!

Anyways.

I had a really strange week(end) of training.

I had a hard time bouncing back from Musselman last week. I think mostly it was due to being unable to sleep for a few days after the race (and working nights) and also, just running that far on very minimal run training. My legs were killing me through Thursday and mentally I just couldn't get going. I skipped workouts Monday and Tuesday in favor of dying on my couch and/or in my bed, and finally dragged myself out the door on Wednesday to swim (which felt awesome, btw). After that, things went as per usual. Note to self: active recovery is a very real, beneficial thing! All those people that told me to get my ass moving - you were all right! And next time I'll even listen! (Maybe.. I am nothing if not stubborn as hell).

Saturday I was scheduled for a 3 hour ride (no rest for the weary) so I mapped out a loop and rode from Mendon Ponds Park. I didn't get started until 11 am or so because I didn't sleep well that night either (probably because I spent Friday night with my friend Sam having a few drinks and then watching JAWS). I may never get into open water again. My ride really went well, especially since I was expecting it to be horrible. It was beautiful out, it was a new loop, and even when I ran into major construction on the road I was supposed to be riding on (giant rocks on the road instead of pavement for miles), I just looked at google maps on my trusty iPhone and found a way around. My 30 minute transition run did NOT go well. I ran ok for 10 minutes, then just kept getting hot, dizzy, and eventually walked the last 10 minutes in.. couldn't figure out why this happened (nutrition on the bike was good) but as I was reflecting on the day before (Friday), I had worked until 5 am, then went home and slept til 11:30 am, then I had to get up and go to a retirement party for a newly retired coworker. That is where I ate my ONLY meal of the day and it was not-good eggplant parm so I ate like 1/10 of what I actually got. Oh, and then I went to the pool and swam, showered again, and went back out where I had 2 drinks and stayed up until midnight-ish.

Really.. not the best planning in the world. It was a stupid thing to do but I honestly didn't even realize that I had barely eaten all day until I really was troubleshooting the problem as I walked back to my car after the failed T-run. My appetite and eating schedule are so f-ed up when I work nights.. I know I don't eat enough because I am never hungry (or I am hungry at really weird times, such as right before I go to sleep at 8 am) or I am nauseous from not sleeping.. it's definitely not good for me. I KNOW that affects my workout motivation on those weeks of nights! Something to work on for sure. I am still having difficulty balancing my training with my social life but I refuse to go back to hermit-land where I lived for the past 2 years!

Sunday I ran 1:13 at 7:30 am (which is definitely early for me). It was in the upper 60s so I started out actually wearing a shirt - SHOCKING, I know - but that stayed on for 4 minutes before I was too hot, and I left it sitting on top of one of those power box things at a red light - picked it up on my way back. The run went well for about 45 minutes and then my pace kept getting slower and slower. My running is so frustrating this year and I don't know what else to do about it.. Happily, getting up at 7 caused me to be done with my workouts by 10:30!

Later I went to see "The Dark Knight Rises" since I had some time to kill Sunday afternoon and I didn't really know anyone else that wanted to go see it. I haven't decided how I feel about it (and I don't want to spoil anything) other than a) it was really long and b) I froze my ass off for 2 hours and 45 minutes in the theater. I've had this weird things with motorcycles lately and if I could ride the crazy Bat-cycle thing (without accidentally killing myself) I might die happy. Oh, and Joseph Gordon Levitt is H-O-T with a capital H. I just want to hug him! (Naked hugging....?). I do love hugs.............. and I'm rambling.

And because everyone loves a post with photos.. here are some from Musselman!

typical mid-race "Alexa refuses to smile at photographer" aero photo

VERY typical "Alexa stares at Garmin with confused look on face" photo!

I actually left out the typical "Alexa's ass looks gigantic" photo that Brightroom got of me running from the swim exit to transition.. a sopping wet race kit hanging off of me = not flattering. And I thought my wetsuit made me look big. I'm sorry to whoever had to follow me and look at that! The tri kit in general is just not a flattering outfit on me! Haha.

triathlete dating fail

Trying to date while being an active triathlete is hard.

If you manage to land a date with a "regular" (AKA - non-athlete) person (why would you want to do this anyways?!), prepared to be blown off due to having an "extreme" lifestyle. Your personality might be great, but you are crazy for riding your bike for 3 hours, because who would ever want to do that?! Isn't it cooler to eat nachos while sitting on the couch?

If you try to date someone who is a single sport person (runner, or swimmer, or cyclist) it will work out for a while, but then you will convince them to try a triathlon because you are super awesome, and then you will beat them (since you are seasoned), and if you are a woman.. well they won't like that!

If you actually manage to meet another triathlete (bonus if they are rich) - great! But if you're both Ironman triathletes.. prepare to never see each other because you are both on your respective 6 hour rides that are probably conflicting since you can't ride together due to gender/speed discrepancies.

This is why I have a cat. :)