packing and prepping April 22
4 more days til my first race of 2009 (feels so late this year! I missed having the Gutbusters start at the beginning of April!) I am proud to say that I’ve actually gotten on my bike for a 2nd time this year and feel woefully unprepared for the ’significant climbing’ advertised in the racer info package for Suburban Rush! I kept saying I wanted to cross train on my bike more, but 2 things kept happening all the time: my legs kept adapting to the mileage (and stayed relatively injury free) and it kept raining!! I’m not really a pansy, I just seem to chill more easily when I’m riding.
Right now it’s just all packing, re-reading the race info package, highlighting the crap out of it, bike maintenance and laundry! It’s times like now I sit back and laugh at myself and my totally OCD tendancies: I have printed off 6 or 7 sets of the waivers and forms and stored them in all different places in case we lose the ones we have already filled out, and I have enough gear to outfit myself, Margo and another team of 2! Just in case something happens of course! I’ve never been to Port Moody and don’t generally like driving in Vancouver as it is, so I’m pre-programming the race start and bike drop off locations into our Garmin 60CSX GPS so come race morning I will panic slightly less about making everywhere we need to be on time! Margo and I are going over Friday night and coming back Saturday after the race, then it will be early to bed for me and early to rise for the TC 10km. And after that, you might ask? I plan on eating a TON of Ebizo sushi, watching a movie and drinking a Strongbow!
I don’t have many goals for Rush aside from having fun at a new race in a new venue and trying very hard to stay on Margo’s tail!! She told me the other night that she thinks she’s the fittest she has ever been and little alarm bells started to go off in my head. Uh oh… Margo is already my athletic idol: master of all sports, wickedly fast and most of all, has the BEST team attitude ever! My goals: to hang on!! I’ve been keeping a close eye on the weather forecast and praying for sun, or at least no rain, whichever is easiest!
The TC 10km will just be mileage trying to flush out my legs with my friends from work. Last year’s TC was my first running race ever and aside from the long lines at the porta-potties (nervous starter!) I had so much fun! I didn’t trip on anyone or get passed by a child in a jogging chariot so it was a great success! The people on my office team have been great, everyone training and getting ready. There are 14 of us and almost an equal number of runners and run/walkers. And you can’t beat our team name: Really Cool Motivated People. Yup, and we even have a wicked logo! (thanks Christy!) Maybe this race tshirt will be my special occasions bike cloth!
Monday was a rest day and both Kitt and I were off work so we loaded up the dirtbikes and headed to the Quarry in Shawnigan Lake. I love the Quarry and when we lived in Shawnigan, logged hundreds of hours exploring it. With the trails being so familiar it was a good place to try my bike on single track for the first time. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!!! I dumped the bike 3 times and managed to burn 4 twoonie sized holes on the inside of my pants (fortunately escaped without burning my leg!!) but I learned a ton by trial and error and Kitt’s great coaching and was able to get in a good groove by the end. I think dirtbiking will go a long way to helping my mountain biking skills: picking lines, balance, etc.. but it seems so much easier on a dirtbike because you don’t have use your legs for propulsion, just your right wrist!
Saturday April 11th – unscheduled day off
Sunday April 12th – 60 min hilly run
Monday April 13th – 20 min easy jog and total body weights
Tuesday April 14th – unscheduled day off
Wednesday April 15th – 40 min hilly run w/ 4 sets sprints
Thursday April 16th – 20 min run up Observatory
Friday April 17th – REST
Saturday April 18th – 40 min hard hill ride
Sunday April 19th – 70 min run w/ fartleks round Elk Lake
Monday April 20th – REST
Tuesday April 21st – 70 min LSD