I Would Ride 500 Miles

Okay, maybe not 500 miles.  But how about 126? 

Yes, between Sunday morning and Tuesday evening I rode a bike 126 miles.  I did 61 miles on Sunday and 65 miles on Tuesday.

Have I gone crazy?  Nope, I just like seeing what I can do.

Sunday was the first ever Illinois Venus de Miles bike ride.  I had SO MUCH FUN!

Several other Chicago Running Bloggers decided to become Chicago Biking Bloggers for the day. Specifically (from left to right) Lauren, me, Kelly, MacKenna, and Amanda.  Thanks to Kelly for the photo.

I hung with Kelly and MacKenna for most of the ride and while both my Garmin and my bike computer tell me I averaged about 14.5 MPH, I think that must be because of slowing down for stop lights and rest stops.  Because every time I looked at my bike computer I was doing better than 16 MPH and even managed 20 MPH for some decent stretches. 

Unless I was going up a hill.  Dang, hills are hard.  But flying on the downhills?  My favorite part.  Especially when I hit 30 MPH.  At one point I shouted, “I’m going faster than the speed limit!”  The speed limit was 25, by the way.

The rest stops were well stocked with all sort of yummy food.  And there were a lot of rest stops.  Every 10-15 miles or so.  Perfect.  I’m still figuring out what and when to eat when I’m riding my bike.  Eating little bits of things every so often seemed to do the trick and I felt strong the entire ride.

The course was gorgeous.  Full of trees and back roads and mansions.

I could have done with fewer traffic lights but the scenery mostly made up for it.  There was only one spot where we missed a turn and ended up on a really busy street, but there were enough of us that I didn’t feel too unsafe.

I admit, I was a little hesitant to sign up for this ride because of my experience with how crowded the L.A.T.E. Ride was.  Another “leisure” ride?  No, thanks.  But this wasn’t that way at all.  We had plenty of space and I was able to go as fast or as slow as I wanted. 

When I turned the final corner I was actually a bit sad to be finished.  But, a wonderful post-ride party awaited.  A taco bar?  Free cocktails, wine and beer?  Gourmet ice cream sandwiches?

Yes, please!  And, just like the course, it wasn’t too crowded.  Well, actually, there was a line for the free facials and mani-pedis but that was it.  I highly recommend this event and can’t wait for next year!

So, that was the first 61 miles.  Tuesday I borrowed a mountain bike from a member of my running club and joined Kim for her birthday gift to herself: riding the entire Lake County Des Plaines River Trail.  31ish miles from the Wisconsin border to the border of Lake County and Cook County.  All crushed limestone.  And hilly. 

We rode the first 31 miles (plus a bit more) and then stopped for lunch at Red Robin.  The second 31 miles was a lot tougher.  My right knee was sore and my lady bits were REALLY tired of being on a bike seat.  Still we persevered and finished the entire ride. 

However, I think I need to take a break from the bike for a bit to let certain parts of my anatomy recover.  Good thing I won an entry to the Chicago Half Marathon!  That will give me something to do! 

Well Balanced Week

 

I stopped writing my Weekly Workout Wround Up posts after the Las Vegas Marathon last December.  At the time I was in a little bit of a funk and probably a bit depressed.  Post-marathon blues and injury aggravations didn’t trend toward wanting to keep track of my (lack of) physical activity week to week.

But I feel like I need to document this past week.

Monday night I ran 5.5 miles with my running club.  It was slow and I walked some due to the heat, but I got out there. 

Tuesday I strength trained.

Wednesday I ran a race.

Thursday I did some more strength training.  I also did some Tabata intervals on the stationary bike and then did a mile on the treadmill in my minimalist shoes.  I didn’t do the whole mile straight, though.  I’d walk a quarter mile and then run a quarter mile.  My calves could really feel it during the run!

Friday I swam some laps. 

Saturday, though.  Oh, Saturday.  I went on possibly the most fun bike ride I’ve ever done.  Kim did an AWESOME write-up so I won’t reinvent the wheel and instead just tell you to go read her post.  Long story short:  we rode from Libertyville, IL to the Chicago Botanical Gardens, wandered around the gardens for 3 hours (I’d never been there before), and then rode back to Libertyville. 

Total distance?  41 miles.  This wasn’t a speed run.  It was a fun, exploration ride.  One of the things I love about the bike is that you don’t really care if you get a little lost.  Sometimes getting turned around leads you to some neat discoveries. 

Like this beautiful view of Lake Michigan.

And then on Sunday I met up with Emily for our first run together!  She showed me her usual 6ish mile route and we chatted while running past the United Center (home of the Chicago Bulls and the Chicago Blackhawks), through UIC, and around our neighborhood.  It was a good time and I’m looking forward to running with her more.

So my week consisted of three runs, two strength training sessions, one bike ride, and one swimming workout.

Which means I worked out seven days in a row.  But, balanced workouts. 

One of my goals this year was to do something active every day that I can.  I think this past week definitely lived up to that goal! 

L.A.T.E. Ride Report–Up All Night

Have you heard of the Friends of the Park’s L.A.T.E. Ride? It’s been taking place in Chicago for almost 25 years. 

Up to 9,000 cyclists meet up at Buckingham Fountain at midnight and ride 25 miles through the City of Chicago.  The goal?  Get back to Buckingham Fountain before dawn so you can watch the sunrise over Lake Michigan.

I was able to convince Jason to join me since this was a leisure ride event and not a race.  Take it slow, I said.  Don’t worry about pace, I said.

So, we taped flashlights and headlamps to our bikes, strapped on our helmets and rode over to the Fountain.  A little after 1:15 AM we started on our ride.

In addition to the ride there are best lit bike and best decorated helmet contests and this year there was a costume parade.  We didn’t get to the Fountain in time for those but we did get to see a lot of craziness out on the roads.

Photo from Facebook

Like the Blues Brothers.  And people with radios attached to their bikes.  And lots and lots of glow sticks, flashing LEDs, and even one woman who turned her helmet into a bird’s nest….complete with actual, live birds. 

By the way, it’s really hard to take photos while riding your bike.  Especially when you’re biking in a crowd.  And that’s how you spend most of the ride.  In a crowd.  You also are expected to stop at right lights if the intersection isn’t being monitored by police.  This makes for some harrowing moments sometimes.  I got more comfortable riding in a crowd after awhile but for the first few miles I wasn’t particularly thrilled.

I was perfectly content to ride along at a leisurely pace and enjoy seeing parts of Chicago I’d never seen before.  We rode through Chinatown (which still smelled of Chinese food at 2:00 AM), we rode through Greektown and Logan Square and entertained all the drunks standing outside the bars.  We rode through Humboldt Park which, unbeknownst to me, is bordered by two sculptures of the Puerto Rican flag.

Source

Jason, on the other hand, doesn’t have the bike butt callous that I do (nor does he own padded bike shorts) so he started to speed up and weave in and out of people in order to “get this thing over with.”

That made me sad. 

So, I let him go ahead and I puttered along.  We met back up at the rest stop at the halfway point where we chowed down on some bananas and Clif bars and remarked at how much the scene reminded us of Ragnar…just with more bikes.  Jason assured me he was having fun, but that he just wanted to ride faster.  No sense of adventure or exploration, that one.

Anyway, we stuck together for a few miles after that but then Jason pulled ahead and I tried to keep up.  I was trying to ride a little more aggressively but we passed the aftermath of a scary scene involving a participant and a car and it shook me up a bit.  So, I only sped up when I could find a good, clear space among the bikes.

When we reached the lakefront path I was able to up my speed and enjoy riding without having to dodge pedestrians.  In fact, if I didn’t love sleep so much, I would come ride the lakefront path at night more often!  I was having a blast during this part!

In fact, I was enjoying myself so much that I didn’t realize I actually passed Jason who was waiting for me.  We stayed together for the last few miles. 

26 miles, just over 4 hours.   Our reward? 

Pancakes.

And watching the sun rise.

Jason took a short nap while we waited for the sun

Post-sunrise we hopped back on our bikes, rode the 1.5 miles home, showered, and collapsed into bed a little after 6:00 AM.  We did it. We stayed up all night and rode almost 30 miles total.

I don’t think I’ve ever stayed up all night, including at Ragnar.  I knew I could ride the distance so the challenge for me was doing it on no sleep.

Amazingly, being surrounded by other people kept me going.  Well, that and I knew if I fell asleep I’d fall off my bike!

This event certainly was an adventure.  It was more crowded and more leisurely than I thought it would be (lots of people stop at 24 hour restaurants along the way) but it was definitely a unique way to see the city and feel like, as cyclists, we owned the road.

Would I do it again?  That’s a good question.  I think if I was with a group of people who had a more adventurous spirit it could make for quite the party atmosphere.  Lighting up our bikes, playing music, laughing, stopping to check out interesting things along the way. 

Still, I have a feeling there might be other events out there that are more my cup of tea.  But I’m glad I did this one and I would definitely recommend it as something you should try at least once!  At the very least, it gives you a reason to be standing on the lakeshore watching the sunrise. 

Weekend Wildness

Ladies and Gentleman, let me introduce to you the Stupid Tan Lines: Summer 2012 Collection.

Item #1 :

Bike shorts tan line

 

Item #2:

Bike jersey tan line

 

Item #3:

 Bike glove tan line

 

And just how, exactly, did I end up with this lovely collection of tan lines?

By parking my car here:

 

And riding my bike to here:

 

And then 5 more miles to get lunch here:

 

And then turning around and doing it all again to get back to my car.  Plus a slight detour when I got a little lost.  Total mileage?

64.22 miles.  Today my legs feel sore in all sorts of new places.

I am not the world’s fastest cyclist so not counting stops for traffic or my stop for lunch I did those 64.22 miles in just shy of four and a half hours.  My Garmin died around mile 52 so, sadly, it didn’t catch the last four miles where I was pushing it really hard and probably averaging closer to 18 miles per hour (instead of the 14 for the rest of the trip). 

I really just wanted to be done and, thankfully, an older gentleman on a bike behind me gave me the motivation to push harder. 

But riding my bike my furthest distance ever (by a factor of 2) wasn’t the only wild and crazy thing I did this weekend.

Oh, no.  On Friday afternoon I biked over to the nearest gym to which I still have a membership (until the end of July, anyway) I decided to swim some laps. 

That went….let’s go with….well, at least I didn’t drown. 

I have forgotten everything I learned from my lesson back in January.  I think I’ll be taking my work bonus and getting myself some swim lessons.  I felt awkward and ungangly in the water and I think I swallowed half the pool.  I was in the water for 30 minutes and I hope that at least half of that was swimming.  For the first 10 minutes I just did laps, for the next 10 I used a kick board to try and work on my breathing.  For the last 10 I used a pull buoy so I could work on my arm movements. 

I slept really well on Friday night. 

Saturday I tried a new strength workout that left me feeling a bit sore.  Peace Love and Oats posted a workout she recently tried and I thought, hey, why not?  I swapped out the cardio parts, though, for some deadlifts, dumbbell rows, and stability ball work. 

And today?  Today I am taking a rest day.  I think I earned it.

Goals Check-In

My main goals for this year were to do something active every day that I can and figure out what to do about this stupid hip.
And how’s that going six months into the year?
Well, I’m definitely doing as much as possible.  Although, this morning when I woke up before my alarm I thought, “If I’m going to keep waking up before I have to, maybe I should start working out before work.”
And then promptly went back to sleep.
Seriously, though, ever since we moved I’ve been waking up way before my alarm.  I wish I could find some morning workout buddies to keep me accountable.  Without them I’m much more inclined to roll over and go back to sleep.
When I do manage to do things, it’s either a strength workout, a bike ride, or a run.  I still haven’t managed to get to the pool.  Still terrified of lane sharing.  I’ve GOT to get over that.  I wish I had some swim buddies, too. 
Anyway, I rode my bike downtown and back on Saturday to visit Kim who was manning the Fake Meats booth at the first ever Chicago Veggie Pride Parade. 

However, my bike now has its first ever flat tire.  Time to put my REI membership to good use and get a discount on a bike tune-up and flat fix.  I’ve read too many horror stories of people trying to change their own bike tubes to try it myself!  I’ll just pay someone to do it for now. 
On Sunday I didn’t get in a workout but I did promote running!  It was a weekend of booths.  Sunday I set-up and staffed the booth for my running club at a village event.

We got some interest but also a lot of people who gave us the side eye and said “I don’t run!” or “I could never run!”  Seriously?  That may be true but don’t you think it’s weird you need to comment?
Monday night I had to take all the stuff pictured above back to our storage area in Oak Park so I took the opportunity to run with the club.  A nice, steady 5.5 miles. Although my hip was a tad sore afterward.
And speaking of my hip, I have a follow-up appointment with the doc who recommended PT on Thursday.  We’ll see what he has to say since PT didn’t seem to be making a HUGE difference. 
In the mean time, I’ve got an ART appointment tonight.  Maybe some strength training or a quick run (it IS National Running Day, after all) afterward.  We’ll see. 

Busy, Busy

I’ve been pretty busy in the workout department since last Thursday.  Of course, now I’m paying for it as my left hip is KILLING me (or maybe that’s just a reaction to the ART session from last night). 

But what was I doing until I decided to give my hip a break?

Friday was my wedding anniversary so Jason and I walked to a nearby pub for dinner and drinks.  After I rode my bike to and from work.  Does commuting by bike count as a workout if it’s only a few miles total? 

Saturday I did a strength workout but my stomach was upset so I didn’t push it very hard and had to rush out of the gym mid-set to use the bathroom.  I felt pretty out of it the rest of the day.

Thankfully I felt better on Sunday, though, because I joined Kim for some kayaking! 

We kayaked around a lake for about an hour.  I could really feel it working my arms but, believe it or not, I wasn’t sore at all the next day!  I have a feeling that if I’d done this last year or the year before I would have felt it for a few days afterward.  Strength training for the win!

Monday I took advantage of my day off and went for a long bike ride.  I rode from my apartment to Chicago’s lake front path and went south to where the path ends.  Then I turned around and headed back.

Although the air temps were warm there was a strong breeze coming in off the lake that made it pretty nice outside.  Minus the fact that the wind felt like it was going to blow me over or backward most of the ride.  I also explored some alternate ways to get home and ended up riding just over 25 miles.  I’m still not very fast on my bike but I am really enjoying being out on it.

And then Tuesday I went for a run all by my lonesome at lunch.  Been a LONG time since I’ve done that.

Funny how different the lake and the skyline can look from one day to the next, isn’t it?  I ran for 40 minutes and finished 4.5 miles.  And, even though it was straight-up sunny and warm I felt pretty good.  Racer back tan line, here I come!

When I got home from work I hit up the apartment gym for a quick strength session.

Now I’m taking a few days off from running.  I might do a strength session tonight or I might just rest.  That ART session left me really sore!

Too Much of a Good Thing

So, I ran on both Saturday and Sunday.  I felt pretty good.

Then came Monday night.  Since I'm moving this Friday I knew it was my last chance to easily get in a run with my running club.  Sure, I'll still be running with them as often as I can but I won't be within quick bike riding or running distance of our meeting place anymore.

And bike ride to the starting spot is what I did on Monday.  I do love my bike and am looking forward to spending more time on it on the lakefront path once I move.  Biking on road with intersections is a pain.

Anyway, the bike ride was one of the better parts of my evening.  So were the post-run margaritas and tacos on the patio of one of my favorite restaurants.  The run itself though?  Blech.

My legs felt like lead.  My usual easy pace felt like death.  "This is the longest 5.5 miles EVER!" I exclaimed to my running buddy. 

Turns out a lot of us felt that way on Monday night.  Maybe it was the slightly warmer weather?  Maybe it was that we wanted to get to the margaritas sooner?  Who knows.  I suppose, though, I should be grateful that my legs were just tired and not in pain. 

Speaking of pain, I have a combo ART & massage appointment scheduled tonight.  I'm interested to see if they can work some more magic on those tight spots surrounding my hip.  In the mean time, I'm taking the rest of this week off to finish packing and give my body a break.  Three days of running in a row is something I haven't done in awhile and now I remember why.  Got to work back up to that! 

And Well

I'm still here! I'm alive! I've just been busy at work. And at physical therapy. And at the ART office. And running. I did run Monday night. I thought about skipping since my hip was still a little sore but it turns out the run was probably the best thing I did for it! It felt MUCH better after I ran. In fact, I even rode my bike to running group and then ran and the hip held up just fine. I don't really have anything else to add. I thought about strength training after PT on Tuesday but didn't. I'll probably strength train tonight. Why tonight? Because tomorrow I'm thinking I'm actually going to run at lunch! It's been months since I've done that and I miss it. So, I'll keep you updated. Until then, back to work!

Monday Moans

Monday again. And my body is feeling it. Not sure what exactly I did this weekend that kicked my butt, but I am exhausted and sore this AM. Okay, maybe I do know what I did. Aside from errand-running and box-packing, I did an hour of strength training:

Source: sweettoothsweetlife.com via Erin on Pinterest

I did Group #1 and Group #2 from this workout I pinned a month ago. Repeating each group five times definitely gives you a good workout but it gets kind of monotonous after awhile. Also, each group takes about 30 minutes if you do all 5 moves 5 times. If I do this one again I'll drop the repeats but up the weights.

Sunday my hip was bothering me so I thought about just taking it easy but for some reason I found myself with a lot of free time so I hopped on my bike trainer and busted out 30 minutes. 5 minute warm-up, 16 minutes of intervals (1 minute fast, 1 minute recovery) and then a 9 minute cool down. I tightened the straps on the toe cages on my bike pedals in the hopes that I could work on pulling and not just pushing the pedals. I don't know if that made a difference but my legs are certainly feeling something today!

The one thing I didn't do was run. The weather was actually pretty nice for running (minus the wind) but even if the weather was bad it probably wouldn't stop me if I wanted to get in a run. I've run in wind and snow and rain. I've even run on ice! Which is why I think this shirt that Kim is giving away would be perfect for me.

And now, in an effort to wake up my body I'm off to drink my occasional cup of tea. Hope you're enjoying your Monday more than I am!

Quiet Week

I'm having one of those weeks where I just can't quite seem to fit in a workout. So here's a few bullet points so you don't forget I exist!

1. Do you miss seeing my face or reading my lovely prose? Well, never fear! You can check me out over here! That's my "fashion" blog. Really, it's just me showing you what I wear to work in the hopes I can give you some useful ideas. If you own clothes that you aren't sure what to do with, please go check it out and/or like it on Facebook! I post there every day even when I'm not posting here.

2. I rode my bike last night after dinner for 55 minutes and averaged 17 MPH. I usually don't work out after dinner but my husband and I made a pact. I rode my bike on the trainer while he lifted weights. By the way, my butt is STILL sore from Sunday's bike ride.

3. A part of me really, really wants to try swimming laps before work but the other part of me can't quite bring myself to do it. My current excuse is that I don't have a swim cap. But, truly, the reason that I can't get myself to the pool is that I'm scared. I'm scared of not knowing the "rules. Not knowing the culture and etiquette. Being the new kid on the block who gets in everyone's way. I don't know how to "circle swim". I don't want to share a lane with someone and slow them down.

Also, I hate mornings.

Tips?

Multi-talented Weekend

From here

I had a busy weekend!  I didn’t manage to make it to the pool but I did run AND bike! 

Saturday morning started out early with a Chicago Running Blogger Meetup at “The Bean” in downtown Chicago.  Thankfully I was able to stop by my office and drop off my stuff before meeting Kim, Katie, and Bobbi and walking over to The Bean to meet up with Maggie, Kelly, and Rachael.

Bloggers taking pictures.  That’s what we do.

 

And, yes, we color coordinated on purpose. 

We ran out to Oak Street Beach and then back to Navy Pier for a round trip of just over 3 miles.  We took it nice and easy and mostly just chatted. 

After our run we met up with a few other bloggers at the Shamrock Shuffle Expo and explored the wares.  To be honest, I’d never gone to an expo for a race I wasn’t running and this month I’ve gone to two! (Kim and I went to the NYC Half Marathon expo when we were there)

Sadly, I had to take off early to get Jason to the airport for a trip.  So, I left before lunch and booked it back to my office to pick up my stuff and catch the train.  And when I say booked it, I mean it.  I didn’t really budget enough time and had less than 20 minutes to run 2 miles.  It’s been a while since I pushed the pace like that but I still managed to bust out two sub-9:00 miles.  Woo hoo!  These legs still have some speed in them yet. 

Of course, that basically wiped me out for the rest of the day and I ended up taking a two hour nap.  Oops.

Sunday, though, I was recovered enough to ask Kim if she wanted to go for a bike ride.  She had a 12 mile run on her own schedule but still agreed to bike a huge chunk of the Millennium Trail.  I biked with Kim for the last 4 miles of her run and then we did a 26 mile ride on the trail for a total of just over 30 miles of riding for me.

By the way, I’m SO glad I ordered new bike shorts. 

The padding in my current tri-shorts is pretty shot.  I’m a little sore today.  Of course, some of that may be because I was riding my road bike on crushed limestone which is like driving a car with no shock absorbers on a cobblestone road.  Oh, and there were hills.  Major hills.  My glutes and quads were shredded when we got done.

All in all, it was a great weekend workout-wise.  It was really fun hanging with new people and getting outside on my bike for the first time this year.  I’m looking forward to more blogger runs and more biking! 

Weekend Workouts

I was able to squeeze in two more trips to the gym in the condo where we were staying this weekend. Friday morning I got up and pedaled (slowly) on the stationary bike while watching an episode of Ghost Whisperer on my iPhone via Netflix. Yes, I know. I'm years behind in my cheesy television dramas. What I can I say. I don't like the current trend of reality television.

I've had this conversation before with people about how you're really not supposed to watch tv while using a cardio machine other than a treadmill. I'm living proof. I work way hard when I'm listening to music versus watching tv. Do you find that music versus television makes a difference in how you perform a task?

Anyway, I only had enough time to get in 30 minutes.

Saturday was a day of crazy absurdities that meant I left my house at 6:30 AM and didn't get home for good until 6:30 PM. Needless to say, by the time I was home I was brain dead and exhausted and there was no way I was working out.

So, Sunday I went down to the gym for one last trip and did Tabata intervals on the bike and then followed that up with this workout:

Source: sweettoothsweetlife.com via Erin on Pinterest

This is a KILLER workout but it only takes 30 minutes. I highly recommend this one. In fact, I recommend it so much that I used it with my lunch time strength training workout with my coworkers today. They seemed to agree it was a butt kicker.

I have grand plans to try running tonight (just an easy 3 mile attempt) but for some reason right now I'm not feeling too good. Fingers crossed this headache and exhaustion are just an afternoon slump!