Sufferfest

Saw this jewel of a workout series posted on Velonews the other day: Sufferfest! Oh, YEAH! It looks tremendously awesome. I haven't yet pulled the trigger on ordering it, but I will...soon. I think it's a fantastic idea and already spend my hours on the trainer watching and re-watching the 11-13 hour versions of the Tour. It's one of the only things that gets me through my Average Power workout - climbing the Col du Tourmalet with the leaders in the peloton. So, the idea that my workout would be directly associated with attacks, descents, and other movements of the peloton is an awesome idea.

So, I'm sure that this will soon be downloaded on my computer and will be the source of my indoor torture - I mean, training - for 2011.

I can't believe that 2011 is right around the corner. Holy Moly. 2011!! I have a feeling that it is going to be a good year. There's lots to do - I have to make a majorly gigantic "To Do List" today. It will include things like:

- finish paper for Cleveland conference

- try to get funding for Cleveland conference

- finalize all team business so that we can focus on training/racing

- figure out which weekend of Battenkill I'm racing - certainly not both like the awesomely wickedly awesome Unicorn

- get my courses ready for Spring 2011

That's just the short list. Oh boy!!

Happy Happy Merry Merry

Hello all,

I hope that you have had a beautiful holiday month. Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, Cheery Festivus, and all the other lovely holidays abound in December.

Christmas was very good to us here at the old homestead. Chuck and I got up early and opened our gifts to one another like two seven year olds! We're so FUNNY! He was a lucky guy and got sooo many of the goodies on his list!

I was really happy with my gifts before I even got to the now infamous "Big Box." A new ipod (in lime green, of course), a Road ID (also green) to keep me safe when I'm out on my bike, a Magic Bullet to make post-ride smoothies all greeted me prior to the opening of the "Big Box." He saved that one for last and I'm so glad that he did...inside was a photo by Monte Nagler!

Monte Nagler is a photographer who studied with Ansel Adams. My dad recently went on a photo workshop with him and my parents have several of his works. He has a series of bike photos and I was going through them and found one that I really loved. I showed it to Chuck a while back and....Ta-DAA!!

Chuck did the framing himself and I think he did a GREAT job!! (He had help from Sherm) This was a HUGE surprise and a wonderful gift.

The funny part was...I bought him a photographic work of art, too! Only slightly less well known than Monte Nagler, this work is by my good friend Christian Hunold. I just loved it when I saw it and knew that Chuck would like it also!

Oh yeah, that's a beaver!! So cute, right?! Anywho...now we both have gorgeous artworks to hang on the wall and enjoy all the time. Yay!

The Christmas Box.

So, I came home the other night to a random cardboard box sitting in the dining room. Unwrapped and sealed by one strip of packing tape, I was informed that this was one of my Christmas presents. I responded by saying that I did not believe it to be very fair - a large unwrapped box occupying the dining room like a sweet morsel of Christmas goodness. It was a temptation that I feared I would be unable to resist. Little did I know that the temptation would be too great for the Christmas animals!!

They are clearly very organized...

Note the directions:

Beaver - Captain

Moose #1 - Opener

Moose #2 - Back-Up Opener

Dog - Lookout

1. Use horns to rip tape

2. Use horns to open box

3. Eat whatever is in box

4. Blame it on the cats

Ah yes, the animals strike yet again this Christmas!!

Animals Strike Again

These daggon Christmas animals. Every year, they escape from their basement enclosure to appear suddenly in the fridge, my sock drawer, or some other random location. And, each year, they find their way into our very limited alcohol stash for some out of control Christmas animal fun. It never fails that their fun excursions go bad...like last year.

Of course, this year...they struck again.

This time, they decided that a game of beer pong would be fun.

Unfortunately, it devolved quickly and nearly became fatal as they went to fisticuffs and a knife duel. See, it appears that the Penguin has the hots for one of the Turkeys. It was suggested that since it's past Thanksgiving, that the turkeys should be sent back to their box in the basement. In a West Side Story type twist, the Penguin defended his darling Gobbles and a duel ensued.

The good news is that the Beaver passed out before any real damage could be done, so it was mostly just an evening of threatening posturing. Still...these guys are so much trouble.

Sigh.

Average Power Workout

So, my coach recently gave me a winter workout to complete. He's normally such a nice guy, but this workout is just mean! I think that perhaps he was possessed by a demon that enjoys knowing that it has tortured it's victims to the breaking point. I appreciate that demon, I just can't say that I like it very much!

The workout involves average power output. So...to simplify, I have to build my average power up about 30 points in an hour. When you look at the numbers, it really doesn't seem to be so bad. However, the reality of doing this workout successfully has been hanging over my head like a dark cloud for weeks. I'm certain that part of the problem was just mental. I don't WANT to be hurting this bad right now, so.... The other part of it was figuring out how this thing will work - getting the gearing right, my food and liquid intake right and... getting the right distractions going in the bike room.

So...here's what I came up with.

1. Put on a climbing stage of the tour and hit mute

2. Set the ipod to shuffle on my newest playlist (Metric, The Killers, Phoenix, Muse, etc.) and turn it UP.

3. Get a good breakfast/lunch/snack.

4. Fill the bottles with Orbana or CeraSport! At the moment, I'm out of CeraSport (order will be placed right after the holidays!), so I'm working with the Orbana!

Despite the fact that I failed this workout the first couple of times that I attempted it, I am finally able to say that I've got it! I have finally gotten the rhythm to this workout. And, there is NO doubt that it's going to pay off. The last 15 minutes of this thing is a world of pain. Just like the last 15 minutes of every Pro/1/2 race I was in last year. So...I'll just keep this thing on the schedule for a while. Let's hope it gets me ready for 2011!

Yipes!

Wowza...two weeks have gone by and I have NO IDEA where they went?! The days have seemed shorter than ever lately and my time seems to disappear under piles of papers, exams, quizzes, and my own writing! YIPES! I can't really complain because in a week, I will essentially be decompressing into vacation mode until the middle of January, but for now, I resemble in many ways a chicken with its head cut off. Running about wildly, trying to finish everything up in time to submit grades and still trying to enjoy some time!

Thinking about New Year's resolutions for this year already. I think that they are going to be bike-performance related resolutions. I'm thinking of the following:

- cutting out caffeine. This will send me into an energy detox downward spiral for a bit, but I think that it's a healthy choice that I can live with.

- cutting out alcohol. This one will be terrible - because there's really nothing I love more than a nice glass of wine when I'm cooking and eating a delicious meal.

- busting my hump at the gym and on the bike. This is going to be a big year. As a domestique, I'm going to have some powerful sprinters and climbers counting on my legs this year. I want to be the best teammate I can be and that means figuring out a way to drop some pounds and increase my power so that I can rip the legs off of all the other women in the peloton. I'm going to get really anal retentive this year and construct a calendar that lays out my days in such a way that I can't help but get ready for Battenkill in April!

Well, there it is. My New Year's resolutions for 2011.