5 Days Until my first race

I'm not really nervous, I would say I'm more excited. It's probably because I know I'm not going to be competitive, so there's no pressure.

The Toronto Islands Triathlon sold out earlier last week. That means 400 athletes for the main event, the triathlon (750m swim, 30km bike, 7.5km run). I'm doing the swim and bike in relay with a friend, who will do the running. It's going to be great to finally have an idea of what happens during this event. The only competitions I've been participating to before, were swimming (pool only), so it's going to be quite different!

Yesterday, we went to the islands to have a look at the course. Flat and Fast! I was able to average 30km per hour on my tri bike (when I didn't have to slow down for people walking around), which is pretty good for me, considering I haven't trained as much as I should have.

Also, it was raining and windy. It was my first training ride in the rain! I know, I'm a chicken, and I prefer to be comfortable! But at least I'll know how it is if we don't have a nice day on the 18th. I had a look at the beach where the swimming will be. Because of the wind, it was really choppy. Kinda ocean-like, with waves crashing noisily on the beach. Oh well, if it's like that, it's going to be like that for everybody else! :)

So far the forecast for next weekend is good, but we can't rely on that too much...

The islands are a huge park, where there are no cars, except for the maintenance crew. I suppose that there will be race officials clearing the path from people on race day. In that case I'm pretty sure I will have a good avg speed.

I'm a bit nervous about the drafting rules, but I think I'll be fine. Also, I'm more comfortable with the clipless pedals, I don't think it's going to be an issue. I might just look a bit weird mounting my bike after T1, because I still have difficulty to clip-in quickly, but at least I've got platforms to be able to pedal even if I'm not clipped in yet. :)

As for the position on the bike, I've done many adjustments to bring my weight back to center. It was too much forward and most of my weight was resting on my hands. That caused some trouble in my right index...you can read about it here. So I raised my handlebars, tilted my seat upwards a bit, and there's a huge difference. I still feel that my finger is not totally happy with that though (really not bad compared to the last time), so I think I'm going to tilt the handlebars to bring them horizontal (right now they're pointing slightly downwards).

Yesterday ended up being my first ride where I really enjoyed the tri bike. I still have to get into aero position, but I think I'll be confident enough to use them during the race. I was almost there, having my left arm resting on the aero bars, but I was a bit uncertain because of the people walking/biking around. I don't have brakes on aero position, so I'm being extra careful. It's something I might want to upgrade on my bike in the future.

Today is rest day. I did yoga, and the rest of the day is work, work work! tomorrow I have a swim planned, but I might cancel it to get to an open water swim on Wednesday. So maybe it's going to be bike tomorrow. I'll see.

I can't wait for next Saturday, it's going to be awesome! I will probably update my blog again before the race.

Numb, Numb and Still Numb

I've had my bike for over 6 months now, but I haven't ridden it much outside yet. There was winter, and I did a lot of indoor training, but come spring, I took my mtb out for rides instead of my tri bike, the main reason is that my seat was very uncomfortable. So now I got a new saddle (Fizik) which I love very much, and there's no more reason not to go out with that bike.

I guess I'm a chicken , I just started using the clipless pedals and that was very scary for me at first. It took me a lot of kicks in the butt to get out there with my tri bike. I love biking, but I'm far from being comfortable, compared to my mtb.

In fact, today was my second time only. Clipless was fine, didn't have a problem and I can really appreciate how useful they are. I didn't talk about my first ride with clipless yet, but that story will be coming soon.

Of course I'm not very confident, and I suppose it's going to take a while. But the main problem is that after only a couple of minutes, my right index finger became numb, especially the tip, and it made me even less confident about controlling my bike. I suppose aero position would be more comfortable, but don't get me started on this one, I'm far from that point right now! So after a 25 minutes ride only, I came back home.

My finger is still a bit numb now, 2 hours after my ride, and I was wondering what might cause that. If it was my bike fit (and I got a bike fit at my LBS), than I thought I would have felt something in both hands if my weight was too much forward (which I found out is wrong)...I also wear biking gloves with a very good padding.

So I discussed on the Trifuel forum about my problems, and here's the feedback I got.

Problem #1: There might be too much weight on my hands, caused by either my seat angle pointing downwards, or by my handlebars being too low. This could be compressing some nerve.

Problem #2: My grip is too tight. But without confidence, I don't see very much how I can loosen up a bit. Hey, I'm just holding on for dear life here! :p No but seriously, I think I'm a bit too stressed, but you can't blame me, it's a lot of new things at the same time for me!

So, I'll have to experiment a bit I suppose, but I also don't want to damage any nerve. I'm hoping that numbness goes away quickly! I think it's getting better...or am I just getting used to it?

The Wetsuit Challenge

Last weekend I got my first wetsuit!

I should be excited about it, but in reality I'm not that thrilled. Don't get me wrong, I can't wait to swim in the lake, to feel the openness and the waves. As opposed to most people, open water swimming is very attracting to me. It's a synonym of liberty and fighting the elements.

Much more appealing than the line at the bottom of the pool, which I've gotten really bored of lately.

I hear you: What's the problem?

Short explanation: Arthritis

Longer explanation:
I've had a really hard time to try on the different wetsuits. In fact, I couldn't put them on, I had to ask my husband to pull them up. My fingers wouldn't cooperate.
These dawn fingers!! This is the one thing that has been annoying me the most lately. I suppose I shouldn't complain, because I used to be much worse than that, and now in comparison, I'm doing so good! But the reality is that once you get better, it's not enough. You want more, you want it to be perfect. At least that's how I feel.

See, the thing is, with bad knees, or ankles, it's possible to compensate by improving the muscles around and make these muscles bear the weight and absorb the impact to lower the stress on the joints. How do you do that for fingers?? I have yet to find a method/exercise/stretching that will help to improve these. So that means my fingers aren't in sync with the rest of my body. They're weak, and painful.

I'm trying to be positive and remind myself that I was sweating a lot, and that it just got stuck on my body, that most people probably have as much difficulty to put them on at first, that I will get used to it and will find effective and painless methods. But part of me believes that I will always need my husband to help me put it on! Not that I don't like my husband's presence and help, but I like not to depend on anybody.

I'm hoping that the first open water swim will just erase that negative part of the wetsuit. I will find out soon, as the group open water swimming in Ontario lake starts on June 13. Hopefully, I will have a chance to try it before that, it would be a shame to just let it sit in the closet for another 2 weeks! :)

Bike Show and Sore Throat

I've had a very nice week-end, including relaxing with my husband, going to the spring bike show and working of course! The bike show was great, and it didn't cost more than $300! My husband bought bike shoes and pedals, and I couldn't resist a bike tank top and a pair of good gloves. We've been really reasonable. Here's my wish list for Easter, or whatever Holiday that would be a good reason to give a gift! (not intended for my husbands, he knows I'm just dreaming a bit here)

-A good saddle
-A wetsuit
-Prescription swimming goggles
-Prescription bike sunglasses
-An aero hydration system
-A tri suit
-A new hrm (mine isn't beeping anymore when I get out of my target zone, I have to borrow my husband's oversized watch)
-I could find more stuff I want easily, but these would probably be my priorities (in order)

Yes, I want all this stuff and yet I didn't train this weekend. At All. Well a 10 minutes fitness evaluation on Saturday if that counts... I've had a sore throat since Friday night. A bad one, on one side only, and the pain is going up to my ear on the same side. I think it's getting better. I tried to get more rest. Anyway, if it's still there tomorrow, I'm going to see the Doc.

I know most people say that if the area affected is over the shoulders you can still train, but I'm not sure if it applies to everybody. My medication lowers my immune system. So I gotta give it all the chances to recover when I'm hit with something. Amazingly, this year is the best year I've ever had. Maybe if you read my previous posts it doesn't sound that great, but believe me, I'm in the best shape I've ever been, and I love it!

Toronto Bike Show this week-end

I forgot to mention that it's the week-end for the Toronto Bike show, and I'm going tomorrow! It started today, and ends on Sunday. I went at the last Fall blowout sale, and it was quite expensive for me (bikes, trainer, etc), but they were all good deals. The interesting thing about the spring show is that it's not only deals, it's also indoor dirt course competitions, for mountain bikers, BMX and freestyle.

There are also displays for different bike clubs, and also registration for events occurring throughout the year.

I don't want to spend any money during this show, except maybe for a pair of new gloves and biking shoes for my hubby, but it's really worth going! :)

My first time...

So much happened since the last time I wrote that I was postponing on writing about everything.

First of all, training last week was not so good. Change of temperature, laziness and the prospect of dipping my feet in water early on the dark mornings held me back too much. I also had difficulty with going early to bed, so I was not starting really fresh on mornings.

Another thing: I have to resist the snooze button! Not so long ago, I was a night hawk. I really love getting up early and feeling I actually accomplish things during my day, but apparently, I forgot about it and have to relearn some things. I started better this week (biked on Monday and this morning, and swam yesterday)! Actually, I had some extra motivation: new toys!

It was Toronto’s fall bike show this week-end. An inventory blow-out sale…I knew before getting there it would be hard to resist. I didn’t know at what point though! My first idea when I decided to commit to an Aquabike, was to do my first couple of races on my mountain bike. I’ve never had a road bike in my life, and I knew I would like to get one eventually, I just didn’t know how soon I could.

Hubby, being very supportive, helped a lot with the decisions on that day…Ouch for the wallet, but hey you should have seen my smile! :-) I was in fact alternating between smiles and shaking my head…

So my first idea was to get a road bike. And I got one. Entry level Specialized Allez, satisfying and was running quite smooth. Also didn’t hurt too much the budget (750$ CAD taxes in for brand new). Once I got that, we started thinking: if I get a bike right now, might as well get a trainer, so that I can ride it as much as possible, especially during winter…So we start looking for a good trainer. We spot one, a fluid CycleOps for 300$ CAD + tax (usually worth 400$). We decide that we want to go (again) around the different kiosks to check if there are better prices for the same trainer. There’s a lot of competition in there, so might as well try to take advantage of it!

So my bb, comes back to me after a couple of minutes, and asks me to follow him. Cool, he found a good deal! Well, yeah, it was a good deal: a tri bike! Arg! I had my bike already! I was not shopping for a bike anymore! So my husband decided to keep my road bike for himself, and I got an entry level 2005 never used tri bike (Quintana Roo) for (900$ CAD taxes in.) plus a fluid trainer for 260$ taxes in. Boy, what a day!

And it was not over, I had to get biking shoes + pedals, another computer…So it ended up being pretty expensive, but I’m almost done with guilt by now.

Was a tri bike necessary? Definitely not! Especially because I’m not doing the running portion. But my idea was to buy an entry level bike and upgrade in a couple of years, so meanwhile I’ll have a bit of fun.

I’m a road/tri bike virgin! Never rode them, never even try clipless before!

So this week I did some experiment. The first time I tried to unclip, I simply wasn’t able to. Good thing I got that trainer! :-) The second time, I hurt my ankle. Then I checked if the release tension was at the minimum. Did some adjustment here and there, and it is better. I still don’t think I’m ready for a ride out there, as I have difficulty to unclip quickly, but I’m getting there.

This morning, I did one leg drills. Oof I have some work to do with my left leg! As expected, it’s my weak leg, and I’m quite clumsy with it. Not only am I a rightie, but it’s also the left side that was first affected when I was a kid. I wore crutches often and was relying on my right leg most of the time. So it’s pretty cool that I can now focus on improving this side!

I also tried the aero position. Thank god, I already have a good core and my back seems to support it pretty well. I can also guess I’ll be scared to death trying that on the road. I’ll have to get used to the position first. It’ll probably take me a while to get confident enough. Once I get there, I know the main difficulty will be with my neck, to look forward while riding and still try to be comfortable.
Any exercise ideas to reinforce that area?

Oh, and I also need to give a name to my bike! Got any idea for the tri bike? By the way, it’s a she; I reserve the masculine name for my mtn bike. :-)