Wow - sidetracked!!

It has been over a month since I updated!! Not Good!!!!! I have been really busy though. First - I HAVE MET MY MINIMUM FUNDRAISING GOAL!!! WOOHOO - Super excited because now I can actually spend more time on the bike and less time trying to get money. The main reason I haven't updated in way over a month is because of the fundraising. I spend the majority of my time getting items, promoting and organizing two huge yard sales and then relisting on craigslist and meeting (or should I saying waiting for that never show) people to buy the leftovers. I also did two home parties and a yoga fundraiser as well. I am so glad that part is done.

Back to the training - Back at the beginning of September I completed by first 51 mile ride with a significant climb in it. The ride leaves from Reedley and heads out and up to the Sandcreek store. I did it! Only one fall the entire day, on a restart on a hill. When I got home my sis dug two hug pieces of gravel out of my knee - should have got a couple of stitches -oh well! Now I will have an awesome scar. :) The next weekend I was in LA to visit family. The following weekend I missed the ride because of a migraine from HELL!!! And the last weekend in Sept was spent doing yet another fundraiser – mixed in with a complete emotional breakdown. (I won’t go into details but I was a mess and ready to throw myself off a bridge.) The finally we get to the month of October and what happens – the weather changes and I get sick – so I miss yet another ride. During this whole period I was able to keep going to my personal training sessions with my coach who turned the sessions into interval sessions – so at least I was on my bike. Road time for the entire month of Sept was less than a hundred miles – ouch!

So now we get to October 10, I finally get to meet up with the team for an organized ride we were doing out of Exeter. The 4th annual Cycle the Sierra put on the by Southern Sierra Cyclist group as a fundraiser for a couple charities in Visalia. The team was doing the metric century, roughly 72 miles skirting the foothills and up to a couple of big climbs and back. I was excited to get started again and was doing great till we started the first “little” climb of the day at about mile 4. I did the first little part fine but the exertion caused me to start coughing hard. Hard enough that I was starting to gag and choke. The coughing was slowing me down some much that I couldn’t keep a good cadence going to climb. So I stopped to catch my breath. One of my coaches then stopped to check on me and suggested that I do the shorter 42 mile ride instead because there was no way I was going to be able to do the climbs for the day. Relieved that I wasn’t going to die – I turned back and did the 42 mile route. It was a flatter route with only a handful of little short climbs – that had a little bite to them. I met a couple of really nice guys on the course who I ended up riding with the entire day. Did the route and in finished at about 12:30. On the flat smooth roads I was maintaining 16.2 easily. That felt great! The average speed for the day ended up being 13.1 or so because of the nasty, potholed roads. Tulare County needs to seriously invest in some road repairs. Nash, one of the guys I was riding with said that the roads were picked to make it feel more “tour de France” in style. The French can keep their cobblestone roads!! Overall it was a great ride for me.

I am still dealing with some physical issues on the bike. I still experience numbness on my left hand in my pinkie finger. Apparently I am compressing the ulnar nerve – which is not good and if I don’t remedy it soon I could have some major damage. I am also experiencing numbness in my toes. All ten go numb starting from the pinkie toe in to the big toe beginning around mile 20 or so – depends on the amount force I am putting the pedals. Then by mile 35 or so the numbness is turning into sharp, burning, pain. It feels like the circulation is being cut of slowly to each toe by the twisting or tightening of a string- yet my toes are not constricted at all. If anything, my shoes might be too big. I have enough room in them to have an extra set of toes. :) The pain goes away almost immediately upon standing. I really need to figure out what it causing this and fix it. I can’t do a century when I can only tolerate 50 miles at the most. The pain is too severe to ride through – it just intensifies with each mile. I stop, the pain stops, I start up again and the pain is back within a mile or so with the same intensity as it was when I stopped.

Well, I hope you enjoyed the really long update. I will try to keep it more current!

Goals & Life

It has been weeks since I blogged here. Why? Because life gets complicated, time passes and before you know it you’re lying awake at night trying to figure out why things still aren’t where you want them. Here is a recap of the past few weeks:

Late May/Early June - Signed up with an awesome personal trainer to help get me back on track. Sessions are going well and I have gained some strength and lost some inches. The workouts have also done wonders for my ankle – I am actually able to run again and to jump!!

Early June – Started working full time (yuck!) My job is pretty stressful and it takes a lot of me during the day and makes it really hard to be motivated to workout at night. I can’t wait to go back to part time in Sept.

Early June - Signed up with Team in Training for Solvang’s Finest Century on November 14, 2009. Borrowed a bike – but never made it out for any rides. I know, total slacker. How am I supposed to ride 100 miles when I can’t even get out for a short 15 miler during the week.

Mid July – Signed up with a nutritionist. Cut the coffee habit by 2/3rd (down to two cups a day) and increased the water intake (120 ounces). Also cut the carbs way back and working on increasing the protein. It is really hard to get 80 – 90 grams of protein in when you don’t eat meat. Right now I am experimenting with some protein shakes and bars. Good news here is that I have lost 8.2 lbs since starting with the nutritionist. Stepping back and taking a hard look at what I am eating and the portion sizes has been really enlightening. Now if I can just get dialed in on ride day nutrition.

July 18 – Fun Ride with Team in Training. We did a short ride (13.5 miles) out from Clovis around Appaloosa Loop and back. Felt great to be back on the bike. I tried clipping in and out for the first time. It was going well until we restarted after a short break and the laces on my shoes got caught in the pedals. I ended up hitting the ground, skinning my elbow, twisting my injured ankle and getting a ton of bruises. Needless to say, I went out and got new pedals and cycling shoes the next day.

Week of July 18-25 – Spent a lot of time organizing some fund-raisers and got my fund-raising letters and first round of e-mails out. My goal is $3,000. I hope to see some fund rolling in soon!! We also had the Kick-Off for the season this week. It was great to be there again and see friends! I am really excited about this season and where we are all headed.

July 25 – First official coached training. Coach put my new pedals on and a couple of other coaches worked with me on clipping in and out and stopping. By the end of the training I felt pretty confident about clipping. We started off the day with a nutrition clinic. Great information and quickly pointed out that I had totally started my day off wrong. A piece of coffee cake and a coffee does not make for a good training day. We moved on to some other clinics (emergency breaking, looking over the shoulder, and tire changing) and then went for a ride. This time we went down the Eaton Trail to where Old Friant and New Friant meet. I was not in a good place. Right after we started my calves started cramping. I couldn’t even turn the pedals over. I toughed it out and finished the ride. It was hell and it was my fault. I botched the diet and the workouts! What a Wakeup Call!! On the upside, I did finish the first training ride which is further than I got last season.

July 26 – GOT MY OWN BIKE!! I got a Giant OCR 1 and it is awesome. I fit this bike a lot better than the one I was borrowing and that should make for a much more comfortable ride. I will be taking the bike in to Momentum Cycling on the 29th for a fitting. SUPER EXCITED!!!

July 27 – Back to my personal trainer who happens to be my cycling coach. Recapped everything I did wrong – poor diet and major lack of cardio. I felt awful, I feel like I let coach down and myself. Guilt is a major motivator!! Had a great workout in the end and left with a lot of changes to implement. Intervals are going to be my new best friend.

Well that is what I have been up to for the past few weeks. I have been really busy but it has not all been good. I really have to prioritize my goals so that I can be successful, if I don’t, I will only be setting myself up for failure.

Keep checking in as I will be trying to keep this updated a couple times a week with training details and fund-raising status and events and other great stuff.

I AM CRAZY!

Dear Friends and Family,

I hope this finds you all well and in good spirits. After my AMAZING and WONDERFUL experience at the Nike Women’s Marathon last October with Team in Training, I have decided to do a century bike ride (yes – 100 miles on a little tiny bike seat) in order to help raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I feel strongly about the LLS mission and it isn’t very often that we get the opportunity to do something that will make a difference in the lives of others. Here is the official description of what I will be doing on November 14, 2009:

“Riders will experience the very best of the Santa Inez valley and then head out to points beyond. This figure eight style course starts with a tour of Solvang, Los Olivos, Ballard and Santa Ynez, and then heads up the well-known Foxen Canyon. The route then loops back around towards Solvang via Zaca Station, Hwy 154 and beautiful Ballard Canyon. Then riders head south towards Buellton and veer off on the famous Avenue of the Flags which becomes Santa Rosa Road. Taking the back roads of Lompoc, riders will head up and over Harris Grade and drop back down to Hwy 135 towards the great little western antique haven of Los Alamos. From Los Alamos, riders encounter the last big climb of the day, up and over Drum Canyon, a quiet, twisty, 800 foot, 3.4 mile ascent. Drum Canyon has a steep, technical downhill, so please pay close attention to your speed. Once you reach the bottom, you'll hop onto Hwy 246 back to Buellton, with a big shoulder all the way to town! 100 miles with 4,900 feet of climbing.”

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is a national voluntary health agency dedicated to curing leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma while improving the quality of life of patients and their families. Leukemia is the number one killing disease of children under the age of 15, yet affects 10 times as many adults. The cause of leukemia remains unknown. However, the effectiveness of recently developed treatment methods and steady advances in research brings us closer every day to finding the cause of leukemia and related cancers and probable cures.

I will begin my training for this 100-mile journey through the help of professional Team in Training coaches. I have started my training and I will soon be on my bike 4-5 days a week! Some of you might think that I am crazy for volunteering to do this ride, but what I will have to endure in the next 20+ weeks pales in comparison to what these kids and adults go through on a daily basis. Just one example of how children battle cancer is Bryna Nathan, a sweet little 8-year old who has endured two long and painful bouts of leukemia. The first time she was diagnosed, she was just a toddler. When she was diagnosed the second time, research had advanced so much that they were able to determine that she had a genetic marker that makes chemo not work as well. Knowing this, the doctors were able to design a better treatment plan and she is now cancer-free. Bryna and her mom Gina are two amazing people who have touched my life deeply.

This season I am committed to raising $3,500.00 to support The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and helping raise the necessary money toward finding a cure for leukemia. Over 75% of all funds raised go directly to research and patient services. Your contribution is 100% tax deductible. Please help support me by giving generously. Monetary donations are a powerful way to be involved when you can’t give your time.

I AM MOTIVATED! I AM COMMITTED! I WILL DO IT!

I truly appreciate your kindness and thank you from the bottom of my heart! Feel free to call or e-mail me to wish me good luck on this incredible journey. You can also keep track of my training on my blog at http://trainingwithchandra.blogspot.com and leave me messages of encouragement (Which really help on those hard days!!). GO TEAM GO!!!!