Bike Crash

Well, I knew it had to happen eventually. Hopefully, I have paid my dues now. I was coming down the Kanc, in the pouring rain, low vis, following and fell in a hole while in the aerobars. I lost control, went down and skid across the yellow line, jumped up, saw cars coming in the distance, grabbed my bike and ran to the other side of the road which was closer. I paced, walking, wondering how I felt ok. Then I wanted to lie down, so I sat. My hand hurt, it was cut up, one really deep one, but I was so lucky! No cars ran me down, the wet roads made me slide well enough to get very light road burn, and my GSTC heavy jacket took the brunt of the tearing on my arm. Only my left elbow got torn up. My ribs hurt, my left leg had some burns, but now I know why I am called Luckee triathlete! My bike had not a scratch to the new frame, just the left handlebars got torn up, nothing some new tape cant fix. My friends were wonderful, flagged down a ride, checking me, driving me, calling me.
The Kanc has scored 2 points on me. I can still remember the freezing cold dark ride down the Kanc 2 years ago now. This time it was horrible pavement. And they sell the Kanc as a great ride for bikers, of the cycling variety.

Canterbury XC 5k at Shaker Village

Great course! Great cool day! looked like rain but didnt happen during the race. Usually this kind of weather gives me a great race but not today. Loved the course! All off road, hilly, all different terrain, mud, but even with a nice warm-up, I had some breathing issues the whole race. I started with a 4 count exhale, 1 count exhale, determined to see how well I could run a race with my breathing under control. I realized after 1-2 miles that I needed to do 4-2 for a race. I felt better but then up the last hill, I mustve picked it up some, thinking it was near the end, when a bit attack hit, dry heaving over and over, gasping desperately for breath inbetween heaves, I had to stop then walk a bit. it went away and i went back to running but came in 22nd in my age group with a final time of 29 minutes! I do not know why I had this asthma attack! It was not hot, it probably was humid, I warmed up, I was dressed properly in shorts and a tank and it was maybe 55 degrees. I did my buteyko breathing. I havent taken any asthma meds in a long time, almost a year. Here was the days allergy forcast/pollen count:

Predominant Pollen: Oak, Birch and Ash.
Outlook
Concentration of pollen grains in the air for Tuesday will be unchanged in the high range. Constant and seasonally normal weather conditions tend to stabilize pollen concentrations in the outdoor air.
Today
Concentration of pollen grains in the air for Monday will be increasing in the high range. Since the weather has a major influence on pollen dispersal, this increase is due in part to drier air.The increase Monday could spell trouble for allergy sufferers.
Allergy Fact
The greatest danger to allergy sufferers in the garden is not pollen from ornamental plants, it is mold that can grow on the surface of the dirt. When soil is disturbed by digging or weeding, mold spores are released into the air. To avoid undue exposure to mold, gardeners sensitive to mold should not dig just after it rains, when mold is at its peak.

The mold thing is interesting, the race was just after rain, and the ground was all mowed and mixed up by all the runners. Maybe I really do have an allergy?

The whole race my body was not in any pain, not even from doing Crank the kanc the day before, but my breathing was labored from the start. hard to breathe. Frustrating.

Crank the Kank '09 Race report

I noticed, while lubing my bike first thing in the am, that the deraileur had fallen again, not too bad, but once it starts....it hit when changing from ring to ring ont he front. I thought Brian would be at the race but he wasnt. I did the fix myself, and it held the whole race but in the process I stripped the deraileur bolt. I also screwed up the tire size on the computer while racing and played with that during the race. I learned how to change it from kms to miles which I had screwed up earlier, but as a result I had no usable mileage readout or speed during the race. My race number was 182 out of 200 so I had to wait a long time before I started. I used buteyko breathing the whole way, except maybe I forgot on some of the final hill. I had a small attack at the top, but it was no biggie and ended quickly, using buteyko to stop it. I had a time of 1:31/1:32 but officially they said I did 1:26. Their time was 16 minutes better than last year! I thought it was 11 minutes better. I reached the bottom of the hill at 59 minutes, where last year I thought I had hit it at 1 hour but it is no definite point that I can think of now. I never felt like I worked as hard as I did last year, could be breathing? The new bike? The new helmet? My legs were tired during the first hour and I couldve gone faster probably, having a properly working computer and deraileur would help alot. My goal for next year: 1:26 or better.

Swimming thoughts

I discovered how much faster I can go if I keep my head down and use my wrist to start the catch up farther (which Suzan kept telling me), being careful to keep my hand up at the top of the water in front.