Three days with Team Vera Bradley Foundation

Team Vera Bradley Foundation. I am on the right in the red vest and white sleeves (not to be confused with the Canadian road champion in all red).

A few weeks ago, I was informed that I had won a freebie from U.S. cycling website CycleTo. The prize -usually an autographed photo, pair or socks or team bag - was instead an invitation to ride with a professional women’s cycling team for a day. Because I live in Texas and training camp for Team Vera Bradley Foundation was in California, I thought there would be no way to justify the distance and expense. Luckily for me, the team granted me permission to hang out with them for a few extra days, so I cobbled together a last-minute itinerary and headed for San Jose.

Team VBF is a fund- and awareness-raising arm of the Vera Bradley Foundation for Breast Cancer, which turns over 100% of the money it raises to cancer research at the Indiana University hospital in Indianapolis. As far as I can tell, it’s the first and only professional cycling team to not only represent a cause, but to actively solicit donations for it.

I was able to follow them through their team training lives: visiting the headquarters of Specialized bicycles, eating meals with them at the team house and riding with them on Saturday for over four hours. Fortunately, it was a training ride, allowing me to keep up through most of the beautiful, forested hills near the California coast. On the last climb, when I began to slip back, two of the cyclists took turns pushing me on the back and shouting words of genuine encouragement. It was a dream come true.

Each and every member of Team VBF is an inspiration, as they race to win on top of lives, jobs and families and are just downright nice people. Unlike most pro men’s teams, they don’t make enough money racing bikes to sustain themselves. They don’t get to stay in hotels and don’t have huge team busses. They make their own meals and prepare their own water bottles. They tell me it’s not as glamorous as we might think, but they passionately love what they do.

Team VBF includes the reigning U.S. National Racing Calendar points champion (Alison Powers), the Canadian Road champion, the Israeli road champion, a two-time U.S. national criterium champion and an Australian time trial champion. They also have a first-year pro, a 38-year old with a full time job and a college student who races for three different teams while working toward a business-related double-major.

You can read stories from each day, behind-the-scenes tales of how women’s pro racing works and see tons of photos at my website: Mellow Velo | Red Lantern Racing

Me and pro cyclist Carrie Cash. I'm reppin' my favorite SUGOI jersey.

We’ve had a heinous winter in Philly. I had to substitute walking in deep snow, for bike workouts outdoors! I just haven’t been able to get on the rollers. However, I have heard songbirds. I have seen robins. I even saw gnats at the track. Spring is nearly here!

I rode for over 7 hours last week. My fitness is definitely improving. My Wallaroo socks have gotten alot of use. I’m ready to get off my hybrid and ride my rode bike. CYO track season has begun, and I’m enjoying working with the kids. It always feels good to get outside. I can’t wait to get my hands on some new Sugoi Brand Champion gear. I only raced once last year as a Brand Champion. I’m looking forward to competing and spreading the word, about Sugoi gear.

I love SUGOI! The last few months have been busy with some incredible events and I am so honored to be representing SUGOI! Two weeks ago we finally got a return to normal weather in Atlanta and I was able to get out for a thirty miler with my friend Molly. It was about 58 degrees, and seemed warm in the sunshine but I was glad I wore my Brand Champions Arm Warmers. The first photo is of me in complete team kit at our bathroom stop at mile 15. The Sugoi RS Bib Knickers were perfect for that temperature and for protecting my sensitive parts - if you know what I mean; They are the best shorts on the market.

I joined a new CrossFit gym, CrossFit On The Move in East Atlanta. It just opened in January and we are having a great time pushing our limits. In early February we participated in the Garage Games, an unofficial CrossFit competition. The games were outdoors and it was raining, snowing, sleeting and freezing all at the same time. One of the events was a 5K trail run which included a river crossing - twice!!! Numerous competitors took face plants; I was fortunate not too and found that my Brand Champion arm warmers were perfect as midway through the run I got hot so I rolled them down. After the two river crossings I chilled out so the warmers were perfect. The rest of the weekend was a continuation of misery and pushing our bodies to the limits and then going a little farther. I had a blast with my team and achieved my goal of not fininshing last. I was the oldest competitor by at least eight years so I was proud that I did not suck the most.

Last week, my CrossFit gym (box) participated in Rumble at the Rock - the Georgia Sectional qualifiers for the CrossFit games. Sort of like a qualifier to see who is craziest. We participated in the team competition with two teams and over the course of two days competed in three events including one called the Jackhammer (use your imagination). My Sugoi RS Run Shorts were perfect! I was wishing I had my compression tights but I have not ordered them yet.  I ran into the guy with the old school tiger stripe Hammer style pants and just had to take a photo.The only thing missing from his ensemble was the fanny pack. I am starting a fund to purchase him one. Email me for information on the “Save The Tiger” fund.

After the Rumble, I went to the Triathlon Expo at Concourse Athletic Club. It was packed and I am excited to compete this year. I ran into Sugoi Rep. extraordinaire, Drew Burke, who had the spring Sugoi line on display. All I can say is we have some new colors, styles, and material that blows away the competition! Thank you Drew for letting me hang out with you and for teaching me all about Sugoi!

I am still contemplating purchasing a new carbon fiber bike with a taller head tube. I thought I had purchased a 2009 Cervelo RS, but apparently someone else got there first. If anyone has any advice on the RS, or the Infinito by Bianchi please let me know. If you have a 2008 or 2009 56cm Cervelo RS at a screaming price - hook a brother up!

My birthday is coming up, and last year I promised that I would post before and after photos of myself getting back in shape. I am not where I want to be yet but making progress. This year the shirtless photo may appear.

Great training to all!

Dear all,

The Ride to Conquer Cancer is a team effort - in 2009 our IBM-OCI Integrative Discovery Team raised $59,501, and 3,530 riders raised over $14.5 million for cancer research at the Princess Margaret Hospital. This is an incredible achievement considering the tough economy. Multiple companies, including Sugoi, helped us achieve this goal - http://www.cs.utoronto.ca/~juris/gallery.htm

On Thursday, March 11 at 6 p.m. in Crocodile Rock in Toronto - we will have a fundraising event. Join is for the entertainment and finger foods - and consider joining our team - http://www.conquercancer.ca/goto/IBM-OCI-TEAM.  You can drop in for 1/2 hour or stay the whole night and enjoy the festivities.

sincerely,

Igor

Well, that was fun. And, according to my Garmin, I had a PB of 54 seconds! Woo hoo.

(map and details here)

Up early after a reasonable sleep which saw me only getting up once in the morning to let the dog into the house at 5am (usually it’s 3:30). A bit of granola with yogurt, double and triple checking the gear, and then out the door to next door to grab the ex and the boy.

The drive out to Fort Langley was very quick, parking, not so much. A couple of times around the block, dithering about the legality of certain spots, and finally saying screw this and parking near a ditch. All and all, a success.

In to the Visitor’s building to hit the loo where there was a nazi like hallway monitor who was content to let the womens line go around the building, but wasn’t thrilled that the mens line stuck out a few feet. She was funnier than disruptive though and provided a bit of a laugh to the folks around me in line.

Over into the Fort and we ran into pretty well everyone I knew who was running. The mood was good and the air was chilly, just about perfect really.

After the gun it took a bit more than 1 minute to get to the start line, given the number of people and the size of the start chute this isn’t surprising. I hit the button on the Garmin as I crossed over (not something I always remember, duh) and boom, I was off.

The kiddo I had pegged to beat me by 5 minutes, and given that he’d missed some training runs I had revised my estimate of his time from sub 1:45 to sub 1:50. Turns out I was off by a bit on my latter assessment.

I had a decision to make for myself though, treat this as a training run and aim for an easily paced sub 2:00. Kick it a bit and aim for a sub 1:55. Or go hard and aim for sub 1:50. 1:45 I figured was out of my grasp right now as I just haven’t done the right type of training.

I decided to aim for 1:55 and that meant not running with Jackie who was going for a sub 2:00 with some folks from the Running Room.

Of course Jackie went out at sub 5s (sub 5:00/km pace) and I was holding back to keep from staying up with her. I didn’t think I’d be able to hold it if I pushed through and just followed.

The first hill hit somewhere after 4km and was immediately followed by a nice drop. Unfortunately I’d seen the leaders come back along the top so I knew that we were just losing elevation only to have to find it again. And we did, almost right away. The first significant hill crested at just before 6km and my pace wasn’t slackening off much at all.

Down the hill and steady pace until just after 8km when my run partner backed off the pace a bit. I still had Jackie and group in sight, but I’d lost the kiddo about 6km in as he’d pulled away from them. At 8km the average speed was at 5:15s. Fast for my goal for the day, but my pride didn’t want me to lose site of Jackie. Body and brain were saying to slow down a bit, pride wouldn’t let me lose them.

8.5km in or so and we started a hella climb, gaining 70m in elevation by 11km. Conveniently this was followed by losing all of the elevation in just over 3km and the pace was smoking. At 14km my pace was reading at 5:14s average. In spite of the hill I’d gained a bit of overall speed. I guess that hill training is paying off, eh?

14 – 15km was relatively flat and I caught up to Jackie and the group. A bit of mental math showed that the average speed was down to 5:12s at the end of that stretch, we’d done that km rather quickly

And then the big hill. Which wasn’t that bad really. I backed off the pace into the 5:30s and just trucked on up. Since I was doing 10:1s I hit a walk break just before 17km that to be honest I didn’t really need. I took it anyway though wanting to finish solid and not kill myself. Cresting the hill you turn a right and… go up the rest of the hill It was only a few blocks more, but it wasn’t a pretty sight after doing the bulk of the climb. On the climb I passed Jackie who was keeping pace with a couple of guys from the run group. I expected them to catch me at the top but it wasn’t to be and I just kept motoring along.

The downhill here was only about 1km long and went by very, very fast. Top speed in this area was 4:13/km and it felt great to have the high leg turnover that requires for me.

The markers were off at 18km where they had it too far, about 250m at a guess. That sucked at the time, but it made the next couple of km pretty damned quick and I crested 20km feeling like they had gone by wonderfully. Somewhere in there I’d taken a walk break and my running partner from the start went running by me while I was relaxing. He’d found his wind again and wound up beating me by 32 seconds.

At 21km I knew I was coming into the finish and I was feeling like there was still gas in the tank. My legs were burning a bit but nothing like the lactate burn I get when I do hill repeats or speed work. My heart was pumping, but in control and I wasn’t out of steam. I ignored my last walk break and picked up the speed another notch finishing at a 4:24/km pace.

Time across the line: 1:50:32

My PB was 1:51:26 in my first half marathon back in 2006 out at UBC for the Fall Classic.

And my son? According to his watch he kicked in a rather respectable 1:43:40! He did hit a sub 1:45 and the speedster beat my by just under 7 minutes! I could not be more proud. That is a 6 minute PB for him over his 2008 Vancouver Half time. AWESOME!

So, that’s the report. I had a good time and I hit my goal for the day. Could I drop it down to 1:45? Well, I couldn’t have today, but I see that as being easily doable if I want to train a bit of speed. Even 1:40 doesn’t seem out of reach right now and that makes me feel good.

The kiddo I expect has a future at this sorta thing if he wants to put in the time. A serious future

S

This is my first Sugoi Brand Champion blog. Although I received the news that I had been accepted as a Brand Champion back in December, I just haven’t had the chance to check in here. I wish I could say that my lack of introduction was due to a crazy training schedule. Unfortunately, work and school have been eclipsing my blogging mojo. I work full time and am enrolled in classes part time.  Slowly inching towards my bachelors in Graphic Design. My homework and projects often keep me up until 2a.m. at least four nights each week. Then I am back at work at 7a.m. Anyway…

I have been running since 2007.  Prior to that I was an anti-athlete.  As a child, I didn’t have many opportunities to get outside and no one to teach me about exercise or sports.  I had poor hand eye coordination and no stamina.  Throughout my life I never dieted and I was a couch potato. As I approached 30, I noticed that I was putting on weight. I am only 5 ft tall, but I was tipping the scale at 140. After a year of running, I lost over 40 pounds. Now, I range between 105-110. Obviously, I’d love to be closer to 100, but I have to admit that my current weight is healthy.

Running not only helped me lose weight, but it helped me finally take responsibility for my health overall, physical, mental, and emotional. Running gave me confidence I lacked most of my life and helped me gain my independence.

Since 2007, I have run (3) 5Ks, (1) 15K, (2) StairClimbs, (9) Half Marathons, and (7) Marathons. My newest challenge has been learning to ride and swim. I started riding in August and swimming in September. I completed two Super Sprint triathlons in October.

Currently, I am looking forward to Shamrock Marathon on March 21.

I have been trying to order some of the Sugoi Brand Champion Gear so that I could include a photo, but haven’t had much luck since my size is rarely in stock. I will keep trying as I love the BC designs.

-Pete

Hey everyone!  and congrats to Canada on a great Olympics and an awesome hockey tournament….I’m down here in the states so although I would’ve loved for our boys to win….it was a great game and I’m happy for our neighbors up north…  This will be my second year as a Brand Champion and I’m looking forward to making it a great one.  I’m listing my current race schedule below along with some pics from last year….get in touch if you plan on being at any of these…I’d love to meet some of my teammates.  Happy training

Steve

2010  Triathlon Schedule

May 8th     New Jersey Devilman Sprint Triathlon   **                            

June 5th    Rev3 Quassy Olympic Distance  ****

June 26th  Thundergust Triathlon (NJ)  **

July 3rd     Avalon Islandma Sprint Tri  **

July17th    Sunset Challenge Olympic Dist. Tri  ***

July 25th   New Jersey State Olympic Tri  ****

Aug…..????

Sept. 25th  Age Group Nationals *****

We’ve had record amounts of snow down here around Philly and like lots of you, I’ve been spending way too much time staring at the wall of my basement on the trainer.  Sure it is nice and efficient, but I don’t ride my bike to feel efficient.  Well, not much.

So instead of riding to work and getting some miles in in the dark before the kids start rolling into school, I’ve been driving in and getting on the spin bikes we’ve got in a little room in the back and then hitting my TT bike on the trainer in the afternoons and evenings.  Oh sure, I hope it leads to some fast racing, but it often feels like I’m accomplishing very little.

This week we’ve had some fun with black ice so the mornings haven’t been totally perfect, but today really was a fantastic ride.  Along with some pretty good gear (that I am looking forward to upgrading to great Sugoi gear before much longer) I got out for about an hour before work on some great hills not far from my house in 36 degrees with a nice wintry mix falling softly in the pre-dawn dark.

The best thing about the bike I ride to work on is that it is a single speed so the big long hills are always a workout with 42×16 gearing.  It felt fantastic this morning to be out mashing around in this absurd weather and get into work with other folks walking in and staring at me as I rolled my bike into the little closet where we keep them.  It always feels good to be getting faster while most folks are just getting…  well, not faster thats for sure.

The other big news around here is the formation of our sweet new cycling club.  We’ve gone from geeks that made our own jerseys to geeks that might get their jerseys for free thanks to a few sponsors and a quickly growing club.  Once everything gets worked out, hopefully we can get our club name on some sweet sugoi gear as well!

Here’s to everyone training in the cold and the nastiness, keep it up!

Tomorrow, March 1, 2010 is the start of the third month of the year. For me, tomorrow represents the start of my training season and my 11th year as a multisport athete. The past year has been challenging - a nagging hamstring / piriformis injury followed by a cranky L5 facet joint has left me with numerous attempts of short rest followed by too aggressive training sessions and subsequently a chronic aching back. During the past 3 months rest and other therapeutic interventions have proven successful in resolving this issue. Swimming and biking I can now do without discomfort and I anticipate that I will be back to consistent pain free running (of at least 2 miles) in the next few weeks.

This has been a humbling experience for me. In 2000 I started biking and running - that year I also initiated  my PhD work did my first duathlon and ran Columbus marathon. The following year I continued my running and duathlon events and took on the task of teaching myself how to swim. In June, 2002 I completed my first triathlon followed by - Yes, you guessed it, my first Ironman distance event in September. Since that time I have completed numerous triathlon and other multisport events. My drive, tennacity and passion for the sport of triathlons allowed me to maintain my goal of always being in shape to do a 1/2 Ironman distance at any time, which I did, until a year ago.

Looking back to 2008 - It was a great year. Ironman Arizona in April quickly folowed by an Olympic distance race in June.  About 8 weeks after that I traveled to Seattle for a sprint distance triathlon. Two days later I completed a century ride in Oregon. For some reason I thought it would be neat to wrap up my year where I started and returned to Tempe, AZ in October and completed a 1/2 Ironman. I wrapped up 2008 with a  a brief (very brief) “recovery” and started training in January, 2009. By February my body said “Enough!” Something needed to change.

It has now been over a year - slowly but surely, I have come to the realization that in order to be able to continue to do these multisport activities, I must do things different. I am fortunate to have the help of a great coach and therapist to keep me on track with strength training and periodization.

So, to all my Brand Champion fans and friends - I wish you a safe training season! I know 2010 will bring us all back “out there” in our red, black and white apparel!

Thanks, Sugoi!

Theresa

Southern Ontario has finally got its frist real snow fall with more to come shortly if you can believe the forecasts.  Just when I thought we had escaped all of the white stuff.  I wanted to say that the Sugoi Ti Bib tights were a great addition to my cycling attire this year.  Regardless of the temperatures (including the -21’s with windchill) they kept me warm and comfortable without an outer shell.

Now it is time to start ramping up the training for the spring races.

Thanks Sugoi for all of the great clothing including the compression gear that got used regularly in the gym.  Keep up the great work and designs.