Last weekend, brought to you in part by not racing

Posted on by lindsay
The weekend started in a haze, with a recovery ride on Friday evening that came on the heels of an all-nighter at work. Riding on no sleep after 27 hours at the office and a hard set of intervals from the previous day (does it even count as a separate day if you haven't gone to bed yet?) was like being high (not that I've had the experience of knowing what that's like, of course, innocent flower that I am). Music sounded incredible, cars speeding by were surprising and terrifying even though I was riding on the road where cars are sort of the norm, and at one point I was pretty sure large animals were peering out at me from the bushes. Then I stayed up late to watch Dance Academy, because I need Australian teenagers more than sleep. Saturday was a blur of still being very tired. I ...continue reading.

City Limits

Posted on by lindsay
This week has been exhausting. A huge project at work is due tomorrow and I've been working until late in the night each day. Training doesn't take a break for work, though, so every morning I get up, eat, ride, shower, go to work, and stay there until it's time to go home to sleep. I'm tired. My interval workouts have gone well over the last few days, but I'm running out of steam fast. When I get really tired and overwhelmed, I cry easily; earlier today, a sad picture of a pit bull sitting next to its dead companion had me in tears. Also, this happened while I was in a coworker's office. He had to hand me a roll of paper towels to mop off my face. I often believe in training and racing that it's just a matter of wanting it enough. If you want to ride faster, ...continue reading.

The Giving Tree

Posted on by lindsay
The first thing I did this Mother's Day was call my mother to ask about baking chicken. Can you cook the chicken directly in the marinade? How long should it bake? Oh, and happy Mother's Day. Love you, see you in a few hours, gotta run. This is not an uncommon sort of interaction. To say I am not the daughter of most mother's dreams is an understatement; while I'm relatively successful in life, I've also brought home a lot of angst and chaos over the years. I'm on par with a cactus or a porcupine in terms of cuddliness and I'd generally rather put a fork in my eye than have a conversation about my feelings, hopes, and dreams. As her only child, I know my mother had hoped we'd be best friends, charting the course of my life together, and instead I came out to be a stubborn, ...continue reading.

“It’s like French-kissing a unicorn while floating on a cloud”

Posted on by lindsay
Before racing started this year, I had low expectations for the season. Promising, right? It's just that last year was kind of awesome and it felt like expecting to accomplish the same gains and achievements again without extra time to grow and improve was setting myself up for disappointment. Let's consider the following figure: Since I began racing in 2007, I have seen large improvements from year to year in fitness and skill. It stands to reason that the time will come when I reach the point marked by the red arrow above, where a long winter of hard training will result in increasingly smaller gains over the previous year. The first race of every season is like uncovering the new car you just won: if you've worked hard through the winter early in your racing career, when you test yourself in that first race of the season, you'll be pleasantly surprised with ...continue reading.

A Peachy Ride in Georgia

Posted on by lindsay
Yesterday was a day off from racing, but not from riding. After a quick breakfast at the hotel (wherein I cringed and chewed through two patties of mystery meat in the name of protein loading), I set out for a 2-hour endurance ride out and back on a rural highway in Georgia. It was more noteworthy than anticipated: 1. At one point, a truck barreled by and what sounded like a gunshot echoed tremendously. I froze for a moment and then swerved sharply into the grass alongside the road and waited to die. Nothing happened, except I may have peed a little. 2. A few miles later, a pit bull came racing out of somebody's yard and chased me down the highway. It was terrifying, but I had the good sense to at least start sprinting while also shrieking and starting to cry. 3. I did stop to get some ...continue reading.

Recipe for an awesome health shake, as long as you’re unconscious for the last 1/3 of it

Posted on by lindsay
At the end of the Tuesday Night Worlds ride the other night, I was not in the mood for food. After drinking Recoverite, stretching, and putting away my gear, I was ready to get into a hot shower and forget about dinner. But skipping meals is unacceptable, especially after a hard ride, so I invented this fantastic smoothie: 1 heaping scoop of chocolate protein powder 1/2 banana 1.5 tablespoons peanut butter 1 cup milk 1/2 cup cold brown rice After blending it with my magic bullet (a name which always calls to mind non-kitchen-related appliances), I took a sip and was pleased. It tasted pretty good and the rice seemed to have blended in nicely. Perfect! All of this nutrition in a few easy sips! So I took my cup and got into the shower. That's not weird, is it? I mean, it's not like I'd take a sandwich or a rotisserie chicken ...continue reading.