Rachael's Training Journal

I haven't been on the bike much in the recent weeks. We had an 80 mile ride but I only completed 17. My back made it painful to go uphill. Since then I have shipped my bike to Hawaii and haven't ridden. I've been having back pain on and off. The good news is I've started seeing a new chiropracter. We're doing something I've never done with a chiropractor before...physical therapy.

So my back is steadily doing better but now I have a cold. My plan to is drnk LOTS of juice..eat lots of protein and sleep well. Let's hope I kick this cold by Sunday which is race day.

I board a plan tomorrow morning. I'm going to try to do the course unless I become more unwell. Right now it's just some sinus problems.

Tonight I have to finish a one page paper, re-dye my hair, finish packing, and sleep despite my being excited. I spoke with my dad and he wished me good luck ^^ Race day is almost here!

First off I want to thank everyone who has donated thus far. I've made my short term goal and will be doing my bike ride!! I was sweating it but I actually made a little more than I expected. I only have $878 to go to make my final goal. So if you haven't donated already please go to http://active.com/donate/tntgla/tntglaRIngall Again, thanks to all my friends who donated while I was in a crunch.

I'm going to Hawaii, I'm going to do my century ride! You'll have to excuse me...I read my email telling me I've made the short term amount just a few minutes ago. So I'm sort of freaking out here. To be honest...I haven't acheived many of my goals I've set out to do in my lifetime. I usually let them lay there ignored and unloved. But this is actually happening. I'm going to cross that finish line!

Honolulu Century is only two weeks away! After Saturday practice the team will be dropping our bikes off to be shipped to Hawaii. I must clean Anihan tomorrow and will miss her dearly during out time apart. Here is a(n edited version..don't stalk me) look at schedule for the upcoming ride.

Friday, September 28, 2007:
Wake up, eat a good breakfast, pack your gear and head to the airport …it’s finally race weekend!
• 7:05 a.m. – Arrive at airport.
• 9:05 a.m. – Depart for Honolulu.
• 11:05 a.m. – Arrive in Honolulu. Transfer to hotel.
• 1:00 – 7:30 p.m. – Event packet pick-up and Expo. (The packet includes things like the nifty number I have to wear on my back)
• 1:30 p.m. – Assemble bikes.
• 3:00 p.m. – Check-in time at the hotel.

Saturday, September 29, 2007
• 10:00 a.m. – 7:30 p.m. - Packet pick-up and expo. (In case I don't get it the first time)
• 5:30 p.m. – Pasta Party. Don’t forget your PINK pasta party ticket. Tickets will not be sold at the door.
• After the Pasta Party – Meet Coach Ramon in the lobby of the hotel to go over last minute details of the ride.

Sunday, September 30, 2007 – RACE DAY!
• 5:00 a.m. – Meet Marcia in the hotel lobby to check-in for ride morning.
• 5:15 a.m. – Ride or walk to the race start.
• 5:30 a.m. – All riders must be at the ride start line. All 100 mile participants will be in the front. (This part is going to make me nervous)
• 6:15 a.m. – Ride starts! Don’t forget to check-in a the TNT Finisher’s Tent after your ride!
• 6:30 p.m. – Victory Celebration begins! At the Marriott in the Kona Moku Ballroom. Don’t forget your YELLOW Victory Celebration ticket. Tickets will not be sold at the door.

Monday, October 1, 2007
• TDB – Pack-up bikes to be returned to LA. (Wish Anihan a safe voyage)
• 11:00 a.m. – Check-out of the hotel.
• 11:10 a.m. – Depart the hotel and take the shuttle back to Honolulu Airport.
• 1:10 p.m. – Depart to home.
• 9:35 p.m. – Arrive at home.
• 10:00 p.m. - Mutter something like "BEDD!!" and collapse into deep slumber

Did I mention I want to do next season which kicks off October 16th? It's official, I'm all out crazy. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Today and tomorrow I must hydrate...eat something other than junk food, and rest. It's difficult to maintain a healthy diet while I am in school. I've convinced myself that pizza is a balanced meal. Six months ago I would have smacked anyone who said that to me.

Later days people and stay well! Remeber, send in those donations TODAY and let me know if there are any loved ones you would like me to honor on the day of the ride.

I have ONE more day to make the amount of money I need to buy myself more time. I'm some where around $150 short. I can do it! I know I can! But I need your help. Donate $2 today...anything and everything helps. Do it!

http://active.com/donate/tntgla/tntglaRIngall

On Team in Training we wear ribbons for the people we are cycling, swimming, and running for. I have a few loved ones I will be honoring on that day. Who would you like to honor? I would more than happy to wear their names on my jersey. They don't have to have leukemia and lymphoma...just any cancer. You can even nominate yourself. Training for me was about getting fit and overcoming physical and mental obstacles...But in the end it's the support of Team in Training that got me there. It was the cancer survivors who I trained along with that reminded me how important it all was.

You can't lose when you join Team in Training. You do things that others, and sometimes yourself, find to be either impossible or all out crazy. The people on the team are great and wonderfully fun. And as you're out their changing and saving lives your own life begins to change. Fundraising is crazy but every time some one personally thanks you for your efforts you realize it's all worth it. I can now say that the LLS has saved my friends lives.

I am DETERMINED to make Century Honolulu happen. Don't forget to send in those donations. Again, I need to make a large hunk of change to buy myself more time. ($650 in the next three days to be exact) So send in those donations. Just a couple of dollars is all I ask..and if you intended to send more than do the small donation now and the rest later.

The ride yesterday SUCKED but I achieved about 70 miles. Yesterday was windy, and we rode some bumpy roads to avoid the wind. The cobblestone roads left everyone saddle sore and our hands ached. Winds, especially heavy winds, are not kind to cyclists. I fell off my bike twice while clipping out because I was so tired. I'm ok...just smalls scrapes and bruises. But the tape on my handle bars are chewed and my helmet is scratched. The coaches said that this was the toughest ride of the season. It sure wore ME out. But you know what? Now that I think about it...I think this is the first time I did the ride in Malibu with NO stops. My only stop was to pull over after a steep hill and rehydrate. Last time I was there I couldn't wait until I was up at the top...I had to do it right then in the middle of the doomy steepness.

Next week we do somewhere from 80 to 85 miles. I hope it's not windy like yesterday. Despite all that I'm really excited. I'm almost at a century guys! Type to you later.

GO TEAM!

$884 MUST be made and submitted by Wednesday morning to make the deadline. This will buy me a month-and-a-half's time to make the last $1,000. I am confident that if I make this $884 I will be able to do the rest...but I'm tearing out my hair. I need help!

If you're reading this and haven't donated yet please donate two dollars. Donate HERE=>http://active.com/donate/tntgla/tntglaRIngall If you've been waiting to donate because you want to give me a nice sum of money then donate the two dollars and give the rest later. This $884 must be made in cash or online donations in the next few days. Checks will not be processed in time.

Please do it. Most of you have known about this for months..and argue all you want but all of you with home internet connections and Starbucks habits can afford to give two dollars in the span of four months. I've been working SO hard and I would like to make my goal.

Have you ever gone to the beach and swam in the ocean all day to go home and still feel the waves pulling at you when you fall asleep? I get the same sort of thing when I've been biking all day. I feel the wind pushing against me and my body balancing on the bike.

Today the feeling is so intense to the point of being a little annoying. In the car all day I was convinced I was still on my bike. I got so worked up about clipping out today that I'd see a red light and I've have a small little panic inside me telling me to get ready to stop. I took a nap which was difficult. I sleep on my side and kept tensing because I felt I wasn't balancing and would fall off the bike...And right now all my legs are thinking of doing is pedaling!

Someone told me about their boyfriend who was a runner. After he got into it he developed restless leg syndrom where he'd kick and move his legs in his sleep. It's not unusual for me to wake up sore because I've been dreaming of racing all night. Well..I don't suspect myself of kicking all night. I'll ask my cat.

68...That's a nice number..isn't it? I feel really good and I'll tell you why.

Last Sunday I saw Bob from Valley Bicycle in Chatsworth. I heard great things about him from the ladies on my team. Diane also told me he used to work on a woman's team which upped my confidence in him. Bob is a bike fitter and fit my bike he did. Fitters work out the kinks in your bike and make sure the bike fits your body. I learned, or re-learned, all sorts of funky things about my body. My back problem (now a minor compared to the past) affects the tilt of my hips. On side is lower than the other...which in turn affects the positions of my legs. o/` The hip bone is connected to the leg bone. o/` I mean it's just weird..my left foot is off center, my right leg turns inward. I wasn't even thinking about getting the frame fitted, I had come in to get my cleats adjusted.

The make cycling shoes called clip-ins. These shoes have cleats that attach to a special pedal. Now instead of using the muscles on one side of your leg you are able to pull the pedals and use all the muscles in your leg. It feels strange using these new muscles...but it saves energy. I don't get tired as quickly and my knees don't hurt from all the pushing. Now, I can also get a better spin when I pedal. Bob told me I do something called limping which means I push and push but I don't pull. I was told that my riding style will change. I can feel it already. :) He also changed the angle of my seat, made the best compromise on my seat height for my uneven legs, changed the stem on my handlebars so I have a longer lean forward, and in what I am told traditional Bob fashion, he tried to sell me a new bike. I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing but I don't need an italian racer at the moment, thanks.

Man, what a difference that all made. Marcia told me I look so much better riding the bike. Some one even commented at the first SAG stop that the ride looked like it was a breeze for me. That was around mile 14 I think...Don't worry guys. Every ride is challenging in it's own way. Eating during and after the ride makes me feel that food is the best invention ever made. :)

I learned how to clip in correctly. At the beginning of today I would stop at red lights and tippy toe off the seat. This was causing the bike to wobble with my left leg still clipped-in. I would stumble, lean to the left, and have to right myself up which usually required clipping out my left leg really fast. I've done this on my way to and from work. Falling left means I fall into traffic. Riding in traffic alone still makes me sweat from the stress. I'm sure I was shaking today due to a combination of needing to eat and being stressed out. Every time I would tip toe off my seat my team mates would yell at me. "Get off the saddle!" Want they wanted me to do was get off my seat before I even stop. I didn't understand how no matter how much I tried to watch them stop. Marcia and Dianne decided they were going to put thumbtacks on my seat. They then renamed said tacks "butt-tacks".

Deborah joined us halfway in and she was told it was my first day in clip-ins. She walked me through getting off the bike and but it in words. I was to stand up off the seat, stand on my left leg with it extended, ease on my brakes, and clip out my right foot. Then as I slowed down to a halt I was supposed to put my right foot down and stop. Let me tell you...this is the scariest thing I have done the whole season. Hills are fine...biking in traffic I can deal with, but dangling my foot off as I was standing was too frightening for me. I don't even bike standing! I was able to do it...usually when no one was looking lol. I really need practice though. I may practice around my neighborhood since there are a lot of stop signs and ween myself off the habit of doing California Stop and Rolls. I didn't really ride as a kid so I don't know the nifty biking tricks that cyclists benefit from. I started the season knowing how to balance on the bike and where my brakes are located. Fresh meat!

So I have yet to fall because off in my clip-ins...Which is a right of passage with those damn cleats. I'll let you know when I've graduated. ;)

Cool Breeze was wonderful. I was SO excited to have a number attached to my bike like a real cyclist. I was too excited to sleep the day before...and I suffered through the ride because of it. The last three miles I was ready to keel over and die. The ride was challenging but not as difficult as what the team makes us do in Malibu. I am thankful for my training. At the end of the ride we were fed by the event people. I sat in the shady grass cheering on my team mates completing their century ride. Somewhere in there I fell asleep in the middle of it. Dave drove me home and I crawled through the house and into bed. Sleep is so good after a long ride. I fall asleep all over the place.

Most of the team was training for Cool Breeze as their century. What I did was the metric which eqauted to 63 miles. The next week I was sad to see many of my team mates absent. Not many people are going to Honolulu.

And right now the question is if I'm going to Honolulu. We've had a family emergency that I can't speak too much about here. (Though in person is quite alright.) My mom has been flying back and forth from Mexico to take care of her brother. She is unable to fundraise over there and is missing much of the training. My mom had promised me that whatever I was unable to fundraise she would make up the difference. She can't keep that promise now. We have until Sept. 13, the day before our fundraising deadline, to make a decision. We can do Honolulu next season or we can wait until next season to do a century ride. If we wait most of our money wil be credited towards next season.

At first I was going to hold back with my mom. We started this together and we are a team. But the more I think about it the more I really want to go. For one, I had a great opportunity at work to ask my customers for donations. That has made the amount I have raised so far possible. I wont be able to do the same next year...meaning my chances for Hawaii next year are slimmer than this year. I am a little over $2,000 short of the required amount to do the ride this year. Can I do this in two weeks? If I were to raise $1,100 dollars by Sept. 13 I can buy myself some time to raise the rest.

I'm asking everyone who reads this to take some time to donate. Even if it's just two dollars it would help me immensely. You'd send me off to the experiance of a lifetime and you'd also support a great cause!

My fundraising page can be found at http://active.com/donate/tntgla/tntglaRIngall. The amount shown is lower than what I have..I'm still waiting for some checks to come through. Also, if you want to send checks or well concealed cash leave me a message and I can email you an address.

For those of you who have already sponsored me I want to thank you.

Don't be shy. Any amount helps! *crosses fingers*

Come for a fun-filled night of anime. All proceeds go to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. And you can win money too!!

Anime for a Cause is meeting on Saturday August 25th.

We'll be getting together for a fun filled night of anime viewing.

Admission will be $10 in advance and $11 at the door. Admission will include dinner and one raffle ticket. Bring some extra cash if you wish to buy more raffle tickets. We'll have a 50/50 raffle giving you a chance to win half the money made from the raffle.

Where will your money be going? All proceeds will be going towards sponsoring me for a Century Ride held by the Leukemia and Lymphoma society. More info.

Again, it will be Saturday, August 25th from 7pm to midnight.

Interested in coming? Leave a message here with some contact info so that I may send you my address. Even better, leave your email so we may start a newsletter. Anime for a Cause will be meeting ever 4 to 6 months. We're going to be official!

Jayne uploaded an old set of photos from July 21st. Let me take the time to introduce you to some of my team mates. Unfortunately I don't know everyone's name but you can but put some faces to the names I have been mentioning.

This is Scott. He's my mentor...He looks a little lost.


Starting out in the parking lot. The man in front center is Andy. He's a speedster..maybe I can find a better picture of his legs to prove it to you.


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I ran into Omar yesterday..I think. I didn't realize who he was until he asked if I could recognize him without the helmet. I thought he was a customer from work when he said, "Hey. I know you." :) Good times.