Lindsey Heim

Weekend occurences...
(warning, this got a little long...)

This nice weather couldn't have come any earlier!! What a beautiful weekend!

- Got a nice, long, run in on Friday evening. For some reason, it brought back memories when I first moved to Omaha when I would put my long runs in on Friday evening on a certain route. It was my 'me' time for the week, and also made a lot of people that I had just met why I always had 'something going on' on Friday nights. :) There is something just great about the monotony of a long run that makes you forget about everything that went on that week in academia. Went great and held a good pace. In addition, I was very excited that I hopefully have figured out how to keep the belly trouble that comes on my long runs away. Unfortunately, this requires some pretty intense planning as far as meals beforehand and timing, but it is completely worth it for the result. After an entire winter of treadmill running I have been conservatively making the transition to outside and now it is in full swing. I am pretty sure that the consistent and scientific bubble of the treadmill has kept my IT band happy and healthy all winter, and now I am trying to make sure that the changes in surface slant doesn't mess anything up (historicly speaking, this is one of the things that triggers it). Things are good so far. I can tell that my stride is different from what I have done this winter- I am pretty sure it is different in a good way. :)

- I am very excited for my buddies who were road racing this weekend. From what I hear of the preliminary results, things went well. Awesome. I am very proud and honored to know all of them, and know what hard work that they have put in to get to this point. Good job dudes!

- It was a little hard for myself to not be racing (the Altoona RR was my very first RR last year), but it is my own decision not to be there. On top of the fact that I have a mess of things to deal with my boards up in MN, a very soon move to Madison, and finishing up school, I have made the decision not to do any crits or road races until I have a disability insurance policy in effect. Some may frown on this decision and call it ludicrous and unfounded; however, the reasons are as follows:
(1) as it stands right now, my source of income and only hope of paying back my student loans next year is what I can do with my hands [dentistry]. Any damage to my hands/ wrists, and I am out of a job and the subsequent income. For a few weeks and missing a couple races, this risk is not worth it to me.
(2) if you think that the chances are the same that I will crash during a race versus just riding outside with friends or on my own, please spend some time in a Women's cat 4 peleton. It that isn't bad enough, please keep in mind that cat 4 women usually race with the cat 5 men. The men's cat 5 peleton is even scarier. Combine the two, which is usually the group that I race with, and you have what is called a 'crash factory.' Not a good situation.
(3) With that being said, I am looking forward to getting my racing fix in with some upcoming TTs and hopefully a 5 or 10K in the for the next few weeks (unfortunately, its not tri season yet). Then I am looking forward to getting in a few good road races once again.

- Did a breakfast and a ride at my place with buddies Jen, Todd, Matt N, and new neighbors Mark and Ann. Fun times had by all. The coffee, fruit, eggs, and take two on the 'mango, pineapple, banana, orange, oatmeal whole wheat pancakes' went well. Had a great time riding in the sunshine with some good company.

- As a soon to be dentist, I am intrigued and learning more and more about a phenomenon that I would like to call 'endurance racer mouth.' I myself am not immune to it. Characteristics include cavities galore that cannot be prevented or even stopped even with frequent and meticulous brushing and flossing in addition to high dose fluoride. I am pretty sure that it has something to do with concentrated simple carbohydrate consumption in a xerostomic environment for hours on end, possibly combined with a love for coffee while not exercising. Thank goodness I have all the free dental work that I want, but I am thinking that there has to be some sort of protocol that can prevent this from happening. This may be leading to some sort of research project...

- After a winter of putting it off (and not having a good place to wash bikes when it is 0 deg outside), I finally got to wash my bikes after riding on Saturday. This took WAY too long (think hours), but it was required to get the layers of hardened sludge of road grime, grit and grease off of my precious machines. Its like the pertroleum lube turned into coal which was fixed to everything. I'm usually meticuous about my bikes and how clean they are, but pragmatics took over this winter. Did the full and intense clean- once again, my drivetrains are actually *gasp* silver colored!

- Took the morning being lazy for a little bit, being productive for another little bit, and another few hours (not kidding) to try to find a missing knee warmer of mine. This only lead to a fruitless search, a delayed ride, and much frustration on my part. I have been using some old Nike knee warmers that I have, but these are the most unintelligently made knee warmers known to man. Making a knee warmer cannot be that hard- it is literally a tube of black spandex. However, Nike has found a way to screw up this simple task by making the tube too big, and putting a tight band of elastic around the calf. This is a nice recipe for your calfs to cramp on every single ride. If anyone wants to come over and comb my house for a black Descente knee warmer withOUT tight elastic, they will have a free pair of Nike knee warmers in return.