Cinderella Classic & Mt. Diablo Run

On Saturday, I rode in the 33rd annual Cinderella Classic, a metric century (65-miles) that winds through the Amador, Livermore, Diablo and San Ramon Valleys, with 2971' total elevation gain. There were three rest/food stops along the way with a sandwich bar at the second. This ride is only open to women cyclists of all levels. My goals today was to start by 7:45am to 1) get ahead of the crowds of novice cyclists who have no road etiquette; and 2) reach Mile 25 before the 10:30 am cut-off time and decide whether or not to ride the Cinderella Challenge, an additional 30 miles with an additional 2000 feet elevation gain.

At the mile 17.8 rest stop, I lost my right glove while making a quick pit stop. Bummer. While riding, I passed a few gloves on the road and was tempted to pick them up, but decided not to since you never know what kind of germs may lay in these gloves. I reached Mile 25 at 9:45am and decided not to ride the Challenge route since it was super blow-me-over-sideways-on-my-bike windy and I only had one glove. Miles 25-42 were tough as I had to ride against the fierce headwind. Funny thing is that my friend Rita also road the ride and sent me an e-mail that she was happy with the minimal wind this year. Hmmm...how'd she get minimal wind when I was getting windburn on my face and right hand?

In all, my total moving time was 4:38:14 plus 13 stops totaling 52:53 (2 snack stops, lunch stop, and 10 lengthy signal lights). I was back to the Fairgrounds at 1:15pm. I could have done much better if I only stopped for the port-o-potties and resisted the food. But my kryptonite is food...and each stop had good food and cookies to eat that I couldn't resist. Waiting at the finish was hot minestrone soup. Yum!

Today (Sunday), I swam 3300 yards followed by a 90-minute trail run in Mt. Diablo State Park in Mitchell Canyon. There was a 500-yard timed marker set which I completed in 9:45 (24 seconds faster than on 1/21/09 and 2 minutes 4 seconds faster than my first swim on 11/11/08). I happy to see that my time continues to improve.

The first 45-minutes of the run felt difficult. I was getting out of breath quickly and my heart was beating rapidly. I couldn't figure out why the run was so hard. Did the swim wear me out? Should I have eaten more than an apple after the swim? It wasn't until after I turned around to run back did I see the downhill slope. Somehow I didn't notice the uphill slope so much when I was going up. The trail appeared sort of level. But I suppose that if I was running on a 6-mile trail that leads to the summit of Mt. Diablo at 3800', up is the only way to go. I think I'll run this every couple weeks to see if I improve in effort and distance.

The best thing about my Ironman training is that it gets me outside to experience and explore this great area that I live. It's been awhile since I've been to Mitchell Canyon, which is only 3 miles from my home. The trail begins with an oak woodland with the Blue oak as the dominant species (and also the name of the street that I live on.) and the coast live oak as another common tree on Mt. Diablo. The wildflowers (blue bush lupine, California poppies, monkey flower, non-native mustard & thistles) are in full bloom on the mountain. I was also running into many ladybugs. I found out that the ladybugs spend the winter in semi-hibernation on Mt. Diablo. When the weather warms, the ladybugs mate and fly off on prevailing easterly winds to the coastal valleys where they will lay eggs to produce the next generation of ladybugs.