Good Brooke Starts Today!

so after yesterday- i had a good wake-up call. i HAVE to take better care of myself! when you balance too many things on your plate, it is easy to let little things slide... not eating right. not dressing right. not getting enough sleep...

so, starting last night- i have decided that i am a whole new brooke! for example- when i was working on my thesis stuff... i get absorbed. i had to eat dinner. instead of doing what i would often NORMALLy do- which would be to eat a bowl of cereal or a english muffin with some peanut butter and honey (DAMN good by the way!) and scrounge stuff like that for dinner... instead, i took the 15-20 minutes that it took for me to cook up some chicken and veggies and make a really good pasta. i can highly recommend it- super easy. just rotelli rainbow pasta... then i cut up some frozen chicken breast and sauteed it in olive oil, garlic, basil (both in frozen cube at trader joes, so super easy), then sauteed up some zucchini and red pepper... then tossed it all with the pasta, olive oil, salt, pepper and shredded parmesan cheese. i am not a big fan of tomato sauce, so i typically try and avoid it. this way, i get the carbs, and the fat to stick to the ribs. i love olive oil. it is good stuff.

anyway, so that was good since i got a good dinner AND made enough to have a good left-over lunch today. i am not a big fan of left-overs, but this is good cold. in fact- it often gets better after it has sat for a night.

then this morning- i didn't snooze, but got right out of bed. and instead of an easy, fast but not that great a breakfast- i took the time to make an omelet with zuch and red pepper (the cut up leftovers from the night before) and goat cheese. English muffin to boot and it was delish if i do say so myself!

so- that was step one. good-brooke DID have pizza though and three cookies for dessert! that was not exactly GOOD brooke, but hey! baby steps! i DID dress warmly on our GREAT ride today... and have been sporting a beanie that liza let me wear. so, bundling up and trying to stay healthy. and bedtime is 10pm tonight... even though i could EASILY stay up obsessing about this software issue i am having with genotyping my animals...

if anyone out there knows why CERVUS is telling me that i have genotypes 10 animals when i have clearly genotyped 31... please do let me know! i am about to tear my hair out! such as the life of a grad student... sigh...

tomorrow is a day off for me so i am really going to get a chance to crank on my thesis stuff. will be good to get a whole day to focus. have not gotten much done since last thursday with all the racing. ok, good night!

BAD BROOKE!

ok... so all this talk about trying to be smart? today... i earned the wrath of linda after being a COMPLETE idiot! i was in the dunce seat today, for sure!

linda wanted me to do some intensity, so i was going to join up with the noon ride... a short, HARD ride that leaves every (WOW) day at noon.

i was a total scatterbrain this morning... not getting anything accomplished AND managing to not realize how cold it was outside. well, in all fairness... it was not THAT cold when i set out.

anyway- so i didn’t want to be late to meet linda and ride around for a bit before the ride (you DON’T be late to meet your team director!)... and i was trying to be late! i lost track of time and found myself running around trying to get out the door in time. i didn’t realize how cold it was out and did not take the time to THINK about what i should be wearing. so... it SEEMED sunny and warm out, so i rolled out with no leg or knee warmers. no shoe covers. short finger gloves and no jacket. just a long sleeve baselayer, short sleeve jersey and wind vest. OOPS!

linda was able to loan me a windbreaker, but she was appalled when she saw me! it was only chilly at that point, so i could get away with it. but what i also neglected to do before setting out was look at the weather report. DOH!

i was FINE until the freezing (and i really do mean freezing) and torrential rain came in! i can only think of one time that i was that cold and that wet on a bike before. it was really miserable. even if i HAD the right clothing on- it would have been a miserable ride. but being half-naked... it was torture!

linda sent me home about halfway though the ride. i was glad too- since i was SO cold that it was only going to get worse. i just kept thinking that it was GOOD for training in that when races come that are cold and wet and miserable... i can remember this and think (hey! this is not so bad!).

well- by the time i got home, i could not use my hands. so, i could not get my keys out of my pocket. after nearly crying and fighting with my jersey- i got my keys out. THEN i could not turn the key to open the door since my hands were too cold. i nearly had to go get help to get into the apartment! but, just before i gave up, i got the door open. only to struggle to get my clothes off and get into the shower!

a hot shower and a nap later- i was back to my old-self. but MAN am i an idiot! i would like to say “never again”... let’s try. NEVER AGAIN!

Long time... no blog!

we had quite the weekend! i have been away from blogging since i have been either working, driving, riding, racing or watching racing! so, i apologize for my absence!

so, this weekend, liza, stacy and i raced down in santa clarita. originally, we had not focused too much on this race since most of the team would be doing snelling as a warmup for mclane (now called something else) next weekend... the NRC opener. but the promoters- bicycle john’s shops are friends of mine. john is the uncle of one of my good friends from ucsc and so i really wanted to support this race. john and his parner mike have been tireless advocates of women’s cycling and have really invested. they made this a women’s only race- a rarity- and really did it up right. it was very professional. a great job all around!

anyway, i digress. since it was far away and only an hour long race, most riders opted to stick north. stacy was down for a conference in la and so she popped up for the morning... and liza, after battling a cold for the last week, decided on friday that YES, she would race! on thursday night... linda decided to come on down too. a party in the making! it was a bit impromptu, but it was great to get so many people together to get on down there.

i have been fighting off a cold too... linda was leery about letting me race, but i begged. basically. i had finally stopped being woken up at night with a cough and felt that i could race a crit. it would not kill me and i really really really wanted to race! it is hard to say no to a rider who begs... she told me that if she heard me cough, she would pull the plug on my racing ambitions for the weekend... but a good night sleep on friday night and i woke up feeling like a rockstar on saturday morning. i like rest. my body responds well. so, after having a forced rest week due to my cold... i was definitely ready to get the legs pumping.

the course was a great one and i will leave it to the race reports for the details... it had a long gradual hill that i was honestly a bit nervous about. after being sick- i thought that the hill would really take it out of me more than i anticipated... and the field was big and strong! aarons was there with a good sized team, race radios and a director. cheerwine, t-mobile’s kim anderson... and a few liptons. it was great to see so many strong women at this race!

anyway, i will skip the details (see the race report link for the report) and just say that it was a great team effort!!!! it is amazing how great it is... and how different it is... to race with a team. stacy and liza were up covering everything and letting me sick back and save my energy. i just need to learn to shut the hell up in the peloton!!! i get so antsy when i am sitting in and not working hard enough that i get verbal diarrhea. i don’t shut up! i annoy MYSELF! blah blah blah blah... argh. that is my new goal... shut up and race brooke! anyway, so i blabed it up while stacy and liza did my hard work and allowed me to sit in and focus on the finish. i won the bunch sprint after some great leadouts from cheerwine and aarons formed. they kept it safe, fast and hard going into the final sprint. i had botched our leadout train a lap earlier on a tactical mistake. stacy was up there and finished 6th!

anyway, THEN i heard that back at snelling... one of my teammates, katie lambden (“scratch”) got into the winning break and took third!!! AND... our billy goat climber victoria took second in the field sprint behind amber rais!!! amber is no slouch at sprinting... in fact, she has taken many more sprints away from me at the line than i care to admit! so i was VERY excited for victoria!

i was really excited to hear that things went so well and it makes me even more excited for next weekend when the real NRC racing starts!

we also had a great time hanging with our sponsors... LOOK and SRAM were down south for the tour of california (special props to ben jacques-maynes... one of the first people who got me racing and threw it down in the tour for some awesome performances!!!). anyway, so we got to spend some more time with them. we are SOOOOO lucky to be working with such great companies that have done such a great job of supporting us... who also happen to be full of some really great people. the more time i spend with those guys, the more i like them. and that is saying a lot since i already like them a lot!

so, all and all... a great weekend. but i am tried! i am at my parent’s house and will ride tomorrow and then drive back home. thesis is a bit behind... will have to catch up! what is that about candles having two ends?!

Stress... it happens

so really... all and all... i have been doing pretty well with how much i have decided to heap onto my plate. but today- it has been a bit of a rough day. but that is what friends are for... i just got a pep talk from kate, my former roomy, labmate and friend. she assured me that i CAN finish and that i WILL finish. sometimes you need to have someone pump you up.

since today... i needed it. i am still fighting off this cold which is obnoxious and has not gone away. so, i felt like crap on the bike today and called it quits after less than and hour of riding. i crawled home, showered and took a nap. i need to save any energy i can for my thesis work. i have a lot to do today and tomorrow... i have a deadline tomorrow evening to get some stuff to my committee. i am waiting for an analysis to run right now, so i am writing quickly. so, trying to take care of myself AND get a ton of work done (which are typically mutually exclusive acts). so, we will see how it goes. in the mean time, the rope is not broken yet.