It’s official. I completed my first century ride on October 1st: the CRW Cranberry Century. 101 miles to be exact. Don’t forget that ‘1’ – the last mile is always a killer!
It was a beautiful ride in Southeastern Massachusetts. We cruised the rolling hills of Miles Standish State Forest, saw cranberry bogs, and had our 73-mile stop at the very picturesque Mattapoisett Harbor. 
It was about 45 degrees when we started out (brr!), but warmed up into the very comfortable mid-60s.
Charles River Wheelers (CRW) puts on a great ride. Plenty of snacks at the well-placed aid stations – it was like doing 4 x +/-25-mile rides. I found it really helpful to think of the day in segments. And there was pie – Petsi’s pies – Petsi’s bourbon chocolate pecan pie – at the end. I think I’m in love.
Huge thanks to my two riding partners, Michelle and Melaney, for making sure I didn’t bail out in favor of the 66-mile ride (I admit, I was tempted), and for making the ride so pleasant.
Will I do it again? Sure! Or some other one. Now that I’ve done it, I think I can do it again!
Riding home afterward, the conversation turned to food, as it often does. Michelle mentioned stuffed peppers. So I made a couple. Yellow peppers stuffed w/a brown rice mixture of onions, garlic, mushrooms, peppers, edamame, cheese, various spices, salsa, random other stuff… More cheese (can never have too much cheese). See for yourself!
(photos, other than the peppers, thanks to Michelle)
I’m done. I was actually supposed to be done after the Patriot half aquabike in June, but then, silly me, I signed up to do the Cranberry Oly aquabike. And in between those two events was a 2-mile swim, and after Cranberry there was a 3-mile swim. That’s WAY more competing than I usually do. The weird thing is, I didn’t hate it. I (dare I say?) kind of enjoyed it! My self-talk has me saying that I don’t like to compete, that I get too stressed and crazy so it’s not worth it. Maybe that’s not as true anymore. Maybe it was a defense mechanism that I don’t need anymore. Granted, I’m not keen on the 4am wake-up that goes along with a lot of races…
SWIM: My last event was the 3-mile Quassapaug Open Water Swim Challenge in Middlebury, CT. Beautiful location. I hope the air will be warmer than 48 degrees the next time I do it, though!
Luckily the water was 70. If I actually train for distance next summer, I might even attempt doing all 3 swims to total 5 miles.
I’m probably done with OW swimming now, so it’s back to the pool.
BIKE: I was really happy (and a bit surprised) to average 19.3 for 26 miles at the Cranberry Oly! Now I can relax. Phew.
I’m working up to doing a century on October 1st: CRW’s Cranberry Harvest Century. It should be pretty. If it rains, though, I’m out!
READ: Some good books, some crap. I’ll be doing some beach reading soon, since I’m going on vacation. I recommend The Nightingale, by Kristin Hannah, and Little Bee, by Chris Cleave.
and… EAT! Nothing very inspiring, although I made a great banana bread recently. Oh, I borrowed a dehydrator from my local library and dried tomatoes from our garden. Who knew you could borrow such a thing?! I’m eating dried tomatoes like candy.
On to “off” season. I get to do more gym classes and computrainer now! Fun!
Happy Fall
I’m done swimming outside, and my long bike rides are coming to an end with the colder weather, so I’m back at the gym, checking out Harvard’s group ex classes. Every year I tell myself I’m going to step outside of my comfort zone (at least once) and try a new gym class. So far I’ve tried 5 new ones! And I will probably continue attending 2 of them.
Balletone! No. I flunked out of ballet once already (ok, I was 5, but still). At least there were some moves that could be called exercise as opposed to only floaty graceful arm movements. Requires more choreography than I care for.
Zumba! No. I guess I can see the appeal, but by the time I figured out the moves, the class was over and I didn’t even raise my heart rate or sweat. Actually I never did figure out the moves, and I felt more uncoordinated than usual. I’ll stick to straight forward exercise, thanks. No need to sugarcoat it for me. I do love to dance, but the deadhead in me doesn’t do well with specific moves or being told what to do. Maybe that says more about my problem with authority? 😉
Aqua Fitness! Fun, but unlikely to do again. If I’m in the water, I’d rather be swimming laps. I can see doing it in a pinch, though, or with a group of friends.
HIIT Cardio! Yes! Clear, obvious exercise.
Barre! Yes! I was a little worried that it would be too much like ballet, but the class seems to cull the exercise part from the dancing part. I can work with that. Lots of small movements that really focus on specific muscles.
What’s your favorite class? What should I keep an eye out for and try next?
And in eating news… my mom and I made cookies when I visited recently. They’re safe and secure in the freezer so they won’t disappear before Thanksgiving.
I bought 6 pairs of goggles, one being my old safety – Tyr Nest Pro – so I’ll be giving feedback on the 5 new-to-me pairs, compared to the Nest Pros.
This is a pretty dry, boring post, so I’m posting my unscientific, totally subjective, “conclusions” in the next paragraph (if you even care to read that much). After that, I blab about my impressions if you want to delve further into my goggle obsession. Don’t be surprised by random sentence fragments.
The takeaway – it turns out that I bought basically 2 types/styles of goggles: ones like the Nest Pros that sit a little wider on the face and fit slightly more outside the eye socket, and ones that are lower profile -and better for racing, but maybe not for open water – that fit more inside the bony area (but not as much as eyeball-sucking socket rockets). From my experience with the Tyr Special Ops, polarization isn’t worth the extra cost. None of the goggles I sampled were as comfortable as what I’ve been wearing, so I guess I’ll stay in my Nest Pro rut!
Tyr Nest Pro
How I’m reviewing. I wore each pair at least 2 times. Mostly in the pool, but I tried the polarized ones in full sun in open water. I tried them all with my Finis DUO MP3 player
Categories:
- fit/feel on 3-point scale: OW!/OK/I’m wearing goggles? Right away feel, over time feel (at least 1000 yds), and taking them off/putting them back on) feel
- best suited for pool or open water or both? Competition vs fitness – stay on w/push off and dive? peripheral vision?
- can I use my Finis Duo with them?
Zoggs Phantom Elite – “OK” Similar to Nest Pros, as long as I get them placed perfectly. Even then, I noticed a slight headache after wearing them a while. I started to feel pressure (pain) on my cheekbones after ~1000 yds when I added my DUO. No pain w/taking them off. Good peripheral vision. Suitable for OW swimming and fitness. 
I’m less sure about using them for competition. The eye area profile isn’t super high, but I felt some downward pressure on the googles, and the strap folded over when I pushed off the wall. I’m not confident they’d stay on for a dive start. I’m not that great at keeping my goggles on anyway, but I’m sure that says more about my technique than the goggles! Still, the folding goggle strap caused by a strong push-off would be a problem (for me) unless I wore a cap over them.
Tyr Special Ops 2.0 polarized – “OK” and almost “I’M WEARING GOGGLES?” but not quite. Comfortable. No pain w/taking them off. Feel very much like Nest Pros, but a little more substantial, 
polarization didn’t seem to help. I actually felt like I couldn’t see as well when swimming right into the sun. Good peripheral vision so good for OW, but I wouldn’t pay extra for the polarized ones. I only wore these in open water, so I don’t know how they’d be w/push-off, or dive, but I doubt I’d be able to keep them on. OK w/DUO.
Speedo Vanquisher 2.0 – felt “OK” right away, but not so great after ~1000 yards, so maybe the rating should be “OK-“? Hurt taking them off. REALLY hurt w/DUO attached. Low profile, so they don’t catch with a strong push-off. 
I imagine I’d be able to dive with them. Peripheral vision is not that great, so I wouldn’t wear them for OW. Even though they’re not the most comfortable goggles, I’d wear them for pool competition. I might wear them for practice, but since my side vision was somewhat limited, maybe not. I like to see where my lane-mates are! Extra nose-pieces included in the package so you can adjust the width.
Blueseventy Element – “OW!” Not horrible for short periods. Hurt taking them off. I can 
see racing with them since they stay on well w/push-off, and probably would with diving. Not comfortable with DUO.
Tyr Black Hawk Racing – “OW!” at first. I had to fiddle with them after about 500 yards, but once I got them situated they were “OK”. Low profile, didn’t move w/strong push-off, and would probably be fine with diving. Hurt a little less taking them off than the Blueseventy and Vanquisher goggles. Not comfortable w/DUO. Extra nose-pieces included in the package so you can adjust the width.
So there you have it! As a reward for getting this far, here are a couple pictures of the Madeleines I made recently. Yum.
SWIM I get this email in early October: SwimVacation needs to fill their December trip to the British Virgin Islands and they’re offering a discount to alums as incentive. My husband and I went on a short SwimVacation trip to a lake in Maine a few years back (see old blog post) thus the email in my in-box. Lucky us! We had been talking about doing SwimVacation BVI someday, but the trip isn’t cheap so we were dragging our feet and saving some money. On a lark, I brought up the possibility of signing up – hey, discount! To my surprise and glee, he said “sure, let’s go”. So we did. And here are some pictures to prove it.
SwimVacation BVI in a nutshell: get to Village Cay Marina at the designated meeting time, dinghy ride to the Promenade (our trimaran home for the week), stow shoes – barefoot for a whole week 
! – settle in, swim at least twice a day *every day* in beautiful places among the islands, eat (and drink, if so inclined), make new swimmy friends… As their logo says, “Swim. Relax. Repeat.” Sun and 80 degree Caribbean water? In December? Yes, please.
Check out the SV blog to see how it looks and book your next trip to BVI! Or Hawaii. Or Turkey (new trip). I might write more specifics about the trip in a future blog, but if you want details before then, feel free to ask in a comment.
BIKE nothing to report. I haven’t been on my road bike for a while now – just spin classes (
). I plan to try out a computrainer class in January. I’m scared. And we’re doing a run afterward. It just might kill me. Wish me luck.
RUN this is starting to be a more common category for me: I’ve been doing more of it (stupid peer pressure). I did a 5k fun run on Thanksgiving and broke a 9 min/mile pace! Nothing like the fear of getting lost to make me go faster – I had to keep the people ahead of me in sight. Cuteness overload warning: mini pig in a santa suit at the end of the run.
READ I went through a brief period of bad books, but seem to have come out the other side. Phew! I just ready Jojo Moyes’ The Ship of Brides and loved it. I really like her books. Now I’m diving into The Art of Hearing Heartbeats, by Jan-Philip Sendker.
and… EAT! SwimVacation meant I didn’t cook or bake for a week (the food was great, by the way), but I couldn’t resist making a chocolate whiskey cake when we got home.
Chocolate Whiskey Cake
I’ll blame our birthdays (mine and my husband’s). Can’t have birthdays without cake. I think it’s illegal.
And then this happened, too, ’cause, why not?!
Cranberry Apple Cake
how I feel on my commute
A friend of mine has a cut-off temperature for outside biking. At one point it was 60 degrees, although she has been out in lower temps since she told me that. I think she might have dropped the threshold a few points as she became a more experienced rider. What’s my cut-off? I’m not exactly sure, but I think we’re there! I know I’m not happy riding in the 40s, and it snowed (ok, flurried) over the weekend. Sure, I’ll continue to commute my 3-4 miles each way to work and swim, bundled up like the Michelin tire guy – unless it’s icy – but I am by no means hard-core enough to road ride through the winter. Do you have a temperature range?
I did the Rapha Women’s metric century ride over the summer. FUN! There’s another one in December. The Rapha Women’s Braver than the Elements Ride. NOT SO FUN! I won’t be doing that one – I’m really not braver than the elements. I get cranky when my hands and feet go numb and turn funny colors.
So…
SWIM! My last Walden Pond swim was on September 23rd. It wasn’t awful in terms of being cold, but I could tell I was done. I rejoined Cambridge Masters Swim Club and am happily (?) getting my ass kicked in the pool 3-4 times/week. I need a push every few years – I was due. I’m curious to see if my shoulders get bigger with the increased yardage and effort. I’ll keep you informed. I might even do a pool meet in the Spring. Oh shoot, now that I’ve said that, I might actually have to do it. Something I found out: stroke workout right after spin class doesn’t work so well for me. Swim fail!
BIKE! See above. No more outside riding for me. I finished the season by joining some friends to do another metric century: The Calhoun Cancer Challenge Ride and Walk on October 5th (early and chilly!). It was my first benefit ride, and I hope to do it again next year.
first snack stop
It was a very well-supported ride through a scenic part of CT. I got out for a few more rides after that, and now I’m adjusting to ~3-4 spin classes/week. It might be time to put a crappy tire on my bike and set up my trainer, though. There’s only so much “Maniac” and “Eye of the Tiger” that this former Deadhead can take. I get gym class music stuck in my head and it stays there for days. That can’t be healthy.
READ! The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern. Suspend disbelief and let yourself be taken away. A Nation in Pain: Healing Our Biggest Health Problem, by Judy Foreman (friend from Cambridge Masters). This book explores chronic pain and how it is misunderstood and mistreated and a HUGE problem. It is accessible but still not a super easy read. I might be working on this one for a while. Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal, by Mary Roach. I just started it.
and EAT! Fig and Pear Crumbles by Frugal Feeding. Wow! Next up: something with apples since we just bought 3 bags of them at Clarkdale Fruit Farms while in Western MA for Cider Days in Franklin County.
Last I posted, I had just completed a 3-mile swim at the end of June. My first! Now it’s the end of August and I can check a couple more things off my Summer to-do list.
SWIM! I swam a 2-mile race in CT in July. It was an interesting event: one could swim 1, 2, or 3-miles, or any combination of 1, 2, and 3 miles! I opted for doing only the 2-miler due to time constraints. I was happy with my time – just under 53 minutes – which was good enough for a 3rd place finish overall AND in my age group (40-59). The water was perfect: no need for a wetsuit. Ahhh! Maybe next year I’ll do a couple of the swims. Or all 3! We’ll see how my shoulders are doing before I commit to that. Oh, the best part? The buoys were big yellow rubber duckies! How cool is that?! ALL races should have such fun buoys. I wish I had a picture.
Cathy and me without our runner, Diane
After that, I took a break from distance and swam 1/2 mile in a triathlon relay with my sister (on bike), and another Team EnVision member (for the run). We won! The award was a pint glass. Can’t have too many pint glasses, right?
And finally, the swim that got me thinking about competing in open water races in the first place! This past weekend, August 23rd, was the Race for Swim and Fin in Salem (MA) harbor.
Race for Swim & Fin start
I was worried it would be too cold. It wasn’t – I was comfortable in my wetsuit. I was worried it would be really rough. It was pretty choppy, but not awful.
What was tough was the sighting. The buoys were far apart, so it was too easy to sight on the wrong buoy, which I did for a little bit but figured it out before it was too late. Phew. There was another small mishap, but I still managed a 1st place
Showing off our swim and fin medals!
finish for women 50-54 (w/wetsuit). I can live with that.
Some of our Rapha 100 group
BIKE! In July, some friends and I took part in the Rapha Women’s 100, a worldwide event promoting women and cycling. Our event was hosted by The Ride Studio Cafe. We had a choice of distances – 100km or 100 miles – and speed. We did the 100km at a leisurely pace. It was a great day of riding with friends. Next up? The Honey 100 in mid-September: 100km on cross bikes! It’s an off- and on-road adventure, thanks, again, to Ride Studio! I heard such good things about this ride last year, I decided I HAD to do it. And it was a good (?) excuse to buy a new bike!
Giant Invite 2
After that, I’m joining some friends from high school for a charity ride in CT. The Calhoun Cancer Challenge Ride and Walk takes place on October 5th. Some of us are doing the metric century (that would include me) and some team members are opting for the 1/2 metric. 90% of the money raised goes to the cause, so I feel good about taking part. I don’t usually do charity rides because I don’t like fundraising, but the obligation for this one is very manageable. Thanks to everyone who helped me reach my goal!
READ! I’ve read a lot this summer. LOVED Chris Bohjalian’s newest: Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands. But then again, I love everything he writes! I’m currently reading Sally Ride, by Lynn Sherr, and Love Letters to the Dead, by Ava Dellaira. Both are great.
and EAT! Unfortunately, I have discovered Ben & Jerry’s Salted Caramel Core ice cream.
SWIM! I’m hoping to do a 5k swim “race”, maybe 2 of them, over the summer. The first opportunity is on June 21st (Mashpee Super Swim), the second is in August (Race for Swim & Fin). We’ll see. I got a 2-mile swim in yesterday, so doing 3 miles in another week could happen… I’m a little nervous, not so much because of the distance, but that it could be choppy, and the water might still be a little chilly. I wore a shorty wetsuit yesterday and was shivering for quite a while after being in the water for an hour.
Yes, I’m a bit of a cold wimp – I think the water temp was around 73F
I figure the 3 miles (3 x 1-mile loops) will take me a about an hour and a half. I just want to settle into a forever pace and not blow out my shoulder (thus the quotation marks around race).
BIKE! I signed up to do the Rapha Women’s 100 on July 20th. I’ll be doing the 101km ride through Ride Studio Cafe with some friends (unless it’s raining). It’s my anniversary, so that’s my husband’s present to me: I get to ride all day. I’ve got the best husband ever!
READ! Me Before You, by Jojo Moyes. One of the best books I’ve read in a while.
and Eat! nothing too exciting in the eating department, but we have greens coming up in our garden and it’s grilling season!
I LOVE SUMMER
So what’s all this about mason jar koozies? Apparently the hipsters in Union Square are enjoying their coffee in mason jars these days. My husband, not one to miss out on such a fun fad, told me about it. But glass jars full of coffee are HOT! Enter, the KOOZIE, or COZY. Are koozies only for cold beer? But cozies are for teapots… (they seem to be interchangeable). Anyway, after a few false starts (pics if you’re interested) – one being so small and cone-shaped that it has been re-purposed as a bear hat – I finally got it right. Or at least right enough.
Swim! My old swimp3 died – it wouldn’t hold a charge – so I contacted Finis Inc. and they sent me a new one. I was expecting to get the same kind I sent back, the yellow and black 2g, but when I opened the box, I saw that they had sent me the new Neptune. Hmmm. I wasn’t so sure about this: it looked a little like the original SwimP3 I had oh-so-many years ago: a chunky box-like contraption to clip onto my goggle strap in addition to the ear paddles that I was used to. I kind of liked the streamlined ear paddles + small, light USB port of the 2g. But after trying it out, I’m a convert! The Neptune is really light and the ear paddles are smaller and lighter, too. The sound is great, not that I ever had an issue with the sound in earlier models. And the part that clips to the goggle strap is actually informative! There’s a small screen so I can see what’s playing (if I want to stop and look), and I can choose among playlists and whether to shuffle songs or not. I used to have to guess if shuffle was on by the frequency of the blinking green light. I hope this device lasts a while!
Bike! Spin class is all fine and good, but no comparison to being outside. Except maybe the no cars or pot-holes part… In addition to other rides, for the last couple years I’ve been riding weekly, weather permitting, with a great group of women. We’re compatible in terms of speed, temperament, and desired ride distance, so it works out really well. It’s such a gift to have found the right group. I ride with others, too, and it’s fun, but this group feels like home. Now that it’s finally warm enough, the group is heading out again!
Read! I’ve read quite a lot since I wrote my last blog, so I’ll only mention a few highlights. Thirty Girls, by Susan Minot; Life After Life, by Kate Atkinson; Museum of Extraordinary Things, by Alice Hoffman; Swimming Studies, by Leanne Shapton; and Ripper, by Isabel Allende. I also read The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt. A lot of hype about that one, but it didn’t really work for me, and it was too long. Actually a lot of books seem to be a little too long to me lately! Even some of the ones I mention above could have been cut by about 100 pages give or take. Not Shapton’s book though. That one was just about perfect. As a longtime swimmer, I struggle with how competitive swimming fits into my life, so I can relate to what she says (on a completely different ability level, though, of course!)
and EAT! boring, boring, boring. Except for cookies. Oh, and I made a killer Chicken Marbella (mostly like this recipe) for Shady and a friend. I don’t eat chicken, so I didn’t have any, but it smelled really good!
Now what? The race season is over – and has been, for me, for a couple months already. My husband and I went on a VBT cycling trip to Croatia in mid-September – it was fantastic.
And now it’s Fall in New England. There’s still outdoor riding to be done, but it’s definitely getting colder, and I’m not sure how many layers it’s worth putting on! – especially when my feet turn a funny shade of yellow and/or purple, even with shoe covers! So spin classes and gym classes here I come. I’m still trying to venture out of my comfort zone (once in a while) so this might be the year I try a step class. I just hope there’s enough room around me so when I go the wrong way I don’t take anybody out like I almost did in cardiokicks (not pretty) a couple weeks ago. And there’s always the pool.
SWIM: trying to get to the pool 3-4 times per week. That’s the goal, anyway. Sometimes it’s only 2xweek. I didn’t swim much while on vacation, so I’m just starting up again. I do ~2000-3000 yds each time – more often 2k than 3k! Here’s a fun swim workout I did today.
BIKE: hoping for a few more rides outside before heading indoors to spin class hell.
READ: The Shell Collector: Stories, by Anthony Doerr was a really nice collection. Where’d You Go Bernadette, by Maria Semple, was a fun quick read. I’m into Claire Messud right now. I read The Woman Upstairs – wow what well-described rage!, and I just started The Emperor’s Children. I really like her writing. I’m looking forward to reading Survival Lessons, by Alice Hoffman, one of my favorite authors.
and eat! I haven’t been that inspired lately. But I did manage to make jam bars and peanut butter squares (yum), and vegan banana biscuits (from Julie Hasson’s Vegan Diner) recently.
swim.bike.read. 