Philly Achilles

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Thanks, Pope!

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imageIn case you hadn’t heard, the Pope came to Philadelphia this weekend. They shut down much of the city with Jersey barriers, parade fences and security checkpoints. What did that mean for me and my training in this fabulous pedestrian wonderland? Riding the bike really wasn’t an option. Many intersections didn’t have enough remove between fences for the bike but it certainly had plenty of room for the manual wheelchair! Those closed streets meant that I could ride my wheelchair in the street. That means no cracks in the sidewalks, no curb cuts of terrifying steepness, no buckling of pavement that will dump me out of the chair if I’m travelling at speed.

So how did I measure up? 3.86 miles on Saturday and 4.60 miles on Sunday!

That’s a lot of miles and I am quite proud of it. I am giving me a big thumbs up…a filthy, blistered thumb.

but I earned it.

Will you sponsor me on this journey?  Click here.

Peak – a – boo

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Things are better this week.

I meant to post a short update about how my black mood only lasted a day. Unfortunately, I was still in a black mood so it didn’t actually happen.

This week is much better. I had a great weekend of good workouts.

Part of my regimen includes commuting to and from the office on my manual wheelchair at least once a week. I’ve had the chair for a year and it has changed things a lot for me. I used the chair on Friday and rode the handcycle on Saturday and Sunday. That means my distance was
Friday: 5.3 miles
Saturday: 20 miles
Sunday: 13.1 miles

That’s three of the four Dopey races.

Now I’m wondering if I’m peaking too soon…

It’s never enough

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I warned you that there would be times during this journey when things got tough. Now is one of those times. I’m just frustrated.  I have two tales to tell of this week’s training.

Tale the first:
I was supposed to do a long ride on Saturday. It was going to be a full 20 miles riding solo for most of it. That isn’t what happened. Less than two miles into the ride, I popped a tire. I pulled over, hauled myself out onto the curb, and grabbed my repair kit to see what I could do. The answer was nothing: the popped tire was the one with the built-in gears and I didn’t have the tools to remove it from the bike. What was I supposed to do? I couldn’t walk it home…

On the kindness of strangers:
Cyclists and runners are a friendly group. Someone did stop and offer a hand*. While we still couldn’t change the tire, she gave me a helpful push back up the bike path to the road. Once at the road I called an Uber. The driver tracked me down via the gps and got me and my bike home safely. I didn’t get to do a ride on Saturday.

Tale the second:
I had my regular check up with my neurologist on Tuesday morning. I was really excited to see him because I truly believe that I am the strongest I’ve been since he’s known me. I told him about my training and the Dopey Challenge. He was supportive and positive about it. Then he asked “how far can you walk now?” It totally took the wind out of my sails because I’ve been focusing on upper body and core. I had to admit that I hadn’t been using the walker at the gym.

So today I did. I got out the walker. I made sure my form was good. I did two laps and then was completely wiped out. I’m just tired, and frustrated because there’s always something more I could/should be doing.

I’ll still keep doing it, I promise. I’ll complain a little. I’ll make bad jokes or quote song lyrics.

Today “Shellshock” by New Order is looping through my brain.
“It’s never enough until your heart stops beating…”
Sounds like a definition of life, doesn’t it?

*A wave to Alexis if she reads this!!!

What’s your status?

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I play all sorts of mind games with myself if I am riding alone. If I plan to go 10 miles and I’ve done 2 miles, I do the math in my head: 20% complete.

I’d love it if we all had a status bar above our heads. It would display progress through a workout. When out riding on West River Drive I could see where everyone is. If I saw someone at 98% complete, I would totally give them a high five or at least a nod.

What made me think of this? I went out with my Achilles team on Saturday morning and did 17.9 miles. That 0.1 is killing me! If I’d only gone a tiny bit further I’d have reached 18. A status bar would have told me, “keep going, you’ll fill the bar completely!”

Sunday brought a different workout. We had a visitor for the weekend and decided to bring him to our favorite restaurant in Philly. Tria Café has great food, great staff and great service. They specialize in cheese paired with wine and/or beer. I decided to justify those calories with a workout. I took my manual wheelchair and wheeled myself all the way. Turns out that it is 2.6 miles from my door to theirs. I did an additional half mile on the way home.

I did the additional half mile after our lunch to qualify as a 5k. If they let me stop half way through each one for a nice lunch, I have it made!

So this weekend I did two of the four Dopey races: a half marathon (plus) and a 5k.

Vacation training and why I haven’t posted

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My first blog post dropped almost a month ago. It’s been sitting here, lonely and neglected. I knew I should have waited until I came back from vacation (where there is no wifi) to begin but I was excited. Unfortunately, I didn’t – which means that the people who have signed on to follow my (mis)adventures have been left salivating for more*.

There are certainly challenges to taking a vacation in the midst of training for a big event. Good food, good wine, good friends can all knock you off track, so what’s a determined woman to do? Runners probably have the easiest way of it – all they need is shoes, clothes and a space to run. Hand cycling requires equipment and that equipment doesn’t travel easily. You have to get creative.

So what did I do? I took advantage of what I had: a lake…a beautiful, sand bottom, crystal clear lake. I determined that as long as the weather was clear I would be in that lake every day. It wouldn’t be just a quick dip to cool off, it would be an hour plus of swimming around, doggie paddling and constant movement. People don’t realize that just breathing in a lake takes extra effort to expand your lungs against the pressure of the water. I may not have been perfect, but I did put in significant time almost every day.

One entertaining tale: My friend Zach was driving the boat to bring people out tubing. They helped me get on the tube and away I went. All that upper body strength really pays off. I think he gave me as difficult a ride as anyone else, but I clung like a limpet to a rock and didn’t get dumped**.Totally tubular!

If you would like to support Philly Achilles and me, please go here to make a donation.

*luckily, only one or two people saw it…and thus the rest of humanity was saved from disappointment.
**rumor has it that there is a VHS tape out in the world with me taking an epic flip/dive/dump far back in my youth. If it ever gets transferred to digital, I’ll share .

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