Michelle Grainger has been a Coach and Personal Trainer for over 17 years. Michelle has achieved her Elite Level Coaching License with USA Cycling, the highest achievable level of coaching. Michelle also holds several Certifications in Strength and Conditioning, Nutrition and Pre and Post Natal Fitness.

Michelle graduated from the University of Florida and has continued with her education to maximize her knowledge in the fitness industry.

Fitness Training News

Sunday, June 28, 2009

?MTD and Getting Better.

OK, it's been about a month since I wrote here and also a month since the car accident. Good news, I am riding again. Not perfect and not always very comfortable.

This is why I love living here! A little fog on the ground makes for a great photo.

Still able to get the Girls out for some walks and hikes. Can't run with them (yet) but they are so happy to get out and run after each other in the woods.

The rides are not as fast as I would like, but it really is so important to be able to ride

On another sad note, we had to put one of our kitties to sleep this week. She had cancer and we knew it was up to us to keep her dignity and make sure her pain or suffering would not be prolonged.

The rest of the summer will be spent training, working, a few more family visits, and getting better from the accident. Need to get back to lifting in the gym, as that's what helps build the foundation to good riding. Soon......

Good views on the plains near Boulder.

# posted by Michelle Grainger @ 6:07 PM 0 Comments

Friday, May 29, 2009

4071 YTD and Then The Big Fat Car Accident! OK. Haven't been here for a while. Did the great ride on the Ward 150 and then a few shorter rides and then I got hit by a car.

Broken ribs, lots of bruises, lots of cuts, and many many stiff body parts. Oh yes.... and my identity, my bike, well, it's toast. Burnt toast that is. A throw a way.

I wondered when my time would come.I think everyone I know has been there. Just never thought it may happen. And let me tell you, it does hurt.

So now Steve is trying to rebuild one of his bikes (we actually ride the same size bikes) and get me going again until it/the accident is all settled. Have to change several things. The pedals, the stem, the bars, and the seat. I think almost everything else can be the same.

I am very very sore. I have had a lot of x-rays and seen lots of docs. This really is no fun-not that anyone would think so.

I am trying so hard to heal and maintain my life as normal as I can. I am very resilient. I am of hardy stock.

I got on a bike today for the first time in 7 days-since the accident. Oh man, not an easy thing. It was on a very upright, hard tail mountain bike. I was able to go 45 minutes before getting sore. I mean, we're talking 13-14 mph, not the usual 17-19 that I'm used to.

My own training plan had me doing 150-200 last weekend and another 100 on Wednesday to get another stacked week in before the Brevet season headed into full swing-into the big miles. Didn't do it. Got one mile and of course today's recovery ride and assessment ride. uuhhhggg!

I rode by the accident sight and found myself wondering about it. Don't want to think too hard right now.

Well, I'll keep posting as I gain progress. Have to get back on the horse when things feel better. It's what I do. I am a coach. I am a rider, I am an athlete. It IS how I make my living. # posted by Michelle Grainger @ 8:24 PM 1 Comments

Monday, May 18, 2009

3975M Hard Ward 150 Minus 50. Last week was one recovery ride and about 30 hours of yard work and house work.

Relatives are coming to town and the yard needed Spring cleaning and planting. Lots and lots of time in that area this week.

Was pretty easy to recover from the Fleche and then just did a couple of really easy short spins.

Last Saturday Steve and I rode in the Ward 150. That's three loops of Ward to Lyons and back up to Ward. It's about 5500 feet of climbing per lap. We only had time for 2 laps. I don't know how Steve went to work after wards. I was so brain dead that I actually forgot my front wheel and we had to drive back for it.

The rides was very cold and some rain in the first 50. Due to that we were not on top of out liquid replacement and by the second warm lap we both had leg cramps. That's the first time, ever, for me.

Came home from that, worked a bit in the yard and then hiked the Girls for an our. Got back just in time to go to the launch of Vanessa Kemp's, and Bill's, Inyangi Launch Party. organic and homeopathic skin products. It is really great stuff. They will do well.

After the party I came home and actually fell asleep on the couch.

Up the next morning, Sunday, to water the yard and then headed out to ride. The ride was great as it was a touch faster than I may have done after the century on Sat. My legs cried a lot. Too bad. It's good to stack the training from time to time.

After the ride I headed to the laundrymat to wash 10 dog beds. (yes the Girls are spoiled). Took 2 hours so I ran errands and went to Home Depot for more mulch-for the yard.

Got home, worked in the yard and cleaned the house until midnight. I was so tired but happy to get it all done.

Today, off from work and finished up the yard, watered and walked the Girls.

Now ready to go to the airport. # posted by Michelle Grainger @ 11:37 AM 0 Comments

Sunday, May 10, 2009

3804M. Great 24 Hour Fleche. Great Fleche and more photos later. Only 1/2 of the 24 hours was rainy. Loads of fun.

The Fleche was just yesterday and it feels like a life time ago. That's why I love riding so much. Time seems to stop, or at least go really really slowly.

So, I packed on Thursday night. Packed because we had to ride a full 24 hours to be official Fleche finishers. 5 riders start and three must finish. Not so bad as all of were really strong riders and evenly matched.

We started out of Louisville at 8 Am on Saturday. Nice start and not what the forecast had predicted. It didn't rain until about 7:30 PM.

It was about 47-50 degrees and a medium wind from the north east. We headed out of town towards the north. Heading for Masonville.

Still quite a bit of snow on the mountains-where we're heading.

Once to the north of Masonville, we headed up the canyon to Stove Prairie.

It's a nice gradual to steep climb up a small canyon past new houses and small horse ranches and then gets into cabins and small farms from the late 1800s.

It was great. We all had about the same climbing pace, even Greg, who lives in Iowa. Go Greg.

About half way up the climb you get away form the prairies and get into some wooded areas. Then up high, back into the high grasslands. I can see why the homesteaders came here. Very peaceful.

At the top, we ate and took photos. Then down the other side to the Poudre Canyon and river.

We had a stiff headwind most of the way down. Had to take turns pulling into the wind. At the bottom, we headed to Verns, near La Porte.

From Verns, we headed back out to the eastern plains of Colorado. Went to towns like Wellington, Windsor, Kersey, and Johnson's Corner. Lots of places for us to get food. A key thing to these rides is food and a constant pace.

After leaving Kersey, we started to get sprinkles and then a little later, at about 8 PM we started to get rain. Not bad for the day.

We made it to our sleep point a bit before midnight. Time for a short break and then get up and head out for more food.

We have found a good tea for a wake up caffeine pick-me-up. It's by Zing. Really good, not too sweet and keeps us awake.

One of the last Control Points was in Lyons. You know you've been riding a lot when the employees at the Lyons Shamrock know how much you've been riding this year. They asked me how my vacation riding went.

It got colder as the morning continued on. Not bad, though as we had enough clothes and also only had to go until 8 AM.

After the end we took more photosof the team and headed over for a hot breakfast together.

Once again another great ride was finished and another one in the planning. # posted by Michelle Grainger @ 11:30 AM 0 Comments

Friday, May 8, 2009

3577M and the Fleche is ON!

Packed and ready for the Fleche.

What: two pair of leg warmers (supposed to rain), one Gore arm warmers, shoes, short booties, regular booties, Rainlegs, reflective triangle, reflective vest (it is Graduations weekend), three rear lights, two front lights and a helmet light, all CatEye, Rudy Project helmet, rain shower cap, lightweight yellow )2 Jacket, Illuminite vest and wind jacket, lightweight but plastic rain jacket from France, two Buffs, short gloves, liners, over-mits wool, and over-mits rain proof, two pair of Rudy Project glasses, and two leg reflective bands, rear trunk on bike, small triangle bag for frame (really small), and tires changed to Conti 4000 with reflective side walls.

There will be some Cliff food brought along and drink mixes.

Will go with two pairs of shorts light weight and the KHS shorts on top. Smartwool undershirt and a jersey on top.

Leave at 8 AM and it is to be 50 all day and "drizzle".

Off to work now. # posted by Michelle Grainger @ 9:15 AM 0 Comments

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

3552M. Great 300K on Sunday. The start of our Black Forest 300K Brevet.

It was a great cool, but not cold start to the 300K on Sunday.
I had only seen some of the course when I used to do the Elephant Rock event. I'd forgotten how beautiful the area south of Denver was.

The start was a little drizzly but not bad. I dressed in Gore Windstopper leg warmers, a Smartwool top and my KHS jersey, arm warmers, two pairs of shorts, my awesome new O2 rain jacket, booties, and a rain shower cap. Kept those on the whole day.

We rode through the rolling hills of the western hills of Castle Rock and then over to Elbert County.

One of the hills we rode up near Roller Coaster Road was an 18% grade, at the very top. Crazy!

Finally the sky cleared for a while.

We saw cool things like old barns that time had left behind.

The Black Forest Store is somewhere you really want to stop into for a bite to eat or a quick soda. very friendly people there and we reallay want the store to do well.

We finished in 13 hours. I think we'll be a bit faster in the future, once we get the hang of the controls. 11 hours and 15 ride time.

This weekend we do the Fleche. 5 of us and it will be about 435-40 miles, in 24 hours. Not a lot of miles for the time but there are rules about when to start and stop, how long to stay at the controls, and things like that. Here's to another long ride weekend and good weather. # posted by Michelle Grainger @ 11:43 PM 0 Comments

Friday, May 1, 2009

3366M And a Busy Weekend Ahead.

Last few days it's looked like it's going to rain. That's going to be the forecast for the weekend.

Spent the week sleeping a lot and hiking a lot. The 700 mile week of vacation took a lot out of me. Really! Did some light riding, testing out some new orthotics on the trainer and a great ride with Steve and J on Wed.

Got this great 5 oz rain jacket that truly is water proof and wind proof. It's by O2. Really awesome. Go check it out at http://www.universalcycles.com/. They got it to me in 2 days and they sent great emails letting me know that I'd have it by the 300K Brevet this weekend. They really are a great company! I'll buy from them again.

Tomorrow I'm taking a class on supporting the spine, strengthening the pelvic floor muscles and more. It will take all day so I'll have to pack tonight after work.

It's supposed to rain, so 185 miles in those conditions should be interesting.

Well, off to hike the Girls and then off to work.

# posted by Michelle Grainger @ 9:29 AM 0 Comments

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Duck Came To Visit.

Today we were headed into the woods to hike the Girls and look what we found in our little creek. Mr and Ms Duck. Cool!

# posted by Michelle Grainger @ 11:45 PM 0 Comments

3306M. Last One In The Rain. Always practice safe helmet use!

So the last 100 of the 700 mile week was raining. No worries. I had knee warmers, leg warmers, arm warmers, a SmartWool undershirt, heavy booties, my Rainlegs, and a Gore rain jacket. Oh yeah, and the shower cap. All set for anything to happen.

Headed out of the PErformance parking lot and headed north to Lyons. Did the Fruit Loops and then headed for the Huge Box. Went north after the Huge Box and went to Berthoud on 287. Not bad as doing loops kept me from going into the wind all of the time.

It was pretty soggy out but not really all that bad. ABout 46 degrees and not that pelting rain that hurts your cheeks. Made for good Orgonian views. Like when I was training for RAAM in Portland. Had to ride in all types of weather there.

Just no views of the mountains today.

Headed back into Lyons after coming back from Berthoud and did a quick turn-a-round and headed back out to the Huge Box, came into Hygeine and then back out to do the Big Box. That would give me enough miles to come back into Boulder and have just 100 miles.

It was a hard day and it seemed my computer was stuck on 14.8 mph. That was in the wind and when I wasn't directly in the wind it was about 16.8. Not very fast. My legs were really done so even trying to staand was pretty much a wash. I'd make it about 25 yards and have to sit back down. Not to worry as I had expected this after doing 600 already.

The one time it actually cleared up I could make out some sort of mountains in the horizon.

Sunday was a day with Steve as it was our 17 th wedding anniversary. 20 years together. We went to the Walnut Cafe and got to hang with Danna. Thanks Dana for BF!

The rest of the day was goofing off and hiking with the girls. It snowed overnight and it was fun to get them out,a s they were only hiked minimally throughout the vacation week.

Will only do very easy and short rides this week and then do the 300K Brevet on Sunday with John, Steve, and Catherine. # posted by Michelle Grainger @ 1:15 PM 0 Comments

3206YTD and a 150 miler.

I live in and near mountains because they make me alive!

Starting out form Boulder on the farmland flats towards HYW 34.

We started out early today. early for us is 8 AM. It seemed a ot colder than the 47 degrees the car thermometer read.
I was in a pretty crabby mode today, day 5 of the vacation. Had to keep telling Steve to motivate me today. My legs were quite tired from the week. By today we had about 26,000 feet of climbing in our legs. And.... it never really got warm. Seemed I didn't dress very well. Maybe b/c yesterday was 80 degrees.

Headed over to my favorite canyon-The Big Thompson. I love it. Easy climbing, shoulder for two, and a river to watch the whole way up.

We were really lucky as we had a slight tail wind up half of the climb. ALwasy a good thing!

Once me made the turn from Drake, we did have wind in our face. Very typical of this part of the canyon, only getting a bit stronger once you get to Estes Park.

In Estes Park, Steve booted one of my tired. I had the start of a slash in the sidewall. Bummer as the tire is only about 800 miles old. I didn't want a blowout on the descent down to Lyons. We also ate some food at one of the gas stations ans fueled up for the rest of the way.

We then did both Fruit Loops and the Big Box Loop to make sure we'd get enough iles for a century.
A few times eating Clif Bloks along the way.

After the Box Loops we headed back towards Boulder. Once there, I realized that I didn't want to do a 144 mile ride on the last day of vacation, Saturday. So...I talked Steve into doing a shorter loop on Neva Rd and get in another 25 miles.

We finished that lop and I thought it would be cool to do another 25 mile loop and get in a 150 mile ride for this day.

Although I was wasted (tired) I called out friend Eugene and asked him to keep me motivated on one more loop. He was all for it. We wer lucky as we had pretty good winds , mostly in our favor.

We finished up the riding and it was fun to say I did a 150 (actual 151 mile loop).
Only one more day left and the weekend forecast is for rain.

# posted by Michelle Grainger @ 12:28 AM 0 Comments

Monday, April 27, 2009

3052YTD Another 200K Brevet. Stove Prairie. Mmmmmmmmm, snow balls.

Started out earlier than the previous days. Doing the Stove Prairie 200K Brevet. We were looking forward to the views in the mountains.

We started with the farm lands of Larimer County. Flat and rolling terrain.

Good views fo the mountains.

We headed for Carter lake and then over to the RV park just off of HWY 34. Then onto Masonville.

After Masonville we headed for Horsetooth Resevoir. We had been there once before to do an overnight bike tour.

The climbs are steep enough around the res. that I was glad to have compact gears. Saved my butt.

After leaving Horsetooth, we headed for the Poudre Canyon towards the back side of Stove Prairie.

Stove Prairie got about 3 1/2 feet of snow. Much of it had already melted but there was still a fair amount. Made the climb more interesting.

At the top, we stopped for a nice snowball snack.
The front or east side of the climb is like cycling along a small country road. Very forested and has small horse farms along the way.

After the descent, we headed back towards Masonville and around the backside onto Sandy's. There I got a 20 oz coke and downed it in about 5 minutes. That hasn't happened in a while.

After Sandy's we headed out east on many roads that had us backtracking along the way we started.

# posted by Michelle Grainger @ 11:42 PM 0 Comments

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

2927YTD Day Three, 330 miles. Vacation Miles! Beautiful views heading west.

Best views there are......

This is our vacation week. Decided to stay home so we can hike the dogs when we get up and then ride like crazy fools the rest of the days.

I started my week with a century with John Lee on Sunday. Steve worked and I hiked the Girls early and then went out to do a "flat" century with John. Ended up a great ride and many roads I've never seen or been on before.

Monday Steve and I both worked and it was a long day, as our power and internet had been out most of the weekend. We got internet service back on Tuesday. Monday was a very long day, finally getting to bed around midnight.

Day two of the vacation, we got up (Tuesday) in the morning and hiked the Girls on the trails. Many ,many trees are down, all over the place. Someone will have to come back with the chainsaw. The Girls had a blast and we felt less guilty leaving them alone for so many of the days, this week.

Next stop, Louisville.
We headed over to pick up our Brevet cards and maps. Finally got going on the Kersey Kick 200K at about 10:00. Well, almost. Steve forgot his bottles and had to turn back for them. Kind of got a late start.

We headed north over to HWY 52 and then zigzagged our way over to Miliken and then onto Kersey. Good Burrito and sandwiches at the Conoco station in Kersey. Then back south for a while and, again, zigzagged west, and south past Erie and back towards Lousiville. Lots of fields, farms, and pastures to look at. Rolling hills, too.

Not a bad day at all and a good mph pace for a 125 mile ride. Wind was mostly in our favor, too. Another great thing was that John Lee came to meet us along the way and ride back with us.

Had to run a bunch of errands after the ride and finally got home at about 9 PM! Too late to watch a movie but fed the Girls and we made and ate salads with some rice and crab meat.

Day three of the vacation we decided to stay around Boulder County so we got up late, knowing we were going to do a flat century and try to get back early afternoon. Not! After hiking the Girls again, seeing more trees on the ground, we headed out on the bikes.

The wind was not too bad for the first 25 miles or so, then it was pay back for not having bad winds yesterday.

The wind kicked up and at times it was everything we could do to go 12 mph! Not making us very happy. It was quite the struggle and we had to make a few extra stops for more fluids and food. Stopped twice in Lyons before heading out on something we call the Huge Box Loop. The we headed back into Lyons, to pick up a few extra miles and oh was the wind crazy hard to push into.

This is how you look in the crazy wind.

There was this big huge black cloud that seemed to be making it's own wind-alwasy into our face.

Finally, getting home later afternoon, we finished with about 101 miles. It makes 330 for me and 229, for Steve. Also, did a 5000 feet of elevation gain-so, I guess, not so flat.

Tomorrow we'll be up at 6:00 and out the door early. We want to do another 200K Brevet but it starts about an hour drive from our house. Some of the roads we've been on before and some, not.

The Girls will have to take a day off, as I am sure there will not be enough morning time to walk or hike them in the morning. # posted by Michelle Grainger @ 9:59 PM 0 Comments

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