New Bike!

So, busy past couple of weeks... I've gotten my long rides in so yeah me! I also got my new bike together.

For those who have never ridden an aero time trial style bike, well... either it's different or perhaps I am mildly inept at biking. Most likely it's a combination of the two. I got on the new bike for the first time on Saturday, all pumped and excited and it took me approximately 3 minutes to clip into my pedals. No, that's not an exaggeration. Normal Look clips but I wasn't used to them so I was trying to clip in like my road bike and kept missing. Speaking of missing, on a related note I am missing a decent amount of skin on my ankle now from the left clip. I finally clipped in then nearly ran head first into a tree as the brakes are on the curved part of the handle bars while the gears are on the aero grips... oopsie... averted drinking my dinner for the next few months by finding a comfy piece of grass next to the tree (comfy until 190 lbs of biking neophyte slams down on it that is). Ok, brakes in new location, check. 2 more minutes to clip in then back at it again. Oh goody, my first hill, lets crank up it! Oh.... wait... not so fast smart guy, the gear ratios are different (much different apparently) on the tri bike, three pedal strokes up the hill and I literally came to a stand still. Since I am still trying to get the hang of the gears in the aero position I clearly can't downshift that quick, plus I'm basically stopped anyways, and my feet are still clipped in, well, you may be able to picture the comedy that occurred next... yep, a classic slow motion tip over to the side. Love me some bruised hip. For the rest of that first 45 minute ride I decided it was in my best interest to simply go up and down streets in my neighborhood  staying close to easy bail out areas... I was essentially reduced to an 8 year old with no training wheels. Somehow I was encouraged by this or perhaps it was that when I found some smooth pavement with no stop signs I felt like I was barely pushing and was absolutely flying.

That brings me to Sunday where I had a fun 5k race in the morning then put my prior day's trail and error sitcom to use. It went MUCH better, 2 and a half hours of riding felt great and aside from still sucking at clipping in, I may actually be able to pass for competent on a bike again.

As for swimming, only got in the pool twice last week (the bad news) but one of those was a mile and a half gradual increase, 200 - 400 - 600 - etc. where I wasn't feeling tired at the end (the good news). My goal this week is a minimum of 3 times in the pool or perhaps a lake swim, those are so much better than what I like to think of as the swimming version of a hamster wheel in a 25 yard pool.

Haven't mentioned running, it was a lighter week mileage wise, around 28 miles, but a ton of hill work, so that is good. Some time this week I am going to do 18 miles in the morning (and now that it's on the internet I have to do it... ugh)

Till next time....

What's this all about?

So, if you know me, you know I tend to work out a decent amount and probably know I'm training for the Ironman in July (what? it's not like I talk about it constantly... oh... wait... anyway...). Well, I have been pushing myself pretty hard overall but when it comes to taking the time for the true endurance ride/run/swim I have to say that I have been lazy. Conversations with myself that go something like the following occur all the time:

me: "Hey, Kevin, you are supposed to ride for 2 and a half hours today"
evil me: "Sure... sure... buuuuutttttttttt... you did push pretty hard through some hills to start with..."
me: "That doesn't make a difference."
evil me: "Of course it does, besides, you lifted and did a spin to wake up in the morning"
me: "Well, I mean that's true"
evil me: "... plus a class at Golds at lunch and you know you'll make up for it next time"
me: "Yeah, I guess I could go a little longer next time"
evil me: "...plus, the Sox are on and Portland Pie has a new sping pizza menu"
me: "SOLD!"

As you may imagine, this has led me to be slightly less then optimal in the endurance potion of my training which is kind of a big thing when your finishing goals are timed in half day increments. So that leads me to this blog. I need to hold myself accountable for the next 3 to 4 months so why not put it on the internet. Will anyone read this, who knows... and frankly, who cares, if it is out there I will feel guilty enough to keep going. I more or less stole the idea for doing this from a supremely motivated mom who's blog you can follow here: Ironmother Training but damn it, it was a good idea.

So anywho, that is kind of the point of this long winded introduction post, I'll be periodically posting (could be a few days or a few weeks between entries, we'll see how my time to write goes) but posting this should keep me honest. The good news is that I haven't been totally slacking, a couple of weeks ago I ran one of my fastest half marathon times and I have been really killing my workouts as of late (for upwards of 5 to 6 hours daily), of course a week ago I went on a wedding induced bender that would make Caligula cringe so... yeah... there's that....

Have a 30 mile ride planned for one of the mornings this week with a distance run this weekend... Let the games begin!