It's definitely hard to believe that we are half way through 2013! Six months GONE, just like that. In fact, it's even harder to believe that it's been about 7 1/2 months since Ironman. At this time last year, I was running track, doing running drills, core workouts at the gym, and doing two-a-days. So far, this month, I've had no running, haven't been to the gym, don't do anything on some days, and find myself trying to find time to ride on my new mountain bike. I'm happy to report that I've stuck with Eric's meal plan about 80% - 90% of the time and have been hovering between 156lbs and 161lbs since Ironman. That means that I really haven't gained much weight since the dramatic decrease in exercise....remember, my race weight was about 155lbs and did get up to 160lbs while training. The only difference now is that I may include a second cheat day and I'm no longer "afraid" to take that scoop (or two) of mac 'n' cheese when making it for the kiddos.
Check out this screenshot from my Garmin page for June 2012. Each color is a different discipline (Orange = swimming, red = biking, blue = running, grey = strength):
Even though I'm not as busy with training, I'm just as busy, if not MORE busy, with other things now. For example, I've signed up to work as a coach with Frank Sole at Sole Swim Solutions, I signed up to be a volunteer coach for the YMCA swim team that my son is on, and I teach private swim lessons in our backyard pool. For fun, here is a typical week for me:
MONDAY
- Road or MTB ride from 5:00AM - 7:00AM
- Work until 3:00PM
- Pick up son and and volunteer coach at the YMCA from 4:00PM - 5:00PM
- Go home for private lessons from about 5:30PM - 6:00PM (longer if more than 1 lesson)
TUESDAY
- Road ride from 5:00AM - 7:00AM
- Work until 3:00PM
- Work at Sole Swim Solutions from 3:15PM - 6:00PM
WEDNESDAY
- Wake at 4:45AM
- Assistant coach the ONE Multisport swim from 5:30AM - 6:30AM
- Swim from 6:30AM - 7:30AM
- Work until 3:00PM
- Pick up son and volunteer coach at the YMCA from 4:00PM - 5:00PM
- Go home for private lessons from about 5:30PM - 6:00PM (longer if more than 1 lesson)
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
- Road or MTB ride from 5:00AM - 7:00AM
- Work until 3:00PM
- Work at Sole Swim Solutions from 3:15PM - 6:00PM
SATURDAY
- Road or MTB ride from 5:00AM - 8:00AM
- Work at Sole Swim Solutions from 9:00AM - ???
SUNDAY
- DAY OFF! No work, maybe a ride.
What strikes me the most, from the above schedule, is the lack of swimming. Since my national championship meet, and the acquisition of my MTB, I've been swimming only once per week. Funny thing is that I'm totally OK with that. I also indicated that I was still planning on doing some triathlons this year, but so far, I've done exactly ZERO and have no real plans on the few left this season. I could be talked into a relay, but that would mean I would need about 2 weeks to a month to get into 1.2 shape. There is talk of us doing the state TTT again. In fact, James ordered us new skin suits and they should be here sometime next month. I definitely need more time on the tri bike if I'm going to be any kind of asset to the team.
So, without further adieu, here are the numbers (YTD and monthly)
JUNE 2010 TOTALS (IMAZ 2010 TRAINING YEAR):
SWIM = 26750 yards
BIKE = 672 miles
RUN = 81.63 miles
JUNE 2011 TOTALS:
SWIM = 30187 yards
BIKE = 419.80 miles
RUN = 23 miles
JUNE 2012 TOTALS (IMAZ 2012 TRAINING YEAR):
SWIM = 14712 yards
BIKE = 392.22 miles
RUN = 81.23 miles
JUNE 2013 TOTALS:
SWIM = 12550 yards
BIKE = 421.34 miles
RUN = 0 miles
YTD 2010 TOTALS (IMAZ 2010 TRAINING YEAR):
SWIM = 137,800 yards
BIKE = 3021.75 miles
RUN = 325.73 miles
YTD 2011 TOTALS:
SWIM = 201,906 yards
BIKE = 2101.29 miles
RUN = 73.61 miles
YTD 2012 TOTALS (IMAZ 2012 TRAINING YEAR)
SWIM = 121,903 yards
BIKE = 1967.70 miles
RUN = 161.90 miles
YTD 2013 TOTALS:
SWIM = 157,625 yards
BIKE = 643.83 miles
RUN = 57.32 miles
So, I trade my road bike in for a mountain bike, no big deal, right?!? WRONG! I've had so much fun riding the trails, and exploring new places, that I've completely (inadvertently) shelved my swimming. Even though there is a meet scheduled for July 13th & 14th (just under 3 weeks away) I have not been in the water for 12 full days. In a previous post, I talked about entering a bunch of events and trying to win the high point award for my age group in said meet.....um, yeah, not so sure about that now....I still may do it, but not so sure I'll get the results I wanted!
You see, I typically like to get a swim workout in about 3 days a week (4 in a good week), but when given the option of going to the pool or hitting the trails, the trails have won. Just this morning, I should have gone to the YMCA and practiced my butterfly, or flip turns, or pretty much ANYTHING related to swimming, but ended up back on my MTB for the 4th time in 5 days......solo even. I absolutely know that I need water time, but DARN IT, what is going on around here?!?!? The funny thing is, I'm completely at peace with it. No guilt, no internal strife, no, excuses. I mean, take a look at these pics from this morning. I took them around 6AM from the highest point on my ride (Ridgeback Trail). Lane lines and chlorine over this? On this morning? Nope.
Sticking with the song lyrics theme, but fast forwarding to 1998, I plucked out the very last sentence from Semisonic's "Closing Time" for the title of this entry. Exactly 11 days after placing the order for my new MTB bike, she finally came in. I just happened to be in the area when I got the following detailed message from Air Park Bikes earlier today:
"It's Here"
After the following lengthy exchange, I ended up stopping by to witness the creation myself:
"When will it be ready?"
"Tonight"
It took Jay another two hours to finish the job, but me standing around, for two hours in a bike shop, is like a kid in a candy store or Imelda Marcus and Kimora Lee Simmons in a Louboutin factory.
Boys II Men said it best back in 1991 with their rendition:
How do I say goodbye to what we had?
The good times that made us laugh
Outweigh the bad.
I thought we'd get to see forever
But forever's gone away
It's so hard to say goodbye to yesterday.
I don't know where this road
Is going to lead
All I know is where we've been
And what we've been through.
Geez, even now, I'm getting a bit misty eyed....OVER A BIKE?!?!
For a little over a year, I've been watching a good base of my cycling/triathlon buddies enjoying riding their mountain bikes and, while I've made a few attempts to enjoy it on borrowed bikes, I haven't embraced the activity at all. On many occasions, I've had to ride my tri/road bike solo because they are all out riding one of the many trails near our neighborhood. I've seen them go from beginner bikes to $10,000 full suspension rigs and from 10 mile "fun rides" to competing in 104 mile endurance races. Again, all the while, I was never really interested....until now.
Since the beginning of 2013, it seems like I'm reading more stories about cycling fatalities do to reckless drivers. I've also been paying more attention to others while I'm driving and have seen my fair share of people making that oh so important text while cruising down the bike lane at 55mph. I can wear all of the safety gear I want, wear all of the blinky lights I can, obey all the laws that are in place, and be as alert as possible, but nothing, NOTHING can save me from the scenario I described above as it would happen from behind and take a split second. Heck, even the most cautious driver in the world can be distracted for a split second, cross into the bike lane, and take out a cyclist. As a result of this new found "paranoia", I've seriously considered selling my beloved BH G4 road bike and buying a mountain bike with the proceeds. Oh, I'll still keep my tri bike, but at least I can mitigate the danger by getting off the roads more and onto the trails.
So, the first step in the process is to actually sell my BH, but when it comes to being a salesman, I am probably the world's worst! I have ZERO negotiation skills and pretty much fail miserably every time I get the courage to try. So, when I tell you that putting my bike on Ebay or Craigslist makes me very uncomfortable, that is probably an understatement. I realize that literally thousands and thousands of people sell their stuff this way, but I just seem to hate it. I don't really want to negotiate over a low ball offer or let some stranger ride off on the bike just to test it. What if he never comes back? What kind of hooligan will be showing up? What times will people want to come over? During dinner? Kids baths? When? YOU SEE?!?! I get all worked up over what is pretty much nothing to most people. With that in mind, I stopped by the bike shop that I've been frequenting for 5 years now and asked if they do swaps, trade-ins, or consignments. Well, the answer to all three is yes!
After I told the owner what I was looking to do, we jumped on the net to see what BH G4s are going for or what they have sold for recently. We couldn't find any. None. He then asked me what I thought I could get for it. All along, I thought that I could probably get in the neighborhood of $2500, but for some reason, I told him $2000....I have no idea why. It was at this point that he said he could swap me for a brand new Santa Cruz Superlight 29er full suspension mountain bike. All I had to do was tell him to order it. We walked over to the exact bike, and set up, that he had on the floor, but it was too small. I immediately fell in love with it. It looked super cool, was a 29er, and was full suspension, all of which I thought was important. As for the components, the only way I know anything about MTB components is to relate them to the equivalent road groups. For example, the top of the line SRAM for a road bike is "Red" and the top of the line for MTB is XX1. The "entry level" road group for SRAM is "Apex" and the entry level MTB is X5. Shimano is a bit more complicated, but the top of the line road group is Dura Ace, while the entry level is widely considered 105. There are lower groups (Tiagra, Sora, and 2200) but those are more commonly found on "big box store ~ i.e. Walmart" mass produced bikes. Well, this particular bike has a mix of SRAM X5 and X7 on it. The only way I can relate was when the owner told me that it's like a road bike with Shimano 105 and Ultegra (a step above 105) mix....or a SRAM Apex and Rival mix....most definitely "entry level." Regardless, I made the snap decision to move forward and told him to order it up! He then asked if I could bring by my BH so that he could try selling it ASAP. Yesterday was the day that I brought her in.
After talking with a few of my buddies about the transaction, I was met with mixed responses. A few told me that the new MTB would serve me well and that I would be just fine riding it. Others thought that I was getting the short end of the stick on the deal. They didn't say it was a BAD deal, just that I probably could have negotiated more ~ I told you I couldn't negotiate!!!! With those remarks fully burned into my brain, I rolled my full carbon, full RED, sub 15lb, road bike into the shop. I leaned it up against the wall and made small talk with the guys in there. I really didn't want to leave. After reflecting on it for 24 hours, the thought of simply trading in a top of the line road bike for an entry level MTB was a tough one. I was very attached to that bike and always seemed to get compliments from people that had never seen it before. Finally, I had to make the break. Good deal, bad deal, whatever, it was too late in the process now. I said goodbye, to both the guys in the shop, and my BH, and walked out the door....never to see her again. Hopefully I will be more than happy riding the trails on my new set up and that will take some of the sting away from yesterday's transaction. I will never forget the BH G4, the miles I put on her, the races we did together, the crash we had, or the day I left her alone with strangers in a bike shop.
The very fist pic after being built up circa August 2009:
In Del Mar, California circa October 2009:
Finishing the Tour de Tucson in 4:56.17 just 3 months after our crash that shattered my shoulder, broke two ribs, and bruised a lung:
