Back Home Again

I'm not much of a night-owl, in fact, I'm not one at all. I'm the old early bird (but I don't like, nor eat, worms). Last night forced me out of my normal schedule of going to bed at what some think is ridiculously early. The early bird had to be a night owl. All this involves the retrieval of my broken down car 15 miles north of Martinsville. It broke down on the way home from Cicero. Thankfully, Lester was right behind me and got me home.

After pondering all the good, if not contradictory, advice I received about what to do, I opted to rent a car hauler from U-Haul. After all the taxes, insurance fees, etc., the total came to $74. That's at least a couple of hundred less than a tow truck, I think. I was not comfortable trying to do a field repair, not knowing for sure what the problem was. It was too far away to make two trips.

Lester, Ben, and I took off at 8:30 last night when the trailer became available. We arrived at my car at 9:55. The car started and then died before we could drive it onto the trailer, so with a little creativity, the use of a small hill, coupled with some pushing, and a come-along, we got it loaded in about 30 minutes. The trip home was uneventful. I arrived at my house at 11:55.

This morning I ran 3 miles and then delivered the car to the mechanic and the trailer back to the Star Stop U-Haul. After that, I got a tooth filled. Yes, it has been a great day - ha ha!

I found this on the Cicero website:

Cicero Tri Results: Thanks for being patient. There were a couple people who crossed the wrong mats in transition, and, as a result, we found a bug in our timing system software that keeps the import from completing under these circumstances.

We have been in communication with the timing software tech support and they are presently working to fix the bug. I’ll send an email to all when results are posted.

OK, that's enough excitement for today. I hope those of you riding this evening have a good ride. I'm out for tonight's ride and tomorrow's run. This working on other days besides Sundays has to stop!

Cicero Tri

I really miss blogging, so I am going to see if I can get going again. I stopped my general blog for several reasons. I felt like I was in a rut and a few other reasons. I am not going back to it, so if I blog, then this will be the place and training, mostly, will be the topic. Endurance athletics is, in my mind, a perfect metaphor for life, so some of that may show up from time to time.

It is Saturday evening and I'm pretty frustrated with myself. I know I need to let it go but not before it finishes its motivating work. What is my frustration? My car broke down 1.5 hours away? A little but that's not the main source. My main source is my panicked swim this morning in Cicero. It was bad. It was ugly. It was embarrassing. I thought I was past that kind of thing. Oh well. Panic, by nature, is irrational. I did make it through the water eventually. I literally was the last person out, and it was not even close. That was not good for my state of mind heading into T1, but the show had to go on.

T-Roy getting ready

The bike was not bad. I had hoped to top 20 mph, but the technical nature of the course and some nuisance wind kept me at 19.4, which was OK for me. Of course, I did the 56 miles of Ironman Muncie 70.3 in 19, but with the exception of the short miles out and back to the main loop, it was mostly long stretches on a closed highway. None of that today.  It was 10 miles of tiny rollers, twists and turns. It was a fairly enjoyable course really.

I have not seen the results showing transition times, so I don't know how quickly I got out of T1 or T2, but I think I did OK, especially out of 2. I chose not to wear socks for the ride or the run and no gloves for the ride. That saves quite a bit of time, I think. Tim the Elder shared this with me a long time ago. He speaks. I listen.

The run went pretty well. I am still learning what I can do, I suppose. I managed to run negative splits and was happy to run in the low 7:50s. I think I can go faster and do better. This was my first sprint tri. It will not be my last.

I had pretty well decided earlier in the week that my tri season would end today. I would not do Columbus or the Club Nationals. My focus would be/is on qualifying for Boston at Monumental. Now I am really struggling. I feel I need to go to Columbus and do the sprint with its 800-yard swim. I feel like I need to fix what happened today, proving I can get through the water calmly if not quickly. I will ponder it and decide soon.

The sprint distance was fun. Throw in a decent swim and this day would have been a ton of fun. I was so happy Lester had a good day, even though he wrecked his bike. He rode several miles with his wheel pointing straight but his handles bars pointing off at a 30-degree angle. I am not sure how he did it. I was also happy for Nick Swayer. He really had a nice day. Hopefully, Troy finally got some real results. Jim and Rand had their usual solid performances.

OK, looks like I've started again. I have lots of thoughts I want to share about this journey I am on. I hope you will join in with comments and share your thoughts as well. There are just a few of us here. I do not plan to promote this. I will simply invite people who interested in this endurance life we live to come and enjoy. Please feel free to do the same. Everyone is welcome.

Moving!

Good morning! I am going to move back to my old blog, now that "normal" life is resuming - ha ha - yeah, right!  You can find my original blog here. Come on over. I will still blog about training but will also broaden things out a bit.

Friday

Good morning! And "just like that" we lost 16 degrees from the forecast - ha ha. I think I hinted at that yesterday. I expect it will change everyday. Yesterday I also saw a link to the PCB Surf Forecast. I'm sure it will change daily also.

Believe it or not, none of this is bothering me. I feel pretty good about it all. I hope I feel that way next Friday - ha!

My ride with Jimmy did not happen yesterday, and I'm glad. He called about 8 and said he couldn't go. I was relieved. I did not really need to ride, plus it was pretty cold yesterday morning. I needed to get a lot of work done, to top it all off, so it turned out to be a good thing.

We did swim at the Y last night in Bloomington. I did 1.2 miles. I'm not fast at all, but I am fairly consistent, I think. If I can go at the pace I seemed to have settled into, then I will be fine, somewhere in the 1:50 to 2:00 hour range, is what I predict. I have 2:20 to get the job done.

I'm planning on taking the day off from endurance athletics, but the weather and my bike will tempt me this afternoon. A short ride? Maybe. We'll see.

Have a great day!

Thursday

For all the Neo-Luddites out there

Good morning! Thursday! Nine days out from Ironman Florida. Yikes. I am ready. I am ready. I am ready. I am ready...

The weather forecast is still holding onto an 86 degree day. I can manage that - lots of Endurolytes and water. My understanding, from reading people who live in FL, is the weather is harder to predict than here, since it is close to the water. I am not too concerned about it at this point.

I had another decent run yesterday morning. It will be my last 7 miler for a little while. Everything else from now until November 1 will be 5 or less, and there are only 3 of those left, I think. Maybe 4? I think I am going to try run with the group on Saturday at 8 a.m. It will be the first time I have run with anyone since mid-March, I think!

Jimmy and I going for a short ride today. Then this evening I think I am going to join him in Bloomington for 1.2 mile swim. I would like to go ahead and get that done tonight instead of tomorrow night. The next swim after this one will be in the Gulf of Mexico. I am looking forward to getting there and getting in.

Congratulations to Tim the Elder! He has a new granddaughter, Cora Marie, born yesterday afternoon. She came several days early! This is what Tim wanted.

Have a great day!

Wednesday

Good morning! It's going to be a great day today, so enjoy it and be thankful! The forecast above, which could change a lot, has me thinking about how I need to dress on the run. I was thinking I would need long sleeves for the second half of the run. Now I am thinking it is possible I will not. I will be prepared for all kinds of conditions on the run and the ride. I'm pretty sure the swim will be wet, so I am ready for that.

Last night was the final official Tuesday Night Ride. Of course it was short, due to approaching darkness. We had 7 show up for the fun 20 mile ride. You can click on one of our Strava events, to your right, to see the simple course we did. Riding last night were: Timmy G, Iron Bill, Dr. Lucky, Iron John H, Roy, T-Roy, and Me, the Ironman Wannabe (Gonnabe, hopefully). It was a lot of fun.

Following the ride, most of us went to Wendy's to eat, tell stories, and laugh. It was a great way to end the Tuesday night tradition for 2014. We had a long run of this year. I believe we started in March and went all way through mid-October. It's an Ironman year!

Roy and I talked some about our travel on Monday. I think we are going to leave around 6:30 and drive all the way to PCB. Jim is off but Steve is working, and I think Rand is going to travel with them, following them down. Steve is trying to shorten his day, I think. We should all be together on Tuesday sometime.

Hey, I need to go run! I hope to catch you tomorrow sometime. It's all getting pretty real...

Tuesday

Good morning! Looks like we are getting on a good roll with the weather! This is the way October is supposed to be. Speaking of weather, the extended forecast for Panama City Beach is good. I hope it holds. The most significant thing, in my mind, is the warmth. I was concerned about a cool/cold ride and dressing for it. If this forecast holds, then that will not be an issue and a relief.

Yesterday I did a short ride of 12 miles and short run of 3 miles. I was going to go 5 but decided I didn't need to. I felt pretty good at the end, and that's what I was after. I wanted to come off the bike and get my running legs ok, which I did.

Later I went to the pool and swam a mile. Today we gather for our last Tuesday p.m. ride. It will be short one, followed by a trip to Wendy's. We plan to meet at 5:30 and do 20 miles. Rumor has it John H has a new bike. Troy has a new bike. Tim the Elder has a new (to him) bike. All of them are Cervelos. Hmm, the Kestrel club is not longer. Now it is a KC club or CK club.

I hope you have a great day!