What happens when you're too lazy to train for three sports at the same time? Pick one!
I like bikes. They're shiny and funky and generally expensive-looking. And having been diligent with my bike training through the winter on the rollers and the Computrainers at Multisport Zone, my power numbers suggest that I'm moderately competent riding my shiny expensive bike.
So this weekend I'm entering my first road race to have some fun and get comfortable in the pack. I'm only racing in the S4/M3 division so there is little glory to be had, but on the notoriously sketchy 18-lap Springbank course things might get interesting. It will be a game-time decision as the whether I go for the hero move and ride off the front, or suck tire for 17.9 laps and unleash my sign sprint - which is no longer being measured by my Powertap, but rather the Richter Scale.
The following weekend I'm headed down to Windsor for a 60k team time trial put on by a local bike shop. I have no idea what to expect with that one, besides knowing I'm much better at road/crit riding than TT. But I need to get comfortable riding hard on my tri bike with a flat and fast half ironman coming up in 8 weeks.
After all that I'll start being a triathlete again, with my first real 5k at the Toronto Marathon weekend May 15th. I was running well a month ago but have put more energy into the bike lately...so we'll see where I'm at.
That's an excellent question...and I hope I haven't alienated all my little RP followers having not updated this thing in a month. The truth is not a whole lot has been going on since getting back from my Florida camp. But while I'm sitting here listening to Radiohead, watching some dorkus ride in circles past my house on a shiny new tri bike without a helmet...I figure it's time for an update.
Speaking of Florida...
I miss the sun.
London Ontario had one of the worst winters in recorded history this year, and good ol' Canadian weather has followed that up with a particularly miserable spring. It's now late April and I've had my bike outdoors a total of three times so far this year. It's a good thing I decided against heading back to St. Croix 70.3 this year...my training would have been utterly useless.
On top of the crap weather and resulting lack of motivation to leave my warm bed, my gimp back has been acting up a bit again. There isn't much logic as to when it gets bad, but when it does I'm basically limited to sitting on my ass watching The Big Lebowski, and staring at the pretty girl at hot yoga as often as possible. Come to think of it...being injured ROCKS!
But the limited training has allowed me to put some serious thought into the upcoming season. My training has gone well this year but I find myself more motivated to head out in the rain to train alone than hit a start line...and I'm learning the hard way that it's not sustainable. I've had to miss a couple early season races and had one of my key events cancelled, so while most triathletes are in tri season already my "racing" thus far has been three tempo effort 5k's.
I recently realized something: I cannot swim. That's nothing new. However, I have discovered that I can ride a bike, and sometimes I can even run. That is, of course, when I'm not napping.
I'm always one to focus on my weaknesses first, but lately I've been wondering what the hell I'm doing with this draft legal stuff. It is a lot of fun but I don't enjoy the training, and all philosphical "just do your best...it's not about winning...it's about the process" crap aside, I'm never going to race well when I sh*tcan the swim, bust my ass on the bike riding solo, then run two minutes slower than I'm capable of if I was sitting in a pack on the bike.
Long workouts have always been my favourites - long runs, endurance bricks...workouts so long that you find yourself running in the rain 4 hours in, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. So it looks like rather than focusing on ITU this year I'm probably going to hit a couple halfs, some non-drafting Olympic events, and one or two draft-legal development races. I've been struggling to put together a race calendar I'm happy with, so all I can tell you is I'm gearing up for Multisport Canada's Welland Half Iron as my first big target for the season. Time to get comfy on the tri bike and learn how to time trial!
