This week brings both the last day of freedom and the first day of the next seven and a half months of my life. In other words, tomorrow begins Ironman training.
I'm not so worried about tomorrow, per se, as it is actually a swim on my own (as long as no one actually sees me drowning, it's fine). I am however, slightly worried about Tuesday (my first bike class) and Friday (my first swim class with the group [and with the potential for 16 other people to witness my drowning]). If my 13-miler yesterday was any indication (although, admittedly, the hacking cough didn't help any), I am in for a bit of a challenge to get back into shape this next month or so.
All fears aside, however, this is the beginning of a long journey of my own choosing. I'm excited to push my body to new limits, meet new people, and to become a better cyclist. At the same time, I'm worried about managing my time both at work and at home, and getting injured (I mean, with running I usually just have to worry about overuse, with biking I also have to worry about my own clumsiness [yikes]).
All that said, we'll see how I feel come next Sunday, but the schedule doesn't look that punishing for the first week at least. I'm sure that I'll be singing a different tune soon.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Sans Concussion
There are several reasons that this is a notable occurance:
First and foremost, as the title of this post would indicate, I did not give myself a concussion (please note super-lame looking helmet in above photo). I guess that NOT giving oneself a concussion shouldn't be something noteable, but when you add snowboarding and me into the mix, it pretty much is. Snowboarding is actually the cause of my one and only (knock HARD on wood) sports injury to date (yes, a concussion). In other words, as much as I fear being doored riding the city streets, or getting a stress fracture somewhere, the only true sports injury that I've ever had is from snowboarding.
That leads to the second reason that this snowboarding trip is notable:
Brian totally (admittedly by him) would not have gone snowboarding before Ironman training last year. He would have been too worried to get injured before he even began. He also wouldn't have spent one of the last weekends before training began drinking beer at altitude. Maybe I'm just cooler than he is (which may go without saying)...Perhaps I am not taking this seriously enough (I would have been seriously pissed off had I actually injured myself)...or maybe I'm just a hell of a lot more badass.
I figure I've got about six months to assume the latter before I need to really start worrying about beating a 12:36 for real.
Friday, January 14, 2011
An Open Letter to Bally's Total Fitness
Dear John...[ahem]...I mean, Bally's,
It's not you, it's me. Well, no. Mostly, it's you. I know that we've been together since college (8 years now!), but I think that it might be time to say goodbye. It's not the smell; really, I'm not that sensitive to it and it gives me the feeling that I'm really "working out" when everything smells bad. It's not the fact that you don't have any towels (or really any amenities at all- including soap dispensers with soap in them), I understand that this is part of the reason that you can give me a membership for only $20 a month (although a friend of mine claims he pays $8- what's with that?). It's not even the locker room (although I am confused as to why the same naked old lady is always sitting [and sometimes eating] in there).
It's not the fact that you wouldn't let me out of my three year contract when I moved to Scotland, despite guaranteeing that you would (I mean, I had a letter from my employer, a stamp in my passport, an electric bill, a check stub, and a cashed rent check- what more do you want to prove I live somewhere?). It's not the fact that someone suckered me into a three year contract (Three years! That's longer than most relationships last).
Really, at this point it's the pool. There's a couple things about the pool that I just can't do. First of all, I am a little concerned by the hairy men with gold chains who sit in the hot tub and ogle the swimmers (who are mostly older ladies with sagging speedos...). They never leave. Just like the naked-locker-room-eating lady. They're not the major reason we must bid ado, however. It is your general lack of hygiene these days. There are...um (how do I say this politely)... things floating in the pool. Things that should not be floating in the pool. Also, when the water gets cloudy, it's time to add some chlorine. Not a lot, but some.
I hope maybe you've learned something from our time together. I know I have learned at least one thing: it's worth a couple extra bucks to pay for a grown-up gym that actually cleans up after itself.
It's not you, it's me. Well, no. Mostly, it's you. I know that we've been together since college (8 years now!), but I think that it might be time to say goodbye. It's not the smell; really, I'm not that sensitive to it and it gives me the feeling that I'm really "working out" when everything smells bad. It's not the fact that you don't have any towels (or really any amenities at all- including soap dispensers with soap in them), I understand that this is part of the reason that you can give me a membership for only $20 a month (although a friend of mine claims he pays $8- what's with that?). It's not even the locker room (although I am confused as to why the same naked old lady is always sitting [and sometimes eating] in there).
It's not the fact that you wouldn't let me out of my three year contract when I moved to Scotland, despite guaranteeing that you would (I mean, I had a letter from my employer, a stamp in my passport, an electric bill, a check stub, and a cashed rent check- what more do you want to prove I live somewhere?). It's not the fact that someone suckered me into a three year contract (Three years! That's longer than most relationships last).
Really, at this point it's the pool. There's a couple things about the pool that I just can't do. First of all, I am a little concerned by the hairy men with gold chains who sit in the hot tub and ogle the swimmers (who are mostly older ladies with sagging speedos...). They never leave. Just like the naked-locker-room-eating lady. They're not the major reason we must bid ado, however. It is your general lack of hygiene these days. There are...um (how do I say this politely)... things floating in the pool. Things that should not be floating in the pool. Also, when the water gets cloudy, it's time to add some chlorine. Not a lot, but some.
I hope maybe you've learned something from our time together. I know I have learned at least one thing: it's worth a couple extra bucks to pay for a grown-up gym that actually cleans up after itself.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Soooo...I'm lazy
A friend of mine once called me "the laziest marathon runner" that he knew.
Some colleges claim that they work hard so that they can play hard.
I work hard so that I can rest hard, I guess.
In other words, while many of my colleagues have been in pre-season training working their non-existent butts off, I have been eating pie (and cake, and candy, and Christmas cookies...) and drinking beer.
On one hand this worries me a little bit: the fact that I haven't been in a pool since July, the fact that I can no longer button my jeans without sucking in (and then can barely breathe while wearing them), the fact that every time I get on the bike trainer I try to ride hard, but the antics on Glee just get so distracting (teenage drama! set to music!) should all be worrisome to someone about to embark on Ironman training. On the other hand (or so I keep trying to rationalize to myself), I spent the past year training for three different major races and I'm about to give up 2011 to the triathlon gods as well, so I deserve that last slice of pie (and the one before it, and that tray of cookies, and the doughnut...).
All kidding aside though, everyone needs a break once in a while. Is it my fault that I rest harder than most?
Some colleges claim that they work hard so that they can play hard.
I work hard so that I can rest hard, I guess.
In other words, while many of my colleagues have been in pre-season training working their non-existent butts off, I have been eating pie (and cake, and candy, and Christmas cookies...) and drinking beer.
On one hand this worries me a little bit: the fact that I haven't been in a pool since July, the fact that I can no longer button my jeans without sucking in (and then can barely breathe while wearing them), the fact that every time I get on the bike trainer I try to ride hard, but the antics on Glee just get so distracting (teenage drama! set to music!) should all be worrisome to someone about to embark on Ironman training. On the other hand (or so I keep trying to rationalize to myself), I spent the past year training for three different major races and I'm about to give up 2011 to the triathlon gods as well, so I deserve that last slice of pie (and the one before it, and that tray of cookies, and the doughnut...).
All kidding aside though, everyone needs a break once in a while. Is it my fault that I rest harder than most?
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
What IS Normal?
The title of today's post was the subject of my zoning-out-in-traffic pondering today.
As a result of doing stupid endurance sports, I know quiet a wide range of people who others, outside of the endurance community, might think of as crazy. I have a multiple friends who have run marathons, several friends who have run multiple marathons, and live with an Ironman finisher. I have friends who are runners and runner-friends. A lot of these people have done things that I would never care to attempt like 50 mile races (hallucinations anyone?) and trail marathons (I trip over the same power cord in my classroom everyday and I KNOW it's there...I can't imagine what would happen with a tree stump that I didn't). I now, thanks to the running community and Brian, know a bunch of people who have completed at least one (some mulitple) Ironman triathalons. For the most part, I would consider the vast majority of these people "normal". The more I run, and the more I meet runners, the more that crazy-distance races begin to look blase'. For example, when I venture out into the endurance community and mention the Ironman or my running goals, I feel that I get responses like this a lot:
"Oh, you've run 5 marathons? Yeah, I did a bunch of marathons in my twenties too. I tried ultra marathons after that, but decided on doing an Ironman after my knees started giving me trouble. After that one I just got hooked."
Or "Oh, you're doing an Ironman? That's cool. I might do one in the future, but now I'm concentrating on running a faster marathon..."
When I venture outside of the endurance community, I feel like people look at me cross-eyed when I tell them that I even run on a regular basis...let alone run marathons...let alone think that a good way to spend a summer is on six hour rides.
As a result of doing stupid endurance sports, I know quiet a wide range of people who others, outside of the endurance community, might think of as crazy. I have a multiple friends who have run marathons, several friends who have run multiple marathons, and live with an Ironman finisher. I have friends who are runners and runner-friends. A lot of these people have done things that I would never care to attempt like 50 mile races (hallucinations anyone?) and trail marathons (I trip over the same power cord in my classroom everyday and I KNOW it's there...I can't imagine what would happen with a tree stump that I didn't). I now, thanks to the running community and Brian, know a bunch of people who have completed at least one (some mulitple) Ironman triathalons. For the most part, I would consider the vast majority of these people "normal". The more I run, and the more I meet runners, the more that crazy-distance races begin to look blase'. For example, when I venture out into the endurance community and mention the Ironman or my running goals, I feel that I get responses like this a lot:
"Oh, you've run 5 marathons? Yeah, I did a bunch of marathons in my twenties too. I tried ultra marathons after that, but decided on doing an Ironman after my knees started giving me trouble. After that one I just got hooked."
Or "Oh, you're doing an Ironman? That's cool. I might do one in the future, but now I'm concentrating on running a faster marathon..."
When I venture outside of the endurance community, I feel like people look at me cross-eyed when I tell them that I even run on a regular basis...let alone run marathons...let alone think that a good way to spend a summer is on six hour rides.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Happy New Year!!
Happy New Year!
While I don't usually buy into New Year's resolutions, I guess right now is as good of a time as any to take stock and resolve to do a couple things a little differently this year.
So...call them what you like...but here are mine. I would call these workout resolutions, but I'm not sure that that would be entirely accurate. I think that any good resolutions will probably carry over into the rest of life as well.
1. Be more joyful.
Despite having a pretty amazing year in 2010, I feel like I spent much of the time complaining: about my workouts, about the weather, about my times, about my job. So much of what I complained about this year were things that I did out of choice (seriously, no one is holding a gun to my head at 6:30 in the morning and forcing me out for a 20-miler), but a lot of the time I forgot this and grumbled my way out the door anyway. Therefore, I resolve this year to find more joy in everything I do: to remind myself that I am lucky to be healthy and fit enough to get up and run 20 miles, to remind myself that I teach because I love it (even if I am having a terrible day), to remind myself that in everything I give up for sport, I am gaining so much more in health and fitness and experiences (and that being able to run a marathon or do an Ironman is well worth a couple of missed bar nights).
2. To not procrastinate and to finish the things that I set out to do.
Oh, how I love to procrastinate. Procrastination is my undoing. I've learned over the years that no matter how daunting a 15 mile run or 3 hour bike seems at 6am, it will only get more so, not less, as the day wears on. Therefore, I resolve to stop being so damn lazy and just get whatever needs to be done done (please hold me to this people).
3. To be more organized.
I spent a half an hour this morning looking for my cold-weather running jacket and my facemask.
I never did find the face mask. Enough said.
While I don't usually buy into New Year's resolutions, I guess right now is as good of a time as any to take stock and resolve to do a couple things a little differently this year.
So...call them what you like...but here are mine. I would call these workout resolutions, but I'm not sure that that would be entirely accurate. I think that any good resolutions will probably carry over into the rest of life as well.
1. Be more joyful.
Despite having a pretty amazing year in 2010, I feel like I spent much of the time complaining: about my workouts, about the weather, about my times, about my job. So much of what I complained about this year were things that I did out of choice (seriously, no one is holding a gun to my head at 6:30 in the morning and forcing me out for a 20-miler), but a lot of the time I forgot this and grumbled my way out the door anyway. Therefore, I resolve this year to find more joy in everything I do: to remind myself that I am lucky to be healthy and fit enough to get up and run 20 miles, to remind myself that I teach because I love it (even if I am having a terrible day), to remind myself that in everything I give up for sport, I am gaining so much more in health and fitness and experiences (and that being able to run a marathon or do an Ironman is well worth a couple of missed bar nights).
2. To not procrastinate and to finish the things that I set out to do.
Oh, how I love to procrastinate. Procrastination is my undoing. I've learned over the years that no matter how daunting a 15 mile run or 3 hour bike seems at 6am, it will only get more so, not less, as the day wears on. Therefore, I resolve to stop being so damn lazy and just get whatever needs to be done done (please hold me to this people).
3. To be more organized.
I spent a half an hour this morning looking for my cold-weather running jacket and my facemask.
I never did find the face mask. Enough said.
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