Alright. I laid out some basics, and am going to skip straight ahead to the shop talk,
as that's essentially what happened for me in buying the bike.
Tri bikes, when one gets serious, are alien spaceships.
I was glad to know I had no interest in one of those, from either a practical stand point - I'm not good enough for it to make sense; a financial stand point - $4500+ anyone?; or an aesthetic standpoint - the high forms of any niche are an acquired taste.
I knew a couple of things: I would pry use it for commuting a fair bit, and therefore wanted something that was almost shitty enough that I wouldn't mind locking up. This isn't the last bike I'll buy, so it didn't need to be top of the line for my price point, but should be an educational bridge from single/fixie world to road-land. I did not want a ladies bike, as they all seemed to have condescending paint schemes.
The original plan, owing to my budget, was to have Charles Spano, friend and son of a custom frame builder, help me ebay a great bike. For around $500. I want to be clear that this would have been totally possible, had I more persistence, time, and trust that everything would ultimately be okay. Even my coaches were alright with this plan.
In order to shop at distance, I needed to make sure I knew my frame height correctly, so I went down to Cynergy Cycles in Santa Monica to get a rough fit, and ride some Specializeds.
Long story short: I ride an Allez, which is the bottom of the good line of basic road bikes. It LOOKS H.O.T.
I want this bike. I want it. It costs $880.
That is $380 more than I had planned to spend.
I ride it. It rides well, but is a strange transition from my old Surly, which I think was too big for me, caused me to over-extend my upper body to the handle bars, but which I got used to, and I am still un-learning.
They urge me to ride the women's version of the same model, which looks like:
This is not a cool bike. It is almost pastel, and it has floral decals. The handle bar tape is THICK. This is rude.
I ride it, but I don't really pay attention to it, because I just can't make myself. This bike is $940. Hmph.
A week goes by, where I stress over whether I will be ROYALLY SCREWING myself by not getting a women's frame (mental freakout/hyperbole) and how dumb I am being to let aesthetics trump performance (mental abuse/hyperbole), and the feeling that if I'm dropping that much dough, I should get what I damn well want (clarity/sanity).
One day, driving on a random street, I go, You know what? Screw it. It's MY damn bike, lots of ladies rode man bikes for long enough, I'll be FINE, and then when I eventually get a ladies bike, I'll know whereof the differences lie.
I go back to Cynergy.
I ride the Allez again, and crazy Randall the world's ultimate salesman soothes my fear that I should be buying a women's, and says its okay to get the Allez. It's a nice bike. I say to Randall, just to be educated about this, let me ride the Dolce (women's frame) one more time. Except they don't have the Dolce I rode last time in my size. Now all they have is a Dolce Compact. This bike has nicer gears than the Allez or the first women's bike I rode. This is dangerous. This bike costs $1600.
I ride it, for about 5 minutes.
I didn't cry, but I could have.
It was a massively better bike, and you could feel it from the first moments. This is a machine I am going to be on for hours at a time, covering 100's of miles. I have no money, but I want to do this for myself. I want to go to the outer limit of what I am comfortable with financially, and get a bike that will make me love this race.
I buy it.
I go into overdraft, unwittingly (I thought I had $3000!) at that moment.
Possibly more troublesome, it looks like this:
Puke. Really. Puke.
Apparently the CEO of Specialized had been at the store 30 minutes before I came in to ride. That was my chance to let someone know. Instead, I'll probably just paint the frame. What's another $100-300 at this point, right?
I'm in deep.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Sixteen-Hundred Dollar Shoestring
If I don't finish the race, then MAYBE I'll have something bigger to fess up to than what I'm 'bout to fess up. Maybe.
I bought a bike, and its fantastic. I spent $1600.
How much is that to me? Two months' rent. Somewhere not much less than one month's paycheck. Twice my annual car insurance premium. 53 months of gym membership. 20 pairs of running shoes. Probably the approximate Blue Book value of my 2001 Corolla.
How did I get here? Why am I okay with it? Why do I think its not a total derailment of the "Tri on a Shoestring" philosophy? Tuck in, this entry's gonna be a doozy.
BIKES.
If you're not young and familiar with the cannibalization of competing genres of youth culture, you might not be aware that bikes are a hot, burning topic. I've tried to stay mostly out of the fray, and know enough to not destroy my bike, and to vaguely understand why the bike moves the way it does when I push on the pedals.
My last bike (R.I.P) - which was also my first "adult" bike, i.e. a purposeful purchase, and not a movement machine that happened to drift into the maw of my life - was a 54cm Surly Steamroller flip-flop that I rode single at first, and then fixed. I'm going to go ahead and tell you what all that meant, since it was all bewilderment to me until about 8 months ago. Let's break it down a phrase at a time.
54 cm The size of the frame - the most basic and rude measurement for fitting yourself to a bike. It refers to the seat tube post (that's pretty self explanatory if you're looking at a bike), though from which exact point to which other point varies slightly between manufacturers. I believe, but could be wrong, that from the center of the pedal-gear thing to the top of the tube is the measurement. Anyone?
I was happy on this frame, which was probably ignorance. I'm on a 51 now, and I feel sort of squished, but I can feel my body having an easier time getting up power.
The big throughline of the bike buying experience has been getting a women's vs a men's frame, and I'd like to drop on you a fundamental difference in physiologies that entails the need for frames to be built and sized differently: short torso/long legs (women) vs. long torso/legs (men). See how that combo can mean that, even sex being constant, two people of the same height might need a different size bike? Know this.
Surly Steamroller I'm not going to get into this too much, but this was a BAD ASS bike. Steamroller for ruhlz, that thing could jam through any pothole, crappy surface, get hit by a car, and sustain no damage. Amazing. Steel frame but light. When I first got onto an aluminum Specialized, I was disturbed to describe the sensation of the ride as "hollow" - the lighter frame and better shock absorption meant I wasn't "feeling" the road as much, and this freaked me out. Think Corolla - reliable, sturdy, economical - vs whatever your Mommy drives - smooth, quiet, clearly more expensive. It was like that. God I miss that bike. God I love my new one.
Flip-flop/single/fixed//road/track Explaning this is almost totally unpalatable to me, so strong do opinions run...I'll just try and succinctly relate my experience.
I bought the Surly as flip flop because I wanted to have something I could treat badly and still have be a workhorse, and was afraid to go totally fixed, because I didn't understand it. So I rode single for a few months - that means I had one gear, and could coast - I could glide along without the pedals/my legs moving, or even move them in crazy backwards circles.
People kept explaining fixed gear to me, and I just couldn't wrap my head around it. One night, my friend Bryan flipped the back wheel (with a single gear on one side of the hub, and a fixed gear on the other), and I tried to ride fixed. It was unsettling - if the wheels are moving, so are the pedals. Get me? If that bike's a-rollin, your legs are a-movin' - whether you like it or not. So now I understood, mechanically, the deal, but didn't understand what the intrinsic value might be.
Closest as I can tell you, based on personal experience, is this (and this basically matches what anyone will say...I think...): you get better at pedaling, more evenly, and more appropriately to whatever you are trying to achieve, speed or strengthwise. You get better feedback from the bike on what it wants to be doing, and you adjust more instinctively. Your legs are the gears, so you know how hard you are working; exactly how steep or long the hill is; and how much resistance you really need to stop. I never rode without a brake lever, and after I got hit by a car because I couldn't stop fast enough with one brake, I got a second one put on.
I'll never say that any sort of gear system is better than another, but the weirdo versatility of fixed should be experienced. Mechanical symbiosis and geeky thing-love, where your bike suddenly becomes a beautiful horsey you want to pet and canter with forever, is the best way I can explain it.
All of which is just set-up for the much more massive learning experience of buying the new bike, a 51 cm Specialized Dolce Comp. With a horrible paint job.
And why I head to bed with zero twinge of guilt that I've betrayed my mission or outspent my budget.
That'll have to be tomorrow's post.
I bought a bike, and its fantastic. I spent $1600.
How much is that to me? Two months' rent. Somewhere not much less than one month's paycheck. Twice my annual car insurance premium. 53 months of gym membership. 20 pairs of running shoes. Probably the approximate Blue Book value of my 2001 Corolla.
How did I get here? Why am I okay with it? Why do I think its not a total derailment of the "Tri on a Shoestring" philosophy? Tuck in, this entry's gonna be a doozy.
BIKES.
If you're not young and familiar with the cannibalization of competing genres of youth culture, you might not be aware that bikes are a hot, burning topic. I've tried to stay mostly out of the fray, and know enough to not destroy my bike, and to vaguely understand why the bike moves the way it does when I push on the pedals.
My last bike (R.I.P) - which was also my first "adult" bike, i.e. a purposeful purchase, and not a movement machine that happened to drift into the maw of my life - was a 54cm Surly Steamroller flip-flop that I rode single at first, and then fixed. I'm going to go ahead and tell you what all that meant, since it was all bewilderment to me until about 8 months ago. Let's break it down a phrase at a time.
54 cm The size of the frame - the most basic and rude measurement for fitting yourself to a bike. It refers to the seat tube post (that's pretty self explanatory if you're looking at a bike), though from which exact point to which other point varies slightly between manufacturers. I believe, but could be wrong, that from the center of the pedal-gear thing to the top of the tube is the measurement. Anyone?
I was happy on this frame, which was probably ignorance. I'm on a 51 now, and I feel sort of squished, but I can feel my body having an easier time getting up power.
The big throughline of the bike buying experience has been getting a women's vs a men's frame, and I'd like to drop on you a fundamental difference in physiologies that entails the need for frames to be built and sized differently: short torso/long legs (women) vs. long torso/legs (men). See how that combo can mean that, even sex being constant, two people of the same height might need a different size bike? Know this.
Surly Steamroller I'm not going to get into this too much, but this was a BAD ASS bike. Steamroller for ruhlz, that thing could jam through any pothole, crappy surface, get hit by a car, and sustain no damage. Amazing. Steel frame but light. When I first got onto an aluminum Specialized, I was disturbed to describe the sensation of the ride as "hollow" - the lighter frame and better shock absorption meant I wasn't "feeling" the road as much, and this freaked me out. Think Corolla - reliable, sturdy, economical - vs whatever your Mommy drives - smooth, quiet, clearly more expensive. It was like that. God I miss that bike. God I love my new one.
Flip-flop/single/fixed//road/track Explaning this is almost totally unpalatable to me, so strong do opinions run...I'll just try and succinctly relate my experience.
I bought the Surly as flip flop because I wanted to have something I could treat badly and still have be a workhorse, and was afraid to go totally fixed, because I didn't understand it. So I rode single for a few months - that means I had one gear, and could coast - I could glide along without the pedals/my legs moving, or even move them in crazy backwards circles.
People kept explaining fixed gear to me, and I just couldn't wrap my head around it. One night, my friend Bryan flipped the back wheel (with a single gear on one side of the hub, and a fixed gear on the other), and I tried to ride fixed. It was unsettling - if the wheels are moving, so are the pedals. Get me? If that bike's a-rollin, your legs are a-movin' - whether you like it or not. So now I understood, mechanically, the deal, but didn't understand what the intrinsic value might be.
Closest as I can tell you, based on personal experience, is this (and this basically matches what anyone will say...I think...): you get better at pedaling, more evenly, and more appropriately to whatever you are trying to achieve, speed or strengthwise. You get better feedback from the bike on what it wants to be doing, and you adjust more instinctively. Your legs are the gears, so you know how hard you are working; exactly how steep or long the hill is; and how much resistance you really need to stop. I never rode without a brake lever, and after I got hit by a car because I couldn't stop fast enough with one brake, I got a second one put on.
I'll never say that any sort of gear system is better than another, but the weirdo versatility of fixed should be experienced. Mechanical symbiosis and geeky thing-love, where your bike suddenly becomes a beautiful horsey you want to pet and canter with forever, is the best way I can explain it.
All of which is just set-up for the much more massive learning experience of buying the new bike, a 51 cm Specialized Dolce Comp. With a horrible paint job.
And why I head to bed with zero twinge of guilt that I've betrayed my mission or outspent my budget.
That'll have to be tomorrow's post.
All Systems Go
Arright arright arright.
Yeah yeah yeah.
I haven't blogged in a week. OKAY. But guess why? Becaaaaause....I've been busy...training! I work out twice a day now! Yay! Ugh! Awesome!
Let's start again, with a *little* less vernacular.
I think, for all intents and purposes, its not wrong to say that this week has been my first full week of training. I only had one day I didn't work out, I had two team practices, and I now own - at least some version of - all the equipment I will need.
Quick run down of the week's workouts, should you be curious:
Saturday
Ran in San Francisco. This was supposed to be a 40 minute easy run, which became an hour and a half-long odyssey, punctuated by walking backwards (cross-training!) up hills that were just not happening. I got lost deep in Upper Noe Valley, and spent literally 45 minutes running into & back out of streets that turned out to be dead ends. Whatever happened to "No Outlet" signs, SF? "Not a Thru Street," Gavin Newsom? Hmm?? The extra fun in this was that it was mostly on a hill overlooking the street I wanted to be on, and could have been, if I'd just committed to a sharp, steep tumble.
Sunday
nothing! ha!
Monday
Oh wait, nothing again. I lied before when I said there was only one day off. The curious thing about this rest day was when my body started to hurt. Around noon, I got growing pains. They throbbed gently until I went to bed. Interesting?
Tuesday
Morning - Swim, 45 minutes. LA Fitness Radio has some shockingly bad tunes. It's really stunning. Glad when I swim I only hear it while I'm in the locker room.
Wednesday
Morning - Bike, 1 hour. At the stupid gym again, but I did the recumbent bike this time. I'm not sure if this "counts", but I had sweat on my face and no bruises on my butt, so I think it was the right choice.
Thursday
TEAM SWIM PRACTICE!!!!! I don't really think of myself as an athletic person, but I do consider myself an athletic childhood person; I was ECSTATIC, in my own way, to be in the pool with 40 other people, to be circular swimming (!!!) after years of feeling bad for chasing down grandmas and loquacious Russians at the Y, and to smell grass from the nearby soccer field on the walk from and to the car.
It stuns me, occasionally, to realize how busy I was as a kid - swim practice twice a day, soccer a couple times a week, ballet once or twice a week, piano lessons - and to see how "busy" I feel now, without being as diversely developed as that. Mike (Rizzi, my training buddy) and I have talked about this a few times, but especially on Thursday. I also asked my Mom recently whether having us in activities was partially done so that Mom & Dad could have a little extra work time without having us be abandoned, and she said that was about half of it, the personal development being the other half. Trick! Good parent trick!
Friday
Morning - Run, 40 minutes. Beautiful morning in the neighborhood. Got further up Echo Park Avenue than I've been before. My first workout that felt slightly taxed the entire time; consequently, my first workout where I started to realize I'm pretty proud of myself.
Evening - Swim, 45 minutes. Again, felt a bit tired, but loved it.
Saturday
TEAM RUN!!! The run was haaaaaaaard, I was tiiiiiiired, but it also felt gooooood. At the end, some of us did stem cel donor test kits - 4 cotton swabs in the inside of your cheeks, then S.W.A.K. - for a teammate's friend. They'll keep my results on file until I'm 60. This was something my uncle Randy and his donor, Uncle Boo, went through....what an organization Team in Training is. It's easy to forget.
OMG I bought a bike after practice! It deserves its own long, impassioned post!
Sunday
Swam, 45 minutes. Can feel myself improving, though far and away the best part of the workout was the warm down, when I just splashed around for awhile. Water! So strange! People can't float on land, you know? It's COOL.
I have a lot of thoughts surrounding all this working out - I'm HUNGRY all the time - but for now I think they are the beginnings of larger thoughts developing. The really remarkable thing is the improvement in my mood generally. I don't really know where I stand on the kinesiological-psychological connection - where what my body does plugs into what my brain does, and vice versa, and how much I think they are interdependent - but there is definitely some mental garbage being expunged through movement. That's most of what I'm thinking about right now, how much I'm thinking right now, and more at peace with it being my own quiet process, rather than running at the mouth as much as I am wont to.
Yeah yeah yeah.
I haven't blogged in a week. OKAY. But guess why? Becaaaaause....I've been busy...training! I work out twice a day now! Yay! Ugh! Awesome!
Let's start again, with a *little* less vernacular.
I think, for all intents and purposes, its not wrong to say that this week has been my first full week of training. I only had one day I didn't work out, I had two team practices, and I now own - at least some version of - all the equipment I will need.
Quick run down of the week's workouts, should you be curious:
Saturday
Ran in San Francisco. This was supposed to be a 40 minute easy run, which became an hour and a half-long odyssey, punctuated by walking backwards (cross-training!) up hills that were just not happening. I got lost deep in Upper Noe Valley, and spent literally 45 minutes running into & back out of streets that turned out to be dead ends. Whatever happened to "No Outlet" signs, SF? "Not a Thru Street," Gavin Newsom? Hmm?? The extra fun in this was that it was mostly on a hill overlooking the street I wanted to be on, and could have been, if I'd just committed to a sharp, steep tumble.
Sunday
nothing! ha!
Monday
Oh wait, nothing again. I lied before when I said there was only one day off. The curious thing about this rest day was when my body started to hurt. Around noon, I got growing pains. They throbbed gently until I went to bed. Interesting?
Tuesday
Morning - Swim, 45 minutes. LA Fitness Radio has some shockingly bad tunes. It's really stunning. Glad when I swim I only hear it while I'm in the locker room.
Wednesday
Morning - Bike, 1 hour. At the stupid gym again, but I did the recumbent bike this time. I'm not sure if this "counts", but I had sweat on my face and no bruises on my butt, so I think it was the right choice.
Thursday
TEAM SWIM PRACTICE!!!!! I don't really think of myself as an athletic person, but I do consider myself an athletic childhood person; I was ECSTATIC, in my own way, to be in the pool with 40 other people, to be circular swimming (!!!) after years of feeling bad for chasing down grandmas and loquacious Russians at the Y, and to smell grass from the nearby soccer field on the walk from and to the car.
It stuns me, occasionally, to realize how busy I was as a kid - swim practice twice a day, soccer a couple times a week, ballet once or twice a week, piano lessons - and to see how "busy" I feel now, without being as diversely developed as that. Mike (Rizzi, my training buddy) and I have talked about this a few times, but especially on Thursday. I also asked my Mom recently whether having us in activities was partially done so that Mom & Dad could have a little extra work time without having us be abandoned, and she said that was about half of it, the personal development being the other half. Trick! Good parent trick!
Friday
Morning - Run, 40 minutes. Beautiful morning in the neighborhood. Got further up Echo Park Avenue than I've been before. My first workout that felt slightly taxed the entire time; consequently, my first workout where I started to realize I'm pretty proud of myself.
Evening - Swim, 45 minutes. Again, felt a bit tired, but loved it.
Saturday
TEAM RUN!!! The run was haaaaaaaard, I was tiiiiiiired, but it also felt gooooood. At the end, some of us did stem cel donor test kits - 4 cotton swabs in the inside of your cheeks, then S.W.A.K. - for a teammate's friend. They'll keep my results on file until I'm 60. This was something my uncle Randy and his donor, Uncle Boo, went through....what an organization Team in Training is. It's easy to forget.
OMG I bought a bike after practice! It deserves its own long, impassioned post!
Sunday
Swam, 45 minutes. Can feel myself improving, though far and away the best part of the workout was the warm down, when I just splashed around for awhile. Water! So strange! People can't float on land, you know? It's COOL.
I have a lot of thoughts surrounding all this working out - I'm HUNGRY all the time - but for now I think they are the beginnings of larger thoughts developing. The really remarkable thing is the improvement in my mood generally. I don't really know where I stand on the kinesiological-psychological connection - where what my body does plugs into what my brain does, and vice versa, and how much I think they are interdependent - but there is definitely some mental garbage being expunged through movement. That's most of what I'm thinking about right now, how much I'm thinking right now, and more at peace with it being my own quiet process, rather than running at the mouth as much as I am wont to.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
I Get Knocked Down
Remember yesterday when I was shaking, worried about spending more than $500 on a bike?
Today I went to the gym and did an hour on the stationary bike. That experience gave me no less than six reasons I have not only ZERO objection left to spending that much, but in fact an EAGERNESS to spend at least a good $900 to never have to live through that again. In no particular order, those reasons are:
1. "Tubthumping" - Chumbawumba
2. "1985" - Bowling for Soup, apparently
3. bizarre "I Just Can't Get Enough" remix
4. "American Idiot" - Green Day
5. no one would play racquet ball directly in front of my bike! only two courts over, where I could only see the ball every 10th hit!
6. BRUISES ON BOTH BUTT BONES.
It should be noted, however - as a surprise even to myself - that "Beautiful People" has a much more complex bridge than I had ever realized, and that I like that song. Huh.
Note to everyone ever: barring permanent winter, nuclear winter, being part of a Space Station Crew, or large money being in the bargain, never get on a stationary bike. It will not be worth it.
I made the hour though! Already, the MIND of a triathlete!
Today I went to the gym and did an hour on the stationary bike. That experience gave me no less than six reasons I have not only ZERO objection left to spending that much, but in fact an EAGERNESS to spend at least a good $900 to never have to live through that again. In no particular order, those reasons are:
1. "Tubthumping" - Chumbawumba
2. "1985" - Bowling for Soup, apparently
3. bizarre "I Just Can't Get Enough" remix
4. "American Idiot" - Green Day
5. no one would play racquet ball directly in front of my bike! only two courts over, where I could only see the ball every 10th hit!
6. BRUISES ON BOTH BUTT BONES.
It should be noted, however - as a surprise even to myself - that "Beautiful People" has a much more complex bridge than I had ever realized, and that I like that song. Huh.
Note to everyone ever: barring permanent winter, nuclear winter, being part of a Space Station Crew, or large money being in the bargain, never get on a stationary bike. It will not be worth it.
I made the hour though! Already, the MIND of a triathlete!
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Rest Day = Nail Biting
Here is a thing that rules: I did not work out today.
My coach told me not to.
Here is a thing that does not rule: buying a bike.
I am sure I'm going to spend $800.
And you know what happens when I tell other triathletes I'm gonna spend that much?
"Dude, don't worry, you'll be okay on it!"
:(
I'm trying to do this thought exercise: remembering the 9-month-long anger and agony of being on an entirely unsuitable bike (some sorta mountain-road hybrid), and use that as mortar to build a little brick wall around my weeping impoverished heart.
Itwillbeworthititwillbeworthititwillbeworthit.
If you are reading this, I am totally open to you buying me a bike.
Mom. Dad. momdad momdad mom ad dad anyone anyone anyone Michel Gondry buy buy buy!
My coach told me not to.
Here is a thing that does not rule: buying a bike.
I am sure I'm going to spend $800.
And you know what happens when I tell other triathletes I'm gonna spend that much?
"Dude, don't worry, you'll be okay on it!"
:(
I'm trying to do this thought exercise: remembering the 9-month-long anger and agony of being on an entirely unsuitable bike (some sorta mountain-road hybrid), and use that as mortar to build a little brick wall around my weeping impoverished heart.
Itwillbeworthititwillbeworthititwillbeworthit.
If you are reading this, I am totally open to you buying me a bike.
Mom. Dad. momdad momdad mom ad dad anyone anyone anyone Michel Gondry buy buy buy!
Saturday, November 8, 2008
On Truly Starting
I drank too much coffee!!! I've been sitting at one of Venice's loveliest outdoor cafés for four hours, compiling my fundraising list and belatedly composing my letter, and I drank 3 cups, after having cut coffee from my life for a couple months. As my old roommate Ali would say, I'm "doing" caffeine. TEETH GNASH TEETH GNASH TEETH GNASH
Okay okay okay, what are we writing about here today?
Ah ha!
First use of mileage tracking website (no hidden costs in THIS girl's triathlon) yields $4.78 in fuel to get to & from the first Training meeting, where we talked bikes and LSD (long, slow distance).
That's pry low, since I spent 30 minutes not finding the meeting - it was on Colorado Ave, not Montana, as I thought, which would be fine except I'm from Wyoming. Sorry Mom & Dad!
We almost had an additional mishap though! Bridget Jones 'R' Us!
I feel really elated to be starting this. I have moments where I can actually see myself on mile bajillion of the race, and in those moments I'm terrified. But luckily, never having experienced acute endurance pain like what I am in for, those are fleeting thoughts, and mostly I'm enjoying feeling as determined as I do.
I feel like I have a lot of big ideas that I completely back off from, which is part of why I'm undertaking this; millions of literal footfalls will take me, slowly but surely, towards an incredible goal, and I doubt the physical journey won't reap psychological dividends. That sounded sort of clinical, but I meant it.
I should be able to get my letter out tomorrow...could be today, but I feel like I want Granpa and Robin to read it, just to sort of...sign off on using Randy's name. Is that weird? I just want to make sure I'm honoring the guy I'm honoring.
My training schedule says today is a rest day, but the coffee is making me bonkers! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Okay okay okay, what are we writing about here today?
Ah ha!
First use of mileage tracking website (no hidden costs in THIS girl's triathlon) yields $4.78 in fuel to get to & from the first Training meeting, where we talked bikes and LSD (long, slow distance).
That's pry low, since I spent 30 minutes not finding the meeting - it was on Colorado Ave, not Montana, as I thought, which would be fine except I'm from Wyoming. Sorry Mom & Dad!
We almost had an additional mishap though! Bridget Jones 'R' Us!
I feel really elated to be starting this. I have moments where I can actually see myself on mile bajillion of the race, and in those moments I'm terrified. But luckily, never having experienced acute endurance pain like what I am in for, those are fleeting thoughts, and mostly I'm enjoying feeling as determined as I do.
I feel like I have a lot of big ideas that I completely back off from, which is part of why I'm undertaking this; millions of literal footfalls will take me, slowly but surely, towards an incredible goal, and I doubt the physical journey won't reap psychological dividends. That sounded sort of clinical, but I meant it.
I should be able to get my letter out tomorrow...could be today, but I feel like I want Granpa and Robin to read it, just to sort of...sign off on using Randy's name. Is that weird? I just want to make sure I'm honoring the guy I'm honoring.
My training schedule says today is a rest day, but the coffee is making me bonkers! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Friday, November 7, 2008
Casual Friday
I was all set today to write a bit of a retro-active report about my general haplessness, because I completely forgot to go to the Kick Off last Saturday. Err...I didn't forget, but I thought it was at noon. It was at 9. That + getting bike stolen + birds pooping on me (see three entries back) seemed like good enough evidence, and I had a whole charming thesis about being a romantic comedienne-type triathlete.
However, that has all been eclipsed.
I went to the gym this morning, and after a good mile swim and two mile run, I showered and found I had forgotten to bring my work clothes. I sit typing this, waiting for my boss, the Executive Producer of one of America's top commercial & music video production companies, to come and find me in sweatpants that say "Wolf Pack" on the butt.
In other news, first big training meeting tomorrow!
Bike fittings tomorrow!
Then bike searching on eBay!
First swim practice next Thursday!
Fundraising letters going out tomoorrrrowwww ek eeek eeek!
Ah, and in the spirit of tracking my costs:
new Masterlock = $4.99
LA Fitness membership = $29.99/mo. (I would NOT get this were it not for the pool....necessary cost)
Need to find a good gas costs tracking widget.
However, that has all been eclipsed.
I went to the gym this morning, and after a good mile swim and two mile run, I showered and found I had forgotten to bring my work clothes. I sit typing this, waiting for my boss, the Executive Producer of one of America's top commercial & music video production companies, to come and find me in sweatpants that say "Wolf Pack" on the butt.
In other news, first big training meeting tomorrow!
Bike fittings tomorrow!
Then bike searching on eBay!
First swim practice next Thursday!
Fundraising letters going out tomoorrrrowwww ek eeek eeek!
Ah, and in the spirit of tracking my costs:
new Masterlock = $4.99
LA Fitness membership = $29.99/mo. (I would NOT get this were it not for the pool....necessary cost)
Need to find a good gas costs tracking widget.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Decision, Tragedy & a Stupid/Great Run
What a weekend for training.
Thursday.
I made the decision to go full Ironman, and not a half.
I'm not really sure why, but I think its a combination of Danielle (the one that got me into this mess) pointing out that I'd be training alongside those doing the full, and remembering that at the end of my last race I felt disappointed, knowing I could have trained and raced harder/longer.
That's sort of depressing sounding and I hope doesn't say too much about me.
But.
I just feel like doing the half would hang over my head for the 8 months of training, knowing that I was selling myself and what I know I can do short.
Saturday.
MY BIKE GOT STOLEN OUT OF MY GARAGE.
Thursday.
I made the decision to go full Ironman, and not a half.
I'm not really sure why, but I think its a combination of Danielle (the one that got me into this mess) pointing out that I'd be training alongside those doing the full, and remembering that at the end of my last race I felt disappointed, knowing I could have trained and raced harder/longer.
That's sort of depressing sounding and I hope doesn't say too much about me.
But.
I just feel like doing the half would hang over my head for the 8 months of training, knowing that I was selling myself and what I know I can do short.
Saturday.
MY BIKE GOT STOLEN OUT OF MY GARAGE.
My lovely Surly Steamroller that made me realize what biking could be, and quite literally were the wheels that got me in motion to make my entire life more what I wanted it to be - moving to a neighborhood I love, biking instead of driving, starting work on some scripts and editing, eating the way I want, gardening a bit, changing routines to habits I am more comfortable with for myself and the environment. The bike was the machine that I could feel myself being a part of, and something about that was the visceral realization I needed that life is easily lived the way you want it, and that its just a small hump to get over to make it that way.
And now its gone.
We have renter's insurance, but there's a $500 deductible, so the silver lining of using the coverage to buy a good tri bike is considerably tarnished.
Sigh.
Sunday.
Since the pool was closed and I DONT HAVE A BIKE ANYMORE, I went for a run.
and you know what?
JUST UNDER FOUR MILES!!! Route:
Small potatoes that will be down the line, but for not having run, for real, in years, I was really pleased.
Except for three things.
1. I put arch supports, needlessly, into my running shoes. I don't really have problems with my running shoes. But I put them in anyway. And got blisters on the entirety of the arches of both feet. It took three days for it to heal, and tonight will be my first run since Sunday.
2. A bird crapped on me on the run.
3. I rubbed my arm on the grass to get the bird poo off, and got hives up and down my entire left arm.
Well.
At least I ran.
BIIIIIIKEEEEE :( :( :( :(
Friday, October 3, 2008
Goggles Mostly
Signed up on Monday for a free Tuesday am trial swim with LA Masters, but couldn't go because I realized at 10 pm that I don't have swim cap and goggles...
Wednesday went to Sports Chalet, after frustrating, fruitless Google search for specialty swim shop.
Tyr Socket Rocket 2.0 Goggles = $6.99 (JESUS)
Wednesday went to Sports Chalet, after frustrating, fruitless Google search for specialty swim shop.
Tyr Socket Rocket 2.0 Goggles = $6.99 (JESUS)
Tyr Team Sprint Goggles = $5.99 (RIDIC)
The biggest insult of all:
Speedo Silicone Long Hair Cap = $11.99!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I wanted two buy like 3 $1.50 cheapies, and this was literally ALL they had.
Practice was good, though for some reason Fly Day on my first day. Horrible.
If I want to swim with them, I think it's like $55/mo. Hard choice.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Socks & Registration
Well, I spent money on tri last night, so it's time to start keeping track!
I bought 3 pairs of Gold Toe sweat wicky, no rise socks from Target for, I believe $5.99.....no choice but new in the sock dept.
I also almost bought one of those ipod armbands. I have heretofore run with the ipod in the weird pocket on my running shorts, and kept it from banging around by rolling my shorts a couple times (a la Catholic School boxers-under-skirts) and then sticking it in the rolled band, but it needs adjustment more frequently than multi-mile runs will suffer. The other revolutionary thing I've done is run without music. And think. About life.
The armband was $14.99, and though I wanted to apply the "If I spend on it I'll feel guilty and actually use it technique," my inner nerd/Luddite decided I will make my own....I'm thinking at this point, knee sock/sweatband + pocket + zipper should do the trick. Oh, but not in the rain. Hmm.
I'm also tempted to just outsource this to Christy, and give her a sense of mission.
But would yarn be super gross?
Anyway.
$5.99 so far!
Oh also $100 registration.
UGH
I bought 3 pairs of Gold Toe sweat wicky, no rise socks from Target for, I believe $5.99.....no choice but new in the sock dept.
I also almost bought one of those ipod armbands. I have heretofore run with the ipod in the weird pocket on my running shorts, and kept it from banging around by rolling my shorts a couple times (a la Catholic School boxers-under-skirts) and then sticking it in the rolled band, but it needs adjustment more frequently than multi-mile runs will suffer. The other revolutionary thing I've done is run without music. And think. About life.
The armband was $14.99, and though I wanted to apply the "If I spend on it I'll feel guilty and actually use it technique," my inner nerd/Luddite decided I will make my own....I'm thinking at this point, knee sock/sweatband + pocket + zipper should do the trick. Oh, but not in the rain. Hmm.
I'm also tempted to just outsource this to Christy, and give her a sense of mission.
But would yarn be super gross?
Anyway.
$5.99 so far!
Oh also $100 registration.
UGH
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