Our strength grows out of our weaknesses.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
This is my last week before full on training begins. I am definitely a little nervous but excited to see if I can hack it. I’m going to be pushing myself to limits I thought were previously impossible and I’m psyched for personal and physical journey that will come along with this new adventure. Training for and competing in my first 70.3 will require me to face make weaknesses, but hopefully in the end will allow me to become a stronger and better person.
This week was just for fun. I put away my GPS and pace sensors and just enjoyed being out there. It was tough to get a lot of work in this week with the holidays but what I did do was awesome. I haven’t enjoyed running this much in a very long time. The cold winter air and the long dirt roads by my parent’s house in New Jersey just made me smile. I must have looked like a complete fool running down the road with a big grin on my face.
I got in a few good 5-6 mile runs this week and a few good rides of between 17 and 26 miles. Yesterday I did 26 miles which is the farthest I’ve been on my bike yet. I felt some tightness in my neck from being in aero for about an hour of the ride but overall I felt great. I’m really falling more and more in love with cycling every time I get out. I think running is starting to get jealous since I’ve been feeling very heavy on all my runs recently. I think it’s saying I should be running more.
I need to get back to my LBS for another fit session though. The more time I spend in aero the more I’m noticing a few possible fit problems. Overall the bike is well fitted to me but I’m sliding forward a bit in the saddle when in aero for a long time which causes my knees to start hitting my elbows. I think there should be a few easy tweaks to get me dialed in but I’m a bit concerned about all this stuff. I probably obsess over fit too much but it’s the sort of thing I will tinker with forever until it’s just perfect.
I took off today because of a massive rainstorm in New Jersey so tomorrow won’t be my typical day off. This week I’m going to again get rid of all speed and pace monitoring and just get out there to enjoy the process. Next Saturday starts full on training so I’m going to be doing a lot of data tracking and analysis for the next 6 months. I want to be pure and simple for one more week before the onslaught.