This morning after church, I got the tri bike out on the road for the first time. I had pulled the pedals off the road bike yesterday for the fitting since the new ones haven't come in yet, and I have not yet bought a bottle cage or tri bottle for the bike, but I really expected to only be on the bike for about an hour or so. I wanted to test the fit, and run through the gear-shifting for a bit. We didn't mess with the gearing yesterday, so that part was still an unknown.
So off I went. The fit feels pretty good, and I am happy that the guys at the bike shop explained everything, but I did all the work. Always good to learn as much as you can about your equipment. But the derailleur and gear-shifting needs some adjustment. Looks like I will be going back to Bobby.
Ended up being on the bike about an hour and a half. I will say that I can really feel a lot of difference between the ride on the tri and that of the road bike. The ride itself felt good, although there is a bit of noticeable difference between tri shorts and bike shorts.
Looking forward to longer rides on this bike. Maybe Christmas weekend if it doesn't get too awfully cold or wet.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Saturday, December 19, 2009
If you don't push yourself, who will?
Well, now that my holidays are over, I can get back to the training in a serious way... we did family Christmas today, so my celebrating is over. I have been swimming once or twice a week, started the running and now am the very proud owner of a new tri bike. I am so excited about this... I never thought i would ever want to do a triathlon, instead spending all my exercise focus on the road bike. But once I decided to retire from officiating after the football season was over, I started thinking it would be beneficial to cross-train, and talked to some friends of mine about their own triathlon experiences.
So after much deliberation, I registered for the Rookie Triathlon, which is May 9th. I thought this short distance would be the best way to see how much I like the triathlon environment. Well, shortly after registering for the Rookie, we figured out the Lone Star Half-Iron is in April, which would make THAT my first event... hold on, I am only doing the sprint distance on Saturday. So I am currently signed up for two triathlons, and very excited about it.
I had also signed up for a swim clinic with our Team In Training swim coaches. When we took the swim clinic, I couldn't make it very far at all - heck, I was lucky to get all the way across the pool one time. Haven't done the open-water swim yet, but I am looking forward to it. I have been able to complete multiple 300- and 500-meter swims. Not fast, but finishing. Speed comes later - I hope.
Right now, it gets dark pretty early, so my long rides will be mostly restricted to the weekends. But the running and swimming I will try to get in multiple sessions. I have a 16-week Sprint training plan from Beginner Triathlete, so I will be working on that.
This past weekend, I did my first personal mini-triathlon. Rode the bike on the trainer for 30 minutes, then swam for about 1 1/2 hours, mostly doing short sprints of 50 or 100 meters while my training partner did her 4 million meters. Then drove home and ran for 31 minutes, also not fast.
Last night after work I managed to get in a 15-mile sprint on the road bike, to test the speed - boy, I am out of shape. I only managed a 19.85 average, Weird though - carrying the bike back into the house, a spoke on the back wheel popped.
Got the spoke fixed and the Tri bike fitted today so I am looking forward to getting out on the road tomorrow.
I never imagined I would ever do 3000 miles on the bike in a single year, but I am just over 100 miles away from achieving that. With the training for the Triple Bypass and the two triathlons I signed up for, I expect to do a lot more in the next 9-10 months.
I thank God for the opportunity He has given me to do this, and I am tremendously grateful for the support I am getting from my training partner, and my cycling teammates on the long rides.
So after much deliberation, I registered for the Rookie Triathlon, which is May 9th. I thought this short distance would be the best way to see how much I like the triathlon environment. Well, shortly after registering for the Rookie, we figured out the Lone Star Half-Iron is in April, which would make THAT my first event... hold on, I am only doing the sprint distance on Saturday. So I am currently signed up for two triathlons, and very excited about it.
I had also signed up for a swim clinic with our Team In Training swim coaches. When we took the swim clinic, I couldn't make it very far at all - heck, I was lucky to get all the way across the pool one time. Haven't done the open-water swim yet, but I am looking forward to it. I have been able to complete multiple 300- and 500-meter swims. Not fast, but finishing. Speed comes later - I hope.
Right now, it gets dark pretty early, so my long rides will be mostly restricted to the weekends. But the running and swimming I will try to get in multiple sessions. I have a 16-week Sprint training plan from Beginner Triathlete, so I will be working on that.
This past weekend, I did my first personal mini-triathlon. Rode the bike on the trainer for 30 minutes, then swam for about 1 1/2 hours, mostly doing short sprints of 50 or 100 meters while my training partner did her 4 million meters. Then drove home and ran for 31 minutes, also not fast.
Last night after work I managed to get in a 15-mile sprint on the road bike, to test the speed - boy, I am out of shape. I only managed a 19.85 average, Weird though - carrying the bike back into the house, a spoke on the back wheel popped.
Got the spoke fixed and the Tri bike fitted today so I am looking forward to getting out on the road tomorrow.
I never imagined I would ever do 3000 miles on the bike in a single year, but I am just over 100 miles away from achieving that. With the training for the Triple Bypass and the two triathlons I signed up for, I expect to do a lot more in the next 9-10 months.
I thank God for the opportunity He has given me to do this, and I am tremendously grateful for the support I am getting from my training partner, and my cycling teammates on the long rides.
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