At the camp Sara said something that stuck with me, "Get comfortable with being uncomfortable" , this hit home, as i generally go with," get comfortable with being comfortable and stay comfortable", my morning swim adaptation of this phrase is, "give 'er shit, with feeling like shit ", not quite so catchy, but kind of the space I was in this morning. I realized that every workout isn't going to be great but you still have to kick it . Ok, i just realized these phrases are not as entertaining as they were in my head.
Getting home from camp , I was feeling very inspired to get to some great training but life doesn't always support the best intentions. I have bad circulation and have had veins surgically removed from my legs and groin, good times. When I got home I went in to get some bothersome veins injected. This included a couple days of being bandaged and no training, funny how a couple days that you can't traiin plays with your head. When i swam today it felt like I hadn't swam in a month. I finally got my groove about 1500m in, and managed to do flip turns about 75% of the time. I kept seeing Sara's awesome reach "over the barrel" at the beginning of each stroke. When I effectively copied her reach and catch, it felt like I was shooting myself out of the water That's bloody hard to keep up!!!! Got to get the fitness level up, cause i liked how that felt and want to be able to keep it up
In nontraining life, I helped prepare and serve a Christmas banquet at the church yesterday, and the bonus of this is that I scored 4 turkey carcasses, so it is turkey soup-a-rama making time!!!! so if any of you are in the neighborhood, come on by and get your soup on!
I am going to go and look at a new bike today, any tips on bike buying would be appreciated, cause i was just going to base my purchase on what looked the sexiest. I don't want anything ugly spending so much time between my legs!!!hahaha. oh goodness, sorry, that was kind of rude, but true.
Next week has my training hours seriously ramped up,new bike coming down the pipe, legs ready to rock, and I am now a flipturning maniac....... BRING IT ON !!!!!!
8 comments:
Bikes are like cars, when the 2010 models come out, all the 2009 models are reduced. It should be going on right now. You should be able to save a couple hundred dollars with this. Carbon vs Alloy is all based on preference. Components, see if you can get 105 or higher, shimano 105 is entry level racing gears, Ultegra is next up, then dura ace. Those are your 3 racing gears. Tiagra and sora are not racing gears and those bikes will be alot less, but will lack preformance of the 3 listed above. Dont worry about brand, test drive some of them and pick the bike that fits best. Good luck to you, I hope this helped a little
Have fun bike shopping and try to stay out of trouble while doing it!!
Glad your swim proved to be explosive!
Hey big daddy, thanks for the tips, any chance you live near saskatoon and want to come shopping with me?? most of what you said sounded japanese or alien, haha. maybe i will print it out and take it with me----yes I am this clued out about this, Jenn will vouch for that!
"kind of rude, but true" is why we read each other's blogs. We love it!
As for the bike, don't be in a rush. Look at different brands, models. Talk to other people about their bikes, what they like, or don't like. Look at pics of bikes on the web and read reviews. Yes, it's nice to think about the top end bikes (in my dreams), but it's important to realize that for most of us, on even a cheap low end bike, the component that is least efficient, least aerodynamic, weakest, and has the shortest mean time between failures is the engine sitting on the saddle and holding the handlebars. You might feel faster on a sweet bike, and you certainly want one that fits you and is comfortable. But an expensive bike won't make up for missed training time.
Make the bike shops put the bike on a stand, and let you sit on it for a bit. Take bike shorts. You're fairly tall, so don't let them stick you into the 'girl's bike ghetto'. Take a camera, and get them to take a pic of you sitting on the bike, hands on hoods, and on the drops. Then compare your position on each bike. You'll see which ones make you look cramped, or stretched out. For comparison, look at photos of people on bikes. Yes, there's a wide variety of positions, but after a while you'll get the idea. Comfort is more important that being aero. To some extent, the shop can compensate for size by putting in spacers, or raising a seat, but you have to get the basic size fairly close to right. Ask Julie about this. Don't be afraid to try different saddles. Ask Jenna about the squashed bananas.
As for materials, aluminum, carbon fiber, a mix, or whatever, I'd say, don't worry your pretty little head about that missy. Except that would be sexist. And rude. But true. There are pros and cons for each material, and you can find them on the web with a little searching. As you get into reading the bike porn you'll find they go on and on about saving tiny fractions of a kilo or being a little bit more aero. My take on this is that if you're anything like me, your weight will fluctuate a kilo or two on a regular basis, so why get excited about a few hundred grams on a bike? And svelte as you are, you are by far the least aerodynamic part of the bike.
As for gears and other components, you generally get what you pay for. All but the cheapest is going to be good enough for the riding you'll be doing over the next few years. You simply won't notice the difference in weight, and the tiny fractions of a second saved in better shifting, or the other advantages you get with spending much more money, I mean, buying better components.
You are the only one that can find the right balance between your budget, and the bikes for sale. Have fun, and btw, you have to post a pic of the bike, and choose a name for him, her, or it.
Tish...you need to stop saying "i'm sorry" at the pool...yesterday for our INDY 1500, Tish stopped at the wall and apologized!! Just go over them, under them, around them or through them...whatever it takes to get you ahead of them!!!
APOLOGIZED!!!!
Sheesh.
Channel Kelly. Bring out your inner shark. Kick ass and take no prisoners.
what can i say? I'm sorry? hahaha.
I will try to channel inner shark, but this whole mindset this year is pretty foreign to me, so please be patient and gentle!!! ok, maybe not gentle.
hey Keith, thanks for the great bike advise.All of that bike bull jive talk makes me kooky, but I am trying to embrace it and learn and be one with my bike.
Reading about all of you suffering along with me is making this very enjoyable so far, so thanks for that, and I promise to try and write more soon. Updating a blog seriously cuts into my porn time--haha! i am only allowed so much computer time!!!!! truly just kidding.
ciao!
So. As of almost two whole weeks ago, you were looking forward to ramped up training hours, a new bike, rocking legs, and flip turning mania.
Since then, we've heard nothing. Your readers are desolate. How is it going?
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