I'm an "Endurance Specialist"

Last night I went to The Bike Shop to do a group trainer workout. The workout was pretty good, but not as intense as the one I did myself on Tuesday. That's OK, because I haven't given my legs a rest since Friday the 13th. Maybe I could have rode harder, but I paid attention to the % of FT that were being yelled at me, and so hey, 80% is 80% and not that hard.

Anyway, a group of us went out for dinner afterwards (me and a bunch of men--go figure), and there was a new guy present, and we were talking about riding (big surprise) and what we've done and stuff, and the shop owner, Rich, tagged me as "an endurance specialist." I've been called many things, but never that. I almost wish he had just said "Crackhead."

Thing is, sure I like endurance stuff. A LOT. But I still love my strength and other stuff, and pre-triathlon, I was into volleyball, softball, stair climbing and other assorted nonsense. I guess maybe being labeled made me think about what I'm doing, do I still like it, is it time to make changes, all that stuff. Yes and yes.

What's funny is that even as I write this, I want to do a really, really long training day. Why is that? I was telling someone about my 2008 birthday workout, and I really enjoyed that except for the fact that I was working that day, too (if I didn't work that day I would have done more). I really like hiking in the mountains, too. And then someone mentioned Italy. I really want to spend a few weeks there riding in the mountains (OK and drinking wine and eating great food).

All of this points to changing things around next year. For now, I'm sticking with my plan to try and knock out a few good triathlon performances. Yes, I have a fairly rigid training program, yes I should probably mix things up, and that's where I think dropping some races from the calendar may come in. Or not.

A lot of this is prompted by being absolutely sick of winter, long pants, long shirts, coats, hats, gloves, grey skies, indoor workouts. The idea of a 5-hour bike ride is intoxicating!