The End of the Beginning

I have 2 more weeks to go of "not training." On Saturday, I did the 4th "not racing" race--a 25k trail run that kicked my ass. In a good way, of course! Not only have I not done any intensity work in running, I haven't really run serious hills. Well until the week before in that half marathon. But, the race, Paleozoic Fall 25K, was hilly and somewhat technical, it was cold, it was my second ever trail race (the first was Northface Endurance Challenge in 2009), I crashed 4 miles in, but had an absolute blast. I didn't take in enough calories, because once I hit the halfway point and ate a handful of jelly beans and then a gel about 30 minutes later, I began running better (and the potty stop helped, too), and I ended up even splitting the second half and passing a few people. My time was sucky (2:57), but it was the 4th race in a row (8, 8, 1/2 marathon then 25k). I am relearning how to race, so it's all good! The best thing is that I have been enjoying the hell out of racing again! I have never considered myself a runner, so as long as I'm not DFL in a race, I feel like I'm doing OK.

So yesterday morning after I woke up, my legs were predictably sore from all the hills, and probably also because I didn't taper ANYTHING for this adventure, especially not my strength training. On the second half of the race on Saturday, I noticed some people hit the brakes on some of the downhills. If it wasn't rocky or slippery or rooty, I didn't care, and let gravity do its thing! And while I went downhill, I kept thinking, "this is like doing a bunch of squats and lunges and I do those all the time so it's no big deal." Hell, I knew I'd have some soreness after this!

But I needed to ride yesterday, because I have one more "event" on my calendar before I begin formal training on 12/1. Over Wednesday-Friday of Thanksgiving week, I'm doing (all on my own, all indoors probably) a sprint (500 yds./13 miles/5k) on Wednesday, an Oly (1500 yds./25 miles/10k) on Thursday and a 1/2 Ironman (2250 yds./56 miles/13.1 miles) on Friday. Why? Because I can, that's why. And also because I will use my resulting paces to calibrate my training paces. My objective is to go hard during the sprint, medium hard for the Oly, and more like IM pace for the 1/2. I promise to fuel myself properly before, during and after each NothingMan, I will wear crazy swimsuits to the pool, I will probably con some innocent bystanders into taking pics of me, I will smile, I will laugh, I will enjoy it all!

Anyway, back to yesterday--I'd scheduled a 2:30 trainer ride because if I am going to do all that NothingMan shit in 2 weeks, I had better get a "long" ride in, and this coming weekend I will do 3 hours. I knew I could only spin yesterday, and that was fine, although after :45 in, I had to do a ladder up the cogs just to prevent complete boredom. I got the 2:30 in, and my legs don't feel any worse. My quads are still a little Frankenstein walking downstairs, but whatever, I'm fine. Swimming this morning will help fix that, and an easy run later will seal the deal!

So I have 2 more weeks of nothingness training and then I start in with my plan! FUCK! But it's all good! I will get to see where I'm really at (although these races gave me a pretty good idea, and I don't suck as badly as I thought for not training so much this year), and I will feel like a beginner all over again! I know, I know--what the fuck am I talking about I have a 14-year base of long course training, right? Yes, I do, but I am also now 58 years old. I don't know if I'm actually slowing down yet--I don't think so, because my half marathon 2 weeks ago was faster than a similar course I did 4 years ago. I don't think so, because my swim speed is where it was 4 years ago and it is going to get faster because I'm fixing my stroke. I don't think so, because my bike splits in the few races I did this year were comparable to what I did FIVE years ago. Although I would like to get even faster on the bike.

All I can do at this point is TRI. I love LOVE LOVE this sport and training. I love running again! My right foot isn't 100%, but it's 1,000% better than it was in March! It didn't hurt at all on Saturday until I was within 1/4 mile of the finish! Considering I'd been running nearly 3 hours, that is awesome progress! I think I can probably handle a full marathon on it!

Speaking of things I love, I got an SRM

and it's being installed on Skull Kingdom this week. The crankset from Skull Kingdom will then be moved over to Bitch, and Bitch will have a Powertap!!! Then, I get these wheel stickers put onto the Zipp 404's:

except that there will be SIX Crackheads per side. Next, I have a pair of these being built:

and they are going to get these stickers:

And I already got this helmet for Skull Kingdom:

And someone gave me these bike shoes:

Talk about MOTIVATION TO BIKE HARD!!!

After last winter's extreme cold and snow, I had some work done in my house in March that turned out to be a great investment.  It is already fairly cold here in Chicagoland, and my house is staying toasty, my furnace isn't running constantly, and I am not worried about freezing cold water pipes! I have a new car (although someone dinged it already but I am done crying about it), and fingers crossed, nothing major should go wrong in my house. So I have no excuse but to move through this winter with renewed motivation and gratitude that I can still do this long course triathlon. I will end 2014 having done the most strength training I've done in 13 years, I've rested adequately, I've nearly healed my right foot, my thyroid function is taken care of, and so there's no reason I can't fulfill my Crackhead destiny in 2015:
"Harder, longer, faster, tougher, repeat."
--Crackhead