I welcome the challenge to the body. I love to push myself and still have not even begun to tap into what my body is capable of doing. Training for professional cycling and triathlon adds a twist. It's hard to devote a serious amount of time and effort to triathlon without hurting my bike speed. Running is harder on the joints and muscles, bringing on the higher risk of injury.
It is tough on the watch as well. Triathlon has been very fun. I enjoy running, especially on the trail. However, I also have a wife and a full-time job. When it comes down to dividing up my remaining time, the bike always wins when there is a conflict. If I ever have extra time or energy in a day, it gets put into riding. The bike is my first love and always will be. Going fast down the trail on two wheels will always beat running down it on two feet.
Then comes the talk of money. I always thought bike racing was expensive. You need a different bike for each discipline of riding. You need clothing, nutrition products, special shoes, helmet, travel money and funds to foot your entry fees. Entries to some of the bigger races are $45. With gas at nearly $4 per gallon, the money spent racing adds up in a hurry. Then comes triathlon. You need all that same bike stuff plus running shoes and swim goggles. You may even need a wetsuit if you swim in colder waters. If you aren't fortunate enough to have a large pool in your backyard, you may also need a gym membership to be able to hit the pool for swim training. Entry fees for triathlons vary from $60-$120. I was researching the XTERRA USA Championships and found out that it is $150 to enter. My plan is to race it this year, with the thought of qualifying for XTERRA World Championship in Maui in the back of my mind. Then I see $450 to enter Worlds, on top of the travel expenses to get to Hawaii. If you sit back and look at the numbers, it's ridiculous to race the Pro scene, especially if you don't have support and sponsors. I love my two sponsors, Maxxis and First Endurance. Tires are something that I don't have to worry about and I get a great discount on my nutritional products. I am very grateful for both of those things. On the other hand, it is really tough to be attempting to race against the top Pro teams and funding myself. I get no sort of help paying entry fees or travel costs, which are by far our biggest expenses. Sometimes it seems like a losing battle. You spend all your time preparing for the race that you may not even be able to afford to go to. But it's hope of being able to keep doing it for years to come that makes me keep going. There is nothing else I'd rather do than ride bikes and play sports. I just hope our sport doesn't price itself out of the range of future participants.
I may get frustrated at money sometimes, but I keep going. I love the challenge of sport and will always strive to better myself at it. I've been doing the dual training lately, adding in more running to my bike regimen. My running form is coming along, but I'm still having occasional pain in my shins. The new shoes helped, but it hasn't gone away. Road running aggravates the pain, so I have stuck to the trail for the majority of my miles. I've spent a few days tearing up Rotary Park in Clarksville, along with putting in a few laps on my own trail. It amazes me how my running form just keeps getting better. I have been very inconsistent with my running, but my times are still as fast as they were when I was running 3-4 times a week last year. I raced the ReLoveHaiti 5K in Clarksville on Feb. 18, clocking a time of 21:15. I was really happy with that time. It was good enough to get me 4th in my age group and 13th overall.
The long rides are tapering off in favor of shorter and faster rides. I've still logged in several 4+ hour rides recently. I actually rode my bike 20 miles to the ReLoveHaiti 5K, did the run, then rode 37 miles with Keith, before riding another 19 miles homes. It was a great day full of sport. I love it!
Sprint and interval workouts are becoming more frequent now. I enjoy working on my sprinting. It gets me a lot of good finishes throughout the year so it is very important to me. I like doing the 53x12 big gear sprints. I slow down to a track-stand and then explode, cranking the big gear up to top speed and holding it as long as I can. I end every sprint with a bike throw because you never know when a race will come down to how far you can shove your bike forward.
Sprint intervals are fun too. I've been doing 20 seconds on/20 seconds off for 3 minutes. Last week, I did 5 sets with 3 minutes of rest between each set. It was a pretty good workout while commuting home from work. I love it when you catch a 20-sec "on" time on a curvy descent. On that ride home, I totally blew a corner on a downhill because I came into it so much faster than I ever have before. Reaching a new level of speed is always a good thing. I'm also noticing improvement in my ability to hold a steady tempo at a high heart rate. I did a ride with Keith and Mike Neumeyer a few days ago. We had a wicked 30-40mph headwind for the final 10 miles. I was pleased with how I was able to fight against the wind a get into a good rhythm. It's about time I start feeling like I have at least some power in my legs!
Trail work has been going down as well. We are still reconfiguring my trail, adding some more new sections, and changing the layout even further. I like to go work on the trail after a ride or on a day when the legs just feel like they need a day off the bike. Being out in the woods always relaxes me and gets me motivated to do more riding. Shannon has been working hard with me, raking leaves and cutting limbs. She's so awesome! I can't believe she likes to do these kinds of things with me. Saturday, we did some morning trail work and then played on our creation all afternoon. It was her third mountain bike ride ever. We rode together, not worrying about speed or distance, just enjoying time together and the beauty of the Tennessee woods. Life is still good.
New trail...
...with good dirt and smooth bridges.
Honey bees awake from their winter sleep and swarm out of a tree near the trail.
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