Packing for this tri clinic is almost like preparing for a race. You need all the equipment for the SWIM / BIKE / RUN but there is a big difference. You still have all of the excitement but none of the anxiety. I am so looking forward to the weekend but … I’m not nervous. I don’t think my heart rate will be elevated while standing still this weekend.
Trueing the wheels – notice the race shirts as bike cleaning rags. I am a huge proponent of the no shirt option in races.
But just like the prep for a race I cleaned the bike up. I have decided to take the road bike since the ride on Saturday will be a group ride. I like to save the race bike for solo rides, TT’s and races. I am still surprised that the bike had zero damage from the crash. There was a minor scuff on the right brifter hood (shifter + brakes). But NOTHING else was damaged. I had given the bike a once over just after the accident and I have ridden the bike on several occasions but I took a closer look. I decided to clean up the chain and true the wheels. None of this really needed to be done but I tackled the job anyway.
I guess it is working with my hands but I have always enjoyed this aspect of the sport. On a side note I worked at a garage in high school and although I am no mechanic I still change my oil and do my brakes and the other ‘shade tree mechanic’ type auto maintenance. I just enjoy it.
So I washed up the bike and thoroughly cleaned and re-lubed the chain. Next I trued the wheels. Once again I cannot believe that they were not out of whack.
Race shirt as cleaning rag (Irish Italian Fest 2009)
On the training front I had a failure on the trainer. True to form I seem to take FOREVER to recover from trainer ride breakthroughs. I really can’t complain since I am making fantastic weekly progress but I wish I had more than one cycling effort each week. I can kill it on Tuesday, take it easy on the legs all day Wednesday but still have fatigue on Thursday morning. I am scheduling the most recovery than I ever have. I am still not able to put up another solid effort. Instead I have to take it down a notch and just spin away. I need to work on the schedule so that I can have multiple hard efforts on the trainer in a week period. On the flip side the run is still coming along. It is taking longer to build my mileage than I had hoped. This is because I am trying to bring everything up to speed following the marathon and the crash.
After the weekly Thursday morning training failure I added 8 miles on the run at lunch. I have been performing these at an easy effort. The good thing is that the pace is picking up without adding any additional exertion. That is a good thing. I clicked off the 8 miles at a 7:45 minute per mile pace at a comfortable effort.
I don’t think the mileage of this weekend is going to smash me but I am looking forward to pushing the pace.
