training stuff
Last Saturday I rode 100 miles in scenic wine country around Carlton. I’m fairly certain we rode by at least 40 or 50 wineries. While I only drank Perpetuem that day, I soaked in the sun and the beautiful views from the top of Bald Peak and the rolling hills of Yamhill and Washington county.
I vaguely recall a time in my life before I raced. Vaguely. I did a few running races early in the year before the Portland marathon in 2005, those were my first races as an adult. But even _earlier_ then that, I ran Bloomsday in Spokane a few times; the first time was more of a stroll, but the second time I decided I should actually train and try to do well. I was probably 13 years old. I dropped out of school sports early on, so I never raced in track or swimming or anything along those lines that involved actual coaching. I only lined up early in the morning with everyone in town, the only trophy a t-shirt and a finisher’s medal.
My volume is essentially doubling this week and next; so far so good. I ran 3 miles yesterday at lunch and then rode 3 hours after work, all was well. Thankfully Coach planned that one perfectly and it’s in the 70s and sunny all week.
In my quest toward ultimate perfection in running form, I have caused yet another injury; my calves have slowly been getting worse and last week I spent pretty much Wednesday through Saturday in my bright orange compression tights with my legs up on ice.
It’s the title of my new eBook – _Endurance Sports for Life Avoidance: How to escape your job, your family, and whatever other issues you don’t really want to deal with_. You get to spend hours and hours away from anyone who isn’t following your training plan; you can’t go out at night because you need to foam roll and get as much sleep as possible; you can’t have meetings between 11 and 2pm because you leave work for long lunch runs; and you can’t go out to eat because you’re following a strict diet of some kind.
All the gear. **So much gear**. So many decisions to be made just for 1 of 3 sports. Thankfully, I’m a bike person, married to an ex-bike mechanic, so I at least have some knowledge around the subject. Even still, after I ordered a new crankset, chain, cassette and bottom bracket I was nervous I got the wrong parts. Because there are so many sizes. And styles. And who knows if anything matches, especially when your bike is 6 years old. I don’t even have disc brakes or bb30 or di2 or whatever the hotness is.