A back and a bike tire

Less than a week to go until my first tri and I've had to deal with the first obstacles of actually seeing my goal to the end.

First I was riding my bike on Saturday when I heard a POP. Not exactly the kind of sound you want to hear. I immediately thought it was a popped tire, but realized that my tire was still full of air, but my rim wasn't spinning true. My neighbor, a bike expert, took a look and realized that I broke a spoke. So 20 bucks later and my bike is now better than new.

Second, on Monday my back decided to "twinge" when I got out of my car at work Monday morning. I've had a long standing experience with back spasms dating way back to an incident in a silo with a silo unloader. Now my back decides to spasm about once a year, and usually at the worst times. This time it's going through spasms, but they aren't bad and usually go away after stretching. I should be okay by Sunday, but it's just another bump in the road.

It's sort of like life - just when you really can see your dreams and goals in sight a challenge comes along that forces you to refocus. I guess that which challenges us just makes us stronger.

Or as a good friend of mine would say, "No Place But Up!"

13 Days and Counting

My first triathlon is only 13 days away, on September 26 in Whitewater. I've been working on a 16-week training program that really helped me get ready (or at least I think it will). I'm able to swim the 500 meters in about 15 minutes, which is quite an improvement from when I started. And I can do the bike (about 14 miles) in an hour and the run (3.1 miles) in about 30 minutes.

My goal is to get 'r done in less than 2 hours, and I'd like not to come in last. So we'll see what happens.

More to come . . .

Following in family footsteps?

"World Champion Cadel Evans has been named the 2009 Australian Cyclist of the Year and received his third Sir Hubert Opperman 'Oppy' medal." The award goes to the most outstanding rider from all disciplines each season who is considered to be The Australian Cyclist of the Year.

No, the award isn't named after me. It's named after Hubert Ferdinand Opperman, an Australian who held more than 100 distance cycling records. Oppy rode a bicycle from the age of eight until his wife Mavys, fearing for his health and safety, finally forced him off the road in 1994 on his 90th birthday. When he died of a heart attack, at the age of 91, he was on his exercise bike.

One of the greatest cyclists the world has ever seen, Oppy's lifetime achievements spanned horizons far wider than his sporting fame. He became a Menzies and Holt government minister, and was also Australia's first high Commissioner to Malta. Add to that his role as a long serving councillor for the Association of the Blind, patron of the Sportsmen's Association of Australia, and a Victorian president of the Prior of the Knights of St John of Jerusalem. A letter writer extraordinaire, Oppy was the sender of serious and humorous Oppygrams.

I'm guessing he's not a relative, at least not close. But hopefully some of his cycling genese run with mine.

My training schedule

My first race will be a sprint at the end of April in Whitewater, Wisconsin. It is a long time from now, but I have a lot of work to do. Here's how I plan to get ready.

From now through the end of the year:
     Mondays - Swim or Eliptical
     Wednesdays - Run or Swim
     Fridays - Bike
To get my stamina and endurance up, I'll work to extend my workouts each time, instead of trying to get faster in a set amount of time.

January - February:
     Mondays - Swim or Eliptical
     Tuesdays - Run or Swim
     Wednesdays - Swim or Run
     Thursdays - Bike or Swim
     Fridays - Swim or Bike
During these two months I will complete the distances that I'll have to cover in the race.

March - April:
     TBD. I'll need to start bricking workouts so I can get the transitions down. Closer to the race I'll work on doing all three components at least once each week.

I put this together based on the article I read on one of my newest favorite tri sites.

Bright lights on the bike trail

I ride my bike on a paved bike trail. This morning it was dark and I could see headlights in the distance. At first I thought somone had parked their car in a clearing and shined their lights up the path so they could see while they walked. But the lights kept getting closer and closer. They got so close that I was looking for somewhere to ditch so I wouldn't get run over.

Then, at the last second, they came together and it was then that I realized that it was actually two bike riders with lights on the front of their bikes. Freaked me out, though.

Extending my bike ride

Did an extra few miles on my bike ride this morning. Felt good riding, but my knees have been killing me all day.

My daughter, who is a veteran of two triathlons, said the best time to do a triathlon is in the rain. It rained during the one she did this year, and she liked it much better than the hot weather the year before.

I'll take her advice!

Today's workout

Workout this morning: 6 mile bike ride.

Bike riding is by far the favorite part of my workout. I'm not worried about the bike riding part of the triathlon, I see that as my best event. Running would be next, followed in a distant, distant third by swimming.

When I played football I always hated running. That's why I was a lineman - run five yards, stop and rest, then start over. My kind of running. Always hated running in basketball too. Maybe that's why I was never very good.

I have a hybrid bike, and I think I'll stay with that for the time being. No sense spending extra money on a road bike, right?

Here's a good site with some tips on bike training