My schedule said: Have fun

I loved him...i did...my first road bike that is. He was totally ghetto. I found him for 75 bucks at a pawn shop in Puallup, WA when I was an undergrad. Took a BUS 45 minutes to try the bike out, and eventually bought the bike . Why? Some days I still am not sure. I had a vague notion in undergrad that I wanted to learn how to 'ride' a road bike or something. I think I even bought a 'Bicycling' magazine and took a PE class...but that class didn't last too long. Extenuating circumstances sorta killed that idea.

He wasn't ridden much our first 8 years together. And then...triathlon came into my life and he was dusted off. I was told that I somehow wound up with an entry level racing bike from the early 80s. The down-tube friction shifters were the sexiest part of the bike.

But sometimes things just don't work out. It may have been the fact that we weren't the right fit for each other. Also...he was a little bit of a pest at times too and I think he tried to make my life difficult on purpose, typically during a race. I once wound up in the middle of a race with only my front two chain rings for gears. I think it was around that time that I knew we wouldn't last much longer.

Why am I reminiscing about my old bike? I don't know, I think it is because every time I get my stuff together for a race I think about that very FIRST race I did. Six seasons ago...sprint distance. No clue what I was doing, but had pulled together a 10 week beginner sprint distance training plan from trinewbies.com and somehow trusted it would get me across the finish line. I was so nervous...and the awe and wonder of that first race was a little scary to me. I finished in something like 1:45...and you would have thought I won the race by how excited I was by that accomplishment. I'm a goofball like that.

I like to think about that first experience because it helps me remind me of how far I have come and how it IS a big deal for someone doing their first race even though it has become a little hum drum when the race isn't an A race for me. Last night I didn't even start packing my transition bag until 10pm...i knew I should have been in bed, but meeh...it didn't happen.

Today was the TCSD club race and it was great. Two weeks ago when i ran La Jolla, i prepped, i focused... i thought about PRing...i WANTED to PR...i tapered...i fussed about the weather a hundred times a day...i was nervous...i was excited...and in the end got what i was after. I PR'd. La Jolla was not quite an A race...but maybe an A- race or B+ race on my list. Vineman 70.3 is my A race. I still brought my A-game though...and it was a sweet accomplishment. Today's race was about a C or D race. I had barely thought about it this week.

Today I went to the club race with the one intention my coach had put on my schedule: Have Fun. Granted waking up at 445 AM is not fun to me...but as my alarm went off I reminded myself: have fun.

The race wasn't that eventful...few kicks to the head in the swim (normal)...the bike was pretty decent from what I can tell my avg speed was somewhere between 19.5-20mph(really flat course on Coronoado)...we didn't have too much wind, but on the way back what little wind there was, was to our backs.

I had fun playing the game I call: Can we go???(yes...we...me, myself and I ;-)) It goes like this: Can we go...23mph?...Can we go...24mph?...Can we go?... 25 mph...25.5mph...26? In the end I believe my max speed was 25.7mph. Sprint distance races are fun because I know I can push as hard as I want and while it might impact my run a little bit...it kinda doesn't matter.

I played a similar game with the run of: Can we go? I ended up with an average pace of 7:59mpm which was totally awesome in my book! First race I have ever had a sub 8mpm pace...for a tri or even a running race!

So total time...1:17:32...I know I PR'd the run and I may have PR'd the bike for a sprint distance too (i don't have the official results yet and me and Mr. Garmin were having a disagreement during the race). The total time is the fastest sprint race I have ever done...but those are tricky to compare against since distances always vary a little bit. My last PR on a sprint was last October...I was 5 minutes faster this time. Nice.

This PR just sorta snuck up on me...out of nowhere...but you know what? It's still a great feeling.

I know all of the huge improvements I have ALREADY seen this season wouldn't have been possible without the help and encouragement of my coach. Finding the right person who works with the way you think, the way you process information, and the way you train is completely worth it. I never thought I would see such huge improvements so quickly. I'm excited to see what the rest of the season holds.