Saturday, November 27, 2010

Good week

Well this was a pretty good week for getting back into training.  I have been away from full out tri training for more than a year.  So this week I just made sure to get in 2 bikes on the trainer and a couple of runs in.  Doing this made me realize I have been so completly out of touch from training.  It took me an hour to get the gear I needed for the trainer.  The pain in rump from riding that lasted a week also told me I have grown "soft".  None the less, it felt great.  Thats the funny thing about training, before I resumed I figured I am training for only some sprint tri's or Oly's at best.  By this mornings run I was thinking of the REV3 full distance LOL  I guess once an ironman,....

Anyhow, amongst the other things that this training has brought on is this.  I go to do christmas shopping and end up with MORE workout clothes and only like 2 things for other people.  WTF?  Does Tri training invariably make us selfish?  Or is it that I am just really feeling a pull to get back into the sport?

Cant wait to see what else has changed in the tri world.  Its almost like starting all over, with a little experience under my belt.  Hmmmm maybe should check out the latest GPS tools available....

Ciao

Monday, November 22, 2010

The trainer revisited

It has been well over a year since I was on a trainer.  I was awaiting this day with great anticipation. For me there is nothing that represents being in "Training" more than riding a trainer.  Why?

Well because if anyone is willing to inflict such a mind numbing experience as sitting on a bike for an extended period of time, then you had better have a serious goal!

Well my first "ride" did not disappoint!  It was about as dull as a watching leaves turn color.  But IT FELT GREAT!

It was only 60 minutes.  But it was enough to make me realize I have to get my bag of tricks out for longer rides.  But none the less it felt great to be back in training.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Brazil is being accomodating

So here I am again, travelling.  This time I am in Sao Paulo Brazil.  Oddly enough desoite being several Thousand miles from home in NYC, I still end up in Brooklyn.  No Kidding!! The office and hotel is located in the "Brooklin Novo", or "New Brooklyn" neighborhood  :)

Anyhow, I had plans to resume triathlon training once I returned late in November.  I was especially looking forward getting back in the pool.  Which is why I was so pleasntly surprised to find THIS!!


Yes!! its not only a pool...its a LAP POOL!!  I was so psyched!!  This is not normal in a hotel.  At least not the ones I have stayed in.  And this was s surprise because the hotel does not have a whole lot of information on its website.

Now of course its not perfect, its only about 15 yards long and only about 2 1/2 feet deep ( my fingers touch bottom during my swim stroke)  BUT it works for what I need now which is to get conditioned again.

Now don't get me started on why an organization would build such a small and clearly not well though out pool.  You need at least 20 meters/yards to be acceptable for lap swimming.  And should be deep enough to not interfere with your swim stroke.  And yet these are all over the place.  I dont mean just in hotels.  In NYC the NYSC has a club with a 15 meter lap pool also.  Why?  Who the heck knows.  I cant believe it but I think the people building these gyms simply dont do any research.  The best example was a Gym in NYC, that advertised it had a lap pool.  I called over the phone and of course they would tell me nothing about price over the phone, and the guy I spoke to could not tell me the size of the pool.  So I went to check it out.

Low and behold they had a pool that was 10x 15 yards.  But here is the amazing part, the lanes were set to go ACROSS instead of length wise, so the lanes were 10 yards long.  It was actually built that way because the lanes were actually tiled in on the floor and the ropes built in to match.  What a WASTE!!

I mean folks, if you plan on building a lap pool all it takes is TO DO SOME FUCKING RESEARCH!!


OK, griping over.  Back to Brazil...Its decent as hotel pools go, and I already got in and did 45 minutes of swimming.  It was GREAT!   The work here will be a BIATCH, with a giant workload, but at least I will get to relax and get some workouts in the pool.  SO I am happy about that.

Anyways, Im out for now.  Ciao