I swear, by the time this season is over, I’m practically going to have a new bike. The tri bike is in the shop to have the bottom bracket replaced overnight. Hopefully this will solve the ‘creaking’ problem it’s been having. Replaced the tires last night after blowing out the front one on Saturday’s ride. They were five years old, and I’d had new tires, just hadn’t replaced them yet. Did discover I need to shift the back one around a little bit so it’s lined up with the stem – makes it easier to see where there might be an issue, evidently.
Dropped off the commuting bike as well. I’d had it in for a yearly checkup & got the bars retaped. In doing that, they didn’t put everything back evenly, so the steering ergonomics were all off. Thankfully this annoyed the manager almost as much as it did me, so it’s getting fixed. In the meantime, I’ll walk to work again. Fun.
Feeling this week like I just want the IM over and done with already. I feel like I’m ready to move on from the mega-long workouts back to more normal stuff, and focus on some different goals. This is one of the definite downsides to the planning aspect of triathlon – while you’re in the middle of one phase/season you have to start planning the next one. It’s almost as bad as Federal budgeting, always trying to anticipate what you’ll need a year and a half before you need it. Trying to just focus on what needs to get done now, but thoughts of fall training intrude.
I’m also feeling this odd urge to knit a sweater. I don’t know why, I don’t particular enjoy wearing sweaters, but I feel like I should knit one. I suspect it’s all the talk of knitting from my new attorney at work, she’s been on a tear lately. Of course, I have several other projects I could do/finish before I should even think about buying more yarn, so I suspect I’ll just let the sweater urge die again until I’m finished with some of the other things I can do with already invested resources.
Had a really successful bike ride on Saturday. 101 miles, no cramping. Did get tired of eating, but no burping up with a completely full stomach, so managed to keep hydrated and thoroughly electrolyted. It was another ride where I focused on hydration with the result that I constantly had to pee. Again. Just like Total 200. Better that than cramps, but man, got tired of hunting for port-a-johns and bathrooms on the way. Keep this up and I’m going to get to know all of them on the W&OD.
Didn’t get started until 9, which is roughly when I should be starting the IM, depending on when I get into the water. It all worked, even with a rest break at the 1/2 way point and a popped tube in the middle of suburbia, so I think I should be able to get through the thing now. I used Nuun rather than a caloried sports drink this time, and I think that made the difference. I kept the aero bottle between the bars and one of my water bottles filled with water, and one water bottle filled with Nuun. I’d alternate sipping some Nuun after eating with sipping water. I think I may have found the right mix to get through the bike. Hopefully the mix that worked for the run at Eagleman will work as well at Louisville.
So far so good.
In other news I’ve been dating someone I’ll call The Boy here for a month now. It’s going well, and I’m enjoying it. He lives a way out in Northern Virginia, but we’ve managed to see each other at least once or twice a week since we first met back on the 1st of July. He’s off with his family to Maine for a week starting tomorrow, so won’t see him at all in the next week, though I imagine there will be much texting. Dragged him out to Nerd Brunch, my regular Sunday thing, as well as a game day party, and so far that’s worked. Am enjoying the company. He’s roughly my size, so we fit together well while cuddling on the couch.
Speaking of couches, I finally ordered a new one, one I hope will be more conducive to the aforementioned cuddling. It’ll be delivered in a couple of months, by which point I’ll have figured out what to do with the current one. It’s not a sleeper, unlike the current one, so I added an ottoman that is a sleeper in a matching fabric. Ever so slowly the living room will come together.