Random Thoughts on a Monday

I often like to post around a theme. For example, a bike ride where I got some good pictures. Or, a race report. Or a training update.

Sometimes, however, life just doesn’t fall into well-defined categories, even with a fairly rigid training schedule like mine.

With that in mind, I offer this hodgepodge of various thoughts and musings over the last week.

Item 1: Running, riding, swimming and lifting through the pain. There’s no question that I’ve been feeling it a little bit lately. That’s no surprise since my training schedule has picked up from something like 4-5 hours a week to more like 6-7. A three hour trainer ride about a week ago was trying and a 130 minute run this past Saturday was difficult. Strength workout has been harder since I started doing more crunches and increased the weight on the bench. My mantra has been that this is all going to pay off once the season starts.

Item 2: New toys. I’m fortunate to have a job that pays a pretty decent bonus around this time every year and that was the case again. As a result, I’ve gotten a couple of new toys. The first is a Garmin 910XT which is their newest multi-sport GPS watch. It went with me on the run Saturday and I’ve also had the opportunity to use it on my trainer as well as in the pool. The latter was pretty impressive. I just hit start like I do with a watch and it did the rest including counting my laps and yards. It will be really interesting once open-water season begins. The other new toy is a GoPro Hero HD camera. With it’s water-tight case I think I’ll be able to shoot some interesting video on the bike, on the run, maybe in the water and quite possibly on a zipline. More on that last one later.

Item 3: New bike. That same bonus is going toward a new tri-bike. I still love my Cannondale CAAD8 and expect to continue to use it, but I’d also like to get on something sport-specific. For the last few months, I’ve considered their TT bike, the Slice. Lately, however, I’ve become more intrigued with a Blue Triad SP. I’m impressed by their work on designing geometries with triathletes in mind. Time-trial cyclists don’t get off their bikes and go running.

Item 4: Travel. I’m a very fortunate person in that I get to travel to a lot of interesting places. Last summer, it was Italy. In a few days, it will be the beautiful island of Maui. I’m looking forward to training in warm weather, at sea level with fantastic scenery. As well-traveled as I am, this is my first-ever trip to Hawaii. I anticipate internet access and plan on doing multiple posts both about the training as well as a few other adventures.

For now, have a great week and thanks for reading!