2011 is off to a fast start, and I'm already slacking in the blog department.
Since my last post, I've lost my job (within a week of the last post, actually), applied to 24 new jobs, interviewed 8 times over the phone, 4 times in person, followed up on all 12 interviews with phone calls and thank you letters, negotiated to job offers and took my now current job, making me gainfully employed once again.
Oh, and all the while, my wife picked up a ton of extra hours at the hospital making me take on the role of Mr. Mom for exactly two months.
The thought of being a stay-at-home used to sound a bit appealing to me...but after this experiment...NO WAY. I couldn't do it full-time (i.e. my wife is amazing, and I don't know how she's done it this whole time). I love the kids with all my heart, and had a blast with them on my time off, but I need structure and a lot more adult interaction and conversation in my life. I thought I could live my life playing LEGOs and watching cartoons and playing hide-and-seek all day long, but no. Just no.
At the turn of the year I had originally planned to ramp up my running and run the Chicago Marathon with a group of friends. A weekend trip. The weekend that I was actually going to commit and register fell immediately after I lost my job, so that plan went right through the floor.
I had also planned on picking up bike racing where I left off in 2009, and that plan was still feasible on a fixed income, so I focused almost solely on riding the trainer in the basement whenever I could steal a couple hours with the kids asleep.
Trainer time. At night. In the basement. Yuck.
But, it was the only way I could log some time in the saddle, and really the only way I could unwind after full days of double-diaper duty and running around creation to do errands. I did manage to get out for a few outdoor rides when the weather cooperated, and one really good 52-mile group ride with my new racing team.
Fast forward to April, the week after I accepted my new job, and I reward myself by going to Ken Woods Memorial Road Race south of the Twin Cities.
At the end of my first year of racing ('09), I did upgrade out of the Category 5's to the 4's. This would mark my first race as a 4. I knew I wasn't in the best race shape, but I was so excited to actually be able to race this year that I just didn't care. I just wanted to wear my new kit and try to hang on and get my heart rate higher than it's been in months for an extended period of time.
The weather was miserable for the morning wave, but luckily the rain/mist ceased for the afternoon wave and the pavement was dry. Unfortunately, our Minnesota Spring didn't totally cooperate though and continued to pound some NW winds at us, making for some really fun hiding tactics within the pack that really didn't help once we got strung out in the crosswind.
Overall the race went well. I didn't hear of any wrecks in our field. We held together the entire first lap until the last long hill approaching the finish completely blew our pack up. I attempted to hang with the front on the attack up the hill, but red-lined about 2/3 of the way up and lost it. Sucked wind all the way past the line going into lap two as I was passed by [what seemed to be] everyone else. Went solo until after the first turn, where one guy came up and passed me, then offered to let me latch on and work together to catch back up. I tried, and swapped a couple turns at pulling, but slammed the wall again when we hit a rolling hill into the wind and then told him to go ahead. I lost sight of him by the next turn heading north, but luckily another small group of three came up and pulled me in.
We ended up working together pretty well to paceline back to our cars.
Finished the 42 miles in just over 2 hours, 41st place out of 47 finishers.
A finish, nonetheless.
Since then, I've done two of the Tuesday Night Worlds / OPUS criteriums; May 10 and last night.
May 10 (TNW #5) was a ton of fun. I started up front, and held in the top ten for the majority of the race. I still wasn't sure of my anaerobic capacity for the season, so I didn't attempt any prime sprints, but was in position to watch them pretty well. After the first prime, I accidentally found myself at the front after we reeled the sprinters back in. I led for the lap across the line, then let others come up around me to help pull again.
Dropped back a bit in the pack, then worked back up by the next prime to position for the finish. With two to go, a couple guys go off the front, so everyone got antsy and started fighting for position. At the bell, I found myself about 13 or 14, so once we reached the top of the hill I found a gap on the right and said "what the hell, why not" and attacked up the right side into the downhill. Got up to the front of the pack (bike meter recorded a top speed of 40.1, I'm pretty sure it was here) with two other guys, but quickly learned that going into a downhill isn't the best place to attack, as we were all a group again by the time we reached the bottom.
Hit the left turn and bottleneck, then rode as a group to the final left turn where everyone stood to sprint uphill to the finish.
I had nothing left, so just sat up and watched. Ended up 17th of 32.
Last night was similar, but our field felt MUCH faster this week with everyone trying to salvage any points they could on the last race of this TNW series.
I went in with a goal of at least trying to get a point or two on a prime, with my sights set on the first, as nobody really attacked last week aside from the front couple guys. As we hit the last turn for the prime, about 20 of us stood to sprint. I was about 8 or 10 back, and right in the middle, so I had no real option other than to stick on the wheel ahead of me and just ride it up and watch the sprint ahead of me.
We all gathered up again at the top, then went roundy-round for the next three laps. About the only excitement here was on lap 4 or 5 when a couple cars found themselves in the left lane as we swallowed them up and passed on the right. Everyone was pretty cautious though, so it was good to see common sense from the group.
The next prime lap was fast. Really fast. All the way around. I was right in the middle somewhere and didn't have any desire to try to fight my way up again, so I just rode around and watched...again.
Then roundy-round two more times to the bell lap. Heading to the line going into the final lap, two guys took off, and I mean blasted off. They were gone by the time the rest of us reached the top. I found a couple little gaps in the middle of the pack on the way up the hill and worked my way up to about the top ten again at the summit and into the down hill.
Remembering last week's feeble attempt of an attack, I held in a bit longer and positioned myself on the left side for something later down the road.
So instead of attacking on the downhill, I wait until we reach the bottom then my brain pulls the trigger and I make a dash for it up the left side right. Went through some of the leftover gravel from the winter plows that hadn't been cleaned from the road yet, but found myself alone with a second or two gap ahead of the pack going into the uphill left turn and bottleneck. I stood to keep it and knew it was all or nothing to hold at this point. I stood and torqued a bit too much on my handle bars and felt a quick skid of my rear tire, but didn't panic and held it up fine. Almost made it up to the last turn by myself, but then hit the wall again and was swallowed up as we turned to head to the finish line.
I swear that line was closer the last 8 times we went over it...
The official full results aren't posted yet, but I didn't even try to put effort in to steal 15th place. Pretty sure it wasn't even a top 20, but it was a fun attack that at least made whoever got those two third-place-finish points try a bit harder to win.
I've overheard a few other people saying that the Cat 4's are really fast this year. There are definitely a few guys that are working the group pretty hard, but it's making for some really fun racing so far.
My goal this year is simply to keep finishing races and learn some more strategy during the race. I feel very comfortable in the pack, which I was nervous about coming into this year, so that's a good feeling. I definitely think I'm in good enough shape to continue to be pack fodder for the rest of the season. I'm still going to try some things here and there and try to figure out something that might stick eventually though. I just hate going on a group ride at the race until the last 200 yards.
I won't be partaking in the Square Lake Road Race this weekend. Definitely some home projects and kid time in the plans. I'm hoping to take in a Buck Hill race or three in the next few weeks leading up to the State Fair Crits (my favorite series).
Sorry no pictures either. I'm terrible about carrying cameras, and when I do I don't really take pictures. There've been quite a few people out with cameras at the OPUS races, but I haven't seen much posting of them. If I find some, I'll share and link 'em up.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Protein Shake in a Bun
I'm a wimp.
Merely a shell of a hardcore Minnesota athlete. I pride myself in my desire to run outdoors in every season we face here. I try to avoid running during the daylight hours in the summer because I prefer the cooler evenings and night running. Anything above 55 degrees F and I think it's too warm.
Why am I a sham of the self-image that I hold of myself?
Because yesterday, the 16th of February, was my first workout outdoors since Halloween. Not one single workout outside below freezing (it was 47 degrees yesterday).
A coworker and I have been talking about running over lunch for a few weeks after we learned that we both like running and endurance events. She's run 21 marathons in the last 5 years, Boston twice. We finally bucked up and made an official Microsoft Outlook calendar meeting over lunch yesterday, and stuck to it.
Nothing fancy or grueling. We ran a nice 4-mile out-and-back route from the office. We're both pretty much just starting up our spring running routines, so we kept a comfortable conversational pace of about 9:00 min/mi. It was my first run with GPS watch outdoors, so I recorded the run and will post the data after I download and play with it.
We were able to both get back to the office, shower (separately) and get back to our desks within an hour, so we decided that this is definitely doable and are going to reschedule our Outlook meeting to "recurring."
Having taken two weeks off from running, my body didn't totally react well to going from running to sitting in my crappy office chair within 20 minutes, and I think my blood electrolytes took a weird hit as well. Ended up getting a decent little headache, but nothing two little magic blue pills (Aleve) couldn't take care of.
Finished the day at the office, then went to meet the family at the in-laws for a couple hours to watch American Idol (go JC!) and wear out the boys by making a mess and chasing them around with a fun game of hide-and-seek at Grandma's house.
Packed up the kids around 9:00 pm and hit the road for home and realized that I hadn't eaten since lunch, and was friggin' famished.
While the boys were in the back seat of our family commuter/compact car, a manly VW Beetle (at least it's dark blue), attempting to sing along to a Clap Your Hands Say Yeah song, I started to weigh my different take-out/fast food options as we drove down 35E.
Lee Ann Chin.
KFC.
Panera.
Noodles.
BK.
Hmmm...they all sounded amazing as we passed the glowing signs.
Before I knew it, our 1.5-year-old was passed out in back and the 5-year-old was already tired of the repetitive beat and was spacing out the window. A crinkle in my plans of stopping for take-out it became, as there's no way I was going to attempt to unload the car to head in to order.
That left drive-thru.
The image of the golden arches were etched in my retinas or something and I had an immediate craving for a burger.
I ended up getting the new Chipotle BBQ Bacon Angus 1/3-pound grease bomb ("Plain," no pickles, mustard, onions, lettuce or ketchup) from McDon's; just give me the burger, bun, bacon, cheese and new sauce please!
I compensated for the grease by only ordering the sandwich, a true test of my late-night will-power if one ever existed.
I'm not going to lie, it was probably the most satisfying, 60-second-prep-time 800 calories and 2,000 mg of sodium I can remember ingesting in recent memory. It definitely had the most flavor in a burger chain burger that I can recall. I was expecting MdD's basic McNugget BBQ sauce on a slightly seasoned meat/filler patty, but I was pleasantly surprised to actually get a bit of zing with the sauce in the aftertaste that perfectly complimented the dunk of ketchup I applied myself (the "burger artists" can never get the appropriate ketchup to burger ratio when they pre-apply it behind the scenes, if they even try to...). The Angus burger "Premium" bacon that they use is well worth the extra few cents they charge as well.
Getting the sandwich alone also left me feeling satiated when I was done, rather than completely miserable if I had also downed a large fry, although those fries would have been delicious...like they always are...mmm...McDonald's Fries...
The only real side effect I've experienced so far, though, was going to bed with a guilty conscience. I decided to set the alarm to get up a bit earlier this morning and crank out a spin on the trainer before work.
Sixty minutes of 6:00 am cadence work and I no longer feel guilty.
Did I seriously admit to cheering for an American Idol contestant by name?!
Merely a shell of a hardcore Minnesota athlete. I pride myself in my desire to run outdoors in every season we face here. I try to avoid running during the daylight hours in the summer because I prefer the cooler evenings and night running. Anything above 55 degrees F and I think it's too warm.
Why am I a sham of the self-image that I hold of myself?
Because yesterday, the 16th of February, was my first workout outdoors since Halloween. Not one single workout outside below freezing (it was 47 degrees yesterday).
A coworker and I have been talking about running over lunch for a few weeks after we learned that we both like running and endurance events. She's run 21 marathons in the last 5 years, Boston twice. We finally bucked up and made an official Microsoft Outlook calendar meeting over lunch yesterday, and stuck to it.
Nothing fancy or grueling. We ran a nice 4-mile out-and-back route from the office. We're both pretty much just starting up our spring running routines, so we kept a comfortable conversational pace of about 9:00 min/mi. It was my first run with GPS watch outdoors, so I recorded the run and will post the data after I download and play with it.
We were able to both get back to the office, shower (separately) and get back to our desks within an hour, so we decided that this is definitely doable and are going to reschedule our Outlook meeting to "recurring."
Having taken two weeks off from running, my body didn't totally react well to going from running to sitting in my crappy office chair within 20 minutes, and I think my blood electrolytes took a weird hit as well. Ended up getting a decent little headache, but nothing two little magic blue pills (Aleve) couldn't take care of.
Finished the day at the office, then went to meet the family at the in-laws for a couple hours to watch American Idol (go JC!) and wear out the boys by making a mess and chasing them around with a fun game of hide-and-seek at Grandma's house.
Packed up the kids around 9:00 pm and hit the road for home and realized that I hadn't eaten since lunch, and was friggin' famished.
While the boys were in the back seat of our family commuter/compact car, a manly VW Beetle (at least it's dark blue), attempting to sing along to a Clap Your Hands Say Yeah song, I started to weigh my different take-out/fast food options as we drove down 35E.
Lee Ann Chin.
KFC.
Panera.
Noodles.
BK.
Hmmm...they all sounded amazing as we passed the glowing signs.
Before I knew it, our 1.5-year-old was passed out in back and the 5-year-old was already tired of the repetitive beat and was spacing out the window. A crinkle in my plans of stopping for take-out it became, as there's no way I was going to attempt to unload the car to head in to order.
That left drive-thru.
The image of the golden arches were etched in my retinas or something and I had an immediate craving for a burger.
I ended up getting the new Chipotle BBQ Bacon Angus 1/3-pound grease bomb ("Plain," no pickles, mustard, onions, lettuce or ketchup) from McDon's; just give me the burger, bun, bacon, cheese and new sauce please!
I compensated for the grease by only ordering the sandwich, a true test of my late-night will-power if one ever existed.
I'm not going to lie, it was probably the most satisfying, 60-second-prep-time 800 calories and 2,000 mg of sodium I can remember ingesting in recent memory. It definitely had the most flavor in a burger chain burger that I can recall. I was expecting MdD's basic McNugget BBQ sauce on a slightly seasoned meat/filler patty, but I was pleasantly surprised to actually get a bit of zing with the sauce in the aftertaste that perfectly complimented the dunk of ketchup I applied myself (the "burger artists" can never get the appropriate ketchup to burger ratio when they pre-apply it behind the scenes, if they even try to...). The Angus burger "Premium" bacon that they use is well worth the extra few cents they charge as well.
Getting the sandwich alone also left me feeling satiated when I was done, rather than completely miserable if I had also downed a large fry, although those fries would have been delicious...like they always are...mmm...McDonald's Fries...
The only real side effect I've experienced so far, though, was going to bed with a guilty conscience. I decided to set the alarm to get up a bit earlier this morning and crank out a spin on the trainer before work.
Sixty minutes of 6:00 am cadence work and I no longer feel guilty.
Did I seriously admit to cheering for an American Idol contestant by name?!
Sunday, December 5, 2010
2011 - A Regained Me
Yes. That's right. It's been over a year and a half since my last post.
No, I didn't crash the bike and lose my typing fingers (well, close...). No, I haven't been without electricity or internet. And most importantly: No, I haven't been doing absolutely nothing therefore having nothing on which to report.
Here's a quick recap since my last post:
2009: Finished the year with 12 bike races, a sprint triathlon, and our second annual Ragnar Relay. Nearly all smaller, local weeknight criteriums, with one local "major" weekend criterium on the 4th of July. Ended up crashing out of two of them, and in a row, no less.
The first was the aforementioned 4th race in Northfield. It was a fast Cat 4/5 race, but I was hanging on quite comfortably to the front group (which consisted of the majority of the field, to be honest). At exactly the halfway point, the guy in front of me hit the brakes for some unknown reason on a left turn and slid out. My panic button went off and I did the same and laid the bike down on its side, with the knuckles on my left fingers landing first. Scraped 'em down to the bone, and got a nice burn going up the forearm filled with road grime. Picked up and rode down to the starting line and asked to be granted my free lap to re-enter, but they suggested I talk to the medical tent instead, so I was pulled. Nothing major except for torn and blood stained bar tape, a few rips to the jersey and bibs and a lot of gauze for a couple weeks...and about a half-size larger ring size, according to my wedding band that can't be taken off my finger...
Took a week off, came back and entered another weeknight local crit. Got tangled in a corner somehow and went down on the left side again. This time was much slower, but ended up falling on the same knuckles and messing them up again, but no additional damage except a bit more fear in corners...and a random tire mark on the top of my helmet.
Finished off the road bike season with my biggest success being winning a prime during my last race, but totally blowing any energy I had left and ending up 13th during the next final lap (but it was a good learning experience).
The sprint tri went very well, finishing third in my age group. So well that I convinced myself to upgrade to the Olympic distance this last summer of 2010. I came into this summer with the most dedication to triathlon training I've ever done, mainly focusing on lengthening my endurance. Ended up finishing 12 out of 17 total (yes, a very small, and honestly disappointing field; something which I hope to help by joining the board of the race organizers for 2011). My swim totally killed me, and I never felt I could recover through the rest of the race. Came out of the water dead last. Swam off track on the out and back course a couple times, and ended up half-assing it by treading/breaststroke for a portion in the middle once I realized I was last anyway. My inability to recover showed most in my 10k run time of almost 56 minutes, whereas I'm usually a sub-50 minute pace. My Time Trial on the bike portion improved from the previous year though, raising my average pace despite riding twice as far. Either way, I came in with soft goals and not really knowing what to expect, and finished with a smile on my face, so it was still very rewarding, fun, and another learning experience.
Ragnar was probably the highlight, enough so that I don't think I'll attempt to write much on it except for the fact that it's, by far, the most fun endurance event I've ever participated in. On a personal side, I ran my 3 legs with an average pace of 7:45 and a total of just over 15 miles. Our same team ran it again in 2010, and I improved to about a 7:30 pace over 17 miles.
2010 didn't allow me to ride any bike races save for one short mountain bike race at Buck Hill in May. Finished 21 out of 71 over a short, but really fast 3.3 mile track on the side of a ski hill.
Since the last post, I've switched jobs twice. From the fall of '09 through this last September I took a position that consisted of regular travel. Was supposed to be 1-2 days a week, but of course it ended up being pretty much twice that on a regular basis. When it was announced that we were going to be asked to solidly be on the road 5 days a week for the next couple months, I pulled the plug and started the new job search, and ended up landing back in the office, with minimal travel, but pulled off an essential promotion at the same time at a smaller company, and I'm extremely happy and ready to get back into a regular training and racing schedule.
Which leads me to my first post of "regained me."
My wife and I had our third child in September 2010. Look back a couple posts, and you will see that is our second child in a year and a half, and our third total. Life, as I ever imagined it, has completely changed yet again. The cliche of "switching from man to zone" when referring to the jump from two to three kids is probably the most accurate I've heard. Currently going on the fourth month of averaging about 5 hours of sleep per night. My wife also ended her 3-month maternity leave a couple weeks ago and is back to working nights. It's a tag-team effort to raise the family, usually working opposite shifts, but we're making it work despite wanting to kill each other on a regular basis. If it weren't for her sacrifice of even more sleep than I during the week while I'm at the office, we'd be paying a double mortgage just to cover day care. This way we can still claim to be a double-income family and still raise a family without daycare.
Yes, it's crazy. Yes, we're delirious with sleep deprivation. But yes, we can still hold regular lives and do some fun things while we're at it.
I won an entry into the Leadville 100 MTB race last year through Lifetime Fitness. I was pumped. Wife was pregnant. Leadville race-day was at 36 weeks of her pregnancy. I fought like hell to convince her it was a good idea for me to drive myself solo to Colorado to climb a mountain on a bicycle while she stayed home with two kids under 4 and at the [clinical] term of her pregnancy. The pregnant woman won the argument, and I went all summer training my arse off only to be left with sending an email to the race organizers to withdraw my entry a couple weeks before the race (I held out to the last minute leaning on what little hope I still had that she might cave and give me her blessing to go play).
So, this huge disappointment was a big turning point for me. After getting over the anger of not going to the race and torturing myself by looking at everyone's pictures from the race on facebook, I decided that it really was the right decision not to go that year. It was bad timing on my part. I needed to realize that the fam comes first. Playing on my bike is just a hobby, and really doesn't mean anything. I shouldn't compromise my family to go ride.
But, this doesn't mean that I can't keep playing or riding. I just need to find different ways to fit it in.
So, I think the turn that my writing is going to take is somewhat related to the topic on which several books have been written. Notably, The Time Crunched Cyclist.
I need to let my hobby grow, but not at my family's expense.
I'm going into 2011 with a different outlook, but still hope to compete back at my 2009 level of activity.
So, here is the basic outline of my 2011 goals:
-Complete one Olympic distance triathlon
-Complete one organized cycling century ride
-Complete 10+ local cycling races
-Complete one marathon
I've got dates set out for most of these, which I'll outline in a later post when I set up an actual racing schedule. The majority of my writing on here will be related to race reports, but I'll also write about an interesting training ride. I'll also use this as a way for me to write about how I'm fitting exercise and racing into life without significantly altering "real" life to accommodate it.
After all, it's just for fun.
No, I didn't crash the bike and lose my typing fingers (well, close...). No, I haven't been without electricity or internet. And most importantly: No, I haven't been doing absolutely nothing therefore having nothing on which to report.
Here's a quick recap since my last post:
2009: Finished the year with 12 bike races, a sprint triathlon, and our second annual Ragnar Relay. Nearly all smaller, local weeknight criteriums, with one local "major" weekend criterium on the 4th of July. Ended up crashing out of two of them, and in a row, no less.
The first was the aforementioned 4th race in Northfield. It was a fast Cat 4/5 race, but I was hanging on quite comfortably to the front group (which consisted of the majority of the field, to be honest). At exactly the halfway point, the guy in front of me hit the brakes for some unknown reason on a left turn and slid out. My panic button went off and I did the same and laid the bike down on its side, with the knuckles on my left fingers landing first. Scraped 'em down to the bone, and got a nice burn going up the forearm filled with road grime. Picked up and rode down to the starting line and asked to be granted my free lap to re-enter, but they suggested I talk to the medical tent instead, so I was pulled. Nothing major except for torn and blood stained bar tape, a few rips to the jersey and bibs and a lot of gauze for a couple weeks...and about a half-size larger ring size, according to my wedding band that can't be taken off my finger...
Took a week off, came back and entered another weeknight local crit. Got tangled in a corner somehow and went down on the left side again. This time was much slower, but ended up falling on the same knuckles and messing them up again, but no additional damage except a bit more fear in corners...and a random tire mark on the top of my helmet.
Finished off the road bike season with my biggest success being winning a prime during my last race, but totally blowing any energy I had left and ending up 13th during the next final lap (but it was a good learning experience).
The sprint tri went very well, finishing third in my age group. So well that I convinced myself to upgrade to the Olympic distance this last summer of 2010. I came into this summer with the most dedication to triathlon training I've ever done, mainly focusing on lengthening my endurance. Ended up finishing 12 out of 17 total (yes, a very small, and honestly disappointing field; something which I hope to help by joining the board of the race organizers for 2011). My swim totally killed me, and I never felt I could recover through the rest of the race. Came out of the water dead last. Swam off track on the out and back course a couple times, and ended up half-assing it by treading/breaststroke for a portion in the middle once I realized I was last anyway. My inability to recover showed most in my 10k run time of almost 56 minutes, whereas I'm usually a sub-50 minute pace. My Time Trial on the bike portion improved from the previous year though, raising my average pace despite riding twice as far. Either way, I came in with soft goals and not really knowing what to expect, and finished with a smile on my face, so it was still very rewarding, fun, and another learning experience.
Ragnar was probably the highlight, enough so that I don't think I'll attempt to write much on it except for the fact that it's, by far, the most fun endurance event I've ever participated in. On a personal side, I ran my 3 legs with an average pace of 7:45 and a total of just over 15 miles. Our same team ran it again in 2010, and I improved to about a 7:30 pace over 17 miles.
2010 didn't allow me to ride any bike races save for one short mountain bike race at Buck Hill in May. Finished 21 out of 71 over a short, but really fast 3.3 mile track on the side of a ski hill.
Since the last post, I've switched jobs twice. From the fall of '09 through this last September I took a position that consisted of regular travel. Was supposed to be 1-2 days a week, but of course it ended up being pretty much twice that on a regular basis. When it was announced that we were going to be asked to solidly be on the road 5 days a week for the next couple months, I pulled the plug and started the new job search, and ended up landing back in the office, with minimal travel, but pulled off an essential promotion at the same time at a smaller company, and I'm extremely happy and ready to get back into a regular training and racing schedule.
Which leads me to my first post of "regained me."
My wife and I had our third child in September 2010. Look back a couple posts, and you will see that is our second child in a year and a half, and our third total. Life, as I ever imagined it, has completely changed yet again. The cliche of "switching from man to zone" when referring to the jump from two to three kids is probably the most accurate I've heard. Currently going on the fourth month of averaging about 5 hours of sleep per night. My wife also ended her 3-month maternity leave a couple weeks ago and is back to working nights. It's a tag-team effort to raise the family, usually working opposite shifts, but we're making it work despite wanting to kill each other on a regular basis. If it weren't for her sacrifice of even more sleep than I during the week while I'm at the office, we'd be paying a double mortgage just to cover day care. This way we can still claim to be a double-income family and still raise a family without daycare.
Yes, it's crazy. Yes, we're delirious with sleep deprivation. But yes, we can still hold regular lives and do some fun things while we're at it.
I won an entry into the Leadville 100 MTB race last year through Lifetime Fitness. I was pumped. Wife was pregnant. Leadville race-day was at 36 weeks of her pregnancy. I fought like hell to convince her it was a good idea for me to drive myself solo to Colorado to climb a mountain on a bicycle while she stayed home with two kids under 4 and at the [clinical] term of her pregnancy. The pregnant woman won the argument, and I went all summer training my arse off only to be left with sending an email to the race organizers to withdraw my entry a couple weeks before the race (I held out to the last minute leaning on what little hope I still had that she might cave and give me her blessing to go play).
So, this huge disappointment was a big turning point for me. After getting over the anger of not going to the race and torturing myself by looking at everyone's pictures from the race on facebook, I decided that it really was the right decision not to go that year. It was bad timing on my part. I needed to realize that the fam comes first. Playing on my bike is just a hobby, and really doesn't mean anything. I shouldn't compromise my family to go ride.
But, this doesn't mean that I can't keep playing or riding. I just need to find different ways to fit it in.
So, I think the turn that my writing is going to take is somewhat related to the topic on which several books have been written. Notably, The Time Crunched Cyclist.
I need to let my hobby grow, but not at my family's expense.
I'm going into 2011 with a different outlook, but still hope to compete back at my 2009 level of activity.
So, here is the basic outline of my 2011 goals:
-Complete one Olympic distance triathlon
-Complete one organized cycling century ride
-Complete 10+ local cycling races
-Complete one marathon
I've got dates set out for most of these, which I'll outline in a later post when I set up an actual racing schedule. The majority of my writing on here will be related to race reports, but I'll also write about an interesting training ride. I'll also use this as a way for me to write about how I'm fitting exercise and racing into life without significantly altering "real" life to accommodate it.
After all, it's just for fun.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
