K.O.

Knock Out. Knocked Out. With certainty, I found myself on each side of the acronym found in the title of this post this past week or so, and like other themes in this blog, it may go without saying that this title carries a few different meanings of it’s own. It seems odd saying that a lot has happened since the last post, but thankfully some the lot being the lack of random blizzards every other week with multiple feet of snow, and the return of sunshine and sixty degree weather.

Starting from the ominous Friday of my last post, written as Brooklyn again got pummeled with a blast of winter dumping some 12 inches of the white stuff with drifts upwards of double that. Followed immediately the next day by an exciting trip to the country that lightened my wallet significantly, to yet another two-plus hours running in freezing drizzle, root canals, with a triumphant week end bed-ridden flu-ish finale while I slept the first near 60 degree sunshine away (and missed my first training day). Which brings me to today, and with the near completion this afternoon of travel plans for Kentucky locked and loaded, and sans some in between details, that about covers it.

First things first, let me introduce you to the newest member of the family. Due in three, actually two, short weeks. I’d like you to meet…

Argh. Yeah, this purchase was coupled with some serious guilt. But to back up a few weeks, or months rather, I knew coming into this season, and getting into triathlons, that I would be looking to purchase a new rig this year. Sadly, it was hard to believe looking back that it had been near five years since my last bike purchase (and serious cash departure); the S-Works that I built from the frame up and still serves as my primary road bike.

But if I may digress for a moment, there is probably enough behind that (bike lust lapses) for a whole separate post being as I rarely went more than a couple years between purchases. That, largely being also the host of reasons for the distance that grew between myself and cycling over the past half of decade. Well, the passion is back, along with a few others now, namely running. And do you know what all of that can again be attributed to? Having someone that believes in you, supports you, shares your passions, and encourages you every step of the way toward realizing your goals. Yeah, she’s rad.

Now, where was I? Ah yes, well coming into this season, I knew a tri-rig was on the horizon for me, and I also knew that fitting myself for a tri-bike was not something I even wanted to get into. The geometry and nuances of this bike position were something I had never once approached in 15 years of riding. (Of course that’s probably because I always thought tri-geeks were a bunch of tools.) I had a few options, and with weeks to months of research (surprise), ended up going with a pretty renowned fitter via a recommendation from Joe yet again, in Bethel, CT.

Based on that recommendation, I made an appointment with the owner of Bethel Cycle, Greg Pelican, approximately three weeks back. Greg a world-class duathlete himself, and a stand-up guy with an amazing shop that I can’t not recommend, took over two hours with me dialing me in with a preliminary fit on the Serotta Size Cycle. We discussed options, which ultimately came down to the Cervelo P3 or the Cannondale Slice. Both of which I somewhat came to my own conclusion before coming up should they be viable options after the fitting. Well the Slice was Greg’s weapon of choice (not that I’m in his league), and seeing as he has lunch with the lead engineer for Cannondale (also headquartered in Bethel) it was a no-brainer.

And the guilt? Well that is two-fold. Cost surely, but secondly was the realization that I had become one of those guys that can afford a bike beyond his (current) athleticism, especially if I go for the HED hoops, which is a very likely scenario. We’ll see. There is only one person I’m out to prove wrong, and that’s me. I can also be assured that that bike will be motivation in itself. It’ll beg to be ridden hard. It’s a damn sexy bike and I just hope I can do it proud.

So that, a nice visit in the country with Melissa and Jason, and two tortuously boring four hour trainer rides ended the last week of February.

Other highlights of last week included another (imagine that) cold and rainy long run on Wednesday. Michelle and I thought back over a year of training, and looking at my logs, it’s kind of scary how many long runs have been in the rain and/or inclement weather. And despite my blog entry about being optimistic, man does it start to wear on you. The run was good, but two and a quarter hours in the rain/freezing drizzle left me feeling especially fatigued, and probably kicked off a chain reaction. However, I knew I had a recovery week coming (which I’m in at present), so I trudged on, finished a root canal on Thursday with a night over in Jersey, which led to a few nights of staying up just a bit too late, loosing routine, and being surrounded by the onset of change-of-season colds in NYC.

So, ignoring a morning sniffle was all it took as I set out this past Saturday on my long weekend spins, on what also happened to be the first beautiful and warm (55 degree) day of the season that I wasn’t about to miss. Absolutely gorgeous, but I slowly unraveled through the hours. I remember wondering why I felt more tired then I should have, and probably as a result stupidly pushed myself a little harder to compensate. Well, that four-hour ride sent things disastrously in the wrong direction, and took the last bit of energy I could have had to fighting a cold, and threw it to the wind (so to speak). That afternoon, the cold came on hard, and what was meant to be a fun night with tickets to South Pacific, only culminated with me getting worse, and again staying out too late.

Well, Sunday hit near 60 I think, but I really couldn’t tell you how nice it was. I spent the entire day sleeping. Michelle woke me up twice to stuff my face (thankfully I never lost my appetite fully) and then immediately sent me back to bed. The rest worked wonders, and two days later I’m nearly recovered 100%, not to mention being fully recharged.

I know what some of you are probably thinking, and that is that I’m doing too much. Well, that’s one way to look at it. But it’s not the case. The approach was right, however I made some nutrition and sleep mistakes that week, in addition to factors outside of my control, that nudged me just enough in the wrong direction. Good news is that I’ve learned from my mistakes, and will be able to spot the warning signs earlier. Whether I heed them is a whole other story.

And here we are. That about brings us up to date more or less. Enjoying a rest week, and finally booked and locked in for Kentucky this afternoon. It becomes more and more real every day. How awesome is that?