The Week in Review

Well, it’s been over a week now since Shawnigan, and I feel like I have recovered fairly well. The day following the race my body was tired and my calves were sore, but it wasn’t so bad that I still couldn’t walk the stairs at the office. [Random aside: I work on the 3rd floor, and always try to make a point of taking the stairs and skipping the elevator, as I didn’t have the option at my last building and I absolutely hated riding the elevator every day. The one exception to my ‘no elevator’ rule comes after our morning coffee run when the rest of the gang hops in the elevator, as I think it would be a bit weird if I was like “well, see you guys up there.” I had originally told myself that I was ‘allowed’ to take the elevator on the Monday following the race, but I found when I got to work that Monday morning, I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.]

I had two days off from training following the race (Monday & Tuesday) and then slowly eased back into things with a very drill focused swim and an easy bike on Wednesday. Thursday morning I had another fairly easy swim and then enjoyed a much needed massage. I found the funniest part of the massage came when my amazing massage therapist, Lysanne (Parkway Physiotherapy in Langford) asked if I was sore as she was working on my quads. “No” I said, “does it feel like I should be?” and she just laughed and said “oh yeah”. She then went on to say that it was great that I wasn’t too sore and how that speaks well of all the training I’ve been putting in and that my body is adapting and recovering nicely.

I ran Thursday evening, biked Friday morning and had a decent workout on Saturday as well (bike/run brick). Sunday was a longer (slow) run that I was having trouble getting motivated to do, but I managed to get through all the same, without feeling too worse for wear.

Other things that cropped up through the week included a good meeting/debrief with Kelly, as well as a chat with Shane about the possibility of me getting a new bike. I had sort of come to terms with the fact that I would be doing Ironman on my current bike, but on Sunday evening after the race both Shane and my Mom said to me at different times – you need a new bike.

I’ve been on the fence about a new bike for a while. Of course I want a new bike, but my trusty old aluminum Felt has treated me well over the past 3 and a half years and I feel like I shouldn’t be forking out huge wads of cash (that we don't necessarily have) when I have a bike that is still functioning. The other part of me realizes that triathlon is going to remain a part of my life for a good long time now and I’m most likely going to get my monies worth out of a new one. As well, the thought that if having a lighter, betting fitting bike might help to save me even a few minutes over the course of Ironman that it may be worth it.

So, today, I went for a bike fit. Initial thoughts on my Felt were that it’s a bit long for me (especially in the aero position, which would explain why I always feel so uncomfortable and tend to avoid my aero bars), as well my bars might be a bit too wide. I think it will turn out to be tremendously beneficial to actually spend the time getting measured and properly set up. Besides, it was really fun to see my power output and pedal stroke on the computer. I’m heading back to the store on Thursday afternoon to test ride a handful of bikes that will be set up just for me. From there, I’ll probably pop by a few other stores and check out a few other brands before making my final decision and laying down a big wad of cash.

Anyway, here’s the dream (not the reality)...