I've gotten lost in the relaxation of the off-season.
Since last I wrote, I got a new job and, with a new job, comes a new commute. While, technically, my commute is shorter than it was before (mile wise) it is through thick traffic to drive in and then there is an issue of parking. My company provides us with year passes to ride public transit so I'd been driving to the station, where it is inexpensive to park, and taking the train in. Still, this makes my 7-mile commute take 42 minutes.
Alternatively, there is a paved trail just behind my house (that I often bike/run on) which goes almost directly to the front door of my building. 7.1 miles parking lot-to-garage door. So, with my Q4 profit-sharing bonus I bought myself this guy.
It was on sale at Performance Bike (given that it's not exactly bike-buying season) and for a reasonable price, I have a sturdy single-speed with a little more tire girth, that is harder to take apart and steal. Now, weather permitting, it is 30-min to traverse these 7.1 miles (given hills, that I only have one gear, and places I have to stop and stuff) AND and extra 14-miles of riding tacked on to everyday I ride. To me, this is a bonus, BUT it also means I have to consider what it means to spend an extra hour on training days riding. It's still calories burned and energy expended. When this was 2-miles of riding in college, that wasn't bad, but 14 is a whole new ball game. I all ready started to feel the effect of the riding the other day - on an off season 1500-1800 cal/day diet. Exhausted, I plopped on my sofa for the night instead of heading off to the gym. "Why am I so tired? This is awful!" "Oh. Maybe because I've done an hour of riding today and haven't replenished those calories so I'm at a net intake of 1000. Yeah. That might be it."
Other than my commuting, I'm back to blogging because Monday, Jan 13 officially starts my marathon training! (AH! WHAT AM I THINKING?!) I signed up for the Colfax Marathon on my 24th birthday figuring, heck, the next day the price for the half was going to be the same as the full, so I might as well buy today and have the option. Plus, if I really want to consider an Ironman in the near future, I should probably try the marathon part. So, here we go. I'm going to start the training. I'm going to try. Should I be met with injury or...what have you, I will say it's not my year and back-off. My A-race is Silverman 70.3 in October so I need to be prepped for that. I'm not going to destroy myself over a marathon this year. Next year may be a different story, but that is the game plan for this year.
So there. I said it. I wrote it out. That makes it official.
Oh and I'm "racing" at 10k next week. (By "racing" I mean, I'll be running it as fast as I can run a 10k right now, which will not be nearly as fast as I know I can run a 10k given some more training time.)
Happy training!
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