Monday, August 25, 2008

Accountable to...

me alone. 

Or am I?  I'm talking about triathlon specifically of course.  Am I accountable to you guys?  Those that read my random ramblings and musings?  Am I accountable to Coach Liz?  Am I accountable to my friends?  My best friend?  My family?  Really?  The reality is that when it comes to training and competing in triathlon... I'm accountable to no one but myself.  

Why am I bringing this up?  Well, Saturday, while down on the Northern California coast with the family, I had a 3 hour ride to get done followed by a quick 20 min run.  I had to drive into Arcata to start my ride down on the tidal flats... about 20 min away.  Got there.  Suited up. Unloaded the bike.  Grabbed my PowerT.... oh CRAP!  I forgot my PowerTap!!!!!  My heart sank. Ok, what I really did was throw down some f-bombs!  Cathartic really.  Anywho.  So I started thinking, "CRAP!  Now I won't have the data!  I can't send it to Liz and she can't analyze it and get more perspective on where I am in my training!"  The data the data the data the data! Then it occurred to me... Judas PRIEST!  Gimme a break!  What the hell ever happened to perceived effort???  What ever happened to pushing till you feel like you're going to scream, cry, puke, poop, then pass out?  THAT is part of the reason I do all this crapolio!  To get to places physically that open up creaky/cracked/decayed doors in my head, look around, and go, "Sweet!".  Do you NEED a PowerTap to get there?  Sometimes its helpful... but mentally... don't you need to be able to get there without that tool?  Answer?  Yup.  Yup ya do.  Long story short. I had one of the best rides I've ever had in the last couple of years!

OH!  Sidenote!  The second hour of the ride was 8 X 8 minute hill climbs... overgeared.  Yum. So, did I mention that I did these hill-repeats really close to the Humboldt State University Campus?  Did I mention that Humboldt County is basically the pot capital of the nation?  Not to stereotype or anything... but there's a LOT of hippies in Humboldt.  So I'm cranking up this hill and there's this dude sitting on his porch... dreadlocks and all... just smiling at me.  He's like, "Nice riiiiiiide maaaaaaan."  I'm like, "Thaaaaaaanks bro.  You gonna keep me company? I've got 7 more to go."  He's like, "Maaaaaan.  That's hardcore bro."  For the next 7 repeats... he gave me little hippy encouragement every time I passed him... up AND down that hill.  I think we both made each other's day.  Only when you're out training right?  I mean, stuff like that just doesn't happen if you're on the couch.

Anyone wanna play catch?

So... I head into this week pretty spent.  I'll be retesting in all 3 sports throughout the week... to get a grasp on where I am with my training.  Good stuff.

Hope you're all happy and healthy.  Thanks for taking the time to read.

Breathe...

8 comments:

SingletrackJenny (formerly known as IronJenny) said...

Dude - overgeared hill repeats are my secret weapon. Don't tell anyone. shhhhh.

Mark said...

I've definitely become less dependent on gadgets, which is really a good thing!

Funny hippy story!

Breathe, bitches!

beth said...

holy moly i LOVE that hippie story. you totally made his day...he was stoned out of his mind and loving watching the little man go up and down, up and down, up and down. i bet he took a big rip for each repeat you did! was to support the local "farming" community!!!

Power tap, THIS, biatch!.

jameson said...

great hippie story dude... I probably would have blown off the hill repeats and joined him for some good times! When in rome(or humboldt)!

Liz Waterstraat said...

I am laughing my ass off for several reasons. One - Ironman is DUMB. Nice quote there, what genius said that ;) Second - your ass being on fire below. Love that. Third - I have found myself thinking similar things when my SRM didn't work a few weeks ago. I had a brilliant ride. So if I don't have the data to back it up, did it really happen? Like if a tree falls in a forest when no one is around...

Steve Stenzel said...

Glad you had the slight attitude shift! I just do what you said: push till I poop. I'm not much on those fancy gadgets anyhow...

Excuse me, I need to go change into some dirty undies to get ready for a ride...

Oly said...

"Nice riiiiiiide maaaaaaan." Cracks me up!

Dude. I know we go different schools tech wise but sometimes un-bridled isn't a bad thing.

Unleash the animal within.

Peace Bro.

Jamie said...

I completely agree about the love of riding gadget free.

I've done the same thing with spin classes, shown up without my HRM, gotten all pissed, but ended up having one of the most fun workouts ever.

It is too easy to get caught up the gadgets and numbers and forget why we do this stuff. It is as fun as f&ck.