Last week was pretty low on the running side of things. And the swimming side of things for that matter. But I spent some QT with my favorite Trek TTX and it was pretty wonderful. It gives me such a great feeling to make it to November and still be riding outside whenever I want to. Once I make it about half-way through the month without having to go inside, I take it as a success. I'm better prepared to take on the cold this year, so I'm sure I'll still be able to find some days to get out there well into December, but the majority of the work will start to be done inside on the trainer by that point.
I dove back into yoga last night. I haven't really done any since last spring and summer, when I was doing it a few times a week. I did some light stuff maybe for a half hour about two weeks ago just to find out exactly how inflexible I had gotten. It turns out I'm a lot worse off than I thought. I was under the impression that I could struggle through some without that much difficulty because it's not as though I've been inactive since I've stopped doing yoga regularly or anything. I did a hard hour of it last night and my back is more sore than it ever has been from swimming. I think my shoulders have gotten a lot more stiff than they used to be because it was killing me to do some of the poses. But it felt great and I'm happy to get back into it.
Had an 8-mile run this morning. I was pretty sore from yoga the night before and my quads still burn a little from the hill sprints that I did over the weekend. It was a pretty hilly run and I managed a 6:59/mile pace. Not exactly impressive, but I'm sure once I'm completely tapered down, I'll be okay. I have not been running for that long in the grand scheme of things - maybe for about two years - but I still cannot seem to comfortably sit on my marathon pace. I don't mean that it is too difficult to handle, rather I find that I cannot trust myself to know what pace I am running. Therefore, I feel like I go out a bit too hard. On an easy flat run, I struggle to keep my pace around the 6:52/mile that I need to run for the marathon. The first few miles usually end up in the 6:40/mile ballpark. My pace doesn't end up suffering at the end on these eight-to-twelve mile runs, but I'm sure it will quite a bit when I start getting on in the race.
Tomorrow I've got a bike/run brick. Maybe more of the same on Thursday with a bit of time at the pool and then that's it. Time to find a good book or magazine and get used to sitting around and eating (a lot) for a few days. Train leaves to Harrisburg on Saturday!
I have long lamented the absence of a commuter bike in my life. My stable at the moment consists of my beloved Trek TTX and my old racing steed, a Trek Equinox 7 from a good three years ago. I would gladly sell of the old bike to finance something like a Bianchi Pista or some other fixie, but I'm just not sure who would by the bike at this point. On the other hand, I have seen many bikes that are much worse off than my old EQ 7 at some races, so maybe someone would take it. I'm probably just a little jaded by my new ride. I could have put it up on craigslist, but it just never happened.
Fast forward to last Friday when I was at Dirty Harry's hanging out with the best bike shop crew in town. I'm talking to the one-and-only Evan Perrone, with whom I used to race on the cycling team. I tell him how I'm sad that my old bike does not have horizontal drop-outs, or else I'd turn it into a fixed-gear commuter (I'm still not exactly sure why, but I've been told it is necessary for a bike to have such drop-outs to be converted to a fixie...it has something to do with getting the proper chain tension, I think). "Not so", says my crazy friend. A company called White Industries produces a hub called the ENO eccentric hub that is designed specifically to work with vertical drop-outs. Apparently, it is elliptical instead of round so you can basically adjust the chain tension simply by rotating the axle. Or something like that. If you want to find out more, just visit here. But it's also a flip-flop hub, so the other side is a singlespeed/freewheel configuration, allowing me to get used to riding fixie without killing myself.
So basically DH and their BA wheelbuilder is going to build up a rear wheel for me based around this hub so I can throw it on my old Equinox and use it as a fixie. I'll need to make a few other adjustments, like taking off the aero bars and throwing on a standard drop bar. I'm keeping the front brake on for safety measures. The only thing I wish is that the decals on the bike were removable, but they are under the clear-coat so no luck. I'm just afraid that my new frankenbike will attract a little too much attention as is.
Alas, this is a perfect, comparatively (especially with my sponsorship discount) inexpensive option to buying a completely new, or even used, commuter.
Enough nerd talk! I've got some tapering to do.
Cheers!
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