Blog

Slowly, Saturday

I was up really early this morning but it took me a long time to get it going. It’s dreary and gray and wet and humid and not especially inviting outside, so I’ve spent most of the day inside – I read the paper, played with the dog, had some breakfast, puttered around. I did get out and take Charlie for a nice walk. As 1PM rolled around and college football was beginning, the skies didn’t look inviting and I decided there was no reason to ride outside when I could ride inside on the trainer and watch some football at the same time.

This was only my 4th or 5th time on the trainer and I’m still getting the hang of it. I haven’t decided yet how the trainer workout compares to the road. On the one hand, when I ride inside I can’t get my heart rate up as high as I do outside, also, i have a hard time riding really hard and my hill climbs aren’t as satisfying. On the other hand, I did pedal for 75 minutes straight, compared to all the stopping and starting and coasting while riding outside. That’s one big complaint about training in NYC – it’s about 5 miles to Central Park, and a lot of the way is on streets with stoplights and cars, etc. that make it hard to get it going. If I ride to Route 9A in New Jersey, it takes 45 minutes or so to get across the bridge and a lot of that is garbage. On the trainer, a 90 minute ride is really 90 minutes of work, which is nice. Also, I got to watch a big part of the Michigan-Wisconsin game (Michigan won pretty easily) and some bits and pieces of my Jackass DVDs.

It’s my mother-in-law’s birthday, so they’re in town and she and Elizabeth are out shopping, which means a free day for me. Football and exercise, pretty much perfect. That means that in addition to my ride, I’m going to go to the gym to quickly do some core and strength training.

Yesterday evening I stopped by Jackrabbit, my favorite triathlon/exercise store. Fortunately, their Manhattan location (they have a store in Brooklyn as well) is just a couple blocks from my apartment and actually I walk by it nearly every day going to and from work. They do shoe fittings using a treadmill, video cameras and special software that allows you to watch your foot striking the treadmill. They can slow it down so you can watch frame-by-frame to see if a shoe is helping you to strike evenly and correctly. You also get to run on the treadmill to try the shoes out. It’s perfect for a gear-nerd like me! I bought a pair of running shoes from their Brooklyn store a year and a half or so ago and was really happy with the process of the shoe fit and the service. I was pretty excited when the opened the Manhattan store in April and it is just a few blocks from my house. Pretty much all my exercise clothing and gear that I’ve bought since they opened was purchased there. The store is really nice and they stock all the brands I need. Also, they’re just really good people – I became friends with the manager, Christopher, and he’s been great to both me and Elizabeth. He’s a very experienced triathlete and ultra-marathoner and ultra-triathlete – he spends a fair amount of time and energy giving us training advice and shopping advice. I totally trust his advice. His staff is great as well – they’re all runners or triathletes or athletes and know what their selling. I probably spend too much time there…

I stopped in Jackrabbit yesterday to talk to them about getting a new bike. Last year, my first year of triathlons, I rode on a really nice road bike that I borrowed from Assaf. It’s a great bike and he doesn’t use it these days, but it’s a little too small for me. So, this year I bought my own bike – a Felt F65 (here’s a link). I’ve been really happy with the Felt and would recommend it to anyone. Aluminum with carbon seat stay and fork. Shimano Ultegra components. It’s very reasonably priced for a quality road bike and it rides super comfortable. I put aerobars on it and feel like I can really fly. BUT – I think I’m going to upgrade. I know it’s soon. My Felt only has 1,000 miles on it. But I now want a triathlon specific bike. I’m at the point where I’m a little competitive in the races and I think that a true tri bike (at some point I’ll include more info on the difference between road and tri bikes) would help me be (a) faster and (b) more comfortable. The guys at Jackrabbit are running a pretty good deal on some bikes right now, so… This way, I can spend the off-season getting comfortable on the new bike and start next season all ready to rock and roll.

Ride time: 75 minutes
Average Heart Rate: 122