How cool is that picture! There is just so much to say about this picture, I guess the old saying of "A picture holds a thousands words" holds true. I will begin by saying that I was so pumped to see my good friend Jay cycling on down the road towards my parents office. He was meeting me there and we would be taking a loop of the Lake Keuka Triathlon course, a little catching-up time coupled with some reconnaissance work for the following weekend. Well as he pulled into the parking lot at my parents office I was elated to see that he was rocking the old school Team Postal Service Kit! As luck would have it I myself was sporting the new RadioShack Team Kit that I had received for my birthday. (Such nice parents I have) I was a full on billboard for a newbie-cyclist. I mean just look at that picture, I've got the hat, the jersey, the bibs, the armwarmers, the socks(not shown in picture), and I am even wearing my Livestrong Giro Helmet that I have...the only thing I am missing are my Oakley Livestrong Jawbones (which were taking the weekend off back at my apartment). TO FUNNY! But I have truly fallen in love with cycling and everything about it so for all you haters out there...DEAL WITH IT! You can mock me all you want, You can make fun of my white tights! (Mary) but I will chuckle inside my head when all 148lbs of me charges ahead of you on an uphill. (I won't go there about downhills descents, or pancake flat stretches...my weight advantage goes on out the door their)...but hey like they say "If you look good, you play good". I firmly believe that athletics and Triathlon in specific is heavily weighted towards mental toughness as opposed to full on god given ability and this is increased as the length of the races increase. Sure you can run a 30 minute 10k, or bike a 5hr 112 miles, or swim 2.4 miles in 50 minutes...but can you can you do all of them on the same day, one after another? It's a different ballgame Since I have never run a marathon nor run a marathon after swimming 2.4 and biking 112, the words I say here are spoken from someone speaking about the unknown. I've got to imagine that during the marathon leg of an ironman, even for the pro's, that there is a good portion of the run where you are dealing with your inner demons. Dealing with pains that may be creeping up in your legs, or the sun that's pounding down on your bare shoulders, or the pain on the outside of your left foot from the pressure you've placed on it during the bike along with the blister that has formed on the first loop of the course. From the bits and pieces of stories I have heard, its the bike that counts, its about pacing the bike and getting to the marathon with gas in the tank. It's about jumping off the bike and sticking to a plan for 20 miles, find your comfort zone and bear hug that darn pace...don't let anyone get in your way, don't let any doubts invade your brain. With this said I must say that as of June 1, 2010 I am a tad nervous A. About the swim at LP since its a mass cluster start that really scares me..I need to be nearish the front at the start (obviously Im not a fish in the water...yet! but I feel I can perform at a decent level) so I want to be in the mix, I want to fight my way to a good line and somehow locate that darn white line on the second loop. I'm going to latch on to the draft of a faster swimmer and let them drag me...along with the other 2k people that, will be swimming, hopefully a nice current will be created!
Geez...I got way off topic. Back to talking about my good friend Jay. Aside from wearing a Lance Armstrong Postal Service Kit, there are just so many things to say about this guy. Jay was not only my Freshman and JV basketball coach (Back when I was a stud b ball player because I had not been dwarfed by everyone else when they got taller and stronger and more skillful, but I could shoot..just ask Jay, he can confirm that I indeed dropped 37 points against Sodus when I was a freshman) Jay also was the person who first got me into the sport of triathlon. Way back when I was still in high school. He ran the Keuka Lake Tri for a couple years and it was then when I did a couple sprint triathlons. Due to baseball and college and other things I never got into the sport back then but it was at least an introduction. I had an awesome time doing them and thinking back I wish I had just thrown myself right into the sport..but their were other things going on in my life back then. Besides the fact that riding my bike for over an hour seemed like an eternity. It's funny that as I circled the Keuka Lake Olympic course (Twice)on Sunday I thought about how when I began to ride a bike only a year ago that riding the sprint course, a distance of about half of the Olympic..It felt sooo long. But now riding for 3 hours is just well...normal. I love that! So thanks Jay, thanks for introducing me to this wonderful sport. Sorry I skipped out for a few years, but I am back and I am here for GOOD!
No comments:
Post a Comment