Time for an Upgrade

This past week was my birthday, and I wanted to continue getting triathlon gear for the upcoming season.  I asked my coach to take a look at my bike and he said that my bike was fine unless I wanted to spend some decent money on an upgrade.  I wasn’t really looking to spend a bunch of money on a bike but he suggested upgrading the frame.  After looking into frame upgrades, I went to bike shop to see what they had.  They had a clearance on a bike my size, and it was pretty tough to say no!  Before diving into the new one, here’s the bike I rode last year:

The blue and yellow meanie is my old 2002 Masi Vincere.  It was a great bike and was my first ever road bike.  I had some great times on this bike and raced my first triathlons on it, I also set a new speed record for me on it.  Needless to say, this bike served me very well!

So, I decided to upgrade my bike, I purchased a 2009 Raleigh Competition.  Even though it is a 2009, it is a new bike that the local bike shop had not sold and were clearing out.  Here’s a picture:

I am so excited to get out on this bike.  It is carbon throughout and has all 105 components.  The bigger thing is that this bike is a much better fit for me than the last bike, it is a 53 cm frame where the older bike was a 56.  I still need to get aero bars and triathlon shoes, so if anyone wants to donate to the cause let me know!  In all seriousness, this bike should last me for years to come and be a fantastic racing bike.  This is definitely my most favorite piece of tri gear so far.  I just wish I could take it out for a spin, but here’s a picture from my Saturday morning run…less than ideal road bike conditions to say the least!

So any cool tri gear purchases for you all?  This is an expensive sport!

Let the Training Begin!

I took a short sabbatical (2 weeks) from the blog, but I think it is time to get back at it! I’ve set some goals for the next year, and one is to complete a 70.3 half marathon!  I’m very excited and have someone helping me plot out my training and all that goes with this kind of endeavor.  I’m very excited.  Tomorrow starts my workouts and I’ll be posting them to Fitocracy.  By the way, any of you using that app?  I am a big fan and plan on continuing to use it.

I’m learning a lot more about training for the sport recently, its been quite eye opening.  For me, last year I set the goal to finish a sprint triathlon, and I finished two with times I was pleased with.  My training was consistent but had no real rhyme or reason to it.  I would swim, bike, and run…and that was about it.  As I’m reading The Triathlete’s Training Bible and talking with those who are much more experienced than me, I’m starting to catch a glimpse of the science that goes into the training, particularly for longer distances.

So, tomorrow morning 70.3 training begins!  I’m hitting the Anatomical Adaptation phase, and will be plowing ahead with that for the next 4 weeks.  This mainly consists of light weight training designed to start the strengthening process of muscles that will be used during the triathlon.  To say the least, I’m  extremely excited!  It is a new challenge and will hopefully lead to some very exciting things!

Let the training begin!