Without a doubt I need a new bike. To resurrect the old Cannondale would be costly and pointless. It needs a full overhaul, and then I am still dealing with 650c wheels, and a 20 year old shifting system. To upgrade those would not be cheap.
My local shop has a 2011 Specialized Transition Comp on sale for $1999........out the door. It sold for $3499 back in it's hay day. That maybe my best, most economical bet. More than enough bike for me. Honestly the $15K Cervelo P5X will not make me any faster, just more in debt.
I pulled my old Orca wetsuit out of the closet.......ya, that's not gonna work anymore. Time has not been kind to the neoprene. Sneaking another wetsuit into the house should be easy. I just hate to have to pay for another one, since I just updated all my rubber for surfing this year with a new 3/2 summer suit, and 5/4 winter suit, and booties.
So I figure that's gonna be $250-$350 for a decent wetsuit.
Runners. Both my road and trail Hoka's are nearing the end of their life expectancy. Mind you I haven't bought a new pair since 2014. I did take all of last year off from running, and just used them for hiking in the woods. Not too concerned about my trail shoes, since the forest floor is cushy.
Another 200 buckets for a pair of Clifton 4's.
I just bought another swimsuit. Call me Speedo boy again, much to the chagrin of my daughters. "ah gross Dad" The North American aversion to the Speedo. Why are we so ashamed of our bodies on this side of the pond. I should have been a European.
Of course I need access to a pool to show off that rockin' Speedo. That's another $400 for six months. All that aquatic fun does come with a fully equipped gym for when I start my strength training.
Ah yes strength training.......I loath it. I hate going to the gym and lifting weights. I know at my age I need it desperately, especially for an Iron distance event. I just hate it.
There is no Masters swim program as such in The Port City, but there is something called a Fit Swim Saturday mornings, which all aspects is a Masters workout utilizing the 50m pool. It's only once a week though, but is included in the price.
What else do I need????????? I think I'm gonna try a tri suit. At least at the half IM I'm doing, and see how that goes. Or I could go old school and do the whole damn thing in a Speedo like the real Iron men of the 80's. That alone would cause my family to vomit and leave me I think.
My last Ironman I wore bike shorts and a sleeveless bike jersey, since that's what I trained in, then did a full change in T2 to running shorts and singlet. I think the change into fresh gear was a slight mental boost on an almost 13 hour day.
I know a race suit will save me precious minutes in transition, and it is a race after all. It is what I call "free" time. I won't have to train to save those minutes. It could mean the difference between going under 12 hours or not. Worst case 16:59 and not 17:01. But that would have to be a very bad day.
Almost forgot, I need a plan, as in training plan. My last one was based on a very loose plan, and because of my wonky work schedule it got a bit mucked up at times. I found what looks like a decent plan on Training Peaks. It's by David Glover of www.enduranceworks.com He actually has a IMMT 2018 24-week plan. I traded emails with him, and he sounds like the kinda coach I'd like to work with, and I like how he structures the plans.
That is gonna be $197.00 U.S. dollars, but will be invaluable in the long run.
Of course I'm not including small items like water bottles, electrolyte (Tailwind Nutrition is my go to stuff, used it exclusively in the ultra marathon), etc
Saturday I head to Orlando for seven days. It's a work trip, back to school and flight simulator. It's an annual thing. Unfortunately that means no biking for week. However I do get to run in the Florida sun, and depending on the hotel pool, might even get a little swimming in. Unless of course it's about the size of a hot tub, in which case it will be 30mins of flip turn practise.
One other bonus of this trip, is I get to watch the NBC airing of the Ironman World Championships. We don't have TV at home, so I wouldn't be able to watch it until the Youtube bootleg copy appeared.
So I'll be relaxing on the couch Saturday afternoon armed with a couple of Sam Adams, and a box of tissues to watch the finest in Ironman racing. I'll admit it, I'm an emotional guy, and there have been a few tears shed at previous editions of the show. Come on, just the sound of Al Trautwig's voice is enough to get the eyes to well up.
Next post will be from the Sunshine State, let you know what my thoughts were on the Ironman, and how nice it is to run in shorts and t-shirt again.
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