Monday morning I drove up to Providence to drop Cannon off at Providence Bicycle to see what the damage was like and have it properly inspected to make sure the frame was ok. Thanks to Sean and the fine folks in the Providence Bicycle service department I got a phone call not long after I dropped the bike off with the verdict. The GREAT news was that the frame was ok!!! AWESOME! and the just as good news was that I got lucky and most of the damage was purely cosmetic. In the end I had them replace the brake handles with new Sram Carbon units as the original ones were pretty scratched up and looked crappy on a brand new bike and the Carbon brakes were shockingly cheap. So that was an easy decision. The bar end shifters were still functional and very expensive to replace so instead of replacing them I just sanded down all the jagged edges from where they scraped the ground and reshaped the tip of one of them and then took a sharpie to the metal bit that was all gaffed up. The derailler was fine although scraped up which I fixed with a black sharpie and PB replaced the bent derailler hanger with a new one they had in stock (YAY!) and then that was as good as new! They also had to retrue the rear training wheel as that got a bit gaffed up too. All in all it was only 150 bucks to get out of there so I felt pretty great about that! Could have been much much worse! So now Cannon is back in working form and you'd never know we took a tumble. Not only was it a fairly inexpensive fix but it was going to be ready by early afternoon! Even better!
I was psyched thinking I'd pick it up right before spin and be able to "ride" it in the spin session. And then my phone rang.... a longtime client and friend of mine called saying he was in town and wanted to have dinner. So change of plans... so I picked up Cannon at 4pm, rushed up, threw it on the trainer and got in a 50 minute trainer workout and then took a quick shower and was out the door for a dinner.
I was hoping to convince Nancy to meet me at spin so we could workout and catch up but since I skipped I checked in to see if I could convince her to run tuesday morning. Success! Fortunately for me she hasn't been running a lot lately either so it was a good easy paced run for both of us. So this morning I got up early and we met up for a relaxed pace five miler. It was COLD! 25 degrees out when I left. Fortunately not really windy though, but it definitely made for a very brisk run. We took it very easy and kept the pace somewhere between 9 and 10 minute miles. Which was exactly what my legs needed. I'm still not sure how my legs felt after the run today. My right knee which I somewhat injured in my tumble the other day was a tiny bit sore afterwards and I was aware of my hamstring as well although it wasn't painfull or all that tight I don't think. So hard to say if 9 days of no running was of much benefit. I'll know more as the week goes on. My plan is to run 5 on wednesday and again on thursday and see how I feel. If all goes well I'll complete my last 20 miler on saturday morning and start the taper for the marathon. I'm very nervous about my leg/foot/hamstring so i want to be very carefull with this marathon challenge. At this point I'm willing to switch out all my runs for cycling efforts and just enjoy a nice long slow run that weekend. I need to keep thinking that its all about the ironman and starting the season injury free. The more I think about things the more I think the "Donna" marathon I'm considering in February might be off the table. I might just hang on the sidelines and cheer and take a month off of running and just swim/bike and strength train as I start on my ironman training and 2011 race season. A swim/bike focus would certainly be very beneficial to me so its a good plan.
Speaking of the Disney marathon and plans... I booked my hotel today. I have a certain ammount of hotel reward points from all my travelling which means I get to stay for free when I travel for personal reasons. But I only had so many points left as I've used a bunch this year already. So I was thinking I'd stay in a nice resort hotel with a huge pool and still be able to swim. But that would have been points, plus about 400 bucks in cash to stay there. Hmmm.... how can I do this cheaper. So I started looking for lap pools in Orlando over at http://www.swimmersguide.com/ and discovered the Ymca Aquatic Center right on international drive. Its HUGE!!! 23 25 yard lap lanes open all day! NICE! Seems like it would be a great YMCA to stay next to and have access to the pool to keep my swimming current as well as be a great way to loosen up stiff legs pre/post the various running events I'm doing that weekend. Plus I'm sure they must have a hot tub/sauna stretching areas and other things that will come in handy while I'm there. Perfect! And the hotel next to that one costs me nothing as it costs less reward points. So free hotel right next to tons of lap lanes and a fabulous YMCA that I can get into for free. DONE and DONE!
And speaking of Florida... I don't think I've mentioned it here... but I'm headed south soon for a very long road trip. I'm driving down to northern Florida for the holidays for a week with the Girl and her family, and then its down to Boca Raton for two weeks of work, and then up to Orlando for the marathon weekend, and then up to New Jersey for some time with my folks and then finally home almost a month later. I decided to drive when all this stuff started to line up so I can take a bike and everything I'll need for the marathon with me and I can enjoy riding and training in the lovely winter florida weather and get some more outdoor time in on Cannon which is awesome. So I'm very much looking forward to that. Should be a great month of training and racing and recovering if all goes well.
Next up....
Another five miler tomorrow morning and then I plan on getting back in the pool with strict instructions from my now only swim coach (The Girl). She seems to think I need to suck it up and get in the pool and swim a 200. Then a 500, then 300 kick. Thats the workout she gave me. I told her I've never started a workout with anything more than a 50 and I'll never make it. I also mentioned I haven't done anything longer than a 100 in over a month and that wasn't until I'd swam a TON of 50's and 100's that day to loosen up. I think she's under the impression that I have some mental blocks and I need to push through them and no matter what just keep swimming until I get through the workout. No stopping allowed. So under our new rules of cooperation I have to do whatever she says pool workout wise so I'm going to try it and see what happens. I'm definitely nervous about it.... so we'll see what happens. If you see that a determined traithlete drowned in 4 feet of water in a Rhode Island YMCA you know I died trying! : )
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