Epiphany

I had an epiphany last night. Yep. One day early you could say. After going for a short two-mile run with a few friends from work, I came home and nearly passed out on the floor putting my son to sleep. It was my night to go to the gym, but I was tired and feeling lazy, and it was cold outside, and I didn't want to change into gym clothes. Instead, I told my husband that I wanted to set up the new trainer that Santa brought and give it a try.

It took us a bit to get the thing figured out, which doesn't say much about us given that there isn't a whole lot to the thing. Once we did though, I turned up my ipod volume and started to pedal.

I bought a cyclocross as a way of getting the best of what I consider both worlds without having to buy two expensive bikes. The tires are thicker and have more tread than road bikes do, so while I can travel much faster than on a mountain bike or hybrid, I can also veer off the pavement without worry. In the small, sprint triathlons that I've done so far, I've received just a bit of heckling for not replacing them to boost my mph, but really the distances that I've been doing are still so short that even a couple of mph wouldn't make a tremendous difference. In any event, I haven't changed them.

The trainer works by holding the rear bike wheel while it rotates and passes over a small cylinder for friction.

The more friction though, the more sound that is produced. Justin compared the noise coming from our basement to hornets fighting.

I may need to change the tires. They'll wear down quickly now anyway. There is a part of me though that likes the chunkiness of them. Last weekend at the 5K in Manassas, there was a man who ran in jeans, a plaid button up, a cowboy hat and steel toed work boots. He did pretty well. I don't mean to say that I want to be that guy, but I do sort of feel like some things are necessary (a bike) and some things probably aren't (a super expensive amazing tri bike) for a girl like me. Justin and I have promised each other to register for an international distance tri this year. If we can manage the distances, what's another five minutes in the grand scheme of things? I hardly see either one of us up on the podium when it is all over!

So... as I said, I started to pedal, I cranked up my music, and by the end of the second song, my quads were heating up and telling me that they would be sore in the future. THIS was my epiphany. In the past couple of months, I've been getting slower and slower in my running without really knowing why. Since I was more confident in my swimming and biking, I chose to focus more time on my running. I didn't consciously decide to stop biking, but I did. Why is it getting harder for me to run and am I getting slower?! Well, I'm not 100% sure, but I would imagine that it has something to do with the fact that I'm not strengthening my legs on my bike.

There is nothing like thinking to yourself on a stationary bike in your basement, "I am a total idiot."

After a few more songs, I guess I started to sing along here and there. Justin later told me that he all of a sudden heard what sounded like a little girl talking amongst the fighting hornets. After a few more songs, I used whatever air was left over to belt out my tunes. His remark? There were hornets fighting and then came a woman who had found her roar.

Weird. Possibly true... I dunno. Thankfully I didn't have to listen to all that racket.

After an hour on my bike, I was totally sweaty and gross and was really, really thankful for Santa's gift.