Maintenance
As I have said in the past, I am currently in a maintenance phase of training. That is, this is the period where I get warmed up and dial the nutrition in, so that when the written plan goes in effect, I am ready! But maintenance comes in many shapes and sizes, as well as facets.
This week I was able to get in a bike ride, however, before I made it into second gear, I had a flat tire, a rear one no less! There I was on the trail head in the cool dark air under a single light trying to remember the procedure for changing a tire and messing with all the gears in the back. My dad, as some of you know, unexpectedly passed away this past September, and he was my mechanic and go to guy for all things mechanical. I briefly thought about packing the bike up and headed home to put it on the work bench so dad could fix it, but that was no longer a possibility, besides I needed to do this myself. After 26 minutes of fidgeting, fooling around, and getting mad at the tire, I was back on the trail and a little wiser in the process. I am sure dad would be proud!
Physical maintenance is another avenue that has to be addressed. Sunday and Monday I was away on business and was able to get in a very long and early morning run through the resort I was staying at. It was nice to run the trails, not knowing where they were taking me, and enjoying the new terrain and views. However upon my return to the hotel room, my hair, face, shirt, and shorts were covered in a light yellow dust. POLLEN!!!! So for 2 hours I inhaled high levels of pollen, and within one hour, I was stuffy, itchy eyes, scratchy throat, and a yucky head cold/allergy flare up had set in. So for the rest of the week, including the bike ride day, I have been doctoring myself and trying to get over this mess. We'll see, the temperature here in Florida has gone from 80 to 40 in just a couple of days, so if we all escape pnemonia this go around we'll be lucky!
Lastly there is Monster Maintenance. We all have them, either they are under the bed, in the closet, or in my case, on the bike and run trail. My monsters pose in the foggy dark mornings as spooky noises or shadows that make me second guess why I am here in the first place. The cop in me knows better than to go seek out dangerous places, but the triathlete in me knows that skipping work outs and mismanaging my diet is just as dangerous. So I suck it up, ignore the creatures lurking in the night, and keep moving in the right direction. There was a time as a young State Trooper that I would actually hunt these monsters down - geesh! Ya gotta maintain your monsters!
Next week has a long ride and run in the plan so hopefully I will be over this cold. Have a good weekend everyone!
Watch out for Monsters lurking in the fog!