Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Determination


This is my favorite tee shirt. A simple design. Clean, short and to the point. It reminds me of what it takes, personally and professionally, to succeed. This will be repeated in my mind often in this upcoming season.

Yesterday, I booked the hotel in Madison for next September. I was shooting emails back and forth with one of my race buds, who has done several IM races. I told him, I'm thankful they have been there before, to help work out all the details, the logistics, the training plans. And little (no, BIG) details, like not forgetting to book the hotel early, as they fill up very fast!

We are already talking about setting up our rides for next spring/summer, when we will journey out to central Wisconsin and ride the IM course. We're starting to talk about nutrition on the those long rides, how much fuel to carry, how much water or sport drink. I'm looking forward to the 2011 season now!

The temps here in SE WI were near 60 degrees yesterday, and some severe storms moved through the area early in the evening. One, possibly two, tornados touched down west of me, about 15-20 miles away, causing some damage. We had to hunker down in the basement for a short time, as the storm track went right over and near Wind Point. But, fortunately, the storm blew itself out before reaching us. It rained hard for 10 minutes, then the skies cleared up.

I did lift yesterday, only at home. I also got out yesterday before the bad weather for a 4+ mile run, it was almost too warm. Before the run, I did a short, super easy 45 minute trainer ride on the TT bike. It was warm enough to ride outside, but it was raining on and off, and the roads were wet most of the day. I did not feel like riding in the rain, or having to clean the bike and drivetrain. It will take some time in the saddle to get used to the aero position again, I was squirming around trying to get comfy for the 1st ten minutes. After that, I could ride for short stretches in aero. It will come back quickly, with some more saddle time. Not a bad workout day, for the off season!

Today, it was 24 degrees with a wind chill of 17 deg. What a temp swing! The high today will get to maybe 33 deg. So I'm going to get used to seeing this again:
The E7 will be sitting upstairs (or the basement) most of the time, for those trainer rides. Along with this:

And, I had some non-IM related stuff to do-good thing I'm on vacation this week. I have to replace the drain valve on the hot water heater. I was draining some water from it and checking the pressure relief valve the other day. The drain valve would not drain properly, so I unscrewed it and it flew clear off, spraying me and the mechanical room with about 10 gallons of hot water. No burns, but I did get surprised and soaked! After shutting off the water, I found the inner rubber seal was twisted or crimped, and had caused the valve to stick shut. So I called the company (Rheem) and they are overnighting the part to me, as it is under warranty-no charge. Great customer service, no questions or grief, a real person answered too.

We had the furnace checked out last week, just an annual cleaning and inspection. Of course, the plastic drain inside the furnace started leaking, so the tech had to return to silicon it to prevent the moisture from shorting out the circuit board. Lucky me, the extra trip was only $37 (it could have been like $275).

And the overhead garage door needed servicing. The door has been not closing in the cold but it opens just fine (under 30 degrees). So today, the service guy was out and said it would need new rollers, more supports/bolts added and a new bottom door seal. Ahhh, the joys of home ownership.

I started keeping a running total of what the IM WI race will cost. I started telling my wife what we were up to so far, with entry fees, my USAT membership, the hotel-she stopped me and said, "No, don't. Not today". So I think I will just keep an Excel sheet for my own curiosity, and after it is all said and done, I will let her know. That is, if she wants to know.

2 comments:

  1. yea this is DEF expensive. holy cow. it adds up so fast.

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  2. Thanks for stopping by....you are on a great journey this year. If I can help in any way let me know! Nailing the nutrition is the key to a great race...you're thinking about the right things. And the money...god I don't even want to know!!! On the other hand there are so many things you don't have time to do that also cost money that it kinda off-sets in the end. Sorta.

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