Saturday, February 9, 2008

Chaffing, Kickboards, and other training gremlins...

I know it's been a while, and ironically enough it hasn't been because I've been TOO busy. Actually quite the contrary, I have gotten in some quality time training the last few weeks. I have gotten some helpful training aids (more on that later) and I have had mostly productive training sessions. Despite all the good fortune, there is always a training gremlin (like those buggers in Bugs Bunny or the Progressive commercials) lurking, ready to pounce. Mine caught up to me last Sunday on my first run over an hour. It was a little chilly and I threw on the first pair of tights I could find. Bad idea. They were kind of old and a bit tight, I ignored it. About halfway through my run I felt a sharp stinging in my groin area. Not really pain, just kind pin pricks so I ignored them like all guys do..... Another bad idea. I got home to find my base layer blood soaked and my skin chafed to the bone (ok not quite but it certainly felt that way!). To make matters worse I had swim class the next day and of course we started out just kicking. Nothing like a tight swimsuit and constant kicking to give the raw groin area some stimulation!

OK but enough of my problems, outside of that bad one two punch I have started to feel pretty good with my progress. My hundreds in the pool have started to fall, and my running is certainly stronger. My only laggard at the moment is my cycling which is traditionally my strongest discipline. Mostly due to the weather, I haven't spent much time on the bike. It has been my intention all winter to get a CompuTrainer. This highly recommended training aid however, was somewhat out of my budget at almost $1700. So I decided to get a cheaper alternative. The Performance Travel Trac Real Axiom trainer. This trainer has alot of the same features that the Computrainer has, but with the 20% discount Perfomace was throwing in it turned out to be about a third of the price. So far I have only played with it, but my initial impression so far is favorable. I plan to do a full review in a future tri-ing Times blog.

Notes:

A blog or two ago I was chatting up Polar's personal trainer FREE web site. So far I still approve, but recently the website has been unavailable for no apparent reason. Being in the IT field I know this happens but I was still surprised at the frequency it was happening to polar's site.

A number of my tri buddies have been sick lately so I'm sending out my best wishes... Get well everyone and get back to training!

I made a couple of new tri buddies in swim class so hopefully I will have some new riding partners when the good weather finally rolls around.

Peace and keep training......

Rob

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