I'm a little behind with this, but here's a summary. The week after we got back from our Colorado trip was hectic preparing for going to Orlando and catching up on work, getting a sick cat back to health, and a few other things. Then we headed down South to our previous home in Orlando, FL where WE are now the tourists! :-D The trip went ok but we spent way too much money. :-( I got in 2 runs and 2 light workouts while there so maybe that prevented me from gaining a full 20 pounds. My sister ran with me once and during that, I realized how much I'd missed the heat and the humidity. Of course you all think it sounds crazy, but I really do like the humidity! It's comforting and I LOVE to sweat. The heat is comforting and feels good to me. No insanity comments necessary: I think that's already been established, but I'm just different.
Anyway, tonight, I'm going to run with the road running group and then hit the trails tomorrow night for a full session of biking and then running with the group. Looking forward to that. I've missed it for a while!
A little off topic, but still something I find interesting... a few weeks ago, I was riding with some local mtn bikers and afterwards we were all discussing some of the things that make us different with regard to how we feel about the equipment we use. One of the guys said that he orders stuff often, but keeps it on the shelves. He's neurotic about using it and doesn't want to wear it out so he keeps brand new stuff around often without even using it. One of the other guys said that he can't race on something unless it's been ridden on hard for at least several months. He doesn't wash his bike and rarely lubes it. He does MINIMAL maintanence on it and is afraid to race on new parts for fear of the unknown. I, on the other hand, am still different from the former two. Often I obsess that my components are worn out, broken, mal-adjusted (freudian slip?) or otherwise just not right. Consequently, I am constantly tweaking/adjusting my bike and am psyching myself out during a race that I'm not as fast as my mind wants me to be because my bike isn't operating at peak performance! This is probably a lot more common than we all realize, but I thought it was interesting how two guys/riders/fellow racers that I admire and respect also have somewhat irrational (neurotically motivational?) fears just as I do. One other difference is that they win often and I'm usually finishing in the top 5 so MY fears are probably justified! ;-)
2 comments:
Good Ben,
When I rode bikes a lot (in the old days), I had the same obsessions as you. Luckily, I had a good neighbor who was a veteran mechanic from "Le Tour" and worked as a mechanic for REI. Many times, I was at his house getting my bike "incredi-perfect" the night before a major event, (instead of getting a full-night's sleep that would have helped me out more, probably).
By the way, I can already see that we will probably spend way too much on our next vacation.
Bad Ben
We grew up in the same area and both feel more comfortable running in the heat. Nothing too strange about that.
Even though some of our morning runs during winter this past year was very pretty, my body doesn't respond when the temperature is that cold. I feel 'tight' and can't warm up leading to me tripping more.
I'm not saying I want the temperature 100 degrees and up (last week while I was in GA, the temp was 107 with 70% humidity), but I prefer it more than a windy below freezing night run.
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