Test Ride - Active Recovery
Ok, so I’ve been pretty sore the last couple days after my 26.2 mile training run. I bet Bill is feeling a little smug after telling me how he feels like his long runs impact his training for several days following a long run. I don’t think I was ever being a braggart, but I was willing to profess that I hadn’t yet been hit by “junk in the legs” after a long run.
But hell, 26.2 miles… that’s a LOOOONG run. And so Monday and Tuesday I was limping around like an old man with old broken down legs. Since the run, I’ve taken two days off. Today I needed to get out and do some active recovery. So I decided to head down to my local triathlon store and test ride some fancy bikes! Sounds like fun doesn’t it?
I have pretty much decided I want a new bike. The Shogun Kaze thing just isn’t going to work out as a tri bike… that was a crazy idea to begin with. And seeing how I am taking this Ironman thing pretty seriously, it just doesn’t seem right to be racing on a road bike. Sure, it was fine for my first Ironman, and it’s still a great bike. But it just doesn’t ride as well, or look as cool, when you throw aerobars on it and tri to call it a tri bike. It isn’t one!
So I test rode a Cervelo P2-Carbon. Sweet Ride!
I took it out for about 45 minutes… did some racing hard in the biggest gear… and did a small hill climb to see how it handled up and down and all around. I’m sure there’s a huge “new car smell” factor… but it certainly seemed to blow away my ride experience on my current road bike.
Workout:
- Type: Cycle
- Date: 08/15/2007
- Total Time: 1:35:00.00
- Distance: 28.29 miles
- Average Speed: 17.87 mph
Now, how do I sell the wife on this idea?
Yesterday, I got a sports massage… something I know I should do more often, but I just don’t make time for it. I almost want to count it as training. Anyway, the point of mentioning it now, is that the massage therapist basically said “Wow Dude! You are tight!”… and he discovered that I had a chronic tight muscle in my shoulder that I didn’t even know about. I mean, literally, I had no idea I had a problem in my shoulder… I thought I needed my IT band and my legs loosened up… oh yeah… they were bad too… but he spent almost half the time on my shoulders.
After my test ride today, I got back on my bike I rode to meet my family, my wife’s cousin Jennifer and her daughter who are visiting us from California, and my wife’s cousin Molly, her husband Rob, and their one year old son for dinner. Loaded the bike onto the car, did a quick clean up and changed into street clothes and then headed to dinner at “Bing’s”.
During dinner, the topic of triathlon bikes, was a hot topic. Rob and Jen really seemed genuinely interested in learning about the differences between road and tri bikes and why some features would be different and better for triathlon. Maybe they were interested… they kept asking questions… and of course, I kept answering.
So where’s this going? Well… you see… maybe my shoulders are tight because my bike is not really designed to be a triathlon bike… No, it’s a road bike that I threw aerobars on… what do you think? Sound convincing? In fact, Jennifer was the one that came up with this theory. At no point in the conversation did my wife chime in to say “you’re not buying a new bike”… and there were many opportunities. In fact, she even seems to talk about it as if it’s a bike I “just don’t own yet“.
hmmmm….. it’s getting very tempting indeed!
Filed under: Cycle, Ironman, Run, cycle, funny bike, marathon, road bikes vs. triathlon bikes, triathlon |
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11 Comments: :
Test Ride - Active Recovery
August 16th, 2007 7:16 am
momgaub says:
Oh it is a slippery slope, is it not???
August 16th, 2007 8:13 am
regivizz says:
My massage therapist despairs of ever having all of the knots out! Definitely take the time for a massage every now and then…so worth it and great for your muscles! Maybe count it as “other”?
August 16th, 2007 11:12 am
runningkate says:
26.2 training run.. OMG! I couldn’t imagine… although, I do someday hope to do a 50-100Mi Run Race… so maybe in like 30 years I’ll take back my shock!
August 16th, 2007 11:37 am
wsfowler says:
Brad, you have to get the new bike. It’s amazing what an aero position and wheels will do for you. I borrowed some aero wheels and aero bar for my road bike and picked up 2-3 mph almost instantly. I can only imagine what you’d gain by having that AND proper aero position.
Good luck. Once you get it past the wife, let me know your trick…
August 16th, 2007 12:12 pm
Brad Hefta-Gaub says:
Scott,
I was thinking that I’d just get the bike for this year… and not splurge on true “race wheels” until next season. I think true race wheels like Zipps would probably add at least another $1000 to the price tag… maybe more.
You’re not suggesting that the bike itself isn’t enough of an upgrade… are you?
August 16th, 2007 6:07 pm
kipdogg says:
That is a pretty sweet looking bike.
August 16th, 2007 6:53 pm
Bill says:
Good luck with that, Brad. It’s good to see that she didn’t jump right in with “no”.
BTW, I’m certainly not smug about your soreness. Matter of fact, sad to hear it. For me, it’s not typically the “junk in the legs”, it’s just the overall tiredness that pervades every moment of my awake hours.
After my 18 on Saturday, this week has been pretty good. Much better than after previous long runs. A very nice tempo workout on Wednesday, too. This morning I squeezed in 10 before work and that’s when everything caught up to me. This afternoon, I got home to get ready for my 90 minute ride, sat down and slept the entire time.
I’m a 5-minute nap kinda guy. So a 90 minute nap means I was gone.
As far as massages, I backed off from them this year. I had a massage teacher at the local tech college work me over every few weeks. The reality was that I needed to go more frequently in order to maintain the benefits. Once every few weeks means you just start over again every few weeks.
However, I’m a huge, huge fan of the “The Stick” http://www.shapeupshop.com/fitness/recovery/the_stick.htm. After every ride and run (and occasionally a swim), I run the thing over the muscles and keep the knots out. Works wonders! And dang it feels reeeeeeaaaaaaallllll good.
August 16th, 2007 9:45 pm
riddenwords says:
I’d get the frame you want and the one that fits you really well. You can upgrade the wheels and other components over time as you progress.
August 16th, 2007 10:08 pm
Brad Hefta-Gaub says:
Well, I have to get the bike fully built with some new wheels, because this will be a 650c and all my other bikes are 700c.
But yeah, I’m thinking bike as is (except swap out the areobars since my areobars are actually better than the stock ones, which btw the shop said would give me a little bit of a credit)… I figure I can get “race wheels” for next season.
August 18th, 2007 5:21 pm
wsfowler says:
The bike is certainly enough of an upgrade. You’ll probably see immediate improvement in your bike time. Wheels should probably wait for another year, but if you can borrow a pair (or even just one) for the Columbian I’d highly recommend it.
August 18th, 2007 9:21 pm
Brad Hefta-Gaub says:
Well, I did it! I bought it! Today I placed my order with my specific change requests… swap out the aero bars for my Profile Design Carbon Strykes and replace the handle bars with a round handle bull horn. I realize the stock “wing style” is more trendy, but since my IM has a lot of climbing in it, I prefer to have the option to get out of aero and ride with my hands on the cross bar.
Anyway, I take delivery on Tuesday… I can’t wait!
If you know anyone with 650 race wheels… 11-23 or 11-21 cassette… let me know I’d gladly “borrow” them if they wanted to “lend” them to me.