spin cycle fail

Not much happened in history today. Just Dr. Spock's, "The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care" was published in 1946. It became America's 2nd best seller of all time, behind the Bible. Interesting, no? I've never read it. Hopefully, I'm caring for my babies/children with common sense.

This morning was not a spin class morning. I ran instead. The route that Ben planned for me only took me 26 minutes, so the rest of the time, I walked around the apartment complex (found a penny) and did some track stands on my mountain bike. Ever since I got the pedals that you have to clip into, I've been falling down a lot. Ben thought it'd be a good idea if I worked on my balance. I agreed.

To that end, it was decided that on run days, I'd spend 10 minutes or so working on bike skills. At this point, I need to know how to ride my bike almost more than I need the cardio work. Race day is 15 days away. I'm not completely ready, but it'll be good to see where I am in my training and what I need to work on. Compared to my last tri, I can already tell that my swim isn't quite there. I'm feeling more confident about the bike portion - with the exception of the single track. My last tri was a road sprint. This one is a bit shorter, but it's off-road. In other words, I need to learn how to stay on my bike.

Tuesday was pouring rain. The "work out" area in our apartment complex was closed, and I didn't want to run outside (I'm a baby), so I slept in. Today, however, it was nice out (and the treadmill area is open again), so I went for my run. After cooling down, I got the bike out of the apartment and went to work on my balancing. On the first track stand (where you brake and pedal at the same time and stay still), I fell over. At the first sign of tipping, you're *supposed* to ease up the brake and start riding. What I *did* (and usually do) was panic, brake even harder, and in slow motion, fall over to my left. It's always to my left. Somehow, I managed to skin my left knee, bruise my left thigh, and hurt my right wrist. Note to self: put on the bike gloves even if you're just doing track stands in the parking lot. After that, I contemplated just hanging up the bike for the morning, but then climbed back on and tried again. And again, and again, and again...

All in all, I did 14 minutes of "track stands" which mostly included me riding as slowly as possible in a circle in front of our apartment, slowing to a stop, and taking off again. Each individual "track stand" lasted about 3 milliseconds. But it's a start. And I only fell once.

I refused to run after my train this morning, so I had to wait 2 minutes for the next one. As I was getting off at my stop, I noticed the guy (or girl?) that I used to see everyday on my walk in. It turns out, he (she?) gets on at the same stop I get off. I don't think he saw me, and either way, he probably wouldn't have recognized me, since I haven't seen him since I got my hair chopped off in May. Which reminds me...last night's cut is even better than the one I got in May. Even though it's longer (I am growing it out, again), this one is sleeker, more chic, better. I can't wait to see what the next one looks like.