Unofficial VS. Official Race Dates

So here's what happened. I like to plan out my racing schedule, nearly in it's entirety, as early in the year as possible. So that means in January and February I'm scouring websites looking for race dates. All the BIG races like major marathons and the like, release dates years in advance. But the smaller races become available in the late winter. The duathlon series I do is through HFP Racing. As soon as their schedule came out, I penciled their races into my calender. After I registered however, I noticed that one of the races was pushed back a week. Last year we raced on Father's Day, and it looked like we would be doing so again this year. But they moved it a week later. I caught that one. The one I didn't catch was the first race. It was on the first weekend in June last year, but this year, it's next weekend. My problem is that I didn't notice the change, and went and planned a vacation trip to DC starting next weekend. So it looks like I'm going to miss a race. That really bummed me out when I realized what happened. I feel like I should take a remedial calender reading class or something.

If I couldn't race today, I could at least take advantage of the beautiful weather and do a good training brick. And that's exactly what I was able to do. I got out the door around 7:00 this morning for a bike/run brick. I enjoyed my first ride outdoors on my racing bike today. I was able to try out all my new toys too. Like my new pedals, cleats, and shoes, and my new aero water bottle. Everything felt and worked great. I tooled around Medina a little before heading out west along one of the rural roads. Much more traffic than I expected for that time in the morning. It felt really good to be back outside on that bike and riding fast. Most of my races are only going to have 12 mile bike legs, but I went for 18 today, just to push it. I still need to work on my power and climbing ability, but I'm happy otherwise. If I would have been any faster coming into a certain 4-way stop this morning, I would have been even closer to the a**hole driving a green Chrysler mini van who decided to blow through it at 50 mph. Decorum prevents me from describing what I would like to do the driver if given the opportunity.

The run went just as well. The heat was beginning to build by the time I began my run. I didn't know how long I was going to go for, so I brought a couple gels and some water. I ended up doing 5.7 miles, and I was tired and sore by the time I finished. I drank a full bottle of Gatorade on the bike, but a little food might have helped me through the run a bit better. Today was probably the last training brick before Maumee Bay in three weeks, which is now the first duathlon of the season. They have a nice flat fast course out there, so I don't have to worry about the hill work for a while.

In other news, I began my new career yesterday. I attended my first golf lesson! If all goes as planned, I'll be asked to join the PGA Tour in a couple years, and can get paid to play a game. We shall see.

Mr. P