Ebb and flow of training doctrine

I was riding a fairly decent hill in the area, called 9 Mile Hill in Rio Verde, Arizona. It was my long ride for the week and I had pushed pretty hard to get where I was. As I was nearing the top, I got caught by another cyclist. Blew right up on me, but for the last little climb he decided to hold up with me and chat a bit as we stood up in the saddles trying to avoid any clear near granny. 

He was a young guy, mid-20's most likely. Total cyclist set up and kit. Me, almost twice as old in total triathlete set up and kit. The good news is that I was only 20 pounds heavier than this cyclist. He was actually very nice and between breathing and peddling we talked routes, how the day had gone so far, if we were training for something. As we finally got to a point where he could continue on into Troon and I was turning around, he says, "Hey good talking to you. I wasn't trying to blow by you before. But I guessed you're probably going to run after the ride and there is no way in hell I could do that." And with that he dropped gear and sped off like a torpedo. Yes, the comment doesn't make much sense but conversations rarely do that far into a ride.

That night I couldn't sleep well, so I got up early and rode on my trainer for 90 minutes. Later in the morning discussing comings and goings with Mistress I realized I had my days confused and had a window for training at lunch. So I punched up my training partner who said he was going to ride. Sweet two rides in one day. 

As we took off from his house he suffered a mechanical failure that would take to long to fix. So he said, "Got your running gear?"  Quick change of shoes and instead of an hour ride we did an hour run. Just goes to show, having the right gear with you means not being held back from training. 

I guess that is why I enjoy triathlon so much. It is not static. It is a constant motion into and through sport disciplines. Strengths, weaknesses, excitements, fears, gear, terrain, all combine into a method of training that keeps life fresh. It's nice to not be stuck in one sport. Even if your ego takes a hit watching a one trick pony blow by you.