El Lobo - El Blanco Del Norte

I’ve never been into naming bikes but I figured what the hell.  Besides, it's so much easier than naming our next child.

The cool thing about naming a bike...a week from now, when I realize how ridiculous naming a bike is, I can just forget it even happened, which is much unlike naming Junior or some of these terrible tattoos I see out there!

So without further ado, here’s the new ride - El Lobo.

The Offer He Couldn't Refuse

I started shopping for bikes back in November and the guys at Fraser Bike in Fitness are basically the one-stop-shop for all things tri in SE Michigan.  I had an idea what bike I wanted but I wasn’t sure if the geometry style would be the right fit.  With the help of Ron Schmid and Chris Goddard, they were able to measure me on their fit bike and determine which bike geometry would be ideal for me.  After some precise measuring, they were able to tell me that the Long and Low geometry that I was looking for would work, but the harder decision was still to come.

An Uphill Battle

Time for another update.  The good news - I finally got a new bike! (more on the bike later).  The bad news, training, especially on the bike, has been struggling.

For about a month things have been a bit stagnate, regressing even.   I want to train so these don't qualify as excuses, rather potential justification on why I suck lately.

1.  Christmas - events, food, drinks, sweets, schedule changes (etc) all threw me out of whack.  Struggling to get back in the rhythm.
2.  Work - new project, new stress, loss of lunch time workout, etc has thrown me off.  I'm a creature of habit, I'm not going to lie, this has been a hard change.
3.  Running - I'm started training for a Spring 1/2 marathon and am running more than ever before this time of year.  I'm running well, but dammit if it hasn't been zapping my bike legs.

Last years winter focus was solely on the bike and I saw big gains.  This year I'm incorporating more running and maybe I shouldn't be surprised that I can't hit the bike as hard as I have in the past.  Nonetheless, it's discouraging to fail FTP workouts, so in an attempt to get back on track, or adjust my schedule to better frame what I'm capable of, I'm going to back off a bit on the bike (FTP).  This will allow me to get used to my new position on my bike but still get in some solid bike workouts to supplement my running (not the other way around).

After all, this is all just an experiment to find out what is and isn't possible, right?  

BTW:
1. There is a mild overtraining concern and I've put up a flag on that risk and it will continue to be monitored.
 
2. I've signed up for 2 half iron distance races (Grand Rapids, Muncie).  It's a new race distance for me, so I'm looking forward to see if I can find some speed!
 
3. Stay tuned for BAMF bike pics.

Hope all is great!