I Feel Like Such A Chick
Not because I watched The Devil Wears Prada with DJ this weekend…and actually kinda enjoyed it, or because I watched the 06 Ironman champs again this weekend while I rode the trainer…and choked-up again when they showed the Blazeman, but because I finally took the plunge and did it. I shaved my legs! I’ve been “trimming” the last few weeks with the lowest setting on the trimmer…I couldn’t quite jump hurdle from hair-pants to silky smooth all at once.
DJ and I both had stressful weeks, so we decided to stay home for a change Friday night. It was trim time again, and since I had a little free time, I headed off to the bathroom to do the deed after dinner. I made quick work of the job. Then, out of nowhere, the thought popped into my mind to go all the way and shave. O what the hell. I’ll give it a go. How hard can it be? All the roadie dudes do it.
Well let me tell ya, it was way harder than I ever thought. It started out easy enough with the front part of the lower legs going pretty quickly. The sides were a little more of a challenge, but not too bad. Then, however, I had to get to my calves. How the heck do you do that? My contortion skills aren’t very good, but I somehow managed to get it done. I took a short break after completing the lower portion, took a sip of water, and thought maybe I’d taken on more than I could handle. Too late to back out now though. I dove back in, determined to complete what I’d started. The front of my knees and thighs went pretty easy and I started to think maybe I’d make it. I did get a few nicks in the knee area, but nothing too severe. The sides went fairly well also. Then it was time for the back of the knees and hamstring area. Holy cow! I almost fell down a couple of times trying to get back there. I felt like a dog chasing his tail. FINALLY. TWO HOURS after starting, it was finished. O…M…G!!!!! That was EPIC!!!!!!
As I stood there catching my breath, admiring my silky smooth legs, I thought, “this has GOT to get easier”. I’m hoping it’ll be like most other things in triathlon and I’ll make improvements with continued dedication.
The source of my stress last week was all work related. We’ve just gone through an audit of our lab at work. For those of you with any experience in the calibration field, you realize the gravity of going through such an audit. It pretty much consists of a team of 8 federal auditors coming in to review EVERYTHING you do to ensure you’re doing EVERYTHING to standards. As a comparison, if you’ve been through an ISO audit…that’s a piece of cake. Long story short…the auditors wrapped up their review Thursday afternoon and conducted their out-brief with us Friday morning. We passed the review…as we always do…but there’s a ton of stress that goes along with the process. I’m glad it’s over.
On the training front, last week was a continued build up of my training for Gulf Coast. Monday started out with a 13.5 mile run. The run went great. I had no…repeat....NO pain in my IT band/knee. A 12-miler did a number on it a few weeks back. I was very glad to get in a decent long run without suffering afterwards. I followed the long run with a 10k tempo run Wednesday afternoon, which also went well. I ran another 10k Friday afternoon at an easy pace. I did a mile swim Monday morning and a 1.3 mile swim Wednesday morning. I’d hoped to get in a 4k swim Friday morning, but I needed to go in to work earlier than normal and only had time for 1.7 miles. It rained here Tuesday afternoon, so my ride turned into a trainer session. It was warm (80s) and clear Thursday afternoon and I was looking forward to getting in a good ride with the roadie gang. We headed out around 6pm with about 35 riders. About 7 tenths of a mile after leaving the bike shop, I had a flat….a rear flat…at a very busy intersection. FUUUUUUDGE!!!!! I told the crew to forge on. I might’ve asked them to wait if it’d been a front flat, but I’m no speedster at changing rear flats. I got it changed and decided I didn’t want to risk riding solo and headed back home. The weekday afternoon traffic here is not conducive to solo riding. I ended up back on the drainer. Saturday morning rolled around and it was cloudy, cold, and very windy with 25+ mph gusts. I couldn’t muster up the motivation to head out into such weather and ended up back on the trainer for my long ride.
I’ll start tapering down for Gulf Coast this week and get some much needed rest. I’ve added in a good bit of intensity over the last few weeks while increasing volume. I’m handling it pretty well, but I’m a little tired. My motivation to train has suffered a bit as a result. Nothing that a couple of recovery days won’t fix. I feel that my training is pretty close to being right on track for this point in the year. I’m happy with my run and swim. I still have some work to do with my cycling, but I’m sure a summer full of riding will take care of it.
Happy Training,
TJ
DJ and I both had stressful weeks, so we decided to stay home for a change Friday night. It was trim time again, and since I had a little free time, I headed off to the bathroom to do the deed after dinner. I made quick work of the job. Then, out of nowhere, the thought popped into my mind to go all the way and shave. O what the hell. I’ll give it a go. How hard can it be? All the roadie dudes do it.
Well let me tell ya, it was way harder than I ever thought. It started out easy enough with the front part of the lower legs going pretty quickly. The sides were a little more of a challenge, but not too bad. Then, however, I had to get to my calves. How the heck do you do that? My contortion skills aren’t very good, but I somehow managed to get it done. I took a short break after completing the lower portion, took a sip of water, and thought maybe I’d taken on more than I could handle. Too late to back out now though. I dove back in, determined to complete what I’d started. The front of my knees and thighs went pretty easy and I started to think maybe I’d make it. I did get a few nicks in the knee area, but nothing too severe. The sides went fairly well also. Then it was time for the back of the knees and hamstring area. Holy cow! I almost fell down a couple of times trying to get back there. I felt like a dog chasing his tail. FINALLY. TWO HOURS after starting, it was finished. O…M…G!!!!! That was EPIC!!!!!!
As I stood there catching my breath, admiring my silky smooth legs, I thought, “this has GOT to get easier”. I’m hoping it’ll be like most other things in triathlon and I’ll make improvements with continued dedication.
The source of my stress last week was all work related. We’ve just gone through an audit of our lab at work. For those of you with any experience in the calibration field, you realize the gravity of going through such an audit. It pretty much consists of a team of 8 federal auditors coming in to review EVERYTHING you do to ensure you’re doing EVERYTHING to standards. As a comparison, if you’ve been through an ISO audit…that’s a piece of cake. Long story short…the auditors wrapped up their review Thursday afternoon and conducted their out-brief with us Friday morning. We passed the review…as we always do…but there’s a ton of stress that goes along with the process. I’m glad it’s over.
On the training front, last week was a continued build up of my training for Gulf Coast. Monday started out with a 13.5 mile run. The run went great. I had no…repeat....NO pain in my IT band/knee. A 12-miler did a number on it a few weeks back. I was very glad to get in a decent long run without suffering afterwards. I followed the long run with a 10k tempo run Wednesday afternoon, which also went well. I ran another 10k Friday afternoon at an easy pace. I did a mile swim Monday morning and a 1.3 mile swim Wednesday morning. I’d hoped to get in a 4k swim Friday morning, but I needed to go in to work earlier than normal and only had time for 1.7 miles. It rained here Tuesday afternoon, so my ride turned into a trainer session. It was warm (80s) and clear Thursday afternoon and I was looking forward to getting in a good ride with the roadie gang. We headed out around 6pm with about 35 riders. About 7 tenths of a mile after leaving the bike shop, I had a flat….a rear flat…at a very busy intersection. FUUUUUUDGE!!!!! I told the crew to forge on. I might’ve asked them to wait if it’d been a front flat, but I’m no speedster at changing rear flats. I got it changed and decided I didn’t want to risk riding solo and headed back home. The weekday afternoon traffic here is not conducive to solo riding. I ended up back on the drainer. Saturday morning rolled around and it was cloudy, cold, and very windy with 25+ mph gusts. I couldn’t muster up the motivation to head out into such weather and ended up back on the trainer for my long ride.
I’ll start tapering down for Gulf Coast this week and get some much needed rest. I’ve added in a good bit of intensity over the last few weeks while increasing volume. I’m handling it pretty well, but I’m a little tired. My motivation to train has suffered a bit as a result. Nothing that a couple of recovery days won’t fix. I feel that my training is pretty close to being right on track for this point in the year. I’m happy with my run and swim. I still have some work to do with my cycling, but I’m sure a summer full of riding will take care of it.
Happy Training,
TJ
posted by TJ at 9:18 AM
10 Comments:
Hee, hee. I must of missed the memo on the advantages of shaving your legs.... Something new for me to research, I suppose!!
Boy, am I dreading my first flat tire. I suppose I need to change on to get the hang of it.
Enjoy your taper, I'm looking forward to your first race of the year!!
wes, you'll increase your speeds across the board by at least .00001mph by shaving your legs. it's free speed. i'm sure you'll be getting the memo soon.
go here for further insight
http://www.enduranceplanet.com/programs/04-09-07_Legs_of_Glory.asx
dude you're 100% biker now. it should help on non wetsuit swims too. i can't go there yet. scared of the poser look when i'm still riding 19 mph...
great job on the leg shaving. I definitely think you can get it down to one hour with practice! The crazy stuff we do for racing.
i'm totally showing your post to my boyfriend... maybe a guy's point of of view will help him understand why I'm lazy about it sometimes
Dude, the shaving will get easier with practice. I would suggest using a chick specific razor for the legs. Just say your pickin it up for Mama.
Sorry to read that you moved to the dark side on the shaving thing.
On the positive good to hear that your training is going well.
If your wife likes the silky smooth legs, maybe she'd help with shaving? I offer to help but my DH refuses to shave ...
Glad to hear you had no ITB probs while running!
Let's hear it for man-scaping!
Here in MN, we operate fully on teamwork. IronGirl Nyhus, Trimama or I will shave your legs for $10 each leg.
We just want to be helpful.
Jenny
Funny--I used Nair for Men on mine just yesterday! It works pretty well if you get the timing just right, but if you leave it just a minute too long, you'll have a lovely chemical burn to show your friends!
Post a Comment
<< Home