Personal trainer...long

It has been a while since I logged on. I came down with a serious case of the flu(despite flu shot) and then later got a respitory infection that is still lingering. While this temporarily side-tracked me, it may have turned into a blessing in disquise. You see, in my misery I was doing some cursory Google searches for people from the Lubbock(TX) area who had participated in an Ironman competition. It turned out that there was! Not only that, but she has participated in a number of Ironman competitions and is currently the women's Ultraman world champion. As luck would have it, she is the daughter of a business friend. I immediately called him up and asked if there was any relation. He was ecstatic that I called about his daughter and didn't hesitate to relate the entire saga to me.

Later that day his daughter telephones me. We talked at length about her experiences as a triathlete. She explains that the taining is all about repetition, etc. and offers to train with me! How good does this get? Well, it actually gets better. She makes me a training plan and a training diary.

She also gives me boxes of power gels and bars, and then asks, "Do you have a good bike?" I told here that I have been using a Nishiki mountain bike and she says, "That won't do." She goes into her garage and pulls out a sparkling red and black carbon fiber Ketrel Talon bike with lightweight Shimano carbon wheels(and more) and says "Here, you can use this. It just needs a tune-up and you'll be ready to go." I am sitting there with my mouth open. And then she pulls out a folding bike trainer(Performance TravelTrqc w/Fluid AF-500) and Spinerval tapes with Coach Troy(Jacobsen?) who is her cycling coach. You'll need this for training when the weather is bad. Then she brings out jerseys, and riding pants, and clip shoes, and helmets, and gloves, and leg/arm warmers, and hats and visors... "You'll need these, too."

Once I finally closed my mouth, she asked me about my running. I told her that I was no good at it and she told me that it was OK and that she would run with me. Her enthusiasm and positive attitude was absolutely contageous. In fact, her attitude is no different than what I have seen here on the forum.

I am really looking forward to training now. It feels like I have a cheerleader in my corner.