Minimizing Risks

 Eyes flicker; legs twitch.

She is moving through a dream

Of hunting her prey.

Minimizing Risks: Friday, July 30, 2021

 After a four-month hiatus from cycling I am perhaps a week away from getting back in the saddle.

 This is both compelling and worrisome. Compelling because I’ve always enjoyed riding. Worrisome because in the past 5 years I’ve had three accidents, two hospital visits, 33 stitches in my face and surgery to repair my right clavicle.

 There’s an itch of doubt that I’m getting too old for this.

 So what changes can I make to try to remain competitive and minimize the risks of another injury?

 For one, I’m going to limit my exposure by only riding once a week outside. I’ll do that on Tuesdays avoiding the weekend cars and crowds on PCH.

 I’ll also start from Michael Landon Park as opposed to riding from home like I use to; a short but decent drive from some of the busier sections of PCH.

 For now I’m also going to avoid the fantastic canyons of the Santa Monicas and stick to out and back rides on PCH. I’m training for duathlons and as much as I enjoy the hills, my bike isn’t set up for them and I’m not sure I have the nerve for it at the moment. Once I build up some confidence I’ll fix up my damaged Cervelo and give it a go.

 Until then the plan is one indoor/one outdoor ride per week. Will two rides be enough? I’ll find out in February when I hope to compete in Powerman Arizona.

Limbo

The zzz of a fly

Moves in and out of focus

As my life stands still.

 July 24, 2021

 Almost four months have passed since my clavicle was broken and to this day I have no idea what the final economic or legal ramifications will be.

 Medically, I have received a few inconsequential bills. My surgery, which was supposedly covered by Trinity Healthshare, went well. But I have neither received a bill, an itemization of the costs, or a claim for my deductible.

 Two weeks ago Trinity sent an email stating that they were no longer operating in California. A week after that they sent out a notice that they were filing for bankruptcy protection.

 Not sure where that leaves me, but maybe someday it’ll all shake out.

 Similarly, after receiving a small claims court date, but with the wrong defendant listed, I have, for more than a month now, been waiting for a correction from the court.

 I’m dubious I’ll receive my day in court, or that given a positive outcome I’ll be able to collect from the skateboarder that caused my injuries.

 Is this the best of all possible worlds? Clearly not. A little closer to the The Trial and Metamorphosis if you ask me. Kafka, turns out, was not a literary genius, but merely a journalist slightly ahead of his time.  

The Memo on the M.O.

The tambourine leaves

Shaking in the willow’s hands;

A sunny folk song.

 Thursday, July 15, 2021

The weather’s been a hot topic lately (That’s a pun.). It’s also been a subject of linguistic humor as well.

 My wife is bi-lingual having been raised in Taiwan by an American father and educated at an international school. But she does occasionally misuse American colloquialisms.

 For instance, a couple of days ago we woke up to an unexpected light rain.

My wife claimed that the weather people must not have sent us the M.O.

 That confused me.

 I said, “Did you mean memo?”

 Given that they sound quite a bit alike, her swapping of phrases was understandable.

And also very amusing, at least to me.

Validation

 The desert willow

Angelic white pink flowers

Grace the dry landscape.

 Tuesday, July 6, 2021

 Turns out I was right all along. Well, truly more luckily ignorant.

 I’ve never been much of a practitioner of LSD training, not even when I was convinced it was the right way to go. Like most people holding a Monday-Friday; 9-5 type job, getting more than one multi-hour run per week is a tough ask.

 So I tried work arounds by doing a long run/ride on weekends with tempo and brick training during the week. I followed that pattern for a good 20 years before stopping the brick workouts all together about 10 years ago as there just weren’t many duathlons to train for. Though I am planning to compete in multi-sport events again soon and may throw an occasional short brick workout in here and there.

Currently I’ve modified my workouts slightly based on recent readings and watchings that advocate short sprint work. Along with that workout, I’m doing one two/three hour run per week along with an interval session of 5- three minute hard efforts followed by a ten/twenty minute tempo run.

 Yesterday was my first 5k race in a year and a half. I finished fourth overall and first in my age. Pretty much what I was doing before the pandemic.  My goal is to go under 20, but at this event I recorded a 20:50. The course was a shade long though and rolling, so I still believe my 5k time goal is within reach.

 It’s difficult to assess whether my tweaks in training have made much of a difference as I’ve never made the big leap from LSD to higher intensity training. But given my consistent results over many years I’m confident my anecdotal evidence along with current studies is all the proof I need that my fortuitously ignorant training plan was and is the right way to go.