Learning to be “that guy”

You’d think at some point in our adult lives we’d learn to get over the “coolness” factor and focus on our essential needs.  You’d think that.  However, in this great sport of triathlon, so much focus is placed on “looking good” that sometimes we lose the need over the want.  I hear people say it all the time, “I can either be good or look good” and they make it soooooo easy to look good, don’t they? 

I do it.  I won’t lie to you and tell you I’m above it.  I turned down a great pair of cycle shoes because they had blue on them and they didn’t match my kit (those shiny, spandex outfits we wear when we’re training and racing) that is red, black and white and my red, black and white bike and bike seat that is red and white and my red and white helmet…you get it.

A few weeks ago I was enjoying my Thursday afternoon ride when I passed a guy wearing an aero helmet.  What.A.Dork.  Really???  On a training ride?  Who is he trying to beat?  Why is he trying to shave seconds off his training ride?  He had 12oz and probably $200+ of aerodynamic greatness on his head…for his training ride.  Why?



Turns out, I am now contemplating purchasing an aero helmet (said helmet pictured above).  I have finally chosen the helmet and now I just have to pick the color.  Black or white?  They both match my kit (bonus!) and one reflects heat, while the other absorbs it…and I sweat A LOT.  I sweat so much that when my nutritionist, Eve Pearson, did my initial Sweat Loss Rate test she recalculated her original findings because she thought she calculated them incorrectly.  Nope, she was right on down to the ounce.  I need to replace 56 ounces of fluid an hour when I run and 48 ounces when I ride.  Do you even drink 56 ounces of water in a day? 

Here is my dilemma.  I am looking to spend a good deal of $$$ on something that weighs 12oz, which is oh so light when you put it on, and I have to decide if I want to buy the white one or the black one, remembering that they both match my kit (fantastic!). 

So, yesterday...Yesterday, I was “that guy”.  Thanks to Jack Ogle, I borrowed his black aero helmet and wore it on my TRAINING RIDE and I laughed as I passed the same area where I saw my “dorky” aero helmet guy a few weeks ago.  It became clear.  Dorky aero helmet guy was probably training smart.  It all goes back to what I always tell my athletes, never do anything new on race day and train for race day.  Never doing anything new on race day, means you will have to be “that guy”.  Figuring out what nutrition you need means that you will be “that guy”.  Knowing how much you need to drink, means you will have to be “that guy”.  Figuring out what you're going to wear, yup, means you'll have to be "that guy". 

Trying to take a dorky self shot of the aero helmet

I am about to say some things that will shock my triathlete friends.  So sit down and take it, because I have learned that being “that guy” will save your butt on race day.  You have to train smart to race smart and all this smartness sometimes comes with deflated coolness.

1)      I have worn a camel back on a long bike ride (gasp…now get off the floor and sit back down on your exercise ball chair)
2)      I have worn a race belt with 10 Gu on a century ride (eek!  No, I am not a confused runner/cyclist) I just didn't have a bento box (something for snacks, not what you get at your local sushi restaurant) or electrical tape to carry that much Gu on my bike

This is half the amount of Gu I had on my century ride...HALF

3)      …there was a third thing I was going to shock you with, but I’ve forgotten it

I’ll get into stories about the Gu race belt incident at some point, because I was made so much fun of for wearing it…yet somehow I’m the only one who survived that ride without throwing up, an IV or getting my core temperature taken (and not in the pleasant end).

 Today’s bike ride bonus?  Seeing my first ever real live (yes, live is important), in the wild, armadillo!!!  And of course my usual Benbrook sighting, Eugene Mazzurana and his pup, it’s never a true Benbrook ride without seeing Eugene out there.