The Winter is Coming…

You won’t believe it, but even in Trieste the weather changes after Barcolana. We are already in November, days are getting shorter and it’s cold outside. The October in Trieste was windy and rainy and so were my morning runs. I get up before the Sun shows up in order to do my morning runs and the same Sun goes away almost without saying goodbye before I finish work. It’s practically impossible (at least for me) to go cycling during the week. It’s getting tough to train outside (one can tell by the number of runners and cyclists on streets), but, as my great roommates would say, “it’s a special feature!” of this period of the year! So, don’t include cold, windy, rainy weather in your list of excuses not to train! Learn how to deal with them and how to take the best of them!

What to wear?

The newbie athletes have a lot of questions and doubts. One of the biggest is what to wear from October to April. Massimiliano’s advice (Massimiliano is one of my favourite vendors in Trieste) is to follow “The Onion Rule”: prefer layer clothing to wearing one heavy jacket or shirt. I went to him two weeks ago when I realized I had nothing to wear when going out with Pedro. He advised me to buy a pair of cycling tights (I didn’t find them, so I used a 50DEN stocking and I can tell you that they are doing their job just perfectly) instead of buying arm and leg sleeves and told me that the most important part of cloths is the wind jacket. He confirmed I can use my running wardrobe for cycling, but told me my wind jacket must be close-fitting. Furthermore, he told me I shouldn’t use cotton for trainings, so I bought one Dri-FIT singlet (I already had two of them).

Managing your budget

I thought Pedro would be my greatest investment, but it seems like I spent much more money for the wardrobe and gadgets (ok, I didn’t need all the stuff, they were not all necessary, and some of them didn’t need to be branded). I know a few great athletes from Serbia that cannot afford the latest gadgets, but they still train and they still rock. So, good news is that you don’t really need a fortune for triathlon. On the other hand, you can spend your whole salary on the gizmos you don’t actually need.

Since I had found myself in difficulty to distinguish the investments from the money thrown away, in hindsight, I decided to make a list of my favorite “pieces”. Maybe someone could find it helpful in managing his/her budget:

1. Pedro. Ok, there’s nothing to do, your bike is important. I remember my 170km trip from Pozarevac to Kladovo in hybrid bike with a bad saddle and without cycling shorts. It was terrible. I’m 100% sure that the same trip with Pedro would be a whole different experience! And it’s not just the bike, but it’s about your position on it, too. That few centimeters make a difference.
2. Sport bra. I have been running for 11 years so far and I bought my first sport bra just two months ago. I am so terribly sorry my poor body suffered for all this time because I didn’t realize the importance of a good support and the geniusness of the person who invented the running bra.
3. Running shoes. Your feet and knees will be grateful to you if you treat them right. You don’t need the latest model of the most expensive running shoes, but please, do yourself a favor and try not to run in Old Stars.
   
4. GPS Gadget. I have 3 Garmin devices: Garmin Forerunner405, Garmin Edge810 and Garmin VivoSmart (I have the Fenix3 or FR910XT on my wish-list, but not among my priorities at the moment). It’s me, I like plans, graphs and statistics. The GPS Gadget is not essential, you can perfectly function without it, or with a running/cycling/sports app. There are a lot of them on the market and many of them are free.
5. Dri-FIT RUNNING clothes. I think you need 2-3 pairs of each: shorts, tights, singlet, t-shirts, long sleeve light shirts, long sleeve heavy shirt, wind and waterproof jackets. Since they dry fast, you can easily wash them after use. You can use them for cycling too, but don’t forget Massimiliano’s advice about close-fitting jacket! If you have a limited budget, you can train in whatever you have. I ran with two made-in-china-bras one on top of the other, in cotton suit and cheap (like 30 euros) running shoes for years and I was perfectly fine with them.
6. Headband. This one IS ESSENTIAL. Especially in Trieste, with Bora (or in Serbia, on -10C)! I usually put one of them around my head and the other one around my neck.
7. Gloves. You will need them. I prefer light, cheap touch-screen models. You can put them under your short cycling gloves, so you won’t need the pair of specific cycling gloves for winter.
8. Bike shoe covers. They keep your feet warm. My granny says we have to keep our head, back, kidneys, tummy and feet warm. Let’s trust her on that!
9. Bike Home Trainer. You can cycle in your local gym, or do spinning class, so neither this one is essential, but it’s on my list since it brought Pedro and me together <3 It’s my newest gadget and I really like it! I just hope my neighbors won’t complain when I wake them up at 6am.
10. Tissue papers, hand cream and lip balm. Don’t forget them!

Your best is good enough

I consider myself a realist, but I like to fly and sometimes I find it difficult to keep my feet on the ground. A few days ago I got a newsletter from Triathlete.com that said exactly what I needed to hear: “Never take yourself too seriously. We do this sport for fun. Very few of us are actually feeding our families via swim, bike and run”. It made me remember a funny quote about life: “Don’t take your life too seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway”. So, don’t lose your time and mind by chasing something you cannot get. Do your best, so you know you tried and never be scared of mistakes. Better sore than sorry, as they say. On the other hand, don’t hide behind excuses. We need More than words (Extreme)*.

Keep calm and September 2016 Pula.

PVT 

*Sorry