“Manage your Sh#t!”

I am new to having a coach for triathlon and new to having someone, other than myself, to hold me accountable to my training program.

My coach is remote and we are just getting to know each other. Most of our weekly communication is through TrainingPeaks, email, and messenger. Preparing for my last race he gave me race day directions and told me to “manage my sh#t.” I laughed thinking about what he meant when he wrote those words. I find myself often repeating the expression since hearing it. Yesterday I think i found the perfect example of what he meant by those words “manage your sh#t.”


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The weekend usually involves long bike rides and long runs or a combination of both riding and running. My bike workout was supposed to be 3 hour 30 minute to just get in some miles. I planned to join some friends riding in Clermont. If you are unfamiliar, Clermont is the only place to go to ride hills in Florida. The drive takes close to an hour to get there so I woke up very early to get all my stuff packed up for a long morning of riding hills. 

When I pulled into the parking lot many riders were eagerly getting ready to start their day. I was excited to start the day as well. I pulled everything out of my Jeep, put on all my gear and jumped on my bike to quickly discover the battery was dead to my electronic shifting. I started to panic to think of how I am going to miss out on my much needed hill training and then have to drive an hour home to then go for a very long bike ride. I was so upset at myself and disappointed with how my day was turning out.

Prayers were answered. There was a solution. My fellow friend, the “Bearded Bike Doctor,” a mobile bike mechanic, was there and saved the day. His wife is my size and rides a bike pretty close to the same size I do. She had just finished up a morning ride herself. The bike doctor was quickly able to transform her bike into one I could ride. He took some quick measurements, moved a few things around, swapped out some pedals and boom…a bike ready for me.

Another lesson learned for me. Check your equipment the night before and the morning of your event to be sure you are ready to roll. I will not let that happen again. Thanks again to the Bearded Bike Doctor and his generous wife. I was able to get in my training and had a great day.

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