Maybe last ride and upping the ante

Brrrrr, it was cold today out on the road.

I biked early this morning for a couple of hours. The temperature was about 38 degrees F but not too windy. I wore double socks, long tights, a polypropelene turtleneck, gloves and a skullcap all on top of my usual wear. I think this may be my last outdoor ride of the year, unless the weather stays above freezing conditions for the next few weeks. Otherwise, I don't think I'd enjoy the frostbite.

I already started thinking about next year's triathlons: I'm considering raising the bar from sprint distances to half ironmans--from .25mi swim/15mi bike/3mi run to 1.2mi swim/56mi bike/13.1mi run increase. Quite daunting. I thought about my very first triathlon and how gruelling it was to simply try and finish. That's all I wanted to do. However, from that period on all the way up to this year, I had no doubt of completing the courses and was just trying to better my times. Next year, if I up the ante in distances, I'd be putting myself back to square one; to the "maybe I'll get through it or maybe I won't" mentality. I think it'd give me that original first race high if I were to succeed--a way cool incredible feeling that sparked an 'I can do anything' attitude, which I dearly miss and can certainly use these days.

For now, I'll just wait and see what I decide in 2006.