Thursday, April 4, 2013

General training notes

We are finally into to our new house! The first thing that got moved over here was my bike -- that is saying something about my priorities. My basement pain cave is already taking shape and is going to be a perfect spot for some heavy duty trainer sessions.

We moved in on Saturday and I had a two hour run scheduled for Sunday. I really didn't want to drive the 30 minutes to my usual long run loop, so I decided to figure out something around here. But since I know nothing about the area, I was kind of nervous. Here are some good tips:

1. Water features usually have well marked trails/sidewalks next to them. In this case, the Main River is my new running partner. In Mainz, I spent 90% of the time running on the trail next to the Rhine.

2. Before you start out, find some tall, easily distinguishable landmarks. When I was aimlessly running through the boonies on Sunday, I almost wept when I saw the Rathaus tower. In the case of my other favorite run loop, there was a giant fiberglass peach sitting on a pedestal. (I'm just guessing it was a peach, since I don't think they grow a lot of oranges there.) Smokestacks are another good one, especially if they have fancy paint jobs.

When I am driving on the autobahn, I am very mindful of the "keep all the way right except to pass" rule. So this is kind of like the USAT drafting rules. But I also have to remember that the Polezei will probably not accept "complete the pass in 15 seconds" as an excuse for breaking the speed limit.

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