Right place at the right time

It was another 3 day weekend for me since Friday was my office's holiday party and they graciously gave us the day off. I took advantage of being home during daylight hours to go for a 10 mile run. Saturday I rode for 90 minutes and Sunday I did 3000 yd at the pool and another 10 mile run. That's my kind of 3-day weekend!

After my 90 min ride, I was a little saddle sore. This winter, it seems the more I ride, the more uncomfortable I become. I dropped my aero bars and I really like the lower riding position. I'm nowhere near as aero as the pros, but it's a more aggressive position than I had been riding. Ever since then, I have no been able to get my seat dialed in. Which is really disappointing since at the end of the season, I felt it was. So today I decided to go looking for a new saddle. I thought that maybe that will help.

I get to the Trek store and the guy helping me didn't know much about tri bikes and when I asked for a women-specific tri saddle, he gave me a blank stare. Followed by "Let me go get someone." Another guy showed up and introduced himself as Ben. Somewhere in the middle of the conversation he said he didn't actually work there. Huh? Turns out he was Ben Schlogel, local professional triathlete working out some deals since he is sponsored by Trek.

We talked for a while, and he convinced me a bike fitting would be more worthwhile than a new saddle. With a good fit, a new saddle might not be necessary. He gave me the name of his fitter and also his website. If I can go sub-5:30 and decide I want to try to qualify for Clearwater, I may look into his coaching services.

Like any tri-geek, I really enjoyed talking to Ben. (It didn't hurt that he's also easy on the eyes) He is a fire fighter in real life, so life balance is important. He also said part of the philosophy of the Endurance Management Group is no ego, no attitude. Some of the other multisport groups in the area could easily be described exactly by those words. That is just one of the reasons I have stayed away from any group training. But I'm starting to realize that if I really want to become fast, I may have to find a group and coach. So far, from talking with Ben and looking at their website, Endurance Management Group seems like it'd be a good fit for me. At least if NOLA goes well, I now have a good place to turn.