More 80/20 thoughts

Sometimes, I need to work to remind myself that triathlon is not, to me, an end in and of itself. Being on a podium has no value to me. If I thought that all that would ever come from triathlon training was a medal or a time on a formal race, I'd stop training tomorrow. Triathlon is like the strength training I'm doing; it is a means to an end. It is a mechanism by which to attain improved physical fitness. 80/20 training is simply a mechanism to be more efficient in pursuing that improvement.

Anyway, work and life in general have made it such that the half ironman did not work out last week; there was some swimming, but only 750 meters. Everything else worked out; in fact, I exceeded 130 km of biking. This week might work out. I've yet to go swimming, but today I went on my longest bike ride ever (just over 66 km). I can really see myself doing an olympic length tri once a week. I actually was thinking for a fair chunk of the bike ride that I would go for a 10K on returning home, but my phone and my headphones were both nearly dead.

It's very common for triathletes to create a "pain cave"; a (usually) indoors space for training that has some sort of bike trainer, and sometimes also a treadmill. There's often some sort of arrangement to watch TV or to use swift or another virtual bike/run simulation, and they can cost from a few hundred to several thousand dollars, even before the bike. If I went for something along those lines, I'd probably stick to a pretty minimal budget; additional money that does not improve the results is wasted.

I've also been thinking about this blog just being mostly a log of thoughts on exercise. It's really just a diary that's accessible (but not read) by the public. There's not good reason it should be limited to exercise, and frankly a couple good reasons it shouldn't be.

I'm thinking about buying a home, or buying a piece of land and building a home. Building around here is insane. The permits and fees and other assorted red tape are as difficult, and often as expensive, as the construction itself. It's disheartening. I do honest work; all I want is room enough to lay my head, exercise a bit, work, cook, and maybe keep a small garden and a few chickens. I shouldn't have to pay a king's ransom for that.