Am I a pansy?

Wow! It's been over 2 weeks since my last post. By far the longest dry spell since I started this little blog. I really don't have a good excuse. I just haven't been writing. I have plenty of content just not a lot of follow through. It is amazing to me how the longer I go without writing the more the pressure builds to write something. That's just I need in my life right now, more pressure. I thought this was supposed to be fun.

Anyway, I ran into a new cycling buddy and his fiance at Riviera the other night. As I was waiting for my food to go, and enjoying my glass of wine, we had a very interesting conversation. It went something like this.

Dave: "Are you coming out to the Tuesday night crits?"
Me: "No. I can't get there by 5:30 because of work."
Dave: "Registration is at 5:30. The first race is 6:30."
Me: "Oh cool! Well then let me change my answer to I don't do crits!"
Dave: "What about Grasshopper this Saturday?"
Me: "I don't think so. I really don't have enough miles in this year for a race."
Dave: "What are you, a pansy?"

Then we laughed and talked about Kelli's 199 mile relay run she just finished. Fortunately, my food arrived and I got to leave before Dave got back to the race talk.

Later, I began thinking about Dave's question. Am I a pansy? It was time to look at the stats. So it's Fitness Journal to the rescue.

I start looking at the numbers and here's what I discovered. At this time last year I had cycled just over 2000 miles, spent 20 additional hours on the trainer, had zero runs, and my longest ride was 135 miles. In 2009, it is a different story. So far this year I only have 1400 miles on the bike. I also have 12.5 hours on the trainer and 72 miles of running. My longest ride this year is 70 miles and that was yesterday.

So except for the running, the data is starting to show a pansy-ish approach to this year. Maybe Dave was right. And then I remembered my goals for the year. You know, less cycling, more cross-training, more time with friends, etc. So I am right on track.

So I decided that at this point I am a self-imposed pansy. I have purposely chosen to take things a little easier this year. It definitely has its rewards. Although I am probably carrying about 10 extra pounds I still have desserts when we go out to dinner. Why? I am not training for anything so who cares about a little extra weight. Another friend, Paul, is backing off the wine consumption to drop a few pounds. A self-imposed pansy like me cannot even grasp that concept.

So there you have it. I am meeting my goals and having a lot of fun in the process. Now if you'll excuse me, I think I'll have french toast for breakfast.

Ciao!