Les Impressions -- Part Deux

Sitting here in the laundromat -- Laverie Automatic -- it is a Thursday night. Typically the homeboys will arrive shortly and blaze up under the no smoking sign. My brother does a bit about smoking in France...

"So you see... the no smoking signs, well, they only apply to the non-smokers..."

Got back in the pool this afternoon for another four grand -- 65 minutes this time -- with 150 to go I ran into the female equivalent of the pull-boy-racer. She pushed off when I was 2m off the wall, heading into my flip turn. I'd been swimming in the lane for an hour! She is absolutely nailing her breaststroke and moving quite well. I pull out to the middle to pass and, I swear, she started clawing me. I slowed down to stay side by side until she loaded up -- one final grab at my ankle then I was away. Pool Wars -- I tell ya!

France seems to be closed a lot. Store hours are a bit of a challenge but we're learning to work the system. We're fortunate in that the government "allows" the stores to open on a few Sunday's in December. They do have a great country but I wonder if that's the best way to go about protecting it.

We have figured out that most everyone is working from 2pm to 3:30pm on weekdays. That's when we swim!

Le TP -- the market where we shop sells pink TP. I bought it but M never really got used to it. So now we have his & her TP -- mine's pink.

Lattes -- Does the word "latte" sound French to you? Well, it sure does to me and I can't find one anywhere. There's no shortage of good coffee but there is a dire shortage of Venti Non-Fat Lattes. I'm sating my thirst with a few "grande cremes" each day. Coffee you feel, bay-bee.

France is a great place to live and train -- we're really enjoying ourselves. Every day is an adventure for us -- we spent a few hours searching for chain-lube. In the end we settled for WD-40 and a bike rag.

Had an interesting conversation with our host when we arrived. He was talking about training and living in Brazil -- he'd been there a few times.

What I really like about that country is that everything is possible. Each
time I come back, progress & development. They are moving ahead.
Much different than here.

When I asked him what it was like here. He said that everything was decided and that while most people live well, there's no point in trying to get ahead. That struck me as a bit sad -- a young, educated, guy telling me that there was no point in trying to succeed in business because what's the point?

M thinks it's like that a lot of places. She's right. There are a lot of governments that like to follow a policy of moving their country forward by legislating everyone's right to work less.

M and I are having our "date night" here at the Auto-Lave. It is not the most conventional life but it works for us. Sitting in front of our computers -- she's sorting rental cars for New Zealand -- I'm writing you then emails. A friend of mine had someone comment that she was jealous that he had so much time to train.

He replied...

Ahhhh, yes training volume. At first glance, it just looks like I have lots of time to train. Actually, my training hours are difficult for me to find. I have to make some clear decisions to find time to ride big volume.

To find training hours, I have started my work day at 3:00 or 4:00am, each day, seven days a week, for five years. Then I work into the night, seven days a week. I don't go out at night, I don't drink and I eat with recovery in mind each meal, all day long. That's what it took for me to go from a 13hr Ironman to a 10:20 Kona qualifier. That type of schedule is not easy and is not for everybody.

I know my competition is doing everything they can. So I made the decision to do what it takes over doing what I want. I simply made my lifestyle match my goals
without sacrificing my family or my work (50hr/wks). It's that, or re-evaluate my goals.

I find that most athletes have more time to train than they think. It takes some searching, but if we cut out things like TV, surfing the internet, etc, it is there. Most of us can eat with higher quality. Most of us can improve recovery through flexibility and stretching programs. Most of us can find the time to do more little things that add up to the difference between "very good" and "elite".

He is another guy that understands what matters.

The boys just arrived and fired up straight under the sign. Gotta love this place!