Decisions Decisions...

I've never really been great at making decisions, especially big ones. I tend to research things out and try and make the best decision based on that. Other times, I (like many others) like the comfort of my trusted friends opinion. But there are just some decisions that just need to be made on your own. 


I bought a new bike yesterday, it was a big decision. I had a budget but I also had a few things the bike 'needs' to have for me to buy it. I am not nor have I ever had a big tolerance for bargain shopping or going from store to store to find a good deal. I usually have my stores that I'm loyal to, and when I need something I just go pick it up. If I were back in the states, I would have gone to the tri shop and one other store that I know and trusted and picked a bike from one of those places. Here is Korea, there is many shops, but I think compared to my old bike shop, they have a minimal selection. For example, the first shop I went to only had 1 bike that fit what I was looking for, and it was just a bit outside of my price range. Luckily, someone helped me find another shop with a bit bigger selection, at least online they looked like they had a bigger selection. I went there to find the bikes I saw online (the discounted 2011 models) were all too big for me. And if there is one thing I've learned in the last few weeks, it's size is the #1 factor in bike buying! They had some 2012 models that fit was I was looking for - carbon, min of 105's or equivalent from a different brand for components. Then it came down to fit. Out of all they had, there was just 1. They were able to discount it to the high end of my budget, it is full carbon and it has 105's. It really did fit just what I wanted. So I bought it. It only took about 2 min of looking at it to hand over my deposit. Why bother going to another 2-3 stores... I might save $100 (yes I get it, $100 can be a lot of money) but when you have to travel 1.5hrs each way(+subway time) and pay $10 (+subway money) a trip to get to/from Seoul, it comes down to the fact that my time is worth more to me then that $100 I might save, and who know's I might end up back at the same shop a few days later to buy the bike anyway. So I made a big decision, without the support of friends! 


Now I have another one to make... I have been training for this Ironman 70.3 in Taiwan. I haven't been cycle training though, since the last 4 weeks or so I've been playing phone-tag with the insurance company and slowly working towards settling. And prior to that, I have off the bike just to recover from my last Ironman 70.3, so I'm about 9 weeks away from the race and have to start fresh on cycling. This worries me, as I had a lot of improvements to make. With my running slowly improving, I think I might have picked a race that is just too soon for the improvement I'm expecting to make. So at this point, I am considering my options... I could postpone my next 70.3 till 2012, and then train for a December marathon. This way, I can have a solid running base and keep up some swimming and cycling, but have my focus be on running improvement. Or I could do the 70.3 give it all I have over the next 9 weeks and hope to shave 30min off my time (vs. the min 1hr I am aiming for). At this point I'm leaning toward the marathon. Either way, both are great tests of my strength and commitment to endurance events. Both are races I've done before and have not been satisfied with my times. While I'm out enjoying my new wheels and doing some running this weekend, I'll be making a final decision about which event to do. 

Accident Resolved!

Just a bit of good news to pass along! My accident has been resolved. I settled with the insurance company yesterday. I believe the amount I received was very fair, it was just a tad bit more then I had lost in total as a result from the accident. Although, money is nice, so I can get a new bike and return to my training, it can never take away the fact that I was hit by a car while cycling. A painful and traumatic experience that I wouldn't wish upon anyone. I thought I was a careful cyclist before, but now I will be extra cautious. It is unfortunate, that due to the accident I missed out on a once in a life-time bike trip and a good friends going away party, but I suppose the most important thing was that I was not seriously injured. ....and at least it gave me the chance to slow down and check out Thailand, which was completely unforgettable! 

The training continues... without a good bike

I'm just rounding out my week of training, on today's schedule is a 1.5hr run in zone 2 (with surges into Z3). This seems to be my standard run during this phase of my training, regarding the HR Zones, the time varies a bit. I just gave my friends blog a quick read, she live in MI and is training for her first Marathon, reading her blog reminded me of time I ran with her and running in MI. One great thing about that state were the 100's of miles of running trails. Here in my tiny city, I can run the perimeter in 5miles, so I tend to run the same route my attempt to change it up involves doing an out and back vs. a circle. I'm really looking forward to moving out of this city.  I have 4 months left in my contract... that's 4 more months of miles on my own. The most exciting thing I can do is run on the roads and find new routes. The sidewalks in Korea are made of bricks, so they aren't ideal for running. It's best to stick to the bike path or the roads. As I've learned the hard way, the roads aren't the safest place to be. Nonetheless, this evening I'll set off to complete my 1.5hr run, maybe thinking about the trails in MI, or my old trials in TX... and try and avoid starring at the massive spiders that line the trail in Anseong. 

This week is my biggest week so far in this training plan. I've got 10.5hrs schedule between running, biking, and swimming. I don't have any weight sessions schedule, so I'll add a few in on my own. My swims have just passed the 3k mark, I'm really looking forward to them! 

I finally have a meeting scheduled with the insurance company, it's Tuesday. From what I've been told, it should go something like this: here is our offer xxxxxxx; I'll either agree or disagree, possible make a counter offer, and see if an agreement can be reached. I would like to reach an agreement. I really need to get back on the bike (on a good bike). Keep your fingers crossed the offer given is something I can agree with. If it's not, I'll have to look into what the next steps are... assuming it will involve me taking the insurance company to court. I really don't want to waste my time and energy on that, so I am really hoping that the insurance company will settle at a good price with me and I'll have enough money to fix/replace my old bike. :)

Another stamp in my passport - THAILAND!

With the bike accident, I now have 3 weeks off work and no plans! Cycling the West coast is out... and Thailand is in! I booked my flight on Wednesday and was off to foreign land on Sunday. I was only able to book 15 days since I booked it so close to the travel time, flights back were sold out or very expensive. So I had 2 weeks to do whatever I wanted in this great place! I was flying in and out of Bangkok. I had read the Lonely Planet and had a game plan: 1 day in Bangkok, night train down to the south and boat to islands on the East coast (the Gulf of Thailand) island hop a bit then head over to the West side and island hop a bit more before heading back to Bangkok for my flight. Bangkok was a cool place, a bit dirty though. I stayed on Khao San Road, which is known for being a backpackers haven. I met a group of people who were from Africa, hung out with them for the night! It was a fun time. The next morning, I was up pretty early for a run around Bangkok, then was off to see some sights and would need to be at the train station by 6pm for my train! I waited to book the train until I arrived in Thailand, and it was much cheaper then booking it online. It was very quick and easy to book all my travel (boats, taxi's, trains) on the go! 
By midday of day 2, I had arrived on Ko Samui! I decided to stay here for one night! It was beautiful. I made sure to get a massage and enjoy the beach. I booked the afternoon boat over to Ko Phangan, which for me was a little more my style for an island. I made my first stop a place called "Backpackers Thailand" a place run by someone from Austrailia, asked a few questions about the island and met some people who were there and had the same idea as me. The 3 of us shared a cab up to Hat Yao, the place that was recommended as one of the islands best beaches! I was very pleased with this recommendation! After locating a good place to stay, the first thing I did was head down to the beach and get in a swim!! I ended up spending 4 days on this island. It was so much fun! 
The first night I had a dinner with my new friends, the following day I did a tour that involved: elephant ride, crocodile show, a temple, hiking to a view point, a waterfall, lunch, seeing a beach, walking to an island, and snorkelling! It was a great tour!!! The next day was my relaxing day, I read and soaked up the sun, I also rented  a kayak and explored some of the other beaches, I had dinner at the Night Market, I had to take a cab there, was able to take a motorcycle taxi on the way back! Very cool way to travel. The night market had great authentic Thai food, for very very cheap! The following day I made the transition to my next island - Ko Tao! This island is very tiny, 21km in diameter, I could run the whole thing and it would be a 1/2 marathon! Now if only it wasn't covered in rain-forest, then I could have run it! Instead of running around the island, I ran on the beach I was staying on, took a scooter on the island road, checked out most all the beaches, hiked up to 2 different view points, and did one AWESOME tour!!! The tour was really great, I spent my morning abseiling down about 30meters on a rock that was about 300meters up on a mountain top! It was very nerve-racking the first go-around. 

After the abseiling, we went to another rock and began climbing, then over to one more rock to climb again! The afternoon part was postponed to the next day, since we had a quick rain and the zip line was too wet to use. I spent my afternoon on the motorbike! The next day, the tour finished off with a boat trip to one of the top 10 beaches in the world, doing an island to island zip line, hiking up to a great viewpoint, and snorkelling!! It was great! I watched a near-perfect sunset, and boarded the night boat to make my way to Krabi! 
Krabi is the town on the west side of the country, it's home to Ao Nang and Railey beaches! I found a great little bungalow on Ao Nang, right on the beach and it even had hot water (a luxury you have to pay extra for in Thailand, I was able to find a place that didn't change extra for it!). I made this place my home for the time I was on the West Coast. I lined up activities for the days I was there. Rocking climbing at Railey beach, great limestone massive rocks, and it's known to be one of the best places in the world to climb! I did a boat tour of 3 different islands, it included snokelling, and seeing a really cool looking cave, one of the beaches we was was the beach where the movie "The Beach" was filmed. 

The next day was a kayaking cave tour, we toured 4 caves via kayak, then did a walk through the rain-forest and saw a wonderful waterfall. While here, I also rented a scooter, explored a few beaches, and had a fun dinner with my friends from Seoul! Finally, I had to make my way back to Bangkok, spend a few hours there seeing the 'weekend market' and mailed a few things to the states. Then I was off to the airport to make my way back to Seoul! I met a ton of people on this trip from all over the world! It was an amazing experience!!! I cannot wait to set sail and add a few more stamps to my passport! 

Car + Bike = Bad News

So I'm quite excited to be working with a coach now, my first week of training was complete, it was all HR tests and speed tests... now I'm on the the actual training. I set of Saturday morning for my 1:20hr spinning ride, and I was about 1:10hr into and I was thinking about being home, I was quite bored with my ride, and didn't really like the route I had picked. I was near downtown Anseong, and crossing an intersection when a car from the other side decided not to stop. I was more then 1/2way across the intersection and did what I could (slow down and turn left!) to avoid meeting the car's grill.... it wasn't enough, I ended up being hit by the car anyway. I was a bit shocked it happened. I jumped up as soon as it happened to make sure the guy driving didn't leave. I looked at my bike, front tire was completely bent! I was so angry! I called my co-teacher right away to have her talk to the guy, I didn't want to him drive away and leave me with a broken bike, stranded. Luckily, as I was calling my co-teacher, a police officer pulled up. I had my co-teacher talk with him. She and another co-worker were on their way. Even though it was Saturday morning, the school was still open, classes are still going on... ick! The police office kept asking me if I needed to go to the hospital, I said I was ok... they were all very concerned about all the blood coming from my elbow. It was dripping... a bit gross, but it wasn't a bad cut. After about 10min my co-teacher and co-worker showed up, they all insisted I go to the hospital and at least get x-rays, so I went. They took my bike to an impound place, I assume they gave the driver a ticket (but who knows), they said I would hear from the insurance company soon. By the time I finished at the hospital (only about 30min they are quick here), I had received a text from the insurance company with their phone number and a case number. After I got home, I showered and relaxed, I started to feel some pain, mainly just aches. I did feel dizzy when I was standing, my ears were ringing, my head hurt, and I was nauseous. All signs of a concussion.... so after a few hours of trying to relax, I decided to go back to the hospital. HA! This is how much of a JOKE the hospital in my city is... 1st, they never once asked about my head the first time I was there. Then when I go back to tell them all my symptoms, the one thing they care about the most is that I'm nauseous, and they give me a shot and some medicine for digestion.... idiots!!!! They said if my head still hurt on Monday they would give me a CT scan. Good thing I've had a concussion before and I'm not an idiot... I spent the rest of my day watching some movies with a friend who offered to come over and chill out with me. It was very nice of her! She cooked some soup for me too! :) The next day, I was sore... very sore!!! I spent the day just relaxing, I talked to my coteacher, she said to just take Monday off school. My head was feeling much better but my back was really hurting. I was using ice and heat to help ease the pain. I went back to see the doctor on Tuesday morning, he told me I should take 2 weeks off from working out... I thought to myself, they guy is crazy. He is not a sports doctor and he doesn't have a clue how my body functions. I probably could have run as soon as Wednesday, if not run, for sure swim, but I 1/2 listened to the doctor. I did my first run on Saturday, just a week after the accident and I felt great. Took it slow and easy, but no problems at all.


After being told to take 2 weeks off, I was upset. Between the time off and my bike being ruined, it was looking like my summer vacation was going to suck! While roof-top tanning, the idea came to me about going away, just lounging on a nice beach somewhere. FAR away from Korea! Perfect idea... I looked up plane tickets online, and within about 24hours I had booked a flight to Thailand. I would leave on Sunday. I had something to look forward to now, a new place to run and swim, plus tan, relax, read, and do some fun activities!!! 


Within a few days I was feeling back to normal. I elbow still hurt a bit, and my bruises were still there to remind me of the accident. They were big and ugly on my legs and arms. They were there for about a week. Now the biggest stress, dealing with an insurance company to get my bike paid for. UGH!


The insurance company so far has worked quickly. Within a few days they had an offer to me, they said the accident was 60% their clients fault and 40% my fault, ha! They offered to pay 100% of my medical costs, but would only pay 60% of the bike repair costs. I think that this has to be a joke or a nightmare. Not a chance in the world am I going to come out of pocket... If I hadn't slowed down and turned (which is why I assume they think it's partly my fault) they I could be dead, I sure as heck wouldn't have gotten away with just a few bruises. These people are crazy!!!!! At this point, I am refusing their tiny offer. I am just waiting to hear from them again. I am very anxious to get a new bike and get back out there. Hopefully this will end well and soon!