I'm gearing up - literally gearing up - for the 2009 Accenture Triathlon... with a bag of ice on my leg.
The story is that @JasonMuelver just finished walking me through my first bike rebuild thursday night after my derailleur cage exploded on a trail in Rochester, MN (it was friggin hilarious... except that I was 11 miles out).
A little thought and consultation with Jason led to me making the hefty investment of buying all new hardware for the bike, and saving up for a frame later on, maybe next year. After 2-3 weeks of online purchases and waiting for shipments I have built a badass hodgepodge of new and used hardware. Dura-Ace 10-speed shifters, brakes, and deraileurs, a 10-speed ultegra cassette (12-25), Shimano R-700 compact cranks (34/50), a whipperman chain, and a smorgasboard of cables from Performace Bike on Halsted and Diversey in Chicago. Of course it's all on my shitbox specialized frame form 2007 which has nasty scars and bends from the FedEx nightmare. Thanks to @MikePilat and for the use of his living room, while I was taking care of his cat.
Finally after weeks of feeling fat I got back on the bike and was reminded that I am human and I have atrophied a bit. I made intentions to make it a brick, and during the run i felt so slow and heavy and useless.. at about 0.7 miles i had this strange twisting pain run up from my knee to my hip... it's the old iliotibial band pain again. Hurt REALLY bad. Guess I have to finally get on the damn foam roller.
... and here we are. I feel confident in the water but I have to train rigorously for the next month.
