Back In the Saddle Again 

Well... I've officially gotten back to my training regiment. At the end of last season I ended up with a annoying tendon pull in my right leg which really hampered my running considerably, and didn't help my biking. I would wait a week, then try to run again and then re-aggravate it, wait a week, re-aggravate, etc. Finally I called myself a moron and gave it a long rest. The season was over... why was I trying to hurt myself?

As it turns out, giving yourself a rest is very addictive. I probably laid off my training longer than I needed to simply because I got used to not doing anything. With my work schedule being nuts at the end of the year among other things, I got out of a very good habit, which I previously had.

Finally on Tuesday I put my bike on the trainer that I have and started getting back to it. I've since been on for two very good workouts, and I'm happy to say that while I can feel I'm not at my top form, I'm also not hurting in the morning, which I was expecting.

I've also pretty much made up my mind to fly out to California at the end of August to do the Santa Barbara Triathlon. It will be the longest race I've done to date, and so I really need to get myself in decent form so as not to embarrass myself in front of the family. Speaking of which, if anyone can recommend a good bike case to take on an airplane, I'd love to hear about it. I've been investigating several which I've bookmarked in del.icio.us, but am unsure of whether I want a hard case (max protection but heavy) or a good padded soft case (lighter, but unsure of how well it protects).