Roger that!
So I never anticipated being able to prepare for an hour record attempt by myself. I figured I would do the basic road prep to build the foundation, do the technical research and the basic logistics. The final build would require someone with actual experience to get my body ready to make this happen, I must say I am a lucky guy. My coach Roger Young has real world experience prepping a few athletes for successful hour records (world & national), as well as decades of coaching experience, as a matter of fact you would be hard pressed to find another guy in America with the same level of track coaching experience. Additionally Roger has coached me to 11 medals at track nationals in the last 3 years (9 masters and 2 elite) along with 2 national jerseys/championships, so the guy has a basic idea of how my body and brain work.
That being said you still feel a bit awkward telling someone you want do go for an hour record (back to the laugh out loud thing), but it was time to get the 411 and see how it goes.
Me: “So Rog, uh, I am thinking I want to go for an hour record.”
Roger: “Really? Sounds like a good idea” (hmm, no laughter, good start), “world record?”
Me: “Nah national record, the world record just got pushed out to 48k. When would I want to jump back on the track?”
Roger (without hesitation): “10 weeks out, figure out when you are going for it and back it up 10 weeks, race a road season till then.”
Me: “Cool, so I guess that is settled.”
Roger: “Oh yeah, one more thing. I got to ask you one thing: you know this is going to hurt more than anything you have ever done right?”
Me: “Well, yeah, I mean, I kind of sort of anticipated that. As a matter of fact that is exactly what I am looking for, I want to do something with meaning for my 40th.”
Roger: “Well every guy I have seen do this, tells me afterwards it was the hardest thing they have ever done, even more so than they though it would. They can hardly stand up for 30 minutes afterwards.”
Roger: “So you are sure you want to do it?”
Me: “Yep”
There it was, the plan was in action. And hell yeah, told one more person without them laughing at me!