Week In Review: 8/15 - 8/21

Sun 8/15  Disc golf at park near Galloway's house

Mon 8/16  group ride, 23 miles easy

Tue 8/17  track: 1 mile warmup, 4 x 800, cool down. 3 miles total running.

Wed 8/18  4 miles in 39:01 (9:50 pace)

Thu 8/19  17 mile bike ride with Richard

Fri 8/20  off

Sat 8/21  8 miles! Around Mason.

running: 15 miles

biking: 2 hours 37 minutes / 40 miles

Monday Night Ride

Monday night's group ride ended up just being me and Rich, which was fine. We were both on the same page about not wanting to do a whole lot of miles really fast. He's trying to build his base back up. I'm trying to...well, I never had a base to begin with. So I'm just trying to do something aside from running that will help make me stronger. The difference? Rich is 60. I really hope to be in half as good of shape as him when I'm 60.

We headed north on the trail as usual. And turned off at South Lebanon to tackle some small hills on the roads. It went by nicely. It was such a great night for a ride.

Back on the trail we rode side by side again and chatted. We were pretty much talking the entire ride except for the times on the road. Rich is a really cool guy. He's done a lot of different things and knows a lot of interesting people, so always has something to say about most subjects. Topics we touched on: art, marketing, trade show displays, homosexuality, dogs, church, photography, retail, biking, and friends. In no particular order.

And it wasn't over when we got back. Rich went over to UDF and grabbed a 6 pack of Sam Adams Boston Lager and two small bags of pretzel nubs. We went in the bike shop and poured our beers into water bottles. The shape of the bottle made it foam up pretty good, but there was plenty of room in it for the 4 inch head. Then we went back outside and enjoyed our post-ride snacks on the chairs in front of Starbuck's, laughing that Glen was missing out. More talk of photography and music was had while we drank our recovery drink. 

It was 34.6 miles done in almost 2.5 hours. Nice and slow, but still really good. I'm pretty sore today and was so tired this morning when the 6:00 a.m. alarm sounded. Now I've just had the crappiest shake from a place here in Loveland that touts itself as a nutrition store. I thought they were slicing up bananas and crushing nuts to put in my shake in the back room where they were making it. Turns out they were just adding two scoops of powder and hitting "blend".  I feel duped.

Another 8 Miles

Saturday morning, Casey and I ran 8 miles from my house. The run was quite different from last weekend for many reasons. An important and welcomed one was cooler temperatures and a sun that hid behind the clouds the entire time. Another was it wasn't the flat trail. And yet one more was that we took Gu half way through, which helped fuel the last half.

All in all, everything felt good for me. My legs took a few miles to "wake up" and stop hurting. They were just super tight, feeling like there was pressure in them. Once that was over, I just battled the breathing and being weak. Our first 4 miles was completed in 42:02, which was a great pace. The last half was 42:21...still a fine pace. But I really slowed down every time there was a hill. I couldn't talk because I was breathing so hard. I wanted to stop many times. 10:30 should have felt easier.

I probably dwell on it too much, but I hate feeling so weak and I'm really just very mad and in a funk about it right now. It's not like I haven't done this before for crying out loud. This time should be better, I want it to be better. I am not sure what to do. I know improvement always takes time. I guess I'm just not working hard enough.

Bike Ride with Richard

Richard was in town today and posted some notes on facebook to me and Greg about skipping work and going for a bike ride with him. Well, since I work for myself, this was a biking opportunity way too difficult to pass. On top of that, I had to miss spinning (possibly the good music class - I don't know yet) this morning because of a meeting with a fellow Chamber member. I was thinking I'd go for a slow run after work before this jewelry party I am going to, but yay! Bike ride! With a person!

We met at 12:15. Richard had his stepdad's "practice" bike. It looked old and pretty stripped down. It had really old clip-in pedals and he had shoes to go with it. He had never ever worn clip-in shoes, so was a little nervous about that at first. But once he did it and clipped in and out a few times while holding onto the bench, all was good.

We went up the trail starting at a leisurely pace. Then Richard asked what I usually bike at. So we did that - averaging around 16 mph. But I wasn't feeling it today. Monday night we cruised up the trail at 18/19 but 16 felt pretty difficult for some reason today. Oh well, at least tomorrow is a rest day!

It was a good time chatting about triathlons, duathlons, running, biking, Erin's crazy 100 hour work weeks, his new job that is starting Monday, his Ultimate Frisbee league (which is competitive) and Louisville. 17 miles flew by.

On the last stretch, Richard suggested we go hard the last 1.5 miles. I tried. But I just didn't have much in me! I managed to hold 20 mph for a bit, but it was pretty pathetic. After we got back, I had a Tiger's Blood flavored shaved ice. Then I rode back to the studio. It was nice to get in a bike ride, and especially not solo. This week's workouts are pretty much all accounted for... we just have to do the long run this weekend! :)

Wednesday 4

FINALLY! Cooler weather!!!!

4 miles with Casey this morning was OK. I felt like we were moving along at a faster pace than we were. According to my watch, we were holding a 10 minute pace for most of the time. Then our last .2 push brought the average down to 9:52. I'm fine with that, but I was working. The best part was the cooler weather and no humidity. It was so nice to be able to breathe again. I still got winded on the slight hills, but I wasn't wheezing so that was great.

My legs feel good. Hopefully Casey's knee feels better after today with Advil and ice. And then we'll see what the weekend has in store for us. I think I'm going to start doing leg lifts, as a precaution for keeping my knees and hips aligned and happy. Simple little exercise that really seemed to help when I was in PT.

Track Night

We tried out a different track this week - the Sycamore Jr. High track. I'd been there with Fleet Feet running groups before and knew it was very much open to the public. It seemed so small compared to Mason. Only 6 lanes instead of 8, and the surface was a black old style one, probably part asphalt and part tires?

Tonight's crew was me, Greg, Roman, Erin, Christen and Christen's friend Paige. Shaun was absent. He's doing a 50K race this weekend. Crazy.

Anyway, we warmed up for a mile. There were some kids streaming onto the field, playing football and soccer and cheerleading/dance kind of stuff. There were also a lot of adults streaming onto the track. I figured there would be some Fleet Feet training groups going on. It got crowded quick. Unfortunately, there was no track etiquette followed whatsoever. Walkers just chose lanes and went along not paying any attention to what was going on around them. There were groups 3 to 4 abreast starting in lane 1 to lane 4. On a 6 lane track that had about 20-25 people going around it. Ug. I got to witness some crabby lady who was walking in lane 1 complain about Greg and Roman passing her. Right after they went by her, she haughtily started throwing her elbows around while complaining, as if to say she'd elbow them next time...and I passed her (on the left) at the same time as she was doing this. Crazy lady. It reminded me of the cars that drive 35 mph at an angle across the Meijer parking lot and then give you a dirty look and throw their arms up in the air when they have to stop in order to not hit you as you properly travel down the marked lane. Oy, people. Maybe I should make up some track etiquette flyers for next time. I would have thought the Fleet Feet coaches would have told them about lane speeds, but I guess not. We all had bad experiences this evening with these people, who clearly owned the track tonight. Next time we all decided we'd just start yelling "track!" and push when they don't move :)

Anyway, the workout was overshadowed by stupid people, but I still had a good run. I did 4 x 800, so ran a total of 3 miles. :)  The first 800 was a little quick, at 4:07. Then the next two were 4:17. Last was 4:20. I'm happy with it, given the unfortunate distractions the entire time.

Back on the Road, er Trail

It's been weeks since I've been on my road bike. Well, I guess since the Caesar's Creek duathlon - so about a month. I have noticed my fitness lacking since I haven't been on the bike as much. So, it was time to get back into it. 

I took one spinning class last week but that's it. So I wanted to ease back into it and not hurt my knee, which seems to complain while I'm on the bike. I think it's mostly because I don't ride enough and then all of the sudden do 35 miles with hills. A little shocking to the system. 

I talked to Rich at the shop and he was fine with just doing 20. I was prepared to drop off when I needed to and let them continue the ride they wanted. But Rich also wasn't up for a very long ride. He was on vacation last week and just doesn't have the base right now, so didn't want to go really far. So at South Lebanon, we parted. Glen went out to do hills on the roads while Rich and I turned around for an easy cruise back to the shop.

Now that it was just two of us, we road side by side and chatted the entire way back. That's the most I've ever talked while on a bike ride. I've been out with just Rich before on the roads after we dropped Glen and his teenage son, but it was roads and we usually couldn't ride side by side. The 11 miles back went by in an instant. We chatted about bike laws, crazy drivers and accidents that have happened to people Rich knows recently. We talked about ideas for campaigns that would help educate people and make this city into a more bike-friendly city (if that even really exists) and how companies like Trek could help. Then we talked about art and music. He's an artist, composer and adjunct professor at the Art Academy. It's pretty neat- he writes music and then does art representing the piece visually (website). Rich is a pretty cool guy and I really enjoy listening to him. He just turned 60 over the weekend...I hope I'm riding like he is when I'm 60. 

Once back to Branch Hill, we played in a little bit of traffic again and got back to the store. 23 miles total, and they were at a really easy pace. I think we averaged 15 mph. Perfect "get back into it" ride. I stretched last night and this morning and feel pretty good.