CABO!

The view from the beach looking up.  Our place is the one with the negative edge pool.

The ocean

Keith and Kirk contemplating going in to save Terry.

Waves are really high.

One of the views off the patio

Another, this one from the hot tub

Looking towards the beach.

Looking out the living room

More views.

The negative edge pool

Outside

The living room

The kitchen before we started using it.

I took a lot of pictures of the views

I'm on a Calvin and Hobbes kick right now.

I want my blood back!

I thought for a second that I was going to die on the first interval this morning.  The warm up went fine but 1 minute into the first pull I was really in distress.  I reached the end of it far short of where I would have liked to have been distance-wise.

The second, third, and forth were far more comfortable but still painful when compared to previous weeks.

I got stuck at a couple of bad lights and my time in was 1:08:29 which is less than a 20 mph average but still not bad.

I was going to call but there was no number and I left my cell at home so I jumped.

Actual sign on the Golden Gate

United Blood Services

I gave blood today.  I like giving blood, it makes me feel like I'm doing something good for the world.

I've given 11 times.  I am a power red donor which means that I give a pint of red blood as opposed to a pint of whole blood.  In a traditional blood donation, donors give whole blood—which consists of red cells, plasma and platelets. With the automated process called double red cell donation, donors can give just red cells—but two units of red cells—and that’s the component of blood that is in the greatest demand.

Before you give blood they take your red blood count.  It's a measure of how much iron is in your blood.  Mine usually runs in the high 40s.  I've actually measured a 49% once which I think is an automatic flag for blood doping. 

I have always wondered how giving blood should affect physical performance.  An average human male has between 8 and 10 units (a pint more or less) of blood.  I'm shorter than average so let's say I have 8 pints (1 gallon) of blood in my body.  At 50% red blood that means I have 4 pints of red blood.  If I donate 2 pints of red blood I should really kill my body's ability to move oxygen through my blood.  I've never been able to test my math until today.

Finally, after asking again and again, they took my iron level AFTER they took my blood as well as before.  My measurement before giving was 43.5% and after if was 39.3%, a drop of 4.2 or 10%.  Not exactly the dramatic 50% reduction I was counting on.  We'll see later today and tomorrow if I feel the effects.

NOTE TO UNITED BLOOD SERVICES - Here are some ways that you can make life easier for people donating blood. 

1.  When someone makes a 9:00 appointment, get them into the interview room at 9:00 am. 
2.  When you schedule someone for a dual RBC, have a machine available for them.
3.  Figure out a way to make the blood donation tax deductible.
4.  Make the room comfortable instead of the 65 degrees that it always seems to be.

At least it's digital now

 

Ken figured out how to take pictures with my phone

Now I have a memory card full of dinosaurs and I can't bring myself to
delete them.

Road Rage Prosecution

http://www.velonews.com/article/99128/california-road-rage-case-heads-for-court

Here's a story about how an asshole named Dr. Christopher T. Thompson is going to be prosecuted for trying to kill a cyclist with his car.

It's too bad that California District Attorney Steve Cooley mailto:info@stevecooley.com didn't feel the case was a winner the first time "Dr." Thompson was accused of similar behavior.

"Dr." Thompson should be stripped of his license to practice medicine. What fucking part about "first, do no harm" don't you get?

I bet the cowardly Steve Cooley, esq. has a great conviction record. That's what happens when you don't take the "winner" cases. It also means a whole bunch of people get away with murder.

Dark and Stormy

I got all set to leave this morning when I looked outside and it was still dark out.

I haven't put any lights on my new bike yet so I put it in the back of my car and figured I'd drive over to Mike's house and we could ride from there.

Then I looked at the ground and saw it was soaked.

Then I felt the rain drops.

Crap.

Biggest Loser

I'm a fan of the show "The Biggest Loser". Note to the producers of the show. I refuse to watch the show live because of the stupid commercial breaks. I TIVO it first and I can get through a two-hour episode in about 45 minutes.

A slight injury

Yesterday riding home I felt a bit of discomfort as I rode. The seams of my shorts were rubbing me a bit. I ignored it on the ride but when I got home and jumped in the shower I noticed that I had been rubbed rather raw. When the hot water hit me I wanted to scream and jump out of my skin. The pain subsided and that was pretty much the end of it.

This morning I went out for an hour run. I could feel my shorts rubbing me and my legs rubbing which brought about the same pain. When I got home I was about to jump into the shower and I saw blood running down the inside of my thigh. The hair on my legs had rubbed me completely raw. Yuck. And painful.

I picked up a bunch of antibiotic cream with pain killer. I have to ride tomorrow so we'll see how that goes. I think I'll get up a little early and adjust the angle of the seat as well.

Cute story from my first Ironman

I was almost done with my second of three laps of the run course in April 2007. I had just gone through an aid station and my knee was starting to hurt a little bit.

I had been carrying a knee brace with me so I stopped to put it on. I was sitting for a second when a girl came limping/hopping up and sat down on the wall across the running path.

We shared a couple pleasantries and more than a couple not so pleasant comments about how tough the day was. I think she was on her first lap and I was about to reassure her that the day was going to get better when a volunteer came over to her.

He asked if she needed any help. She popped her leg (which turned out to be prosthetic) off just below the knee and handed it to the volunteer. "Do you have some water that you can rinse this off with? There's some sand in there and it's starting to irritate the stump."

I wished the both of them well and hobbled off for my final 8 miles.

An couple of obscenely hot and talented triathletes

http://jennashoemaker.blogspot.com/

http://www.jennyfletcher.com/

Rest Week In Progress

Not a heck of a lot to report. Bike rides very nice. I've been swimming a decent amount.

I just got a pair of underwater headphones. They are OK. Not great but I think they will work better while wearing a swim cap.

Need to get a haircut today after I get home.

Balance

Perhaps you’ve heard that the “average” age-group or amateur Ironman triathlete cycles 300 miles per week, runs 30 miles per week, and swims 10,000 meters per week. And perhaps you’ve heard stories of the year long sabbaticals from work, the neglected families, the ruined marriages and the obsessive lifestyle that results from these insane attempts to maintain a “normal” lifestyle while training for Ironman. And perhaps you've also noticed that the majority of these individuals walk across the finish line and have a complete lack of confidence and preparation for the race, despite giving up their lives to barely even complete the race!

Full article
http://www.trifuel.com/training/triathlon-training/7-key-principles-of-training-for-ironman-with-minimum-time-commitment

Very, very, very sore

My legs are just beat today.

I'm a little concerned because I don't think they should be this bad this late in the season.

This weekend marked the end of the second-to-last month of real training culminating with a 3,000 plus meter swim Friday, 100+ mile ride on Saturday, and a 15+ mile run on Sunday.

The swim was uneventful. I should have gone swimming today but didn't.

The ride was fun. I rode up to Flagstaff and met up with Ken who was up there with his family. We were going to go out around Mormon Lake but they have the road all ripped up on the way so we decided to head north. I figured I needed an easy 20 or so out so that I would get a hundred in when I got back home.

Don't miles 40 - 80 look easy and fun?

Seriously, it was a good time and the hills didn't feel as hard as they look here.

This time on the run I went out north instead of south. I ended up not getting in as many miles as I had hoped but all in all a good run.

I ended up averaging a 9:35 pace over 15.7 miles although I think if I had it to do over I would have pushed through and gotten another 1/4 mile in to make it an even 16.

Rest week now and then a big 3 week push through the finish.

Wish me luck.

Free Speed

When did $2,000 become "free"?

On a side note, I think that I learned in college that the question mark in that sentence belongs inside the quotes. As in "free?" I disagree.

Anyway, I got my new bike yesterday. Very nice. I rode to work this morning. Fastest time from my house until now was 1:06:20. Today I did it in 59:58. I'm sure that I got stopped at the same number of lights.

Kind of a bum

I'm pretty sure I took it kind of easy last week. I ran and rode but I think I missed a day of each.

I just rejoined my gym today. I need to focus myself and prioritize swimming. I don't have a heck of a lot of time left.

I went up to the cabin late. Katie went up on Thursday afternoon. I was going to go up Friday but instead I had dinner with Keith and his family. Then I went back to his house and tried to drink all his scotch. Then for some reason a cigar sounded good.

I wasn't in very good shape at 4:00 am the next morning to go up to Flagstaff. I finally cleaned up the kitchen and left and got up there around 8:30. I left my bike in Phoenix. Kind of an all around crappy Saturday. Had a nice time with Katie Saturday night.

Sunday I did manage to drag myself out of bed for a 15 mile run. I intended it to be flat. Instead I did this little gem:





Pretty nutty with the climb. I actually finished OK. I think we're up in Flag again next week so I'd like to think I'll do OK again. This time shooting for 16 miles. I went South this time on I-17. I think next weekend I'll run North. At least the profile on my rides there looks like it's downhill on the way home. Start with a 250 ft drop over 2 miles then climb 301 feet over 4.5 miles and then pretty flat for 1.5 miles and then back.





Of course the rotten part is the last 2 miles coming back home.





The cool thing on my plate is the bike. I think I've settled on a Scott Plasma 20. A very reasonably priced bike. If TriSports in tucson has the price I want I'll zip down there tomorrow and get it. I'm very excited.

And now the run

13.5 on Sunday. Felt good. A little better than a 10 min/mile pace.

Mike is fine. They kept him overnight at the Mayo Clinic but released him after his stress test.

Here is a longer video of Ken and my Stepdad Bob while we were in Chicago.

I put the hurt on him...

But I didn't intend to send him to the hospital!

Ride started out normal enough. I met Mike and then we picked up Doug along the way. Matt joined up shortly thereafter. We rode up north to Cave Creek road in Carefree and then rode down and intended to go to New River.

I had been careful the entire ride of not letting my HR go above level 2. I was going to try and get a century in at race pace. As we came out of the town of Cave Creek a dark haired very thin guy with shaved legs goes flying past. There was no doubt that Doug was going with him and he flew past me in full chase.

What you need to understand is that if you sit behind someone you use less energy. So I figured that even if Doug was going faster as long as I sat in his draft I could stay around level 2. I jumped on his wheel and Mike and Matt came along.

We were flying through the town when our little peleton almost rear ended a pickup truck that was stopped in an intersection letting someone cross. Matt saw it coming and went around the pickup and accelerated the rest of us had to lock up our brakes.

I raced ahead and as the pickup passed me I jumped behind it into its slipstream and caught Matt in a couple seconds. Mike and Doug were working together pretty well behind and dropped the other rider. The road was turning uphill.

As Doug and Mike caught us I jumped out of the saddle and accelerated. I caught them all off guard and got pretty far ahead before they were able to regroup and reel me in. Just as they caught my wheel I launched another attack and broke free. I stayed on it for a while and then backed down and waited for them. This went on for a while.

There are two possibilities when this back and forth starts to happen. One is that the trailing group gets tired of chasing and lets the breakaway go. The other is that because the group never puts themselves into distress by launching an attack, they eventually tire the attacker out. In this case the latter happened. As they caught me again twords the end of the hill Mike watched me closely and as soon as I shifted to a bigger gear he went around me like a rocket calling me a "F---er!" as he went past. I didn't have enough left to chase him so I just jumped on Doug's wheel and caught him at the top. It was a good time but we'd pay for it later.

About an hour later as we were nearing the end of a long gradual downhill into the wind Mike signalled he was having some trouble. I thought it was a flat but when we stopped he said he was having bad chest pains.

We turned and took a different route to get him close to his house and the Matt went with him pretty much all the way home. The last thing he said to Matt was, "If I tell my wife about this, she's going to make me go to the emergency room.

Doug and I continued on and I ended up getting 90 miles in just about 6 hours. Slow but probably what I should expect. Anyway, when I got home I had a text from Mike that his wife made him go to the emergency room. They admitted him and he's got to get a stress test done tomorrow.

Doctor

Saw Dr. Chamberlain today.

First thing he said was that the hernia doesn't seem any worse than one year ago. Also that it still seems to be only on one side.

He also said that a hernia itself isn't painful so he bet the pain I am feeling is just tendon and muscle pain from training. He prescribed 2400 mg of Advil every day for 6 weeks. I have a follow up with him in three weeks and then I'll schedule the surgery for after the race and before Christmas.

156 pounds

Not bad after a week of doing almost no exercise and not exactly watching my diet.

Hernia... continued...

I had a really great ride yesterday with four hard intervals. Riding tomorrow and Thursday. I hope to be able to keep up the intensity.

I have an appointment to see my doctor about my hernia Friday at 9:45.

I didn't run this morning. I intended on doing so but I got in from Flagstaff a little late. I'm also a little worried as to how my body is going to react. Riding felt great. I didn't notice the hernia at all yesterday.

Speaking of laughing...

Ken climbed into bed with us last night. I admit to indulging this habit of his a bit too much. Anyway, whatever he was dreaming about had him giggling in his sleep at about 2:00 AM. He has the most infectious laugh on the planet. Have a listen if you don't believe me.

Just something to make people laugh

Hernia

I've swum the past couple days. I feel good except for the fact that I don't think my hernia is going to wait until after Thanksgiving. I think that after the weekend I'll make a decision (hopefully that decision won't be made without me).

Didn't weigh myself this morning. Yesterday I was a bit behind schedule and Katie had to be at Paige's school at 6:00 so she picked me up 5 miles from home. I dropped her off at Paige's school and she asked me to go pick up Paige's new glasses.

Now, in fairness I didn't ask her to bring a change of clothes for me but she also didn't think to bring me anything so I was walking around the mall in my cycling outfit. At least I had the kids. Afterwards we stopped at a restaurant where I had two Miller Lites, a couple sliders, and a dozen chicken wings. I'll be a week undoing this damage. :)

First time I ever heard of Ironman

I've always meant to write this story.

I was really young. I must have been in 7th or 8th grade and I was flying to Florida with my family. I was sitting next to this woman who told me all about this race she had just done in Hawaii. Swimming, biking 100 miles, and then running a marathon. She described how people crawl across the line and some people lose control of all their bodily functions while running.

I was hooked. Of course I can't remember exactly when it was, nor can I remember her name. I don't remember what she looked like or anything like that.

I just remember her description of the Ironman.

154 pounds

That was a nice treat this morning.

Also, I managed to drag myself out of bed and swim for the first time in I can't tell you how long. Short time, 20 minutes or so but it felt good. First 5 were a bit tough but I think if I can just keep it up regularly and add 5 minutes or so each time I should be good to go.

I need to check my training schedule against Cabo.

Easy ride into work today. It's a rest week. I think this weekend I might get some LT testing in.

Weekend in review

First the good news. My weight this morning was 155. Down 5 pounds from last Monday. I haven't been starving myself but I have definitely been watching the portion sizes. Plus I've been holding myself to 1 or two miller lite beers at night.

Saturday I joined Doug, Ken, Mike, and Matt on a ride. After some confusion about when and where we were to meet we all got together for a ride out to the west side of Phoenix. Good time, I took my share of turns at the front and kept my heart low the rest of the time.

A little drama at the end. We were fighting a strong crosswind on a long stretch when a jerk in an SUV swerved towards us and honked his horn. I caught up with him at the next gas station and gave him a piece of my mind for about 5 minutes. I was pretty beat up at the end. Mike bailed a few miles before then and I went home. Doug and company had 20 miles or so left.

Sunday I managed to drag myself out of bed and get on the road before 6. The sun was just coming up so the first half of my run went well. The second half was uphill and I found it to be quite uncomfortable.

Saturday afternoon I bought a FuelBelt with water holder on it. Very Very Very nice and comfortable. It holds 4, 8oz bottles of water on it. Much better than the device I was using before. Turned out to be just a touch less than I needed though. I ended up walking the cooldown plus a little extra and finished in just under 10 minute miles.

Tired

My legs are just jelly. Ride home last night went OK. I think I'm used to the heat because it really didn't bother me.

My legs are very tired. I'm fine on the flats but as soon as the road tilts up a bit there's some pain and just a big sense of exhaustion from my thighs.

I didn't run this morning because I'm a little concerned about it. I've pushed through about 7 weeks without a real rest so that might be the cause of it but I don't really feel like I've done THAT much work either.

Latest Facebook entry of Katie's

Katie Edlebeck Petrine 127*F waiting for Paige



We have to ride home in this....

Yet again...

Tuesday night I fixed the the flat tire on my bike and rode to work yesterday. I rode home without incident.

This morning as I got my bike down to ride to work, you guessed it, another flat.

There wasn't time to fix it and drive to Mike's so I just threw my bike in the car and drove over to Mike's house and fixed it there.

Halfway to work that tire went flat. I borrowed a tube from Mike and made it the rest of the way in.

I just checked and the tire is still full. Keeping my fingers crossed it can stay that way for three more hours.

Three COMPLETELY UNRELATED Facts

1. I haven't worked out in two days.

2. I haven't had any beer in two days.

3. I've lost 3 pounds in the past two days.

Two forced rest days

All my big talk yesterday came to a screeching halt when I got home yesterday morning and discovered, you guessed it, another flat. I should have just fixed the tire and rode in to work but as has been my pattern as of late, I just drove in.

Anyway, during the day my legs felt worse and worse. I failed to take an ice bath after my run Sunday and I think that contributed to my pain. As the day went on I felt worse and worse. Climbing a set of stairs really was literally a pain by the end of the day. My shins and calves were definitely injured.

Last night I soaked in a tub for a half hour or so. I had the water so hot that I thought I was having a heart attack. Sweat was just pouring off my head the whole time. Afterwards I gave my shins and calves a good massage and I felt pretty good by the time I went to bed.

This morning I still didn't feel 80% so I stayed in bed an extra hour. I really do feel pretty good right now. I think the next couple days riding and I'll be good to go on Friday for my next run.

Weekend and weight

Was up in Flagstaff again this weekend.

Saturday I rode up to Flag and met Ken up there. We rode up to the top of Snowbowl. Went very easy up the hill. I'd like to say it's because my knee was bothering me. It was but the truth is that my legs feel very sluggish these days. I don't feel like I have tons of strength and speed in them.

Took my old handlebar cam up with me and filmed the descent from the top of the hill. I almost get killed right after I pass Ken and then again at 7:41 I stop paying attention for a second and almost ride off the road.

I went pretty slow down the hill. I didn't / couldn't push it at all on the last mile or I might have at least gotten close to my best time of 10:03. I think I ended up at 10:33.



Sunday was a long run. I have one more week of 2 hour runs until my rest week and then the time starts increasing by 10 minutes / week. I think my three hour run is in Cabo. I'm hoping there's a nice beach to run on.

Just like the ride my legs felt very sluggish. I'm glad to say that my heart and lungs felt very good. I'm hoping all this training at altitude pays off.

I cannot seem to cut weight. In August 2007 I must have lost 15 pounds riding so much after we got back from France. I don't remember for sure but I must have been starving myself as well. I do remember bonking several times on the way home from work.

I'm stuck at 160 right now. I'll go a pound or two above or below but I really seem to be stuck here.

I'm at 89 days right now so I think I have to cut 15 pounds over the next 60 days. That's roughly 900 calories / day or 6,300 / week. That's another 1+ hour of exercise every day or cutting calories or both!

I have said this before, but I really need to get in the pool. If I do that three times / week that should get me about halfway there. I think I'm going to cut beer out except on weekends.

Jeez, did I really just say that?

I can't remember where I heard this, but recently I heard that if you drink a diet drink, 20 minutes later you crave something sweet. This is because your body is fooled into thinking that you just drank sugar so it starts to create insulin. I don't know if I believe this but cutting diet coke out of my diet is probably not the worst thing I can do for myself. Ok, I'm going to add a little food blog and try and keep track of what I eat.

More later

Kind of exhausted

Rode to work today. Feeling rather exhausted. Might hitch a ride part way home with Mike tonight. Supposed to run 7 miles tomorrow and then big rides in Flagstaff on Friday and Saturday.

Did I mention I'm a bit tired?

Cute story

I can't remember the last time I had a flat tire.

I used to get them all the time. I couldn't go more than 2 rides without one. When I started riding in Flagstaff that went down to one ride. There are these tiny, tiny wires on the road that are the remnants of truck tires when they shred. They are like little needles and a bike tire is a magnet for them.

I switched to Continental Gatorskin tires and Performance puncture resistant tubes. That was a couple years ago and I have had maybe one flat since then.

Oh, wait. Mike (the guy I carpool with) suggested that I do Ironman last November with lighter and faster tires and tubes. I did so without incident. Two rides later I got a flat and switched back to the Gatorskins.

Yesterday we drove back from Flagstaff in the morning and I rode to work. When I went to leave; you guessed it, I had a flat. I went to change the tire but at some point I think I loaned my spare to someone and never replaced it so I was stuck waiting for a ride home from work. Fortunately my sister-in-law Vicki works right by here so she picked me up.

I ran this morning and a really nice thing happened. I was on my second recovery jog and I was trying to figure out how I was so close to home. I realized that I only had one more interval left. That's the first time I ever felt good enough to think I had another inverval left in me.

Ankles hurt a bit now.

Sunday Run

After my ride yesterday I checked my training schedule to see where I am supposed to be.


I should be riding 5:00 long rides and my long run should be 1:40 at this point.

I've been running too far. I've been doing 2 hours runs for the past month and I accidently trained through a rest week.

I'm a little tired but I think I can push through another 2 weeks of this until my next rest.

Back to the run. I got up a little late and sat around for a few hours. By the time I got out of the house it was 11:00 am. I ran in some heat and wind but the hills up there are what beat me up the most. Got through it and after an ice bath I am feeling no pain.

Saturday

We went up to Flagstaff this weekend. Saturday I got up and hit the road about 8:00.

I planned to do Snowbowl. I was excited about the ride up because I am back to being able to ride the 20 miles up to flag in under 1 hour and I was able to keep my heartrate in level 1 - 2 the entire trip.

It's another 8 miles or so to the climb. The winds really started to kick up but I was doing fine until I got a couple miles away and saw a sign that said "Road to Snowbowl closed until 11:30". I rode up there to see if it was true and sure enough they had security turning everyone around.

The ride home was a bit tougher into a strong headwind but I think I finished the entire ride in about 3:10.

I know when I've been running enough...

I always like this part of my training when I start losing toe nails.

100 Days... Again!

From Thursday, January 04, 2007:

100 Days and counting....
Where I think I stand with 100 days left to go...

Run: Call me crazy but this has definitely become my favorite discipline. I don't really have any clue how fast I'm going to be able to go after swimming and riding but I think I could run a 1:30 half marathon if I had to.

Bike: What can I say? I love being on the bike still. The long rides are slightly burdensome because of the "have to" aspect to them. Or as Doug put it, "We're not riding with Marc today. We're riding with Marc's heart rate monitor."

Swim: Today I really think for the first time the stroke and the breathing all came together. I think I finally have a stroke that can get me through. It's all about the drills and the speed now.

I'm probably behind on the bike in terms of endurance and fitness but pretty close on strength. I think I'm way ahead of where I was prepping for last year's race. Can't say how I compare on the run though. I certainly had not yet experienced an injury while running then. The thought that I might get hurt hinders my runs.

I was pretty happy to have read that post about the swimming. It means that as bad off as I am right now with the swim that I am ahead of back then. I know that 1:30 is a really slow time but I can live with that. I do need to swim though.

Raining

Weather forecast was for a slight chance of rain this afternoon.

I guess there's still a slight chance that it will rain this afternoon so they might be right. But right now it's pouring out.

I have to remember to eat a handful of redvines before my next ride because that's what I ate yesterday before leaving work and I cut more than 5 minutes from my previous best time. I just pedaled strong the whole way home and felt great the entire time. I even did a nice warm up and cool down.

Not sure what to do today. I'd like to keep this string of workouts going. Maybe if the rain lets up I'll try out my Riptide.

Checking in

Doing well. Probably on track with running and riding. Still haven't spent any time swimming. Time management here is the inhibitor.

Running three times / week. Actually probably actually averaging two. My long runs are up to 12 miles and I'mg getting in another 12 during the week. The ice baths are saving my life I think. So far no unmanageable pain. Another running tip I have picked up is to stay off streets and sidewalks whenever possible. Treadmills and trails are best.

Riding a decent amount. My plan this year is to continue strength rides and climbing until the end of this month and then put the aero bars on and switch the focus to endurance for 60 days. I've climbed Snowbowl 3 times and I think I'll get another 2 - 3 climbs in this year.

I'm a little down because my weight is up. I can't seem to break through below 160 for any length of time. Back in 06 when we got back from France I probably weighed about the same as I do today but within 60 days I had dropped 15 pounds and all I was doing was riding. I don't remember starving myself or cutting out beer. I lost another 10 in the next few months training for my first IM. I think the only thing I'm doing different right now is not swimming so I guess I just have to throw another 3 hours / week of that into the mix and see what happens.

Long Run

Great run this morning. I almost repeated yesterday's non-workout. It was 47 this morning.

Somehow I managed to pull myself out of bed and get out on the road. I swear, back in 2006 & early 2007 I just bounced out of bed to run. Maybe I'm getting old.

I really like the run up here with one caveat; it's 2 miles practically straight down the hill from our place to the freeway. It's tough to run downhill and keep your pulse low. You almost have to work to keep from going fast so you end up going very slow. It's a warm up anyway.

I need to look at the data on my computer to know for sure but after I get to the freeway it's about a 2 mile gradual climb to Schnebly Hill Road. This is the road you can drive on to Sedona. It's not paved but any SUV can make the drive. Anyway, after a mile or so on that the road starts to drop and I'm on that for another mile or so. Then I turn around and go back.

Anyway I really felt great as I turned around and 10 minutes or so later as I got back on the freeway (huge shoulders to run on) I said to myself that I have to make a note of what I ate (2 packages of instant sugar-filled oatmeal, dry) because it was really working for me.

Anyway, I got to the Munds Park exit and then I got to the bottom of the on-ramp and I was about 8 minutes ahead of schedule so I took a little detour down a fire road. Then it hit me: All the fatigue from my legs pounding up and down the hills. Ugh. Just this overwhelming tiredness in my legs. My lungs felt fine but it was a struggle to keep picking up my feet and the whole time I just kept thinking about what was left - 30 minutes of climbing, 10 of it as a cool down.

Anyway, I got there. Iced down my legs and I ended feeling pretty good for the rest of the day. I'm going to run 2 more 12 mile long runs before my next rest week and then take it up 1 mile per week and hopefully get to 20 miles before the race November 22.

Flagstaff

I've ridden Snowbowl the last 3 weeks that we've been up in Munds Park.

This morning I got up and it was 42 degrees out. I gave the finger to the thermometer and went back to bed.

Feeling a little sluggish

It's been a few good weeks for me, workout-wise. I'm finally back in the swing with riding. Running is coming along, not as fast as I hoped, but what else is new for this time of year.

This morning I was carpooling but we had to leave a little late so I got started running around 6:00 am instead of 5:00 am. Normally I get the sun in my eyes on the last mile or two, today it was up and sort of baked my back and head for the first 4 miles so I felt really wiped out at the end and skipped one of my intervals.

Big news! I am now passing on the little I have learned about training to others. I am designing training programs for Keith, Vicki, and Katie for the PF Chang Half Marathon in January. Vicki says Keith is going to run the full. We'll see.

I'm picking up a treadmill for Katie this week. She probably won't be able to get out of the house to run in the mornings and it's too hot in the afternoons. Maybe I'll start a new blog.

Le Tour

http://www.marcstdf.blogspot.com/

I haven't read any of this blog in a while. Good to go back to it as we approach the tour. Stage 18 this year is a TT around Lake Annecy. One of the greatest places on Earth if you ask me.

I was just on the phone with Doug and I talked to Chad this morning. Reminded me of the trip.

Insanely good times!

In case you are wondering, I'm doing a lot of running these days. Riding a few days / week but I need to really start focusing on that. I haven't swum in I can't tell you how long. Chad recommended a product called "Riptide" for distance swimming in a pool. Might have to get one of those.

Katie's out of town on a whitewater rafting trip with her Dad. It's been weird not talking to her for almost a week. My Mom's in town helping with Paige and Ken. She leaves tomorrow and I pick Katie up in Flag either tomorrow night or Sunday.

Better, and worse

I don't mind telling you that I was worried on Friday afternoon. My foot was really swollen and after the doctor poked, prodded, stuck, cut, and drained it; it really hurt that night when the anesthetic wore off.

They changed the antibiotic while waiting for the results to come back. As I said that seemed to solve the problem and things were looking up.

I went in yesterday for what I thought was a quick follow up but the doctor wasn't happy with it and I have now developed a really bad athlete's foot fungus.

She has me doing some other procedures to it and last night it felt just like it felt a week ago Monday. I hope it isn't starting again.

MRSA

Long weekend. Finally got my test results. Definitely MRSA but it isn't resistant to the Bacterium, the latest antibiotic I've tried.

I feel a thousand times better than I felt Friday. I get to wash the foot and then I have to place the corner of a swab in the cut on my foot to keep the wound open while it drains. Yuck.


Anyway, we'll see how long it takes to heal now.

Take the Vicodin early, take the Vicodin often

For the past 5 weeks or so I've been fighting a real bad cold. Seems like I've been getting sick this time of year for the past few years.

Anyway, I finally went to the doctor and after a Z-pack and some steroids I seemed to be getting better.

Then Monday the 2nd I woke up with a sore foot. The foot got worse Tuesday and Wednesday it really hurt so I went to see the Podiatrist. Turns out I had a bad infection. The sliced open my toes to clean it out and wrapped it up.

I've never taken Vicodin before. Wednesday as the anesthetic wore off during the night the pain woke me up so I took one. Not bad. Better than a few Advil. Last night same thing but I ended up taking two.

Today I went in for a follow up visit. The infection has gotten worse, not better so the doc switched my antibiotic. She re-opened the foot and cleaned it out again. Katie's worried that it is MRSA. I'm hoping for the best.

Update

Wow. OK. Seriously I actually used to write in this didn't I.

Let's give you some quick updates and then maybe I'll stick with this.

Escape from Alcatraz June 2007

Tons of FUN!!! Really. Swim was tough! Did a great deal of it on my back. It was cold. Had a blast. Ended up I think with a 3:20 or something like that.

Ironman April 2008

I really screwed up my shins in the fall / winter of 2007. I ended up not running at all and doing very little in terms of riding and swimming. I ended up getting out of the water within moments of my 2007 time. The wind was just as tough as last year but in the right direction this time, at your back while going downhill. Ended up getting off the bike within a couple minutes of my 2007 time.

The run was another story. I got about 1/2 mile when I realized I wasn't going to be able to run and ended walking about 25 of the 26.2 miles. Finished in just under 15 hours. Yuck.

Escape from Alcatraz June 2008

Maybe if I had trained a little I would have enjoyed this more. Ended up jumping in the water late. It was a beautiful day but the water was really choppy. I ended up getting repositioned in the water and just swam the mile from closer to shore. The bike and run stunk and I ended up with a 3:35 I think.

Ironman November 2008

Because April is really tough here, unpredictable winds, heat, etc. they moved the race to November. In 2008 there were two IMAZ races. From now on there will only be IMAZ November.

What can I say? I worked hard, remained mainly injury free and Mother Nature stayed away. With nearly perfect conditions I knocked 5 minutes off the swim, an hour off the bike, and ran just a touch slower to finish with a 12:21. That was a good time.

2009

I am actually signed up for a little Olympic distance in Rocky Point this sprint. I didn't get drawn for Alcatraz but I am registered for IMAZ in November. I recovered from the race in November 2008 pretty well but I really twisted the heck out of my ankle the weekend after the race and 3 months later it isn't completely healed.

I'm looking to start some moderate training again so I hope to keep posting.

thanks for reading.

Marc

Very sore

My legs were as sore yesterday as they have been since April 20th.  There's no damage unlike back then but man, my thighs are beat!

 

Going up North this weekend.  Friends are coming up so I can't bring the bike.  I'd like to get an hour and half run in on Sunday.

5.9 miles and counting

I finally got tired of sitting on my ass and got out there this morning.

 

Little one hour run.  Felt good but my HR was all over the place.

 

Gotta commit to something soon.  Possibilities for 2008 include:

 

1.  PF Changs Rock and Roll Marathon (January)

2.  Death Valley Marathon (February)

3.  IMAZ (April)

4.  IMWI (September)

 

More later...

Can't believe I never finished this blog...

I have a family reunion coming up and a couple people asked me how it went. I completely forgot about this. Well it's only been a little over 60 days.

Some more pics from that night!

Sitting on the dock

Lake openned at 7 yesterday but not until 8 today. Waiting.
Freezing...

Funny morning

This morning they opened Tempe Town Lake for swimming at 7:00 am.  I came into the office at 5:00 to get some work done before heading over.

 

I made coffee and waffles when I got in.  Then I walked over to my desk and took a big sip of my coffee and discovered that I had poured syrup in my coffee cup.  Yes, I also poured coffee all over my waffles.

 

Funny part is I remember thinking to myself as I poured the "syrup" over my waffles, "Boy, the butter sure is melting fast this morning!"

 

It's that kind of focus that's going to make me successful Sunday. :)

 

Swim was fun.  Short but actually kind of tiring.  I really don't get going for 600 yards or so.  I'll do it again tomorrow.

 

I found out my Garmin isn't water proof.  We'll see if it works after it dries. :(

I'm a trainwreck!

In all the advice I've gotten about this thing over the past 6 months, nobody warned me that I was going to be this nevervous / excited with a week left to go.

They don't list Ironman in the top stressful things that can happen to you but in the last three months my dad has died and I've moved. I haven't changed jobs or gotten divorced but it feels like a divorce with all the crap I've been dealing with regarding my Dad's ex-wife.

Slow. But not THAT slow!

This weekend I did a 2.4 mile swim in Lake Pleasant with a couple hundred other people and Ironman hopefuls.  Well, it was billed as a 2.4 mile swim but it only measured 2.26 miles.  I wish I’d had my GPS on me because in the last half mile I ended up swimming from one side of the lane to the other.  Not on purpose mind you but I think it added another .14 miles to the trip.

 

The water was cold.  But it really didn’t bother me at all.  I was more scared and excited than anything else.  I got there way too early!  I was walking around talking to people and I realized that I might be the most out-of-shape person there.  Jeez everybody looked fit! 

 

Anyway, I just sat down in my car and read a book for an hour or so until it was time to go.  We boarded shuttles, wetsuit in hand and went down to the boat launch.  There I put on my body glide and my wetsuit (kudos to me for putting on correctly this time) and walked into the water.  Everywhere people were complaining about the cold but it really didn’t bother me a bit.  My feet went numb pretty quick.  It’s hard to describe the feeling if you’ve never worn a wetsuit in the water.  You can feel the pressure of the water against you but you don’t really feel the water. 

 

Right away I had the same problem as last week; I couldn’t breathe in the water.  My chest tightened up instantly.  I guess that is to be expected since this was the second time in my life really that I’ve been in this kind of situation.  I dog paddled out to the start line and did what I’ve been dreading since the first time I read about it.

 

When you have a deep water start, which is when everyone in the race gets in the water ahead of time, you sit there and tread water until the race starts.  This can be up to 15 minutes depending on how early you get in.  I don’t know about you, but treading water is very tiring for me.  So, as I said, I’ve been dreading it.

 

Turns out I’ve been dreading it for no reason at all!  Piece of cake.  I can’t take credit for it though.  My Bat/Wolverine Suit really is buoyant!  All I need to do is move my hands or legs a little and I just sit there and float.  I did a few strokes in the water and all of a sudden I seemed to relax.  7 minutes later the gun went off.

 

I seeded myself at the very back.  This seemed like a good idea but it turns out that maybe it wasn’t.  Some of the people in front of me were much slower than even I was and it turns out that it’s pretty hard to swim around people.  I kept telling myself to go out easy but I think I was going too hard because I pretty much was exhausted after 3 minutes.  The next 15 – 30 minutes I spent switching between freestyle, breast stroke, sweet spot, and even back floating. 

 

The course pretty much a square with quarter to 1/3 mile sides to it.  Until I reached the first turn I thought maybe that I was going to die out there.  After that I figured that I’d get through the first lap and call it a day and then figure out what to do about the Ironman swim.  As I approached the last leg of the first lap though a funny thing happened, I really think I started to find a groove.  I found myself worrying that I was about to get lapped.  I figured that the good swimmers would do this thing in 50 minutes and it was going to take me 1:45 – 2:00 so I realized that I stood a good chance of getting run over in the water.  I just focused on technique and not speed or cadence.  I realized as I went around the start buoy that I was starting to feel good!

 

That feeling lasted most of the second lap.  I went to my back a couple of times to recharge and I was really doing a good job of sighting.  It’s hard to know where you are going in the water so you have to keep sticking your head up.  I really didn’t have a problem with it.  I made the final turn for home and I was filled with a confidence that I’m not sure I’ve ever felt in water before.

 

That’s when the wheels came off the bus.

 

I sighted a little rock in front of the cove where the finish line was located, put my head down and just stroked.  After a couple minutes I looked up and there was no rock, no cove, no buoy, no nothing.  What the hell?  I had just veered like 45 degrees off course.  I looked back and saw that the people behind me were also swimming in the wrong direction.  I changed direction and swam again.  Must have been a few minutes later I hear this loud splashing by me.  I look up and it’s one of the support people in a kayak warning me that I was WAY off course.  Like 180 degrees off course.  I looked back, and again, the people behind me were also veering in the wrong direction.

 

Now I decided to just keep sighting as I swam.  I think I figured out why I was so off course.  When I went through this particular stretch of water on the first lap the water was very calm.  Now I could see the waves and I could feel the water pushing me around.  I guess as the boat traffic increased during the morning it moved the water.  The problem here is that with all the picking my head out of the water and worrying about speed and stuff my technique really went out the window.  My coach Bill was careful to warn us that on the last third of the swim make sure you don’t lose focus.  I lost focus.  By the time I got it back I was kind of tired.  I swam to the finish and stepped back onto the boat launch ramp.  I talked to some people on the ramp as I made my way up and when I finally reached the top I saw the clock.  It clicked to 1:19.  “That can’t be right.”  I thought.  I must have read it wrong.  It must say 2:19.  I checked.  It said 1:19.  My official finishing time at the bottom of the ramp was 1:18:11.

 

So, that’s a really slow Ironman time.  I know that.  But it’s not the 1:45 I thought it was going to be and it’s not the 2:00 I was afraid it was going to be.  That put me 167 out of 236 finishers and another 27 people didn’t finish.

 

I’m very happy right now.

 

 

What a moron!

In general, I'd say that I think that I'm smarter than I really am.

 

Conversely, people in general seem to think that I'm not as smart as I really am.

 

Lately it seems, people in general know me better than I know myself.

 

This morning I decided to drive to work and then run on the canal by the office.  I got all decked out in my running shoes, shorts, and shirt.  I put my heartrate strap on my chest and even put my phone on the holder on my arm.  All I needed to do was put my headphones in and I could be off.

 

I had a big glass of orange juice and I couldn't hold it, my keys, and my work clothes all at the same time so I put the orange juice on top of Katie's Nissan Armada, her 7 foot tall newly washed and waxed Nissan Armada.  I turned my back and as I went to open my car door I could see in the reflection of my window the orange juice sliding down the roof towards me.

 

So I ended up with a back that was soaked in juice.  Nice.

 

Took me a while to get cleaned up and changed.  Run was fun though.

Can you identify this quote?

This should be agony. I should be a mass of aching muscle, unable to move. And, were I an older man, I surely would... ... but I'm a man of thirty -- of twenty again. The rain on my chest is a baptism -- I'm born again...

Feeling a little better.

Feeling a little better today. I must have had 5 little panic attacks yesterday.

I ran on a treadmill yesterday for the first time. Boring!!! My toe next to my big toe on my right foot is actually a little longer than my big toe. Anyway that nail fell off. Pretty gross.

Anyway, no real pain to speak of so I'm pretty excited about that. I took Paige with me over to the gym and she had a good time in the Kid's Club at LA Fitness.

Checked my body fat % - 10.4%. Down from 13.7% in December or January or whenver I had it last checked.

Swim at lunch today. I'm sure that will go well. I want to try and get a haircut as well. End of the month is coming and I want to keep that New Year's resolution going.

A post I will delete before long...

Fear is not a word that I use to describe how I'm feeling usually but it probably best captures what's going through my head right now. 

 

When this started I said to people, "The only thing I'm not going to be able to say is that I didn't train enough."

 

I didn't train enough.

 

That's what's going through my head right now.  I'm not thinking about the weekends of 5 - 7 hour bike rides and 2 - 3 hour runs; the weeks where I rode or ran for an hour every morning and swam every lunch.  I'm not thinking about the nights when I was so exhausted that I couldn't stay awake late enough to put my daughter to bed.

 

I'm thinking about the 45 minute run and the the 3 1/2 ride I didn't do in December because it was cold and windy.  I'm thinking about the swims I missed at lunch because I was working 80 hours / week in February and March.

 

I'm thinking about my knee.  I'm thinking about the swim.

 

I'm stuck with too many negative thoughts.

 

I need to change the focus.  That's what I'm going to work on.

 

Marc

The water was very cold!!!

I needed a $600.00 state-of-the-art top-of-the-line Zoot Zenith wetsuit. My kid needed a diaper.

Open Water Swim

OK.  Let's rethink this whole thing.

 

It seems like when I bike and run I get faster but every time I do something swimming related I have to push my time out a little more.

 

I put on my wetsuit and went for a swim in Saguaro lake Sunday.  Good time.  It's really freaky if you've never done it.  Anyway it took me a few hundred yards to get comfortable and then it went OK.  I don't think I'm particularly fast though.  No big surprise there.

 

Next week is a 2.4 mile swim in Lake Pleasant.  I guess I'll know what's what then.

 

Ran on Saturday.  Lots of knee pain.  I'm a little concerned here.

Good to go!!!

Yee Ha! I'm good!
I went for a surgical consult this morning. While I do in fact have a hernia the doctor said it would be three years before it will cause me any problems. I asked him if I needed to curtail the training, he said, "Do whatever the hell you want. It's like a pulled muscle."
I'm going to schedule the surgery either right after I get back from vacation in May or maybe mid June.
Anyway. Good to know I'm fine.

What did the doctor say when he saw you?

Same thing he always says, "Wow!" - Sam Malone "Cheers"

Good news! My knees are perfect. No problems, no swelling, nothing rubbing.

I said, "Then why do they hurt so much?"

He replied, "Because the human body wasn't made to run for 3 hours."

Hernia doctor tomorrow. I hope things go as well.

Marc

Some thoughts

"Start slow, arrive early"

From the moment you wake up on race morning, everything you do has an effect on how well you can run the Ironman marathon.

Swim strategy: Seeding is critical. Conserve energy.

Always move!

Bike strategy: Respect the marathon! This is not a bike race!

Ironman begins at mile 90 on the bike.

"An Ironman marathon is 20 miles of hope and 6 miles of reality." - Cam Brown

The marathon begins at the 13 mile mark.

(c) Camelback Coaching - used without permission :)

To Clarify

There is no way that I'm letting a little thing like a tear in the muscles of my abdomen keep me out of this race.

I finally got a wetsuit for God's sake.

I have a surgical consult with a doctor on Friday. I'll know more then.

Injury

On Friday I noticed a little sore spot on my lower abdomen. I didn't pay much attention to it but I did notice it enough on Saturday to draw a little circle around the area that hurt.

I knew what it was immediately. At least I thought I knew. I was afraid that I was wrong and that it was my appendix. It wasn't.

Anyway yesterday I decided that since my knees and my stomach hurt that I would go to the doctor. Diagnosis: Hernia.

Now I have to go get a surgical consult to see if this is something I can wait to fix until after the race and my vacation right after.

Wish me luck.

So let me tell you about my weekend!!

Let's start with the funny part. The part about me not being able to read a calender. For the second time this year I have looked at a calender, and just completely missed something by a day.

So I show up at Saguaro lake, new wetsuit in hand, to do an open water swim (my first) with my swimming coach. After I walk around for a while I looked at my phone/pda and realize that Saturday, March 17 was actually yesterday, Saturday March 17. Nice. I'm such a bonehead.

Don't know if this should be filed under funny, tragic, or lucky: About two hours after I left the area that I was supposed to swim at someone was shot over a pickup football game. I did see a couple guys throwing a football around.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/mesa/articles/0319abrk-FootballShooting0319-ON.html

Now to the cool stuff.

Saturday. 130 mile ride to Coolidge, AZ and back. A little tour of the economically depressed areas of Arizona.

After last weeks successful ride, Doug and I got a little cocky and didn't show this ride the respect it probably deserved. It was very windy going Southeast. Mostly in the face but a bit of a crosswind as well. So we figure, this will be great going home. WRONG! The wind changed direction and we had in in the face for 45 of the 65 miles coming back. Very nice.

It took us about 7 1/2 to complete. Getting hot in Phoenix. Lots of sweat. Drank lots of water and didn't have to make any pit stops on the way home.





Sunday: 3 hour run.

Stopped for 2 minutes to take these pictures.













Hmmmm. I don't think I felt real confident here. My knee had not recovered completely so I wrapped it up so tight that I'm not sure my foot was getting any blood.



The fist 30 minutes went OK. I could feel that the knee wasn't 100% but I decided to keep going. Next hour or so I definitely knew that this run was a mistake. The hour after that was pretty much excruciating pain with every step but then the pain pretty much went away for the last half hour.

Aerobically I felt fantastic! No fatigue, no breathing problems. I actually felt great! Leg hurt a lot! I had to help with Paige's Sunday School class an hour after I got home. That wasn't a whole lot of fun. All standing and sitting and walking and playing. Jeez. I sound like a real wussy.

Result: Better than 10 minute miles but not much better. I wanted to get 20 miles in but I ended up just shy of 19.

So that's pretty much it. This is a rest week. Then a taper. I'm really not sure what's involved there other than I have to get my ass in the water.

As long as my knee heals I'll do OK.

Who's that fat guy?

I was looking at my blog from this summer and I was thinking, "Am I going to look like that a couple months after Ironman or maybe Alcatraz?"

I'm not saying that I'm big in that picture, but you can see some fat under my chin and a bit of a belly that is no longer there. Any fat that used to be on my forearms is gone as well. All you see are a lot of veins.

I'm not sure I'm the healthiest person in the world.

10 - SPEED!!!!!

I may have mentioned in the past that my bike is in rotten shape.

No longer true. Last night I purchased a Dura-ace 10 speed group. Very nice. I wonder how long it will take me to wreck it! :)

33 Days of the Condor

So let me tell you about my AWESOME WEEKEND OF TRAINING!

On Saturday Doug and I set out to go to Wickenburg. It's a little town about 60 miles from my house. Turned out to be 60 to the click! Very cool. 120.5 out and back.

Anyway we took a road that we'd never been on before that far west. It was increadible. 4 lanes, paved, and no stoplights for like 70 miles.

I pulled pretty much the whole way. We crossed the century mark at around 5 1/2 hours which is not too bad for that course. The rest of the ride is pretty much steady uphill and straight. I yelled back to Doug that I wanted to make it home in an hour. A hard 20 mph 1 hour pull is tough enough but doing it after 100 miles seems even tougher. So I hammerred away and even though I never let my pulse stray above level 3 and we stopped to look at my new house, and I slowed the last 4 miles for a 10 minute cool down, we were home in 55 minutes.

We did a 20 minute run after to check nutrician. No problems. I no longer get shin splints there but my achiles tendon bothered me a bit. Need to keep stretching.

Next day was another story.

I was scheduled for a 2:50 run. I got 1:25 away from my house and I started experiencing what can be best described as a little weakness in my right knee. I ran through it and then it started to hurt. By the time I reached my house at 2:50 (I ran slower but it was downhill home) every step seemed like torture. Then I stopped running and immediately my leg felt like it locked up. An awful lot of pain there.

I skipped my Tuesday run. I was hoping to do it today but I'm not 100% yet and my bike isn't quite ride ready. Really need to be healthy for the weekend. 7 hour ride to Florence and back and a 3 hour run on Sunday. Sunday afternoon I'm doing an open water 2.4 mile swim in Saguaro Lake. Water is 50 degrees. I guess I only have a couple days to get a wetsuit.

100th Post

Lent

Back in the early 90's I used to own a bar and pool hall. One of my customers and good friends, Larry Lavorgna, announced in 1990 that he quits drinking and smoking during lent. Now I hadn't given up anything for Lent since 8th grade when my Mom made me give up comic books so I pretty much laughed at him.

By late winter of 1991 I decided that maybe I too needed a break from all the alcohol I was consuming and so I decided to give it up as well. That was what, 16 years ago?

So each year around this time I give up booze for 40 + days and nights. I never allow myself the Sunday or St. Patrick's Day exemptions although I have rescheduled my sobriety for my Brother's bachelor party and my friend Carl's 40th birthday party.

Anyway, Lent started a week and a half ago. I would say that for the first time in years I really miss drinking. Fortunately Easter Sunday is the week before Ironman. I hope I sober for the race. : )

The home stretch...

Today started the final two hard weeks of training. Ken was screaming at 3:00 am this morning so I got up and went out riding early.

I did a big loop and found out that our new house is exactly 4.25 miles further from my office than our current house if I take Cave Creek Road north instead of Tatum. Cave Creek is a busier street most of the time but it has a pretty big bike lane. I was thinking that taking Tatum would be faster but I think the distance is just about the same and you feel like you take your life in your hands every time your ride it and that's when the sun is out. It's kind of creepy to try and ride it at night or in the early morning before sun up.

Swam 2,900 yards at lunch. I really should have eaten first. I think I would feel better if I did. As it was it took me about 1,800 yards to start to feel good in the water. I'm very slow in the water. Don't know if I've mentioned that.

A Great Weekend!!!

Saturday we got out at around 6:00 am. The sun was just starting to come up.

The plan was to ride 125 miles and do Usery Pass, a popular ride in Phoenix if you live on the far east side.

The plan got completely changed after we rode for 20 miles into a nasty headwind and we decided just to change the route. I ended up getting 105 miles in just over the required 6 1/2 hours. That seems like a long time in the saddle but there were red lights and a couple water stops and did I mention the wind?

We were going down 9-mile hill, a stretch of road which usually we can average 30 - 32 mph down. I was barely able to turn 20 mph and as usual nobody really wanted to take the front from me. At one point a truck went past us going the other direction and the wind blast from it felt like a glaucoma test. BOOM!!!

Got home and threw my shoes on for a 20 minute nutrition check/run. No worries. Slight shin splint pain that went away on the way back.

On Sunday I got up and did a 2:30 run. I held an average 9 minute mile pace. For a change no real leg pain either during the run or after. I was tired and sore, don't get me wrong. But usually there's some real healing that is necessary. Sunday I just felt good.

That is until Paige announced that she wanted to go for a hike after church. So I got another 2 miles with her on my shoulders.

Funny story: Last weekend I had just finished a 2:20 minute run. I was in the bathroom weighing myself. I came in at 144. Paige walked in and wanted me to weigh her as well so I picked her up and got back on the scale. She weighs 27 pounds for a total weight of 171 lbs. Paige is pretty skinny. Anyway I started thinking that maybe a year ago I weighted about as much as the two of us. To say nothing of 2000 when I reached my high of 189 lbs. Anyway I was thinking that there was no way I could have run 16 miles with Paige in my arms.