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21 Corners to Heaven

Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008

Basketball was good last night. Actually, my team for the night lost 4 of 5, but hey, what are you going to do. There was a lot of running and gunning, playing full court 4 on 4 with 1 sub. Played for 1.5 hours, so was pretty beat afterward.

Today is without a doubt my favorite part of the Tour. L’Alpe. Can’t be beat. 14km of pur climbing. Average gradient of 7.9%. Brutal, exhilirating. I’ll say it again, but someday I want to ride that beast. Give me a couple of hours and meet me on top with a bottle of vino if you prefer, but someday. Put it near the top of lifetime dreams.

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Le Tour

Tuesday, July 8th, 2008

So I haven’t been too psyched about Le Tour in a couple of years. Call it the let down after LA if you will. But with all the doping allegations, and positive pops, along with not having VS. to watch it on, I just haven’t gotten too pumped about it. But I decided to check it out yesterday, and googled live TdF feed, and found a free streaming site. Wow! What a great stage. You can’t beat a 4 man break that survives on an early, flat stage. And the finish was a mad dash all out sprint for darn near a full 2km. Exciting to say the least. Plus, one of the boys in tin foil (my new team to watch, Garmin/Chipotle) finished 2d, a half wheel off the line.

Even better, I figured out we have VS. on the satelite channels at work, so right now, the first individual TT is going off. Jens Voight is fast. Love hearing Phil and Paul. Best commentary ever. Its great listening to Phil trying to say Chipotle. If you ever saw the Jack in the Box commercial about 5 years back where they introduced som chipotle sandwich, you have the idea. It comes out different every time.

There is an ad running throughout the tv broadcast which slaps Jan, Floyd, and Vino smooth across the face. It has them all going in reverse and finishes with the podium shot of Floyd with the winners jersey coming off (rather than going back on). It is for Take back the Tour which is run by VS. Pretty good idea. And a good reminder that those guys are still amazing on their own, for the most part.

Only real disappointment is that Chipotle changed the jerseys pretty drastically when Garmin became the lead sponsor. Dropping the orange/blue argyle for a blue and black kit, with a small patch of argyle. But what are you going to do?

Went to the Y yesterday and did some stretching and lifting. Was running a bit late, so didn’t get a run in.

This morning I did get out of the house for a run. Put in a strong 4.1 miles in just under 36 minutes. It was a bit steamy outside, but still a great feeling.

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Good Run

Monday, June 23rd, 2008

Finally got back out for a run this weekend, Ran from the house to meet Carrie, G&A at Target for some groceries. Left in the heat of the day around 12 noon. Got in a solid 3.5 miles. Felt really good. Wished I had taken some water with me though as I was extremely parched when I arrived. No pain, and actually had decent time, around 9:15/mile. Can’t wait to get some more miles under the belt.

Also got a short ride to church and back last night for VBS. Felt great coming home around 8:30ish, with the cool breeze of the evening setting in.

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Weekend

Monday, June 2nd, 2008

Had a good weekend. Went to some friends’ house for dinner and swimming Saturday night. Actually, Carrie and the kids swam while I enjoyed a pleasant evening. Finished the day with a 3.1 miler. Didn’t want to get too fired up so close to bed. Good run, missed the heat of the day, but the concrete still had all of the day’s heat stored up and kept the evening fairly warm.

Sunday we rode to church. Actually, I rode about half way before blowing out the front tire. I recently got a new pair of tires for the road bike from performance bike. Kevlar and wire and supposedly great for cut protection. Most of the comments about the tires were good, with an exception of them being excessively narrow. I’ve been running 700×19 lately and really enjoy that width (makes me feel a little faster than I am). But I took heed and ordered 700×25. They are actually narrower than my previous tires, and that led the the blowout. I think I was running them at too high pressure and I noticed after about .75 mile that I was getting a bulge on the front tire. Slowed down and thought the sidewall of the tire had blown, but kept on as we were a tad late. Bulge got bigger and, BANG! Tire blew. Moved the trailer to Carrie’s bike and walked home. Noticed that the side wall was just fine, so the tire must have come unseated from the rim. Definitely have to run lower pressure in them.

Anyway, got the other bike ready to roll and headed off the church. We had a Sunday School picnic afterward and thought it was at one park (south side of town), when in actuality it was at another (north side of town). So we got in an extra 5 miles or so of riding before getting to the picnic. But it really was a great day to ride even though I was in long sleeves and pants.

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Let Me (re)Introduce Myslef

Thursday, May 22nd, 2008

Dear Interwebs,

Hi, I’m back. Been a little while. Life has been hectic. The kiddos are both teething. Abs began actual crawling yesterday. They have decided that a 5:30am snack is a good thing, when in fact it is not. Additionally, we hosted a crawfish boil this past weekend complete with 80 lbs of mudbugs and all the trimmings. Good stuff, but a lot to plan and do, and even harder to do it while juggling the kiddos. Plus work has been super busy.

But I’ve been slowly getting back into the workout routine. Over the last week I’ve clocked 4 runs, a couple of walks, an evening lake paddle, a few weights, and this morning my first swim in, oh about a month. Highlight of exercising was probably the Sunday am bike to church with the kiddos in the trailer. Great fun, even though it was getting fairly warm by the time we headed home. I’m moving for a vote on the appropriateness of shorts in church during the summer months.

I pledge to be more diligent, interwebs, that is after this weekend’s trip to Houston to sweat, sweat, sweat.

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Work-Outs

Wednesday, April 9th, 2008

So I actually went for a run Saturday afternoon. Felt great to be out again. Not pain-free, but definitely not the old pain. Still feeling it in the back of my knee. Had the MRI this morning bright and early. Luckily it was the open air kind and I wasn’t slide into a tube. They even piped in radio over some headphones for me. Not bad at all.

Been to the Y the last 2 days. Yesterday was 30 min of bike followed by 2 X 250M free and 2 X 100M breast. Felt nice, but forced to be back in the water. This afternoon spent lunch at the downtown Y. 20 min on the elliptical and 25 min on the bike. Was going to run outside followed by a swim, but there have been severe storms all day and the pool was closed.

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Change in Attitude

Friday, March 28th, 2008

So I thought about my post yesterday, and decided I needed to suck it up and take advantage of the Y and all it has to offer and embrace the experience. So I decided to drag myself out of bed early this morning and get in a long challenging workout.

Spent 30 min on the elliptical trainer. Did the interval setting and focused on keeping the stride long and fast. Then went over to the bike and spent 20 minutes again on the interval program. Kept the RPM’s high and finished with 6 miles. Finally went to the pool for some laps. Swam 2 X 250M free and 2 X 100M breast with no breaks in between. Used the breast as recovery between the sets of free, and then as a cool down.

Felt good, and I still got in to the office early.

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Workouts

Thursday, March 27th, 2008

Sorry for the lapse in posting. I’ve been to the Y numerous times over the last week. At least 3 swims, a cycle, 1 session on the rowing machine, and 4-5 rounds on the elliptical. I’m actually liking the elliptical, gets the heart pumping and is quite a bit more comfortable than the unwieldy seat on the stationary bikes in the cardio room.

But I’ve come to the realization that working out in the Y is pretty blah. It is working out. It is not the adventure that running and biking are. There are no new trails or routes to take, no chance of finding a new street or cool new part of the town. There is a tv, or magazine, or the same 4 walls.

It really hits me, especially this time of year. I’m quite sad that I’ve yet to run in the warm southern breeze of spring. I haven’t gotten to smell the blooming pear trees and other flowers floating through the air. I have only kept track of the speedy buds of new growth on the trees and lawns from the safety and security of my car on the way to and from work. It really kind of stinks.

I need to remedy this by getting the road bike out this weekend and maybe taking a boat to the lake tomorrow evening or this weekend. Soak up some sun, get a breath of fresh air, enjoy nature and all its glory.

Oh, still haven’t made it to a spin class. The one morning the kiddos woke up early enough for me to get to a class was this Wednesday, and of course no spin class Wed. morning.

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Biking and swimming

Wednesday, March 19th, 2008

We had a great trip to Shreveport over the weekend. Got to see the Roberts who were in from Denver and celebrated Mad’ s 1st B-day at a great party. We also got to have breakfast with the Gibsons. Ummmm Strawn’s pancakes. Good to see everyone and the kiddos were great in the car. Only downside was no exercise to speak of, and too much good food.

Finally got back to the Y last night for a quick spin. It felt good to get the blood pumping and the legs churning. Pushed the upper end for 30 minutes. High resistance and high rpms. Ended up with 9.2 miles in 30 min. The legs felt very good afterward. Finished with stretching. Still having some knee pain. Its in the back of my knee, but is definitely feeling better.

Went back this morning to bike and swim. Spent 2o minutes on the bike. Did the 1 to 1 interval program. Man was I feeling it. 20 minutes yielded 6.1 miles. But my heart rate was definitely up and the legs were burning. Then headed to the pool. Great swim. Really felt like I was gliding through the water. Put in 2 x 250M free and 2 x 100M breast for a total of 700M.

No spin class to speak of. 5:45am is just way too early. Tomorrow is the last morning that the Y offers the class, so I’m going to try extra hard to get there. I really do enjoy the class, especially the spin bike. So much more like my road bike.

Getting ready for the road, and to spread the word about watching out for cyclists, check this video out.

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Swim,Swim,Swim

Friday, March 14th, 2008

Its been awhile, but I’m still here. Not running, but we’ll get to that. This past Sunday my leg was feeling good, and knowing that I had a Dr’s appointment on Tuesday I wanted to make sure I would be able to remember where the pain was. So I went running. Took the kiddos in the jog stroller and went. Wanted to test the leg and put in 5 miles total. Didn’t feel pain until around mile 3. The pain was relatively light, so I decided to do it again on Monday night. Put in around 3.5 miles. Definitely felt it after that. But both were good runs.

Tuesday got up and hit the pool at the Y before the appointment. Swam a total of 950M, 3x 250M free and 2x100M breast. Felt good.

Had the Dr’s appt and he couldn’t find anything in any tendons, muscles, ligaments, etc. X-rayed my knee and hip and both looked good. The only thing he could find was some reaction to physical manipulation around my meniscus. So based on when the injury began, he thinks I have a slight tear in my cartilage. Told me to take 3 weeks of no weight-bearing exercise along with 2 weeks of a strong anti-inflammatory. He was of the impression that I would still be able to run OKC on 3 weeks training if I kept my aerobic conditioning up. I don’t think that is a good idea, if even possible. A long bike ride, even at a taxing pace is no substitute for the strain and exertion from a run of equal time. So I’m taking off running for the 3 weeks, while keeping up the swimming and biking. We’ll see how the legs feel after that, but I should be good for the 1/2 at OKC.

Followed up by swimming Wed and this morning, and riding the stationary bike Thurs. All good workouts. Wed I broke 1KM swimming for the 1st time ever, putting in 1050M. Followed up with and even 1K this morning. Really digging the pool, and feeling a lot more at ease. Still need to get some ear plugs and work on breathing every 3rd stroke, though. The bike ride was good, constant effort of 95RPM for 30 min for a total of 8.9 miles.

Next week I’ve vowed to make it to the 5:45 spin class at least twice.

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