bicycles, hemlet, and bandits

yesterday i did bike the drive. while many people treated it as a chance to get out and ride their bicycle on lake shore drive, i viewed it as a great training day. I woke up at dawn, got dressed and headed out just as the sun was rising over lake michigan. really cool to see, the sky was red, and winds had changed from the night before and were coming from the south. by the time the day was done (9:30am), the sun was bright blue and it had warmed up to the mid 60's

i rode the course 2 and a half times for a grand total of 72 miles. i was cruising coming back up north with the wind behind me. i was cruising around 22 mph sometimes even 24 without really pushing myself too hard. the downwind was a little harder, i think i was working to keep 18. anyway over the time I was out there i averaged 19 mph on the bike over the course of the 72 miles. it felt fantastic, but probably can't use speed as an indicator for MOO as lake shore drive is essentially flat as a pancake (it even includes all of the holes you see on pancakes).

so the good news about the drive is that people seemed to be a little smarter this year than in the past. i didn't see a single tricycle in the left lane, which is good because it would have been a disaster.

the one thing i still just do not understand is the challenge that people face when it comes to wearing bicycle helmets. i mean seriously folks its just plain stupid. i was also shocked at the number of people not wearing helmets when the instructions specifically said they are required to participate. i just looked online. the cost of registration was around $40, there are helmets, and ones that are somewhat stylish on sale for $20. doesn't make sense. and please don't blame gas prices for your stupidity.

also, i just wanted to say a big "you're welcome" to all of the people who were out there riding without numbers, while i am sure that some of the numbers had blown off in the wind, i am sure there were a decent number of people who were out there without paying. i'm glad you had a good time, next year, play along like the rest of us.

yesterday afternoon walked around for a couple of hours to try to loosen up the legs. and then slept for 12 hours last night.

last week: 11:53 total training time, it was a good week.

7:21 min/mile running

so last night i ran in the JP morgan chase corporate challenge. someone from work wanted me to run, so why not. anyway, i have not done any speed work for training this year, it has all been long distance. i couldn't quite decide how fast i was going to run, i felt as if somewhere between 7:30 and 8 would be about right without killing myself. apparently NO ONE else could figure out how to seed themselves either. granted there were over 22k people there, but seriously folks. i can't tell you the number of people that i passed in the first 1/2 mile who were either walking, talking on phone (no joke) running with back-pack, running with jogger, etc. it was ridiculous. i didn't go out to try and get a personal best or to shatter some record, i just wanted to run and push myself.

anyway after about a mile things thinned out a little. but that might have just been due to the number of people cutting corners, running on sidewalks, or ignoring fences. usual race protocol i am sure.

i finished the run in 25:44 after i crossed the start line. that boils down to 7:21 min/mile which is clearly faster than i have ever run before for an extended period of time...sweet!!!

i was supposed to ride this morning but it is too damn cold. 49 degrees the weekend before memorial day, are you kidding me. al gore be damned. so instead it will be a swim today, running tomorrow and then a nice leisurely (well not really) 60 mile ride on sunday. then lots of running and swimming when i am out of town next week.

ok, back to finishing some work.

lessons learned

well, i have had a great week of training. the mileage is starting to add up and i'm feeling a little bit more confident about where i am...not so much a week ago

anyway, rewind a week. i get back from a great 2 week vacation to south-east asia. sightseeing galore, picture taking, eating food, wonderful. then i get back in the pool. ha, what a joke. i felt like a ton of bricks. nothing worked, each stroke was a fight against the water, i cursed the pool with every stroke i took. i found it hard to believe that i had lost so much touch in the water. now, about a week later and several trips back to the pool i am starting to get my feel of the water back again. times are pretty close to pre-trip, but i just want to feel like a swimmer again. lesson learned - don't ever (at least until september) not swim for 3 weeks

over the weekend i went on a 13 mile run. well actually just under 13 miles, 12.89 according to mapmyrun, but i am sure that the extra turns to get to the drinking fountain added up to a grand total of .1 miles to get to 13. the run felt great. had my HR pegged just over 150, was talking with some people the whole time. legs generally felt good. the best part was running with others... but that only gets me to the turn around. and then i have to go and do it all over again. eeek. lesson learned - keep running, making good progress, but keep running.

today i rode 50 miles in 2:44. a little chilly but otherwise a good ride. i took 9 minutes off of my 40 mile time from last week. it is nice to go on these long rides during the week when the path is empty. i thought i had a decent nutrition plan today, 2 bottles of gatorade, one bottle of water, a huge lunch before i hit the road. well that worked until about mile 45 when i just got tired. i hadn't even had all of my liquid. i am going to have to do a better job drinking and eating on the bike if i want to have any chance of finishing this race come september. it looks like i have some more learning to do.

the end of the week will get exciting. thursday is a 3.5 mile run, i have no idea why i signed up for this other than someone else is paying for the event...sunday is bike the drive. aiming for 60 miles. then i am out of town and in DC for the majority of next week. hopefully i can find a pool and a place to run.

dinner time

training resumes

so with jet-lag totally destroying me over the past several days i decided that the only way to win was to train more. i figured that it might just help to flip my body back the 12 hours that it needs to switch.

yesterday i was planning to ride 30 miles. luckily i was on my trainer. i got to mile 15 and was dead. i just couldn't convince my legs to go any further. it's as if my body was laughing at me. "haha, you went away for 2 weeks and just thought you could train again, you fool." well maybe. so i decided to take it easy, give my body one day to get used to being punished before taking it for a whirl. so i got off the trainer and watched the cubs game instead.

today got back on the trainer for that 30 mile ride. I got to 26 miles before my body decided that it was tired, and then kept pushing. finished in 90 minutes. sweet. then i changed quickly to go out for a quick 3 mile transition run. i didn't want to start too hard, and the 3 mile run felt great. no pain, maybe a little slower than i would have expected but i got through the run. yippee.

i am going to push the miles over the next 3 weeks, with the goal of getting up to 60 miles for bike the drive. its time to get back on the trusted steed and get moving.

119 days eeeekkk

i am going to try to sleep soon. with any luck i won't wake up at 3 in the morning again. hell, i would settle for even 4 am... i shouldn't get too greedy

i'm making progress on my photos. one more group of photos to narrow down, then labeling and posting. i'm moving faster than i thought i would.

i'm back

after 17 hours of flying today i saw two sun rises on the 8th and with any luck will be able to stay awake long enough to see 2 sunsets...

i had a fantastic trip, somewhere over 25oo pictures that i am starting to sort through

its good to be home, but the vacation sure was fun