You just never know

... what might happen on a 95 mile ride.

We rally the troops for a ride to Sugarloaf. Departure time 6:30 am from the Hill. And what do you know, we are almost on time! The ride starts easy enough - luckily the RAAM team is still recovering from their record breaking ride. The morning was overcast, even a little foggy as we got to Potomac. We were all waiting for the heat and sun to emerge but luckily we made it through most of the day without the much anticipated burn.

We took the usual route out to Sugarloaf, winding through Potomac, where I got a flat about an hour 15 min into the ride. Then out to Darnestown. We take a right on Black Rock Road and I hold back while Eric, then Phil then Patrick come roaring down the hill past me. And just when we get to the steepest, tighest corner I see all three guys are not going to make the turn and Patrick's bike is shaking, his back wheel skidding. I brake hard and see Patrick fly superman style over his handlebars in a total wipeout. Phil is able to stop before crashing and Eric ends up in the grass by the river. We all gather in the parking lot of the old Black Rock Mill to assess the damage. Turns out Patrick's back wheel got stuck in the mud as he entered the parking lot, inertia throwing him off the bike. Although he has a deep gash in his elbow and a deep bruise and superficial scratches on his right quad, for the most part he was pretty lucky.

It was still before 9 am and we were unable to find someone with a car that could come get him and luckily just then a man and his dog came walking up the path. Patrick asks for a ride to the intersection of Falls Rd and River Rd so someone can pick him up there - at least it's closer to society and easier to give directions to. Turns out Jim gave him a ride all the way back to Capitol Hill. Super nice.

The rest of us continued our ride, which was mostly uneventful. We had a couple of long stops where clearly none of us really wanted to get going again. But we did and it was great for the most part. Then just as we are coming by Eastern Market metro (less than a mile from our house), we see Patrick. At this point it is only Laurel and Chad and I. We all slow and wave, and then wham. I am on my side, unable to clip out and Patrick is helping me up. Apparently Chad came to a quick stop and I came to an even more abrupt halt when I ran right into him.

Luckily we were going slow and there isn't much body damage. And the bike is fine too.

Tomorrow we are off to NY to visit Brian and Malia and then Monday we have our much anticipated bike fitting at Signature Cycles. Chad has built this up so much I am expecting a monumental shift in my comfort and power on the bike. Bike fit report to come.

Safe journeys,
Kirsten

Falling Back to Move Forward

Wow, what can I say? It has been awhile Blogger....I know you missed me and wonder where I had gone....well I am back and look to be for sometime...so rest easy, and be placated knowing I will be here to fill these pages with endless text and stories of Kirsten and I's follies through life and training...in that order of course ;)

So it has been a long time since I logged in here and updated things, almost a week actually, well it HAS been a week! So long! Kirsten pretty much updated you on our trip to Cheshire which was a ton of fun. I always like going up there, especially with my wife and hanging out with her family. Even though we are racing around, life seems a little slower paced up there and I always come back in a better mood, at least in the Fall/Spring/Summer...I haven't been there in winter yet...but I have a feeling my disposition isn't determined by the weather...it is more the family and love that I experience up there...okay I will stop before everyone out there engages in an involuntary protein spill (i.e. regurgitate). But I digress, the flight back was a little brutal and late enough that I couldn't stop my two week caffeine IV from flowing strong. I felt sluggish and terrible from lack of sleep and was getting a tad grumpy from not having a consistent workout routine the past couple weeks. But I made it through in one piece and got back into my routine with a bang.

I am able to write this now because work has lightened up again. This past week I was consumed with a project at work that is due Monday. So much that I couldn't possibly get it done by Thursday and be able to go up with Kirsten to get her ultra high quality uber bike fit at Signature Cycles. Luckily the love of my life helped out and got us rescheduled for Monday...she is the best! So the projects I work on aren't that exciting but they keep me busy from time to time as it is a constant volley of last minute things and realizations that throw an inordinate amount of monkey wrenches into the proposal process (most of which is the government's fault for not knowing what they really want in proposals or how contractors view the RFP's and put together the proposals. Anyway, boring stuff right here!

So as I mentioned in some of my previous posts from the last couple weeks I had been feeling less than stellar in my workouts and had even dropped off so much that Kirsten and TJ were handing me my butt on our rides and runs (what few runs there were!). It was a struggle but we all have those set backs and can't be on top of our game every workout we do, although for the past couple months I was feeling like I was, until the past couple weeks. This all culminated on Tuesday when we went out for our usual Tuesday morning ride and I could barely hold even a moderate pace with Kirsten and TJ, let alone sprint with them. It was rough and I was feeling like the lack of sleep, proper food, and caffeine induced haze had taken it's toll over the past couple weeks. After Monday I was determined to lay off the caffeine and did just that. Although I didn't feel better persay things started to come around on Wednesday's run.

We left with Kip 15 minutes late (I know but at least I am consistently late and wasn't late to my wedding!!) to run down to the Lincoln Memorial and back, roughly 7 miles or a little more, a long run by standards since we hadn't done much lately! Kip was taking it easy on us and K-bear was feeling a little funky and not into pushing the pace (read her blog about that below). Well on the way back she was pretty far ahead of us and we didn't catch her until 3rd st (Lincoln is roughly 23rd or so) and in that time Kip was pushing the pace like crazy....I was keeping up and starting to feel it, but was holding my own. Of course he didn't go all out, but I didn't expect him to. Then we got to Capitol Hill and he sprinted to the top and left me in the dust as I sprinted to, but it was HARD. Needless to say when I got to work I felt like I had been Ironman Training and done a 2 hour run, not a 1 hour run!

Then that evening Kirsten and I met up to do our weekly Master Swim at CU. The workout was 3100 yds and we had been in the pool twice in the past 3 weeks with one of those only being 1000 meters. I was hurting bad after the 400 warm up and wanted to quit...the main sets were even worse and I was limping along as best I could trying to trudge on...Kirsten and my swim lane partner were kicking my butt, but then at about 2500 yards in I started to feel better....was this a turning point? Hmmm, maybe! I finished strong but was definitely tired overall. The next morning when i woke up, there wasn't a part of my body that wasn't sore from the run or the swim the day before. It was a good kind of sore, but with a bike on the agenda...we would see.

Thursday we woke up pretty early to get going and actually left the house on time or even a little early...hmm...another turning point...MAYBE! Well after a warm up lap with some sprints thrown in our group had grown to the fast of the fastest men and women out at Hains Point on Tues/Thurs, so much that they even branched off from the group they had formed! Well even though my legs were feeling pretty sore I was surprised at how well they were holding up, even so to the point where I was only two people back on a long tempo sprint and was able to blow by TJ and get pretty far ahead by the turnaround. After the first lap Phil started complaining and said "Either go easy, or do sprints...don't just ride 28mph!!! It has no training value!!!" Pretty funny I thought but good to know that they were pushing their limits as was I. This continued for FOUR more laps since you couldn't keep these speed demons corraled with a cattle prod and the total amount of molasses in the Boston Molasses Disaster. I was feeling good that I was leading out in some of the sprint and was able to hold my position longer than I thought. Without a HRM or a Bike Computer it is hard to see where you are at but those around me said we were cruising at 26mph and doing 28mph sustained on the back side of Hains Point...SUSTAINED!!! Are you serious!!!???? That was all I needed to know I was back in form.

Of course our cool down lap wasn't much of a cool down. We get to the gate and Sean and Phil take off to mess with everyone and TJ goes after them to joke about cooling down...the whole group speeds up and catches up to them just as they are slowing down and who goes by like a photo flash? Nope, not the flash....it was my wife...KIRSTEN! She flew by us like we were all standing still and the testosterone immediately filled the air and all you could hear was CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK, about 10 guys upshifting to chase her down. Well she was hard to catch and was leading out the group for a long time at 25mph and looked insanely strong. She dropped back as we approached the point and I was leading out at about 25 to 26mph for a short time but was feeling kind of tired so dropped off to the right and these three guys I had never seen before pulled up. Well they pulled up and slowed the pace to about 22mph, which the group wasn't happy with. Phil and the speedsters go by shortly after I got back on the train and one by one these three guys started dropping off until I was right behind the last guy. He was proportionately bigger than me so I couldn't really see in front of him. All of the sudden he goes right and waves me through as he drops off to reveal that the lead group is 50 YARDS AHEAD OF HIM!!! CRAP!!! So I down shift a could gears and really start to crank pushing hard to catch up....well it took almost 1/2 a mile of pain but just as I pulled up to Kip's wheel....I was done...I just couldn't hold it any longer. trying to catch up to a group of 5 going 28+mph by yourself is HARD! I was proud that I got that far and wasn't disappointed that I reached them but couldn't hold on. Catching up to them was the goal and the hardest part. Besides, about 25 yards later was the stop sign and they all slowed down to head home....whew...welcome back!!!

We have a 100 miler scheduled tomorrow so we will see how I feel on the 2nd half of that compared to the last couple...those were rough so I am hoping that I am truly "back"...more on the results of that experiment tomorrow night...right here on channel KNC, all text....all the time (with some pictures and links every now and then!)

Inspired

All this talk of laundry and travel – you must be thinking our training has slipped away. Oh no, my friends. Although it’s true, we did take 3 days off in a row – we hopped on our bikes Tuesday morning and have been going strong ever since. It’s only been two days, but who’s counting?

Great bike at HP on Tuesday. C and I were joined by Kip and TJ for a few fast and furious laps. These smaller groups are great for me because I am confident enough to take a pull. With the bigger groups that train at the same time I end up somewhere in the back of the pack. Probably for various reasons, but first and foremost ‘cause I get a little intimidated by all the fast guys that do the ride. I can hang with some of them, but I certainly don’t feel confident enough to get on the front of the line and try to hold it. But with the smaller groups I am willing and able to give it a go. So I found myself leading a break away yesterday until I felt myself slowing 2/3rds of the way into a small loop and then TJ or Chad start to come around me. And then I’m happy to draft for a little while. I know I’ve said this before, but drafting off TJ is AWESOME! The guy is a powerhouse and it is so easy for me to duck into his shadow.

So this morning C and I decide to start our sequence of Wednesday long runs with a route that will take us to the Lincoln (a whopping 7 miles compared to the usual 6.1 to the Washington Monument). For whatever reason I woke up with a headache this morning and in general was not feeling on. A long, slow run is generally right up my alley when I’m not feeling 100%. Turns out Kip was going to join us. Kip is a fast runner – he races fast and he trains fast. Usually a little too fast for me. Sometimes I enjoy the challenge of keeping up. And even today I felt myself making an effort to keep the pace at several moments. However for the most part I was content to lag a little behind, and when the opportunity came to cut a corner (they ran the Lincoln steps and I did not), I took it and tried to stay in front of the boys for as long as I could; enjoying my own pace without the nagging guilt that I should try to keep up.

I managed to stay in front until the bottom of capitol hill. I passed through the gate and within several seconds Kip came blasting by me. He took the hill as hard and fast as he could. I really admire that in Kip. He attacks challenges with all his physical and mental strength. If we were in a race and I was his competitor my spirit would have been zapped. And so I’m a little inspired. We really only have the one hill on our local run – we should race up it every chance we have. Next time I will. I swear.

Connections

We are living in times where the word “global” applies to just about everything. Food prices, stock markets, people. You name it, it is probably somehow connected to the economy or culture of neighboring states, countries, continents. You feel this particularly when traveling. On Sunday we made a quick trip from my parents house to my grandfather’s house in Northampton and then back to the Berkshires to visit with him at the nursing home in Pittsfield. Basically, we experienced some rain in the morning at my parents house in Cheshire. Then as we were driving through Northampton the rain caught up to us and we had to make a mad dash from the car to the house. Then on our way back to Pittsfield we caught the rain again. We got to experience the same storm three times!! Oh wait – the day isn’t over yet.

After a good visit with grampa, who is much stronger and in better spirits than last time we saw him, my parents drove us to the Albany airport. We stopped in Sand Lake, NY at the Crooked Lake House Restaurant for some delicious food. The service was a little slow so we decided to skip dessert. Twenty minutes later and an hour before our flight Chad and I were happily passing through security. We stopped into the Capitol book shop to get some water and snacks (we hadn’t had dessert yet!!) and the woman that works there asks us how long our flight is delayed. Um, as far as we know it’s not. Chad goes to check out the situation while I peruse the magazines. I’m not finding anything that really interests me when Chad comes back wide eyed and clearly irritated. Our flight is delayed from 8:45 to 11 pm. I re-evaluate the magazine selection and decide on Forbes. A little investing advice is sure to put me to sleep while we wait.

So we wait. And then our flight is delayed to 11:30, then midnight, then 1:15, then 1:05 and then the screen goes blank. Apparently there is a storm moving up the east coast, which delayed our aircraft from leaving Orlando, FL on time. And then the storm kept the plane in Raleigh-Durham. And then it was held up in BWI. And if finally got to Albany at about 1:15 am. We loaded up as quickly as we could and I’m pretty sure the pilot was just as anxious to get to BWI as us. And then we land and there is no one in the terminal to move the ramp. Five minutes later the pilot comes on to announce that they have a couple ways of calling over assistance and they are working on it. And so it is that we pass by the baggage claim and everyone on our flight with checked baggage is happy to see that the luggage actually beat us out to the terminal! Next we wait 20 minutes for the shuttle to take us to the parking lot. And then we drive home and wouldn’t you know… there is NO traffic!! We fly home and step into the house at 3:45 am. Next time we visit the Berkshires, we are going to drive.

But before you think our only memory of the weekend was the travel home, we should say the trip was great until we got to the airport. Kate’s wedding was fun, the location was beautiful (despite being a golf course) – all the rain and sunshine mean that the trees and grass are green, green and the flowers are beautiful! It was great to catch up with some highschool friends I have not seen in a while, and some that I saw last month: Hannah, Greta, Kate and their husbands. We need more weddings! Unfortunately we’ll miss the next HS wedding when Keirn and Jennine tie the knot in August.

We did a lot of dancing, a fair amount of drinking, a lot of eating and a ton of socializing. But while everyone else went out to party further Chad and I decided to call it a night and were at my parents house by 11:30 pm. Yes, mom and dad waited up for us. :)

And Sunday we hung out with Greta and her daughter Vienna. Vienna is a month of shy of her 2nd birthday and she is so adorable, so much fun. We fed the fish, pet the cat, watched the toad, smelled the flowers. My parents’ yard is in full bloom and so beautiful right now. I'm still figuring out this blog thing so instead of having pics at the bottom, well, they're at the top.

Laundry

We do a lot of laundry. You figure at least one workout a day plus work clothes; we probably do a load of laundry every 2 days. And then, somehow it happens. There is a slow build, one piece on top of another, on top of another, another load added to the pile. That’s how clean laundry piles up on the guest bed. Which is generally fine. It’s out of sight, out of mind most of the time. Until of course we have guests. Which tonight we have. I dragged myself out of bed for a Friday run; couldn’t find any socks in my drawer so I went to check the bed. And found it contained a new layer of laundry. And there was another in the dryer waiting to come out. I managed to find socks (though they didn’t match) and headed out with a heavy heart knowing what awaited upon my return. And when I got to the meeting point where I usually see my running friend and he wasn’t there I decided to call it a day and went right back home.

Before you get the wrong idea I should say that Chad and I take turns folding laundry. We don’t really wash each other’s stuff unless there is need for a few more items to fill the machine. But he has been known to fold my stuff. We never put each other’s clothes away. Chad has a system that I don’t understand and to a certain extent I refuse to learn. So while he tried to catch a few more minutes of shut eye I spent a good 30 minutes folding laundry. It felt so good. There was an immediate sense of accomplishment. Now there are little piles of neatly folded clothes (men’s) where once a laundry disaster flourished.

Next on the to-do list: caulking the bathroom shower. I thought this was going to be a blog documenting a lot of ironman-level training efforts. But it may morph into a record of our monumental efforts to maintain a clean and tidy home. I suspect in the short-run we will be more successful with the former. But eventually I’m certain we will master the latter too.

Here's to two pitchers of marguaritas from La Lomita!

Caffeine and Heavy Metals

No, no, no, don't get the impression there is a link between the two...at least I hope not as the last two days I have been running on a diet of caffeine and processed foods because of a lack of time...and more so a lack of quality sleep!

After welcoming the Xtreme4 team home Tuesday night we ended up getting home and into bed at 2 am after getting everyone home and driving the RV and vehicles home for everyone. We didn't want the crew or riders to have to do ANYTHING once they got back, so we were chauffeurs for the weary. The crew pretty much passed out once the vehicles were in motion and Erik climbed up into the top bunk in the RV to catch some shut eye on the way home while I drove...well...in the chaos of parking the RV on capitol hill and getting everyone rides home...WE FORGOT HE WAS UP THERE!!!! He sent an email the next day stating that he woke up where he didn't expect....IN THE RV! But he was in full RAAM mode and looked around from above and thought the RV had stopped to get gas and everyone had gotten out, haha....just one of the funny stories everyone has from RAAM and I am glad I got that one too since I missed out on all the rest. Oh well hopefully next year.

So after getting to bed so late we had to get up early to get ready for the A/C guy to come install our new coil and thermostat, which works frickin fantastic now! The airflow is a TON better with the new coil, but time will tell. Can't wait to use the new digital thermostat!!! But ironically it figures that once we get it fixed the weather has been extremely mild, so much so that K and I wore arm warmers this morning since it was 60 when we started our ride, but I digress...

After morning coffee with K I was making it through the day pretty well. I was scheduled to go to the Iron Maiden concert at Merriweather Post Pavilion with TJ and meet up with Megan and Dan (Dan convinced Megan to go!). I met TJ at Three Brothers, at his suggestion, which was pretty bad...it is hard to mess up pasta....but I knew what I was in for when I got in there and it was an "order first" then sit down place...it was everything I had expected and hoped for...but filled my belly for the rock concert I was about to go to ;) I let TJ wear my concert shirt from NY that I brought to wear since he came wearing a shirt one would normally go out to a club in (or a line dancing bar) and didn't want him to get into a fight knowing the clientele that would be at this show...ha ha....

The concert was awesome, and they never dissapoint. They get the crowd into it with their energy and constant showmanship and it doesn't hurt that the crowd is made up of pretty much die hard fans. It was just as good as their show I saw in NY back in March and I am glad I went.



After sitting in the parking lot for almost an hour without any of the cars moving we finally got on our way and I got home and into bed a little after midnight. After a great 4.5 hour sleep it was time to get up again for our Thursday morning rides...and this was the toughest thing to do after two late late nights. It was good to get the blood going and ready for the day, but right after it was a struggle. I was nodding off on the way to work (NOT GOOD!) and made a necessary stop at Starbucks for a DOUBLE shot Mocha to get me through...even now that isn't helping...I need sleep and bad...but first...a little swim with Paul and some dinner...and oh yeah...maybe a bit of work to help free up the ned of next week.

Riding High and Checking in!

There is something to be said for putting your all into something and having it pay significant dividends. Whether it be emotional, physical, or just plan putting it all out there and seeing what happens with no expectations. A lot has happened since my last posting so I will try to sum it all up to get up to speed since the past couple of days have been a whirl wind!

Saturday's ride was hard and fast, like kirsten said I was bounding up the hills like they were stairs in our house and trying to find every hill possible on our route to tackle...fully knowing that a 100 mile ride was on tap the next day didn't stop me either....eeesh I need to take my own advice every now and again! I completely roasted my self for the 100 miler the next day and from about mile 5 until mile 92 it was a complete struggle to even pedal. Not too good for a 100 miler to feel like crap at mile 5.

I just took it at my own pace and let Kirsten and TJ do their thing. We can't all have good days on the bike everyday, but sometimes you just have to stick it out which is what I did. At one point I tried to have a good attitude and when TJ dropped his odowalla bar I went back for it for him. I put it in my mouth and rode up next to him...as he reached for it I started growling like a little dog and barking at him as if you were trying to take away a play toy from your dog...you had to be there but it definitely cheered me up and lightened the mood of the ride. TJ and Kirsten decided to irritate me even more on this extremely difficult ride by taking the Mass. Ave hill on the way back (comes near the end of the ride) so I faded back before making the right up the start of the climb and had a little "talk" with myself....I decided that I had to see if this funk was mental...or really physical. So I dropped it a couple gears at the start and set catching up to Kirsten as the goal...once I caught her I went full sprint standing up and everything to catch TJ....I caught him near the crest of the hill but it looked like I was having a heart attack on the bike I am sure...not pretty....but effective...TJ didn't like that so dropped it past me on the slight downhill and we never saw him again....at that point I knew it was physical because I had nothing left after that little sprint at mile 85 or so...Kirsten and TJ had enough energy to swim but I was done for and fell asleep immediately after they left and woke to a haze only shortly before they got back!

Anyway, a proposal on Monday/Tues kept me busy at work all the while checking updates on our RAAM team Xtreme4 (Read their race blog here)and calling in to see how things were going. The finish party got me off work yesterday early so I could get all set up and buy all the burgers and beer to welcome them back...they loved the burgers, but who doesn't like fresh burgers from Eastern Market! Seeing them finish was awesome and the smiles on their faces were priceless. They had battled it out with the Ireland team since Ohio, made a couple wrong turns, and ended up coming in behind them by ONE MINUTE! Heartbreaking you say? Not entirely...they rocked RAAM as rookies and shattered the Mixed 4 Person Team Record, won their category by an astounding 300+ miles, and took 3rd overall out of ALL four person teams (missing 2nd by that one minute)....a success for a first time crew and riders wouldn't you say?

I got to douse them in champagne at the finish and then see them crash hard as we relieved them their duties and drove the vehicles home for them. We were all so caught up in the finish that we forgot Erik crawled up into the Bat Cave above the cab to catch some sleep on the drive back. When we got back all of us in the RV totally forgot about him...he emailed this morning telling us all that he woke up someplace unexpected...THE RV!!! WHOOPS! The funniest part was that he was still in RAAM mode and wondered where everyone was only to think that we had stopped for gas! Ha ha! It just made me want to do RAAM next year even more...I don't know if I could ride as hard as they did...but I want that experience for sure.

Kirsten has already given her blessing for me to do it as rider or crew...but she hasn't made up her mind as to whether or not she wants to even be a part of it. I understand why and don't blame her. 14 people in an RV for 6 days on no sleep and intensity beyond belief...that can make it or break it. Whatever she chooses I will respect it...but it would be damn awesome to have her as a team mate first...and a crew member 2nd...she is tough as nails and would push the team with her positivity and intensity for sure. She doesn't promote that she is very competitive, but those who know her, including her loving husband, know that if presented with it...she would be the most competitive spirit in the bunch and help drive the team in a positive way and be an invaluable addition either way. Plus, I think she might have a bit of fun along the way as well ;)

I mean really...wild horses running along side you through New Mexico, climbing the rockies at night with out having seen a car in hours, and who wouldn't want to see the entire US in 6 days from a combination of an RV/Bike anyway...where do I sign up for next year?

Gizmos and Gadgets

This is a shout out to all the women out there that have a clue about following directions, putting things together or that just know about gadgets. Very broad shout out. (No pun intended!) But let me tell you a little story about putting together equipment for an office gym. We bought this rack to keep medicine balls from rolling all over the gym, tripping the health nuts or anyone else that chooses to use the gym as a short cut from one side of the office to the other. But I digress…

So this rack is a great concept. I take everything out of the box and search for directions. The “directions” consist of a sheet of paper. How was I to figure out that all those little numbers on the diagram correspond to the list of parts? Totally not helpful. So I figure I'll take the assembly piece by piece.

As I’m struggling with the awkward structure, trying to balance it on one of the said medicine balls, Sophia helps to hold the bar in place. Then Nick comes in and helps organize all the little pieces. He points out that the numbers on the diagram correspond to bolts, nuts and washers. Aha! And we proceed to break the pieces into piles of like-objects. And I think to myself (and probably say out loud) how great it is that Nick understands these do-it-yourself assembly projects. And then we get 3 whole bolts in before we are foiled again. Did I mention the stand is totally awkward and you have to hold it on its side and hold various pieces in place in order to assemble? And that we had to use five washers for ever bolt because they weren’t the right length?

We decide we need more washers and pack everything up, fully ready to turn the whole thing over to professionals. I’m thinking our infrastructure team should take a stab at it. And with that in mind I head to lunch lamenting to Molly about this contraption that requires a PhD. And she says, I’ll take a stab at it. And I’m skeptical, but not too skeptical because Molly is smart. And as it turns out she did a very simple but wonderfully helpful thing that should be the first step in any do-it-yourself project: Inventory the pieces. And that is how she learned that we are missing 4 bolts, 5 nuts and 10 washers of the M10 variety.

And so I come back to my sexist celebration of all women that can do things. Constructive things. Things that some men (and women) might give up on. Things that don’t necessarily require brawn, but a whole lot of brain. Now if only I can get the company to ship out the missing pieces maybe I can convince Molly to help me finish the job.

Crack is whack ... and other tales

Our AC is out again. This time it may be a few days. We had to reschedule our usual Saturday long ride to Sunday and instead took an "easy" 40 mile ride out to Great Falls so we could be back home by 10. Easy meant short really - Chad ended up bounding up every hill like it was a race. Mountain Goat.

Sunday we met TJ for a 7 am ride to Sugarloaf. Naturally we got going 20 minutes late. We took it pretty easy on the way out. I got a flat about 1:45 into the ride. Chad and TJ went into "man" mode and I barely had to touch my saddle bag to get the spares out. It was on the tip of my tongue to suggest that I help to get the experience changing the tire, but they had it so under control I kept quiet. Until of course it came to putting the chain back on the front ring. Someone had to touch it and it was me. I wiped off the excess grease on my leg – figured it’d make me look intimidating at the least.

We took a great route and there are tons of hills. And the temps kept getting hotter and hotter. And about 2 hrs into the ride Chad starts off, "Kirsten, don't freak out or anything". And I'm thinking OMG he's turning around (Chad was not enjoying the ride), but as he continues I realize I’m displaying something akin to “plumber butt”. Great. Not much I could do about it at that point other than just draft off the boys. And that’s no fun.

It was uneventful ride for the most part. I just gotta say that TJ was pushing the pace the entire ride. Very impressive. But then I got a little vindication later at the swim. Usually I’m dragging way behind, but for some reason the 2000 meters felt great! TJ ended up with debilitating leg cramps and I cruised through the rest of my swim. I’m not exactly proud that my pace was slow on the bike that I didn’t have to worry about cramping later, but at the time I was glad it wasn’t me.

So that’s it – totals for the weekend: 8 hours of riding, 140 miles and a 2000 meter swim. No running, which pretty much makes this a recovery weekend.

Chipotle Peppers + Running the next morning = BAD

You figure K and I would have learned by now when we have our quick, easy, and tasty Burrito night we should avoid putting Chipotle Peppers into the mixture...it just creates a bad morning after...and makes morning runs all the more difficult. Let's just leave it at that and let your imagination run wild. It is a trade off really...because the Peppers add so much good flavor to the mixture...but is reminiscient of the Turkey Burgers we made one time and put the Chipotle's in as well...the next morning was rough to say the least...but the food is SOOOOOO good with them! But those unassuming peppers are far worse than the Habanero Peppers, which are smaller but hotter....but don't effect you as much.

Wow, is this a cooking/medical blog? Oh well...moving on! So it looks like we aren't the only people having major problems on the mechanical front (see previous posting on broken things!). To our displeasure the A/C decided to stop working again last night. It seems like it is good from 75-80 degrees, but any lower than that it goes into overtime and the lines freeze and the whole system goes haywire. Time to call the A/C guy again...eeesh...or install a whole new system!

Back to normal life now though...work is ramping up and fast so I shouldn't really be writing on the this blog but I must lament about the timing of the government and how sometimes people are just unreasonable...you answer their questions the way they want and give them the changes they want...then they criticize those changes. It honestly makes now sense...almost like they are trying to find a reason to throw you out of the competition or they are comments from a subject matter expert that has a torch to bear. First they say you don't have a timeline for taking over specific requirments, then you give them a timeline for the requirements they want and they say "you address these requirements in your timeline but it is unclear when you propose to take over these requirements..."....uhhh WHAT! You just told me we addressed them in the timeline (which indicates when we are slated to take over these tasks and then you tell us we didn't address them....HELLO!

Welcome to government contracting....

Anyway, getting back to real life...The run this morning was a good one. Kirsten was hurting a little from the hard hill workout she did at lunch yesterday so was trailing back slightly and broke off from David and I prior to the monument. It was a beautiful morning out that wasn't too hot and only slightly humid. Lots of runners out on the mall so we felt like we had a ton of company. Legs were slightly tired but didn't feel all that bad and was glad I actually woke up to get out there. Got home and Kirsten and I headed over to Port City Java for my Friday treat....an iced mocha and a Bacon Egg and Cheese Bagel. While I will always crave a BE&CB from NYC...it is enough to quench my need for one.

The past couple days I have been consumed with our friend's RAAM team XTREME4 progress. They left Oceanside, CA on Wednesday at 2pm and they are already in Colorado after only 1 day and 12 hours!!!! So impressive that they are doing so well. While they had expectations and their strategy was solid (having been on a 24 hour simulation with them I got to see it first hand), and is paying dividends. I talked to Paul just a bit ago and spirits are high and they are all amazed at how well they are doing, even though they have had a couple snafus such as getting stuck in the sand! They keep bouncing back and forth between 2nd and 3rd OVERALL for Four Person Teams and are leading their division (4 person team mixed) by almost 3-4 hours and almost 100 miles! Things are looking good for them and you can track their progress from each time check at this link.


GO XTREME4!!!!!!!

The Volume of a Cylinder is not equal to the volume of training we are doing!

My how things change when you shift mental gears and hit the stage of acceptance for all the mechanical misfortunes the gremlins throw your way!

Yesterday I was all set to get up and do a 10 mile run when I, at the last minute, decided the bed looked more inviting that the beautiful morning that awaited out the door. An hour later...crap! I need to get going! So I ditched the run to sleep in but am not too broken up about it and I haven't been for sometime (Sleeping in versus working out that is!) I relegated myself to run an hour at lunch to get a longer run in and use the opportunity to acclimate to the summer heat at mid day.

The run was uneventful and my legs felt a bit heavy the first half as they do when I take a day off. The 2nd half I really opened up and negative split the run (although I turned around on the path at work 30 minutes out), but it is all up hill on the way back so I felt pretty good. My heavy sweating problem was apparent as I went through all four Fuel Belt Bottles I brought with me in that 1 hour run! Was definitely parched by the end but felt pretty good overall.

Work was uneventful even though I have tons to do. Working at my own pace allows me to put off tomorrow what I could do today, and then work long hours the week the project is due to make up for it. It is kind of nice, but I am the only one doing it to myself...when will I learn!

Luckily I got after I got back from my run that my Road Bike was ready to go so I left right at 5pm to get it from the shop before going swimming.

So it was DC Tri Club Masters swim at Catholic University last night and I was in charge of the workouts. I put together a pretty hard 2880yd work out that had 3x240 descending (The pool is a 40yd pool) and 4x160 descending, where you make each set faster than the one before it. Although my arms and back were tired from the almost 5000 yards Kirsten and I had already done this week, I felt like I was finally getting my form back after being in the pool only 3 or 4 times in the past 4 weeks. Kirsten and I split the lane since there wasn't enough people there to fill up our lane. It was the first time she and I have swum (swim, swam?) side by side in almost a year!!! It was a good gauge of where my swimming has gone since I have been feeling like I have been getting faster, but not really keeping time all that much. We pushed each other pretty hard on the longer descending sets and I am pretty sore today. Even driving with one arm my shoulder was screaming at me.

Didn't sleep all that well last night since I kept waking up and tossing and turning, but I woke up at 530 and felt refreshed and ready to go for some reason. I have no idea why! I got up and got ready to go biking and Kirsten declares...."I AM EXHAUSTED!", so I respond "You should go back to bed....but I am riding ;)" haha! She slept all the way until I got back from my ride.

The ride felt awful at first, I was all alone all the way to Hains Point and and my legs felt heavy and sore from the run. I met up with the usual group and stuck with them for a while until the roadies started infiltrating the group and started pushing the pace. It quickly degraded into paceline sprints for 3-4 miles with everyone letting me lead the pack...I pulled off a couple times and asked a couple guys to move up to which they said "I am tapering for my race"....great....I was stuck at the front for the majority of the ride and on each set. Oh well...the legs were screaming but surprisingly I was keeping pace longer than I thought I could. So much I even had a couple pull away sprints in me...but that last one HURT. I ended up riding home with a guy in our club that was an NTPer but a seriously strong cyclist for being new to the sport.

Anyway, it was a solid two days of training and now it is time to concentrate and get some work done. I am throughly sore and feel great as a result! Relaxing with Kirsten tonight will be a well deserved break!

Clip Out!!!!

I am not a fan of the old slap stick comedies; not even the modern day ones. I’ll leave it to Chad to think of some titles for me. Movies aren’t my strength in general. But I digress… I could share stories of slow motion falls due to an inability to clip out of clipless bike pedals all day long. Generally no one is hurt save a scrape or two, although someone’s pride always ends up taking a hit. And for all involved it makes a good story.

Which is why I tell my falling down story this morning with a smile on my face. I decided to sleep in this morning and ride my road bike into work. It was a relatively uneventful ride though I found my concentration a bit off as I kept thinking how different the position is from my tri bike.

Did I mention how much I love my tri bike? Anyway, I get to Memorial Bridge where the trail narrows as it goes under the bridge. You can really only pass one cyclist at a time and proper etiquette means that when there is someone else in the tunnel first the second cyclist waits. Well I got to the underpass at the same moment as another guy but he kept riding so I quickly stopped and unclipped my left foot. I was a little too close to the center of the path for my liking so I decided to inch over to my right a little.

I tried to do the old lift the seat up and shimmy over thing but I quickly lost my balance. I tried to grab on to the wall of the bridge to save myself but I could feel the inevitable. I think I smiled all the way down. The rider passed me just as I was struggling out from under the bike and asked if I was ok. Yep, couldn’t unclip. And as I got up there was another biker at the other end of the bridge but he stopped and waved me through – there would be no more stopping for me today until I reached my destination.

My knee has a nice scrape and burns a little. I won’t be able to hide it at swim practice tonight. And my pride… well, after nearly 5 years of riding with clipless pedals I can say it happens to the best of us.

;)

Happy riding! - K

Brake, Braking, Broke, Broken, Brokened?

Some days you just begin to wonder...what the heck is going on? Or more like...where did all my luck go? Sometimes it is a series of events that leads you to this conclusion when it seems like nothing is going your way. Well things are going my way so don't worry about me, but it seems to be that "mechanical" things aren't going my way as of late.

I guess it all started at the end of April. I let my friend borrow my "watch" during a swim session (watch being a relative term for "running computer") that tells you in the instructions, as does any Polar Watch, not to press the buttons underwater even though the watch is waterproof. Well, he did, and the watch had a ton of water in it after he gave it back to me. I opened it up and let it dry out and it seemed okay after a day or so, no harm no foul. Next swim session I jump in and after the first lap...you guessed it...water in the watch...only this time the display started going haywire and things just didn't seem to be working right. I guess a later side effect is that slowly the GPS sensor started not being able to be recognized by the watch and the foot pod started to do the same after I switched them out....time to send it back to Polar I guess.

Then, one day in early May I come home on a rather relatively warm day and stick my key in the deadbolt at home and turn the key.....SNAP! The key breaks off in the deadbolt (The deadbolt is a notoriously sticky issue between Kirsten and I since the door is old and you have to push it or pull it hard to get the deadbolt engaged and is tough to open with the key which is probably why the key broke). Luckily it left enough sticking out that I could continue to open it and the door handle lock with a pair of pliers, which a contractor working next door was happy to loan me.

On to the next mechanical problem....I drop off my bike to the only shop I really trust to get a tune up and have them reinstall the bottom bracket because of a creaking while I am riding. Well I get it back right before the wedding only to have my power meter not working anymore. I bring it back and they try to fix it but it reacts sporadically to their efforts and I end up having to warranty the power meter...who knows how long that is going to take!

Then, as those of you reading this post know, I crashed or fell on my tri bike last Thursday (I am okay, just a slow but hard fall with no damage besides a little hip bruise.)....then I hit a pothole so hard that my bike virtually exploded on Saturday, so now I need to bring THAT bike in to get an overhaul and have them give it a once over to make sure there was no structural damage to the wheels or frame (Not to mention after the Thurs fall there was a ticking in my pedal stroke/bottom bracket the ENTIRE 100 mile ride that needs to get fixed!

An finally, Kirsten and I are coming home from a great 2700 yard swim last night (which was rediculously hard when you have to do 200 as 40's easy, sprint, easy sprint, easy....ugghhh) and we get home, I put my key (a copied key we had sets of) into the deadbolt and....SNAP!!!! $)&$)*&)@#(*&$)@(#*&$)(@*#&$)(@*&#)($*&@)($*&@)#$&@# ANOTHER KEY!!! What the heck is going on! That pretty much ended the only good sets of keys we had and since the best key to make copies of broke three paragraphs up and Kirsten's key doesn't make working copies...we were left with only her key to lock and unlock the front door.

Normally with all of this going on I would go out and buy a new Running Computer, or Power Meter, or Bike (or new parts for the bike) but these options don't fall into my/our financial plans, and frankly isn't a very judicious allocation of money ;)

So I did do the one thing that would make me feel satisfied with the situation....I bought a new deadbolt and doorknob for our front door. It was cheaper than the other options and allows me at the same time to give the big middle finger to our current deadbolt set. Vindication always feels good...

So then my Road Bike was supposed to be ready today (after the shop sent off the powermeter and replaced the Bottom Bracket with my old Dura Ace set that I had before I got the power meter). They told me on Friday that they would try to get it ready this weekend but to call on Tuesday if they didn't contact me. I called this morning and got the run around....frankly I am getting sick of Bike Shops and their "games". I finally called back this afternoon to the reply of "We will try to squeeze it in tonight and will give you a call when it is ready..." yeah right...thanks for nothing guys. So now I am without TWO bikes...which is precisely why I got TWO bikes so that if one was down I would have the other one to ride...the mechanical gods must be conspiring against me.

How could so much mechanical stuff go wrong in just over a month!? So I guess I get to concentrate on swimming and running sans data for another month or so...oh well...complaining about it won't solve anything so I guess I will do as Tyler tells me to....SUCK IT UP!

I am so "hot" right now....

No no no, not in the conceited way that you would think someone that was conceited might say "I am hot..." and not in the Paris Hilton way either...I mean LITERALLY HOT!

Summer decided to take a nose dive on our little town of Washington DC this past weekend. Saturday was an awesome day for a bike ride (as Kirsten's post below describes) but she failed to mention my literal limping back home the last 10 miles. I was so hot and dehydrated that I couldn't get going on the bike without my HR running so high with very little effort. At one point I stopped at two different stores and drank 4 liters of water within 30 minutes and it still wasn't enough. You know it is bad when you stop at one of the hot dog vendors on Independence Ave to get water and rest. While chugging the water and just standing there my Heart Rate was at 140....RESTING!!!

In retrospect I probably had a very mild case of heat exhaustion. After the fact my little bike computer said we had a 78 degree average for the first half of our 100 mile jaunt and....get this....99 FOR THE 2nd HALF!!!! Holy crap...that is a lot of heat! Such a shame too since my legs felt great but my body couldn't keep up, oh well...that is the way it goes!!!

Anyway, the weekend was a bit tumultuous due to the heat and bike follies that ensued. Coupled with the fact that our A/C died on us Friday night...a premonition of things to come for the weekend? Saturday night was a bit uncomfortable but not so bad. Sunday we had the windows open and all the fans blaring and it wasn't so bad inside the house and on the porch in the shade. A nice hot jog (with some subsequent sunburn) and a refreshing dip in the cool (albeit murky) waters of the Hains Point Pool gave way to a tasty Harris Tetter Sandwich, a loaf of flaxseed bread, and a beer on the front porch with the best wife ever and TJ (yes they are different people...he he).

With the heat there aren't many options when you don't have a working Air Conditioner. Especially when Kirsten has book club, or so she thought! She went all the way to Laura's only to find out it was NEXT weekend! Well that burned up some time enough that going to the movies and getting some A/C time wasn't an option (unless I wanted to see Sex in the City...uhhhh NO, sorry sweetie...). All the movies worth anything started too late to have us home by Kirsten's bed time of 9pm...but in this heat it probably didn't matter!

Long story short the A/C guy called us back later yesterday evening and said he could make it this morning around 8am. So Kirsten and I got up early (who could sleep when the room temperature was 90 degrees anyway!) and sat and had iced coffee (thanks for the French Press Eric and Christal!) and toast at the kitchen table while waiting for him to show up. It was one of those moments that seemed so mundane but the most satisfying at the same time. Sitting there drinking our coffees while chit chatting about the weekend and life all the while smiling, laughing, and looking into each other's eyes...it was a moment that I will remember for a long time and reminds me why I love her so much.

Anyway, getting back on track ;) The A/C guy finally showed up and it took about an hour and a half for him to square everything away and replace a couple things that weren't working and the A/C was finally up and running like new! You could instantly notice a difference and within 45 minutes the temperature came down 10 degrees in the house!! WOO HOO!! We are back in business.

Thank goodness...because another night with 92 degrees plus, soaking wet sheets from sweating our butts off, and the fans just recirculating hot air just don't sound like how I want to spend my evenings thank you very much!

First hot summer ride

Totals for the weekend: 97 mile bike, 6 mile run, 1.2 mile swim, 200 degrees. All eventful in their own way.

First, an early morning ride to Sugarloaf. We were lucky to get 2 hrs of endless fog and high 70-low 80 temps and then for another 30 minutes or so we'd experience bouts of sunshine when the temperature would soar. And then it was over: the sun was out and we were riding in 95-100 degree weather. Crazy, insane hot. We don't know if it is was good or bad that we were half way through our ride before we realized it was a little crazy to ride in that heat.

We kept a steady pace out and back until we were about two miles from Georgetown when we got into trouble. We got passed by a roadie doing 4 minute intervals and jumped on his wheel, passing another woman. The roadie finished his split and we carried on, though he warned he'd be starting up again and sprinted ahead of us. We had a nice little pace line - Chad, Alexi and I and this other person. Unbeknownst to me the woman was passing on our left just as I realized we were catching up to the roadie and I turned to say something to Chad just as we were coming up on a crater-sized pothole. I avoided it, yelled hole and then heard a scream behind me. My HR jumped to 1000 and I turned around as quick as I could. Thank God Chad managed to say upright but he was chasing down his bottles as I came around. Apparently he was boxed in by the woman so couldn't move enough and somehow avoided crashing. We sat on the side of the road for a few minutes collecting all his gear and assessing the damage when the roadie wheeled up to check on us. We took it easy all the rest of the way home, but we all agreed that the biker we caught up to had good kharma and great energy. So whoever you are, thanks! :)

Our AC is down so recovery at home was slow going. And Chad was totally motivated so we ended up cleaning the floors and bathrooms. I threw a temper tantrum when I stubbed my toe for 80th time moving furniture around. Which is how it ended up with Chad downstairs and me upstairs.

Today we started our run late. And it was hot. 30 min in we were both ready to be done. We ran down by the Nationals Stadium and crossed on the South Capitol Street Bridge to run along the Anacostia trail to Penn Ave. We ended up walking two shady sections of the trail. It felt like we were walking forever but I stopped my watch for the walks and Chad kept his going. It was almost 3 min of walking. Jeff Galloway would have been proud.

And a quick 2000 meters at the Hains Point pool was the perfect weekend cool down. Now it is time for a nap on the couch. Happy weekend!

Addicted

Kirsten here. I have a confession to make, sort of. I might have an addictive personality. At one time I would have said candy was my biggest vice. I would consume sugar all day long at work and then get home in the depths of sugar despair. Chad will attest to how it affected my moods. And then about 2 months I ago I said no more. Now I do not eat candy at work. And I have seen an amazing difference in my temperament (used for dramatic effect). I am now a nice person (generally) all day long, not just when I am on a sugar high.)

Other addictions may involve working out. I love running or biking in the morning. I can soar through an endorphin high all morning. In the summer I have no problem waking up with the sun. In the winter, it is more of a struggle to get out of my warm cozy bed, but I get it done and I’m always happier. The only cure for my exercise addiction is vacation. Particularly at my parents house, my childhood home. I just cannot get up early. It’s like being in a sleep coma – only the smell of coffee brewing will get me out of bed. Which is interesting because I don’t usually drink coffee. Nope, no coffee addiction for me.

Chad loves to tell stories about my short lived addiction to a game he had on his phone, “Snowed In”. Don’t tell him I said so, but even I can admit I might have taken my game playing too far. I would play late into the night, early in the morning and anytime in between that I could actually wrestle his phone away from him. It was probably one of the lowest points of my existence, though it was very short lived since about two weeks in he deleted the game from his phone. I had no choice but to quit cold turkey.

Which brings me to my new addiction – looking at local real estate on-line. Oh the resources: Re-max, Coldwell Banker, Prudential, and now Zip Realty. Chad and I (particularly me) can spend hours in the evening perusing listings, studying maps, imagining what we would do if the was ours, talking about how we will save our money, and on and on. We’ve decided to wait until fall – maybe even after Ironman – to get serious. But I have a feeling I will continue to window shop. Our friend Rob confessed that he and his wife also spent hours looking at websites and shopping for a house. Their search lasted for months, but it was finally successful. So I’m thinking this addiction might not be so bad. And once we find the perfect place, I can quit cold turkey, right?

Is it a "crash" or a "fall"?

I started off the morning right by getting out there with K on a bike ride around our usual spot of Haines Point, why they named that place after an underwear brand is beyond me, but maybe because it smells like underwear after a good hard rain from all the pollution in the Potomac? The gate was closed as usual and we went around the first time no problem. After the gate it was pure chaos, tree limbs all over the road, tree branches looking like they had firecrackers in them exploded all over the roadway, trash cans blown into the street, and one rather large tree that didn't stand a chance against the 70mph winds that hit us yesterday evening with a bout of apocalyptic type thunder storms.

It was so bad last night in fact that metro service got disrupted due to power outages and downed trees over the tracks. But that is another story all together.

We quickly met up with one of the fast guys from NCVC that graces us with his presence during the good weather months. He is an older guy, super nice and super fast. I have heard him referred to as "The General" because he is an Army general but that is all conjecture at this point. We quickly devolved into a quick tempo for a mile or two then brought it back as we dodged trees and trash cans in the road. Not once did I fear crashing. Then it happened....

Coming around the closed gate for the 2nd time (or third I can't remember) I hopped the curb after saying hi to Nic (Long time no see!) and was fine but noticed this time around the ground was a bit softer and wetter for some reason. I hopped down the curb with my front wheel on the other side of the gate and then my rear wheel was a little to parallel to the curb and sunk down into the soft ground and got wedged between the curb and the ground and BLAM! Over I went down into the asphalt....son of a #&%*!!!

I got up dusted myself off...bike looked okay but it was a hard fall for going so slow. I have some contusions on my hip and elbow but the scrapes aren't bad at all, they don't even need band aides. I continued to ride with little discomfort so I figured there shouldn't be any problems (crossing fingers).

We continued to ride and The general was asking if I was okay, yup it is mostly my pride that stings! We got another good interval set and caught Kirsten off Guard a bit. I pushed as hard as I could into the 15mph headwind at 25mph pulling the general along and pushed for a good while past my comfort zone until the general went past me to give us a little boost. Unfortunately that boost proved to be my excuse to take it back down and catch my breath and let him ride away. At least I pushed past the point I wanted to quit, so I got that going for me...which is nice!

Legs were definitely more tired today so I took that as the last set and sauntered home barely being able to turn over the pedals.

Got into work and it was a rather uneventful day. Reserved K and I's cabin for our weekend in Deep Creek Lake for Laura and Kyle's wedding and some killer training/prep for Savageman and talked to the bike shop and distributor about my Power Meter in my Black Beauty...the Merckx Bike! They seem to have the same problem with Ergomo that GITA did in that they aren't providing warranty product in a timely manner, so only time will tell how this one works out. Guess it is time to put the old crankset back in the bike and just ride it to ride!!! How did they do it in the old days without data is beyond me!

Kirsten doesn't want to swim tonight so I guess we are going to cook dinner with our new local farmer baskets she is getting at work...should be interesting if she ends up bringing home the smelly soap that was included in the package....smelly in a bad way...not good...at least that is what she told me!

Morning Run? I guess...(Exasperated)

I just can't figure out why it seems like it gets light so much earlier than it has in the past. Every morning I am woken at 5:30am to the blaring sun in our windows...I think I need a sleep shade or something...it is just too early to get up and too early to be that light outside!

Even when K and I were training for IMFL and woke up that early (and earlier) it was never that bright out until 6 at least! Oh well...if it is the impending end of the world at least I have K with me ;)

I figured I was already up so I mine as well go running with K and David, especially since Kip wanted to run this morning. This would be my first morning run in almost 3 months besides last Friday, which didn't go so well, but that is a whole 'nother story all together!

We started out at a leisurely pace and my legs felt stiff and breathing labored. By the time we came down to the mall I started to feel pretty good and the pace quickly picked up. We lost Kip at the Washington Monument and didn't know where he went. Unfortunately as we crossed the street to the Washington Kip asked "Lincoln" and I heard "Washington". I thought we were naming off presidents for a second and could only think of Hayes and nodded/grunted "uh huh". He went off to the Lincoln I guess!

As we headed back we picked up the pace again and sprinted up Capitol Hill to make it back in 46 minutes and change (I stopped my watch a couple times at lights). The run felt great and I was jibber jabbering the whole time, surely adding a new dynamic to K and D's morning runs ;)

Kirsten has a busy day at work today so was a bit focused after we got home, hopefully everything goes well otherwise there will be a massage waiting for her when she gets home!

We can't resist

One of my goals for setting up this blog was to keep our families in the loop about what’s going on in our lives once we start IM training. And I was hoping that we’d get in the habit of blogging on a regular basis before we start buckling down and taking training seriously. We both did IM Florida in 2006 and for the months leading up the race we hardly ever saw non-triathlon friends in DC, let alone our out of town families.

Chad and I had a tough swim on Monday night and this morning we got up early for our regular Tues/Thurs bike ride at Hains Point. This morning the air was a tad cool and crisp, and although there didn’t seem to be much wind on the Hill, by the time we got to HP there was a breeze blowing across the point. Our warm up quickly transitioned to a short sprint and we were off. What a great way for us both to blow off a little steam.

As usual our competitive instincts took over and we ended up having a great workout. The first loop we raced the back side of the short loop, recovered the long loop, then sprinted gate to gate on the second loop. My heart rate got up to 162 and I sustained speeds of 24-25 mph. That’s fast for me. Chad eventually pulled away, but I stayed with him for most of the loop. The last long loop we tried the same thing and I let Chad slip away and then I just didn’t have the strength or motivation. I sustained 23 mph, but my heart rate didn’t really get over 153 bpm. We rode about 25 miles total and went our separate ways; he home, me to work. Morning rides are fun in large part because it is a who’s who of the local triathlon community. We get a chance to say some quick hellos, informally race our peers, and talk about what’s coming up.

Catching up on Life

Chad has moved on to real life, but I'm still a bit dreamy. All I could think about today was what a fantastic weekend we had. Especially since the last week has been whirlwind. Catching up on work and sleep, unpacking, writing thank yous, trying to get in a workout… We also had our first dinner guests as a married couple for the two hour season finale of Lost!! Luckily our friends Rachel and Chris are also Lost junkies. Without them putting pressure on me, I’m not sure I would have stayed awake. 11 pm is way past my bedtime.

Friday night we rolled out of town to provide kayak support to two swimmers at the 7.5 mile Potomac River Swim at Point Lookout MD. We managed to get some decent shut eye despite camping only to wake in the morning to the howling of the wind in the tree tops. Although the water was choppy, we were optimistic that the swim would go on until we saw Chad’s colleague Dave shaking his head. The river swim had been downgraded to a lake swim and both the swimmers we were to support decided not to wade around Lake Connoy. Apparently it is very shallow in some parts and the distance is 3 or 2 miles depending on who you ask.

So we changed clothes and went for a great run around the park then packed up our gear and were back in DC by 11 am. We spent the rest of the afternoon lazying around the house, doing little chores, grocery shopping and listening to the thunder crack and the rain pour down. It was a fantastic afternoon, followed up with a low key evening to celebrate a friend’s birthday.

Sunday we had a great ride with TJ. Out to Seneca via McArthur, Falls Rd, Norton Rd, S. Glen, Ellsworthy and then back via River and Persimmon Tree Rds. It was our first real warm weather ride and it was awesome! We rode about 60 miles in 3 hours. The rain from the previous day added a freshness to the air and I was loving the smells out in the countryside. I have no idea whether I was really smelling honeysuckle or not, but it sure smelled like it. And then we came home and I pretty much passed out immediately. I needed that nap like no other. Lucky for me Chad was in a shopping mood so we hit the hardware store and crate and barrel too. I love weekends like this!

Monday = Mundane

You wake up in a coma most mondays and that Friday Mocha as a treat turns into a Monday morning Mocha to get you through the pain of having to go back to work. There is something demoralizing about getting back to the monotonous daily routine of work.

Especially when your boss starts talking about fitting a trampoline on top of a company van at lunch and that you are going to help....I'm sorry....I am going to what? What trampoline? Oh your next door neighbors? Sure I will help...oh wait you didn't even ask me...you just assumed I was helping...that is right...free will doesn't exist in this workplace does it? NO SENSEI! (gratuitous Karate Kid reference). So the best laid plans of mice and men for running at lunch give way to you and 2 other co workers helping your boss in a gratuitous scene of brawn and pansieness (yes I like to make up words). The brawn being lifting a 15 foot diameter trampoline onto the top of an 8ft high van (hey I am short) and the pansieness being me dropping the trampoline like a hot potato while running away from a wasp that thought I was attractive enough to take a sting shot at, leaving the other studly men scrambling to balance said trampoline above their heads.

What is it that motivates people to take advantage of friendships and associations like that? Or better yet what motivates us to not speak up and say "Hey I didn't sign up for this!" Is it a fear of honesty? Fearing that it would depict one's disloyalty to their company? It is an interesting area of workplace politics and dynamics at work.

It is much like marriage I guess...only marriage is better because the more you encounter those types of situations the better you learn to communicate with your wife or husband and learn to manage expectations and assumptions to reasonable levels. In the workplace it just results in people increasingly sliding into senility, even at 30 years and younger.

That is probably why when you get out of college and into the real world you wonder where all the psychos come from. They weren't in your classes at college...but they are your co workers now...great...where do I sign up for group therapy classes to help me realize that "I" am the crazy one and they are the normal ones?