Zoos and the animals that live there

Right now I'm laying in bed, laptop where it was meant to be. A bag of pretzels beside me and a bottle of water not far. The pretzels made the trip with me and I'm about to polish them off. Slowly. It is about 7:50 pm here. I just finished a 90 min treadmill session. Yes, you read that right. I was accompanied by 45 min of Wolf Blitzer on CNN. I never really liked him; after watching his simultaneous coverage of the Republican National Convention (which hasn't started) and Hurricane Gustav (which isn't expected to hit land until tomorrow noon), I really don't like him. Talk about trying to make news out of nothing. And here I am in Nairobi!!

I finally decided enough was enough and changed the channel. Of the 15 or so stations, none was BBC or anything else interesting so I picked Monk. But the reception was poor and the sound terrible so my next choice was the channel that had the best reception. Oh Boy! Reruns of Clash of the Choirs. I never even heard of the show before and it started with Christmas carols during the opening shots. If only the little boys and girls that believe in Santa Claus could have seen my face. I was laughing so hard I almost had to stop running. The one thing I found worse than Wolf Blitzer. By this time I had stopped and started the tready 3 times (remember the 25 min max) so I just left it. I was totally suffering, but I figured it had to count for mental toughness.

Finally I hit my goal time at about 16.5 km. Praise the Lord and all my strength. I changed the channel immediately back to Wolf for my 2 min cooldown. And now I’m in bed suffering with a stomach ache – the kind that usually afflicts me after a long hard run. Oh well, I get a lot of time off now.

But back to the fun stuff… I went to a Giraffe feeding center in the morning. While it was cool and I took lots of shots, those giraffe were getting fed a lot of some sort of pellet. The kids loved it, the moms and dad got a little freaked every time one would eat out of their hands. I spent 10 min taking pictures and decided I’d had enough. Oh and did I mention the entrance fee was about $13?

Next stop was the Nairobi Nature Reserve. It’s basically a big zoo with large grazing areas. It was about 12:30 when I got there and it was getting warmer and warmer by the minute so most of the animals were passed out. A couple of crocs, some pigmy hippos, a rhino, a cheetah, and lots of animals that looked like antelope and ostrich. No, I didn’t read all the signs. And a few monkeys. I would have liked this park a lot more with the right company.

And tomorrow we are off at the crack of dawn for our flight to Juba, Sudan. I did take a ton of pics today but can’t upload them at the moment. So… stay tuned. More to come.

A couple of pictures

Here is a view from my room at the Holiday Inn. There are two little fish ponds and lots of chirping birds and frogs. I think they are frogs - insects can't be this loud, right?!

Hired a cab to take me to the Sarit Centre - a mall of sorts. My goal was to look for a small bag or wallet. Chad thinks I have too many of these and, in fact threatened to discard some of them while I am away. Lucky for both of us I know his bark is worse than his bite. In any case, I brought a back pack with me that I determined is too large. I need something smaller for little jaunts to the shop when I don't want to juggle my camera, wallet and bottle of water - increasing the chances I'll lose one or all three.

Traffic for the drive - all of 1 mile - took forever. Cars weaving in and out, private transportation vans load and unload passengers at will, pedestrians cross at will, traffic circles every 500 ft (or so it seems). Luckily my driver, Steven, spoke great English. He said Saturdays can be worse than weekdays. And the Sarit Centre was probably designed with a parking lot to hold 150 cars. Way, way, way too small. Cars double parked everywhere, letting off passengers, loading items, waiting for a parking spot. Holy moly!
















I tried to take this picture out the window of a shop so you could see the African statuary and the parking lot beyond. We are not allowed to complain about DC traffic anymore. Although we can say that DC drivers have bad attitudes. Here you have to be aggressive or you will not go. That makes two amazing car rides where I am not certain how an accident was avoided.

Welcome to Kenya

I know, I know - first day in Nairobi and I'm on the computer. But as usual I woke up super early and waited for the gym to open to get in some exercise. I did do 10K in about 50 min - not super impressive, but the treadmill was set at 25 min maximum so I had to stop and restart 3 times to get that in, including a 10 min warm up/cool down. But I did learn I don't have to wait for the gym to officially open. We'll see how that jet lag treats me. :)

Anyway, long day Friday. Flew out Thursday at about 6:30 pm, arrived in Amsterdam at 8 am and shopped a little and waited in a security line again for my 10:15 flight to Nairobi. Interestingly, I never left the airport yesterday. However, each gate has its own security screening point so if you buy water in the terminal you can't take it with you on the plane. If you buy a bottle they will seal it in a plastic bag so you can take it with you, however, without the sealed plastic bag you have to drink it or dump it. Luckily I figured that out before opening my liter of water while standing in the hour long security line. Otherwise the same 3-1-1 rules we know so well in the US, apply in Europe.

After a huge breakfast I'm now waiting before I call my colleague here to see if she's going out. If not maybe I'll catch a cab to the National Museum, which is not far from my hotel. Oh yeah, am staying at the Holiday Inn. Everyone so far has been super friendly and nice, especially our company's only employee here, James, who picked me up at the airport.

More later. I'll be flying out of here on Monday so I have the full weekend to get over trauma of flying for a full night and day. :)

Sigh...

Well, it is official...Kirsten has left me for Sudan...Sudan treat her well and be good to her!  I got to talk to her right before she boarded so I had some last contact with her before the flight...and now I play the waiting game, waiting to see if she gets there safely.  Communication is limited since the only way I would hear from her is if she logged onto an internet kiosk at the Amsterdam airport to email me.  With only a two hour layover that isn't likely.  She is also staying in Nairobi overnight so depending on internet access I might not hear from her until she gets to Juba, Sudan and their field office.  

The waiting is painful to hear if things are going okay and just hear from her.  I am definitely not used to not talking to her for so long.  Even when I travel at least we have cell phones, but internationally it is a totally different ball game.  There is some comfort in knowing that she has traveled the world extensively in Australia and the Eastern Block of Europe when she was with the Peace Corps, but I still worry none the less!

So last night and this morning were painfully quiet without her there.  I was going to go swim to take my mind off of things but once I hit the couch to relax a bit...it was all over!  I slept early and woke up late to the sound of nothing...no Kirsten rummaging about since she is such a morning person (which I love about her even though I am a night person).  Without her I have had zero motivation to run, swim, or do anything thus far...I guess I have to give it more than 24 hours though...but feels like 24 days already...

More soon as I don't know what to do with myself!

I'm so old!

No, not really. But to prepare for my trip to Sudan I needed 4 vaccines: tetanus, thyphoid, yellow fever and Hepatitis B. Two in each arm. I got them yesterday and today I feel like someone punched me repeatedly in the shoulder. Can't lift my arms, moping around like a wounded baby.

So excited for the trip. I CANNOT WAIT to get to Juba, Sudan. Will post updates via Chad. Will miss my hubby and our routines. But I'm also excited for a little time off from training... But shush, don't tell anyone that. ;)

Is that a Softball?

So the olympics have come and gone, but I have to admit the coverage disappointed me.  Maybe it was because all the sports I thought were cool were on different channels...which apparently I didn't know, awww poor Chad!  I didn't see one match of wrestling on NBC along with Judo or Taekwando (sp?).  Come to find out it was on MSNBC or USA Network...but seeing as the HD broadcasts filled up our DVR and deleted other shows I wanted to watch anyway, it didn't really matter...but the Phelps show kept us busy...until swimming was over anyway...but I still yearned for wrestling...anyway...on to the point of the post.

The intro above is somewhat relevant since Women's Softball (is there even a Men's softball?) is officially out of the Olympics after this year.  While Softball may have been voted out of the Olympics, I surely know where it went...INTO MY STOMACH!  Before you jump to conclusions...I was feeling a bit under the weather yesterday on the way home from work and was extremely tired so decided to skip the swim (need to get this swimming in order!) and go home to take a nap.  It was a far cry from an excuse as I didn't feel "right" and felt a nap would be much better.  Got home and slept for a couple hours and Kirsten came home and I just still didn't feel right.  It was late and we didn't have any food in the house so we broke down and ordered pizza.  A large...which I heard Kirsten order and I should have yelled something...a large is dangerous since I usually eat 4 pieces or more...a small...well that only equals 2-3 large slices so is much better...well...I ate 5 pieces even though I didn't feel that hungry...maybe I was bored...I don't know...and an hour later it was bedtime.

I woke at 5am to Kirsten's alarm telling us it was time to get our 2 hour 15 minute run in...OH JOY!  Well...it took us awhile to get going and out the door at 6am...I need to work on that one!  No more than two blocks away I felt this feeling in my stomach that was like I had a Softball in it...could it be the pizza?  All the dough from the night before just sitting there?  Just eating too much in general?  Who knows...but it wasn't a pleasant feeling and it effected my running and breathing.  So much to the point where I didn't feel comfortable at all and had to take short breaths.  Felt like I needed to burp...well I couldn't...we stopped on the mall to go to the bathroom...helped a little, but still didn't feel good.  I had already decided to power through it, but powering wasn't exactly what I would call it on the way home.  Our pace was noticeably slower than last week...my HR was higher...and I felt like crap versus feeling great like last week.  

Now I know we all have our "off" sessions, but this was just ridiculous.  Kirsten and I departed ways about 1:40 into the run since it was late and she needed to go directly into work and the rest of the run home was terrible.  I stopped at every light and I even walked up Capitol Hill just generally trudging through the run...it was AWFUL!  The worst part was my legs didn't even feel that bad since we just didn't run that hard.  It was my body that was crying out...but I guess the most important part is that I finished the run and actually did it rather than giving up.  I tried to push myself but seeing as I was feeling I just didn't have the mental focus to get it done the way I wanted to, but sometimes your workouts just workout like that I guess.  When it was all said and done, it was 15.5 miles in 2:15 at 8:43mm...a far cry from the 15.2 at 7:40mm in 2 hours last week...but that is what I had to work with today and what I got done.  

That softball was still there after the run but has been subsiding slowly as the day goes on.  I have still been drinking and eating, and slowly feeling normal again (as much as one can after 2:15 of running) but will probably sleep like a rock tonight!

Anyway, onto other things!  

So today is Kirsten's birthday.  She got her "early" birthday presents last night, since she is so snoopy and sees anything that is colorful and says "Happy Cake Day" on it from afar...especially around her birthday ;)  She also got the go ahead to go to Sudan for work!  I guess her work's birthday present involves giving her two weeks away from my putting off re-caulking the master bathroom tub...just kidding sweetie!  But alas it will be hard...we have only been married 3 months...I mean how am I supposed to live without her?  I will be constantly worried since communication will be spotty if non-existent.  I will slowly slip into a depression and get the chills, then the sweats, then the chilled sweats...and start rocking back and forth with a blanket over my head...haha yeah right!  Just kidding, got you all though ;)

But it will be difficult and I will definitely be worried.  Hopefully we can communicate at least every other day.  I loaded up my mega Ipod for her to have music as well as some TV shows and some movies so that she can occupy her time (although she likes to read so...) but hopefully not watching CSI every night will get her longing for TV and watching some of the stuff I put on the Ipod for her ;)

She leaves tomorrow night so we have tonight to celebrate her birthday and she very coyly suggested breakfast tomorrow morning so that we have some extended time together before she leaves.  I am sure I will be blogging more since she will be gone and I will be bored out of my mind...so look for posts like 5 am - Get up to go run....say forget it and get back in bed and sleep until 8...12pm - Leave work to go swim, say forget it and drive out of the parking lot to Taco Bell and order everything on the $1 menu which total only $10...5pm - There is no food at the house so I order pizza and get another Softball in my stomach...11pm wake frantically when I realize that Kirsten isn't there only to realize she is only 13 more days away from being in my arms again....or posts something like that anyway...maybe...haha.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIRSTEN!

A NEW WORLD RECORD!

So the weekend started off unassuming enough...Friday I ran for 1:10 with some 10 minute hard intervals since work was slow and then went to Hains Point and squeezed out 2000 meters before they blew the whistles announcing that the pool was closed.  Kirsten was as tired as she has ever been since her work had been high stress for the past week as they tried to get a proposal out by Friday.  Kirsten elected not to swim since she was so tired and just biked home from work.  She did stop by the pool to leave her card in the car door and wrote on it that she thought I was cute and should give her a call...definitely gave me a chuckle and permasmile on the drive home!

So Kirsten usually has an unspoken rule, more of a standard I guess, that around 9pm she starts saying "can we go to be now?"  Then at 9:30 she says "Are you ready for bed?"...then 10pm rolls around and she says "I am going to bed..."  Every night it is like clock work and is pretty funny since it has become routine for her (even during the olympics!), but this night she was so tired from work and all the activities the past week she was out at 8pm or so on the couch.  She wasn't awakened by anything either.  Around 10pm she finally woke up.  

We had planned on going doing the Shorefire century up in Delaware on Saturday morning as a training simulation for Ironman Arizona, but the more the day came upon us, the more we didn't really want to drive all the way up there and waste a day.  I was prepping for the ride while Kirsten was asleep and when she woke up at 10 the first thing she said was "Do we really have to go tomorrow?" I said "Nope not really...I really don't want to wake up at 5am to drive 2+ hours..." to which she replied "Good...I don't want to either".  So it was settled that easily!

We woke up around 6:30am or so and decided to do our usual 100 miler out to Sugarloaf and back.  It was just the two of us and I wasn't motivated to go similar to our run this past Wednesday.  After some cooing and cawing from me we finally got going about 15 minutes later than we wanted and were on our way.  Kirsten accused me of sandbagging again as I always say "I feel terrible" but the am hammering away later on in the ride.  So we got out onto MacArthur Blvd. which is flat and fast and Kirsten was hanging on my wheel when she hit a pothole that was slightly to my left.  I didn't call it out assuming she was directly behind me but she was taking a drink and hit the hole full on dropping her water bottle and hitting her arm on her bike pretty hard.  She was miffed for about 20 minutes but soon got over it when I tried to replace a bottle she lost at that point with one my own...I tried to put it in her bottle cages while we were riding up a hill...which was risky...I figured either I was going to drop it...or I was going to push it in and push myself over at the same time!  Well it fell out and that brought her back a little ;)

The rest of the ride was great as the temps were pretty cool but it was pretty humid.  That ride gets seemingly shorter every time we do it but I guess it is because I am getting used to it!  Kirsten was riding strong and I was waiting for my bonk to come as I was only using a concentrated bottle of Infinit to feed myself on the ride.  I had a couple times when I didn't feel good but kept drinking water and sipping the infinit and eventually came around each time.  When we hit MacArthur Blvd. on the way back Kirsten was blowing the doors off as she was pulling me along at 23mph INTO A HEADWIND!  She is getting extremely strong with her riding and was right there with me the entire day.  I was impressed and offered some encouraging words as we pulled into Georgetown (where the junk miles of stop and go start up back to the house).  

We were on record pace for that route and were at 4 hours 45 minutes as we pulled into Georgetown.  That meant that we were easily going to have a ride time of 5:30, but when we pulled into the house it was 5:13 and change!!!  That was a full 45 minutes faster than we had done that route....EVER!  What is even more impressive (to us anyway) it was just the two of us and we kept a consistent effort the entire way out and back.  Kirsten was a little beat up from the pace though (as was I) at the end to the point where we were about a mile from home and she says "CAN YOU SLOW THE 'F' DOWN A LITTLE!"...haha we both got a good laugh out of that one and I obliged  of course.  When we got back I compared this ride to the two rides I had on record and indeed it was 45 minutes faster and about 2mph faster than the other two rides...definitely a new world record for Kirsten and I!

Afterwards we headed down to 8th street for an early dinner and to get some gifts for Nic and Suzanne's baby shower that night.  We went to Cafe 8 and sat outside people watching and enjoying each other's company.  It was a great afternoon especially after the hard ride and the weather was perfect...Kirsten said it best..."If we went to Delaware, we wouldn't even be home yet!"  Indeed!  After that it was a quick walk home to change and vaccum (at least for me since I had been putting it off for over a week), and head over to Eric and Christal's.  

The baby shower was more of an adult gathering and didn't have any silly baby games or anything of the like.  The only formality was the opening of some gifts that some of us had brought.  All of the guys ended up congregating in the kitchen and exchanging stories and pouring each other drinks...until 1am!!!  Wow...the latest I had stayed out in a long time.  Kirsten left a little while before I did since she was exhausted and I got home ready to sleep from a long day.  

I woke up the next morning exhausted as well not intending to do anything even though we had some workouts on the schedule.  I wasn't feeling up to anything and Kirsten got ready to go for a short run but ended up getting outside and walking over to Safeway...grabbing some groceries and then coming straight back home...good to know she wasn't feeling up to working out either! 

By the time we both started coming around it was too late to do anything and we had to go to the Baltimore Oriole's Game.  My company a couple times a year gets a box at the games and provides free food and drinks.  It is a good time and nice to relax in luxury at a baseball game and the food is one step up from typical baseball fare, but definitely not gourmet by any means!  The game itself was painstaking as within 3 hours they had only played 4.5 innings!  It was the slowest game I had ever went to.  Although it was relatively exciting for baseball (as I say 30 minutes of action packed into 3 hours) it was just too slow for us so we decided to head home and avoid the traffic, running into many others that had the same idea on the way out.  Here are a couple pictures from the game:

The view from the corporate suite

Kirsten making sure I am not falling asleep

After that it was home for some more olympics and a quick nap before we headed over to Laura and Dave's to have our Endure24 meeting.  We unfortunately had to postpone the race until next year as result of just being too far behind with the permitting process and not providing enough time for racers to fundraise and for us to properly promote the event.  We apparently are already getting some notoriety as come of the cycling list serves were accusing us of being a pirate organization and some going so far as to calling the permit offices of the local county and city governments to see if we had permits approved.  We had gotten tentative approval from the parks people contingent upon a certificate of insurance (which we had gotten) but were still working through the hurdles of the local government (which was convoluted since we didn't have the proper information and ended up missing the submission deadline) to get approval to use the school.  Needless to say, the list serve people we felt were entirely over reacting but it just goes to show that people like to research the facts that support their point of view rather than examining both sides of the issue and getting the total information rather than bits and pieces; kind of like students writing papers based on Wikipedia entries that aren't entirely true rather that citing primary source material!  So they contacted every one but us and Autism Speaks...well that is going your homework isn't it?  Anyway, not that I am bitter about all these cyberspace lynch-mob types that seek to discredit anything new and different that encroaches on their comfort or control...but let me step down from my soapbox for the rest of the day.

Needless to say it is a slight relief to have more time to do the race the way we want and put on a first rate race that will "endure" for years to come (pun intended).  The meeting overall was productive but Kirsten and I were ready for bed before we even go there.  The week ahead looks to be pretty low key with Kirsten's birthday being the only thing going on this week.  Oh and she finds out if/when she gets to go to Sudan.  She found out there is a stadium with a track near their work compound so at least she can run while she is there.  More updates as the week goes on.

Ramblings of an errant corporate man...

So this past weekend was a perfect mix of social activities and working out for once...but man...did it ever drain the both of us!

Friday night was a pretty quick swim of 1600 meters and more Olympics than one person should ever watch...but I guess if you amortize it out over 4 years then it isn't so bad, at least that is what I will keep telling myself ;)

It was up early on Saturday to knock out our ride to Poolesville with Joe.  This was the first long ride I would be doing on my Tri Bike and given where I feel Kirsten and I's fitness is right now, I knew it would be a piece of cake.  This workout however was reminiscient of the ones my old coach gave me last year that left me feeling destroyed the next day so much so that I couldn't run a lick and ended up taking Sunday's off most of the time and missing long runs because of it.  Well this year I decided that if I was going to follow the workout I would do so under my own conditions based on how I felt and wouldn't care if I missed a set or two or even just ended up riding. 

The workouts prescribe certain sets like 2x30' @ 80-85% which means two sets of 30 minutes of 80-85% efforts.  Doesn't seem like much but they add up to the miles and stress in your legs.  The main point I wanted to take away from this first focused ride of the year was to get a lot of miles in that sweet spot of 80-85% and just sit there for long periods of time.  This was to serve a number of purposes but mainly to get me into the mind set of triathlon and sit at that given effort for long periods of time mimicking the sustained and constant efforts I we'll be doing at IMAZ.  

Needless to say I stuck to the workout the entire time pretty much, but on a rolling course it is a little hard to moderate your effort with all the downhills.  We went out to Poolesville and it seemed like we got there super quick in about 2 hours time going up West Willard.  With all the hills and mountains this past year the route didn't seem as bad as it used to be and I was feeling pretty good the entire time.  It helped that the temps were low the entire ride in the 70's mostly so I only went through maybe 4 bottles in almost 4 hours.   

We got back home and I was spent...we didn't swim and I ended up taking a 2 hour nap!  Kirsten and I went out on our first "date" in a long time and had dinner and went to a movie in Georgetown.  It was awesome to be able to go out and still have fun during Ironman training!  

Sunday was more of the same only this time we did go swim.  

Jumping ahead since we haven't posted in a while, things have been quite hectic for both Kirsten and I the past week.  Kirsten has been slammed with a proposal at her work that is due today and ended up working late last night to get it done.  I have once again been getting questions one at a time from a contract and become increasingly irritated at the fact that they keep doing so.  It would be like me telling a story on this blog, but only giving you a sentence at a time over a period of three weeks...pretty annoying huh!?

Anyway, Kirsten is getting ready to depart for Sudan for work...I am not entirely thrilled and have a hard time sharing in her enthusiasm about it, but of course am supportive of her ;)  So she will be gone for two weeks with extremely limited communication and definitely no phone service.  I guess I will have to keep myself busy to take my mind off of her not being there by re caulking the shower finally...6 months later... ;)  Hey, I want to do a quality job so I have to take my time right?  

Anyway, with all the planning and chaos we still managed to get in some working out.  Monday was a great and tiring 2800 yard swim.  Tuesday was a good interval session on the bike and Wednesday was the coup de gras, the dreaded 2 hour run...

Well the two hour run started off on a bad note, I threw a hissy fit at 5:25 in the morning because I was so tired I didn't want to do the run and was babbling about how Ironman sucks and I didn't want to do IMAZ etc.  Kirsten was an angel and negotiated 15 more minutes of sleep with me, which was all I needed.  Although we got going a lot later than we both wanted to, I was glad she gave me time to get my head in the right place for the run.  We started off at a pretty good pace and the effort felt harder (as it always does first thing in the morning) than our watches were showing.  We covered the same route we did a couple weeks ago only diverging onto Roosevelt Island to make a pit stop at the bathrooms on the island.  Since we left so late and Kirsten had a lot of work to do, she proposed running around the island a couple times and then heading back the same way to get the exact time we needed in while she would run straight to work rather than home.  So we ended up running around the island (which incidentally I had never been on!).  It was a nice little loop with some natural areas and some dirt paths and a nice change from the urban long run we usually do.  There was also not a soul there so it was pretty peaceful.  

We started heading back and parted ways at the Lincoln Memorial on the way back.  Up until that point we were clicking off 7:45 minute miles with a few stints above that and were feeling really good, the nice weather helped as well since the temps were only 68.  After we parted ways I decided to try to stick to the prescribed workout and do some higher heart rate running on the way back.  I pushed the pace to try to get my Heart rate up and it wasn't too tough.  When it was all said and done it was 2 hours of running for 15.3 miles, 7:50 minute miles, with an average Heart Rate of 138.  To compare to our last long run a couple weeks ago of 1:50, we did 13.2 miles, 8:20mm, with an average HR of 136!!!!  How is that for an improvement!?

That night we went to go watch our friend and wedding photographer Kip perform a walking tour for the Ford's Theatre about the assassination of President Lincoln.  It was extremely fun, informative, and just generally interesting.   The tour was even featured in The Washington Post!  The most interesting aspect of it was that the assassination was a conspiracy and not just an sole act by John Wilkes Booth.  They tried to kill the Vice President as well but the guy who was supposed to do it chickened out and the resulting arrests and inquiry into the plot resulted in the first ever federal execution of a woman in US History.  Also it was pretty interesting that at that time none of the presidents had a security detail and no politician was above reproach in every day life.  You could even meet with the President at your desire (they only had sentries posted at the entry but you could say you were there to see the president and they would let you in!)  Anyway, here are some picture of Kip in full character:

Sunset during the tour
Kip must be famous if he is on a poster in front of the theatre!
Kip, in full character...I mean Detective McDevitt!

Anyway, the past two mornings were tiring and I slept in both mornings.  I haven't swam since Monday but I ended up getting back so late last night that I couldn't get to Hains Point in time to get a good swim in so decided to bike instead since the sunset would last longer than the lifeguards blowing their whistles incessantly to let you know that the pool was closed...besides I needed to spin out the legs as they are still pretty sore from Wednesday's long run.

Since Kirsten isn't leaving for Sudan this weekend, we decided to do the Shorefire century tomorrow as a race simulation to get us in the proper mindset of triathlon rather that bike riding (which I adamantly prefer).  Should be a good time no matter what but a long drive and day overall.  More on that after the weekend is over...and hopefully after these one at a time questions everyday for three weeks straight from the government as well!

More Olympic fever!

We are stormed by Olympic fever. Pretty much any moment we are not at work or training we are at home on the couch or in the near vicinity of the tv. We are in awe of just about every athlete and other than the cycling road race, which we totally missed out on, we've seen at least a little bit of every sport. Except for basketball. Somehow we have no appetite for bball. We love the skinny long-distance runners and the pumped up sprinters, the amazing lung capacity of swimmers that go an entire length of the pool without breathing. Yes, even beach volley ball has been fun to watch.

Lest you think we took the weekend easy, I'll get right into the run down. Saturday morning we joined our friend Joe for an easy jaunt out to Poolesville. There were 2x30' sets at 85% plus some 10' sets. Chad rode hard and Joe and I chased so I think it's safe to say we all accomplished the goal. It was 68 degrees out when we started at 7:45 am. Almost chilly. After our first stop an hour in we were all sweaty and starting up again we all had a chill. By the time we finished the temps were in the 80's. Absolutely gorgeous biking weather. We skipped the swim in favor of a nap and the aforementioned time in front of the television.

Sunday we started at 7:00 and met Kip and Kevin for a 2-hr "recovery" ride. I should have known with Kip and Chad it would be a complete hammerfest. All in all it was a fast ride, despite my attempts to slow it down a little on the way back before we hit the Mass Ave hill. Chad and I did a 30 min run, ending at Safeway to get ingredients for breakfast. Blueberry pancakes, coffee, and vegetarian breakfast sausage - YUM!

Despite my best attempt to get out of it, we did do a 2000 m swim at the outdoor pool. There were four lane lines, instead of the ususal three. The water was not cloudy and was nice and cool. We were tempted to just keep swimming but we've got a long swim workout tonight. Anyway, more grocery shopping, more cooking and more eating in front of the TV ensued.

Overall a great weekend. And I'll leave Chad to tell you about Henry Poole is Here. A good movie with a bit of a cheesy ending that gets at the heart of spirtuality and faith without getting all weird and conservative. I cried, but that's because I really connected with one of the characters in that movie drama way. Go see it.

Seriously? It only gets tougher?

So after our excursion to the back roads of Garret and Allegheny Counties this past weekend it was time for a little down cycle in the training program.  Yes it was really only two weeks of high volume then one week back so far (versus 3 forward and one back as is usual in these training programs, but hey we were jumping in halfway into a training program so we figured it was fine.  Of course life and training are sometimes like oil and water but at least the oil known as "work" this past week was sporadic, but constant and somewhat annoying.

For the past two weeks a particular government agency has had questions about a proposal that we submitted.  The questions in question, he he, are about items that they didn't ask for in their request for a proposal of course, but if we don't answer them then we are non compliant and they throw us out.  This wasn't the annoying part...the annoying part was that they had 10 question in total and they would send us ONE question each day...with the answer being due a day and a half after they provided us the question.  The other annoying part was they sent the questions out of order with the first, and toughest question, coming last.  The date on the question was August 1st and the date they sent the question to us was August 12th...so they had the question for a full 11 days before they provided it to us and then they give us less than 36 hours to respond...welcome to government contracting!  They make you jump through hoops and when you meet their deadline and submit your answers via email...no one is there to confirm receipt and when you call no one answers...until the next day!!!  All in all, very annoying!  So that was my week in work, along with some ridiculous requests from a project site that involved making copies of items they already had electronically and could have printed themselves but expected me to do it while I was busy answering question for this proposal, and then hounding me about it...anyway that is another story all together...

So Monday Kirsten ran in the morning and I slept in with the intention of running at lunch.  Well the individual questions from the government kept rolling in so I had to miss the lunch time run and ended up just swimming at the DC Tri Club Masters Swim with TJ.  Kirsten decided not to swim so he and I flew solo.  We ended up doing about 2300 yards with some team relays at the end in celebration of the US 4x100 relay victory.  I guess I was sprinting pretty hard because I was sore for three days afterwards!  It was a tough swim but I felt strong at the end but extremely tired.  I need to get into the pool at least 4 times a week to make a difference in my swimming.  Kirsten is solid in her swim no matter how much she swims, but after swimming 4 times a week last year before one of my races and posting a 1.2 mile swim PR and then falling off and then going slower at Timberman it just shows that I need to get into the water more often.  Even if it is shorter swims, getting and maintaining a feel for the water is extremely important for me to have a solid swim.  Notice I said solid...not fast ;)  Anyway...

Tuesday morning was my first bike test in over a year.  This bike test is used to determine your threshold power (foreign words I know!) and the resulting number is the basis for every bike workout and your Ironman Specific Pacing strategy on the bike.  You are supposed to test at least every month, but I hated this test so much last year, and was just having fun until we recently buckled down in our training, that I hadn't done it since July of last year.  I was dreading every moment leading up to it but also had high expectations since I knew I was stronger this year than last year.  The test involves 2 twenty minute all out sets with a two minute rest in between.  The test HURTS!  The last 8 minutes of every set is an eternity and is so uncomfortable that I would rather crash going around a turn just to end the test.  Maybe I am just not mentally tough in that regards, or maybe I push too hard, or maybe I just can't take it (isn't that the same as not being mentally tough...maybe!), but all I know is that it is the most pain I have ever known and is worse than any discomfort I have ever felt...save kidney stones...even compared to any day of the week in wrestling in high school...

So I did the test and it hurt.  I luckily had a cycling acquaintance pacing me the 2nd set but that didn't help me cracking three or four times and stop pedaling, at which point he would yell at me and I would start up again, but I had given up by that point and probably should have bagged the test...but I trudged on.  At the end I was dry heaving, felt like crap, and was cursing like a sailor...but not really in a negative mood per say...just tired and groggy from the discomfort.  A cool down lap helped clear my head but I was a little miffed when I got home and saw the results.   I compared the results from my test back in July of last year to Tuesday's test and was disappointed on all fronts.  Apparently my number was 10 watts lower, my overall miles per hour were slower (but it was windy on Tuesday so that number is not good to compare) and my Heart Rate was higher.  

Having been at this for 4 years now and having been self coached to using a formal training plan, being coached by a real coach, and then just doing what I wanted and having fun, I have a pretty good sense of what works for me and how things should be structured within a training program (this does not mean I think I can coach someone though as most coaches out there aren't qualified to coach potatoes to grow!).  So I started to mull over everything and analyze every aspect before, during, and after the test.  I concluded a number of things:

1.  Residual fatigue definitely plays a part so early on in a recovery week which results in the inability to hold your effort level throughout both sets.

2.  Spending the majority of your time on your road bike doesn't allow you to physiologically adapt to the tri bike's position and therefore you aren't as efficient as you could be on the tri bike without putting in the time and necessary workouts on the tri bike itself.

3.  Putting a bike test so close to then end of an extremely high volume week (intensity or otherwise and even though you are in a recovery week) doesn't give your body time to adapt and benefit from the actual training cycles you are going through and therefore results in a difficult test that residual fatigue influences (see #1 above) more than what you are capable of.

4. Putting the bike test at the beginning of the following week when your volume picks up again or at the end of your recovery week is a better situation since you allow your body to recover from the high volume week and adapt to the training stresses you have put it through, thus allowing you to be more well rested and have your test results more closely dictate the gains you have made from training and more accurately depict you functional threshold  than a test done on a significant amount of residual fatigue.

So after a lengthy discussion with Kirsten about it and talking with a couple of our friends we viewed the risk of doing such a hard test at the beginning of a training cycle as slight even with a long run scheduled the next day.  So the September test will come after the rest week and at the beginning of the next training cycle and we will see how that test works out.  Stay tuned!

So after dwelling in negative town for awhile I slowly came back to life over the next couple days.  The realization of the points above made me feel slightly better about it anyway.  I slept in on Wednesday morning (as did Kirsten) and then ended up running on Wednesday night.  I ran out to meet Kirsten at the Lincoln Memorial  and had a great run on the way out.  When I met her at the Lincoln there was the Air Force Band performing at the end of the reflecting pool so we stopped and sat on the Lincoln Steps to watch them for a little while before continuing the run.  I was shocked since I was running faster than I had the previous couple of weeks and my Heart Rate was rediculously low.  It was interesting since during the test on Tuesday my HR was so high for so long, but over the past couple of years I have noticed after the first race or test of the year my HR is high and then after the test it is extremely low during all my training sessions.  Not sure why, maybe it is my imagination, but more on the reality of that later.

Thursday was a bit hectic again at work so swimming didn't happen and the lack of consistency with swimming is beginning to get a bit unnerving.  Starting next week there are no excuses and I am going to start going 4 times a week NO MATTER WHAT!  I did ride again in the morning and felt a bit stronger but still somewhat sore from Tuesday's test and the run less than 12 hours ago!  I rode with Kip, Ryan, and TJ and did some short 2 minute intervals with some tempo riding afterwards.  Felt okay, but definitely need more time on that bike.  

So that brings us to today and this morning!  Kirsten and I pretty much took our time this morning getting up to go run and she decided that she was going to run into work.  We got out the door at 7:15 or a little before that and the weather was beautiful!  It seemed like we were taking it easy and from our Heart Rates (at least mine since Kirsten sent her watch in to get fixed) it seemed so.  We were clicking off 7:45 miles and my Heart Rate was only 129!!  Kirsten was looking strong and didn't seem to have any problems holding the pace either.  She is coming around fast with her training and I am sure I will spend 112 miles chasing her on the bike at IMAZ and probably only be right there with her on the run... ;)

We parted ways at the Washington Monument as she continued on to work and I turned around and ran home.  I decided to see what was going on with my HR and just started running according to how I felt.  Pretty soon I was clocking off 6:30's at 144 beats per minute and then started to hit 6:00 flat near the Capitol at about 150 beats...crazy considering that my threshold is 164!!!  I had a lot more left and my legs didn't have a problem keeping up and my breathing didn't feel all that labored.  Was this a turning point?  I have no idea but I went with it.  The run ended up being 6.2 miles in 46 minutes flat with an average of 7:30 miles and an average Heart Rate of 138!!!  That is zone 1 for me...WOW!  I am not going to complain but hopefully it all stays that way!

On the agenda for the weekend is some light biking/running and a couple of swims.  Since it is our first free weekend since our wedding we are going to finally take the opportunity to go see a movie!!!  Dinner and a Movie...such a typical "couples" thing to do, but not so typical for Kirsten and I since we rarely have the time/energy to get to the movies let alone go out on the weekends.  So exciting that we get to do something outside of the normal routine and fun!!!  A relaxing weekend of catch up and some social fun...I can't wait!

Running Alone is...well...Lonely...

Monday we had a 50 min run on the schedule. Actually, it was carried over from Sunday since I couldn’t run, could barely stay awake in fact. Chad was exhausted from all the driving and watching Olympics. And the fact that he didn’t nap two or three times like I did. So he slept in. This may sound like I’m tattling, but I have to say I’ve been very proud of Chad – he has gotten up to run consistently over the past couple months. Even those days we have to get up for our long run he is ready to roll.

But Monday I headed out solo. Our friend Lisa moved to North Carolina and our friend David is recovering from injury. Although I ran the usual route it felt like the longest run of the year. By the time I made it three blocks I looked at my watch. And again when I hit 8th st and at the capitol, etc etc. I didn’t really enjoy it.

So when Chad wanted to sleep in again I got all dressed and ready to go and then remembered how tough the run on Monday was. And I crawled back in bed. I’ll run home from work tonight. No big deal. But that’s the last time I can do that. No more free passes. You heard it here.

Tuesday we had a hard ride. Somehow Chad dug really deep and kept his focus for 2 20-min time trials to measure his power threshold. Or whatever the term is. I tried to do the same with my heart rate. My average over the test was 148. That is very, very lame. I think 154 is closer to the truth but I just couldn’t get there. And then on my way home from work some punk on two wheels darts onto my side of the trail and hits me head on. We both fell over. Luckily there is no serious damage to my bike. But I wanted to pummel the kid anyway. Another bike commuter and two runners quickly came to our aid and held my bike while I assessed the damage.

Despite my instant bad mood and my prediliction for skipping swim workouts, I got in a decent 2100 yd swim at Hains Point. The water was cloudy as usual, but nice and cool. Perfect outdoor swim weather. Only three more weeks and HP will be closed for another year; better get out and enjoy it as much as possible.

Playing Catch Up

Whew, hello there in blog land.  It sure has been awhile.  Almost two weeks to be accurate.  Based on the last couple postings from my lovely wife you may have thought I went missing in the mountains of Virginia, West Virginia, or Western Maryland the past couple weekends.  Well, nothing could be further from the truth.  I might have even "found" myself in the fitness sense of the word the past couple weekends.  

So I will try to keep you all engaged and not rehash the details of the past couple weekends because my lovely wife did that for me already.  Well she did it mostly for you all and I am just the bonus I guess...haha!

So starting off with Mountain Mama and ending with Mountain Mama Weekend it was a pretty packed week.  It was the first full week of training for our Ironman, but really we have been consistently training since December but more in "fun" mode without structure.  Total was about 17 hours and 20 minutes of training.  That is quite a lot and only goes up from there!  

Mountain Mama was a ride I had been looking forward to for a long time and it was a ride that gave Kirsten her "breakthrough" workout that I have been mentioning her needing for sometime to break out of the training funk she was in.  Well sufficient to say that she achieved that goal and I was so impressed by her strength out there in Monterey, VA and on those hills.  She was the woman I know and love and a tremendous athlete that day as she always is.  She finished strong, had a positive attitude the entire day, and was in a good mood no matter what.

It was a long Saturday with the flat tire saga and the excursion to Wal Mart on the way home, but I am glad my company pays for the car maintenance and not me!  It had been a while since Kirsten and I had been on mountains like that.  Actually the only time we had been on mountains like that was when we were in Tucson over Christmas and then in the Tour of California.  It was pretty awesome to be climbing those mountains and getting a greater challenge than riding the same rolling hills around DC as usual.  

Phil and Laurel tagged along to the century which was a good motivation for Kirsten and I and a good gauge to our fitness as Phil is an extremely strong rider. 

I had a pretty good boost of self confidence since I was keeping Phil about 50-100 yards in front of me on the climbs and he wasn't pulling away from me.  There was even one point on the last huge climb out of the state park that I pulled up to him and ended up passing him.  Well, Phil didn't like that too much and eventually caught me and passed me again on the 5 mile long climb.  I had a banana at the stop before that climb and as I passed him initially he said "feeling good huh?"  to which I replied "It is that banana!"  Needless to say after he passed me I kept him within that 50-100 yards again and felt like I was riding pretty strong although he and I hammered the flats from mile 20-30 (22-27mph).  

The salt tabs I brought this time helped immensely as on each climb I would be pouring sweat like a water fall.  The temps were perfect and wasn't too hot or cold, but the humidity was still pretty high adding to my sweat factor.  The last two climbs were a real bear and by that point my quads were screaming at me because of all the climbing we had done already.  The last 20 miles I really didn't eat or drink much either since I was nearing the end and just wanted it to be over.  I waited for Kirsten at the last rest stop (she was about 3 minutes behind me on the descent) and we took off to tackle the last climb together (Phil didn't stop, THANKS!)  I pulled ahead of her at the beginning but after the first mile my quads started to give up on me.  Energy wise I felt fine but again my legs weren't used to all the climbing.  After 100 miles and 10000+ feet of climbing anybody's legs would start to get tired!

Needless to say I slowed to a crawl and tried to stretch the legs out by standing but to no avail.  We still had a mile to go on the climb and I was ready for it to be over.  Kirsten ended up pulling ahead of me and won the King of the Mountain Points for that climb for sure!  Then with my budda belly and love handles I dropped like a rock on the descent into the finish ahead of her.  She gets my vote for most aggressive rider that day since she was right oh Phil and I's heels the entire day and got the KOM Points on that last climb!  Good Job!

  

All in all it was an awesome ride and I would definitely do it again and recommend it to anyone looking for a mountainous challenge (pun intended!).  The first pic above is the last climb you have to come over before descending back to the start...looks easy huh?  After 92 miles or so of 10000 feet of climbing...not so much!

On Sunday I ended up jumping on the bike again to meet up with our friend Paul D. who was in town on a break from business school in Spain.  We also met up with Adrianne and Pam who are extremely strong riders as well.

It was an awesome ride to spin the legs out and I felt surprisingly well considering the day before.  I even was able to hammer up some hills without breaking myself.  I felt strong, confident, and at a level of fitness that was way above anything the past three years.  I did start to feel the residual fatigue of the day before towards the end, but not bad overall.  We hung out and had coffee at Dean and Deluca in Georgetown after and it was good to just hang out after the ride.  Kirsten and I went swimming at Hains Point again later that day and I ended up running home from the pool to get a 40 minute run in.  All three sports in one day after a challenging day before, a lot you say, but what do you do when you are feeling that good?  I say you go with it!

I ended up taking the long way home so that I could stop by the White House and say hello to the president and his staff (at the buildings next door).  Took some pictures since I wasn't in a rush and was trying to enjoy the day rather than treat all this as training.  

It does wonders for the mind and soul when you are just going with the flow and taking the time to enjoy everything.  I even got a autobiographical photo...Guess my expression was better suited for the end of the Mountain Mama Ride rather than this day though!

Then of course work caught up with me until Thursday evening and the week flew by before we left for Deep Creek Lake.  I got everything done and out the door on Thursday so I was in the clear to do what I needed to for our weekend away.  It was a bit chaotic since I didn't have time to do ANYTHING before hand like pack or go to the grocery store but that is what marriage is all about, supporting each other in times of need, although admittedly this wasn't really a time of "need" it was just the routine of life, but still...it is nice to have someone there to lean on and vice versa ;)  We ended up getting on the road around 9 or so and got out to DCL pretty quick to meet up with TJ.  We decided that riding the Savageman Bike Course the next morning was the call since we got in late and didn't want to spend all day on the bike as Kirsten and I had a wedding BBQ to go to that night at 7. 

Having ridden the course last year we knew what we were in for slightly only this time the road bike was doing the work for me instead of the tri bike.  Race day will be the same since there are few opportunities to use the tri bike except the last 6 miles of the course!  I earned the nick name "Mountain Goat" from Kirsten and TJ and even had a couple "Baaaahhhhhaaaaaahhhhhaaa's" here and there from them on the ride.  I was just tackling the hills and setting into a consistent effort as much as I could on the brutal climbs.  Considering I had only been there once I was pretty shocked that I remembered a majority of the course and didn't find it as challenging as the year before (but it is still hard believe me!).  

Even after the huge climb over Big Savage Mountain (so aptly named) I started to think that this wasn't as hard as I remember.  Sure the climbs are challenging but they weren't out of our league by any means.  Especially after Mountain Mama the weekend before.  I ended up circling back around to regroup with TJ and Kirsten after the climbs and would wait for them on the descents when we got separated.  I was definitely feeling good but didn't feel like I was hammering and was going to fade out anytime soon.   The weather was perfect and my nutrition and hydration were thanking that for sure!  After a short break at the store before the last climb (or so we thought) and a story about two youths escaping from the local youth camp and coming into the store that morning with duct tape on the their feet for shoes (saying they left them at their girlfriend's house) and looking like Robert Redford in "Cool Hand Luke" after his escape, we trudged on.  

The climb up Otto Lane wasn't as bad as I remembered either but I was enjoying the fact that all the roads up until that point were in perfect condition and most were freshly paved.  We then got to the "new portion" of the course where you take a sharp left on Miller Road after a screaming descent out of Jennings.  This was the cruel part as I didn't remember this part from last year (duh...that is why it is "new"!) and the climb just went straight up this hill side next to a farm.  The climb winded up and up and up and up and up and around every corner or rise there was another rise/climb just beyond and just as bad.  The Garmin I was borrowing was saying 25-28% grade at times and the climb was easily 1.5 miles or more.  It was rough and we all were bitching about it at the top while winded and sweating profusely.  How cruel to put that hill in so late in the race!!!!  

Anyway, the rest of the ride was easy compared to all that climbing!  We got back and TJ and Kirsten went for a brick run while I felt the need to refuel and take a short break.  I wanted to run one loop of the run course but neither TJ or Kirsten were having any of it.  Shortly after they got back I headed over to the state park to get one loop in of the old course that is mostly a trail run up to the fire tower.  Yup that is right...I said "UP" to the fire tower.  It was a PITA (no, not PETA, PITA...Pain in the you know what).  It was a lot more challenging than I remembered, but I ran the whole thing this time so I felt good about that.  Immediately my Heart Rate was sky rocketing since out of the state park it is uphill through the campground and then straight up the trail to the fire tower.  

It honestly reminded me of the morning and lunch time 1.5 mile sprints up the ski runs we used to do in High School Wrestling Camp up at Boreal Resort in Squaw Valley, CA.  After our morning technique sessions and right before lunch, the coaches would make us run up the ski run in back of the resort.  They figured it was a good way to sort out the food lines rather than have 100 hungry wrestlers in the off season rush the lunch line!  It was tough though since it was rough trail and you were already at 8000 feet of elevation or so and everyone wanted to be in line FIRST!  At altitude, in the off season, and out of shape...but craving the awesome Cherry Coke they had for drinks, well it was exactly what the run up to the fire tower reminded me of, the running though, not the Cherry Coke!

I was all alone for about 4 miles on that trail and I thought for sure that I was going to run into a bear and be done for.  It was quiet and I didn't see anyone or hear anything the entire time save two white tail deer near the top.  One saw me and sprinted away, the other was a young buck with fur still on his antlers.  Definitely an awesome sight as he was 5 feet from me and just stared at me.  My next thought was, what if he freaks out on me like that deer in the movie Tommy Boy!  But he didn't, just stared at me while chewing his dinner!  

After the 2 miles up to the fire tower it is pretty much downhill until you get to the lake road again.  The trail conditions were pretty rough and I can see why they changed the course this year.  Once back on the road things came a little easier and I started clicking off 7:30's and 7:15's at an extremely low heart rate.  I was feeling good and my legs were feeling better and better.  I decided to end it with the last couple miles as tempo and started cranking up the pace.  The last 1/2 mile or so is all downhill so I was clocking 6 minute miles effortlessly, way to delude yourself in a race but there is no way after biking the SM course and running a hilly 1/2 like that I could put up those numbers, but we will see in about a month!

After the run it was straight into the hot tub with Kirsten and TJ.  It was a welcome relief after the hard run and bike that day.  Then we were off to Kyle and Laura's BBQ.  The venue was awesome and the Bluegrass band was a great touch to the area and the scenery.  Heck I may even try to buy one of their albums if they have one ;)  We felt kind of awkward since we only really knew one person there and didn't want to monopolize his time.  But Kirsten and I found our own little corners to hang out in and were "That married couple in love" for the evening.  You know the one that sits with each other and does everything together...it was nice ;)  

The food was fantastic as well and the corn was the best I have ever had!  A funny side story to that, as Kirsten and I were in line for appetizers, the guy was cooking the corn and I looked and said "Oh they have biscuits too!  Look on top of the corn!" Kirsten, without missing a beat says..."Those aren't biscuits....THAT IS BUTTER!"  Darn if those pats of butter weren't pats but looked like extremely large country biscuits!  Guess that is why the corn was so good!

Saturday we did the bike course again and repeated our performances from the day before which means we are pretty good on our bike training to do the course in the same amount of time and feel like we were taking it easier the second day.  This day though it is all we would have done since we got back and were exhausted.  We didn't swim, we just slept until we had to go to the wedding.  I was okay with it though!

The wedding was very nice and full of little touches of original wedding things I hadn't seen before like a Ride away in a classic Ford, arrival of the bride and groom to the reception via a large "Swan" from across the other side of the lake, and a full on Big Band!  It was pretty cool and I kind of felt like I was at the Cleary wedding in the movie Wedding Crashers.  It was a very nice wedding although the guy serving the chicken, fish, and filet refused to give me all three.  I mean most of us were triathletes and so were the bride and groom...so DON"T THEY KNOW WE GET HUNGRY!  He offered me a choice of the fish and chicken....OR the filet...cheapskate...in the end they had a ton of left overs that they hauled off too!  Oh well, probably for the best.

Kirsten and I danced a little and I twirled her a little here and there.  It was the first time that I realized that she has trouble letting others lead on the dance floor!  So much that it became a topic of discussion at our table.  She even got on the dance floor with our friend Sean and our entire table was commenting on how she was having trouble even then because Sean was trying to lead.  It was pretty funny to see her struggling with giving up dance floor control, but I still love her more now than I did yesterday!  I got on the dance floor with her again and told her how we were talking about her at the table and we both had a great laugh about it.  She then let me lead some of the dancing and we laughed some more.  It was a great time with my wife and the fondest memory of the weekend by far ;)

It was a late night and we were both dehydrated from the past two days and the wine and drinks just exacerbated matters.  We woke up in the morning and just wanted to get home.  So we left around 9 am and headed out of town not caring if we worked out or not.  We even stopped off at Annie's Country Kitchen for some breakfast on the way out of town.  The rest of the day after getting back we pretty much lounged around and didn't do much.  

I finally got to washing our bikes for the first time in about a month in a half, which is a pretty long time, especially considering that I am the designated bike mechanic and bike washer in the house!  It felt good to get that done, but I was feeling to dehydrated to run by that point so I just showered up and plopped on the couch with Kirsten.  We ended up watching the Olympics all night and ordered pizza because we were too lazy to do anything else.  After two loops of the Savageman course and a rocking wedding, I wonder why?

Anyway, it was a great weekend with great friends.  We got some quality training in along with some great socializing and relaxing and thoroughly enjoyed every moment.  The weather was great and the riding was even better.  Married life just keeps getting better, the days just keep getting better, and I feel like I am just getting stronger and stronger every workout.  It is an awesome feeling!  This week is a recovery week although I have a bike test tomorrow...I hate those...they hurt worse than an Ironman!  More to come on that tomorrow!

Savage Training and Celebrating

Our friends Kyle and Laura got married on Saturday and the festivities centered around their home away from home at Deep Creek Lake in MD. This is also home to the Savageman triathlon festival, coming up in September. So we brought our bikes, our swim suits and our running gear and prepared for some "savage" training.

The Savageman Half bike course is probably one of the most difficult rides around. It's something like 6,000 ft of climbing in 56 miles. And most of that falls within miles 20 and 40. The course is gorgeous and goes something like this:

First hour (20 miles), mostly downhill through meadows and along Savage River; miles 5-20 are mostly shaded and cool - arm warmers recommended. Miles 1-15 you can expect to see 1-5 cars. For several miles before Westernport you go through a milling town with lots of truck traffic going to and from the papermill and gravel mines.

Then you hit the town of Westernport, home of the infamous Westernport Wall. You take a quick left and immediately the hill begins. And you take another left and you see a serious of three hills in front of you, each one steeper than the last. My MPH went from 20 to 12 to 8 to 4 in the span of 2 minutes. And then the climbing doesn't end. The next 55 minutes is almost a continuous a climb for 8 miles. And I don't mean 4% grade. I'm talking 15-20% grade the entire way. And then you hit a nice downhill that somehow allows you to cover 10 miles in that second hour.

By this time your legs are toast. And you are thinking a break would be nice. But then you take a left on McAndrews Hill just before New Germany State Park and the hill kicks your butt. Pretty much the only store you find on the route is just out of the park. Both Friday and Saturday we reached the store at about the 2hr 20 min mark. After a quick refill of fluids and calories you hit the next hill immediately. And you find the break has only allowed your legs to stiffen up. Luckily this next climb though steep is only a half mile long. And then you hit some rollers followed by a twisty, turny downhill. The road takes you through a very scenic valley, dotted by hay bales, cows, horses and farm houses. And you think, oh, this is so pretty.

And then you take a left on Miller Road and you see the hill in front of you. And the switchbacks seem to never end. The grade of the hill hits 26% in several spots. And it seems to never end. But it does and the next few miles are nice rollers. You realize looking at your bike computer that you've only gone 42 miles and you are at about the 3 hr mark. The rollers continue until about mile 50 and then, finally, the hill tilts downward and your legs finally get a chance to spin towards the transition area at Deep Creek Lake State Park.


It took us about 3 hrs 45 min both days. Our average pace was almost the same. And somehow Saturday felt better than Friday. We all did a run on Friday and then Saturday Chad and I napped while TJ went for a swim. At 5 o'clock Chad and I had to be at the church for the wedding (we were on time!) so we used that as our excuse for taking the rest of the afternoon off. And then at the reception the drinking started. And today I find myself hung over. So we got up, checked out of our rental house and drove home. Chad drove while I napped.


All in all, a great weekend. Beautiful setting for a wedding, some great training, and well-deserved relaxation. Congrats to Laura and Kyle!

Calories are your friend

Another long run Wednesday morning – and this time 1 hr 50 min. We planned to leave at 5:45 to pick Kip up at 5:50. Naturally we didn’t leave the house until 5:55, but that is still quite an improvement on last week. For me the big difference was drinking a Strawberry flavored Ensure as soon as we woke up. I need the time for it to settle in my stomach and 25 minutes is about right. We got going and both Chad and I felt pretty good.This time we ran over the 14th St bridge towards Roosevelt Island. We ended up hitting 55 minutes just before Key bridge and decided to cross the bridge and run along the C&O in Georgetown towards the GW Parkway.

We lost Kip for a minute when he ran into an acquaintance, but for the most part we ran the whole route together. I was really surprised Kip stayed with us the whole way, but he is on a cleansing diet of only fresh fruit and veggies – no sugar, no sports drink, no gels – so he may have been feeling fatigued enough to hang with our slower pace. I took a gel at about the half way point and although I wasn’t drinking much I was feeling pretty good.

We actually kept a pace of 8:30 min miles for the first hour. We picked it up once we got to GW Parkway, fluctuating between 7:30 and 8:00 min miles. By the time we got back to the Hill I was feeling the miles building up in my legs. Although the weather stayed pretty mild – warm but not hot, and a little humid, but not bad for August – we were all soaked with sweat. In fact, Chad took off his shorts in Georgetown (yes, he was wearing two pairs), twisted out LOTS of water and decided to just throw them away. My feet were squishing in my shoes and I was soaked. I weighted in at 115.4 after the run.

All in all, so much better than last week!! I’m going to give most of the credit to having some calories before and during the run to keep me going.

2800 yd swim in the evening to round out the day. We need to get at least one long swim in a week. Tonight we head up to Deep Creek Lake for another epic training weekend and then we get an easy week to recover. I'm already looking forward to it.

Mississippi Rebuilding

Recently work took me to Gulf Port, Mississippi. There is not a lot of news coming out of the Gulf Coast area about recovery after Katrina and Rita, but that may be because the news is still pretty depressing. (Katrina hit Mississippi hard and wind and water damage were devastating in most coastal areas.) Yes, there are homes being rebuilt, businesses being re-started. But there are a whole heck of a lot of people still living in trailers, experiencing post traumatic stress disorder, and trying to restart their lives. According to FEMA’s website there are still 5,000 families in Mississippi alone that do not have permanent housing.

The urgency of the housing matter has been stepped up since the President declared that federal temporary housing assistance will end March 1, 2009. This is both good and bad. Funding will be made available to step up home building and resettlement efforts, putting people into safer, permanent units so they can get back to the business of rebuilding their lives. The bad news is that there will be many families that slip through the cracks. And those families are generally the elderly or ones that have always been living with one foot on the steps of poverty. They have less access to information and social services and many of them have been uprooted from their communities and relocated to trailer parks.

We toured Route 90, the coastal highway connecting Pass Christian and Biloxi (and beyond), and found it to be largely untouched in the last several years. Debris has been cleaned up, but the road side is dotted by concrete pads where houses and business once stood. The road itself is under re-construction. And the beach too is fenced off in many areas for rehabilitation. There are still signs, broken and all but totally destroyed that still dot the highway for businesses that have long ago washed away. And some of the homes that appear to have survived still have boarded windows and doors.

The most obvious sign of growth are the couple of high rise condos that have been built and the casinos that have been rebuilt. The condos are a mixed blessing – they provide affordable housing. But they’ve replaced individual homes and are certainly not as photogenic as the original dwellings.

I visited a friend of mine in New Orleans several times after Katrina. There too it’s sad to see so many neighborhoods largely abandoned. Keep your eye on the news for stories of rebuilding. Or consider donating time and money to the cause. Volunteers have been instrumental in helping people rebuild their homes – often families can afford construction materials, but can’t hire contractors. Volunteers can help ease the burden.

Development on the beach














New Construction along Rt 90














Building remains















Sign of new construction















New beach front development - good or bad?














Commercial park - the sign is all that is left














Fences where things are being rebuilt and For Sale signs
















Mississippi Loves Waffle House - Can you see all the trailers in the back ground? That's not a camp ground.













Empty Lots Abound Along the Highway

Mountain Mama: The Epic Adventure

There are two separate highlights to this story - 1) On our 4 hour drive to the start of Mountain Mama Century in Monterey, VA, Chad and I got our first flat IN THE CAR. Unfortunately I didn't have the forethought to take pictures while Chad and Phil changed the tire. But here is a glimpse of the damage.

We ended up getting the tires changed at Wal-Mart in Staunton, VA. The guys helping us couldn't get the new tires installed properly so it ended up taking 2 1/2 hours! We finally left a Staunton a little after 9 pm - we didn't home until after midnight.
So, now that I've told you how the story begins and ends...

2) Phil, Laurel, Chad and I decided to give Mountain Mama Century a run for the money. It starts and ends in Monterey, about 200 miles south west of DC. And it climbs 9 mountains in Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland. It's a crazy ride. The four of us caravanned out, enjoying Cracker Barrel for dinner, a snooze at the Holiday Inn in Staunton and then an hour drive to the start of the ride. It was pouring and lighting and thunder were crashing on the mountain tops as we drove towards the start. The ride was beautiful and eventful, considering we got the flat about 20 min into the drive.

After an hour delay we got rolling at 9. The rain had stopped though the roads were still pretty wet. After a tenth of a mile to get out of the school drive, we took a right up our first mountain climb. It was awesome. We ended up getting caught in a short line of traffic, the last driver of which was a real a$$. She was hugging the white line so none of us could pass her on the right and nearly took out a bunch of us with her rearview mirror when she took a broad corner. At the 15 mile mark we took a left and headed into Sugar Grove for our second mountain climb.

This second climb was steep, but shorter than some of the other climbs. Probably a mile up. And then it was followed by some rollers. One of the highlights of my day was passing a group of guys on this climb, one of which commented "I thought those time trial bikes weren't any good for climbing". I responded that 650 wheels are great for climbing, but was really pleased when he finished with "Guess it all depends on the engine". Darn right it does!!

There were 7 rest stops on the ride, which generally came at the bottom of the big climbs. We had some nice riding through valleys where I was actually able to ride in the aero position. Though the hills were 8-9% grade and sometimes more. I ended up taking in too many calories early on. I was drinking a water bottle with Infinit or about 200 calories about every hour 15 minutes. And I ate a peanut butter sandwhich at every rest stop. I was scared to run out of fuel on the climbs, but by the 5th rest stop I couldn't take in any more food. I was drinking a bottle of water and a bottle of Infinit mix about every 2 hours or so, trying to keep the fluids in at least.

The scenery was beautiful. All the pictures are from our drive in and out. We didn't bring any electronics with us because of the wet roads and the fact that we forgot plastic bags. We passed through some really small towns, but only passed a couple stores or gas stations. This is definitely not a place you could plan a route and count on stopping every 20 miles at a store to reload your drink. The volunteers were great and the food was plentiful.

The climbs were all tough, but the one that hurt the most was the last one, which starts going up at mile 95. There are probably 20 switchbacks; just when you think you have reached the peak, you see the next corner ahead. Chad and I were climbing together for most of this. There was a group of motorcyclists hanging out at one of the scenic overlooks and I asked if they had a tow rope. I was mostly kidding; in large part because I'm not sure I could stay upright by getting pulled by a rope. And then, finally, we began the descent back into Monterey. Chad quickly sped by me and I didn't see him again until I pulled up to the car.

After cold showers and pulled pork sanwhiches we were on our way to recovery. Except for that 3 hr stop at Wal-Mart. We both had red eyes, sunburn and that exhausted look you get when you've had a fantasic, but really long ride.