Did my seven miles at lunch today...about a 8:05 per mile average, I think. I wanted to do an easy run but it became a faster regular-style run...can't help it. Hopefully I'll be able to walk somewhat normal when I get out of bed in the morning...I might squeeze in a bike ride Tuesday afternoon.
My truck's in the shop, probably until sometime Wednesday. The mechs have located a water leak from two drain plugs in the back of the engine block but it requires moving the transmission out of the way to get at them (ouch!). But I might not have to have the engine valve gaskets replaced if this turns out to be the primary cause of the leak...keep your fingers crossed! Still won't be cheap but maybe it won't be that expensive either.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Good Morning!
It's hard to be humble when you're as good-looking as I am........ha-ha.....
Got up just a little while ago, took the dogs for a walk. Still getting used to the idea of bagging Farley's poop...since he's a Black Lab his stuff is a bit larger than most. But, since we're now in a new neighborhood, it's a good idea to not leave crap in the other yards. Makes for good neighborly harmony! Plus Jonnene "makes" me do it!
I started running again last Wednesday. I experimented with putting some foam padding above and behind my right big toe to see if that would help in reducing the pain I was feeling down there when I ran. Before doing that I had tried to run, hoping it was healed up from the time off, and I couldn't get 100 meters down the street and was reduced to walking 'cause it hurt so much. I went back to the house, tried the padding, and went out again. I knocked out 2.5 miles and felt nothing! Since then I've done two runs of 4 and 5.5 miles (that last one beat me up a bit), and today I'm cranking for seven miles. I'm less than two weeks away from the trail run at Lake Bisteneau (10 miles) so I need to get back on track.
I'm still not riding as much as I'd like but I'll get back into it after the trail run is over...I still plan to run twice a week to keep up that part of my fitness. The Freeze Your Fanny ride in Longview is this Saturday so I'll go out for that and do the 60-mile course. It won't be pretty, that's for sure, but it's another brick in the foundation for 2008. I'm not worried...I'll be behind everyone else early in the season but I'll get there by May, riding pretty well if nothing gets in the way. Like I've said before, I'm looking forward to riding this year and expect some fun times in the peloton.
This past weekend consisited mainly of house stuff. Cleaning things up, sorting through and organizing what's already been moved here (still a ways to go on that!), painting, getting things we need, and (very) slowly emptying out the old house. We're almost finished getting everything out of the storage unit so we can close that out by month's end. The new place is starting to feel more like home every day. J's always got some good ideas to make it better and I make a suggestion or two also...I think the place will be great by the end of the year. We've volunteered to host the Christmas holidays for the family so we need to get the house ready to endure that!
It's kinda exciting....
Got up just a little while ago, took the dogs for a walk. Still getting used to the idea of bagging Farley's poop...since he's a Black Lab his stuff is a bit larger than most. But, since we're now in a new neighborhood, it's a good idea to not leave crap in the other yards. Makes for good neighborly harmony! Plus Jonnene "makes" me do it!
I started running again last Wednesday. I experimented with putting some foam padding above and behind my right big toe to see if that would help in reducing the pain I was feeling down there when I ran. Before doing that I had tried to run, hoping it was healed up from the time off, and I couldn't get 100 meters down the street and was reduced to walking 'cause it hurt so much. I went back to the house, tried the padding, and went out again. I knocked out 2.5 miles and felt nothing! Since then I've done two runs of 4 and 5.5 miles (that last one beat me up a bit), and today I'm cranking for seven miles. I'm less than two weeks away from the trail run at Lake Bisteneau (10 miles) so I need to get back on track.
I'm still not riding as much as I'd like but I'll get back into it after the trail run is over...I still plan to run twice a week to keep up that part of my fitness. The Freeze Your Fanny ride in Longview is this Saturday so I'll go out for that and do the 60-mile course. It won't be pretty, that's for sure, but it's another brick in the foundation for 2008. I'm not worried...I'll be behind everyone else early in the season but I'll get there by May, riding pretty well if nothing gets in the way. Like I've said before, I'm looking forward to riding this year and expect some fun times in the peloton.
This past weekend consisited mainly of house stuff. Cleaning things up, sorting through and organizing what's already been moved here (still a ways to go on that!), painting, getting things we need, and (very) slowly emptying out the old house. We're almost finished getting everything out of the storage unit so we can close that out by month's end. The new place is starting to feel more like home every day. J's always got some good ideas to make it better and I make a suggestion or two also...I think the place will be great by the end of the year. We've volunteered to host the Christmas holidays for the family so we need to get the house ready to endure that!
It's kinda exciting....
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Fah-reezin'!
Rode with Mack this morning...it was cold...about 29 degrees to start...saving grace was that the sun was out in all its glory...but not warm enough to make any difference. My balaclava is at the old house so I went out, bare-faced and all, with only my 2-day-old whisker growth to keep my face somewhat covered from the cold air. It was an easy ride (really, it was supposed to be) and I only covered 36 miles. Doesn't help that I haven't ridden that much the last couple of weeks but I'll get that corrected soon. Still, it was a good ride if you take out the fact that I couldn't feel my fingertips the last ten miles and had to pee real bad...cold weather riding does that to me. Once I got home and could feel my body parts again I took a nice HOT shower. Best part of the day, amen, bro.
We're still moving stuff from the storage lot and the old house to the new place. So much stuff! How did I accumulate all this crap over the years? Thing is, I don't have near as much stuff as many people out there have so I don't know how they deal with it when they move somewhere. I've been trying to simplify the amount of my possessions the last couple of years but there's still a lot here. But the new house is starting to feel a little more homey day by day. I've got the home studio in working (but not organized) order so I can work now.
More to come as I get to it.
We're still moving stuff from the storage lot and the old house to the new place. So much stuff! How did I accumulate all this crap over the years? Thing is, I don't have near as much stuff as many people out there have so I don't know how they deal with it when they move somewhere. I've been trying to simplify the amount of my possessions the last couple of years but there's still a lot here. But the new house is starting to feel a little more homey day by day. I've got the home studio in working (but not organized) order so I can work now.
More to come as I get to it.
Monday, January 07, 2008
The Last Monday in Bossier City
The weather is not behaving like it's January...I woke up to 64 degrees and cloudy, but with a lot of wind. I headed out to do my first parkway ride of the year, riding the TT bike since it was the only one of my two rides that was set up to go since I used it at the duathlon yesterday. There were seven of us out there and the wind kept the pace slower than usual. When I took my pull, we were heading north with the wind to our backs so my pull was pretty easy.
Most of today was prepping to make the move to the new house. Setting up gas, electric and water were the main concerns, transferring the service from the previous occupants to us by this weekend. There's still other things to do, of course, and I'll get to those on Tuesday. Jonnene's already set us up for TV, internet, and cell plus we now have a new phone number. I also spent some time in the back yard and did some repairs on the shed that have been needed for quite a long time.
LSU's leading Ohio State 31-17 right now and I'm pulling for the Buckeyes. I am no fan of LSU, and it's their fans who make me feel that way. They're probably the worst in college football and they make it their job to be sure that no other university in Louisiana gets the attention and money that LSU does. It's nice to have an entire state legislature in your back pocket.
Most of today was prepping to make the move to the new house. Setting up gas, electric and water were the main concerns, transferring the service from the previous occupants to us by this weekend. There's still other things to do, of course, and I'll get to those on Tuesday. Jonnene's already set us up for TV, internet, and cell plus we now have a new phone number. I also spent some time in the back yard and did some repairs on the shed that have been needed for quite a long time.
LSU's leading Ohio State 31-17 right now and I'm pulling for the Buckeyes. I am no fan of LSU, and it's their fans who make me feel that way. They're probably the worst in college football and they make it their job to be sure that no other university in Louisiana gets the attention and money that LSU does. It's nice to have an entire state legislature in your back pocket.
Sunday, January 06, 2008
Neat-O Weekend
I got competitive this weekend. The results were okay for a guy in the lousy shape I'm in but I was pleased. Muscle memory apparently is a real phenomenon.
Saturday morning I did only the third sanctioned 10K (6.2 miles) run in my life, just needing the six miles as part of my training. Just so happened that the first run of the 2008 Winter Running Series in Shreveport was the same day so I decided to enter...only $5 and the chance to be beat down by some good runners from the area. It was windy and cloudy and had just rained but it was a good day to run otherwise! I got 15th of 50 entrants with a 47:29 (I was thinking I'd be lucky to break 50 minutes) so I can't complain...that's a 7:38/mile pace. I wasn't really pushing it since this was suppose to be volume miles run....usually I do a 8-minute-mile pace for volume work. And it felt good! Of course, I was sore later. No surprise there.
Later, Jonnene and I went appliance shopping for the new house. We picked out a washer and dryer made by LG. These are very handsome front-loading machines and we plan to stack them in the laundry room to give us more floor space. I'll have to do some modifications in the room before they arrive. That night we saw "Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" with Johnny Depp and I thought it was an interesting film, definitely a Tim Burton production and done very well. The singing was better than I expected, cinematography was excellent...but it was one bloody film!! Blood everywhere, dripping everywhere, spilling out everywhere....in some ways gory, some ways funny.
Sunday was the Dustbuster Duathlon: a 1.5 mile run, 11.9 mile bike, and a 1.5 mile run. Short story was that I got 27th overall out of 134 entrants but 5th in the 50-59 age group (these old guys are FAST!) with a time of 58:20. The wind was the main factor for everyone, if you could deal with it on the bike. This was the first time I'd been on my time trial bike since the district TT's in September and it behaved beautifully. The motor (me) could have been better but the wind has always been tough on me. However, it seemed to work in my favor today....I was riding at 18-19 mph for the first 5 miles as we all rode into the wind which was blowing at 15-20 mph out of the south....and I was passing people! That was wild. I averaged 20.6 for the entire route (which includes me running with the bike through the transistion area twice). My first run was at a 6:49/mile pace but the second run slowed down to a 7:56/mile pace. I had not practiced bike-to-run transistions so my legs weren't quite prepared for the change-of-muscle shock. I thought that second run would never end!
I wolved down a well-packed Quizno's chicken sub for lunch, then The Wife and I went out to get a refrigerator for the house, another LG with a titanium finish to modernize the kitchen a bit. Then we finally went to our neighbors house next door to break the news to them that we were moving. I know they wish that we would stay but they also knew the day would come since we had been talking about it for almost a year. Rick and Mary are good neighbors to have and I'm going to miss them.
I just checked the blog of a good cycling friend of mine and she listed me as a Long Time Supporter in her Important People and Places links. How super-duper-freakin' cool is that? Gotta love it.
Saturday morning I did only the third sanctioned 10K (6.2 miles) run in my life, just needing the six miles as part of my training. Just so happened that the first run of the 2008 Winter Running Series in Shreveport was the same day so I decided to enter...only $5 and the chance to be beat down by some good runners from the area. It was windy and cloudy and had just rained but it was a good day to run otherwise! I got 15th of 50 entrants with a 47:29 (I was thinking I'd be lucky to break 50 minutes) so I can't complain...that's a 7:38/mile pace. I wasn't really pushing it since this was suppose to be volume miles run....usually I do a 8-minute-mile pace for volume work. And it felt good! Of course, I was sore later. No surprise there.
Later, Jonnene and I went appliance shopping for the new house. We picked out a washer and dryer made by LG. These are very handsome front-loading machines and we plan to stack them in the laundry room to give us more floor space. I'll have to do some modifications in the room before they arrive. That night we saw "Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" with Johnny Depp and I thought it was an interesting film, definitely a Tim Burton production and done very well. The singing was better than I expected, cinematography was excellent...but it was one bloody film!! Blood everywhere, dripping everywhere, spilling out everywhere....in some ways gory, some ways funny.
Sunday was the Dustbuster Duathlon: a 1.5 mile run, 11.9 mile bike, and a 1.5 mile run. Short story was that I got 27th overall out of 134 entrants but 5th in the 50-59 age group (these old guys are FAST!) with a time of 58:20. The wind was the main factor for everyone, if you could deal with it on the bike. This was the first time I'd been on my time trial bike since the district TT's in September and it behaved beautifully. The motor (me) could have been better but the wind has always been tough on me. However, it seemed to work in my favor today....I was riding at 18-19 mph for the first 5 miles as we all rode into the wind which was blowing at 15-20 mph out of the south....and I was passing people! That was wild. I averaged 20.6 for the entire route (which includes me running with the bike through the transistion area twice). My first run was at a 6:49/mile pace but the second run slowed down to a 7:56/mile pace. I had not practiced bike-to-run transistions so my legs weren't quite prepared for the change-of-muscle shock. I thought that second run would never end!
I wolved down a well-packed Quizno's chicken sub for lunch, then The Wife and I went out to get a refrigerator for the house, another LG with a titanium finish to modernize the kitchen a bit. Then we finally went to our neighbors house next door to break the news to them that we were moving. I know they wish that we would stay but they also knew the day would come since we had been talking about it for almost a year. Rick and Mary are good neighbors to have and I'm going to miss them.
I just checked the blog of a good cycling friend of mine and she listed me as a Long Time Supporter in her Important People and Places links. How super-duper-freakin' cool is that? Gotta love it.
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Welcome to two-thou-oooh-ate!!
Hey, Happy New Year to you all! I've survived the holidays (again) and the relatives (not that bad a thing) and the food (ate less but still too much). I am currently at the heaviest I've ever been in my life...it'll come off as the year progresses and I'm riding more...and I'm not that thrilled about it. Obviously my metabolism is slowing down as I get older and I can't burn off the calories like I used to. Sucks to get old but that's okay, I'm enjoying life and being part of it. In so many ways it gets better as time goes by and I wish (as probably all folks do) that I knew then what I know now...I would have better understood things and probably saved myself a lot of heartache and made fewer mistakes. But like I've always said: Everything you've ever done in your life has brought you to where you are now.
And I like where I am now.
Having someone who loves me is huge. Having someone who puts up with me is beyond belief. Having someone who needs me makes me really, really happy.
We closed on a new house in Shreveport and will be moving in soon. The tough part is deciding where to put the bikes and where to put my studio/office. We'll have the space. We want it to be efficient and neat and useful. So we're going to take some time to get it right...hopefully no more than a couple of months. We're expecting visitors from Down Under by mid-April and we need to have the house in reasonable condition and order by that time.
My bike riding has been minimal because I'm running a lot. I have a duathlon this Sunday and a 10-mile trail run in early February. I really want to do well on the trail run and I've heard that training for it is a good idea! Ha! I drew up a detailed run schedule which started in mid-December, beginning with a simple 2-mile run and is now at 5 miles. This is all volume work and my first intervals begin next week. It gets harder to get into shape as one gets older and things start to ache after a while. The ITB in my left leg has been a bother since last year so I've been getting The Wife to massage it every once in a while recently. It helps a lot but I'm wondering how it'll affect the bike riding once I get back into a 2-wheel training routine. Today I spent 40+ minutes on the Stoner trails...probably around 5 miles...and I feel really beat up and achy now. I love running on the trails...do they love me? Plus it's been really cold and I've had to make myself stay to my training schedule...I didn't enjoy getting out of the warm truck to tackle the cold air hovering over the trails this afternoon!
Still, I'm more excited about the upcoming bike racing season than I've been in a long time. I've got some goals to accomplish involving my time trials and road races, but I think I'm going to stay away from the criteriums unless I have to do them in a stage race...I'm realizing my mortality in my old age! I'll go into all that in the coming months.
And I like where I am now.
Having someone who loves me is huge. Having someone who puts up with me is beyond belief. Having someone who needs me makes me really, really happy.
We closed on a new house in Shreveport and will be moving in soon. The tough part is deciding where to put the bikes and where to put my studio/office. We'll have the space. We want it to be efficient and neat and useful. So we're going to take some time to get it right...hopefully no more than a couple of months. We're expecting visitors from Down Under by mid-April and we need to have the house in reasonable condition and order by that time.
My bike riding has been minimal because I'm running a lot. I have a duathlon this Sunday and a 10-mile trail run in early February. I really want to do well on the trail run and I've heard that training for it is a good idea! Ha! I drew up a detailed run schedule which started in mid-December, beginning with a simple 2-mile run and is now at 5 miles. This is all volume work and my first intervals begin next week. It gets harder to get into shape as one gets older and things start to ache after a while. The ITB in my left leg has been a bother since last year so I've been getting The Wife to massage it every once in a while recently. It helps a lot but I'm wondering how it'll affect the bike riding once I get back into a 2-wheel training routine. Today I spent 40+ minutes on the Stoner trails...probably around 5 miles...and I feel really beat up and achy now. I love running on the trails...do they love me? Plus it's been really cold and I've had to make myself stay to my training schedule...I didn't enjoy getting out of the warm truck to tackle the cold air hovering over the trails this afternoon!
Still, I'm more excited about the upcoming bike racing season than I've been in a long time. I've got some goals to accomplish involving my time trials and road races, but I think I'm going to stay away from the criteriums unless I have to do them in a stage race...I'm realizing my mortality in my old age! I'll go into all that in the coming months.
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