Pedaling Around.....

My Baby, Giant's 2002 TCR 1 Bike. Photo courtesy of GiantBicycles.com

Maybe I've mentioned this before, I love riding my bike. More so this year and I think it's because I haven't been riding it much lately what with all this running that I've been doing. It's nice to be going so fast with so little weight, to be covering ground at a much quicker yet smoother pace.

Yesterday I skipped track for an easy ride. Body's been slow to recover from the Sat/Sun workouts so I decided against track. Been waking up tired like I hadn't gotten any sleep, waking up as tired as when I went to bed. Also the left achilles, where it connects with the calf muscle, has been quite tight and sore. Sunday night it was making a clicking noise when I walked down a hill or the stairs - scary! It was definitely time for some rest and active recovery. Besides there would be no taking it easy in track. The moment I see my friends in my pace group I will race against them. Most of them know I'm an ultra-marathoner and I always feel that I've got something to prove. Like I need to prove to them that we long distance guys can hustle like everyone else, like we're not just about the walking and jogging - we can run like the dickens on a flat course too. Anyway the injury is fine now, no worries, although I might have to stop the hill repeats, they seem to bring the issue on.

So anyway I went for an easy bike ride instead. Serena joined in as well when she found out I was skipping Track for the bike. Hey I didn't say anything, all I said was "you need the bike more than the run right now" and she volunteered to join me. She's got a Half-Ironman event at the end of July and her weakest event is the bike. She needs to be biking, biking, and more biking. But hey it was just a suggestion, I didn't actually tell her to skip track:)

The wind was so fierce. Heading out on the bike towards the Golden Gate the gusts would seriously slow our progress. So we made the decision to stay in San Francisco. Crossing the bridge on those winds would have been a major pain. We stayed in San Francisco doing loops in the Presidio, we utilized an old YMCA Triathlon training route. It was a big loop divided into two parts, the first half was recovery and the second half a speed interval. The speed part was fun because the wind was on our backs. I let Serena take the lead so I could check her speed and form. She would hit 26/27 mph, which was quite good. Now I wonder how fast I could've gone? hmmm...should have checked. 26/27 is what I hit on a windless day. After about 4 loops of this we meandered around the Presidio a bit before heading home.

I was freezing by the time we got back. How did it get so cold all of a sudden? So I accepted a ride home. Before home we headed to our favorite grocery store. I felt very silly in my cycling clothes but I also needed the food. I did have one of Serena's extra tee's to wear but apparently I only succeeded in putting it on backwards. Sweet. Nothing like shopping for food in spandex, cycling shoes and a tee worn backwards. I ain't laughing now though. I'm drinking some of the red vino I picked up:)

Sore calf is doing much better. Got more sleep and I'm no longer waking up tired. When in doubt rest! I've adopted that motto as well in my training.

What a Memorial Day!

The gang after a good run on the Dipsea Trail. Click here for more photos.

Everyone should have a Memorial day like I experienced it. I won't give any details out though, it'll just make some of you jealous. Let's just say I had all the time to do what I wanted...ya'll understand time right. Exactly what I needed.

Anyway as promised, a short run report from Sunday. Whew that day started early, I woke up at 5:30 and out the door a quarter to 7AM. I'm a night owl and I won't sleep early just because I have to get up early the next day - it's a weakness I know. So I not only do I have the fatigue from a workout to deal with but also the exhaustion from the lack of sleep. Maybe one day I'll be smarter about this...someday. Anyway I was all psyched up because some folks from my Tri-club were meeting at Mill Valley for a trail run at 11AM. I thought it would be a great idea to finish up my long run with their workout, 11AM is more than reasonable. Company on the trail! I was all over it. Also the day before I invited Garett Graubins and his wife Holly to join us. They had just recently moved here from Colorado and were looking for folks to run with. Never met them in person but Garett has been a frequent poster to the ultra list, an email list for ultra-marathoners that I subscribe to.

Everything was working properly on Sunday, muscles were tired but not exhausted from the hill repeats the day before. Overall feeling was amazingly great, which only fired me up even more. It made me laugh but psyched me up at the same time. I was in a spectacular mood. The weather was perfect again which only elevated my mood even more if that was even possible. What an amazing morning. I left late so I had to hustle, got lost a couple of times utilizing trails I never used before so I had to hurry even more, this included running on very narrow and twisty highway 1 onto uncoming traffic - I don't want to ever do that again. Sa'll good though. Nevertheless I still managed to get there in time...well sorta...I rolled in at 11:02. It was a small group, what with it being Memorial day and the majority of our triathletes tapering for "Escape from Alcatraz" which was taking place this coming weekend. But our group was an excited eager group, a good group of good people - what more could you ask.

More running ensued naturally. The skies were absolutely clear, no haze. We could see all the way to San Francisco and Oakland from the top of the ridges. Garett and Holly were absolutely loving the trail and I stayed with them to play guide, which was absolutely cool because I was tiring out at this point. I think Garett and Holly were still feeling their move, that and they kept admiring the views. I was very pleased that they enjoyed themselver, it's always great when people appreciate what you love. We didn't go all the way to Stinson Beach. The goal was to keep the run at about two hours. I don't know why, I found this out that morning, nevertheless it was fine with me.

Definitely tired when we got done, I could have taken a nap then but it was on to a late lunch. If I was tired then I was really exhausted by the time I got back to my apartment just before 4PM. No rest though since church was at 4PM! Rolling in late as usual it was a small miracle I didn't fall asleep during the sermon. Then it was dinner with the usual gang after the service. I've been neglecting my church friends because of all my training. I needed to go - no excuses. However after dinner I got talked into a movie at someone's home, an old John Wayne classic. Thankfully my ride tired out before me and I was home before midnight:) Now I have to rent the flick at Netflix. Whew it was a full day.

I hope everyone had a great Holiday Weekend.

Another Monday

Ooofff, feeling my weekend right now, especially in my lower left calf/achilles - sore! It's another weekend hangover, oh wait it's not over yet. Well I hope everyone is having a good Memorial's Day. That reminds me, I should call my stepdad - 22 years in the Navy. I wonder what they're doing today?

So it's another beautiful day here in the bay. What makes it especially nice is that there has been no fog in the evenings. Skies stayed clear all night. The wind did pick up however which caught some of us off guard. All these years in SF and I still get caught not carrying enough clothing for the sudden change in temperatures and micro climates...tsk...tsk.

I am however quite content to be sitting in this room for the moment, drinking coffee and posting. In a bit I will do some Bible reading and finish a netflix movie. I've had it for 8 days now and have viewed it twice, third time should be the charm for finishing it. Great story (Empire of the Sun)but I just haven't had the time. I'll leave the window open to enjoy the weather:)

Anyway had another great run yesterday and this time I brought my camera. Got great pictures for ya'll.

Moving On

View of Tennessee Valley and the northern hills of Marin

So I set up a new account. This time with the Mac app that came with my iMac. No more Microsoft email app's! I lost all my contact info though. Yeah a bummer. Well we'll see. I paid $18 bucks for a software that is supposed to recover mail from my corrupted database. The trial version worked so let's see what the real thing will do. I'm waiting for my password key that will unlock the program.

Yes I know exciting stuff.

Had a good run though. Was running hill repeats on Hawk Hill while dodging cyclists and tourists. I love the traffic actually. Kills the boredom of running up and down a hill. I think I found a new hill to do my hill repeats on, closer to home too. The views were fantastic, clear sunny skies - I love my city. After the repeats I headed to Rodeo Beach to meet up with Serena. She wanted to run the last part of my workout with me as part of her own run workout. She had a bit of a bad day, a bit frazzled when she got there. My poor training partner, all bent and twisted on a beautiful day - ironically nothing like the trails of Marin to straighten her out a bit. Just a bit. She had never been on those hills and had herself a good time.

The post run part was also good. We hit an Inn and Out on the way back. I was craving a burger. Ahahaha, the wrong fuel but I was so hungry. Then it was off to Corte Madera Mall in search of a smoothie place for Serena. Somewhere in the conversation "California Pizza Kitchen" came up and next thing we know we are sharing a Pear and Gorgonzola salad Pizza, which was followed by dessert:) Yeah no health nuts here. It's okay I got full day of running again tomorrow.

So tomorrow is gonna be a bear. Another long day of running but I get to meet up with my Tri-Club, they are doing a 14-mile trail run. I'm planning to head out early, get in 5 hours before meeting up with them for their workout at 11AM. They picked a hilly course too(a double on the Dipsea trail) so I think that will add another 3 hours, at least for me. That will be sweet, company is always appreciated. Trails are best shared with others. J.P. will be leading the run and it's always good to run with him - although I can't keep up, not even when I'm fresh:)

The training is getting more intense heading into Western States 100 but the journey has been amazing so far.