Hello Nasty

This week marked the start of Phase II of the Tri Power program. It's the build phase where I finally start overloading the muscles to try and make some real strength gains. I thought I was already getting a lot stronger, so this is a scary thing. I've been doing the workouts, but last night I had to do my strength training before my regular thursday brick. So I did a half hour of yoga first thing yesterday morning, then about 8:30 pm I made it to the gym.

Did the strength training workout (about 30 minutes) then moved on to my brick. Given the time of day and my energy level I wanted to shorten the brick, so I started with 10 miles on the bike. Did that in 30:31 which is so dang close to a 20 mph pace it's rediculous. Then I moved on to the treadmill.

I should explain something from the last post here. My new foot pain (I think) is neck related thanks to the chiropractor. The last time I was in there for an adjustment Kelley went with me. I was laying face down on the adjustment table, and he told her "watch this. You see how now, his left leg is shorter than his right leg?". Then he twisted my head around some, and told kelley "now look, both legs are the same length again". WTH? The last few times I've been out running, it feels like my head is dipping down with every left foot strike, like my left leg is shorter again. Whenever that happens, the muscle pain (that the doc wants a bone scan on) flairs up worse than normal, and now this foot pain is getting extreme. Extreme in the Axe body spray style of extreme, not like I'm actually having trouble walking kind of extreme.

So when I hit the treadmill last night it was not exactly "pleasant" or "fun". It was more like an evening out with Glaven; sweaty, painful, and you wish you weren't there because you know you're going to regret it in the morning. I was supposed to do a 5 mile tempo run around 6.3 or 6.4 speed. It was actually only 2 miles with a walk break or two thrown in. My right shin tightened up, and that was fairly uncomfortable. But the left calf pain and foot pain and short leg syndrome was the real killer. I haven't had a 2 mile run since I was first able to run 3 miles consecutively early last year. And it felt like my nutrition gave out too. I was chugging gatorade through all 3 phases of the workout, but I guess I could have used a gel before starting the run. It felt like I hit "the wall" for a bit, but not too hard. Still, I was praying for daylight when I hit 2 miles and hit the showers.

The good part of BPD (bipolar posting disorder) starts today. At work today, we're turning live a project that I've been working on for six months now. Monday we present to the client for final approval, then activate for their patients. Basically, I've taken the web form which looks the same for everybody, and changed it into a PDF for their patients to fill out. So each PDF is different, but the processing is exactly the same for everybody. It's incredibly cool.

Then tonight we're going to visit one of Kelley's aunts for a Passover Seder. I'm really glad we get to go to one this year.

Tomorrow I am taking Coach Stu to the Masters golf tournament. He's never been, so it's a real treat. My grandfather got on the list for badges back in the mid 70's, so our family gets to go every year and we split the days up so more people get to go. Today my folks are going with some friends of theirs, one of whom is a professor at Clemson. I've got to pick up the badges from them tonight before we head to the seder. If you're going to be there tomorrow, I'll be the guy in khaki's and a green shirt. Come say hi!

everyone there will be in khaki's and a green shirt, if you've never seen the tv coverage.

Then sunday I'm getting back into the garden for a bit. I've got to cut the grass, clear some sod out, plant the potatoes, and pull some weeds. I've got 70 some-odd pepper plants that I'm in the middle of transplanting from the seed flats into peat pots; need to finish that. I'm also supposed to do a 14 mile long run, but that might turn into a long bike ride if the leg isn't feeling better.

I also got an update on the beachhouse property tax situation. Turns out, only one house has sold on the entire island this year. The lawyer we're using just got a very favorible tax value reduction on his house (he's a full time resident on the island). So this depressed economy means that we will be able to hang onto the house for a while longer than I expected. Great news! We're still waiting on the court date to get the actual reduction, but all signs are pointing up there now.

Have a great weekend! Good luck if you're racing.