What a ride!

Well, I did the Assault on the Carolinas ride on saturday. Jenny, Kelley and I ended up having a nice day in the mountains. We had a lot of contingencies and backup plans, but the ride did happen. The specifics: 33.06 miles in 2:26:19 for an average speed of 13.6 mph and a max speed of 34.8 mph. There was a total of 3033 ft of climbing. Check out the elevation profile:

Can you tell where the climb at Walnut Hollow was? The truth was this was definitely the half marathon of challenging bike rides. The one huge climb was no more difficult than the Paris Mountain ride I'll do some sundays. But still, 33 miles is the farthest I've ever gone on the bike. It's the first time I've topped 3000 ft of climbing in one ride. and my first large organized ride of this type. So I was really happy with the outcome. More details?
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Brevard, NC is about an hour and a half north of where we live. I thought it was closer than that. It rained for the last 3 days before saturday. We have some relatives that live near Brevard, that told us about a rock climbing gym they go to. So if it was raining at the start the plan was to abandon and go indoor rock climbing instead.



Here I am with a little pre-ride fuel before starting. It's not raining now. The forecast was for the rain to hold off until about noon. Race starting at 9 am, so all systems pointed go. I got to talking to some old guy about half ironmans and we both ended up missing the start. So here I am trying to catch up to the main group. I got within sight of the main group but never really caught up.


Still, no rain at this point. The roads were wet, but I was still dry. Kelley kept the cue sheet, so I had no idea where I was going, just trying to follow the small signs and see if I could find another biker. The course was lollipop style. It went out for 7 miles through downtown Brevard to an aid station. Then it took a 19 mile loop back around to the same aid station, and backtrack the first 7 miles back to Brevard High School.
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The course was unbelievable. The loop was the coolest part, really. The first part was the Walnut Hollow climb, a 1.1 mile incline with parts of it at a 15% grade. That was quite challenging. I did have to hop off of the bike and walk up the really steep grade, but I made it about halfway up and was really grateful that I did all that hill work on the bike last monday. I made it a lot farther up that steep grade than I ever have before.
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Then it went into mostly rolling hills and more of a level grade than I was really expecting. Jenny has 2 chainrings and 8 cogs. So small/8 is the Glaven gear (a.k.a. the granny gear) and big/1 is the most powerful gear (53x11 or the Flynn gear). After taking Walnut Hollow climb in Glaven, I spent most of my power around the big chainring. THAT was totally unexpected. On the rollers and flat spots, it was mostly big/3 to big/5, and I kept the speed around 19-21 mph. the course followed a river for a large part, including some cool bridges across the river and back. There was a few waterfalls that we rode past. And it was just out in the country. I saw a sod farm, tons of cattle farms, cleared grazing land, and lots of horses. Plus, on the bike you get to really experience those things more than you do in a car. One of the cattle farms had just put out food, so there was maybe 50 cattle just a few feet from the road. The smell almost knocked me off of the bike it was so strong and awful. It made me think of what Glaven's house must smell like. But that's all a part of the experience. You don't get to smell that kind of thing from the car. Here's a few shots that Kelley took just to show what we were seeing along the route:

The fog came rolling in over the mountains about an hour into the ride

More fog in the mountains

She even found an albino squirrel!

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It started raining about mile 5. It did not stop raining until sunday. Since Kelley had the cue sheet, she hopped in the van and caught up with me. This was on the rollers about 15 miles in:




I was thoroughly drenched at this point. So in the first picture, the wet clothes are really sticking and my arms look huge and muscular! very cool. And you can see the fog and mountains that I was riding into in the second pic. The course was unreal pretty. The strangest thing was that my saddle came loose about 12 miles in! It got worse as the ride progressed, and in the end was shaking like a belly dancer. So I had no seat stability at all for the last 10 miles or so. How strange is that?

Then I came back around to the aid station and took the same 7 mile ride back to the high school. This section had a huge climb each way, and on the return trip I had to stop once on the climb and catch my breath before finishing. Here I am thoroughly drenched, happy, and glad to be at the finish point:



Certainly a little worse for wear. Cold (it was in the low 50's all morning), wet, and my legs were totally shredded. But my hydration/nutrition plan held up great, I didn't run out of water, and ended up with a great ride story.

I changed clothes and dried off some, then we went to a cute little pasta restaurant in downtown for lunch. Then we drove back home, I took a shower, and we both fell asleep for a couple of hours. Then we picked up the kids, got some dinner and that was Saturday. I burned over 2000 calories on the ride, so we hit a buffett for dinner and I put on a show. I don't think we're invited back. But I did stick with the healthier items on the buffet. Each plate had at least 3 veg. I just had like 6 plates. ha!

Sunday we got to play with the kids for a bit, and I had some work to do. Then Kelley and I went out to Furman for a run in the afternoon. The sun was out for the first time since tuesday, and we don't get to run together very often. We should not have run together this time, either. We tend to keep different paces, and she's strictly treadmill and first thing in the morning. I like outside and variable. My plan was to get 12 miles in, and I was feeling ok to do that. We actually got 1.6 miles in before she wimped out and we went home. oh well. It did end up a lot colder and with a really stiff wind blowing. So conditions were still not ideal. The trail parts were really muddy from all of that rain. Meh, we blew it off and went home to play with the kids some more.


So overall that was a fantastic weekend! We've got a really fun week ahead too. One question, though. Jenny is still covered in mud and road trash. What do you use to clean a bike with? Windex? Formula 409? I have no idea, but I have to clean her down good and tighten the seat up before taking her out again for today (or tomorrow's) training ride.

Thursday night meat punch

Actually, I meat punched a brick last night. It. Was. Awe. Some! I've fallen into a pattern that I'm really enjoying (shouldn't that pattern be defined by the training plan? whatever). Monday and Tuesday has a bike and a run. Wednesday is strength training, and a brick on Thursday. Friday is a rest day, then a long run on Saturday and a long ride on Sunday. I've also been regularly doing the Tri Power strength workouts 5 days a week, and yoga 2 or 3 days. And this pattern really seems to be getting the job done. Feeling fit and really healthy, I've taken another inch or so off of the waist in the last month(ish) and everything is feeling good. So what's missing? swimming. haven't quite figured that one out yet. and with the first tri of the year coming up in less than a month with a 750 meter lake swim, I need to figure something out fast.

So last night's brick was insane! It's been raining here steadily since wednesday, so I hit the gym. I started out with 15 miles on the bike in 45 minutes. I think that's the fastest I've ever gone on a stationary bike. Which is also funny because stationary bikes don't actually go anywhere. But the rpm stayed around 112 the whole time. Then I refilled the water bottle, took a gel, and hopped on the treadmill. I was supposed to do an easy 6 miles at a slower pace. But the pace ended up being faster than I normally can sustain for that distance, so I cut out at 4.5 miles. Still, I ended up pulling an 8:40 pace? What? those are Glaven speeds. I've never been able to keep that pace for that long before, especially after going that far on the bike. The interval workouts and all that time on the bike must be really getting the job done. It felt great, and I wanted to keep going but I didn't want to wear down my legs for the weekend.

Plus, yesterday was a really long day. I got up about 5:15 because I knew there was tons of work to get done. Did some yoga, core work, and the Tri Power workout early while Kelley was at the gym. Then I finished off some major projects at work, which everyone in Atlanta is currently amazed at. It's good, because I haven't done anything at work recently that deserved an 'attaboy', but there were plenty of failures. So to pull off what I did yesterday was a good thing that turned a lot of heads. The technical details, however, are quite boring. then I had dinner, got the kids to bed, and hit the gym for that brick. Finished the workout exactly at 10:30 pm, grabbed a quick shower and made it home just after 11. Then I slept in this morning.

So what does the weekend hold? could be tons of rain. Tomorrow is the Assault On The Carolinas bike ride. I'm doing the 60k distance (about 37 miles), but there are also 100k and 30k rides going on. It will be the longest bike ride I've done so far, and my first paid for organized ride that wasn't in the middle of a triathlon. Here's the ride details from their web site:

The 60K riders will get to test their climbing abilities on Walnut Hollow, which is a local favorite. Walnut hollow is a steep challenging climb that is sure to get everyone's heart pumping. The climb is 1.1 mile with grades reaching 15%. After climbing Walnut Hollow riders will enjoy a nice rolling ride home through the French Broad River Valley. The 60k has 2 fully stocked rest stops.

Packet pickup is tonight at a coffee house in Brevard, NC that is also supposed to be a social event. Coach Katie is also doing this ride, so I'm looking forward to seeing her as always. It's going to be challenging and fun. And since the small camera is working again, I'm looking forward to taking pictures and will share on monday.

The local tv says it's supposed to have strong thunderstorms all day saturday. As much as I'm looking forward to this ride, I'm not going out in a thunderstorm.

My folks are keeping the kids tonight so Kelley can come with me out to the ride site. We are both looking forward to a night of peace.

Sunday if it's not raining, Kelley and I are both going to Furman for a trail run. We know bad things happen when Kelley tries to run outside, like very little running actually occurs. But we're going to take the little camera and snap some photos. I haven't been out there for a run in several weeks, so I can't wait. The hope is to get 12 miles in, but Kelley hasn't been pulling those kind of numbers recently, so we'll see how it goes.

Have a great weekend! Good luck if you're racing. TFH is running her first marathon this weekend, good luch Sharmidi! MikeG also has a 5k tomorrow, that boy is fast. Have fun brother!

Results

I'm supposed to do the "progress assessments" every four weeks during the Tri Power program to measure how much stronger I'm getting. This plan is really getting the job done too. I feel much stronger, my core strength has never been better, my abs are starting to really shape up, and I can tell a big improvement in overall strength. But the proof is in the pudding. Here's the first (and only) set of numbers from 2/25:

Pushups (in 60 sec): 10
Wall Sit (sec): 30
Flex-Arm Hang: 11 seconds
Side Plank: 19 seconds
Side Plank Bent Knee: 25 seconds
Prone Plank: 20 seconds
Extensor Chain: 50 seconds
Core Strength: 30%

Now here are the numbers from last night:

Pushups: 15
Wall Sit: 49
Flex-Arm Hang: 20
Side Plank: 29
Side Plank Bent Knee: 54
Prone Plank: 35
Extensor Chain: 1:12
Core Strength: 40%

Just because the first set of numbers proved that I was weak like a little girl, I guess there was enough room to make serious improvements. So now I'm up to at least a middle school aged girl. Those numbers aren't quite so bad. Before, I couldn't do a chinup, now I can crank out 2. 15 pushups is at least respectable by Marcy's child-face-punching standards. And the core is nice and strong, I feel more balanced during the bike and run parts. Very cool.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about with Tri Power, it's just a book I found on amazon. Keep your body and your training in balance, it's the key to a sucessful season! I'll run these numbers again in four more weeks when I switch up to Phase 2 of the program.

Some Workouts

Finally a couple of decent workouts. Yesterday I slammed a project at work that was really tough, then took off around 5:30 and hopped on the bike. The total ride was 8.3 miles in 51 minutes, which sounds really slow. I can turn left out of my street and head into the flat(ish) land where I can practice avoiding cars and bike survival skills. There is some fun terrain out in the residential areas if I head that way, but you have to cross a 6 lane highway (Wade Hampton Blvd for you locals) to get there. Then cross back over to get home.

So last night I wanted to get some hill work in, so I went right out of my street. There's nothing but hills. Some are incredibly steep and long. Jenny preferes steep and long to fast and flat, I think. That's why Glaven could never ride her. But seriously, there's no flat spots here. I never had to take her out of the Granny gear, aka the Glaven gear. Check out the garmin's elevation/distance chart:

Geez, that's some serious up and down. Nothing anywhere close to flat. But at least there was not much traffic. I wanted to get some hill work in with low milage to prepare for the http://www.assaultonthecarolinas.com/ 60k ride I've got coming up on Saturday. This ride fit the bill.

I know that an organized bike ride is different from a race, but to me it's really not. I haven't been in a race since the half marathon Jan 3, so I've really been looking forward to this one. And you still have to pay an entry fee and get a t-shirt, I'll have the garmin on for distance & time, so I'm treating it like an event. The route goes through the mountains of North Carolina, but it does dip back into South Carolina for a bit. The start/finish line is about 45 minutes north of the house, so it should be a fun and challenging ride that I have had to prepare for mentally and physically. The web site says there is 1.1 miles of solid climbing with grades reaching 15%. what fun, huh?

The ride last night had some 15% grades, I think. it was 1183 ft of climbing, which is more than I was expecting.

Then this morning I made it to the gym for a nice run. I know I'm not supposed to, whatever. I did treadmill intervals, 4 intervals of 1k (.62 miles) with a quarter mile walk in between, and a 10min warmup and cooldown. I set the interval speeds at 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, and 7.4 mph. My normal distance treadmill speeds are 6.0 - 6.2, so getting faster for a bit felt really good. My shin felt fine during the run, but now it's starting to hurt a bit. i've got to call today and make the appt for the bone scan. I might ice it some too. But with no advil, it felt fine during the run! total run was 4 miles, 48 minutes, about 600 calories.

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Other Randomness

I finally got my small old point and shoot camera working again over the weekend! I wanted to get it up and going so I could take it with me on bike rides and longer runs. So of course when it started working, the girls stole it and started taking pictures of the cartoons on tv. But I'm glad I can finally take pics on the run now!

I didn't finish last in Steve's Tales of a Virgin Athlete contest! I beat the girl who locked herself out of a dressing room in tights. I know I have to use the Glaven mantra "It's an honor just to be a finalist", but that's really cool. The competition was really stiff, so thank you to everyone who voted for me! I didn't expect to beat the girl who overcame heroin or the guy that lost 365 lbs. But not last is pretty cool.

Then, I actually won something! Marcy had a book giveaway and she drew my name out of the hat. So she's sending me her gently used copy of the Cutting Edge Running book. How cool it that? I love winning, and not losing. But I'm sure Glaven has gotten so used to losing by now, it must not be that big of a deal.

Have a great day!

Good Gardening Weekend

Well, I have no fitness to report from the weekend. No running, biking or swimming. But I did get to spend the whole weekend with the family in the garden. So I'll call it a sucess. First, a pic of myself and Evil Genius from St Patrick's Day:

That Irish shirt with the lightning bolt is too cute. She's hard core, huh? I just stumbled across that one and thought I would throw it into the mix today.




All weekend it was warm (high 60's) and sunny so we were all able to hang out outside all weekend long. It was fantastic! We recently joined the Arbor Day Foundation, and they send you 10 trees when you sign up. Those came in on Saturday, and they were all less than a foot tall. So I'm growing them in containers for the first year or two until they get some decent size on them.



Bigun LOVED riding out with me to hit up Lowe's. We got some straw to mulch the veg patch, a couple of basil plants, and some cow manure and potting soil, but her favorite part was sitting on the cart letting me push her around. a couple of weeks ago, I published the "before" pic of the garden. Here's the mid-march update:



You can see the straw, we're going to mulch around the plants with that this year. The grass you see still needs to be removed. That's one task that didn't get done. Of course, around here we refer to things that don't get done by saying they were Glaven'd. So the sod removal was Glaven'd. And since that's where the potatoes are going to be planted, they didn't get in the ground either. That's called Potatoes Glaven. In the foreground, you can also see the cherry tree in full bloom. The bags of stuff are horse manure (insert Glaven = shit or Glaven doesn't get done joke here), that are going to get spread once the sod is gone. I did also notice that the peas I planted 2 weekends ago have broken ground too. I still don't think I will get too much of a yield from them, but that's ok. At least they germinated.

So the girls and I potted up all 10 trees, and put both basil's in a container for the deck. We also got some new containers and a pack of annuals from Lowe's. Bigun wanted to plant some pretty flowers for mommy (how sweet!), so we planted up some petunia's, and set some Cosmos and Marigold seeds in the same containers. One made it to the back deck, and one onto the front porch. They should produce waves of flowers, it's going to be really cool. And that was a ton of plantings for the girls! they crashed so hard when it was time to sleep saturday night

I mentioned last week that the people that back up to us had part of the lot cleared? Turns out it wasn't the neighbors, it was the local government! The water & sewer authority claimed that they had to work on a storm drain, and cleared out that whole section of their backyard even taking out their basketball goal just to clear the land! The worst part is that they didn't even work on the drain pipe. Just cleared and graded the land, then left. So not only am I surrounded by dumbasses, this town is run by dumbasses! I'm in a suburb that is not even an official city, it's only incorporated as a water & fire district. All dumbasses!
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This ties into the garden thanks to Sunday. Here's a "before" picture of what would be the berry patch.


You can see the table in the raised bed, and the fence running behind the tree. Notice all of the green behind the fence? All of that timber and undergrowth? Here's what the same basic area looks like this morning:



You can still see the table, fence, and tree. But the greenery behind the fence is now straw where the dumbass local government cleared away; totally exposing my backyard to the other street. It also exposes his driveway to us and our street.
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In front of the fence, you can see posts to the left of the tree, that's the grape vines and muscadine vines. To the right of the tree is the berry patch. It all got a fresh layer of mulch on Sunday. Bigun loves seeing the bulldozer that loads the mulch into the pickup truck, and she loves it when we borrow my dad's truck and she gets to ride up front and up high in the truck with me. This time, she discovered how to make the window roll up and down, and was actually riding with her arm hanging out the window like some joe cool kid. She's nuts.
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Also, I now have a couple dozen pepper plants that are about an inch tall in the seed flat. It's so cool to see something germinate that effectively. April 15th is our last frost date, so these pepper plants should be ready to go in the ground then.

Today the plan is to get out of work around 5 and get in a bike ride. Then hit the gym for a run tomorrow morning, just to see how it feels. With the sun over the weekend, I was craving hitting the trails around Furman, but just didn't get the chance too.

I hope your weekend was as fantastic as mine! happy monday. The office finished the trade show saturday with a ton of extra work for me, so I'm going to be cranking out code. Sorry in advance if I don't comment on your blog for a few days. I'm still reading, really!

End of the Week

Apparently I owe you an explanation about the length of the last post. Being a software developer, all I've done for the last 10 years is sit at a desk and write code. Well, that's not exactly true, I used to do pc repair, network setup, cabling, etc too. This has left me able to type around 120 words a minute. I can actually type faster than I can write, so a pen/paper thing has become very frustrating. That also explains any misspeelllings. So a quick post like that one was quick for me to type out (about 20 minutes total) and embarrasingly stream-of-consciousness. I've been all over the place mentally this week with so many ups and downs. I guess that just kind of vomited in bullet points yesterday.

After getting the good news yesterday that my liver was ok, I stopped work a little early to get in a workout. So naturally we all went and hit Moe's for dinner instead, then Target. I was going to take Jenny out for a ride after we got back, but it started raining. I'm so excited she's back and in fine form. no more strange noises, everything is clean and pretty. I also got her some bling bling. Two fresh new water bottles and cages installed, a bag for below the seat to carry stuff with the bike store logo on it, and I had to order a bike computer for it, he's going to call me when it gets here. I also picked up some chamois cream. I love this bike store, Gusto Cycles. It's only about 2 miles from the house and every bike you buy comes with lifetime free maintenance. The service is unbelievable too.

So after we got back from the running around, we put the kids to bed and I hit the gym since it was raining. I bricked 9 miles on the stationary bike in 30 minutes, and 6 miles on the elliptical in 51 minutes. It was a great workout, and I got to watch the tourney games the whole time. It was really nice to get a good sweat on, but I hate that it ran that late into the evening. I got up around 4 am yesterday, and finished the workout and made it home at like 10:15 last night. That's a long day. And my left leg was killing me. The shin thing hurt pretty bad when I was on the elliptical, but my left hip was hurting some too. So I'm ready to be done with this whole pain thing. Gotta call the doc today and schedule that bone scan.

I have to give props to Sarah the Sun Runner. Her Michigan Wolverines sort of stuck it to my Clemson Tigers last night. We gave away a large part of the game, it got really physical with tons of injuries, and one of our best shooters got frustrated, threw an elbow and got tossed. But UM built up and held onto a lead and walked away with the rights to lose to Oklahoma on saturday.

I went 13 - 3 in my bracket yesterday. President Obama went 11 - 5 with his picks. That's all I'm saying. Today I picked Tennesee to beat Oklahoma St and Arizona to beat Utah as my only upsets.

This is my last weekend that is not already planned for a while. The next 6 weekends are booked up! it's nuts. So this weekend I've got to get out in the garden, and get on the bike for some good long rides. This is the last weekend I've got to prep for the Assault on the Carolinas, so I need to get in a good 20 or 30 miles.

I have got a ton of gardening to do. The peppers are germinating nicely in the seed flat. Nothing warms the room like seeing a couple dozen 1" high seedlings. I've got to mulch the berry beds, wire the grape trellis, clear sod from the expanded veg bed, and plant the potatoes. The potatoes really should have been in the ground about 2 weeks ago. There's always weeds to pull, and I need to put some straw or grass clippings over the asparagus patch. I've also got to get the lawnmower into the shop for the spring maintenance.

And if THAT sounds like a busy weekend, you have no idea what's coming up next! Good luck if you're racing. I know Jess has a half marathon, good luck girl! Christine has a 5k... who else is racing?

The wrap up - UPDATED

< update >: I've been stalking the mailman, and the blood test results just came in. Liver enzymes are back to normal. Quite a relief. So now I guess I need to get a bone density scan. < update >

Life in bullet points: the Bipolar Posting Disorder (BPD) is going wild today so I can't pull together a chohesive thought pattern.

• THANK YOU for all of the well wishes about my liver and shin problems. I still haven't seen the blood test results, they should be coming in the mail today or tomorrow. I'll post the results once I get them.
• THANK YOU for all of the votes for me on Steve's "Tales of a Virgin Athlete" contest. You can still vote until saturday if you have not voted yet. And if you haven't read the whole story (longer than the 300 words I had to condense it down to) I have that posted here as the first message I wrote on this blog. Apparently the long version is more inspirational than the short version. Right now I've got 6.2% of the vote, and I'm only beating a girl with bad fashion sense that locked herself out of the dressing room. that's kind of pathetic, but not as pathetic as finishing in last place. The current leader is the guy who lost 385 lbs with his wife. I guess I'll have to concede the Drymax Socks prize.
• We finally picked a team name for the mud run. We're going with "Irish Mafia" because it makes us sound dirty and drunk. and instills a little bit of fear in the other teams. As much as I loved "the Bruised Taints" and "Dirt Digglers", they wouldn't cut the mustard with the girls. I also wanted the "Dutch Rudders" hoping that none of the race people would know what that was, but chose not to take the risk. Most South Carolina people have their head in a bucket when it comes to modern terminology like that anyway. Other name candidates were the Skidmarks, Elephantitis, and a few others.
• The Hinman trade show starts today. My company has a booth where they are selling some of my software, http://www.securedentalforms.com/. Last year they tried to sell the same product, but it was a very incomplete product. and a tornado came through atlanta and knocked out the busiest day of the show. It's been a fairly stressful time the last few weeks so I didn't have to make liars out of the salespeople, promising features that I hadn't written yet. but we got everything squared away in time this year. Sweet!
• March Madness starts today. Office productivity everywhere is going to slow to a crawl this afternoon as everyone who's ever seen a college basketball game before stops to watch the games. I can't wait. While I'm not a huge college basketball fan, the first two rounds of the NCAA tourney are riveting. If you were curious, I'm picking uConn to go all the way, with Kansas, Oklahoma, and Duke joining them in the Final Four. Everyone and their brother is picking UNC to go all the way, including Barak Obama. So there's no way UNC will actually go all the way. And I'm a decent fan of UNC basketball thanks to Coach Stu who is a Chapell Hill native.
• Since I haven't heard from the doc/lab, there has been no running since saturday. I did get the bike into the shop for a little tune up, and it's ready to get picked up today. I just wanted to be sure everything was going to be ready for the Assault next weekend. I did get a little bling installed too, some water bottles and cages, maybe a few other little treats like a bike computer or new saddle.
• I've been trying to name my bike for many months now but I haven't been able to think of a good one. It has to be female since I'm going to rider her so often this year. I think I'm going with Jenny, after the Forrest Gump character. I tend to stumble through these races like Forrest stumbled through life with Jenny supporting him. Many times "run Forrest run" has popped into my head during a run and/or race. Plus Robin Wright is kind of hawt when she isn't sick or coked out.
• So Jenny is coming back from the shop today, all clean and race ready. As a triathlete that's already registered and paid for many tri's and running only races this year, I'm struggling to come to grips with the possiblility that I might be off of the running bandwagon for some time, if not a long time. These are the thoughts that are going through my head: can I still run the half marathon april 25th; the doc might not be able to clear me for the marathon in june; i might not be able to run at all until the half ironman training starts in july; i might not be able to run the b2b?; give me a break. It's not a fun thought process.
• The one consolation for that? I am truly loving the bike right now. I'm having a tough time getting into the pool, running is completely shelved. So I might have to mentally change my approach from being a triathlete to being a cyclist. Change the marathon to a nice century ride. It's just a mental thing that I'm struggling with right now. it all makes sense, but is kind of hard to accept. Hopefully the tests/bone scans/whatever will provide a path for me to keep running, but I end up mentally going to the worst place while playing the waiting game like this. Actually the worst place is some kind of liver disease, but we don't want to go there. But I'm loving the bike so much that I can totally see myself getting about 12 Jenny's and riding all the time.
• I am still sticking to my yoga and Tri Power strength training program. It's still kicking me in all of the right places.
• My favorite bike name of all time comes from my good friend Sarah (Chasing Iron) -- she calls her bike Cupcake. Some people in her track group get it wrong and call her cupcake, which is actually quite insulting. She's one of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet, and I can't wait to see her ride Cupcake to turn Ironman next year. rock on.
• Do you have a name for your bike?
• I watched the Biggest Liar on tuesday night and didn't feel quite so lied to. The fastest contestant's half mararthon time was still 3 minutes slower than my half marathon PR. This makes me think that they are actually giving us actual times, not made up times or something including drive time. But we're really still supposed to believe that Dane broke 4 hours running 23 miles? i swear that had to be a 5:53 time just to come close to being in line with the other contestants half marathon times.
• The "people" whose backyard backs up to mine have gone crazy. Our hood is full of old growth trees that give us all a lot of privacy from each other. Last year someone bought the vacant lot on one side of my house, cleared away a large chunk of the lot to build a house, then didn't build the house. So now my whole backyard is visible from the street I live on. thanks for screwing that up. Now these people that back up to my lot have cleared the entire back side of their lot, exposing my entire backyard to their street as well. The only possible benefit is that it should let a little more morning sunshine onto my berry garden, and maybe some extra light on the veg garden too. but the extra exposure sucks!
• I think it's incredibly stupid that the first thing large real estate developers do is clear away all of the trees for the entire neighborhood. They replace a forest with a single 8' Bradford Pear, and that's supposed to be ok. Our subdivision here in the suburbs did not do that when the houses were built 35 years ago, and these stupid people are doing it now. stupid south carolina people. there are only 2 streets in my neighborhood, about 100 houses. It's a small development in a close community. I should also mention that our subdivision is called "Seven Oaks" even though there are no oak trees. I also find that humorous.
• Finally, a funny picture I stole from another blog:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Do you really think they care? I don't. Have a great day! Go tarheels!

Happy Day (and sad day)

Happy St Patrick's Day! Today is the day when all of America gets to drink like you were all Irish. I guess we'll let the Canadians drink like you're irish too. So put on some green and kiss somebody just because you can!

I am actually Irish. That being in the American sense that if you have one small drop of Irish blood in you then by God we are claiming you as being Irish weather you want to or not. I'm sure there's lots of other cultures mixed into my genetic makeup. But I'm a Flynn, and there are four main branches of Flynn's in America. Mine stems from William Flynn, who came to America from County Cork in Ireland in 1842. I think he landed in Virginia, but I'm not sure about that. Since the name is still intact, that's all going back through my dad's side of the family. So I'm IRISH by God, and southern by grace.

An interesting side note since I'm on the subject of genetic lineage, going back on my Mom's side you will find a British Duke of something (born in the 1640's), and a family that used to own about 80% of Manhattan Island in the 1700's. The ownership of Manhattan Island thing resulted in a lawsuit over heirs to that family that was just settled about 10 years ago. I didn't see anything from that lawsuit, but my great-aunt did get a notice to appear in court for it.

Kelley's family has some famous connections too. We recently learned that we are related to the Jonas brothers. It's funny that they wear promise rings and be all celibate and stuff. Turns out their grandmother or maybe great grandmother got knocked up as a high school kid by some cousin to one of kelley's grandparents. So the Jonas brothers are our cousins, distantly. and maybe their family has a dirty past? hmmmmm....... Of course I have no proof of anything there, it's just something that someone in her family found and told her mom about.

UPDATE: I have been corrected. Kelley's grandmother's niece (her sister's kid) got knocked up when she was in high school. She went to florida to have the baby, the baby became a preacher, moved to New Jersey and is the father of the Jonas Brothers. So they are not so distant cousins, we might even run into them at a funeral or something. end of update.

So it's a happy day! kiss me, I'm Irish.

It's a sad day too. I had a doctor's appt yesterday to follow up from the one a few weeks ago. The blood test showed some liver enzymes that were a little out of whack, he wanted to figure out why. Turns out, they are way really high out of whack, and he was pretty concerned. I also told him about a myofacial problem I've been fighting in my left shin since maybe december. I'm 90% sure it's muscular like shin splints and not a stress fracture, he wants to be more sure than that. It might even be related to the liver thing. I take advil when it hurts and before every run as a precaution. But the shin shoud have healed up by now, so I was a little concerned.

He drew some blood for testing, he's going to check the liver enzymes and my testosterone levels. We also x-rayed the leg. I couldn't get a digital copy like Sarah did, but I still gotta admit that those bones were quite sexy. Everything looked silky smooth. But the bad news is that he still said no more advil and no more running until he clears me to run again. The leg thing could be a collection of toxins or a small clot or something that is causing the liver thing to react with elevated enzyme levels. So if the liver levels look good, we're going to do a high density bone scan to check for a stress fracture. if it's not a stress fracture, he figure it out from there. something will have to unlock the muscular "bruise" or whatever it is.

I got in that 10 mile run on saturday, it was the first double digit milage since before the taper when I missed the marathon, i think feb 3rd was the last time I had 10 miles or more. then sunday/monday I was having real trouble getting down the stairs into the office. I certainly didn't want the guy to tell me to stop running, but the shin should have healed more by now. So crap, I guess I'm just going to have to deal with it. I'm going to back off of the swim and biking some too, but keep going with the yoga and Tri Power workouts. My next race is a 60k bike ride through the North Carolina mountains in 2 weeks, so I can keep training for that without running.

Finally, something humorous. I hate people from Spartanburg county, the next county north of where I live. The local news reports today that someone in Spartanburg actually STOLE $300 worth of girl scout cookies from some kids selling in a parking lot. Police are looking for surveillance tapes now. But is the economy really that bad that rednecks have to steal from girl scouts? You can't find something better to steal than Thin Mints? They let Glaven into Spartanburg county? Once again, proof that I am surrounded by dumbasses and rednecks.

So have a great St Patty's day! We Irish consider getting drunk and having sex with strangers "an introduction". So go meet somebody new today! Have fun. And don't forget to vote for me on Steve's blog if you haven't done so already. You don't have to have a blog to vote, just follow the link and vote on the right hand side of his blog.

Vote for me!

Steve Stenzel is running a contest for the best virgin race story, and I was selected as a finalist!!! There were 34 entries, and I am incredibly proud to have been selected as one of the Top 10. The post with all 10 stories is up now, and voting is open. So vote for me and I might win some drymax socks. How cool!

All of the top 10 stories are very inspirational. If you've been reading for a while, you might remember that I come in last at everything running related. I'm ok with it, but the consistency is quite humorous. So after day 1, I'm currently last in the voting. Let's change that up some. Of course, the other folks are nuts too. I'm up against a former heroin addict, a 10 year old triathlete that runs to support cancer research, and a guy who (combined with his wife) lost 365 lbs. Oh, and one chick with bad fashion sense. What kind of crap is that? I just stopped smoking. Still, it's very inspirational. I had to take my entire welcome post here and pare it down to under 300 words. kind of tough for us long-winded folks. But if Glaven can write shorter posts, I can slim down my story to 300 words and still insult him.

My weekend in Charleston was awesome. Michael lives in a great neighborhood with a really cute little house. The crawl space underneath only gave me about 18" of clearance to run cable, but we got his antenna mounted on the roof, and coax was run to all the tv's. Then everything freaking worked! On the first try! I can't believe it. he's picking up 12 digital channels and 7 analog channels including HD broadcast free through the air thanks to an $80 antenna. No more cable bill. nice. We did some landscaping too, Morgan (through bad-ass fencing) removed a huge chunk of the existing fence around the backyard, and we sank 11 posts for a new wooden fence. And mom and Summer (Michael's wife) did a ton of gardening. Great times.

I also got in a 10 mile run on saturday. I never left his neighborhood. Every time I saw a traffic light or the road ended I would just turn onto another one. I never really got lost, and never went same road, same direction more than a couple of times. There was no traffic, and being on an island at the coast, it was completely pancake flat. They live at the end of a dead end road, so when I stepped onto their front yard at the end of the run the Garmin said 10.00 miles exactly. Of course, I had no plan so that was really cool. I did the run in 1:52, and have no idea what average pace that is. I haven't even unpacked the van yet.

I really wanted to get in a bike ride sunday morning, but the body did not agree with me. I woke up sunday in tons of pain. Hips, knees, quads, feet, ankles, lower back, you name it. I'm sure it was all thanks to the run, house repairs, landscaping, and sleeping in a foreign bed. I feel great today. But that bike ride just wasn't going to happen. We did more landscaping instead.

So vote for me over at steve's blog and have a great day! I'm going to be programming like crazy to get ready for a trade show on wednesday, so everything is going to be hectic around here.

Today's Pics

The nice sunny warm days of late have brought the girls back outside. With it came our camera. I haven't put up many pics of them lately because we haven't taken that many being stuck inside all the time. I did a post with Christmas pics, and the first one was too cute. You know, just in case you guys want to see how much the girls have grown since then. But what a difference a week makes. Can you believe last week it was this:

Bigun playing in the snow. that hat is so cute!
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Evil Genius running around in the snow. She didn't know what to think, really. I think it was her first time seeing snow. She's 22 months old now, turning 2 may 31st.
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and now we get stuff like this:

The weeping cherry tree I put next to the kids sandbox is blooming! Cute, small, perky blooms, too, and tons of them. EVERYBODY that came into the backyard last year asked me why I didn't dig up that dead cherry tree. 'Cause it's not so dead! HAHA, This gardener got the last laugh, I guess.

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The blooming cherry tree weather led to this:

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EG helping me water the garden, a very small amount at a time. That dress is adorable.

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And naturally, she needed proper sun protection. Something about babies in giant hats makes me smile.

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Bigun had to get in on the fun, too. She's really grown into such a smart and fun little girl.
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People have often asked me why I never post a picture of the dog or cat on here. Here's a good reason:

Simple, really. I hate that dog. Actually, I despise the fact that the yard is covered in dog poop, also known as "Glaven Piles". You can see the garlic growing up nicely behind the pooping dog. She thinks my cleared garden space is an instruction to raise the acid levels of my garden soil. The animal itself doesn't bother me much. just the Glaven's. I'm not a dog person, or a cat person. I'm more of a "leave me the hell alone you non-human" kind of guy. Kelley had the dog 2 years before she met me (and we've had 13 years together), so this thing is old. She's still healthy though.
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And because I can't finish up with a pic of the dang dog:

EG has a mouth full of chocolate pudding. Those big puffy cheeks are so adorable, what else can I say about it? She's at a very photogenic age right now.

And I seem to be missing any pictures of myself or Kelley. hmmm, guess who the focus is on right now?

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Fitness

I got a few miles on the bike yesterday along with some core work. I must admit to slacking off of the Tri Power workouts for a few days. Love them, just running out of time. Did some yoga this morning, long tri power workout to come over lunch and I hope a brick after work (10 mile bike, 5 mile run) at the gym. Gotta get it done today, tomorrow I'm leaving for charleston for the weekend. Gotta help my brother with some house stuff. gonna be awesome! While it's nice and flat at the coast, I'm hoping to get in a 12 mile run and 20 miles on the bike.

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Garden

My last pack of seeds has finally shipped, so the seed flats are going up today! I'm only a few weeks late. I bet they can pull through. I need to get some mulch down on the berry patch asap, too. not quite sure how that's going to happen. And it's time for the spring fertilizer down here, since I do everything under priciples of organic gardening I have to find the right stuff.

wow.

Random Wednesday

I'm all over the place today. The kind of random post that should get bullet points. I did get a good run in yesterday doing intervals for the first time. I was using the sidewalks on the roads near my house, so it was all hills all the time. There is a spot on top that kind of almost levels out, so I ran it a few times. It was .2 mile intervals with 90 seconds rest as confirmed with the garmin. 4.15 miles total, but the speeds were the cool parts. I tried most of the time to keep the intervals around an 8 to 8:15 minute mile. Which is considerably faster than my normal 10 min pace for longer runs. But it was so cool to really push the speed thing for the first time in years. The fastest interval was 9.6 mph for my fellow treadmill junkies, or about a 6:10 pace. I know I clocked another one at 6:45 pace. So I know the potential is there. and it reminded me again of all of those sub-6 min miles I used to turn in back in the day when I was 70 lbs lighter.

I did some yoga this morning, with core work to come in a few minutes. I'll also try to hop on the bike some today. I need to get in about 10 miles, but I'm still really saddle sore from climbing Paris Mountain on sunday. I've decided that saddle sore is really a nice way of saying bruised taint. The worst part is I know the cure: tits (time in the saddle). So yes I need more tits. and on my live road bike not some weak recumbent stationary thing like some coked up librarian.

Last night the Spinners started the weekly tuesday night donaldson rides. We had some family in town and I ended up working a little late so I missed it. But after reading some of the reports on the spinners emails to the yahoo group, I really wish I had made this ride. One of my former clients Dan was a ride leader for a group going 29 miles on country rolling roads at a 17-18 mph pace. Started at 6 pm, done before dark. oh man I wish I had made that ride now. Next week, gotta do it.

You're not going to believe what I found over the weekend. It seems my arch nemesis Glaven has been into some worse things than we had originally thought. I mean, I knew the boy was twisted, but these books take the cake. Check these out:

Eating gifted children? Come on, I know Ian is smart but geez.










Teh Bride is Glaven's wife. At least she has taste. Thanks for ruining flan for me forever, though.






I mean, the simple fact that a librarian would write a book instead of just read and reshelve the books is disturbing enough. And wow, his variety and choice of topics is astounding! But you know what they say. Once you go monkey, you never go back. The conversation goes like this:



Me: Hey Glaven, want to go bowling tonight?



GQH: Nah, I've got an orangutan coming over tonight. Gonna git my groove on.

Me: Whatever, dude. Hit that shit.

Once the monkey pussy gets you in it's slimy grasp, you can't get enough. Sad, really. Finally, I found a book that I think would be useful to him. See if your nice 5 star rated library has a copy of this one laying around:







I just thought it would come in handy. and open the door for you to make jokes about people in the south not having indoor plumbing (we do). I'm always here to help.


Final random item for wednesday: I need some help. I'm sure you already knew that, but this help is quite specific. You see, Kelley and I, along with my brother Michael and our friend Deb (who talked Kelley into running the MB marathon - payback is hell) are doing this mud run May 2nd as a four person team. there's mud, obstacles, crawling and climbing over stuff, so it takes teamwork I guess. We had to submit a team name, and we're running with the "C" group of slow lazy people. So I'm hoping we can actually beat someone and end up getting our team name called for an award. So naturally we submitted the team name "The Registered Sex Offenders", and none of us are actually registered sex offenders. I just think it would be funny to hear "Coming in 2nd place, the Registered Sex Offenders" and have everyone clap and cheer for our chosen cause. Then we got a call the other night from the race organizers informing us that the race benefits Goodwill and Toys for Tots, so our choice was a little inappropriate.


A quick phone call to Michael (he's the creative one of us all) turned up some good potential names. He put a bunch of them on his blog yesterday. I really like "Tapwater Explosion", or maybe "Russell Crowe's Rabittoh's" after his rugby team. We need something tough, dirty and mean that still fits their family friendly race environment. Kelley likes the "Primrose Jellymakers", which does roll off of the tounge nicely, but doesn't quite convey the fear that I want to put in the other teams. I also considered "Pussy Recumbent Bike Riders" and "Coked Up Librarians", but I don't think they will fly. as most anything associated with Glaven will ultimately fail.


So gimme some idea here blog world! I need a team name.


more later, peace. And again, I know my mother is so proud of me right now.

Oh Boy -- and Book Review

What a wild weekend! Today's also nuts at work, so I've only got a sec. I'll have to wait and insult Glaven later. It was great not having the kids for the weekend. Bigun cried when we picked them up on sunday, she really wanted to stay at Grandma's house. I remember the feeling. Then she fell asleep on the car ride home. nuts, but they all had a good weekend too.

Friday was uneventful. After dropping off the kids, we went out to a restaurant we thought was too nice to bring the kids too. of course, they sat us between two tables with screaming kids. great. It was still a fun evening.

Saturday Kelley headed up the mountain to meet up with her cousin. This left me with no car, which is normally not a problem. I finally got the berry bed cleared, and planted all 9 Ison's plants. All 7 blueberry bushes already have blooms on them, so I hope I got them in the ground in time for a spring crop. The grapevines I got were huge! Two of them also had flower buds already formed, so they are going to love their new home, I think. I also planted the peas, but I might have waited too late in the year. Peas have to be planted really early in order for them to bear pods. We'll have to wait and see I guess.

I finished all that gardening, which was wonderful. Then it came time to get my 11 mile run in. And I couldn't get a ride anywhere, gym or Furman. But after 6 hours hard working the garden I didn't really feel like running 11 miles anyway. So I ordered pizza and cracked a beer.

Sunday was awesome. I did actually remember to change the clocks up. Then had a lazy morning, Kelley came back down the mountain early so she could get some house stuff done. I took off on the bike late for my group ride. I mapped a route through the neighborhoods (no traffic) to get to the starting point, it was about 7 miles. Then I met up with 11 other riders from the Greenville Spinners to climb Paris Mountain. It's not the most difficult climb, but it certainly has it's challenges. Especially when you already start out 7 miles ahead of the group. It was 80 degrees and sunny outside. Boy you really felt the heat during the climb. That's the most I think I have ever sweat on the bike. Check out the garmin log:

You can at least see the elevation changes without clicking to see the larger view. and don't make fun of my log on the left, I don't always use the garmin to log my runs. The cool stats: 24.99 miles total distance. 2450 ft of elevation change climbing, and 2471 downhill elevation change. Max speed 38.1 mph. Wow, that is fast. Since we had the snow last week, they put sand on the roads to keep cars from sliding off the mountain. Of course, that also means that the bike tires would just slide right out from under you if you weren't careful. Loose dry sand on a paved road does not really "agree" with bike tires. So we had to be really careful. Otherwise that 38.1 mph might have been higher.

I broke away from the group after we were down the mountain. The route came just a couple of roads from my house, so I took off. The groups are great, but they maintain a constant (and fairly slow) pace on the flatlands. So when I broke away and got onto a flat 4 lane road with very little traffic, I really let it open up. Got into the big chainring and a fairly high gear, and stayed around 27 mph for the last 4 miles or so. ah, that was a blast. but this is the killer part. I had to cut through a couple of parking lots to get into my neighborhood. Right before turning into the parking lot, my chain came off. Freakin 2 hours 45 mins into the ride, I'm 2 blocks from the house and I throw the freakin chain. unbelievable. I got it back on and finished the ride home.

Once I got home, there was a severe lack of nutrition. I should have taken some recoverite, but I didn't. I don't think I properly hydrated during the ride either, so I was already under the gun. Just couldn't seem to eat enough to feel good again for the rest of the night.

Today started out going back in the pool. I got in a good 1800 meters, and really wore myself down. Freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, I had a really good, balanced swim. Again today, I can't seem to get enough to eat. it's crazy. But that's the fun part about tri training. My legs are shredded, my chest and arms are shredded, and my ass hurts like I was somebody's bitch.

It's great to be back in tri season, though. The sun is out, we're back on daylight savings time, the trees are starting to bloom. ah yea.

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Book Review - Forces Of Nature by Laird Hamilton

Laird Hamilton is a self serving meathead. Sure, his wife is smoking hot (Gabby Reece) and he's widely regarded as the fittest man (and family) on the planet. Yea, he's a world renowned big wave surfer. And this book does have it's good points. But there is at least one picture of Laird on every page. Sometimes there were actually 6 pics of Laird on one page. Seriously, every single page has a pic of Laird. It's hilarious, and it makes it read like a book for a second grader. But he does have some good information in there, particularly the excercise and nutrition sections. His circuit is a bear. and he's all about organic, natural eating with some great info on nutritional supplements. that's something I can really get behind. But the rest of it was just Laird saying how great Laird is. Check it out if you're really into surfing or Laird Hamilton, because Laird Hamilton sure is.

TGIF

The kids are going to grandma's. FREEDOM!!!1! Bigun is ready to go NOW she does not want to wait until after nap time she wants to go NOW to Grandma's why aren't we in the car yet daddy NOW! These younguns are lucky to be alive today. We went to a mexican restaurant for dinner last night where their favorite activity was standing on the table throwing toys onto my plate. That's the Evil part of Evil Genius shining through. The genius part is that her accuracy was amazing. Most 20 month old kids aren't that coordinated. Of course, she also thought that she could step normally from the table back to the seat, that did not end well. so maybe there's a depth perception problem. Make that Grandma's depth perception problem for the next few days.

Today is supposed to be sunny and 69, tomorrow sunny and 77, sunday sunny and 78. Saturday Kelley is going to visit a cousin for the night to do some girly stuff. All I know is they are starting with 5 bottles of wine. I don't have to care where it ends. FREEDOM!!!1! And with that much sunshine and warm weather, I am going for a long run on saturday (11 miles) and a long bike ride on sunday around 30 miles and nobody else has to care when I do that. I am also going to get the seed flats started, finish the bed prep, and plant the grapes and blueberries (finally). So it's going to be a great weekend to workout and garden. It's also fun to note that I won't have a car, and I still don't care. I'll take the bike if I want to go anywhere. FREEDOM!!!!1!

Now I don't want to imply that I won't miss my kids. Just yesterday, I found some great new coloring books for the girls:

They going be rolling Crayola style. Michael put a blog post up with links to a bunch of these. OMG I was losing my shiz. I might sprinkle some others in here in future posts.

Today's a rest day, I got a haircut finally. I'm so lazy and cheap that I only get a haircut every 2 months(ish). But I've had the same barber since I was 5, so he's ok with it. And working from home, nobody but Glaven has to care if I look good. You know Glaven is gay from his man-foot fetish and general excited state from his physical therapist, Tony. I think it's ok if he enjoys the man's touch.

So I hope your weekend is as good as mine. If you're in the area (or would like to be) give me a call. I still have no idea what route or group ride I will jump on for sunday's bike work. I just know it will be outside and be long. That sounds familiar.... TGIF!

Finally, a Brick!

Now that Glaven has purchased, or rather stolen or just laid claim to, my soul, I felt compelled to get on a recumbent bike this morning. But I was able to resist because he apparently only skimmed my last post. I was FINALLY able to get in my first brick of the year. I've only been trying to get this workout in for 3 days now, so it's about time. I got on an upright bike like any man with a full-grown penis would do and cranked out 14 miles in about 40 minutes. It was a good ride, but my hamstrings are kind of sore from the Tri Power workouts of late, so I didn't quite spin like I did on Sunday. Still, it was a good ride.

If you don't read Glaven's blog, he bought a recumbent stationary bike a few weeks ago, and we've been voraciously making fun of him for it. Also, he has a legendarily small dick that I like to point and laugh at. and even though he will comment that the last sentence implies that I like his dick, I promise it's only for the humor value. Somebody needs to meat punch him again.

Anyroad, my brick. After finishing the bike I refilled the water bottle and got on the treadmill for a tempo run. I covered 2 miles at a 6.2 speed, then another mile at 6.6. Felt pretty good, but I was definitely underfueled. I'm still trying to figure out the right fuel for these really early morning workouts. Today I was up at 5:30 and in the gym by 6 am. Unfortunately, the morning constitutions kicked in at 3 miles here so I had to call it a workout. I wanted to get in another mile, but time and nature were against me. So I was underfueled and full of shit. Isn't that normally the case?

Still, that was a great workout. And now I've had breakfast and made it down to work on time. The day is coming together nicely. Tomorrow is the end of the week, may it be a blessing to us all. This weekend is going to be great, i'll tell you why tomorrow.

Lazy, anyone?

Actually, not lazy as much as surrounded by other crap. Yesterday we had directv installed, been wanting to get rid of the cable tv for service/quality reasons for years. Now I used to run all types of low voltage cable all the time, but that doesn't mean I liked it. And for some reason, I ended up helping the installer run cable and go through the setup to the point where it pulled me off of the job for about 4 hours. WTH? so that sucked up my workout time yesterday.

Monday got out of control too. I ended up pushing myself for some work stuff and some mountain house stuff. Then of course we got sucked into the batchelor finale. whatever.

Today we have a staff meeting. That tends to suck up all of my non-billable time during the day. We only do it once a month, and i gripe about it every time. all i have to do is listen to a skype call, so sometimes i'll throw the bike on the trainer and ride, sometimes i'll do something else while listening.

Do you like to workout in the morning or afternoon? I'm having trouble right now setting up the schedule. Kelley likes to workout in the morning, so she can get home and get some breakfast before getting the girls out of bed. Working from home inherently has built in flex scheduling. It's easy to get down here and start writing code. It's becoming much harder to get away. Last year I had no trouble leaving about 11 am to go to the gym, take a shower, make lunch and get back down here by 1 pm. But now it seems my mid day demands have been increasing. very strange. Everybody and their brother hits the gym after work at 5 pm, so I feel like I should be flexible enough to avoid that crowd. But if I have to, I have to. The trouble is it ends up being impossible to step away from the desk between 5 and 6:30. Then the night goes like this: kelley has dinner ready usually by 6:30 and is screaming for me to watch the kids. 7 pm sometimes the girls get a bath, 7:30 or 8 we get them ready for bed and asleep by 8:30. at which point we are both ready to crash and zombie out for a while.

This weekend starts daylight savings time, and I'm glad to have my evening daylight back. It means the regular weekly group rides are starting back up, and I'm going to have to put my foot down some for 6 pm group rides on tuesday and thursday nights. Swim practice is 5:30 am mon, tues, and thursday, and friday is the weekly rest day. So wednesday I could get in a 5:30 am run, and monday fight the 5 pm crowds for another run. Believe it or not, I actually have an easier time getting up and going really early in the morning when we're ON dst. I have no idea why. But when the time "falls back" it kills my early morning ambitions.

I have been doing the tri power workouts during our evening tv binges. They are still consistently kicking me around, but in a good way. And I think it's important to have rest or down time before going to bed.

The Batchelor finale was hilarious. Jason is a complete idiot, the likes of which you normally don't see on tv. He obviously has issues with commitment and decisions. I have to admit a complete addiction to Batchelor/Batchelorette everything. Love the shows no matter how invalid the process is. It's still good entertainment. but this guy is a moron. the way he kisses the girls creeps me out, that hasn't happened in seasons past. I don't know why, he's just a dumbass.

We caught the Biggest Liar last night too. Oh the cliffhanger drama! I heard that any mention of their marathon lie from last week has been forced out of the video release and will not be mentioned in future episodes. It's still rediculous. And last night had nothing really interesting either. It seemed to be a very "safe" episode. I say they are all losers. Actually, I hate that they spend 15 minutes talking about excercise and nutrition and an hour 45 minutes with drama, weigh ins and voting. the only thing that counts is pounds lost, not general health so people can lose more weight than they should to still be healthy. And if they are going to use percentage of weight loss as their measurment factor down to the hundredths of a percent, they should use weight down to tenths of a pound. One time last year, there was a .01% difference between two people, and the guy thought he could have shaved the beard to get the extra .01% loss. But it would have to be an entire lb on their system. It's stupid to be that imprecise. but whatever. that's my rant.

Today is supposed to be a brick, 15 mile bike and 4 mile run. but with the staff meeting who knows. My BPD (bipolar posting disorder) is running wild today. Have a good one!

I'm Back, Baby

Boy it feels good to be back into the swing of things. Friday was a good rest day. It started raining. It just stopped about an hour ago. more on that later. Spring is back! We were riding around town some, and I'm seeing the Bradford Pears with little white flowers on them. My cherry and dogwood trees have unopened buds, and the Redbud trees have little red flowers starting to open up now. It gives hope for outside runs, long miles on the bike, and a nice garden to come.

Saturday I actually got in a run! hoot! I did basically a tempo run for an hour. 5.6 miles, 863 calories on the treadmill in 60 mins. I walked for a 3 min warmup, then took the speed to 6.1 for about 35 mins. Then walked a little and took the speed to 6.5 until a 5 min cool down. So it was a great tempo run. And a great run period, as it was the first time I had actually run since 2/10. I used no braces and had no knee pain. And I weighed in at 196 before the run, so apparently being sick for 2 weeks helped me lose 9 lbs. sweet!

The rest of the day saturday was uneventful. We hung out with the kids, did nothing really but stay inside and chill. Sunday I installed a new ceiling fan, examined the diet plan a little bit, and made it back to the gym. I got in 18.5 miles on the stationary bike in an hour, 561 calories. that's really spinning, too. I think my average rpm was about 98, I should be keeping it around 90. But I hate that my gym closes at 6 pm on sunday, and I got there right at 5 pm. So one hour of spinning was all I could get. The training plan called for 20 miles on the bike, so I was rolling through to come as close as I could in the one hour that the gym was still open.

Then about 5:53 it started snowing. here, in Greenville SC. Where we never get snow. It's our first snow in 2 years. After 3 days of steady rain it just changed over. So the gym people announced that they were closing in 4 minutes and it was now snowing, so wrap the workouts and get out. nice. I made it home and snapped a few pics. Here's the view from out the front door.

And yes, that was enough snow today to close the schools, most businesses are closed, the grocery stores are sold out with people stocking up. There was a traffic accident on I-85 last night that still has traffic backed up this morning over 2 counties. Here's a closer shot of that dogwood tree:

There are flower buds under all of that snow and ice! This is not cool. This is the kind of storm that screws up local farmers crops sometimes. Watch the price of peaches and strawberries this summer. They are going to be through the roof now because this stuff will have damaged the trees. What was I just saying about spring? Oh, and next friday, high 67, saturday is going to be sunny and 68 degrees. I'd say march came in like a lion, and cancelled my master's swim practice for this morning.

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Apparently I've started a dick war with Glaven. I really didn't mean too, it just kind of happened. A couple of weeks ago I wrote about a rough and funny morning I was having involving doughnuts, vomit, and getting punched in the dick. Well Glaven's wife, in her independant and infinite wisdom has apparently latched onto the term "meat punch" that I used in that post. Now she is constantly threatening him with it and he lives in constant fear for his junk. She's taken it to the level of adding her comments to his posts threatening him with meat punching. Apparently, I am supposed to accept responsibility for his pain and fear from living in a terrorist state. It's gotten so bad, he came up with a color code system as described here:

Yes, he wrote an entire post about his current meat punching threat level. Now I have to admit, I really like reading Glaven's stuff. It may be true that his comments on other people's blogs are sometimes funnier than his own postings, but we can't hold that against him. Even the best situational comic needs to be put in a funny situation sometimes to be his best.

But seriously, that post on saturday is the funniest thing I have read in a long, long time. Give it a read, and read the comments that I and others left. I think my favorite part was comparing his johnson to the side of beef that Rocky was working over during the tv interview in the movie. Oh my, I have been laughing out loud at inopportune times since yesterday morning just thinking about that one.

You know any dick war with a Flynn is one that you will ultimately lose. Our pants prowess is legend (wait for it) ary. You've heard of Ironman (the superhero, not the race)? We're knows as IronMembers. So if this is really a battle that Glaven wants to fight, I will beat his meat into submission (yes, that's a gay joke). Glaven will become the Glaveness. His adopted son will become his adopted daughter (but he/she is still a cute kid). I gotta side with Teh Bride (as he calls his wife). Give him hell!

I know my mother reads this blog, and she must be incredibly proud right now. I am (fear not) on track with the training plan. hopefully thursday I will finally get into that swim practice. there are many many miles to come this week, so I'll be posting often.

Congratulatios to everyone that got in a race this weekend. My tampa friend Healthy Ashley ran her second half marathon and got in a great time. Diet guru Caitlin ran a 15k and 5k on saturday, then a half marathon on sunday (same race as Ashley). She set 2 pr's and made goal times in all 3 races. How cool! Who else was racing? I only have 3 more weeks until the Assault bike ride. I can't wait. More to come. Go to Glaven's blog and meat punch his comments for me.