Sore - brain dump

Damn DOMS. My legs are complaining today. Bigun finished her swimming lessons yesterday. She loved it, and even jumped in from the side of the pool 2 out of 3 times; it really scares her. I got a good 2000 meter swim in during the lesson. Love that! Today my legs are screaming. I guess it's doms from the speedwork wednesday night. Maybe I just used my legs more than normal during the swim.

Today is a rest day. The weekend is supposed to contain a 30 mile bike ride and 5 mile run. Those numbers seem awfully small considering:

Kelley's mom is taking the kids back home with her today! This keeps getting better. Now she's going to keep them at her house until one of them breaks. Either Kelley will miss them too much and call for them to come back, which normally happens after about 3 days, or her mom will get ready to head for the mountains and drop them off on the way. Either way it's more freedom than I was expecting. I've got yardwork to do, long runs/rides, I still have to cut up the tree that fell down in the backyard last month.

Early next week we're getting a new roof put on the house. It would be nice for those guys to be on the roof making all that noise while there are not napping children in the house. So let's hope they can get out here before the kids come back. We are finally getting the exterior of the house repaired, the roof had hail and wind damage so it has to be the first thing to get fixed. Then it's a few gutters, getting some rotten siding replaced, exterior paint, then landscaping. Come on curb appeal!

Can you believe the nerd won the batchelorette? I was glad she picked Ed, these people always pick the guys with the abs like Kypton. Ed is just an IT consultant like me, and seems like a normal nice guy. It's so good to see the nice guys win for once.

And on Big Brother, I hate that these idiots keep nominating the eye candy. Of course, the eye candy has the IQ of a bag of bricks. It has to be the girl from Charlotte that admits on camera that she can't tell time. At least she's hawt. Lemme tell ya though, hawt chicks like that are only attractive until they start talking. Once you realize there's nothing going on upstairs the appeal goes away quickly.

Speaking of not smart, Ronnie is not as smart as the rest of the brains. He's a dumbass. I thought it was hilarious how they have him listed as a "video game expert" and then everyone acted suprised that he spent a few days straight alone in the HOH room. If he's really a video game expert, he is also well versed in social depravation. At least he is aligned with the people that keep on winning. I was glad to see Casey go home last night, he was getting really annoying. Campaigning for votes in a banana constume made me laugh so hard. And I love the irony that he threw the veto competition to get a margharita party for the house and now he won't be able to partake. BB is the BEST!!!

I'm reading Jillian Michaels Master Your Metabolism right now. I like it, full book review to come. Her theories are really sound. and it makes me want to go see an endocrinologist. But I have it checked out from the library and it's due back today so I better read fast.

I also got a call today and found out that an uncle of mine that I'm really close too has prostate cancer. That really sucks. He had an operation this week and we hope they got it all. We'll know more later I guess. I've mentioned on here before about my family history with cancer, I think this is the first time we've seen prostate as the originator. Scary stuff.

FREEDOM! Have a great weekend. Good luck if you're racing. I know Sarah is going to PR a 5k tonight! Have fun girl!

My Methamphetamine

Speedwork people. Intervals on the treadmill. Oh how I love that kind of pain. Last night I cut the grass right before it got dark then headed out for the gym. Nothing like sweating hard when you're walking INTO the gym. I hopped on the thrillmill and warmed up, then did 1k (0.6 miles) speedwork with 0.2 miles rest intervals. I set the speeds at 7.6, 7.7, 7.8, 7.9 mph for the successive intervals. Total workout was 4 miles in ~35 mins with warm up and cool down.

Today I hit some yoga this morning, tri power workout to come, and tonight is Bigun's final swimming lesson. I'm going to be able to get some laps in at the same time, so I'm looking forward to that.

In sad news, our family dog died this morning. She was 15 years old and went from natural causes. We buried her in the backyard next to a playhouse. Kelley got that dog when she was 8 weeks old, but she's been sick for the last couple of weeks so we kind of expected it was going to be soon. She's had that dog 2 years longer than she's had me. So it is sad, but it happens. You might remember from an earlier post I didn't like that dog (or almost any dog) very much. Still, when something makes the wife upset it's not something that I am going to enjoy either.

Yowza

Well, after I posted on saturday that Evil Genius was actually being well behaved, guess what happened. She took her dinner, dumped it on the floor, stomped on it crushing the crackers that were on there, then walked everywhere else around the house. Guess I should have seen that coming by now. unbelievably huge mess.


The dinner was awesome, it was so good to hang with Anna again and her new BF is really cool. He was blown away by getting together with the small local family. He's going to pass out when he sees the crowd at thanksgiving.


Sunday I got in a 20 mile bike, 8 mile run brick workout. It felt sooooo good to get a brick in! Wow I didn't realize how much I have been missing the really long weekend workouts. I'm getting tired of the single digit long runs, and since I didn't get anything in saturday the brick was welcomed. If I had been able to separate the workouts on different days, I would have done 10 miles on the run. The 20 mile bike was in 60:50, just below my target 20 mph pace. The 8 mile run was in 1:12:something, which is a pretty good pace.


Monday was a rest day, I did some yoga and my tri power workout. I was also pretty stressed at work, but managed to get something actually completed.


Yesterday was a really good day. My software release at work passed testing which is really cool. Then kelley's mom came up to play with the kids for a few days. We knew she was coming. It's the last week of their swim lessons, and she wanted to see the girls in the pool. Bigun jumped in and got her whole head underwater for the first time last night! I'm so proud of her, she really had to conquor a fear there.


I got in a swim too! Got a mile and a half in while Bigun was at the swim lesson. Oh it felt so good to get laps in a 50 meter pool. I had the lane to myself most of the time, and I did laps in sets of 8, since the Greenville Sprint tri has 8 laps in the pool as the swim leg.


What we did not know (but is totally awesome) is that Kelley's mom is taking the kids back home with her for the weekend!!!!! FRRREEEEEEDDDDOOOOMMMMMM!!!!!!! Oh yea, it's going to be so nice. Kelley has really been needing a weekend lately. and i'm not complaining at all.


I also got awarded a "featured triathlon blogger" mark on Wellsphere! That's really cool, I've seen the stamp on plenty of other blogs that I read. I think getting invited is quite an honor.

It's only 100 days until the Beach 2 Battleship! I finally made my hotel reservations. Actually, we're staying friday and saturday night at some condo's that are close to the finish line. Let the anxiety begin!


And finally, some pics. I haven't put up any pictures lately, and nothing funny has happened to me lately. Soon I'm sure I will have something funny to report. But for now I will just have to embarass my neice and show off my version of a biker chick.

Week in Review

Wow, talk about hectic. I haven't had a moment to spare at ALL. it has really been crazy. and HOT down here. the highlights:

• Monday we had a version release of some of my software at work. Got it all working at 11:15 pm and called it a day.
• Tuesday got in LOTS of strength training due to high work stress, some yoga early, and 4 miles of interval running late. Yoga at 6:30 am, got back from the run at 11 pm
• Wednesday I was apparently working on the wrong project all day. All I did was bang my head against the desk anyway, making no actual progress. At least I got 25 miles on the bike, ending at 11 pm. got in my tri power workout too.
• Thursday missed yoga, got in my tri power workout, then worked until 11:30 pm. No tempo run or brick workout as planned.
• Friday I got out of my comfort zone a little bit. then banged my head against the desk on another project as it repeatedly failed testing. oh boy. Actually left and had dinner with the family and did not go back to work afterwards.
• Well, that's kind of a lie. My friend Clarke came over and I had no time to help him with some ASP stuff. But he was still downstairs working when I went to bed at 11. poor bastard.
• Today is my neice's birthday. Yes, the same neice who just deleted my facebook account turns 13 today. I think she's going to get her ears pierced. Kelley and Bigun went to have lunch with her today, she lives about 2 hours away from us.
• Happy birthday Kaileigh!
• I have to control the damage from Evil Genius today by myself. It's been ok so far, she's been more genius than evil so far.
• Funny EG story: last weekend we went out to lunch somewhere. Sitting in the booth eating, she puts her head on my shoulder, I love you daddy, being all sweet. I mean just dripping sugar. Then she stands up and punches me in the throat. hard. well, as hard as a 2 year old can punch someone. Genius = suck up to daddy. Evil = throat punch.
• Tonight we are having lunch with my aunt. My cousin Anna is in town from Washington DC, and she's brought home a new boyfriend. First time she's brought a boy home in years. Since he's from Maryland he wants good southern cooking while he's down here. Is Maryland not southern? Close enough, I thought.
• I have to make a peach cobbler for the dinner tonight, and Kelley is going to make a squash casserole after she gets back from the birthday thing. Did I mention I cannot cook anything anymore? This should be fun.
• Guess all that means I'm not going to get in the long run today that I really really need. I don't mind a rest day. 2 rest days in a row is acceptable, but not prefered. But no running thursday friday or saturday and this redneck gets restless. This is not acceptable (half) ironman training!
• Tomorrow's long bike ride will have to be followed by a long run. I'm thinking 20 miles on the bike, 10 miles running. I wish it was cool enough to go outside for the whole thing, but I bet I will be in the gym.
• It was actually cooler earlier this week. now it is a blazing oven outside. I hate summertime.
• The Seizures Head Slog Fest 60 mile bike ride I was supposed to do this morning was postponed. The county has been trimming the trees on one of the main roads on the route, and there is all kinds of nasty debris out there. It's just not safe. The county says they will clean the road after they are done cutting the trees, it's been postponed until then.
• Next week doesn't look any better. there's a quick day trip to atlanta in there for one meeting, and more deadlines than I think will actually be met.
• RBR wrote me a love letter earlier this week. I love it, and haven't had the chance to link back to it.
• I am officially tired of being a one car family. Only 4 times in the 15 months have we had an absolute conflict where we HAD to have a second car. But wow it would have been nice if I could have put EG in the nursery at my gym while I got a run in this morning. She would have loved playing with the new toys too. But then this morning the car insurance bill came in the mail and I was grateful I only had to pay that twice a year, not four times for two cars.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Additions

OK, everything has been crazy around here. That's why it's been so long since I've posted. I don't mind taking one rest day in between workouts, that's a good thing. But two days in a row starts to get old. So I got nothing in thursday or friday, but I did get an 8 mile run in saturday in about 1:18 and change. Not a bad pace at all. Sunday I went out in the garden and got the rest of the veg patch weeded and mulched with the wheat straw. It's awesome. Then last night I had to work until after 11 pm. So that's 2 days off, one run, and 2 days off. I'm going crazy. I don't like working until 11 pm. That's crazy. The good news is we got a new version released of my software, so a lot of people are happy about that. And I might be able to sneak in a short bike ride this morning. The plan is to get an interval run in tonight as well.

I have to get un-insane, and quickly.

I'm still on the fence about the Siezure Head Slog Fest this weekend. It's a 60 mile ride up the steepest mountain in SC. It's a free ride thanks to the Spinners touring group, there are no race day speed pressures. You break for lunch at a restaurant at the top of the mountain. There's a sweeper in the ride, nobody gets left behind. I've got the time saturday morning to go do it free from any other family pressures. But it's such a steep climb I don't have confidence that I can do it. Maybe I can talk myself into/out of it if I can get a ride this morning.

One new addition to the race schedule is awesome! This race just opened up last night. The Go Drive Run 5k & Fun Run is on for August 16th. Go Magazine is a local triathlon magazine that is awesome. After finding and reading it first back in 2006, it made me think that even I could actually do a triathlon. I read it while smoking a cig outside of my office.

This is the first time the magazine [publisher Rich Osborne] has directed a race. Kelley and I are both already signed up to run the 5k. The Greenville Drive is our minor league baseball team, and the course starts at the Drive's stadium and runs through downtown. It's a mostly downhill course, so it should be a good course to PR on. There is also a kid's run, that Bigun is already signed up for. It starts at home plate, and kids 4 to 10 run around the baseball field warning track and end up at home plate. They get a finishers medal and everything. Every registration includes a ticket to the Drive game that night, food and beverage coupons, 5k gets a t-shirt and kids run gets the finishers medal. So the entire crowd that's in to watch the game gets to cheer on the kids run. How cool is that! Bigun gets a medal at her first race; she's always putting on mine or Kelley's marathon finishing medals. It will also be her first time going to a baseball game, and she claims to like baseball. I'm also trying to talk Morgan into running the 5k. If you're local, sign up for this one! It looks great!

There's one catch. August 16th is a sunday, it's the same day as the Greenville Sprint triathlon that I'm already signed up to run. I ran this one last year, so it will be my first time repeating a race. So at 7 AM I start a sprint triathlon (400 meter swim, 15 mile bike, 5k run). Then at 6 PM I'm running another 5k race. Two races in one day? I've never tried that before. At least I can drink beer outside at the baseball game when it's all said and done. I normally hate August and anything that happens in that month, and this time I'm really looking forward to that day.

Finally Michelle has a really good idea. We all know that Glaven is a big wimp, but I didn't expect him to be quite such a party pooper. If he didn't want to setup a half marathon smackdown for the fall, I at least expected him to be a dick about not wanting to run against me. That would have at least been funny. Instead he just showed his girly parts practically trying to make me feel bad for suggesting we have a little fun.

But I did not feel bad! In fact, Michelle suggested that I host a VIRTUAL race to make it open for everyone. She also suggested September 13, which is Grandparents day. I like it. So it's virtual game on! Here are the rules:

1. Run 13.1 miles the weekend of September 13th. this does not have to be in an organized race. Use a treadmill, garmin, mapmyrun & stopwatch, whatever. Just cover the distance sometime that weekend and time yourself.
2. Email the time to me at babyfishmouth at worldnet dot att dot net. I will compile the results and post them here.
3. It's open to everyone, whether or not you are a regular reader of this blog. Get the distance in and email me your name and time and you are in it to win it. If you have a blog, I'll link back to you too.
4. Prizes will be awarded to the top 3 times willing to give me a shipping address. I don't know what they are yet. Could be a box of veggies from my garden if there's anything left to harvest that weekend. Could be something else, like a book on diet or running, maybe a copy of Tri Power. Who knows. It may be TBD, but there will be prizes.
5. Since it's a virtual race, you don't have to get permission from your beautiful, intelligent wife to sign up for a half marathon. Just go out for your normal weekend long run and make it 13.1 miles. and time it.

I need someone who's more photoshop friendly than I am to help me come up with a logo. I'm a programmer, not a designer. So I couldn't make a jpg if you put a gun to my head. I think we also need a name for this virtual race. I'm thinking about the "Even Glaven can do it - Virtual 13.1" name. Normally these things have some kind of charity to support. I think G's bruised N*ts@ck needs all the help it can get. Just think about all of those meat punches it's taken over the last year or so. And apparently his fondling habit needs an intervention. But this virtual race doesn't have to be a "make fun of Glaven" festival. I truly hope he will participate in it just because it is fun. There really is no comparative pressure for anyone. I bet my time will be towards the bottom of the list. The more results we can get the merrier the whole thing will be. And I know some people will be faster than the rest of us. Once a name and graphic are finalized, I will make an official post with the race details. Comment or email me with any ideas you might have for this virtual race! I really hope we can pull together something fun for everyone.

Stupid FB & G-CH

My neice, God bless her, was setting up her own facebook account and she used my home email address which "accidentally" deleted my fb account. So now I've got to set it up again and resend friend requests to all 130 something folks. Dang teenagers. She swears it didn't prompt her that she was about to "permanently delete the other account", and we all know teenage girls are very thorough and detailed when involved in their social networking. So my apologies for bothering you twice if you fb.

I got in a good 25 mile bike ride wednesday night. Took about an hour and 18 minutes. Nothing on thursday, I ended up with other stuff to do that will keep me non-running through most of the weekend. oh well.

Dr. Nic is full of genius. The kind that Marcy would just love, may she rest in blogger peace. Nic thinks it's time for a throwdown, and I agree. So here, today, I'm calling Glaven out on the carpet. It's time for a half marathon challenge. I know he could take me in a shorter race, but I think I've got his number at a longer distance. I'm risking a meat punch from Teh Bride (his wife) by doing this, but I think it's worth the risk. I also think G's too chicken shit to step up to the plate and actually tackle a half. Whadda think Glaven? Got the stones to kick it up a notch?

Of course we'll have to have a level playing field. Find a couple of races on the same weekend in late september/october so we'll have the same weather conditions. Make it an actual race so the results will be published online. Fastest time wins. We also need a wager, and this is where you come in, dear reader. Glaven and I are both too cheap to play for money. Leave me suggestions for potential wagers. I'm thinking that the loser should have to write a love poem about the winner. Glaven's almost as well known for his poetry as he is for his beastiality and celebrity necrophelia habits. So I could take a love poem. Got any other ideas?

The gauntlet has been thrown down!!!1! Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Quickie

No time for a long post.... so much going on!



Kaileigh is having a blast hanging out with the girls. I'm really glad we get to keep her for the week.



Snuck away last night for a 4.5 mile run in 39:15 for an 8:43 pace. that is BY FAR the fastest I've ever gone longer than a 5k. Even my 5k split was in the 27 minute range, a really fast split. This was a tempo run, but wow the speedwork is starting to show up and pay off. very cool.



I also did some weights and yoga in the morning yesterday, and hit my Tri Power workout monday as well. Today should bring 25 miles on the bike and today's Tri Power workout. And hopefully some other good news!

A Little Sprint

Friday I enjoyed a nice rest day. It was so nice I'm taking another one today. Kelley's sister Meri and our neice Kaileigh came into town for a visit. Kaileigh is staying with us for the whole week, they live about 2 hours away sort of close to Charlotte. We like to keep Kaileigh for a couple of week during the summer. She likes it here, and we like having another set of hands to help out with the kids. I'm trying to encourage her (by example) to be more active. She's going to turn 13 years old on the 25th, so she's a lot of fun to have around.

Meri went on home saturday early afternoon. Sunday was her birthday, and her husband had something planned. Still, it freed me up to do some fun things saturday.

I started with a haircut. Working from home I have nobody to impress, so I wait about twice as long as most guys to get a haircut, usually about 8 or 9 weeks. Then I hit up a couple of the local tri stores looking for a suit. I am not one of the lucky whores who got a free SUGOi tri suit just so they could review it on their blogs. But after reading their reviews I had decided to go out and get one, and my parents wanted to pay for it for my birthday. So the first store didn't have the SUGOi, but I tried on some other suits, a 2XU and an Orca. Both were not bad, but had some fit issues and color issues.

The second store was Carolina Triathlon, who offers discounts for Spinners members. I had to put the blinders on to get past the bikes, and found the exact model of SUGOi I was looking for! They had one in my size, and it was the right color. and it ended up being $30 cheaper than I could find it online. Awesome!

So after finding the right suit, I went into the gym for a short long run. I ended up doing 5 miles in just over 46 minutes, I didn't want to push it really fast because I knew what I wanted to do Sunday. And I had to get wife approval for the suit before I could use it. She would tell me if I should never wear something like that in public, but she approved!

Now we all know you can't have an expensive piece of new tri gear without giving it a fair trial. And I think that's the only time I have ever spent $120 on a single piece of clothing. So Sunday morning I went over to the parents house for a little sprint. Originally, I was supposed to be in Raleigh for the Triangle Sprint triathlon on sunday, but it sold out before I could get registered, and I didn't feel like travelling to Raleigh this weekend anyway.

So I donned the tri suit and got everything setup to do a sprint distance in their neighborhood. I even got the Garmin setup for auto-multisport mode so I could play around with that some. Really, I only wanted to see if the new tri suit would show any chafing problems or restriction of movement. And I wanted to see if I could finally get my transition times down under 90 seconds without having to change clothes.

Gear is ready, TA's are setup. Let's do this thing.

Swim: 750 meter, 10:56:50
I did 40 laps in the backyard pool, which I think is about 750 meters. Might be a little less, that distance in open water usually takes a few minutes longer. But the suit was great. It has 2 pockets in the back that are mesh, and I wasn't sure if they would trap water and slow down the swim or not, but it was actually quite comfortable.

T1: 1:56
Caught my breath a little bit, threw on the bike shoes and helmet, ran to where my bike was stationed in the driveway and I was out. Sometimes, I will take a gel and water in T1, but my typical race T1 times are around 6 minutes. So I was pretty pleased with this.

Bike: 13.1 miles, 54:09
I made 4+ loops around their neighborhood. There are only about 5 streets, and it connects up with another hood. And there are some pretty serious hills in there. I hadn't been on the bike in a few weeks, it's been so hot I've stayed indoors. So after hitting those hills, the heat started to kick in. I pushed it for a lap, then took it easy for a lap, then really pushed it, then took it easy, then strolled around until I knew I was going to get past 13 miles. The hills were steep enough to really shred my legs, and the heat/hydration was a force to be reckoned with. I cleared 2 water bottles, most of the time I would only plan on drinking one. And I felt really strong getting tons of strange looks from the walkers and people coming back from church. I guess they weren't expecting to see a guy flying on a road bike wearing a tri suit.

T2: 3:00
Off with the bike shoes and helmet, on with the running shoes. I did take a gel and some water, threw on the camelbak and took off running. Nothing wrong with that. I do need to get a race belt to hold the number before my next race 8/16.

Run: 3.12 miles, 32:40
Took off running is a joke. I had a really tough time getting into a rhythm on the run leg. Again, the suit felt great, I was able to keep my abs compressed and felt good about the way I looked running around the neighborhood in that heat. Still got some stares from the neighbors. I had to walk more often than I really wanted to, but again, I just couldn't get my breathing and legs into the same pattern. And their hood was all hills. Some were steeper than others, I tried to avoid those. It was still a tough course, and I knew I had pushed it a little too hard on the bike to really be taking those hills too fast. Plus it was over 90 degrees out there with very little shade. I thought about cutting the run short, but headed out for another lap instead.

Results: 1:42:43 total
The SUGOi Fuel Tri Suit was awesome. No chafing. No restricted movements. It was cool, breathed well, and while my skin dried up quickly after the swim, the right parts of the suit held water that kept me cooled off on the bike. Or I sweat through it instantly, I'm not sure which. but I felt great and the suit was wet every time I touched it.

The less than great parts were that I had no place to wipe the sweat from my head. Normally I use shirt sleeves for that, so I ended up getting a lot of salty sweat into my eyes during the run. Gotta come up with a remedy for that. What do you use?

The Garmin in auto-multisport mode was really cool. I didn't wear it during the swim, I have no idea if you are supposed to or not. It's a Garmin Forerunner 205, do you wear a watch while swimming? I have no idea if it would short out or not, and didn't want to take the chance. I just started the timer and jumped in the pool. Then whenever I hit the lap button, it moved into T1, then again into bike mode, then t2, then run mode. The only bad thing was that the main display only showed "BIKE" or "RUN" and the total distance covered. So I knew when I crossed 13 miles on the bike, and had to add 3.1 miles to that number so I would know when I needed to stop running. Normally on the bike I like to see my current speed, and on the run my current min/mile pace. Instead all i got was total time and total distance covered. Might have to work on that for the future.

So it was a fun weekend! Congrats to Stacy who ran her first triathlon this weekend, and Sarah who ran a great race in Chatanooga. Big ups if you were racing too! Pics of the suit (and the interesting new tan lines it left) still to come.

TGIF & BB11

I am so glad it's friday. It's been a long week all the way around. So much work & work pressures, swim lessons 4 the kids 4 nights this week (and for the next 3 weeks), and ramping into the half ironman training. Come on weekend! Daddy needs a haircut.


I got in some great speedwork last night, first set of intervals since the marathon. I did 0.3 mile fast with short rest intervals in between, all on the treadmill. I increased the speed with each fast run, from 7.1 to 7.8. Total run was 4 miles. 7.8 is about a 7:30 min/mile pace, and I don't see how you fast guys can keep that up for any length. Actually, I can't see it now. So let's say I'm looking forward to increasing my speed and endurance to be able to keep that pace for more than .3 miles. Still, speedwork = fantastic!


Then I crashed and slept for over 9 hours last night. Looks like I needed the recovery time. Today's a rest day. I was originally planning to do the Triangle Sprint tri in Raleigh, NC on sunday, and backed out of it thanks to where it fell in the training plan. So tomorrow is only supposed to be a 5 mile (long?) run, then sunday on the plan I have a 750m swim, 13.5 mile bike, 3.1 mile run. I think I will go visit the 'rents sunday and do that same plan anyway. Or maybe I'll get lazy or get sucked into something with the girls.


I did get to watch the first Big Brother 11 last night. Ah, that is what makes summertime bearable for me. The glory of BB. I'm already sick of this whole "high school clique" thing they are trying to do. It's a cool twist to align people into teams, but there's aready enough uncomfortable social positions in the middle of this recession; I think they could have called it something better than that. I like the outcasts and the brains, but I was totally hoping that Jessica was going to come back. I thought they would at least tell us something about her and Eric. Jessie is an idiot meathead, but he does make for some good BB entertainment. It's going to be a great season. I think either Kasey or Jeff will win.


And I haven't posted much about the garden lately, but it's still going strong. Here's a few pics to finish things off:


Ignore those weeds. Right to left, there's the pepper patch (54 plants), then 16 tomato plants already over 5 feet tall and loaded with green fruit. The corn next to it is about waist high, it's going to be a late corn crop if we get anything at all. Then we've got green beans growing up and in front of the fence, and the squash/zucchini is growing in front of that (the yellow flowers you can see on the far left). In the very back, you can see some raspberries growing behind the cherry tree. I've also got some cucumber plants growing in a cage between the tomatos and corn, and they are about to put out a huge crop. Hundreds of cucs from 3 plants. If you like pickles, the best ones are the pickles you make yourself. Grow your own cucs! I've got an egglplant growing in that cage as well. The harvest so far has been tons of squash & zuc, some raspberries, blueberries, and we're still getting some strawberries too. We've gotten a few pepper, but they don't come in hard until later this month. check it:






Peppers & Raspberries & Strawberries: the strawberries are in front, they lept over the wall. I thought I would show a closer pic of these. The raspberries are the large leaf canes on the right, the pepper patch is on the left. I've harvested a few bannana peppers already, but the main crop is still to come. There are maybe a dozen hot peppers already growing on there. Yum!! I love me some hot peppers.




Here's a closer shot of the Squash/Zuc patch. Squash plants get very big around, but don't grow very tall. Just wide. And they can't take the august heat, so they put out most of their crop in June/July. In between those, I put crawling vine plants so that when the squash die out, the vines can take over that space. I've got watermelon, butternut squash, pumpkin, and a few that I don't know what they are. but they're growing great!
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Get out to a farmer's market this weekend! They are flush with fresh veg, and the farmers need to sell their crops. If you ever wanted to go vegetarian for a day (or a weekend or longer) now is the best time of the year to do it. Have a great weekend!

Finally Going

Bigun LOVES her swimming lessons! Kelley came up with a plan that is quite ingenious. We can both "take" the girls to their swimming lessons. She has to be in the pool with Evil Genius, but not with Bigun. So she can watch the little one while Bigun takes her lesson, and I can sneak into a lane and get some laps in until it's time to bounce. Well, turns out that tuesday night things were a little too loud. So Kelley ended up watching the lesson and I ended up practicing with EG in the kiddie pool (which was also awesome), and I got in a whole 2 laps after they were done with the lessons. So for tonight's lesson we might be able to leave EG with a babysitter so I can get some serious laps in.

I know it's sneaky, but I really don't want to pay for a gym membership to this YMCA just to get pool access. Their cardio and weights suck. But I don't want to pay $59 a month for my current membership plus $47 a month to the Y just for pool access just for me. There's got to be a better way.

I got 20 miles on the stationary bike last night in 62:50. Almost 3 minutes slower than target speed of 20 mph. Gaaaaaahhhhhh, just missed it. But that's allright, I had the resistance jacked up high, and had it set to the hardest hill routine, so it still left my legs feeling shredded. and that was a blast. Monday night (supposedly the start of b2b training) Kelley was under the weather, and tuesday night was the swimming lesson. So yesterday I did some yoga, hit the weights nice and hard during the early morning, and got this bike ride in at night. It feels so good to be back into a hard training routine.

I ended up missing the viewing party tuesday night. So the birthday ended up being completely uneventful. But that's ok, I don't like to make a big deal out of it anyway. thanks for all of the well wishes though guys! I really appreciate that.

I want to keep the same basic patterns for the b2b training that I did for the oly/marathon plan. Speedy tuesday run intervals, thursday tempo run/brick, and saturday long run. I need to add in a sunday long bike ride and some swimming to that. So maybe i'll be able to get a mile or so in the pool, and get a run or bike/run brick in at the gym after the kids go to bed.

Last night was not fun. Bigun would not go to sleep, and she has a doctors appointment (complete with shots) this morning so she's going to be really cranky, just like she was last night. About 3 am this morning I was up with a horrible migraine; the kind I haven't had in years. Could not get back to sleep, nausea, it was rough. Bigun woke up then too. I even heard EG let out a whimper of dis-approval, and Kelley was up as well. Not good. Took some excedrin migraine which has caffeine, so I knew I wouldn't be able to get back to sleep. Around 5 am, the headache subsided and I fell asleep in a chair in the living room for a couple of hours. But my nutrition is all out of whack, I should have eaten more after the bike ride last night. So today is off to a disgusting start. Let's hope it ends better.

Change #1

is a small one. It's my age! Today I turn 34 years old. I'm finally living up to my racing age! I don't think my birthday is a big deal. I got a set of Perfect Pushups, and I think tonight 8 pm we're going to Barley's in downtown Greenville for the Tour de France viewing party with some bikey peeps, if we can secure some babysitting. Love to see any of you locals out there!

I've got change on the brain lately. Not Obama style change in family policy or anything. In my 34 years I have found that change in any variety is the only thing that is constant. You have to learn in life how to roll with the punches and make the best out of anything that gets thrown at you. And you have to know how to throw some stuff instead of just being a victim all the time. My monthly horoscope says:

The first [eclipse] will arrive as a full moon lunar eclipse July 7 in Capricorn. As it is a lunar eclipse, and since the moon rules your sign, you tend to feel lunar eclipses strongly. This one will light your house of partnerships, emphasizing your present alliances but also those from the past. This is a full moon, so your relationship is about to reach a culmination point of great importance.

Most eclipses set up a sudden development, but because so much happens at eclipse time, it is hard to see all the facts at once. I always say that there is a second act with eclipses, so be patient, as more news will come to you. Eclipses will illuminate your relationship in a new way, and for some, it will test the strength of the tie. They are meant to keep you moving forward, so often our timetables are dramatically speeded up after an eclipse occurs

So I have the feeling that more change is going to get thrown at me within the next 5 days. I don't really know what, but I have some ideas that I don't really want to reveal publicly yet. All I can do is punch back. If you know me privately, you know that I take the term "laid back" to new levels. I've got a very thick skin and can handle anything with a calm dignity. So when something bad happens, I tend to see the silver lining. Everything has a good side, and we should all try to find it in every situation, no matter how bad it may seem.

I got Jenny back from the shop yesterday. After they replaced the broken spoke, retensioned the rear wheel everything seemed to straighten out. I need to get her back on the road soon to see how she rides now.

Yesterday Evil Genius started her swimming lessons, and Bigun starts today. I was supposed to get in a swim/bike brick yesterday, but Kelley was under the weather so I ended up caretaking instead. Today I'm supposed to do a short swim (1000 m) and 4 mile run. I might try and take care of that over lunch so we can hit the bar tonight. Kelley's feeling better today too. And EG loved swimming! they practice the baby basics, blowing bubbles in the water, kicking, the arm movements, jumping into a parent's arms (she loved that one). I can't wait to see what they have in store for Bigun tonight.

Thursday Big Brother starts on CBS! I am absolutely obsessed with big brother. I love the strategy, the arrogant players, it's just so much fun to watch some people play it smart and others crash and burn. Ah, the BB10 glory gets underway in only 2 days! I can't wait! I watch all the episodes, TiVo the Showtime2 coverage from midnight to 3 am, but i'm to cheap to pay for the internet feed. as a personal challenge, I've been trying to find Big Brother seasons on DVD from other countries. The british BB is a great challenge. You can find YouTube clips of 5 min segments, but not whole seasons. Let me know if you've seen anything.

It's Monday Again

But first we had a wild long weekend. If by wild, you know I mean boring. It wasn't all glamor.

Friday I met up with a couple of other great Spinners guys for a bike ride. It was going along pretty good until it all went horribly wrong. I got about 10 miles into the route when my legs just didn't have any more climbing left in them. They weren't even big hills either. There was only one huge climb on that route and we weren't there yet. Still, I knew I was done. So I put up a big fail for the friday morning ride, and called Morgan to come pick me up, we were only a few miles from his house.

Then I got Jenny (the bike) into his car, and when I pulled her out the whole back tire assembly fell off. Something was wrong. So I went straight to the bike shop and they found a busted spoke, the back wheel was warped, and it wouldn't spin more than a half a rotation without rubbing the brakes. So Jenny is crippled right now and has to spend some time in the repair shop. She should be ready sometime this week. I am quite relieved it wasn't just my legs. I guess we'll chalk that ride up as a mechanical fail instead of a personal fail.

The rest of friday we didn't do much. I really enjoyed not having to work, we played with the girls, and just had good family time. THAT's worth it's weight in gold these days. We did take the kids to a local peach orchard and ice cream parlor. We had some ice cream there, got some fresh peaches, blueberries and blackberries from their orchard. it was fun, and the kids had a great time fondling the produce. Then friday night we dropped them off with my folks and kelley and I had a nice dinner out.

Saturday morning we took the girls downtown to see if there was any 4th of July festivities going on. They had a farmer's market open on main st, and Bigun had to have some flowers. Then we went through Falls Park and let the girls play in some fountains they have. Water shoots up fro the sidewalks, and there is a waterfall and it's always got tons of kids playing in there. The girls had a blast. We grabbed some lunch at a local legendary restaraunt called the Hot Dog King, and played more in the park. It was hot outside and we all got our share of sunburn, but nothing too bad. We got out of there before the heat got really oppressive.

Saturday night we let the girls throw pop-its in the garage. Not really fireworks, you just throw them and they make a noise. They had a ball! It wasn't really dangerous, and that's all they have been talking about since then. Crazy.

I do have a funny Evil Genius story. We were having lunch out one day, I think friday. EG was being so sweet, just nuzzling her head into my shoulder, saying how much she loved her daddy, just showing how she was totally made of sugar. Then I think she might have slipped or was just trying to be funny or something, but she totally punched me square in the throat. WTH? That's why we call her an Evil Genius. She's sweet enough to make you let your guard down, then you get punched in the throat.

Sunday I managed to escape for a while to the gym, where I got 5 miles in on the treadmill. It was awesome, I started at a 6.7 speed and never had to take it down. Finished the 5 miles in 44:50, breaking a 9 minute pace. This I really like. Going through my marathon training typical tempo runs were in the 6.1 to 6.3 speeds, and I would ony creep up to 6.7 speeds during intervals. Early intervals at that, but still. To be able to hold that pace for 5 miles is farther than I've ever attempted. it. was. awesome.

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Today is monday. It's time to refocus. There are big changes in the air for the Flynn's. I don't think the magnitude of these changes are all known yet, but I can tell you what I know is going to happen.

Today starts the 24 week training plan for the B2B half Ironman in november. I still have some pool ambiguity, but I can use the folk's backyard pool until I figure something else out. With Jenny in the shop, I'm on the stationary bike at the gym for the time being. And with the heat bearing down in the hot summertime, I foresee many treadmill miles until the fall. The plan starts out with a base building period anyway, so it's ramping up into higher milage weeks.

I'm glad to be back into a structured training plan, and I'm able to focus this time on only running tri's. I am still going to get in a 5k and 10k standalone races sometime in the late summer/fall. And the Ache Around the Lake race is an 8k this year. But none of those are "A" races that require specific training. Those are all tri's.

We've got a new one to add to the schedule. The Tugaloo Triathlon is now on the schedule as a relay team. Coach Stu is going to do the swim leg, I'm taking the bike, and Goddard is taking the run leg for this oly distance tri. Stu and Goddard both work for the same company I do out of the atlanta office. And the tri is in Lake Hartwell, which is on the SC/GA state line. So it's a convenient location for all of us. And since Stu and Goddard have never been involved in a triathlon before it should be a fun experience for all of us. Goddard actually got inspired enough to sign up for another tri from the same production company in October, a sprint with a pool swim that he will run by himself. I'm being a bad influence. It's been a long time since Stu actually swam 1500 meters, and Goddard only runs now, nothing longer than a half marathon. But he's talking about doing a full mary in the spring. So he's in for some fun!

So I've got the Greenville Sprint tri coming august 16th, this Tugaloo tri september 12th, October has the Leaf Tour bike ride and the Ache race, all leading up to the B2B in november. Time to refocus. the anticipation is incredible, it might be the best part.

Big changes are coming almost daily here, and I'll let you know more as I know more about what's going on. I know I need to get some garden pics up, it's growing great this year. But that's not all......

More Marathon Pics

OK, so this is the first time I've been able to post all week. it's been that kind of nuts around here. Last weekend was uneventful. It was the first time in 4 weekends we didn't have anything solid planned. Monday and Tuesday I had to be in atlanta for work. Then yesterday I just got slammed. I have still been reading blogs for the most part, but haven't been timed to comment much. All of the iron girl atlanta reports from last weekend were awesome!
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I also haven't gotten in much training at all. I did get in a 7 mile long run on Saturday, and it felt great. I could have gone farther but decided to be lazy instead. hey, I just ran a marathon a few weeks ago! I'm ok with being lazy for another week or two.
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Speaking of being lazy, I've got June's totals:
Swim: 1500 meters = one race
Bike: 41 miles, 4 rides (inc the 24 miles in the triathlon)
Run: 50.72 miles, 6 runs (in the 10k in the triathlon and 26.2 in the marathon)
Strength: 2 hours total.... this is pathetic but I'm supposed to be lazy
Yoga: 3 hours because it's easy and fun
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So that's about what I was expecting. Two "A" races and not much else. My official training plan for the Half Ironman starts 7/6 which is Monday. So I can chill this weekend and enjoy the holiday. then it's time to get back on the horse, and I can't wait! This unstructured, get in whatever whenever thing is not letting me get in enough miles to keep me sane. And the half ironman distance is going to ramp up a lot of endurance goals on the bike and swim parts that I have really been looking forward to.
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I have seriously been enjoying running lately. Being unstructured I can get in any type of workout I want to. And with the 60 mile Ceasar's Head climb coming up at the end of this month, I thought I would be choosing the bike more. but every time I end up just running. Tonight is another time trial bike race from the Greenville Spinners if I can get out of work in time. Tomorrow I've got the day off from work, and there's a run with the local Hash House Harriers kennel I'm thinking about doing. Those always seem like fun, but I want to talk Kelley into doing it with me, and she's not convinced she wants to run in this heat.
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I'm really looking forward to having a long weekend. I've got tons of planning to do. We're trying to work on the details of some repairs to the house, moving to North Carolina, swimming, you name it. The girls both start their swimming lessons at the YMCA next week. That's going to be fantastic! They are going to love it.
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I don't want to do it, but I have to give some props to Glaven and his stupid fat eye problems. Kelley made me take out some more life insurance before the triathlon. And when I was laid up in the emergency room after the marathon I was glad I had that new policy in place. But G started running to get his cholesterol under control after the eye doc found some extra lipids in something. The new life insurance policy did a physical with bloodwork, and for the first time ever my cholesterol was below 200! The last time it was checked, the total chol came in at 265 and the doc was talking about drugs. My dad has to take chol drugs every day and he hates it. But with our family history of heart disease it's something we have to take seriously. So Kelley found my last bloodwork results, and the total chol was down from 265 to 194, the good chol was up, the bad chol was down, and the triglycerides (sp?) were way down. So that is fantastic! We all know that regular excercise is good for you, but to see it actually pan out in the numbers is freaking amazing. Glaven had the same thing happen after he started running, and he's been talking about it some lately.
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Finally, I carried a disposable camera with me while running the marathon, so here are some pics from that camera.


The starting line and crowd




About a mile in, the crowds are starting to thin out some. remember, there was only about 400 people in the whole race.

This is the kind of scenery we were running through. The roads got really small, this bridge was very scenic. And the mountain backdrop and the Tug river on the side made for really unique race conditions.

They told us about some flooding on the course, and we might see some mud maybe on the course. Bull, this road was completely washed out! The mud was as deep as any trail after a rain, and just as slick. it wasn't just walking, it was tiptoeing and trying not to fall. I'm sure there was more than 7 minutes of that crap, which affected my 5:07 finish time.

This was a bridge on the golf course going over the Tug river. When running over it, the bridge bounced about a foot throwing you into a tough running position. Who has that kind of thing 18 miles into a marathon course?

I turned the camera around after passing the mile 25 marker and took this shot. Nobody behind me, nobody was in front of me either. That looks is called the "marathon death march".


Have a great weekend! Happy independance day!