I want candy!

Good fun at Stone Mt park

Saturday bike ride

I'm about 1.5 hours into a ride when I passed this oasis of a park.

I love my bike:

I finally got on my bike after almost two weeks.
I took off about 09:30 for what was going to be a one hour ride, just a shake out, but I was having so much fun just tooling around I stayed out for two hours.

One thing I got to today was explore some new roads, you know all those side streets you just fly by when you out on a training ride. I got to make it down quite a few and found some nice short steep hills, many farms, and in one neighborhood a young boy on a BMX bike that wanted to race.

When I pulled in the hood, I was about 6 minutes short of 2 hours so I made the hilly hood loop (HHL). The HHL is all down hill for about 3/4 mile then up hill for about 1/4 mile, That means that coming back is just about all up hill, so I found a gear and got out of the saddle for about 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile, yup a real butt kicker. I made it home, showered, then the wife and kids took me to Texas Road House for a steak and then it was home for some Olympic and a nap.

I just finished week one of the 100 pushup challenge, and all I can say is pushups are hard. I hope next week it gets easier LOL.

I got a funny foot thing going on, where my second longest toe metatarsal bone meets to the ball of my foot it kind of feels like I have a dime stuck to the bottom of my foot. It sore, but it's not killing me, but it's been two weeks, so I might have to spend to co-pay and see a doc. But being a guy I just might wait another week, I mean it's not oozing puss yet, you know what I'm saying.

Ok, thats it for now,

-Brian

The bike is back on the road:

At long last I got up to see the mighty fine folks at Roswell Bike and swap out my two piece seat post clamp for a one piece. :).

The first thing you notice about the new part is that it's about 5 times the weight, then you notice it's not the same color, I guess this was the easiest to fix the issue. Either way I'm just happy to be able to ride:)

I got my fingers crosses, and if all goes well tomorrow, I get in a 2 hour ride.

Ha, I almost forgot to add, I start the 100 pushup thing, tomorrow is week1, day3, feels good.

-B

Good day at the pool:

Good day, it was a good day all the way around.

It started off at 06:45, rise and shine; it's the first day of school for the kids. My youngest chicken nugget (borrowed term) started Kindergarten today and she was very excited. On top of starting real school today she got to finally ride that yellow school bus! After years of watching the older chicken nugget strap on the backpack and hop the roaring yellow beast it was her turn and she was all smiles. With the school bus was out of sight and my wife stopped crying I headed off to the office awaiting my post school report.

I was happy to learn that my baby found her way to class, met the teacher, made it to day end of the day and somehow made her way home without getting lost, or losing any of many things she had in that shiny new backpack.

It is a new dawn in my house!

While the kids battled the first day of school, I was battling Monday, you know, email, voice mail and a new long list of things to do.

At my midday break, the one that I used to lunch hour, I tore off to the pool. Still felling ripped off from missing my bike ride; I hit the pool with a vengeance!

I set of for a 300m warm up, followed by 3 x 500m, first 500 at race pace, second building and the third, well, with watching all that swimming over the weekend and all, I smoked it. I have to say I learned a few things over the weekend, watching all of the Olympians I could see that they really got a good glide and really reached. So today's mission was to work on technique, then speed, and I think it was working.

My first set was about 149 avg., second about a 145 avg. and my last was about 139 avg. for 100m, and for me that's damn fast.

Tomorrow, I might run my midday break or swim, either way it will be kinds of a recovery day.

-Brian

"There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, learning from failure." Colin Powell

No bike ride today.

I'm really sad today, I had planned to head out on a early morning bike ride, but it wasn't meant to be.

Last night I gathered up all my bike crap and aired up the tired and I was ready to go. So I got up and got dressed and grabbed my bike when I noticed my saddle looked a little low. Upon examination I could see that my seat post clap was broken, oh WTF! Felt has had a problem with this damn clam, and this my second one, my first broken clamp happened while on vacation and I was able to get it swapped out. But now this getting old.

I guess what makes me mad is that I registered my bike with Felt online and they must know they have a problem and they never contacted me. So now I missed my ride and I have to waste $10 bucks on gas and drive up to the only shop that has a replacement.

Maybe I should go run.

-b

That guy smells:

So, it like 100 degrees here in Georgia so when it's this hot I head to the gym to run on the hamster wheel.

I get home from work and walk in the door and the spousal unit "said I need to go shopping", then I said I need to go to the gym. Being a true gentleman and wanting to keep peace in the house, I day "Sure, why don't you do your thing, I'll hang with the kids and you go off and shop and when you come back I'll head to the gym" or something like that. She is gone for 90 minutes or so, she comes back happy and with new shoes (yeah that's a topic for another day, woman and shoes) so head to the gym.

I feel good, and I look good because I got my new shirt and when I get to the gym it's a little past rush hour, perfect. I find a bunch of empty treads and hop on and do a walking warm-up. I like to walk for 5 minutes, do a little stretch and then have at it, but I decide I should use the restroom because I had been hydrating all day. I put my towel up on the display (international signal for I'm in the men's room) and when I'm walking to the men's room I get a whiff of what smells like 7 day old roadkill. You guys know the smell, your running down the road and the wind is blowing the right way and holy $h1t, yeah, that's what I smelt. Now I'm a big boy and things like that don't bother me too much, hey it's a gym (or a social hangout for some people, alas another story) and when you work out you, well, you can get a good funk going. But when I say 7 day old roadkill, I mean this person was ripe. So, where was I, oh the men's room, I do my business and when I am heading back I am hit in the face by the roadkill, damn I think! As I walking back to MY treadmill, I can see that most of the other empty treads are now full, but then it happened, the roadkill (I'm calling him skunky now) cuts me off, and jumps on the tread to my left. I'm from the Boston area now living in Georgia and I'm trying to be a Southern Gentleman, so I go about my business and start running, but I can't really get up to speed because all I can think about is how bad this guy smells. This person looked as if he might have been new to the country and in his last place they didn't bathe all the time, I know we have it pretty good here, lots of water and soap and etc… I'm not knocking where ever this person may have been from, but yeah Skunky was ripe and it wasn't anything new. As I hit the ten minute mark I remember thinking what the hell does this guys bed smell like, I was really not liking this guy much, but in the back of my mind I was hoping that he was just warming up so he could go lift. At the twenty minute mark I was getting agitated and I was thinking was I going to squirt him with my water bottle, tell him to get the %$#% away from me before I kick his A$$ (I did say I lived close to Boston), but I just bit my tongue and upped my speed. It was really all I could do not to kill this man, I couldn't move to a new tread they were all taken, and I had to get my workout in. I didn't know if I could finish my workout, I start thinking about stopping, maybe I should just leave and go home, I don't want to go to jail for killing this guy, do I? Hmmmmm, what jury could convict me, I wonder, temporary insanity brought on by the smell of death, yeah, that's it. Skunky's wife came over and started talking to him, not sure what she was saying, but I'm sure she was smelly too. I was pissed off because this guy was giving me heart burn and I was hoping that Mrs. Skunky would take him home, but that Skunky ran for 45 minutes, wearing a long sleeved shirt, shorts and some sort of slip on loafer like shoes. Once he left I thought for sure they are going to have to burn the tread where it stood.

I ran for another 15 minutes, and I have to say it was pure pleasure, free from negative thoughts and it smelt as good as rain.

Now I know I'm over reacting about this guy, but every once in awhile It's fun to bitch.

I'm going to bring Febreze and if I ever see him again I going to give him a couple shots.

-Brian

100 degrees out, this is not so good.

I hit the indoor pool for a lunch time swim and when I got back to my car the temp said 100 degrees!

I’m still alive, just taking it easy:

I've been a little burnt lately, like you couldn't tell, I'm still training, but I doing it on my terms.

My 'A' race was early and I started my base training back in January, raced in mid May and took a few weeks to unwind and get back in-touch with my family. I missed many things while I toiled away at my reclusive training plans and the strict schedule and I needed a break. Then came a somewhat extended family vacation, and many trips to Six flags and the water park, time well spent. We had some real fun, and while I love triathlon and training, it had to take a back seat to the demands of being a husband and father.

I haven't been a complete slacker, I've been training, I just haven't been worrying about time or heart rate or distance, the only thing I have been worried about is having some fun. It's a whole different world when you don't have a goal for every workout, and you're just out for the fun of it. I like to run or ride with no plan, just go get lost somewhere, find something new, and think about life, my plans for the future as well as review the past. After a long run or ride my body is tired buy my mind is so clear and this has been my training purpose these last two months.

Feeling refreshed I now need to put a few things on my calendar, I'd like to race a two more triathlons this year and at least on half marathon this fall. Tonight I'm going to discuss possible plans with my wife and see what our schedules look like and see if I can squeeze a few races.

Forgot to add, my daughters suggested that we do a family race, so I'm going to be looking for a one mile fun run 4-6 weeks out and get them involved in some training.

Be good to each other,

-Brian