Tuesday: Hilly Fast Group ride

Today's exercise was the riding with the group that I rode with last Tuesday - the fast hilly one...

[PHOTOS: I carried my camera, but these Tuesday rides are no-stop rides, so taking photos is dangerous. Today I started 8 rows back (that's number 16) of a group that was 10 rows deep and 2 people wide - not a small group.]

The numbers are going to be a little thin for a while as my Garmin and Polar HRM's are on the blink right now. The Garmin has failed and I'm trying to get Garmin to offer more customer support and product support, but I haven't heard back yet and it's been over 24 hours. Not sure what to expect, but as time passes I'm guessing they've already given me their response. But - I'm still a little hopeful. The Polar device I'm thinking is in need of a battery as the HR info is 50+ beats high at times (I don't get into the 240's!).

The total distance for today's ride was 48.5 miles - thanks to my 'very well supported Cat Eye Double Wireless'. The time was 2:36 which includes about 7 miles for a warm up and 7 miles for a cool down. The other 34 miles was moving along with an avg speed of around 20 including the two trips up TX Plume and then out, back and out again on Valley View and ending with down TX Plume and back to the lake. It was a good hard ride. I've not ridden Valley View before - but think I will include it in my rides now that I know it is there. It's a good training road with steady climbs, some good short steep climbs and some down hills too - a good place to do LT (lactate threshold) training. It was a good hard workout and if I had my HRM working I'm sure I would have seen some zone 5 HR training going on...! :-)

I was getting spent on the way back so it was nice to hook up with one of the other riders, Rick, and ride back together: with him pulling me in much of the way. He was a nice guy and pushed my riding - which seems to be what I need these days. The TT over the dam was at just over 30 before I had to back off and Rick out of the saddle sprinted past...

Nutrition wise things are going normally. I have pretty good habits that I follow and a few bad ones that I try to limit: today it was dark Giradeli chocolate. And a quick little date with my wife to Starbucks where she got a drink and I got a kids hot chocolate. Ahhh ... quite one on one time. And ended with a trip by Home Depot 2 minutes before they closed for a dryer cord and vent.

Life continues to be full - I didn't even mention the time with my Grandma and her living situation and the many other things going on. But, I still can see and hear God in all the busyness and stress - so that makes it all bearable. As I type this out late, tired and looking forward to a good nights sleep. My dog is snoring by the door ... me too, soon ... :-)

Mon: 7 miles with Wes

You know your schedule is full when you start breakfast and lunch meetings .. to full. So it was today: breakfast, lunch and evening. And I'm trying to pull back and saying no so much it seems like it's all I say. [Photo is of lunch that I fixed for a lunch meeting with Brian.]

Today started with a run with Wes. He pushed me a bit, so it was a good work out. The mile loop was 6:37 - something I haven't run by myself for many months. The max HR was 179 and the time was ~56 minutes and the distance is about 7 1/4 miles. It was good for me. The run was another mental challenge towards the end. I'm not sure why everything is becoming so difficult mentally for me - but I'm trying to listen and even being open to cutting back further if that is what is needed. (Tomorrow I'm hoping to ride with the 'killer' group again as I did last Tuesday. This time I'll start at the end of the pack - saving everything for the hills and not pulling any on the way there.)

After the run I was able to make a regular morning smoothie for the both of us (and wife and kids too).

I also noticed this morning that my Garmin Forerunner 305 had come unglued. This is the same problem that I had with my original unit that was replaced with another unit. The replaced unit only had a 90 day warranty. It has now also come unglued and I'm still interacting with Garmin support in hopes that they will do more than the minimum ($87+tax for another re manufactured unit). I had a Cateye product fail with a manufacturer issue and it was replaced out of warranty by a brand new item. We'll see what Garmin will do - I may be looking for a different product and manufacturer.

78 Miles with Fast Dave on Sat

Sat was the Cow Creek Classic - a local ride that I've not done before (remember I've only been cycling for a little over a year now). First the photos, then the write up.


This was the rest stop at around 50 miles. The shade was very nice. They had water melon here which was Very tasty at the time, but ended up not settling very well in my stomach.


Dave and I on the road.

The starting few miles are through town with police at the intersections so we can ride through with out the danger or interacting with traffic. That's one of the nice benefits of organized ride - in addition to the food and water stops.

A shot of the riders lined up behind us. There were quite a few riders.

A photo at the starting line a little before 7:30.

In the parking lot as we were getting ready for the ride.

The ride at it's Northern most point over lapped with my regular 46 mile routes Southern most 4 miles. So, it was nice to get a feel for what is possible if I have need of extending that route further south. There were nice roads and a few hills too. And, no dog's came running. But that could be because they were tired from chasing all the riders in front of us!?

The difficult part of the ride was after 50 miles when it was hot - and I've not been riding as I was when I was preparing for the 6 day ride. The last 10 miles were very challenging as I didn't quite feel right in my stomach and I was just ready to be done.

Some Numbers: my Garmin ran out of power at 72 miles, so the last ~6 weren't recorded. The avg was 18.5 with the last few being very tired and ready to stop (slow miles). The max HR was 179. The total distance was 78.6 miles, 4:14:38 riding time and about 35 minutes in rest stops along the way. When I got home I layed on the floor for almost an hour before I felt like I was ready to get up. I was spent!

One thought that I had was how easy it was at home inside reading about the RAAM riders and thinking how it'd be neat to do something like that. But after a short 75 miles ... I was ready to stop. Certainly not ready mentally for such a difficult challenge - that is for sure. It was a good ride, but not sure where I'm at as I am still working out where riding and exercise will be in the priorities.

Uncle - for the 6th time...

Congratulations to my Sister Janet and her family at the birth of their second son on Friday: 9 lbs 13 oz - 23 " long ... (yep, he's a big'n)

No photo of Logan yet - I would expect to see one soon. (Just checked Facebook and none posted there yet either.)

Mystry Photo - For Fun

Here's another area from the same photo. Does this help?

Just for fun: I saw this this morning and decided it was one of those photos that could be taken for granted or even never noticed - so I took a picture. I will post more of the context of this photo in a few days if no one can guess what this is. I don't want to give to many clues..what do you think it is?

Any ideas? :-)

Short-Moderate intensity ride

The plan was to ride this morning ... but that didn't happen, so I rode at lunch time; Yep, it was warm!

After Tuesdays hard work out, I wanted to push myself today a little too - especially sense it was a short work out (~55 minutes). Details: I rode out across the dam and back with a trip up Prayer mountain too. The way out across the dam was one minute intervals (1 min hard cadence 105+ and 1 minute recovery) with a slight tail wind the avg for that 4 miles was 24 mph. On the return across the dam it was 2 minutes at 95+ cadence, followed by out of the saddle sprints of 100% for as long as I could sustain it (usually 25-45 seconds) followed by a couple minutes of recovery. I have no HR data as my Polar unit was all over the map: saying I was having HR's well into the 200's...I don't' think so. I may need to get a new strap unit as the battery isn't replaceable.

Sat will be 75 miles with Fast Dave and a couple thousand others - based on my registration number in the 2,200's. Still looking forward to that. Also hoping to have Birthday dinner and evening with my wife - but she may be busy doing something else (it's her day so she can do what she thinks is best). If it doesn't work out than I'll take her out some other night next week.

Fri my younger sister is going it to have a Cesarean Section and give birth to her second son. Woo Hoo Janet!! Pray for her and her family in the morning (June 26 2009). :-)

[Photo: another nice smoothie with all the normal stuff...soy milk, pear, apple, carrot, beat, blue berries, spinach, straw berries, yogurt, millet, flax seed, almond, whey protein powder and ice.]

Tues - fast ride indeed...

The Tuesday night ride was a tough ride: it wasn't fun, it was a challenging workout.

In preparation for the ride I decided it was time to finally change my rear tire. Of the two wear indicators on the tire, only the very bottom of one of them was still present [See photo on Left]. These tires have been great: ~2,000 miles over all road terrain and no flats. So I bought another of the same tire (Continental Grand Prix 4000 s) to replace the rear and have had it for the last 8 weeks trying to decide when to replace it - how little tread left is enough: yesterday was the day. The rear tire wears faster than the front, so I moved the front to the rear and the new one I put on the front. (For safety reasons you want good rubber up front.) That involved changing both tires. You can see from the photos how much rubber is missing from the rear tire that has worn flat in the middle.

The flat: That evening on the way to the meeting place I had a flat: just after the 40+ mph downhill. It was the new tire that I put on first and I'm sure I must have twisted or pinched the tube because it blew when I hit a hard bump in the road. I'm very thankful it didn't blow going down the hill or later in a pack of 20 riders going 22 mph over the bridge! It was good practice to change the flat roadside (I carry a spare tube, pump and tools). I also had enough flex time in the schedule to still get to the ride starting point by 6 PM.

The ride: I was surprised that there were so many riders there and not the casual looking riders, but those that looked more serious. I didn't count, but there must have been 20+ riders. We all took off together and took the right lane on the two lane road (each direction). After a few minutes the speed was in the low 20's and stayed there until the first hill, which is where I'll usually back down a little and just go up it slowly to moderately - but this group 'pushed' up the hill. I had to work to keep from getting dropped. This was ~15 minutes in and I was at the rear as I had recently finished a turn at the front pulling at 23 and was still recovering from that. The other guy that was beside me pulling too was dropped at this point. The next few miles were rolling hills and paces up to the high 20's when again I had to work hard to not get dropped - four or five more riders were dropped here. Then it was up Texas Plume and again not at a leisurely pace and no rest at the top, but rather back down Lake Ridge Drive and do it again.

By this time the group had spread way out. There was a group of 5 cyclists in front of me that I would occasionally catch sight of. I saw that they didn't do the hill a third time (I was relieved) so I continued to give chase, but eventually I lost sight of them so I continued on the path I thought they had taken - heading back. But that wasn't the case. They must have turned up another road to do other hills and I got off the path. So, I didn't ride the whole ride with the group. My ride was 36.7 miles, but only 22 miles of that was on the route. If it works out I'd like to ride with them again next Tuesday.

Final thoughts: One of the good things was it was another MHR day: I saw 185 on the HRM. Most of my time when with the group was in the 170's and then trying to recover in the mid 160's. So, it was nice to train that hard. Hill repeats is a great way to improve your performance. I will have to add more of that on my own too. The avg speed when with the group was over 20 mph. It was challenging to ride with so many riders that are stronger and faster than me - no rest for the weary. I had to do my best to recover at a higher HR. It was a Great training time. When I got home I was glad it was cut short as I was spent. The question is : do I really want to work that hard? And if yes, why?

[Photo above: breakfast (Oatmeal, millet, flaxseed, olive oil, maple surup, blue berries and soy milk.]

Monday - second rest day for the heart

Today was a full day - no extra time for exercise.

Tomorrow evening I'm planning on riding with a group that I've not ridden with before ["Hill Training Ride, 30-35, Fast ride with several hills 18-22 mph with several groups. Come out to build your strength and speed."] so it may be good to have an extra day of rest. Nothing like the thought of being dropped to keep you going .. almost as strong as the thought of being caught to keep you pushing hard into the upper heart rates!


On Saturday I'm looking forward to riding in the Cow Creek Country Classic. Fast Dave and I are planning on riding together - so that should be fun. We've never ridden a whole ride together where we could make 'ferret' runs at will. We rode the Hotter'N Hell 100 last year with three other's, but haven't ridden together since. I'm looking forward to it and expecting it to be fast and fun - oh, and hot, and hard too: all the fixin's for a 'nice ride'. ;-)


Lastly - I did send a note to my Cardiologist late this morning and he replayed by the time I returned from lunch. What a Great Dr: competent in his work and available for personal contact from his patients! The conclusion is it sounds like a tough workout, not a heart issue. Cool. I'll keep paying attention as I always try to do though.

[The photo is of the tree that I planted on Saturday. It's not real straight right now, but I have big hopes for it!]

Finally another ride ... 184+ MHR

Today (Sat) it was nice to get out on my road bike for the 3rd time this week. Even though it was the normal morning time (~7), route(~46mi) and wind (strong) - each ride still manages to be unique in different ways.

[Photos:

Texas Plume - a fun short and modestly hilly section of the ride,

The hole in the front yard before soaking it, adding fertilizer and other secret ingredients And the tree,

My lunch - normal ingredients as listed in previous postings.]

The ride out was into the wind and not to notable other than being a challenge. The big motivator for going out was knowing that the ride back was going to be fast and fun! (And it was, but more on that shortly.) I decided to time the bridge portion on the way out (into the wind) just as a ref and it was 15.6 mph avg for 1/2 mile into the teeth of a strong wind. The avg speed on the way out was just over 15 mph - not moving very fast, but the wind was really strong.

The ride back was Great! There were several (8+) trips in the the 30's, but no 40's today. I forgot to restart my HRM so it didn't record data for the return trip. I was a little bummed by that as I worked pretty hard even with the wind to my back and would have liked to see the avg HR as I suspect it would have been in mid to high 150's. I spent a fair bit of time in the 160's and even 170's on the return trip as I was trying to put more power to the road.

The two highlights for me on this ride were both on the return ride. The first was about a 1/3 of the way back. I rode past 3 other cyclists who were on the side of the road. After I passed and went through the stop sign I noticed that they had started up and were heading my way. Knowing someone is behind you and would likely enjoy catching you - well that is a motivator for me to push a little harder. A little further I looked in my mirror and I could see them back there - that was the last time I saw them in my mirror. I guess that tells me that I'm pretty competitive. Not like some that I know, but still it is a strong motivator for me. The second was my favorite little Time Trial over the last bridge. Today it was 36.3 mph avg for .55 miles for 1:54.36 with an average cadence of 109. The cadence is a little lower as I shifted into a higher gear towards the end and tried to increase my power output. That gave a quick increase to the burn that was already consuming my thighs and hamstrings. I looked down and saw my HR: 183 ... 184 ... I didn't see higher, but I didn't look down after 184 and often it will continue to go up after I back off. So, I know it was 184 and probably 185 - which is what I've been using as my MHR, but haven't seen past 182 for many months and I think that was the first time I saw my max heart rate (MHR) on a ride. There's a sense of accomplishment to push hard enough to see your MHR and that's what excited me most.

I did notice though that my chest hurt at times afterwards when I got home. I think it was my heart and I'll send a note to my cardiologist asking him about it. (It's nice to be on a first name basis with my heart Dr - and have him read and respond to my personal emails. Thanks David!) The symptoms I noticed were when I would bend over when my lungs were empty: that's when I'd get a pain in my heart area. If I sucked in a big breath of air and then bent over, I didn't have any discomfort. I stopped noticing it sometime after an hour. It was a little concerning but the more I thought about it the easier it became to explain it away. After all the heart is an amazing muscle. And like other muscles they can ache and even hurt after a strenuous work out - and my heart certainly had one of those today. With all the high HR pushes on the way back and the MHR too. I think it was a Great work out for my Heart Muscle!!

When I got back I was really hungry. So I fixed a nice lunch as shown in the photo: I really like my vegetable chicken dish...mmmmm yummy!

I also planted a tree in the front yard today. It's been in a pot for over a year. We've already lived in this house 13 years - another 13 years and that tree will be ready for some serious grandkid climbing... :-)

Friday: Nutrition and TT for Ron

Friday night was a Time Trial at the Dam and Ron rode in it. Talk about a torturous event - 8 miles of as hard as you can handle. I didn't participate, but Ron is a great athlete and Loves to push hard! Good job Ron!

Breakfast and Lunch today was on the lacking side - Psyllium husks in water with a little olive oil, then a glass of water with Apple cider vinegar. And vitamins in the morning. Later is was juice.

The after shot - notice all the color variations in the jar as that was how it came out of the juicer. Different items juice differently so I mix up the items so the juicer seems to work better. That's why the juices are so intertwined.
This is the before shot: showing the contents. grapefruit, lemon, orange, apple, carrot, spinach and beet.

Dinner was a spinach & Tuna salad.

A nice morning ride

Today started with a bike ride: on the road by 6:15. It was ~37 miles and just under 2 hours (18.6 avg). The little TT (Time Trial) over the last bridge on the return leg is becoming a favorite part of my rides - especially when there is a southern wind to boost the speeds. This morning it was 36.4 mph avg, 116 avg cadence, .57 miles, 1:31.32. It's a part of the riding where I can feel myself applying power to the whole pedal stroke (over the top, across the bottom), it can be felt in the thighs and hamstrings as an ever increasing burning, until at the end the mouth involuntarily opens as more air is required...Fun stuff! :0

I was also reminded today that I was riding with my mouth open when something larger than a nat, or at least it felt "large" in my mouth as I swallowed it before I could cough it up - but I never did see them, just felt them hitting my body (and entering my mouth when it would open).

The Race Across America (RAAM) started yesterday and other solo riders start today. It's kind of been a distraction to me as this is a race that has no stages: it's just 3000+ miles long with riders resting when they need to. That may be 90 minutes a day. It's a pretty amazing race ... something to maybe consider a few years out ...??! ... 300 mile days .... :-)

[PHOTOS:

- first is the snake warning sign on the dam

- second is my smoothie for this morning in it's pre-blended state (soy milk, orange, apple, pear, carrot, beat, spinach, straw berries, millet, flax seed, almond, yogurt, whey protein, carob and ice)

-and last is me riding across the first bridge over the lake this morning

Phone photos...

The following photos were taken by my son on his phone from the Petroleum Club of Fort Worth when we went there last Friday for lunch. (Not bad photos for a phone.)

100th posting

It's only been 4 days sense my last posting and so much has happened. Here's the brief version:


A new oil well area has gone up on along my route. And this isn't out in the middle of nowhere - there are houses with in a stones throw from it.

Two coyotes at a local park surrounded by homes.

More amazing clouds.

One night the sky was yellow - it was very strange.

Lunch today (onion, garlic, orange bell pepper, carrot, spinach, chicken, yellow mustard seeds, crasins and olive oil).

Last Friday was touring a local Steel company. My oldest son was able to join me and it was very interesting and cool to see what they can do with all that metal. Amazing! If I didn't have a problem with clutter, I would have brought home a piece of the 2 inch thick plate in the scrap bucket - there's just something that makes you say 'wow' when you see metal that thick. It was GREAT! Then it was to Fort Worth and the Petroleum Club for lunch buffet. What a spectacular view from the top floor (unfortunately I left my camera behind). The food was good - deserts were very good and the visiting was the best of all. It was a Great time. Thanks D.

I can't remember doing any formal exercise Friday - and the eating was out the window with the three different deserts at lunch: key lime pie, chocolate moose cake and some kind of chocolate chip something ... yummy!

Saturday (Exercise) was the 46 mile route. It was nice to do that again. I was a bit tired though as I've not been training very much lately. The TT across the dam on the return was 30.8 avg mph, 111 avg cadence for .59 miles: not to bad since the wind wasn't as strong as I've enjoyed in the past. The avg for the whole ride was 18.1 mph. I saw two coyotes in a park on my ride. I also saw numerous ran over snakes on the road (like 6 or more).

Today, Monday (exercise) was at the Dam mostly as I meet R. there to ride with him as he is doing the Time Trial on Friday. I've been nervous all day about doing this ride as sustained intensity wears me out. With the wind and heat today we had an avg of 20.4 for the 8 miles and a avg HR of 159. But, we did it together and we both finished. On the way home I went by Prayer Mountain and rode the drive way 6 times (not up to doing 10 as I had wanted). It's not very long (.17 miles), but it has a short steep part and constant grade: my best time was 70 seconds. At the dam I saw this pair of Road Runners. I also took some pictures at Prayer Mountain.

A view of the Dam from Prayer Mountain.
The top less steep section.

The steeper bottom section.

Two road runners at the Dam.

A night with out electricity...

Exercise: was ~16 miles (8 intervals on my bike first thing), including 3 trips up the prayer mountain drive way (the first time I've done it 3 times back to back). Then ran 4 miles at a moderate pace. It took about a mile to get my legs after riding. Nutrition was fair: good breakfast and lunch, but had 3 bagels and ice cream through out the day. [The first photo is the oatmeal for breakfast (with some good fruit)]

The significance of yesterday wasn't in the training but in coming home in the evening to a dark muggy home. So that's where my focus is in this entry.

The first storm rolled through while we were at an Ice Cream social at the church that the kids are attending VBS at this week. We knew it was coming as the emergency broadcasts were interrupting a show that I was half watching while I was paying bills. There were reports of tornado's North and West of here as the storm was approaching.

By 7 PM the storm front was starting to pass by. For those that grew up on the West coast, much can be missed in that previous sentence: "the storm front was starting to pass by". I've never witnessed a 'storm front' while growing up in coastal CA like we experience here routinely. The winds were very stout blowing everything and many things that were anchored as well - as we saw many branches and trees in part and one in whole blown down on our drive back home. The rain can accompany the front, or sometimes it waits for that bolt of lightning and crack of thunder that sounds like it went off 30 feet above your head - then the intense downpour of rain. Ahhhh... the storms are amazing. Throughout out the night last night there were 5 storms that blew over - with the tornado alarms going off twice. It was a pretty exciting night. I slept with ear plugs as I was tired and wanting sleep more than the enjoyment of watching the amazing storms go over.

The thunder was odd last night as many of them sounded like drums being played - one right after the other. I hadn't heard thunder like that and I've lived here 16 years now. I've seen the sky boil, turn deep shades of blue and green, seen feet of hail fall from the sky, taken refuge under an overpass while a tornado passed nearby, watched countless lightning shows, gotten completely soaked running from my car to the house ... many neat memories with the severe weather here - but have never heard thunder like last night. It was very different: partly by what it was and partly because I've never heard anything like it before - new can be scary.

Not having electricity when we got home was a bit stressful and inconvenient. We would have normally turned down the thermostat and turned on the fans - maybe gotten into the refrigerator for something to eat or drink. Certainly we would have turned on lights. But instead we pulled out the emergency light, rounded up some more flashlights and then started lighting and distributing candles through out the rooms that needed them. We opened doors and windows for cooler air. We stayed out of the refrigerator. The phones didn't work as they require power, so we plugged in the 20 yr old phone that does work with out power. The water filter on the fridge didn't work - so we had bottled water. I ended up sitting out on the porch with my oldest son just relaxing and pondering (and eating a few pretzels).

It was good to think about the many things I take for granted. This is often a part of the process when traveling out of the States for me, but it's been a while sense I've been out and the loss of electricity was enough to start me down that path. Not having electricity available 24 hrs / day is a reality for much of the World. Having food, work, medical care, .... and on it goes, more than can be listed. There are many things I am frustrated with in our majority elected political system - but after a few weeks in another country I've always been glad to be returning "home". The face of this great country is changing - I just hope America, what it has been and is, will not be forever lost by the desires of the majority.

Riding alone ... a reality.

The alarm went off at 5:30, and I got up - but only to turn off the alarm...

I did get up at 6 though and started getting ready to go for a ride. The weights didn't happen (and ended up not happening later either), but I was on the road by 6:30. And what do I see - with in the first 10 minutes I see Craig and then Gordon out riding. They were up before me as I'm just starting and they are almost done. I talk briefly with Craig as he is on a tight schedule and say "HI" to Gordon as we both pass going opposite directions at speed. Then on the out leg across the dam I pass Ron and say "HI" as his head is down and he's working hard (as is normal for him) preparing for an up coming time trial.

It was kind of encouraging to see my fellow riders out riding - even a little motivating to make the effort again and get up early. The other thing about seeing my friends: we were all out riding, but all riding alone. That's an unfortunate reality. I think we'd all like to ride together, but with different schedules, reasons for training, goals, time available for riding, etc, it's just too hard to make happen on a regular basis. So, we have to settle for rides together once every 'blue' moon. (I did see the moon this morning as I was heading out, but it wasn't blue.)

The wind was out, but that too has to be an accepted reality. Today was the 40 mile route - my longest ride since the May 6 day ride. The ride out was tougher due to the wind out of the South, but the ride back was funner as the speeds were higher. Numbers were 18.8 avg, 43.9 max, 40.2 miles, 2:08. The 1/2 mile across the bridge on the return where I like to do my very short time trial was 36.1 avg, 50 seconds, 113 avg cadence. HR info was off a little but shows 144 avg, 173 max.

Nutrition wise - no M&M's today!! I got my green in the form of spinach again - much better.

The last photo is of the sun in the sky as I head back across the dam on my way back home. You can see the snake sign in the bottom corner.

Balance vs Extreme

Exercise today was good - not exactly as I was hoping, but close enough. My alarm went off as expected, but I turned it off and stayed in bed. I did eventually get up and use the weights for the first time in 4 months though - that was nice. It was actually kind of fun and I've missed doing it. My plan is to start M-F with different weight routines again. Today was chest and triceps (mostly).

I was also wanting to run some intervals this morning - but ended up doing them this evening after work instead. I'm starting off easy by just running a fast (80-100% effort) straight for each lap around the track at the school: tonight it was 10 laps.

[This photo is of some M&M's that went to the races with us on Saturday. The container got water in it so the color of some has washed off. The fork was used to keep the fingers from getting gross during the process of eating some after lunch today... This may have been a 'green' food, but it was not high on the nutritional value scale. Not a good spinach replacement.]

Tomorrow will be weights first thing (back and biceps mostly) then a bike ride. Not sure what type of ride yet, but I need to ride further than the last rides of ~15 miles. If I can get out early enough I'd like to do the 45 mi loop - but we'll just see what time I get to bed and fall a sleep.

Nutrition was good except for the M&M's. We are out of spinach though and I noticed it at all three meals as I would have had some with each (in my smoothie, in my stir fry, on my turkey burger).

The following photos are of my Basal Cell Carcinoma on the right side of my forehead. It's been getting a lot of questions lately. Most people are assuming that it's the result of an accident on my bike - it's not. The last person I told it was skin cancer being treated just laughed and thought I was kidding...until someone else confirmed it was as I said. It's kind of gross - people look at it a lot - probably give me some distance too...

The area before any treatment, but after the biopsy was taken and healed.



The area taken today (~6 weeks of Aldara treatments later).


Also taken today - just further away to give a broader view of the area.



I'm still floundering a bit as I desire to have balance in my life and maintain a training schedule that puts other things out of balance ... ...

I know this isn't what is meant by an extreme life:
-Having balance in all areas while maintaining excessive training;
-Making good nutritional decisions and eating M&M's out of a bowl with a fork;
-Getting up early to exercise and going to bed late;
-and on it goes...

But, Life is still amazing. Hopefully I'll do better tomorrow.

Sat: run and watch others ride..FAST!

[Photos: from the National MX race this afternoon.]

It was nice to sleep in just a little before heading out the door at 8 AM for a run. Today it was 8 miles, with miles 4 and 5 being done on a mile loop and trying to run faster than the rest of the run. That way I have time to warm up and then time after to keep my HR up. Today's run took 67 minutes; avg HR 143 and max 164. The middle miles were 7:26 and 7:15 with avg HR's of 150 and 155. Nothing amazing there .. but these days just putting in extra effort is an accomplishment. [Still no word from any coaches yet...]

Later in the morning we headed south to watch the MX Nationals. It was my first time ... and Oooo my did it make me want to ride (not like I ride but like they were riding: fast and flying). It was a rough track and the riders were just doing an amazing job. They made it look easy... That was a fun trip - thanks CV for taking us!