Clinton to Windsor and Back

Rode to Windsor and back today, 33.48 miles. Total ascent: 2,109 ft. Time: 2:13:52. It was nice ride in the heat of the day. The Katy Trail is relatively flat, but you don't have to worry about getting hit by a car, and that's important to me.

Once there I went into the Casey's General Store. I needed some carbs to power me back home. I can't believe what they charge for a candy bar. $1.25! And this wasn't the giant sized bar, this was the normal sized bar. You're ripping me off Casey!

Johnson's Shut-Ins

Last weekend The Boy and I went down to Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park. This year I managed to keep the camera dry.  We also went back to Taum Sauk Mountain and Mina Sauk Falls.

We had a deck, but we had to hump all of our stuff back to the site, a quarter mile hike.

The Taum Sauk resevoir broke a few years ago, prompting these signs, I'm sure.

It was fun swiming the shut-ins.




 



On top of Missouri, at the staggering elevation of 1,772 feet.



Descending Mina Sauk Falls

Did it rain? I don't know, is there water in the skillet?

Our favorite part of the weekend, cleaning up.

dmggtpmal

Adult Soccer

If you haven't played soccer since you were eight, let me give you a word of advice: Stretch!

It's kind of embarrassing, so don't tell anyone, but I hurt a quad muscle kicking the ball.

Kicking the ball! How do you get hurt from doing that?

It's just my right quad (the kicking quad), and thankfully it doesn't hurt when I'm running or riding. Also, I'm not the only geezer out there with this injury. There's at least a couple of other guys on the team complaining of this, and some other guys complaining of various other ailments, not to mention everyone huffing and puffing all over the pitch.

There is one part of playing soccer that I believe helps with triathlon training, and that's the running part. When I'm out there I find myself running full tilt, coming to a stop, and then sprinting the other way. Speed work? The part where you're flailing your legs out in a vain attempt to put your foot on a moving ball is not as helpful.

The tournament is 4th of July weekend, so pray that we all survive until then.

Sedalia Duathlon Part Deux

You can read the exciting lead up to this race here.

The gun went off, and the race is on. By gun, I mean someone yelled, "Go!"

Run Two Miles

I wanted to run in the low sevens. That was my only goal. After about a half mile I had a new goal: beat that ten year kid in the triathlon racing kit.  I can stand for a lot of things, but not to get beat by a tween.  I am happy to say I did pass him. However, there was a girl or two ahead of me that I didn't quite catch. I won't tell anyone if you won't.

Bike Eleven Miles

Transition One didn't go as smoothly as it could have. Even my wife said later it seemed like I took my time. I used the fact that I have mountain bike shoes to change into as an excuse. Each shoe has like three Velcro straps to contend with. There was another guy in transition with me, and his wife was yelling at him to move faster. She said, "C'mon honey, you need to get out of here!"

The course is an eleven mile loop. Headwind and hills going out. Coming back in was a pleasure as the terrain flattened out and the wind was at my back. I passed a few people out of the gate, but later got passed twice by a couple of bikers. I did end up passing another guy at about the half way point. After that I rode by myself until I got back in.

Run Two Miles

My second transition was a lot faster. My wife admitted as much. Got my shoes on, started running, passed one guy, then passed another guy that had passed me on the bike. After that, with a mile and a half left to go, I ran alone. There was another fellow about a quarter of a mile ahead of me, but I couldn't gain on him.

I came across the line in 1:13 or something like that. Mo hasn't emailed the results yet, but I think that's what he said as I came across.  That got me a third in my age group, 30-39. Just wait til next year!

Sedalia Spring into Summer Du

This weekend I participated in the Sedalia Duathlon.  Last year I did this race after being up until about 1AM because I attended a baseball game in KC the evening before. This year I got to bed earlier. I wonder if it helped.

I got up at 5:30AM after some very strange dreams. One in particular will haunt me and I shall not relay the particulars here. I ate breakfast, and allowed myself a bowl full of carbs in the form of cereal. I chose this particular cereal because it is packed with 51 grams of carbohydrates per serving. Carbolicious. On the way there, I also ate an apple. I also sipped some coffee. However, like an idiot camel, I failed to properly pre-hydrate with plain old water.

It's not even advertised as a carbo-loading food.

We loaded up and left the house at approximately 6:30AM. Sedalia is about forty minutes from my house, and registration started at 7AM. But then my gas light was on. I never get gas until my gas light comes on, which usually isn't a problem, but it was a bit of an inconvenience this morning.

It turns out that we arrived at Clover Dell park in plenty of time. I registered, and just like last year, they were out of shirts. It's hard to prove you ran a race without the tee shirt. Dejected about being shirtless, I went ahead and racked my bike, stretched, and ran a short warm up run. I also started hydrating from one of my water bottles.

My race manager.

The Lotus

Now the race organizer called us all to the start line. There are no timing chips in this race, and it's a mass start. I know it's probably just the glasses, but the race organizer looks like Mo Racca. No pic, so just take my word for it. Mo gives us some instructions, and then we're off. It's a two mile run, eleven mile ride, and another two mile run. Not exactly Ironman, but it's a good start for me.

If you'll come back tomorrow, I'll tell you how the race went, and the day after that I'll tell you what soccer does to a thirty-nine year old's legs.