14.3 Miles So Far

Friday I swam 2000 meters and today, Sunday, I ran* 13.1 miles. Tomorrow I hope to bike at least 56 miles. That will complete my 70.3 weekend, albeit out of order.

As I finished my swim on Friday morning it started raining here, and it was glorious. Thank you hurricane Isaac for gracing us with your presence. It rained Friday and Saturday, but not a big gully washer. It was just a good steady rain, and we needed it bad. So because of the rain on Saturday I elected to lift weights, even though I haven't touched them for about a month. I did squats, bench, and chin-ups, 5 sets each, all high reps, and immediately got sore.

I was feeling it this morning, but decided I'd get the run in today. So right after church I started in on my half marathon. I basically did 4 5K loops around my hood. I'd pick up Powerade and nutrition as I looped around my house.

And this is why I'm The Pretend Triathlete. It started out well, Garmin said I was doing 7:30 miles, but by the end it was closer to 10:00 and I was feeling it. As I ended my last loop, the longest loop as it worked out, I saw that we had visitors at the house, friends of the family. They were just getting ready to leave as I arrived. So here I am wanting to sit down, or die, and I need to engage in a little small talk and chit-chat. At one point I leaned up against the house to catch my breath. They drove off and I'm sure wondered why I was so tired. It was obvious I'd been out running, they could plainly see that, but they probably thought that I was seriously out of shape. They may be right.

Tomorrow I'll try to get out early and ride and complete my 70.3 weekend. I need to get some good training in this week, because next week I have a very busy schedule and it may be tough to work out. Then on September 23 I'll be in Branson at the 70.3 race. On that day I have to do all 70.3 miles in one day.

*I had to walk a couple of times. Hey, my knee started hurting, give me a break!

I'm Training for Cyclocross

Well, not really. Not in a real way. My training is pretty pathetic.  I read these blogs about people going out on these 1,000 mile bike rides in the morning and I think, "I don't really know how to ride a bike, do I?"

It's hard to train for a ride when you don't know what the distance is.  The race is in Hermann, MO at the city park. There are some stairs to climb. Other than that I don't know anything else.

I have practiced jumping off my bike, picking it up, and then carrying it over an obstacle.  So far, no one's seen me do this.  I'm sure they'd think I was crazy. To add to the crazy, when I do it I act like I'm in a big hurry. So I can only imagine what that looks like.

"WTH?! What's that boy doin'?"

In my neck of the woods there's this old road that is closed off. I presume they closed it sometime after they built the dam. At any rate, it is subject to flooding, which leaves all kinds of debris in the form of logs scattered across the old pavement.  It's quite secluded, and I've only seen someone back there once, but they were fishing off the first bridge.  I'd say the entire length of the closed road is about a mile, so once you get beyond that first bridge, you're not likely to see very many people.

Where was I going? Oh yes. So I tear down that road, hopping off my bike to carry it over the logs, hopping back on riding some more.  Wow, just reading that back it does sound crazy. Perhaps if I were in the company of other cyclists it would look more normal. Alone it appears I've got some kind of obsessive compulsion. "Must carry bike and jump over log. Didn't do it right. Must do it again."

OK, enough for now. Search YouTube for Hermann Cyclocross. You'll find it. Enough for now.

Hermann Cross