Rain, rain go away

Needing to get in a lot of miles in a short period of time means forgoing the weather reports and just cycling. We have been getting rain almost every day for the past few weeks, but not enough to start constructing the ark. I have enough issues with cycling on dry sunny days, so the wet pavement really makes for more white knuckle times.

Saturday's ride was supposed to be at least 50 miles but the weather and a flat tire made me settle for 42 miles. It was just like in the movies, I'm four miles from home and I get a flat without a spare tube, pump or tools. My cell phone battery is almost dead, so I can barely call for help and I say it can't get much worse. Well yes it can, the rain started to come down in buckets. So do I seek shelter or just walk? I chose the latter and began walking my bike back home. Fortunately I was able to call Sandy and get a ride the last two miles.

Sunday and a chance to test out the 'soft tissue' areas, as they're referred to in cycling literature. The plan was to get in my 50 miles and it started out like I would, but Mother Nature had other plans. Fifteen miles into the ride and it began to rain, not hard but consistent. So it was a rain soaked 37 miles but no flat tires!

Okay, I deserve a few BEvERages for the wet weekend!

T.G.I.F.

I am still having some issues with this waking up at some ungodly hour of the night to get into the office. They say twenty-one days makes a habit, I stopped counting. Screw it, who wants to make this a habit anyway?

The one thing I have noticed is that my energey level isn't as high in the mornings, so I'm not pushing myself as much as I do later in the day(when the sun has risen). But the early morning exercise crowd has seemed to accept me as a regular.

Okay, here is the W.O.D.:

Morning - Strength training - Chest
Lunchtime - Spinning class
Evening - Adult BEvERages

Western States 100

Okay, not that it affects my world but for the first time in 35 years, the Western States 100 has been canceled! Can you imagine training for a 100 mile race, going through whatever it takes to acclimate, all of the suffering and pain, making the travel arrangements and having it canceled? It's not like you can go and find another 100 mile race in your neighborhood. I can't even imagine what the participants are feeling.

More news at 11:00, now back to your normal blogging.............

TNT Michigan Chapter Coach Anne

Here's one of our great TNT coaches doing her thang at one of those Ironmans!

F#@k

That's all I can say during my last two workout sessions. I actually asked the trainer if I could yell out that four-letter word.
This is the last week of our EXTREME Body workout and I can say that I have never been involved in a class this tough!
I hate Prisoner Squats, Dive Bombs, Burpees and any exercise that you have to do thirty repetitions....
I hate exercising outside in the middle of the day with the sun beating down on you.
I hate doing sprints up a ramp.
I hate every shoulder exercise.
Are you starting to get the idea?

Well, we've convinced the Wellness Director to continue the EXTREME class indefinitely and you can bet I'll be there in the front of the class.

Damn I love that class!

Citizenship

Well, the 2008 summer Team in Training season officially ended with the Mayor's Marathon and ½ Marathon in Alaska and everyone successfully completed their event. Just from the brief conversation that I had with one of the coaches that attended, the tank trail (rocky terrain) took its toll on a few of them. I'm sure there are a few good stories to be told.

Non-running item alert! One of my co-workers became an American citizen over the weekend, so it was a celebratory feeling around the office yesterday. Can you imagine if you had to be admitted to this country instead of just being born here to become a citizen?

I'm sure that a lot of us have read or seen stories of third-world nations and the unbearable living conditions. So I'm giving a big plug to Engineers Without Borders (EWB) - a non-profit humanitarian organization established to partner with developing communities worldwide in order to improve their quality of life. This partnership involves the implementation of sustainable engineering projects. The Detroit chapter is having their inaugural Running for Water 5k August 10^th in downtown Detroit, so if you're in the area...........

Running item - my knees feel great because I'm not running!

Happy Birthdat Big Bro

I like to say Happy Birthday to my big brother Ty. He's the COO of the Museum of African American History in Detroit (pictured) and a non-runner.

Forget me knots

I'm still not happy with my new work schedule! Most mornings I enjoyed sipping my coffee while checking out ESPN Sportscenter or the local news. Now I have to thro down a half a cup of coffee and glance at the television as I'm going out the door.

Since I haven't gotten the routine down on getting out the door at record pace, I'm forgetting little things. Today's little thing was my wallet! So I had to borrow money for any purchase that I made, which wasn't too bad. It's just the idea of forgetting stuff, I hate it. Just wait until you get old....

With my newfound time at work, I can frequent the gym twice in one day. I decided to give my legs a rest and focus on upper body and core strengthening.

I am sculpting this old body into one of those ‘after’ pictures. Look out PX90, or whatever it’s called. Is it nap time yet?

Try athlete

With the ever increasing price of gas and a thirty plus mile one-way trip into work, I joined a carpool. Now the only reservations I initially had about joining was the time they headed into work. They meet at 5:30 AM in the morning to go to work! That used to be the time of morning I would go pee!

I'm not a big fan of early morning. Sandy loves the morning and can get more done before 7:00 AM than I can in an entire day. So the frugal part of me took over and I agreed to join in.

Day One-

I'm the first person in the office from my department and I still need to shower and shave. Fortunately we have shower facilities in the company gym. When I mentioned that I was shutting down, it wasn't completely from exercising, just giving my knees a break. So since I was at work before 6:00 AM, I could partake in the 6:30 AM spinning class. Wow, what a way to start the day, I was sweating before breakfast. I feel great, that was really refreshing.

Since this was Tuesday, it meant EXTREME Boot Camp Torture class at lunch. You should do a lookup of the word torture, it pretty much sums up the class. That great feeling has now left and I'm ready for a nap.

Two classes and it's not even time to go home. Hey I can't go home, I have to run with my downtown group....Arghhhhhhhhhh

Okay, it wasn't pretty and it probably doesn't count as a run but I jogged along at the back of the pack wishing I was dead. I had nothing left, I was through, kaput, finito, done, stick a fork in me!

What made me think I would be able to do anything other than have a few adult BEvERages?

Hey, does this make me a triathlete?

Firefox 3.0

Did any of you download Firefox 3.0 yesterday?

Shutting it Down, Clancey

I've noticed a rare phenomenon about my knees. If I take time off from running, I don't have any pain or discomfort in my knees, Duh!

So I'm taking some well needed time off from pounding the pavement!


So Saturday was the last group training run for the summer TNT team. It wasn't mushy or drawn out, we just went out and ran. It seems like just a few weeks ago we were starting out and now it's coming to an end.

I've Been Tagged

Game of Tag

I was tagged by Christy.

Here are the rules as explained to me.Copy the rules (or your version of them) and the set of questions onto your blog post, provide your own answers and then tag 5 new people. If tagged, you’ll find your name at the end of this post.To be sure everyone tagged knows they’ve been invited to play, go to their blogs and leave them a comment notifying and referring them to your blog for details.Lastly, once the chosen have answered the questions on their own blog, they should come back to yours to tell you.Here are my responses.

1. How would you describe your running 10 years ago?

Wow, I had to go back and check old race results to get an idea of what I was doing. From the looks of my running log, I was still running pretty good and probably without as many injuries. I was still racing quite a bit and high in my age group, boy that was a long time ago!

2. What is your best and worst run/race experience?

Best – The first time I ran a sub-forty 10K. It was something that everyone talked about and I knew exactly what I had to run each split at to accomplish this. It was just a matter of everything coming together and having the conditions being right for me.

Worst – The Detroit Free Press marathon that I dropped out of, my only one ever. Not only was my training lacking but the weather took a turn for the worst and it began to snow! We started in chilly temps and it got colder, windier and ultimately snow. It turned out to be a smart move on my part but it was the worst.

3. Why do you run?

I started as a way to quit smoking, although I was running and smoking in the beginning. Ah, a cigarette after a run, boy was that good. After so many years, my social and physical well-being revolved around running. I can’t stop because the people I know run. I’d be an outcast if I didn’t run, so I guess its peer pressure now.

4. What is the best or worst piece of advice you’ve been given about running?

Best - Cross train, but I didn’t heed this advice until about ten years after I started running. I thought all I needed to do was run, boy was I wrong! I may have been able to eliminate some of the injuries I encountered if I had listened and did it.
Worst – Those shoes still have a few more miles in them! Ouch, no they didn’t.

5. Tell us something surprising about yourself that not many people would know.

I played the clarinet for over two years as a kid and can’t remember any of it. I wish I had continued with the lessons. I would love to be able to play an instrument today.

These are the folks I'm tagging:

MotownRunner Girl
Running Part Deux
Laura Redman Running in RO
Solo Running Chick
Obrats

WOD

I’m beginning to hate these three letters.

They are becoming synonymous with pain!

Workout of the Day for my EXTREME Body Sculpt class is getting ridiculous. I’m seeing grown ass men sweat and almost get to the point of tears and yes I’m one of them.
It’s funny how we can go through so much pain and discomfort and still come back to the class and even talk about the class once it’s over. What kind of freaks are we?

I never used to think that twenty was a really large number or even counting to twenty never took a long time. But now I have a different view of the number twenty.

When you’re doing combination exercises with strange names like thrusters, burpees, nose dives and plank stands one after another, twenty begins to look closer to infinity!

I used to think I was in shape, hell no! My goal now is to get through class without screaming like a girl.

Vids

I need to get into the digital video age, so I can do stuff like this. Where do I start? I know buy a camera!

Premonition

Okay, I don’t claim to be psychic but I can tell you that on July 26 at approximately 1:39 PM, I will be physically dead. I’m going die on this 300-mile bike ride! Wait, I’m doing it for the kids.....
I decided to just concentrate on cycling and put the running on hold for a few days to get my time in the saddle. Well, the saddle won this weekend.

I rode for thirty five miles on Saturday and thirty miles on Sunday and now I’m standing to write this post! I need some gluteus conditioning.........

It’s not like I have a lot of confidence in my training but add a headwind and it gets downright discouraging. Pedaling away and only going eleven mph makes me want to turn around and call it a day. Ah, but when you head back with that tailwind you start thinking yellow jersey time.

So now I have weird tan lines, which has to be common for triathletes. I still have my TNT singlet tan from my events and now I have the bike shorts tan lines on my legs.

I need to find a nude beach to even out this old body!

I Love a Parade

Since our beloved Red Wings have brought back the Stanley Cup, we’re having a parade!

Did you notice how smoothly I jumped on the bandwagon? Good thing those wagons go slowly.

People are lining the streets of downtown Detroit like they were handing out free government cheese.......

The high for the day is supposed to be 90º, which should be even hotter with so many people! I hope to get a few photos from my air-conditioned office.

Slackers Unite

Hi, my name is Ken and I’m a slacker!

That’s right, I’m slacking off and not doing the things I need to do and I’m enjoying it.....

This happens to me towards the end of my Team in training season when I get to the final event for the season. I can only imagine it’s like a teacher not wanting to pick up a text book in the summer.

Now it will only last a week to ten days but it is nice to wake up and not have a nagging ache or sore muscles.

Now sure if there is a twelve step program but I have to get my butt in gear pretty quick for the Make-A-Wish 300-mile Bike ride!

Could someone remind me why we do this?

Go Wings

Need I say more!