Christmas Trees

I helped a friend move a few weeks ago. A moving company was doing most of the heavy lifting.  We were needed for the stuff.

And there was a lot of stuff.  I am having trouble conveying what I am about to say. He had the largest U-Haul that you can rent and more than half of it was full of Christmas stuff.

You know the rubber made totes (the 18-gallon ones that are 2 feet wide by 3 feet long by 2 feet high), well, there were about 50 of them in red and green. We (Raland was the attic man) filled the attic and about a quarter of the garage just with Christmas decorations. I am sure they house is lit up fantastically but in the hot weather, moving this much Christmas stuff was comical.

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Movember update

Well, I don’t have the speed or the moustache of Steve Prefontaine, but I am working on both.

Pre -

"To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift."

I don’t have the bangs either.

New sock drawer

Last month I cleaned out all of the shoes from my closet (you can read more here – House Cleaning)  I am happy to say that I got rid of a dozen pairs of shoes.  To be fair, regardless of how the shoes looked some were quite old.  It is just hard to get rid of them.  I guess you really can have too many pairs of ‘mowing the lawn’ shoes.

I was getting ready for a run this morning and opened my sock drawer.  I looked at all of the running socks.  Some were looking pretty tattered.  I closed the drawer.  I needed some help this morning.  I opened up my ‘new sock’ drawer.  It is funny, even though I run a fair amount of miles without socks (the whole triathlon thing – see Summer Feet) I really do like nice running socks. 

I don’t see a problem here (23 pairs).

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Cheaha KOM challenge-The Ride, day 1

It was brisk when we woke up on Saturday. Some were stirring quicker than others. I debated several times on what to wear for the ride. I knew it would warm up throughout the day but presently it was in the high 30’s. I decided on the full gamut – arm skins, leg skins, a skullcap plus a sleeveless compression shirt base layer. I did leave the lobster claw gloves behind.

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Cheaha KOM challenge–The Drive Up

The Cheaha KOM challenge was a lot of fun this past weekend. Seven of us total drove up from Hattiesburg to a cabin located on Lake Wedowee on the Eastern side of Alabama. Five of us were from the original crew two years ago and two were fresh blood.

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Cheaha 2.0

Two years ago a group of us left Mississippi to ride the hills of Cheaha (East Central Alabama in the Talladega National Forest).  We had a great time climbing up and down Cheaha mountain.

Two years later, I would say everyone is a better rider.  This will definitely be a test.  Also, I have tried to get everyone to sign up with Stava (there is a free and paid version – I’m just using the free version).  This is the social networking riding / running website.  You upload your GPS files.  You can compare your ride against others.  I uploaded my files from two years ago.  On the main climb up Cheaha, which someone has named Cheaha Cat 3, I am ranked 6th out of 17.  I was not the first in our group up the mountain.  It will interesting to see how we compare this year.

The segment, Cheaha Cat 3, is listed at 2.1 miles, @ 7.1 % average grade.  It will be fun to see how everyone stacks up this weekend.

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70.3 NOLA and 5150 NOLA on the same day?

Really?  And the finish is not in the French Quarter.

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Day light savings

I went for a run on Friday morning. I left the house at 6:15AM and walked to the trace. It was pitch black. I had my GPS light fully illuminated. I also had my blinky light from my road bike clipped to my waist band. I have been riding in the early morning hours and I know just how hard it is to see runners.

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Movember 1st

Friends, Romains, countrymen lend me your beards!

I missed the kick off for Movember last year. I was in flight from the US to AU. I left on Halloween and landed on Nov 02. Where did the day go? You got me. I still don’t understand how those planes fly at all. The week after I landed the engines started falling off of the A380 (the two story, biggest commercial plane in the world). I still don’t understand how they stay up in the air.

Movember was started in Australia to raise awareness and money for men’s related health issues. You can donate money to an individual, a team or to the Movember cause itself. Funds raised benefit the Prostate Cancer Foundation, LIVESTRONG, and the Movember Foundation.

I will be posting photo updates throughout the month. If you would like to join my team (Hub City Mo) or make a donation please visit my Mo Space - http://mobro.co/HubCity (visit just to see day 01 of Movember – not a pretty picture).

Cold snap in the training

The weather turned cool cold this week in Mississippi. Saturday was our first ever Hattiesburg Century Bike Ride. It was 4o degrees and windy. I am sorry to say that I was not looking for a fast, hard, cold or windy ride.  I skipped the ride.

Read more at www.powermultisport.com .

Taunting your nemesis

I dialed up a hard fast tempo run. It was lunchtime and I have been hitting my paces but I had some trepidation. I did not feel like running fast. I would have preferred a nice comfortable run. The sun was out and the temperature was in the high 70’s / low 80’s. Just about perfect for a 5-mile tempo.

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House cleaning

My closet has been unbearable for a little while and after my morning run I decided to clean it out. It really was a mess. This is what I pulled out of the closet.

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TIP: Factory Chain Lube

I just replaced my chain and cassette on my road bike last month.  And now that triathlon season is over I plan on doing the same on my race bike.  The question of chain lubrication often comes up.  One of the most often discussed topics is whether to strip the factory lube from a new chain and re-lube or just leave it alone.  The argument is that the factory stuff is sticky and it will pick up dirt and accelerate chain wear on the brand new chain.  The other side states that it is the best chain lube you can get and that is why it comes on the chain from the factory.

I ran across an interview with one of Shimano’s main tech guys regarding the stock chain lube on Bike Rumor.

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BikeRumor: What is Shimano’s official stance on the chain lube that comes stock on a shimano chain? Is it actually a lube, or a grease? And is it best to leave it on until the chain gets noisy and relube, or strip it right away and relube before riding?

Read more at www.powermultipsport.com

Cool weather running 2011

The temperatures have dipped down into the high 30’s.  I have been waiting for an opportunity to wear my long sleeved running shirt.  I have been waiting since April!

They will never know

I work on a college campus.  I interact with a lot of students.  There are a fair number of student workers in my department.  I came across this the other day.

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The hardmen were missing.

I took Friday off from work and played on the coast. Jodie had some work to do and I took a couple of books. I enjoyed the nice weather. I sat on a bench in the shade for a couple of hours. I did take my bathing suit and thought about swimming. Unfortunately our beaches in Mississippi are not good for swimming. You can wade out into the water for a mile before the water gets deep enough to swim. Oh well, I did enjoy the water.

With rested legs I met the group ride on Saturday morning. Some of the usually suspects were missing. Some of the hardmen were missing from the ride. There was a chill in the air. I wore a pair of winter cycling gloves and my arm skins. I also had a sleeveless compression shirt underneath. I was cold for the first couple of miles. Others had on legs skins and jackets. It was about 60 degrees. It was not cold. We are just soft.

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Speed Work before the marathon build

On Monday I got back on the trace.  I ran easy in the morning and easy in the afternoon for a total of 10 miles.

Tuesday I rode the bike for just a few miles but tried to work on my sprints.  I took big recoveries and then went all out for 45 seconds to a minute.  I picked signs and posts and any object that I could find and made them the finish line. I was winning Tour de France stages left and right for the first few sprints and then the speed started to fade.  Oh well, I was having fun.

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Mayhem on bicycles

I have to admit that I actually like several of the Allstate Insurance commercials featuring the character Mayhem.  I like the one where he is a sexy jogger girl and the young man drives his car in the ditch.  But someone recently shot me the following from the Mayhem Facebook page www.facebook.com/mayhemhere

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Mighty Magnolia 2011 Race Report

To tell you the truth, I was not looking forward to the Mighty Magnolia. This is the 4^th year of our local race and I have never done it. I have volunteered several years but there was always a reason I was unable to compete.

I let things get in the way so I would not have to race. You see, I hate racing this late in the year. By the time October rolls around I have already peaked, crashed and peaked again. I am worn out from the summer. I have also already started my marathon base building.

 

Talking with friends post race.

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Rundies Underwear

You have your underwear. And you have your running. Now you can have them both.  We like to think of them as workouts you can wear (and wash!) all year long.  Rundies

Day of the week underwear – REST – TRACK – TEMPO – FARTLEK – RACE – EASY 6 – LONG RUN .