Homeward bound - back to the routine

So I have been at a computer conference for the past week. You would think that I would have been able to post often. But, no internet access in the hotel – well, I’m not willing to pay for internet access in the hotel. I also brought my laptop but it is a ‘desktop replacement’ computer which means it is HUGE and weighs a ton. Back to the events of the week.

Airport

I have missed you guys. I am not current on any of the blogs I follow. I have been away from home and my routines all week. I have missed a lot of things.

Patriot

Boston Common

Lunch in Chinatown

Dessert in Chinatown

Harvard Square

Harvard Redline Stop

First, this conference provided almost all of the meals and snacks. I think this is what most people eat everyday – the food was, well, typical. I am only speaking of the types of food not the quality. Breakfast consisted of assorted Danishes, cereals, yogurt, etc. These foods taste great but are all highly refined and full of sugar. I quickly noticed that I was going from a diet of 40 – 50 grams of fiber to a diet which is more typical of the average US population. This means that I was eating less than 5 grams of fiber a day! I am pretty sure that is the typical American diet. I can’t believe this.



Lunch was various sandwiches on white highly refined bread. Lots of meat choices. There was a vegetarian option but it was not ideal. It did have vegetables but they were sautéed in oil. There were also chips and various kinds of cookies and brownies.



Each evening there was ‘happy hour’ - The beer flowed freely. I am not complaining here; the beer was of fine quality – Harp’s, Sam Adams, Magic Hat, etc. They were all very high calorie – and delicious.



For diner it was more of the same – lots of meat and refined grains. I did not realize that my diet, although very simple, varies so much from the mainstream. I know many people that I consider to have extreme diets that require a lot of preparation and expense (raw food diet) – to each his own. But my diet takes very little extra effort or expense and is so much better than mainstream.



Now, on to the exercise front. I knew that I would not be able to doing much of anything except run. I had hoped to be able to explore Boston by foot – I love doing that in new cities. You can really get to the soul of the town. However, I registered late for this conference and I had to stay at a nice hotel – at the airport. To get to any green space I have to take a shuttle to a subway. I could have done this – I should have done this but I did not. In fact I was at these conferences from dawn till dusk. There were so many actives scheduled that I just made it back to the hotel each night and climbed into bed. There was a ‘pub crawl’ scheduled last night – I skipped that!



Don’t get me wrong, I learned a lot and had a very good time but I fell off of my diet routine and my exercise routine. I would love to stay that this was a recovery week but with the long hours, bad food and much drink my body is probably less recovered than if I was racking up the miles.

Tri-bike with straight bar

Boston is great but ...

- I walked my legs off yesterday and ran on the treadmill this morning - but - I miss my bikes.

Mountain bikes - when it rains it pours!

Check out the Tech-tri blog .  Jason is giving away a cool Canon camera!

I have been looking for about a year to find a good deal on a mountain bike. The last two bikes that I have bought have been off of eBay and they have been incredible deals. I am willing to wait until I find the right bike for the right price. I also bought some cycling gear.

So, as time sometimes happens – everything falls together at once. My helmet fits me great but the padding is starting to break down badly. Also, you should replace your helmet about every 3 years. I am a helmet proponent! I have crashed and hit my head and walked away with just a little bit of road rash. In fact, just last week one of my friends went down at the end of a group ride. He cracked his helmet through on the temple area. He was not any worse for the wear. I wear a helmet and I replace them when they get long in the tooth.

So, last Thursday I ordered a new helmet. On Friday I bought a 1 year old mountain bike on Craig’s list. Everything was looking cool. However, the more I adjusted and tinkered with the mountain bike the more I realized that it was just too big me. It looked big for me and against my better judgment I went ahead and purchased it. I just wanted a mountain bike that bad. Well, I was bummed out some but I knew that I got such a great deal that I could ride the bike for a few months while I looked for a new bike and still get my purchase price out of it (or at least most of it).

Then on Saturday I got an email from Raland. He was at the Treasure Hunt – the local salvage store. This place is a flea market wonderland. They get stuff from store closing and damaged goods. The stock turns over constantly. Anyway, Raland said that they had the goods from a bike store in Nashville – water damage.

I took a drive down there and I ran into a practical who’s who in the cycling / triathlon Hattiesburg scene. I talked the talked and walked the walked and picked over the stock. I ended up getting a new road helmet (Giro Atmos), a mountain bike helmet, a couple of new race ties, some tube patch kits, some bar tape and another mountain bike. I bought 2 mountain bikes this week!  You don't know me - don't judge!  I am finding homes for two of my bikes - that should help keep the stable to an acceptable number.  There is an old joke - What is the optimum number of bikes.  The answer:  Current + 1.

For exercise this weekend I did a 40+ group road ride, two mountain bike rides and a fast 5 mile tempo run. I will be out of town all this week in Boston for work. I hope to find a few people to run along the emerald necklace.

These trails are a quarter mile from my house!  Time to learn some real bike handling skills!

Travel Day

I arrived at Jackson Station at 5:45 AM. JD and Ben were unloading their bikes. Robin showed up on bike. Lance was a no show for this ride. It looked like we all had some trouble getting out of bed! I had just rolled out of bed – no coffee or anything. Not much talking this morning but we started out. I was following JD and Ben.

JD took us out at a good pace and I took over at Clyde. I patted my butt at the Beaver Pond to indicate that I was ready for someone else to take a pull. JD rode up next to me and it was just us. He took over the pull until Epley. I circled around at Epley for the Robin and Ben for just a minute or so – and then Robin was there. JD and I followed Robin out towards Sumrall. JD and I had been trading pulls at a fast pace and having fun. At the turn around we headed back up the Sumrall hill. To work on strength I decided to stand out of the saddle for the 1 ¼ up the hill. I dropped into my hardest gear and just churned out the distance. This was tough work. I paced JD going up the hill and saw Ben turn around a little bit in front of me. I then passed Ben and continued up the hill. At the top of the hill I was spent. JD and Ben stormed past me and I just tried to hang on.

We all traded pulls the rest of the way back to Jackson Station – it was one heck of an early morning ride. It was also the only exercise I got for the day.

Spring Break

St. Patty's day was spent with the running club. The March Track-on-Tap was moved up for the holiday. We started off with a 1.5 mile run downtown to the Bottling Company. They had 2 for $3 16oz aluminum green bottles of of Bud Light. We then continued downtown and stopped at the wine garden. Black and Tans were the special. Once last stop back towards campus to the Keg and Barrel. They had an Irish band, an Irish buffet and they were packed. The house was full, the porch was full and the yard was full. No place to sit so we had to bail. Our last stop was Mugshots. They had Jameson Whiskey on special and we all ate. I had some kind of hamburger that had peanut butter on it - crunchy. Not as odd as it sounds. I really did not taste the peanut butter much. A full belly and about 3 miles running.

Yesterday was a travel day. It is just a little under a 7 hour drive to my Dad's house. Not too bad. I loaded up on podcasts and audio books and hit the road by 7:30AM. An uneventful ride - always a good thing except that Louisiana gave me another windshield chip. Yes - I got the last one driving through Louisiana going to my fathers.

Today, Joe , my brother-in-law and I are going to get in a little run and then brave the lake. Joe will be hitting the water in just a jammer while I will be wearing the bib-john wet suit. I will probably be cold but not like Joe.

Hard days night

So we were working like dogs last night. Got home at 5AM and here it is 7:45AM and back at work. Jodie had to do some of her bird stuff (check their hormone levels by extracting blood) early this morning and then we are hitting the road for a nine plus hour drive to attend a wedding.

I'm up for anything but I am feeling it this morning. Everything except the dehydration if you know what I mean. I should be able to catch some zzz's in the car but as you know that is never valuable sleep. It is just get-by sleep.

No exercise on the docket today! Have to 'get into the grind' and 'work the plan' starting Sunday.

As a side note this will the the 4th weekend in a row that I have been in Atlanta (this time just driving through).

Back to the grind

Was out of town last weekend. Had a good time but was unable to get much exercise in to the mix. Had to be in the car for much of Friday and Sunday.

Went for an easy 3.5 mile run today at lunch and then hit the weights. I am sure the weights will make me a little sore tomorrow.

Only six weeks to the Gulf Coast 1/2 mary. I have not started to train for this event at all. I can go the distance without much difficultly, however, I am sure that this will not be my best time.

I am thinking about hitting the last 6 weeks of an intermediate 12 week 1/2 mary training plan. That would be challenging. A lot of tempo and speed work with a weekly long run. Keep the volume within reason.

Need to start working the plan!

Out of town running

The weather in Atlanta has been very mild. I went down to the 'fitness' center at the hotel on Sunday. a treadmill, exercise bikes (recumbent and upright), and a universal machine. Not wonderful but better than nothing. I started on the treadmill but I just could not get into the run. I played with several of the programs but nothing got me excited. I hit the weight machine instead. I spent about 20 minutes listening to a podcast and just going through the motions.

I was tired from the drive and just called it a day. Monday was taxing and I did not even attempt to go downstairs to the fitness room and the concrete jungle was not calling. I checked Google maps to see if there was any kind of park near by and there was nothing. I certainly was not going to drive anywhere - there seems to be a gas shortage here. None of the stations are getting much gas. It has been on the news every night. There really is not much gas.

This morning I dragged myself out of bed to try to go for a run. I hit the outside at about 6:00 AM. I headed towards the training facility where I have been having class. I ran up a small hill and there was just sidewalks. Nothing was very becoming for a run.

I came upon a giant intersection that I really did not want to wait for a 'walk sign.' I was just about to turn around when I saw another runner coming towards me. He was running a pretty fast pace. I asked him where there was to run around this area. Without even slowing he said to follow him.

Greg was on mile 10 of 16 and still maintaining an 8 minute pace. He is trying to qualify for Boston in December. Although the running environment did not get any better the company made for a good run. Having someone to run with that was familiar with area was comforting. Greg works for Cox and one of their buildings is just across the street from my hotel. We are going to meet for another run at 5:30 tomorrow.

Travel and carrotbelly

Went for a near 40 mile bike ride ( 38 miles) this morning. Hit a few hills with Chris and Ted (from Jackson). I think that I have seen Ted at nearly every triathlon I have been to. I went to the 29th annual 'Heart of Dixie' triathlon with Jim earlier this year. Ted was at the very first one in 1980. He told me that he has only missed 2 of the races (because he was living out of state.) Ted will be 55 this year and he beat me at the Heart of Dixie by 2 minutes. He is a fast guy.

I ended up getting a slow leaking flat on the ride and hit the tire with a shot of CO2. It lasted for about 10 miles and then I hit it again. I saw JD doing a run on the trace a few miles from my house and that gave me so motivation to go ahead and do a brick. I ended up having to use the little remain CO2 and hit the tire again just to get home. This probably was a good thing since I had to soft pedal the last few miles.

I slipped on my running shoes and headed down to the trace towards where I saw JD. I saw him in about a 1/2 mile. I turned around and ran with him to finish his 7 mile run. I caught him at the end of his run and the pace was slower than I normally would have run. An easy 2 mile run was just what I needed. After I left JD at Jackson I proceeded to put another 5 miles in - not really pushing the pace.

I finished the brick tired but satisfied with the run.

Took a cool 'ice' bath and ate some chicken and oatmeal when I got home. Jodie and I went to the grocery store for her to get stuff for next week. I'm going to be out all of next week so I was already prepared for my food needs - oatmeal and tuna. That is just what I am on right now. Quick, easy and not too bad for you.

I also picked up some strange yellow baby carrots for the rode trip to Altanta. As most people know - when I travel I get the carrotbelly.