Good Times

Wednesday - 1:15 Bike

So last night I was in my basement doing my trainer ride. G was in Ohio for work, so there were no issues regarding volume control for the stereo. I put in an old progressive/hard house cd that I hadn’t heard in a long time. Some of you may or may not know that I used to be really big into the electronic music scene. It was an amazing time in my life and I was introduced to lots of different people. And by different I mean all over the board. I have lots of great memories of those times. Maybe sometime I'll post some stories. Anyway, last night while I was in the middle of my workout, my mind started wandering. I imagined having a house on a race course (it was actually the Oktoberfest 10k in Minster for those of you who know what that means) and playing the same cd I was listening to for motivation for the runners. The thing that put the biggest smile on my face was seeing the little pixie raver chicks dancing to the beat and smiling in the warm sun. One person in particular came to mind, Rosalind. I could just see her dancing/bouncing around with that huge smile on her face. When Roz was out for the night, you knew it was going to be fun. Here’s a picture of her. It’s not the best, but its all I could find this morning. The photo is from a house party we had in Columbus. We made flyers for it and everything. The party was called Deslumberfest (It happened in December and people were encouraged to wear pajamas). The flyer encouraged people to "Come experience intense pleasure with old people who used to be cool". We were like 23, and in the party scene, that’s old.

Luvin these things right now

Pepito's on Chicago - The veggie burrito enchilada style is about as good as it gets

Radiohead "In Rainbows" - I've been listening to it about two or three times a day lately

Silk Chocolate - Now that's a recovery drink

I had Monday off from workouts so G an I went to Pepito's for dinner. The happy hour Margaritas are pretty solid too. Keeping up with the new workout log, here's what went down the last few days.

Tuesday
Swim - 2500 yds.
Run - 30 minutes with 5x20 second strides.
Paul Douglas predicted a hassle factor of 5 for the drive home yesterday, so I figured I'd do both workouts after work and avoid all the other commuters. Turns out Douglas was wrong again (at least for the metro area). There was no snow, it was just effing cold man.

Saturday
Swim - 2500 meters
Strength Program
No to much to say on this one. It had been a while since I visited the Southdale Y. Man it is way more family oriented than the St. Paul Skyway location. The again it was a Saturday and late morning. I also brewed a batch of Nut Brown. Primary fermentation is well underway and transport to secondary fermentation will probably take place this weekend.

Sunday
Run - 1:15
Yoga
Ran into Little D around Lake Harriet. He was out on his 29'er. If I end up getting a new SS Mtn. Bike, I'm definitely gonna look into the Redline Monocog 29'er. It looked pretty solid for economical price. For now the Rockhopper with Singulator will have to suffice.

Saturday Ride

So Saturday afternoon I thought it would be great to head to Liquor Lyle's for happy hour and some college basketball. So I bundled myself in gear, put some hand warmers in my shoes and took of for the old neighborhood. The ride was great though I think I had a little too much clothes on the upper body. I really had to moderate my exertion to keep from sweating through stuff. I walked into the bar and some dudes asked if I was out skiing (you know the goggles and everything). I told them that I had rode my bike and they freaked out. It raised the question to me, why would it have been completely acceptable if I was downhill skiing in the cold, but biking was crazy. I mean when I downhill I'm going faster than my leisurely ride to the bar, whatever. Its an argument I tried to make to others since. It didn't fly with any of them.

So I bellied up to the bar and she asked me for my ID. Dude are you effing kidding me, I left it at home! I couldn't believe it. SO I figured I would just call G and ask her to stop by the house on the way and pick it up for me. She was flying in from Chicago and planned on meeting me for the second half of the Tarheels game. So I dig into my bag for the phone. Yep, I left it at home too. So now I had to bust ass home to get my phone and call her before she made it out of the airport and headed to LL's. Some times it sucks to be me and have such forgetfulness.

Anyway, I had a good afternoon on the bike, even if I didn't get to enjoy any beverages at LL's.

Skyway YMCA = Olympic Training Center?

So yesterday was an easy day. I had a 30 minute ride on the spin bike and an hour of aqua-jogging. Yep I said aqua-jogging. The day was meant to be easy on the legs and give them some active rest. The workout entailed some prolonged “sprints” at VO2 max levels. I actually broke a sweat, so I guess you can get a workout even though it doesn’t feel like it. The highlight of the workout was when DKT came in for his swim workout. When he sprints in the pool dragging the parachute, he is still faster than me. Dude is freakin fast in everything. The Y should use the fact that he trains there as a selling point. I mean if its good enough for a world class athlete, its good enough for the weekend warriors and New Years Revolutionists.

Today I have my first swim “workout” since taking time off from the shoulder injury. It’s a lot of one arm and kicking stuff, but there is some extended stuff. If I have any type of pain in the shoulder I’m calling it quits. No sense in rushing recovery in January.

It’s gonna be balmy up here this weekend. Not sure how much time I’ll spend outside training. I have Monday off, so we are having folks over to celebrate G’s birthday and watch the Packers on Sunday. I’m making some Chili that really packs some heat. We are going to need it.

No Updates = No Workouts?

Not really. I was in Southwest MN the last few days for work and didn’t bring the camera. On Monday night I ventured out into the streets of Worthington, MN for a 45 minute run or so. The temp was like 7 so I figured if I got too cold I would just turn around and head back to the wonderful amenities of the AmercInn. I made my way down to the lake in the downtown area and saw that there was a path around it. After about a half mile on the path I came across a walker and asked how far it was aroud the lake and she told me it was like 5 miles. Cool, I took off and was feeling great. The halfway around the lake I ran smack into the wind. My junk was instantly pissed. I picked up the pace to get back to the hotel as quick as possible.

This is a picture of the lake from the path looping around it.

When I had nearly completed the loop I figured I branched off early I could find a quicker way back. I mean it’s not like Worthington is a megatropolis. Well, this wasn’t the best move. I totally got lost and had to stop three times and ask people for directions. Total run time 1:10:00. It took me like two cups of coffee and 4 freshly baked cookies to warm back up. My moisture wicking gloves were covered in frost and my eyelashes were partially frozen. Overall it was a great run, it seems like the town is pretty nice. The people definitely were.

I’m back home now so look for more pictures soon.

Wanna go for a run?

Here is my morning run in pictures. This route is usually around 40 minutes at an easy aerobic pace. It took a little longer today with the fresh snow and stopping for pictures. It was about 22 degrees this morning. What a great day for a run.


Here's the ice rink at Kenny Schools. For those of you not from MN, they flood the football/soccer fields in the winter for free skating rinks.

Is that Smithers in the window with some Pumpkin Loaf?

This is the entrance to the Minnehaha Creek Trail from Lyndale. This is also the same route I took two nights ago when I said I wished I would have had the camera. This trail is really pretty at night with the snow.

Here's another bridge a little ways down the trail.

South Beach, Mpls. Style. This is where the dash across Lake Harriet started last year during the "Who wants a mustache ride". Owen won the grand prize of a 5th of bourbon. We drank it and a twelve pack at the band shell.

Too bad this house just sold. G and I were thinking about putting in a bid. It only sold for $649,900. Its about 10 blocks from our place. Its amazing what proximity to the creek will do for property values. Ray that soccer mom was pissed I took her picture. She didnt have any makeup on.

Heres's what houses look like in our neighborhood. This house is at the end of our block. He's all set in case Iran decides to drop a bomb anywhere within 100 miles. That and not having any windows really cuts down on cleaning costs.

Back at home sweet home. Time to shovel the snow and then Yoga with Rodney Yee.

Late Lunch

3:30 – Strength 40 min.
I wish there was something fun to report but this workout is pretty boring. Weight room in the Y leaves a lot to be desired. Plyometrics are always a good time and my pull ups are getting better. Even with the bum shoulder. Pantera - Cowboys From Hell was on the ipod. I guess I could post something about the old retired men that walk around the locker room in the buff talking about politics. Man, I left my ability of being able to hang out with other dudes with their wedding tackle on display in High School.

I have a 40 minute run to do when I get home. It will probably be too dark for pictures, but if I remember to bring the camera I’ll snap some pics.

So I’m gonna change the format. Please stick around

If anyone still reads this knows that I haven’t updated it in a long time. So to give myself some motivation for it I’ve decided to change the format a bit. I don’t think the format change will bring in more readers, and the content may even turn some away. I’m gonna use this thing primarily as a training journal. I mean I have Training Peaks to keep track of the actual data, but this will have some personality to it. Also, I’ve been meaning to bring a camera with me on all my training runs and rides so I can have some pics to post with the account of the workout, but as most of you know I am SUPER forgetful. So keeping with the spirit of the new blog, here is what went down yesterday.

5:00 pm – 1:15 Bike
I went to the Chiropracter after work and before the Y to have my shoulder worked on. I may have a rotator cuff injury, but more on that some other time. I got to the Y a half hour before a group cycling class was supposed to start. The class was 45 minute long so the timing worked perfect for getting the 1:15 and changing things up halfway through to keep things interesting. Almost everyone was a regular so they all looked at me weird when they walked in. I had the last laugh though. When their “time” was up they all got off the bikes and started stretching. I needed to get more time in though so I kept riding. The instructor was like, “Yeah I guess stretching is optional”. It made me realize where regular cyclists are in terms of fitness when compared to the general public. Score – Hardcore 1, YMCA Faithful 0.


7:30 pm – 45 min. Run
Man it was a great night for a run. The temp was right around 30 and for some reason it seemed to be really quite outside. Well except for the planes overhead (Yes I Live in SW Mpls.). I ended up running mostly along the Minnehaha Creek. With the lights, the creeks running waters, and the snow on the ground it was really something great. Again, if I only would have had the camera you would have been able to see it for yourself. I even ran across a family out sledding, cool stuff. The Twin Cities really are a great place to live.

Sidenote:

We don’t technically live in the suburbs, however our neighborhood has all the same features. This was really clear on the run last night when I was heading down Lyndale towards the creek. Even though it was 30 degrees out, some white kid in his parents car was rolling down the street with the windows down and blasting some gangsta rap. Classic stuff man.