Orthotics, Dream Interpretation & Doubt

There is a title worthy of Jason at The Soiled Chamois...

It was a weird night last night. Had a good weight workout at the gym, felt relatively strong and fresh. Headed home, caught the TdF coverage until it got too late. I was hopeful of getting up and walking the girls, as Nifi had instituted earlier in the week. Friday was my day. It still gave me extra sleep time with less self-imposed pressure to get into the office. I failed on all three counts.

2:31 a.m. the LabAlarm™ went off. Must have been lots of creatures stirring under the full moon because Shilo was up, barking and at the back door. Like and idiot I let her out. I have never seen that dog move so fast! She tore back and forth across the yard, then around the side, huffing and barking. Emily immediately followed suit. Then so did the dog two doors down. I sheepishly called the girls in while they yelled at their dog to be quiet as well.

From there it was tossing and turning for over an hour. When I did fall asleep I had nightmares about Mountain Mama. Spenghali left me to ride alone, it was raining and we kept taking a bus between climbs. One rider was pissed because we fed his dog too much and he had to leave. Before the final ascent (Hoover 19% grade) I lost my rain jacket and cleats so Spenghali left several minutes before I could locate them. When I did find the cleats, I had several layers of old, broken orthotics in them... very strange. Time to wake up with feelings of doubt creeping in to my subconscious, looking dangerously for excuses.

Tonight is 24, Spin Saturday and a scheduled 65 Sunday. Wish me luck!

Spin On

Saddle Up

Resting After A Big Day Spent With Friends

Finally the skies stopped pissing rain long enough to get out on the road! Felt great too. I made a slight seat angle adjustment after the AlVelo fitting and it was damn near perfect -- minimal to no hand numbness and good speeds. I cranked out 22 miles. The new Polar F11 HR monitor is cool, it registered me at Max 181, Avg 150 and 1222 calories (which were soon vanquished with a Doghead Fish Ale).

Read Juneau Jill's Arctic Glass and she is back on the road bike -- kicking some serious continual speeds in my book. I wish I could push higher speeds, but I guess I will have to contend with a flat-lander's 46+ year old capabilities. Goals.

Spin On

Rain Rain Go Away

Not much news in the way of cycling. About time to consider taking up rafting. 7-10 inches of rain in our area in two days. More on the way. Might have to be riding the trainer tonight.

Sunday was a recovery day from the 15 bags of yard trimming and extreme heat. Monday was a scheduled rest day and Tuesday was to be weights but I had nothing in me at the day's end. Home to watch rest day re-cap of the TdF and walk the girls.

Time for MM training is running out and it has been an a** kicker at work -- both workload and lots of emotions. It is bringing me down. I will have to dig deep to get back in the proper frame of mind.

Spin On

News of Greatness

Not much riding this weekend -- too many chores and work to catch up on. I did try out the bike for 20 Friday, first time since the fitting. Felt good over-all. No residual pain anywhere aside from a little fatigue on my lower, left side back. My feet ached a little, probably due to the new cleat positions.

Saturday was Spin. The instructor had some surgery and could not coach from the bike. I think it was worse! We did some hefty jumps and pushes from the saddle. I went sans-heart monitor so I could really only focus on the pain:) I thought a lot about what the MM climbs would be like -- a little troubling if a Spin instructor had me down!

From there it was home for seven hours of vag__a hot yard work. Hot and humid, I changed clothes five times! I hope that counts in lieu of doing 65 on Sunday -- felt like it should -- since I had to spend some "quality" weekend time in office. "Yeah. that would be great." No riding Sunday, just another dose of yard work to finish up what the rain ended Saturday.

So, what is so great you ask? Well I have a great sister (three actually). One has three great daughters of her own (and one son of same caliber). One married a great guy and now I am a Great Uncle (again).

Meet Logan Michael -- perhaps the newest Team R2R member. Note to self -- order x-small jersey next year.



In other great news, I have a healthy heart! The Holter monitor results show no abnormalities. 42 bpm resting, 67 bpm average and a max of 172 bpm during my workout. Plus one spike on the chart at 2:00 a.m. when the smoke alarm went off! You can actually see one huge spike -- humor. A new Polar F11 HR monitor is on the way.

Spin On