Monday, Monday

Good morning! It's Monday again already. In less than 2 weeks John H will be doing Ironman Louisville. I hope he gets the cool weather of late. Ironman Louisville has a reputation of being hot, hot, hot! I think I read where it has one of higher DNF (did not finish) rates of the Ironman competitions, likely do to hot and humid conditions. I think, also, it is being moved to October, probably for that very reason.

OK, early last week I had visions of the week being my biggest week of training thus far. Well, that didn't happen. The weather and other stuff happened. I did end up north of 12 hours, which is not bad, especially considering the weather challenges. I missed 2 significant workouts: a long swim and a long run.

I mentioned before that I have kind of adopted a loose policy of rest dictated by unforeseen circumstances. It's a bit random, but days off just happen from time to time. They did not happen much in July, just twice. I just keep training everyday, nothing got in the way. August started off that way, and then Friday came. The rain came and came and came. Nothing heavy but enough for me to declare Friday a rest day, a day off.

Most of you will understand this - now I was really eager to do something big on Saturday. A century (100 mile ride) was in my plan anyway, but now I really really wanted to do it. I would start at 6:45, join up with Jim and John and get it done. But the rain came and washed that century plan away. I had an appointment at 2 p.m., so as the rain came, the window of opportunity was slowly closing.

Jim and John came to Mitchell and rain 3 miles in the rain that ended. We all got on our bikes and rolled out around 9:15. It was not pleasant, but we were riding, riding east, into the wind. We were a bit slow, but we were getting some miles. At one point it rained enough to make us question what we were doing, but by the time we considered turning around, the rain stopped.

Orleans, Campbellsburg, Livonia, Orleans, and back to Mitchell made around 53 miles for me and was about all I had time for. John and Jim continued on to the 70 mile mark. It was not exactly what I had hoped for, but I was glad to get some miles in.

Yesterday, still feeling behind, especially after missing Friday's long run, I decided to do something I rarely do: run on Sunday a.m. My usual practice is to get up early on Sunday and prepare for my work with the church. I did as much as I could on Saturday p.m., making room for the run. I did 7 slow miles in very soupy conditions.

Sunday afternoon we went swimming in Kenray. It was Jimmy, Brent V. Danny G, and me. I went 2 miles, which is good. I think I went slower than last time. I just never felt in the flow. I had not been in the water for a week. That may have had something to do with it. Hey, I was glad to cover the distance, no matter how long it took.

This week should be interesting. Our Tuesday night ride is going to have the dreaded conditions of a strong northwest wind. Oh well, it should make us stronger. I hope you have a good day and week!