Friday

Good morning! And "just like that" we lost 16 degrees from the forecast - ha ha. I think I hinted at that yesterday. I expect it will change everyday. Yesterday I also saw a link to the PCB Surf Forecast. I'm sure it will change daily also.

Believe it or not, none of this is bothering me. I feel pretty good about it all. I hope I feel that way next Friday - ha!

My ride with Jimmy did not happen yesterday, and I'm glad. He called about 8 and said he couldn't go. I was relieved. I did not really need to ride, plus it was pretty cold yesterday morning. I needed to get a lot of work done, to top it all off, so it turned out to be a good thing.

We did swim at the Y last night in Bloomington. I did 1.2 miles. I'm not fast at all, but I am fairly consistent, I think. If I can go at the pace I seemed to have settled into, then I will be fine, somewhere in the 1:50 to 2:00 hour range, is what I predict. I have 2:20 to get the job done.

I'm planning on taking the day off from endurance athletics, but the weather and my bike will tempt me this afternoon. A short ride? Maybe. We'll see.

Have a great day!

Thursday

For all the Neo-Luddites out there

Good morning! Thursday! Nine days out from Ironman Florida. Yikes. I am ready. I am ready. I am ready. I am ready...

The weather forecast is still holding onto an 86 degree day. I can manage that - lots of Endurolytes and water. My understanding, from reading people who live in FL, is the weather is harder to predict than here, since it is close to the water. I am not too concerned about it at this point.

I had another decent run yesterday morning. It will be my last 7 miler for a little while. Everything else from now until November 1 will be 5 or less, and there are only 3 of those left, I think. Maybe 4? I think I am going to try run with the group on Saturday at 8 a.m. It will be the first time I have run with anyone since mid-March, I think!

Jimmy and I going for a short ride today. Then this evening I think I am going to join him in Bloomington for 1.2 mile swim. I would like to go ahead and get that done tonight instead of tomorrow night. The next swim after this one will be in the Gulf of Mexico. I am looking forward to getting there and getting in.

Congratulations to Tim the Elder! He has a new granddaughter, Cora Marie, born yesterday afternoon. She came several days early! This is what Tim wanted.

Have a great day!

Wednesday

Good morning! It's going to be a great day today, so enjoy it and be thankful! The forecast above, which could change a lot, has me thinking about how I need to dress on the run. I was thinking I would need long sleeves for the second half of the run. Now I am thinking it is possible I will not. I will be prepared for all kinds of conditions on the run and the ride. I'm pretty sure the swim will be wet, so I am ready for that.

Last night was the final official Tuesday Night Ride. Of course it was short, due to approaching darkness. We had 7 show up for the fun 20 mile ride. You can click on one of our Strava events, to your right, to see the simple course we did. Riding last night were: Timmy G, Iron Bill, Dr. Lucky, Iron John H, Roy, T-Roy, and Me, the Ironman Wannabe (Gonnabe, hopefully). It was a lot of fun.

Following the ride, most of us went to Wendy's to eat, tell stories, and laugh. It was a great way to end the Tuesday night tradition for 2014. We had a long run of this year. I believe we started in March and went all way through mid-October. It's an Ironman year!

Roy and I talked some about our travel on Monday. I think we are going to leave around 6:30 and drive all the way to PCB. Jim is off but Steve is working, and I think Rand is going to travel with them, following them down. Steve is trying to shorten his day, I think. We should all be together on Tuesday sometime.

Hey, I need to go run! I hope to catch you tomorrow sometime. It's all getting pretty real...

Tuesday

Good morning! Looks like we are getting on a good roll with the weather! This is the way October is supposed to be. Speaking of weather, the extended forecast for Panama City Beach is good. I hope it holds. The most significant thing, in my mind, is the warmth. I was concerned about a cool/cold ride and dressing for it. If this forecast holds, then that will not be an issue and a relief.

Yesterday I did a short ride of 12 miles and short run of 3 miles. I was going to go 5 but decided I didn't need to. I felt pretty good at the end, and that's what I was after. I wanted to come off the bike and get my running legs ok, which I did.

Later I went to the pool and swam a mile. Today we gather for our last Tuesday p.m. ride. It will be short one, followed by a trip to Wendy's. We plan to meet at 5:30 and do 20 miles. Rumor has it John H has a new bike. Troy has a new bike. Tim the Elder has a new (to him) bike. All of them are Cervelos. Hmm, the Kestrel club is not longer. Now it is a KC club or CK club.

I hope you have a great day!

Monday

Good morning! Twelve days until The Day! One week from now Roy and I will be on our way, or at least close to it. It's all becoming very real. I go from feeling very confident to being very scared. Honestly, it is mostly the latter, thankfully. I am eager to get to the Gulf and get in the water, hopefully everyday for just a little while.

I ended up not doing anything on Thursday for several reasons. Friday I did all three disciplines. I went for a short ride (20 something miles), followed by a short 2 mile run, and then later I swam a mile at BNL, where I left my favorite jacket. I hope I can find it. Oh well...

Saturday I got up early and ran my best 10 miler since spring. I almost back to where I used to be. I averaged 9:06, which pleased me. I had thought of riding in the afternoon, but the weather was not appealing and I didn't feel great.

Yesterday a small group of us had a nice easy 20 mile ride in the emerging sunshine. It was fun to ride with good friends in a relaxed way. We got to see T-Roy's new Cervelo! Nice! He is going to be quite beastly to a greater degree now. The number of rides before Ironman, along with runs and swims, is now countable.

I hope you have a great day today! I think I will try do all three disciplines again today: shorter ride, 5 mile run, and mile swim this evening. We'll see...

Perspective

Swimming

Actually I know what I actually look like - not the top photo.

Thursday

I have 17 hours to finish!

Good morning! How are you today? I rolled in from Nashville around 6:20 last night and had to teach a class at 7. My transition from travel to teaching involved a quick bite to eat, thanks to Kedra.

My time in Nashville was awesome! I cut my first record, wailing with all the twang I could find about becoming a triathlete. I also got to spend time with a lot of good friends and learn a ton of stuff most would not care about. One of the previous 2 sentences is true.

Anyway, I had a decent 5 miler on Tuesday afternoon. I was going to run a little more Wednesday a.m., but it was raining. It wasn't raining hard, and if I was in the midst of hard training, I would have gone. I'm in taper, so I opted to stay dry.

Today I go to get my bike back from the doctor. I hope to get on it this evening and maybe do a brick workout, probably both ride and run on the short side. Hopefully the sun will come out today. Tomorrow looks good...

Take care and have a great day!

Tuesday

Rand, Brent, Me, Dr. Lucky

Hey, good morning from Nashville, TN! I am attending a conference at Lipscomb University, learning stuff and hanging out with old friends. It's a good way to start taper. I did nothing yesterday in the endurance world, which is fine.

Today I have a window in the afternoon, so I hope to get a 5 mile run in around the streets of Brentwood. Urban running is considerably different from where we usually run. We are blessed to live and train where we live and train.

I hope you have a great day!

Monday

Beautiful Kenray Lake

Good morning! I am headed to Nashville sometime this morning, so I need to give you a quick report before getting organized. Before I leave for Nashville, I am headed to the Bicycle Doctor to get a tune-up for my bike. I will drop my bike off, along with Dr. Lucky's bike.

I had a good weekend of work, the last hard workouts before taper begins. I took Friday off from endurance work. Kedra and I went to Bloomington, after stopping by to see Cora, of course, to celebrate Kedra's birthday. It was a good chance to fuel up for Saturday's activities.

Saturday was my last 20 mile run. It was nothing outstanding, but it was a good, solid run. I did not fade much at the end, so I was pleased by that. It was on the cool windy side but comfortable mostly. After the ride I came home and rested for a while. Then I met Jim and Rand at church for a 50 mile ride. As you can imagine, it was a bit slower than usual. Jim and Rand ran 16 miles Saturday morning. We were all satisfied with "seat time," regardless of speed.

We had fun on the ride and talked a lot about Ironman. I am trying to learn from their prior experiences. It was a bit windy on the ride. We managed it pretty well, mostly riding into it, so we could have a tailwind on the way back.

Yesterday after church and lunch, it was time to head to COLD Kenray Lake. I was really wanting 2 miles. Jim, Rand, and Brent were saying 1 for them. Well, Jim was waffling, saying 1 or 2. I shamed him into 2, for which he was grateful - ha ha. I got my 2 in, numb feet and all. It was my fastest 2 ever, so it serves as a bit of a confidence builder. Jim thought the water temp was just north of 60. I think it was 33 or 34 degrees. Just kidding.

Now taper begins!

I hope you have a great day/week!

Friday

Good morning! I'm not sure if the video I included works, since it is my first effort to put one up in my blog. The video is of Cora walking. She will be 9 months old on the 14th. Watching her walk, and especially watching her crawl a few weeks back, reminds me of my swimming - awkward but productive.

Speaking of swimming, that's what Jimmy and I did yesterday. It took about 3 hours for my feet to warm up afterwards - ha ha. Yes, that water in Kenray Lake is getting cooler by the day. We hope to have one last big swim in the lake on Sunday afternoon. Anybody got foot warmers I can borrow? Everything else stayed warm enough. I did a mile.

Today, and it's not looking too good, if the conditions present themselves, I will try get on my bike for a ride. I could have ridden long yesterday but didn't because of the forecast. Oh well. I got a lot of work done.

Tomorrow morning: 20 miles on the run. Hopefully this will be followed in the afternoon by a medium to long bike ride. I hope it to be one last big day before official taper begins.

I hope you have a great weekend!

Mercy!

Thursday

Good morning! How are you on this Thursday? I'm doing well. Had another pretty good night's sleep, which is such a blessing. I have been blessed with pretty good sleep during this training cycle. I go to bed ridiculously early, but it's the only way I have a shot at 7.5 hours of sleep. I can't seem to sleep past the 5 o'clock hour.

This week was supposed to be one of the biggest weeks of training, a peak before the taper. It's turning out to be more of mid-taper week, but I think it's OK. The weather and schedule have been the biggest problems. Yesterday, stuff just kept getting in the way of getting out. I did end up with a short ride and a short run following. It was not a bad brick.

Today? Who knows? I am going to work like crazy this morning, hoping for some kind of afternoon workout. Dr. Lucky is busy until midday, and then we will check in. I need an open water swim, but a ride would work also. The chance of rain looks to be 50%. Flexible I will try to be. My main focus now, as far as this week is concerned, is cranking out my last 20 mile run on Saturday morning. I need to do it no matter what the weather is. Right now it looks decent.

I am taking my bike to the shop on Monday a.m. for a minor repair and for a tune-up. It's all getting so close and real! Three weeks from Saturday! I am at peace presently and hope to stay that way.

Here's hoping your day goes great!

Wednesday

Hey, good morning! It's Wednesday, and I avoided any camel pictures. Your'e welcome.  The next line contain all the details of all I did in the world of endurance athletics yesterday. Ready? Here it comes:


Yes, that's right, another rest day. A rest day determined by weather and benevolent bus driving. I was filling in on a bus trip for someone who broke a leg. My bus left at 5 p.m. for Oolitic. My thinking all day was, "If I see a sunny, or even dry, window of opportunity, I am going to go ride." You know when the sun showed up, along with the dry? Yes, around 4:30. Oh well. Three of my buddies got a 30 miler in, racing the dark.

I am being forced into taper a little quicker than I wanted, but from everything I read and know, it's fine. I wanted another 100 mile ride. According to the weather forecast, that is not going to happen, which is ok. There is no point in taking risks of crashing or getting sick by riding in the rain.

My hope now is for a long swim tomorrow, before the water gets any colder. Jim is free tomorrow afternoon and is considering it, I think. Don't know what the Crane boys have in mind? Hopefully one way or another I can get a long one in.

My last 20 miler will be Saturday morning. At least that's my plan. Today? It's going to be nice, so I hope to get everything done by early afternoon. I am thinking about a ride and a run. I need to do a few bricks during taper, so now would be a good time to start. I avoided them to this point, due to sore hamstrings. Now is the time, I think.

It's kind of a shame I'm not running this morning. I could have had a clever Strava title about the lunar eclipse. In fact, I need to go begin looking for it. Have a great day!

Tuesday

Persimmon 5K start

Good morning! I hope you are good on this new day, another gift from God. It looks like a wet day, on and off, so the usual Tuesday bike ride is a big question mark at this point. I can't ride at the usual time of 5:45 anyway, but I was hoping to sneak out earlier in the afternoon. I will just have to be on standby. The best riding day is tomorrow, but. . .

Yesterday morning I had one of the best 10 milers I've had in a long time, in spite of the light rain and wind. It was also very dark. I know I am going to finish Ironman in the dark, so this dark running is good for me. It really is different running in the dark. The light eventually came, as it always does.

The day ended with me in the pool at BNL. I did a mile there. I'm still not swimming as well as I would like, but I am getting it done. I know, even at my present pace, I have plenty of time to complete the 2.4 miles of Ironman, which is coming so quickly! Yikes! I've downloaded the Athlete Guide and a nutrition guide. I know my bib number, 2899, so it's all getting very real.

The Give Thanks 4 race is coming up soon, so I am spending a fair amount of time thinking about it, especially trying to promote it. I really enjoy directing it. It is becoming a fairly popular race on the Mag 7 Series circuit.

Busy day ahead... Thanks for stopping by.

Monday

Cora processing sights/sounds of Bedford Half or figuring out why she has to wear that hat

Good morning! Another 10 miler is calling my name, so, once again, a fairly quick post. I am ready for Ironman to happen. I want to get back to normal life and routines, including more relaxed blogging. This is the last week of hard training for me. Up next: taper!

The weekend was good! I went out Friday morning, even though it was threatening rain, and got 10 miles. They were not fast, but when it was over, they were done. See how profound I am? It was a bit misty and very humid and very dark on Friday morning. That coupled with the 100 mile ride on Thursday made it easy to go slow.

Saturday was the Bedford Half marathon. I was a bike escort, and for lots of reasons, I decided to escort the 2nd male. It ended up being a former student of mine for Oakland City U, Kyle Stansbury. I love that kid. He is such a good runner.

He/we toured the course in 1:13:xx. I felt useful out there, moving 5K walkers over and stopping a couple of crazy cars. It was a great experience all the way around. The Bedford Half was amazing. The Galloways and gang did an amazing job. Tim the Elder nearly worked himself to death in the process, but it resulted in a great event for our area.

Ben and Lester both ran the half. Ben wasn't super trained for it, but I am so proud he ran. In the end he broke 2 hours and won an award. Lester was also light on miles but ran an impressive 1:33:xx. It's a challenging course, so those times are really good. Another friend, John H (not Iron John H) ran his first half and had a great run! I loved watching everyone finish well.

I rode around enough on Saturday to get 20 (slow) miles on my bike, which was fine. It was very cold and windy. I was glad to come home and work in my office all Saturday afternoon.

After church yesterday, Brent V took me out to Crane for a swim. Talk about cold - wow! We agreed if the sun had been out it would have been much better. Instead it sprinkled from time to time. It was good to get a mile + in the books though. I'm not sure how many more outdoors swims we can have if the water temp keeps dropping?

This week I am going to take what I can get. My main priority is swimming, which will begin tonight in the pool, and running my last 20 miler. I really would like to get another 100 mile ride in, but the weather may nix that. At this point there is no point in doing something too risky that could lead to a crash.

OK, this turned out longer than I thought. Thanks for stopping by. Time to hit the (dark) streets of Mitchell!

Gettin' Real

Friday

Good morning! It's raining but still warm. I want 10 miles. Hmmm. We'll see...

Yesterday I took off to ride with Jimmy. It would be (was) my 11th 100 miler of the year. I had told Jimmy I wanted to do one more by myself, explaining in a group context, even with one other, you get an advantage of drafting etc. He took the words to heart.

We took off and headed north through the Rabbitsville Rollers, picking up 15 miles before heading south. We did this while it was relatively calm, knowing the south wind would increase as the day unfolded. It would also allow us to turn in Fredricksburg and return without doing a lot of extra loops.

The plan worked pretty well. The south wind did present itself and strongly pretty early. We pushed into for a long time. I noticed Jimmy stayig beside me or behind me almost all the time. Later he told me he wanted me to experience the ride without any help, which I appreciate. With the wind and heat (ironically it was one of the hottest centuries of the 11, on Oct. 2) we did not go super fast.

Bottom line we got the 100 miles with very minimal stopping. I still hope to do another one, I think, but if it doesn't work out, then I think I am fine. We'll see.

Tomorrow I am riding my bike to escort a lead running in the Bedford Half Marathon. This will be fun and interesting, providing a new perspective on a race for me. It is going to be cold! Lester and Ben, along with 600+ others are running it. That's amazing!

Thursday

"I'll do this if you will show me a calf."

Let's see, I believe I missed yesterday, since there was nothing to report about a rest day. Oh, good morning, by the way!

Yesterday saw me back at it, but of course, at the start you could not have seen me, because I was running in the dark. The darkness is lasting longer now, but that's ok. I can find enough light along certain streets to get the job done.

I was a little slower yesterday but still got a good 10 miler in. I was mindful of the 100 mile ride today, which should be the penultimate 100 miler in this training cycle, though I am not exactly sure if/when the last one will happen.

This morning's radar bothers me a bit. They are now talking about a round of rain possible this morning, which would not be good. It looks like it might go north of us? I sure hope so.

Really need to get going...