Awesome Ride Weekend

Welcome to the Great Wide Open!

Well the weather finally got nice enough to go outside and ride for a while, and ride I did!  Saturday I decided to go on and "exploration" ride, just to get out and see what was what in the Fort Riley "Back 40".  Well, what I rally found was a bunch of nothing, which was what I really wanted, nothing but smooth roads and lots of them!  Check!

I headed out north and out the ECP (entry control point) and road a nice roller coaster west to Old 77 Highway, which was a nice two lane blacktop that was generally flat and empty, and turned north and rode on out.  I noticed that I was averaging over 25 mph, and I thought "Wow, I am good", until I realized it was the tailwind and not totally me :(.  But I enjoyed that while I was northbound and even snapped this picture as well as the one above:

Taken at about 22 mph, maybe not the best idea!

I realized how easy it was when I turned and took the wind right into my right side and it literally took the wind out of my sails.  I was a nice ride out there with still nothing to resemble civilization out there as you can see below, so I stopped to take these pictures, grab a swig of water, and check my GPS to make sure I was in fact on the right road (the absence of road signs was the rule out here).

I was watching out for tanks at the tank crossing signs!

I can see for miles and miles!  Wait, is that Nebraska over there? I hear that it's nice.

Had to add a little "Walking Dead"!

Well after this little stop, I ended doing a little bit of climbing and found a real long, steep climb and decided to get out of the big ring, and made it to the top and about hacked up a lung at the top (wow, I'm out of shape!), and I tried to get back to the big rind, but my shifter wouldn't get it back over far enough (guess my cable had stretched too much), so I stopped and hand-jammed it back on the big ring and decided not to drop down to the little ring again, so I motored on.

On the back side of the ranges, I found a couple of descents and they we awesome, despite heading into the wind now, since the wind was blowing at 20-25 from the south southwest, but I still managed a nice tuck heading down.  I ended up getting to an intersection that had fencing and gates on 5 sides.  WTF?  Who does this?  Oh yeah, the Army, go figure.  Well I ended up with two choices, ride back to where the fences began and go around them, or slide thru the gate, which was wide enough for my big butt and then I'd would have had to lift my bike over the gap in the gate.  Guess which one I did?  Well I'm not telling, but that pissed me off to no end!  Here is a picture once I was on the other side of the gate.

Note lack of smile and narrow gap in fence.

Well after that little setback, I continued on until I reached the Ogden ECP, and entered post again and this is where I finally saw traffic, people, buildings since I started out on my ride.  Like I said, I set out to find nothing and accomplished that!

But I ended up with a good deal of sun on my face, a 32 mile ride, which despite starting out the first hour at about 19 mph average, I ended up with an over all 16.75 mph average for 1:53:22 total ride time!  Not too bad!  And I know that there is a freaking fence on one of my routes, so I know not to go that way again, and yes, I wore long sleeves because it was "only" in the mid 60s, but this coming week, it looks like 80s!  Oh yeah!  Going to start working on that biker tan lines here this week!  Well hope you all had a great weekend too!  Keep the rubber side down!

Well there's good news and there's bad news...

Well I FINALLY went to the doctor's to get my hip (and stiff neck) checked out after, oh say, a month and a half (I know, I know, older I get the slower I heal, I'm not Wolverine afterall!) and after a bunch of poking and prodding, and 10 or so X Rays (I guess I got the bulk discount), I am on a running profile until this Thursday when I get a reevaluation. Awesome (note the sarcasim). Well at least I talked her into letting me ride and swim (with pull buoy) and I got a nice scrip for Naproxen (love it!)

I never missed not running until I was told I CAN'T run, now I am stir-crazy to go running. Case in point: this weekend was the monthly Ft Bragg Family 5k run/walk and I HAD to walk it. It was a fun walk, but I would much rather ran it, but I was a good patient and followed doctor's orders. So relaxed a bit on Saturday, and planned an epic bike ride for when I get back from vacation around the ranges and drop zones of Bragg (60 miles of open roads!). I capped it with a nice 13 mile ride on Sunday morning, and now just getting ready for the work week.

Oh almost forgot, got to do a water jump (for the non-airborne speakers among us, I purposely jumped from an aircraft while in flight with a parachute into a lake) on Thursday. I'll get a few pictures posted, since it was a fun time, and also zero impact on the joints, so all in all, a perfect jump!

But next week is going to be busy with packing, getting new tires for the wife's truck, anniversary (!!), wife's birthday and race on Saturday, not to mention a long drive back to Michigan! And that is just one week! But I am stoked about racing at Gull Lake on Saturday, and I hope the lack of run / swim won't kill my buzz for this (and might have to adjust my goals for this race too!) so, just got a lot on my plate.

I promise some more pictures of the jump, so stand by!

Hectic Weeks!

Well, since my last post, seems that half of North Carolina (and many other states) were nearly wiped off the face of the earth by tornados, including Fayetteville, which is still cleaning up. So my plans have been very weather dependant the last week and a half.

I did finally get a new seat for my tri-bike, and it makes the world of difference! Rode it 40 miles with Keith, and only minor discomfort, unlike the "who put a lit flamethrower in my chamois" feeling from the stock seat that came with the bike. But gearing up to my next two races, Riverwood this weekend and White Lake Sprint next weekend! This is going to be fun, just need to get into my wetsuit and swim with it once or twice. I am not worried about the open water aspect, just the feeling of swimming in a wetsuit.

And I took my semiannual Army Physical Fitness Test, which I did fine on, just need to work the situps, which I HATE with a passion, but the run was a nice time trial, clocking a 13:24 two-mile run, so not too bad. Felt good to do it and get it over with, just hate doing them is all.

I need to get some photos up, because I know I suck as an author, so I need funny pictures to distract everyone from my prose! But looking forward to IRL meetups with other folks I have met on the internet from facebook, beginner triathlete, daily mile or athlinks, since I know I will probably never win Kona, but I love to meet new folks, especially who like to tri like I do. So if you see a race that you are doing that is on my list, look for the short tri dude and say "Hi" to me, I love to chat with fellow athletes!

Take care and hope the weather holds for a bit more so I can sneak another run in today!

It's FRIDAY!

Ok, now how many people started to hear *that* horrible song in their heads? (Don't know what I am talking about, go here) But after that song haunts you on many levels, this week was an interesting one as far as training. Did a few 6 mile runs (one in the dark, not too fun there), tried to get to the pool on Thursday, but the pool had the yellow "crime scene" tape around the front door, which I think was a warning to me, so Thursday was a wash on the training side, but I did get to do some heart rate training, I jumped yesterday. For those not familiar with Army Airborne Operations, we conduct static line aircraft exits, NOT military free-fall (those are the SF guys that get to do that). Basically, we get into an aircraft, hook our static line (which is hooked to our chutes) to the aircraft, and walk out the open door when we are told too. It is more fun than it sounds, because you get to control your chute to the ground. But ok, I got to jump yesterday and again, proved that gravity does work. Yeaaa me! This weekend will be a fun high-mileage fest (if the rain holds off), culminating with a long ride with a new internet buddy, Keith (who wants to ride 90 miles) but I only planned for 26 miles so I am going to ride for about 2 hours because of other commitments, but I think I will start programming longer rides with him for the weekends (he has completed a bunch of Iron and half Iron races), so I hope I can hang with him and not slow him down too much! Well, gotta finish up my work for today so I can enjoy my weekend! Hope everyone has a great and fun weekend training and racing!

Weekend Update and a look ahead

Well, this last weekend was fun, I actually ate some ice cream (and then remembered why I don't anymore!) saw a really bad movie (WARNING: Don't go see "Your Highness" unless you want to: a) kiss 14 bucks goodbye, b) not laugh. Once. Or at all., or c) sit with a bunch of lit up kids laughing at anything/everything) Just sad what is passed off as a movie these days...

Well got out on the roads this weekend, to include a nice ride from one side of Fort Bragg to the house, a nice 27 mile jaunt. But I really amped up my bike this week, but ignored the run and swim, so gotta get back in balance this week!

But last week, I just about made 100 miles total, even with 6 "red marks" on the wall (my "Red marks" are workouts that I planned but didn't execute, either at all or the full workout), so that was a lot of missed opportunities, and thru today, I have one already (missed my swim on Monday night). Not a good start. But just have to get re-centered since i am not racing until 30 April now (Riverwood Sprint in Clayton, NC), so gotta get back in the saddle.

The plus side of concentrating on the bike this last week was that I got FAST on the bike. My climbing is getting back to where it was, and I am really hammering the flats too. Maybe I need to find some bike races this summer, since I am doing 5k / 10k / half marys, open water swims, and triathlons, might as well get the hat trick by bike racing. I have always loved that.

Well, here is what the week ahead looks like:

Tuesday - 6 mile run
Wednesday - 6 mile run
Thursday - 6 mile run; 1500 yards swim
Friday - 20 mile bike; 6 mile run; 1500 yard swim (god, that will be a LONG day)
Saturday - 10 mile run; 12 mile bike
Sunday - 6 mile run; 18 mile bike

That will take me over 100 miles this week, so that will be a busy time for me, perhaps I need to start training with a group or something. Hmmmm.

Well, only 6 more weeks to my first half marathon, and right now the goal is to finish in under 2 hours. I am sure that I can do that, but I just want to have a good goal out there, since I have never run a half before. And next week, I will start publishing my mileage, so you can compare my planned / actual distances.

Later all!

USO Run for the Troops 5k Race Report

Well, this is my last 5k for a while, which means I can sleep in a little on Saturdays, but I am a sucker for running for a cause, so go figure! Luckily this was a local race also, so that would help!

Saturday turning into a busy day with a race in the morning, then went to the Gun Show (not the "Gun Show", a real one), took the wife to the range to fire her new pistol and then dinner and a movie at night (She went to a play with a friend and I went to a movie with the friends son!), so that was a fun day. Well, on to the race report.

We got to the race somewhat early, since it was 15 minutes from my door, so we got there so I could pick up my packet, stretch and all that good stuff. The temps were a bit on the chilly side, right around 39-42*, so a bit cool, so I opted to wear the long sleeve shirt to race in, but it was nice and sunny.

The race was to benefit the USO of North Carolina, which was the first USO ever, and since they do not accept federal funds, they have to take donations, which is an awesome cause, because they do so much for the troops, both home and deployed. But the turnout was really good, with 320 runners and probably twice that walking, so a rather large race for the area. Nice!

Well I wasn't in my comfort zone since I forgot my heart rate strap and sunglasses, so I wasn't all warm and fuzzy, but I would get by. Glad I took my Claritin, because the azaleas, dogwoods and pine were a polinatin' and with out it I would have been a big, snotty mess. But I warmed up and headed to the start / finish line.

Well the line up was interesting, I was sandwiched between a bunch of bunnies (sorry guys, not Playmate bunnies, dudes with bunny ears) and a lady with no pants (she was old and wearing the "Speedo" style bottoms). Well the gun went off and I bolted out with the lead pack of about 20-30 and we cruised thru Fayetteville Tech's campus until we got to the first turn, which the leaders (about 15-18) went straight and I was in third (briefly!) until the lead pack figured it out. The lack of direction and course marking was going to be a reoccuring theme, so get ready for it!

I was feeling not bad and keeping within eyesight of the leaders on the winding roads near the campus and hung tough when someone passed me, I would get back with them immediately. I was moving well and not feeling too bad. I saw the leaders pass the waterpoint / turn around point (it was briefed at the pre-race) but I guess the volunteers didn't know to tell folks to turn around, and the two leaders blazed by them and most everyone turned at the waterpoint as the leaders came running back. Well, at least we know that there were no more surprises on the way back!
At around mile 2 1/2, I was getting a bit tired and lost my focus for a bit, but quickly regained it and kept motoring on. I figured that I was going to make my final push at the last turn (about 1/2 mile to the finish) until I passed the 3 mile mark. I really got confused then. So I went a bit early, and figured that the course was mismarked a bit, so I eased up to save that last match for the kick at the end.

I slowly rolled on the steam after the corner and passed a few more folks, but couldn't catch that last guy in front of me (he ended up being the 1st place in my age group), but I hit stop on my watch and looked at the time, 23:22, and thought, "Wow, I thought I was faster than that!", then looked at the distance, which was 3.54 miles. Whoops, just a little long there! A bunch of the guys that finished in front of me were bitching and complaining, but I looked at the map before the race and knew the turns, and even knew the turnaround point (race briefing), so even though the race was longer than advertised, they had all the information about the race, if they had paid attention. But oh well, I ran my race.

I jogged over to the port-o-lets and then back by the vendors, MuscleMax and the Spa, who was giving massages (which of course I took!) and then waited for the results (20th overall, and 2nd in my AG, by 5 seconds) and collected my medal and thanked the volunteers (USO, Purolator Employees, and the Red Cross) and headed out.

So not too bad of a race, just a little long, but like they say, everyone had to run the same distance. Guess I am not going to race until the end of the month at the Riverwood Sprint Triathlon in Clayton, so I can work on training and getting my ride and swim up to par now. But all is well! Take care everyone and I'll post a weekly workout list later today!

Raleigh Run the Ridge 5k Race Report

Well not sure what happened to the heat, but this weekend was REALLY cold, but that didn't stop me from racing this weekend. I ran the Run the Ridge 5K with a friend of mine, Kindra Arthur and it was for a great cause, the Pretty in Pink foundation, which supports cancer patients by paying their hospital bills if they can't afford it with insurance. I love good causes and I think this one ranks right up there. Well I got up early (for a weekend) and drove over to Kindra's house, forgetting my breakfast on the counter, and got there at about 0630, so we could drive up to Raleigh together. Got to meet her pups (which were hyper) and her friend, Wendy, who was on the mend and didn't race. Well we loaded up and got on the road. It didn't take us too long to get up there, but we started to have problems with the GPS and took a few extra turns to get to the race site.

Of course, since I didn't get my breakfast, I had a breakfast burrito and a Slim Jim for my meal, yum! We got there and got out, noting that it was colder here than in Fayetteville, and got our race numbers and chips, I ended up with #13 (not too forbodding or anything!), so we stretched, warmed up and went to the big blue church to worship, and we were ready. One of the locals told us that this course was hilly, beginning with a 1/2 mile up hill stretch and that you were either running up hill or downhill, no flat spots, awesome! Well, that turned out to be true, as I started the race about in 10th or so, and hit the first of many hills, and wow, it too the wind out of a bunch of folks sails. But I powered up the hill and noticed a tiny female ahead of me, so I had my eyes set on her to pick off and she was hanging tough until about the 1 mile mark, where my strength up hill and my body weight downhill overcame her youth, but she was tough to catch and pass. After passing her, I had just two guys ahead of me, so I wanted to keep them in sight and hope to make up some ground on them. But with all the up and down hills, I couldn't close the gap fast enough, even when the guy in second kept looking back for me, I knew he was hurting, but I couldn't quite get there. The best part was the end of the race, with a nice half mile downhill, which was very welcome. I ended up setting a new PR again, with a 20:54 despite all the hills, so I can't wait until I hit some flat roads again, and best yet, got a podium finish (3rd, but they didn't have a podium, sad face). But again, finished 2nd in my age group, so 3rd overall and 2nd in age group, oh well. It was a fun race, and Kindra ended up winning her age group, despite everyone after 6th place took a wrong turn. But the tiny girl that I passed, she was age 12! And the guy behind her was 13! Man, makes you feel old, since their combined ages still don't equal my age! Yikes!

But I talked to her father (who was originnaly from Michigan) and she is getting ready for high school cross country. Me thinks she will do just fine if she runs like that. But the even better part was post-race breakfast at O'Malley's Pub. Some of the best pancakes that I have tasted in a while, yum! And like always, I didn't hurl at the finish line! Yea me! Well guess I have to keep training to keep dropping that time down, but I hate the cold wet weather of spring!

The ABC Game

Well, since most of the other blogs I read have done these, and I'm a bit bored right now, so here we go...

Age: 37 (feels much, much older)

Bed size: Just upgraded to a King, and still have no room thanks to Harley

Chore you dislike: The stuff I don’t like / am motivated to do.

Dogs: Harley (aka Bed Hog Supreme)

Essential start to your day: Letting Harley out for her morning “business”

Favorite color: Red

Gold or silver: Gold

Height: 5'4 and change

Instruments you play: French Horn (long time ago)

Job title: Staff Dude

Kids: Just the ones I drop off at the pool

Live: Fort Bragg, NC

Mom's name: Mary Ann

Nickname: Drew

Overnight hospital stay: When I was born, but numerous visits

Pet peeves: Wow, where to start… Mainly involve other peoples driving habits

Quote from a movie: “You’re gonna need a bigger boat” Jaws

Righty or lefty: Righty

Siblings: 1 brother, Ryan

Time you wake up: 7:30am

Underwear: Underarmor

Vegetables you don't like: Spinach and Asparagus.

What makes you run late: I’m in the Army, running late is a BAD thing

Xrays you had: Tibia, ankle

Yummy food you make: Hmmm, Hot pockets

Zoo animal favorites: Monkeys, except the poo flinging kind!

Well there is your TMI for the day, and looks like I will be racing tomorrow in Raleigh at the Run the Ridge 5K, IN THE RAIN, but oh well, it will be fun, then Hockey with the Fireantz! Fun stuff! We will see how that works out!

Weekend Update (and mini-race Report!)

Well another weekend down, they really should make them all 3 day weekends! Oh well, it was a fun weekend all and all, plus I got points for helping in the garden with the wife! Bonus! And I only really wussed out on one workout, so that wasn't so bad.

Friday after work, took a nice 12 mile ride on the Jamis, which was a little longer using a new Pope AAF (AFB) since the gates are now open, but the roads leading there are VERY bumpy, so might have to find a better way of getting there without mixing my innards up like a blender! Nice!

Woke up early (read: 0815) and jogged over to Hendrix Stadium on post for the Moral, Welfare, and Recreation Monthly Family 5K fun run. I hadn't done one, so I figured that it would be a good speed workout, so why not. Jogged over and stretched a bit more and at 0900 on the dot, the "race" was on! I went out at a good pace, keeping the leaders in sight, luckily the first 1/4 to 1/2 mile was downhill, so that was a nice leg stretcher. But with every good thing, the universe must have a bad thing to balance itself out, so the next half mile was completly uphill, so sad face, but I wasn't too effected by it. I actually made up ground on folks there, so that was a good thing. I just tried to maintain a nice easy pace and keep moving forward. Once I got back to the stadium, you head downhill a little bit and finish on the track (after running 3/4 of a lap). Despite my leasurely outlook on this "race", I ended up crossing the line at 21:08, a new PR. Wow not bad for just taking it easy! I walked around, was told I was top-10 (doesn't get you anything), drank some gatorade and jogged back to the house.

In the evening, I took the QR out for a ride, riding the Pope Loop twice for 18 miles, which felt good, but wears me out some what. I rode without the aero bottle, but glad I took a water bottle as it was warm. Came home, helped in the yard, and relaxed for the night.

Sunday was fun, took Harley to one of the drop zones and let her chase birds and run crazy (she always looks forward to Sundays for this reason). I always record how far we go, so the humans walk about a mile, but Har ends up about 1 1/2 miles from all the running she does. It makes her happy and tired. We got home watched some hoops and the race, fell asleep for 3 hours (all of us) and then hit the road for another Pope Double, this time on the Jamis. Not bad, but about 2-2 1/2 mph slower (no aero). So all in all, another good weekend!

I'd also like to thank Ken, my first real follower (I thought a week ago I had a follower, but it was just myself, oops, no friends!), so THANKS! And let's look at this weeks workouts:

Monday: Run 4 miles, swim 2000yards
Tuesday: Run 5 miles, jump out of airplane, $1 bowling night!
Wednesday: Run 5 miles, Moe's Wednesday!, Survivor night
Thursday: Run 5 miles, swim 2000yards
Friday: Run 5 miles, swim 1800yards
Saturday: Race in Raleigh (Run the Ridge 5K); long 30mile Bike
Sunday: Run 12 miles, bike 12 miles

Sounds like a full week for me, but if I keep getting faster, it is worth it. Now if I can just lose some more weight to get even faster... Enjoy your week everybody! And check the Azalea post, I will have pictures in there!

Nice Weekend!

Well talk about your nice weekends! Saturday, Jen and I rode out to Vass and picked up her new pistol, and then I got to go to Cary to pick up my new bike. BTW, make sure you update your GPS, or it WILL play a trick on you and have you drive 7 miles out of your way, just to turn you around and send you in the right direction. Awesome.

But I arrived at Inside Out Sports (which will now be referred to as "My Tri Mecca"), because once I walked in, I was blown away by the selection they had in there. Wow, too bad it is a almost 2 hour ride to get up there! But Justin helped fit me on my new Quintana Roo Tequilo and even helped fix my form up a little bit. Needless to say, my form kinda sucks, but hope the little hints and tweaks help. I even took the new ride for a quick spin to test it out, so no major faults, guess it was time to check out. But OF COURSE, I had to shop a little bit while up there, and found a few things that I needed.

Decided to take the new bike out for a longer shakedown ride, and boy was that painful. Rode the Longstreet Range loop, a nice 26 mile rolling hill ride, and despite having the bike fitted to me, my nether regions we NOT fit for the task. OUCH! Despite the minor rub (read: hamburger like consistence) down under, the bike was sweet, but still have to get used to aero, but while in aero, I get at least 3 mph fast (and into a headwind no less), so that has me excited for racing it later in March.

All in all, not too bad, even helped the wife with some gardening, vacuumed the car out, it was a nice weekend.

Workouts for this week:
Monday - 3 mile run, nice and easy 8:00-8:30 pace
Tuesday - 3 mile run - 7:30-8:00 min pace; swim 1000-1300 yds
Wednesday - 5 mile run
Thursday - 3 mile run - 7:30-8:00 min pace; swim 1000-1300 yds
Friday - Off
Saturday - 8 mile Long, slow Run; Swim 1600yds
Sunday - 16 mile bike; 3 mile run (Brick); T2 practice

Pictures of the new bike (Elenor) to follow! Enjoy your week!