I had the opportunity to ride outside for the first time this past weekend.  I was the guy at the Shamrock Shuffle leading the 5k run on my bike.  I didn’t catch the exact time that the winner crossed the finish like- but the clock read 16- something. That’s fast!  Not even too shabby on a bike, considering the hills on the course.  I can comfortably run about 8 minute miles- so when the winner finished, I would have still had a little over a mile to go.  That’s fast.

I used the excuse of leading the run to get out and ride a little more on Sunday.  So I rode from home to the race, rode the course once to make wure I knew where I would be leading people (I recently heard a story of a lead biker taking runners in the wrong direction), lead the race and then had a nice causual ride home for a total of 26 miles.  Not huge- but a nice first time out.

And now that the “first time out” is out of the way- I’m back to communting to/from work.  Not every day yet, but I have done the commute a couple days this week.  Just 2 small complaints- 1) it’s a little cold in the morning when I leave home, and 2) the sun doesn’t come up early enough to make it a long commute and still get to work at a decent time.  But that’s coming.

My regular weekend running group is meeting in Middleton this weekend, so I was asked to plan the route.  My initial plan was to do the Pheasant Branch Conservancy Loop first, followed by a longer, 9 mile loop.  With all the rain we’ve been having, I feared that the Conservancy loop might be a sloppy, muddy mess, so I wanted to run it once before I took all my friends out on it.

I hope they want to come back sometime in the Summer and run in Middleton, because it really is a beautiful route.

But it’s nearly impassable right now.  Nearly- I was able to run it.  From my house, the first half of the loop is all wooded.  In those wooded areas the snow has partially melted and then froze solid.  Of course through that process people have run, walked, snow-shoed and skied on it, so it’s not even a smooth icy surface.

Once you come out of the wooded areas, it’s perfect- the ground is a little soft from all the rain, but really it just made for a more comfortable run.  But the ice in the woods more than out-weighed the nice second half of the loop.

Had to get out of bed and workout this morning- yesterday morning when the alarm went off, I had every intention of getting up and getting on the bike.  But I didn’t, I slept in until 6 and then got up and read for an hour (exercising my mind!).  Tonight I’ll miss my cycling class, so I HAD to get up early and ride  this morning.

So I set the trainer in front of the TV, turned on the news and cranked out an hours worth. The cat was a little confused- I had my road bike on the trainer this morning- usually I have the tri-bike on the trainer and I put a pillow on top of the aerobars- the cat sits on the pillow and rides with me. No aerobars on the road bike, so no pillow, so this morning she just stared at me wondering why? I tried to tell her that I had the wrong bike for her to ride along- but she wasn’t buying it.

A friend and training partner wanted to go for a ride last weekend- I asked her if she was going to take HER expensive bike out on the salty roads?  She said she would if I would.  We both chickened out.  I was a little jealous when I saw all the people out riding last weekend- but I think it’s better in the end to hold off for another week.

My paranoia stems from a conversation I had several years ago with a coworker who was a big motorcycle racer.  After a beautiful late Winter/early Spring weekend, I asked if he got his bike out.  He looked at me as if I was crazy and then explained that his bike doesn’t come out until after 2 good rainfalls.  He’s not going to let all the salt on the road ruin his bike.

I figure my bike is probably a bit more fragile than his, so I’ve used that same measuring stick ever since- the bike stays on the trainer, indoors until after the second good rainfall.  So while the rest of the world is hating this weather- I’m walking around with a huge smile on my face, knowing that this weekend- the bike does come off the trainer and I’m out on the road again!

Strength training is starting to come along.  Still not my favorite activity- but I have figured out that there are two reasons for this…
 
1) Too long before I see results.  I’m in my 3rd week and I don’t look ripped, I know that’s not a reasonable expectation, but 3 weeks into running, I could actually run a mile or two, it felt like I was progressing.  This doesn’t feel like there is any progress.

2) I like to sweat.  I sweat a little with strength training- but nothing like an hour on a bike or running.  After a soccer game I can wring out my shirt.  Not the case after lifting.

I did add a little twist to the routine this morning- doing the last set of each exercise on top of a bosu ball (that funny half-exercise ball- flip it over so the flat side is up and try to stand on it).  Really made me concentrate on my core.

This morning was the last class of the current Masters Swim Class at Harbor Athletic.  We usually do some sort of timed set for the last class- in order to see our improvement from session to session.

Today was no exception…

2700 yards- including a 1000 yard timed set.  Wasn’t fast (22 minutes), wasn’t pretty on that timed set- but I made it through.  I lost track of my laps somewhere around lap 15- from there I figured I would finish 1 lap behind my friend Julie- so when I saw her standing at the end of the lane, I’d swim 1 more lap. 

We thought about doing another 300 after the timed set- just make it an even 3000- that’s become the usual routine whenever we are close to 3000 in class, but it was getting too late.

I think I have my slowness narrowed down to 2 things- 1) Lengthing my stroke.  I actually feel like I’m doing this, but Derek (the instructor/coach) keeps yelling at me to lengthen my stroke, so I must have some more work to do on that.  2) My absolutley pathetic kick!  I can’t kick!  We did a series of 3×200 pull sets and I was able to keep up just fine.  Take the pull buoy away and make me kick and I get lapped about 700 yards into a 1000 yard set.  I can’t kick!

At cycling class last night Kristin was wearing a “Dailymile” shirt.  Having seen the logo before on facebook, but not knowing what it was all about, I asked her about it.  Turns out it’s a facebook-like site just for athletes.  You can post your workouts there (and it keeps a running total of your miles), you can find training partners, you can find people to motivate you in your training, etc.    She also mentioned “meet-ups” and explained that sometimes all the Dailymile people from Madison get together and have a drink.  I’m in!

Dailymile also syncs with facebook- so when you post on Dailymile that you ran 5 miles this morning- it automatically posts that to your facebook page.

Just what I need- another obession!  But I had to do it.  As soon as I got home from class I fired up the computer and registered on Dailymile.com.  I also set it up to sync up with my other obsession- facebook.  And while I was doing that I noticed something odd.  You know on the right side of your facebook page it lists suggested friends?  Stella McCartney was there. 

Yes- that Stella McCartney. 

Paul’s daughter. 

I said something to my wife who reminded me that she is a fashion designer and maybe they were suggesting that I become a fan of hers.  NOPE- facebook thinks Stella McCartney and I would be good friends (o.k.- they said nothing about being “good” friends- but still).  So I took facebook’s advice and requested Stella’s (we’re on a first name basis now- or at least in my mind) friendship.  Still waiting to hear back from her.

And while I wait- I workout.  And post my workouts on Dailymile.com.  This morning I posted a 2700 yard swim.

After that swim I could really go for one of those “meet-ups.” 

Maybe Stella will join us.

Michael McDermott played a really cool show at the High Noon Saloon last night- performing his classic debut album, “620 West Surf” in it’s entirety.  This was an idea that I had a couple of months ago and Michael agreed to do it- but we never really got a chance to talk about how it would work. 

It was an early show, so I rushed over to the High Noon as soon as I got off the air- Michael came out to greet me and that’s where I first suggested that I spend the entire set up on stage with him- interrupting the show whenever I felt that it was appropriate to talk to him abut the songs.  He loved the idea and 20 minutes later we were on stage, explaining to the audience how it was going to work.

I was a bit nervous- as I had left all my notes about the album sitting on my desk in my office at work.  So I worked from memory and Michael’s set-list.  If you have ever seen how a musician writes a set-list, it’s usually just key words, phrases or even initials- Cheap Trick writes “IWYTWM” for “I Want You To Want Me” – the fans know what it means, but for the casual observer to look it the list- they would never be able to figure out what’s going on.  Luckily I’ve been a fan and friend of Michael’s for about 20 years now.  But still- when “Mr. Simmons’” came up on the set-list, how was I to remember that the full title of the song is “Mr. Simmons’ Arkansas Christmas Blues?”  Luckily Michael decided that he didn’t want to play that one- so it really didn’t matter.

I did learn a few things last night- like I had no idea that Bruce Hornsby played on the original album, or that Glen Phillips of Toad The Wet Sprocket is also on the album.  And there was a line in the song “Shadow of the Capitol” that I finally got to ask about- and I found out that the line goes…

“…ministers of munipulation telling me my dreams are NULL” 

I never could figure out the word “NULL” 

If you missed the show last night- there’s another chance to see Michael with his full band next Wednesday night, also at the High Noon Saloon.  This time I’m sure he’ll play some songs from “620″ along with newer stuff too.

I mentioned a few days ago that I started doing some strength training.  Which brought the question…”why now?” 

Which I guess is a good question. 

It was about 10 years ago that I gave up my very comfortable life as a couch-potato and decided to do something athletic.  Since that time, I’ve ridden in 4 AIDS Rides, 1 MS Ride, done 2 Half-Ironmans, 2 Ironmans, 2 more Marathons and a whole bunch of shorter distance races and rides. 

But never in the last ten years did I pay any attention to strength training. 

Never cared.

Until now.

So why the change? 

Last weekend after our run, a bunch of us were having breakfast and talking about the weight loss and gain that goes with the kind of training that we’ve been doing.  I mentioned that I was looking for a shirt to wear one morning – I held up two choices and my wife pointed out that one of them was hers and it would never fit.  Actually, I had already tried on that shirt and it fit just fine.  Maybe it’s time to bulk up a little- I mean, I fit in my wife’s little clothes…yes, I mean LITTLE clothes- I’ve made fun of the fact that she can shop in the kids department.  And I now fit in those clothes. 

Time to bulk up.

I finished telling the story and a friend reminded me of a bike ride last Spring.  We started the morning with a time-trial race.  It was about a 10 mile race and I dressed appropriately for the race.  I didn’t dress appropriately for the 40 mile ride that a bunch of us decided to do after the race.  It was a cold Spring morning and I was in short sleaves and bike shorts.  My friend Susan raced in the morning, but had family stuff and couldn’t do the longer ride with us.  Susan insisted that if I was going to ride, I needed to be dressed warmer- so she handed me her vest and arm warmers.  If Susan is 100 lbs, I’d be shocked.  No way am I fitting into her clothes.  Or so I thought.  Susan’s stuff fit me just fine.

Time to bulk up.

When both Susan and Laura’s clothes fit me just fine- it’s time to bulk up.

So,  I’ve started adding strength training to my routine.  I’ll let you know how that goes.

As I left for work yesterday morning- I told my wife that I was going to do one of 4 things after work…

1) Run – either to our house or to her Karate class (about 4-5 miles, either way)

2) Drive to her Karate class & take part in the class – I do that from time to time when they are doing core work…I hate core work, so a class makes it a bit more bearable.

3) Drive to Harbor Athletic and actually force myself to do some strength training…I hate strength training even more than I hate core work.  So I just don’t do it.

4) Drive home and sit on the couch watching TV and drinking a glass of wine.

Before I even finished with the choices, Laura said “strength training…you need to do the strength training.”  That’s how often I DON’T do strength training- my wife is telling me I NEED to do it.

So I settled on (or she settled on) strength training. 

So as I was wrapping up my workday, I asked Sarah- our promotions director and resident strength training expert- what to do.  Sarah put together a nice circuit of exercises for me – describing and demonstrating each one as best she could without weights in front of her.

So I headed to Harbor- a little scrap of paper with Sarah’s notes in hand.  And I found that it’s not nearly as intimidating as I had feared.  Sarah had me starting with some pretty light weights- she figured I could bench-press 40 pounds- and she was right- I may have even been able to do more…but let’s not get too carried away.

So I did Sarah’s circuit (hey, that’s what I’ll call it from now on- “Sarah’s Circuit”) and went out to the loby to sit and wait for my wife to get back from her Karate class.  I sat reading a magazine- my arms shaking from all the work I had just done.  Today I’m sore- but my wife tells me that’s a good thing. 

I think it’s one of those “no pain, no gain” things.