Sunny Outlook

Sorry I was crabby Jeff yesterday.  I am back to my normal sarcastic, non-angry self.  The A/C is fixed and my foot is living the dreamy existence of being surrounded by the delightful Moleskin.

I have my first Triathlon on Saturday and check out the weather forecast for the entire weekend:

How awesome is that?

Today was a solid training day.  I got in 2500 meters at the pool and 22 miles n the bike.  I destroyed myself with intervals in the pool and then again on the bike.  I am toast right now!

Getting ready to go watch LOST on the DVR and slam a recovery drink- VERY EXCITED to watch LOST!!!!

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff

Monday = FAIL

Have you ever had one of those days when you should have never even got out of bed?  Today was that day for me.

Aside from the Pirates crushing the Dodgers 11-5, today just sucked!

First, the air conditioning in the house decided to stop working.  We live in Houston.  It was 82 degrees at 7:30am  in my living room!!!  The best part is that we have TWO air conditioning units.  One for the upstairs and one for the downstairs.  And both of them quit working.  A/C repair is not cheap.  Good times! Bye, Bye new road bike.

Then my accountant called to let me know that my taxes were complete. Our Government is not cheap.   Bye, Bye Carbon Race Wheels.

After driving over 200 miles I finally made it home and decided I was going to try and run without socks for my planned 30 minute tempo run. No socks will equal a faster transition time.  It actually started out great.  My first two miles were done in 12:50 and I was feeling extremely strong. This crummy day was turning around for the better!  Then at about the 2.5 mile point I started to feel some minor irritation on my back right heel.  Then the minor irritation started to hurt.  My right foot was really hurting and around the 4 mile mark I sat down on the curb and took my shoe off.  Yep, I had rubbed off skin on the heel and on part of my arch.  It was raw and I needed to stop or it was going to get really bad.

Well, I was approximately 1.5 miles from my house.  I had left my cell at home and the A/C guy was going to be at the house in 15 minutes.  And no way could I even walk with the shoe on my right foot.  Sooooo ... I walked home barefoot! Took off both shoes and tried to avoid all little pebbles and other road debris.  I have no idea how people do the barefoot running thing?

Got a nice little hour on the trainer tomorrow planned and another hour of intervals in the pool in the evening.

At least 24 was half decent tonight!

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff

100 Push Up Challenge ... Week 3

We are starting Week 3 of the 100 Push Up Challenge.  If you have made it this far give yourself a big old fist pump.  Maybe a little Woot-Woot!  You have earned it!  Personally I am seeing some nice improvements in my guns.  This program is hard but we are all doing it!

Ok, now that you have completed 2 weeks you are supposed to do an exhaustion test and make a note of how many you do and this is your new max number.  Use this number to choose your Week 3 column.  Here is what the 100 Push Up people say:

Don't forget, now you've completed Week 2, it's time to take an exhaustion test. Perform as many good-form push ups as you can manage before you physically can't do another one. Make a note of how many push ups you complete, and move on to Week 3. Hope you're ready for the next level!

Here is what the Week 3 Schedule looks like:

I am going to move into Week 4 instead of repeating Week 3 again.  I am ready for the bigger numbers.

Also, I am thinking about doing a max rep test in the next couple of minutes just to see how I do.  I'll post the results if I end up doing that.

Have a great week everyone!

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff

Sunday Morning Ramblings ....

Only got a few minutes to post before I have to leave for the Easter Brunch.  When did brunch become so important on Easter anyway?  My wife said it is because it gives women a chance to dress cute and take pictures ... she might be right?

• Yesterday was a fun training day.  We had the club Duathon in the morning.  It was a 2 mi run followed by a 13 mi bike ride followed by another 2 mi run.  Annie participated and did very well.  Every time I saw her she had a big smile on her face.  One of the ladies in the group, Karen, stayed with Annie through the entire event.  That was a very nice thing for her to do so Thank you Karen!

• I am not sure of my times in the Du.  I was the second runner in on the first leg with a 12:39 time (6:19/mi pace) and then I had some issues on the bike.  I started pedaling and my legs felt sooo heavy.  I was having trouble pushing 17mph on the flat out of the park. But the effort I was putting in should of had me in that 22-23mph range?  The back of the bike just had a weird heavy feeling? I am thinking maybe I just blew myself up on the run? About 2 miles in you start down a long hill and I could barely get the bike up to 17mph in aero going downhill?  Okay, something was wrong?  I kept hearing a slight "whoosh" sound so at the bottom of the hill I jumped off the bike and realized my rear brakes pads were brushing against the rim.  I unlatched and straightened the tire and was back on my way.  I am such a newb!  When we finished up the guys were all asking me what happened and one of the guys, Stu, said, "didn't you ride the bike before we started?" --- He had a very good point!  Lesson learned.  I had taken my bike off the trainer and just put it on the car rack.  As for the times, I forgot to stop my Garmin so I'll have to wait to see the results once the club posts them.  I think I was the 4th place finisher?

• After the Du a few of us made the 45 minute drive down to Lake 288 for another OWS.  This is my 3rd OWS in the last 6 days!  I am ready to declare myself ready for the first Tri of the season this coming Saturday!  We had a sunny, 85 degree day with the water temperature at 68 degrees.  Just an awesome day for a swim!  I am estimating we did about 2200-2400 meters around the buoys.  I am just loving my Xterra Vortex 3 Wetsuit.  

• Whole Wheat Pizza is amazing!  A little restaurant down the road from us has a whole wheat pizza that is so good.  As most of my old P90X readers know I maintain a pretty clean diet but love pizza!  Unfortunately, most pizza is made with white enriched flour and that is a big No-No.  Now, this whole wheat pizza is still something Annie and I only eat in moderation but it is so awesome to get my pizza fix in every few weeks or so!

• I love Opening Day of Baseball.  I have to drive up to College Station for the day tomorrow but I have XM radio and will be able to listen to a bunch of games.  It will be so nice to listen to baseball instead of getting angry listening to political talk radio.

• This was my recovery week.  I have only trained for about 5 hours (per my plan) and my body is feeling very fresh because of it ... going to spin on the trainer tonight just to help the legs recover from yesterday's efforts.

• It is always amazing to me the amount of people that flock to the Easter Mass at the Vatican.  Over 100,000 people and it is raining.  Faith is an amazing thing.

Thanks for Reading and Happy Easter!

Jeff

Bike Porn and March Recap ...

First here is Annie's new Trek 1000:

We had to hurry up with the pics because it was getting ready to storm.  I tossed some SPD pedals on the bike and it is road ready.  We went for a quick little ride and all those years of spin classes have Annie ready to tear it up on the road.  She's got a pretty good motor!

I went for another OWS yesterday with a few guys from my Tri Cub.  It was a little windy but we still had a good time and a good swim.  I am still a slow swimmer but am getting much more comfortable in the open water, we estimate we swam about 2100 meters yesterday.

Here are some pics from the OWS last Sunday in the San Jacinto river:

Getting ready to jump in -- I am in the black swim cap.

Here is me coming back.  I was trying to wave to Annie.

Here are my training numbers for March and then for the 1st Qtr 2010:

March's totals:
Bike:	15h 37m  - 276.85 Mi
Run:	11h 12m 48s  - 75.4 Mi
Swim:	7h 00m  - 15309 M
Strength:	50m

2010 totals
Bike:	47h 44m  - 844.65 Mi
Run:	31h 54m 07s  - 214.79 Mi
Swim:	18h 15m  - 37709 M
Strength:	1h 30m

Overall I am very pleased with the way my training is going.  Currently I am doing an intro HIM plan but my longest race is only an Olympic Distance.  The reason I am doing the HIM plan was to see how my body would handle the increased volume of a HIM plan.  So far, so good!  

I am enjoying an official day off work today and it is glorious!  We slept in and then went to cafe for breakfast.  Annie is going to work at 1pm and then I am going to go for an easy run to get in a little volume before tomorrow's Duathlon.

I hope everyone has a great Easter weekend!

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff