A couple of quick things

General Physical Fitness Stuff

1. I’m not going to be “ready” for the MS150 in April, May, or October. I’ll be able to do it, but I won’t be physically strong enough to do it the way I want to this year.
2. I’m probably not going to pull off a triathlon this year.

These things aren’t a problem, mind you. I just know they’re true. I’ve got too much going on that is more important to me than any of the above. There are only so many days in a week and so many hours in a day. But like I said, that’s no problem. I’ll retool the goals and get at those.

One thing I did read from earlier in the year was that I intended to hit the ground at the marathon at a lithe and nimble 185 lbs. The closest I got was 190-195 and on race day I was closer to 200lbs. I think I’m going to renew that goal. If I can get down to that weight, I’m almost certainly going to be physically ready to run a marathon (not that I intend to, mind you), pull off a triathlon, or bust out a MS150 or 3.

Almost certainly I’ll be able to get that sub-25:00 5k under my belt. And since Holden’s (link at the right) shooting for the same goal I can claim him as bona-fide competition. Of course, he’s a helluva lot closer to hitting that mark than I am. My best time EVER is still 2:00 off the pace, and that’s a lot of ground to make up.

However, therein lies the quandary. I’ve never been able to control my weight in the past solely with diet. You see, I really like food—with gravy, and ranch dressing, and… oh so close to lunch right now…..

Add to that a pregnant woman in the house and food is going to become an even tougher foe than before. I’ve needed physical activity—and lots of it—to trim my big fat butt down to a manageable size. The good thing is that I actually enjoy the physical activity. I was actually seen on occasion chopping wood in my back yard and I didn’t even have a fireplace! (But that’s another story.) However, with all the other stuff I have going on right now, I don’t really have time to get in the physical activity necessary to trim down my big ass, much less trim down my big times on 5k runs. What to do, what to do? That is an answer I’ve got to come up with.

Rainy Days

It looks like the weather for the Frost Bike back on January 29 was actually pretty good for riding. Not great, but pretty good for a January ride. 2 years ago the Frost Bike was perfect marathon weather. Unfortunately for bikers perfect weather at 5mph running is absolutely horrific at 15mph riding. It was cold. Damn cold.

But that wasn’t the worst weather on a bike that I’ve faced.

In 2004, 2 weeks after the Houston MS150 and just in time for the Dallas ride, a cold front decides to enter north Texas on the same day as the MS150. Temperatures dropped from the high 60s/low 70s to the mid to high 50s overnight. Of course, with cold fronts comes rain. Sheets and sheets of rain were falling at the Frito Lays facility where the launch for the ride was set up. The weather broke for about 20minutes, but that was all the peace we had. Wind, rain, and cold were the rules of the day. By the time the first 10 miles were under our belts our fingers were numb, our toes were numb, and our socks were soaked. When it wasn’t raining from above, we were getting sprayed from the wet pavement below. There was no drafting off the bikes in front of you because if you got too close there was a facefull of tire spray loaded with road grime ready for you to swallow. Plus it’s not exactly safe to ride close to someone when your brakes aren’t working at 100%.

All along the route riders were abandoning their bikes at rest stops because the SAG wagons didn’t have room to take the people AND bikes. Trucks followed along the route to pick up the bikes and reunite riders with their bikes later. By lunchtime most everybody had dropped out of the day 1 route. Those who stayed on congregated in little groups of 10 to 15 riders and soldiered through. Occasionally a SAG wagon would actually pull up alongside the group and actually invite riders to get off their bikes. They’d turn on the loudspeaker and say something to the effect of “We have cocoa” or “It’s warm and dry in here”. I wasn’t having it. I was on a mission. My aunt told me before the Houston ride that she wished she could still ride a bike (she has MS) and the only thing going through my mind north of Dallas was “My aunt can’t and I can, so I will”.

1500 riders started and only 250 crossed the finish line on day 1. That was a hard ride.

About an hour and a half after the finish the sun came out for about 2 hours until night fall. Day 2, on the other hand, was everything Day 1 wasn’t.

Oddly enough, just thinking about it makes me want to get out there and ride.