Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Cycle, Cycle Too

The Ride

Since the TDF stage 1 included a couple of bumps, I rolled up route 184 to Flanders Road, and headed down to Noank. Man, this is one of my favorite roads around – it’s a pretty good climb up to the top of Flanders hill, and then nothing but flying down to Noank, all while looking out over Fisher’s Island Sound.

I think this whole idea might work – I’m absolutely loving riding the bike again. I’m going to try to squeeze in a run this evening – love running in the hot.

The Race

Stage 1 didn’t dissapoint at all. I cannot get enough of watching the run-in to the finish. Favorite moment of the day was watching Cavendish shrug and wave at the camera after his crash. Dunno if it’s just me, but it seems like the peleton has been getting into a better mood between last year and this year. The optimist in me wants to think that this is a result of a cleaner pack – less cases of road rage.

I’m digging Bob Roll’s rider interviews – here’s yesterday’s with Tyler Farrar, who’s going to be one to watch in the next few years

Today’s stage, Stage 2, doesn’t look to have much potential to shake stuff up. Bunch of climbs, but nothing terrible that can really shake up the general classification

I did wake up sore this morning, but not in my core. it was my quads, which I suppose are related.

instead of spinning, I went to swim at lunch. The 2 minute drill was good, and doing a really easy 1000 meters felt good.

I am starving, though. The diet, as always, appears to be key. (and I’ve been having trouble). Friday, I’ll start counting calories based on the menu plans, and try to tweak my food input that way.

Four days down. I’m taking Missy’s advice, and am only going to do weights on Saturdays. Last was 180; did I make ANY progress?

First, a bit of admin – there’s 4 days of Belly-Off each week: M-W-F and a Saturday challenge. So, saying “Day 2″ doesn’t mean Tuesday, it means Wednesday.

Anyway. Day 2. Holy crap, I woke up hurting today. Seriously considered taking a pass on the workout. But, then I jiggled my belly and figured out how to make it work.

The Wednesday workout was considerably tougher than the Monday workout – four “SuperSets” instead of three, and the introduction of a couple of stability ball exercises that I pretty much tanked. I managed about 75% of the reps for each set before the form fell apart. I decided to declare success on the manly part of the workout and head outside for intervals.

The run was good – I was tasting lunch again by the beginning of the 4th interval (5 minute warm-up, 6×30 second max effort with 30 seconds recovery, 5 minute cooldown), but managed to keep everything in my tummy through the end. Running intervals is kind of a new experience for me – it’s difficult for me to gauge the effort at which I need to go into the first couple to be recovered by the end of the recovery period. Which I suppose is partly the point.

But, MAN, could I feel every part of my body by the end. I’m feeling better tonight, but am kind of worried about waking up sore tomorrow. Especially my ab (as there’s currently only one mound of lard there. A pony keg instead of a six pack, if you will). BellyOff seems to be very, very core intensive. Ibuprofen would probably be a good prophylactic; however, I’m gonna see if I can muscle this out.

Tomorrow’s just the 2 minute drill in the AM. Though I’ll probably try to spin on one of the bikes at the office gym during lunch.

Pshew.

Thanksgiving was good; however, when I hit the scales on Saturday, there was an ugly number staring me in the face:

180

Wow. 180 pounds. The last time I was there was probably 3 years ago. 180 was a number I didn’t think I’d see again. But there it was, and the fact of the matter is that it’s been almost as long (2 years) since I’ve seen 160, which is about where I ought to be. So, the focus this month is going to be trying the Men’s Health “Belly-Off” plan.

It’s not that I’m not running. Mostly, I think that the problem is diet – Too easy to go grab junk from the geedunk machine or a drive through, and even though I’m more conscious than most, not thinking packs on the pounds. It’s really just the focus part.

The plan’s pretty simple – a “2 minute drill” every morning (15 seconds each of jumping jacks, skips, pushups – basically some plyometrics first thing in the morning). Then there’s about 15 minutes of exercises, and 15 minutes of interval training on M/W/F, and a longer workout on Saturdays.

I did the first workout yesterday – the “No-Gym classic” workout A. I was pretty pleased I was able to finish it, but BOY did I feel it this morning. It wasn’t until I was going through the weekly plan last night that I realized I was supposed to do intervals yesterday, too, so I did those this morning. I hate to say it, but I’ve been focusing on just endurance for SO long, that my legs were jelly by the end of the 6th interval and I wanted to puke. That’s how you know you’re doing them right, right?

So, we’ll see how this goes. If I can stick with the eating, I think I’ll drop weight. If not, I think I’m hozed. I’m planning on working in a long run on the weekend so that I can maintain mileage to start working up to VT the first week in January. But I think that getting some “old-school exercise” might be a good thing, at least for a month.

Longer-term, I think that I’m going to shoot for the Vermont City Marathon – Missy doesn’t want to run it three years in a row

PS – I’m going to spare the before picture. Save for linking to this picture of a scary guy with a moustache during Mo-Vember. (It’s December now, so the ‘stache is gone. It’s also never too late to donate, and most of you guys still have a chance to go talk to your doctors. Take care, fellas)

Mooseman Numbers: Me – 243. The Amazing Hip (Jeff Smith) is 285. Salty Warren is 242. Follow tomorrow at http://bit.ly/1Q1nZ #fb

Obviously, Frazz hasn’t had anything from the Collins Street Bakery in Corsicana, Texas. If he had, he’d know that there’s fruitcake, and there’s “Oh My Gosh, that’s a party in my mouth and you’re all invited!”

No, really.

Hey, boys and girls – I’m rarely a shill, but I’ll be one for Mark Iocelli, as he’s the hippest guy ever to wear a skirt. So, help a brother out, and check out the updated CompleteRunning. I cannot say enough about how much Mark’s inspired me to keep running since I started this blog way back in 2004.

Most people around here know about the Running Blog Family Directory (RBF) – the web’s most ginormous list of running blogs. Until yesterday, the RBF was a one trick pony – it was just a big ol’ list. Well, the RBF just went through a huge upgrade. It’s now search-able in a big, big way. You can now search for blogs by:

• Location (city/town/province/state/country)
• Gender
• Favorite Distance to Race
• Ability
• Tags/Key Words

And, much more! But, we need your help to realize the RBFs full potential. Why? Because, right now, we have over 1600 links in the RBF that don’t contain things like:

• Location (city/town/province/state/country)
• Gender
• Favorite Distance to Race
• Ability
• Tags/Key Words

So we’re asking every blogger (you!) to submit a new listing for their blog. Don’t worry about the old duplicate – we’ll remove that. By signing up again, you’ll make it easier for people to find you. That’s when the RBF will really rock! So get on the RBF train and sign up (again!) today!

So, go check it out!

Dictionary.com’s Word of the day for today?

gelid \JEL-id\, adjective:
Extremely cold; icy.

Despite best intents. Ah, well, tomorrow is a new day. Work got in the way of running today. I think this was the first time in a long while, and I fought it fiercely. But it did.

iPod repair is proceeding slowly. Just realized I need a tinier Torx head than I have to remove the motherboard. I got the case open, unscratched. Well, no worse than it was from 6 months of riding in my pocket. No large pools of LCD came out. Big thanks to Jon’s brother for LCD tips, BTW.

Work was aided by a bitterly cold wind. Which makes me think that it’s karmic retribution for bagging on Zephyr.

So here’s a couple of ideas in Wind’s defense:
1. Chris’ riff on “No Excuses, Sir.” That’s wind, baby. No hiding. No downhill. No cheating. No excuses, deal with it wherever.
2. Wind is a training tool no matter where you live. In the ‘burbs in Houston, my best runs were the ones on windy days, where there finally was a challenge besides merely putting one foot in front of the other.
3. Drafting. If you haven’t, take up road biking. Then find a couple dozen people who like to do it too. Learn how to pick up a wheel, and revel in the joy of instantly upping your top average speed by about 3 MPH. Then segue into dreams of riding in the pro peleton at average speeds of upwards of 30 MPH for a race like the TDF. That’s for the entire race.
4. And completely un-fitness related: Without wind, there’s no sailing. No prospect of building a boat in your backyard, rigging it up with sails, and going literally anywhere touched by the seven seas in the world without without burning a drop of petroleum, splitting a single atom, or dipping an oar. (Note the word “prospect” in the previous sentence.

Chew on that.

Me, I’m going to bed early. I’ve got me some running to do tomorrow. Or maybe swimming. Or maybe both.

But for sure, I’ve got a date with a one year old and a five year old (less three weeks) tomorrow evening that will involve roaring terrible roars, gnashing terrible teeth, rolling terrible eyes (Their mommy participates in this part), showing terrible claws, and will lead to a wild rumpus, complete with a parade featuring a barking dog and two terribly out of tune renditions of “Baby Elephant Walk” accompanied by a baby laughing his fool head off. And maybe cookies.

Not meant to generate more questions, but how does one best clean Liquid Crystal after one has cracked a Liquid Crystal Display?

And what is its effect on electronics?

I busted my iPod at the gym. Apple said “Ha, Ha!”. I’ve ordered a replacement screen, and have the install instructions. But I am worried about cleaning LC out of the iPods insides.

I figure I can just lick it …

Cross post from here.