136 to Home

What a week. We moved from Louisiana to Texas on Tuesday. Hotels in Houston were tough to come by, but we found a Hilton in Clear Lake, right near the entrance to NASA, southeast of Houston, near some of the worst that Ike had to offer. When I spoke to the manager of the hotel, he told me that the only issue is that they didn't have an elevator and wouldn't have one until at least the weekend. There are 14 floors. At this point, you can certainly guess what floor I wound up on. 136 steps from the lobby to my floor. Twice a day on average. Made it into a contest even, 79 seconds best, with laptop bag on shoulder. Not bad, huh?

I had a beautiful lake view from the ninth floor.

Would kinda suck to have that nice first floor lake front condo with a big ass boat blocking your view.
No intention to make light of the disaster, just not used to a view like this outside my hotel window.

While I was in Houston, I hit the 24 hour Fitness near the office. Same fine folks that sponsor The Biggest Loser. Nice place, too.

Made it home late Friday and decided to take the day off. Time to hang with the the family.

Today, I hit the gym when the kids were in Hebrew School, thanks to the third consecutive day of rain. Did 4.5 on the treadmill for my longest run since June. Really a slow run, but I'm feeling more confident about the Baltimore half in less than 2 weeks.

This afternoon we went to the Orioles game. The end of a crappy season, at last! My youngest was determined to win the "Fan of the Game" -- you know, they pan the crowd for the most outrageously dressed fan. Well, whaddya think?

Can't believe he didn't win, but he was our fan of the game! We could believe that the O's tanked again. There's always next year.

It's good to be home!

L'Chaim!

A Date with Gigi

I feel like I start every post with "It's been a while" along with some lame-o excuse as to why. Well, I'm not going to insult you with any of that.

Last Friday, I headed to Western Louisiana for work. (My company does some disaster clean-up and a little rainstorm called Ike has sent me to the gulf region.) This wreaks havoc with the last few weeks of training for the Seagull Century ride in just a few weeks. I also haven't gotten a ride in since the metric, 10 days ago. Working through the weekend also wiped out any chance of exercising. Quite the opposite, actually, eating crap. Then more crap. Drinking too much coffee and diet coke, not enough water. And a few beers watching football at Buffalo Wild Wings (and wings, too, of course.)

I had tracked down a gym in Lake Charles, Louisiana, but hadn't made the call to see how they treat guests. Today, I brought my stuff to the office and around mid day, I made the call. Spin class at 5:15, $10 fee. Not bad. Tough part is getting out early enough to get there.

Getting back on track was worth the looks and comments that I got as I "snuck out" at 4:45. (When we're working on this type of project, it's generally 12-16 hour days for days on end. I put in a short 10 hour day.) I got to the gym, paid my fee, changed and was on the bike with time to spare.

After class, I hit the treadmill for my longest run in 3 months. 3.2 miles at just under a 12 minute pace. I was able to run 2 miles non stop. It felt really really good. One of my best workouts in a while.

So who's Gigi? That would be the name of the gym! GiGi Fitness Center. And we have another date for Body Pump in the morning!

L'Chaim!

St. Michael's Metric Century Ride Report

Kind of a boring title, but it's been a long day. Long couple of days, to be honest.

Yesterday went not at all as planned. It started when I dropped my 2000 Nissan Maxima off at Meineke to have the recently illuminated brake light looked at. I though it might just be the emergency brake, which was feeling loose. A quick and cheap repair.

But when is a visit to the car repair place ever quick or cheap. Seems the brakes and most of the adjoining appendages require replacement. Oh, and by the way, there's something awry with the rear axle. That'll be $2,000.

Not so fast, Mr. Meineke guy. I had decided about six months ago that the next big repair would result in a trade in for something new. (Well, newer.) This was it.

I spent part of the rest of the day looking on line at options and headed out to a couple of dealers right after work. After visiting six dealerships and coming up empty, I headed home.

I know what you're thinking -- what the hell does this have to do with today's ride. Well, I'm gonna tell ya. I was supposed to drive to the the ride today. Not gonna chance the 80-mile drive in a car with no brakes. So, last night, on my way home from Carmax, I called Bryan to see if he could drive. "Ummm, sure, but I don't have a bike rack." No problemo, mi amigo, we'll put mine on your car. "Ummm, not sure if it will fit on my car. " Of course it will. What kind of car do you drive. "One of these:

Okay, we'll give it a shot. I'll be at your house extra early. See you at 5:15 am.

The day just didn't go as planned. With the car shopping exercise, I finally got home around 8. Dinner close to 9. Bed after 11. Wake up at 4. Not exactly the ideal schedule for the night before a 4 or 5 hour bike ride.

This morning, the alarm went off at 4 and I was up and at em. Got to Bryan's right at 5:15 and by 5:30, I had convinced him that our bikes would be fine on the back of his well kept sports car. We were on our way.

St. Michael's is a quaint little town best known for having a couple of incredible resorts as well as being the home of one former major leaguer, Harold Baines.

The town is on Maryland's eastern shore, which is essentially as flat as the Kansas plains.

After a 90 minute ride where at each bump and turn, we were checking on the stability of the bikes, we arrived at Harold's alma matter to check in and pick up our packets just after 7. This seemed to be a pretty small ride. One of the organizers said about 130 total for the three distances -- full century, metric and a shorter 30 mile cruise. The metric seemed to be the most popular. Our "packets" consisted of a cue sheet and an unremarkable t-shirt. Well, it's a small event, what do you expect?

Just about 8, we were off. We started off cruising. I mean really cruising. From the start to the first rest stop, we average 17.8 mph, which is smokin' for us (especially me.) We did do some drafting off of each other and that really helped. We both felt strong and we enjoyed the ride out to Tilghman Island. #1 item learned about riding on flat roads -- speed doesn't suck.

After that first portion of the ride, we headed back along the same stretch of road we originally headed out. Well, now it's not so exciting. the corn fields look kinda the same on the port side of the road as they do on the starboard side. We even muse about missing our home hills. #2 item learned about riding on flat roads -- boar-ing!

Lot's of road looking just like this.

At about 30 miles, my back starts to ache and I'm trying to stretch on the bike. Another 10 miles or so until the next rest stop. Our pace is definitely slower, but we're still moving okay. Bryan is ahead most of this portion of the ride and I'm trying to de-kink myself.

We get to the second rest stop at 39 miles and I'm working out the pain, while tossing down some ibuprofen. We grab some snacks, fill our water bottles and we're about to head off again when my cell phone rings. I look at the phone and it's Uncle Rog. That would be eye-of-Hurricane-Ike-just-passed-over-his-house Uncle Rog. They made it through alive and well.

Now, we're back on the road.

Within a few minutes, a group of four strong guys ride past and I quickly speed up to jump on their pace line. These guys are sizzling at almost 19 mph, and we're just enjoying the ride. After one guy drops back, he gets in front of me, so we're not moving up to take a turn to lead. I'm not sure what the protocol is, but honestly, right now I don't care. This is cutting big minutes off of the south side corn field view. The next guy is not quite as strong, but pretty close. We're hanging on pretty easily, but not for long. As soon as the next switch happens, we're toast. This guy must be at least 20 mph and I can't hold on. We spent about 6 glorious miles hanging on and now we're down to less than 20 miles to go.

The pace is definitely slower now and I'm struggling with my back aches. As we pass the start at about mile 50, I momentarily entertain the notion of pulling in and letting Bryan finish on his own. That thought went away and we trudged on.

Our final rest stop is at mile 56, where the full century riders take a ferry ride to continue on. (I wonder if the mile or two on the ferry count towards their hundred?) Another opportunity to stretch and we're back off toward the finish.

We pull into the school at about 12:30. Glad it's over but proud of our ride. This was the longest ride for either Bryan or myself by at least a dozen miles.

Final tally is 64.5 miles. Average riding speed is 16.4 mph.

This was a really good opportunity to experience a very different type of riding than we're used to. Not really about the speed, but when you're riding hills, you've got to move around a lot. You get your hear rate up going up and going down is an opportunity to relax. #3 item learned about riding on flat roads -- you've got to pedal all the time, and it's hard in a very different way than hills.

We got back home at about 2:30 and I was off to Zach's football game followed by reward for the family, especially me!

This ride really gave me a lot to think about for the upcoming Seagull Century. Very similar terrain, just another 36 miles of it. I need to work on my back stretches. This is my biggest concern. Seagull is just 3 weeks away.

Thanks for hanging in for this long post.

L'Chaim!

100k

Got my bike back. New fork and all. I keep thinking I'm gonna be done spending money on athletic stuff, but that doesn't appear to be happening any time soon.

Glad to have it back -- I've really missed not having it for the past week.

I was tooling around on the Internet a few days ago and came upon some web site with bike rides on it. Looks kinda like a competitor to active, the site where you sign up for most running events, and some biking events, too. It's called bikereg.com. I was surprised to see so many bike events out there.

One in particular caught my eye. This Saturday, there is a century in St. Michael's, MD. They also have a metric century ride. Hmmm, this would be a nice tune up for the Seagull Century next month.

Before I continue, can I just say that I am married to the most amazing, supportive, incredible, awesome, fantastic woman in the world? Can I say that? Well, there, I just did. Now, back to our regularly scheduled post.

So, I mentioned to Deb that there was this ride in St. Michael's. What do you think she said? "No problem." She also said "Oh, I meant to tell you that I'm going out with a girlfriend Saturday night and you're buying!" Hmm, did I walk into that or what? That's okay, great deal.

I got a hold of Bryan, one of my riding friends, and he's in, too!

Keep an eye open for my ride report and hopefully some pictures (yeah, I know, I'm not so good with the pictures.) Oh, and thanks, Deb!

L'Chaim!

New Wheels

Okay, I've really had enough of this falling down. At some point, I know I'm REALLY gonna hurt myself.

I did some checking and I'm thinking of adding something to help keep me upright. I found this cool gadget. It's a helluva lot cheaper than another trip to the bike shop.

Whaddya think?

L'Chaim!

Forked!

Or How to Take a Dump and Live to Talk About It

I wasn't even gonna talk about my Thursday ride, but now I have to. Just have to. Why? Well, read on, my friends.

I headed out early, about 6 am. This was my first pre-dawn ride -- testing out my new headlight. Quickly, I found that the light was perfectly fine for others to see me. As far as me seeing anything, not gonna happen. Since I was in familiar territory, I pressed on as dawn was near and the ride was familiar.

One of my goals was to work on my out of the saddle riding and I'd have plenty of hills to work on that.

All was well. Traffic was getting heavier, but I was doing fine in and out of the saddle, feeling more and more comfortable. About 2/3 into the 20 miler, I decided to climb Homewood Road. Homewood is known as one of the steeper climbs around. I've hit 40 mph heading down Homewood.

As I headed up, I dropped down to my big gears to work up the short but steep section of the road. It didn't take long for me to run out of power and I was stuck. I knew I'd run out of power in my legs and I was pretty sure I shouldn't downshift while standing. As I slowed to a crawl, there was no way to get my feet out of the clips to keep myself from falling. So, I did. I took a big old dump on a big old hill.

I got up quickly. Just a little blood, not too bad. As for the bike, a different story. My front wheel was locked up. Musta done something to the brakes. I was able to pry them apart, but decided against continuing up Homewood and headed out a bit longer, but flatter route. Every couple of miles I stopped to pull the brakes apart, but made it home safely.

The front wheel was clearly out of alignment, plus I had had the brake issue. I knew one of my neighbors had the tool to be able to align the wheel.

Today, George came over and aligned my wheel. No biggie. He asked me what the abrasion on the fork of the bike was. Looks like just scratch in the paint covering the fork. Hmm, seems to go all the way around the fork. Not sure how a scratch could go all the way around. George suggested I take it to the bike shop to have it checked out. Sure. As I was leaning on the wheel less bike, suddenly, the bottom of the right fork bent. I'm pretty sure carbon isn't supposed to bend like that. Seems it's not EXACTLY a scratch.

SHIT! I've been forked!

Off to the bike shop. . . again!

L'Chaim!

This is Jeopardy!

Only seemed right that since I left unanswered questions yesterday, I should pay homage to America's premier question-and-answer game show and host, Alex Trebek. (Yes, my Canadian friends, I'm well aware he was yours first, but he's ours now!)

Although, looking back, I kinda screwed it all up, since I gave the questions yesterday. This really isn't Jeopardy! at all. Well, screw it, I'm a Trebekkie and it's gonna have to stay. Now, on with the show. . .

As for the foot, it has been feeling better of late. After a couple of months feeling like nothing was going to work to get it better, I started to feel relief just early last week. So for now, I've got the Baltimore half and MCM on the schedule.

When I checked over the weekend, I noticed that Baltimore had a 5 1/2 hour time limit for the half. Now, by no means do I have any desire to spend 330 minutes doing a half marathon. That's a 25 minute per mile average. I'm relative certain that I could finish that on my worst day, on my knees, regardless of how my ankle felt. Besides that, and much more importantly, since I completed the Frederick Marathon, finishing the half entitles me to a medal for the half PLUS the all important third medal, the MARYLAND DOUBLE. At the end of the day, it's really all about the swag, isn't it?

I figure that my fitness level is pretty good with a solid summer in the books, but am I in for 3 plus hours of pain? Yesterday I hit the treadmill at the gym to see how a mile felt. I must say, I struggled a bit more than I had expected. Not so much in the ankle, which really felt fine, but more in the breathing department. I was able to run the mile with a couple minute walk break in the middle. Really, though, the good news is that the ankle didn't hurt. My plan now is to treadmill run a 3-4 times a week, gradually working up to about 8 miles. That should be enough to get me to a sub 3 hour half. If not, I've still got another 2 1/2 hours to play with.

As for Marine Corps, I'm really thinking this one is out of the question. Too far to go, too soon. Unless I feel terrific running in the next couple of weeks, I'll check into the deferral options for that.

Now on to important business -- the need for a change in the blog title. I've had this name since the beginning of my blog life, about 16 months. Up until this spring, the title was fair, even through the injuries, but now, not so much. Formerly Fat Running and Biking Guy just doesn't flow. Formerly Fat Guy, well, maybe some possibilities there. Something totally unrelated? That'd work too. I'm open to suggestions, so let the commenting begin!

L'Chaim!

Upright

The good news is that I've been able to maintain my balance over the past week. That's right, after barely being able to stand or ride without falling, this week, I'm back to my old stand-up self.

Got my bike back Friday repaired as promised. I was pretty sure it would be since I had made a pest of myself during the week making sure I'd have it for the weekend.

Saturday, I headed out with the group that was with me a week ago when my bike broke, plus one of the pedal and paddle guys. The goal was to stay on the bike with no mechanical problems. At my request, we did the ride from the week before that I didn't get to finish. Along the route, there were three milestone pointed out by one of the guys -- the spot that I got "pedaled", at about mile 6 -- CHECK! Then there was the spot at 10.7 where I made some derailleur soup -- CHECK! Finally, and I had forgotten about this one, we passed the spot from two weeks before when I dropped my chain followed by a seemingly uneventful fall, which I believe led to the derailleur problems in the first place -- CHECK! At the end of the day, 34+ miles, one dropped chain (less than a mile from the finish, damn it!) and no falls.

On Sunday, after sleeping in past my scheduled ride, my neighbor Kirk called and we headed out for another 34 miles. Beyond enjoying the ride, Kirk has been pushing me to get out of the saddle more. I take that back, let's say get out of the saddle at all, since I'm pretty timid there and would sooner spend 10 minutes climbing a hill on the easiest gear rather than power up out of the saddle on a hard gear. I'm also gun shy about falling (hard to believe, I know.) Well, on the way home, Kirk had me up. Not for long, but it was not nearly as hard as I thought it would be. I'm feeling the power!

After two hilly rides, I was desperate for some flat land. On Monday, I met my dad out at the Baltimore & Annapolis trail -- a 13-mile paved, relatively flat pathway. We did one round trip together, then I did a second on my own. 52 miles for the day. All upright, too.

So what's with all this biking? Well, I'm glad you asked.


Mrs. FFRG has been pushing me to do a century ride before the year is out and I've been training just to see if I could build up the mileage to do it. She even bought me a book -- this one!

So I've been reading and riding and riding and reading. The book finds it's way all over the house. I also did some searching and, there just happens to be a century ride on October 4 in Salisbury, MD -- the Seagull Century. Yesterday just happened to be the early registration deadline. I had hoped that the 52 miler would be 60 or more, but by the end of the second loop, my back was killing me and I was pretty cooked. When I got home, I checked out my trusty book and there are stretches in there for the back -- go figure! I also figure 120 miles over three days is pretty good prep, too. So, I'm all in! Now it's just a matter of doing the miles to build up to the big ride. Looking forward to that.

But that does leave a couple of unanswered questions that I'm sure have been driving you crazy:

1. What's up with those other foot type events on your schedule?
2. You know, the Baltimore Half and the Marine Corps Marathon?
3. How are the foot and ankle?
4. Ya know, FFRG, you've talked an awful lot about biking lately, aren't you the Formerly Fat RUNNING Guy?
5. Do you need a new name?
6. What's up with that?

Well, my friends, stay tuned. I hope to answer at least a few of those questions very soon but for now,

L'Chaim!

Saturday, Ugly Saturday. Sunday, Bloody Sunday.

This past week has kinda sucked in the staying upright department. I hate even admitting this all, cause I'm a grown man and there is no reason I shouldn't be able to keep myself off of the ground, but the admissions are coming.

On Saturday, I went out with a couple of the HoCo cyclists for what was anticipated to be a 30 miler. I figured that I wouldn't even talk about this ride, but I guess I must. Before I left the house, I finagled with the front derailleur to get it to shift onto the small chain ring. After 10 minutes of playing with it, it seemed that all was good and my nine easy gears would be rejoining me on my rides.

We set out a bit after 9 and I never got a good feel about my gearing. About 6 miles in, heading uphill (what else?) I was nervous about using the small chain ring and wound up with another clip less fall. Same basic fall, as Wednesday night, same elbow and left knee spot. Pretty soon I figure I'll be down to the bone.

Back on the bike and all was well until we headed up the biggest hill so far and that's when it happened. What seemed like a dropped chain and I quickly disengaged from the pedals and kept myself upright. YEAH! Then, the bad news. Matthew rides by, asks me if I'm okay and then says "that doesn't look good." What? My chain just dropped. "No, your rear derailleur is on the ground." WHAT? I get off the bike and there it is. The whole damn chain and derailleur are on the ground. Crap! Not going anywhere now.

We're 10 miles from our start in very rural part of town. I call Deb, to no avail. Too bad I didn't have Verizon service! I try her on Matthew's phone and get through.

At that point in time, a guy that Matthew knows pulls up. Seems this guy was in a spin class that Matthew used to teach. "Do you need help?" Yeah, can you get me back to Columbia? "Sure -- I live a mile from here, let me drop my stuff and I'll be back in 5 minutes." Could this be some kind of divine intervention? Crazy, really. Matthew hadn't seen this guy in some time and had no clue that he lived near where we were. Before long, I was on my way to the bike shop. Hope to have it back in a week, good as new. So much for 30 miles, but I was safe and sound.

Sunday's original plan was to hit the B&A trail for a couple of loops -- ideally 50 relatively flat miles. That wasn't happening, so I hit the gym for an 8 am spin class followed by a kids last-day-before-school fun day. Lunch with dad at Subway followed by putt putt golf and the batting range. Matty had a mid-afternoon play date so I told Zach I'd go for a ride with him on my hybrid bike.

We hit the road and, as we were approaching our pool, he asked if he could do a lap for his own little pedal and paddle. Absolutely!

After Zach's lap, we headed out to the bikes and just before we got there, SPLAT! No, let me make it SPLAT! Who splatted? Well, that would be the coordinated one, ME! There was a section of concrete askew and I didn't see it. I went down, hard. Where did I hit? The same left elbow and the same left knee. Of the little falls of the past week, this was by far the worst. The most blood. The most pain.

The lifeguards could care less. After a minute or so, "are you okay? do you need anything?" No, you ding-a-ling, I have blood pouring out of me, but I'll be fine. We were just a couple of miles into our ride and we'd have to turn back. Zach was a real trooper. He got me a gauze pad from the lifeguard. He understood about going back home. We had no choice but to ride. The worst for me was the wind generated by the ride. It felt like sandpaper on my open elbow.

We got home and I explained to Deb what had happened. She missed the part about this me being on foot. I think she assumed I once again fell off of my bike. No, I explained, not so. The sidewalk just jumped up and tripped me. She didn't work very hard to conceal her amusement. It is a pretty nasty sight, though.

Still living though. I made it through Monday without shedding a drop of blood, so that's a good thing. Now trying for two days in a row!

L'Chaim!

We Like Mike!

It's hard to really understand Baltimore unless you're from Baltimore. Sitting in the shadows of DC and probably the least known city of the I-95 corridor Megalopolis -- DC to Boston -- we've always had a bit of an inferiority complex to DC.

Baltimoreans are brought up to hate DC sports teams. Before the Washington Wizards were the Washington Bullets, they were the Baltimore Bullets until the evil Abe Pollin relocated the team to the rich DC market. When the Colts fled Baltimore (thanks to the devil himself, Robert Irsay), we wanted nothing to do with the Redskins. We'd cheer for whoever was playing the Colts first, then whoever was playing the 'Skins. It's not personal, really, it's just in our blood.


When Edward Bennett Williams, a Washington lawyer, bought the Orioles in the late 70's, we feared the worst -- a move to the nations capital.

Our sports heroes have been good guys. Johnny Unitas, a Pittsburgh transplant who adopted Baltimore and became a favorite son. Brooks Robinson, a Little Rock native and my sports hero growing up, owned the town and still commands serious bucks at autograph sessions here. Cal Ripken, from just a few miles up I-95 calls the Baltimore area home. The people of Baltimore and the country loved them and we call them ours. But it's been a little dry in the six or so years since Cal hung up his cleats.

Now there's 23-year old Michael Phelps. When word came out just a few weeks before the Olympics that Michael had bought a place and would return to Baltimore after the Olympics, the city cheered. When Michael rang up one gold after another, we cheered louder. When Michael talked about life after the Olympics, he starts by talking about his return to Baltimore. (I'm sure I wasn't alone looking for the slightest hint of an "O" from his lips during one of the eight Star Spangled Banner played in his honor, just like you'd see at any Orioles home game.)

He talked about how he missed the city after his years in Michigan, so what's he gonna do? He's gonna buy that North Baltimore Aquatic Club with all of his new gold-medal-laden dough and make his coach the president. Now we've got a good four years to cheer for him until London in 2012, but from the sounds of it, he'll be around a lot longer. I'm pretty sure he won't have to buy a meal in this town for at least 20 or 30 years.

With the Olympics now finally over, we're looking forward to welcoming Michael back home. Local boy done good. Welcome home, Michael, the town is yours!

L'Chaim!

Rite of Passage

Finally, I've added the missing link to my bike. I now have a pair of these sporty new clip less pedals fully installed. They go great with my shiny new Diadora shoes, too.

A friend suggested that I ride around the neighborhood just practicing getting in and out of them. My biggest fear is falling, but pretty much everyone I've talked to says that you can't avoid it. It's gonna happen. The goal, then is to minimize the potential witness pool to the future carnage.

So, last night, I decided to ride with the Wednesday night HoCo Cyclists. I've done a couple of weekend rides with the group, but this is a regularly scheduled Wednesday night year-round ride. First, though I rode a couple of miles around the neighborhood, as recommended, to do little more than test the new pedals. More specifically, to get my shoes in and out of them. I could almost immediately feel the added power the they bring when pulling up on them. After a few ins and outs, with no falls, I loaded up the bike and headed out.

I was surprised by the size of the group. At least 50 riders. At the appointed time, the leader sent the A's off. A few minutes later, the B's were gone. Not knowing where I'd fit, B or C, but leaning C, I didn't want to embarrass myself too much by having to keep back of the B group, so I went C short ride. The "short" route for the night was 22 miles versus 33 for the long, hilly route.

The comfort level of the new shoes is much greater than with the old ones and the pedals work pretty well. Soon after the ride started, I began passing people and within a couple of miles, found myself riding third of fourth of the 20-25 in the C group. I was also maintaining speed in the 15-16 range fairly easily. This would definitely not be possible with the old pedals. Of course, all was well and I was thinking that maybe I'd avoid that clip less rite of passage. As you've no doubt figured out, I was wrong.

Riding to the top of a short hill following a downhill, a stop sign appeared and the few guys ahead of me were stopped, just waiting for some of us (like me) to catch up. I stopped and took my right foot out of the pedal. No problem so far. Then, time to go. There was still a few feet of incline left. Of course, I'm in a big gear, more suited to downhill. Had I downshifted, all would be well, but as soon as I tried to go, I was at a standstill and just fell right over. It felt like it was in total slow-mo. I knew it was gonna happen, and it surely did. No problem. I got up and told the three other riders obviously holding their laughter I was okay. Got back on the bike and proceed to fall over once again. OY! Not my best effort avoiding the witness pool.

Now, smart guy (me) figures out to turn around and start on the downhill. DUH! Back on the bike and riding again. A few aches, but nothing more. It wasn't until a few miles later when I went to scratch my right ankle that I came back with blood on my hand. It wasn't until I got back to the start that I saw the blood on my right knee (pictured). It wasn't until I got home that I saw the nasty welt on my chest.

It's always fun to ride new places. I was just 10 miles west of home and at least 20 miles of the ride were new to me. Just nice, picturesque, country roads, a few cornfields and it seemed at one point, more churches than houses.

I was a bit disappointed that the other riders weren't very social. At one point, riding near the front of the pack, I definitely felt like I had crashed their party. My favorite part of these group rides is the bike chatter, especially since I'm not riding with any speed demons. These guys were not talking. Maybe I need to keep hanging with them until they feel like they're crashing MY party!


For better or worse, I made it through the ride. In case you're wondering, in these parts, apparently a relatively flat 23 miles is only 1800 feet of climbing. And that was without my small chain ring that I still couldn't get working from the weekend.

Looking forward to testing out the pedals again real soon. Gotta get that chain ring fixed first.

L'Chaim!

Pedal and Paddle, Finally!

Hard to believe it's been three months since Lou, one of the Hebrew School Biking Dads told me about Pedal and Paddle. The 3rd annual event was originally supposed to happen in July, but got pushed back to yesterday.

The original plan was to bike to each of Columbia Association's 23 outdoor pools and swim a lap at each. Because of the reschedule, 8 of the pools are now closed for the season, so 15 were listed on the cue sheet. The cue sheet also showed about 42 miles of biking between the start and stop to swim.

Since the event would take about 5 hours, hydration and nourishment would be key, especially in light of Saturday's issues. Deb was planning to be at stop #10, so I had her set up with a stash of backup stuff -- a granola type bar, two cold bottles to replace mine, and a change of clothes in case I'd need it.

Then there would be the schlep. I'd need a towel and something to carry my other crap -- cell phone, keys, Power Bar stuff (somewhere just before half way, I broke out a pack of lemon Power Bar Gel Blasts. This was the best tasting carb product I've tried so far), gels, etc. I picked out one of my kids sling bags, thinking that this would be comfortable and easy to get off and on.

In preparation for the day, I had secured some triathlon shorts to be able to ride and swim without changing. I have one bike jersey that has a full zipper, rather than a half. Thinking that would be easiest to get in and out of, that was the attire for the day.

The start was scheduled for 10 and I got there just before. It quickly looked like the turnout would be small. By 10 after, there were just 5 of us and we were off.

At the first pool, we were met by just a life guard. The town was kind enough to open a couple of the pools early for us. Just 10 minutes or so into the event, a few things became apparent:

• As slow as I am running, lap swimming redefines the word ssssslllllllooooowwwww!
• Form is an afterthought. My swim goal is to go from one end to another without touching the bottom of the pool.
• A lap is not a length. Go figure. I thought we'd be doing one way "laps." Ed said that's a lenght -- make it a round trip.
• Transitions suck. With 15 stops, each having 2 transitions, the learning curve is quick. Come into the pool with everything on -- dump on a chair -- swim -- back to the chair -- dress. 15 times.
• What I thought was a cool sling bag seemed to not want to stay in place. I must be doing something wrong.

One down, 14 to go.

Most of the pools were close together, but two were lying fairly distant from the to the others. En route to pool number 4, River Hill, a few more things came to light:

• That friggin sling back sucks! No wonder my kids stopped using it. Every other minute, it was working its way around front, then I'd have to sling it back. What a pain.
• Riding 38 miles of hills the day before this event. . . maybe not my brightest idea. The hills on this route are not really bad compared to others outside of the town but I was truly suffering.

After River Hill, we had a fairly long stretch to get to the next pool with one of the steepest hills. On my way up, I dropped my chain. F*#k! (Has anyone dropped a chain going down hill? Ever?) Then, I dropped it again. S&%t! Then again. F*#K-S&%T! I must have knocked something out of alignment on Saturday.

So here I am, only 4 of 15 pools in, maybe a dozen miles done and I've lost 9 gears (well really only the two or three easiest gears that I use with the small front chain ring), I'm beat, I'm waaaay last (but thanks to Bryan, I'm not alone) and I'm just thinking. Only 6 stops until Deb will be awaiting my arrival. Do I throw in the towel (literally) at our home pool? I could. I'd only have to suffer through the knowledge that I'd be wussing out 2/3 of the way through. I've done that plenty of times. The old fat me was king of the wusses. Well, now I've got nothing but time and 1/3 less gears to think. I can't stop before that or I've got a lot of walking to do.

Thankfully, the next set of pools were very close together. I'm pretty much dealing just with the pain in the butt sling bag, wet socks and trying to remember NOT to drop to the small chain ring.

Along the way, the one woman that started off with us dropped out and we pickup up a guy for a one pool ride.

We got to my home pool, Dorsey Search, at around 2. Deb was awaiting our arrival with camera in hand. My boys were very excited to see us all there.

Form? What form?

Deb had everything I had asked for -- two fresh iced bottles, change of clothes, new towel. I dumped the sling pack and put what I needed into my carry sack on the bike. I was the only one using a towel and had stopped at around the 5th pool so the sling pack was extraneous at that point. Amazing how well air drying works! She even had a bagel with peanut butter. Took one bite and we were off again.

Here we are in all our glory. From the left, me my son Zach (how'd he get in there?), Ed and Lou, the shirtless founders, and Bryan, another first timer.

From Dorsey, we had one last long ride to the next pool, then we nailed the balance in fairly short order, finishing sometime around 3:45.

After 43.1 miles on the bike and 750 yards in the pool, Ed pulled out a batch of home made chocolate chip cookies, which this formerly fat guy gladly ate.

Other than a few now seemingly minor issues, it was a really fun day. I felt really good about the whole hydration and nourishment thing, eating pretty regularly along the way. Thankfully, this wasn't a race or I'd have been hours behind the rest. That's one of the big differences, though, between bike events and running events. From what I've seen, most bike events (non-triathlon) are go at your own pace. It was very social and I'm ready to sign up for next year! Thanks, guys!

L'Chaim!

Catching Up

Finally back from vacation, trying to get into some kind of routine. Hard to believe it's mid-August and school around these parts starts NEXT MONDAY!

I won't torture with much talk about vacation since I'm still delayed on pictures from our early summer trip. In short -- we had a great time in Boston, saw a great game at Fenway, did the Fenway tour, learned a lot about the city and history, some folks we hadn't seen in a while. Sat behind many cars, trucks, etc. on the long drive up and back.

Because of all the travel for work and vacation, exercise took a back seat. I went almost 2 full weeks between any formal exercise and my body was craving some kind of activity. Even so, I signed up for classes at the gym on Thursday and Friday, but the 10 hour drive home on Wednesday was still catching up to me, so the 4:30 am wakeups were on hold.

Saturday, I finally got the bike off the wall and out for the monthly ride with the local bike club. The scheduled ride was 33 miles and I had planned to add about 15 from home to the start and back at the end. On my way to the start, I rode to the park where my old Team in Training group was running. Was good to see Jonathan and a couple of other folks. Really miss being out there with them, but my bike has taken over, for sure.

There were only seven of us riding on Saturday, so we split up into two groups -- three A riders and the rest of us B-C's. Since the area we normally ride is undergoing lots of roadwork, the leader pulled out an old ride that would take us into some new territory for most of us -- heading north into Baltimore County rather than the western Howard routes that are the norm. About half way, both Saul and I dropped our chains on the same hill. Since the other two B-C guys were regularly waiting for us at the next intersection, we sent them on and Saul and I, clearly the C's, would ride together, as we did in July.

Shortly after we separated, we realized that there were some monster hills on the route, including a few at 10%+. One downhill section started out with one of those truck warning signs with a 14% added to it. This particular hill had a 90 degree turn about 2/3 into it. Woulda been a fantastic hill, had it not been for the zigging and zagging. I was sure I'd wear my brake pads down to the metal.

Unfortunately, what goes down must go up. There were a few steep inclines, two of which required walking. I had hoped that I could handle these big hills, especially shorter ones, but I've still got plenty of work to do. The finale was a 2 mile uphill stretch at about 4%. Just a nice slow rise.

With the nastiness now behind us, we had about 10 miles back to the start. A few miles down the road, we got held up at a traffic light and both of my thighs began to cramp. I tried to massage them out quickly, but it was apparent that a simple traffic light massage would not do the trick. I pulled over into a grassy area and, with Saul's help and direction, was able to stretch out the cramps. Saul asked how much I stretch. I think I said "not much," which was really a lie -- "not at all" would be the truth. I was also low on liquids. Shoulda filled up at the start. Definitely need to work on the stretching and the hydration.

At the next light, I felt more cramps. At this point I was just about 2 miles from home and still 6 from the start. I decided to head back home. Once I arrived, I felt like nothing had happened.

In the end, 38 long and painful miles, but it felt great to be back on the bike. A good ride done.

L'Chaim!

Sucking

It's 2:20 in the morning and I'm working. Pretty much been putting in crazy crazy hours over the past couple of weeks and I have a drop dead deadline in the morning, so the shit's just gotta get done. This is on top of three straight weeks of travel -- very unusual for me.

Mostly, I've been cursing Excel. I've got these spreadsheets that have a few hundred thousand formulas in them and every time you change something or go to save, the damned spreadsheet recalcs and it just freezes for 3 minutes. (If anyone knows how to turn the auto-calc off, right about now I'd pay for that advice.) So, each time I get seized, I have time to write another couple of sentences.

Some of my travel has been to New Orleans. Not exactly a location known for light eating and I've been partaking in the local cuisine -- po boys, catfish, rice and beans, steak, you name it. Not looking forward to hitting the scale in the morning. (Well, later in the morning at least.) Exercise has been pretty non-existant during the week, though I did have a great 42 mile ride on Sunday.

This weekend, we're heading north to Boston. Going to visit friends in NJ, Boston and Cape Cod on the way. The highlight of the trip will be a visit to Fenway Park on Tuesday night. Deb and the kids are all looking forward to that. I've been there and, for me, I'll take Wrigley over Fenway any day. But what the hell, it'll be fun.

This will be it for a while. Will report back after the beantown trip.

L'Chaim!

Gaining Weight

Whenever one of my blogger friends, particularly those coming from the "formerly fat" club, stops posting for an extended period, I start to wonder the worst. Are they gaining weight, not exercising, or is there some terrible life event that has stopped them from detailing their every day life? Deb pointed out to me that I'm now one of those delinquent bloggers, both writing and reading. It's been a couple of weeks since I've posted and I'm way overdue.

The good news is, it's all good news. I've been diligent in keeping up the exercise and watching everything I eat. After a week or so of keeping the food journal it got to be too much work. This week I was out of town and tracking food is tough when you don't have a label for everything, just a lot of guesswork. I was still down about 2 pounds through last Monday.

I've been on a roll on exercise, too, with a long ride of almost 41 miles last weekend in the 90+ heat and getting in two Body Pumps a week.

This week with travel on tap, I found a gym in MA that had a reciprocal deal with my gym at home. (Fifteen bucks for a week pass. Not bad.) Was able to hit the gym for two Group Power (eerily similar to Body Pump) classes and one of the best spins I've had. As for the Group Power, Monday's class was taught by Tom, a local fireman. Okay, that's cool. Tom showed up and it was kinda like Rodney Dangerfield teaching the class. Not the humor part, but the body part. Usually these classes are taught by some pretty well defined ladies and gentlemen. Tom was not, but he got it done. It was surreal watching him move (slowly) around the gym and yelling out instructions in his very thick Boston drawl.

So it's all good for me on that end. Still struggling through the foot pains and I need to make some decisions on the fall schedule pretty soon.

More travel on tap this week, so I don't know when I'll get in another post.

Thanks for checking in.

L'Chaim!

Day 732 (+1) and Counting

What's the significance of 732 days? Is it just an anonymous number, picked out of thin air? Sure, that works. Or, it could be day one of year three of my march toward health and fitness. (The plus one? Oh, that's because today is really 733 but I didn't get this post finished on day 732, so let's just pretend it's yesterday, okay?) Just two short years ago I got off my formerly very fat ass and got on the treadmill for the first time. It's really hard to believe I've been on this path to health and wellness for that long.

Not to say that it gets easier, but every day I find it more difficult to believe that I used to live the way that I did. By the same token, I don't think I'll ever feel like I can't go back. Today, I just have a much different relationship with food. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I could care less what I eat, but I think of most food as just a means to an end.

In these past two years, I've run/walked more than 1000 miles and biked more than 500 miles. I've run 5k's, 10k's, 10 milers, 2 half marathons and a full marathon. Buying a bike last fall saved my progress from going south after the first of now three ankle and foot injuries. I look forward to getting on the bike more than just about anything exercise and enjoyment wise.

I think back to that first day when I stepped on the treadmill and recall how difficult that first mile was. I was so ready to hang it all up. In comparison, in the 24 hours period between last night and today (again, pretending that it's now Saturday, even thought we all know it's a total farce,) I biked to the gym 7 miles, took a one hour Body Pump class, biked to the pool, swam with the kids, threw in 10 laps, and then biked home. This (Saturday) morning, I rode 31 miles with a local bicycling club, the HoCo Cyclists.

As I got on the scale this (Saturday) morning, I was looking forward to breaking new ground, and that I did. The number staring back at me was 226. A loss of 188 pounds in two years and 40 pounds from this time a year ago. I've lost 22 inches on my waist, from a 58 to a 36. Those numbers all seems so normal.

It's truly impossible to understate the importance of my biggest fan and cheerleader, Deb. She has kicked my ass more times than I'd like to admit for getting out of a routine, eating too much crap, not doing the right kinds of exercise and any other general ass kicking that I surely needed and deserved. On top of it all, she's held down the fort particularly through the tough marathon training period. I could not have asked for a better partner. Thank you, my love!

Okay, enough sappiness, so what's in store for year 3? Well, I've already set my weight goal for the end of the year -- 199 is the number. As for events, hard to tell. We'll see how this foot/ankle thing does. Who knows, with the swimming, maybe a future triathlete in the making. For sure, I'll be looking for my first century bike ride by the end of 2009. Other than that, we'll see how things go.

Thanks, all, for reading and encouraging.

L'Chaim!

The "D" Plan

I'm tired of looking at the scale and seeing the same range of numbers. In the last three months, I've gravitated between 229 and 233. Just really holding steady. It's time for a jump start, so here's the plan:

• Diary: Yesterday, I started keeping a diary of my food intake. I've tried it before, but have never been able to keep it up for more than a couple of weeks, if that. Usually, I'll hit a bad patch and stop recording, but I know that this will get me to be more conscious of what I'm eating. I'm using Fit Day and you can see my progress here.
• Intake: Plan is to keep to under 2,000 calories per day. After one day, I quickly realized how many calories I had been consuming -- 3,000 or more per day, I'm sure. Ideally, the ratio will be 50% carbs, 30% protein and 20% fat. The fat will be the tough part, I fear.
• Exercise: 5 hours per week is the goal. The idea is 2 hours of Body Pump and three hours of cardio -- biking, swimming, etc. This is totally doable.

The goal is to break 199 by year's end. That's just 1 1/4 pounds a week. At 2000 calories a day, I should generate enough of a calorie deficit to lose as much as 2-3 pounds per week, but I'm not gonna get crazy -- heavy activity days will require more fuel, and that I'll take in.

So that's the plan. Not too complicated. Just need to stick to it.

L'Chaim!

Full Week Ahead

Looks like this will be a full week at the office this week with vacation and the holiday week now behind.

This weekend wasn't really what the doctor ordered. Plans were in place for rides every day, but the weatherman was completely uncooperative. Friday was blah. I was set for a group ride on Saturday, bike loaded up on the back of the car and ready to go, but then the rain came, just a as I was set to leave. Yesterday, despite the threat of a total washout, I got out with a friend for 26 miles west of home. It was a totally enjoyable ride and we were far from alone. There were cyclists out everywhere, obviously making up for the lost weekend.

Friday, I was able to squeeze in a couple of hours at the pool with the kids before the Independence Day festivities kicked off. There I did something new -- swam 10 laps. I don't think its a reach to say that these were the first laps I've ever swam. It was painful and it was ugly, I'm sure, but it felt good to add in a new activity. I'll be back to the lap pool.

Then there is the scale. Not so much cooperation here. I've been slowly ticking upward over the past weeks. It's been more than 5 weeks since I broke new ground and I'm sitting a few pounds over that average. As of today, I'm at 231.4, up 0.6 since last week. Still, I'm down 182.6 but this year, I'm down just about 10 pounds. To get a bit of recharge here, I'll begin journaling my food intake today. Although I know what's pushing me in the wrong direction, seeing it in writing will help get me back on track.

L'Chaim!

"Walk as Little As Possible"

I seem to be spending far more time in doctors' offices now at about 230 pounds and arguably in the best shape of my life than I did for the many years I teetered between 414 and the mid-300's. (Actually, no argument about it, I am in the best shape of my life.)

Yesterday's visit to the chiropractor yielded some relief for the foot pain I've been having, but this morning, I awoke to the same old thing again, so it was off to the podiatrist.

As you might have divined, the title of today's post is what the podiatrist said when I went to see him this morning.

Seems I have a case of plantar fasciitis that I aggravated about a month ago. (I'm sure you remember this post -- that was the actual last day I ran. It was later that day that the pain started.) It hurts most when I get up in the morning and try to walk on it. I usually have to turn my left foot upwards and walk just on the outer edge to manage the pain which often subsides throughout the day, but not completely. Some days I limp, some days not. It's unpleasant.

So the doc said it would probably take at least three months of rest, stretching, not ever walking on flat surfaces without shoes with arch support. He went as far as to include walking to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

As for exercise -- biking is the best -- no pressure whatsoever on the plantar. Swimming itself is good, but the walking around the pool is troublesome. Running? Well, maybe when I feel 100% I can try walking for exercise and build up to running. OY!

I wasn't quite prepared for this, but it's certainly not as devastating as last summer's ankle injury. I'll have to wait and see how the rehab goes to figure out the fall schedule. Annapolis in August (next month?) is going to be out. October events -- just wait and see and hope for the best.

Unfortunately, I couldn't talk the doc into writing a prescription for something like this:

L'Chaim!

Back from Vaca . . . So Sad

We got back Sunday from our trip west. Hard to believe we were gone for 10 days.

Some lights (high and low):

• Yellowstone was amazing. Almost a freak of nature with all of the geysers, springs, fumaroles and pools.


• "Bear Jam" -- term for what happens on the road when a bear is within 200 yards -- every car just stops and people start taking pictures. The bear jam is almost as interesting to watch as the bear itself. (Yes, we partook as well! Two bears: one black, one grizzly.)
  
• Kids whine but they absorb. Was quite impressed when my kids spewed out all kinds of info that they picked up from the mile and a half ranger led hike a couple of days earlier.
  
• After 4 days at Yellowstone, we headed south to the Grand Tetons. Deb and I got out at one point to look at the Tetons as they overlooked Jackson Lake. I must say that this may be the most beautiful natural site that I have ever seen. It was magnificent and breathtaking. I got chills and a bit choked up even. Pictures to come.
  
• Bikers everywhere. I was amazed at the number of people there were on bikes of all kinds. My eldest and I had a nice 2 hour ride into the park through a trail down to the Madison River. He said it was his favorite part of the trip. Made me feel all warm and fuzzy! I rented a comfort bike in Jackson Hole and got in a couple of long rides -- 17 miles on a flat trail and 16 early one morning into Teton park.


• My left foot continues to bother me. In fact, it can be downright painful. It all started about a month ago and I thought it would get better on his own, but it hasn't. Didn't run at all on the trip, including the trail race I had planned to run (but I did pick up the t-shirt since I had paid for it.) Did go out to cheer on the runners. Some were struggling after completing 2-1000 foot climbs over the last half of the 8k. Really sorry I missed those climbs.


• On Friday we had a no car day. Just bought passes for the Snowbird activities. A full day of zip lines, alpine slide, trampolining and the gondola ride to 11,000 feet. What a blast!


• Tons of bikers in and around Salt Lake City. Probably more bikers than I've ever seen anywhere. At one point, Deb said to me: "you wish you were biking don't you?" Yes, I did!


• Deb took more than 2,000 pictures. Will post some as soon as we figure out how to download them!

All in all, it was a great trip. The kids did great considering we did 1500 road miles and four hotels.

Time to start planning our next adventure.

L'Chaim!