Good, Bad, and Ugly!

Well, let's start with The Good. I had a good four mile run at English Landing. Went west out on the farm road next to the river for .83 miles before I ran into a swamp. Returned back to the trail in the park and completed a four miler with these splits. 11:34, 10:09, 9:59, and 9:18, plus I walked another half mile.

The Bad: Was going to take Chris with me and let her ride her bike while I got a run in. However, my bike rack wasn't secure enough and her bike bounced out onto the street. I took it to the shop (Cycle City) and the damage was estimated at around $80.00 (bent wheel, bent derailleur, and a damaged gear shift). Decided to put that money into a new bike instead of putting another $80.00 in a bike I paid $75.00 for used.

The Ugly: Before I started my run I put my keys in the pocket in my running shorts. Checking to make sure they were secure, I began my run. Somewhere around .75 out on the farm road I didn't feel my keys any more. They just weren't in the pocket any more! I stopped my watch and back traced my steps for a quarter of a mile walking slowly so as not to miss my keys. I was trying to remember where I ran in the grass, from time to time, so not to run in the ruts on the path. I stopped due to hearing a clinking sound coming from my running shorts. I pulled my shorts away from my belly and there were my keys right in my, uh, uh, private area. Now, I don't want to hear any crap about not feeling my keys due to being dead in that area!! You hear?? The lining of my shorts stopped the keys from falling to the ground. If that were to have happend I would have probably heard them hit the ground.

To summarize: I Totaled Chris's bike, lost my keys, but still got my run in and still found my keys, albeit warmer than when I put them in the pocket with a hole in it.....Mike

Split Weekend!

My plan was to ride with Rob, his nephew Nathan, and Sean for 12 miles then return to pick up Brandon to ride an additional 15 miles. Brandon is working on his cycling merit badges and needed two ten milers, two 15 milers, and two 25 milers before he can attempt his 50 mile goal. I made the turnaround at Camden Point and headed back to the van. I returned home expecting Mindy and Brandon to show up at 10:30. They arrived at 11:30 and it was starting to get hot. Since Brandon decided to bring a friend, I had to load three bikes in the van, one inside and two on the rack. After loading the bikes, I told the boys we had to get going. I was more than just a little pissed when I found out they forgot their bike helmets! I should have just stayed with Rob, Nathan, and Sean!!! Obviously, there was no ride! Anyway, Brandon came this morning and we got his 15 miler in, but not without incident. Too involved and lengthy to document here in this blog. I'll relate the incident when we get together for our MRC run, walk, ride, eat or whatever....Mike

Close call, and a fall

I was out for an easy ride this morning when I came to a busy intersection. As I approached the corner on the trail that was right next to and parallel to the road, the light turned green in my direction, so I started to head into the crossing. At the same time a car next to me on my left, and heading in the same direction, turned the corner and into my path. I squeezed the brakes and stopped just before he sped past me. We missed each other by probably 30 inches, though it seemed closer than that at the time. I was not quick enough to get out of my clips, so I toppled over to my right. The car kept on going, happily without me underneath it.

I got a little scrape on my right leg, but other than that and a some embarrassment, I was fine. I take the responsibility for not being more defensive, but I definitely had the right of way. I typically don't assume I'm going to get my space, and I don't know why I did this time. I'm just glad I was a little lucky. -- Rob

Bringing up the rear

Rode this 38-miler with Nathan (my niece's husband), Sean (colleague from church) and, part way, Mike. We were riding in the shade with the temperature about 65, so it was downright cold for the first 15 miles. After Mike turned back at mile 12, it was me on a hybrid, and the two young guys on road bikes for the next 26 miles. If it had been a race, I would have finished a distant third (though they were still within eyesight). We all worked real hard on this ride, and our average doesn't reflect the true speed. 7 of the miles were over 17 mph, and 17 were over 15. We had a few miles under the teens because of traffic, and that pulled the average down.

By the time we were done, my quads were shot from trying to keep up with the fast guys. They waited on me quite a bit, but admitted they were hurting, too, at the end.

The GPS reported I burned 1,980 calories, and I think it was every bit of that. Great workout and fun ride.

38.4 miles in 2:33:21 for an average of 15.02 mph -- Rob

Great Week of Biking and Running!

Decided to really test the waters this morning. After the five miler on Monday I thought I would try an eight miler around hilly Lake Waukomis. I walked a full minute after each mile, just to be on the safe side, and still averaged in the 11:00s. Ran the last mile in 8:49 just to finish strong. I am really pleased how this week went with regards to biking and running. From Saturday to today I rode a 50 miler and a 35 miler. I ran the five miler Monday and finished up with the eight miler today. Rest day tomorrow and another 50 miler on Saturday. The ride Saturday will be broken up into two rides, one with Rob and his nephew, and the other with my grandson. FYI, I've lost 12 pounds in the last three weeks......Mike

Green light

Saw the doctor about my hernia and set the outpatient surgery for Monday. He gave me the green light to ride or do anything I was comfortable with until after the surgery, when I will be grounded for 3 or 4 weeks.

With the go-ahead from the doctor, I decided I would carry out my usual exercise routine for the week, and that called for a short but fast ride. I chose a route through the Riss Lake area, which I hadn't used in quite a while. It's hilly and can be quite difficult depending on how fast you want to go. After a slow start to warm up, I pushed it all the way. It was helpful that for a change it was relatively cool and there was little humidity. I didn't even take water along, since I knew I'd be out less than an hour. I was a little surprised by my overall speed, which I think was helped by my new clip shoes.

More cool days like this one would be very nice.

13.72 miles, 55:16 min., 14.9 mph average. -- Rob

Great Weather, Nice Ride!

Got in a real nice 35 mile ride this morning. Left the house at 6:40, unloaded the bike in Ferrelview and headed north. Was going to make it a 25 miler by making my turnaround just past Camden Point, but, since I felt good and it wasn't that much further to Dearborn, I continued north. Rode a little past Dearborn until I reached 17.5 miles on my Garmin and made the turnaround. Stopped at the cafe in Dearborn and sat outside to rest and hydrate. Headed back home and picked up the pace (as usual). Had no problems, but the vehicular traffic was heavy (for the Interurban) going out and practically nill coming back. The reverse could be said about cyclists. I saw zero bikers going out, probably due to my early start, but counted 9 on my return back to Ferrelview. Trip took 2 hours and 46 minutes and averaged 12.5 mph. Nice easy consistant pace.....mike

Easy Run

Got in an easy 5 miler this morning. Nothing noteworthy, averaged a little over 11:00 pace. Very slight discomfort in hip but nothing like it was. Can't help thinking that, not only does the biking keep in some kind of condition, it also may be strengthing my hips....Mike

A few more things about today's ride

Let me just add to Mike's post:

We finished with about 50.5 miles and averaged 13.2 mph. The middle of the ride was roughly 25 miles of mostly flat road (the Interurban), but the rest of the mileage was in pretty hilly residential and business areas. Those miles got to be a bit taxing. In the end, according to my GPS, we burned 2,499 calories, and that's a real plus.

I don't know about this 100-mile stuff Mike is talking about. -- Rob

Gooder and Gooder!

What a great 50 mile ride this morning. Rode from the house with Rob, and our Brother Knight, Sean Joyce. Rode from our house to past Camden Point and back. Had some difficulty in the last two miles going up hills. I think I just had the bike geared a little to high for that late in the ride. Slowly building the mileage and hope to do a 100 miler before it gets to cold. No incidents to speak of, but saw a ton of cyclists on the Interurban Road. Must have seen around 75 or more!

Might add some more miles next week and ride a 60 miler somewhere, but now it's time for a nice nap!.....Mike

Nice Ride!

Rob and I took a nice 16 mile ride last night. We were checking out what might be the best route from our homes to connect up with the Interurban Rd. in Ferrelview. Traffic was somewhat of a concern, but with an early start on Saturday, for our first 50 mile ride, most of that concern should be alleviated.....Mike

New bike shoes

I was riding by myself this morning and trying out my new mountain bike shoes that clip into the pedals. I picked Interurban Road because I knew there'd be shade for at least the first half of the ride.

The shoes and new pedals aren't cheap, but I got a nice discount with birthday money. I'd been looking at the bike shoes and pedals for quite a while because as I've gotten into better riding shape I've noticed that under certain circumstances I was having trouble keeping my feet on the standard flat pedals. The worst cases would be when shifting gears at high speed. If my feet weren't in just the right position, sometimes they would just fly off.

Getting into and out of the clips takes little practice, but I didn't have much trouble getting the hang of it. It's not second nature yet, but I don't think it will take long. The big thing is getting out of the clips at the right time. The trick is to rotate your heel out. When you do, it forces the shoe out of the clip. It sounds simple, and it is, but it still takes a little practice.

I only forgot once that I was wearing the new shoes, and got into a situation where I had to take my feet off the pedals and put them on the ground. When I went to do that, they didn't come off the pedals like I expected. I was out of time and panicked a little bit, and that's when I discovered that with a little extra effort you can yank your shoes right out of the pedal clip even if you don't rotate the heel. It also answered the burning question: if I ride over a cliff, am I still going to be connected to my bike pedals when they find me at the bottom a week later? Probably not. That's a relief.

I don't know if it was the pedals or what, but I burned up the course, covering the distance in record time for me: 34.41 miles in 2:05:17, for an average of 16.48 mph. I even caught and passed three 20-somethings on road bikes on the way back. Score one for the old guy on the hybrid. -- Rob

Nice 5k Surprise!

Wow, what a nice surprise! I entered Deanna Rose Farmland Stampede 5k, at my daughter's request, to run with my grandson Brandon. Brandon is a freshman on the Liberty High School cross country team and was just supposed to get an idea of how far a 5k is. I guess he was supposed to figure out a pace that he could maintain for the 3.1 miles. Brandon told me he didn't want to race but would rather stay with me and run together. I told him that would be great, but if I was having trouble, he was to go on ahead. Somewhere around the 3/4 mile mark, Brandon told me his knees were hurting real bad. I told him that if he felt he needed to walk then it would be best that he walked. I asked him if he needed me to stay with him and he told me to go ahead and he would try to catch up after walking a little.

I tried to select a finish time that I thought I could achieve, since I haven't been doing much running, and figured that I could probably hold on to a pace around 9:30. I hit the first mile in 9:00 flat, mile two was an 8:48, mile three was 8:06 and the last tenth was 50:65 seconds which would have been a 7:54 pace. Finish chip time was 26:46 and I took third in my age group. Got a nice medal and some sun sleeves, whatever they are. Felt a little guilty for leaving Brandon but I couldn't see paying $25.00 to walk a 5k!!! He finished about 4 minutes behind me and was okay.....Mike

Finally, A Bike For Christine!

Well, we finally found a bike for Chris to get back into some cycling. Not exactly the bike I had in mind for her, but, for $75.00, it's a cheap investment to see if she wants to continue the sport. It's a nice multi-speed mountain bike that fits her well.
The goal is for her to get into decent enough shape in order to ride a decent distance on the Katy Trail so we can enjoy a nice dinner together at the winery. Might be awhile since she hasn't been on a bike in many years......Mike

Back To Back Rides

Rode 15.5 miles on the Interurban with Rob on Wednesday evening. Expected it to be warmer than it was, but a nice natural breeze, plus the one created by ourselves, made the ride pleasant, if not enjoyable. Rob informed me of his inguinal hernia, which I suppose you get when you eat too much pasta. At any rate, I wish him a very speedy recovery in order to join his MRC pals on a regular basis once again.

Rode 25 miles with my grandson, Brandon, on Thursday morning after his cross country practice in Liberty. Got started later than we wanted to, due to his practice lasting longer than expected, but got the ride in, albeit a warm one. The temperature was manageable for the most part, but we were glad to see the finish line. Brandon rode the entire 25 miles on a mountain bike that was too small for him. I extended the seat as high as I could, but he still didn't get a comfortable leg extension in relationship to the pedals. He was a real trooper and stated he really enjoyed the experience. I'll have to help get him a new or newer bike very soon if he's going to continue to ride.

Official diagnosis

I started Tuesday with a CT scan of my abdomen and pelvis. The hope was that we were finally going to get to the cause of my long-lasting groin pain. The scan was quick and uneventful, and by the afternoon the results had been sent to my doctor's office. The doctor wasn't there, but Kay called me with the results: mild inguinal hernia.

I know I've had this hernia for a few years. Every so often I'd do something to aggravate it, but for the most part it didn't bother me much. Last September I loaded about 1,200 lbs. of large rocks into my pickup, and the next day I had a big flare-up. It faded a little over the next week or so, but I was also in the final stages of training for an October marathon that featured 55-mile weeks. I began to feel it again, and eventually I think it got bad enough to cause severe groin pain. I ran the marathon with that pain, and spent the next 3.5 months recovering.

Eventually, I was running again, and by the time I closed out the month of April of this year, I was back up to 35 mile weeks. Without really training for one, I'd gotten into marathon shape, and if I could have found one, I would have entered.

Then, out of the blue one day on vacation in Arizona, I suffered debilitating back and hip muscle pain. I quit running, and when I got home I visited my physical therapist/chiropractor, and discussed it with my MD. They had different opinions, but I used parts of each doctor's advice. It took over two months to work through all the muscle pain, but after it was gone, what was left was the groin pain. No matter what I did or didn't do, it would not go away.

My doctor couldn't detect a hernia and suspected a pelvic stress fracture. He wanted me to have an MRI, but the insurance company said it had to be a CT scan. I was skeptical that the scan would find anything, but of course had no choice. In the end, the scan provided the information we needed to go forward.

I expect a discussion shortly with the doctor on a course of treatment, but it doesn't take much reading to find out that the only effective thing is surgery. Also, I think I remember that Bill had similar surgery.

I know this is a minor malady compared to the problems many people have, and I thank God for that, but I've dealt with it for so long now that I am ready to get it fixed no matter what and as soon as possible. -- Rob

Bicycling Through The Heat

Mike -- don't feel bad about your run yesterday...the heat was simply amazing! This week, I'm trying out riding my bicycle the 11.5 miles into work. Monday I got in the round trip (42 mintues/15.4 mph inbound, 54 minutes/12.8 mph homebound, which is into the wind and during the 100 degree heat). Bicycling generates its own face wind, so it's tolerable in the heat. Yesterday I loaded my bike in my SUV and drove in so I could run errands and then I biked home. Today I doing the reverse, having left my car overnight at work yesterday. Over time, I'm thinking I should be able to get in 2-3 roundtrip commutes per week, which would give me 2-3 days of 2aday workouts!

Back to the heat: my two home bound rides into the heat have certainly been challenging -- yesterday was more effort and took me a minute longer. I simply don't care for the heavy air/poor air quality we get at 5:30 pm in 100 degree heat. But the bike rides are worth it -- I'm sitting on 4 workouts of 44-55 minutes each and its only Wednesday morning! Yeah!

Like Rob's earlier posting, I'm thinking that bicycling may be a great way to work through the 4 weeks or so of peak heat we seem to get every year. -- Bill

Torture!

Since I had no trouble with my four miler last week, and since Brandon and I didn't get to go on our 50 mile bike ride, I decided to run a six miler today. My plan was to just take it easy and get in the miles. Well, after mile two I realized it just wasn't going to happen. I was already hot and it wasn't getting any better. I walked 15-20 seconds after each mile and a minute and 10 seconds at the beginning of mile five. That mile five was a real struggle to keep moving. Total time 55:55. Mile one 12:06, two 10:50, three, 10:41, four, 10:36, and mile five 11:41....Mike

Surprise, Surprise!

Mindy called me yesterday and wanted me to run with Brandon in a 5k next Saturday at Deanna Rose Farm. His cross country coach wants the boys to experience a 5k in order to get used to that distance. I agreed to run with him, but was pretty apprehensive since I've been having so much trouble lately with the hips. Well, I think all the biking with Rob is paying off! I decided to just run a very easy four miler this morning. My thinking was that if I can get through four miles, I can run a 5k at a moderate speed of maybe around 10:00 to 10:30 pace.

I started with a warm up mile at 12:14, mile two was 11:35, mile three 9:30, and mile four was 8:54. I know that's not fast by our race standards but since I haven't ran anything much lately it was off the charts for me! I felt just great the last two miles! Hopefully, I'm back!......Mike

P.S. Brandon and I are headed for the Katy Trail in Rocheport next Tuesday to bike 50 miles. He needs to get his 50 mile cycling merit badge.

Near Death!

Since becoming a biking fanatic,
Rob's skills have become quite eratic
Took his eye off the trail,
Nearly crashed on his tail,
But his recovery was really dramatic!

Rob Forgot To Mention!!

Rob forgot to mention that during our 40.15 mile ride at Smithville this morning, we both had a near crash. I was going too fast and mis-negotiated a sharp turn. I saw that Rob, who was about 25 yards in front of me, didn't have any trouble with it, but I didn't realize it, until it was too late that I was actually going faster than him! I rode right into the grass and just hung on. Just happy that the grass wasn't wet or I would have been part of the turf. However, Rob had a closer shave with near death than I did! We were riding along at about a 15 mph clip when Rob turned to say something to me. Well, he should have taken a quick peek at the trail to see if he could afford the 5 seconds of turning his head from the trail. All of a sudden, Robbie was off the trail in the middle of a sharp turn. The shoulder, if you want to call rutted and slanted ground a shoulder, was not an ally of poor Robbie! He stuck his legs out from his bike and I'll I could see was the similarity between him and a cowboy riding "Thunder" the Brahma Bull! He hung on for the full 8 seconds and won first prize in the catagory of "I didn't die today!"

All in all, it was a good ride and we beat the hottest part of the day.......Mike

The longest ride

We picked the hottest day of the year to do our longest ride yet, and it turned out just fine. Mike and I kept the pace down because of the heat and humidity, and because we knew we had a long way to go. Since it was a weekday, there were very few people at the lake or on the trail, which meant we didn't have to be so wary all the time. I think we only came across a total of maybe 6 other people all morning. It was probably just under 80 when we started, and it was 90 in the shade when I got home, so it was heating up pretty good. High temp today is expected to go over 100. Happily, we won't be out in that.

My GPS tells me I burned 1,950 calories on the ride. I don't know how true that is, but I'll take it, along with a great big cookie.

40.26 miles in 3:13:16, for a 12.5mph average. --Rob

Long and hot

For whatever reason I decided I wanted to ride 30 miles today, even though I couldn't get out on the road until the sun was right over head. It was getting pretty hot and humid, but I had plenty of hydration and figured I'd just keep moving so I'd always have some wind in my face.

Once I got going I revised my distance plan and set my sights on Dearborn, which would add a bit over 3 miles to my total mileage. I covered the 16.69 miles to Dearborn in 58:30, or a tad over 17 mph average. There was a light breeze, and it was at my back, which was very helpful as it turned out.

That light breeze, so helpful on the way out, was quicksand on the way back. It opposed me all the way. I can't remember coasting at all coming back (maybe it wasn't such a light breeze, after all). Anyway, with the heat and humidity, and the wind, my pace slowed considerably and my overall average dipped to 15 for the whole ride, still pretty good. I stopped twice on the way back to drink and rest briefly, and I was plenty worn out at the end. But, it was a real good workout, burned a bunch of calories, and added 33.39 miles to my log. -- Rob