Our first few days in Paris

We arrived Sunday 2 June (2/6/13 in Europe).  As expected we were pretty tired, but did walk around a little and found (Elliot got a recommendation from someone on the plane) a great restaurant that we could walk to for our apartment in the Montmartre neighborhood of Paris.  

On Monday, we took a 11 - 12 km bike ride / tour of the landmarks.  The touring companynis Blie Bike Tours.  It was a great introduction and we didn't have sore feet from walking.  Some photos while we were stopped and while riding...

I took the next two while riding.

And of course, I enjoyed a crepe during the break.

This morning  I ran through Montmartre, very hilly, but fun.  I tried to follow a mapmyrun route, but quickly got lost.  I knew sort of a loop and ended up in a business area.  I stopped for two sights, 54 Rue Lepic, the apartment of Vincent Van Gogh in 1886-1888, and the Moulin Rouge.  I had read that van Gogh lived near me and did remember the address.  So when I went from the 20s and then noticed 60, I walked back and found the small plaque on a very ordinary apartment building.  I also walked up the stairs along the funiculaire.  Montmartre is the tallest hill in Paris.  It is residential with lots of families, so it's nice to come back to after being a tourist.

How About That? Three Days in a Row!

Was contemplating either riding from home down to Parkville or going north along 9 highway.  I almost decided to head out the Little Blue Trace, but thought it might be more enjoyable if Sean and or Rob were along.  Sean has never rode there and it's time he incorporated different routes during his training.

At the last minute, I decided to just head up to the Interurban Road and get in a 25 miler.  Don't know why I settled on a goal of 25 miles.  I think I was relating it to running, where you don't want to load up on heavy mileage too many days in a row. 

I was a little taxed  from yesterday, so I took it fairly easy and got in 25.2 miles averaging 12.5 mph with a top end of 23.3 mph.

Today's ride gives me 82.7 miles for the week

Nelson Island Ride

Sean, Rob and I headed out to Nelson Island today to add some mileage and more time in the saddle.  We didn't get in the mileage we wanted yesterday at the clock tower ride, so we decided to ride again today.

We kind of toyed with the idea of a 40 miler, but changed our minds when we came to a low bridge where the water was higher than we were comfortable with.  Actually, due to some super steep up and down hills that taxed us physically, we though it best to shorten the mileage, so we made our turn around at that bridge.

On the way out we noticed what looked like a new alternate route, but since Rob nor I were familiar with it, we decided to stick to the old main trail.  We took the alternate route on our return trip and discovered that it eliminated all the super steep up and down hills!  It made a huge difference!  I don't know when they constructed that alternate trail, but it sure made it a lot more bike friendly!

For me I clocked an even 30 miles at an average of 11.4 mph and topping out at 21.8 mph at some point.

Weather was very favorable with some wind on occasion.

Rolling and running

Finally managed to get a little bit of cycling into my week, joining Sean and Mike in our first Clock Tower ride. While the ride didn't quite match my notion of ideal, it did at least give me the opportunity to get almost 3 hours of time in the saddle. More than anything I need to get into saddle shape before the October KATY ride.
I've also managed to gradually increase my running mileage while limiting my weekly outings to 3. My runs all feel harder than they should, but I'm always happy to have done them. Weekly mileage has climbed gradually throughout May and into June, and I finished the last week with 17.5. I was encourage enough to even buy a new pair of running shoes.
Looking forward to increasing my rolling and running mileage in the coming weeks.

My First Clocktower Ride.

Well,
Rob, Sean and I ventured out to OP this morning to have our first experience with the Clock tower riders.  Nice folks, had a nice breakfast, watched George help Sean change a flat tire, and rode back.  Other than watching Tim (one of the CT riders) try to devour a large stack of pancakes about the size of Delaware covered with four bushels of strawberries and 6 gallons of whipped cream, the ride was fairly uneventful.

What do I call eventful?   Well, first of all, if you know me and my riding preference, I really like riding the trails or roads that have really light traffic, like the Interurban Road up north.

Speaking only for myself, I was fairly nervous pretty much the entire ride.  Just way too much traffic, and too close, for my comfort level!  There were two incidents, involving Rob, that bothered me.  One driver just came too close to Rob at the end of the OUT part of our ride.  The other was when a driver made a right hand turn in front of Rob.  I believe Rob kind of anticipated that and no harm became of him.  I wasn't looking forward to giving him CPR anyway!

Again, speaking just for me, I probably won't do that ride again.  There are just too many places close to home where I feel much safer, plus better scenery on the trails.

Since our target mileage for today was 40 miles, and we only rode 27, we decided to ride again tomorrow beginning at Nelson Island.  Hopefully we can get in a 30 miler!

BTW, per Bill's request, I'm posting a total of 118 mies for the past week.  Posting today's mileage would fall into this week from Saturday to next Sunday.  It would be interesting for each of us to post our weekly mileage of running OR riding.  Sooo, this week begins with a 27.5 mile ride.  My goal is to post a minimum of 150 miles from today to next Saturday

Bayshore Marathon Report!

I ran -- and enjoyed immensely -- the very beautiful Bayshore Marathon out of Traverse City, MI last Saturday.  The course is an out and back with 12 of the 13 miles right along the Grand Traverse bay on a small road with gorgeous homes and lake views.  We hit perfect weather -- 37 degrees at the start, but warming quickly with the full sunny day building to 62 at the finish.  I was very undertrained for this race...only one 18 and a 20 for my long runs (lots of 14's and 16's otherwise) but with low mid-week mileage.  On all but one of my long runs, I would run out of gas at 13-14 miles and drop down to 14/15 minute miles -- reflective I believe of low mid-week mileage.  Going in, my plan was to go out at 11:00's and hold sub 11:30's as long as possible (my comfortable pace), then walk if needed to finish.  My "A" plan was 5:00; "B" was 5:15-5:30 (which I expected), and "C" was to finish.

Turns out, I had a solid "B" plan day.  I averaged 10:47's for the first 4 miles before settling into steady 11:12's through mile 15.  This was followed by progressivly slower, but still steady 'running' (no walk breaks except for the aid stations) of 3 miles at 12:29's, then 4 miles at 13:35's, and finishing 4.2 miles at 14:12's.  A higher, properly trained mileage base would have held those back miles up.  Finish time was 5:19 for a 12:02 average pace.

This was my slowest marathon ever, but one of my most fun.  I was proud to keep moving, and can see that I'm on the road back to better running here.  The course and crowd was fabulous.  My sister Kathy and husband Hans came out and cheered me at 5 different points from the second half to the finish.  I was totally taking in all the Northern Michigan experience I could as I have a long family history of vacations in that part of the world, and I was in effect 'drinking it all in.'  At some point during my return leg I thought "this IS the best way to drink in the north woods...nothing slows down time like the back half of a marathon!"

My sister, Hans, and I had a great weekend celebrating her 65th birthday for the rest of my weekend.  All in all, this was a very special, memorable marathon weekend that has me psyched and ready for a summer full of long bike rides, our fall Katy Trail trip, and continued long distance training!

Here are some pictures from my weekend:

Kathy and I at the mile 19.4 aid station

Kathy and I at lunch after the race

Kathy and Hans on a beautiful trail we hiked on Sunday

Northern Michigan is beautiful!

Precarious, but I got it in!

I wanted to ride today, but wasn't sure about when it was going to start raining again.  Chris told me that the rain was predicted to return around 3:00 PM so I took off for the Interurban Road around 11:00 AM with a goal of getting in another 40 miler.

The first part of the ride was humid with a pretty good breeze in my face.  The clouds cover came and went along with the heat and humidity.  The ride from Ferrellview to Deerborn was rather pleasant watching the tall grass swaying in the wind and noticing the corn height was around a foot now.  It was also nice to see all the greening of the trees.

I rode through Deerborn to where the highway crosses over I-29 just north of town.  At that point I had a decision to make.  I was at 18 miles into my ride, but if I was going to get my forty in, I had to add on another 2 miles.  At this point, I was pretty concerned about the weather.  The wind had picked up considerably  and I was beginning to feel a drop of rain here and there.  Easy decision, I headed back to the car!

The ride back to the car was the roughest 18 miles I've ever rode.  The wind was as strong as I can ever remember on that route.  Believe it or not, at one point, I was actaully having to pedal DOWNHILL!  It was a long slight downhill, but the wind was so strong in my face that I had to keep cranking.  I didn't get to enjly very many downhill coasting opportunities!!!!

I ended up with a 36 miler averaging 12.9 mph with my top end at 24.8 mph.  I was kind of surprised at my 12.9 mph average.  I rode faster than that on the windy Smithville Trail!

Note:  I had already put my bike on the rack and was taking my helmet off when the rain hit!
            Could not have timed that any better if I planned on it!