Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Thank You For Smoking

Ok, gonna go ahead and put it out there. If you're easily offended, you might want to hit the back button on your browser, as I'm about to RAGE.

I got home from work today and immediately hopped on the bike, leaving roughly an hour of daylight. It's amazing how much can happen in an hour of daylight. Frightening to think about what could happen in an hour of darkness. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, scares me more on the bike than elderly drivers and the various nationalities that are taking over my local park. I don't care if I lose readers because of this, because damnit, the majority of the time generalizations are completely true. That's how they became generalizations. Allow me to outline the things that happened solely during this evening's ride:

  • Enjoying the sweet smell of Black 'N Milds while riding through the park
  • Little kid (not supervised) kicks a soccer ball across the road nearly taking out my front tire
  • Gentleman crosses the road with dog, which decides to crap in the middle of the road
  • Multiple cars decide to pass/cut me off with 20 feet remaining to a stop sign
  • Car (elderly person) pulls out in front of me while I'm cruising at 20 mph 
  • The constant passing way too close to the bike lane when the on coming lane is open

Now, I understand that cyclists are sometimes the problem, and I will focus my attention on that in a later post. But right now, the cycling movement in Greenville is full bore, and I want to be a part of that movement. Unfortunately, I anxiously await another article in the paper outlining a new accident involving a cyclist and motorist. In my opinion, with cycling gaining so much attention, it'd be nice to see driving tests include lessons on safely navigating pedestrian and cyclists. I don't think Driver's Ed currently addresses such matters. Of course, that would only include people with legal driver's licenses, but we'll avoid heading down that road for now.

Point is, if you're going to introduce bike lanes and parks to encourage people to get outside, then safety needs to be the primary concern. Personally, it'd be nice to see some patrol efforts in the local parks. Instead of pulling over the person going 40 in a 35, maybe officers could ensure the safety of pedestrians (See Dude in the Red Van) and cyclists. /rant.

So...obviously I rode tonight. Short ride, 45 minutes and 12 miles. I did discover that I need my bike tuned, as there were multiple occasions where I got out of the saddle only to have my gears slip. Didn't take long for me to realize I need to stay seated. But it was good to get out there. Feeling pretty good about 3 straight days of running/riding. Beast Mode.

Monday, September 26, 2011

Lots to Think About

Get some Poppa Doc
I've never been one to think about life while running. I don't know why, but instead of deep personal reflection, I find myself wrapped up in a make believe underground battle against Eminem...except I'm just rapping his music, as if it's my own. Next week I think I'll be Weezy.

Anyway - today was different. I started a new career venture today, and found myself pondering many different things. Maybe this pondering should've happened a couple weeks ago, before deciding to change jobs. But I was so focused on getting the hell out of dodge at my [ex] job, there was no hesitation in leaving. So I found myself reflecting on today's events and fighting doubt. Talk about a way to relieve some stress. I would've been screwed if it rained today. I won't get into the details, but I had some serious thoughts on whether I made the right decision, but I can truly see this being a career (climbing the proverbial corporate ladder). Feels Good Man.

Ran four miles today [quickly run to edit my last post]. It wasn't as good as most Monday runs, but not terrible. No home game this weekend, so I'm looking into a bike ride on Saturday. Exciting. Oh, and GO TIGERS. The whole world is getting introduced to SFYMANPOW. Google it.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Bacon Bits

I ramble...but I warned you all about that early on, so I have no late night feelings of guilt over my posting style. The funny thing about today's post, is that I skipped running today so I could write a post. I have a long list of things to complete tonight, including the following:

  • Recover the hard drive from my college laptop
  • Cringe at some of things I find on said hard drive
  • GTL...minus the G and T
  • Find my brother a birthday present that can be shipped to Colorado in 24 hours
  • Research and make my college football picks

So obviously you can see why I needed to forego the run today. Plus all my "running gear" was in need of a good wash. I can literally shake salt off my Dri-Fit hat. Disgusting.

Something I've realized over the past few weeks is that I'm no longer concerned with the notion of training too far in advance. It's going to take me a long time to achieve 13 miles. I diagnosed this issue by noticing that my longest runs aren't getting any longer. I feel that I should be able to run 5 miles continuously right now, but I'm struggling to do that. I ran on Monday, and felt good, but still cashed out at the 5k mark. Frustrating. Which leads me to wonder why this is...

My right leg is giving me fits. It hurts...a lot...every time I run. I don't know if it's a coincidence or not, but could it be because of the break back in 2006? I was always of the belief that broken bones heal stronger, but that could be something I saw on TV. But it's definitely one those "hurts when it rains" things. So maybe I'm onto something. I need to Google these kinds of things before writing about them so I sound intelligent. Note to self. Oh well, I need a picture for entertainment. I couldn't find my actual x-ray so here is one that is similar to mine. Funny, as I look at this, I can completely understand why it would hurt when I run.


So, that's all I've got today. Like I said, Laura and I ran on Monday. Roughly 27:00 for the 5k I recall correctly. Another run tomorrow, then we'll be going for a hike with the dog on Friday.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Mile Widget

Per the suggestion of my brother, Razor T. Sharp, I've added the daily mile widget to the sidebar. I only added this week's runs, but I'll be interested to see how many miles I cover over the next 8ish months. Cheers to Wednesday!

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Trending...

NOM NOM NOM
Anyone that has been around me knows I'm committed to not dieting. I fully understand that fish, salads, and vegetables are more conducive to weight loss than pizza, wings, and loaded baked potatoes. Frankly, I don't give a damn. BUT...in the best interest of my body, this blog, and my need for results, I'm willing to make small changes here and there. Exhibit A: We went to Bellacino's for lunch today. Typically, I order a half turkey grinder, Cheetohs, and a drink. Today I ordered a half turkey grinder and a water. This is the gameplan that I believe will ultimately lead to a successful weight loss campaign.

Another tactic is carefully evaluating what items I will try to avoid. For example, it would be senseless to cut out mayonnaise from my diet. By cutting out mayonnaise, you cut out ranch dressing. Rather, I will focus on limiting the consumption of both products, instead of totally removing either/or. To summarize my initial diet change goal thingies, I present the following bulleted list:

  • Portion Control
  • Less Condiments
  • Limiting Soda to the Role of Mixer

On to the training! Laura and I ran this past Friday. Well, I ran out a ways, then circled back to find her walking a mere .5 mile into the run. Apparently her K-5 class had cake that afternoon and it was causing problems with her stomach. I managed to forge ahead for roughly a 25 minute jog/turn around to look/jog/start wondering where Laura is/jog. I ran yesterday and today for combined 5 miles and collective time of 47:46. Combining these numbers are worthless though, because I know I can't run 5 miles continuous right now. Right now we're looking at one more run this week, then that thing I talked about when addressing football season. We'll have friends in town all weekend for the Clemson/Auburn game, so I doubt there will be a bike ride anywhere.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

I Got Nothing

Well, I hate to admit it, but thus far the score is:

Football Season 1
Running 0

Technically, I was in a wedding this weekend, which is pretty much a football weekend on steroids. We drove down Friday, rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, line dancing. Is line dancing not normal? Saturday consisted of golf, Hooters, unhealthy decisions, wedding, reception, and line dancing. Sunday I still had a friend in town and Monday, well Monday was just a complete waste of a day. Suck.

Looking forward to getting back in the groove this week as mother nature moves out, and comfortable temperatures settle in. I see a long bike ride in my future this week. Fortunately, we play Wofford this weekend. It should be a very calm football Saturday with plenty of time to find the rhythm.

So obviously no training updates tonight, but plenty to come later on in the week. Thinking about adding a race to schedule before the Cold Winter's Day Run with the family. Depends on if I can Laura on board or not.