Diggin' Jack

Jack workouts are coming around. Think this is week number 5 for the track workouts from the Jack plan. This mornings workout was 200 meters with a 200 meter recovery another 200 meters with 400 meter recovery and then 800 meters with a 400 meter recovery. Repeat 4 times.

Thought my fitness had improved enough to adjust my paces, but this workout confirmed I'm still not quite ready. The steady state runs are getting easier. The factor that really still impacts the workout is the temperature and humidity. No break from it this morning. 74 degrees and very humid. Paces came in where they should. Well except for the last 800 meters, my big toe was sore in the first 100 meters. Slowed the pace and completed the repeat. Hindsight probably dumb, but no harm.

Mileage has been in the mid 50's for the last eight weeks, with only a one week dip into the 40's when I took a couple of days off. Started another streak after that break. Still not committed to any attempt for a long term streak. Because, after all running streaks are stupid and selfish.

Really need to convince someone else to do these workouts so they can decipher some of the workouts. I've changed some of the steady state/T pace/whatever workouts to simplify the day. Last week it was 3 miles worth of work right around old marathon pace, just because I'd need to have the workout written out on paper to know what to do next. Plus it was hot. Kinda hard to pull off at 0' dark thirty in the morning before the sun is up.

I have started to take a Succeed cap before the track workout if the temps are above 70 degrees. This morning I also ate a banana. That's a first, usually it's only one cup of black coffee before every run. Only exception is on long runs. Anything over 12 miles and I'll eat a pop tart before the run. Stopped taking water on the long runs. Don't plan on doing any runs over 12 miles for a month or more any way. Seems to work well to teach the body it can do without water for the shorter distances. Not quite up to the daily 10 miles, but getting close.

Can't believe its July and I haven't even been on the bike yet. Gotta give that bike rider who shall remain unnamed credit for my distaste with cycling. Love to watch the Tour de France every year. Started looking for the channel on my tv almost 2 weeks ago. I'll guess it's only on one channel on a weekend wrap up show at some odd hour when no other "real" sporting events are being televised. Sad that one loser can leave such a disgust with the sport. Guess us Americans got spoiled with the daily live coverage and the nightly recaps in high definition. Can't blame the tv exec's, cycling was never enjoyed by the masses in America. Only got to a marketable level when the media made a promising rider into the all American dream. Really that's probably what lead to his downfall. Someone whispering in his ear for one more comeback. He should have just retired.

Winter craptastic

Another day, another run in the rain. Think it's been 4-5 days straight of rain runs. Yesterdays was the worst. Only because of lack of preparation on my part. One particular spot went unlubed and it was painfully obvious within the first 2 miles. The combination of a steady rain, a shirt that must have been made of sandpaper and the up and down motion of said shirt removed half of my nipples. Or so it seemed.

Today was much better. Harder rain, but temperatures in the sixties. Isn't it supposed to be winter? But, I wisely chose a singlet with a better tech material. Plus, it stuck to my chest when it was soaked, so it didn't ride up and down with each foot strike. And, I lubed every potential rub spot generously. 

Today's workout was 10 by 100 meters at 3k pace, with equal recovery. Luckily someone left the gate unlocked at the high school track. These are getting easier, especially since these were solo and I wasn't trying to keep up with the fast guys. Cool thing about this workout is that it's not really work, more of a shakeout/wake up the dead legs kind of thing. Makes the following days hard workout easier? At least able to get onto pace easier anyway.

Can't complain about the weather this winter. We're a little less than a third of the way into the winter. January and February are typically the coldest months of the year. We'll probably pay dearly for the mild fall and early winter in the coming months.

Oh yeah and that former Tour de France bike rider. What's his name? is going to be on Oprah. Whoopity shit. Won't be watching, won't watch the comeback, won't be interested in whatever angle he's trying to con/scam/be forgiven for, pffffffffffftt.

There goes the neighborhood

Noticed an auction for a 494+ acre farm out on one of our regular riding/running routes on my Saturday bike ride. It backs up to Spain hill. (Casons Knobs) What an awesome property. Don't think the neighbors are to thrilled about it. At least 5 houses for sale on the road leading towards the farm and once I looked on line at least a dozen in the small subdivision across the road. Sure would be awesome to turn that farm into a patchwork of trails. I'll be following this over the next couple of years to see how it turns out. Most of the small farms that come up for sale, end up only being subdivided into 2 or 3 tracts of land with a single home. Guess the neighbors think this is going to be turned into a major subdivision.

Got a total of almost 34 miles of running this week. Hope to hit 40 next week. I'm still trying to build my base to about 50 miles a week before I start attempting any kind of real workout. Doesn't look like I'll be getting any speed back before the Middle Half. Maybe when it cools off I'll pick up a little bit of speed. 

Been watching the Vuelta Espana all week. Think it has 2 more weeks to go. Its another grand tour held in Spain. Didn't realize the Pyrennes where on the northern border of Spain. I can see why some of the pros train in the area. Great roads, lots of climbs.

What the hell's up with the USA Pro Challenge? I haven't seen any listings for it on tv. Is it only available on the interwebs? It's only 7 days long, but in Colorado. Would appear to be a marketing dream. Guess the US marketing folks are so burnt by LA, that they can't get behind a cycling event? Oh, its only on NBC sports channel the old Versus channel, the one my crappy satellite network doesn't carry on my plan. It requires an upgrade. Pfftt. Veulta Espana will have to do, would have liked to watch Hincapie in his final race.

Check out Jeff's blog post about the myth. I've rambled my thoughts plenty over the years.

The fall of Lance

Ok, so Lance Armstrong filed a complaint against the USADA that was rejected within a day or so by the judge. His new complaint is reviewed here by 150 Watts of Awesome. Wish she gave a cliff notes summation, but basically Lance is screwed. He'll probably lose his title's. (my reading into her analysis) He won't be allowed to compete in triathlons. Never mind that he's retired, past his prime and in the old man age group in any competition.

The "I've been tested over 500 times", has risen to over 600 times in the above reviewed new complaint. Disputed here and other places that I didn't bother to research. Plus, they weren't all negative. What? Little bit of EPO, some testosterone. No positives, really? But, we can't believe any of that right? Just because its on the interwebs doesn't make it true.

Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin has now filed a letter questioning the authority of the USADA. What bike is produced  designed and developed in Wisconsin? What bike does Lance ride? Good thing Wisconsin's representatives are so concerned with a retired bike rider, who lives in Texas. Couldn't Lance get a Texas representative or Congressman on his side? Where's the love for Lance.

Once the tour is over this year, will more "witnesses" emerge? More skeletons come rolling out of the closet. Will George and Levi stand by him? This could get really ugly.

As much as I've thought this has been a witch hunt against Lance, I guess if you're a doper you should expect to be outed at some point. Cycling will continue without Lance, United States interest will probably continue to fade even more than it has since he retired. One "reporters" analysis of this years tour. The tour is 2 weeks in, and I've only seen one stage. Still love cycling. I'd love to go ride on any part of the routes the Tour has taken in its 100 plus years.

Guess the one big question that will be answered in the coming months. How much will Lance lose monetarily? How much does he have to lose? Couple of million? Less?


Still a fan of Lance but the luster continues to fade. I've always wanted to believe he didn't dope. Even if he loses his titles and some money, (surely they can't take it all) I'll be one of the Lance Fan boys. Just not as boisterous as some on the interwebs.

pucker

Even though I've been riding a bike forever, I still manage to do some pretty dumb things. Yesterday, we rode 67 miles in the country. Great ride, didn't get lost. Both of us had our Garmin Forerunner 305's loaded with the course. My mistake was failing to hit the start button after I'd set the course. No big deal. Bigger error was on this mornings shakeout ride.

I've only ridden this particular course twice before. Once with an experienced rider, I hooked up with as he was leaving our neighborhood and again when I tried to ride the same route on my own, but of course I got lost. This time I made the right turns, but failed to appreciate a sharp turn. Scary shit when you're coming thru a turn and your feathering the brakes to slow and the wheel hops three feet sideways. That pretty well ended my ride, right there. Scared me. Only thing I could think of was the wreck Beloki had in the 2003 Tour de France. I didn't go down. Just went ahead and soft pedaled home.

 

I've always wondered how the mind reacts after an accident. My little wreck last year hasn't slowed me down any, but it has made me more apprehensive on descents. G passed me in a descent yesterday because I thought we had a tight switch back turn coming up and slowed to around 32 mph. I usually always push pass him on the descents, mostly because I outweigh him by 15 pounds. We rode one road in reverse yesterday that was to steep and rough to descend without riding the brakes the entire way down. Burt Bergen still is the most intense climb we've made yet, I can't imagine coming down that one at speed.

Yesterday was the RC Cola Moon Pie 10 mile race in Bell Buckle. Hate that I missed it. Usually even in the years I don't run, I volunteer. Not this year. Thought about being one of the geeks that show up on the bike, but G had already mapped out our ride for Saturday. Just as well, had we ridden out we'd have had to deal with way more cars than usual. Plus, it would have made for a really long day. Even with our 5:30 am start time we weren't finished until close to 9:30 am or so. Lots more time on the bike versus even the longest of my training long runs. Still don't seem to be any closer to starting back running. Sigh.

still a runner?

Seems like I haven't run in forever. Still riding the bike. The weight gain seems to have stabilized at about 10 pounds. About the same place when I was only running for fitness and not training for races.

Lance Armstrong will not be able to compete in tri's. His past will finally catch up with him. Don't see any good coming from the latest witch hunt. Even if he were to come clean and admit how he was able to pass all of those tests, it wouldn't help in the long term. Some athlete's will always be looking for that extra something. The testing will have to always be improved. But, perhaps that will be enough to keep the majority of the athletes clean. It is sadly part of the cycling world.

I enjoyed watching the tour when Lance competed. I've continued to watch in the years since, but not with the same level of interest. The media really built up the american wonder boy story line. I bought it, it was a fun ride. Now american tv is on to the next sensantional story line. Cycling isn't mainstream, nor track and field. Great spectacle/entertainment that sadly most americans never experience.

No #8, no podium

Bike picture would be better, but really wanted to show the torture device for us PF sufferers, but hey if it works. What the hey?!

The Tour de France is over for Lance. Really did think he had enough to make a go of it one more time, but fate kicked his ass in today's stage. "The tour is finished for me." He finished down almost 10 minutes to all of the big general classification contenders. Seems like everyone has crashed in this years tour. But, Lance has hit the deck twice already. Once on stage 3 and again on todays stage. (Velonews said 3 times today?) Today's fall cost him lots of energy to catch back to the peloton. The second wreck today he just shook his head in disbelief. Sure hope Levi can make it to the podium or maybe even Lance could get a stage win. That would be sweet.

It was good to see that Alberto Contador didn't have enough to reel back Andy Schleck. Great stage win for him. Should make for some more great racing in the mountains between those guys and all the guys they dropped on todays stage. Wonder if they would let Lance get away in a breakaway? That would make for an exciting stage. Lot's more racing. I'm a Lance fan, but won't stop watching.


Like to see this young man in yellow for the tour and the podium in Paris.

" Good morning! 7am surprise anti-doping blood control. about 21 hours ago via UberTwitter " from Lance's twitter this morning. Wonder if the French will start to harass someone else, now that Lance is out of contention? At least the Lance haters can finally give it a rest, Maybe?

Rode my bike today for the first time in a week. Real easy tour of the little hills around Lascassas. My plantar faciitis is rearing its ugly head again. So, I haven't run in a couple of days. The bike didn't really aggravate it any, only made its presence known when I got out of the saddle. (Not much of an issue, I just stayed in the saddle and spun the biggest cog on the back going up the little hills) Did manage to get going 42 mph down one of the hills. That's always fun. Still don't think BQ1 has been swayed on his opinion of the bike. He's ready to run again. I'd rather run, but enjoy the bike.

I've been wearing the Strassburg sock the last couple of nights. It made a tremendous difference after the first night. This time I kept it on all night. I think in the past I've tried to make it to tight. All it really needs to do is keep the toes from pointing down and almost flat footed. No soreness the next morning, but it did become sore as the day wore on. Day two, the soreness wasn't as intense and actually allowed me to get on the bike today. Plan to wear it a couple more days and not run for at least 3-4 days. Think I'll get on the bike again tomorrow morning, granted I can get up early enough to get a ride in before work.

Break away

Watched a few stages of the Tour de Suisse last week. Some guy named Lance Armstrong finished second overall, with Frank Schleck taking the overall win. Lots of great scenery and drama. Lots of big names riding and a couple of serious crashes. Really gets the bike bug going. I've ridden my bike three times now in the month of June. Time to get in some serious bike time in preparation for the Tour de France.

Sunday was the second day of bike riding the day after the RC Cola Moon Pie Race. The race was typical for this time of year; hilly, hot and humid. The bike is different, don't really seem to feel the heat as much until you stop. The greenway was packed with runners and walkers. I don't care to ride on the greenway for just that reason, but wasn't quite ready to head out into the country for the open road and hills.

Monday, I decided to head out for the country. No more slow cruising on the greenway and dodging the runners and walkers. Though you do have to be aware of the cars, but mainly just on the way out of town. Forgot how much fun it is blasting down a hill and leaning into a curve at 30 mph. That's the big payback you get for suffering up a hill on the bike. Don't really get that when you're running. I rode the Spain Hill loop which has almost become a running staple the last couple of months. I only got up to about 41 mph coming off the big hill, but that was without really any pedal on the descent, just a tuck and fly. Great to have the wind blowing in your face.

One of the down sides to riding the bike versus running is the time to get out the door and even the time in the saddle. Biking is some much more time intensive. But, it's the simplicity of running that has me hanging up the shoes for a week or so this time. I can't understand why the same brand and size of shoe can wear so dramatically different. This third pair of shoes has one foot hurting after every run. I thought they were worn out but the sole actually has lots of tread left. I made the mistake of wearing them for the race on Saturday, after feeling better and not wearing them for the last couple of weeks. You'd think I'd learn by now............

Rain and repeats

Woke to rain on the back deck when I let the dogs out this morning. The radar showed the showers moving eastward. Yet, on the way to meet the fella's at Greenland, it sprinkled rain, poured rain and stopped raining. BLEAH. Big crowd to start, eight of us total. Biggest group ever for a 4:30 training run? We broke into two groups, the fast guys went out for some kind of tempo workout and the rest of us headed out for 5 x 3:00 with a 1:30 recovery.

Today's workout was BQ1's from some kind of McMillan 10k plan. He planned on running 5k pace, I was thinking more of 10k pace. My plan was to go out at my pace and try to speed up at the end. Worked out pretty well. BQ1 would blast off and I'd chase, and never quite catch him. Always about 10 seconds back. Far better than the last couple of workouts where I went out at his pace and caved in the last half of the repeat.

Best part of the workout was that it was pain free! All of my little aches and pains didn't show up today. Don't know what's going on with that. Last couple of workouts have been better. So, perhaps everything is starting to come together. Sure hope so.

Nasty cut on Lance Armstrong from yesterday's crash, 13 miles into stage 5 of the Tour of California. Good news, nothing broken, but the cut below his eye required 8 stitches. Floyd Landis crawled out of his hole, to accuse everyone around Lance of doping and to change his story as well. This kind of crap really gets the forums all jazzed up, sort of entertaining but just more of the same old same old.

not on track

Crap. Chikin 10k is less than 3 weeks away. My speed isn't where it was at this point in my training in the spring. The track workout this morning was 6 x 1,000 meters at I pace. Should have been 3:45, but all came in several seconds slower. Just couldn't keep the rhythm going. Next set was 4 x 200 meters at :41, this actually came in easier than the 1,000's. I pace and the 1,000 meters just never have came very easy. This wasn't really an exceptionally difficult workout, just not quite where it should have been.

Perhaps the decision to trade one speed workout a week for a hill workout wasn't as smart as I thought. I've been to Percy Warner Park 3 times in as many weeks. This past Tuesday's 7.34 miles of trails was actually the toughest yet. Don't know if it's because EB pushed the pace more or if I was just tired from the long run on Sunday. It sure seemed warmer and more humid, plus the bugs were everywhere. The trail is still dry even with all of the rain.

I'm a big Lance Armstrong fan. How cool is it that he can send a tweet and get a group of 1,000 to ride with him. I've only been watching his tweets since the Tour de France. Interesting stuff.

changing of the guard

Bernard Hinault shoves a spectator off the podium.

Photo credit © Roberto Bettini

Out with the old guys, the young bucks are showing who's got it. Alberto Contador put on a show Sunday on the first test of the Swiss Alps on stage 15 of the Tour de France. He really laid down the hammer and no one else could respond. Secured the yellow jersey for Team Astana and relegated Lance to domestique in second place in the general classification. Still lots of racing left in the alps. Stage 20 should be another great stage on Saturday.

Hate it that Lance couldn't stay with Contador. The excuses have all been thrown out; age, training, broken collarbone. Lance came into this race to win the yellow jersey. I just hope he can be a true professional and help Team Astana keep Contador in the yellow. Hope he doesn't become a bitter old man, like the "badger" Bernard Hinault.

For us older runners we can use age graded results to see how we fare compared to the youngsters. I've been using Pete Magill's road rankings on his site "Younger Legs for Older Runners". I'm still middle of the pack, roughly in the lower 70% range. FM is in a whole other playing field, mid to upper 80%. Interesting stuff.

beyond category

The Tour de France rolls on Tuesday. Monday is a rest day. Most teams will just ride for 2 hours instead of the usual 4 or so hours. Sunday was the end of the first week of racing. The real fireworks haven't really happened yet. I'd expect the battle for the yellow to begin on stage 13. That's the first stage in the coming week with some mountains. Team Astana should have someone in yellow by stage 13, before the individual time trial or team time trial.

The stage to watch is going to be stage 20. This is the last chance for someone to take away the yellow jersey before the ride into Paris the next day. The finish will be on Mount Ventoux. The climb is the final "hors categorie", beyond category climb of the tour. 21 kilometers at an average grade of 7.6%.

From wikipedia: Mont Ventoux has become legendary as the scene of one of the most gruelling climbs in the Tour de France bicycle race, which has ascended the mountain thirteen times since 1951. The followed trail mostly passes through Bédoin. Its fame as a scene of great Tour dramas has made it a magnet for cyclists around the world.

The only other mountain stage in the tour more famous is Alpe d'Huez. The tour didn't include that route in this years tour. Probably because Lance Armstrong has been in the yellow jersey 4 times the tour has included Alpe d'huez as a stage finish. He has also won the stage on its summit twice.

Revenge of the burrito

Don't know why any runner would ever need any kind of colon cleansing. I'm sure you've seen the infomercials about the need for a clean colon. Jeez, all you need to do is eat a burrito. For me, usually within an hour the cleanse process has begun. This morning, even after one trip to the bathroom, the urge hit me less than a mile from the house. I wasn't prepared, so I had to adapt,improvise and overcome (Clint Eastwood, Heartbreak Ridge). No gory details. Don't know any runner that hasn't had to do the clamp down run because of mother nature or just took care of business. They're lying if they haven't.

If you haven't watched any of the Tour de France this year, you're missing out. Lots of drama, beautiful scenery and exciting finishes. It's on daily on Versus, usually live in the morning or then a recap show in the evening for those of us who have to work. The weekend usually has a recap show of the prior week. Lance Armstrong is showing that he and team Astana are the team to beat. Today is stage 5, they'll be racing for another 2 weeks. Lot's of time to catch at least one stage or the recaps.

My running streak continues. I'm at 140 or so days straight running. I've decided to change the recovery runs away from the golf course. (to much risk of a sprained ankle) Plus, instead of just a slow slog, I've been running the recovery runs within a minute of marathon pace. Actually feels better to run at "my pace". Sadly this is the pace my long runs were a few years back.

One thing about the increase in mileage and streaking, without any speed workouts, the speed goes away quickly. The base is still in place to start the speed again. I'm still averaging 55 miles a week. Guess the adage if you want to run fast, you have to train fast holds true.

Glad they've finally put the "king of pop" to rest. Hopefully, the media can now move on to something else. I never really was a fan, danced to my share of his music back in the day. Never had any respect for him when his appearance started to change and he started weirding out. The abuse allegations and his move out of the country just sealed the deal. No respect for him as individual. They music, yes.

2009 Tour de France

Starts Saturday, July 4th in Monaco, from Saturday July 4th to Sunday July 26th 2009, the 96th Tour de France will be made up of 21 stages and will cover a total distance of 3,500 kilometres.

These 21 stages have the following profiles:

10 flat stages,
7 mountain stages,
1 medium mountain stage,
2 individual time-trial stages,
1 team time-trial stage.


Distinctive aspects of the race
3 mountain finishes,
2 rest days,
55 kilometres of individual time-trials,
20 Category 1, Category 2 and highest level passes will be climbed.

Big change will be a mountain stage the day before the parade to Paris on the final day.

Slowing down

Summer is here. It's hot. Time to slow down just a little bit. I've been training pretty hard, since September or so of last year. Ran a hilly marathon, a fast marathon, a 50k, a half marathon and a 10 mile race. The twice a week speed workout is what I'm going to take out of the mix. I'll continue to do a long run, probably cap it around 11 to 13 miles. The rest of the week will just be easy runs. Volume of runs will stay around 50 miles per week. That should be sufficient to keep a decent base. In about 4 weeks, I'll start the speed work again. Oh, and I guess that streak thing will keep going as well. 127 days as of today.

Started this plan right after Moon Pie. It was really nice to sleep in for a couple of days. Only problem with sleeping in, is having to compete with the cars on the roadway. Plus, it seems I'm right back to the same boring out and back courses I've been running for years. This morning I ran with most of the guys from the herd. Nice to be back with the group, running a relaxed pace. Big plus, a new course and no cars.

Hope to get back on the bike a couple times per week as well. Lance just won the Nevada City Classic in California. He's been training at altitude from a base in Aspen since the Giro ended. He's down a couple of pounds from the last time he rode in the Tour de France. It'll be fun to watch him and the rest of the Astana team at the tour this year. Starts the week of July 4th, I believe.

10 weeks out

2nd 20 miler of the cycle this morning. Not as much energy as the last 20 miler. Easier pace for the first 15 miles and even slower slog home. The increased mileage this week must have worn me down more than I thought. The fact that I only drank water twice in the first 15 miles may have contributed to the lack of energy. Good day overall, we had a pretty big group which broke up into 2 packs for most of the first 15 miles.

Ended up with 69.6 miles for the week ending on Saturday. Really wanted to add on the additional .4 for an even 70 miles, but thought the better of it. Plus, I was a little bit tired anyway. Plenty of time left in this cycle to still get the 60-70 miles I'm targeting. Should still be able to get at least 4 more twenty milers before race day.

Dylan's basketball team won again on Saturday. This game didn't come as easily as the other games. They didn't seem to take as many shots. Dylan finally took a shot this game. He's come a long way since he started.

Lance's push, during yesterday's stage of the Tour of California. I wouldn't call it assault. Just a not so subtle shove, to get out of his face. The guy was trying to push his button and succeeded.

to early for spring

The warm weather last week fooled everyone. Noticed some of the trees have already starting budding. Birds are out singing. But, spring is at least another couple of weeks away. (March 20th) Did get my bike out for a ride last weekend. This weekend was all about catching up on my sleep and trying to get over this cold. It forced a cut back on the long run on Sunday. Today I overslept and missed my run altogether.

Watched stage 1 of the Tour of California last night. Well, really just watched the last 20k. It rained the entire time and they only had pictures for a that much of the race. Cool to see Lance out pulling the chasers of the breakaway. Lance as a domestique to get Levi to his 3rd Tour of California, the naysayers said it wouldn't happen. What a miserable ride, 4 plus hours in the driving rain and temperatures around 47 degrees. Bleaah. Even Floyd was back racing. I missed all of the Tour down Under. Great to see all of the riders again.

Some idiot stole Lances time trial bike and some of the other Astana bikes, yesterday. His bike is a one off, only one in the world. Pretty hard to sell, even the other 3 bikes stolen have the riders names on the frames. Pretty dumb crooks, but that's why they're crooks.

If you are lucky enough to have today off (Presidents Day). The racing starts around noon live for stage 2 of the Tour of California. Hope they have some clear sky. I'd kinda like to see more than just the puddles in today's race.

Boston is closed

If you haven't registered for Boston, you're to late. Registration is closed.

As of this mornings run, I've run seven days straight. Plan to run with no days off for at least a 3 week cycle. Mileage will be over 60 miles this week and should be close to 70 miles next week. Tomorrow's run will be on the gravel portion of the new trail from Old Fort Parkway. Hopefully, two days a week of soft surface running will help my body recover from the seven days a week of running, and the extra mileage.

I'd forgotten Lance was riding in the Tour down Under. Need to go and find out when it's going to be televised or repeated. Lance gets bashed some much on the forums, I'd quit reading them. Last week they were making fun of his yellow and black bike.



January is almost over, which means everyone is looking for their W2's. If one more person asks me where their W2 is, I'm going to choke them. Really it isn't that big of a deal, but some folks seem to be kind of paranoid. Guess, they're all waiting for that big fat refund check from their uncle sam. Personally, I wish I could calculate it so I'd wouldn't pay a nickle to the "man", nor would I get a refund. Just more in my paycheck, please.

Speed, some days you've got it................

Think I only ended up with a couple of spots of poison ivy on my legs from Sundays trail run. Took yesterday off, the ankle was still a little sore and the legs were itchy from the poison ivy. Went to the grocery store last night for some beer and milk with calamine lotion all over my legs:)

The rest of Sunday we spent up at the farm. PJ, her mom and sister finished covering the other seat cushions for the camper. I weedeated down by the road and took the chainsaw and cut up a fallen tree. Also spread the rest of the gravel inside the barn. Couldn't get the chainsaw started at first. Brand new chainsaw, I took it out of the box. Of course everyone thought they could start it, no go. Took it apart and ends up the "safety switch" wasn't allowing it to get a spark. Disconnected the switch and got it to run. Problem now was it wouldn't shut off. Had to stall out the motor to shut it off.

Decided to go ahead and do a tempo run this morning. Lousy effort, more of a half hearted progression run. Only positive was four miles versus the three miles last week. Splits were pitiful, 6:53, 7:00, 6:52, 6:42. Target is 6:30-6:40. Only excuse I'll throw out is the benadryl from sunday. That's why I hate taking that stuff.

Ate my granola and yogurt this morning on the deck. Sunshine felt good and nice to hear the birds singing. Can't hardly even type this out this morning because, Lance, PJ's dog thinks he's a lap dog. Little rat has to be right in my lap.

Spring

Not quite, but sure is coming quick. Saturday was nice, but Sunday was a really, really nice. 70 degrees by mid-afternoon. Did 11 miles at Spain hill trying to maintain a 8:00 pace, and dialed it in pretty darn close. Nice to be able to wear shorts and have the sun out, but not to warm. Even Darrell got out and hiked 11 miles from one end of the greenway to the other, plus a side jaunt to MOAB.

Gave Lance a haircut. He's one wiggley little dog. He's a Yorkie and his hair just gets longer. Real fine almost like human hair. I cut off close to a pound of hair. He doesn't get snippy like Tosha used to though. She would hold still, but reach a point where she'd had enough.

Not Lance, but spitting image.

Did 8 supposedly easy miles this morning on the golf course. Ended up with a 7:47 average pace, so much for a recovery run. Speedy pulled me along, otherwise it would have been 9:00 average pace.