It can't really be that hard

Here's your warning; I'm going to rant a bit.

What the hell is wrong with the guys at the gym who can't figure out what hook to use in the showers? There is one hook for every stall and they are located on the "far" side of each stall. By far side I mean furthest from the entrance to the shower area, or closest to the back wall. When guys use the wrong hook it just messes up the entire order of the Universe, not to mention that it can create an uncomfortable situation where there is an open stall but no open hook.

You see, I believe in order. Order makes sense, it creates harmony, it helps the natural flow of energy. Unfortunately, I am all too aware when things are out of order. It hurts my soul when I witness things like roads where two lanes merge into one and people violate the every other car rule, or when I'm cycling and well meaning motorists will yield the right of way when I have timed my gearing and/or my unclipping to my expectation of them following the orderly flow of traffic (and the law too, but let's not quibble). It gnaws at my very being when people start to line up at each individual self check out at the grocery store when clearly there is a single line where we all wait in an orderly manner for the next available check out.

What bothers me the most is when I'm driving and other drivers simply ignore the rules of the road; they jump the light to make a left, they pull out of a driveway into my lane just to drive slowly, or they have no freaking idea how to navigate a four way stop and pull out in front of me when it's my turn to go. Some day I am going to buy a big old Buick. I am going to reinforce the frame with steel I beams, and replace the bumper with rail road ties. Then, when the next guy makes a left turn in front of me when I have the green light I am just going to plow right into him. Oops, so sorry. Did I hit you when you turned right in front of me? My bad. Gee, did you fail to yield the right of way and I plowed your nice new BMW? Oh well.

In the mean time, I will continue to "nicely suggest" to others that they follow along in an orderly manner. We'll all be better off.

NFL draft

I guess I'd cry too if I just got drafted into the NFL as a 22 year old kid. These guys are instant millionaires. I miss coaching football.

Oops I did it again

Left the jammers at home and swam in running shorts. Again. Not that big a deal in the grand scheme, except that I had a time trial and I came in with a 1:42 average over 1000 yards. I went pretty hard and was expecting to see a better average. Oh well.

Fuck

Fucking, fuck, fuck.

If it's Tuesday

This must be... um... wait... I know this one..... Belgium! Well, since I don't see Suzanne Pleshette around maybe that's not right this time.

Ok, so here's the deal; my workout schedule is pretty random. I used to know day to day what I'd be doing because I did the same disciplines on the same days every week. With this 20 week intermediate IM plan, not so much. Today I ran at lunch and I have a swim after work. I swam yesterday too, but that was because I moved my Sunday swim to Monday. I've biked 3 days in a row and have a bike tomorrow too. Guess what I have in my gym bag. Better stated, guess what I don't have. Swim jammers. Once again (this is the third time since starting this plan) I will be swimming in running shorts. Good times!

100 mile weekend

Saturday found me running a local 5 mile race in the pouring rain. What fun! I have done this race 3 years in a row now since moving into our house. How can I not; it goes right down our street! This year though, I was determined to make it a Zone1 - Zone2 heart rate run since my plan called for that anyway. It was hard to not "race" but I was s a bit sore from the race the weekend before and the added bike volume following the race, plus I had about 6 hours of cycling over the weekend staring me in the face. I did pretty well managin the HR. Crept up a bit on the hills, and I hammered the last few hundred yards to the finish. I was keeping pace with a female runner and she kept looking over her shoulder at me and speeding up. When we rounded the last turn she glanced over at me again and started her kick. Well, that was all I needed. I dropped her like a bad habit. I really didn't care one way or another at first but she kept looking at me and speeding up. Guess she didn't want to get beat by the old guy. Oh well.

After the race I recovered a bit and then bundled up (it was rainy and chilly) for a 2:20 ride. I took the Specialized since it was really wet out and I figured I'd be on the hoods for handling purposes much of the ride. Besides, I didn't want to drown The Mistress. Got in 37.72 miles in 2:25:07 for a 15.9 mph avg. A bit slow, but it was wet and I did seek out some hills.

Yesterday was the polar opposite weather; sunny and beautiful and I went way out past Phoenixville. Next time I go out that way I'll get on Rt 23 instead of staying on 724. Too much traffic and a horrible shoulder. Totals for the day were 3:32:30, 60.95 miles, and a 17.2 average. Ended up with a farmers tan on my arms and a white band on my ankle from my Road ID.

So, 5 mile road race, 37 mile ride, and a 60 mile ride equals 102 miles.

Hey, half of 100 is 50, and then the 2. 52!

Ninety in ninety

Here we are, 90 days out from Lake Placid, and I've decided to do 90 blogs posts in 90 days. That's one a day essentially but it may happen that I'll miss a day and then double up. Or I'll double up anyway if I have extra goodness to share, 'cause, you know, I blog so much as it is.

Today was Eastern, and Max's birthday so we had some family over for dinner and that was nice. Good food, good company; always nice. Got in a 60 mile ride in the beautiful sunshine but had to put off a swim until tomorrow. Took some time this morning to work through some angst on the home front, but it's all for the good. I love my family :)