I finally got off my ass, didn't drink, or eat pizza, and ran. Did a quick 4 miles before work and boy do i feel awesome. I had a few bad days this week, but i'm back now. Tomorrow i'm going for a ride and hit the pool. I got scheduled for my monday which is my long run day, i think i'll try and go to bed right away tomorrow night and get up at 8, run for 2.5 hours then go to work. ick.

On a good note, i have wednesday AND thursday off, so i can do my long ride and recover thursday instead of working.

tonight i ran about 12 miles (2:15). Running in the dark is scary and exhilerating. One thing that sucks about the run route i have, is all the hills are at the end, so after i've been running for two hours, i got fifteen minutes of rollers, and boy do they hurt. But it's done, and i'll do it again next week, hopefully the hills will make the flat IM course seem easier.

I have to say that i'm pretty happy with my weight loss and my performance overall. I havn't been in the pool in awhile but i'm not too worried about it right now. Gotta take some benedryl and go to bed right when i get home tonight, i got a long run in the morning. Work has been super stressful, but it's about to get better as the day manager who is totally jealous of me, will be moving to another store, giving me free reign over my shift. No more butting heads.

Today i learned a valuable lesson: Don't go riding without a spare tube. I was having a really good ride, feeling great, when all of a sudden:

psst.

Psst.

Psst.

I thought my chain was rubbing my deraillur, but then my back tire started to wobble and i knew i had a flat. I was about 1 mile from the house, so i walked it, in my bare feet. Not fun.

ANyway i'd like to make a plug for the Carb-One pump. I dont' care that it weighs negative 4 pounds. I don't care that it's small and compact. What i carea bout is the ease of use and the quickness in which i was able to inflate my tire (only to have it deflate a few seconds later). I used a couple other pumps and their unweildy and generally a pain in the ass to use. This one seemed like it was assisted, because i pumped the tire up rock hard with little effort.

oh yea, and "E" and i never went out. Turns out she wasn't interested. wtf.

Oh yeah, another note: I'm pretty positive i'll LOOK like how i want to look when November comes around. The weight is still dropping finally and i'm starting to really like the way i'm looking. :)

2 hour run today. I was pretty tired at the end, my legs were sorta draggin, but my aerobicness (my term for breathing and HR) was excellent. Kept my HR below 140 for most of it. I think i'll do my long ride on Friday, then do anotehr long run on my planned Monday.

Let me introduce Jeff. I met Jeff when i was 15 at the Card Cage (where i met Carl too) back in highschool. shit...i don't really feel like going t hrough the details, but let me put it to you this way. If you're reading this, think of any one person thats been in your life for longer then 5 years, and you feel like they're a rock in your life. A standard. The person you know you can always go to no matter what the occaision and you know that person will be honest with you and try and help you. That's Jeff.

Jeff's father is dying. I didn't think i'd be affected as much by it, but i am. I just got off the phone with Jeff and i just couldn't help but remember every time i was over his house, his father was always had something funny to say. But his humor wasn't like most peoples. See, Conrad was the hardest old fashioned worker you've ever met. And in being so, his opinion was...straight forward and just - funny.

Conrad had some leisions on his brain that needed to be surgically removed, and from there other cancerous problems developed. He's going to die, and the saddest thing about it is - the same things Jeff tells me about his dad, my friend Kelly told me about her dad just before he died this year. I can't go into details, it's too hard. But know that i'm hurt by this event. And i'm glad i'm hurt, because i'm glad i can feel pain and sympathy in a life where i really feel like i can be more like a robot when it comes to feelings - turning them on and off at will.

I'm going to call my mom and see what she thinks.

As for today:

Lunch with Dan at World Gym
Dinner with "E"

heheh, check this site out. Look familiar?

I'm flattered Oleg.

I suppose it's been awhile since i wrote here...but i've been busy - so busy. If i'm not workikng or training or sleeping...i'm trying to find more time to do those three things.

I did a spritn race on Sunday and it turned out pretty horrible. My first DNF! My swim was amazing..till i almost drowned from inhaling so much water. I was on pace for about 7:20 for 1/4 mile but ended up with 8:07 for having to stop and get water out of my lungs. The bike was terrible....and i DNF'd on the run because i was feeling crappy and my toe opened up and started to hurt real bad. Oh well, i wasn't really plannign on racing anyway. My speed has suffered a bit, but my endurance is way up, so you can't have both i guess.

I need to do a long run today, but i've got to meet Dan at noon for lunch, and meet "E" for a date at 6. Wherever will i fit it all in?

Good news is i'm still losing weight.

Bad news is, my buddy Jeff's dad has two weeks to live. My buddy and old training partner Carl's grandmother died.

Good news is Jedd A. has offered to enter me into the Olympic at Disney which is a race i wanted to do as a step to the ironman. Thanks Jedd! yes, his name is Jedd for real.

Maybe he'll sponsor me and get me a bunch of new clothes with Team Jed(d) on em!

4 hours in the saddle today...felt pretty good. Half way through i hit a rough patch, but i finished strong. Then i went to eat at Crispers, then had an icecream. At the icecream parlor i pulled open the door and the metal corner hit my big toe...and tore a gash in it. oh my did it hurt. The first thing i thought when it happened, right after the white flash was, "Oh damn..no pool or running! What am i going to do about IMFL?!!!"

After examining the wound and pujtting some neosporin on it, i'm confident that most of the wound is superficial (down by the nail its quite a bit deeper) but it will heal and i'll be running and swimming in 2 days tops. So is life. damn my toe hurts

tonights close was good at work, i took some benedryl to get myself some sleep...and tomorrow mornign when carl arrives we'll hit the road for 4-4.5 hours. Then i gotta go into work, do the schedule, get my check, then probably see a flick and relax the resto f the dya. I also have to get into chillies to see "E". Shes interestred in me, but we keep missing each other when we go to visit. Hopefully i'll catch her this time. I also have to go to Outback this friday to see "J".

Remember my M.O. - get 3-4 girls interested and have all of them stop calling within 14 days. I have no reason to believe this will be different, but shit...i gotta try! Randy, my boss says that i need to be more aggressive and fuck everyone else and what they say. So thats what i'm going to do, back to doing what jed thinks he should be doing (with some coaching from the boss!) heheh.

I'm happy to report that i'm able to walk today! I really thought i over did it with the hills last night (this morning)and that i'd be suffering because of it, but i can feel my calves...but they're not wrecked like i thought they'd be. Thats good news.

I got to talk to the Director of Operations last night for our area Moe's. Really nice guys, and they clued me in on a few ways that i can prove to them that i can handle my own store. Nothing like getting it direct from the source!

so it's 2 am tuesday morning, and true to my word, i walked out hte door for my long run. Since it's dark, and i know a few houses have unleashed dogs, i decided to take a different route and just run an hour out, then back. I guess it doesn't matter where i go, there's always going to be dogs. *sigh*. plus running around in unfamiliar area in the dark was unpleasant. But other than that, when i wasn't being barked at, and in areas i knew, it was very nice. The weather was perfect, and i just ran in the middle of the road, the road was mine for a few hours.

My calves are totally blasted from the rolling hills, ande my feet hurt a bit which i'm going to blame on working on my feet for 8 hours a day now. Overall i did 1:38 and i was really hurting on the way back. I turned around not only because of that, but because the street stopped having street lamps...not my idea of fun.

Tomorrow i'll do something really easy to keep my legs from locking up, then i'll do my long ride with carl on wed.

did a 1:20 bike ride sunday, and didn't get monday off like i asked, but i'm still going to do my long run in the morning. I picked up a sleeping aid for the nights before my long run and bike so i can get adequate sleep.

Work was pretty stressful for awhile today, then became an ok night.

Yesterday i swam 1500 in 30 minutes. it was a comfortable swim, with the main set being sets of 500's. I'm pretty confident in the swim. Today i had planned to do a longish ride with soem friends out at the training center, but i didn't get home until 3 am last night so that was a definite no go.

Furthermore, yesterday i bonked hard at work. I couldn't figure it out...i wasn't really hungry, i had eaten already but my head ached real bad, and i got in a terrible mood. i couldn't get the headache to go away, and i was feeling really weak. I figured it was dehydration at that point..i hadn't really pissed all night, so i started drinking lots of water and it seemed to help, but my night was already ruined. I slept till 1 pm today, and feel rested adn ready to roll. I'm going to run tonight after work.

Tuesday i drove up to gainseville to see carl and to do our long ride. This was goign to be the longest ride of my season so far, and on a bike i've only ridden about 2 hours at one time on.

Overall i was pretty comfy on the bike, 3:45 was our time, my mid back is a little sore and my butt is talkin a bit, but other then that i'm pretty happy with the results. It didn't seem that hot but i kept running out of water :( had to stop to get more.

Today i did a relatively short 3 miles.

Off to work!

Got home tonight and went for my long run, which ended up being pretty short. While running in the pitch dark (which is pretty cool) a dog ran from a house but stopped short and just groweled and stuff. It freaked me out a bit, got a surge of adrenaline but otherwise no big deal. On the way back, i thought i had passed the house, so i was extra startled when i heard it tearing towards me and i instinctively yelled at the top of my lungs, in the deepest most powerful voice my adrenaline filled body could produce, GO HOME! and pointed towards the house.

To my satisfaction the dog immediately turned around and ran back to the house. I continued on my run.

Tomorrow is a bike/swim then i drive to Gainseville to visit with carl that night. Then wednesday i go on my 80 mile ride with him. I just hope i can sleep before the ride.

back to a full week of training! My off week was nice.

what a totally uneccisarilly stressful day tonight at work. Short handed, runnin out of shit....it was a disaster. Not only that but one of hte guys that my GM hired for me i probably will have to let go because he sucks. Anyway i gotta do my long run later today and i'm not really looking forward to it. Suppose some coffee would change that. If i hadn't had a few Coronas tonight i suppose i could do my long run after work, then sleep in...yea thats the ticket! Do it at 1 am when it's SUPER COOL out, and just sleep in on my day off. MMMMMM that sounds good. i'll hvae to do that next week, as for this week i'll have tus uffer in the heat.

heheheh. i got the "Bally fitness tip of the day" in my email box today. I usually delete them, but it was titled "Keeping your bike in shape" so i clicked on it. Here's what it said.


Today's Fitness Tip of the Day.
Brought to you by Bally Total Fitness.


Do you cycle to stay fit? If so, you’ll want to make sure your
bike stays fit, too. Follow this basic schedule.

EVERY MONTH
- Check chain, brake levers and gear shifters and lubricate if
needed.
- Check spokes, nuts, bolts for tightness.

EVERY 6 MONTHS (heavy riding)
These tasks require a little more experience. If you’re not sure
how to handle these, use a bike shop. Another option: Take a
bike-maintenance class at a local bike shop or community college.
- Check brake pads to see if they need to be replaced.
- Check gear shifters to see if they need adjustment



LOL! How lame. Check brake pads is an experienced job? heheh i just love how broad their email tips are.

Anyway, it's 95 degrees today, i woke up a little late, so i went for my hour bike ride at noontime. Yea, hot. I made a big mistake too, and only brought gatorade with me...by the end of the ride i was sick to my stomach and no amount of gatorade was quenching my thirst. Then i remembered what i always tell people: Gatorade alone will cause your stomach to stop absorbing when there's too much carb and not enough fluid to bring it through the stomach lining. So i need to heed my own advice. Luckily i was pretty close to home when it happened.

One good thing about working nights: I'm losing weight like a ton of bricks because i'm not eating late at night anymore. And as far as work is concerend, things are going awesome. I had a few drinks with my manager yesterday and he told me his goal is to train me to have my own store. There's a future here. And so far we're busting our asses, but managing to have fun.

I'm taking it easy this week training becasue next week is the first week of the re-arranged schedule...AND i havn't really had an easy week in quite a while. Today's ride was sorta hard but mainly because i was dehydrated. Felt good to be back out there after a day off though.