I went down to my parents house today and took the bike so I could get a ride in. They live on a farm in Kentucky, which means plenty of back country roads with little traffic. This ride was infinitely better than my ride on the crowded streets yesterday. There is some really nice countryside and very hilly terrain to keep the quads burning and the heart rate up. I biked 14 miles in 1:09.

When I got home I went to the track and ran three miles. My quads were dead from the short bike ride, and the first 3/4 mile was a real challenge. I loosened up a bit after that and things went relatively smooth.
7:56, 7:51, 7:35 Total time: 23:23

I rode the bike 16 miles today, 1:08. It was a test ride, as I had hoped I would be able to ride back and forth to work every now and then instead of driving, but I don't think that's going to happen. The ride is ok, not too strenuous, but the traffic is the problem. It wasn't too bad today because it's a Saturday, but I did have a couple drives get pretty close while passing, and one women tried to run me off the road, I wish I would have thought to kick her side window in... With week day traffic I think things would be much to hectic for me to feel comfortable.

45 minutes, around 4 miles, FP trails, Sinisters, easy pace

Bunnies, Birds and Butterflies. That's what I saw on the trails during my run at French Park tonight. The thermometer on my car said 94, but it was cooler in the woods, and the heat doesn't bother me much anyway. I was just looking for a short easy run, with lots of hills. With doing most of my running on the track lately I haven't been giving my quads much of a work out.

After my run I jumped on the bike and rode for about 35 minutes, 8-8.5 miles on the roads.

3 miles, easy pace, track, sinisters
8:27, 8:27, 8:24

I did some lake kayaking tonight. 54 minutes at a pretty hard pace. Last week this same route took me 58 minutes. I used a longer paddle stroke which made the boat track better but it also used a little more arm strength.

After that I went to the track for a short, easy run. I mostly just wanted to get my muscles warmed up so I could get in a good stretch. I am really inflexible, and am going to try and work on that a bit. I've worked on stretch in the past, but I usually get sidetracked and stop doing it after awhile.

There were a couple young kids walking around the track while I was running. they would watch me as I ran by. As they walked by while I was stretching one of the kids asked with a certain amount of excitement in his voice "are you a tri-athlete?"
"No, I'm just a runner." I said.
"Oh." He replied with disappointment in his voice.
Gee, I guess tri-athletes get all the glory. Can't us runners get any respect? lol.

5 miles, track, relaxed pace, sinisters, 7:55 overall pace

7:48, 7:55, 7:59, 7:58, 7:56

I ran 5 miles tonight on the track at a fairly relaxed pace. My calves got pretty tired after the third mile but I felt good. I haven't been running much lately. It's a combination of being busy doing other things and not having a specific race to train for. I plan to pick it up a bit in the weeks to come as I start training for my fall marathon (Boston qualifier), although I still haven't picked one yet. The nice thing about not running much is that when I do run I feel really, really good, that is until I get tired because I'm out of shape.

10k, roads, 50min

Ran 10k at an easy pace with a couple friends tonight. My legs were still tired and tight from the hard 5k on Wednesday.

I Kayaked for an hour on Winton Lake today after work. My skills are improving. It's still difficult to keep it in a straight line, but I'm getting better. My rowing efficiency is also improving. I was able to paddle for the full hour without taking any breaks, which is something I couldn't do before.

5K, track, vibrams, 20:22

7:04, 6:28, 6:13, 00:36

I went to the track today with the thought of running 5 miles at a moderate pace. As soon as I started I could tell that my legs felt pretty good so I just ran what felt good. I came to the end of the first mile at 7:04, it was one of the smoothest, easiest miles I have ever run. After that I decided to run a 5k and see what my time would be. I'd never run the 5k distance for time before. With the new goal in mind I picked up the pace and ran the second mile in 6:28. I was feeling it after that mile, but continued to pick up the pace. I was really gassed 1200 meters into the 3rd mile but I was able to stay on track. I ran the 3rd mile in 6:13 and the final .1 in 36 seconds. I had to lie down on the grass for a few seconds after that. Running a 5k at race pace after not doing any consistent speed work or training for a few months can make you pretty tired. I think I could have done it quite a bit faster if I were wearing shoes. I could feel some real hot spots forming on the balls of my feet after the fast paced running in Vibrams on the rubberized track. With some training and proper pacing I would guess I could go sub 20 pretty easily, but that's on a track, roads are another story.

I've been back from vacation for a while now, just haven't gotten around to posting anything. Here is an awesome photo album Marla put together of her pictures and some of mine: Yellowstone/Grand Tetons
We did some hiking, running, camping, rafting and site seeing. It was a great time.

16 mile hike, 8 mile hike, 8 mile run, 3.8 mile hike (up a mountain)

I had a 6 hour race on Saturday. It went OK. I had some pain in my knee after 4 hours so I stopped with 22 miles. It feels fine know.

I bought a kayak on Saturday, and have been kayaking the past couple days on a lake, tons of fun.