Epic weekend!

What a really fantastic weekend! And not so much for the training, but just the fun and good times. If every weekend was like this, I wouldn't have any excuse to complain.

First off, the promised office-isms: The cafetorium let me "enjoy" three songs on Friday morning. I caught the end of that crappy Goo Goo Dolls song from the Meg Ryan dies/Nicholas Cage lives movie, then a jump into the way-back machine for "If this is it" by Huey Lewis & the News, followed by half of "Total eclipse of the heart". Yeah, chase that junk out of your head! The cafetorium also offers some interesting people watching opportunities. There is a lady that seems to consistently make the same order from the grill: 3 egg whites (very specific), scrambled with American cheese, and 2 links of breakfast sausage on the side. Does anyone else see this as totally freakin hilarious? Why bother with the egg whites at all? Whatever the chicken put in the yolks HAS to be better than whatever Jimmy Dean puts inside those sausage casings. And processed cheese is about as nutritious as deep-fried margarine. Whateva...

One of the stalls in the men's powder room is wheelchair accessible, but we have nobody on our floor using a wheelchair, so it's always up for grabs. And it's so luxurious and spacious! It reminds me of that Seinfeld episode where Kramer adopts 2 miles of 4-lane highway, then paints every other line black, making it into 2 wide lanes. It's a good thing there's not a TV and mini-fridge in there, or it would need a "Now Serving" number thingy.

After work we got Grace and met up with our good friends from Church for pizza at Brixx. We always love the food there, and it's served so fast. This time, fortunately, we arrived early so we seated in a reasonable amount of time. This is very important for Friday nights in Greenville: the lines grow very quickly, and 45 minute waits are pretty standard after about 6:30 PM. After dinner we went over to B&N for the kids to play, me to get a new triathlon magazine, and for everyone to get some Charbucks. (yes, Lisa, but any port in a storm will do) We ran into my teammate Chris and his lovely wife Janis, so naturally Chris and I talked about sport...again. We had just met at for lunch at the Thai place, and talked about nothing but training and racing. But, neither of us seem to ever tire of discussing it, so that's a good thing. All good things must end, and we made it home. Surprisingly, we all got into bed at a reasonable (for me) hour, and got a full night's sleep.

Saturday morning I slowly and begrudgingly got up and got ready for the CT group ride. It was very foggy, and parts of me were hoping it would be canceled. I got to the turn that leads to the shop, and the group was already taking off. I asked which group it was (A, B, or C) and the response was that everyone was together. Cool, so at least it wouldn't be a hammerfest. I joined in and enjoyed a nice ~25 mile ride at a reasonable pace, but with a few chances to sprint and climb with some of the fast dudes there. Teammate Pete Risell was also there, and we got a chance to chat a few times.

Afterwards it was the much anticipated pancake outing, though Grace didn't eat as much as we hoped. She fueled sufficiently for some house "shopping" and driving around, though. We ran some errands and measured the land we've been contemplating, then went downtown to Wild Wing for some tasty treats. Home at a decent time, we again were in bed at a reasonable hour.

Sunday was a great day at Church, followed by lunch at Panera (geez, do we eat out enough on the weekends?) and a trip to Target. Then, since Grace was not likely to take a nap, we all changed and headed for a fun family time in the pool at the Y. Grace had a BLAST, and didn't want to get out. Thankfully the pool was closing in a bit, so we used that. We wound up running into Pete again, who was there with his family having a swim day. We joked about the "training" we were getting in, and both half-heartedly committed to separately doing some sort of fitness activity later that day. It was great to meet them all, and we hope to see them again soon.

We stopped by the grocery store, then dinner was at Red Robin (no, I had salad) and Grace was starting to wear down. She ate like some kind of crazy eating machine, and we hoped for a food coma. Back at home I jumped on the trainer for an intense 30 minute ride. I should have waited for my food to settle more, but at least I got something in. After a while in front of the tube, Mendy and Grace headed up, but I followed about 30 minutes later. Grace finally went to sleep, and we again had a good night's sleep. Wow, 3 nights in a row! It doesn't make the mornings much more pleasant, though. Waking up sucks worse that going to sleep early.

So, in all, a fantastic weekend, lots of activity, and lots of eating out. Our neighbor saw us coming and going about 5 times over the weekend, and I'm sure he wonders what is wrong with us. It's pretty hard to actually catch us at home unless the timing is just right.

Hope you all had a great weekend, and sorry for the extremely long read on a Monday.

"Those" runs

I really hate "those" runs. You know the ones that just don't turn out as well as you hoped, either in feel, speed, or distance, and sometimes a combination of several. For me, they tend to be very frustrating, and I immediately feel like going back out the door and running again, in an attempt to redeem myself. Not that the results would be much different: the factors that affect a run are built up over days prior to, not just the hours before. I had a couple this week, which could easily be attributable to fatigue from Monday's ride and the cold I'm currently enjoying. Add on top of those the horrid bouncing of Fuel Belt bottles on my back, and unseasonably warm weather (which I'm not used to), and I suppose I can't expect everything to go perfectly. And even if I do, they didn't, so I just have to suck it up and prepare well for next time.

So, I haven't discussed office-isms in a while. I've noted a few lately, since we've had a bunch of folks changing physical locations, changing floors, and general shuffling. There are an alarming number of younger men that have to, when standing at the urinal, bend over and reach for their urine gear because of belly size. I would personally see that as a sign for change; I can't imagine looking down and not being able to see Mr. Happy because of a big ole' meat shelter belly. But I guess that's why I'm me, and they are them. I do always hope that my apparent fitness efforts may inspire some folks around the office.

There's a group of guys that go down every morning to eat breakfast together. The group has grown from 2-3 to now about 6-7 over the past couple of years. A thought occurred to me this morning for a title of these guys: I shall call them Reservoir Dorks (in reference to this being an IT organization, but absolutely without any disrespect to them.)

My environment has shifted 180 degrees with respect to background noise. The lady that sits on the phone all day talking about what her 16 y.o. daughter wears swimming, the cost of wheelchair rental at Dollywood, the level of the water in the lake near her lake house, ice skating, Girl Scout cookies, Tupperware, and all things extremely geeky and technical about mainframe administration, has moved to another floor. My former manager, that used to hold 120db speakerphone conference calls all day, every day, has also moved floors. The two dudes in the next aisle that discussed matters of personal life and laughed very loudly at jokes have moved now. It's like a morgue around here most times now. Except for the residual tinnitus, that is.

Our new departmental Admin Asst has an open-format cubicle right outside the bathroom. I was considering it yesterday, and although it's spacious, I would not like to sit there. With a view of the bathroom doors, and my tendency to people-watch, I would inadvertently start noticing how long people have been in the potty, and label them as poopers or pee-ers. As disturbing as it would be to realize the guys who had just finished dropping a deuce, I would be very very uncomfortable concluding that some of the ladies had just finished pushing some brown. I don't like believing that women do that.

I was doing really well about getting into the Christmas spirit, but 4 days of weather in the mid-70s and sunshine has got me thinking about spring. Probably not all bad, since I should begin making my transition from base building to preseason transition. I will figure out a way to get some swimming and cycling in every week (though cycling is tough with the short daylight hours), while maintaining the running focus for the next couple of months. March isn't far away, and that's the first tri!

Semper Gumby

It's a good thing that I'm disciplined enough to be on a flexible "plan" that I can reshuffle each week as needed. I'm getting my individual workout goals in, but they are inconsistent on which day of the week I do them. Though some of the modifications are due to moments of stupidity like Sunday's run. My 6 mile journey to idiotville left it's mark on me. Yes, I realize it was a 12 mile run, but it was only 6 there, and 6 back. Duh! Anyway, I've been suffering the last couple of days. Better now than during the race, right?

Yesterday I went to the pool with a full intention of doing a 3 x 500yd race pace swim. I was hating it by the middle of the first one, so I only did 2 x 500yd, with about 100yd warm up and warm down drills. I felt like I had done 5 times that, honestly. Stats:

1st 500yd in 7:55

2nd 500yd in 8:08

1:37/100yd average

Today at work started off okay, then got progressively more ridiculous. I swear I live in Office Space. If you haven't seen the movie, you should. Especially if you work in a cubicle farm. The woman behind me was talking to a friend about how her daughter (a couple of years ago) would not go swimming without wearing underwear under her bathing suit. Meanwhile, in the cube behind her, my manager and a coworker were having the Global IT Security call, and people on the line thought this lady was in the room, and wondered what the hell she was talking about. I had to get up and walk away, wondering what constitutes justifiable homicide.

My plan was to go with the Tuesday night FAST bike ride with the local cycling group. I opted out since my legs are still a tiny bit sore, and I didn't want an injury. Then I had a plan for a 30+ mile bike ride solo, but last minute stupidity and annoyance at the office killed my enthusiasm. I'm going to do the long ride Thursday instead, swim and maybe a brick tomorrow. So, today wound up being a tempo run by default. 10-14mph winds, according to weather reports, but I still had a decent run, with nice quick strides for most of it. Stats:

4.34 miles in 28:56 @ 6:40/mile

I could tell I was still pretty sore, but it felt good to get out there and stretch the legs again. I'm really working hard on a quick and slightly shorter stride, especially for faster (shorter) runs. With this, less heel strike and an attempt at less actual time that the foot is in contact with the pavement. It seems to work well until I start to fatigue, then old habits creep back in with heavy heels and long strides. I'm getting there, though.

Hopefully tomorrow I won't have to go to jail.