Bigun's Plan of Attack on Iron

I've been working on this - gave a copy to my good friend Johnny Tri too. If anyone likes the template and want's a copy to edit for yourself, let me know, it's just an Excel Spreadsheet (childs play for the likes of Andra Sue and Excel Man). Since Blink just posted his plan, I thought it may be time to post mine. You'll have to click on it to really see it, but it's my train-up for IMCdA. Very flexible still - it's a work in progress... Does not include strength workouts or goals - that's something I really need and want to start incorporating into my workouts.

None of the races into next year, except for IMCdA are etched in stone. Those 28 weeks will be ALL about Ironman. Of course, the decision for St. Anthony's will need to be made by Dec 1st; if you don't sign up on the day it opens, you don't race.

I'm not sure about a lot of things in this plan. Too much time allotted for various long workouts during a certain week, or too little? 20 miles max long run leading in...that I know is my max long run. Doing that, I'll be better prepared for this marathon than I was for my first and only one in '03. 7 times over 100 miles on the bike...enough? At least 7 swims over 4,000 meters. 7 is a lucky number. Not necessarily my lucky number.

I'll take this spreadsheet and use it as a template for planning my weekly workouts in Training Peaks. You can see that I'm a 3 weeks "on", one week "off" kinda guy. There have been rumblings that there may be a decent sized gathering of raceAthlete folks at the FL70.3 race...that would be very cool. I don't want to commit to any races yet, to those of you who are looking for a piece of the Bigun (you know who you are...), but I do like to look ahead.

When it's all right there in front of me...it's looks like the blink of an eye! April and May are going to be intense. I feel sorry for Di already, all the stinky workout clothes, me lying around the house sleeping and obsessing, getting up early to swim and run, waking her up. Poor girl. I'm lucky to have her...and that she puts up with me. I'll be needing her cow bells in June for sure!

Iron Week 45

Well, it's about 45 Weeks until my first shot at Ironman. Lots of time. Right. I'm still working up a training schedule, and since today is a work "Admin" day, and I may not do any training either, I might have time to put some final touches on it.

So how was the week? Crummy stuff first - my weight is still 242lbs. Crimeny, I can't seem to get into the 230's and stay there. Of course, last year I was struggling at around 250 - 255, so I guess these remaining fat cells are entrenched. Dug in. I'll just keep chipping away, I guess. What else sucked? Running, that's what sucked! Only 5 miles - but hey, I got me some new digs! BEASTs - so in hindsight, I was taking it easy, breaking them in...yea, that's it.

Ok stuff - swimming. Put in all of 6,400 yds or so - most of that was a 3k swim on Sunday with Jetpack. I haven't swum in a 25yd pool in forever - felt like I was cheating. Did 500yds x 6, then watched him finish up another 700 yds. My right elbow still hurts, but I think that's a somewhat permanent thing - taking time off has not seemed to fix it. My goal has always been to average 6k a week, so that was good, but my Ironman goal is nearly double that, so I'll need to work that volume up a bit. ONE-O-ONE wise, a 3k swim is a good thing - with breaks between sets, I did it in 1:10, which is very cool...

Finishing on a good note, yep, it's all about the bike! I had a really good week of bike training this week! Tuesday was a 37 mile interval set, Thursday was my now-signature 42 mile pyramid set (awesome smoker btw), and Sunday I somehow finished a very, very slow 92 miler in some hills. It was extremely casual on the way up - Jetpack and I laughed it up the whole way... funny thing as the temps rose, and the wind picked up in our face - the way back really sucked! But, it was the first time I did a long Swim-Bike Brick like that, and the whole experience was pretty cool. Almost a good IM bike, and overall a great 101 training day.

14 hrs of training this week - the most I've ever done. I need another big week this week, then a nice taper before Chicago. I promise, more running this week!

Character, Culture and Tri-Ethics

Character.

Iron Shane wrote of it in his emerging website, www.allthingstriathlon.com as part of his "Word of the Week" e-mail post. It really got me to thinking - go figure, the Bigun, thinking again - everyone stand back. I wrote this as a response to his e-mail...

I think our culture focuses far too much on the deeds of an individual without looking at the motives or the methods in which those deeds were accomplished. In many cases, once the character flaws are exposed, the individual once idolized fails to lose their heroic stature. This sends the message throughout our culture loud and clear - "the ends justify the means".

Before long we WILL see our sport become more and more infused with folks with great deeds but of low character. As sponsorship and prize purses become more lucrative, as Triathlon Teams become more popular with salaries that approach professional cycling, as Ironman slots become harder and harder to obtain, making qualifying that much more difficult - people will cheat to capture these prizes. Our Professional and Age Group heroes alike.

The triathlon culture (edit...what I should have wrote here is, The triathlon community...) is still small enough to be less effected by other sports and other facets of the world's cultures. With leadership and dialog, education and a strict adherence to the rules of the sport and ethics of the community, we have the opportunity to positively influence OUR culture, and perhaps set an example for others to follow. It's good to see, of all the topics, information, marketing, politics or just plain B.S. that COULD come from the Word of the Week, you choose the word Character. Bravo

Shane used some of my writing in his follow-on e-mail about Character yet again. I'm loving it! Again I wrote him back:

Thanks Shane - all this is important to me...I'd like to think that Triathlon is an Honor Oasis in the Character-flawed culture that is the world in which we live.

Just like it seems the stage winners from the TDF are the tested in that sport, your suggestion of Kona participants being tested is a valid one. Some percentage that is reasonable and that targets not necessarily the top age groupers, but maybe ones that have shown an uncharacteristic jump in fitness from one year to the next. Who know's what the answer is as far as testing goes....

I read a recent article in Slowtwitch in which a leading Bio-ethicist, Thomas Murry, PhD takes an alarming stand on the use of performance enhancing drugs. The problem is this: Should aging athletes have, with doctor's prescriptions, the ability to take otherwise prohibited drugs to cure or help their ailments brought on by the years and still compete? I think Dr. Murry uses Aging athletes as an example, but carries his argument over to all athletes with a prescription.

Thomas Murry writes: So, what does all this mean for the aging athlete? If someone has a clear medical need for a drug that could also serve a performance enhancing purpose, the ethical case for permitting that athlete to use that drug at a therapeutically appropriate level is strong. If someone needs insulin to manage their diabetes, or as in one case I saw while serving on a USOC committee, testosterone to prevent feminization of secondary sexual characteristics after having both testes removed as treatment for bilateral testicular cancer, then, under proper medical supervision, they should be permitted to take the drugs they need.

I want to say, "clearly" here, but there is nothing really clear...still, treatment that includes otherwise prohibited performance enhancing drugs most likely will enhance the athletic performance of the individual taking those drugs. Sure, it will cure what ails him or her, but just because it was prescribed, does that give that person the right to circumvent the rules?

Thomas Murry goes on to write: Let me stop being, for the moment, a two-handed ethicist (“on the one hand, on the other hand…) and propose a rough principle here: If the drug proposed for use by a particular aging athlete is medically indicated to treat a disease, then the athlete should be permitted to use a therapeutic level of that drug; if the drug is meant to preserve the athlete’s health and well-being, and there is compelling scientific evidence that its benefits outweigh its risks for that population, then again the athlete should be permitted to use a medically sound dose. But, if there are no clear clinical indications or compelling scientific evidence, then athletes competing in masters’ level competitions should not use the drug. In this last instance, the risk is that flimsy science could be used to back drug use whose primary purpose and effect is sports performance enhancement.


Aging athletes have the same right to a level playing field as young athletes. A sensible policy towards dual-use drugs—drugs that have both legitimate medical uses but can also enhance performance—can help to keep that field as level as our years allow.

I completely disagree with his last paragraph - Aging athletes do NOT have the same rights, in the context of prescribed prohibited performance enhancers, as young athletes. Reworded, HEALTHY Aging athletes have the same rights as healthy young athletes to a level playing field. Is it too bad that a person is forced to be treated with a drug to maintain their health? Of course it is - it's too bad. But, once cured or relieved of the symptoms of the illness, that athlete, aged or otherwise, now has an advantage over everyone else. The prohibited drugs also enhanced that person's athleticism - and that's not fair - that's not a level playing field.

Athletes, aged or young, pro or amateur, taking prescribed prohibited performance enhancing drugs should be allowed to participate - Triathlon is all about overcoming obstacles and triumph over hardship - those people should, however, not be allowed to compete.

I feel it extremely important to discuss ethics and character from the refrence point of the Age Group Triathlete - we alone can postively effect our culture...left to it's own accords, culture of any kind tends be...less than ideal.

Matchsticks

Here is the theory to which the Bigun aspires to. First, though, you should know that my beliefs are a bit skewed - it's a poor man's belief. If I had the money, sure I'd train with a power meter, but I think I'd always rely more heavily on the Heart Rate Monitor. Second, I didn't come up with any of this - it's all stuff I've read, or an interpretation at least.

Each heart beat is like the striking of a match stick. And like a box of matches, you start the race with only so many, plus whatever you can add along the way in the form of food and liquid calories. You train your heart to burn more efficiently each time you exercise, and without complicating that too much, the heart will draw it's fuel - the wood of the matchstick - either from fat or from glycogen stores. There's lots more at work than that, but in the simple world of the Bigun, that's how it works for me.

When you train, you either train your heart to be more efficient at burning from fat stores or from glycogen stores (again, HIGHLY simplified - you always are burning a combination to some degree). Fat burns much more efficiently, but is utilized mostly at lower heart rates. At some point when the HR rises, the heart switches from burning (mostly) fat to burning (mostly) glycogen. It's been written that glycogen stores deplete in about 2 hrs. I don't think you could burn up all of your fat stores - well, at least the Bigun can't - in even a 17 hr Ironman race (oh yea, it gets deeper still, with intra-muscular fat being even more efficient...remember, Bigun like candy...).

Similarly, you stay in an aerobic (in the presence of oxygen) state at lower heart rates, while burning fat, and you go anaerobic - where you cannot process your lactate faster than you produce it, building it up and causing PAIN, at higher heart rates, also burning up your glycogen stores.

So the trick (for endurance events, at least) is to keep your heart burning (mostly) fat as long as possible. That requires keeping the HR low - for me, I've got to stay in the 140's or even under 140 to really be in the proper HR range. I think the goal is 70% - 80% of max HR - for a fit 42 year old, having never been tested, my max HR is probably around 182bmp. So my base range, or my aerobic heart rate range would be 127 - 145. My running pace at 140bpm is just under 11 min miles, and I can bike around 19mph. I'm sorry, but that's just not fast enough for the Bigun.

There is the theory that if you want to run fast, you gotta run FAST. There is also the theory that if you want to run fast, you have build a big base and run SLOW. I particularly like the added bonus from not running fast - I don't get injured as easily. So...I prescribe to the run slow, race fast theory - and mix in some speed work too.

I also believe that given the right conditions, one matchstick will burn brighter and longer than another. Give that match more oxygen, control how it burns, and capture the heat and light that it produces BETTER, and you'll get more out of each match. The same goes for the heart beat. The only way the heart will be more efficient at burning fat is to train, a lot, in an aerobic state. The more efficient the body becomes at processing energy in an aerobic state, the faster you will get at lower heart beat rates.

This would explain the 12 Base Training weeks I have scheduled in the beginning of '08 in preparation for IMCdA'08. But I also like to go fast. I enjoy a good sprint tri; going all out for an hour and a half or so. This requires specificity in training too - training the body to be good at processing glycogen stores and processing lactic acid. This is done in my "Build" and "Tempo" weeks - lots of intervals and Fartleks planned in those weeks.

Oh yea, so the big point, though, is the relationship between HR training and Power training - if I had access to only one, I'd surely take HR - ok, look at it this way....what all effects heart rate? Heat, humidity, sleep, rest, sickness or overall health, plus a bunch of others I'm sure I'm leaving out. If, then, my plan on race day is to pedal at an average of 170 watts, but it happens to be uber-hot or I've got a bug I don't know about - my plan is all messed up. 170 watts might be way too hard for the condition I'm in at that moment. 170 watts might take 160bpm today, because I'm having a bad day. If I used HR as my limiter, instead, if I"m sick or it's hot, I can still have the HR goal at say, 150bpm, I just won't be running or pedaling as hard. The difference is that in 3 hrs, I won't blow up if I keep my HR goals.

I'm not sure if I explained it well or not - I get questions from time to time on why I trained a certain way - like a mixed workout, where I'll throw some speed work into a longer aerobic session. A workout like that trains the body to move in and out of one fuel source to another, like what would be necessary in a race with some hills or wind in one direction. Mixing up workouts really takes the boredom out of triathlon training and gives you a "release" of discipline when in pure base mode.

Shoot, I was a "2.0 and go" kinda student in College - so I could have all this bassackwards. But, it seems to be working for me, so I'll stick with it, until they write something new and revolutionary and different in Triathlete or Inside Tri.

Taggage

Jobs I've Held:

• Crew member converting 440 yd HS tracks to 400m...
• Bus Boy at some hamburger joint - Track coach made me quit...
• Sprite commercial star - that's right, the Bigun, 1982, went to NYC and got the part as the kid you see drinking the sprite and then catching the winning touchdown...lots of coin for a HS kid - they even played it in Hong Kong after the US played out.
• Cadet - yep, you get paid to go to West Point.
• Officer, US Army - Infantry and Special Forces
• Owner/Operator of "The Crux" indoor rock climbing gym
• Salesman, Hot Spring Spas
• Salesman, Vinyl Siding
• Salesman, New York Life Insurance and Mutual Funds
• Receiving Supervisor, Goody Products
• Consultant, AutoImpact - collision repair industry
• General Manager, Bodyshop in Houston.
• Salesman, Chevrolets
• Salesman, RV's
• Owner/Operator of Integrity Lawn Care.

Movies I can watch over and over: (no particular order)

• Silverado
• Search for the Holy Grail
• Dodgeball
• Wedding Crashers
• We were Soldiers
• Dave
• So I married an Axe Murderer
• Return to me
• 13th Warrior
• Pitch Black
• Army of Darkness

My guilty pleasures:

• Chocolate
• Soda
• Big screen TV in High Def
• lots of unmentionables...

Places I have lived:

• Virginia Beach, VA - born
• Little Falls, NJ - grew up
• West Point, NY
• Columbus, GA
• Baumholder, Germany
• Fayetteville, NC
• Acton, MA
• Atlanta, GA
• Houston, TX
• Brandon, FL

Shows I enjoy:

• Wheel and Jeopardy
• The Weather Channel - am I like the only one?
• House
• HIMYM
• 2 Men...
• Farscape reruns
• most of the good stuff is on too late, like Grays, for example.

Vacation spots:

• da shore
• Great Adventure
• Aldersgate church camp...yea, the Bigun wasn't always a heathen
• Ohio - my uncle's farm
• Hawaii
• San Fransisco
• Everywhere in Europe
• Albuquerque
• Alcatraz
• we live in Florida, c'mon....

Fav. Foods:

• Pizza
• Di's Chicken Stuffed Croissants
• Lasagna
• all deserts

Websites visit Daily

• National Hurricane Center
• Blogger peeps
• Training Peaks
• Slowtwitch - NOT...bunch of elitist bastards....I do check on the 101 thread though.
• Triscoop
• raceAthlete.com

Bad Injuries:

• various kid stitches; bit by a dog, stepped on glass, fell off the top bunk on to my chin...
• not really counting, but...had all but 4 of my baby teeth pulled, they would not come out on their own, and had 4 adult teeth (the pointy ones) pulled - the Bigun's mouth is too small...
• Broke wrist - football
• Broke ankle - wrestling
• Tore ligament in ankle - football
• Dislocated fingers - football
• tore up calf on concertina wire, was too cold and wet to notice, no stitches but bitchin scar
• Torn ACL - volleyball (stupid!)
• nondescript back injury on a jump (parachute) - fell out of bed (couldn't move), still gives me problems
• Chipped teeth on a tank hatch when we came to dead stop hitting a big rock in tall grass
• nothing else really good in a few years (besides self induced crap like kidney stones and a vasectomy....)

Awards:

• all the HS sports crap
• your standard Army crap
• some meaningless Sales crap

Nicknames:

• Bigun
• Metzger
• Dancing Bear

I'm not tagging anyone - seems like the lot of you have been tagged already...

Endourance Couples

I wrote in my last blog that Taconite Boy and Trimama were one of the few racing couples that I knew. Then I got to thinking about it, and there are quite a few here in Blogopia, in no particular order:


Nytro and Iron Benny.


Barb and Everyman


TriDogMom and Iron Shane


Geek Girl and Sweet Baboo


Stronger and TriJack (ha! just had to get that in there....like it's any big secret, gees...)


Aimee and Tri-Dummy (Aimee being quite possible the latest addition with her inaugural race this past weekend)


Boomer and Hubby (yea, even Hubby ran a race not too long ago)


J-Wim and Mike


There are probably more out there in our world that I'm forgetting, and I'm sorry for missing you. I just thought it interesting that with all the time and energy and finances it takes to be an endurance athlete, it almost seems natural that a spouse or significant other takes up racing to some degree as well.


No, this isn't a prelude to a big announcement of Mrs. Bigun's first race - we're just happy that she's able to get on a bike every now and then and ride with GEL. We must not forget the importance of our loving Sherpas - without Di by my side at races and through all this training, I'm not sure I'd be able to do it! Plus, trimming down so she'd find me sexy when I do my "sexy dance" was my initial motivation to work out. Hopefully Sweetness now has an image of the Bigun doing his "sexy dance" burned into his brain...

I'm feeling pretty lazy and tired right now, so no customary links or graphs or pics. SORRY! Well, ok, one link, coming up. Di did some search and found my rendition of "Business Time" translated in German on this dude's blog...he acknowledges me, so that's cool. It's just funny seeing it all in another language...and I'm a language guy. What's a language guy, you ask? I like to try and pick up other languages when the need arises. When I was in Houston, and had a bunch of Spanish speakers working for me, I tried to learn esSpanish. When I was stationed in Germany in the late '80's, I tried to learn to speak German. They (the Germans) called me "Metzger" - the Butcher - because I so badly spoke it. I took Russian in college - now there's a language with a short fuse in the memory bank! Use it or lose it.

Well that was a tangent! On the training front....this heat has me smoked all-the-time! I cut 6 lawns today from 9am - 3pm, and then tried an interval ride of 50 miles. I went out WAAAAAY to fast on my first interval (about 23.5mph for 6.5 miles) and thoroughly ruined the prospect of a 2.5 hr ride. The next interval let me average about 22mph for the 6.5 miles, and on the third lap, all I could muster were 100 turns standing as hard as I could for 4 of the 6 miles. So I got an ok Fartlek in at the end there. HR, of course, gave me NO READING the entire way. But, averaged 19.1 for 37 miles. When I got home at around 7:30pm, it was still 90 degrees out, plus humidity.

With no rain in the forecast for this week, I should be able to do my yards as planned, and only suck up the week, leaving me free to smoke myself with a long run and bike on the weekend. Yea!!!!!

Taconite Humor-Muse

Ok, well, Taconite Boy - you can call him my muse. I try and get funny with his blog from time to time with the Amazing Adventures of Taconite Boy - you may have seen my work. Someday I'll have to go back and publish here, although I doubt anyone would find it as funny, out of context.

Anyway, so TB posts a really funny video.

I find it funny, but never leaving much alone, I came up with my own lyrics. They go along with the song fairly well - but really meant for TB and Trimama, one of the few racing couples I know.

Ahh, yea, that’s right baby, Girl, today we’re gonna triathlon…you know how I know? Cause it’s Sunday, and Sunday’s the day we race. Wednesday is our long bike day with a 45 min run off, but Sunday morning is Triathlon. Cause everything is just right, conditions are perfect. Walt Disney World is miles away, conditions are perfect.

You get up early and say something studly like, “I’m not sure how that oatmeal’s gonna feel in about 5hrs”; I know what you’re trying to say, baby – you’re trying to say, ooh, yea, it’s Business Time. It’s Business Time.

Refrain: It’s Business…It’s Business Time!

That’s what you’re trying to say, you’re trying to say Let’s Get Down to Business - its business time

Refrain: It’s Business…It’s Business Time!

Next thing you know we’re in Transition setting up our gear, that’s all part of it, that “pre-race”. Then you go make your 4th trip to the porto-let, that’s not part of it, but it’s still very important.

Then, were in the water! You’re wearing that baggy old, black 1980’s style wetsuit that you got for free when your tri-buddy got a raise and bought a sleek grey and red Quintano-Roo – but it’s never looked better on you. Oooh, old black baggy wetsuit’s gonna get it on in the water today! You just don’t know what you’re doing to me!

You remove that wetsuit but trip over it ‘cause you didn’t zip it down all the way, but you recover with a barrel roll and slip into T1. Next thing you know you’re down to your shoes and bike helmet, and you know when your down just your bike shoes and helmet what time it is…it’s time for Business! It’s business Time!

Refrain: It’s Business…It’s Business Time!

You know when you’re down to just your shoes and helmet that’s why they call them Business Shoes.

Refrain: It’s Business…It’s Business Time!

Ooh.

Racing hard. Racing hard for two….hours. When it’s you and an Olympic you only need 2 hrs, cause your so intense! Two hours in an Olympic is better than 3 hrs in an Olympic. You say something like, “was that it?” I know what you’re trying to say, you’re trying to say, “aaaah yea, that’s it!”. Then you tell me you want some more, and I’m not surprised. But now I’m tired.

Refrain: It’s Business…It’s Business Time!

Racing hours are over, baby…

Refrain: It’s Business…It’s Business Time!

Rain, Rain, go Away!

Got a whole lot of NUTHIN done today! Crud...just a constant rain, one shower after another. So the Bigun stayed home today. Cleaned up the garage. Changed a bike tire and tube. Paid some bills. Crap like that.

Wassup with TV these days? I watch this show called Cheaters - anyone see it? Crazy stuff. And the women were taking the men back, for crying out loud! What kind of message was that sending? Oh, and "Bang! Chicka Boom, Boom!" - Spike TV - good stuff. CSI re-runs are good for a rainy day.

We did get a break in the rain at about 5pm. Too late to make it out for my scheduled bike ride, so I ran instead. I've got to make up today's customer's yards tomorrow - so I'm seriously doubting I'll have time to bike tomorrow either. UG. Could be a good run week though.

Still have some elbow pain on the right when I swim. Starts to ache after 1500 meters, and then the hurting sets in at 2k. So that's when I stopped today. I tried something different for me today in the pool - 1000 m easing into a nice pace, then 1000m of 50m hard and 50m easy, sort of an "active" recovery. Made for an interesting swim.

The run was good too - still a little different for me - 4 miles at base HR - shooting for at or under 140 average HR, then shoot straight up to anaerobic and maintain the HR over 165 (my max is a guesstimate at 182...). It felt really good to stretch it out and run an average of 8:08 for a mile and three quarters. I saved the last quarter mile for a cool down.

The highlight of my day, however, was this really, really good sliced ham I bought at Costco - MAN! What a sandwich it made! Lunch was pretty awesome. Tomorrow's lunch will be good too. Isn't it nice to know ahead of time that a good meal is on the way?

Mow Brick

Leave it up to Tri-Dummy to come up with the newest summer catch phrase - the MOW BRICK. Cut some grass, kick some ass! After a slow cutting day, with only 4 lawns cut due to the afternoon deluge that hit right after I started lawn #5, I had to follow up my butt-kicking from Tuesday with a really hard bike.

The plan was to mirror the run workout - go out slow, stay in Base HR Zone, and then pick it up to LT. Great plan; usually a plan like that calls for tenacity, good hydration and the right tools - like your HR strap. Oops. Fortunately, I've ridden my Flatwoods loop for about 5,000 miles now, and I know that between 18 and 19mph keeps my HR in the Base range.

Then, after 12 miles, I remembered something from HR Training 101 - "training miles in between your base HR zone and somewhere close to LT are what we call in the "Biz" JUNK MILES". Well, I wasn't about to do any junk miles today. So, I did another 12 lap (lap 2) averaging around 18mph, just to make sure I was ready to kick my own ass.

Lap 3 did just that. It started out feeling pretty good. By the 6 mile turn-around parking lot, I was starting to run those scenario's in my head..."oh, Bigun, that was good, you can ease up now. Ok, just get to the main trail. Remember, you still have another lap after this one." But that was short lived...looking down and seeing that despite the pain, your still holding 22mph is a good motivator!

I had a great help for the last 4 miles - way up ahead, the couple drafting on the uber expensive carbon road bikes (saw them in the parking lot when I started lap 3...). Time to finish up! They were hauling butt, 'cause I had to crank it up a notch to catch them - and here's the thing...even on the trail, ride on the right people! You may be going fast (sort of...), but there's always someone faster! HA!

Rolling in to finish up the lap, I was d.o.n.e.-done! The "plan" called for 50m, but in the interest of getting home to dinner, and the utter truth - I was finished getting rained on! Usually here in Florida, we get showers. Cats and Dogs sky dumps that last a few minutes - a half hour max, and then blue skys - right? Wrong. It did not stop raining the entire 2.5 hr ride. So my waterlogged Bigun self cut off 5 miles of cool down and headed for home.

Which brings us to this morning. Ahhh. I used to be a big weight guy - squats, bench, heavy weights, yadda yadda - and used to love that feeling the next day of sore muscle - well, this endurance stuff generally hasn't gotten me there. 35 minutes of pushing as hard as I could must have done the trick, 'cause I'm walking on sore legs today! Yeeeeha!