Activity: Running
Area: my hood, North/East Chico
Weather: 88ish
Distance: An hour, on and off...
Avg spd.: slow and painful
How I felt: Some kinda left knee tweakage
Thing to remember: I saw three toads. Claire and I did some window shopping on the run. Ha. We're hardcore!
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Wind: the invisible hill
Activity: Road Bike
Area: Sprint to the Chico airport and back
Weather: Low 70's, clear, and WIND
Distance: 10.5 miles
Avg spd.: 15mph
How I felt: good!
Thing to remember: 20mph headwind gusts kept me below 10mph at points! Insane wind today. Much of the ride home was 30mph+ !! I was going 9mph on a dead flat road at the Chico Airport into a massive headwind, and a guy laughed out loud at me.
Area: Sprint to the Chico airport and back
Weather: Low 70's, clear, and WIND
Distance: 10.5 miles
Avg spd.: 15mph
How I felt: good!
Thing to remember: 20mph headwind gusts kept me below 10mph at points! Insane wind today. Much of the ride home was 30mph+ !! I was going 9mph on a dead flat road at the Chico Airport into a massive headwind, and a guy laughed out loud at me.
Sunday, August 28, 2005
Sunday morning ride
On my ride today, I decided today that I'm going to do my first century ride ever next spring. And why not make it the Chico Wildflower Century, which is hosted in my home town? I have a long way to go training-wise, but the ride isn't until the end of April. If I can run a marathon, I can ride a century. Right?
Activity: Road Bike
Area: In town, Lower Bidwell, Chico Canyon Rd.
Weather: 80-88 degrees. Sunny and clear.
Distance: 22.5 miles
Avg spd.: 16.5mph
How I felt: like cobwebs are falling outta my lungs
Thing to remember: Got pulled by two old guys (mid 50s?), one riding a squeaky tank sporting old school platform/clip/strap pedals, for about 5 miles. They blew my doors off up Chico Canyon. Try harder.
Activity: Road Bike
Area: In town, Lower Bidwell, Chico Canyon Rd.
Weather: 80-88 degrees. Sunny and clear.
Distance: 22.5 miles
Avg spd.: 16.5mph
How I felt: like cobwebs are falling outta my lungs
Thing to remember: Got pulled by two old guys (mid 50s?), one riding a squeaky tank sporting old school platform/clip/strap pedals, for about 5 miles. They blew my doors off up Chico Canyon. Try harder.
Saturday, August 27, 2005
Bidwell Park Centennial 5k
Claire and I ran a fun little 5k race this morning in Bidwell Park. It was sponsored by the Chico Running Club, and there were about 250 entrants.
Activity: Running
Area: Lower Bidwell Park
Weather: 65-70 degrees and clear! Perfect early morning!
Distance: 5k (3.1 miles)
Avg spd.: 8:10 pace - awful.
How I felt: Good and outta shape.
Thing to remember: Two pugs walked the race with their owner. The pugs had race numbers, the owner didn't. There was also a Chihuahua sporting a pink miniskirt. Oh, and Bidwell Park is soooo beautiful.
Pre-race vogue (of course I ran with it):
Activity: Running
Area: Lower Bidwell Park
Weather: 65-70 degrees and clear! Perfect early morning!
Distance: 5k (3.1 miles)
Avg spd.: 8:10 pace - awful.
How I felt: Good and outta shape.
Thing to remember: Two pugs walked the race with their owner. The pugs had race numbers, the owner didn't. There was also a Chihuahua sporting a pink miniskirt. Oh, and Bidwell Park is soooo beautiful.
Pre-race vogue (of course I ran with it):
Friday, August 26, 2005
Another August day in Chico
Activity: Mountain Biking
Area: Upper Bidwell Park
Weather: 96 awful degrees when I started, below 90 post sunset
Distance: Who knows? (1.5 hours)
Avg spd.: Slow! Rocky and technical terrain.
How I felt: Good, albeit like frying bacon due to the heat.
Thing to remember: Stopped in a shady area to avoid blistering sun and watched four deer munch some shit on the ground. Mid-ride I jumped into Big Chico creek with all my shoes/clothes/gloves on. Ride home was cool, damp and excellent.
Area: Upper Bidwell Park
Weather: 96 awful degrees when I started, below 90 post sunset
Distance: Who knows? (1.5 hours)
Avg spd.: Slow! Rocky and technical terrain.
How I felt: Good, albeit like frying bacon due to the heat.
Thing to remember: Stopped in a shady area to avoid blistering sun and watched four deer munch some shit on the ground. Mid-ride I jumped into Big Chico creek with all my shoes/clothes/gloves on. Ride home was cool, damp and excellent.
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Is someone getting the best of you?
Or are you getting the best of you?
As the description of this blog says, I decided to do this out on my ride today. We'll see how it goes.
I've been in an amazing exerciseless rut for about a year now. For several years of my life at the end of my twenties, I was a full on triathlete and runner. I raced in dozens of tris, several half marathons, a marathon (Boulder Backroads Marathon), and countless shorter distance trail races. Since I came back out to California on January 1, 2003, I have slowly declined my exercise amount to a level that is unacceptable to me.
I know that most people would think I'm insane. I'm 5'9" and weigh between 138 and 142 pounds depending on the day, and I can still run a 10k with zero training. It'll hurt, and I'll be a winded sack of shit, but I can get through it.
This morning I got up and hopped on my road bike for the first time in about two months, and two months ago was also probably the first time in two months. I guess I like to keep things nice and even. Anyway, as I was riding out Cohassett Rd., sucking wind and suffering from the mounting heat of the oncoming Chico August day, it hit me. I thought to myself, DUDE, you're out of shape, chewing air like a fat bastard who's been eating fried chicken and biscuits and watching reruns of Buffy the Vampire Slayer for the past ten years.
I hit the beautiful downhill that is the left hand turn at Keefer Road, and I started thinking about ways to get stoked again about riding, swimming, racing, and just leading a healthier lifestyle again. It's not that I do anything that is anti-healthy, I just tend to sit in front of my computer way too much (hey, I have to make a living, and it so happens that I run a design business). Claire and I are outside a lot, but we've spent more time lately on gardening, laying hardwood floors, and playing with dogs and horses than we have on running around on trails like maniacs.
I don't intend for this blog to be a training log perhaps as much as a way to look back on what I've done to connect my hands, feet and soul with the earth a little each day. I might run, ride, swim, flyfish, dig in the dirt in my garden, ride horses, or take my wife and dogs to the mountains. If I happen to bring a camera with me, I'll post photos over on Flickr. In all liklihood, I'll be the only person who reads this thing. I'm ok with that.
So without further adieu, I post my first record, mostly for myself, about what I did today outside.
Activity: Road Bike
Area: North Chico
Weather: 90 degrees, hawt! Sunny and clear, headwind on half the ride.
Distance: 18.7 miles
Avg spd.: 15.1 mph
How I felt: like shitski
Thing to remember: Stopped on Elite Dr. and bummed some water from a construction crew's orange cooler. When I first showed up, Foo Fighters 'Best of You' was on the radio; as I rode off, 'Fly By Night' by Rush came on.
As the description of this blog says, I decided to do this out on my ride today. We'll see how it goes.
I've been in an amazing exerciseless rut for about a year now. For several years of my life at the end of my twenties, I was a full on triathlete and runner. I raced in dozens of tris, several half marathons, a marathon (Boulder Backroads Marathon), and countless shorter distance trail races. Since I came back out to California on January 1, 2003, I have slowly declined my exercise amount to a level that is unacceptable to me.
I know that most people would think I'm insane. I'm 5'9" and weigh between 138 and 142 pounds depending on the day, and I can still run a 10k with zero training. It'll hurt, and I'll be a winded sack of shit, but I can get through it.
This morning I got up and hopped on my road bike for the first time in about two months, and two months ago was also probably the first time in two months. I guess I like to keep things nice and even. Anyway, as I was riding out Cohassett Rd., sucking wind and suffering from the mounting heat of the oncoming Chico August day, it hit me. I thought to myself, DUDE, you're out of shape, chewing air like a fat bastard who's been eating fried chicken and biscuits and watching reruns of Buffy the Vampire Slayer for the past ten years.
I hit the beautiful downhill that is the left hand turn at Keefer Road, and I started thinking about ways to get stoked again about riding, swimming, racing, and just leading a healthier lifestyle again. It's not that I do anything that is anti-healthy, I just tend to sit in front of my computer way too much (hey, I have to make a living, and it so happens that I run a design business). Claire and I are outside a lot, but we've spent more time lately on gardening, laying hardwood floors, and playing with dogs and horses than we have on running around on trails like maniacs.
I don't intend for this blog to be a training log perhaps as much as a way to look back on what I've done to connect my hands, feet and soul with the earth a little each day. I might run, ride, swim, flyfish, dig in the dirt in my garden, ride horses, or take my wife and dogs to the mountains. If I happen to bring a camera with me, I'll post photos over on Flickr. In all liklihood, I'll be the only person who reads this thing. I'm ok with that.
So without further adieu, I post my first record, mostly for myself, about what I did today outside.
Activity: Road Bike
Area: North Chico
Weather: 90 degrees, hawt! Sunny and clear, headwind on half the ride.
Distance: 18.7 miles
Avg spd.: 15.1 mph
How I felt: like shitski
Thing to remember: Stopped on Elite Dr. and bummed some water from a construction crew's orange cooler. When I first showed up, Foo Fighters 'Best of You' was on the radio; as I rode off, 'Fly By Night' by Rush came on.
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