Try A Little Tenderness

Don't think for a second I got lazy or forgot about my endeavor to write. It's just been to damn nice out to think of doing anything but playing outside and enjoying the weather!

Saturday

You wouldn't have known it was a Saturday, I was up at normal time (5:00am or just before). I was soo warm in my bed but, rising out of bed put me into a little shock (remember that I just ran 3 really hard days in a row). I was fully expecting to feel that hamstring stiffness, that Achilles pull or the stiff quads. To my surprise  I had very little soreness. Mad props to the Gatorade water mix I drank the night before.

I threw some jelly and Nutella on some toast and grabbed my handheld out of the fridge. I stuffed some sports beans in my butt pocket and a package of Gu Chomps in the handheld and I was out the door. Needless to say I had a moment from a favorite book. I was running down the road in the cover of darkness looking like a starving homebody. In one hand I had my handheld waterbottle, the other a sandwhich of Jelly and Nutella; add to that I was running. I got a very peculiar look from the guy walking his dog (seriously dude, it's 5am, I'm hungry!).

I had planned on meeting Nick Gooch (Gucci, Gucci Mane, The Gooch), Dan Reisner (Daddy, Big Daddy, BD), Thomas Durlach (Timis/Tom), Dave Seeley, and 2 other guys I am fading on (sorry?). Either way, I have now referenced Nicknames in this post, commit them to memory. Good we're past that now...

I left my house and started heading towards the senior center (4 miles out for me), I planned on keeping things pretty comfortable because I knew that even at 5am it was going to be a terrible day for running. I was sweating when I got out the door and the 80 degrees and 75%+ humidity did not help!

I hit the senior center at 6am and I ran with timis 4 out and 4 back on Celery Flats, which was nice! We grabbed some fluids 4 miles out and headed back. I was enjoying a nice easy run and I had intentions of making that last 4 miles at a pretty good clip. Things started off well but I really faded in the last 2 miles, and I was really looking for some food. I always forget how hungry I get in the heat. Something about trying to cool your body burns more calories, blah blah blah.

Workout
Rob's direction was to go for 16, and make it comfortable but not ridiculously slow. I told him I had lost a little confidence after the 3 day ultra I did in Chattanooga. I took a very respectable 6th place and I was very happy. I felt I had lost some speed and as silly as it sounds, endurance. I had really adapted to a slower longer pace, and I wanted my speed back. I wanted my Speed back ( Distance / Time) get it, I'm smart I know..
Saturday 16er

Sunday

Sunday was my day to chill, I hadn't had a "day off" in 15 days and I could tell I needed some sleep and to catch up on some calories. I've lost about 4lbs since spring and It's simply due to the heat and acclimatization to summer activity. I expect to see 138 by the end of summer. I'm 142.5 now and I've even put on some weight in my arms and back, so I'm content at the moment.

I slept very hard, to the point that I woke up in a pool of my own drool. Ick, drool. I awoke to a text asking me if I was going to be doing the KalTour Century. I lol'd literally, I Laughed.Out.Loud. I miss riding distance and I felt a bit nostalgic, like I had lost a piece of that Ironman spirit over these last 9 months.

I think next year I'll be splitting the threads of time and making a return to Triathlon. I spent the last 4 years perfecting, building and sharpening to get to Louisville. I remember all the sacrifice but, I also remember how proud I was and how proud everyone was of me. I liked that. I thought " next year I'll be out there, making 6th street my bitch".

That said " I got a follow up text from BD asking me if I wanted to ride with the boys and I thought, "eh, what's a short ride going to hurt". I pumped up my tired and threw a jersey on. Before I go any further I have to say something, why don't regular shirts have pockets in the back like cycling jerseys? I mean seriously this has got to be a revolution for the future. I grabbed another jelly and nutella sammy and headed out the door, and I put my phone/bike tool/tire infaltor, Co2 cartidges, a dinosaur toy, a liter of coke....okay maybe not the last 2 but I might as well! I had the room!

I met the guys about 1 mile out from my hose and we rode around Austin and Long Lake, my watch was abotu dead so the Garmin file isn't even worth uploading. We averaged about 18mph and I put a few more on after we split off and ended with about 25 miles. Not bad for my second ride of the year (SAD!).

I spent the rest of the day sitting on my duff playing videogames and reading a really good book Timis told me about.Finding Ultra which is about a recovering alcohol, who takes on a Vegan diet in his early 40's and transforms his body and athletic abilities. It's actually a good read, and isn't the usual "look how awesome I am, I eat vegetables", type of book.

Monday

I know this is getting long but, expect this for a while, I do too much to write. Maybe if your lucky, I'll do a late Sunday post.

That said, I spent the morning doing weights. I was really dragging today and I couldn't get out of bed. I stayed out too late and only managed about 5.5 hours of sleep. I got up at 4:45 which put me up 15 minutes late for the day so I decided to move my run to the evening hoping it would cool off (I was so very very wrong).  It was just another day at work.

(I'll write a post about my job at some point, this post is long enough).

When I left my last meeting for the day I walked outside and walked into a hairdryer, "EFF". I really miss running outside, and as I said earlier I'd rather be dialed in on the treadmill instead of suffering outside. To me there just isn't a point "Hell is what you make it" which has become a favorite quote of mine.

Enough talk

Workout
Today's workout was brought to you by "chump next to me on the treadmill stalking my workout" and Jenna Marbles. My workout out was 1mile up (7:08 avg.) then 6x 6:20 pace 1mile down (6:35 avg.)

I ended up running the 8 miles in 52:15 6:32 avg. I was breathing comfortably and felt great the whole time. I keep the treadmill at about .5% or 1% most of the time. About 5 miles in the sir douche of douche has to show up (I've seen this guy a handful times) and he LOOOVES to get on the treadmill next to me. He then looks at my treadmill and attempts to run my pace for 45 straight seconds. He then jumps off to the side rails and then gets back on. He does this 8-10 times before then trying to run for about 5 minutes. However, he saves the best for last and he loves to keep the treadmill running, and throws up his leg on the top of the treadmill and leans into it. At this point I'm about to lose my shit because I have this guy doing yoga next to me with a treadmill running full tilt below. He continues and switches legs before running for another 45 seconds and quitting. The best part is the last. I had a guy get on the treadmill after him (mind you I have headphones in) and I hear him say "what a f@$#^&in' weirdo. My stupid ass decides to just chime in with a "HAHA YEAH WHAT A WEIRDO", remember I had headphones in.. I hope he didn't hear that..

Ok enough for tonight.




A little Otis for the title tonight, I'm just feeling this song Otis REdding - Try a Little Tenderness



Night Ya'll!