Big Ride

How is it possible that I'm less tired after 70 miles and four and a half hours on the bike than I was when I started? Honestly, I had zero energy this morning, and it took way too much effort to drag my butt out the door. Then I go ride 70 miles, have energy to ride the last hour significantly faster than the previous 3 (18mph avg for the last hour with lots of time spent over 20mph vs. 15mph avg for the rest of the ride), and still have spring in my step when I get back to the house. Crazy.

Full confession... it's been a few hours since I got done, and NOW I'm definitely tired.

Here's a link to the route, if anyone is interested. I essentially did a giant loop of Missoula. East, then south, then west, then back. Click here for the route map.

And, some pictures:

High Cost of Being Fat

Ironic that shortly after I post a recipe, I find this article about the cost of obesity. According to the CDC, the amount of money spent on health care for obesity or obesity-related illnesses was $147 billion.

$147,000,000,000!

Staggering. Just staggering.

More here: http://www.everymantri.com/everyman_triathlon/2009/07/the-cost-of-being-a-fat-american-147-billion-to-treat-obesity-in-2008-says-the-fed.html

The Wall Street Journal article is here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204563304574314794089897258.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Recipe: Zuppa Salsiccia

That's Italian for Salsiccia Soup! (I know... I know... it really means sausage soup.)

This has been my dinner for the past few days, and it is both very good and very easy.

1 package sweet Italian sausages (I used two, but I need the extra protein and calories)

2 small onions

1 can diced tomatoes

2 cans cannelini beans (white kidney beans)

1 package frozen spinach

1 can chicken broth

Cut the sausage into pieces, then brown the pieces in a large pot in some olive oil. While it is browning, cut the onions, leaving them in long strips. Once the meat is browned, add the onions, along with salt and pepper to taste. Cook until the onions wilt. Add the beans and the liquid from the cans, then the tomatoes and the juice from the can, then the chicken broth. Add water as needed to reach desired consistency (I added 1 can of water). Cover and bring the soup to a boil, then drop to a simmer for about an hour. Add the frozen spinach, and cook for ten minutes more.

The recommendation of the author from whom I stole this recipe, in order to have the full Italian experience, is to serve the soup hot and topped with fresh grated sharp cheese, such as a good Parmesan or Romano, as well as a buttered crusty bread and a juice glass of inexpensive red Italian wine.

I've been going with the cheese option, as you can see, but I have traded the bread and wine for a nice salad. Spinach, sweet peppers, bell peppers, tomatoes, avocado, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and a dollop of black bean hummus. Buon Appetito!

(Full credit given to the original source where I found the recipe: http://anaffordablewardrobe.blogspot.com/2009/06/zuppa-salsiccia.html)

19 Days to Race Day

In the words of Lance Armstrong after he finished his first marathon: "Oh. My. God. Ouch."

Just finished a four hour, 18 mile training run. Exhausted. Legs dying.

This is my HUGE week of training, the biggest it will get before the race (and frankly, if all goes to plan, it will be my biggest week ever):

Yesterday was an hour run and a 2:40 hills bike ride - over an hour and a half of that time was spent riding uphill.

Today the long run.

Tomorrow easy, "just" a long swim and an easy bike ride.

Thursday is 70 miles on the bike (probably about 5 hours).

Friday is a 90 minute lactate-threshold run and an easy swim.

Saturday is an easy run before driving to Calgary to watch Alex's race.

Sunday, since I will be busy following Alex around, will thank goodness be an off day.

All told, if I hit everything I've planned, then this should be a week of about 17 training hours. In other words, I'm going to be suffering. Big time. Kinda like right now.

I realize that I owe everyone a post about last week, including weekly training totals, the disaster of a race I did on Saturday, and my fun Saturday evening tubing the Clark Fork River. I'll start working on it and probably get it put up here by tomorrow.

Right now, however, there's only five things in the world I care about:

1) Lunch

2) Ice bath to reduce muscle damage and inflammation

3) Hot shower to follow ice bath to revive blood flow and help my body start healing

4) Nap

5) Long massage at 5:30

After those five things are taken care of, then I'll start caring about the rest of you again. Now, let's see if I'm able to walk to the kitchen...

Why Do All the Good Roads Run Out of Asphalt?

Successful long ride yesterday. Sixty miles in four hours - exactly what I was going for. To bad I ended up having to improvise most of the miles since Google Maps forgot to mention that many of the roads I mapped out to ride AREN'T PAVED. The plan, as it was at the beginning, was to start by riding five miles east to Marshall Mountain for my usual wake-up call (aka steep climb) that I have made a habit of including at the beginnings of my long rides. Then head back west to town before going eight miles north to the Snowbowl, another local ski resort. After that I was to descend most of the way back to town before turning west again and heading out to Frenchtown, fifteen miles west of Missoula. From Frenchtown I would head straight back.

That was not to be, however. The road to Snowbowl turned into dirt and gravel just a few miles out of town and well before connecting to the road which would have taken me to Frenchtown. After some creative backtracking and exploration I ended up on another road I had been looking for, only to find it running out of blacktop as well! Then, reacquainting myself with my directions, I followed them right up to the point where they dumped me on a highway. Not an interstate, but nevertheless a 55mph highway with lots of semi trucks. I politely declined the invitation to do vehicular combat with speeding trucks (a decision which does not diminish my pride or ego at all, which was--let's face it--a factor under consideration). So I moved on to Plan B. Or Plan E, as the case may be. In any case, long story short, I managed to trickle my tires across a full 60 miles of Western Montana hardtop, and even managed to have a little fun doing it. Because, and apologies in advance to Mr. Kenneth Grahame, but there is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about on a bike!

A couple pictures for you:

Looking forward.

Looking back.

Too bad this wonderful road turned into dirt in less than a quarter-mile from where I took these photos.

And in other news, I was awoken last night around midnight (having very happily and successfully passed out before 10pm) by a troop of Irish step dancers in full performance mode on the corrugated plastic porch roof outside my window. That's right - it was hailing! It hailed for the better part of an hour, I'd guess. Nothing big, but nevertheless quite insistent and loud. I really must have some sort of affinity for hail this year, or perhaps better stated that hail has an affinity for me. Nationals, the mountain bike ride a few weeks ago, and now this! Absurd.

It's Always The Little Things That Get You In Trouble

...like not drinking enough water. Dehydration sucks, by the way.

So yeah, yesterday I had a 15 mile run. I felt fine for the first half, but once I hit the 7.5 mile mark and turned around, I started feeling really thirsty really quickly. I was going through my water bottles much faster than I had anticipated. (I have a FuelBelt that allows me to carry four small water bottles with me on long runs.) I quickly realized that I had to start rationing my water consumption because I could very easily have finished drinking everything I brought and left myself without fluids for the last five miles or more. So instead I played this fun game of "you can have another sip when you run another mile." "Run" at this point became a fairly generous term, as to cope with the dryness I slowed down significantly and did lots of walking. Then it hits me! I forgot to drink any water in the morning before going out for the run. I don't know how I did this, but I did. I had my usual glass of OJ upon waking, had my usual espresso with breakfast (two eggs scrambled plus a quarter of a honeydew melon), but didn't have any water. Usually after my OJ I fill up a water bottle and drink it over the course of the next hour or so, including with my breakfast, but for whatever reason I just left that step out of my morning yesterday. And I paid for it. What should have taken 2.5 hrs took me almost 3. It was a rough morning. Fortunately I had an extra water bottle in the car when I finished, and I jumped in the (COLD!) creek to cool down. In the end I was fine... the workout was just a little harder than it should have been. At least I'll remember not to make THAT mistake again!

LAST WEEK IN REVIEW:

When I posted last week that I was "paying the price" for the previous weekend, I had no idea how true that statement was. I was so dead that I took three straight days completely off from training - Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. I was getting a full night sleep, waking up at my usual 7am, eating breakfast, and falling back asleep from 9am until noon. I spent the afternoons in an exhausted haze, watched a few movies, took another nap, and then passed out again after dinner. Apparently I needed the time off! By Sunday I was feeling better, and even went on a short run. Total weekly hours was a paltry (but necessary) 4:17. The recovery week achieved its desired effect, and I have been able to resume my large training load this week. (Five and a half hours already in two days!)

As I write this, I am 25 days from race day - less than four weeks. Hard to believe I have already been out here for over a month! One of the benefits of taking time off last week is that it gave me the opportunity to fully plan out the rest of my training between now and race day. This week is a hard week, pushing my endurance distances in all sports. Saturday I have another race, this time an off-road triathlon (on my mountain bike) which should be lots of fun. Next week is even harder, and I will be going a little bit longer in my long workouts. Two weeks from the race will be a highly focused race-intensity week. My long workouts will be race distance (56 mile bike, 13 mile run) and I will be trying to do them at or above the speed I hope to race with. Finally, the week of the race will be tapering and recovering from the previous three weeks, including driving to Seattle and doing a few short workouts on the race course before the big day. And then, just like that, it's time to race!

On another note, I've finally gotten around to taking some pictures of the house/my room. Enjoy!

This is the view from our front porch. The picture doesn't quite do the sunset justice. It was magnificent!

Yesterday morning. Dixie, still asleep. Too cute to pass up.

Nollie, my roommate's dog, and Dixie have become fast friends.

The view from our back yard. Specifically, the view from my hammock. I love to sit out there in the evenings and watch the waning sunlight on the hillside.

Aforementioned hammock, along with the hot tub and my wetsuit.

My room, with the (absurdly loud) plaid bedspread. Motivational posters on the wall are Muhammad Ali ("Champions are made from something deep inside them, a desire, a dream a vision..."), Steve Prefontaine ("To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift") and Lance Armstrong ("People want to know what I'm on. I'm on my bike six hours a day. What are you on?").

Desk alcove, one of the closets, training clothes everywhere.

Dixie Corner!

The bookcase and the ever present Georgetown Triathlon sweatshirt.

OK well that will do for now. Time to have some breakfast. And a glass of water...

WSJ: Celebrity Culture vs. The Right Stuff

An update on my training, including some pictures, is coming soon, but this article needs sharing.

I just read this opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal. It is a wise commentary on how the men of the space program--Apollo in particular since we are recently celebrating the anniversary of that notable achievement--have lived their lives as contrasted with the lives of (and public consumption of, in every sense of that word) celebrities.

The link is available online at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203946904574299851367749282.html. The article I would assume is also in today's print edition. For those without access to either (the online version may require some kind of log-in), I am copying the article here.

Perhaps this thought comes from being too much of a classical romantic, having my head too high in the clouds, or having spent the last two decades ensconced in that great ivory tower of academia, but it strikes me that if more of us focused more frequently on personal codes of conduct and a pursuit of honor and reputation, rather than that which would most rapidly gain us celebrity or fame or fortune or power or whatever else, the world might not be in quite the place that it is today. Clearly we are too late to change the history we are in. But maybe--just maybe--we can reconnect with this "right stuff" to get us back out. Just a thought.

Celebrity Culture vs. The Right Stuff

By BRET STEPHENS

It’s a safe bet that 100 years from now most half-way educated people will know about Neil Armstrong. It’s also a safe bet that in a century the name Michael Jackson will be familiar only to five or six cultural anthropologists and, possibly, a medical historian. So what does it say about the United States in 2009 that the late moon-walker is a household name but the living one is not?

Plenty has been written about the Apollo program: the technological wonder; its place in history; the fact that we haven’t gone very far since. Not enough has been written about the Apollo astronauts and, in particular, about their place in the history of American character. That’s a pity: What they have, or had, is something Americans could use.

That something is “The Right Stuff,” which in the movie version means fearlessness, ambition, unblinking patriotism and a penchant for understated irony. Most of us would probably think of the Right Stuff as some combination of piloting skills and a barrelful of guts.

But the really essential ingredient is personal modesty, if not in private than certainly in public. “One day you’re just Gene Cernan, young naval aviator, whatever,” recalls the commander of Apollo 17 in the documentary, “In the Shadow of the Moon.” “And the next day you’re an American hero. Literally. And you have done nothing.”

Mr. Cernan is the last man to have walked on the moon. Nobody can accuse him of lacking for courage. He is simply expressing the very human bewilderment of a sentient person caught in the blandishments of modern celebrity culture. Does America make men like Gene Cernan anymore?

Then again, Mr. Cernan is positively boastful compared to Mr. Armstrong. The flesh-and-blood “first man” is nowhere to be seen in the documentary. His media availability is nearly zero. He hasn’t pitched a product on TV for 30 years, and only then for Chrysler during its last bankruptcy. When he speaks of the moon, he never fails to mention the 400,000 people who worked to get him there. He doesn’t unload about his politics, pet causes or personal “issues,” including family tragedies.

None of this is because Mr. Armstrong is a recluse living in his own Neverland. He seems to have a normal family life—including divorce and remarriage. He’s made money, though not the kind of money that comes from endorsing every golf ball, hemorrhoidal cream and sugar substitute thrown his way. You likely wouldn’t recognize him if he sat across from you at a diner, which is just as he wants it to be.

Modern parlance allows us the term “private person” to describe people like Mr. Armstrong. Closer to the mark, I suspect, is that he abides by a private code of conduct. He understands that fate has assigned him a historic, if somewhat fortuitous role, and he means to honor the terms of the bargain.

That this should seem at all peculiar tells us something about the age. Codes of personal conduct were once what Americans—great ones, at least—were all about. In his superb book “American Heroes,” Yale historian Edmund S. Morgan writes about Benjamin Franklin and George Washington that “both men cared enormously about their reputations, about their honor. Their deliberate refusals to do things, employed to great advantage in serving their country, originated in a personal ambition to gain honor and reputation of a higher order than most people aspired to.”

This is not the way we live now. Modern culture has severed many of the remaining links between merit and celebrity. We make a fetish of uninteresting, detestable, loud or unaccomplished people: Paris Hilton, Princess Di, Keith Olbermann, Michael Jackson. Disgrace can be a ticket for even greater celebrity, particularly when mixed with confession. Stoicism, on the other hand, is regarded as a form of denial, meaning borderline lunacy.

I detest anti-Americanism, but I’ll concede this: It’s hard to watch American celebrity culture at work and not feel revolted. By contrast, much of what made the Apollo missions such a tribute to America was the character of the astronauts: their clipped exchanges between Houston and the spacemen; or Lovell, Anders and Borman reading from Genesis on Apollo 8; or the unflappable Flight Director Gene Kranz working the problems of Apollo 13 to triumph.

These sorts of people are still around, often in the military. Perhaps too often. Great democratic civilizations can’t survive on values that emerge from a single, undemocratic cultural stream. A century from now, who will be remembered as the early 21st century’s Neil Armstrong, the one who had all the Right Stuff? Barack Obama?

Write to bstephens@wsj.com

Mad Dog Maddux

This is unrelated to triathlon, but definitely worth mention. Yesterday, longtime Braves ace pitcher Greg "Mad Dog" Maddux was inducted into the Atlanta Braves Hall of Fame. His number 31 was retired and now hangs permanently on the outfield wall alongside the numbers of Dale Murphy, Warren Spahn, Phil Niekro, Eddie Matthews, and Hank Aaron. I can think of no more fitting honor for Maddux than to be included in their ranks. The Mad Dog was an integral part of my growing up. He was the quiet, reserved, always reliable member of the trio of remarkable aces who defined the Braves in the 1990s - all of whom should end up in Cooperstown without question. More than that, Maddux was a true gentleman of the game. He played quietly, excelled at the core fundamentals, always gave his best effort, was tough, and let his pitching do the talking so he didn't have to. Maddux is one of those players who makes baseball truly great.

http://atlanta.braves.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090717&content_id=5905844&vkey=news_atl&fext=.jsp&c_id=atl

Killer Weekend... and paying the price

I'm happy to say that I had a very good couple of days last weekend from a performance standpoint. Saturday I rode an "easy" 50 miles in 3:20 (the "easy" comes from the fact that I was only going 15mph the whole time). I was certainly tired afterwards, and my legs were pretty dead, but the distance didn't kill me like it has in the past. That said, I had very few expectations for an impressive performance at the race I was doing on Sunday. Yes, you read that right. I did a long ride on Saturday and then an Olympic triathlon (1 mile swim, 25 mile bike, 6.2 mile run) on Sunday.

The race was in Helena, so I got up around 4am Sunday, had breakfast, threw my gear in the Jeep, and drove the two hours east to the race site. The race was small, but very well run. There were two races simultaneously - the Olympic and also a Sprint (half the distance). Total field was about 200 people, with 80 in the Oly. The course was very nicely laid out. Two swim loops in the lake, an out-and-back bike course on good roads with no significant turns, and two run loops around the lake. My swim didn't go well, but given the troubles I've been having with swimming lately I'm not surprised. I didn't feel fast--and wasn't--but just kept going and didn't waste too much energy trying to fight the water. Swim time was 28 minutes, which is about four minutes slower than my best Oly swim time. But I felt fresh once I headed out on the bike, so taking it easy on the swim was a good decision.

The bike course, I have mentioned, was out-and-back along the same roads. On the ride out, I was pushing my effort conservatively hard. Not all-out, but not easy, either. The course seemed more or less flat with some short rolling hills, but despite my effort level I was only going 14 or 15mph. I thought I was just shot from the long ride the day before (and the fact that, race included, I spent almost 14 hours training that week). Of course, that was before I hit the turnaround. Once I turned around and started going back, I had the wonderful realization that I had in fact been going slightly uphill the entire time! It was probably no more than a 1 or 2% grade, which means that it looked flat but actually wasn't. Not only did it explain the disconnect between effort and speed, but it also meant that the second half would be downhill. And sure enough, I spent most of the last 12 miles of the bike riding at 30mph or faster! Total bike time was 1:10, which is the same bike split I rode at Collegiate Nationals 2008, my current Oly-distance PR (personal record) race.

Not going to lie--the beginning of the run HURT. If you've never gotten off a bike and tried to start running, then there's no real way to describe the sensation to you. Every motion is jarring and uncoordinated, takes 100% more effort than normal, and is simply painful. Your brain is sending running signals to your legs ("left leg... rights leg..."), and your legs are sending signals back to your brain that go something along the lines of, "Um...NO!" Only if your legs could actually talk they would probably be including a few choice words not fit for mixed company. Mine certainly were. Fortunately I have done enough racing to know that the only way to overcome this sensation is literally to run through it, to ignore it and run the pace I intend to run for the full race. Not to run based on intensity, mind you, as the intensity is at this point wildly subjective and seems absurdly high, but to actually run based on a more objective pace. So I did, and the legs loosened up, and my body settled in, and the perceived intensity level fell back to normal. Frankly, after a few miles, I felt quite good! Not all of the mile markers were posted, so I couldn't track all of my mile times, but from what I could tell I was running somewhere in the 7:30- to 8-minute-mile range, significantly faster than anything I've been doing in training, but nevertheless surprisingly comfortable. In fact, I felt so good that I ran a 47:30 10k, which is the fastest 10k I've ever run in my life (and this at the end of a triathlon).

All in all, I had a wonderful race. I finished in 2:28:01, which is seven minutes faster than my previous best Olympic race and therefore a new PR. Further, I was second in my age group! (Granted, there were only 3 people in the age group, so it's really not saying much.) The race was a much-needed confirmation that all of the work I am doing out here is actually paying off and making me stronger and faster. It was especially rewarding with regards to my run training. As I mentioned, I have not been training at the same pace that I ran in the race. In fact, the vast majority of my runs are right at a 10-minute/mile pace, but I am doing LOTS of miles that way. The theory is that spending lots of time going slow builds my low level endurance, and that endurance is what allows me to be comfortable going faster. If the race is any indication, then this training method is working.

However, I've been paying the price for that exertion all week long. Monday I could only manage a short hour's bike ride. Tuesday's swim was cut short by fatigue and dizziness. Yesterday I managed a decent easy run and a strength workout, but today I am unavoidably exhausted. I woke up at my usual 7am after a full night's sleep, only to pass out again from 9:30 to after 11. I had plans to do a long run of 15 miles today, but clearly that has been cancelled. I think that I finally have to admit that this will be a recovery week for me, with a serious reduction in training. My body is telling me that I need to rest and recover so that it can rebuild from all of the training stress of the last three weeks. I may try to go for an easy swim later this afternoon, but given that I feel destroyed right now, I doubt it.

So likely today off, tomorrow easy, and then we'll see how I feel on Saturday. Once I start feeling fresh again, it will be time to hit it hard again. Can't wait!

P.S. - Early happy birthday shout-out to Sarah S. She's 23 tomorrow!

What A Difference A Day Makes

Taking yesterday off was definitely the right call to make. I feel significantly better today. I actually got seven hours of decent sleep last night (for the first time in a long time), and I felt solid if a little bit slow on my run this morning.

Yesterday afternoon, just to get out of the house for a little while, I took Dixie on a hike up to the "L" on Mount Jumbo, the hill just to the east of our house. The L is just that, a giant concrete "L", painted white, that was installed on the hillside some time ago by the local high school as their response to the "M" on Mount Sentinel which was first put in place by University of Montana students in the early 1900s. The "M" and Mount Sentinel overlook the U of M campus and are directly across the river from Mount Jumbo. It was a very pleasant walk, and the view from up there was wonderful, even if the day was a little overcast. Here's a few pictures:

Looking down the Clark Fork River, which runs through the heart of Missoula.

The trail to the "L". You can actually see it in the distance - the white spot half-way up the hillside.

Almost there.

Dixie up on the L, investigating.

Self-portrait with the view from the L. Clearly Dixie found something more interesting to look at.

Well, that's all for now. Just wanted to let you know I'm doing better. Now for some lunch!

Rainy Day in Missoula

Rain is perhaps too strong a word - perhaps drizzle or intermittent showers is better. But to be honest, this rain could not have come at a better time. I've been feeling pretty terrible today, trying to convince myself to do the smart thing and just take the day off. The rain is finally the kick in the butt that I needed. According to my plan, I was going to ride 50 miles today. (Averaging 15mph, that's 3:20 or so of riding, i.e. a long day.) I knew by mid-morning that 50 miles was just not happening, but even after lunch I'm still pretty run down, so a recovery day is definitely in order.

As you may have noticed, I've been away from the blog for a few days. I've been hitting the training pretty hard, so there really hasn't been the time or energy for it. So, briefly, here's what's been going on since I last posted on Friday.

Friday afternoon: tough bike hill workout, easy swim, strength training

Saturday: TOUGH but really good run - 90 minutes total, with 75 minutes at lactate threshold pace, for a total of 9.5 miles. Short swim after that (really just a float, zero effort), then a few minutes of pushups in the afternoon. I was pretty much dead for the rest of the day after that run.

Sunday: Medium-long ride of 35 miles in 2:16, then about 10 minutes strength training.

Yesterday: Long run (12 miles) and a half hour of swimming.

I'm definitely doing enough work to get tired, but to compound that stress I've been having trouble falling asleep the past few days. I lay down at night, and, although I am exhausted, I'm also wide awake for half the night. I'm trying a few different things to try and overcome the issue, including trying for some wake-up time consistency, cutting out midday naps to see if they are throwing off my sleep cycles, and even getting up earlier in the morning in order to induce more fatigue by bedtime. I'm guessing that the sleeplessness is also an (ironic) indication of building fatigue inside me, so a rest day is probably in order. Hopefully the combination of all these factors will get me straight again.

Ok, time for the weekly wrap-up. We just finished the 27th week of the year, and the numbers are looking pretty good. Total training time for the week was 15:23.

Swim: 1:41, 5000 meters

Bike: 7:15, 109.5 mi

Run: 5:26, 31.8 mi

Strength: 1:01

The numbers are telling some interesting stories:

- Training hours remained very similar to the previous week, indicating that this training load is reasonable and sustainable.

- That said, the fatigue effects I'm feeling now, coupled with the fact that I skipped a few non-essential workouts at the end of the week, means that I need to reevaluate how I am getting those hours and especially how I am building recovery time into the schedule. Specifically, I am reevaluating the general schedule of my training cycle to focus on key workouts and recovery.

- I have been on a very heavy running focus this year, especially in comparrison to previous years. This week I actually surpassed my total run volume for any of the previous three years I have been doing triathlon. That the vast majority of tha trunning is at a very slow aerobic pace means that I am really taking the time to develop my aerobic engine. That aerobic capacity will give me greater endurance across the board and lay the foundation for me to improve both running times and race times as a whole.

More later. Right now I'm really feeling the exhaustion catch up with me, so I'm going to lay down for a little bit. A day of taking it easy should put me right again, I'm hoping.

Good Days and Patsy Cline

You know it'll be a great day, because I've got Patsy Cline on the stereo. (Ok... my computer iTunes... but that doesn't have the same ring to it.) Sweet Dreams album: San Antonio Rose, Seven Lonely Days, Lovesick Blues, Walkin' After Midnight, Crazy, I Fall to Pieces, so much more. What's not to love!

It has been a fantastic couple of days. Wednesday afternoon I wrapped up the end of a tough ten-day training cycle with a much-needed massage. Yesterday was a fairly light recovery day, first day of the new cycle. Easy swim (I'm still trying to get a feel for the water again... right now I feel like I'm swimming through Jell-O, not water), easy bike, and a little strength work.

Then last night my roommates were going kayaking. They had an extra boat, so I went too. First time kayaking! And despite a few attempts to drown myself by doing stupid things like rolling the boat upside-down (not recommended if you don't know how to get right-side-up again!), I managed quite well. The guys got me all set up with the gear - boat, paddle, skirt, life vest, helmet - and showed me how to get in the water and get going. They forgot to tell me how to keep the boat upright, however. So after a few very unsteady seconds, I quickly and amusingly tipped right over. They told me later that it was only once they saw the bottom of my boat sticking out of the water that they realized they hadn't told me how to get out of the flipped kayak. Fortunately I've read enough outdoor magazines and adventure stories to know the basic idea. I attempted twice to use the paddle to spin myself back upright while staying in the boat. I was more than aware that I had no idea what I was doing in that regard, and the two attempts informed me that I wasn't about to figure it out in that particular moment. So I let go of the paddle and reached for the pull handle on the front of the skirt. For those unfamiliar with kayaks, the skirt is more or less what it sounds like: a neoprene skirt which fits tightly around the midsection of the paddler and then loosens and expands into the shape of the top hole on the kayak. The bottom edge of the skirt has a bungee in it, and once the paddler sits in the kayak he fits the skirt around the hole and the bungee snaps it into place. Essentially, this contraption holds the paddler in the boat and prevents (most) water from getting in the boat via splashes or rolling over. There's a large strap at the front of the skirt, so whenever you want to get out of the boat (e.g. you're stuck upside-down under water), you just grab the front strap to pull the skirt off the boat, then you can swim out from underneath. Of course, now that you're swimming, all your buddies are giving you a hard time ("we came here to kayak, not go for a swim!" "whoa, what are you doing down there? I almost didn't see you because you're not in your boat!" etc etc - all in good fun). Further, you have to swim across the current with your life jacket and skirt on (both of which only act as water parachutes), towing your paddle and boat, which is still upside-down and now half full of water!

Still, I was laughing the whole time - it was so much fun! And a good workout, too. Core, arms, shoulders, balance (which I am clearly lacking). We must have spent a couple hours on the water, getting to watch the sun go down as we fooled around in the current. They even taught me how to roll myself out of the water with my paddle, the technique I had so desperately needed earlier. All in all, I'll definitely do this again! Next non-triathlon goal activity that I want to do out here: fly fishing.

This morning Dixie and I had a fantastic run, just one of those "lucky to be alive and get to experience this" workouts. I've been exploring the Rattlesnake trails area, which is basically wilderness and state park with lots of dirt and gravel trails. I managed to find a wonderful 6-mile loop today. A little bit of rolling, some beautiful countryside, barely a soul around. Just amazing. I'll try to take a camera next time I head out there, though I don't think the pictures will do the area justice. The effect is not captured in a 4x6 frame, but is the overwhelming 360 degree magnitude of it all.

On the down-side, I'm out of food. I really don't want to look at my credit card statement right now, because the food expenses must be absurd! I'm going through food even faster than I imagined. Oh well. Off to the Good Food Store for more wonderful, fresh goodies!

Sweet dreams of you
Every night I go through
Why can't I forget you and start my life anew

Instead of having sweet dreams about you

Oh Patsy. What a classic.

...I'll learn to get by

Exhausted at the end of a long, ten-day training cycle. Rough run this morning, but I just kept singing this song in my head, and it kept me moving.

Little Victories - Matt Nathanson

This time, I'll be sailing
No more bailing boats for me
I'll be out here on the sea
Just my confidence and me

And I'll be awful sometimes
Weakened to my knees
But I'll learn to get by
On the little victories

This time, I'll have no fear
I'll be standing strong and tall
Turn my back towards them all

And I'll be awful sometimes
Weakened to my knees
I'll learn to get by
Yeah I'll learn to get by
On the little victories
And if the world decides to catch up with me
It's a little victory

P.S. If a certain MCP wants to make copies of her Matt Nathanson albums and put them in an envelope addressed to Montana, I will be eternally grateful (or finally leave her alone for good... whichever she prefers!).