WTF Mother Nature?!?!?!

Ok, so I'm trying to get back into regular workouts. I've put in 3 decent runs this week and I'm anxiously awaiting the weekend so I can ride. But the weather may not cooperate! I'll be on the bike one way or another, and I'm hoping it won't be on the trainer. It looks like Sunday will be clear, but who knows?!?!? I'll be hitting the streets early tomorrow a.m. to get a run in. Mtb'ing could be messy even if the rain stops, so I'm hoping the Felt in my garage will get to come out and play. Angela already told me she doesn't want me riding in the rain. Her words "...but what if you fall on your face again???" She couldn't just say "but what if you fall again?" It had to be what if you fall ON YOUR FACE again? Nice.

Let's Du this!

Danny was out of commish last weekend so I took advantage of a MTB riding excursion with my bro and some of his buds. We rode about 9.5 miles at OP Schnabel Park. Good times! Still love my bike. Can't wait to do it again.

As for my calf injury, I've ran two straight days and have had no pain. Time to kick it up a gear for the Du on Feb. 20!!

I'm a slacker!

So, this last week of training has included...wait, let me add it up...ZERO workouts! I guess I could blame it on the uncommonly cold weather we're having, but that excuse doesn't really apply to the gym, bike trainer and weights at home. So I've just been slacking. This weekends runs and bike rides were replaced with a Friday night dinner and night-o-cards with the guys. That night pretty much rendered me useless Saturday. I had to struggle through dog and baby-proofing our house. At least I was able to get everything done by the evening, just in time to watch Dallas destroy Philly! (I may count watching the game as a semi-workout)
My diet also went to crap this weekend. If the Friday night pizza wasn't bad enough, I also found myself craving a burger and Coke! I had to admit it, but I gave in to my cravings. The good news is that I'm now thoroughly disgusted and I don't think I'll have to worry about eating meat, especially fast food meat, for a verrrrry long time.

Challenging Weekend

First off, I want to talk a little about Danny's crash. He covered most of the details. Here is a pic.

It looks like a funny picture but it was actually kind of scary. I was riding behind him (probably a little too closely) when he dove face first into the ground. First thing on my mind was not to ride over him. I swerved to the right and threw my bike down. I actually heard a "thud" and saw that he couldn't bring his arms around (probably because they are too small) to break his fall. I could see that he was going to be ok when he turned over and only had a few scratches on his nose. Still, it could have been a lot worse.

Other than this crash, the MTB ride was nice. It was a Friday and a great way to start the new year. First time out at OP Schnabel Park and I can't wait to go back. My GPS said that the ride was 8.23 miles. Hopefully next time we can go a little further and improve on our pace per minute. This was also my first ride with my new MTB and I'm in love with it. I wish I could ride it to work!

We also did a road ride on Sunday starting out at IH10 and 1604. The ride was 20.5 miles and (as always), the first half seemed a little tougher. Once we got warmed up, our pace picked up and I was satisfied considering it was 48 degrees outside. This week is going to be even colder. Supposedly it's going to get down into the 20's this week. My brother wanted to go for a MTB ride later in the day, and I wanted to go SO BAD! But I felt guilty because I had already been away from home for a few getaways.

The challenging part of the weekend involved my beautiful kids. I love them to death and I feel honored to be their Dad. But it's tough. I don't know how Jess does it with them all day. I understand that siblings bickering and fighting over toys is natural, but it takes a toll on me. I feel like I am either breaking up little shoving matches all day or following them around everywhere paranoid that one of them might get hurt. For me, its more mentally draining than physically. I was actually ready to get back to work. Of course, while at work, I missed the hell out of them and Jess. That's the way it goes.

I'm going to try to test out my calf injury and go for a short run at some point during the week. If I feel good, the plan is to run with Danny this weekend and throw in a ride at some point. Also, this week, I'm going to start a strength training program for 3 months. The program was created by Dos Remedios. He's a strength and conditioning coach from some college in California. I've tried the program for 2 or 3 weeks and have liked the results. Hopefully I can stick with it for 3 months. Basically, it's 3 workouts during the week. Because of my busy schedule, and me not being a morning person, my workouts start at 9pm during the week. We usually put the kids down between 8 and 8:30p. Jess will be joining me so we'll be able to spend quality time together!

Smashing start to the New Year!

So 1-1-10 showed up accompanied by beautiful weather. I wish I could say that mountain biking skills were equally as beautiful.
My day started with a nice walk in the park with the family and dog. Not too tough, not too easy. The perfect start to a New Year. After the walk, we come home and I grab a little snack while Angela does a little shopping. Still...the New Year is going smoothly.

Rick shows up at the house in the early afternoon and we begin our trek to a nearby park for some mountain biking. In retrospect, I should have known something would go wrong. I was riding like a sissy!
We made our way through some trails, saw a lot of walkers, joggers, roller-bladers(I can't remember how long it's been since I've seen roller-blading in San Antonio). Anyway...we're riding along and Rick is leading most of the way. We come to a split in the trail, stop for a moment and pick a path. This time, I'm leading and we get moving again. We come to a point in the trail that seems to have 3 lines, all going in the same direction. I'm headed down the center when I notice there's a large rock that I'd have to avoid. So I start taking the line to the left and at the last second, I realize there's a small bump followed by a big hole! I didn't have time to speed up or change direction so I try to give it a little bunny-hop...I guess I should mention my bunny-hopping skills leave something to be desired. My front tire goes straight down into the hole. It happened pretty quickly so all I remember is my face being about 5 inches from the ground. Then time slowed down as I planted my nose, head and chin into the semi-soft mud and dirt. I felt/heard a few "cracks" and the first thought in my mind was "I wonder how much it costs to replace teeth." I pulled myself up, slightly dazed, eyes blurred, and head pounding. I guess the helmet took the worst of it, because aside from the headache, sore neck and some scratches I'm sportin' on my nose and chin, I'm OK! I'm still trying to figure out where my hands were through all of this. I do have some small cuts on my elbow, forearms and knees, so maybe I tried to catch myself??

So that's my smashing New Year's Day ride! The ride home was a little fuzzy, but my head was clear this morning. The weather is beautiful again, so I'm going to try to get in a quick 6 mile run.
I'm sure Rick will fill in some holes in my story. He had a much different perspective.