Metric Century

A week ago today, I rode my first Metric Century (100k, 62 miles) with one of my riding buddies, Tom. The ride included a loop around Newman Lake (with plenty of challenging climbs, albeit nothing too long) and an encounter with an angry redneck who caused me to crash on the side of the road and gain yet more road rash and an extra-sore left wrist (I landed on it yet again). The road we were on was incredibly rural and quiet, yet this jackwagon passed us on the left, got back in front of us and immediately slammed on his brakes. He jumped out, scraggly beard and overalls a'blazin', and shouted that "this is a high-traffic road!" and that we shouldn't be riding on it. Well, good sir, thank you for the load of horsesh*t, but you're 100% wrong. It's NOT a busy road (we saw 3 cars during the 14 mile loop), and bikes have as much right to the road as do motorists, assuming we're obeying the laws of the road (we were). I found out where this hayseed lives, since we continued riding after he left and saw him walking from his red Jeep Cherokee to his shack, er, house. So...

That was the first of only two rides last week. I put in another 38 miles on the Centennial Trail on Wednesday (giving me 100.5 for the week), then took the rest of the week off since my mom is visiting from Florida. She'll leave tomorrow.

I got out for a moderate 40 miler today, with no plans for the rest of the week. I'll probably get in at least one more ride, but the heat is coming in a big way (projected 107°f high for Sunday), so I'll either be laying low or getting out very early for short rides. We'll see. I also have a ton of work backed up.

I lost 4 lbs. last week, which was a bit more than I wanted to lose. I'm now at my goal weight of 160 lbs. The added mileage is causing the weight to drop off. Obviously I need to increase my caloric intake or I'll end up where I was when I trained for my marathon in 2010 (i.e. too light and too weak).

That's about it from here. Speaking of calories, time to inhale some now...

More Post-Race-Wipeout Fallout

Two days after my artistic spill while being accidentally led off course during the Run for Hope 5k, I'm realizing that it was more than just a harmless little fall. Now, granted, I can play the sympathy card pretty well, and can whine with the best of them (while simultaneously acting tough and manly; hey, it's an acquired skill), but last night I noticed this lovely shiner forming on my left hip:

And this delightful bit of road rash on my left leg:

So, I've got THAT going for me.

To add injury to injury, I woke up this morning with my left palm feeling like I have a bad case of carpal tunnel syndrome. Even though it was my right palm that got torn up badly, I also landed on my left and apparently bruised the bones at the base of my palm, which I feel whenever I tilt my hand back.

At least I've got a story to go with what would have otherwise been a bit of a yawner of a 5k.

Oh, speaking of yawns, the official results have been posted:
Overall: 8 of 62
Age grp: 2 of 5
Men: 6 of 23

On September 29th, I'll be returning to my old high school, where I graduated 27 (yikes!) years ago, to run another 5k. I hope to improve my time, but I'll try to keep it to more of a 'yawner' level otherwise.

Arlington Run for Hope 5k

Quite an adventurous 5k this morning. Went off course, took a nosedive and ran my worst time of the year. Still finished 2nd in my age group (which ain't sayin' much, given the amount of runners.)

They changed the course this year. It's an out-and-back (as usual), and on the way out, it's clearly marked. On the way back, not so much. I was trailing a gal and didn't realize that she had gone off course. We got to one of those plastic flexible fences, which we had to hurdle in order to get back on course. She succeeded. I bit it hard. The trail, at that point, was pea gravel. I got a lot of it lodged within a nice hole in the palm of my hand (and got a nice road rash on my leg, to boot). Bruised my ego nearly as much as my hand and leg.

Sorry, folks. I hope you're not eating...

I lost both my momentum and my desire at that point. My plan, as usual, was to go out slow and run progressive splits. I ended up with:

7:41, 7:21, 7:22 (7:32 pace for last .18) - 23:47

Heart rate - average: 155, max: 164 

Ah, well, it was a beautiful morning. It still beats inactivity. It was also great to have the company of my friend & running clubmate Dan (who ran considerably faster. And stayed upright.)

I'll admit, though, that I still can't get used to racing this slow (I know, it's all relative, but I've slowed down considerably thanks to my long-term injury.) Got to figure out how to somehow increase my speed without the ability to put in a lot of miles and w/o too much speedwork.

I'm thinking EPO & testosterone...