Crippled. That's how I felt on the first runner... Jim K is captain of this train and his deal is we start with a walking flight and then alternate running and walking until done. Each week we add one flight and each week the first running flight just slays me. Today was no different.

Howe Street goes up (and up and up and up...), crosses a street and then goes up some more. Only this last part is steeper and each step is longer. I swear, each time I start up that last section I feel like I'm on a leash and someone is holding me back or something. It's like I'm in the Matrix only I just get to move slowly and I don't have any special powers.

RC was there again - bless his heart. Doing these solo would blow. The more the merrier I say.

Today Jim timed us and I was amazed. We were doing the running flight in one minute flat and the walking flight in just a hair under two minutes. That's just up mind you, we're not super men.

I felt like dirt today. Nutrient-free dirt at that. Dirt from the sandy wasts of the Sahara; from the strip mines of the central US.

Last week, in spite of being crazy hung over, I had a decent ride. Today, after doing nothing but eating for two days I was hating it. At first I thought it was just the wind but I was suffering on the hills too.

Other than Jim K everyone else was on a fixed gear today. I kinda wish I'd known and would have done likewise but then again, all these guys ride a significantly larger gear (42x16, 44x18) than I do (42x18) and it would have been pretty hard to keep up. As it was I was not talking very much at all today. Gotta let it go I suppose.

core - 30 min

spinning - 45 min

gym - 5:15 am

ride - 1:00 pm

indoor TT - 5:15 pm, 6:15 pm

gym - 60 min

ride - 2 hours

indoor TT - 60 min?

gym - water

ride - Perpetuem

indoor TT - Heed

ride - Log Boom Park, Hollywood Hill, Paradise Lake loop, Log Boom

I'll post 'em as soon as I get 'em... Sheesh, sometimes CycleU kinda pisses me off with their level of professionalism about this stuff.

Finally - the official results.

I got to the indoor TT with _very_little time to spare... after the ride I had to run downtown to get my hair cut (because I'm getting MARRIED in two days!) and then it was back out to Sand Point way. My first time was around 15:20 which is not too bad but my second was around 15:50 which kinda illustrates my fitness at this time of year. Usually, as I get fitter, my second time gets closer to my first (and my first gets a little faster as well). But I was not going 100 percent either - by conscious choice. During the first event I was going maybe 90 the whole time and during the second one when I saw that I was going to be the fastest pretty easily I slacked off to maybe 85 percent (if you can accurately quantify this sort of thing...).

That means I have a little more in the tank which makes me happy. :) I heard the fastest time of the evening was around 14:55 which is attainable for me in a month maybe?

I probably _seems_ like I did a ton of work today but the ride was the slowest i have ever gone on that loop... no biggie at all.

This was great! Not only was Jim K there but Steve B and RC R showed up as well. Per Jim's routine we are alternating walking the stairs two at a time and running them two at a time.

Boy, Jim can just kill that first running flight and leaves me in the dust! My legs are screaming for mercy and he just bounds up. But then on the second runner are more-or-less equal and on the third I finished ahead of him. Sucking wind but ahead. :) This has GOT to do me some good.