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.

Ouch... last night was too much for Martin and I paid for it today. I was at this dinner party and had cocktails, beer and then wine with dinner and guess what I did not have - water. It does not take a genius to do that math; I was hurting today.

On my way down to Leschi I swear I was trying to ride 'soft' so that the bumps in the road would not jostle my brain so much. Pretty hilarious in hindsight but I was totally serious at the time. When I arrived at Leschi everyone was chatting it up per usual and I just sat there silent and glum. I proposed my route and off we went.

The hills at the north end of Lake WA are really nice. They are all about one half to one mile long and the incline is just right meaning that you can actually ride up them kinda easy if you have/want to but they are steep enough so that you can get a good workout for sure. My goal next year is to be a better climber so I figured that a few hills all the time, even when I'm not going hard, is a good thing.

Finally, after some sweating and drinking my hangover subsided enough for me to carry on a pleasant conversation with the bunch. It was Jim K, Dan B, his coach/mentor, RC R and Todd M on their fixed gears, Charley D and a couple of others.

After hill mania we got to I-90 and everyone except Dan and one other guy pulled off. The three of us finished up the ride with a loop around the south end. This is where we got rained on but it was also some much needed flat riding.

The pace was mellow today and so I stayed at the front all the time. At first to KEEP it that way and then later just to stay there and somehow maximize the benefit of this ride in my little brain. Coming home on Rainier I did speed up and managed a good pull all the way up to Rainier Beach.

Bianchi Volpe, 38/50, 12-25

God this is a great bike! Heavy as hell (30 + lb. at least) but SO damn useful and comfortable and practical. The bonus is it makes my race bike feel like a feather come March. All part of Martin's secret training plan...

I _love_ this class! I first participated in this about four years ago, did it for two years and then had to miss last year due to my f'd up back. But after six + months of solid core exercises I'm back and loving it.

We run, do some calisthenics, run some more, do push-ups, run some more, jump around in the sand, run a little race, do more calisthenics, keep on running... you get the idea. :) The group that shows up is HUGELY different in terms of skills and fitness and we have been breaking up into two groups so it's all good. Discovery Park is such a fantastic terrain garden and it's so beautiful that it's hard not to have fun.

Today we did our timed run (something the 'fast' group usually does each week) up this trail/flight of stairs. Two weeks ago my friend Jim set the record at 5:30 and I was told I ran it in 4:50. :) I have to take that time with a grain of salt though as the guy timing me was quite a ways beck behind me on the trail. And although he said he could see me clearly when I finished I'm not sure this time will be repeatable soon. I felt like I stepped into quick sand half way up this torture test (of _course_ I started too fast...) and even fell on some stairs as I passed some slower folks. Good god, you know that feeling when your breathing turns to rasping? I was there with at least two minutes to go.

Then I got to stand around and gasp for air as I tried to cheer everyone else on as they crested the trail.

It's interesting, I'm not a fast runner but if the run is sorta uphill and longer than a sprint I seem to do okay. Too long of course and I would fade next to the real deal.

There is this woman in the class with a slight Slavic accent and she is a machine. When it comes to all the circuits we do on the beach and push-ups, etc. she comes in first ALL the time. The only thing I can beat her at is this longer run.