I had a GREAT run yesterday afternoon.  I decided to do something different, so I crossed the Hacienda Bridge and did some running over in those neighborhoods.  I then came back over and ran down through Summerhome Park and up into the hills above our house.  I hadn’t been up in those hills for quite a while.  It is easy to get lost up there.  At one point I headed up a new trail I had never been on, but when I realized I had no idea where I was at, I turned around and came back.  My run ended up being about 1 hour and 20 minutes.  I felt like I could easily have kept going, but I wanted to get back for some lunch and pool time.

We had a great ride last Monday.  We had our smartest employee, Jimmy Neutron out with his girlfriend, Vanessa for the Chalk Hill Loop.  I rode from home while Claire drove the Hub Bus to Healdsburg to meet me.  I went over Sweetwater Road first and then cruised in on Westside Road.  It was a terrific ride, not too hot, and almost no wind.  We stopped at the Jim Town Store for some water and chocolate pudding.  Afterwards we enjoyed some beer and pasta salad by the pool.

Claire and I are in Park City, Utah for a couple of days checking out the 2009 Giant Bicycle lineup.  We had the chance Wednesday evening to take the Gondola up to the top of the mountain and ride a couple of their ’09 full suspension mountain bikes.  I rode a Reign X, while Claire rode an Anthem X.  We did some great single track around the top before riding a long single track back down to our hotel.  Today we sat through some interesting presentations of their whole ’09 lineup.  The Giant road bikes look super cool.  There are about a 120 other Giant dealers here checking things out, and it has been interesting talking shop with some of the other dealers.  

As the title might suggest, I chose to drop out of the Vineman this year.  I had a feeling that I would end up doing this, I even mentioned to Claire in the morning that I would be seeing her after the bike ride.  This is one of those times that I can feel my age.  I remember when I was 19, I went out and ran a marathon after only running 7 miles before hand, but those days are over.  This summer I hadn’t done any training rides over 66 miles, and it showed.  I really hit the wall at that point.  I felt like I could have ridden through it, but I would have suffered miserably for the next 5 or 6 hours, which I did not want to do.  By dropping out, I accomplished my main goal of being able to go to the Bear Republic afterwards and have a black & blue burger and some Racer 5 IPA.  I did end up riding a 100 miles since I turned around at the Dry Creek store and rode home.  Oh yea, the swim went great.  I guess that is still something that I can fake since I had only swum twice all summer.  I am real excited about getting the aerobars off my bike and riding with Claire.  We went out yesterday and rode 43 km and even stopped by Andy’s Market and picked up snacks for enjoying by the pool.  As far as hydration went during the race, I weighed myself when I woke up, and I weighed 12.86 stone, and when I got home afterwards I weighed 12.43 stone.  

Well, we are up in McKinnville, OR at the Hotel Oregon getting ready to head back to Claire’s sister’s house in Oakridge.  We went to a former employee’s wedding last night up here.  He had worked for us from when he was 14 till, I think, around 18 years old.  He married his high school sweetheart. 

Well, I had big plans for a nice short, hard brick, but, as A1 likes to say, “The Hub happens.”  Claire and I went in to work this morning at 7, which is quite early for us.  We planned on getting off at around 4.  I planned on riding my bike home as fast as possible and then going out for a good fast run, but instead, we ended up working until 6:30 and not getting everything done.  Tomorrow evening we take off for Oregon for a couple of days.  One of our former employees is getting married and then we are visiting Claire’s sister.  I will be taking along my running shoes, but I won’t have a chance to ride.  Anyway, I will be well rested for the Vineman in 10 days.

Well, I got out on a good 12 mile run on Sunday after work.  I had Claire drop me off at Analy High School in Slow-blast-apple and ran the bike path home.  It took me just over 1.5 hours.  I felt great the entire way.  I had run 10 miles the day before, so I was quite happy with the run.  I went out and rode 66 miles on Monday, taking it very easy.  I did the Vineman loop with a couple of extra miles down to the Lake Sonoma Visitor’s center to get water.  I really concentrated on staying hydrated, which is my main goal for the Vineman.  I had thought about going out for a run afterwards, but Claire and I had just got done with a six day work week, and we knew that this week was going to be even tougher, so I decided that a nap on the back deck was a better idea.  We are off to work this morning 3 hours early so that we can try to get some work done before we open.  I hope to ride home and maybe put in a short run afterwards.  We will see how it goes. 

Well, it has been a while since my last entry.  I will try to make it brief.  I went out two Mondays ago and almost didn’t make it home.  It was the day that it got up over a 100 degrees here.  I went out first and did 63 miles at a 19.5 mph average.  I felt good the whole time.  I then put on my running shoes and took off for what I hoped to be a two hour run.  I ended up only making it 45 minutes.  I think I got a bit dehydrated.  This is no exaggeration, I weighed myself right before I took off on the bike and I weighed 13 stone, when I stumbled back in from the run, I weighed 12.5 stone.  

Well, my first week of training has ended.  Four more weeks to get ready, or should I say three weeks and one week to taper.  Anyway, I rode home from work on Thursday, which was around 25 miles, and on Saturday I rode in and home.  I am feeling comfortable on the aero-bars, but have yet to really test them on a long ride.  We are off from work today and tomorrow, and I am planning a tough brick one of these two days.  It is supposed to get very hot here over the coming week, with temperatures around a 310 degrees Kelvin.  We will be heading to Tahoe Wednesday night for four days of camping at Fallen Leaf Lake.  I will get a chance to do some open water swimming and some long runs, but I don’t know what kind of riding time I will get in.  

I went out this morning and did an hour and 25 minute run.  I felt great.  Maybe a little sluggish from Sunday and Monday, but otherwise no pain.  I did the Scenic loop with a couple extra laps around Canyon while Claire walked.  My heart rate was lower than normal.  Usually when I do that loop I average around 150 BPM, but this time my average was much lower.  I did not try to push the pace, which probably made most of the difference.  Tomorrow morning I will get in a ride with Claire, and then hopefully ride home from the shop.  Right now I am enjoying a beer out on the deck before going in and working on dinner.  The shop has been crazy, busy, which I am not complaining about.  It is great to see more and more people getting into riding bike for what ever reason they need to.