Of Mice and Marathons

PM: 38.6-mile ride. HR 147.

Went after a segment. Missed by three seconds. Should have got up to speed before the turn. It's one of my favorite roads. There's a 500+ year old tree on it.

PM: 50-mile ride. HR 154.

Rode to the Thursday Night Dirt loop, did the loop, and came back. About 30 miles in I realized my axle was loosened almost completely on my front wheel. I wondered why it sounded like my front end was falling apart.

I saw three other KLM team members. Nice to see familair people from a proper distance.

PM: 14-mile ride. HR 114.

Just did a recovery noodling ride around the neighborhoods. As I started to feel less anxious my average heart rate started to drop. Going to go for a walk with Megan in a bit.

Our weather has been pretty ideal in these parts, so that's one for the "things are going well column."

PM2: 3.7-mile walk w/ Megan. HR 85.

PM: 3.7-mile walk w/ Megan. HR 84.

Today was a rough day (crippling hangover, depression, etc). We had a good walk though.

Night: PT routine and AIS

PM: 59.2-mile ride. HR 156 First Part. HR 152 Second Part.

COVID-19 Invitational Time Trial Stage 3

I rode from the house and it took me almost two hours to get to the segment. Segment is around 24-26 minutes depending on pace. I wanted 19+ MPH (rolling hills and gravel). I was rolling around 20+ for the first half and got slowed the second half because some of the downhills were sandy loose gravel and I didn't want to eat it by have too much movements. Tried to smash it at the end but I was dying. Managed 19MPH. Would have liked to be faster, but this ride capped off a 15 hour cycling week. Heart rate for 26 minutes was 183. Much higher than I could do in a 26' minute running time trial though max heart rates and zones are not the same between the two sports.

PM: 10.7 miles, averaged 8:42. HR 158.

Warm enough to sweat a little. Anxious run. Felt good to pick up the pace a little bit at the end. I think it has been 8 or 9 days since my last run.

PM: 11.1 miles, averaged 9:08. HR 160.

The park was quite empty at the start and then it warmed up quite a bit with the sun. A bit humid actually.

A redacted story about the run from Strava (edited for language):

The young woman made an abrupt turn toward the beach and directly toward a nesting goose. The gander went into full fighter jet mode. "Did you see that?!" She asked. "Yeah, they are nesting. Keep away from them."

A few laps go by . . .

A man is standing over the goose. I yell "watch it they are nesting and aggressive." "I know I am keeping my eye on him" he said (referring to the gander who was visibly upset). At which point I yelled "Well, then leave them alone." And his reply was "I am trying to take a picture."

The man was literally standing over the goose. Canadian Geese are jerks (and they are only protecting themselves), but there's no need to do that. Needless to say my HR was pretty high for the rest of the run.

PM: 59.8-mile ride. HR 144.

Did some grading and got out earlier than I have been. Did not feel great on the ride. Likely low on calories and too much exercise. Portions were a bit painful and I was not feeling great mentally. Almost called Megan to come get me, but thought if I kept going I might feel better. I did a little bit. I kept telling myself it was a beautiful day (it was) and that I am extremely fortunate to be able to do this (I am).

I think I will be better able to deal with what is going on when school is out. Other stresses will remain, but I think I can better get my thinking organized.

I don't recall what this day was, but I don't have an activity on Strava.

PM: 13.4 miles, averaged 9:06. HR 156.

Best run I have had since everything started.

PM: Just under 2 mile walk with Megan.

Got very carried away with the booze.

PM: 6.3 miles, averaged 9:24. HR 160. + 2.7-mile walk. HR 98.

I started to faint, so I stopped. Started again, and of course it happened again. I wasn't sure if I was dying or just waiting. I did not like that feeling.

Rough few days mental health wise, but I am trying to doing things that are positive.

PM: 10.4 miles, averaged 9:35. HR 146.

With 55MPH gusts not too many people were at the park. Good run. Leftover ham and sweet potatoes for dinner. Very good, but I woke up feeling like I spent the afternoon at a salt lick.

The mental health has shifted more to depression early then anxiety. Never experienced them in the same day. I try to drink some coffee for energy, but then once that system wakes up the anxiety starts. Trying to figure out a better routine. Perhaps exercising in the morning to clear my head (this would require getting up before 11 or 12). I think I will work on that this week.

PM: 3.3-mile walk w/ Megan. HR 86.

It was very windy and Megan didn't really want to be out but we both decided to just get out. We went to Borden Park and explored some of the small selection of trails on offer (there at least was more than I thought).

The moron next door was raving about the fact that "I smoke weed" as if it was an indubitable fact of existence and an absolute right. He was doing so in response to the guy on the other side telling him to cut it out. If people want to smoke that's fine, but when they are so militant about it, it drives me crazy. I could hear him through the wall saying something about if he goes out on the front steps area it will be worse. It's legal in Michigan but a potential lease violation for the complex. Megan has called (because the neighbors haven't come to the door and the guy on the other side called). They won't do anything (it took them 11 days to get us heat after all), so Megan has suggested that we tell them we won't sign a temporary lease until something is done about it. I like that approach.

Megan has to talk me down from engaging him in an improper way at least once day. She's right of course, but the kid is an absolute punk (yelling and swearing at his kids, verbally abusing them).

PM: 10.3 miles, averaged 9:31. HR 159.

Decent run. HR elevated a bit. 35 and light snow showers, so I had the park mostly to myself. Mental health better today. Mostly heavy grading stress and the delightful neighbors.

Knee a little tweaked and swollen though I didn't feel anying. I imagine it was running on the uneven edges of the path trying to give people room. I'm no longer doing that. If you ware walking with two people, you need to move single file until we pass.

PM: 6.2 miles,averaged 10:00. HR 149.

Knee loosened up throughout the day and felt fine running, but I didn't run as far as I planned out of caution.

PM: 6.3 miles, averaged 9:41. HR 149.

Cold and a bit of snow, but nothing stuck. Got between a gander and a goose and he went into fighter jet mode (flying about head high and about arm length away). She's down by the water, perhaps a hundred feet away, so I thought I was giving them enough space.

Starting to turn a corner mental health wise. Still a little rough, but it feels about appropriate given the state of the world.

PM: 9.5 miles, averaged 9:20. HR 157.

Warmer and some harder gusts. Felt really good toward the end.

Starting to feel like I can make it and now the stress is (mostly) just typical end of semester stuff.

PM1: 1.5-mile walk. HR 87.

Blew off steam and took amusing pictures of junk I found.

Megan confronted our neighbor. I listened through the window because it wasn't going anywhere. I got a little sharp and the guy called me on it. He wasn't wrong so I told him I was upset. We talked for a while. He has a medical issue, which I sympathize with. We gave suggestions about going outside or going elsewhere. He was concerned with kids, but he's been told there are pregnant women on either side of him. He claimed it was in his lease that medical marijuana is permissible (it isn't) but I didn't want to argue without being absolutely sure. Well, I hope he's not going to law school because I found the clause in 30 seconds, half drunk, and taking a crap. 

PM2: 3.4-mile walk w/ Megan. HR 92.

PM: 32.8-mile ride. HR 148.

Decent weather but very windy and annoying. Nice to get out but grumpy during ride. First ride in about 10 days as I had a bad saddle sore and running takes less time. 

In the thick of grading. Ready to be done. I need less stress right now.

Off.

PM: 5k walk with Megan. HR 77.

Don't recall what I did this day.

PM: 5k walk with Megan. HR 79.

Doing a little bit better this week, but probably should have got more exercise, but between the anxiety and a ton of grading I haven't felt like it/felt like I could spend more than an hour and I wanted to keep my HR low. I've had a little tightness in my chest.

Off.

It was quite nice out, but I am trying to get stuff off my plate so I can get the semester out of the way.

PM: 5k walk w/ Megan. HR 78.

Three goslings hatched. I spent a good deal of the day getting as much grading done as possible. Felt a bit better. Still not getting out of bed until 11-12.

PM: 12.7-mile ride. HR 143.

Planned on a longer ride after I got my grading done, but my electronic shifter battery died. It actually died in a good place and I didn't have to far to go back home. I did some single leg drills as my pedaling technique has gotten pretty bad.

Submitted grades just a bit ago around 8:30 PM. A definite PR. It helps that I cut a bit from the course schedule to help students (and myself).

Feeling a good deal better, but not completely. I expected it will take a few more days to feel mostly normal.

PM: 56.8-mile ride. HR 163.

It was about 68 degrees when I rode. Solidly sunny and the winds were light. It was the ride I needed. I guess this is technically the first day of summer for me, which sounds very privledged. Going to more agressively work on the house hunting progress and work on transitioning my course to online. We were doing more classes online in the fall anyway with the renovation of a building, but I expect we might go fully online or at least have a larger portion of classes online with the pandemic (official decisions still pending).

Late: pushups and PT routine (been lazy about this lately but it also makes sense).

PM: 7.3 miles, averaged 9:42. HR 150.

Overcast and kind of wet and humid (not complaining). Felt pretty solid running and overall mentally today. I looked at some houses online and tried to look at some realtor ratings but everything is so scattered. It's not like looking at product reviews online (and maybe it shouldn't be).

More rain tomorrow, so no riding likely but I'll get a run in.

PM: 5k walk with Megan. HR 82.

Felt pretty solid today.