Of Mice and Marathons

PM: 10.2 miles, averaged 9:42. HR 157.

Felt great. Sunny, dry, a little breezy. Lower 60s. HR was higher than perceived effort, but I didn't feel like I was pushing too hard. Just out of shape. But with no running races and up-in-the-air bike races, physical and mental health and the like are what I'm in it for.

Ate an embarrassing amount of spaghetti and meatballs. Going to do two long rides this week. Probably 4-5 hours tomorrow and around 3-3.5 on Sunday. Roads likely are in great shape and it is going to be around 70 both days. Going to mark out a draft of a route now.

Night: light core, AIS, and PT

PM: 73-mile ride. HR 158.

Around 70, decent winds. I got pretty beat up after 2 hours and spent the next 2.5 hours feeling decent at times and terrible at others. Just needed more water and gels. I ran out of gels, but still had two and I took some dates with me. Those worked quite well but don't have sodium.

Longest ride so far. Last August I did around 70 or 71.

I had spaghetti for both meals today. I cannot recall the last time I had it for lunch.

I ordered War Fever that Rob recommended. I ordered it from Amazon, which wasn't what I wanted to do. The company has done nothing but continue to profit off of this. Amazon claims that it deprioritizes non-essential items. This is partly true. What the company doesn't tell you is that it charge ridiculous shipping costs if you want it a week earlier (still technically deprioritized).

PM: 38.3-mile ride. HR 140.

Beautiful day out. Sunnier than yesterday and at least as warm. I rode out to attack a Strava segment that was low hanging fruit. Yesterday I did around 20MPH for the segement and I wasn't pushing, so I figured with a push 22.4 MPH (it's only .97 miles) would be no problem even on tired legs.

I got on the bumper of an massive white SUV (standard uniform in SE Michigan) so that I could run the stop sign. After the intersection it is tar with a very gentle incline, then it turns to slight downhill on gravel. I'd say it was a 85% to 90% effort. I think I did 27 MPH. One of the faster guys will likely take it down by the end of the day tomorrow as it is a fast section and I wasn't that fast on it. It was nice to have a goal and accomplish it.

I talked to a guy who was in from out of town who was doing our Thursday Night Dirt route. I was so nice to talk to another person while riding and talking bike stuff. I am just bummed I didn't have more time and better legs to guide the route for him.

PM: 12 miles, averaged 8:48. HR 161.

Did a new route test. Not bad. Picked it up at the end with a 7:59 and 7:06 mile. I expected the 7:06 to be faster but I forget I only run 2-3 times a week now. My HR peaked in the mid 190s!

Night: PT and pushups

PM: 10.4 miles, averaged 10:24. HR 148.

PM: 8.6-mile ride. HR 135.

Turned around. Body wasn't having it.

PM2: 5k+ walk with Megan. HR 88.

PM: 11.3-mile ride. HR 159.

Was just riding laps around the neighborhood. At the traffic circle I almost went right into the back of a giant SUV, the driver of which looked directly at me and pulled out. He was stopped for a bit before that so I assume he was glancing at his phone. Locked up the breaks. It was close. Went around and came back through a bit later and a lady pulled out in front of me on her phone. It wasn't that close, but I still yelled at her. Decided it was time to call it quits.

I came home and screamed about how I can't stand people in this area and then had a panic attack on the floor.

PM: 10.4 miles, averaged 9:44. HR 157.

Caught a few snowflakes accidentally on my tongue. Wasn't happy with the weather but traffic was light. An okay day mentally. I felt good running, so I was thankful for that.

Lunch: 10.4 miles, averaged 9:46. HR 148.

Got out of bed "early" because the neighbors behind us have two kids and there's tons of pounding on the walls. I know they are kids, but we have had families back there before and barely heard them. Coupled with the people on the other side it's been rough.

I had a good run and tried to practice positive mental thinking, which I started doing yesterday. I have a lot of negative thoughts, mostly about my interactions with strangers and their behaviors, so lately I've tried to critique the negative thought and replace it with more positive thinking. I think it is helping. It seems the right thing to do anyway.

Currently reading The Green Mile and listening to Needful Things on audiobook for when I am doing the dishes and cleaning.

PM: 10.4 miles, averaged 9:35. HR 159.

Supposed to rain so I didn't ride, but it was kind of sunny for large portions of the run. It did end up raining a good bit later in the day. Biggest week in a while.

Night: PT, core, and pushups

PM: 10.5 miles, averaged 9:40. HR 158.

Did my River Bends loop. Figured with weather lower than the average low it wouldn't be crowded. My assumption turned out to be correct. Felt a little sluggish, but that happens when you start doing 10 milers every day when you have only run 400-500 miles and it is almost halfway through the year.

Night: PT and pushups

PM: 42.3-mile ride. HR 157.

Met up with my buddy Joe to do some riding and hit this week's time trial segement (COVID-19 Invitational TT - Stage 9) as I have missed the last four weeks or so. I waasn't planning on riding with anyone for a while, but I cracked. We mostly stayed away from each other (no hand shaking or anything like that). I also tried not to ride directly behind him, particularly for the segment as I didn't want to do any drafting (segments are to be done alone to encourage distancing as well as to discourage drafting).

The segment started on a gradual climb in a park on grass, which made it a bit cyclocross-y to start and to finish. It included the Dequindre hill toward the end, which made it interesting. We then road around for a longer loop and I left Joe back at Stony Creek and rode home (Megan dropped me off in the Subaru as I wanted to make dinner for her and make sure I got to the meetup point on time).

It felt really nice to not feel so isolated.

PM: 61.2-mile ride. HR 150.

Solo ride today to tour some splendid rural country dirt roads. It was less windy today than it has been and it was decent though still below average for temperature (upper 50s).

PM: 10.3 miles, averaged 9:25. HR 153.

PM: 3.2-mile walk with Megan. HR 84.

We saw eight duckling, which mist have hatched that day. Very cute.

PM: 60.5-mile ride. HR 155.

Was going to ride with Joe but I didn't get out of bed early enough (11AM, which is better than recent and I did make it to bed before 1:00, very rare). I did end up running into him to chat for just a second, which was nice. Had a chain issue, but I got it sort after a bit.

Weather was warmer and not too much wind. Lot of rain coming in, so not too much riding until Tuesday or Wednesday, but I'll run as long as it isn't thundering.

Lunch: 10.4 miles, averaged 8:31. HR 156.

Light rain passing here and there. Around 60s. Nice actually. Decided to do some sort of workout if there weren't many people and if I could be patient with people. Worked out nicely. I was kind of undecided, but did what I used to do when we first moved here, which is to do a progression run by feel and stop whenever I felt it was necessary to cut it.

The run ended up being a cut down as I got too aggressive, but I felt quite strong.

9:34, 9:09, 8:29, 7:50, 7:09, 6:51, 6:20

Cooled down 3.4 miles.

Came home and had a left over piece and a half of Detroit-style pizza to which I added some smashed avocado and some blue cheese crumbles. It was amazing.

Looks like a good bit of rain the next few days, so I will likey run until the roads are dry again, which is fine with me.

Feeling much better mentally. Exercise is helping.

Evening: PT routine and light core.

PM: 10.4 miles, averaged 11:02. HR 135.

Got a gap in the rain, which still kept park traffic light. Ran about as slow as I could go. Got a little rain on me here and there, but like yesterday it only last for 20-30 seconds. It's been pouring in the evenings (as it is doing now). I will likely ride tomorrow, but it will be tarmac at Stony Creek Metro Park.

PM: 44-mile ride. HR 146.

Headed toward Stony Creek but the River Bends path as flooded (should have realized), so I did an out and back using portions of the Clinton River Trail. It worked out okay. My legs were smoked from doing my first workout in months and running for almost two hours the next day even at a really easy pace.

PM: 14-mile ride. HR 112.

3.4-mile walk with Megan. HR 82.

Beautiful sunny day out.

PM: 32.3-mile ride. HR 171.

Second Thursday Night Dirt of the season. The email went out with a limit of ten people. Weather was perfect. Ride was fun and fast for current fitness (note the average heart rate). I got a good workout in as I helped to bridge some stragglers back to the main group.

This was much needed. Pretty saddle sore.

Lunch: 10.4 miles, averaged 10:01. HR 146.

In the 60s with just the smallest evidence of rain here and there. Pleasant weather for running as it was warm enough that a little moisture felt good.

PM: 3-mile walk to the park. HR 92.

I took a little time in the middle to build a fort in the woods. I got the idea while running around the lake yesterday. Kids will probably wreck it before I get back there and work on it some more, but that's okay. I had fun building it.

PM2: 3.3-mile walk w/ Megan @ Bald Mountain

Quite a nice park. The trail was quite muddy in places, but there were lovely flowers and tons of little frogs. It had some slight ups and downs, which was good. I think I will try running the north trails sometime soon. It's taken me weeks to figure out that it would be a great time to do some trail running. I haven't done more than 3-4 trail runs here.

PM: 70.1-mile ride. HR 156.

Nice and warm and slightly humid but not unbearable. Abundant sunshine. Went through 4 bottles (around 70-80 onces of fluid) and could have used a bit more. Good ride. Hit some dirt roads I haven't been on an went the farthest north I have gone. It's going to take some logistics to figure out how to do 100 miles of dirt roads. Need to carry a sandwich and some other heavier foods or find a place to pick one up ~3/4 of the way through.

Megan's birthday is tomorrow. I am going to try to find another park to try out for a walk or hike.

Felt quite good today overall. Just realized this is my second anniversary of riding.

PM: 8.3 miles, averaged 10:13. HR 154.

Pretty warm and decent humidity, but I didn't notice too much. Definitely sweat a lot. Checked on my fort and it is intact. I might add to it this week. I just don't want kids to get in there and have something fall all them.

PM2: 3.3-mile walk/sorta hike w/ Megan. HR 88.

Hot but a nice walk with Megan on the Inwood Trails in the northern part of Stony Creek Metro Park. I hadn't been there but figure foot traffic was light (it was and we had it mostly to ourselves). We ordered Lebanese after. It was good and Megan was happy with it.

Lunch: 10 miles, averaged 10:13. HR 154.

Hot! Not many people at the park considering you cannot go on the beach and the water is closed for swimming. I heard a snapping tree and looked into the woods and thought "Yep. That's the one. And it is comign down before long." It came down on my last lap and crashed behind a group of people. Luckily it was a decent distance away that no one was hurt.

PM: 3.2-mile walk with Megan. HR 96.

Hotter still. HR elevated. We surveyed the tree damage, figured out where the mother duck has been hiding her ducklings the last several days (from a safe distance of course) and watched the swans, who must have thought we had food as I have never been that close to them.

PM: 10.7 miles, averaged 8:30. HR ~160.

More humid but cooler and some cloud cover, so I did a workout. Progression through 7 miles and 3.7 cool down w/ some strides.

9:36-7:02

I wanted to go at least 8, but my HRM glitched and threw my concentration. It was plenty given the warmer conditions.

PM: 50-mile ride. Thursday Night Dirt.

Rode to the ride to get a little more saddle time. Dequindre is under construction, so I might have been faster getting there than if I drove. Good ride, decent pace. I got dropped at the end. I spent too much energy pull people back to the group. We chatted a bit in the parking lot after and I headed home. Clouds look threatening but never got wet.

PM: 6.3 miles, averaged 10:12. HR 134.

Watched the protests in Detroit with Megan last night. Someone was shot a little way from the main group of protesters. Apparently a drive by, I assume unrelated to the protests. For those who think that protests like these are just some angry black folks versus the police aren't looking closely enough. People come in from other areas with many motives. Some might be just looking for some tourism, some looking to actually stand for justice, some are white supremicists looking to further solidify people's assumptions about what they think black folks do, and many others with different motives. Like much in life these thing are complex and difficult to understand in depth.

PM: 11 miles, averaged 9:11. HR 148.

Did a hard mile at mile 8 in 5:56/5:57. HR was 187 and I peaked at 204, which might be a bit high, but I am pretty sure that is close. I haven't run under 6' pace for a mile since March 2019, when I did 7 x 1 mile averaging ~6:00 flat w/ 2' recovery jogs at 8' pace float. This was once the slower end of half marathon pace. I'm pleased though. Don't think I've ever gone under 6' at 180 lbs.

I was going to do a mile time trial on Monday, but I think I will ride long tomorrow so I will move it up or skip it.

PM: 49.3-mile ride. HR 142.

Beautiful weather dry and sunny. Not too hot, not too windy. I had a really good ride. I took down a segment that I have attempted a few times. I kind of died at the end and thought I missed it, but I got it by 2 seconds.