Of Mice and Marathons

AM: 4 miles, averaged 10:37. HR 158.

Decent run on a newer loop. Trying to explore other options for runs to get motivated. Did much better mentally the last two days and was able to get some semester work done, but it is likely that we will start striking tomorrow (they don't call it that but that is what it is). 

Cooler and comfortable air was nice. We really only had about 12-14 days of hot and muggy weather. Still, I am out of shape and it makes it much easier to not die out there. 

PM: 4 miles w/ Megan and the boys, averaged 10:45. HR 154.

Had a sort of encounter with a car going to fast around one of the corners where the trail crosses a road. I do not run with the boys unless Megan is with me. It wasn't that close, but the car took us by surprise and we stop and check in both directions several times and take no chances. Someone stopped for us at the Joslyn crossing and a number of cars were backed up (they are not obligated to stop). Got ready to go and a car coming the other way flew by not stopping. They got some sharp words from me, and I thanked the other people for stopping. I didn't want to yell and I sometimes lose it over the most minor perceived wrongdoings and I apologized to Megan, but she said I wasn't wrong. A wife and two babies in a stroller and people don't even touch the brakes. Trying to figure out how to contact the town to make the crossings safer.

Still waiting to hear about the job action. My courses aren't fully ready anyway, but technically start tomorrow (fully online and asynchronous).

Off.

We took the boys to Oakland to join in the strike. These were some wild days. Mentally very challenging but also important.

Off.

We took the boys to Oakland again to join the picketing. Negotiations were reached either late this day or the next. Extremely stressful, but thankful for those who spent exhausting hours negotiating on our behalf with an admistration that basically has gone insane and used unethical means to beat people into submitting. 

Off.

We went to Toledo to move a bunch of stuff out of Megan's parents' house. Try moving a bunch of stuff with two 11-month olds with no childcare while being worried about the future of your job and institution. Megan and I unloaded and I returned the van to Home Depot.

PM: 3.3-mile walk w/ Megan and the boys.

I opened up a few of my online courses. They were purposefully hidden as an FU to the administration, which no doubt made things stressful for students. It was not easy for us.

PM: 3.4-mile walk w/ Megan and the boys.

We took them to the subdivision park on the swings for a bit. A nice perk for paying $850 a year to live in our own house.

Off.

Worked on getting classes rolling. Don't recall much else.

PM: 4 miles w/ Megan and boys, averaged 10:43. HR 156.

Worked on opening up my other classes. I was late, but wasn't sure what to do because I didn't know how long negotiations would go on.

AM: 4.2 miles, averaged 10:05. HR 156.

We tried to begin our schedule to accomodate rest, work, time with the boys, etc. I need to run in the mornings to set the tone for the rest of the day.

AM: 6.7 miles, averaged 8:56. HR 172.

Ran down Joslyn and the effort got high because I was on the side of the road and wanted to get back to the trail.

PM: 4 miles w/ Megan and the boys, averaged 10:22. HR 158.

Highest mileage day since I don't know when. Dead tired but a good day. 

AM: 4.1 miles, averaged 9:38. HR 156.

We had our friends and their daughter (15 months) over for a bit in the afternoon. Felt a lot less lonely and isolated. 

Probably going to drop out of riding Iceman and probably give up racing altogether for a while. It's been since November 2019 anyway. I haven't ridden in about a month. Just don't feel right taking too much time. 

PM: 2 miles on the treadmill. HR 150.

We were suppose to visit Megan's parents' in their living facility, but said they weren't feeling well, which I suspect was not the case and just didn't want to do what we had planned to get them out of their room. Boy howdy, we've had it coming from all angles this summer. Luckily we have my mom, sister, and niece coming in about a month for 5 days. We are going to need a nanny before that or I'm going to lose my mind. We are thinking one day a week, but that won't be enough especially at the end of the semester. We don't want them in daycare for health reasons. I'm already as exhausted at the start of the semester as I am at the end of a very tiring one. 

Want to plod, but the treadmill was starting to skip. Exactly what I do not need, so I ran faster and it seemed better. Need to call Nordictrack but I am not sure I can be kind or what they can really do at this point. 

Progressed to a decent pace to get the HR up and did my hip routine and pullups. Wanted to do more, but I was boiling hot about the treadmill. Went and layed down for a few minutes to close my eyes.

The boys have been sleeping very well at night and going down when we put them down. Or they play and settle themselves. They have been pretty fussy the last few days during the day. I think they get frustrated with their limitations and also wear themselves out through all the standing and crawling. 

The predictive fill-in feature on the blog to fill in miles is really pissing me off.

There. That covers most of it.

PM: 30' on the trainer (Taku -1). 130W. HR 115.

Intended to run, but Megan had a medical call to make and it was a very stressful day, but the boys were solid and turned 11 months today. Put my gravel bike on the trainer so I have another option. It rained hard today. 

Called Nordictrack and they are sending a different part. They thought it might have been something in the way I assembled it I think. I wish I could have had their assembly service, but they cancelled because of COVID.

AM: 6.4 miles in 65' on the treadmill. HR 145.

Took the motor cover off to film the speed control indicator light. Of course, I did everything that I think usually causes the issue (run flat, heavier shoes, jog slow, speed up, abruptly slow down) and it didn't do anything, which was actually kind of nice as I got in more than I thought I would. Jogged easy 5.5-6.0MPH for 35' and then increased .3 every three minutes until the last minute and went 9-10 MPH before going back to jogging for 5'. No idea what causes the issue. 

Got up with the boys this morning and did some work and Megan and I rotated about every 3 hours to switch work/watch with an hour at lunch time to both feed the boys. Works out quite well. 

PM: 45' on the trainer (Totten Key). 135W. HR 128.

AM/Lunch: 7.1 miles, averaged 8:28. HR 169. 

One mile honest easy, then steady to uptempo through 5 before slowing it down. About 8:00 flat for 4 miles, but my averaged HR was 173. My legs wanted to move but my aerobic system is saying "no thanks!."

PM: 4 miles w/ Megan and boys, averaged 10:53. HR 144.

Weirdly cool and humid today. My shirt was soaked on both runs but it never felt bad. I purposefully slowed Megan down as I wasn't planning on running our usual pace. It mostly worked.

Good day with the boys. Our friend is going to take them for 2-3 hours on Friday, which I feel odd about but they are right down the road and she has a little one that the boys can socialize with.

Going to try to get a fatbike ride in this weekend. Need to transfer my entry for Iceman and keep it and start riding. Just not sure what that time will bring, but I can always drop if life necessitates it. Just tired of not looking forward to events like this.

AM/Lunch: 75' on the trainer (Whorl -1). 140W. HR ~128. 

HRM dropped out a few times. Started watching Hemlock Grove the other day. Sexy, weird, and scary, which is pretty much in my zone.

Megan and I listened to the updates via Zoom on the ongoing bargaining. It's clear the university doesn't care about special lecturers. No idea what the winter will bring with enrollments. I'd like this to be a bit more long term. 

PM: 4 miles w/ Megan and boys, averaged 10:07. HR 148.

AM: 60' on the trainer (Petit). 160W. HR 136. 

A little more output than the last few sessions. HR looked good. Right glute was getting tight, but it does that at higher efforts on the trainer. You can't cheat on a trainer in erg mode. You put the power down or you don't (more or less).

PM: 4 miles w/ Megan, averaged 10:25. HR 142.

Just us. We dropped the boys off for 2 hours with our colleague who has a 15-month old. It was weird, but good for the kids to socialize. I thought it was going to feel like a long time. We got home did some minor work and went out for a run and then it was basically time to go get them. The boys didn't even care we were gone. Still too young I think. That's the first time we have been in the house without them since they were born.

AM: 4.2 miles, averaged 10:21. HR 142.

Did 3 x ~1' pickups. Will likely do some old-school fartlek workouts midweek starting this next week. Should keep things interesting and get some faster running without dying and then maybe ease my easy runs back down. Today was nice a comfy.

PM: 2:15 (31.3) of gravel on the fat bike. 153.

Absolutely beautiful fall day. Still nice and warm, but just lovely.

AM: 9 miles, averaged 9:38. HR 147.

Was going to do an out and back but decided to make a loop and it ended up being longer than planned, but I felt great and it worked out well. Some rolling hills. Nothing major, but more elevation than my typical out and backs on the trail. My longest run since we moved. I would have to look back to see when I ran over 7 or so miles. 

Took it very slow to start and organically sped up toward the end, running a 7:37 at mile 8 with only minimal pressure applied. A week ago that would have been painful. 

AM: 3.8 miles on the treadmill. HR 139.

Motor shut off. Emailed NordicTrack back and told them I was done replacing parts and that they need to have someone disassemble and reassemble the machine to look for any issues or send me a new machine, which they need to assemble and disassemble the old one. I'm done with this crap. Not sure if I will run late or jump on the trainer. Either way, I am going to need more than ~40' of exercise.

PM: 60' on the trainer (Beech -1). 149W. HR 

NordicTrack has decided they are just going to keep replacing parts. I wouldn't recommend anyone reading this purchase any of their crap. Absolutely ridiculous that as consumers we have almost 0 recourse for this crap.

AM/Lunch: 75' on the trainer (Collins -1). 156W. HR 132.

Got an update on my dad from my mom. She thinks he has early onset dementia, which I have suspected for a little while now and was pretty confident of when I saw him this summer. I'm now absolutely terrified at 36. Both his parents had it, but my mom's parents lived until 93 and 97 and just sort of decided to go quietly.

Lots of rain coming the next few days. Will likely be inside. Hoping the treadmill will let me get at least a little something in.

PM: 30' on the trainer (West Vidette -2). 142W. HR 118. + 20' on the treadmill. HR 165.

15' progressive theshold + 5' jog. Started around 6MPH for just a bit then quickly bumped the pace up. A little over 2 miles in 15 minutes and then a very slow jog. I've never run faster off the bike though this was all very short. I've ridden for hours before and jogged 4 miles. Thought this would be a decent combo for the timeslot I gave myself.

AM: 60' on the trainer ((Beech -1). 149W. HR 123.

Lots of rain, cold, and wind. 

PM: 4.8 miles on the treadmill, averaged ~9:30. HR 147.

Treadmill fine through 45'. My new theory is bluetooth signals interfering with either the Android tablet on the treadmill display or something in the machien electronics or both. Not sure if it is a sound theory, but according to Polar the machines can affect HR monitors, so it's possible that it could go the other way. Maybe? I do know that the other day when I was filming I didn't have my footpod connected to the iPad or my HRM connected to the iPad (but I did have it connected to the treadmill) and it was fine. Need further testing. Felt a few slight hesitations but I think the belt could be tighter. Might try to see how long I can go this weekend when I have a bit more time to devote to one run. Not complaining. 90'-120' a day between two sessions is keeping me focused, healthy, and happy.

AM: 60' on the trainer (Pettit). 159W. HR 130. 

Spent a bit of the morning working and monitoring a few house things to figure out some issues and learn about some of the systems. The wind blew a shutter off, so I looked at the attachment clips to understand how the work and checked both the gutter and flashing while I was up there to see where the leak in the garage was coming from. Went into the attic last night and found it and it lines up with the flashing, so I think a little roofing tar will do it. Need to call about a window issue, which I am not even tempted to try to deal with myself.

PM: 4.4 miles on the treadmill in ~44'. HR 137.

Treadmill shut off. Got an email that they would try to assign a technician, but couldn't promise it. For a product that is still under warranty? If I could get it out the window I would set it on fire live on YouTube.

Figured out that the piece of angle iron that works like a nailing fin is what is causing the leaking in the window. Just need to be caulked between the metal and the brick (and I think we now know the source of the discolored water. Rust). Looked more closely at the shutter and that seems an easy fix other than me being afraid of heights. I'm not sure Megan wants me doing either job as I get frustrated easily and it is probably easier to pay someone, but both jobs are within my capabilities. 

Welcome to Jason's Complaint and Home Improvement Blog.

AM: 60' on the trainer (Bald Knob). 169W. HR 138. 

The sun finally came out and the rain stopped. For now. Rain again tonight into tomorrow. Looks like Sunday for an outdoor ride.

Two physical therapists have told my mom that dad has early onset dementia, which I have suspected for a good bit now and my mother brought up the other day. Waiting for a final evaluation. I imagine he won't be at home for too long. The good news is that he isn't too mobile and really can't wander off too far and hasn't driven for a few years. 2021 has been a rough year. I don't want to have another year like this.

PM: 3 miles w/ Megan and the boys, averaged 10:24. HR 141.

PM: 120' on the trainer (Daniel). 172W. HR 139.

Garbage disposal motor went. It's been a pain in the neck for home stuff. Small stuff, just annoying. I was going to jump on the trainer this morning and run in the afternoon, but I needed to go back to bed. Rained all morning. Hoping for things to dry out tomorrow so I can get in some light trail riding. Good overall time this week. Just under 11 hours total with one more day to go.

PM: 3+ hours (42.3 miles) of gravel on fatbike. HR 150.

Even the trails at Orion Oaks were sloppy in places so I headed out on the dirt roads. Rough in places, but decent overall. 

Just under 14 hours of total training time for the week. 

Put the new motor in the garbage disposal with only minimal swearing. Happy to save a few bucks there.

AM: 60' on the trainer (Lazy Mountain). 124W. HR 114.

Felt pretty good. Legs were sore and achy after riding yesterday, but they settled out. Nive stretch of weather this week. We will get out with the boys this afternoon. Might be mostly running for a few days as I have a saddle sore creeping in in the usual spot. 

PM: 4 miles w/ Megan and boys, averaged 10:20. HR 137.

AM: 60' on the trainer (Bald Knob -1). 147W. HR 122.

Wore my WHOOP for the first time since our trip to Maine. Not sure it is worth the monthly fee but I am going to give it another try and maybe actually listen to it this time. RHR was 42, which is good. That's about right when I am in shape (I'm not in shape), but I wonder how much it varies once it gets fairly low (in the past I have clocked some upper 30s). For instance, I doubt it would ever get back into the 50s on a regular basis, unlike HR during an activity, which varies greatly based on fitness.

Barry Roubaix is this weekend. A little sad to miss it given how many team members are going to be there and it sounds like it is going to be in phenomenal shape. 

Nice stretch of fall weather this week. Out with Megan and the boys later.

PM: 4 miles w/ Megan and the boys, averaged 10:09. HR 136.

AM/Lunch: 7.5 miles, averaged 9:55. HR 147.

Beautiful fall day. Cool, but very comfortable. Sunny and warming up. Did a progressive pickup mile at mile 6 in 7:35. Started too slow as the last .4 was around 6:40, maybe faster. Ran the Polly Ann and then the dirt roads with a nice subdivision sprinkled in. A good route that goes by the high school. I imagine by the time the boys are ready for high school they will have another one as the town has only one high school and 2300 students.

PM: 4 miles w/ Megan and the boys, averaged 10:24. HR 139.

AM: 80' on the fatbike, mix of trails and dirt roads. HR 151.

Tire pressure a bit too low. Bottom out the rear rim a few times on some of the micro drops at Bald Mountain. Wiped out on a muddy corner as I was going too fast and still don't really know how to corner. Did one hot lap and got a PR for the segement (not that I have completed it that many times). 

PM: 4 miles w/ Megan and the boy, averaged 10:22. HR 139.

Megan wanted to do somethign different than running on the trail, which I have been trying to get her to do. This was the safest route I could do and it worked well.