Of Mice and Marathons

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.