So Far So Good

Morning weigh-in: 174.5#, 10% BF

 

Rolling Just To Keep On Rolling: I started that "Time Crunched Cyclist" training program this week. Monday was an hour of "endurance miles" on the towpath, and last night was the first interval night, three 10-minute sessions just below my anaerobic threshold in a 90-minute ride. (That was also on the towpath, where, since the surface and grade are fairly constant, I find it easier to control my level of effort; eventually I will have to step up to workouts on "real" rides, but not yet.) If anything, the endurance miles workout was the harder one, on my legs if not my cardio, as I tried to maintain the high cadence (high for me) recommended by this program. Today is a scheduled rest day, so I'm taking a much-neglected yoga class tonight, and tomorrow's workout is getting rescheduled to Friday so I can hit the gym.

 

This American Death: This story is so sad, the poor guy was lost in his own crazy and swirling the bowl, until he finally took out two traffic cops, his son, and himself. I have to agree with Josh Marshall though, this whole story is very Americana -- the final shootout in a Wal-Mart parking lot was a nice touch too.

 

Speaking Of Pennsyltucky Gothic: The weekend at Raystown was pretty nice. I'd post pictures, but I think I may have lost my camera somewhere... Anne and I stayed in a "cabin," which was really a big shed with bunk beds and a kitchenette, with Doug & Lori, Eric, and Donna. (The connecting cabin housed Rich, Heckler Mike, Jay, and Warren; Chris and his family were in a neighboring cabin; Bill & Courtney had their daughter, new dog and an RV nearby; ditto Kris and his family and also Bob & Karen -- we had a pretty big contingent at our campground, especially when you added in the crowd of little kids.) I got in a couple of rides, with Anne and with Donna, who both found the Allegrippis trails very suited to their taste. Things were not so tasteful when the bachelor tent became a hotbed of booze-arrested development, and the rain was a bit of a bummer, but all in all, the first Dirt Fest was a success.

 

(Click here for a more harrowing account of the weekend.)

 

Reading: I am working my way through my Christmas/birthday gifts. I just finished William Gibson's All Tomorrow's Parties, and have been digging into those training and nutrition books I got; next up is the latest Pynchon -- or maybe not, I got a package in the mail yesterday: The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest, the final novel in that Swedish thriller/mystery series. Thanks Mom & Dad! Those books are pure cheese, like a Tom Clancy novel you'd buy at the airport, and they are just as impossible to put down.

 

This Just In: Catholics celebrate 50 years of The Pill.

 

And now I am all caught up! Back to sleep...