Ok, you probably didn’t even know I was gone.  That’s OK.  My feelings aren’t hurt (that much). 

Anyways, Jennie and I just returned from a short vacation in Harbor Springs.  After a sprint triathlon on Saturday, we headed up to Harbor Springs for a few days of rest and relaxation.  My Google Reader has a backlog of nearly 75 posts to go through and I look forward to seeing how every one else’s training and races went this past weekend.

Details of our weekend are forth coming, but here is a quick preview:

I finished the tri with a 3+ minute PR from two years ago and took 32nd overall (out of 592).   I had an awesome race and was really in a groove.  Not only that, but my coworker David had an amazing race while his son rocked his first tri ever.  Rob also knocked his first big tri out of the park.

Then, it was up to Harbor Springs for a little of this

a little of this

a lot of this

and way too many of these

Stay tuned for more details and pictures!

(photo courtesy of http://www.emnrd.state.nm.us/mmd/aml/Bat%20list/LittleBrownBatMyotislucifugus.htm)

I just got a call back from the Kent County Health Department with the test results of our captured bat.  Negative!  No rabies! Which means not having to receive 5 shots over the next two weeks and no more worrying about it.  Always a plus.  Although, lately the light has been burning my eyes and my teeth are feeling sharper than normal… Weird, I know.

The Tour de France wrapped last weekend and I am already feeling deprived on my daily cycling fix.  Despite watching all but 3 of the stages, I didn’t post much about it.  Two reasons for this.  Number one, I didn’t want to ruin it for anyone who wasn’t able to watch it live.  And number two, I wasted so much time watching the tour, that I ran out of time to write about it.

Nevertheless, I got hooked.  My morning routine consisted of rolling out of bed, bringing my laptop into the living room and vegging out watching each stage while worked.  At times, I would pause it while I needed to focus on a difficult problem.  This allowed me to skip through some of the commercials.  However, by skipping the commercials, I risked forgetting that Nissan (and the Nissan Leaf) was a premier sponsor.  I think I saw Lance in that commercial more times than I saw him crash.

Despite Lance falling out of contention early and Andy Schleck coming up short in the end, I really enjoyed watching the tour.  This year is actually the first time I have followed the tour more than simply following how Team Lance was doing.  I was disappointed to see Contador win, but really wasn’t pulling for any one rider in particular. 

As if sensing my withdrawal, Netflix populated my “Recommended for you” listing with this little gem.  It is a 1979 movie entitled “Breaking Away” staring Dennis Quaid (the less interesting Quaid brother) and Jackie Earle Haley (ala Watchmen, Semi-Pro, Shutter Island).

The movie was pretty good actually and earned 7.7/10 stars on IMDB.  It was funny to see how much cycling has evolved since the 70’s.  It wasn’t until the first race scene where someone was actually wearing a bike helmet – if you can even call it that.  It looked like someone wrapped a bike tube around the guy’s head.  Definitely not CPSC approved.  On top of the helmets, there weren’t any clipless pedals/shoes, no carbon, no lycra & jerseys.  It sure made the sport seem a lot simpler and in some ways refreshing.  It actually has me itching to take the old 1976 Fuji bike I started on out of retirement. 

Now, I just need to find a cure for my Phil Liggett withdrawal. 

This was supposed to be a Funny Friday post, but I ran out of time on Friday and had to adapt. 

The Shuttle Bike

The Shuttle Bike website and video are in Italian, but I’m sure you can get the gist from the video.  Basically, it is a kit to turn your bike into a paddle boat in 10 minute or less.

Clean Bottle

This one isn’t so much funny and it is potential useful.  At least more useful than the Shuttle Bike.  It is a bike water bottle that opens at the top and bottom for easy cleaning.  No more junk leftover in the bottle after going through the dishwasher.

Although, I could see leaking being a problem.  I’d hate to reach down and find an empty bottle in my holder

$765 Bottle of Beer Wrapped in Roadkill

Yep, you read that right.  Words don’t do this justice, so I’ll give you the picture first.

Sadly, only 12 bottles were made and they have all sold out.  Not only is it a $765 bottle of beer, but it is as 110 proof (55% ABV) and has been called, the "strongest, most expensive and most shocking beer in the world."  Check out the full article if you are interested.

Iron Kids: Young Triathletes

Ok.  3 funny ones and now a heartwarming one.  Enjoy!

Today had a crappy start.  Quite literally.  Our toilet sprung a leak and needed attention.  Thankfully it wasn’t a big leak and was fixed by replacing the wax seal.  Whoever replaced the seal in the first place did a shoddy job at best.  Despite being a relatively easy job, I still managed to make quite a mess of the bathroom.  Anyways, the trip to Lowes, repair, and subsequent cleanup took most of the morning. 

As much of a pain as the repair was, it was just what I needed to bust me out of my funk.  My last two days of workouts were lackluster at best and today was looking to be that way too.  However, the frustration and work of the toilet repair got me in the mood to workout.  Nothing like a good swim and run to de-stress.

Saturday is my last day of major workouts before I begin my taper, so I wanted to finish strong before the mandatory rest.  I had initially planned on an open water swim this morning, but the weather was iffy (rain and possible storms) and I didn’t want to drive over there only to not be able to swim.  So, I hit up the pool at the normal lunch hour.  I did an easy continuous 2100 yards.  I finished in just under 38 minutes.  I think hope I’ll be a bit faster in the open water with a wetsuit at Steelhead.  Last year’s time was 39:25 and I think I can top that.

After the swim, I got to work on the bar area.  I am finally to the point where I can start assembling everything.  I ordered the laminate for the countertop while I was at Lowes, so I’ll finish that up next week when it comes in.  Other than that, the only “problem” I only had was that I only had room for one of the two shelves.  When I designed the shelves, I didn’t factor in the space needed for hanging the wine glasses.  Oh well, I already have a plan for the second shelf elsewhere.

After getting as much done with the bar as possible, I headed out on my run.  The run went surprisingly well.  Despite the insane heat and humidity I still managed to do 6 miles in just over 46 minutes.  I was pretty drained by the end and chugged a bunch of water afterwards.  After a short break, I ran 2 miles with Jennie as her coach and water bottle carrier.

Overall, I’m glad to have gotten in two solid workouts today.  I have a short bike ride and run (in a non-brick format) scheduled for tomorrow.  Hopefully the heat breaks a bit and I can have one last day of good workouts before Taper Time.

Good luck to everyone doing (Kristin),  or volunteering at (Jon, Caratunk Girl) IM Lake Placid!