I just want to say how happy I am that the weather has warmed up enough to bike outside.  I do not miss the trainer at all.  So far, I have done 3 outside rides and loved each one of them.  And to make things even better, the 10-day forecast has temperatures in the 40’s with Monday topping out at 50.  I see lots of biking in the near future!

Old Man Winter, I would formally like to give you a swift kick in the ass and a hearty “Goodbye”.

Over the weekend we had weather in the low 40’s which not only melted most of the snow left on the ground, but also let me break out shorts for my run on Sunday.  It was actually pleasant enough out that Jennie and I were able to walk up to Big Bob’s Pizza in Gaslight Village to have lunch with her brother, his fiancé, and his room mate.

So much for our heat wave.  Today was back down in the 20’s with a single digit feels like temperature.  As I sat in my office, I was dreading my run as I watched the wind blow the snow all over the place.  I sucked it up and headed out around 4:00.  Even though it was still light out, I decided to go with the reflective gear because the blowing snow as reducing visibility and I didn’t want to become someone’s hood ornament.

It was slow going – especially into the wind – but it was a relatively good run. 

On top of running, I did a long swim today.  For my workout, I did:

800 yard warm up
3×300 yards (30 second rest)
200 yard kick
3×200 yards (30 second rest)
200 yard kick
3×100 yards pull (20 second rest)
100 yard cool down
3100 yards total

I stayed almost perfectly consistent on all of the intervals (5:10 for the 300’s, 3:30 for the 200’s, and 1:40 for the 100’s)which was the goal. 

Also, at the pool, I had a “small world” moment.  I found out that the husband of one of the women I swim with works at the same company as Jennie.  We are both regulars and see each other two to three times a week and chat while we wait for the lifeguards to get ready and didn’t realize it until today.  It is amazing how we are all connected in some way or anther.

As for my strength training, it is progressing nicely.  I absolutely love my new weights.  I am still hoping to find some good strength routines to mix things up though.  For now, I have just been doing a set from the 12 Week Triathlete book.  It takes me about 25-30 minutes to go through and I feel so good after doing it.

On the non running front, Jennie and I cleaned and repopulated our aquarium.  It turned out to be a pretty big project because I neglected cleaning it for so long.  We still need to get some new plants to replace ones that didn’t make it through the cleaning and I have to build a new hood because the old one finally bit the dust, but here it is.

Kind of hard to see all the fish, but there are: 4 Giant Danios, 4 Red Velvet Swordtails, 5 Tiger Barbs, and 1 Pelco (Algae Eater).  I will hopefully do a better job at preventive maintenance so it doesn’t get so bad this time.

Brrrr… Winter has arrived with a vengeance.  We have had blizzard like conditions here in the mitten.  It isn’t as bad as they said it would be, but all the schools and some businesses are closed today.  I shoveled 3 times today already and it looks like I might be out again tonight to keep up with it.

The day started off this morning at about 6:00 with a sick wife.  She went to bed not feeling well and woke up worse this morning.  It made for a good reason not to make the long drive into work today, so it actually worked out for the best.  However, that meant I would have to play Suzie Homemaker.  I started off by shoveling 4 inches of snow off the driveway.  It was a blessing though compared the previous snowfalls we had.  This was light and powdery snow, not the heavy, slushy crap we had last week.

After the driveway was clear, I headed up to the store to load up on OJ and the fixings for chicken noodle soup.  The roads actually weren’t all that bad.  I think the most dangerous part of this weather is the occasional gusts of wind that kick up and reduce visibility.

Chicken and veggies in hand, I got started on the soup.  I bought a whole chicken from the store and boiled it down to create fresh stock.  Add in some celery, carrots, onion, and spices and we were on our way to having dinner ready before noon.  While the soup cooked I caught up on a backload of laundry now that the our washing machine is fixed.  The replacement part for the machine came in yesterday and I got it installed in about an hour and a half.  It probably saved $150 in service calls, so it’s like making money!  Upon further investigation of the machine, it looks like it may have been broken for a long time and periodically getting worse.  It might even explain all of the ripped clothes we have had in the past year.  Fingers crossed that it is fixed for good.  In between cooking and laundering, I managed to find some time to get some actual work done.

At noon, I had a conference call for work.  I have to be on the call in case anyone asks any tech related questions, but for the most part, I don’t ever have to say anything.  So, it in the spirit of absolute multi-tasking, I setup my laptop and phone and hopped on the bike trainer.  The call last about 10 miles 30 minutes, but I continued on for another hour to get a full 90 minutes in.  It actually worked fairly well.  I had to stop pedaling a couple times to answer a question here and there, but could handle IM-ing a coworker while pedaling.

 
Another use for aero bars – a laptop stand.  Who knew?

After the bike ride, I got some more work done and shoveled the driveway again before going out for a quick run. Just 4 miles on the schedule today which was reassuring because the wind chill was around 0.  It was slow going over through the wind and snow, but it felt good to do it.  It was so cold.  “How cold was it?” It was so cold that the snow flakes were sticking to my eye lashes and freezing.

 
Greeted by a camera-wielding wife when I got home.

After my run and some more work, we finally were able to enjoy the chicken noodle soup.  It tasted great (if I do say so myself) and was perfect for a cold winter day.

Now, it is time to actually finish my work day before I completely run out of energy and crash.  I may needs some Mountain Dew to keep me going.

We had record breaking snow today here in Grand Rapids.  Last night/today was the first snow of the season and we got dumped on with around 10" of snow.  We aren’t the only place getting snow either.  Apparently they are even getting snow in Houston!!

So, my day started bright and early at 6:30.  I got up earlier than usual so that I could get the snow shoveled be Jennifer had to head off to work.  It was heavy, wet, back breaking snow.  Not fun.  But, it is easiest to shovel early and shovel often.  Now that I got most of it up, the sun did the rest and now the driveway is dry concrete.

After getting the snow shoveled, I decided to get my run out of the way.  I love running in the snow.  Especially a fresh snow.  I had a long 10 mile run scheduled for today and was sort of looking forward to it.

I did two loops around Reeds Lake which ended up being a little over 10 miles.  It was 10 miles of running down streets like above.  Pristine, snow covered streets and sidewalks.  Nearly half of the run is on quiet roads which made the run so enjoyable.  Towards the end of the run, however, that peace and quiet was interrupted by the sound of snow blowers cranking up (FYI: Snow blowers are one of my pet peeves).  It was relatively slow going with the snow; 1:30 overall for an 8:51 pace, but I enjoyed it. 

I just got back from my coldest ride of the season – only 30° F when I left.  I only made it 14 miles at a 16mph pace before having to head back home to warm up.  I was actually fairly warm except for my feet.  My feet were absolutely freezing.  I think I may have to invest in a pair of neoprene booties if I continue to ride in this weather.  Otherwise, it is probably time bring the bike in for the season and stick it on the trainer.

Overall, a fairly slow week.  I had a 2 day work meeting in the middle of the week that threw off my training schedule a bit. I also spent the first couple days this week taking it relatively easy as I recovered from the Brooksie Way Half Marathon.

Weekly Totals