Weekly Workout Totals 05/28/2007-06/03/2007 and Neighbor Episode (*FREE* Scenes from my yard)

Check out this guy's blog: http://projectbreathe.net/ Please leave him encouraging comments. He's riding from Seattle to Fort Worth, TX, for cystic fibrosis, trying to average 100 miles per day! I have already snagged a quote from it that fits me perfectly:

"i don’t train to race, i train to get up the next day and train harder. "

--Matt Young

Sounds a lot like my Crackhead motto:

"Harder, longer, faster, tougher--REPEAT "
--Crackhead

I still haven't finished my Triple T race report...this week, I swear!

Saturday morning, I woke up about 1AM to go to the bathroom, and I noticed some extra light coming into my bedroom. I looked outside, and my stoner neighbor was out in his back yard with friends and a campfire. They weren't making too much noise at this point, and I was very tired, so I went back to sleep. I've had concerns over the legality of their fire, and I had spoken to the kid's dad, Gary, stating that I wasn't too happy about them.

I finally woke around 4:30AM for the day, and guess what? The boys were still going hard next door. All I could think was that they are really hard core. I think of myself as hard core, but not in that way. I overheard them discussing politics and war. Yeah, right, like drinking all night and talking about it is making a contribution to society!

I wanted to begin riding by 7 or 7:30, and I did some stuff in the house. At about 7:30 I went outside to get my bike ready and I smelled smoke, and I wondered if the boys were still going at it. So I went to my back yard, and I can see smoke from the fire pit, but no bodies. Now I'm pissed. And there's a beer can in my yard. Apparently, they have gone to sleep and left a fire burning! I could feel myself approaching postal at this point. I've already had 3 very adult discussions with these people, and this was it.

But, I thought, OK, one more chance (why I am this nice???). So I walk over and ring the doorbell. Nobody answers. I know one car had left, so I thought maybe they all went to breakfast after their binge. I decided I was not going to put out THEIR fire with MY water, and now I picked up the phone and called the police.

While I was waiting for the officer to arrive, I saw my neighbors across the street outside, so I decided to let them in on what has been going on. Turns out, one woman, Vicky, had someone drag a magic marker on her car during the night! Luckily, I told her I know how to get it off (the things we learn in triathlon, huh?) by using suntan lotion or other lotion, but that the cops were on the way, so it could be a twofer for them.

Officer Dave arrives, and I tell him everything--how the father, Gary, bought the house for the kids, it's in disrepair, they are partying hard over there regularly, that I've had 3 civil discussions with them, but that this is the last straw. When I told Dave that I had seen the fire at 1AM, he said I should have called them right then.

Dave asks if I want to file a criminal suit against them. I said not this time. He asks me if I want him to go over and knock on the door. I said go ahead, but I had rung the bell and nobody answered.

Well Dave goes over and after a few minutes, he disappears into the house! I can only imagine how he knocked. I would guess it was pretty hard, accompanied by, "It's the POLICE!" I was secretly wishing Dave saw drugs laying around, but I honestly think they had to move some stuff around before answering the door.

So Dave comes out and tells me I am living next door to a frathouse. DUH! He said the kid seemed like a reasonable person and that he (Matt) said he was going to come and talk to me. Dave says to be adult and civil, and I told him that I work in customer service, so I am very familiar with these sorts of situations. But Dave also said I should tell the kid straight out that the next time I call the police there WILL be a drug bust. See Dave figured out that part all on his own.

So asshole boy has seen me come and go and has had ample opportunities to come and "talk" to me. I hope that boy is scared shitless. He knows I'm strong, and he should also know by now that the surrounding neighbors all know and like me and NOT HIM. I truly don't think he or his drunkard father are malicious, but I have no trust in these people any longer. I am not fearing for my own safety, either. I have a sneaking suspicion the local police will begin keeping an eye on these people.

And now back to our regularly scheduled topic--training! I had a great week, even though it was a little dicey recovering from Triple T. However, I am happy to report that based on my recovery, it is NOT at all as bad as an Ironman, because I knocked out some good stuff this week and I'm back on my build for Ironman Lake Placid. Now, recovering wasn't easy, and on Saturday when I finally got to riding, I rode easy for 2:45, and then I ran :40, came home, ate, and I passed out for an hour. Usually it's hard for me to nap, but I went down HARD. I got up and spent 4 hours trimming the shrubs in my foundation landscaping--photos above.

Yesterday I rode 104 miles at a pretty good clip--18MPH average--which was amazing considering how fucked up my legs felt from the prior weekend. But I brought along plenty of caffeine, which at least made the somewhat boring ride tolerable. I even got rained on for the first time. I rode Bitchie, and boy was I happy to be laying in the aerobars all day. The route was flat to rolling, and in the last 5 miles there was a 3-mile climb! WTF!!! I was laughing since it really wasn't that bad. At the rest stop while we waited out the worst of the rain, some chic who was only doing 62 commented on how hilly one section was. I just looked at her and laughed and said, "These are NOT hills." I told her about my adventure last weekend which included one climb called "Godzilla." Anyway, hills and wind are just a matter of perspective. I am so used to riding hard all the time that I just had to yesterday. Of course, I rode steady, and in the last 20 miles of the ride, I smoked past hordes of triathletes who don't know how to ride. Why? Because they really don't know how much effort they are putting out. Power meters RULE!!! Now I'm to the point where I just can tell how much effort I'm putting out and so I don't need to stare at the thing. During that last 3-mile climb, I had an interesting discussion with a roadie (I get respect from them since I'm a good cyclist) about my "usual" training rides: Warm up a little bit, do some hard crap, do some harder crap, do some EXTREMELY HARD crap, rest a little bit and repeat. When you are regularly used to riding at 80% or more of FTP, an easy-peasy 75% ride (which is what yesterday was) feels like cake. Although it didn't feel totally like cake because of my fatigue, but if I was able to ride like that being THAT tired, I think it means I am getting some major bike fitness going, which is precisely where I need to be right now. We get to test the old bike legs seriously next weekend with a 4 hour ride and another 100-miler back to back. Yee-haw!

As you can see from the photos above, my roses are beginning to bloom. Ah, June! Did I say I love June? I think my favorite month is May, and then June, closely followed by September and April. As much as I became enchanted with Colorado Springs, I absolutely love my current home and yard. Believe it or not, I sort of look forward to winter because it means I get to train less and have more time for my indoor hobbies, like sewing, reading and cooking. But I'm nearly done getting my yard all fixed up and it's a work of art that I take great pleasure in as do the passersby. A man was passing by Saturday while I was working on the shrubs in the front yard and commented how, "Your landscaping is looking really good." And then he shook his head and said, "But it's a lot of work." Like that's a bad thing? I just smiled. I could have said, "Dude, if you only KNEW what I do that is REALLY a lot of work." And after all, anything in life that's really worth it or that you want to be good at is a lot of work, right? I got nothing against work, unlike my neighbors, although I'm thinking beginning next year I will start paying for some level of yard maintenance--that is, if I intend to not retire from Ironman and assorted crazy stuff. Stay tuned...

Happy totals:


Weekly Totals 05/28/2007-06/03/2007
Swim: 8100 yards (4.6 miles) in 2.98 hours; 18% of weekly workout time; approx. 1045 calories burned
Bike: Approx. 177.79 miles in 9.97 hours; 60% of weekly workout time; approx. 4454 calories burned
Run: Approx. 14.75 miles in 2.39 hours; 14% of weekly workout time; approx. 1085 calories burned
Strength: 1.2 hours; 7% of weekly workout time; approx. 300 calories burned
All Sports: Approx. 197.14 miles in 16.54 hours; approx. 6884 calories burned
Sleep: 7.32 hours avg./night
Stretching: 2.55 hours. Massage: 1.75 hours