I'm a Fucking Slug

So I get a comment from someone I did not know about before, and he is oddly a runner, mathematician and computer geek. Don't know about the music and gardening and Barbies ;)

And I go to his blog and find out that a new Mersenne prime number has been discovered. Read all about it here.

Fun fact: I have a poster in my home office of 2**(6,972,593) - 1. Yes that's right--it's a big, huge prime number, and the poster has all the digits on it (all 2,000,000+). Perhaps it serves to remind me that we are just small parts of a large universe, or maybe just the beauty of numbers.

A lot of people think of pets as the perfect foil for giving and receiving unconditional love. While I don't think numbers can do that for you, in and of themselves they can be very beautiful things. Why else the obsession with the measurement of time, training to shave seconds (numbers) off a finishing time, recording all sorts of training details (mostly numerically oriented) into a log for what, posterity?

Sometimes I stare at my training spreadsheet and just take it for what it is--a bit of artistic output that nonetheless is serving as my guidepost for a period of time.

There are times when a person has hurt me that I've wanted to tell them, "But if you would just realize the beautfy of everything around you, including the numbers, you wouldn't act this way," and I believe it's true. Yesterday while running, I stopped to watch a robin eating fruit off a Cornelian Cherry bush/tree, and all at once I saw the symmetry (numbers) of the branches, the shape (spherical) of the berries and the random act (robin) of receiving bounty from them. There is math all around us, and it's one of the things (order) that can help calm me in times of trouble. Math and colors. Colors make the math more beautiful, although black and white numbers are just fine, too.

Math is completely and utterly logical. Numbers don't lie--only humans that seek to twist the meaning of numbers. If I say TWO to you, does it mean anything? What do you think of when you hear the number 2? Ha ha, "number 2" for one, probably. I think "the only even prime number." I think 2 people, connected, which is the best way that I function socially.

13. Coming up in just about 5 weeks.

I Feel the Need for...(censored)

Just feel like posting today. Nothing special, except to note that I feel like my game is back on.

After getting in over 200 miles of riding last week (Saturday was 3 hours on the trainer at 82% of FTP and Sunday was 108 miles at about 87% of FTP with a couple of guys), I felt a little shelled on Monday, but it turned into a great day.

At 7AM I ran (2.8 miles) home after dropping my car off for a tuneup. I was duly surprised to realize that I was running just a little slower than 10K pace. Nice! Then I thought, what the hell, I may as well start in on my strength training, and did about :40 of that, which included legs. Now my legs were feeling it from the weekend, but I had committed to running back to pick up my car.

As I started out, I figured I was going to be slower than in the morning, because it had seemed in the morning that there was a lot of downhill. But actually it's rolling in both directions, and I told myself "It's not even 3 miles" meaning I should be able to hustle. And I did, and I ran about a minute faster than in the morning! When I got to the mechanic's, a nice older woman commented on how I must like pink because I was all pinked out (yes I like pink but really I just like bright colors), and my face sure was pink at that point, and then I drove to get a massage, but made sure I toweled myself off in the restroom before getting on the table.

The massage was wonderful, as always (thanks, Mike!), even as Mike dug deeply into me, especially my glutes. He did some maneuver on my ass and kept asking me if it hurt, and I kept saying NO, and he said, "Are you sure?" Hey, if someone on or in my ass hurts, believe me, I will say so! I ended up saying that I have a hard ass, and yes I do right about now, which is about par for the course.

I slept like a baby Monday night, and yesterday morning I went to swim and ended up at the Y because it was raining pretty hard again, so no riding to the outdoor pool. I had written a drill workout for the day, but after the warmup I decided fuck drills, I'm just swimming. So I put on the paddles and did 2200 straight with them and the pull buoy. Strength training, baby!

Before I started work yesterday, I finished up the strength training (:25), and was feeling good when it was time to go for a ride. The plan was for 1:45 with some hefty doses of threshold and super-threshold work. It's been raining a lot lately, but I though I would beat the rain on the radar, so I headed out, and really didn't warmup but just started riding hard, but I didn't think I was riding that hard, what with stops and such. As I got into the main set of the workout, it started to rain (about :30 in), but not too hard initially, but I figured I head for home and reevaluate. Well, once again, I thought the rain was done so headed out for some more action, and then it really started coming down. Even though it might stop, it might not, so I hammered home, having gotten in about an hour of riding, wiped down the bike, changed clothes and got on the trainer.

Well on the trainer now, I could see I was pushing watts, so all good, I just went for a total TSS score, which is what I do sometimes, and I decided to since I had fucked around because of the rain and needed to get back to work, so I just pushed really hard for another 1/2 hour, or whatever it was to get to a TSS of 120, not bad! Turns out I rode at 88% of FTP, so you stack that on top of the weekend, and I am getting fit or something on the bike! Plus it was my THIRD workout of the day!

This morning, I rode to the outdoor pool and got in 3200 meters. I probably wasn't swimming too fast, but I didn't care--I was just happy to be outdoors and it wasn't raining. Now I'm about to go run about 8 miles and we'll see how my legs feel, since it's basically my third workout of the day. Tomorrow is a 2:15 run, and as long as it doesn't rain, I'm looking forward to it!

Last night I had the pleasure of talking with Kim, who frequently comments on my blog. She gave me this awesome pirate hat which I need to get a pic of (I'm wearing it right now!). Sadly, she's moving to Florida, but that makes 5 good friends of mine in that state...hmm...maybe my turn is coming?

Anyway, I'm starting to feel a bit aggro, so word to the wise, don't fuck with me (and I don't mean that literally depending on who you are!)--I do not wish to be messed with at this time. The claws and teeth will come out, something like this:

The Important Stuff, and oh yeah those fucking Weekly Workout Totals for 6/08/2009-6/14/2009

First, the important stuff. I'm coming up on Ironman #13. I have several very close friends, most of whom are triathletes, and I know a bunch of triathletes and assorted people from my various doings in life. I read Slowtwitch forums and am just as familiar with the OCD-ness displayed there and also by myself.

I started thinking about my past Ironman's and what I most remembered about each of them, so here goes:

• Lake Placid, 2001: I was scared shitless, but my then coach assured me I'd be just fine. I had my friend Cindy to freak out with, and I was so grateful that she and I were sharing this huge deal.
• Wisconsin, 2002: It was a beautiful day, and I had a good friend sherpa for me, meet me out on the course and take pics. All I could think of that day was how lucky I was to be doing this and have such a good friend with me.
• Wisconsin, 2003: It was a miserably hot day, but I had a good friend taking care of me the entire time.
  
• Great Floridain, 2003: I went by myself, raced by myself, but the bright spot was an unexpected appearance by two friends, and that just made my day.
• Canada, 2004: I roomed with a near stranger, but I never felt alone once I met a couple of guys who shared deeply personal stories with me and I with them. I phoned a close friend when I was finished and packing my bike since I had a flight out at 6AM the next day, and she reminded me that I had better get some more food in me. Thanks!
  
• Hawaii, 2004: I had two dear friends with me who put up with my volatile moods and made sure I didn't forget that I was in my favorite place on Earth.
• Wisconsin, 2005: It was a miserably hot day, but I had several friends doing the race, and we were all in it together.
• Brazil, 2006: I was walking around in transition crying over how alone I felt that my Mom had just passed away a month before, and an almost perfect stranger put his arms around me and told me I'd make it through, and I did.
• Lake Placid, 2007: I had my coach and friend with me and another close friend close by, and we made the week more about our friendship than the race. And we both had great races!
• NothingMan One, 2007: I spent the day with someone I had just met in person a month earlier and our "race" was more about connecting with one another through that adventure.
  
• Lake Placid, 2008: It was a miserably cold and rainy day, and I raced the entire time with the memory of my Dad, including some of his ashes, but the time I spent with several of my best friends was the most precious thing of all.
• NothingMan Two, 2008: I spent a few days with someone I had just met in person that weekend, and once again, the "race" became a way to connect with one another rather than how far or how long.

So you see, it's always been about friends and connections. Pretty deep shit, eh?

And now, just so you know that I'm training well again:

Weekly Workout Totals	06/08/2009-06/14/2009 This week's totals are sponsored by FINALLY BIKING ENOUGH!
Swim:	10420 yards (5.91 miles) in 3.68 hours; 18% of weekly workout time; approx. 1289 calories burned Canadian: 9528.05 meters
Bike:	Approx. 207.7 miles in 10.75 hours; 53% of weekly workout time; approx. 4976 calories burned; Total TSS=699 Canadian: 334.26 kilometers
Run:	Approx. 31.97 miles in 4.89 hours; 24% of weekly workout time; approx. 2207 calories burned Canadian: 51.45 kilometers
Strength:	1.02 hours; 5% of weekly workout time; approx. 255 calories burned
All Sports:	Approx. 245.58 miles in 20.34 hours; approx. 8727 calories burned Canadian: 395.22 kilometers
Sleep:	7.96 hours avg./night
Stretching:	2.17 hours. Massage: 1 hours