Thursday, February 25, 2010

Weekend of Rest

We had been busy during the week so last weekend we didn't do much of anything. Kevin and I went snowboarding for a little bit Sunday and other than my runs that has been the extent of activities lately.

My running is going alright, middle of week five of eighteen headed to a 10 mile long run. Today was a 5 miler that went alright but without the Garmin I had to best guess my pace. Before the end of March I'll have to get signed up for the marathon or the price keeps going up. I expect the next group of long runs which go into the teens should help me decide.

Looking into March group bike rides are starting to be planned. Last year we did a Pi Day ride on March 14th, short ride followed by pie at the Hubbard Street Diner. If the weather is good I expect at least two of us will be there again and I'd like to drag the boys along but don't think they are game. If everyone else gets lazy I might try the lake crossing by bike still if I can find a few hours.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Cross the Lake

A new idea is in the works after doing no outdoor stuff this past weekend.

We had brunch at the Edgewater Hotel Sunday, Jenny's aunt and uncle hosted a party after the baptism of their third grandchild. Jenny and I are the sponsors and as a bonus the church service also had a marriage vow renewal ceremony. Great day even considering I wore a suit about 10 times longer than I have in the 11 years I've owned it. Okay on with the outdoors stuff.

The hotel restaurant looks over Lake Mendota and as we ate lots of people went skiing, or walking by we also saw snowshoe tracks. That all looked fine but I wasn't keen on just a loop out and back I wanted to go across the whole thing. Clearly by bike is the way to go but I suspect this will be a solo adventure. Looking at Google maps the ride will be about 6-7 miles one way from Middleton to downtown Madison so up to an hour and a half each way depending on snow conditions. Coffee downtown then return by lake, road or get a ride if Jen and the boys want to come in. In a brief moment of complete craziness I had thought of the tandem plus trail-a-bike plus Jen solo for a family trip. Big shock no takers, maybe I can get Jenny to change her mind.

Madison's Winter Festival is next weekend and looks fun. We plan to get the family there one of the days just to check things out.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Week two done

Marathon training week two is done, 7 mile long run moved to today instead of Monday. So far so good, no pains and even at the end of the 7 miles my legs felt good. I headed out of town for this long run and did a loop north of town. I had not done this loop since last spring when training for the Door County half marathon. Loops are much more enjoyable for me than out and back routes, different hills and scenery. Up next is a easy week, four runs of 3, 4, 3, and 5 miles and the snow should be done by my Wednesday run...I hope.

Last week I got to join Kevin on his school ski trip, boards in our case. Luckily I was able to get off work since Jen was swamped all week with funeral preparations at the fire station. Kevin rode the bus and I hauled gear down to Tyrol with the Jeep, Jen and Zack drove the Subaru since they would be leaving early. Zack and I did the bunny hill, ok Zack did the bunny hill and I carried him back up 8 times. Glad he was done cause I was getting tired of the workout.

Jen and Zack headed for a snack and Kevin and I headed up the chairlift. The kid in front of us fell and they stopped us for a minute then as we got to the jump off point Kevin's board stuck and he got sucked under the lift. I got off but couldn't see him, not screaming and the lift operator said he was fine, heart rate starts to drop under 200. We sat for a minute then off to conquer the rest of the open runs. We did a bunch of repeats on some runs waiting for the third chairlift to open, I had never been on that part of the hill. We got up there and did all the runs it serves, well Kevin did all while I skipped the double black diamond. I fell enough last time, no need to go looking for trouble besides moguls were never my thing.

We had Zack's Flip video camera so here is Kevin on the double black diamond run.





So I need practice on shooting but am impressed that a $150 camera will shoot reasonable quality video at night.

That's all for now.