Thursday, July 17, 2008

False Starts

Or...how life gets in the freakin' way at every opportunity...



Today was Day 1 of my 2008 cyclocross training. Day 1 was supposed to happen back in June. But sh*t keeps happening.

I was supposed to have 2 solid months of Pilates before I started my training, but my gym only offers it Tues/Thurs and my team at work keeps scheduling meetings on Thurs. And then there's that GGP group ride is on Tuesdays - you know the one that blows all the stop signs and sprints twice a lap? Often it's the only ride I can do all week I just can't miss those 50-minutes of going cross-eyed trying to sit on Chris Phipps' back wheel. Anyone who has done that sketchy-ass ride knows it's hella hard, especially if you haven't been on a bike more than once a week. Once official training starts for me, that ride blows my weekly intensity numbers out of the water, so I have to go all cold turkey on it - which is pretty tough on my ego.

So I was going to start last week, but some server crashed and I had to fix it.

So I decided to start this week, got up early to hit the gym on Tuesday and there's a work phone call - no problem, I'll make it short. Two hours later my nose is to the grindstone and I never saw daylight until I sneaked out the 10 blocks to do the group ride, again.

So I decided to start today - stayed up late working last night to free up some time - running late for Pilates this morning I made for the door when "Crash!" - Liam's oatmeal hits the floor and glass goes everywhere, just as Rowan toddles into the kitchen...barefooted.

But somehow (read: 20-minute unplanned interval) I made it to class. I'm a little rusty and I'm sure the girls had a good giggle at me falling off the roller doing "roll-ups". Yes of course I'm the only guy in Pilates class at my gym.

But I made it

and I did some light intensity afterwards

and I sprinted up the stairs to our apartment with a new spring in my step

the planets have aligned

Cyclocross training has begun.

Tuesday, July 08, 2008

Let the Turkey Broil

I'm here working in my basement office and there's a guy out in the garage fixing our old boiler for our steam heat - no, the irony there is not lost on me.

But what is scary is that I think he's actually listening to John Ashcroft on his boombox while he works.



And I'm scared as hell to go out there...