Four-Minute Mile

So, when I was about 15, I had this boyfriend named Tony. Despite the fact that he was a pathological liar, I thought he was really cool. After all, he played the guitar and had longish hair, a maltese cross earring and a motorcycle. But about these lies. They were ridiculous and seemed to have no purpose. I believed most of them because I was extremely gullible, and I wanted him to be for real.

One of the crazy lies he told me was that he could run a four-minute mile. I believed him. Of course, at the time, I had no idea how fast a four-minute mile was. Now I do.

While I'm sitting here waxing nostalgic about losers I've dated, I am actually getting to a point, and this story will be loosely tied in somewhere. 

The thing is, I've been running, see, which I already admitted. Up until last week, I was just going out and running for 20 minutes. I had no idea how far I was running. But I've  stepped things up a bit since I've decided to run a 5K. 

The fateful day is June 18. It's funny that I never would have ever imagined myself running a race. Somehow, though, now that I've raced my bike so many times, racing in another sport doesn't seem like such a leap.

So, for my past couple of runs, I have concentrated on running continuously for three miles. Turns out I can do it, just not fast. In fact, I am absolutely nowhere near a four-minute mile. But at least now I know how fast a four-minute mile is. 

How (not) fast am I? I might tell you in my next post. Then again, I might not.

Pinkety Pink

 

As all four of my loyal readers have no doubt already figured out, I recently began RUNNING. That's right, RUNNING.

I have to explain my history with running. When I was a kid, my parents were runners. They ran all the time. They actually ran marathons. And as you may know from your own experience, when your parents are passionate about something, it can get rather annoying, particularly if they want you to get your roly poly arse off the couch to do it as well. As any of you who have read my Accidental Athlete post will be able to figure out, I rebelled against this idea and instead spent all my free time with my nose in a book. In fact, the more they talked about running and tried to get me to run, the more I dug my heels in.

Needless to say, I have subsequently had a somewhat unfair hatred of running. But since, for the most part, I'm a reasonable human being, I spent quite a bit of time examining this issue so I could look at running in a way that's not jaded by my past experiences. And I ultimately came to the conclusion that running is a smart option for me. Here's some of what went into that decision:

• Everyone else is doing it—That might not always be the best criteria for making a decision. However, in this case, I think it's okay. A lot of cyclists I know personally or through the blogosphere have taken up running for cross training purposes and it seems to be working well for them. Alaska Jill has been known to do it. Fat Cyclist has taken it up. Even those a little closer to home like Ali and Marty have been doing it.
• It's good exercise—This isn't actually my first foray into running. Several years ago, when one of my friends took charge of my training plan, he suggested I try it, the reason being that it's better for burning calories than riding. That way, when I was riding I could concentrate on my riding skills and actual training, rather than having to rely on it for exercise. And I have to say, during this time I was probably in the best shape I've ever been.
• Running is efficient—I've often felt jealous of my friend the Dorktor. He's a runner, see, and in less than an hour he can be out the door, run seven miles or so and be finished. I don't know how many times I've opted not to do ANY exercise because I knew I didn't have time to load up my bike, drive to a trail and ride.
• Variety is the spice of life—Cliched, but true nonetheless.

So, at this point I have been running for three and a half weeks and it's the only thing I've really been doing consistently (gasp!). It's about time for a progress report and some goal setting. That doesn't mean this is going to turn into a running blog, but the topic will figure prominently in some upcoming posts.

I Like My Blog a Lot. Really.

It might really seem, from the way I've been neglecting my blog over the last several months, that I don't like my blog or my blog readers very much. In fact, the opposite is true. I enjoy having a blog. I like being able to write about anything I want, or at least anything I feel comfortable posting on the Internet. I like the fact that I can talk about topics on my blog that those who see me on a daily basis are sick of hearing about. I like that I can't really tell if my blog readers are tuning me out, like I can so easily with my husband. I like the conversations I have with people through my blog. There are some extremely cool people I probably wouldn't even know without this blog. I also like using it as a reference for myself and a way to jog my memory about past events.

That's a lot of things to like. Still, I haven't been updating it, which is the understatement of the year. One thing I have struggled with a lot lately is knowing what to write about and what not to write about. For example, lately I haven't been doing much that's bike-related, and that's supposed to be the main thrust of my blog. So, how far do I stray from the bike topic? What can I justify?

The other problem is that I've been on an emotional rollercoaster in recent weeks. I've been rethinking all my goals and plans, as well as reevaluating my life and my direction in general. I've also had a lot of upheaval and have discovered some things about myself that were not exactly a good surprise. Needless to say, I've been wallowing. A lot. I'm not a fun person to be around right now, and I don't want my blog to be a huge downer for the handful of readers I may or may not have left. 

But now that I've thought about all that, I've come to the conclusion that I'm really overthinking things. Maybe I should just post what I feel like posting and let the rest take care of itself. So, I'm going to try to start posting at least three times a week from this point forward. That will be my goal. 

But since I've just returned from my annual trip to Key West, I'm going to start with a few photos from the trip. (Nothing new here for those who have looked at my photos on Facebook already. Sorry.)

Beach near our hotel 

Yacht my husband coveted docked near the Westin

View of Key West airport from the tarmac

 Our awesome buddy Ben, the coolest guitar player in Key West and beyond

Mallory Square 

Looking at boats near the Galleon 

Ben with "old" Taylor and "new" Taylor

Pelican 

 

Manatee mailbox

Hangin' with Ben at the Whistle

Everyone Else is Doing It

Why not me?

P.S. Don't make fun of my pink shoes. I hate pink.

About Face

I know the time between my posts has gotten longer and longer. I won't say I'll be better, because I'm not sure I will, but I'll try.


If there is anyone out there still reading this sporadically updated blog, they will probably be surprised by a couple of the decisions I made sometime between Thursday night and Friday afternoon. I think they can safely be described as peculiar. Tonight I'm only going to mention one of them, because everyone loves a cliffhanger, but I will try to get around to the others fairly soon.

So, tonight's topic is the Yankee Springs Time Trial, which I have decided not to race. My reasons for not racing are plentiful and complicated. Some of them are well-reasoned, focused and valid; others are kind of lame. I won't go into them all now—maybe not later, either. Suffice it to say that I'm reevaluating everything.

Quite a few of my teammates are planning to race, and I wish them all luck!

Ghosts of Races Past

It looks to me like there's a ghost gliding across this photo I took at Yankee Springs on Saturday. It might just be a smudge on my camera. I don't know.

Regardless, for someone like me who is constantly moving one step forward and two steps back, never making any real, permanent progress, there's always going to be something haunting me. This year, it's the memory of what I was at the beginning of the last race season—strong and fast (relatively speaking). Those first two races, Barry-Roubaix and Yankee Springs, were such successes for me that racing them this year, knowing how much worse I will do, is pure torment. Still, not racing them would be worse, so I'm plowing ahead.

Saturday I went out to Yankee to pre-ride the course and try to assess where I am. Surprisingly, it didn't turn out to be that bad. Knowing that I was so slow in 2008 for my first Yankee, and that I was much faster last year, I was hoping to fall somewhere in between the two, and that's exactly what happened.

I was running about 10 minutes slower than my race time last year, but I also forgot my watch, so I was going just on straight riding time from my computer, and I probably need to add at least a few minutes to it. My plan is to go back on Saturday and try to get in one more ride of it some evening next week. Last year, my times kept improving with each time I pre-rode it and even more so during the actual race, so I'm hoping that happens again.

I remember riding this course before Iceman last year and just completely struggling, barely making it to the end. I expected to feel like that on Saturday, and although I was tired and I did end up walking some of the later hills, I really felt much better than I anticipated.

There's a no-drop group going out from Yankee at 11 that Danielle is leading. Some of my team, organized by Jake, also seem to be doing a group ride of Yankee on Saturday. I haven't figured out what I'm going to do yet, but right now, I feel like just being by myself and struggling on my own with no one to witness it, so maybe I'll go out really early. At any rate, I'm eager to see what happens.

Surprise Me!

Yesterday after work, I went out to ride at Burchfield. Normally, we don't go anywhere near it this early in the season, but I had heard a rumor that due to the unseasonably warm, dry weather, it was pretty rideable. I was itching to get back on a real trail, so I skipped out of work a bit early and headed out there.

Once at Burchfield, I was treated to a few surprises:

Surprise #1—The trail was indeed dry! I'll admit I was a bit skeptical. A lot of the trails at Burchfield are so low lying and close to the river that it's usually quite wet until late in the spring. This was definitely a good surprise.

Surprise #2—Someone has been doing quite a bit of work at Burchfield. There were some brand new bridges to replace some of the decrepit ones and even some gravel and drainage pipes in place of what used to be muddy quagmire for most of the year. Nice!

Surprise #3—No matter how burned out I get on a trail, spending a winter riding nothing but the trainer and the River Trail will pretty much cure it. Burchfield is amazingly fun again.

Surprise #4—My Fat Cyclist water bottle looks really sweet on the Badger. See?

Surprise #5—Did you ever catch a leaf in your front tire when you were riding? It makes a really annoying noise and you can't really reach it to pull it out. It always happens to me when I have some good speed and momentum going and I don't want to stop to remove it. I always wish it would just fall out on its own and yesterday, this actually happened. Such a small thing, but so satisfying.

Surprise #6—That incredibly non-sketchy downhill still inexplicably scares the crap out of me, but I keep riding down it to try and cure myself.

Surprise #7—I still completely love, for reasons I have yet to understand, this little section of trail that goes behind Heron Pond.