My dad died today... He's been suffering from dementia for a while now, so from my point of view he's been gone for a while, but this is different. I don't feel the overwhelming grief I felt when mom died, but her death was unexpected.
Feeling lonely today... Love you dad and hope you're finally at peace...
It's been quite a month already... Sorry that I'm late with this, but I expected to be a little late due to going to GD60, and that's a great place to start.
Cali was, in a word, awesome. I love San Francisco. Look, I'm a NY guy, have been for 50 years. I grew up in NY and was a city kid, but sadly that city is just a memory. NY has changed, and not necessarily for the better but SF reminds me of the place I grew up in. A city that had neighborhoods, and local shops etc... SF just has a "vibe" that is unique and I think that in a different life I would have loved to grow up there. Maybe if we win the lottery I'll buy a place there. Lots of cool houses which would be a great summer home for this Florida man :) The concerts were fantastic. D&C had a kind of rough start on Friday, but they turned it around in no time and the whole weekend wend by in a blur of music, colors and great food. I would do the entire trip again in a second.
With that, there was one pretty substantial downer from the trip. I don't know what it was, maybe the ~30 miles of hiking up and down Nob Hill, but I really tweaked my hips while I was there. I got home and walking was difficult. I'm in pretty good shape, and have been running even if I was taking a break, but didn't expect to be THAT sore. The good news is a week of rest, low impact yoga, sports cream and my massage gun, and I'm finally feeling more normal. I guess I just wasn't really in shape for that afterall, but it's made August get off to a slow start.
That's enough about that, so let's talk about July. As always, here were my goals:
This was kind of a transition month. I'd like to focus on what went well, rather than where I failed. I crushed the TDE. Yes, I have one stage left to do and I didn't do it live because I was in California when it went live, but other than that, I stayed current and did as many live classes as I could. Big thanks to Echelon for loading the OD classes quickly so I could typically do them OD. That made a huge difference. I set two PB's, both on hills classes, and think I would have done more if I had been able to take more classes live, and fini. With the exception of one Endurance ride, I finished in the top 20 and frequently in the top 10 for live classes. For the record, I'll do the final ride on Saturday so I get my finisher badge and pin. I also got a gold in my challenge etc.... Typical stuff but important for accountability and I finally beat my mileage target for a month. Felt good to get that off my back again!
So where did I fall short? Well, I missed the 4 on the 4th race. Too much fun at Stick Figure, plus some shitty weather killed my desire to get up at the ass crack of dawn and drive to St. Pete. There's always next year. I did sign up for a 5k in 2 weeks here in Dunedin, and I'm grateful that I'm able to walk somewhat normally again. I also missed the bonus points in #mc55. Some of those just didn't jive with TDE, but I'd made a decision to only ride the TDE classes. It was hard enough to keep up with that without adding in additional workouts. No reason to kill myself, and with that, my weight held constant. No excuses on that. I am already doing better (had my first sub 220 weigh in in a while today).
However, I am pretty pleased with July. I wish I'd done the race, but c'est la vie, and otherwise it wasn't that bad.
I suppose this is the third year I've attempted the TDE, I didn't finish the first year because I snapped the crank on my bike, but I completed it last year, and I even got the t-shirt... So, it was a given I was going to do it again this year.
I finished the majority of the event yesterday to coincide with the end of the actual TDF. We still have the TDF ride on saturday, yes I'll make it up OD unless they have a bike in the hotel which I doubt, after I get back from #gd60. I'm a little disappointed I won't be able saturdays class live because I set my PB on it last year, but shit happens.
Anyway, it was a very rewarding experience this year and Echelon made it a lot easier by posting the rides OD very quickly (so I could do them after work if they were in UK time or during the day). Staying current was important because, to be honest, it gets depressing when you have 3-4 long rides to make up like I did last year. Aside from that, I set two PB's during the event. Both on hills. I finished in the top 10 seven times on live classes, and only missed the top 20 once. It was stage 8 and I clearly was suffering. I don't really care about the OD placement, because those don't factor in the live riders and I know I don't work as hard. I took 14 of the 22 rides live which was I am pretty excited about and as of today rode 344.90 miles (I'll update with TDF after I ride it).
So what would I like to improve for next year? I'd like to get a minimum of a top 20 every live ride, and I would prefer a top 10 in each live ride. Yes, that will be hard. It's hard to push yourself every day for ~22 straight days, tough titty. I'd also like to maintain the cadence of riding it every day. While I missed *some* of my regular workouts, it was a nice break, and focusing on the TDE only kept me from getting too worn out.
Pin earned, and on to getting ready for my charity ride this fall. I do have a little detour out in SF first :) Talk soon...
Not gonna lie, the fitness of the TDF riders is insane... I thought I was in "good" shape but after watching those guys I can't imagine what it takes to get to that level...
#teambordel
I'll start by saying yes I know this post is very late. Hell, there are only ten days left this month, and I have no excuses. That said, this might be the first time I've written a monthly post and already achievcd the Apple monthly goal. So, at least one thing is going well :)
It's not going to be a surprise, but June didn't go as planned. I've been struggling with some joint issues, more on that later, but I decided to take the time in VA as an impromptu rest cycle that both helped and hurt, but let's review my goals for June:
