Planet Smoothie Ride

Yesterday turned out to be such a nice day. Samantha and I decided to go out for a short bike ride. This is us riding along a park not to far form the house. We actually ride past 2 parks on the way to planet smoothie. Part of the ride takes us out on San Jose Blvd. There is a car parking lane most of the way. Of course this is used as a bike lane except towards the end  by the church that almost always has cars parked. 

For a day in mid November it was really nice weather. The sun was shining, the temps were in the mid 70's and there was just a touch of breeze. We had a group of 4 cyclists pass us during the ride. They weren't going that much faster then us and I asked Samantha if she wanted to try and draft off them, she declined. We sat outside and drank our smoothies before returning home along almost the same route. We rode past the other park and looked for Joleen who was out kayaking. We rode through the neighborhood to avoid some of the traffic, plus it makes for a quieter ride. The ride was about 4 miles a nice little distance and I got to spend some time with Samantha enjoying a short break in our day.

Weekend training

Got lots of training in on this long weekend. Started Friday evening teaching Kodenkan Jiu-Jitsu. I taught the kids class and I had 12 kids which was a handful. It is fun being with the kids and some of the questions they ask. Usually they ask how old I am, if  I'm married. One of the kids wanted to know what my religion was. I have never been asked that. Apparently I gave him the right answer because he was satisfied. The adult class was smaller with only 3 people there. So that meant I got to work out with them. We grappled the last 20 minutes of class. This is always very physical, all out for 5 minutes each round.

Saturday morning was the Galloway group run. We just started a new session and this was the "Magic Mile". Everyone runs a mile fast as they can. These times are then used to sort people into their pace groups for the rest of the training. We started with a 1.5 mile warmup then the magic mile and finally a 1.5 mile cool down. After running I went to the gym with Loanna and we lifted some weights.

Sunday morning was the 26.2 mile bike ride with Donna to benefit Breast cancer research. I did the ride with a group of friends(Scott, Deb, Carolyn & Wally). It started out kind of cool and then warmed up nicely. We averaged about 17 mph on the ride. We weren't pushing it too hard. After we finished I rode back out on the course to look for Wally who was a bit late. I found her a few miles from the finish and rode in with her. There was a cookout after the ride and it was nice hanging out and talking to people.

Monday was Veterans Day. I actually ended up going for a solo run. It is rare that I train alone. I was thinking about how many people I am lucky enough to train with. Between Jiu-Jitsu, Running and Biking I probably trained with 50 people. This is truly a gift to have all these people in my life. I feel enriched in some way by each person I am able to share some of my life with.

Long Shadows

This morning Marilyn and I went and rode with the Velobrew crew. We ended up getting in 50 miles. We rode at a good pace, about 35 miles into the ride they sprinted away and we couldn't hang with them. We started the ride pretty early as the sun was rising. When it first came up over the trees we were riding directly into the sun. We were about 50 of us in the group riding into the blinding sun was tough, but the group slowed slightly and we spread out a bit. The picture above was taken on the way back. We were still casting pretty long shadows. It started out pretty cool this morning and warmed up as we went. I had a few layers on and was able to take off a few and stay comfortable. The best part was I finished up around 10 am.

Bikes and photoshop

I recently started going back to school. I am working on a Digital Media degree. One of my homework assignments was to take a photo and turn it into an abstract image. I was really unhappy with my first few tries and while they could have been turned in I just didn't care for them too much. Today I was doing homework and thinking about bike riding tonight and decided to look through my photos for some bike riders. This started as a picture of Beth and ended up as the picture above. It was posterized, inverted, blurred, colored and had the colors saturated. I was really happy with the end results and will probably be making more of these.

Back on the exercise bike

So about a month ago I was at home and had some time before a woodturning lesson. I decided that I need some footage of my bike to put into my videos. I thought some video of the chain going around the sprocket, the tires, breaks, pedals that kind of stock footage would be good. I mounted the video camera on a stick and went for a ride around the neighborhood. I was on the other street and either hit a rock or just lost my balance. (I am going with the rock) and down I went. I got some road rash on my knee, elbow and hand. My bike and the video camera were fine. I rushed home to get cleaned up and proceeded to teach my lesson about halfway through the lesson I reached for a tool and my shoulder hurt. When I finished up the lesson I went in and made a doctors appt. He recommended physical therapy. The tendon in my knee has been bothering me as well. So we are working on the knee and shoulder. I have been doing the pt for a few weeks now. Last weekend I did the Tour de Cure. We rode 129 miles over 2 days. So Monday morning I go in and the first thing they do is put me on the exercise bike. I was like "Really you want me to ride? I just spent all weekend on a bike. My butt is still sore." Anyway I did 2 miles on the bike and could fell it in my legs. The good news is my knee is feeling much better, now if I can just improve my shoulder I will be very happy.

Tour De cure Bike ride

This weekend we did the Tour de Cure bike ride to benefit Diabetes. It was a very nice weekend. On Saturday we rode 68 miles and Sunday we did 60 miles. The ride Saturday was through rural Florida lots of farmland. It was a nice side of Florida we don't often see. We rode south all the way into Crescent Beach and then turned north to St. Augustine. The tour put on a dinner Saturday complete with a band. Tami and I had dinner and then went for a walk on the beach. After the beach we decided to go for a swim in the pool. I slept good Saturday night and Sunday morning we had breakfast at the hotel and then walked over to the starting area. They had a bike check area where we picked up our bikes. Then we were off for 60 more miles. The tour had rest stops set up with snacks and food at each one. We had 3 bridges to cross including the bridge of Lions in St. Augustine. The police had blocked the traffic to the bridge so we were able to just ride across in the roadway. After St. Augustine we headed north on A1A up to Ponte Vedra. Then we turned west and headed into Nocotee. There we crossed over the Intercoastal Waterway Bridge. This was the biggest bridge. It is a chore to ride up this bridge but I hit 34mph on the way down. Then we were back on country roads and the temperature was getting in the mid 80's with no shade and a head wind it made for some tough riding. I was happy to be done with the ride and would do it again.

The oddest thing seen on the road was today. We were riding by a lake and someone had thrown a fish in the road. It was probably a 3 pounder. Yesterday I was 1/2 mile from the finish and 2 girls on beach cruisers turned off the sidewalk and almost crashed into me. It was pretty close. At the finish in St. Augustine they had a giant block of ice that you could rest your legs on. This felt so good....

It was a very nice weekend. I got more sun then I wanted. But a lot of money was raised. We had fun doing it. There were a ton of volunteers that were very helpful and put on a great event. The rest stops were well manned with helpful people and I could tell they were hot, but they were doing a great job taking care of the riders. I want to personally thank every volunteer. You helped make this a great event!!!

Grocery shopping by bike

Untitled by emorymc at Garmin Connect - Details

Samantha and I did something not to many people do now a days. We rode our bicycles up to the grocery store to pick up a few things. I have been trying to get out and do some of my errands by bike. My bank is close enough as well. I got a few miles in and got to enjoy some really nice weather and spent some time with my daughter. Doesn't get much better then that.

Back on the Bike

Last week I took a pretty hard fall off my bike. I took a few days off from working out. Yesterday I was feeling better and it was such a nice day. After dinner I went for a bike ride. I rode a few miles up to the Starbucks and had a hot chocolate then rode over to the grocery store and picked up a few things we needed. Today I had to go to the bank, So I decided to ride up there. It only takes about 10 minutes to ride each way. The only bad part was I got to the bank and reached in my pocket for my deposit and realized I had left it at home. I was good and rode home got my deposit and rode back. So I was able to get in a a little extra time on the bike. The weather is very nice today. The wind was at my back on the way home both times. I have been trying to do as many of my errands on the bike. It saves a it of gas but it is always good to be out on the bike. Now it they just had a bike lane I would be set.

Ironman Miami 70.3

Registration has closed for the half ironman event in Miami. The race is October 30th and it is already full. A Half Ironman is a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride and a 13.1 mile run Do one after the other. I am hoping to finish my race in around 6 hours. Between now and then I will be doing a lot of training. I am going to continue doing the masters swim at the YMCA twice a week and continue working on my running. I am doing the 26.2 with Donna marathon in February and I am still training for that. We have 2 more long runs scheduled. a 23 and a 26 mile run. I will do these training runs in January and then start tapering for the marathon. I am doing the Tour de Cure bike ride in May as part of my bike training. It is amazing how much time and training goes into one of these races. For my marathon I have done about 400 miles worth of running. I will get in at least another 100 miles before the race. I need to work out a schedule for my training that covers 3 swim sessions, 3 bike sessions and, 3 running sessions. Some of these will be brick workouts. A brick is where you do a swim followed by a run or a bike followed by a run. Your legs feel like bricks the first 1/4 mile or so. You need to do a fairly quick transition to get the full benefit of this type of workout. I have a long way to go in my training. I may not be very fast but I know if I train properly I will be able to complete the race

Dinner and flat tire

Tonight Tami and I decided to ride our bikes to dinner. We decided to go to Tijuana Flats. We rode at an nice easy pace because we didn't want to arrive at dinner all hot and sweaty. Since it was only 2 miles it only took us about 10 minutes. It was getting dark as we left the restaurant so we took a different route home. We rode through the neighborhoods and then had less then a mile on the sidewalk. Tami hit one of those utility box covers that was sunk down in the sidewalk and that was all it took. Since we were less then a 1/2 mile from home we got off and walked the bikes. It will be easier to change the tire in my workshop then on the side of the rode in the dark. Plus why do today what you can put off till tomorrow :-p Just kidding. But it will be easier to change the tire at home. Tami will be changing her own tire so she can learn how to do that.

Jax Tri series #2

Today was the second of the series of sprint triathlons. It was my 3rd triathlon and I wanted to break 1:30 for the race. I managed to set a new personal best time of 1:21:51 I had a good swim and I averaged 19.2 on the bike ride and then I ran a 36:55 for the 5k portion. My best time for a 5k is only 33:58 in the Run for the pies So I am really happy with my run time for this triathlon. The race had a new course which was nicer then the first one. Traffic played a part on the bike ride. There were many cars on the course. I passed several of them and had an interesting time going through one of the round-about's when a pickup truck stopped in front of me. I was already on the breaks trying to figure out what he was doing. It was never close but I was prepared to either stop or go around this truck. The run was on a sidewalk that was shaded and it made for an interesting time people had to be careful passing as there wasn't a lot of room and runners were going in both directions. I even ran past some people out for a walk that had no idea about the race going on. They sure looked surprised. I am getting better running and can do it for longer periods of time now. I am still not very fast but I am improving my endurance. The race consisted of a 1/4 mile ocean swim, 10 mile bike ride, 3.1 mile run.

248  1:21:51.6   304  Emory McLaughlin                     Jacksonville, FL                                           Clyde   16     M 173   10:20.9  217   1:51     31:15.7 19.2  158   1:30     36:55.6 12:18  290                            

Sunday Morning bike ride

This morning I went and rode the rail trail. I covered all 30 miles of the trail. It was a very nice morning and it even felt a little cool when I first got started. Of course I warmed up right away and then the sun came out and warmed things right up. I am trying to use the aero bars on my bike every chance I get. I am happy with the set up of my bike and it seems pretty comfortable. I need to get used to being in the bent over position with my head lifted up so I can see ahead. I averaged 18.4 mph for the 30 miles I rode today. I am pretty happy with my speed but would like to build on that a little. I see some speed work in my future. I will keep you posted on that.

On a mission

Today I did 20 miles on the bike. The first 3 I did with the kids, We rode at an easy pace to the butterfly garden. We parked the bikes and walked around a bit. Then we rode back to the house. I dropped the kids off and went and did 17 more miles. I was on a mission to peddle as hard and fast as possible. I finished in 42 and change. I can feel it in my legs now, but it was a nice day. I am trying to get faster on my bike and going out and peddling fast and hard seems to work. My next bike ride will be at the rail trail on Saturday. I am planning on riding at a slightly slower pace but for a longer period. Of course that will be followed by a run.

Hammer Jammer #3

Today was the third in the series of Hammer Jammers. These are triathlon training sessions put on by the Hammerhead Triathlon Club The training today consisted of a 30 minute ocean swim, 70 minute bike ride followed up with a 50 minute run(I decided to do 40 minutes). There had to be about 40 people out today for the training.

The ocean was nice this morning the surf was only about 2 feet and very easy to get out through. The swim was nice. We swam south for 15 minutes and then turned around and came back to the starting point. Then we ran up the beach to the transition area. Put on bike shoes and helmets and off on the bike. Rode 35 minutes south on A1A and turned around and headed back. It was already getting hot and there was a little breeze out of the west. There were lots of people out riding this morning. The cars for the most part give you room, which is very nice. After the ride was finished it was back to the transition area to change shoes drop off my bike and helmet, put on my hat and grab my water bottle and go for a run. The run was very hot and this is my worst of the 3 sports. I ran with Staci and Lesley from my training group so that was nice. We pushed each other to run, longer and faster then we would have done on our own. Before I knew it we were back at the finish.

Afterwards we went out for brunch at a place called Elizabeth's in Ponte Vedra. The food was very good and reasonably priced. We had a nice chat while we were eating. I hear they are planning some more Hammer Jammers so I will be checking the website for scheduling.

I felt pretty good after the training today. I rode a bit easier this week and it made the run easier.

Keep training

Big training day

Yesterday I went to the training with the Striders group. We rode for 1:20 and covered 20 miles, then we ran for 30 minutes I covered almost 3 miles. After that I did the ALS ride with the Hammerheads. It was a 23 mile ride for charity. The first ride went well except for the head wind. On the way back on of the girls had a flat tire so we stopped to help her change it. The mosquitos were so bad we couldn't get the thing changed quick enough. We got back under way and finished the ride. On the run it was starting to get hot. I had to take some walk breaks. After running I put my bike stuff back on, Helmet, and shoes and went to join the Hammerheads. Just as we were getting started one of the girls had a flat tire. I was helping her fix it and we turned around and the group had left us. We got it changed and 3 of us rode together. The wind had picked up a little more plus I was tired from the earlier activity. I considered turning back but stuck with it. It was a nice ride and the course was different then I had been on before so it was interesting. At the finish they had lunch waiting for us. I had a very good pulled pork sandwich and some pasta salad. Then I got to talk to some people in the club. It made for a very nice morning. And I was home before noon. So I rode my bike 43 miles and ran for 3 miles. It was a very good training day

30 miles on the bike

Today I woke up before dawn and actually heard birds chirping outside. For the past week it has rained every day. All my training was inside. Today I was supposed to go for a bike ride with some of the people I train with. When I went to bed Friday night it was raining so it wasn't looking good. Saturday morning was different. I got up and drove to the rail trail and we went for a ride. We covered 30 miles in about 2 hours. Very nice ride the weather was nice. It was getting darker on the way back but it looked like we might make it. We got loaded up and went to get some breakfast and the rains returned. On the drive home it rained harder then I had seen it rain in quite a while. It finally stopped this afternoon and it looks like the rains may have passed. 

First Triathlon

Yesterday was my first triathlon. The ocean was pretty rough so it made for a challenging swim. I had a tough swim but the hard part was getting out of the water and then having to run up the beach to the transition area.  The bike ride was next it was a 13 mile ride the hardest part was the bridge over the inter-coastal. The bridge was pretty steep. Going uphill was pretty slow. Going down the other side was very fast. I even passed some people going downhill. 

At the end of the ride we then had a 3.1 mile run. My legs felt pretty heavy running for about the first 1/2 mile and then they felt a bit better. The run seemed long. I am a pretty slow runner so I had some people pass me. That was ok since I was racing to push my self and see how I do. I did pretty well in the race. I learned alot about my self and also completing in a triathlons.
The race was a challenge. I need to swim more in the ocean and need to practice running after the swim. I am still working on my goal of being a better runner. My next triathlon is in June so I have more training to do and I have a better idea of what to expect. 

Forty-three

February 12th

Today I rode my bike to the bank. It is just a short way only about a mile each way. It didn't take very long and the weather was very nice. I enjoy Florida weather when it is like this. I was out riding in the sunshine just enjoying the day. I may go for a short bike ride tomorrow. The other thing is any errands I can do by bike save gas. Plus I can count them as training rides.  Now I have to ride 20 miles each week to meet my goal for the year. 

Forty

February 9th 

Tonight I went to show my blog to someone and Blogger had removed it as a suspected spam blog. Boy, was I surprised. They had a link to go through to prove it wasn't and then they said they would have someone look at the blog in question. So it only took a few hours to have my blog restored and now I am back with my picture of the day. Samantha took this picture today while we were driving to dinner. It was taken on my iphone. The phone has a built in GPS and I was able to look in the info field and see exactly where we were when the picture was taken. If you look closely in my sunglasses you can see Samantha's reflection when she took the picture. I was also able to go out for a short bike ride today after the kids finished school. I rode 9.33 miles in 33 minutes  that averages out to 17 miles per hour. I am happy with that speed since it was windy and I stopped at the house to take off one of my shirts. I also attended the woodturning meeting tonight and was able to talk to several people and see what they have been up to. 

Thirty-two

Day 32

Back in the shop. I spent a few hours in my workshop today. This is one of my favorite thing to do. I love making stuff. Today I was making a stand to hold my bike when I work on it. This morning actually started with me going to the YMCA to go to a cycling class. I took the hour class and then went to the pool to swim some laps. After lunch I went out to the shop, and Ethan was out front playing on the hover board we made yesterday. This evening my Mom came over and joined us for dinner. I made stir fry, it had chicken, broccoli and carrots and was served over rice. After dinner I went back out in my shop and installed a new computer on my bike. It keeps track of speed, time, distance and cadence. Hopefully this will help me ride faster. At least I will know I am doing during the ride.