Another good week

Wow! I can't believe it's been a week since my last post. Part of that is due to being incredibly busy and the other part is, quite frankly, I have not been the mood to write. However, in reflection, it was still a very good week.

The kitchen is finally done!!! Ok, not done, but close enough. There are few trim boards that need to go up and 2 doors to put back. So it is 95% done but more importantly, it's fully operational. Sherry and I have been cooking since Wednesday night. It's great the way the new space flows. We have also spent most of our free time loading box after box out of the garage and wine cellar where everything was stored. And, of course, there is a whole house to clean since it was a construction zone for 8 weeks. I am now proud to say that the kitchen and wine cellar are back in order and looking splendid. And the garage? Well to be honest, it will be a while before we get the garage dealt with properly.

I took rest days on Monday and Tuesday after some pretty serious weekend riding in the mountains. All total, I put in 75 miles with 6300 feet of climbing in 2 days. The rides were spectacular as mountain rides always are.

Wednesday morning I did my 3.5 mile run. This was just your ordinary run-of-the-mill run with no real fanfare. I did notice I that I finished very strong. Maybe it's time to increase the distance a little (more on this later).

Thursday morning I went out and tested a 3-mile cycling loop for working on speed intervals. It is in the city, so it's also in traffic, but it consists of 4 right-hand turns onto roads that all have bike lanes. I did the first loop nice and relaxed. I was just getting a feel for route and the turns. I didn't have to deal with any cars and the right turns, all with traffic lights, didn't slow me down much either. So the second time I decided to set my base time. Of course, this time I had kids crossing in front of me on the way to school, cars pulling out in front of me and the lights did not work in my favor. Oh well! It was still a fun workout.

Friday I decided to push the run distance from 3.5 to 4.0 miles since I was feeling so strong on Wednesday. So, I head out and know within 200 meters that this will not be my day. Instead, it's going to be one of those workouts you have to fight your way through. I finally settle into a rhythm and things are going ok. Of course, I made the classic mistake of putting the extra half mile at the end. As I reached the turn for home if I am doing a shorter run I had this conversation with myself.

Mind - You're not running well. Why don't you just turn here, go home, and call it a day?
Me - No! We set out for 4 miles and that's what we are going to do!
Mind - I'm telling you - TURN HERE!
Me - Not going to happen!
Mind - (As I approach the turn) TURN! TURN! TURN! Dude, you are so going to pay for that.

In case you couldn't tell, I did not turn. Instead, I finished the run as planned and in the end it felt great. My goal is to get back into the 5 mile range so I can run the occasional 10k.

On Saturday it was off to Clearlake for the Konocti Challenge. This is a great charity ride with 65 0r 100 mile options. We opted for 65 miles this year. It was a great ride even though it did rain on us for over half the ride. What the hell! It builds character right? There may be more on this ride later.

So there you have it. A crazy week full of work, workouts, and box moving. Still, I'd have to say it was another good week.

Ciao!