Amanda and her Heritage Eagles volleyball team won their first match of the season at Chatfield this evening 2 games to 1. Amanda played great and we are very proud of her.
Here she is at the net as the opponent appears to be putting a hex on her.
Later she is all focus as she prepares to deliver a strike.
Boomer thinks it’s pretty cool that his sister plays volleyball.
Today is my day off so no exercise related story. On second thought … today kicks off (serves up?) the start of the Colorado High School Volleyball season and #3 daughter Amanda will be in action as her Heritage Eagles travel to face the Chatfield Chargers this evening. I’ll try to get a story and some photos up later this evening.
I swam a 2250 yard workout this morning before work.
500 yd warm-up
10 x 25 yd sprints w/15 second rest
10 x 100 yd moderate w/10 second rest
500 yard cool down
This wasn’t a ho-hum workout, but I feel like writing about it is. I don’t have anything exciting, surprising, witty, or otherwise earth-shattering to share with you other than my exercise accomplishment for the day.
Enjoy your day, and have fun.
Most of you who read this are aware that I am a morning person, and I do 95% of my training in the morning, before work, and before the sun rises. I like the quiet and solitude of the mornings. I like the pre-dawn darkness. I like the congestion-free roads and trails. I like getting my workouts in before the day starts, so if something unexpected comes up, I don’t have to stress about getting a workout in.
And because of this, some days I am rewarded. I had the perfect view of the sky as I churned out my 4 mile run this morning. And this gave me a perfect view of the lunar eclipse in the WSW sky. What a great sight.
After taking five days off two weeks ago, and four days off last week, I feel like I’m ready to get serious about training again. I think my lack of motivation came from the fact that I missed out on registration for the triathlon I had been targeting, plus the fact that I haven’t been feeling so well. I do feel like all of that is out of my system and I’m going to make a concerted effort to get after it in the next several weeks.
So I swam a 2000 yard workout this morning.
In related news, a gentleman I work with recently won his age group in the Mt. Evans Hill Climb, which is a bicycle race to the top of the highest paved road in the world. It starts at 7,540 feet and climbs to the summit at 14,264 feet. This same gentleman recently (yesterday) was the first to finish the “cycle to the sun” ride up the steepest road on earth Sunday, 36 miles through Haleakala National Park in Hawaii to the 10,005′ summit. Pretty impressive.
See these links:
http://mauialmanac.com/
http://www.bicyclerace.com/
And finally, oldest son Eric was on the local news last night. David Beckham and the LA Galaxy were supposed to be in town for a match against the Colorado Rapids last night. Well the Galaxy made the trip, but Beckham did not. Eric had tickets to the match and was interviewed by the local CBS affiliate. See the link below, then on the right side of the page click the thumbnail with the “Beckham” jersey to play the video, which starts with a brief advertisement. Eric is the first guy interviewed.
Thanks to Paul, here is a direct link to the video:
Eric on Channel 4
After the Headstrong Club meeting, Matty and I sat off to conquer the dam at Chatfield reservoir.
We cut through the neighborhood and entered the Canal trail around Broadway, heading south. We rode the Canal trail for several miles south until we crossed underneath C-470, then headed west towards the reservoir.
Once inside the State Park, we assaulted the dam via the auto route, the made our transition back to the bike path and headed for home.
Rather than back tracking, went split north on the Platte River trial. During this section of the ride, we really got to cruising, and maintained about 20 mph for a good part of 5 miles.
We found the Lee Gulch trail junction and headed east on this. From the river up Lee Gulch is consistently uphill, so this part was gruesome. Linking back with the Canal trail we tracked back to the starting point.
23.15 miles total, but I completely forgot my heart rate monitor, AND forgot to punch the stopwatch, I have no idea how long this ride took us, nor do I have any other geek information. Dammit. So the two day tally was almost 40 miles and I’m pleased with my efforts.
Skipped the swim Saturday morning and went for a bike ride with Matty on the canal. 16+ miles on our mountain bikes. I think riding my mountain bike is easier/better than riding my road bike. I enjoy the ride more, and seem to average from three to eight miles per hour faster. We took the canal from around the Ice Rink area north well into Greenwood Village, then after about half an hour of riding, turned around and went home.
Immediately after the ride, I had a shower and Tami and I went to Tim and Jeanne’s for dinner. Tim grilled hamburgers and hot links, and there were beans and a fabulous macaroni/potato salad. We had several beers, then retired to the couch to watch the Donk’s pre-season game with the Browns. Had a glass of our current favorite Cab and a gigantic piece of chocolate cake to finish us off. We were both absolutely stuffed, but had a very enjoyable (as usual) evening with Tim and Jeanne.
No bike ride and no swim yesterday. Not feeling right.
No exercise this morning either. In addition to the way I feel physically, I’m lacking in motivation as well.
I’m going to change my diet again, and change my supplements too.
Shooting for a swim tomorrow morning. And a run/bike double on Sunday.
I woke up yesterday morning with what I think is an inner ear infection. My equilibrium was so out of whack that if I moved too quickly I would become instantly nauseous. There was no way I was going to the pool and further exacerbate the situation. I managed to make it to work, and made sure I moved very slowly the rest of the day.
I was going to try and ride with Matty O in the evening, but there were some extraordinary thunderstorms around, including some pretty impressive lightning strikes that we both weren’t comfortable with, so we wisely called the session off.
Today my balance has returned somewhat, but I still feel like there is a ball of cotton in my ear – every sound is muffled. Thursday is my natural morning off from training because of an early work day obligation. I’m going to try for the bike ride again this afternoon, but more thunderstorms are forecasted. If that is the case, then I’ll probably go to the pool and make up the missed workout from yesterday.
I ran the four mile course in Highlands Ranch this morning. That is one seriously hilly course. And we already are sitting at 5000+ feet above sea level. If running that thing as part of my training doesn’t help me improve, then I don’t know what will. I finished in 42:11.
I’m going to take my mountain bike over to Matty O’s tongiht so he can give it a proper once over. There is access to the excellent Highline Canal trail in our neighborhood, and I think Matty and I are going to start riding it one evening a week.
