Swag Surfing

One of my favorite comedies is Top Secret! which features Val Kilmer as an American entertainer who plays spy in Nazi Germany. It's akin to the Elvis Presley features where he'd be a GI and also sing. Anyway the songs Val Kilmer sings are pretty ridiculous, and my favorite is Skeet Surfing. Of course, they're talking about shooting clay pigeons while surfing, not the other meaning of skeet. That would be awesome.

Following Sunday's impressive effort, I kept the intensity up. Stanford measured our ride at just a shade over 88 miles, so 88/9 is a pretty good day. Monday I was definitely feeling a little worked, and went to Fed Hill expecting an easier run, but there would be no rest for the weary. The pace was more than honest from the gun, and by the time we emerged from the Fort, it was full tilt.

Tuesday was definitely not going to be easy, as the scheduled workout was hills at Robert E Lee. Vomit-inducing hills. Not that anyone threw up, but I think everyone was feeling like they could have. Chipotle never tastes as good as after a hill workout. You feel like you've earned it.

Wednesday, the last day of the saga. OJ gave my bike the old "whatfor" and the thing now runs super smooth. Then we headed up to the wickedly fast Wednesday Night Ride from Oregon Ridge. Up there we met the likes of Tank and Alex and took off for a 30 mile ride. The ride starts out civil, but within a few miles ramps up to a very quick pace, full of accelerations and decelerations. My legs were far from good on this day and I didn't expect to hang on long, but I popped within 30 minutes. Just couldn't keep the wheel and was relegated. Me and this other dude rode the ride together. Unfortunately we were given somewhat incorrect directions and added on a few miles, but it was all good.

My hope is that within a few weeks, after Eagleman and more likely after Providence as well, that I can come out to this ride and hang on a little better. That and some of the practice races down in Greenbelt on Wednesdays.

All told it was 4 really intense days. Shorter efforts, but intense. Thursday's plan had been to ride easy in the morning and then swim at night. Both efforts were thwarted by weather. We were going to swim at Gunpowder Falls Park in the "river" (more like a tributary to the Bay) but upon Stanford's arrival he noticed a sign indicating there had been a sewage spill = no swimming. We head back to the pool. It's cold and raining, some of the negatives to swimming in an outdoor pool. After 1000m warmup we are kicked out due to alleged thunder. I didn't hear anything, nor did I hear any thunder the rest of the night. I bet it was a truck. Whatever, I didn't want to swim anyway.

I was okay with taking yesterday pretty easy, it was welcome, in fact. But today I'm a little more disappointed. OJ and I had planned on riding this morning and then I was going to run at the Park. Heavy rains washed out plans for the ride, and I don't want to go to the pool now. The run may not take place at the Park, but it'll go on.

The weekend's plans are for some focused efforts each day, but that'll be it for the week. Might do a little something on Tuesday at track, and perhaps one last little TT effort on the bike for a short duration, but it's time to bring it down. Work's been done, Eagleman is just over a week away.