The sirens’ song rang in my ears. I had resisted their call for weeks, keeping myself at work and away from the coast. As the nights shortened so did my ability to resist, and on the solstice I found myself on my Siren rendezvousing with the Pacific. I pedaled along the bay, sun in my eyes, wind in my face. I followed the traffic then the tourists angling for the best…
I threw away my favorite shoes today. Calling them shoes at this point is overstating their structural integrity. They each had a hole in the sole, the tread was completely worn off, the uppers had split long ago freeing my toes of the constraints of laces. I don’t remember where I met those shoes. I know they weren’t my first pair of Saucony Kinvara 3s. I had just come back…
What's Been Going on Since Aon LA? After Aon LA I decided to go kind of nuts on the bike. I put in some crazy high mileage weeks (for me), intentionally rode dirt for the first time, and always took the high road to take advantage of those stair climbing muscles. I kept saying that I wanted to lose some weight but I know I have trouble dropping weight while primarily riding,…
I will be offering a workshop for endurance athletes on 20 July from 5-7pm at Tranquil Space Arlington (3528 Wilson Blvd Arlington,VA). This workshop will be focused on learning what poses may be beneficial and which are counterproductive at various points in your training cycle. From there we will discuss how to incorporate these modifications into an all levels class so that you can still enjoy your weekly yoga class without…
For those of you who know my love of binding, twisting, and inverted poses, my latest love will surprise you. I've taken to practicing this pose daily, either before practice or just laying in bed: supta virasana.I find that many yoga classes I take focus a lot of the back body: hamstrings, calves, back. Practicing supta virasana, I feel a deep stretch in my quads, hips, abs, and shins; my feet…
Several of my runner friends recently bought bicycles and are riding more as part of their training. This is the advice I'd offer to anyone getting on a bicycle for the first time in a long time.1. Get on the bikeWaiting until the weather is nicer or you are in better shape is a sure way to never become a better cyclist. Just get out on the bike, even if it…
Last night I was riding over to a local bike shop for their regular Tuesday night ride. I decided in late July that I wanted to improve my cadence, so I finally broke down and bought a Garmin (I held out for over a year). I know I look at it way too frequently when I ride, but I didn't realize just how dependent I had become until last night. I…
We left the Salvation Army in Centralia where we had spent the night for the start line around 615. I had originally intended to go without my wind breaker because it was supposed to warm up and it was only going to take up space in my jersey pocket I could use for food instead (I was practically a grocery store with the amount of food I had by the end).…
She's only smiling becausewe haven't started yet 100 miles 7hr 6min of actual riding 14mph University of Washington, Seattle, WA to Centralia College, Centralia, WA Late start to the day after being unable to fill my tires. Not much sleep bc I insisted on going out the night before. Not much sleep the night before that bc of travel. I needed breakfast so I got a sandwich at midnight from a…
I finally hit the 2000 mile mark on Sunday 1 July while riding up to Great Falls. It was about 12 miles into a 40 mile trip. It also occurred exactly six months after hitting the 1000 mile mark (31 Dec 2011). I know 1000 miles in six months isn't terribly high mileage, almost all of it came from trips under six miles, riding to and from work. We'll see how…