I put in ten miles today at around 9:00 pace on the advice of a runner friend. Should be my last ten plus run before the marathon. Ended up being somewhere around 1200 calories spent, I think.

Got some laundry done earlier in the day, set up a few meetings, and got some work accomplished as well as some clean laundry.

I ended up having to brag about the gift I bought for A, but sometimes you have to crow about the good things you do, I guess. At least it didn’t get lost altogether.

I can’t wait to ride tomorrow. I’m going to pull my aero bars off my allez and ride that. I’ve been using my cross check as my training bike, and I love it, but I feel like taking my allez out for a little spin tomorrow so that’s what I’m going to do.

I really need another set of Keo pedals and a new set of cleats. My keo cleats from last year are so worn down it’s a joke. The screw heads poke out. None of my shops seem to have any in stock though.

Outback does have a set of Keos but they’re the carbon ones which means they’re going to be twice what the plastic ones are. I’d rather wait and order some from PBK or somewhere.

I’m watching the daily show and going to sleep. Can’t wait to ride tomorrow.

I have talked before about why I don’t vote, but I’ve been thinking about it again the last few days.

Here’s a question: Did the New Deal really end the Great Depression, or did World War II end it? It’s important because we’re experiencing a massive economic meltdown right now and a lot of people are calling for the government to do something. But can it even help, or only make matters worse?

It is unknowable. Yes. I am saying that the answer to this question is not able to be known by anyone but a full-time historian, and even that would require some conjecture. So that leaves us regular people only one course of action, to parrot whatever our personal favorite leaders think.

Being involved in politics at any level to me is like being swept away by a mighty river with supposed rescuers on either bank yelling contradicting instructions at me.

I woke up this morning feeling that A might be upset with me, and that might be why she’s acting kinda distant. So I went online and bought her a gift card to replace some stuff of hers that I sort of am responsible for the inadvertent destruction of.

As of this writing, she has not responded.

In athletic news, my marathon next weekend is going to be a big question mark.

First of all, I wasn’t expecting the world economy to catch fire and explode into a pile of smoking feces during my fund raising cycle, so I’m on the cusp of running a pretty expensive marathon because I’m on the hook via credit card for the full balance.

But hey, I signed up for it, I want to do it, and that’s that. I don’t think I will do it again, but I am glad I did.

Physically, the two times I have attempted 20 mile runs I have blown up around mile 16 or 17 and been in so much pain I couldn’t continue. I couldn’t even sit down, it hurt so bad. All I could do was basically writhe.

Laying on my back with my legs in the air when I finally got home helped.

Turns out your long runs are only supposed to be about 30-35% of your weekly mileage. I didn’t realize that, so I’d just been doing my regular weekly schedule of group rides and swims and runs thinking I was probably ok. I let my long run distance far outpace my weekly mileage and that’s why I can’t roll for the full 26.2 at a sub 4hr pace like I want to.

Lesson learned. I won’t make this mistake again.

Come race day I will be poking along and walking all the aid stations and hoping I make the finish line. It’ll be interesting to see if I make it, but I can’t really take an injury right now because I have a Half Ironman in May.

This morning I ran just over 5 miles (5.3) in about 45 minutes which is 8:20 or so pace, but there were also some stop lights and things I had to wait at and so forth.

After I ran I took a shower and shaved my legs. They are veiny like George Hincapie’s.

I took a nap, and worked on a pro bono site I am doing for the East Atlanta Kid’s Club. Then I worked for a few hours, ate some beefaroni, and got suited up to go to the Thursday Night Faster Mustache team training ride. According to CK, we put in a little over 30 miles at 17.2MPH avg and 2200 feet of climbing.

I was totally spent at the end just like last week. The guys on my team are fast. I was the slowest by far. I could keep up no problem until we started climbing, and then my power to weight ratio just ate me up. These guys all weigh probably 170 at the heaviest, so at just over 200lbs I am carrying 30lbs extra dude up those hills. Plus I’m not all that powerful, as my lactate tests this winter can attest.

It was some really good riding, though. I wish I were doing TT races all summer so I could keep training with those guys but once my marathon is over it’s going to be hardcore half ironman time. I’ll have to do all that training alone.

Which sucks.

But I picked this as a goal so I have to put in the time. Next year I can do TTs and short course tris all summer and I won’t have to train as hard.

After my ride I changed into a tee shirt and a pair of jeans and met Kate and Caren and Chad down at P’Cheen. I drank four cokes and ate a burger and every single fry that came with it. I was really hungry.

Kate kept stealing my fries. I told her “You don’t know how much I need this”. She wanted to sleep on my couch because she has a ghost in her apartment and a stalker cab driver. I said okay, but I think she changed her mind when I came home to go to sleep around 10:00 and she wanted to stay out.

My watch read 800 cals after my run this morning and around 2100 after the ride tonight, so that’s almost 3k cals in a day. I expect to drop 4k during my marathon.

I got some milk and a powerbar on the way home from eating the burger and drank the first while eating the other.

I am starving as I write this.

I need to swim tomorrow but the city pool is closed on fridays now. I might have to try to find somewhere else to swim. I gotta get at least three swims a week in.

Also, I’ve ordered ultegra 10speed shifters, chain, and cassette to go on my Specialized Allez so I can interchange my two road wheelsets between it and my crosscheck, which is my race bike during cross season and my training bike the rest of the time.

So I will be totally on Shimano 10 speed whenever that stuff comes in.

I dreamed last night I was on another of those music cruises, but this time it was on a cajun-themed boat.

I was wandering around the boat wrapped in a towel and talking on the phone for some reason. Someone had given me a new phone. It was a kind that resembled a rounded pill when closed and not in use.

As I walked around I ended up outside and noticed that our boat was whipping down a river at terriffic speed, and indeed seemed to be racing other river boats.

I went to the front of the boat and began to yell and scream and cheer for our boat. We won, but I somehow became submerged in water just as I was getting a text message. It didn’t seem to harm my phone, though.

I think I am getting faster in the water, finally. It’s taken forever to notice any appreciable speed gains with my swimming, but I think I am finally getting there. I think that doing longer swims on Wednesdays is helping my Monday drill speed.

Last night I attempted to run 20 miles and failed pretty badly. Poor route planning found me on about seven miles of roads with no shoulder, no sidewalk, and heavy, fast traffic which sucked.

I was so tired I tried to call a cab to come get me but the dispatcher said the cab probably wouldn’t come since I was just on the street and not actually at an address.

I called a few friends but no one answered. So, I just walked it on home. Ended up being around fifteen minutes short of four hours total workout time.

My watch said I burned almost 3000 calories. I ordered a pizza when I got home, ate it, and went to sleep. I will attempt a long run again this weekend, hopefully with a better route and some better luck on my part.