Friday, August 7, 2009




Great week! My youngest daughter Cathy Jo (CJ) and grandson John have been visiting from Colorado. This has been a fun week, even though I "bottomed out" on blood counts because of the latest chemo treatment. We’ve hiked, biked, paddled kayaks, hung out at Baker Street, and eaten more fat foods than usual. The high point of the week was an off road excursion on bikes with the daughter and grandson – not a hammer session, just a casual "hike on a bike" through some desert country after a nice rain. Mud is good!

I’m trying hard to maintain a positive attitude and keep up a regular workout schedule, but it’s hard to accept that (temporarily) I’ve got to settle for workouts appropriate for someone 60 years old. Here are my training log notes for the past seven days - please don't tell my oncologist. He doesn’t want me to "train" and thinks I'm content to just walk the dammed dogs after work!

Saturday: Am walk/jog on dirt road from Hell, 10 min fast walk, then 5X 2 min run w/ 3 min fast walk recovery. PM warm up on treadmill and 30 min gym session.
Sunday: Easy pace ride from house through Spring Creek Park and back. 13 miles, 56 minutes, HR remained under 120 BPM
Monday: PM easy bike cruise with daughter and grandson, 50 minutes.
Tuesday: No workout – legs tired, rest day. Side effects of chemo ruled the day ...
Wednesday: Same as Saturday, 10 min fast walk, then 5X 2 min run w/ 3 min fast walk recovery. Running seems a little easier than I expected (maybe because I’m 20 lbs lighter?).
Thursday: 60 min mountain bike ride with grandson (lots of looking at bugs, etc.)
Friday: AM 60 min road ride to Mid Concho with daughter – nice pace, legs felt a little stronger than earlier in the week.

The daughter that was visiting from Colorado has come full circle as relates to cycling and workouts. She was an up and coming mountain biker as a junior, qualifying for the USA’s junior world championship team for the 1994 worlds in Vail. She raced for Fort Lewis College (Durango), but unfortunately suffered a serious hip injury as the result of a training ride crash and had to give up cycling. Fast forward to today, and she’s a 32 year old single mom who’s decided to lose weight and get back into recreational cycling. To help further her cause, I built her up a Redline cyclocross bike that’s perfect for cruising bike paths, dirt roads, and smooth single track. Given her natural ability, she’ll be an animal on the bike again within a year or so.

I just finished my newspaper column that will appear on Saturday, Aug 9th. The theme for this column is "Technology Assisted Fitness", otherwise known the Tools Used by Techno Geek Athletes. Log onto http://www.sastandardtimes.com/ and look for the column in the Sports section.


UPCOMING EVENTS

August 13: Road bike TT series, www sanangelobicycleassociation.com
August 15: Southland Shuffle, roadlizards.orgAugust 29: Tiparrary Creek King of the Rockies mountain bike race, Winter Park, CO, http://www.epicsingletrack.com/default.asp?page=racedes/race8des.html
Dec. 10-13: Cyclocross National Championships, Bend, OR, http://www.visitbend.com/Bend_Oregon_Activities_Recreation/National-Championships/Cyclo-cross/default.aspx

Who Do I Follow On The 'Net?

The response from readers regarding my final newspaper column in the San Angelo Standard Times (which several people referred to as the &quo...