Cold (and Windy) Bike Rides

>> Monday, February 10, 2025

We've had some cold days recently. On a day that was 13 degrees and had 17 mph winds (that got stronger the later the day went on), I biked some errands for almost 15 miles. The first 5+ miles that were more into the wind were brutal: it was -3 with windchill, but being I was biking 11 mph mainly INTO the wind, it really felt like -7 to me. And truly, it's the cutting wind that sucks - it can be colder but not feel to bad until it blows through your soul.

After lifting weights at the gym, I biked home, but I was plenty warm being I was going more WITH the wind, so I did some extra:


Notice the long detour to the south (and then back north)
before heading home. It was chillier heading north!!

Garmin shows the wind coming straight from the west, but it really felt more like out of the NW as it was nasty for the last 3 miles home.


Freshly snow-packed (and kind of icy) trails along River Road.

I ran on those paths about 30 hours earlier, and it was mostly clear with just some packed snow here-and-there. But a little coating of freezing snow had made things slick for this ride. But always happy to get out!

This ended up being a day of good workouts: an early 2 hour trainer workout, biking to the gym, a good upper body workout, and then biking home. All-in-all, I had 472 "intensity minutes" that day! Normally, 300 is a good day, and 400 is a BIG day!

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NEW Best Treadmill Long Run Ever!

>> Saturday, February 08, 2025

In mid-January, I had a really fast treadmill long run where I started my "faster pace miles" in the middle a lot faster than normal (9.4 mph vs 8.9 - 9.1 mph) and kept speeding up. Those middle 6 pace miles were done in 36:10 (6:01.67/mile pace).

This week, I out-did that. We got a little snow overnight before my long run, so the trails were too slick for me to be out on them (it screws up my knee). So I hit the treadmill, and thought "Ummmm.... maybe I can start faster like I did a few weeks ago..."

So again, I started at 9.4 mph and sped up 0.1 mph every half mile. But this time, I sped up an EXTRA 0.1 mph at 2 different times throughout the workout: around mile 0.7 and around mile 3. With an extra bump in speed near the end, I had gone from 9.4 mph up through 10.8 mph for the final 0.3 miles or so!! My half-mile splits for those middle 6 miles were:

3:11, 3:08, 3:06, 3:01, 3:01, 2:59, 2:58, 2:56, 2:54, 2:52, 2:49, 2:47

= 35:47!! (5:57.83/mile)

I averaged under 6:00/mile for those 6 miles! Back in July, I had my first outdoor long run where I dropped under 6:00/mile - I've only been speeding up in my long runs over the years (not that I'm necessarily getting FASTER, but mostly because I decided to push the effort more and more... which DID start to make me faster).

Overall, it was 11.7 miles in 1:17:41, or 6:38 pace. With the middle 6 miles averaging just under 5:58 pace.


I had to run upstairs during my cooldown to wake my boys - you can tell where.

But seriously, I can't help but wonder if my treadmill is slowing down a bit in its old age... I might not be this fast...

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Friday Funny 2411: Innuendos

>> Friday, February 07, 2025








































Lots more funnies posted all week long on SportsAndLaughs.tumblr.com.

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Friday Funny 2410: Marriage Funnies































YEEEESSSS!!!












Me.
















Also me.



Find lots more funnies on SportsAndLaughs.tumblr.com.

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