Something Stupid on the Way

Another week started with 28 degree air in the dark at Plate City Gym. Tyler was there. Vicki was there. Everybody else is a sissy. We did our push workout which is mostly pressing, bench and log. Also we work the seated dip machine and the SkiErg. We got it done while the world slept. Even the birds were too cold to come out until well after the sun had come up. By then, we were inside with our coffee, breakfasts, and spouses. Yeah, life is good like that.

After work, I went to the pool. Tyler was out that night so I went in alone around midafternoon. I swam

1,500 30:27

400 back

10 X 50 @ 1:16

150 easy

total: 2,550 = 2,330 meters

After dark, I went out for a little shuffle. Still recovering from Saturday's half-marathon, I only did 2.25 easy miles for my 127th straight day of running. Yeah, I'm bad like that. Despite my streak, I am still very slow. I am, however, getting more durable or at least I think I am. That is part of the reason for this streak. For 2023, Tyler and I have a huge plan to do something really great momentous big unbelievable unbelievably stupid. I will not announce this one until probably January of 2023. We still have quadrathon to finish. Stay tuned for something really big and stupid coming from someone who is noted for super stupidity. Thank you, Jesus.

Tyler on the Ski Erg

BBU 13

BBU 13 was another solid but not stellar week of training. Monday started at Plate City with some serious lifting. Vicki joined us for the first time (right?). I have a forgetter that works overtime. I think she was there for the first time, but maybe it was for the second week. Anyway, we didn't play around but lifted hard. On the road, since it was taper week, I only ran 2.88 miles. In the pool, Tyler and I hit 2,400 yards.

Tuesday, there was more lifting in the cold, dark gym. There is something neat about showing up early and getting work done while the world sleeps. While the world was awake, I hit the road for 2.44 miles. Yeah, not much, but a race is coming up Saturday. The pool? We swam 3,600 yards. Yeah, that is real swimming.

Wednesday was the morning Tyler tapped out. I shed no tears. Fatigue had hit me pretty hard already so I went back to bed, went to sleep, and had to be awakened by my wife. I only ran 2.19 miles leaving me lots of energy to spend in the pool. Tyler was out so I did a straight swim of 3,650 yards.

Thursday is our normal sleep in day, but since we were off from the gym Wednesday, we met and lifted. After work, my shuffle was down all the way to 2.03. Tyler and I only swam 2,000 yards so it was a fairly easy day.

Friday we lifted again, and I ran 1.12 miles. Thursday the news was released that the Mississippi River Marathon and Half was cancelled due to weather. (?!?!?) I don't understand why so many people have trouble with weather forecasts. They are really not complicated. Ice begins to melt at 32 degrees Fahrenheit, so our projected Thursday low of 36 led to all MDCC campuses being closed. Huh? Then the race. It snowed in Texas, so cancel the race in Mississippi. Huh? I swam 2,650 yards and then went home and rested.

Forrest and Vicki and I did our virtual half by meeting at Bankston school and doing an out and back on Money Road. Forrest ran 2:15, Vicki 2:42, and I dragged in at 2:58. After some serious napping, I did my work at the gym.

For the week, I

ran 25.12 miles,

SkiErgged 21:05

biked 7:30

lifted weights five times, and

swam 13,071 meters

That is pretty decent and is certainly moving us towards being ready for quadrathon in June. Thank God for goals. They make life interesting.

The Mississippi River Half Marathon

We are becoming a nation of sissies. Our school closed all campuses Thursday because of "inclement weather." Huh? It rained. The weather forecasters predicted our temperatures should drop all the way down to 36 at 10:00 a.m. At 10:00 a.m. nothing will freeze until you get well down into the 20s. I am confused as to why people can no longer understand a weather forecast. It baffles me. But hey, I did not have to go in to work. So there is that.

The Mississippi River Marathon and Half was scheduled for Saturday, February 5. It snowed in Texas so they cancelled the race here. "Going virtual" is what they called it. Well, at least I got to sleep longer and save some money on a drive. Forrest, Vicki, and I decided to go ahead and do our virtual half by meeting at Bankston School Saturday morning at 9:00 and doing and out and back on Money Road. It was cold. 

We did our run anyway. We're bad like that. At least we had sunshine and light winds. But let me tell you, at 28 degrees, even a two-mile-per-hour wind, which is what we had, is a tough thing. I felt it. All. The. Way.

The Greenwood Trio before our race

From the start, Forrest jumped out and left Vicki and me to battle the wind alone. Vicki passed me on the Tallahatchie bridge but I stayed about 25 yards behind for several miles. But slowly I slowed and she held her pace, putting more and more distance between us. When we were in the upper end of the chute, Forrest was coming back already. I checked my watch and did the math. He was 1.4 miles ahead of me. When I met Vicki coming back, she was .4 miles ahead. As I ran on, I saw some clothes on the shoulder. It took a second, but I realized that Vicki dumped some stuff. All her colors were left on the road's shoulder and when I turned and re-entered the chute, I never saw her again. I even grew concerned for her when I never could find her up ahead. I was praying she had not been abducted.

Although my pace kept slowing, I never really suffered. I finished in 2:58:58. That is a terrible time, but I felt pretty good getting it done. And it was a good training run. We didn't wimp out or wait for a better day. The race director said we have until March 15 to turn in our results. Only a handful of us did it that day.

The route

At the end, Vicki had chocolate milk and donuts. Forrest was gone already, so I had lots of eating to do. He finished in 2:15, and Vicki did her first ever half in 2:42. It had taken me weeks to convince her that she could do it. Finally, she agreed to give it a try, and she did well. I went home and took a nap and studied for Sunday. 

After a lot of napping, I went to Plate City. Although I had run a half, it was leg day and since my legs are so pathetically weak, I have committed this year to not skipping my lower body work, ever. I did not do what I usually do. But I did some squats and played around with some other stuff. Saturdays are play days at the gym. Pee Wee was happy to have me, and we had fun. Besides squats, I did some Swim Pulls and some SkiErg work. Also I played with some tubing that Vicki donated to the gym. This will help for with it we can work our fast twitch swimming muscles. I think I still have one fast twitch muscle fiber in my upper body. I think, I just don't know where it is. Then I called an end to all efforts, turned off the TV, and went inside for the night. It was a good day for me. Thank you, Jesus.

What a Quadrathete from Plate City can Do

The gym was quiet Wednesday morning. Tyler cancelled and I cried. Not really. I was very tired, sent Vicki a text, and went back to sleep. Penny had to wake me at 7:00 a.m. I had been up much of the night coughing so I was really done in and the rest gave me a shot at finishing the day. 

At work, I had lots of cookies to eat. It's a rough job, but I take it seriously. Also, Wednesday is my long day. I teach four straight classes. I thought I would have to dismiss some of them early because my voice was a bit abused, but I made it all the way through. I even held two of the classed over by a minute or so.

Tyler also cancelled our swim. It was alright. He had been telling me that his brother wanted him to come over one Wednesday and do a CrossFit workout at a gym in Grenada. I told him to go show those hillbillies what a Plate City quadrathete can do. He did and won the class by a big margin. They did wall balls, a push press, and a clean in rounds over a set period of time. Tyler did 30 rounds. The person in second place did 14. We are bad like that.

Although I was alone in the pool, I felt really good and swam well. It seems that tough set of 100s we did Tuesday tuned me up some. I swam 3,650 yards straight in 1:08:??. My average pace was 1:52 per 100 yards. That, for me, is good swimming and indicates that my endurance is not bad and my fitness is coming up. I need to keep that ball rolling, not so much for quadrathon, but for the two swim meets I hope to do this spring and summer. For quadrathon, we are only swimming one mile. So we could do that training by swimming once or twice per week. But to perform well at a swim meet requires more. Tyler is in on the State Games, and he will be a threat in the 50 and 100 free. So we are doing more.

Thank you Jesus, for a training partner and goals and good health. 

Busting It Big

Tuesday was a good one first at Plate City then at the pool. We did our pull workout, a first for Vicki. We performed five or six sets of the chest-supported row, some lat pulldowns, a set of Swim Pulls, and of course we finished with the Ski Erg for 4:25. One solid workout. Yes, it was cold and dark at 5:30 a.m., but by a quarter till 7:00 you could read a newspaper out there not needing a light. The days are getting longer. Praise God.

On the road, I was already cutting back, tapering for Saturday. I shuffled a mere 2.44 miles, down .44 from Monday's 2.88. I will do even less today. But it was at the pool where we went above and beyond, where we busted it big. We swam

  2,000 39:42

  12 X 100 @ 2:18 (most 1:33 - 1:36)

  50 easy

  300 RIM 6:29

  50 easy

  total: 3,600 yards

That was a good practice. It had volume, endurance, speed, heart rate work, and stroke practice. That is not everything, but most everything. It was also Tyler's longest practice ever, and he is improving like crazy. Usually I lap him three times on our long warmup set. Not last night. I was about forty yards ahead of him after 2,000 straight. He can beat me at will in a sprint, and he is better at the breast stroke. 

How did we come up with 300 on the RIM? We swam 50 free, 100 back, 100 breast, and 50 free. Yeah, that was tough for me. But we don't care about toughness. We are bad like Besides quadrathon, we have our sights set on the State Games. We are going there to kick butt and eat candy bars, and my guess is that we will be all out of candy bars by the time we arrive in Meridian two days after our epic quadrathon. Praise God.

The Next Training Cycle Begun

The next week of training for the Crazy Man Quadrathon has started. We, Tyler, Vicki, and I met in the cold, in the dark, in the best gym in town in Leflore County in Mississippi in the South-east in America in North America in the Western World in the world. It was push day and after only two sets in Tyler announced that he was stronger. I was stronger than last week also when I had the sinking spell and could not finish my reps for the fifth set of bench presses. We hit it hard, and Vicki did her first every upper body workout, if you don't count swimming. 

Since Vicki, Forrest, and I are running the Mississippi River Half Marathon this Saturday, I only shuffled 2.88 miles. It is time to start tapering for the race where I was caught and passed by walkers last year. It happened. It hurt. I am still in counseling over that. 

I met Tyler at the pool at 6:00. We swam

1,850 37:00

3 X 50 @ WIFL

3 X 50 breast @ 2:06

200 back

50 easy

total: 2,400 yards = 2,193 meters

Tyler swam a 50 for time. What did he do? From a push off the wall, he did 30.27. That is way faster than I can do on my best day. I am going to unleash a beast on the swimming world at the State Games this year. Plate City is coming, coming to win.

So not bad. We are going to do the quadrathon like the two toxically masculine males we are. We are bad like that. Thank you, Jesus, for the vision, drive, and health you have given us.