You Want Me to What?

On March 7th, 2016, I received an exciting (and frightening) email from Human Resources at our employer, US Xpress.

Anxiously, I clicked on the link.  I was thinking that a challenging race late this summer would set me up for a nice PR on my December marathon in California.

May 22, 2016

May?  As in May: not next month, but the one after that?  I double-checked.  Yep, May of this year.  Conflicting thoughts raced through my head. 

 Don't people train for months for Half-Ironman races? Free! As in, "no entry fee?" Don't those things cost $300 or so?  Didn't I just have the lowest mileage months of running in years in January and February?  Yea, but free!  And no time-off counted against you. Let's see, last bike ride was October of 2015, and last swim workout was in Costa Rica in September of 2015.  Hey, last time US Xpress offered you free entry into a race, it was an Olympic Length Triathlon occurring just a week after a marathon.  You pulled that one off.  But a Half-Ironman is more than TWICE the distance of the Olympic-length triathlon.

I came to the conclusion that I would have to be an idiot to sign up for such a challenging race with so little preparation time.

So.  Of course I signed up.

See you in Chattanooga.

Weekly Update to March 25

Put in 12 miles this week, including some crosstraining conversions.

3/21 Irving TX
Doing laps around a truckstop or a company terminal gives the other truckers entertainment, consternation, and something to talk about.  6 miles in 63 minutes.

3/23 Orlando FL
Walking about 6 miles or so.

3/24 Orlando FL
First Zumba class.  Me gusta Zumba.  Makes me want to change my latitude!

Weekly Update to February 12

Did more crosstraining this week than running.  Lots of walking in Rio de Janeiro.

   I swam about a thousand yards of laps in the pool at the Copacabana Palace, and got a compliment from a retired swim coach.  She said my freestyle and my backstroke technique were "absolutely perfect."  And that she could not think of a thing to make them more "beautiful."
  Wow.
   So I showed her my fly stroke.
   "Well,  not everyone can do fly," she said.

Oklahoma City OK

Feeling a bit better today. Good thing, USX decided to lease our Peterbuilt and had us move into a new International. Nice truck, but it took us eight hours to do the move. I am counting it as a cross-training day, even though I tried not to get too cross.

Sobe to Haulover Beach

Today we rented a tandem bike and rode up to Haulover Beach, about a 22 mile round trip. We had a picnic lunch, enjoyed some sun, and rode down to the tip of South Beach. We took this great retro picture there. After exploring Sobe somemore we turned the bike in. We ended up with well over 30 miles and sore butts.

I-81

I did weights in the truck today. Legs and back are sore from all the walking. BTW, pictures of our trip are up on our trucking blog: adventuretrucking.blogspot.com

Carteret NJ

Sometimes there is not anywhere to run. While we were waiting for a load I decided the shipper's yard was not a good place to get in a few miles. Dodging hostlers and trucks and forklifts is not a way to endear yourself to a customer.
What to do? I jumped rope for two four-minute sets (try it) and did some push-ups and dips.
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Home Work

Would moving 5000 lbs of flagstone, 4000 lbs of river rock, yards of millings and soil, and dozens of pavingstones count as crosstraining for running a marathon? As sore as I have been, it is going to count in my book!

We did take Sunday off to go to church in Colorado Springs http://cwccs.org/ and to visit friends.

Still Broke Down

Shopping crosstraining means that your wife has a list, and you get some miles in walking. We took the Metrolink train around the area and did most of the shopping-with-your-sweetheart stuff. We window-shopped, bought some items so I could carry the bag, ate lunch at a bistro-style restaurant, enjoyed people watching and looking at nice houses near Washington University. I did not have to hang out by the changing room while Cindy tried on clothes, though. I figure at least eight miles of walking.

Honeydo Crosstraining

When we bought our house earlier this year, we knew that the Home Owner's Association would want us to do something about the unfinished project the previous owner had started in the backyard. I had hoped to get in some miles during our time at the house, but after moving almost three tons of flagstone, dirt, cinderblocks, and pea gravel, I decided to call it crosstraining.