Friday SAS ride

Awesome ride today. Was able to totally fly up Morrisville Parkway RR Track hill.

That hill really needs a name. Maybe I need to use a common name like Colin McEnroe did in his Bicycling Magazine article, "Fits & Starts". He called his nemesis Tucker. I might get ridiculed for it though since our hills have cool names like Upchuck, The 3 Sisters and Burn-off. :)

In the end still tired, it wouldn't be much exercise if I wasn't, but didn't have that "I think I'm going to puke" feeling that I had in the last 2 miles on Wednesday. I was almost able to keep up with the fastest guy in our group but he lulled me into a pace and then took off halfway up the last hill. :)

So in the end we did about 19 miles at over 18 mph. Not bad for a Friday lunch ride.

How to post a bike for sale on Craig's List

Just thought I'd save everyone a lot of time and hassle. If you are posting a bike for sale please include some key information. It will save you time and likely sell your bike a lot faster.

1. Include a picture in the form of a link to an external picture hosting site. This is much better quality than the little 1 by 1 you get by default. CL even tells you how to do it:http://www.craigslist.org/about/help/faq#pictures .
2. Size does matter. PLEASE put the bike size in the post. If its a kids bike, then put in the wheel size (12,16, 20,24). If its an adult size then post the size that is listed on the bike or take a quick measurement from the center of the crank (where the pedals meet the frame) to the top of the seat tube. If its a mountain bike or hybrid use inches if its a road bike use centimeters. It takes 30 seconds and saves you from a lot of questions.
3. Post the year or age of the bike if you know it. This doesn't matter as much for some bikes but for the higher end bikes the components can change a lot from one year to the next so it's important.
4. Include a link to the actual bike from the manufacturer if its available, or check BikePedia. I can't tell you how much time I wasted looking up bikes to get the specs when I was searching for my road bike. Its especially difficult if the year is not included in the post. (Try finding that one year that Trek made the Blue and silver Madone :) ).
5. Provide your contact information. If you do steps 1 to 4 you won't get as many calls because buyers will self-select themselves out of something that is not the right bike to begin with. You also increase the good calls because those buyers are truly interested, not just calling to get more details.
6. Per a suggestion from a reader, remove the listing once the bike is sold. It saves everyone time and the buyer some potential heartache when they thought they found that perfect bike.

Happy Selling!

Two weeks till the Denver Rock n Roll Half

Training has been going great. I'm only running 3 days a week and still improving so I don't see any need to increase the miles per week, other than the long run. This past Sunday was 12 miles and I decide to do a modified "Calloway method" of running 9 minutes and then walking 1. My average per mile was 11 seconds better than the 10 mile race the previous week.

So get that, I walked, I ran 2 extra miles, I was on my own (no buddy to push me along) and I improved my time! I think I'm sticking with this method!!

So far this week weights on Monday, intervals on Tuesday and I rode 19 miles over lunch. Tomorrow is a 5 miler at about 9 minute pace, a ride on Friday and 13 miles on Sunday. Next week will be tapering for the big race.

See you in Denver,

Moot.

Running, Running, Running

The 5K times continue to come down as a by-product of the long-distance training. But now the distance actually starts getting longer this week. Doing 7 miles on Sunday after 4 today, 3.5 tomorrow and 3 to 4 on Saturday.

I'm also signing up for the Anna's Angels 10 mile race as a gut-check on how well I'm doing. It'll be 3 weeks before my first half marathon so I'll still have some time to do some adjusting.

Lastly, I've been posting training loops from 3 to 7 miles on Livestrong.com so feel free to check them out if you are convenient to the Bond Lake green way. As my milage increases I'll be posting longer distances.

- Dwight.

Ummm, Donuts?

Amazing what a lot of working out will do. In the past "donut day" would have elicited a "Yummm", now its more like "uggh". I guess I've turned the proverbial corner.

-Moot

12 week program starts today

Started the official 12-week half marathon training program today! Did 5X 400 intervals, fast at 5K pace and slow at half marathon pace (or my estimate of what that will be).

By the way, congrats to Lance Armstrong and the Radio Shack team on the TDF!

Half Marathon Training Break # One

It was totally unintentional but my vacation completely sacked my workout schedule. I had even packed all my running stuff and plotted out some courses around Boone. Oh well, it didn't seem to hurt my short-distance time as I ran a 25:41 "easy" 5K this morning. If you haven't been out lately its damn hot, even at 6:30 am. Tomorrow will be an easy 3 miles and some plumbing work for my "strength training". (A happy face would have gone hear, but Lance said that men should not use them, ever) OK now I want to put in another one...

By the way the Apex Turkey Trot registration opened today! http://www.apexnc.org/depts/parks/events.cfm