Three hours of cardio

Wyatt recently purchased a road bike and he has been itching to take it for a spin. This morning I accommodated Wyatt with 60-minutes of easy riding through a couple local parks. It is safe to say I have a better cardio fitness base than Wyatt, so the ride was leisurely and fun for me.

We started at a fuel station on West Lake Houston Parkway. From there we a couple miles rode to Duessin Park. We left Duessin Park and rode to nearby Eisenhower Park, which is below the Lake Houston dam. After a couple loops inside Eisenhower Park we found our way back to my truck for a total of fifteen miles.

All and all, it was a nice little ride.

Road Bike:

15.12 miles

1:00:05

15.1 mph

Once I got home I set out for a six mile run in 92 degree weather. Summer acclimation is still in progress. For the first time this year, 92 degrees felt every bit of 92 degrees. On this run I was looking for a place called “Ten acre lake”. From what I can see on Google maps the area seems to have trails nearby, but I’m not exactly sure how to get to the lake. Either way, I had the whole day to try and find the area.

In my attempt to find the lake I ran along several new bayous. The terrain is hard compact dirt and quite rough in many areas. Three miles of exploring never revealed the whereabouts of said lake, but I found a field of black berries engulfed with millions of tiny little treasures. On Wednesday I plan to go back there on my bike and stock up on Mother Nature’s treat to us.

Near the end of the run I had one small incident that left me frustrated and wondering why some people act the way they do. I was running along a fence line that followed the curvature of the bayou. As I approached the end of the fence a mid-size, mixed bred dog jumped out 40 feet in front of me. Both the dog and I startled the each other. The dog was not happy about my presence. The hair on his back was sticking straight up and he was angrily barking while making a slow approach towards me.

Seconds after the dog appeared from behind the fence, so did his owners. The couple were well-dressed and appeared to be in their early thirties. Both the man and woman seemed “normal”. The woman was holding a smaller dog who was barking as well. She was calling the other dog to come back, but the man just stood there as if there wasn’t any urgency to the situation. Instinctively, I stopped in my tracks to determine my next move.

With the man just standing there watching his dog move closer to me, I asked the couple; “Can you please grab your dog so I can pass by?” The woman wanted to help, but she had her hands full with the smaller dog. The man responded to my request with, “Just run real fast and maybe he won’t get your neck. He’ll probably just bite your leg”. This idiotic comment infuriated me to no end. Immediately I responded back with, “Dude, don’t be a dick. Just grab your fucking dog”.

Thankfully he listened and held his dog back while I passed by them. I kept a close eye on the man and his dog, not knowing if he might let the dog go prematurely. Once the man made his initial comment the woman was yelling at him and saying; “Don’t do this, grab him!! Why do you always do this to me?” It would seem this guy is always a douche bag for no reason at all. I felt sorry for the woman who has to live with this loser. I don’t understand some people. Thankfully nothing serious happened and I continued my run home.

Following the six mile run in the heat, I resided to the living room floor in recovery mode. Once Andrea arrived home from work an hour later we went back out for the remainder to the day’s mileage. Weather.com was still reporting temperatures in the 90’s. We ran our old five mile greenbelt loop. It was still hot, but the shade within the trails helped mitigate the heat. We must have felt good, because we ran between 10:30-10:40 per mile pace.

By the end of this last run I was ready to call it a day. Three hours of cardio is a good day in my books!

Tonight I attended the 2010 Kingwood FIT coaches meeting. Not a lot of new information, but I was able to share my trail program ideas with the group. The coaching staff seems a little light this year. I’m hoping there are more coaches that weren’t able to attend the meeting.

The night was concluded with a few push-ups.

Now, where the heck is my bed!?!?

Run:

11.36 miles

2:06:48

11:10 pace

Walk:

2.2 miles

36:47

16:43 pace

Push-ups: 32