I have the potential to get into ALOT of trouble!

So you know the phrase "ignorance is bliss?" Well I found that out last night.



I decided to skip any workouts yesterday. My knee was feeling pressure going up and down the stairs at work after the 6 mile run on Sunday. (I know-wimp). I also needed time to work on my moutain bike since I will need that as an essential part of my equipment in 12 days. And I've been saying for weeks that I need to have my brakes worked on. Now I'm pretty mechanically inclined and I've worked on my other bikes before. So how hard can that be. Brakes? No problem. I loosened up the screw, adjusted the cable, lubed some joints, etc. Tested it. Made more adjustments. Piece of cake. Brake pads seem too high, like they rub on the tire and the rim. I'll fix that. HA this is easy.



So this is where cockyness and ignorance comes in. My derailer rubs the chain when the front is in the lowest gear (or is the smallest gear considered the highest?) There's a screw, I had the allen wrench in my hand... how hard can that be? I loosened up the screw, adjusted the cable, shifted, and........nothing. It won't shift. SHIT! WHAT DID I DO? I loosened up the screw, played with the cable, maybe it was too...what? Tight? Too Loose? OMG I NEED this bike in a week. How fast can Stan's fix my bike? Will he be able to do it in a few days? OMG WHAT DID I DO? SHIT SHIT SHIT! Ok-look at this again. Maybe I can call Brad-Mr Gadget AKA Mr Fixit. I know I have his phone number. Maybe I can take him my bike and he can fix it.



Stop. Look at this again. Follow the cable. THINK. THINK. Hmmm this cable seems way too loose. Why is this cable loose? Hey-what's this thing down here. It looks like the cable should slip around this since there's some dirt/marking there. Loosen up the screw, place the cable to go around this thing, tighten the cable. PRAY! Shift...YES. So this little thing is the key. Got it. Hmmm loosen the screw, adjust the cable again, piece of cake.



When it comes to projects, I'm a firm believer in DIY, as long as I know that I can get someone to fix my mistakes. I can potentially save alot of $$ and have that sense of accomplishment by doing it myself. AND it gets done MY way. The key is knowing I can get someone to fix my mistakes if I get myself into trouble. OK-I do know my limitations and I'm not THAT much of an idoit. And I don't crawl where there might be spiders. YUK. Or other creepy crawly things BIG YUK.



Basically you don't know what you're capable of unless you try. Now I just need to apply that idea to this AR and to my workouts.

Is it true....The more you suffer the more you show you really care

"The more you suffer, the more you show you really care" Red Hot Chili Peppers

This was the song playing on the way back from this morning's training run. This line has some sadistic truth in it.

We all met at 7 AM Sunday for a 6 mile run @ mid-tempo pace. First of all, having this on Sunday is throwing me off. I'm so used to 7AM on Saturday that I feel like I should have another day in the weekend. Hmmmfff. I wish I did. Maybe I'll forget to set my alarm (D does have this week off) and not wake up in time for work. SWEET! Ok, I guess I can't do that. At least not intentionally.....

I didn't make my goal, which is not the actual time on the chart. It's all a mind game. According to the chart, I should be running 6 miles at a 10:26 pace. That would be a total of 1: 02:24. My actual time was 1:03:25. So I missed it by 1:01. Realistically, that's not bad since we had a hill, I didn't have a chance to hydrate will yesterday, I didn't eat well yesterday, I had a nice wine tasting evening, etc. But in my mind, I was trying for a 1:00, so I really missed it by 3:25. I have to try for something better than the goal-that way if I don't make it, I can justify it in my head. But if I do reach the ficticious time, that would be better. Yeah.

Backing up to yesterday, the compass and map reading class at REI was great. I forgot some things on the compass and others were explained so it was a nice "refresher" course. But it really wasn't a refresher. If a helicoper were to drop me in the middle of the mountains with a map and a compass, I would have been lost. Now- I might be able to find a way out of a paper bag :0 I now understand declination, how to adjust my compass to magnetic north (that declination thing), how it all relates to a map, really understanding topo lines. AND THE BEST PART, I found out that the average pace to add for a hill-1 minute per 20 vertical ft. Neat formula. And the average pace is 15 minutes per mile. A K is 1.6 of a mile or .6 of a mile= 1 K.

The re-gen class yesterday was also great. This morning when I was using the new "toys," I kept thinking "I paid how much for all this torture?" I think it is helping though. I rolled this morning before the 6 mile run. I could feel pressure in my knee, but I didn't feel any pain. And I wasn't crippled afterwards, hobbling around like a one-legged sailor. Funny visual-Simpsons character in my mind. Wasn't his name Salty?) I'll see how I feel tomorrow morning.

Now I get to park myself in from of the TV and watch Wimbleton. I missed my Nadal playing yesterday :(