Long Time No Post

For me, at least.  What's it been, 13 days?  And my posting absence hasn't been for any good or dramatic reason, merely due to the convergence of the last month of school, the first month of three-a-week oval skating workouts, and a weekend visit to my parents.  Since--despite the almost two weeks since my last post--nothing really major has been happening at the Long Track Ranch, I'll give you a few nice, succinct bullet points.

• Oval workouts.  My oval workouts--four of them so far--have gone fine.  Not terribly fast, but fine.  No feeling of thyroid issues, not too many PVC's, and I've managed to finish all of the workouts--even the one on Tuesday in the record 98 degree heat with the 35 mph wind.  Mel wanted to stop that one at three sets--in her defense, she'd already done a bike interval workout, dryland, and a trail skate that day--but the fat old lady (yup, me) talked her into doing all four sets.  I considered it a victory for mental toughness.  
• I am old.  The oval workouts I'm doing are the same ones I did in 2007, and let me tell you, the difference between a 43-year-old body and a 49-year-old body is huge.  And I'm not just referring to the size of my ass.  Although the size of my ass (and everything else) might be contributing to the difference; I wonder how much harder a body has to work to propel 15 more pounds of dead weight down the track?
• On a related note, I'm trying to clean up my eating (again).  Since I'm not a fan of vegetables and even most fruits, I'm trying a Nutribullet blender to make getting in the 5-9 servings easier.  So far fruit and vegetable consumption is up and poptart consumption is down.  I'll keep you posted.
• Trail skates.  In looking back at last year's (abysmal) spring/summer workouts, I noticed that trail skates were notably absent.  In theory they're supposed to be "recovery workouts," but in reality they're pretty good endurance work and skipping them undoubtedly contributed to my lackluster 3K and 5K times last winter.  So this year I'm back on track with weekly trail skates, and I'm enjoying them.
• My back is now behaving nicely again, thanks to my chiro and the massage therapist at his office.  Next week looks rainy, though (in fact, today's workout is being rained out even as I type), so I'll have to decide if I want to aggravate things again by substituting dryland workouts for any skates that get rained out.
• The skate park punks are back in full obnoxious swing.  I currently have some really bad bearings in a couple wheels that produce a nice whirring noise when I skate; I know I should replace them but I can't help but think they might work like those deer whistles you put on your car, and will warn the Punks that I'm coming down the track.
• I'll leave you with the obligatory "I visited my parents and have to post pictures of our cabin and/or my parents' dogs" pictures:
  
   Even in May, there's still a little snow along the driveway.
  
  
  
  
  
  I love the way Keira is subtly photobombing the small dogs.