It’s Friday! Weekend is like 74 minutes away which will probably be like 53 by the time I post this. Big hockey game tonight, Badgers vs Gophers, and we will be there! Add in some post-work hot tubbing and pre-game cheesesteaks and a great evening is born! After a little basketball tomorrow morning it looks like the ride that was supposed to happen last week will go this week. Hopefully I will lose that slacker label come tomorrow…probably not, unless it is replaced by wheel sucker! Yeah, wheel sucker! I am by far the worst rider of the group so I’ll have to suck wheel! At least Garett is there…he rivals my size! Badgers at Michigan basketball game Saturday afternoon, always my favorite game to watch every year!

Like a Geico ad I am saving some green on car insurance, $350 or so a year actually. I could keep the same policy at $250 less or just downgrade the deductibles a tad and save another $100. So that’s like an Ipod right there! :) Speaking of Ipods my wish list is down to about 3. I want a track bike, I-Pod (not sure which one, 4gb nano or 30gb video) and a wet suit. I have no order for getting these, I just know I need the wet suit by summer. I am sure there are other things I want...but those are the big 3.

I rode my bike at lunch today. I got in 16-17 miles. The first 7 were into a massive headwind. The way back was awesome for a while but then once I got on the Military Ridge trail I didn’t feel the tailwind as much. Must’ve been all the standing water and snow patches. Anyways, I found a new way through the ghetto today too, I had to ride over a lot of glass on my way out and none on the way back. It also let me finish in under an hour and probably dropped my upper 16 mile ride to the lower 16s. Anyways, I was perfectly dressed for the ride which is rare for me in below 65 degree weather!

Ever crave crackers with cheese spread?

When I started out this was supposed to be a training blog with inputs on food and happenings. Now it appears it is a food and happening blog with occasional mentions of training. Oh well, eating is more fun than training…once I have some serious rides and races to write about I am sure I will!

Anyways, here is a training update! It’s been all running so far! I’ve only gotten out once on the road bike in January (should have went out my birthday weekend but I was kind of busy!) I’ve done 4 spinning classes in the last week+ so that’s good although from what I’ve been told that is bad. I am supposed to do base miles but I guarantee my heart rate is mostly above base during each hour of spinning. On the plus side the 5 hours of running each week is at or near a base zone so that’s good. I am guessing the 5-6 weekly hours of basketball is way above base as well. What I do realize is that I’ll never be world class…hell I’ll likely never be above Sport Class. Anyways, with this spinning and getting my bike on the trainer and the warm weather and slightly longer days I expect my riding to increase. I also need to integrate a couple of longer runs some day so hopefully in the next two weeks I can do that as well. So since my focus is on late summer racing I don’t feel as behind in my base as those who want to be in elite racing shape in late April. I’ll get to where I want to be! If only the first stage of a triathlon could be basketball then I would be all set! Want to start running? 18 weeks until Madison Marathon, just in time for this plan! I am trying to balance this plan with cycling, basketball and eventually swimming to get ready for Madison Marathon myself. I am using the Intermediate-1 plan myself but the novice plan could work for almost anyone! Running is going very well though, my knees aren’t all that sore and my body is holding up! 77 miles in January so far!

Which leads me to my doctor’s visit. Clearly my dietary plan of exercise more than I eat while good in theory overlooked one main point…cholesterol. So although I’ve lost or maintained my weight over the past year and increased muscle mass my cholesterol went up like 25 points. Granted it was checked at the peak of the Holiday season (late December) but the doctor was still very concerned. So on February 6th I start my new diet. Actually phase 1 starts on February 1st and last for a month. I invented this diet myself, it is the no potatoes in February diet. For 28 days I will eat no potatoes. But Mark, how is that a diet? You see I eat tons of fries and go places because of the fries. No potatoes means less burgers, less ranch, less cheese, less going out, less tater tots, etc. Hopefully it will get me to try some new places. You see I can still get a burger but I’ll have to find a different side, usually healthier than fries. I’ll try new places, new foods and we can go to more Jess-friendly restaurants. If I need to gorge I still can…pizza, cheese curds, burgers, etc. But trust me this will work! On February 6th I am going to try to eat less red meat and other sources of cholesterol and trans-fat. I don’t understand how it all works but I guess exercise is only 1 of 3 components to cholesterol and I can’t change my heredity. No worries though, I’ll still be eating burgers at the Fudd when it opens!

Finally I see that when I put photos in a post I get like 300% more replies so here is a photo for you! He is my pick to win the Super Bowl. All things considered it comes down to one man…Mr. Charlie Batch! He’s my second favorite NFL player (Peyton). So although I don’t care all that much who wins my leaning is towards Pittsburgh…

Oh wait, there’s more! We won our first City League basketball game. After 2 awful showings and then a drubbing at the hands of a team that is far to good to be in our league we finally won against the Harbor Athletic Club team. We played solid D and solid O and used a 2nd half press to overcome a 7 point deficit. While I used to think I was the worst player on the worst team in the league I am now a solid contributor on both sides of the ball to a below average team! I’ve had good points, lots of other stats and no fouls in the past two weeks! There’s hope for us after all!

So it’s Monday again…

...and for that I am sad. The weekend appeared to fly by…almost like I missed a day! Friday was rough. We went to Joey’s Seafood and Grill for lunch. It is a valid option. Barry would love the hush puppies (as did I) and I also got 2 of the largest pieces of fish I’ve ever had and all you can eat fries…all for $5.49. Awesome place for lunch! Food was well above average but not elite. Now for the bad. Our server (Gabe) was a frickin’ weirdo. From when we came in until we got our food he was a great server. Unfortunately he disappeared right after that. He spent 10-15 minutes talking to a couple soccer moms (and ignoring all other tables including ours) then he disappeared for like 10 minutes. He finally reappeared to help another of his tables and another 5 minutes passed and he came to us. He finally got us some more fries and everything. Pretty crappy, I had a 15 minute break in my eating at least. Also the building itself is tiny. There wasn’t an empty table at 1:10 in the afternoon. They were featured in the paper and it said that although it just opened there already is a 2 hour wait at night…so I recommend going for lunch for some of the best and best priced fish around. Anyways, Friday night was awesome! Jess and I hit the hot tub in the snow which was really neat! Riz and Hez came over despite the crazy weather. We shared some PB&J’s and then played some cards. I got hosed in Oh Hell, but that’s part of the game…then we played like 10 games of Blockus. I didn’t do so well as the other three people took turns winning and I was trying new strategies. Finally the last game I tied for a win…but I definitely need to examine my blockus strategies. Then on to some euchre to close out the evening…and more losses for me. But this time I brought Jess down with me. Actually we got smoked the first game, came back from behind to win the second (we had to set them to win) and then a close third game with a random Hez loner distancing us from them. Oh well, I love playing games and those three are my three favorites (well Boggle is up there too…but once Blockus started I didn’t want to play anything else!)

Saturday was the usual same, except we now had tons (3-4 inches) of snow! So that eliminated any chance of the great road bike ride Jerry had planned. He instead went on his mtb on the M-Ridge but I wasn’t in to that…I guess that is what separates the top experts from us bottom sport riders! Anyways I got in my customary 2 hours of basketball, added a 5 mile run and then went to Woodmans and the Twinkie store. Got home only to chill out! We ate some nachos and read the paper. We watched the movie Sky High (worthy rental) and then I watched Kingpin (Classic) I then rested until Dodgeball! Dodgeball was interesting to say the least…and I’ll say the least! Our team was seeded in a tough division. We won 2 of 3 in our first game and then we played our nemesis, the Purple Monkey Misfits. They proceeded to pound us. The other 2 matched were winnable, we just didn’t win them. We won 1 of 4 and took a game from 2 of the 3 we lost to. We certainly didn’t have our A game though. It was fun though and the Mac center is the most spectator friendly place we’ve played.

Sunday I slept in (7:45) and got up to a poop covered puppy! Just what you want to do on a Sunday morning. I carried Chili outside so he could pee and then right to the bathtub! Jess woke up (Chili’s poop stinks that bad) and we cleaned the kennel. We then read the paper and went to Wal-Mart and brunch. Jess got a free coupon for brunch for two at the West Side Club. I guess the buffet is normally $15 per person. We are talking serious eats. Plate 1: cream puffs, éclairs and strawberries with whipped cream. Plate 2: Salad w/blue cheese. Plate 3: meat galore! Included meat loaf, Swedish meatballs, and then a chef gave me a cut of prime rib. Add in a couple slices of dill cheese. Plate 4: one more meatball, more cheese and some potatoes. Plate 5: See plate 1…add a piece of chocolate cake. Awesome! I was stuffed and the food was excellent! If only we can get more coupons…I was good until supper. We then went to Linens and Things to return a Christmas gift. They had a bunch of crap on clearance and I got my first ever electric razor. So far so good! I also bought a Puzz3-D Sears Tower…and started it last night while watching football! Got home and played some Midnight Club 3! I am rocking Atlanta in cars, I suck at motorcycles though! Lazed around with football the rest of the day (with a short side trip with Jess and her Dad to JT Whitneys for supper.)

Sports sucked this weekend. Although I was pulling for the two football teams who won…the games were pretty boring. The Badgers stunk as a whole as the #13 Badgers lost to North Dakota State…didn’t know that was even possible! The Badger hockey team took their #1 ranking and dropped two at home to Denver. The only solace I have is that Charlie Batch will be in the Super Bowl in Detroit!

So there you go, how to blow a weekend! Fun and relaxing but way too short!