This past week was tough but at least none of my property was stolen or lost. Work continued to get more intense as tax season is in full swing. And it will keep escalating for a few more weeks. My brain feels almost useless by the end of the work day. Waking up early to exercise before work is getting harder as work hours go longer.

My glute pain has still not subsided, so I will have to stay on the bike for a while longer. The appreciation of two wheel adventures is starting to reawaken in my mind. I have regained some comfort and confidence in the saddle. The faster speeds and lighter impact allow me to explore larger areas in a single day compared to repetitive earth pounding on my feet.

My weekly training cycle at the moment consists of a recovery chill 1 hour ride Monday morning, 50 min body weight exercise on Tuesday/Thursday mornings. Wednesday and Friday mornings are for Farren Road repeats on the bike. Farren Road is a beautiful farm road of rolling hills and ocean views. This is one of my favorite places to run and bike. The hills provide a good workout for the legs and the landscape is inspiring.

Saturdays are for either a medium length ride or a test run. I have to get into the office for work by mid-morning these days, so no time for my normal Saturday long-run. This Saturday, I decided to test my running legs on a trail route. Local Santa Barbara runner, Stephen Searer, created a trail league competition. Teams of three compete on four different routes, striving to have the fastest cumulative time (total of all three runner’s times on all four routes). To do my part, I went for one of the routes this Saturday. I felt like garbage the whole time. The ups were hard and the downs were techy. I’ve definitely lost my trail legs over the past two months of minimal running. And I could feel my glute pain flaring back up. Oh well, more biking for me.

Sunday is the fun day of the week. If I work enough hours Monday- Saturday, I might be able to take Sunday completely off of work. This gives me time for a long ride in the morning. This Sunday, I did the same route as last weekend. A beautiful loop around Santa Barbara. Going up Old San Marcos road to the top of the moutains, riding atop the rolling Camino Cielo, and bombing down Gibraltar road with glorious views of the Pacific and Channel Islands. It was a great ride and I ate enough food to not bonk at the end. I still don’t know how to eat while riding. So breaks are necessary.

I will likely do one more week of this schedule, and then replace one of the strength training sessions with a two hour bike ride on Farren. Somehow I have train for a 200 mile footrace on the bike. Hopefully my glute can work itself out before June. Of course I have been running one, somewhat slow mile as well everyday to keep my run streak alive. Sunday was day 191.

My music selection for Sunday’s long ride was a My Morning Jacket show from 8/21/2008 at Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado. Thank to taper: Eric Foelske. I have not listened to much of MMJ and have been meaning to dig into their catalog. I also listened to their studio album, Z, during my Wednesday morning ride. Good stuff. I will keep exploring their catalog as it is deep.

Later that day, my wife, Kerong, and I went to the botanical gardens. The flowers and trees were beautiful.