Marc's Public Blog - Biking, Running, Rollerblading and other Exercising

Current Music: DJ Tiësto - Live At Revolution - Amsterdam
Current Mood: Much better after a few litres of shake in my belly :)

So, after an hour of step, icing up my knees while doing a little Email, and some coding for work, I headed outside for rollerblading (I had just replaced my worn wheels with brand new ones. I had cleaned up my apec 5 bearings (technically good stuff) with the proper bearing cleaner after coming back from Australia in January, however, due to weather and snow season, I had never gotten the chance to go out with them until today.
Anyway, I headed out around 12:08, for a 45mn ride to the trail, and then the expected 90mn or so for the 26km on the stevens creek trail (Mountain View to East Palo Alto).
I was in decent shape, and energized after step, so with the new wheels and cleaned up bearings, I had hopes to shatter my trail record of 89:32s (17kph, which isn't too shaby for rollerblades). However, while riding to the trail (I usually drive because it's a little ways from where I live), I noticed that I had to apply more effort than I was used to, but maybe it was just because of the pavement, and my memory.
Yet, when I finally hit the beginning of the trail 45mn later, I got to my first checkpoint 3mn late, my second one 11mn late, my 3rd one 13.5mn late, and my half way point 25mn late.
In the end, after much effort, as it felt that I was really dragging dead weight (other than my own I mean :), and a forced stop to buy a died coke with lemonade as one litre of water was a completely insufficient for the heat and the lenght of the whole ride (almost 4H), I finally got home...

When I removed my rollerblades, I saw the 2 huge blisters on the inside of my ankles, which I usually end up with (although usually smaller), and realized that I wasn't walking really straight, or that for that matter my legs were barely supporting me ;)
So, it was time for a killer 'marc special' potluck shake in the mixer (ingredients: ice cream, no water or ice, frozen fruits, frozen juice extract, and water else may come in handy in the freezer or fridge, mix and adjust until a spoon almost stands upright (but not quite, or the mixer can't stir it)).
I feel much better after having re-hydrated a little bit (1.5 litre or so :), and I guess about 5H of aerobic exercise will do for today and will make up for the days I didn't do any this week and the boring and uneventful mexican food (as always for mexican food) that I had to eat last night

I was good exercise, but excrutiatingly slow and painful, if I had had a little less determination and common sense, I'd have turned around instead of insisting on doing the whole ride as planned.
Anyway, those wheels and bearings are coming out. At this point, I do not even care which one slowed me down if it's not a combination of both. I'll just get some bad ass abec 7 rated bearings this time, never clean them again (just buy new ones) and see if I can score some better wheels than the crappy ones I ended up with (kinda sad as they looked ok from their big size (76) and index (82A))
That's too bad, I've usually had good luck with the wheel specials at big5 in the past (actually my last two pairs were terrific), but just as I buy two new sets, I apparently got a really crappy kind. Funny, I can already hear M.E. telling me that I got what I pay for. I just hate it when other people are right :)

Total time roller blading: 3H50
Time On trail: 2:16:25 (a full 47mn slower than my best time, and my worst time ever :( )
Heart Rate: 145bpm avg / 176bpm max
Water consumed on trail: 1.5l
Weight lost (mostly water): 6 pounds (2.7kg) (not counting water consumed while I was on the road)
Resulting Body Weight: 156.2 pounds (it's been about a year since I reached that after exercise, yoohoo)

At least I know better than dealing with my blisters before taking a shower (or the water gets in there, which is quite painful), but that doesn't quite solve the attrocious pain (for about 5-10s) of putting alcohol on them to disinfect before putting a band-aid. Maybe alcohol just isn't the way to go (but then again, I kind of knew that ;)

I was planning to go mountain biking tomorrow, but my mountain bike buddy swiched to road biking, so I'll have to find someone new to go with. Of course, I could just go by myself, but considering the trails, it's not an extremely wise thing to do (not as bad as scuba diving by yourself, but you get the idea). Mmmh, I may just go for it anyway, I need to go back and see how I fare...