God Says 'Hah!'

Usually what happens when I make plans. God says, 'Hah!'

Had every intention of doing a four-mile hill run, followed by a 10-mile hill bike today. Woke up this morning ... and it was pouring rain. So I ditched the outdoor plan, went to the gym, rode the bike 13.3 miles and swam a half-mile.

Ran to the post office and bank -- mailed a John McPhee book to Dad, who's rehabbing in the Hill Country -- scooted by the grocery store to get dog food, and stopped by the hardware store on the way home to get a hinge for the chicken coop. It's got a small hole for the chicks and ducks to use, and I built a little gangplank to cover the hole at night. Problem is, when I put the gangplank down, the ducks knock it over, and it's a bit of a hassle for the chicks to get back into the coop. So the hinge will keep them from knocking it over. I hope.

Busy work day. More later.

***

OK. It's later.

Been thinking a lot about baselines lately. What's my baseline for doing a full-bore triathlon? I think it goes something like this:

*** Can swim 2.5 miles in 1:30. Right now, it's more like 1:45.
*** Can bike 112 miles in 6:30. Right now, it's more like 7:30.
*** Can run 26.2 miles in 3:45. Right now, I'm about there.

So that'd be a finish time of 10:45.

Of course, I'm looking at baselines for individual sports. Eventually, I'd like to get my training going where I can do this:

*** Can swim 2.5 miles in 1:45
*** Can bike 100 miles in 5:45
*** Can run 20 miles in 3:00

Goals, gotta have goals.

I'm beat. Worked like a dog at the day job today. But was rewarded with four duck eggs and one turkey egg. I've got some more coop work to do to make the ducks and turkeys comfortable. They can't be too happy today. We're still getting the leftovers of a tropical storm, all the way up in New England. Maybe this means I've finally kicked my Weather Channel addictioin; I didn't even know one had made landfall.

The stepdaughter is talking to an Army recruiter. It's a Good Thing.