Saturday was a rough day in several ways. I have a usual format for my chores that start on earnest every Saturday morning. I get up, do all of the chicken requirements, eat breakfast, go back outside to weed and then typically will go grab coffee, run errands, and then resume remaining chores during the afternoon. Well this Saturday was different because I was attending the memorial service for Mark at 2:30. I went on a kamikaze-like chore run where I did everything non-stop, chickens, weeding, weed whacking and mowing right up till less than an hour before the service.
The reason I was pushing was because the ground was more or less clear of standing water. As I said previously during wet season you need to take advantage of these times and I was solely focused on doing so. The heat and humidity was oppressive, really, really oppressive. When I was done weed whacking I was totally on fumes, exhausted, and dehydrated. I still had to get on the mower and get that done as well. Mowing doesn’t drain you as much as weed whacking but you are still baking in the sun. It turned out that my effort was well timed as when I got back from the memorial several inches of rain had fallen and the property was once again flooded out.
So when I saw Mark’s memorial was being held at a church I assumed it would be what you would expect, people sitting in the church quietly while various others gave tear jerking speeches about Mark’s life. That was not the case. The memorial was held in the huge church ballroom. The layout reminded you of a wedding reception with a ton of individual tables, a huge spread of food and drink (including alcohol), with various video screens showing all sorts of cool pictures/videos from Mark’s life. I did not expect this.
I was still dehydrated from all of the yard work so I consumed nothing but water in large amounts. It was almost an hour until anything formally began, up until then it was just eating, drinking, and talking. I latched on to George and Susan from the running club. I talked to a few others from the club too but I hung with them. There were a huge amount of people there, that part I did expect as I knew just how many people Mark impacted positively over his lifetime.
Once people started to talk at the podium Mark’s positive influence was reinforced time and again. When the speakers started to get emotional as they relayed their stories of how Mark touched their lives I felt emotional as well. Even though my interactions with Mark were far less numerous than some, I had the same experience of a man with endless supplies of positive energy, a steady smile, and a firm shoulder grab on every handshake. It still felt foreign to me that he was no longer here.
After the formal stories were done the party was going to continue for an unknown amount of time. I headed out with George and Susan. On the way out I ran into Chris who was Mark’s assistant coach for many years. Chris also helped me time GCR events towards the end and also tried to get me into timing high school track meets which I bowed out of when I saw the work/time versus compensation formula was way out of whack. It was good to see him as well as the other people I worked so much with over my decade or so of timing race events. It does seem like that was a long time ago and it felt somewhat strange and awkward as I have dropped out of that social circle completely since leaving the club.
The memorial had a policy of requiring masks, to be mindful of the record setting covid infections once again, which I wore the entire time except for gulping my water. That however was not the case for at least half of the people in attendance. If you weren’t exposed to the delta variant before, there is a solid chance you were congregating indoors with a crowd of that size and density.
I have not really said much about the spike in covid, with Florida leading the way. Somehow people seem to still not understand some very basic truths about what is going on. Being vaccinated does not mean you are immune, which I think many people feel they now are. The vaccinations should allow your body to react to covid effectively and help your immune system keep you out of the hospital, although even that is not a guarantee based on comorbidity factors. Without a doubt it greatly decreases your odds of having a severe covid reaction.
The other thing I can’t understand is how so many people somehow still do not understand what masks do and do not do. A mask is not a covid shield. If there is active virus in your immediate vicinity you can certainly still contract covid even while wearing a mask as they are not tight and medical grade. What a mask DOES do is dramatically decrease the transmission radius of a person who is actively contagious, even if they are unknowingly so. The number of people that still do not understand this benefit is truly astounding.
Now since I have been vaccinated I have not been wearing a mask if it is not required, however I also have not been in a densely populated situation either. (EDIT The Kennedy Space Center was crowded and had mandatory indoor masking) This was the first time since the pandemic started that I have been in a large group of people. I had no issue masking up in that scenario but obviously many did. Setting new records for covid hospitalizations this far into the pandemic should concern everyone but instead there are a lot of heads buried in the sand, unwilling to continue making efforts to reduce the spread. Putting that genie back in the bottle, as in re-implementing mask mandates/restrictions/lockdowns, is going to be a near impossible task.
On Sunday I got it in my head that I wanted to go out on my road bike. I have not gone on a substantial ride on my road bike in over a year, at least, if not more. Since I stopped actively running I haven’t done long format cardio, the closest are my 20-30 minute Echelon rides on Friday evenings. The timing of my resurrection ride couldn’t have been worse, it was close to 2PM, the hottest period of the day with heat indexes well into the 100s. As is often the case with me, once I mentally commit to a task I don’t waiver very often.
So I pulled on my old triathlon “kit” which includes pants with a sewn in crotch pad for biking. I filled a water bottle which in retrospect was much too small for the conditions and pedaled out the driveway. The differences pedaling a real bike versus an indoor spin bike became quickly apparent. My pedaling geometry felt different and it didn’t take long until I was doing the hand position shuffle, trying to stay comfortable on the handle bars. I headed in the direction of Ave Maria with no real plan of how far I was going to actually go, I felt like I would play it by ear based on how I felt. It didn’t take very long for me to realize I felt shitty.
I stopped briefly and drank some water at the 5 mile mark. At the 5 mile mark I also determined that going 10 miles out and back would be enough of a first ride test. After that first stop at 5 miles the additional stops and breaks increased in frequency. My speed started on the slow side (15-16mph) and continued to drop from there. I could feel my stamina eroding quickly. When I got to the 10 mile mark I already felt spent. With absolutely no break from the sun to be found and intense heat radiating up off the road I hit my water supply often and quickly realized I should have brought much more. I started to ration the sips with the hope of having enough to get back.
The ride back was pretty tortuous. Even though I was going slow I still felt the need to stop and catch my breath repeatedly. When I got to the middle school, three miles from the house, I pulled in and plopped down under some shade for at least 10 minutes, maybe 15. I just felt done. As I sat there exhausted on the ground, leaning against a wall I tried to figure out how I could feel this terrible. Now of course the incredible heat and insufficient water made the situation worse but even so, I just felt like I had no gas in the tank and I hated the feeling as I drank the last few sips of water I had left.
I was determined to go the last three miles without any additional stops, which I did but very slowly. When I pulled into the driveway I felt old and weak. The first thing I did was jump into the pool to get my body temperature down which felt good. However after exiting the pool I was just tired, a feeling that never left the rest of the day. I felt badly because Katie and DJ came over later and I just had minimal energy.
It’s weird though, as awful as the ride felt, I have the need/want to keep doing it. I need to prove that I can reclaim some of that stamina, some of that mental toughness required for extended cardio tests like this. I wrote this on FB later.
Wish I could say I smashed my first 20 mile ride in forever on a road bike today. Instead it almost had me curled up in the fetal position. Choosing to do it at 2PM when the heat index was 100+ with insufficient water was probably ill advised as well. However, the experience makes me want to do it again, until I do smash it. If you don’t keep pushing against the walls of your box, that box keeps shrinking, quickly. Push on your box.
It was an eye opening experience for me as there were many times where Cindy and I would ride all the way out to Ave Maria and back a journey of 15 additional miles. To feel so hammered after 20 miles was a rude awakening.
I watched the closing ceremony of the Olympics last night. I always enjoy the Olympics and normally wish I got to watch more coverage than I get to. I always feel somewhat saddened when they conclude. This Olympics with empty venues and covid lockdowns are the most bizarre games ever. Sadly I think this could be much the way the Bejing winter games go as well this winter. The Olympic spirit is tangible and inspirational. It’s too bad that it’s long lasting influence doesn’t stretch far beyond the extinguishing of the flame…