One month down, five (or so) to go...

I ran one of the more fun Austin races on January 25th... the 3M half marathon. It's a really fun course - there are long sustained sections of downhill running, which makes for a fast course. Downhill running is a pretty specific skill - it can be an easy way to get some free speed, but also can beat you up pretty good if you don't know how to do it efficiently. This is my second year running the event, and I made a very large improvement over last year's time as well as setting a new personal record for the half marathon distance. There were a bunch of T3ers out there to give it a go, and some very impressive performances! Thanks to all who came out to run and a special thank you to those who came out to cheer us on!

This past weekend was a tough one for training... Saturday's plan called for 50mi on the bike (mostly hills) followed directly by a 30min run, and Sunday called for a 15mi run. I just didn't feel all that good through the workouts, but I did get through them - Having gotten through them feels pretty great. Even when workouts don't go all that well, they still accomplish their purpose, and have the added benefit of building mental toughness as well. All considered, I'll take it.

I seriously need to start getting some yoga in - as I get more flexible I'm realizing there's some serious benefit there in terms of being comfortable on the bike, and that's clearly something I want. So, off to yoga classes more often for me starting this week.

Now, a completely unrelated topic - In helping my homie Chris work on his son's Pinewood Derby car this past week, I began to remember how much I enjoy woodworking... that's something I used to spend a great deal of time on before moving to Austin, and something I will certainly get back into when life settles a bit more and I have a more suitable place to do so.

A few pics just for fun...

Here's what the bottom of the car looked like after we'd made the cutout for the weight... most peeps who do the pinewood derby use additional weight to make their car go faster. To make it look nice, Chris wanted to hollow out a section and place the weight inside the car. Here's what it looked like before we filled it...

Note the two cavities in the car in the pic above - large and small. The intent of the smaller cavity was that if the car was over the max weight, he could just dig that weight out with a screwdriver prior to the race. Turns out we could have added even more weight and been legal to race :)

Here's a pic of the bottom of the car after adding the filler material, prior to sanding and painting...


The Pinewood Derby is a bunch of fun. For those of you who have never done the Boy Scouts thing, take a look at this page for information on the Pinewood Derby.

Hope all of you are well! Talk to you later!