Christmas

Christmas was pretty ok this year.  Everyone seems to have mellowed out a little bit, and no one cried, at least to my knowledge.  There also wasn't a single mention of bestiality!  

My Christmas gifts consisted of a tote bag that says "shoplifter," a parrot key chain that says very profane things when you press a button such as "Hey you, go fuck yourself", and a mug that says "Fuck off. I'm reading the Onion."  My mother is maturing with age... or something.

My sister also graced me with some Serbian chap stick that was incorrectly called "labia balm."

It's nice to be home.  We had a nice lunch?, worked on a very difficult puzzle, and later my dad and I saw Valkyrie.  That movie probably would have been much better if Tom Cruise wasn't in it.  

gingerbread!

Yesterday, Erin and I decorated a gingerbread house.  

The engineer hard at work.  So focused on the task at hand.

But now he ditched me, and I am in Seattle until Tuesday.  I stayed a little longer because this was supposed to be a big training week, but it snowed, and the roads are SO icy, and I am stuck inside.  So much for those four 3 hour rides.  It's a good test for my anti-lock brakes, though.  I would also not advise anyone to drive on ice with a donut tire.  It doesn't work well.  My tire is finally fixed, though.

We also resolved the trainer issue.  The people below us were concerned that something was broken.  It also appears that one of our trainers is dying, as the flywheel is loose so it vibrates a lot.  Now it makes this loud knocking sound every few seconds.

Uh oh

So, it is cold, snowing, and they do not use salt on the roads.  With this combination, I can't safely ride outside.

I was pedaling away on the trainer today while watching 300.  It was mostly high endurance/low tempo with some 15 second jumps mixed in.  I started at about 11 am and finished at 12:45.  

At about 12:40, I hear a knock on my door.  I turned down the volume and tried to ignore it.

The knock continued.  It was my landlord.  "Whatever that thing is that makes the apartments above and below vibrate needs to stop."

Crap.  Now what?  I'm probably going to be stuck inside all week thanks to this abnormal weather.  I will save the jumps for outside and see if that helps.

No Scrunchies?!?

Today, I had a very odd experience at the "premier" health club in the Seattle area.

I had to watch a video about employee requirements.  Shoes had to be 80% white. Socks must be white and showing but not higher than the ankle.  No hair clips longer than 4 inches, no headbands wider than 1 inch, no scrunchies?.  It went on and on.    

I understand professionalism, but there is a line between that and breeding a bunch of robots.

Then I got a tour, where I learned about the restaurant, the auto detailing, the laundry, and the 4 swimming pools.   They also call their employees the "cast" because they put on a great show for the clients.

I explained very clearly on my application that I can't work many weekends.  This is something that I will not compromise because if I cannot race my bike, there is no point in existing.  Period.  The first thing they asked was about the weekends, and I stood my ground because, really, I can't work any during the summer.  

That was it.  No more interview.  Why would they even bring me in for an interview if weekends are so important?  Who wants to go to the gym on the weekend anyway?  Weekends are for playing outside.

The Cycling Gods Are Mad at Me

I drove to the start of my ride today (which would have been a 35 minute ride each way) because it was cold outside. 

 On the way home, I got a flat car tire.  My tire was rusted onto the axel, and the bolts were so tight I couldn't get them off with all the force I had.  

Luckily someone helped me!  

I am not used to this cold weather business.  On another note, I made it to the final stage of one hiring process.  It's narrowed down to 3 from 39 applicants.  This job would be nice in some ways, but not in others.  I'd work MWF mornings from 6-12 and then Tu/Th evenings.  It's kind of far, so I would have to wake up pretty early, but it's in a good location to start rides after I work.  It would also be nice to have the mornings on some days and the afternoons on others.  I get paid for the 2nd interview at least!  

I have more interviews next week.  One of my potential interviews turned out to be a sketchy pyramid scheme, so I canceled.  I've actually canceled 3 of my interviews so far.  I should probably stop doing that... 

Unpacking

Today, I finally unpacked my bag from my last day of work.

It's been, what, 6 weeks?  I threw it down on the ground when I came home from work, and I later stashed it in a corner under an end table.  I kept looking at it, thinking "come on, just unpack it," but I couldn't bring myself to do it.  I just didn't want to.  I didn't want to think about it or look at it or anything.

But today I did.  I threw out the extra batteries and micro SD cards.  It was nice.  Now my apartment is less cluttered.  It's amazing how engrossed I was in that stupid job. 

Meanwhile, I have tons of interviews.  I botched one today, but I wasn't interested in the position at all.  I accidentally told the guy that the information on their website about their training philosophies is incorrect.  It says that you burn more fat by doing low intensity, low volume exercise.  Really, you burn a smaller percentage of fat at higher intensities, but because the overall caloric burn is higher, you still burn more fat.  Come on, everyone knows that.  I don't think I'll be hearing back from them.

I also rode 4 hours today and climbed Cougar again, this time with standard cranks and not my beloved compact.  It hurt.  I am sore.

Back to Square One...

I did a lactate threshold test on Tuesday, and the results were sort of disappointing.  I used to have a huge base back when I had a CTS coach and in the peak of my triathlon days, but then I got burnt out and stopped doing base for like 3 years.  

It showed in my LT test.  And now I have to go back to base.  It's understandable considering that I was VERY burnt out and I couldn't really do a ton of base on the trainer in Michigan without going crazy.  It's still frustrating, though.  I feel like I threw a lot away.

I passed my test! Now I can put more letters after my name (CSCS).  I guess only 65% of people pass it, so that's good.  It wasn't too hard, but I am glad that I studied.

I got a part time job doing mostly admin stuff at HSP, but it could lead to more personal training.  So at least that's something...