Monday, February 9, 2009

Good Times, Training, And Rodents

Yesterday, we went out in the Jeep again.
We found a little place to go off road and took advantage of it. Amy got a few photos so I'll post them later. We followed a path along a canal that eventually ran underneath a railroad trestle. The path there was a bit precarious with a 20 foot drop off to the water below.
That made it all the more fun. It was a little too much fun for Amy so she got out while Tristan and I negotiated the obstacle and climbed up a steep hill to the other side. Good stuff!

This morning, my workout went along as planned, that is, this week is run-centric. I did 6 miles on the treadmill in 1 hour 5 minutes. Not bad, but not nearly as fast as I want to be. It's all good though. I know that by the end of the week my lower back, which is really the only thing that was aching, will be stronger, and I'll be able to pick up the pace.
That being said, my plan for the rest of the week is to continue to focus on runs, but throw some biking and swimming in there in the evenings as well.
Next week will probably be the most important, if not telling week.
I plan on doing at least three mock sprint triathlons:
500 yd swim, 10.3 mile bike, and a 3 mile run.
I need to see how I handle it, and try to expose some ways I can improve time before the final week in which I will rest.
The actual race is March 1st, now less than three weeks away.
Man, this year is going by fast...

And finally, here are some photos I took the other day while at work. I was near a reservoir and saw some movement down in the bottom of the dried up, glorified ditch.
They looked like beavers at first, but then I realized that we don't have beavers around here. Then I figured out what they really were:
Nutria Rats!
These are rodents, but they really aren't as nasty as actual rats. Wikipedia it.
They are supposedly very common in the South, but I had never seen one until now. I'm glad I had my camera handy.
Enjoy!

Here's the whole family:
Nutria Rat Family



Here they are fleeing from me and my camera:
Fleeing Nutria Rats



And here is the one that came back. He wasn't as flighty as the rest, although all of them would come out of their hidey hole everytime i walked away:
Nutria Rat


KoP