Burkina Faso

This Friday I am taking a trip to West Africa, to Burkina Faso. My niece is in the Peace Corps there and I will be staying with her.

I'm pretty excited about it. I haven't been there before, and it looks like we're doing a side trip to Mali.A good friend of mine lives in Bamako and we're hoping to meet up while I'm there ...

NIH

Today was my annual appointment with NIH. I've been involved with them for 25 years now, starting in the autumn of 1986. For many years now, it's just been an annual visit. I have been involved in many protocols there over the years, and of course I've gone through a lot over all these years. Going there is a bit emotional ...

Then of course there is the fasting blood draw. Just so you know, I typically have a BIG breakfast first thing in the morning. We're talking orange juice, coffee, egg whites, toast, yogurt, and maybe some cereal. So for NIH, I'm not able to eat, and then I also need to get up early in order to be there by 8:00 AM. (By contrast, I typically make it into work around 9:00 to 9:30 AM.)

Swim

This evening I made it to Wilson Aquatic Center: first time I went during the week, in the evening. It was more crowded than on the weekend. The first lane I chose was simply too crowded. There were six or seven people in the lane. I chose another, which still had five or six in it, but was able to have enough space to swim.

My time for the 1500 was 41:57, doing mostly the breaststroke with some sidestroke.

Pre-cherry blossom run

Another wonderful day - sunny but cooler than yesterday. It was 46F when I ran, but with a light breeze. The course I ran is here and the distance was 6.1536 miles or 9.9033 km - just under a 10 k. The time was 51:05, which comes out to a pace of 8:18 for the mile and 5:09 for the km. Not bad at all.

Full disclosure: I stopped the clock two or three times while waiting at stop lights. The wait time was not more than a minute, so if you want to count that, then if 8:28 for the mile and 5:15 for the km.

Country bike ride

Today I went to my brother's place and had a great ride. It was sunny and fairly warm - about 56, but also very windy. The route was fun and it's here. It's almost 23 miles, 37 km.
It's also shown below.

Mid-week run

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=4354251

Distance was 4.9305 miles or 7.9348 km, done in a time of 50:55. That works out to a mile pace of 10:20, or a km pace of 6:25.

Sunday run at WDW, short bike earlier in the week

I went to Florida this weekend to visit with family, and on Sunday 3/13 went on a run on the Disney campus, starting at the Shades of Green resort. The route is here.

It was warmish, about 78F, and I started around 4:30 PM. The sun was bright but getting a little lower in the sky. It was not an ugly run at all. The distance was 4.5788 miles or 7.3688 km., done in a time of 42:03. That's a pace of 9:24 for the mile and 5:51 for the km. Not that great, but I was feeling pretty full, and stopped twice to burp (of all things). The full feeling definitely slowed me down. So did the relative heat. Excuses excuses.

No bike or swim ... it's a family visit.

Last Wednesday March 9 I did about 8 miles on the bike at lunchtime. Just two laps around Hains Point. 

Today's mid-day run

is here: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=4334225

With a time of 32:46 and a distance of 3.2334 miles or 5.2037 km, our mile time was 10:08 and the km time was 6:18.

Partner prefers to go at a slower pace than me. It was a fairly cold day: 43F or 6C, but very sunny.

Swim time, comparisons

It's been a pretty rainy day all day today, so no biking this weekend. I did get up to Wilson Aquatic Center and did the 1500 meters in a time of 43:05. I'm not pushing off, and I took few breaks. Almost all of it was breast stroke, with a bit of sidestroke and backstroke to break up the monotony a little.

Looking at what folks last year did at the St. Anthony's triathlon, this is pretty slow. Like really slow. The median time for the swim for men my age group was around 33 minutes. However, I do much faster than the median for both the biking and the running. The average pace for my age group for the ride was about 19 mph, and the run was over a 9 minute mile. Given how I have not done them all contiguously, I am sure my race time will be lower than the standalone time.

I don't have a precise time for the biking yet because I have not yet been on an open course for the entire length. That will be a goal for the ride two weeks from now.

Front Runners Short Run

This morning (Saturday), I had a very small breakfast and was able to get to the DC Front Runners Saturday morning run, which starts around 10:15 right near the Taras Shevchenko statue. There were maybe 40 or 50 people there; most run more than the 3 mile distance I did. Apparently I got a good start, and was able to keep up a fairly good pace. The distance turned out to be 3.0646 miles / 4.9321 km. Time was 24:47, which works out to a speed of 8:05 mile and 5:01 km. Not bad at all, but I was pushing it a bit. I have a slight bit of exercise-induced asthma (poorly controlled cough, a bit of tightness below the throat) from the run which should be gone in a few hours - it's almost gone now. The weather is cloudy and coolish, about 50F or 10C, and all I was wearing was shorts and a t-shirt. I think the faster time and the cool weather caused it.

Map for the distance is below; link is here.

Short run during the week

This evening I did a fairly short run; you can see the route here. Distance was 3.1325 miles or 5.0412 km. The time was 27:07, so my speed tonight was an 8:39 mile or 5:23 km. The weather was not bad - maybe in the 50s, with a fair wind, maybe 10 mph, mostly out of the northwest.

I just checked the time that I did last Sunday, and the speed was exactly the same as tonight's, to the second! Isn't that funny!