Gertrude - I love your race plan for 2017! I totally agree with you about the great feeling after finishing a half marathon!
@C3Baker , you must be in amazing shape to run 18 miles one day and then pull, drag and lift canoes for hours the next day!
And Gertrude, this is so true! "I’m recommitting to my healthy eating plan. I have no problem following the plan - it’s just the extra stuff that somehow gets eaten on top of the plan. 
^^ What she said.
On my mileage- 35 or so miles a week isn’t that much, but with my job and my age, it gets tiring. I don’t think the injury risk is that much greater for me at 30 v 36, but it’s the mental energy of making sure I make my mileage goals. Back in the day before online running logs and the internet, we aimed for weekly mileage and logged it in paper log books, but we didn’t really have annual goals- and it was all aimed at a specific racing goal. I had been obsessively hitting 2000 miles a year as part of a RunningAhead group (not the women’s group- most of them barely run) and I finally admitted that it was too much for me. That’s 40 plus miles a week, and it was not working for me. I tried to take it down to 30-35, which became 36 “to make sure I got the 35”. It’s stupid, really.
Did a 2 hour tandem bike ride with H this morning. This morning was “Tour De Towns” (meaning tours of several charming suburbs in our neck of the woods). Stopped at a farmer’s market midway through to stretch our legs. The weather is finally cooling down enough to do these bike rides. H was annoyed, but I refused to do them when the weather was over 80.
^^I wish I was doing that today! Sounds so fun! Did you buy anything good at the Farmer’s Market? (cause you have a basket on your tandem, right?)
No basket on the tandem, but there is a little fanny pack that hangs off the back handlebars where I store my cheapo sunglasses, cell phone and $5 for emergency iced coffee :-).
Oh, sounds like fun, Pizzagirl! I can add a front basket to my elliptibike to make it even dorkier!!!
Great weekend, I think. I was chair for a three-day agility trial and the heat was awful Friday but the rest of the weekend’s weather was decent. We had hundreds of dogs and two rings and no fights, either between dogs or between handlers. I had 32K steps Friday, 27K steps Saturday, and another 32K steps Sunday. I can barely move today. I think I had some good runs (I remember one run clearly, and it did go well, so that’s good), but the changes I’ve made in my diet and exercise routines have really paid off. I’m sore today, but I had the stamina to get through the weekend without slowing down–and it was a LONG weekend, starting at 8 AM Friday and going until 6 PM last night (we did stop around 7 on Friday evening and around 6 on Saturday).
Looking forward to some cooler and maybe rainier weather this week and hoping to get a good long run in Wednesday sometime.
Pizzagirl, I’ve always wanted to own a tandem. Had visions of doing all sorts of multi day rides with my daughter but alas it never came to be and at this point her life is too packed to add more demands on her time. I once knew a couple who had a recumbent tandem. Theirs was a bit different than most in that the captain and stoker had independent pedal action which meant that their cadences and coasting didn’t have to be in sync. He always rode as the captain and therefore was in charge. She complained about how controlling he was. One day, he was wondering why he was working so hard to keep the bike going. Turned out she was so fed up with his bossiness as captain that she decided not to pedal. When he looked behind himself to see what she was doing, she was just relaxing with her feet perched on her pedals, reading a book, as he struggled along. I think he got the message.
Tonight is my first night back in the gym after my little stomach bug. Very much looking forward to it!
MNK - H initially bought a cheapo tandem (maybe $250-$300) off ebay that broke pretty rapidly. We then bought this tandem at a bike shop and I want to say it was more in the $900 range but it was worth every penny. We’d like to do Bike the Drive (annual biking of Lake Shore Drive) but have to figure out a way to get the tandem downtown, as we can’t transport it on our car!
We have a tandem. My husband got it in the mid 70s. It’s a really good one. I hate it. I didn’t like not having control and I couldn’t keep up with his cadence so I felt like I wasn’t doing anything. It went way too fast down hills. Years ago another guy friend of ours and I tried the tandem and my husband was doing a stint as sag driver and the guy (Barry) and I ran off the road because we had NO idea what we were doing! It was pretty funny. I think my daughter has gone on it once or twice with my husband years ago, but it pretty much hangs from the garage ceiling. It’s huge. I hate it. Staring at my husband’s back wasn’t my idea of a fun bike ride.
The tandem bike sounds like great fun, pizzagirl. My sister and her husband bought one for a big anniversary gift. Kind of perfect.
So many steps, dmd!
I walked today for three miles-- taking it easy after the big run yesterday. I had a blister on the side of my big toe that must have been the result of a rub from the neighboring tall toe. Otherwise my legs are feeling okay, just a bit fatigued. In the mail was a delivery of a new Charge HR. Just charged it and put it on. I hope this one, the third, will be the charm. 20 steps today, woohoo!
My wife and I could never get the tandem thing down. Of course, we can’t dance either. The ballroom dance instructor yelled at her and said it was her fault because she wouldn’t let her partner lead!
Pizzagirl, you two need a truck for transporting your tandem. Something like a Toyota Tacoma.
I think we can muscle it onto the commuter train
" I hate it. Staring at my husband’s back wasn’t my idea of a fun bike ride."
I’m skittish enough that I’m better off staring at his back than at the road!
“The ballroom dance instructor yelled at her and said it was her fault because she wouldn’t let her partner lead!”
The ballroom dance instructor was correct - one partner has to be the lead, and the other has to completely obey the leader. We dance fairly well together. Then I put on my leader hat back on. 
There actually are roof racks that are made for tandems :). Tandem riding is definitely a different skill set than singles bikes. From starting from a stop, coming to a stop, handling curves, rising out of the saddle for hills, setting cadence, gear shifts. It takes practice to get good at it and the willingness of the rider in the back to follow the lead of the rider in the front. And for some reason, with husband and wife teams, the husband always insists on being up front ;).
If I ever ride a tandem with DH, it will be what’s called a “semi-recumbent”. The leader rides a regular bike and the follower is on a recumbent in front of the regular bike. Shown here: http://www.bilenky.com/#!viewpoint/cb9e
However… I like being on my own bike.
