Thunder, flat tires, hamstrings, skip ropes and speed bags.

We have had some scary ass weather here in Illinois the last 24 hours or so. It started last night when I was awakened at 2358 by the sound of thunder rolling across Chatham. Since then we've had a severe thunderstorm warning and a tornado watch with another round expected later tonight. In fact, I just heard thunder again.

After my DNF on Saturday I chilled out that afternoon, went to Dairy Queen that night, mowed the yard Sunday morning and did the 45 minute Core Secrets workout (with Gunnar Peterson!) that afternoon. Later that afternoon I took my bike, with the brand new tire, out for a ride. I was only going to go for thirty minutes but I got about a mile and a half away from my house and my brand new tire was flat! There was no puncture to the tire so I'm guessing that the tube was kinked or that I'm so fat I blew the tube. I was a little pissed off walking the mile and a half back to my house pushing the bike.

Monday morning I rolled out of bed at 0430 and went to the track to do a 200 - 400 - 800 - 400 - 200 ladder. I warmed up with my customary easy mile (8:32) and a mile of strides (7:54).

I had a few cobwebs the on the upside of the ladder and hit my 200 in 42.41 and jogged a 200 (1:16) before starting my 400 which I completed in 1:25.97. That was about two seconds slower than I wanted but I didn't really care. I jogged a 400 (2:30) and ran my 800 in 2:48.37. My 400 split was right at 1:25 so I negative split the last 400 in the neighborhood of 1:23, that's always cool. I jogged an 800 in 4:48 and booked my final 400 in 1:22.27 completed another recovery 400 in 2:29 and finished off the ladder with a 40.17 for my 200. I finished the lap with a 1:15 and ran a mile and a half cool-down in 12:01.

After work Monday evening I went to the chiropractor for some deep tissue massage on my right hamstring. I hate my chiropractor, big asshole. I swear that his thumbs sprout razor blades when he does deep tissue massage. It helps but I still want to kick him in the head afterwards.

Misplaced aggression for my chiropractor and my bike might be the reason I cleared out the corner of the garage that houses my heavy bag and speed bag stand this evening. I did 5 x 1 minute skip rope with one minute rest intervals during which I hit the speed bag.

I love the speed bag. I thought I was going to be all thumbs since I haven't hit the thing for about two years but it felt like I'd hardly taken a break from my days of training to be a really crappy boxer. You start your speed bag session hitting the bag eight times with your right hand and then switching to hit it eight times with your left hand, then you switch back to your right for four hits, then left for another four, right for two, left for two, right for two, left for two and then you alternate hands for 16 hits and work your way back up.

A fast guy can do that sequence (up and down) twice in one minute. I could only do it one and a half times when I was training (way back in 2003) but surprised myself by completing at least one sequence each of the five times I did it tonight.

I go back to the chiropractor tomorrow for more deep tissue massage and as long as it isn't storming at 0430 I'll probably get up and run an easy four or five miles before going to work.