Around the pier

After work I skated down to (and around) Navy Pier, bringing my milage for the week to about 28. I took Thursday off and Friday is a holiday, so I’m going to try to make a run at a 100 mile week.

Below is the route I took yesterday:

Down to the taste

My roommate and I headed down to the Taste of Chicago yesterday. I was on my skates and he was on his bike for almost 15 miles. Normally, the route would be a little shorter, but we had to go north to Sheridan to stay out of the Pride Parade’s route.

Below is our route:

On the road

I was traveling last week for work, so I brought my skates with me and made it out in Elmwood Park, IL and Mt. Vernon, IL, far from the familiar Chicago Lakefront trail, but enjoyable nonetheless.

In Elmwood Park, my trip was about 13.5 miles to Berwyn and back:

In Mt. Vernon, I didn’t venture too far due to the road conditions, so I plotted out an impromptu 1.3 mile loop course and did 5 intervals for a total of about 9.3 miles.

Overall, it was a 45+ mile week on the skates. I’m going to try to push for 70 and 100 mile weeks over the next two weeks to maximize the amount of weight I’m able to lose while on the Master Cleanse Diet.

24 mile weekend

I skated to Navy Pier today and on Saturday, each being about 12 miles round trip. Today’s trip was pretty smooth and took about an hour. On Saturday, however, I was affected by the heat and came down with heatstroke. It will be really important that I’m monitoring my fluids as the heat rises and I step up my workouts.

Done

I finished skating the 19 miles back from work.

It took me about 2 hrs.

I’m incredibly tired.

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday

On Sunday, I had 3 goals all of which I successfully accomplished:

1. Finish A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, who also wrote The Kite Runner
2. Skate south along the lake front trail to Navy Pier and back (11.5-12 miles)
3. Spend a few hours at work tying up some lose ends to be prepared for the week ahead

As of Tuesday, May 20th, the scale says

“-2 lbs”

I’m planning on skating home from work (15 miles) on Friday, so I’ll need to take 2 more trips to Navy Pier before I’ll be ready to make it back from Navy Pier.

Forward progress

After work on Monday, I stopped by Gunzo’s Hockey Headquarters and picked up some new laces for my in-line skates, as well as some oil to lubricate my skate bearings, which needed some attention.  The staff at Gunzo’s was incredibly helpful, and I’m thinking about dropping off my skates next week to have them replace my bearings and wheels.

This trip provided the necessary motivation to skate about 7 miles. Here is my route:

I’m planning to skate a few more nights this week, and then out to Navy Pier on Saturday morning. If I’m able to get the new wheels and bearings put on my skates soon, I’ll attempt to skate home from work (15 miles) next Friday. This is also assuming I’m able to find a route that has decent roads that I won’t get shot on while on my trip.