Tempest

Yesterday, a dubious record was set, the wettest November in recorded history for the City of Seattle. That's saying a lot considering Seattle is infamous for its rain. The even more amazing thing is the record was set on November 15th, which begs the question: what will the next 15 days bring? If Mother Nature keeps her pace up, then this will likely be the wettest month in Seattle, period. 11.62 inches of wet stuff has fallen and the record for the all time wettest month is 15.33 inches. Not too far to go. If I see a guy building a large boat and herding up animals in pairs, I'm jumping on board.

What does this meteorological aberration mean for me? Well, my base training volume is down from this time last year, but my trainer time is up. I'm only able to tolerate about 2 hours on the trainer at a time (maybe three if I'm really in the zone). So my trainer rides lately attempt to compensate for the decreased time by increasing the intensity slightly including some moderate but sustainable power efforts.

The sun does manage to make an appearance for 5 or 6 hours in between storm systems before the rains start again. However, the three or four times that has happened this month occurred between 10am and 3pm during the work week. Curses! But, I can't complain, because I chose the Emerald City as my home with full knowledge of the propensity for dreary winters. Assumption of the risk, I guess. Plus, the natural beauty and the amazing summers more than compensate for having to strap on Gore-Tex for 8 straight months.

The frustrating thing is that despite nearly unanimous agreement among scientists, the White House continues to adhere to the position that there is no evidence to support that human activities are the primary cause of global warming. Maybe its because these guys have GWB's ear and back, but the reality is something different. I wonder if 100 years from now people will look back at this administration's position on global warming like we do with issues such as segregation, granting women the right to vote, or prohibition. Time will tell.

I hope the rains can recede a little next week. Thanksgiving is a good time for me to crank up the training volume because I actually get a couple of free days away the j-o-b without having to incur dire consequences.

Blue Star