Went out with the "baby" for a 30 minute speed date this morning. Don't know if I believe in love at first sight, but we certainly seem to like each other. Still working on a name for the "baby" - any ideas?
White shoes - funky!
Peace.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Donkey, amputation, Floripa
Remember at the end of last week that the plan for this week added up to nearly thirteen hours of training? The total this week was nearly eleven hours. See if you can spot where the plan fells short:
Swimming: ZERO m, ZERO minutes!!!!
Bike: 206.4 km
Run: 47km, with a long run of 19km yesterday.
Hmm, notice any weak spots in the training plan? Yep, still having trouble working the swim into the schedule with the new job schedule. Need to work out an alternate arrangement this week to get some pool time in. On the bright side both the ride and run schedules went well, although the run was a tiny bit light. Yesterday's long run convinced me - the run portion of the First Annual Oakville Half brought to you by nobody, scheduled for June 1 will in all likelihood have at least a 75% trail run course. It's way better than road running and sucking exhaust. Course maps still to follow, although I imagine they'll be finalized by about Wednesday.
This weekend was IronMan Brazil - has always been one of my "wishlist" destination races. Results and race reports from Ironmanlive.com are available here. Once again, Fernanda Keller, the 43-year old "Wonder Woman" of Brazil won the women's race, celebrating her 25th year as a professional triathlete. To persevere in this sport for that long is pretty impressive.
Today might have been one of the last long rides on Donkey, my "noble steed". Yep, tomorrow the new baby is due and the pre-deed is done. A new parking space is set up in the garage and the Donkey was amputated - pedals removed.
Editor's note: remember the other mention last week about the "other" new baby that was due to join the family last week? My cousin and her husband were convinced they were having a son (and his name was Luke). They had their fourth daughter on Friday - baby is doing fine, mother and father are a little confused, but otherwise fine.
In remembrance of the contribution Donkey made to my, ahem "career" in this hobby, a few profiles have been attached. I'll be observing a moment of silence, although undoubtedly Donkey will remain in the rotation for the occasional mercy weekend ride, or to shuttle the kids to school once in awhile.
The last one is of course just a candid shot of the two of us chillaxing together.
Peace.
Ironman Brasil - one day, my friends, one day
The 2008 version ran today - race report will follow later. I've been watching these videos for two days, and I'm getting hyped up. This video is from a couple years back, but it's not bad. This race has always been on my "to-do" list, but cycling over cobblestones?!? Why not? Bring 'em on!
One day - maybe not next year, but one day. I'll be there.
Peace.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Quick post...new baby coming, after all!!
Next week!
"Sometime in May" now officially means that I'll meet my new baby next Monday - they're building her now to be ready tomorrow, but are so jammed up with fittings I can't get in until Monday.
Ed. Note: if my cousing Ally is reading this, I'm not talking about you, so don't get freaked out. (She's having a baby, literally tomorrow. Scheduled and everything). And if you're up at this time of night reading this with all you have planned for tomorrow, shame on you. Get some rest.
Bike fitting on Monday. Hmmm - need to get a few rides in before the 1st Annual Oakville Half next weekend. The three amigos - myself, Darren and Cliff - together again. Of course invitations are open to anyone else who may be in the neighbourhood next weekend. Fire off a comment or an email and I'll open up the transition area, er, garage.
Bike course and run course to follow.
Peace!
"Sometime in May" now officially means that I'll meet my new baby next Monday - they're building her now to be ready tomorrow, but are so jammed up with fittings I can't get in until Monday.
Ed. Note: if my cousing Ally is reading this, I'm not talking about you, so don't get freaked out. (She's having a baby, literally tomorrow. Scheduled and everything). And if you're up at this time of night reading this with all you have planned for tomorrow, shame on you. Get some rest.
Bike fitting on Monday. Hmmm - need to get a few rides in before the 1st Annual Oakville Half next weekend. The three amigos - myself, Darren and Cliff - together again. Of course invitations are open to anyone else who may be in the neighbourhood next weekend. Fire off a comment or an email and I'll open up the transition area, er, garage.
Bike course and run course to follow.
Peace!
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Lost week
So there's good news and there's bad news from last week.
First the bad news. From a training perspective last week was a complete and utter write-off. I managed to get in a grand total of 2-1/4 hours of training - one 45 minute run and a 90 minute ride (roundtrip, from the doctor's office). Fortunately it was a scheduled "rest" week anyway, but it certainly wasn't intended at the outset to drop off quite so much.
The drop off had two sources. One, from Tuesday on I fought a nasty case of the spring flu, which is not yet gone, but seems to be on the decline. Very little breathing and even less sleeping, but after this week I could tell you everything you needed to know and some things you don't about expectoration, rockets, boogies, mocos and the like.
The second source, and this is where the bad news takes a hike and the good news comes strolling down the laneway. The new job started on Monday. Now, the on-the-job training takes place on the afternoon shift (2:00 pm - 10:00 pm) which is tough. The even "gooder" news is that it looks as though this is going to work out just fine.
The other piece of good news? After making a trip to the doctor it was determined that my achilles injury is not yet serious enough to be called tendonitis. It's a noninsertional tendonopathy (try dropping that into your next dinner conversation) that's on the verge of becoming a tendonitis that could take 2-3 months to rehab. Fortunately some stretching (yes Darren, I know) and light-to-moderate rehab, with no prescribed reduction in training, should clear it up.
The real challenge now is fitting the training into the new working schedule, which is a bit of a challenge. Afternoon swims now become morning swims and morning runs now must move to other days. All part of that great circle of life, Simba.
So, this upcoming week calls for ~13 hours training - three swims, four rides and three runs. I can hardly wait to see how this turns out.
Stay tuned.
First the bad news. From a training perspective last week was a complete and utter write-off. I managed to get in a grand total of 2-1/4 hours of training - one 45 minute run and a 90 minute ride (roundtrip, from the doctor's office). Fortunately it was a scheduled "rest" week anyway, but it certainly wasn't intended at the outset to drop off quite so much.
The drop off had two sources. One, from Tuesday on I fought a nasty case of the spring flu, which is not yet gone, but seems to be on the decline. Very little breathing and even less sleeping, but after this week I could tell you everything you needed to know and some things you don't about expectoration, rockets, boogies, mocos and the like.
The second source, and this is where the bad news takes a hike and the good news comes strolling down the laneway. The new job started on Monday. Now, the on-the-job training takes place on the afternoon shift (2:00 pm - 10:00 pm) which is tough. The even "gooder" news is that it looks as though this is going to work out just fine.
The other piece of good news? After making a trip to the doctor it was determined that my achilles injury is not yet serious enough to be called tendonitis. It's a noninsertional tendonopathy (try dropping that into your next dinner conversation) that's on the verge of becoming a tendonitis that could take 2-3 months to rehab. Fortunately some stretching (yes Darren, I know) and light-to-moderate rehab, with no prescribed reduction in training, should clear it up.
The real challenge now is fitting the training into the new working schedule, which is a bit of a challenge. Afternoon swims now become morning swims and morning runs now must move to other days. All part of that great circle of life, Simba.
So, this upcoming week calls for ~13 hours training - three swims, four rides and three runs. I can hardly wait to see how this turns out.
Stay tuned.
Monday, May 12, 2008
A new leaf?
First the week in review:
Swim - 3100m - very light week - focused elsewhere and lost a day to "Mother's weekend"
Bike - 258.3 km - over 9-1/2 hours in the saddle including two separate century+ rides. For me, that's a pretty monster ride week.
Run - 22 km - way down. The achilles tendon has flared up again. I'm going to get it checked out this week - put it off long enough.
So, the new leaf. Today's the day. First day of training in the new job. It's been a long time since I had one of these "first days". Feels a little bit like the first date jitters. Will I like them? Will they like me? Will we all like the same movie? and on and on and on...
Every day is a new opportunity, so I'm going into this heads up, with the eyes open, ready to hopefully learn new things and try new things. I suppose we'll see how it goes. Further reports to follow.
Just a short post today. For the first time in a while, I actually have to go get ready for work.
Peace.
Swim - 3100m - very light week - focused elsewhere and lost a day to "Mother's weekend"
Bike - 258.3 km - over 9-1/2 hours in the saddle including two separate century+ rides. For me, that's a pretty monster ride week.
Run - 22 km - way down. The achilles tendon has flared up again. I'm going to get it checked out this week - put it off long enough.
So, the new leaf. Today's the day. First day of training in the new job. It's been a long time since I had one of these "first days". Feels a little bit like the first date jitters. Will I like them? Will they like me? Will we all like the same movie? and on and on and on...
Every day is a new opportunity, so I'm going into this heads up, with the eyes open, ready to hopefully learn new things and try new things. I suppose we'll see how it goes. Further reports to follow.
Just a short post today. For the first time in a while, I actually have to go get ready for work.
Peace.
Friday, May 9, 2008
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Biku(s)
A pack of little
Verses within to provide
Afternoon chuckles.
Today I will ride
Very far indeed, away
From cars and loud noise.
Over the hills, I
Know not where, but it's true that
Horses smell funny.
The sun is shining
The wind has calmed somewhat
Should I bring cookies?
My new chariot
Has not yet been assembled
Boo hoo - I am sad.
A little boredom?
Or perhaps giddiness from
Paint fumes in the house.
Toodle-oo. I'm off
To hit the road, certainly
Not off my rocker.
AFTERMATH
Lapping around the
Enormous block, to make a
Century (metric).
Verses within to provide
Afternoon chuckles.
Today I will ride
Very far indeed, away
From cars and loud noise.
Over the hills, I
Know not where, but it's true that
Horses smell funny.
The sun is shining
The wind has calmed somewhat
Should I bring cookies?
My new chariot
Has not yet been assembled
Boo hoo - I am sad.
A little boredom?
Or perhaps giddiness from
Paint fumes in the house.
Toodle-oo. I'm off
To hit the road, certainly
Not off my rocker.
AFTERMATH
Lapping around the
Enormous block, to make a
Century (metric).
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Priorities
I used to watch a lot of TV. In fact I would go so far as to say I watched too much TV. There wasn't a night that went by that didn't contain a show I "had" to see. Before reality TV took over television there was usually a cops, lawyers or doctors drama on every night that I couldn't miss. ER, NYPD Blue, Law & Order - you get the idea. Undoubtedly this explains why I used to weigh 220 pounds. (Editor's note: now at 183 and this is preseason form. Would like to get to 175, "intervention weight").
Nowadays, I don't watch much at all. Sure, I'll watch some hockey or baseball, and I will confess to spending some time watching football in the fall, but the time spent on the couch is way, waaayyy down. It just boils down to life choice. In other words I've set different priorities and chosen to follow them. When I hear people (or hear of people) saying they'd love to exercise the way I do, or my friends do, but don't have the time, I just shake my head. The next time one of your non-triathlon, non-marathoning friends says that, ask him/her "who got kicked off American Idol last night?" Priorities, people.
The point of all this? Oh yeah, I'm getting to it. Last night I watched the only real non-sporting-event show that I make any effort to try and follow: House. Yet another "doctor" show, in keeping with the trend, but I don't know if it's going to last. Having been off the air, along with almost everything else due to the writer's strike for so long, life has just moved on. Turns out I didn't really miss it, and don't know if I'll tune back in next week.
In following the reprioritized life and the HTFU training schedule, went out for a pedal-mashing ride today: 7 X 3min in the biggest gear I have - 52/12 with 3 minute rest intervals in between. And not just pushing the big gears, but hammering the big gears - mashing as hard as I could for as long as I could. Not exactly like the hillwork of the weekend past, but effective for building strength nonetheless.
Again, it's all back to priorities. In order to ride faster, one must be able to spin at a higher cadence than normal, or push a bigger gear at the same cadence. Today's workout was designed to get to a bigger gear. By the end of the set of repeats I was fried, but it's money in the bank. Money in the "strength" bank. It's easy math. To ride better, ride more. To run better, ride more.
Bike update: called the LBS for an update on delivery date. The original date was specifically, and I quote, "May". This has been updated (not quite upgraded) to "maybe this week, maybe next week". Sigh.
Peace.
Nowadays, I don't watch much at all. Sure, I'll watch some hockey or baseball, and I will confess to spending some time watching football in the fall, but the time spent on the couch is way, waaayyy down. It just boils down to life choice. In other words I've set different priorities and chosen to follow them. When I hear people (or hear of people) saying they'd love to exercise the way I do, or my friends do, but don't have the time, I just shake my head. The next time one of your non-triathlon, non-marathoning friends says that, ask him/her "who got kicked off American Idol last night?" Priorities, people.
The point of all this? Oh yeah, I'm getting to it. Last night I watched the only real non-sporting-event show that I make any effort to try and follow: House. Yet another "doctor" show, in keeping with the trend, but I don't know if it's going to last. Having been off the air, along with almost everything else due to the writer's strike for so long, life has just moved on. Turns out I didn't really miss it, and don't know if I'll tune back in next week.
In following the reprioritized life and the HTFU training schedule, went out for a pedal-mashing ride today: 7 X 3min in the biggest gear I have - 52/12 with 3 minute rest intervals in between. And not just pushing the big gears, but hammering the big gears - mashing as hard as I could for as long as I could. Not exactly like the hillwork of the weekend past, but effective for building strength nonetheless.
Again, it's all back to priorities. In order to ride faster, one must be able to spin at a higher cadence than normal, or push a bigger gear at the same cadence. Today's workout was designed to get to a bigger gear. By the end of the set of repeats I was fried, but it's money in the bank. Money in the "strength" bank. It's easy math. To ride better, ride more. To run better, ride more.
Bike update: called the LBS for an update on delivery date. The original date was specifically, and I quote, "May". This has been updated (not quite upgraded) to "maybe this week, maybe next week". Sigh.
Peace.
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Monster weekend
Looking over the log for the week, it doesn't seem all that impressive, but it does add up:
Swim - 7200m
Bike - 172.4 km
Run - 41 km
The "adding" up part came from a pretty solid weekend. 25km run yesterday, followed by a hard 2600m swim this morning and a 93km hillacious ride this afternoon.
Okay, so I've never claimed to be a fast swimmer, but today was just too much. I got passed by a woman doing kick drills. Dolphin kick, on her back. Sheesh, I thought I was going pretty well, then that. Just having to keep looking at the pace clock - the time is actually falling there.
Today's ride was pretty solid as well - the (ever-present) wind and a trifecta of three of the best hills to ride around here - Guelph Line (up to Mount Nemo), Bell School Line and Sixth Line, as described here. After that weekend the knees feel a little hollowed-out.
More good news: upon discussion with the house CFO, admission into Peterborough has been tentatively approved for 2008. This came right after she tried to convince me that I should run the Mississauga marathon, which is only next weekend. When I pointed out that the longest run I had run this year was 25km, and only once in the last three months, she was a little disappointed. Turns out her boss is running the race, and apparently I need to run it to defend the honour of the family name.
Went in to the LBS and "placed the order" for the soon-to-be new member of the family. Turns out that their definition of "in stock" and my definition are not the same. Their definition doesn't include "in my size", and due to obvious popularity of the brand, the most precise delivery date that they can commit to is "sometime in May". Getting excited - should be good. Hopefully it's not too much longer.
Peace.
Swim - 7200m
Bike - 172.4 km
Run - 41 km
The "adding" up part came from a pretty solid weekend. 25km run yesterday, followed by a hard 2600m swim this morning and a 93km hillacious ride this afternoon.
Okay, so I've never claimed to be a fast swimmer, but today was just too much. I got passed by a woman doing kick drills. Dolphin kick, on her back. Sheesh, I thought I was going pretty well, then that. Just having to keep looking at the pace clock - the time is actually falling there.
Today's ride was pretty solid as well - the (ever-present) wind and a trifecta of three of the best hills to ride around here - Guelph Line (up to Mount Nemo), Bell School Line and Sixth Line, as described here. After that weekend the knees feel a little hollowed-out.
More good news: upon discussion with the house CFO, admission into Peterborough has been tentatively approved for 2008. This came right after she tried to convince me that I should run the Mississauga marathon, which is only next weekend. When I pointed out that the longest run I had run this year was 25km, and only once in the last three months, she was a little disappointed. Turns out her boss is running the race, and apparently I need to run it to defend the honour of the family name.
Went in to the LBS and "placed the order" for the soon-to-be new member of the family. Turns out that their definition of "in stock" and my definition are not the same. Their definition doesn't include "in my size", and due to obvious popularity of the brand, the most precise delivery date that they can commit to is "sometime in May". Getting excited - should be good. Hopefully it's not too much longer.
Peace.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
