Canoeing in the snow, run plan, swim plan

Okay, so that's a slight exaggeration...but not by much. The famous "team building exercise" earlier this week involved canoeing on a tiny lake on the edge of Algonquin Park, in November. It was 3 degrees, the wind was howling and raining sideways. So the facilitator asks, "how many of you have had some experience in a canoe before?" There were ten of us, and two of us put up our hands. He immediately starts to reassess his plan - caught between the need to go with the plan that he's already made public ("we're going to take out the canoes today!) and the need to bring ten people back alive. And it really did snow the next day.

So, I'm working on the run plan - actually, just trying to get a level of consistency from which I can maybe squeeze out some more speed (any speed at all would be good). I'd like to get up to four runs a week, with one of them being an hour or longer at this time. The first "check-in" on the run progress will be the Chilly Half in March.

The swim plan is still really a work in progress. Having an awful time getting myself out of the house and into a pool in the morning, in the dark at this time of year. Self-motivation is tough in the morning, although I did drag myself out for a run this morning. I swam one night a week last year with the local masters' , but couldn't get back in with them this year - they filled up too fast. It's especially tough to get out in the morning without waking up the kids. My wife's usual price for swimming at 5:30 a.m. is one XL Timmie's. Small price to pay, that's for sure. Maybe tomorrow morning I'll hit the pool.....

As for the bike plan, it's been raining and snowing for the past three days here. The bike is on the trainer in the basement :o(. Not ready to give up on the roads for this year yet, but the weather is not playing fair.

AP