i hate headwind?

Sometime last year I overcame my utter hatred of headwinds on the bike. I'm not sure if it was the mileage, my bike, or the non-stop pestering from my coach but I'm not as depressed with headwinds as I used to be. This morning I headed out to my parents to print out my cv for the job fair and I was straight into it. I'm sure I was only pedaling in the 20km/h+ range. The only consolation was that I knew I'd fly back and sure enough, my ride back was proably 10-15minutes quicker. Mind you, a good portion of the way back I was pushing towards 80% effort after some weirdos tried drafting me and I wanted to blow them off.

For the rest of you aspiring bikers, don't draft off someone you don't know, and try to be polite and ask first. Yesterday some guys were on us and when we took a break, they just sped off without saying thanks. Its one of my pet peeves. And for those of you who think I'm overreacting, one of our teammates broke his wrist because of one of these idiots. A went into the S turn just before the F1 pits but the guy who was drafting behind him in stealth mode took another line and hit him hard. I don't need that. (Makes you wonder if I should even try crits if I want to stay in one piece.)

learning how to ride a bike

I forgot to mention I almost got hit by a van last week within minutes of starting to bike. I was coasting through traffic when a van decided to suddenly turn right, into the parking lot and into me. Eesh. I didn't have enough speed to veer right, but just barely enough to start turning the front wheel away from him... and then today...

We get to a traffic light, I don't remember what color, I slow down, look left and start going... then I hear from behind me "caaaar!". Car came from the right. doh! Its funny how bikers complain how drivers aren't used to cyclists on the roads yet, but neither are cyclists like myself :P

The last few days I've been feeling somewhat blah. Last night was a blah swim - I got to swim early, but after getting pushed into lane1(8) for drills where the majority of my lane had fins, I just took it eaaasy. Didn't finish the cool down and left. This morning I went to do some weights (no legs) and went for a ride outside with 'becca and baldy at the F1 track for about 2hrs. We had some good sprints and strong pulls with some gringos...

I feel so full.

Sunday morning I woke up earlier than usual, waltzed over to the gym to find one of my teammates talking to the security guard. Pool closed. Damnit. Some kid "pooped" in the pool as the guard told us. We moped around outside for people to show up, and started playing broken telephone. After a while the lifeguards came out and told us it was it was some barf, and not much of it. A couple of us ended up going out for brunch and I had a club sandwich which I couldn't finish.

Got home, felt full, didn't want to move. Finally got up to go to my parents to clean the car. I'm transferring the lease to an ex-co-worker; so I had to clean some of the grease stains on the interior :P

Becca wanted to go out for sushi, but since we had already gone out earlier today, we decided it better to stay in. Instead we made tons of sushi, and after we were stuffed (I was constantly eating the crappy end pieces) there were still two platefuls left. Oops. So today was an unexpected rest day, and overstuffing.

Friday I did nothing and Saturday I was out biking for about 2.5 hrs. It was a bit chilly but it felt good. Still patches of ice and snow on the lachine bike path...

I saw KITT!

yeah, that's right. Knight Industries Two Thousand! (KITT!) And no, this is not completely irrelevant to my training - I in fact got a glimpse of this super cool car on my STREET! on the way to swim practice. Hahaha. I caught the swoosh swoosh red lights, and then realized it was a black trans-am driving away in a rucus. I was laughing pretty good for about a block.

I got some decent biking on the F1 track today; but my back got sore fairly quickly. Damnit. After 1.5hr of that, I had some rest and dinner, and tried to relax since my legs felt tired. I was originally going to skip practice to meet a friend but she changed her mind so I ended up going. At first I went into the slow lanes, but once I was in the water, I felt like it was one of those days that I could probably push hard. I'm pretty happy I did. During the 50 warmups, I got my first 37sec. 50m! I was really pumped. The main set was 2x[6x100-1:50, 50ez, 4x50-1min, 100ez]. The first set I was doing 1.33-1.35's and 45". As soon as I started the 2nd set, I knew my arms had gone to mush. My technique was falling apart and I was strugling to reach. 1.36-1.38's but managed to hold the 45"s. I'm exhausted now :P

pace clock math

You would think that a university graduate would know how to read a clock. Sunday's swim was refreshingly silly (push-up pyramids, widths underwater, treading water etc.) but yesterday I couldn't follow the clock for the life of me. Often times I like to just follow whomever is leading the pack, but barely into the set, I got pushed into the front. We had sets of 50's and 100's, on 1:15 and 1:55 respectively. First 50, I go on one minute, soon enough I'm catching up to the tail of our group. Next set, I'm being yelled at for waiting too long. I'm pretty sure I can follow the hand...

The yellow second hand is always the worst to follow - but sometimes when I'm halfway through the pool I have to re-think, did I leave on the red? or the blue? And of course, with these weirder set times, if we're starting on the red 45 I get confused when I hit the wall at the 17. I'm like was that 17-15=1:58? no that's too slow, 17+15 =1:32? Whoa I'm going way too fast etc. And then next thing I know I have to go and I have to reset any notion of which color hand to follow. Maybe I'm just an idiot.

Today was my first day out cycling in sub zero temperatures; and second time out this year. Brrr... the forecast called for a high of 1C but it felt a whole lot colder + the 30km/h winds facing me while coming down Mt.Royal was kind of hairy. (At least the horsies were out at the police station.) Climbing CamilienHoude took foreeever. I was on my 25 (lowest gear) before I even started, and just chugged up. The backside was easier but quite slow too. From there on I went up to Summit Circle, which felt a lot quicker, but climbing from Greene Ave. was just slow. I've got a lot of catching up to do... After riding my junk bike, I can't fathom owning a cheap mtn bike. My 105 drivetrain feels so smooth -anything similar would cost too much (ie. XT, or XTR level .... :P ) Definitely need to change the brake pads though... these knock-off brakes are terrible...

"All this computer hacking is making me thirsty. I think I'll order a 'TAB'"
[Homer proceeds to push the TAB key.]

jello arms

Thursday night swim, I went harder than I should have, with some 5:05 300m, so near the end of the set I switched to the pull-buoy. Throughout the workout I was really focusing on my upper body and so even now it feels so tired. Friday I relaxed with 'becca (no more Friday classes :) and we ended the day by seeing "Tsotsi"; a beautiful story of a young thug who shows us that he isn't beyond human "decency" just yet.

For some funny reason, as I started spin this morning, my left leg (unaffected up till now) started getting really tight; closer to the knee, but definitely my itb. sigh. Stretched it, took some rest and made the workout easier, but I did the last brick run anyway and felt ok. 1600m. Did weights afterwards but didn't do too much upperbody since my wrists and arms were dead.

emergency vet visits

I woke up to the big wooden clothes hanger on the floor (its solid & heavy). The little bugger knocked it down during the night. Had lunch with a friend and after I clipped one claw he ran away; next thing we know, he comes back limping, on the foot I didn't clip. He continued doing so for the next hour, and I got concerned and called the vet. Now he's drugged up on painkillers and sedatives; but its unlikely anything is broken/hairline fractures (nothing is out of place.) I hope he gets better soon. Cost me a pretty penny though.

So I took Tuesday off, Wednesday morning I woke up with a stiff knee so I decided to skip out on spin. Did weights in the evening, and it felt ok. I wonder if my stretching is hurting it... Swim tonight..

damn MCL

That lazy Sunday turned into a lazy Sunday. Period. Couldn't get my ass over to the gym.

Monday morning, went to spin for the first time, and it was good up until I started pushing, then my right knee started hurting - kind of like the way when my meniscus would move. I stayed for the rest of the workout, doing a single-leg left leg workout for the rest of the hour. Tried to go the weight room but I was way too tired. Went to the swim in the evening, took it easy. Gotta take another week off/easy - my mcl is still bruised...

something I forgot to mention. Throughout the main set I kept thinking of the "Merry Widow" tune which is played throughout Hitchcock's "Shadow of a Doubt". I've been catching up on a number of his classics this week...

unproductive Sunday afternoons

Even though I've barely trained this week, no matter the grandiose ideas, Sundays afternoons are always a wash for me. I always want to do some form of training, yet, end up doing nothing and a dozing off is in store for me. At least today I can say that I deserved it, after holding my 1:35's on 2 minutes for my 15x100's at swim. The first 7 felt good, then they dropped to the 1:37's for a couple and I finished it strong on 1:34. Its amazing how hard one second is in the pool. By the end of the 4x200 cool down, my triceps were killing me. Only as I walked down to the lockerroom did my knee start hurting. Too bad its not completely recovered - then again I did push it a bit today :)

Saturday morning I went for spin, it was easy and I got to end it with the 2x10min single leg drills. I got home and went for a ride outside! My first ride of the season and it was beautiful! Warm, sunny, and WET! I decided to go to the F1 track forgetting that there are absolutely no drains on that damn island. It was one long puddle ride there. I definitely want a mountain bike.

pull

I've been a bum all week and enjoying it. Thursday evening I went to swim to pick up a cd, and ended up doing the whole workout but using fins & pull. Dang the lane was slow. Either way, my knee felt a little funny at times (especially breast stroke) but overall ok. Still can't lie on my side with the left knee on top though...

ice

So I've been re-acquainting myself with ice the last three days. Sunday morning I had a decent swim, test set of 5x400's (ended up doing 4) on 7:30, did them around 6:52 (or less according to birthday girl who was in the lane next to me and pushing me throughout). I felt fine to do a fifth but good 'ol coach stopped us. In the afternoon I went to ski with birthday girl who did the Canadian Ski Marathon a few weeks ago entrailing 160km of cross country skiing over two days. I had two sort of bad falls, one spectacular, at the very bottom of mt.royal in front of the monument. Damn ice on the trails. When I got home I iced my right knee and left shin. Ended up catching "16 Blocks" afterwards -there were many things I wanted to like about the movie but all in all it left me unimpressed.

Monday morning I woke up with a locked right leg. Even bending it while lying down hurt - maybe a 6/10 so not extruciating but bad enough. It basically felt like a swollen/bruised knee and that's pretty much what it turned out to be. A stint (?) at the clinic in the evening and some ice and I'm to take the next few days off. Oh well. I guess I better start icing again...

sleeping in.

You have got to admit that sometimes, its nice to sleep in. Its sad when my workouts schedule my life, and even when I was working, I had to get up earlier on Saturday than I did on weekdays. This morning, I couldn't do it. I just wanted to stay nice and warm in my bed. Aki was keeping me company too so I was happy.

This was a long time coming but ever since Wednesday morning I knew I was due for a rest day. Unfortunately I haven't taken it. Wednesday spin I could not get my heart rate past 150 even though we were supposed to be going at race pace. Thursday I didn't swim since I went to the MSO, but did my weights and some skiing. Friday too, should've been resting but with the fresh snow I had to go skiing - at least that's improving :) I only fell once yesterday.

I wonder what will happen today... will I rest? or will I go do my weights? ski? I feel like I *need* to do something since I'll be having a big dinner tonight...