Some Times I Wonder

Yesterday was another tough day. I am at the point in my training where missing a long session is not a wise thing to do.

After my swim I headed out for my four hour ride. The initial plan was to park on the north side of the city. As I pulled into the parking lot, the skies looked ominous so I decided to head to Birds Hill Park instead of getting caught in the middle of nowhere in bad weather when it was -2. That turned to be a good decision. Thirty minutes into the ride it started to snow and the intensity increased to the point where I could actually see my tire tracks behind me. I ended up getting soaked from head to toe and had water sloshing around in my booties. Thankfully the skies cleared over the next hour. I stopped at the car, dried my feet, jabbed some nutrition and finished the ride under sunny skies. When I finished I almost talked myself out of the run that was on my schedule but guilt forced me to complete the thirty minutes. I am really looking forward to doing a long workout in warm weather

Another Cold One

Usually at this time of the year the phase used in the title would apply to a liquid contained in a brown bottle. But unfortunately this year it applies to the weather were experiencing during the spring of 2009. After a few decent few days this past week where I actually rode in shorts, yesterday's ride was a killer. I was joined by a triathlete who is new to Winnipeg and we started off at 9:00AM. The temp was -1C and only got to +2 when I finished 4 hours latter. The new guy was not impressed and pretty cold. He is from southern Ontario and does not have the clothing to enjoy a spring ride in Manitoba.

The workout went pretty well. It continued with the short hard sprints that Scott started me doing earlier in the week. Then big some big gear workout. The coach loves it, I hate it but know it will pay dividends when I relocate to the Okanagan in July. A three plus hour ride was followed by a 25 minute run which felt great.

I am enjoying Scott’s approach and feel that he is focusing on my specific needs. The program is much more balance compared to what I followed in the past. Instead of the weekends being the focus, the workload is much more balanced over the week. I am doing less long rides but still getting the hours on the bike. He has me doing more running during the week and am doing about 3-4000 more meters in the water per week. Injury wise the body seems to be holding up. The recurring left hip problem has reminded me of the importance that stretching is and I have incorporated a 30 min stretch into my day.

Cold and Brutal Winds

Jim Thomas and I rode the IMC course today minus the out and back. It was a cold day and the wind was brutal and head on once we started up Richter. The legs started to stiffen when I got to Keremeos but seemed to loosen when I started the Yellow Lake climb. There was snow along the side of the road at the top of Yellow Lake and for some strange reason the traffic was summer like. Six hours and 150 KM is a pretty respectable effort for this time of year but I think I am going to pay the price tomorrow. Getting out of bed may be a challenge.