May Long Weekend and more

As with most Monday's recently, I was pretty tired after the Penticton weekend. But, I didn't feel totally trashed and I made the decision to not make this week a cutback week andinstead to push it out a week. This was for two reason - first - I have a tendency to get sick and/or injured and it doesn't seem to have much to do with training volume - so while I was feeling pretty good, I decided to go with it. The second reason comes later in the post.

Still Monday turned out to be a rest day. I hadn't really planned it that way, but Graeme decided to take a rest day and there aren't too many evenings we both have off, so we relaxed and watched some TV.

Tuesday morning we headed to the 50m pool before work. 45 min swim and it felt pretty good. That evening was 50 mins on the trainer watching the Canucks suck it up and get knocked out for the season.

Wednesday and Thursday were morning runs of 40 and 50 mins respectively. Neither pace was anything to write home about, but my ankle held up which made me happy.

Friday was another morning run of 45 mins and then a 30 min bike after work. I was feeling a bit off and woblly so I decided to turn back. If I hadn't been riding in traffic I might have continued, but I just didn't feel too stable and didn't want to risk it.

Saturday I did a 3hr ride with a girlfriend. She hadn't riden in North Vancouver before so we went out to Whytecliff Park then out to Cates Park before heading back towards my place. We ended up passing Graeme and a couple guys finishing up from the club ride and Graeme joined us for the ride home. He made a suggestion to try out this funny popsicle (actually "fruitsicle) place we have ridden by many times but never tried. The bars are all full of fruit and only have a teaspoon of sugar each and are SO good. It totally hit the spot. The store is the distribution centre but sells individually out of the front. The name is MaxFruit and I would definitely recommend it if you are in the area.

Sunday morning was the first swim on the year at Kits Pool. It was a nice day, but we were there at 10am and I was so not excited about jumping in. It turned out that I had nothing to worry about. I think it was warmer then any day last year! I had been looking forward to this swim for months and I think it was better then expected. At least after I got used to the saltiness and the gross sea taste after the first few laps. I don't remember it being that bad before! Swimming the 137.5m pool made me realize how much I use the wall as a crutch. I hope swimming more at Kits over the next few months will help me push myself to swim longer distances when I'm not there.

The afternoon was spent helping set up for the tri the club puts on. Lots of lifting and twisting and squating and I was sore! Graeme and I still had to run though. I had 80 mins planned and trudged through 76 slow mins. The previous weeks' training and the race set up had my poor body exhausted. We were in bed early Sunday night but unfortunately neither Graeme or I slept well. And then we were up just before 5am Monday morning. Graeme was picked up at 5:20 and I headed down to the race at 6. Volunteering is fun, but tiring! We left at 2pm and were both on our feet the whole time. The race went well and the weather just held out with a small sprinkling at the end of the race. It was lucky as a couple of hours later the downpour started!

So another Monday "rest day" but my body does not feel like it today! My shoulders and biceps feel like I had a hard weights workout and my legs feel like I did squats!

So, this week is a cutback week. As I mentioned I pushed it out one week for two reasons, the second being I am actually signed up for my first tri this weekend. I am nervous! It took a while to hit submit, but its done. Graeme will be racing the half and I will be doing the sprint. I can't wait! Its a weird mixture of nerves and excitment and just wanting the first one to be done and also wanting to enjoy the race! So I guess an actual race report will be showing up at some point on this blog.