So - ng - Shui

Right now I am SOaking the feet, kwan looNGing the calves, and zeheng gu SHUIing the knees. It smells like recovery in here.

It has been another great weekend of training.

Saturday morning started out with a visit to Dr. Guan, a Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner here in Victoria. Often it is easy to tell how something is going to work out before it begins. You walk into a room and somehow know you are in the right place. Big thanks to Dr. Guan for fitting me in on such short notice, and for the caring and effective treatment.

After the treatment I made it out to the pool just in time for buoy swim #2. These are fun! The first two sets were just a steady pace, nothing crazy fast. On the last one we had a mass start. It's like the fun part of bike races mixed in with swimming. Sometime you just need to throw on the burners to catch a wheel, (or some feet), then you recover. Fast is fun.

An epic cross ride with Andrew and Brent followed the swim. The second half of this ride was all about finesse. I was constantly thinking about how to be smoother; how to ride faster without working harder. We emphasize technique a lot in the pool for obvious reasons. Cyclocross has brought to my attention the usefulness of bike skill on the road. It's about conservation of energy, efficiency, and staying relaxed while focussed. Smiling, laughing, and breathing every now and then helps a little too.

4h30 on the road with a Timmies donut break, followed by a 15 minute spin on the runners and we're better than golden. I might go as far as diamond crystal.

Today started with a 90 minute base run with a little steady state at Thetis lake. It was a perfect day for Thetis trail running. Sun + Dew = Diamonds on the souls of our shoes (and all around us.)

Icing at Thetis put a whole new meaning to the term. Andrew cracked through an inch or two of solid ice just so we could be thigh deep. That was like a weeks worth of icing compressed to 5 minutes.

Next it was time to start pumping iron. I can feel operation hugification starting to take effect in the gym with our new strength routine.

2K flush swim and that's a wrap.

Time for dinner, take 2.

Rest well.

(Today's picture is of the ingredients from the most delicious camping soup ever made. Just thought I'd add a picture.)