overtones

Listen.

Listen carefully.
Listen to the overtones.

Play.

Play carefully.
Play to the overtones.

Listen carefully.
Understand the song.

Play carefully.
Play to hear the song.

Listen carefully.
Listen to the song.

***



Back to the build.

Rest well.

Tea's on.

My Grandpa Tom used to have an old black book. Leather cover, tea covered & coloured pages, fully of writing in the margins, this book was one of secret remedies.

How to treat a lame calf, how to make barley grow twice as high, how to help your hair grow back . . . This book had it all.

Today Tepi shared one of her most secret & prized remedies.

I asked,

"What's your secret remedy for when you are tired?"

"Go home, take off your shoes, put on your PJ's, and go to sleep.
It works every time!"

There you have it. Tepi's secret remedy, and it works every time!

Shoes off, tea's on, dinner in, and lights out.

Rest well.

+ the funny . . .

The bike aid station super cool Team ASTANA TREK water bottles . . . For a moment I thought about chucking both of my for a trade.

Almost pausing for a moment at the final aid station to pick up an extra gel. "Man, those things are like $2.50."

Walking to the car this evening . . .

Good luck to the guys down south racing tomorrow! Fast feet going your way!

Rest well.

410 Potatoes

The freckles are back! When I look down in the evening & see a new patch, I know it must have been a great day.

Every year a new appendage seems to be covered. One summer it was the arms, next the legs. Today was all about the proximal phalanx.

Another appendage covered with freckles . . . another successful day in the sun.

Wake up in the KItCh kindof mood. Just Keep'n It Chill.

Roll out of bed & climb up and onto the counter where the espresso machine rests, ready to jump start our day. Coffee & two small baked potatoes. 410AM potatoes are my favourite kind of potatoe.

We cruise up the 'hat & out to Shawnigan where a peaceful lake lies, ready to jump start our 4hour adventure.

"Blast!" We're off & shortly I'm lost, this time in the literal lost at sea sort of sense. Lesson learned.

Find the shore & follow the plan.

We decided the bike would be a success if it was even split. 33:12 for the 1st loop & we have a target for the next 3: 33:15, 33:09, 33:21.

Out on the run & we have a zone, both HR & feel. You know the feel, you know the HR, just Keep It Chill dude, Keep It Chill.

Great to be out on the trails again with Brent, this time for a jog. I think the last trail experiences were the inaugural cyclocross adventures of 08.

More than a few good words Dude. Thanks for a good run.

Shout out to John Bothelo & the LifeSport crew for hosting another fantastic event.

Thanks to the lake, the roads, & the trail. You made it an especially enjoyable day.

And as always, good laughs, good times, & great prep according to the Jazz man Philosophy. Thanks dude.

Rest well.

2nd 1/2

After completing the 1st 1/2 and 1st 1/1, tomorrow we race the 2nd 1/2, this time up in beautiful Shawnigan lake provincial park.

Racing is finally here!

Rest well.

Warm Socks & Birkenstocks

Thursday May 22, 2009, the 1st official bib shorts & a t-shirt ride of 2009!

Wow, it feels strange and unusual to have so much exposed skin on the bike. Between the near blinding white reflection each time I glance down to see the knees, & cool ocean breeze, the new experience is almost sensory overload.

Fortunately, the external overload is soon overwhelmed by internal receptors. Warm up must be finished; we're onto the main set.

Back to the Beacon Hill loop for some TT style speed & agility training.

In the Fall it was Jalapeno Cross style Beacon Hill S & A training. Become the terrain! Flow with it, ride with it, feel the wind & roll with it.

Now on the TT machine (yet to be named) we become invisible to the wind. As if some kind of superpowered thoroughbred, we gracefully slide under the wind.

It's run time.

Rest well.

Definitely a highlight

Today I woke up & made an espresso.
To make things even better, it was a double shot!
Definitely a highlight.

Today I saved 40cents on Soy Milk! That's 40 cents off the sale price!
To make things even better, it's made right here in Victoria.
Definitely a highlight.

Today I rode my bike with Jazz & Mike.
To make things even better, it was sunny!
Definitely a highlight.

Today I swam in Crystal Pool.
To make things even better, I wore my wetsuit!
Definitely a highlight.

Today I dropped some old sweaters off at the house.
To make things even better, I saw my bro!
Definitely a highlight.

Today we made Pitas for dinner.
To make things even better, they had bbq chicken, red onion, green pepper, yellow pepper, orange pepper, homemade tzatziki, homemade hummous, olives, cucumber, & tomatos on them.
Definitely a highlight.

Rest well.

Last Set

"Ok everyone, Let's see the speed!"- CL

"RT?" - JB

"RT." - MN

"RT baby Yeah!" - SK

"BB?" - MN

"BB's & RT's Yeah!" - SK

"G one5?" - MN

pause . . .

"hahahaha . . . yeah G one5!" - SK

"splash." - JB & MN

10s pause . . .

"splash." - SK

LASTSET=6X100@140ONG15

With the addition of Track Tuesdays, it's a day where Fast is Fun.

Rest well.

The space between

This afternoon we ride a hill.

Ride to the Observatory & hammer the set, one through ten, living that place just above threshold. We know just how long the set will take. Our minds comprehend just what the set will feel like. We prepare.

To begin, the hill is the ego's enemy; but as we continue to ascend, we decide which wolf to feed.

We ride the set. We feel the legs, lactate accumulating. We know the feeling, and as the feeling overcomes our legs, we refocus. What else do we have?

Right now we have legs and lungs. We feel our lungs. Focus on big gear breathing.

Breathe in . . . in a little more . . . deeper . . . pause . . . breathe out . . . out a little more . . . deeper . . . pause . . . breathe in. . .

We allow our breath in. We allow it to nourish, existing in the pause.

Our breath, once a part of the hill changes fate.

We become our breath as our breath becomes us. We embrace the hill, as right now the hill brings our breath.

Ride the set. Finish the set. Ride home.

. . .Pause . . .

We have 13 hours before the next set. We allow the set to assimilate.

This particular set is now gone forever. All that remains is what we allow to become a part of us.

13 Hours before our run.

Embrace the space.

Rest well.

Game, Set, Match . . .

. . . & I'm ready for my bath.

A beautiful byproduct of biking are the bountiful roads on which we ride. There are so many. Each of us have our favourites. A perfect ride on the perfect day to make the perfect workout. Some days call for an easy waterfront spin, others a highlands adventure.

The Fall calls Muddy cyclocross. Royal Roads . . . Camosun . . . Finlayson Arm?

The Winter calls Snowy hike-a-bike style cyclocross. Harbourview . . . Jack Lake . . . Crabapple Lake?

We're into spring, and onto racing. Summer calls for the Okanogan, so I suppose Spring calls for Okanogan prep.

I remember my first official Long Course bike interval set last October, 3 x 30 minutes @ goal race pace. I thought, "That's 90 minutes of pace work!"

Comfortably perched on a borrowed bike from Mike, we were off. Three hours later we were home.

Today we revisited the set, this time on a Jazz styled charriot.

"Have a good set dude!"

Oh yeah, we're about to do a set. This is more than just a ride. We're doing a set! If we're doing a set, that means racing is just around the corner. It's a Long Course set too. This stuff is cool.

Nice set. Nice ride. Hard Core. Smooth Swim.

Rest well.

Soup & Sandwich

Vegetable 'Zaa

Chunky Beet Soup

& of course my good old friend PB

. . . so many sandwiches

Rest well.

KItCh

Stands for Keep It Chill.

This has been one of the winter mantras. "Just keep it chill dude." - JB

Sunday brought us to the Sooke Spring Sprint Triathlon hosted by Team X, a Victoria based triathlon club. Shout out to the team for hosting a great grassroots event.

My race instructions were as follows: "It's only an hour, so just giver."

Only an hour eh? Just giver eh? Sounds good to me.

Swim - Kept ItCh (Thanks for the feet JP)
Bike - Kept ItCh (Thanks for the wheels/bike/helmet JB)
Run - Kept ItCh (Thanks for the H2O splash @ 2k aid station volunteer)

Fast is still fun.

Rest well.

Then came speed . . .

Remember the Gryphon Nordic Racing motto: LSD now, SPEED later.

Now is officially later.

We're onto the speed training, in the absolutely relative sense.

The beacon hill bike loop eats, breathes, & drinks speed.

After one brief sample, the track has moved onto our entre menue, and
GRP is a commonplace acronym on the swim board.

We're even flirting with thoughts & plans for racing!

Shout out to the G-money honey for his Youth Now Nomination last night.

Run Time.

Rest well.