SUN!

One of my previous lives was as a cat. I love an afternoon siesta with the warming sun on my face.

I hope this finds you well rested, and happy. It's been a few, so here's my story.

Before taking violin lessons with Barb McDougall, I took lessons from Jennifer Fischer. I can remember one particular sunny afternoon Jennifer and I were working our way through a certain song. I had been on it for a couple weeks and was hitting a bit of a wall. It was jiving, just not thriving. To my relief Jennifer said , "Let's leave this piece for 3 weeks. Don't look at it, or think about it. We'll come back to it when you're ready." So that was it, we just left it and moved on.

A week later we went through the scales, arpeggios, chromatics, the standard warm-up routine, and pretty soon it was time to play some music. The second piece Jennifer picked was the one I was having trouble with the week before. I hadn't played it for a week and wondered what would happen. I made my way through to the tricky section, and just kept on playing. Sweet.

Swimming is not like this. If I were to leave the pool for three weeks, or one for that matter, I'm pretty sure my stroke would not improve. However, this week Monday was listed as DAY OFF!! in bold, italics, all capitals, with a few exclamation marks . I took this as a hit; Patrick would like us to take the day off. Usually it's just bold, or just italics, with maybe one exclamation mark. In this case I generally opt for the 3-3.5K regeneration swim.

After one day on dry land, breathing at will, I felt totally refreshed for the pool. Sometimes all it takes to find the flow is moving our conscious thought somewhere else for a short while. The unconscious mind will sort out and deal with all the little details. Meanwhile we connect with our own superconscious, and find the flow.

Yesterday was the PacSport Gala. Scotty, Andrew, Sharpie, and I were the coat check team. We were a little scattered to begin, but by the time the crowds were showing we were functioning like a well oiled machine. We were able to snag a couple plates of Empress style grub too. Bonus!

Another highlight for Tuesday was our run in the sun; not just sun, warm sun, short worthy sun. I would have to say it's almost time for the freckle migration. T - 3.5 weeks until Tucson!

Today was another great active recovery day of swimming and cycling. Now we have one more day to recover. Let's choose for it to be a relaxing, and restful one.

Rest well.

a little something like this . . .

Ahhh the week ends, another begins.

We just finished a solid build, the first one with some real hard work. It only becomes better from here. You know how the song goes, fast is fun.

Saturday's Snorkel Swim.
Breath out from your nose when you have a snorkel on. APPL. H. BIO 3400 Experiment: Breathe in and out through a paper towel roll during your next 20-30 minute treadmill run. Think lung structure and guess what will happen. funny.

Saturday's highlight was most certainly three times the back side of Willis Point, fully loaded with spare tubes, bananas, bottles, and fenders on the cross bike. The idea was to descend from one to three. One was a good effort, and the only way to descend is to go faster. The only way to go faster is to pedal faster. There's a simple formula which adds to the reasons why cycling is absolute sweetness.

Kerry kept Andrew and I honest on the Wallace/West Saanich loop. Nice riding Kerry.

We finished with some steady state running off the bike and feeding time.

Today calls for a big shout out to Kirsty who placed 1st overall in the Vancouver 1/2 Marathon. Nice running! Clearwater? Yes, I do believe so.

Back home it went a little something like this: base run, operation hugification cont'd, flush swim, and sauna.

For the scholastically inclined, keep it up for another week! Break from reading is around the corner.

Rest well.

When you feel it, you know.

Great training today, and this week in general.

As the volume and intensity builds, new challenges arise. The body finds a hard work groove, and intense workouts become almost routine. Just find the zone in your head, and the body will adapt. I must confess, at the beginning of the odd practice sometimes I wonder when this adaptation feeling is going to happen. Trust it will, because it always does.

One of the biggest challenges is removing yourself from the fighting mindset that tends to creep in when you begin to fatigue. "If I just fight a little harder, push it more, I can go faster." I think it's useful to find a zone where hard work happens, without the fight. Feel the flow of Good Vibrations. The energy is always there, ready for us to use. We just need to allow it to be part of us, our lives, and our training.

Sometimes it's an absolute necessity to go into what Patrick describes as the dark place and hurt a little (maybe a lot). It's ok; it's good to go there when the situation calls for it. As a species we have found that place again and again when the need to escape thirsty fangs arises. Keep in mind that light place, a place of brilliant limitless energy, and speed.

So, training today.

Swim:
100m TT: out in a 30.7 back in a 34. Next time lets be real here, out in 29 high, back in 32 high. 1:02 low, maktub.

The main set was 6 x 300 draft pack swimming. Finished it.

Including recovery swims, we'll be just over 30K for the week by Sunday afternoon. With some freshly squeezed intensity, this spells Awesomeness.

Next week is recovery and I can smell the sweet aroma a 400TT for Friday. My prediction is big time PR's across the board.

Bike:
90 on the rollers created Lk. Kilshaw. Nice smooth base.

Run:
15ez; 15 build by 5's to Tempo.
5 x 1000m with some Fartlek (of mostly the speedplay variety) spaced in there.
3:08; 3:07; 3:03(I think); 2:57; 2:54.

By mid season we will descend from 2:57. maktub.

Big ride tomorrow.

Rest well.

Trikonasana

The other day I found a copy of one of my most listened too CD's of all time. It was the Live in Chicago recordings of Dave Matthews Band. That's some truly awesome music. I threw it in the player and could remember all the sweet solos: Boyd Tinsley on the Violin, Carter Beauford (in my opinion the greatest drummer alive), LeRoi, Stefan, and Dave. With guests Victor Wooten and Tim Reynolds, there's an unreal live jamm sesh.

We swam one of the longest main sets to date this morning. A clean and crisp 8 x 400 looks good in black and white and feels even better when it's finished. Next time I will swim on the faster pace time.

Our swim was followed by an easy run and weights with Scotty and Andrew. My shoulders remembered the swim set during arm raises. It's all a good part of operation hugification. There's something primordially entertaining about weight lifting. Lift rock, now FEEDING TIME.

After feeding time it was roller time. The extra 200Watts from the magnetic resistomatic makes a huge difference when you drop into 53 x 11. Mount Lemmon will be flat by the time we're done with it!

Lisa guided us through a series of Trikonasana poses with our back bodies aligned with the wall after the ride. Maintaining posture while against a wall really makes you work! I like this variation.

Epsoms, Ice, Yams, and Curry.

Rest well.

Stop, Watch, Wonder . . .

This morning when I arrived on deck, I couldn't help but stop, watch, and wonder. I was there a few minutes early and while watching, I became mesmerized by wondering thoughts. What exactly am I watching? Time passed. Leaning against the water polo nets, I started to laugh out loud. I came to the brief conclusion that the world is an amazing place.

Blink twice and we're on core strength. Easy core.

Wink once and we're swimming 30 x 50 on 60/40s. You asked for it, here it is. Sweet set. Thanks goes out to Kyla and JP for pushing the pace. Lets build on the good work. Today we held 34's with couple 33's. Next week we hold 33's with a couple 32's. Maktub!

Blink three times and Scotty, Andrew, and I are powering the pedals through what at times felt like Hurricane force winds. Honestly, I would give them Gale force. Fortunately, with our powers combined we control the wind.

One longish blink and we are splashing through the trails at Elk lake. There is something tempting about puddles that eventually becomes addictive. Fun aerobic run with good Steady State towards the end.

Check out Andrew's blog (A-Russ along the side) for a good story on Sunday's flush swim.

s l o o w w i i n g g d o o w w w n n f o o r r r s s s l l l e e e p

Rest well.

Super Sunday

Today's QOD is from Coach Harvey:

"I only watch high performance sports, and in recent history the Super Bowl has not been high performance, only high spectacle."

Nice.

Super Solid Sunday Started with 95 minutes of base running at Royal Roads with Andrew. We did some good reconnaissance for the Hatley Castle 8K next week. Love the hills.

The Raise a Reader book drive was all about feast or famine. Either there was a huge line up of cars waiting to drop off books (feast), or no cars at all (famine). It worked out nicely because during times of famine we would feast on all the cookies, granola bars, and muffins provided by Thrifty's. It's great to be around a positive group of people working together for a good cause.

Operation Hugification continued in the gym, and we flushed with a 2ish K swim.

Super Bowl, Chile, Cheese, Nachos, Salsa, Half-Time footy, Ice Cream Cake . . . now it's 8:59 and I'm ready for bed.

Rest well.

Halfwheeling

Two days of great training completed.

On Friday we had our first 800m TT in the pool. The first time you do a hard effort of a new distance, one of two things will happen. Either you nail it the first time, or you can look forward to nailing it the second time. I'm looking forward to the next one.

We rolled out of Commonwealth Place with a large (by Friday ride standards) and in charge cycling posse comprised of Sharpie, JP, Scotty, Andrew, and Myself. Our highly intimidating gang rocked a 120' base ride of the waterfront variety.

My favourite part about the waterfront loop is Dallas/Beacon Hill when it's wet and windy. Riding along Dallas road into a strong headwind with rain pelting your face feels great. There's nothing fresher than that. Be the wind and go.

Our run was on the UVIC track. The leg speed is coming. How you feel is irrelevant, just keep working 110%. Decide to feel and be strong.

This morning's encouraging quote came from Jeff "Prefontaine" Phillips. After hearing the workout I quietly said to myself, "I'm not sure if I can make the 50's back/free on 45seconds." JP heard me and replied, "Well Stevo, today you will." Simple as that. We did it no problem.
Thanks JP. That's what I'm talking about.

Our ride was just around the 4h mark, with a 15minute run off the bike. Today I learned a new cycling term, that is "Halfwheeling," or "Halfwheeler." A halfwheeler is someone who rides half a wheel length in front of the person next to them. This causes the pace to gradually rise as each rider matches the leading riders half-wheel-ahead pace.

Brent, Andrew, and Scotty . . . Thanks for a great ride.

I think I may unknowingly (now knowingly) be a bit of a halfwheeler.

Nice training today. Time for a snooze.

Rest well.