Great day.
The legs seem to have found themselves, well appreciated and content with a weekend well done. This morning's run was fairly short, considering volume of the past few weeks. It's all perspective anyhow.
If today's schedule said 2:20, 2:20 it would be, and that would be that. If it said 60 easy, 60 easy it would be, and that would be that. Today it said 90. 90 it was, and that was that.
The rest of me is almost back to earth.
Tomorrow will be the real test. It will be a test to see if I can rest.
The official start will be the master morning routine which really ends up creating the rest of the day. The outer interaction will start with an easy bike to bring nutrients where they need to go, (could be a heat cranked environment). After that I plan on eating 2 pieces of cinnamon raisin toast with peanut butter and honey. Then I will go back to sleep. I will wake up feeling awesome, eat something (probably leftovers), and head over to the pool. I will stay on the water, catch it, pull it, and push it. The feet could be in fins. Next will be more eating, perhaps a shower, and change for work at Oak Bay Rec. Work will be sweet as all Monday's at Oak Bay are. Home for dinner. Eat. Master evening routine completes the rest of the day.
Thanks for a sweet one today. Tomorrow will be another wicked awesome one.
Rest well.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Shelled
Fed and ready for bed after a full day of practice.
Even though it's after 10, I'm still a little high from the day.
Sometimes it can take a day or two to return back to earth. Generally I start to feel normalized within a day or so. Complete physical recovery may take 10 days, then there's the emotional recovery. Who knows how long that takes. One thing is for certain, the big days take their toll from multiple angles.
It's a feeling I've only really experienced a few times, mostly during some kind of extended solo exploration, whether it be on the water, in the mountains, or on the bike.
There are definitely hIs and certainly lOs. The important thing to remember is there is always comforting companionship.
Riding past a sheep farm, sailing through the kelp, climbing through the trees. These are times where we find companionship, and find balance. We can release the excited and/or agitated energy and simply thrive on calm, the calm knowing of ourSelf. We ease into the connectedness between us and our surroundings.
Most of the time it's invisible, although it can help to attach something which in the past, has helped us create and sustain the silent calm feeling. Simply breathing out the excited/agitated energy, and breathing in the earth, mountains, and fall colours can be enough to spark change in our perspective.
Bike: 75min warm up, 4 x 75min @ pace with 5min rest, 30 min cool down.
Run: 20min @ pace.
Swim: 1K @ floating pace.
I think the bike pace volume was about 205K for a total of around 240. Soleeeed Ruben. Soleeed.
Run tomorrow will be a fun one. Thanks for a great day.
Rest well.
Even though it's after 10, I'm still a little high from the day.
Sometimes it can take a day or two to return back to earth. Generally I start to feel normalized within a day or so. Complete physical recovery may take 10 days, then there's the emotional recovery. Who knows how long that takes. One thing is for certain, the big days take their toll from multiple angles.
It's a feeling I've only really experienced a few times, mostly during some kind of extended solo exploration, whether it be on the water, in the mountains, or on the bike.
There are definitely hIs and certainly lOs. The important thing to remember is there is always comforting companionship.
Riding past a sheep farm, sailing through the kelp, climbing through the trees. These are times where we find companionship, and find balance. We can release the excited and/or agitated energy and simply thrive on calm, the calm knowing of ourSelf. We ease into the connectedness between us and our surroundings.
Most of the time it's invisible, although it can help to attach something which in the past, has helped us create and sustain the silent calm feeling. Simply breathing out the excited/agitated energy, and breathing in the earth, mountains, and fall colours can be enough to spark change in our perspective.
Bike: 75min warm up, 4 x 75min @ pace with 5min rest, 30 min cool down.
Run: 20min @ pace.
Swim: 1K @ floating pace.
I think the bike pace volume was about 205K for a total of around 240. Soleeeed Ruben. Soleeed.
Run tomorrow will be a fun one. Thanks for a great day.
Rest well.
Friday, October 24, 2008
In the Long Run
We're post Wednesday ride and it's now pre-Saturday ride.
Wednesday was good one, and tomorrow will be even better, but first a catch up story from last Sunday's long run.
It was a run which brought me back to the fall training camp days of Gryphon Nordic Racing. Good old GNR.
These runs were long, perhaps the longest to date. Then there were the epic roller ski sessions. For some reason we figured 1 500mL bottle of watered down Gatorade would suffice these sessions. A roller ski bonk is a bonk of it's own kind, much different from a bike or run bonk.
Fortunately, the past few years have rubbed off a little wisdom. This time I brought along a flask of diluted gel & 1 bottle.
The workout was pretty straight forward. Warm up, main set, cool down. 20 minutes, 105 minutes @ pace, 15 minutes. Just run.
Perfect day for a run at the lakes. Fall colours, soft & moist earth, cool temperature, loose arms, welcoming water, and a pair of legs which felt fairly decent.
3K loop for a warm up, shed the coat, pick up the bottle, head off. There's really little to say for the run. Time just seemed to disappear. It's really arbitrary anyhow.
I had the watch timing HR & km splits, but the overall run time was hidden. Before long, the run evolved to a steady hummm, much more than just a run. There are however, 4 memories:
1) starting
2) at 23 K I forgot if we had done 2.3 or 1.3 loops. Same difference, either way it's just running.
3) at 24 K the Jazz man said, "We need to stop for a moment." I wondered why. Why @ 24? The important numbers are 3:50/K, 155HR . . . why 24? ahhhh . . . 24. Quick birthday celebration and back running. Wicked awesome party. That was definitely the best one yet. Thanks dude.
4) finishing
Great run, about 34k to the day. Ice the legs. Back home and transition for cross.
3 bottles of gleukos,
1 can of coke,
1 bowl of spicy squash soup,
1 piece of toast,
Pack up Jalapeno, throw some clothes in the car, cross shoes, compression socks, a we're off.
3 energy bars in the car,
1 more can of coke,
and before you know it we've arrived to Providence Farm in beautiful Duncan. Mt. Tzouhalem provided a phenomenal backdrop. Great place for a cross race. Thanks to Providence farm for hosting the event.
warm up,
1 bottle of gleukos,
1 energy gel,
1 handfull of jelly beans,
Race ready.
As usual I took the first loop fairly easy. Keep it cool, test the legs, feel it out, find a groove for the course.
Ok, the legs feel 1/2 decent, try an attack to move through the group. That was easy. Sit in, feel the groove. Keep riding. Things are good with this group.
Ok, you're here, may as well race it up. There's a group up ahead. Take the technical parts easy, allow the HR to drop, recover a little and hammer the hill. Easy way to move up.
The rule with Nordic racing is that he who can recover the best on the downhills can race the fastest up the following hills. Apply this to cross and technical sections become the downhills.
Smooth like chocolate. Ride up to the group, sit in. 4th place and things feel good on lap 4/10. Hmmm maybe a little too smooth. That back tire is starting to feel a little flat. Ahhh who cares. Keep riding. Hmmm now it's rough again. Back tire is totally flat at the bottom of the course.
Sweetness. More running for today. Jalapeno fits nicely on the shoulder. The trek back to base camp and the wheel pit was wicked awesome practice running with a bike.
At the pit . . . Do you have a pump? We do have a wheel you can use, but it's campy. Well, I'm riding SRAM, so I suppose we'll find out if it's compatible. Toss it on . . . hiii -- hoo -- silver, and we're off.
Shifting works, sweet. We're good. 1.5 more loops. Chase 'em down.
Next time up the big hill. Snap. There goes the chain. Too much torque??? or perhaps despite seemingly smooth shifting, campy is less than compatible with SRAM.
So that was that. Fun racing, fun running, and mud is always sweet.
Conclusion: Even after the long run, there's more running to be done.
Rest well.
Wednesday was good one, and tomorrow will be even better, but first a catch up story from last Sunday's long run.
It was a run which brought me back to the fall training camp days of Gryphon Nordic Racing. Good old GNR.
These runs were long, perhaps the longest to date. Then there were the epic roller ski sessions. For some reason we figured 1 500mL bottle of watered down Gatorade would suffice these sessions. A roller ski bonk is a bonk of it's own kind, much different from a bike or run bonk.
Fortunately, the past few years have rubbed off a little wisdom. This time I brought along a flask of diluted gel & 1 bottle.
The workout was pretty straight forward. Warm up, main set, cool down. 20 minutes, 105 minutes @ pace, 15 minutes. Just run.
Perfect day for a run at the lakes. Fall colours, soft & moist earth, cool temperature, loose arms, welcoming water, and a pair of legs which felt fairly decent.
3K loop for a warm up, shed the coat, pick up the bottle, head off. There's really little to say for the run. Time just seemed to disappear. It's really arbitrary anyhow.
I had the watch timing HR & km splits, but the overall run time was hidden. Before long, the run evolved to a steady hummm, much more than just a run. There are however, 4 memories:
1) starting
2) at 23 K I forgot if we had done 2.3 or 1.3 loops. Same difference, either way it's just running.
3) at 24 K the Jazz man said, "We need to stop for a moment." I wondered why. Why @ 24? The important numbers are 3:50/K, 155HR . . . why 24? ahhhh . . . 24. Quick birthday celebration and back running. Wicked awesome party. That was definitely the best one yet. Thanks dude.
4) finishing
Great run, about 34k to the day. Ice the legs. Back home and transition for cross.
3 bottles of gleukos,
1 can of coke,
1 bowl of spicy squash soup,
1 piece of toast,
Pack up Jalapeno, throw some clothes in the car, cross shoes, compression socks, a we're off.
3 energy bars in the car,
1 more can of coke,
and before you know it we've arrived to Providence Farm in beautiful Duncan. Mt. Tzouhalem provided a phenomenal backdrop. Great place for a cross race. Thanks to Providence farm for hosting the event.
warm up,
1 bottle of gleukos,
1 energy gel,
1 handfull of jelly beans,
Race ready.
As usual I took the first loop fairly easy. Keep it cool, test the legs, feel it out, find a groove for the course.
Ok, the legs feel 1/2 decent, try an attack to move through the group. That was easy. Sit in, feel the groove. Keep riding. Things are good with this group.
Ok, you're here, may as well race it up. There's a group up ahead. Take the technical parts easy, allow the HR to drop, recover a little and hammer the hill. Easy way to move up.
The rule with Nordic racing is that he who can recover the best on the downhills can race the fastest up the following hills. Apply this to cross and technical sections become the downhills.
Smooth like chocolate. Ride up to the group, sit in. 4th place and things feel good on lap 4/10. Hmmm maybe a little too smooth. That back tire is starting to feel a little flat. Ahhh who cares. Keep riding. Hmmm now it's rough again. Back tire is totally flat at the bottom of the course.
Sweetness. More running for today. Jalapeno fits nicely on the shoulder. The trek back to base camp and the wheel pit was wicked awesome practice running with a bike.
At the pit . . . Do you have a pump? We do have a wheel you can use, but it's campy. Well, I'm riding SRAM, so I suppose we'll find out if it's compatible. Toss it on . . . hiii -- hoo -- silver, and we're off.
Shifting works, sweet. We're good. 1.5 more loops. Chase 'em down.
Next time up the big hill. Snap. There goes the chain. Too much torque??? or perhaps despite seemingly smooth shifting, campy is less than compatible with SRAM.
So that was that. Fun racing, fun running, and mud is always sweet.
Conclusion: Even after the long run, there's more running to be done.
Rest well.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Application
Everything is good. In fact, it's all becoming better all the time.
The past month.5 has had the overall theme of application. What have I learned up to this point? How does it apply to what I am doing right here and right now?
Application to all aspects.
I remember talking to my Dad from my Glacier 361 residence room in Guelph during first year. I was excited about something we were learning in one of the Aggie classes, and at the same time a little overwhelmed by the massive amount of information which was being thrust our way.
My Dad told me, "When you graduate you will have to think about what it is that you actually learned. What was important? What lessons did I learn? What is the valuable information which I will carry with me?"
Most of the important stuff from Guelph came from experience and building a foundation of curiosity for the following years.
In the same way, training has become about understanding and applying what I actually learned, what I am learning, and what I think I know.
A few short examples:
In my case, swimming comes down to the myelin sheath. Ahhhh . . . the myelin sheath, Jane Robb, Cell Bio 2480. Also the myelin sheath, Neil Harvey, NTC 2008.
Through concentration and practice, we control the myelination of motor neurons. We create the path of least resistance through which an action potential travells from brain to muscle.
Every thought, every action changes/creates the path.
Make sure the path we create is the one we want to follow.
"Stevo, this is exactly what you need to be doing right now." - NH.
Ok, I'll make it perfect.
I'll leave it there for now and will continue post Wednesday ride.
Enjoy your morning and as always,
Rest well.
The past month.5 has had the overall theme of application. What have I learned up to this point? How does it apply to what I am doing right here and right now?
Application to all aspects.
I remember talking to my Dad from my Glacier 361 residence room in Guelph during first year. I was excited about something we were learning in one of the Aggie classes, and at the same time a little overwhelmed by the massive amount of information which was being thrust our way.
My Dad told me, "When you graduate you will have to think about what it is that you actually learned. What was important? What lessons did I learn? What is the valuable information which I will carry with me?"
Most of the important stuff from Guelph came from experience and building a foundation of curiosity for the following years.
In the same way, training has become about understanding and applying what I actually learned, what I am learning, and what I think I know.
A few short examples:
In my case, swimming comes down to the myelin sheath. Ahhhh . . . the myelin sheath, Jane Robb, Cell Bio 2480. Also the myelin sheath, Neil Harvey, NTC 2008.
Through concentration and practice, we control the myelination of motor neurons. We create the path of least resistance through which an action potential travells from brain to muscle.
Every thought, every action changes/creates the path.
Make sure the path we create is the one we want to follow.
"Stevo, this is exactly what you need to be doing right now." - NH.
Ok, I'll make it perfect.
I'll leave it there for now and will continue post Wednesday ride.
Enjoy your morning and as always,
Rest well.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
concenplate
Good few days of training with plenty on which to concentrate, or perhaps at this time of night, contemplate . . .
Time to slow down. Rest well.
Time to slow down. Rest well.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Thistle Root
Focus the picture, a transcendental gaze,
All but the image, a translucent haze.
A flicker of light, beneath the chin,
A guide to dive deep, deep within.
A speck of light, above the eyes,
A path to climb, beyond the sky.
Roots from the Souls, they dig like trees,
and search for water, source the seas.
They hold the branches, to carry the leaves,
abundant beauty, a purpose to please.
All but the image, a translucent haze.
A flicker of light, beneath the chin,
A guide to dive deep, deep within.
A speck of light, above the eyes,
A path to climb, beyond the sky.
Roots from the Souls, they dig like trees,
and search for water, source the seas.
They hold the branches, to carry the leaves,
abundant beauty, a purpose to please.
Swim set this morning was 8 x 400 in pairs, first a smooth swim, then pull on descending effort. An eye opener in a different sort of way. The effort was far from aerobically challenging. In fact, you could almost call it aerobically easy. Remove the legs from the equation, and there go a few large muscle groups which no longer need to be fed. The result was swimming with complete focus on the catch and push. Just let the arms do what they need to.
Jalapeno is back in business with a new fork/steer tube. We went for a dance through Beacon Hill to reconnect. This weekend will be a fast one.
Oak Bay treads to spin out the legs. Keep the feel.
Full moon, and a gaze.
Now this is really starting to feel like a few days of recovery.
Rest well.
Jalapeno is back in business with a new fork/steer tube. We went for a dance through Beacon Hill to reconnect. This weekend will be a fast one.
Oak Bay treads to spin out the legs. Keep the feel.
Full moon, and a gaze.
Now this is really starting to feel like a few days of recovery.
Rest well.
Raggle Taggle Gypsie - O
See the True Reflections . . . and we're back in business.
Nux. Vomica will come to the rescue today.
Rest well.
Nux. Vomica will come to the rescue today.
Rest well.
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