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.