Monday started off pretty cold but ended-up being gorgeous. I had Physio and we went-over a few exercises I had learned and also learned how to modify them. We did some work on Supermans with emphasis on making sure my hips don't pivot and making sure I use my glutes properly to raise the leg. We did some work with Supermans with my hands on a wall to support my weight. Mainly this was so that the balance component was removed so I can concentrate on good form. We also revisited piston squats with emphasis on going slow and steady. I was also given the reverse squat, just from the bench up. Very interesting and extremely hard. I also learned a new exercise. We put a medicine ball on the wall at shoulder height and I had to hold it in place as I pivoted on the foot closest to the wall so I was at 90 degrees then do an arm raise and repeat. For such little amounts of movement my shoulder was doing a shitload of work! I really liked that exercise. Now I just need a medicine ball!
After physio, my evening plans were cancelled and the pool is under maintenance so swimming was also cancelled. I realized that I had the evening off! It was so nice that I decided I couldn't resist going for a bike ride. I haven't even taken my new bike for a proper maiden voyage. So I Britney(yep, named my bike Britney) off the stand and took off my trainer wheel. The wheels that came with the bike are decent, but my Giant PSLR1's are really nice. So I put my trainer tire on the stock rear wheel and that's what I spin on. I bought another cassette that's identical to the one my bike came with. Shimano upgraded all their road hardware to 11 speed this year, so the old 10 spd cassette does not fit. So on the wheel goes. I give it a spin to make sure all is well and I get run. Boourns! Upon further inspection I find the wheel rubbing on the brake cable. The brakes on my new Propel are super low profile and aero apparently they didn't think about accommodating my lovely Schwalbe 25mm tires. So off the wheel comes and I had to put the stock 23mm tire onto my good wheel. Off the tire comes, out the tube comes and on goes the other tire. When I put the tube on and go to fully close the tire, it wouldn't go, so I very carefully used a tire lever to pry it on. Just when I thought everything was good, i hear Psssssssss. Damn, pinched the tube with the lever! Off comes half of the tire, out comes the tube, out comes the patch kit. 10 minutes later after I'm sure everything has sealed-up properly and put it all back together I am ready to put the rear wheel back on. I put on my DHF kit, get some water and a bit of electrolytes and we're off. I used Skratch Labs raspberry and oh man that stuff tastes good!
I just wanted a nice easy short ride and that's what I got, except for almost being killed by some douchbag who made a right turn from the center lane missed me by inches. I said "What the fuck was that?!" really loud. Next think I know, he is honking at me and yelling at me. He makes a turn into a parking lot and drives-up right to where I am on the side of the road and gets out of his car coming after me. I am really curious to as how this will play out, so I get off my bike and walk it over to the parking lot. I see lots of people around, so I feel a talk may sort this out. It turns out that he is extremely angry with me because I swore when a lady was present. I proceeded to lose it on him, asking if words caused him bodily harm and if being hit by a car would do more. There were a few people who watched the whole thing go down who were just yelling at him, especially when he started threatening me and grabbing my bike and asking if I was afraid of him. He kept trying to fight me and I kept refusing. The crowd eventually made him back down, so I took his plate number down just in case. I eventually rode off after telling him that I will be the bigger man and walk away. I could have handled it better, but I was so confounded by his attitude! He was more worried about words than reckless driving. Anyways, the rest of my ride went on without incident and I managed to have a really good time! I came in, stretched down and relaxed for a few minutes before going grocery shopping. Then I got ready for my run.
This is technically my rest week. I did 3 weeks of adding more mileage to my run schedule and this week instead of doing longer runs, I am only scheduled to do 3 4k runs, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. So I made sure to take it extra easy on my run. The ride I did ended with a good old Ellis Park Road ascent. The meanest hill around, and the beginning of my run felt just like the run of a triathlon. Tight calves and a deadish feeling for my legs. it passed about 2k in and my HR and pace were right where they were supposed to be the whole way. When I got home and uploaded my data to Strava, I got 6th overall on a run segment. I am not even trying to run fast. in fact, I am trying to run slowly! The KOM is a buddy of mine from Dark Horse Flyers. This has made me want to take his KOM from him, but Strava Ettiquette makes me wonder how hard I should be pushing. What exactly is Strava Ettiquette anyways? If I just sprint that one km of the run that happens to be that segment is that a douchbag move? I think that if I was running something fast like a 5k at race speed and I took his KOM that would be fine, but if I run slow for the whole thing, then just kill myself trying to get the KOM....I dunno.
Got home and stretched down...again! Then started cooking. My schedule is so tight that I usually need to do all my cooking on Monday afternoons between 3 and 6. That's typically enough time to cook some form of meat thing, a rice/quinoa thing, a batch of hummus, cut-up some veggies and roast something like beets/sweet potatoes. That way I can pick and choose what I want for my meals for the week. I ended-up chatting with one of my roommates and didn't end-up finishing all my stuff until after midnight! Yikes!
Got roughly 7 hours of sleep and jumped-out of my bed...and man were my legs tired! The ride and run from the day before did a number on me. I used to commute to work on my bike, but I wasn't having enough recovery time and my legs were wrecked all the time, so I made the decision to buy a metropass in April and have been taking the TTC since. That morning though I got a text from a co-worker telling me that the subway was out of service due to track problems. I really didn't want to ride. My legs were already wrecked. I tried 2 alternate routes to get to work via busses but none of that was going to happen because everyone else thought of the same things. So after being passed by many full busses I went home, got the bike, found my panniers and headed off to work. I was running a little late, so I had to push pretty hard...which I really didn't want to do. Work ended-up being really really slow and I got to finish-up pretty quick, so I went for a short swim. We think the pool is 18m long, and there is a 20 minute time limit if people are waiting, so I just did a little warm-up, then tried to do sets of 100m(well, 108 actually) while trying to keep a consistent time. I was doing pretty good too, only being off by 2 or 3 seconds each set of 100. I finished with just a 7 minute swim where I didn't keep track of lengths, just went till my time was up.
Off to Night school, not exactly fitness related but hey, it's part of my life, so I suppose I can include it in here, just one more thing to keep me busy. After class, I really needed a beer. Lets just say that this class is going to be rough on me. At least for the first few weeks. Beer happened, then I rode home and passed-out. No physio was done Tuesday and I feel bad about it. I was thinking that if I put a schedule up on my wall or door or something about what I have to do each night it will help. I have also thought of printing out a list of various exercises up on a wall somewhere so I can easily pick a few to do on any given night. I have my run/swim schedule as well. I think I need to copy it out and put that on my door, and add physio stuff to that. I also should scan them and put them on here!
So tonight I need to put in 4k and do a decent amount of physio. I ate an hour ago, so I will wait another half hour and then go.
Until next time,
The Inconsistent Triathlete.
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