Update before the weekend hits.

So I did soldier on after all on Saturday and went for a ride.  I threw a base-layer shirt on and then a regular summer kit followed by legwarmers.  I didn't own arm warmers, so the plan was to stop into Wheels of Bloor and see what they have.  They only had stuff for hot weather and stuff for really cold weather.  Someone approached me and asked me for help.  He said "I'm not sure if you work here but you look like you know what you're doing.  I can understand the question, since I was decked out in my Dark Horse kit.  I laughed to myself a bit and asked him what he needed.  He had questions about trainers.  Luckily for him I have been considering an upgrade to my trainer so I have done a shitload of research in the past few weeks.  I ran through the fan/magnetic/fluid thing then saw that they had a few kinetic trainers.  I went through the Kurt Kinetic story and told him that if I were buying a trainer I would probably buy that one.  He started talking about a "rock and roller", apparently it moved around when you ride and gives a more roadlike feel.  I think that sounds like a bad idea.  Just more parts to break.  I would almost certainly break it.  After that I was off to MEC.  I am buddies with the senior bike tech at the shop  and tend to roll in and talk shop with him.  I have been meaning to show off my new set of wheels.  I finally got the chance and he wasn't in!  All good though.  I found some arm warmers that were wind resistant and relatively the same weight as my leg warmers and was happy.  I went to check-out and the (really cute) cashier looked longingly at my bike and said "nice ride!"  Then she checked her watch and said "only 2 and a half hours until I join you"  I was tempted to tell her that I could wait.  In retrospect, I probably should have!  I'm considering going back next week and seeing if she says something, but I am almost sure that's too creepy even for me.  So I headed out and went west on the queensway.  I have been really enjoying that route lately.  The traffic isn't bad and most importantly the road is in great shape.  

I felt great, man it's good to be back in the saddle(haha).  I kept going and all of a sudden the road went from a 4 lane road with stoplights to 2 lanes with stop signs, huge houses and a paved trail next to the road.  It completely blew my mind.  Shortly after that the road just ended.  It turned into Old Carriage Road.  It looked pretty sweet and there were nice houses so I went that way rather than going north.  West was the objective after all.  I eventually found Dundas.  Sweet!  I kept plugging along on Dundas and soon found some huge hills!  I eventually got what I deemed to be "far enough"  given my timetable and headed south to find Lakeshore.  It was a great fast ride from the top of the hill and I felt great.   I turned left at Lakeshore only to find a sign that said "welcome to Mississauga"  apparently I went past Mississauga.  This ride I was using salt caps.  I had one bottle of skratch labs and one bottle of water and 6 caps.  I had planned on taking it pretty easy.  When I go easy, I can usually go out on plain water and be fine.  But with whatever I did, it worked.  No cramping.  I do still need to test out different hydration mixed when I am banging out a few 40K TT's. 

Sunday was a good rest day, Monday I had physio.  I love my physio sessions.  I get to talk triathlon with my Physiotherapist and she gives me great exercises to work on and keep me injury free.  I have noticed that the way my foot lands is very different from my left foot to the right and asked her about stretches because the outside of my left leg is really tight!  She gave me a belt, you put it around your foot and it allows you to pull on one side of the belt and it rolls your ankle, great stretch.  I always have tight calves and she is making me use a block to make sure I stretch them properly.  I really like the block and am not sure why I haven't been using one.  it turns-out that the feet on my trainer is also really effective for that.  I went to swim practice and did some 1 on 1 work with Kim an for a few pointers on my stroke.  She wants me to reach farther in my stroke, slow it down and make sure I am entering the water properly.  I also apparently put my head down when I stroke.  That makes a ton of sense, but I think it's mainly because I am used to looking at the bottom of the pool.  I guess I should be looking in front of me.  Time for some adjustments!  Hopefully that will make sighting easier int he future.  I went for a nice easy 4k afterwards and felt great.

Tuesday was a rest day with lots of studying, then we rolled into Wednesday.  I had a bit of a stressful day, then we had a fire alarm go off in the school where we have swim practice.  It happened as soon as we had all showered and got on deck ready to jump in.  So we all headed-out into the cold while wet, waiting for the fire department to give us the all clear.  So we lost 1/2 hour of our session!  Kim had a back-up plan though.  We warmed-up with 500m, then started doing 100m sets.  10 of them, and she was timing us.  I swam 2:02 almost every single time, one was around 2:05 and the last one where she told us to go faster came in at 1:54.  200m to cool down and a good practice overall, even if it was short. I came home with tired arms and went for a 5k.  Slept very well and woke-up refreshed to study all day for my test.  After class, I came home and got on the trainer.  10 minute warm-up, 20 minutes hard, 10 minute break, 20 minutes hard and a 10 minute cooldown.  That last few minutes of the second effort was pretty rough but I survived and I'll be stronger for it.  I was watching some anime(Black Lagoon) but I needed some fast paced music to get me through the last little bit.  

Now it's time for sleep.  Tomorrow will be the day I finally get to test my shoes.  I'm scheduled to run 5k...but I need to make sure they feel good on a long run, so I'll be doing 10 for fun.  Also, I have been slacking on my swimming lately, so it's time to get on that.  In addition to my Monday and Wednesday sessions, I asked Kim what I should be doing on Friday, she said to just do endurance.  I think if I do a day of drills on Friday, and then do endurance on Saturday, that may be the ticket.  that gives me Sunday to rest my arms.  Swimming is my far my weakest, so I really need to get that rocking.  

Oh yeah, tomorrow is also Hallowe'en!  So it will be run, swim, get in costume, then work, should be fun!

Until next time,

The Inconsistent Triathlete