An Update - Feeling Blah!

Well after an ambitious start to my mid winter "training", things have ground to a halt for about two weeks now. I have been laid low by a mysterious bug that has left me completely exhausted all day every day. It feels like I am training very hard, actually, but just making it through the day has been a bit of a challenge. It's normally, how I feel at the start of a garden vareity head-cold, but it never has progressed beyond that - it's just stayed the same, leaving me feeling tired and blah!

Called my Doctor and it's a 3 week wait to see him. I joked with the receptionist that I will have recovered from this and may be onto a completely different illnes by the time I get into see him. Would this be OK? She gave one of those terse chuckles. Anyway, I went to a near-by drop-in Clinic today and they will start running some tests. The Doctor I saw suspected that it may be a low grade viral infection that is going around. She has seen a number of people with similar symptoms. I may just have to rest up and wait it out. Frustrating.

I have been lax with the blog of late, but I have two posts that I am working on that will be up shortly. One is a follow-up to the Triathlon Drafting history that I wrote about a while back and the other is my thoughts on Lance Arnstrong's return to racing. To be sure, Armstrong draws mixed reactions and is a polarizing force in the cycling world, but I think what he has done for the sport is amazing and what he has done for Cancer Research is outstanding. Stay tuned and I will elaborate on this in more detail.

On a good note the flights have been booked for Tucson and TriFest - still have a month to go, but, we are looking forward to riding in the warm weather for a week.

"Training"

Skied about 25K ( skating) at Horseshoe Valley today. Time-on was about 2.5 hours. Conditions were close to ideal. It was -10C, partly cloudy with no wind. Glide was not great but OK - fresh snow was making the glide a bit slower than I thought it was going to be.

I had forgot how demanding the long Red (13K) trail is on the North Side at Horseshoe. There are some really long and demanding uphills. I was beat after this loop, so retreated to flatter terrain for the rest of the ski.

Tooting the Horn!

I am pleased to announce that Xtri.com will be periodincally publishing some of my blog posts on their fine web site. The first one that they have posted, was my article about Economy of Movement and training with really good athletes that I wrote a few weeks ago. Thank you to Xtri.com, Editor Betsy Delcour and Owner, Vinu Malik for this opportunity.

Triathlon Magazine Canada has published( in print only for now) a story that I wrote about returning to Ironman Hawaii for the first time in 15 years - this time as a spectator. It's title is "Ironman Then and Now". I noted the many things that had changed, but also the number of important things that have stayed the same at this legenday and historically important triathlon race. I started cataloging some of these points in my blog while I was in Hawaii this past October. You can see these rough notes here, and here!

"Training"

Last night I did an hour of "Song In - Song Out" on the Kurt Kinetic Trainer. This is a favorite indoor bike trainer workout of mine.

Warmed up for 10 or so minutes and then started to ride hard for one song and then spin easy for the next song on my new MP3 player - and just keep repeating that for 60+ minutes. It's a good workout. I try and go max effort for the hard bits. Problem is you never know exactly how long the song is going to be - could be three minutes or it could be six! So you can get yourself in trouble and blow easy if not careful. Secret is finding the Edge, and not going over it and then surf along that edge for the duration of the song on the hard section. Pushing not bad gears - 53 x 18 or so, on the hard bits.

Finished up with a 10 minute mini core routine.

This N That

The Christmas- New Year's holiday has come and gone. It was a nice break and we are now back into the swing of things in the new year - 2009. My how the time moves by.

I will be starting to log or note my "Training" in the blog. Note the quotation marks around the word training. I do that because, I don't really know what to call it. I am not really training for anything specific. For me it's just about doing something to stay fit and active. Although, if you must know, their is one ulterior motive here and that's to be fit enough so that any group ride that I go on I can hang with the front group - if not for the whole ride, well, then for as long as I can. Coming up on that note is a week of riding in Tucson during TriFest and their is the big TriFest group ride up Mt Lemmon on the Friday of that week( March 6th) Last year there were close to 100 people start out on this ride and their was a smaller group of about 25 that made it all the way to the top at the town of Winterhaven - I highly reccomend the rhubarb pie at the bekery there. It was worth the pain of the 25 mile 6,000 ft. climb. Or maybe it just tasted so good cause the air was so thin at 10,000 ft!! So, that's what I am "Training" for now and I will note what I am doing about it - hap-hazard as it may be.

I do have a few more openings and room left for my triathlon coaching and advising service. I have posted on this before. However, in short what the service offers is advice and guidance at a higher level to keep your training program on track. It's not for everyone, and we'll need to consult first to see if their is a fit there, but I am very optimistic that for the people that I am will be working with that they will have very successful seasons.

Picture above is of the shrub that grows in our front garden. It was taken recently on a beautiful -10C winter morning. I know that some will find this strange, but I really like days like that. To me their is nothing better than going cross-country skiing on a still -10C, sunny morning on fresh groomed trails. Rub a little blue grip wax on your skis and off you go!