Winter Ride

Since the weather is quite tropical this weekend and all the snow has melted, I decided to grab my bike and join the tri club's monthly winter ride through the city. I didn't have a pump though, so by the time I made it into the city and my tri shop, bought the pump, and was taught how to use it (I have deflated my tires the last time I tried to inflate them), it was quite late, so I rode the planned route backwards to try to catch the group on the way back.

It's a good thing I was late, because I'm told the group was really burning up Don Mills on the way out, and after four months off my bike, I needed some me-time to get reacquainted with my cleats and aero bars. I also still can't make left turns, which turned out to be a boon as it slowed me down even more. I crossed Yonge Street to take Yonge Blvd. up to Wilson, but just as I was going to take off, I saw a group of four cyclists coming down on an adjacent street. I waited for them on a hunch, and it was our group! They were taking a slightly different street back. Had I been more expedient, I would have missed them.

Since they were almost done, we stopped at a cafe for a chat, which was really nice. I was a bit more confident on the final ride back. I'm really glad I let myself have an easy ride on my own terms.

JH, my original tri bike mentor and winter ride leader, commented on how pleased he was that I was finally dressed for winter biking. Winter bib, booties, penguin gloves. I'm learning!

--Distance: 19km, don't laugh
--Duration: with or without stopping for coffee??

Gym Workout

(reps) 1st set / 2nd set / 3rd set / 4th set

(10/side) DB Row: 20lbs / 25lbs / 25lbs / 25lbs
(10) DB Press: 2x 20lbs / 2x 25lbs / 1x 50lbs BB / 2x 25lbs
(10) Front Squat: 60lbs / 60lbs / 70lbs / 70lbs (perfect form, what?)
(10/side) DB Straight Arm Raise: 10lbs / 10lbs / 10lbs / 10lbs

Short but sweet!

--Duration: 24mins

Pool Swimming

Warm-up: 2x 100m pull w/ paddles

3x 100m kick w/ fins on 2:10
2x 100m kick w/ fins on 2:00
1x 100m kick w/ fins
1:34 on the first one, 1:40 on the middle ones, ended with 1:37
I'm super fast on fins.

3x 100m w/ fins and paddles on 2:10
2x 100m w/ fins and paddles on 2:00
1x 100m w/ fins and paddles
Mostly held about 1:30
A bit relatively slower now that I had to use my arms.

3x 200m on about 4:30
2x 200m
Held between 4:03 and 4:05
Felt much smoother after all the sprints

2x 25m hypoxic

--Distance: 2,450m
--Duration: 65mins

Pool Swimming

First day back, and we had to strap on some fins and paddles for a strength workout. I still hate paddles, but with fins, I think I have discovered my one and only talent.

We did kicks with fins and boards, we did fins and paddles, pull with paddles... don't know if we got a regular set in. All I can say is I tore it up with the fins. I must have zero arm strength by comparison!

Also 2x 25m hypoxic, which I missed.

--Distance: no idea
--Duration: 70mins

XC Skiing

CB had a fantastic idea for relaxing after the O-Cup event: bring our skis and go for a glide around the park, which has plenty of ungroomed trails to choose from. After all controls were picked up and supplies packed away (and all competitors accounted for!), we headed out for a short and relaxing ski.

Despite the fact that I had a carload of highly detailed park maps left, neither of us thought of bringing one with us, so we just skied by memory and sense of smell. The snow conditions were really great, but we had to make our own tracks, which was quite hard. I led for one short section but was just too tired, so CB took over. I have yet to ski on real glidy tracks this season!

We didn't get very far before the sun started going down, but it was so nice just to shuffle along, say hello to all the dog walkers, other skiers, and the many many horseback riders all over the park. The perfect activity after a hectic few days.

--Distance: 6.7km
--Duration: a couple of hours maybe
--Route Link: (approximate)

Kyoshin Ryu Jiu-Jitsu

- Kick and movement drills (I'm really slow both on attacking from kiba dachi and defending from zenkutsu dachi...)
- timing for blocking drills
- figure-four lock from oi zuki, with a step-out and overhand wrist grab
- same attack, but with step-in for an elbow break
- randori with neck manipulation
- two-attacker randori with neck break then neck restraint (without thinking, I did one break from kihon ni)
- blind randori (my favourite, as you have to have great control of the joints to really know where your opponent is)

--Duration: 60mins

Chiropractic and Acupuncture

First ever appointment with a real practising chiropractor (as opposed to interns at the Chiro College.) Big spender! Kevin is a practitioner at Athlete's Care, and Dr. Chen recommended him for putting me through very focused ART as well as acupuncture.

We started off with strength tests of the glutes and abductors - I have no strength in the left side. It's uncanny.

This was a lengthy appointment, with ART done on butt muscles I had not yet heard of in the course of treatment for my broken butt. He was actually able to find the exact sore spot I always feel after running.

He gave me an SI adjustment as well to realign my pelvis, but I need to do exercises to make sure it stays aligned.

After all the ART in the world, he stuck some acupuncture needles in my butt and then in my abductors, and then electro-shocked my muscles to get rid of scar tissue. I got off the table and wobbled around after that. I had zombie leg for the rest of the day.

He also prescribed a number of strength exercises.

1) clam shell: opening up the hip but making sure it's the butt that's doing the work, not the back
2) leg raise: up and slightly to the back, but again, not with the back
3) a bending-over exercise with a band
... a few other things he will send an email about
And he asked me to roll on a soft Travelroller ball against a wall after workouts

Essentially my muscles are knotted to shit as well as being extremely weak. So we need to strengthen them and break them apart. We did another strength test after the treatment, and I couldn't believe the difference. So away I go!

XSNRG Running

Wandering Workout!

Weather: extremely mild

Route Link

I ran to join the group out at Rykert, and caught them just as they were leaving to run clear across to Sunnydene, so I essentially got a 2.8km warm-up. Ran this 5:45-6:00.

Double loop at Sunnydene: 4:00 to 4:30, hooyeah

Then off to Hanna Ps:

1 Letter-P ("P" for Christmas!): 5:00 to 4:30 to 3:40 !! Cool.

Not very interval-y, much more running in between, but felt great! Then off to eat at the XS XMAS parteeee.

--Distance: 6.6km
--Duration: 45mins

Pool Swimming

Warm-up:

100m easy
150m drills (fist / finger / pinky / horns / catch-up)
Tried some of the drills from the NRG PT clinic, to try to get my hand to point down and my elbow to stay up. Of course Coach called me out on my windmill cadence, so I had to switch to catch-up.

4x
50m high intensity
25m head-up / 25m sprint
I know at least two of the sprints went down to 0:20, a record (I used to do 0:25-0:27 in the fall)

2x 50m pull

2x 50m kick

4x
2x 100m on 2:05
1x 100m on 2:30
1:42 / 1:46
1:39 / 1:50
1:50 / 1:52
1:50 / 1:54
Yes, I have set a new PB for 100m. And it was on the second round, and I wasn't even trying. I know overall I'm swimming much smoother and it's just easier to get there at a much higher speed. To stay in low 1:50s for the rest of the set, as opposed to closer to or over 2:00 is spectacular for me.

4x
2x 50m on 1:00
1x 50m on 1:30
The 50s were somewhere from 0:46 to 0:54, as I was pretty gassed from the 100s.

2x killer 50s
No problemo

100m easy

--Distance: 2,850m
--Duration: 75mins

Swimming Clinic

NRG PT