Gym Workout

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

(10/side, 8, 6) Cable Straight Arm Pulldown: Setting 3 / Setting 4 / Setting 5
(10) Cable Deadlift: Setting 15 / Setting 15 / Setting 15
(failure) Chin-ups: 3x1 / 1.25 / 1.5
(10) Leg Press: 280lbs / 300lbs / 320lbs

(10) DB Bench Press: 2x 20lbs / 2x 30lbs / 2x 30lbs
(10) Front Squat: 60lbs / 70lbs / 70lbs
(10/side) Russian Twist: 35lbs plate / 35lbs plate / 35lbs plate
(10/side) DB Sword Draw: 7.5lbs / 10lbs / 10lbs

(5/side) Push-up DB Rows: 10lbs / 10lbs
(10) BB Deadlift: 110lbs / 110lbs
(10) Ball Rollout: BW / BW
(10) Inverted Rows: BW / BW

--Duration: 45mins

Kyoshin Ryu Jiu-Jitsu

Kihon ichi / ni / san / chi bonkai

Kumite with boxing gloves - at first no head shots, but we realized we were dropping our hands, so then all strikes and kicks were legal the second time around. Much better.

Blind joint lock sparring.

--Duration: 60mins

Pool Swimming

50m DSP, 22 / 21

4x 50m on 1:15
0:52 for each, nice holding pace! And felt leisurley

15x 100m, should have dropped by 5secs on 5x / 4x / 3x / 2x / 1x, but I missed the memo, thought it was every 5x. So expected to do 2:05 / 2:00 / 1:55
1:45 / 1:51 / 1:52 / 1:53 / 1:54 / 1:55 / 1:55 / 1:55 / 1:54 / 1:58 / 2:00 - at this point I was quite off the team's pace, so I got moved to another lane, where a solo swimmer was on 2:20 pace. Did 3 more there:
1:49 / 1:50 / 1:45 - so was able to get down to my starting speed with a lot more rest.

50m easy

400m TT
7:45 - a seasonal best, baby!
I told my lanemate I'd be lucky to hold 2mins, but I ran out at 1:50, oops. Held 2:00 for the next two, and then kicked it 1:45 on the last 100. Sweet. Still 7 more seconds to my best last year.

4x 50m kicks on 0:60, did them all 0:45
50m pull w/paddles
1x killer 50

--Distance: 2,500m
--Duration: 60m

Pool Swimming

50m easy

2x 100m kick w/ fins on 1:45
1:30-ish
2x 100m pull w/ paddles on 1:45
1:30ish
2x 100m fins and paddles on 1:45
1:20? ish?
2x 100m swim on 1:45!
1:45 / 1:55

Coach got tough today and made us get into regimented teams with precise restarts and paces.

3x 100m on 2:10 / 2:00 / 1:50
1x 200m on 3:40

1:49 / 1:51 / 1:55 / 3:50

Look at these repeats!

3x 100m on 2:20 / 2:10 / 2:00
1x 200m on 4:00
1:51 / 1:53 / 1:55 / 3:55

3x 100m on 2:20 / 2:10 / 2:00
1x 200m on 4:00

1:51 / 1:55 / 1:56 / 4:02

3x killer 50s on 1:30
50secs each

Very happy with the speed today.

--Distance: 2,500m
--Duration: 65mins

Gym Workout

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

(10/side) DB Row: 25lbs / 25lbs / 25lbs
(10) DB Lateral Fly: 7.5lbs x2 / 7.5lbs x2 / 10lbs x2
(10) Front Squat: 60lbs / 60lbs / 70lbs
(10) DB Incline Press: 2x 20lbs / 2x 25lbs / 2x 25lbs

(10) Leg Press: 260lbs / 280lbs / 300lbs / 320lbs / 340lbs [I hesitate to call this a new PB, as it was very shaky. Sooooon.]
(10/side) Plank w/ Arm Extension: BW x4
(failure) Chin-ups from Dead Hang: only 3/4 of one each time, x4

--Duration: 30mins

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)