bike crash pics

Hey,

Here's some rather gross pics of a bike crash, please don't look if you're squeamish. :)

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/Slowtwitch_Forums_C1/Triathlon_Forum_F1/Very_graphic_accident_images_BEWARE_P1812114/

The actual pics.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3129/2516554146_35fced3503.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2181/2515730525_25fea4db7d.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2244/2516554116_2419c21926.jpg

Yes the seat is gone, but the rails are still there. They're in his calf muscle, they had to cut the seat post and bring it along to the hospital as they always do with imbedded objects. Enjoy!!

Bored

Yes that's right the title says it all, I'm boreeeeed. Why I'm not training you ask? Well you see my body is fighting this cold and I need it to have all the energy it can to fight it off. BE GONE YOU!! I'm not sure if it was the cold rainy ride, or given to me by Lisa, or maybe a combo of both?? Isn't it kind of a myth that you don't actually get colds from being cold but from germs in the air? So why does one get sick after being cold. I think I read somwhere that colds(the sickness) can't even live in a cold climate or temperature so why am I sick??? Some of you may know the right answer to this, but ah haaaaaaaa I'm gonna give my guess before you can inform me. Then you can correct me if I'm wrong it's only my opinion anyways. I'm guessing I get sick after a cold wet workout because my body is so busy trying to get warm and to recover(I've gotten sick after a really tough workout too) that it has no energy left to fight off the many germs in the air and on things I touch. Since germs are all around us every day, sure we can do things to minimalize their existance, ie wash our hands, or keep things clean around the house, but we can never get rid of all of them. So they're bound to attack us when we're down and our immune system has no strength to fight it off!!!!

So here I am busy pounding back the extra strength cold fx, taking vitamins and making sure I have enough h2o in me to soak my pants. That reminds me, where's my water bottle? Ahhhh there it is. Anyways that is why I've missed my last two days of workouts. (sorry Curtis no warning about not showing up for the swim). I'm not feeling too too bad, even though I did miss a day of work. I'm sleeping as much as my body can handle as well which I'm sure is helping. I'm crossing my fingers hopinggggggggg that I can get to do the weekends tough workouts. Course after Penticton it still looks like a piece of cake. Two weeks till my first race, some of you are racing before that. Heck some of you will have raced twice before I get to do my first race of the season.....................................................I'm still bored. I'm just meant to train not sit here. Oh well patience, your time will come young skywalker. You will do amazing things this year let the water, road, and shoes be your guide aummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

help pls

PS: Anyone know how to widen the posts so it covers more of the page?

Soggy ride

Hey,

Well today was a tough one. I had already swapped my sat. and sun. workouts giving mother nature to get the rain over with for Saturday so I could have a good long ride Sunday. /sigh it wasn't to be as she wasn't done with the rain. I suppose we need it and I shouldn't complain, but it's tough since the last weekend we were lathering on the sun block and riding in 30+ temps. I got up around noon, yes noon I sleep in most weekends and this weekend was no acception especially since it was raining out. I moped around the house for a couple hours wondering what to do. Do I set up the trainer? Or dress up and get my ass out the door. Either way I had to ride.

I'm not sure what finally did it for me, I kept thinking training/rain/trainer/rain/dayoff? Yes I even considered pulling the plug on my workout completely. My motivation level was low, but I kept thinking about it and decided to comprimise. I couldn't bare the thought of the trainer so I decided to take the road bike outside and ride as long as I could manage. I thought I could just stay on paths inside the city and turn back when I felt I'd had enough. I hoped for 2-3 hours and then I would be satisfied.

So after dressing up, making sure my road bike had a saddle(I had borrowed it for my tt bike since it's more comfortable) off I went. Down to the deerfoot crossing on the bike path. I was thinking hmmm this isn't too bad, sure I'll be soaked but I'm not cold YET, and no wind to speak of. Here's where I met a couple people walking their dogs, 3-4 of them. They come running up barking at me so I stop since I didn't want to wipe out on wet pavement. They didn't look that mean, but then one decides to bite me!!!!! I'm like WTF yelling at the owners to get their dogs on leashes if they can't be controlled. Anyways they were both appoligizing saying they couldn't get them back as I came up fairly quickly. They were especially worried when I mentioned that one had bit me. Seriously I absolutely love dogs, but it's the owners that worry me. Some should not be allowed to have them. They were nice and asked if I was ok, although it could have just been fear of me suing their asses. But what ever I shook it off and continued on. It didn't hurt that much and I was determined not to let it ruin my rainy ride.

The creek/river water levels were pretty high so I had to back track several times. I made it to the glenmore res creek and tryed to ride around but some lady stopped me saying it was flooded. I ask if she could get through and she said yes but the water was over her knees!!! Craziness, well I was with a road bike so I figured that was my cue to head home. My socks were soaked(no I hadn't put bags in the shoes like some bloggers had suggested) and I was getting cold in the mid section. It's not so much the water getting in there as much as water, then wind whipping through which made for a cold ride.

So as I'm near home, I'm riding down 36th st. from 17th ave and nearing a pretty major intersection. Out of no where a cyclist scoots over the road causing cars going both directions to slow down and even stop. He's not even wearing a helmet!!! I can't believe it, if I didn't know better I'd almost say he wanted to get hit. What an idiot!!! I've been super careful my whole ride, giving cars more room since there's all that water on the road. Cars can still stop pretty easily but I can't. Anyways it's a wonder this guy didn't get hit. I look up and to my amusement I see one of the cars that had to slow down was a cop. LOL This is like the first time in a long time I've seen one of these guys actually in the right place at the right time. You know what I mean, when ever you see somthing happen there's never a cop!!! Well This guy pulled the jay rider over, the cyclist has this look of bewilderment on his face like he had no clue what the cop wanted. Well I hope the cop can talk some sense into this guy before he kills himself with a move like that. I'm guessing he probably won't. :( Oh well, look on the bright side, maybe he has his organ donor card filled out. Hopefully they won't take his brain. LMAO Sorry I'm totally kidding and would never wish anyone to get hit. I hope buddy comes to his senses and BUYS A FREEKIN HELMET.

Oh well I made it home in one piece, I think I wore out my back tire pads as I had squeeze the brakes the whole way down the hills. Wooden foot bridges are bad too, superrrrr slippery. I walked across some of them. It's just not worth the risk.

So with my ride done with I thawed in a hot shower, didn't feel like going outside again for a run so I just went to the gym and ran on the treadmill there. I put some polysporin onto my doggy bites and called it a day. I hope everyone else managed to get some training somehow this weekend.

Cheers,

We ride as a team, we FLAT as a team

Hey all,

One more post till I'm caught up with the blogging from the weekend training camp at least. No pictures this time so I gotta write more(a picture's worth a thousand words). So with out any further delay here goes nothing.

Monday finally came, with the promise of a shorter "easier" ride I wasn't too worried. I was just glad to get out there and enjoy the weather, nature, new friendships, flat tires?? Woops who put that in there?!?!? The ride started out great, we turned down green mountain road again. The plan was to ride up and down this road, get back on the IMC course and ride up yellow lake and then down into Penticton. We didn't get too far though before Kelsey had her first flat of the day. The night before Greg had examined her tire to find a staple still imbedded in the tired, which would totally explain why she flatted over and over and over. With that out we figured we had her curse beat,..... but alas it wasn't to be. Her rear tire was flat again so we changed it. We were all together so at least we could stick together. Today's theme I think should have been "we ride as a team, we flat as a team" since we all stopped to help change the tire, inflate it, and add jokes when ever we could. The mood was still good, I think everyone was relieved that all the hard work was behind us, now on to some pure enjoyment of the sport. Nothing, not even multiple flats would drag us down.

Anyways with the flat changed we kept going, but it didn't last long before she flatted again, or was she just loosing air. Now I can't remember, it's almost been a week since it happened. Anyways we finally decided to call it, I think we were already 20k out and we decided to just ride home(down hill) and hit the road. With the car this time, since there were reported road delays near Golden.

To summerize the camp, it seriously could not have gone better. Here are the highlights in no particular order;

1. Meeting a bunch of new friends, everyone got along perfectly I felt a close connection to everyone. It's amazing with the common interest how easy it is to chat with everyone. I don't normally meet new people that well.

2. THE TRAINING, I couldn't in a million years ever get all that accomplished in one weekend on my own. We deflinatly pushed each other to new levels. Like Greg has said, "We're going to make race day feel easy" The distance definatly won't worry me as much.

3. Beautiful weather and scenery, You couldn't ask for a better venue since it's on the course most of us are racing plus it's so beautiful and so many dif. roads, climbs, etc. The weather was perfect, I'm liking the heat more and more as I get more time in it. Almost to the point where I hope it'll be hot race day. ALMOST I said, riding is fine, but running in the heat still takes it's tole.

4. Training with people stronger then I. There's nothing like riding with and then getting your ass handed to you on a huge mountain climb to make you stronger. It's fine I knew it would happen and I really don't mind, but there's a small part of you deep down in side that says, "AUGHHHHHHHHH I'll get you next time!!!!" LOL Hey that's what competition is about, just admit it, it's there. If it wasn't we'd all just cruise along and finish at midnight and be content with that. I have nothing against 17 hour finishers at all, I don't want to step on any toes, my point really is that even the midnight finishers are going as fast as they can. It's a race to the line. Race against themselves, and the clock. Ok I'm getting off topic here.

5. Training with the coach. I guess this is more for Greg's benefit(he mentioned this to me in a msn chat). This is where he gets to watch us as a triathlete train. He gets to see our form, how we handle stress, fatigue and what happens to our bodies after say 100k on the bike. This will help him a lot when figuring out the plan. He'll know more about what we're capable of and what we're not.

6. Getting away, Being able to get away for a long weekend and simply worry about ONE thing is great. In a way we all get to go to a remote place and for a couple days pretend we're professionals. Eat, sleep, train. Not that we hate our jobs, spouses, work, other responsibilities, if anything we come back realizing how important everything is and maybe realize that a pros life isn't that easy afterall. lol This reminds me of the climb we did on saturday. I'd always wondered if i could handle a 20km climb like they do in the TDF. Doing it brought huge satisfaction, the little kid in me was pretending I was a tour rider climbing one of the big climbs, maybe the Alpe d'Huez.

EDIT: Greg found me a pic, wooo hoooo. Not sure why Kelsey's not changing her own flat, LOL :P Good thing we don't see the identity of the guy in the coffee jersey?!?!

All aboard the pain train!

Heya,

By now the butt and crotchal(is this a word?) area was getting quite tender. Two words come to mind Chamois butter(ok that's 2 words right there) and polysporin. If there's one thing I learned this weekend was to keep the boys happy down there. This day would prove to be another long day in the saddle. We got up early, some left an hour earlier to get a jump on the bike course. Yes that's right the whole IMC bike course today. All 180km of it, well 160 if you skip the out and back.

The second group got started and we tooker pretty easy all the way to Richter pass. Staying in a pack and even mixing it up with the Crit. speed guys, why those wheel sucking bastards!!! ha ha j/k. We also had a tail wind which made the effort pretty low and I think my heart rate never crossed 120 cept for climbing the somthing creek road? That first bigger climb out of town, oh McClain somthing. Anyways you know which one I'm talking about. We even rode with Coach Cal for a bit, till we got tired of his slow pace and decided to drop their grp. ;)

The first stop of the day.... you guessed it Husky in Osoyoos. Yesterday we took a left turn, today we go right and go up Richter. This is where the pace picked up and Greg very quickly showed us his climbing legs(gotta get me a pair). I think Trevor and I kept up with him for the first section and then got dropped on the second. For those that don't know there are 4 sections up Richter with a break between each. Trevor had a tougher part so I moved on ahead of him only to have him come back at me when we got to the top. I had to really work hard to keep on his back wheel when he came by me at the top. As you see on the pic I did manage to stay with him, but barely.

Maybe this was my doom, I'm not sure. I really don't care and am not worried in the least about my pacing. Training is for testing your limits, blowing up, taking risks and I certainly did. as we descended Richter and hit the rollers I knew I was in trouble. My foot started to swell again, aughhhh I couldn't even keep up on the down hills and Greg and Trevor quickly dropped me. On the last couple of rollers I could hardly put any weight on the pedals, and thats about the time the head wind hit. I normally like a good head wind, I love the challenge, but not today. Oh I had also forgotten to bring my debit card, I had my nutrition, but I was already thinking worst case scenario. I was riding so slow I was sure Greg, Trevor, Andrea would be leaving the Big Bear fruit stand already. Leaving me to fend for myself.

Oh well I rode on alone trying to keep positive, I kept looking up and trying to spot the roof of the fruit shop. I didn't know exactly where it was, which only made me worse. I passed a fork in the road earlier, I wasn't seeing any more cyclists, should I have turned down that road??? Oh well there weren't too many options for roads and I was making my way through the valley so I knew I was at least headed the right direction. Finally I spotted Greg up ahead, ahhhhh my saviour, I tryed to act cool but honestly I was quite happy to see him and relieved that I wasn't that far back. He quickly pointed out the directions(I was on the right road yayyyyy) and told me the others would be waiting for me at the fruit stand. That was good news as I really wanted to ride into town with them.

I got there and quickly took off my shoes, my toes were really happy to get some fresh air. I was also out of infinit so I made some more and quickly got ready to go again. Starting out with Trevor and Andrea I got to draft a bit again till we hit yellow lake. I even felt good enough to help Trevor pull at times. It's amazing how the body can feel utterly destroyed at one moment and with a 5 min. break can feel almost 100% fresh again. It's called fitness, I love it. Yellow lake wasn't as tough and the pitch was actually quite gradual. This time I didn't go as hard and let Trevor go almost right away. He was nice and waited at the top for me and Andrea. This chick can ride!!!!

The ride down hill into town was nice, there were some cross winds as we winded down into the valley so you had to watch the speed a bit, but it was all good. It was a relief to see Penticton. We made it!!! I tryed to imagine how it would feel race day, I'm guessing no matter how many miles you do in training finishing the 180km time trial will always be a relief. Hopefully I will have fresh running legs come race day so I can really make use of my so called strength.

We took a bit of a longer route through town which meant Mark actually caught and passed us by taking a more direct route, down main duhhhhh. Oh well we're not racing, he beat us fair and square so we headed out for a quick run to the lake and along the beach. We did maybe 20 min tops and decided to go in (Trevor, Andrea and myself). There's nothing like that cold water to help you recover. It feels soooooooooooo good.

After today's ride we had planned to go to a nice restaurant, but some of us couldn't wait so we ordered pizza from the hut. It tasted so good and I literally couldn't stop eating till I was over full. I didn't count but I did eat a lot, and we also went to some Greek place, I think it was called Theo's. I wasn't hungry there and just helped someone with their appetizer and had a couple beer. Yummyyyyyy That was pretty much it, we got back to the rooms, talked a pile, ate some more(I'm not sure we actually ever stopped) and went to bed feeling good about the 3 day mileage. I think it was 160+90+160 = 410 km (our 3 day total) In the words of Borat "VERY NIIIIIICE!!".

The pic at the top is me desparately trying to stay on Trevor's wheel as we crest Richter's pass. I'll be going much easier come race day, don't worry coach.

King of the mountains

Hi again,
Today was probably the hottest day of the weekend, and maybe the toughest workout. I was dreading it big time as I've probably never climbed over 3km in length and I was informed that we'd be going 18km up!!!! Starting out in the morning it was warm already and I was anxious to get started. We drove out to Oliver to do a open water swim. The water was great and easy warm enough to swim in. Remember my last OW swim was CDA and it was FREEZING!

So we got through the swim ok, practiced some exiting, entering, and wetsuit stripping. After that we got our bikes ready to ride to Osoyoos where our climb would begin. The ride from Oliver to Osoyoos would be our warm up. Warm up?? it ended up getting to around 36c for the day.

We stuck together for the ride to Osoyoos where we quickly refueled at the Husky and rode to the hill. Through the town we went and started the climb. I basically kept to myself as I wanted to pace myself, although from the start Greg and Trevor weren't too far ahead. I found myself catching them at first, I knew they were stronger then I, but the carrot was there. I had to decide, should I try and get on their wheels, or keep with my pace? Well it turns out they decided for me, I see Greg look back and see me sneaking up on them. Game over, as they start to lift the pace up a bit. I managed to keep the distance even for a bit, but then they slowly started to move ahead. I kept them in sight most of the way up and didn't loose too much time at the end. It was actually quite fun and I managed to get into a rythm for most of the ride. Seated I'd put my hands on the aero bar pads and concentrate on keeping the legs spinning, then I'd take a break and stand so I could use the body weight to push the pedals down.

The climb was spectacular, you could see for a longgg ways over the town of Osoyoos, although I rarely looked as I need to concentrate on what I was doing. The climb had long straights with switch backs so it did wind up into the tree line. Eventually we all made it up, at various paces, but we all made it.

Then came the fun part zoom zoooooooooooooom down we flew, we got to pass some vehicles including a semi truck. I guess they have to go slower so they don't have to brake too much. I have no clue how fast I went, just that it was fast, very fast. Some of the corners were so wide you could stay on the aero bars and hammer through them.

Once back at the Husky we re-grouped up and rode back to Oliver. At one poing Greg, Trevor, and I got a really smooth train going. With the wind, we kept our turns at the front really short and kept pulling along at a really fast clip, 45 km ph I think. It made the return trip very quick.

Greg and I went for a "quick" transition run after. I put quick in quotes because it wasn't as quick as we would have liked. We kinda got a bit lost and ended up doing a bigger loop then we had wanted. Secretly I was happy(don't tell greg) because we weren't doing much running for the weekend and a great HOT transition run really adds confidence to the program. It's nice the legs are willing to turn over when they are tired. I felt I could have kept going, good stuff!!

That was pretty much it for the day, we soaked our legs again in the Oliver lake(not quite as cool as OK lake) and made the trip back to our hotel rooms.

The picture is at the top of the mountain, the smile tells it all

IMC course (reverse direction)

Hey all,
Sorry for the delay on the blog, I had a terrible time figuring out exactly what to say. There is so much to talk about, and I'm not the greatest at expressing myself. The camp started unofficially on friday with a long ride in the heat. Wait a sec that describes every day! We started off riding out of town on "Green Mountain road". Not too much traffic here and it climbed gently at first with a few steeper sections. Nothing too bad although I think Mark was already hurting. Greg and Mark had rode a huge really steep hill the day before, so I guess I had the fresh legs today. I guess this is the same hill that we climb on the IMC course (yellow lake) just a dif. length and grade. Well once at the top we started our daring descent, some of it was winding and it gave me one of my first chances to really test my TT bike handling skills. At one point I swerved into the other lane, the bike isn't quite as solid as a Road bike. The road eventually came out just before the yellow lake hill. We waited for some of our campers and headed on to our first official stop, the big bear fruit stand. It wasn't open but we could get water at least and make more yummy infinit. From here we followed the IMC course backwards into the Richter rollers and eventually up Richter pass. The backside seems a lil easier to climb than the front side. I had a slight mishap on the way down Richter, my aero bar broke or worked itself loose on a couple of the bumps so I had to contend with a loose aero bar for the remainder of the ride. it kinda sucked but it still had a sleeve to sit on so I could ride with it as long as I was careful. I scooted on ahead somwhere past Osoyoos and rode alone for a while till my feet started to swell. Well it was really only my right foot but it hurts like a bi#$%ch. I had to stop at one point, I forget the name(it's a well known ice cream shop) and give my feet a rest. I also needed more nutrition so I bought water for the infinit mix and a ice tea for some instant sugary energy. Here's where Greg came back dropping Mark off and eventually Julie came along too. There were a pile of cyclists at the ice cream stand so Julie, Mark and I joined them for the remainder of their ride back into Penticton. Getting back to our rooms we quickly got on the running shoes and headed out for a quick transition run. We did this nearly every day, ending in the lake to soak our aching legs. Later Mark cooked us some sweet pasta with chicken(he's a chef). Not to take anything away from his cooking, but after 160k on the road almost anything would have tasted so good. OH yeah I nearly forgot, I took my bike to the Bike Barn to see if they could do anything about the aero bars. I eventually got to talk to a mechanic who hummed and hawwed for a bit then decided he would be a nice guy and Warrentee the bars himself. I'm not sure what my expectations really were walking into the shop, I thought I might have to buy some bars. Greg said speed theory would replace them but I had 3 days to ride on the weekend, it would have been a night mare with that bar. Well the Bike Barn decided to warrentee it for me, wow! What good service. I didn't have to spend a dime in the store and they were willing to do that for me.

Greg took some good pictures which he shared with me. The first two are while climbing on green mountain road. The next is somewhere before the Richter rollers(going the reverse direction) and the last is on top of the last roller before we climb up the backside of Richter(first roller if you're doing the race). Sorry, next time I'll try using paragraphs, I'm too lazy to change it now.

Make it Burn!

Am I sick in the head? Is there somthing wrong with me that I like pain? I guess I'm kinda old school, "No pain NO GAIN" but I've been looking forward to these MAP intervals since Christmas. I've been very patiently doing my easy z1/z2 workouts, what I really live for is the z5 efforts. Maybe it's the endorphins or just the satisfaction of knowing that I'm working on my speed!!!

Yesterday Greg suggested I do some more MAP intervals, 2 min on / 2 min off IFFFFFFFF I was feeling ok from my long ride on the weekend. Well I coulda told you before I started that I'd be doing the intervals. Oh I did monitor myself during the warmup, I was prepared to pull the plug on the hard stuff if somthing wasn't right. I really wanted to do them though, sure you dread them in a way cause heck they hurt, but they hurt so good!! Got the warmup done, did some one legged drills, then accelerated up to a good "ohhhh god it hurts" pace. My target hr since I don't have a power meter is just over 150. I'd like to think I'm intune with my body so much that I can actually feel the lactic acid pooling in my quads??? Maybe not, but I think about that while pushing anyways. The workout was 2x (5x2min) with a 5 min rest between the 2 sets. Some of them are into the wind some are with. At one point I was flying through Chestermere headed south back to the canal path, I just put myself in the middle of the since I was breaking the speed limit easily (40km ph) maybe 50-60? I don't have a bike computer so I have to guess. I was gaining on the car in front of me till he saw me catch up. I actually like that I don't have one, helps me to concentrate on myself, the time, and my hr. Anyways they went by with out a hitch and after I finished the last one I had a nice cooldown over the last half hour or so of riding.

I quickly changed shoes and headed out for a 45 min ez run. The first bit of it I had to run quite slow as the hr wanted to creep up on me. Later on I could pick it up a bit and even compromised with myself letting the hr go up into z2, still very ez effort. Over all the workout went great, the calf is still not 100% but continuing to improve. Cheers,

Darryl

training summary for the weekend

Hey all,

Here's some pics I took with my phone camera on our long ride this weekend. We(Curtis and I) went out sat. from Glenmore trail again, headed west. Took the turn to go towards Cochrane, up the hill, back into calgary, back out the trans can from COP. Then back in via Glenomre trail again. It went fairly well, Curtis and I both agree though that that Cochrane hill took more out of us then we tought. Then going out on the trans can against wind and up the hills(it seems most of it is uphill all the way to the gas station). Curtis and I were both a bit shelled comin in to the gas station, but somthing to eat and a full throttle energy drink and we're both new men. I kept to my IG work out, doing 4/8 intervals even though it was tough on the hills. That's 4 min lower z2, then 8 upper z2, when you hit a hill in the middle of a 8 min interval somtimes it's tough to know if you should keep the hr target or just climb the hill and continue the time at the top. Or if you hit a hill in the middle of a lower z2 part it's really hard to keep the hr that low while climbing. I managed however and did as best as I could, I'm already seeing that my Ironman heart rate will be somewhere between these two efforts. Oh btw the riding time was 4:06 I think for 120km.

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Today's swim/run went well too. I was quite leary/paranoid about doing the required hour work out with some upper z2 intervals, but I figured if I had any doubts going into them I could always bail. Anyways the swim went ok, I basically go through the motions, I never have as much motivation to swim as I do in winter. It seems the outdoor riding/running steals the show. Did kind of a ladder workout 8x25,4x50,2x100,4x50,8x25. My google strap ripped close to the start of the workout, so for part of it I was basically swimming blind cause I didn't want to pull my goggles off to wipe off the fog. lol I was hoping no stray swimmers would come into my lane cause I wouldn't be able to see them. Where's my swimming eye dog when I need one?? I had to do a 500m timed swim, I wasn't feeling that smooth but w/e I gotter done. The time was 8:20. I calculated it and got the actual 500meters done in my yards pool. I had to do an extra 2 laps.

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I got changed and went outside for my run. Did the first 30 min warmup and even had to walk a part of a hill since my heart rate would NOT stay down. I always have this problem when I just come out of a swim, I'm not sure what it is my asthma? I do a two loop course at the pool which usually gives me an hour, so the first loop was my warm up. Each loop involves a big hill. So eventually after my warm up the heart rate got steady and I could start my first 6 min. hard effort (upper z2) wow it felt good to finally let the legs RUNNNNNN and my calf didn't complain at all. When I hit the second 6 min interval I hit the hill on the second loop. My heart rate went quite a bit higher but I wanted to keep the leg turn over and kinda test the calf(and it came through with flying colors) so I hammered up the hill and finished the lap with some easy running. When I got home I of course stretched out the calf and iced it as I've been doing religously the last couple weeks. I'm happy to say it still feels fine, no ill effects from the hard run. I wouldn't say it's quite 100% I can somtimes feel a tad bit of stiffness, but I know it's ready to be strengthened as long as I baby it between runs. :P

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Wooooo the Penticton trip is coming up quick. I'm looking forward to the awsome training we'll be doing. Looks like it will be hot hot hot out there so I'll be bringing the infinit along to stay fueled/hydrated. :) Cheers all, hope you had a good weekend and a good race,

#

Darryl

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PS: Stupid blogger won't accept my spaces between so I have to improvise with some of my own spacers.

Mother Nature's my bi@#ch

Hey all,

I've been off running completely for like 2 weeks now. It's hard since running is my first love, but I'm able to swim and bike so it's not so bad. I had wanted to really focus this year on my cycling so I guess I'm getting that. I did my first run on wednesday and it was a bit disappointing, I just did 30 min ez pace on gravel/dirt/grass but I could still feel the stiffness. No real pain just stiff. So I'm stretching, going for massages, and icing it regularly. Yesterday I skipped the scheduled z2 run and so today it feels good again so I'll try the 30 min run ez paced and maybe on a treadmill since we're probably going to get dumped on. Cross your fingers for me as I can't really tell till I try how it's going. Stretching it really doesn't touch the injured part, I have to stretch it just right to get it.

For everyone who's doing the first tri of the season this weekend GOOD LUCK!!! I wish you all the best and will be thinking of you all sunday. I was considering coming out and cheering and taking pictures, but I kinda think it won't happen. Plus it would be nice to meet some of you, but I will get the chance since I'll be going to the Penticton training camp. I'm looking forward to that, and crossing my fingers that my calf will be all better.

In regards to the upcoming snow. I've made a concoius decision, I'm riding outside no matter what. Mother nature can friggen BRING IT ON!!!! Course the snow may be gone by the time I hit the road Saturday(friday's a rest day) but sun, rain, cold, wind, snow I'm gonna be out there. I'd still bundle up and head outside then do the trainer thing. I'm officially done with the trainer. Some of you have the same attitude I've read and I know you know what I mean. Most of cycling is just attitude. You CAN ride through the wind, you CAN enjoy the rain. You just have to prepare yourself mentally for it, tell yourself you will enjoy it and you will. Simple as that. When race day comes you'll be able to handle anything Mother Nature throws at you. Now GET OUT THERE AND RIDE!! :)

My poor crotch is sore

Hey,

We finally got some great weather for a great couple of rides. On saturday Curtis and I had planned on meeting to head out on glenmore trail I think it turns into the #8. There was a slight hicup though. While I was adjusting my brakes I managed to strip the one screw or bolt(what ever you call it if it's an allen key needed) so I had to make a quick trip to Speed theory to get it fixed. They weren't busy at the time so ummmm I always forget his name. Not Greg(obviously) but the running guy, anyways he helped me fix the brake and I zipped over to Curtis's to get this Cervelo show on the road(we both ride cervelos).

We took his van since we could get both bikes in there, drove out to a residential area just off of sarcey and super close to Glenmore trail. The wind was absolutely PERFECT, it was a north wind so we got basically no head wind at all and the side wind was hardly noticeble. Mother Nature has been super nice to me this year, I can't remember a longer ride where I've had a bad wind. Weird cause last year all of my longer rides involved winds in the 40-50km ph.

Anyways we headed out, Curtis is a lil apprehensive as this is the first time outside on the TT bike, and he doesn't have much time outside on any type of road bike actually. So you can imagine the downhills were a little scary for him. But practice makes perfect and he was quite happy with how he progressed. He said later it was quite different, by the end of the ride he was a lot more relaxed descending. I joked with him that we'll have to drive him to the top of a hill over and over since he's a good climber but he still needs more confidence with the descending.

The first hour to Bragg creek went by pretty uneventful, the weather was perfect and no major mishaps other then Curtis almost hitting the ditch while wiping his nose. Maybe he needs some snot rocket lessons as well. ;) One thing I need to do is get another cage on my bike, I think Curtis would agree one just really sucks. With all the other stuff you have to carry along on long rides the extra water bottle having to go in the jersey pockets really sucks. Anyways we kept going into the low mountains up and down the hills. Curtis still quite tentative on the downhills but it's ok, I wouldn't want him to let loose untill he's confident enough to do so. Gotta ride with in your own limits. We kept the pace fairly easy, although that's really hard to do with climbs and other cyclists to chase down. Ok I admit I have a thing for chasing riders down, I'm sure others do too. We made it to Elbow falls and fyi the road is still closed, till May long weekend if anyone wants to drive out there and ride the open highway. We didn't stop long here since we had got the 2 hour mark and headed back.

At Bragg creek we made another lil pitstop where one roadie wanted to purchase one of my spares. Not sure why anyone would ride to Bragg creek with no spares/tools. Oh well everyone makes mistakes, hopefully he will know for next time. When I got out my older spare I realized that it was kaput, the valve had popped out and was useless leaving me with only one spare between the two of us. So I was quite reluctant to give him our last spare. He was ok with that and proceeded to ride all the way to calgary on a flat in the back. He actually made good time too, must have been a good rider.

So we kept going and with about 2-3 k left to go Curtis double flatted. I only had one spare(he will be getting some of his own stuff for the next ride, right Curtis?? :)) The pavement was really smooth here so I suggested we just roll in. It was a good cooldown finish(ya right like 5km ph :P). So that made it a lil longer but w/e I just marked it as a 4 hour ride. Greg had only wanted 3-3.5 but I didn't know he sent it the night before so I missed that and rode extra. OOOPS Sorry IG.

So yesterday I went out and the wind was actually at 0 km ph. What a day for a ride. The schedule called for 2 hours at an easy pace. So I kept the effort down, no hr monitor though I rode on PE. At the 1 hour mark I was close to Strathmore so I decided to finish it up. Sorry Greg, I rode a lil extra sunday too. But I felt sooo good except for my raw crotchal area, but that doesn't count. Such a good feeling, I was aerobic and did the 45km part in 1:15, low effort and fyi that's 5 hour Ironman pace!!!! I don't want to get too excited, there was no wind, but hey I have lots of time. I have a really good feeling about my Ironman bike for this year. :) Coming back was a touch slower as my crotch was burning and raw so I had to sit up a bit, I took the time to enjoy the sunshine. That was 2:40

So with the new bike that's 3 rides 270km. One more ride today and I can take a much needed cycling break. I'm looking forward to my first run tomorrow. woooooooooooo my calf is like 90% maybe better. Oh and those 3 rides were all on my new TT bike. Hows that for breaking her in. I'm feeling soooo fit on the bike, I love it.

Oh I need to figure out exactly what effort the MAP intervals effort should be at. If any of you know, could you explain it for me? Greg hasn't emailed me back yet. The workout is 2x 5x 2min on 2 min off.

Sounds like you guys all had great weekends as well. Curtis(my workout buddy and fellow IMC racer) is getting really fit and felt great after our long ride on saturday. Hopefully he can do a bunch more with me and he should be ready to rock for IMC. Good job Curtis, keep it up. :) Cheers,

Darryl

She's finally home!!

Hey all,

Finally payed off and brought her home. Well not technically, I still have to pay off the CC. I want to get a bunch of miles on her before the May long weekend training camp. The first ride went awsome today, I can't believe it went so smooth. I rode for 2 hours and didn't get out of the aero bars cept to climb a couple over passes. Sure it was different, lower down, but it still felt good. The seat was probably the harder thing to get used to. I'll ride it a few more times then if I need to make adjustments or maybe even change the seat. It seemed to be a bit wide and chafe my legs up, but who knows it could be just a matter of getting used to it.

My leg is healing up fine, I think it should be good to go maybe by wednesday?? I could probably run already, but I'm making sure that it's ALL gone before I start. Besides my training is going really well with out the running, 5 rides(I think all outdoors) and 4 swims and some weights this week so I'm sure I won't have lost anything from the run. This has given me a good chance to work on the other two. Now that I have my new ride, I'm really pumped and ready to improve my riding. I'm already feeling quite strong on the bike.

Here's a pic, hopefully I'll get some pics from the long ride on Saturday. I think Curtis and I are gonna head out to Brag creek or elsewhere? I'm not sure, if anyone wants to join us they are more then welcome to do so. The more the merrier and fyi we'll probably ride about 30km ph give or take. Hopefully 3-4 hours at a easy-moderate pace.