Please don't be mad, it won't happen again!

Hey,

This last weekend was a lot better for training. I pretty much got the IG prescribed workouts in. My swims are kinda sparatic cause I don't have a regular swim class. It's bad cause I don't get a regular 3 swims a week when they aren't pre-planned. Oh well the open water swimming is going well, my shoulders are getting used to the wetsuit. I still feel I've lost some speed, but oh well nothing I can do about it so I won't let it bother me.

Saturday's long ride went well. The plan was for 180k this time a lil more hilly including the cochrane hill at aprox 150-160k into the ride. The hills don't really bother me that much, it's just the time in the saddle. So we started at COP and headed up stony trail towards CrowChild and then down Crow Child to Cochrane. From there south across the trans can to Bragg Creek and to Elbow falls. Then all the way back. I upped the tempo a lil coming into Bragg Creek from both directions. Two stops along the way, both in Bragg Creek to refill bottles. Curtis had re-taped his rear rim so he had no flats..... at least on THAT tire. Yes we found out that the reason he was having so many flats was the thin and narrow rim tape that was used on the rim. Grrrrrrrrrrr, anyways he's happy problem solved. He'd only gotten one roll which covered one rim, the front hadn't been flatting so you'd think we'd be ok for this ride right?? WRONG

Coming down the hill again into Cochrane I stop at the traffic light to wait for Curtis, hmmm what's taking him? He can't be having a flat again can he? My legs were starting to complain I really didn't want to climb that hill again. Oh well I reminded myself that it was extra training, extra hill climbing. So I headed back, hoooooping that it wasn't a crash. I'd just come speeding down the big hill and there was a bit of debree on the shoulder, that would be a nasty crash at that speed. I made it up about 3/4 of the way and here he is. He did flat, but as I had hinted earlier it was the front this time. Weird how that works, I swear someone has a voodoo doll of his bike and is poking holes in his tires. The problem tire was fixed, it can't flat anymore so the front starts. So we continued down into Cochrane and started the climb on the other side. My legs were complaining, I'm pretty sure it was from the faster parts earlier on. The neck was also in a world of hurt after the hill. I could barely look up while down on the aero bars. This section went quick though and we made it back to COP in no time. Well except for his front tire flatting again, but he was so close we just rolled in on the rim. I was really tired and didn't feel like running after, but Curtis wanted to so I sucked it up(buttercup) and got my running shoes on. Funny thing is I started off feeling terrible, but when 20 minutes was up I actually wanted to run more. We stopped anyways. Curtis will get another roll of tape and once he's taped the front wheel he'll be good to go. :)

Sunday came and we went for a open water swim at Lake McKenzie? Somthing like that anyways. We've been cutting back on the rest stops and today there were even fewer stops. Keeping along the shoreline, including the small bays we did one huge loop. I got to chase a few ducks. They'd swim just ahead of me, 5-10 feet and I'd chase after them. There was a blue herring or some huge bird with long legs. There was even a baptism happening when we first got there. Curtis and I were gonna swim through peeing as we go. We're so evil. :P As I first mentioned my shoulders feel better and I'm able to relax. Maybe it's partly due to the warmer water, I'm not sure. I hope it's not just that as the water at IMC will be colder. When I got home I went for a short hard ride. It felt great once the warmup was done. The workout was 10min tempo / 5 min recovery. 2 hours was all that I had time for and I couldn't get the run in.

Yesterday's ride was interesting. I didn't have my workouts yet from IG so it was my choice. Woo hooooo It was soo nice and with hardly any wind, my legs felt fine too so on the bike I went. It should have probably been a run, my running has been lacking a bit, but oh well. The wind seemed to calm down as I got further out so I kept going. The time and the sun position told me I needed to turn around, but I really wanted to make it past Strathmore and to the southern turn that the trans can makes. At that time I was pretty sure that it was a 120k ride, there and back. I had skipped my usual pit stop(Strathmore) thinking I'd have enough fluid to make it back from the turn around. I was wrong though, by the time I hit the turn around there was maybe 1/3 of a bottle left. Bad bad Darryl, it was warm and no fluid, bad bad bad. Easing off the pace I managed to survive and eventually made it back to Strathmore. 90k in and this was the first stop, woooo hoooo. I purchased a large gaterade and 2 red bull. I needed the extra boost so I could make it home before dark. It would be close, very close, .... if I only knew. :P Made it by the construction area still in the light so that was good, but as soon as I hit Chestermere I flatted. :( What bad timing, the sun was just peeking over the horizon on it's way down and with the long grass in the ditch I knew I'd get eaten alive. Those damn'd Mysquitos(spelling?) were biking me all over!!! Then when I put the chain on with oil/dirt on my hands I started getting it all over as I swatted. It was not pretty, I had some choice words for those pesky things. Eventually though the tire got fixed and I sped on away. I was just overjoyed to leave those things behind. The legs now felt fine at least, but it was nearly dark. The last 5k I'm ashamed to say I spent riding in the dark. I was super careful though and looked behind for each oncoming car to make sure they weren't coming at me. Still bad though, I won't be cutting it this close next time. :P It ended up being about 135k, with the flat fix I felt great coming home. The legs don't hate me too much. Soooooo itchy though, oh I found the flat cause too. It was kind of a after thought, but I checked the tire and found a tiny, super thin piece of metal sticking into the tire. I had to remove it with my teeth, it was too fine for the fingers. So that is my adventure from last night, I know some of you will frown disapprovingly. I know it was bad riding home in the dark with no lights. It won't happen again. I promise.