Sneezy

Getting closer and closer. Just got to hang in there for a week till we start to taper. Maybe some of you are already into taper mode. I'm sittin here thinking of today's proposed 5 Cochrane hills. Will I sand bag it? Or will I kick ass, I honestly don't know. I'm feeling very strong, but tired. Let me start off with monday.

Monday is an easy swim day. After work I got home and felt really tired so I figured I'd have a nap. The plan was for a swim, possibly sneak in a run(short/easy) since I'd missed a few the week before. I napped for like 2 hours and it felt great, but as you all know after that length of time the grogginess starts to set in so it was hard getting going. I went to the Talisman(hadn't been there for awhile) maybe Leslie would be swimming too. I'd prefer to do more chatting than swimming. Hey what ever gets me to the pool right? Got there for the cheap cheap last 1.5 hours, it's only 5 bucks to get in. I haven't swam in a pool in quite some time so I figured I would just go, if I felt crappy I would use the pull bouy. But I just needed to get a few more swims in then I have been in the last couple weeks. I think I did maybe 200m and grabbed the pull bouy. I noticed a chick swimming in the lane beside me, hmmmm is that Leslie??? Who knows, never seen her without the rubber covering we call a wetsuit. So I got into my 150s that Greg prescribed, it took almost the whole workout before she stopped and yep, it was her. She swims really well, flip turns, non stop. Like a champ!! So we chatted a bit then, I finished my measely 1700m I think? Then chatting more in the hot tub before home time. I wanted to run later, but I sat on my ass in front of the comp too long at home. You know, crossing that line or moment in time when you know there is no way you're gonna get out for a workout. It had nothing to do with the fact that it was 11:30 or 12, I love running at night.

Tuesday was more tempo riding. This time we had a good turn out and some short lived good weather. The dark clouds were looming towards the west, but we managed to miss it. Weird, someone else with better karma than I musta been in the grp. This time I stuck it, I managed to stick with the big boys. I was so proud, even taking my turns pulling the Trev,Greg, Darryl train. Wooo hoooooo The rest of the grp were all not far back, everyone's doing so well and improving, it is truely a pleasure to be part of it. Andrea flatted 3 times, ouch!! As Greg mentioned we were all attacking each other like mad. I managed to stay on till the last climb, stony trail, Greg announced there would be KOM points and he attacked really hard, Trevor answered, I flailed around desparately trying to stay in contact. But it wasn't to be, they slowly pulled away, they had maybe 20 yards? When all of a sudden I started to feel that squirrely feeling in the back. Oh my, that could only be one thing, I look down and watch to my dismay as my tire empties itself rapidly, not blow out style, but in about 20-30 secs till I feel the familiar thump thump thump. DAMN!! and I was making my come back, hee hee j/k there was no catching up. I was hurting so bad I almost thanked the tire, this meant I didn't need to push anymore, I had an excuse to stop with the pain. So there I was, maybe a couple k up the hill and a short lil ride down Crowchild till the church. I had a spare, but I decided it was close enough to roll it in on the rim. I thought everyone would have been there by then, it took awhile. Maybe I should have fixed it, anyways Andrea had gotten her 3rd flat by then and needed a ride back since her tire went kaplooie. Greg and I had a nice transition run, I figured the roll in would help me recover for the run, but it didn't help much. We ran up the hill easy but my legs were hurting, hurting even more when the pace went up to 7 min/mile although after maybe 15 min they warmed up and I settled into a decent rhythm despite the rollers we were running over. It was good and ended it off with a good downhill to the church, ahhhh the reward, what goes up must come down eh???

Yesterday (Wednesday) another open water swim with Kelsey. Woo hooooo, Al pointed it out that it was a bit windy but had calmed down later in the day. I corrected his way of thinking saying that we need as much wind as possible to whip up some decent training waves, so stop that "hoping for a calm swim" attitude. We don't want any of it, hee hee. He did his usual rowing around the lake after us, snapping some pics of us(although I'm starting to wonder if they are all of Kelsey cause I haven't seen one of me yet, hint hint lol j/k Kelsey no pressure) Greg came out to swim with us, I think mostly to draft off my white feet. He came around me at one point thinking he'd help pull a bit and I promptly attacked him dunking him all the way under. I figure he needs some practice with that too, plus I enjoy dishing it out. Anyone else need some practice getting dunked??? I'm happy to help, :) Anyone who's ever swam with me knows my feet literally shine in the water. Later on Curtis and I went for a long run and at one point he mentioned he was having trouble seeing through a tree covered area. I usually can see better than him so I led the way saying he should follow my voice. His answer was oh I can see your legs just fine, they shine as clear as day. So there you have it, in water or on land, they shine!!!! I won't say much about our run since my coach reads my blog and may get mad when he finds out how far we ran. To sum it up, we ran pretty far, the bugs pissed us off to no end at the start of the run when it was still day light. We had turn back for a washroom break. My legs were sooooo tired I didn't even know if I could run at all, thankfully they warmed up and got going. I ran the big hill near the golf course that I was convinced my legs would not want to do.

That is all, oh and the title. I have super white legs/feet, but I also have another unique feature that I think is the most bizarre ever. Almost every day I go for lunch with work buddies or my fiance, and I'd say about 80-90% of the time after getting lunch, sitting down, I sneeze. One sneeze never more than one, probably a few bites in, but it almost always happens no matter what the meal is. It makes no difference, I don't do this at dinner time, just lunch. It's to the point where I almost wait for it, like it's part of my daily routine. Once in awhile especially if we purposely wait for it, I can miss it, but usually like clock work Kaaaa chooooooo. So if you ever go for lunch with me, make sure I have a napkin handy. Thank you,

Darryl