well this was a good week, or at least a so so week , well okay a really lazy week of training. some running, a bit of biking, a great swim, and most importantly, a bit of down time. guess i've begun my 3 month taper for IMC.
i've also been kind of sick all week. it took me a while to figure out was going on. i woke up everyday feeling like crap. stuffed up, ragged, a huge headache, and really really tired, and my gums and teeth itchy? ever tried to scratch your teeth?
i thought maybe the flu, maybe something more serious, the pneumonia thing, maybe i've been overtraining...took my cold fx, and everything else i could think of (which all just made me even more ill...but you know what i found was the best thing....coke! whenever i feel wasted, sick, ill, lite headed, or whatever. a really really cold can of coke perks me right up!), and then it hit me, my allergies, they're back!..it's a bit late in the season, but yep, i guess because of all the cold, the snow and whatever we've had this spring, it's taken a while for the snow mold, the pollen, and whatever to catch back up to me. so sleeping's been tuff, getting my get up and go to go, every morning has been hard, but now that i figured out what this thing is, i know it's not something that'll seriously hurt me. i know even training with a head cold can cause serious damage if you try and train through it, but just being tired and stuffed up, just means i'm able to do what i can do, need to do and still survive. i'll just get tired sooner, and will be blowing snot bombs off of the bike all the time. actually after today's ride i had fluid flowing freely out of every opening in my body. nose, eyes, sweat, snot....i must have looked a mess, and yep i do need a serious haircut, but i felt great.


this was supposed to be a recovery week, so i took that for what it is. after skipping the coronation triathlon this past sunday, i just kicked back and relaxed. a good run around st albert on monday, biked cloverdale hills and a short run on tuesday, mtn biked around st albert wednesday,and swam my ass off friday night, and then had a great quick 90k ride today (saturday), so actually kind of a good week.
today's ride was amazing. i was just gonna go out for a couple of hours, not thinking distance. but as i started up, and started battling a pretty good head wind, i thought, well, it usually takes me 3 hours to ride 90k, so if i ride for 3 hours, well, it should end up being a 90k ride. but that 1st 10 miles was hard. the wind was pretty strong, and riding west of st albert on villeneuve road, there are a couple of pretty decent rolling hills, so wasn't all that sure. but i bit big into those hills, and the reward was a nice ride into stony plain. the newly paved highway 779 is the best. wide wide shoulders, and quick with fresh new smooth tarmak!..and when i turned and headed eastward on the alternate highway running next to the yellowhead, wow, i just felt fuel injected! this one guy blew passed me pretty quickly, and i just took off after him, and that was something i needed. he was flying along, and i hooked onto his back wheel, and flew along with him for a while, until he stopped at the next intersection, and i just kept going all the way back to highway 44, where i turned back up towards villinueve, through st albert to starkey road, and then back into st albert along sturgeon road. a great day on the road!, and what was gonna be short-ish ride, turned into an 80/90 k ride.....yep, cool and good!



i've decided to change my training strategy to training mostly on my own. i've found, even when i train with others, i usually end up on my own anyway, so no big deal. and i have to do what i have to do, so training with others on other schedules and training routines seems a waste of time. i know what i need to do, and driving an hour to ride with others, when i know after about 30 minutes i'll be out on my own again for 3 hours or more when i can do that right from my house is kind of stupid. and the same thing happens whenever i run or swim, so i'm back here again, out here on my own.
but now it gets tuff. 2 things. 1 it's race specific training time, and 2, the kids are almost out of school for the summer!
the race specific training is no big deal, it's just trying to find the time to do it all. i'm a big advocate of training when you can, if you have an hour, 2 or 3, to train, you have to do it. when your life, wife, kids, and workget's into the equation, it's hard to try and schedule everything. right now what i'm having to do is looking at things week by week, looking at what is set in stone, what my wife is working, looking at my work schedule, figuring out when the kids are in school and when they're out, and looking at what's in the fun family time and need to do schedule. like a trip to drumheller with the family next weekend, the ride to conquer cancer in a few weeks, and the day after that the kids are no longer in school, when i ride, swim and run really get's complex to find the time to schedule. i know i can, and will have to, train my ass off on fridays, saturdays and sunday mornings. and during the week, how do i fit in the bike training, the swims, and a hard run or 2/
oh well. onward and upward

w