Newton Heights Crit

Tonight was the first crit for our group out at Newton Heights on a 3k'ish hilly loop. Stevo, Jeff, Scotty, Aaron, Matt and myself were all in the B group which was about 20-25 or so.

We had ridden the loop doing some steady state work about 2 weeks ago, so we were well aware of the key sections, ie. the two step make or break climb. The race was steady with some efforts, and no crashes to report. Stevo made a spirited solo break-away with 3 laps to go only to be caught on the last climb to the finish. A vega team guy won it, i nipped stevo for second, stevo 3rd (although easily the strongest rider of the group). Rode back to the pool and turned it in for the day.

In the am we had a 6km swim with a tough band set that was as follows:

4x50 band only on :50
2x100 band onlly on 1:30
400 swim

4 times


Now the 400 swim was first thought to be at moderate effort but after the first one we were all told to get our act together and push the 400. Went 5:05 for the last 400 and boy was I done.


Canucks in five tomorrow night!

The Retirement Plan

Today i found where i want to retire, once i get a real job and actually grow up a bit. But until then I'll plan out my retirement before i even start work. We had a three and half hour ride today from Victoria out to Sooke along East Sooke road. Anyone visiting Victoria should drive this road, scenic, rugged and worth your time. It basically pops in and out along the southern coast of the island and ends at Possession point which overlooks Sooke Basin and Juan du Fuca Straight (or is it Strait?). At the end of the road is a new devlopment called silver spray. This is where I want to retire. At first i thought Belclarra, Up the indian Arm near Vancouver, was the place but nope this tops it. So beautifull!

When we got back we had a 20 min run (10tempo/10base) and then a hot/cold to finish off another great saturday. The weather held up to for an added bonus. Tomorrow is a longish base run followed by a bouy swim at the pool which should be interesting and a bit of a wrestling match.

The Scarab

After work on Thursday this week, one of the whale watching outfitters who moors his boats on our docks asked if I wanted to come out for a spin to test the waterline of the boat. He was working on adjusting how the boat sat in the water by moving around sandbags, but for me it was a free trip. Thursday was not the calmess of days out on the ocean. Windy and choppy....

Now this boat is built for speed, long, narrow and outfitted with 3x250Hp outboards. Once we got out of the inner harbour speed limit, Brett (the driver), says "Ok, im gonna take it up to Max" what!? no said anything about max anything! Holly moth balls, i got scared in a hurry. Adrenaline rushed through my body as we hit 40knots (90km/hr) over big waves, catching air. At one point a wave actually busted me up off the floor of the boat and i was weightless, good thing there was handles to hold on to. The whole trip was a bit much for me, my knees actually hurt when we got back, because of all the impacts. whew, solid land never felt sooooo good.

Double Dip

Two double dips today, none of the george castanza variety though.

First double dip was a Bike/Run this am. Started off the morning with a BIG breakfast...6 wholewheat pancakes, 2 eggs, yogourt, banana, and banana bread..I LOVE CARBS! Bike was 2.5 hrs with 3x12' STeady state at the Sidney TT loop. Steady State turned into almost race pace though with workhorses like Stevo and Julien. The run off the bike was hard but felt smooth. 50' in total going build by 10' from 0-40' then a 10' CD. Followed it up with some more food, chocolate milk and a hot cold session. Our hot/cold is done at the pool using the hot tub and an ice tub. Alternating 6' Hot, 2' cold and your legs feel somewhat normal after a workout like that.

Next double dip...Hockey. Canucks were first up and clinched the division. BIG HITS and BIG SAVES (if you watched, you know the ones i'm talking about). Next up Leafs/Habs do or die game. 4-3 right now for the Habs and i'm really enjooying watching my neighbour squirm over his leafs. There is a third game but who cares about Alberta!

I'll try and get some photos up sometime, im looking to get a digi camera with video, any suggestions?

Urinal Business

The urinal business, after a long chat on a long run, is a stagnant market that is waiting to be tapped. And I will be the one to exploit. I'm not going to say how or what, that is the secret, but a group of us have something lying in the ruff that may be our ticket to paradise....those of you who do know and are reading this keep those lips sealed!

To pick up from the last post. Sunday was a long 100' base run along the waterfront followed by a strong swim workout in the pm. Craig had a two great sets for us and these are them:

8X150 on 1:50
8x100 on 2:00

Great set, just made the 150's and then into an easy 100, the meters flew by.

Then..

600,400,200,100 descending /100 pace with each and descending stroke rate.

Then i was off in a mad dash to catch the 7 ferry over to the mainland. Drove home to Revelstoke the next day to spend a few days with my parents and then returned to Victoria late last night. Today (thursday) was an easy 4k swim in the am followed by a short 35' base trail run then off to work on the docks.

This weekend i believe we have a good brick planned. Something along the lines of a 20' bike followed by a 10' run x 8. It was 16 here today and might hit 20 tomorrow. It is here baby, the smell of race season is just around the corner!

Monsters

I will use the word monster a lot of times in this post. Not to take away from the greatness of the centuries top monsters like wolfman, dracula, frankenstein or that parking ticket officer who watches the parking meters on Douglas street, but i think monster describes this week best cause monsters are usually big and this week was big as in volume

A couple of really monster days this week. Actually in general the whole week was monster, but here are the highlights...

Tuesday was swim and double run day. The second run was quite hard with 4x2km at tempo. These sessions are going to really start hurting Patrick says as we pick up the intensity for race season. He has told us to mentally prepare for the hurt that these tuesdays will bring.

Wednesday.... monster....whoa wednesday. This was the most i've ever done in one day! 6km swim in the early am followed by an immediate 2hr hilly base ride. Then the afternoon ride came which was scheduled for 2hrs but ended up being 3 and a half. The afternoon ride was a lot of climbing with 5x9min hill repeats! I died on the last two and struggled up. We reckon the climbing done that day in total was close to 6000ft. Not expecting that overtime ride I ran out of food and had to stop twice on my way home to refuel. That was very close to an 8 hour day, just like a day at work eh.

Today, Saturday was another monster. We rode up to Shawnigan Lake and back for close to 4 hours followed by a transition run of 30'. This ride was pretty action packed with crashes and very close calls due to debris on the roads. In the end everything came out of it alright and a few of us devoured fish and chips at willows beach to regain all the calories. The weather cooperated enough for me to get out on my race bike today, which felt new again under my butt.

thanks for reading...


Upcoming Races:

Sooke Sprint Triathlon, April 22nd
Times Colonist 10km Run, April 29th
ITU Ixtapa, MEX Continental Cup, May 12

cliff bars

Not only is cliff bar a great snack during a workout they have some good humour in the company as well....