Scottish Sense and the beginning of cyclocross

I've been trying to switch my summers wheels to winter the last couple days but have found them incredibly hard to get off. The VW wheel design is a tight fit to begin with and then the added corrosion/oxides that build up make it harder to get off each year. I almost gave in today to taking them to a garage, but when i was quoted with $60-70 to do it my scottish blood kicked in and i became determined to get them off.

In the end what worked to a great display of onlookers was a sledgehammer and a 2x4. The combination of hitting the 2x4 up against the outer perimeter of the wheel did the trick. Our group heads up to Mt.Washington this weekend for some alpine sports and hot tubbing.

Last weekend I bought a cyclocross bike from oak bay bikes. I've had a couple of good rides on it this week getting dirty and building leg strength. It's funny how riding a bike with slighter bigger tires, more tread, and bigger clearance brings out a lot of macho in you. Anything seems possible and a sense of invicibility rides thru your veins. A couple of tim allen grunts here and there make the rides very enjoyable. It must be the same feeling guys get when jacking up pickups with monster truck wheels.

PPB&J

What I ate on a 3hr ride today:

2x cliff gels
2x Water Bottles (plastic included)
2x Vega Power Bars
1x Pancake with Peanut butter and Jam

Cold Pancakes with PB&J make a great treat while riding. I've started having pancakes every second day and making lots so on the days inbetween I have a stash. Pancakes I figure can be eaten at any time of the day. Breakfast with syrup, lunch with cold cuts, and dinner with soup. Ron Burgundy often eats waffles, steak, and scotch in his aquajet 5000 so there you go.

Papier Mache

Today I had a biomechanical assessment done by John Hamilton. I've been experiencing some mild plantar fascitis pain in my left foot and wanted to mitigate it before it gets any worse.

After drawing on my feet and telling me that my left leg is half an inch shorter than my right John cast my feet. This was pretty cool. I lay on my stomach on a table while my feet hung over the back and he wrapped them up in plaster. While waiting for them to dry i fell asleep, but once he started to take them off i woke up. Next week i'll go back and get the orthotics.

This week marks the end of a long hard training block that was big on swim and bike volume for me. A couple more days and then some regeneration!

Kick-Swim

I've recently learnt how effective kick-swim sets are. A set we did today for instance was:

10x100 as 1-4 50k-50swim, 5 kick hard, 6-9 50k/s, 10kick hard

This type of set i find allows you to work at a high effort all the time without accumulating fatigue as if you were doing 10x100 fr or 10x100 kick on a quick pace time. The switching from kick to swim lets you focus on your legs and then your upper body. One half is always recovering while the other is worked.

Here is something I heard in the news today that might interest you:

A middleaged scotsman fell into a shark infested tank at the Glasgow aquarium. THe man somehow miracoulsy escaped unscathed. When asked how he escaped the man-eaters he had no comment. Later sources however are reporting that the sharks noticed the man was wearing a "Scotland for World Cup 2010", and even the sharks couldn't swallow that.

Water Immersion

Steve and I were talking the other day about swimming. More specifically how you feel in the water day to day. Swimming is the sport I've found to be very finicky in how you feel, some days its awesome other days you're in the gutter.

What I have found out this last year swimming is that for me there are two levels to my swimming. "In the gutter" and "In the penthouse". There is no inbetween for me and often the switch from the gutter to the penthouse occurs in seconds...weird.

To get from the gutter to the penthouse requires a spark. Something to turn the switch on. This could be someone beside you who is pushing you in a set, or just a great set that you enjoy. THat's why it is best to swim in a group. Not only is it more enjoyable but your teammates help you along by pushing you. WHen swimming on your own I've found that the whole workout is either in the gutter or in the penthouse. Usually by yourself you need a good hard set with fast pace times to get you up the elevator to the lofty suite.

Gorgeous Gorge

Is it November? Really, cause today I was sure it felt like May. What a beautifull day here in Victoria. Days like this when i am at work down in the Harbour I don't think I could anywhere more beautifull. Right on the water watching aircraft landing/taking off, the Johnson street bridge opening for tugs hauling huge piles of gravel or even houses sometimes. Seals swimming around the docks chasing schools of fish and the Coho manuervering ever so carefully in the tight channel.

Here are some photos of two gorgeous planes that came in today. The first is a regular Kenmore flight and the second was a chartered amphib plane.

Napolean

Here are a few photos of Napolean, Joel's dog who I have watched a couple times this year while Joel has been away at World Cups. In the photos it looks like he is sticking his tongue out at you but he actually has a really long tongue and can't fit it into his mouth sometimes. A lot a personality in this little guy.

Napolean ala Michael Jordan


Napolean leading the troops


Geeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Some TT's

Today at swimming we had two time trial efforts on the board. 100m Fr and 400Kick.

Both went fairly well i think. Out in a 30.0 back in a 32.4 for the 100 and the kick went off in a 7:53 LCM. The last two days have been 5.5k in the pool and the shoulders are now saying ok we are ready for the heat, bring it on.

I am house/dog sitting once again for Joel, national team coach, up near christmas hill in victoria. Napolean, a chiwahwah, is a fury ball of excitement and intensity. We are just back from a walk where we encountered many dogs. Napolean not so good with other dogs so i had to either pick him up or keep him in tight with the leash. If you could cross the furociousness of napolean with a big dog like a german sheppard you would have one hell of a police dog.

I'll see if i can't get some photos of him up here soon.