Friday night I was lame. All of my friends were out dancing and I was at home sulking at the fact that I was getting up at 6am to go riding. I love it and hate it at the same time. On Saturday morning at 6:30am there is almost no traffic, the sun was shining, the air was a little nippy, but it felt good. I did a good 70km at a good pace:
Distance: 69.65km
Time: 2:46:47
Avg speed: 25.1km/hr
Max: 39.9
We had a head- to cross-wind coming back, but I had a ride back to the city which was nice. I used a PowerGel on the ride and it helped a lot. It felt good to ride for such a long time, even though my left foot keeps cramping up and my butt area was kind of sore after that. Small prices to pay, I suppose.

On Friday I had my first swim in many weeks and it felt pretty good. I’m not very worried about the swim, so I just feel like I’m just maintaining right now. I’m just not motivated in that area.

Last Thursday morning I ran the same 4.8km in 33 minutes, which is 2 minutes faster than Tuesday. On Tuesday I did intervals and on Thursday, I just tried to keep up a faster pace to see how it would pan out. It felt better than the intervals, but I think I need to do faster intervals and maybe some hills. Basically I have to get up earlier to fit it all in. That night I climbed hill intervals with my women mountain bike group, which was uber fun. After the hill climbing, one woman and I did a nice half our, fast-paced ride. I got home completely rejuvenated.

On Sunday I did my first mountain bike race of the season. 1:21 of high-paced single-track, hill-climbing, and stellar down-hills. Fun times!

Last night (ie. Monday) I did about an hour of swimming at a pace. I did some 500m intervals and it felt good, but again I was not motivated to move my butt. In total, I did probably around 1800m.

This morning I went running in the windy cold rain and then biked to work. Tonight I’m going to hit the trainer for about an hour while watching Sex and the City. Should be fun!

In Penticton, the wind is a prairie myth. On the prairies, it can be a cyclists best friend or worst nightmare. Yesterday, it was a little of both. That’s what a cross- to head-wind can be. As I cycled out to meet my friend (thank goodness for Heather as my motivator!), I couldn’t help but think about how painful it was. After back-to-back runs Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning, my thighs were rubbery. They felt like stopping, they begged me to stop. My stomach was growling and wanted actual food instead of the sports drink I was drinking. My mind was reeling from a normal day at work. The only thing I kept thinking was “spin spin spin spin spin.” I took solace in the fact that Wednesday was an off-day. Thank goodness! My cardio is really coming back so I don’t have to worry as much about my lungs, but my legs were so tired. I knew that if I just spun it out I would make it in “decent” time. Decent was an average speed 18km/hr going out. By the end of the day coming back, with Heather breaking the cross- to tail-wind, it ended up being about 40km at 21km/hr. Brutal. Definitely one of my hardest rides this year, but I’m sure it won’t be the last. So while we don’t have mountains, we have the relentless, whistle-in-your-ear-until-it-rings wind.

I find that balancing my home life with my work life with my training life to be the most difficult part of training. It is a kind of training in itself. This weekend was a long weekend and I had big plans of a long road ride and a long run. Well, I guess 1 of 2 is good. It probably just wasn’t the right “one.” I went for a longish run yesterday (Monday):
9 minutes running:1 minute walking for 8km in 1:02
It felt pretty good, despite the down-pouring rain. I wore headphones for part of it, just to get me going, but I turned off my iPod shuffle halfway through.

On Sunday I went for an easy-ish mountain bike ride along the river with the dudes from my LBS (Local Bike Store), which was pretty fun. We stopped a lot, which I’m not super into, but it was good anyway.

This morning I went for a short run with some short intervals in it. I did 4.8 km in 35 minutes. It felt pretty good as well. It was windy and cold outside, but good anyway. After I got home I did half an hour of yoga, which felt amazing. I’m going to try to make this a regular occurrence after I run. Tonight I’m going to do a short road ride after work, probably around 35km. It is supposed to be cool for the next few days, but I kind of like it. I’m like that. Wednesday is my day off and Thursday I’m going to run some hills and then hopefully ride with the women for a mtb ride.

Somewhere in there, we’re trying to plant our garden and do laundry. I might hire someone to clean our house. I don’t know how long I can juggle all of this while standing on one leg. Balancing is hard!

There has been lots of talk at my place about vegan barbecues and the “politics” around being so exclusionary, but we’re going ahead with it anyway. This is a recipe that was suggested to me from goveg.com:

Flaming ‘Buffalo Wings’

These extra spicy “wings” will be a hit at potlucks and football parties or on poker night.

1/4 cup vegan margarine
1/4-1/2 cup hot sauce (try Texas Pete brand)
Tabasco sauce, to taste
Pepper, to taste
Garlic powder, to taste
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp. cayenne
1/4 tsp. salt
Vegetable oil sufficient for frying
1 pkg. Chickette or 2 pkgs. seitan

• In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, combine the margarine, hot sauces, pepper, and garlic powder. Cook, stirring often, until the margarine is melted. Lower the heat and keep warm while preparing the “wings.”
• Combine the flour, paprika, cayenne, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside. • In a heavy skillet over medium-high heat, heat enough oil to fry the “wings.”
• Tear the Chickette or seitan into “wing”-size pieces. Dredge in the flour mixture. Fry until browned, flipping halfway through. Drain on paper towels.
• Toss with the prepared sauce. Serve with celery and carrots sticks and vegan ranch dressing.

Makes 4 servings

Note: If you have leftovers, serve them wrapped in a tortilla with vegan ranch dressing, chopped celery, shredded carrots, and lettuce for a quick lunch.

Flaming Buffalo Wings recipe

Training inside on the trainer is like torture to me. I feel lethargic and I don’t really care. I find it hard to do intervals because I have no incentive. There’s no downhill, there’s no wind at my back.

Thank goodness for outdoor training!!! This weekend I hope to get in a good 60 to 80km ride. For the past couple of Tuesdays I’ve been doing some hills on Highway #5 because it feels so good. I even have a friend to do it with! I quickly jotted down my stats from last week and I did it this week too… I guess just to compare. It’s nice to know I’m getting faster… even if it is marginally.

Tuesday, May 8:
Distance: 40.5 km
Time: 1:39:36
Avg: 24.4 km/hr
Max: 41.3 km/hr

Tuesday, May 15:
Distance: 41.12 km
Time: 1:37:51
Avg: 25.3 km/hr
Max: 51.0 km/hr

Tonight is the mountain bike riding with the ladies, but I might skip it. The house is still a disaster from moving and vacationing. Plus it would give my legs a nice break.

The holidays were great for my mind and soul, but bad for my training. It comes as no surprise, really. So last week I started getting back into it with some walk-runs and short bike rides. This week is building on that and next week I will be in full swing. Here is what it looked like:
Monday: short run-walk, bike to work
Tuesday: 4km run-walk, bike to work + 40km bike ride
Thursday: 5km run-walk, bike to work + mountain bike riding (climbing and descending)
Friday: yoga and bike to work
Sunday: longish run-walk (8km)

I’m hoping to find a way to incorporate my yoga into my training better than before I went on holidays. So far I haven’t started swimming yet and am doing the yoga instead. It feels great, but I will start back with the swimming soon. Hopefully the schedule will work itself out. I will be updating more regularly from now on with details of my workouts. Fun stuff!