I was to do a quick errand at the grocery store after my swim last night.

I got 1500 meters done, but was feeling frustrated at having to dodge recreational floaters the whole time. Afterwards, I hung at the wall at the end of my lane. The HVAC system shut down. The silence was eerily deafening. But, as if a signal from the Supreme Being, the pool emptied, and I was alone. Dumbstruck, I asked the lifeguard what time the pool closed. 10pm was the response. The current time was 8:20pm.

I talked myself into an extra 100. Oh why the heck not, an extra 1000. And it felt good. In all, 2500 meters. Including 100 IM, 4 x 100 (25 easy/50 med/25 hard).

After my long luxurious shower, I bought an orange juice, and gulped it down. Everything was good.

9:05pm. Darn. Grocery store is closed.

Air temperature was 16*C (61F), unseasonably high for the end of November. Let’s make it a brick. (Ok, maybe technically not a brick… a double work-out.)

The van, was scheduled for maintenance in the morning. I drove home. Got changed for running. Drove the van to the garage. Ran 3K home. At 200m mark, regretted the fact I had gulped down 491mL of juice 10 minutes earlier. Overall, loved the fact that I added a run after a swim. Grand.

I went swimming!

1500 meters on Wednesday night. Not bad for a first time back. I even threw in a 100m I.M. for good measure.

Some things that I noticed:
1. I had to share the pool with 'non-swimmers' (not too bad, at least there's a designated lane for lap-swimming, canon-balling high-divers are annoying sometimes).

2. There are no backstroke flags at the deep end; found this out the hard way.

3. 25 meters is nicer than 25 yards - ie. 60 laps = 1500m as opposed to 66 laps.

4. Recreationally, I hate cold-water pools. BUT strangely enough , my pool in Ottawa was always cold, and I prefered it this way for lap-swimming. The new pool was very warm (80* +) - will take some getting used to.

It was good to be back in the water.

And, thankfully, the shower area is much larger than at my last place. So there's no worry about dirty-second-hand cast-off ala This Gem from last year:

Tuesday, May 03, 2005 [13:59]
Topic: Training

Shower Etiquette

I swam 1,000 m at lunch today. I tried for a PB for the first 500m, but I swam it in 8:44 (not bad, but not a PB) - a little slower than I'd like it to be actually. I finished the set with 4 laps of breast, 4 backstroke and the rest Total Immersion style freestyle.

Later... I had the worst experience in the shower... and in fact, this has happened more than once in the past.



Exhibit A (above) is a schematic of the shower facilities at the Champaign Pool.

The numbered blue dots, indicate the shower heads - and are labeled in the "unofficial" order they are supposed to be used in. The Orange circles indicate the spray radius of each shower. The purple areas indicate the overlap.

At lunch time, when I entered, the shower stall was empty. I took position 1. Immediately behind me - Big Older Dude takes position 5. I like a long hot shower. Big Older Dude likes a cold shower - and I can feel his frigid second hand spray hitting my legs (***uuugggh***) .... it gets worse .... Big Older Dude has bad skin and hair, and uses this horrible, stinky bodywash/shampoo. I'm getting hit with second hand body wash (***uggghhh***). ... it gets worse ... I finish. Big Older Dude keeps going. I've got to walk beside him and through his stream of foamy second hand body wash to get out.

I feel so dirty. :-(

The order has been placed. Tacx Flow ergotrainer is en route. Special thanks to the President of Cornwall Multisport club for some assistance in the procurement process.

We (my wife and I) had been wrestling with different options for bike training equipment. At one point, we were certain we would be picking up a Schwinn IC Pro spin bike. But, after careful re-consideration, and talks with others, we decided that a proper magtrainer was the best option. Plus, I'm a gadget-geek and numbers-freak. A spin bike with no read-out would kill me. On the other hand, the full blown I-magic VR experience would probably be a bit much - the only chance we get to watch TV is when we're on the treadmill or bike. Two good magtrainers = the price of one good spin bike.

Why Tacx Flow -> Watts baby. If cycling is all about the engine. Watts is the best way to measure the performance of the engine.

So it arrived last night. The trisuit. The thing I once swore, I'd never lower myself to wear.

It fit. (relief).

I took it for a test ride last night on the mag-trainer.

Sitting on the bike seat was akin to silk pyjamas on satin sheets (I've never owned either), but it was a pretty slippery experience.

I could only bear about 45 minutes. I think it maybe a little too snug around the... ahem... 'berries'. I've still got that lingering upset stomach feeling after a good shot to the (well, you know).

I wouldn't want to go long distance in this thing: one piece construction = difficult to 'whip it out'.

So, I guess the jury is still out.

My son's verdict is already in: "Dad, you look weird."

He was getting antsy when he noticed the 9:30 am meeting, hadn't started on time, and would probably start a bit later. All the brass were travelling to the office for the update. 10:00 am start time (finally). 15 items or so on the agenda. 2 hours-- it would be tight.

Items 1 through 5 were taking a disproportionately long time.

The clock watch.

11:00 am. 1/2 way through the agenda. It could be done.

11:20 am. His own presentation. Moved.... Seconded.... relief.

11:55 am. Supplemental agenda... heated discussion...

12:05 pm. Motion for adjournment.

12:05:01. Sneak out.

12:10 pm. Arrive at the pool.

We made it! Looking forward to that first swim in far too long.

12:11 pm. Notice sign on the door.

And the sign on the door read...
Pool closed 11am to 1pm, sorry for any inconvenience.

The good news:
1. T minus 49 clicks 'till a cool grand on running.
2. I just committed to a 12-session pool pass. Swimming resumes tomorrow. 1500 meters Tuesday lunches. 3000m+ Thursday evenings. (That's the plan).

2006 Totals: Activity #Workouts Distance (km) Distance (miles) Swim 15 24.6 15.3 Bike 52 1,386 861 Run 124 951 591 Total 191 2,361 1,467

2005 Totals: Activity #Workouts Distance (km) Distance (miles) Swim 100 182 113 Bike 174 4,732 2,940 Run 125 912 566 Total 399 5,826 3,619

When I used to be cool, I once swore I'd never wear bike shorts. Now, I won't even consider riding without them. (Well serious riding anyways).

When I started triathlon, I swore, I'd never let myself wear a tri-suit.

But something happened last week, and eBay got the better of me:



Maybe I'll just use it as a base-layer for training...?

Step 1: Sign into BimActive.com

Step 2: On the Dashboard Tab, click settings

Step 3: Fill out the blogger section (after your address information).

Note:
I had to manually setup the details, for some reason, it didn't take my blogger credentials
Config as such:
External blog type: Setup Manually
External blog username: (fill this in)
External blog password: (whatever it is)
External blog url: http://your-blog-name.blogspot.com
External blog XML-RPC URL: http://plant.blogger.com/api/RPC2 <-- this is the same for all blogger accounts

Step 4: Hit Save

Step 5: Upload an activity, or select an activity.

Step 6: On the right hand side, the second box says, "My Performance". Below that, there is a text link, called, "Publish to Blog"

Step 7: Fill in the form, notice that just before the publish button, there is a radio button to select the blog you want to publish to.

Step 8: Hit the publish button.

Oh, I can't wait 'till next year.

I have a feeling I will be setting some nice goals and targets.

I'm teasing myself with Epicman .... but at the very least, a half-iron triathlon... Carleton Place or Montreal; not sure just yet.

But that's next year.

Clock's running out on this year.

Not much (zero) chance of meeting my 1:45 half-marathon this year.

But what I can I do to end the year in a positive note.

Two goals:
1. Resume regular swimming.
2. 1000 kilometers.

Regular Swimming:
I haven't been to a pool in a looong time. I will. Soon. Just as soon, as I can get through the pile of work on my desk.

1000 kilometers:
A quick tally of my running log shows that I am at 920 km (I've already surpassed last year's annual total of 912km). Only 80 km to go until a cool grand. Supposing my average run distance is 8km, that means 10 more runs. 51 days left in the year. 1 run every 5.1 days.

It can be done.

Just joined.