Giving blood....

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

This morning on the way to work I dropped Egan off at daycare and Shelley off at the airport for her trip to Regina. We had a staff luncheon so there was no workout at noon. We are doing a company blood drive next week and as my boss and I will be away we headed over to CBS late afternoon to do our part. It was my first time giving blood and there is quite a routine and a lot of questions to go through. After that it was a fairly painless process and didn't take long as (according to the nurse) the blood ran out of my arm pretty fast. My boss started getting lightheaded before we even got up from the couches and they made him stay lying down for a while longer. I was fine and went over and read a magazine while drinking juice and eating cookies. All of a sudden about 15 minutes later I started getting one of the bouts of vertigo that I've had lately. Fortunately I managed to hang on and not fall over until it passed. It shouldn't have been caused by giving blood as there is a distinct difference between being light headed and being dizzy. I saw my doctor last week about it and he said to keep an eye on it and hope its just an inner ear problem left over from my cold. There are drugs available to deal with it, but I would rather not go that route yet.

Tonight I picked Egan up on the way home and we vegged in front of the TV while I rehydrated. I read about a study that tested the fitness of a group of professional cyclists after giving blood. At their high level of competition where any slight weakness is readily apparent, it took them a week to fully recover. I figure to be back to a level where I can't tell the difference within 24-48 hours.

Tomorrow I am doing the 30 minute noon spin class at the "Y" and if I feel good enough may go for a run after work.  This will be my last blog for about ten days as I am taking Friday off and am away next week at a conference in Niagara on the Lake. The hotel we are staying at has a fitness centre so I plan on getting in a short run and ride almost every day to keep me ready for the Cumberland MOMAR race on the 30th.

Doubling...

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

I went to the 30 minute spin class at the "Y" today. It was a good workout and I got lots of anaerobic work in. After work I headed out for a run in the park. It was a great fall evening and after taking about 20 minutes to warm up, I finally got into the zone and had a good run. I even added a couple of extra hills at the end for a total time of 1:07. After a late dinner I watched the season opener of NCIS, which was a little bit of a let down. Wednesday is a rest day as I have a staff lunch to go to and am giving blood in the afternoon.

Slacking off......

Monday, September 18, 2006

Today I was planning on doing a run at the "Y" at noon. Unfortunately I started feeling a little light headed just before I was to leave and decided that maybe it wasn't a good idea. I think its an interaction between the medication I take for my allergies and a Tylenol that I took this morning. My doctor told me it wasn't but Shelley checked with her pharmacist and he said it could be. As a result I skipped my workout and just went for a walk, buying a couple of books for my flight back east next week and supplies for the upcoming race.

I was thinking about going for a run when I got home, but the rain put a damper on that. One of Shelley's aunts passed away yesterday so she is flying to Regina on Wednesday for the funeral, staying until Sunday. Egan and I will have to survive on our own.

A rainy day...

Sunday, September 17, 2006

Today it was raining for a change. Egan and I headed out about 9AM for a 1.5 hour walk in the park and got a little damp. When we got home Shelley and I went out to do some errands. We had to pick up some knives she had taken in to be sharpened. The first time she phoned to see if they were ready they said they were, but when she went in to pick them up they weren't there. She was then told they were on their way over by courier and she could wait, but she didn't have time. The next time she phoned she was told they had lost the knives. The owner said he would replace them ($150+) but tried to talk Shelley into taking some lesser quality ones, to no avail. Fortunately there was no problem when we picked them up.

After lunch I was feeling sluggish and as it was still raining, decided to have a nap instead. Two hours later Egan and I finally got up. I took him for another hour walk in the park as the rain had let up. I still didn't feel like doing anything too active, but when we got home I forced myself to do some weights, step ups and ab work. After that it was another quiet evening at home.

A brick...

Saturday, September 16, 2006

I spent the morning taking Egan for an hour walk in the park, washing my bike and cutting the grass. LM came over at 1PM to do some training for our upcoming race. We started out with an hour run in the park and she had no problem keeping up despite not having been doing much running while recovering from some surgery two months ago. We did my usual route and cut 1-2 minutes off my normal time. After a quick gel and a change of shoes we got on our MTBs and headed out. This is where I noticed that LM wasn't quite back up to her previous fitness level as I was pulling away from her on the hills, which I hadn't been able to do previously. We did a fast two hours with a little bit of everything thrown in. The last trail I took her on was a little more technical. At the end there is a tricking log drop that catches your chain ring, that I hadn't done since going over the handle bars on it. I stopped to warn her about it but she went right past me and did it with no problem. I wish I had that kind of confidence on technical stuff. At just over 3 hours it was a good outing and we were both a little tired at the end.

Tonight was a quiet evening watching TV after having a barbecue.

Kayaking....

Friday, September 15, 2006

I thought about going to the "Y" at noon to do some weights but as I was meeting LM after work tonight to go kayaking, I decided it probably wasn't a good idea. Especially since I hadn't been out since my last race in July. Instead, I just went for a walk and checked out MEC. We met up at 4:30 at the Gorge Kayak Centre and went out for an hour. We took it pretty easy, just trying to get our muscles used to the paddling again, but did a couple of short sprints. It was a really nice evening to be out on the Gorge. We are going to try to do it again next Friday.

A hard brick....

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Tonight was brick night at the "Y". I started off with a 25 minute run on the treadmill doing a low pyramid. Then it was downstairs to the 75 minute spin class. Lots of new faces and LM showed up for a change after doing a run. We are doing the Cumberland MOMAR together and she's a little worried she won't be ready for it. KW pushed us hard with lots of standing drills. After a hard week my legs were feeling it by the middle of the class. However, I still managed an extra effort and succumbed to peer pressure when LF stood up when everyone else was sitting and gave me the little Matrix wave to join her. I was quite tired by the end of class and got home in time to watch the season opener of "Survivor". The usual group of disfunctional people.

Tomorrow is a partial rest day with just kayaking after work with LM.

MTBing...

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Today I did some weight training at the "Y" at noon, including some squats. I noticed my knees were a little sore. No doubt from my double yesterday. After work I went on a MTB ride. Just before I left the house I changed from a long sleeved shirt to a short sleeved shirt as I thought I would be too hot. Of course it then decided to rain about half way through my ride. I was doing hills today and did all the steep, loose dirt/gravel hills I could find in the area. I even managed to get up the one on the new trail I found a couple of weeks ago that I hadn't been able to get up before. I just stuck it in granny and ground my way up it. At the end of the off road ride I headed over to Bear Mt for one circuit of it. I noticed my new bike is definitely not made for paved road riding. Although I didn't have the rear shock set on the stiffest setting, I don't know that it would have made a lot of difference. There is a lot of bob. Oh well, that's not what its made for and I won't be doing much of it. Riding down Bear Mt it really felt like fall, what with the rain and cold wind. I was happy to get home as I wasn't really dressed for the weather. After a 1:45 ride I got in the door about 7:30, in time for a late supper of chicken wings and salad. Then I watched a new episode of "Bones" with Egan snoring beside me.

Egan seems to be developing a real protective streak. According to the staff at the puppy daycare, there is a dog with crippled back legs that goes there who Egan has taken under his wing and won't let any of the other dogs bother. He did the same with a female pug puppy, although I think his reasons were different in that case. Tomorrow will be a hard brick at the "Y" and then maybe a rest day.

A double...

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

I did the 30 minute noon spin class at the "Y" today. There was a new instructor who worked us pretty hard. Lots of seated hill climbs and I was pushing into my anaerobic zone for much of it. After work I went for an hour run in the park. It was my first trail run in about ten days and I felt it. After getting warmed up, I tried to push it on some of the hills with limited success.

I looked at the calendar today and the last race of the season is coming up fast. As I am away the week before it at a conference and next week I have a bunch of other things to do, this is really my last week to work hard. Tomorrow if the rain holds off I'm hoping to get a MTB ride in after work, concentrating on hills.

Sluggish...

Monday, September 11, 2006

Today I was feeling a little sluggish, no doubt the result of overindulging on the weekend. However I still headed over to the "Y" at noon for 25 minutes on the treadmill. I did my usual speed workout but kicked it up a notch. After my warm up I did two sets of 3x 2 minutes (vs my usual one minute). The extra minute made a big difference and I think I sweated out a lot of beer. I also used the windjammer machine and did some squats.

LM and I were going to go kayaking after work today, however when I phoned them they said they closed at 4:30PM (vs their website which said 8PM). As a result we are going to have to wait until the weekend. Instead, I took Egan for an hour walk in the park after dinner.

Long weekend...

Sunday, September 10, 2006

On Thursday night I went to the 75 minute spin class at the "Y". My cold must be almost gone as I was able to go hard for most of the class.

I took Friday off so we could head over to Vancouver early in the day. In the morning before we left I took Egan and we hiked the back side of Mt Finlayson. He was fine until about half way down when he had a couple of melt downs. Too much sensory overload and not liking being on the leash. We caught the 1PM ferry and after we got to my mother's in West Van I took Egan for another hike, this time in Lighthouse Park, which is just down the street from her townhouse complex. Its got some great trails with lots of hills. Two of my three brothers showed up before dinner and afterwards we got into the beer and shooters. Fortunately we ran out of the latter pretty fast. The only damage was a midnight skinny dip in the complex's pool.

The next morning my older brother Mike and I took Egan for another hour walk in Lighthouse Park. After lunch we headed over to Burnaby Mt for some MTBing. From the base to the top there is about a 1000ft of elevation gain which we rode up on the double track trails. Its a nice steady climb with only a couple of short, steep pitches. There is only one really good single black diamond trail down (Nicoles), but it is fairly fast and flowing, with lots of 1-2ft drops, switchbacks and rocks to negotiate. The last time I was on it was about ten years ago, my first time MTBing and on a rigid frame. I ended up walking most of it. This time, especially on my new bike, I had a great time and only had to walk 3 drops. Mike knew the trail well and I just followed his lead, going over things I would normally have to think about. Once we got to the bottom we headed back up and did it again. Overall riding time was about two hours and my legs felt great. It was kind of drizzling out, but warm enough and on the ride down we were sheltered in the trees. We also saw some bear scat on the way up and at one point heard something big crashing through the woods, but didn't hang around to find out whether it was Yogi or not. Overall a very satisfying ride.

My other brother John showed up for dinner and we enjoyed a nice prime rib dinner. Egan had fun with John's doberman but not so much fun with Eric's 120lb german shepheard. We got into the beer and shooters again after dinner, but I called it a night around 10PM and missed the swim.

Today we caught the 11AM ferry home and all had a nap in the afternoon. Afterwards I was considering going for a run but instead just took Egan for an hour walk in the park. I'm going to go hard this week as I only have two good weeks left to train for the last race of the season at month end.

Recovery?

Wednesday, September 6, 2006

I believe I'm on the road to recovery as the only real symptom I still have is a scratchy throat. At noon I headed over to the "Y" and did 25 minutes on the treadmill. It was my first run in a week and while I didn't really feel like doing it, I pushed myself and did a speed workout. I did four sets of 3x one minute drills of increasing speed and didn't feel too bad.

When I got home Egan was asleep, exhausted from being at puppy daycare and only got up once before bedtime to growl at someone he heard walking down the street. My brother is also going to be in Vancouver this weekend so I'm looking forward to getting in some technical riding on my new bike. I am taking Friday off and we are going over around noon.

Loosening up...

Tuesday, September 5, 2006

My cold felt a little better today although my voice was a little raspy. I don't know if that means its getting better or worse. Despite that, I needed to get back into training and went to the 30 minute noon spin class at the "Y". I worked pretty hard and managed to survive it. The plan is to do a moderate workout every day this week until my cold is completely gone. Even though I am not doing the XTC this weekend, we are still going to Vancouver. I am either going to go MTBing with my brother or if he is not around, maybe do the Grouse Grind.

After dinner tonight I took it easy and did some reading. I think I gave Shelley my cold which she is not too happy about.

A wasted weekend...

Monday, September 4, 2006

That was a waste of a perfectly good long weekend. My cold continued to get worse last week and I ended up going home early Thursday and calling in sick on Friday. I slept much of the weekend but forced myself to get out on Sunday so I could try out my new bike. It worked great, I just wish I did. I went for a two hour ride and while I made it up all of the hills, I had to stop at the top of most of them to keep from fainting or throwing up. I've decided to skip the XTC Off Road Duathlon next weekend as its a tough race and I'm not going to be in good enough condition to compete in it. It would just be a waste of $70. I think my cold is starting to break up and plan to get in some easy workouts this week.