Easter Weekend

Well, after a bit of an emotional blip on Wednesday things got back on track for the end of the week.

I was still tired at Thursday's workout but was in a good mood and put in a good effort, I'm usually a little behind Chris and on pace with June and that's where I was this workout (well, Chris was sick so he was a bit behind me, but close enough). We were on the trails by Jericho, so we had great cushioning for our knees on the soft trails and gorgeous views of the city, it was hard not to be in a good mood.

The workout was 5 x 3minutes at about 85% of max on 6 minutes recovery. That was followed by six short (~50m) hill sprints. Alan said the sprints were to clear the lactic acid but I think he made us do it because he's eveeel.

Good Friday was actually a great Friday. Mary and I headed out to Chilliwack to pre-ride the bike course for the Cultus Lake Tri and I convinced Helen to come along too. The ride was great and the one nasty hill wasn't as bad as I expected (it isn't even a "Hobbesian" hill - nasty, brutish and short - like the one on last year's Kelowna Apple).

We rode from my parents' to the start (about 10km) so we got to go up the hill on our way to transition. We weren't exactly sure where transition would be but, after surviving the bike eating "speed dips," came to a deduction of where we thought it should be.

Out of transition you immediately start climbing a hill, which could be a bit annoying. Worse yet, the one spot where you get to a good decline and pick up lots of speed ends at a 90 degree turn just as you really get going. After that it's some gently rolling hills into Yarrow and then the bulk of the ride is on the flood plain/farmland and flat flat flat (see photo of Campbell road from the race website-->).

On the way out I was thinking that this was going to be a superfast course. That, of course, was because the wind was behind us. Once we turned and had to fight the crosswind it was a bit tougher but I figured it was managable and I was doing okay. We then did a 90 degree turn into the wind and were totally slammed by it! It was on a bit of angle so we were leaning into it but it was also gusty so suddenly we'd have no resistance and almost overbalance but as soon as we got stable we'd be blasted again. In retrospect it was sort of funny (at the time it was just hard). I gues on race day if we don't feel the wind we should assume it's behind us.

Mary and I rode for 3:20 and did about 75km. Helen did about 60km and 2:45.

I didn't run after, as I was hosting my friends at my parents' house taking off for 30 minutes seemed a little rude. The three of us had a nice lunch with my Mum, despite the good service the food definitely didn't come fast enough!

Because I rode on Friday I took Saturday as my rest day and slept in*, ran some errands, went to the art gallery with friends and then headed out the Cassandra's birthday dinner and the viewing of the official video of her Dragon.con triumph (very cool!).

Sunday's swim was coachless, although Alan did provide us with a workout. Without having to stop to listen to the coach I definitely put in a lot more distance. I was worried about the run after as my usually pacer runners (Bronwyn & Teresa) weren't there. Luckily Amy, Colleen and Chung were looking for a slower run so I had a fun group to keep me company.

Sunday afternoon I went for coffee with Shawnee, a friend in from out of town, we had a good chat and she got in some retail therapy.

All in all a great weekend.

* I slept in until 8:30. By current standards that is exceptionally late. Measured against my entire life prior to triathlon training, however, anything still in the a.m. doesn't count as sleeping in.