Monday, May 19, 2008

Lower Mainland Training Triple Play

It's the May 2-4 long weekend! While the bulk of the city's residents tried to flee the area, I was looking forward to staying home for the first weekend in a while. I had a great time hanging around the Lower Mainland and got to do some stuff for the first time this year.

Cypress Saturday - I've been itching to ride up Cypress and it was finally warm enough for me to be willing to give it a go. Teresa and I rode out to Horseshoe Bay, leaving Bronwyn in Stanley Park with her flat tire under control (or so we thought) and picked up Colleen and Benny along the way. We took Marine Drive out to Gleneagles Community Centre then rode the highway to Cypress.

I felt okay on the ride up but realized at the 3km mark that I was in my big ring (doh!) and at the first lookout that my back tire was low on air. Probably could have been an easier climb. I put more air in the tire (with my funky new frame pump) then rode down, not thinking that I may have a puncture. At the base of Cypress my tire was again squishy so I replaced the tube and removed the staple that was stuck in my tire.

The ride was followed by a short run with Teresa, a nice long stretching session and then a very long nap!

Sasamat Sunday - I finally got to go to my favorite swimming hole. No one was certain how warm the water would be but people who had Worlds, the Oliver Half or another tri with an open water swim looming in the near future were willing to risk the cold. It was shockingly cold to get into the lake but after a few minutes it was quite pleasant.

I swam the big triangle - beach to floating dock to the Camp Howdy dock and back to the beach. That's just under 2km and I did it in under 45min so that made me happy.
We ran two loops around the lake and then home again where I had another epic nap. Siestas can be habit forming!

Kits Monday - Kits Pool opened this weekend. After being deprived last summer due to the strike it's been a long time since I've had a chance to do 137m lengths. Today the weather turned and it was a rainy day but that doesn't really matter when you're swimming, plus it keeps the hordes away, so I didn't really mind.

I met up with Amy, Brian, Joanne, and her friend Jane in the pool. The three triathletes were trying out their wesuits as they all are racing in Worlds in two weeks. I couldn't be bothered to deal with a wetsuit so I just swam in my bathing suit. It was a short swim for me, five laps sounds like an incredibly short swim but as that works out to 1,370m I'm okay with it.

I've managed to skip the siesta (so far) and am about to head out for a short run that will be followed by a core workout.

Viva the long weekend!

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