Random Saturday Thoughts

I met with the crew this morning at Bean around the world with the intent of going up Cypress, or as far as my lungs would let me go. I made it almost to the top of 15th Street in West Van then decided a flatter ride would be smarter.

Riding alone left me lots of time to think. Luckily I'm generally entertained by what goes on in my own head so I wasn't bored. I have my Walter Mitty moments - envisioning how I save the universe through judicious application of my towering intellect, spectacular super-powers and awe-inspiring mastery of kung fu - but generally I just let my mind wander.

Some random thoughts that occurred to me on my ride, brick run and farmers' market shopping (a brick shop?):

• What's the point of meeting at a coffee shop if you're there before it opens? And what self-respecting coffee shop opens after 7?
• Stressing about things you can't change is a waste of time. Better to figure out how to deal with them and move on.
• Thinking that those people/that person wouldn't be passing you if your lungs weren't acting up is also a waste of time. And really, who cares?
• I've lost that cynical feeling I had at the begining of the week. The glass is half full again.
• Could we have some sort of rule where the folks who train in crappy weather get right of way on sunny days when all the fairweather folk deem it nice enough outside for them to block the roads??
• I need to but a new bike computer (ride time = 3:?? hours, current speed = ???)
• I'm happy to run 5 minutes at pace but I have no idea what my pace currently is.
• I am thrilled at the success of the Trout Lake farmers' market. I just wish there were less people there! (Can we apply the weather rule again?)
• Shopping while hungry is a bad idea (lots of sweet stuff came home with me).
• At farmers' markets I try to suss out who the regulars are, stand behind them in line, then figure out what I'm in line for. The people behind me in the bakery line got all stressed that the "Market Bread" was going quickly so I bought some. I didn't buy it to be a jerk (there was lots left, btw) but because I had to see if it was worth lining up for. It was indeed, I'll be back!
• I will have to remember to use the simile "Stinkier than a garbage can at a dog park on a hot day." I guess it's good to know the Trout Lake dog beach users clean up after their canines.
• Eating a huge lunch, reading my book and drinking coffee #2 (#1 is pre-ride) is an awesome way to spend the afternoon.

The seven steps of grieving (over a bad race)

1. Anger – “My time was what?!” “I didn’t get a PR?!” Often accompanied by hat throwing, stomping, glaring, a protruding bottom lip, and a refusal to talk about the race.
2. Recriminations – “I should have eaten/trained/slept/cleaned my ears more/less/not at all/three times on Tuesdays.”
3. Long-winded emails to the coach – “… and then 37.25 km into the bike my cadence dropped from 95 to 93.2 but my HR stayed the same and I ate a banana-salmon-crunch gel. I think this is where it started to fall apart. Should we refocus my training plan so that blah, blah, blah…” (Sorry Alan)
4. Depression – “I don’t want to train. I’m going to stay home, watch So You Think You Can Dance and eat microwave popcorn.”
5. Desperate attempts to find the positive – “Not qualifying for Kona means I don’t have to spend all that money on a trip to Hawaii. In these tough economic times that’s a good thing!”
6. Acceptance – “Ah well, bad races happen.”
7. Moving on – “Coach, do you think we could incorporate tango lessons into my weekly program? I want to try out for SYTYCD!”

I will eventually post an Oliver race report, but right now I'm busy trying to learn to rumba.

Yay Sasamat!

First open water swim of the year - I lurv swimming in Sasamat. It was almost too bad we had to get out of the lake.

I did the long swim/10km ride workout option but skipped the hard run. Once the folk who were recovering and/or tapering for the half next week were done our one set we took off for a run around the lake while the others set off for another swim/bike/run. This run was fine on my lungs, making me think I'll go for it in Oliver. I'll take it super easy out of T2 and see where I end up.

Random Ride Reflections

• I'm not used to leaving the house at 7 for ride. Actually, I'm not used to leaving at 6:50am for a ride, which is likely why I left at 7.
• It only takes me 20 minutes to get to Bean Around the World on Cornwall when there's no traffic.
• Biking when there's no traffic (cars or bikes) is great, makes getting up that early worth it.
• Seeing Dave head up the mountain for the second time made me feel less studly for going up once.
• I haven't been to the top of Cypress in a long time. It was great.
• It takes me longer than 15 minutes to get home from the top of Cypress (I may have gone over my prescribed bike time).
• Descending is FUN, even if I'll never be as fast as Bronwyn.
• Randomly meeting friends and clubmates along the way is all part of the fun.
• I've found a new source of post-ride cinamon buns at the Trout Lake Farmers' market.
• I shouldn't buy more than one sweet thing after my long ride. I won't save the second (or third) item for later, I'll eat it as soon as I'm done the first.
• My legs hurt.

In non-biking news - tomorrow is our first open water swim - helloooo Sasamat Lake! I've missed ya.

I am so done with this

I frustrated and trying hard not to get into a pity party, although the only other option right now seems to be anger and that isn't terribly productive either.

2/3 of my training is going great - swimming feels awesome and although I haven't set any crazy PR's overall I seem to be faster. Despite missing a fair bit of training I'm comfortable on the bike, Amy was accusing me of being a mountain goat on Wednesday when I kept dropping the pace line any time I was leading it up a hill.

Unfortunately I can barely run. Anything faster than a slow jog and I'm toast. Running 500m off the bike on Wednesday was extremely hard, I finished it after the first TTT but the second time I had to stop after 100m as I was out of breath and my HR was close to 190 going downhill. Before last night's 1 mile track TT Andrew told me the word from Alan was nothing under 7min was acceptable. Like an idiot I paid attention to that rather than how I was feeling.

Did the first mile in 7:14 and felt like hell the whole way through. Did the first lap of the second mile on pace for 7 (1:45) then my lungs quit. Followed shortly after by a mental meltdown. Ventolin didn't help so I did a cool down run, with my HR through the roof the whole way, then watched the group finish their miles.

I've been in a foul mood the last few days - nasty anxiety punctuated with spells of anger or sadness. I have no idea if this is queuing the breathing issues or the mental stuff is because I'm not getting enough oxygen. Right now everything is pretty bleak so I'm just trying to keep my head down and wait for it to pass.