Swim, bike, run - How Bad ASS can I be?

Oh my god - apparently I have inner thigh muscles and they are very very very angry at me today. Last night was my first spin class. It is taught by Larry Zimich,my cycle coach's husband. He is of course one of the top road racers and one very sadistic man! I love him. The girls I train with all do his spin class where he works on form, cadence, heart rate and probably most important mental focus. They all swear by it and say the improvement have been huge. They also said it is stupid hard. Well as we know I automatically think aw come on seriously - How Bad Can it Be??? Answer: It is up there. It is one hour of intense training. I have never done a spin class so did not know what to think and was more than a little apprehensive after listening to the girls talk. He is brutal - it was great. At one point he was like Shaun you are riding to easy and came and pushed my tension right up. HELP and then I made a tiny move with my hand that some might have percieved as g

2 posts in one day?!?! I just had to post it though- I am sooooo pumped! As you know I have been riding up Cypress Mountain every Wednesday with my coach - it never seems to get easier but again I guess it is because she always pushes - it is what I pay her for.... Every Thursday is my brick day where I ride down to Stanley park (5 min from my office) and do a 2 - 10km loops that has Prospect point - a 1km hill about halfway - followed by a 20 min run. Total ride to park and back 22 - 23 km. At the start of the year I was doing my loops in around 23 - 24 minutes a loop. I had set a lofty goal of 20 minutes a loop. Today I DID IT!!! Well not 20 minutes exactly but 20:26 - OMG!!! It was so awesome. I went out thinking I had a pretty hard ride last night I mean I had taken just over a minute off my climb time last night and it had hurt so - Barb pushed, cajoled and pushed some more last night - at one point I honestly thought I might get sick. So today I would just ride a stea

We have slowly begun furnishing our first home - to that end we bought a beautiful brown leather couch. YOu see where this is going. You guessed it - Alley the wunder cat has found a new scratchy post! ARE YOU KIDDING ME! We have a leather chair that we have had for 10 years basically they arrived the same time and she has never marked it. But the leather couch..... I looked into declawing but just can not do that to her so the options are lock her in the laundry room for the rest of her life or give her away. But then I did some research on the net and found these soft paws - little cat nail covers. So I thought what the heck lets give'em a whirl. Only issue is that the same 2 keep falling off. Not sure what to do but am determined to get them to stay on otherwise she will have to move out because living in the laundry room is no life for her...

With 5 weeks till race day - I find myself having trouble getting "up" for all my workouts. Once I get out there and start going I am fine but I really mentally argue with myself to do it. And it does not help that I know this a normal part of training. Trying to think of ways to motivate myself is a daily struggle. Tonight I have another swim session with my new Master's group and I am not sure if I am just not meshing with this coach or his style is not my clicking for me but I don't feel like I am accomplishing anything. He stands and watches me swim and then I have to coax out of him what I need to work on. It does not feel interactive and I feel like I am digressing which is worrisome. I however have paid for this month so will finish it out before I make a final decision. He is nice enough, and they all seem nice. It might be that they are all exceptionally faster than me but again I am not sure that is the problem as they were all faster than me in Wes

It never ceases to amaze me the great friends and family that I have and how without their never ending support and encouragement I am not sure I would be able to reach all my goals let alone go after them. On Monday my significant other stopped in the office on his way home to bring me roses for no other reason than just because and my sister sent me an amazing email that reduced me to tears because it was so sweet. I think far too often we forget the important role our family and friends play in our training. We take for granted that of course he will make dinner AGAIN because I am going to Masters for swimming or sure she can meet me Saturday after 2 not 11am since I have to get in my bike ride and then the sorry I did not make it I got a flat and blah blah blah - can we reschedule? I am fortunate in that I have Joe and my friends who I can use as training partners for different aspects of training. Anyone who has trained for or is considering training for longer distances can te

Son of a - fruit juice!^@^#*$^% Last post I mentioned that life has been an itsy bit stressful and to top it off Joe has been down with a chest viral infection. Immediate actions taken: seperate sleeping arrangement, on to the Cold FX, intake of massive amounts of Vitamin C - and even the drastic step of eating real fresh fruit! I dialed the training back a bit - did not do the the long bike ride last weekend or swim. Did not do the brick yesterday or the speed workout last night. Woke up this am and Throat is scratchy and chest feels tight...... ARGGGHHHHHHH I do not have time for this!!! Just went to walk-in clinic as a proactive measure - I do not like that doctor. He says that my chest sounds rough - what is that?!?! - so I am now on antiobiotics he says it could be Bronchitis starting or Influenza A - if it is bronchitis antibiotics will help and I will know in 2 days - so take the next 48 hours off - WHAT - okay that is not so bad- 48 hours means I am back in the saddle on S