Christmas Vacation

The second day of the Christmas holidays is almost at an end. Lucky for me there are still six more to go, not counting weekends. :)

After taking the week after White Rock off, I am getting back into my training groove. A run on Saturday afternoon (due to a leaf raking exercise of near-epic proportions -- 7 hours!) kicked things off and with minimal knee pain, too. Just took it relatively easy, keeping the heart rate & pace both in check. Sunday's 65-mile excursion to Sattler was at a good, quasi-recovery pace, meaning I didn't need to take a rest day yesterday. So I didn't. Good thing, too, because it showed just how weak I am in the pool.

One thousand meters yesterday & today (each) showed my upper body is in need of some serious work. Plan to hit the weights in all seriousness tomorrow, in order to establish a twice-weekly routine to improve upper body strength. I also plan to move my T/R swim to evenings and investigate a swim-only coach in 2006. I've recently ordered (like, five mintutes ago) two Total Immersion DVDs, so we'll see how those work. Perhaps I can find the book of the same name and do some more reading. Heaven knows the weather hasn't been that great for much else...except mountain biking.

Yup, after nearly three months, I dusted off the Kona and headed out to McAllister Park this morning. Met B--- from the shop for an hour-long spin, where I tried desperately to get my groove back and succeeded in maybe one or two spots. I'm still spotty on corners, but I intend to head back tomorrow & Sunday (morning, before all the family stuff), as well as a few times next week, as a morning workout.

I'm feeling good about Gulfman, in spite of my weakness in swimming. There really is something about being in a competition that gets me going, so the results of that will help dictate the rest of my schedule for 2006...presuming budget is not an issue. That said, I'm off to do some more reading before retiring for the night. As always, thanks for reading my ramblings.//d