sunday was a pretty full day. talked to mom and dad for over 35 minutes this morning. had a good chat. that was followed by a fairly relaxed 1 hour run in the park with don. our goal was to keep it nice and slow, which for the most part, we managed to stick to. slow is hard, especially when running with someone else. showered at my place, then headed over to commercial drive for brunch at havanas. longish wait with ok food. then off to the eastside culture crawl for some art. stuck to luc's building again this year. really liked his oil on paper. would have bought a pair if i had been working. we lasted about one hour before the crowds and the heat got to us. early night.

monday was pretty uneventful. boring in fact. too much computer. went to the gym for a leg workout. why it took me so long to figure out that my right glutes are so weak is beyond me. going to work on that for the next while. should really help my performance once i strengthen them up.

my first blog posting. a few days all in one

throughout the past year, i've started and quickly abandoned several personal journals. it's impossible for me to write anything without changing it a thousand times. that makes for a very messy-looking journal. this blog will let me rewrite to my heart's content, neatly and tidily - just the way i like it.

thanks to don for convincing me to do this.

friday
had a 30 minute run with don on the seawall towards yaletown to loosen the legs before the fall classic. felt slightly tight and maybe ran a bit too hard as i felt my breathing was more laboured than it should have been.
post-run shower at my place, then off to see "rachel getting married". anne hathway was quite good in some scenes, but there were too few of those. this is a story about a family in deep dysfunction, with all members of the family facing their own individual demons, fears and insecurities resulting from the tragic accidental death of the family's youngest son while in the care of a whacked-out kym. the rachel's wedding with a house full of family and friends happily preparing se ad peoplesituation seemed so contrived. seemed somewhat contrived. situation don agreed. then went for borscht and cabbage rolls on denman. yummy....

saturday
up early to get to langley for advanced training course. andrew heming was the instructor. he's the strenght and conditioning coach for trinity western university. this guy knows his stuff. makes me realize how much i don't know. got a few key insights which i will apply to my own personal program as well as par's and any future clients i may have. strength is the next phase for me. way lower reps and heavy weight. will result in stronger muscles, which will help my running/snowshoeing as well as harder, more defined muscles which will just make me look better.

sunday
fall classic. picked don up at 8:10. got there and settled in plenty of time. perfect conditions. good 15 min. warm-up worked out most of the stiffness/stress. felt good at the start. 4:45ish on the first couple of kms. adequate warm-up and slower starts are key for me. felt pretty strong up until about 8km. fatigue setting in. had watch problems, plus my pace was inconsistent since it looked like i ran a couple of kms below 4:15. pushed pretty hard the last 2kms and finished pretty strongly and that took a toll. 4:44. about 23 secs. faster than last year. not bad for not training for a 10km. my goal is to move up to 1/2 marathon distance. this winter, i'll be doing more speedwork and interval training and will try and do two longish runs per week. hopefully, snowshoeing will come into the mix. smoked some pot.

monday
had a good recovery run in the park. felt very stiff at first, but went slow and maintained aerobic state except for maybe once or twice. worthwhile run.
gym in the afternoon to begin my new strength program. will focus on doing 4-5 reps of heavy weight. worked out upper body - chest, back, shoulders. felt sore the next day. surprising how much strenght i have lost. i can barely bench 90lbs.

had more pot, but thought i had a great run. discovered using the hips to drive my legs. the key is to make use of the biggest/strongest muscles to power you.

tuesday

had more pot. had a bike workout in the early afternoon. did 1 lap in the park and 2 laps of road work around the park. warmed up in lap 1. followed a tri rider on 1st road lap. rode hard to keep up but was feeling great. could have easily passed and overtaken, but i held back. i did fall back somewhat on the big climb. evidence that i need to increase strength. use of hips versus quads and hams felt really good. was basically toast on the final lap. hill was done using the big front ring and smallest rear one.