FireWORX!!!

Yesterday was a full rest day where i ate and ate and ate.

Today's Lesson... Make sure you always have your health card on your person when you skate because you never know! Luckily our friend Jacky had his on him in the spill we had this morning.

I clicked skates with Jacky on the final sprint today out at Hamilton Beach this morning and he went down like a rolling sack of bricks while he was going close to Full Tilt. It really freaked me out when I managed to slow down enough and turn around to find him still lying there surrounded by passer-byers. Luckily a half dozen of them happened to be nurses and 9-11 had been called. The paramedics came and Jacky was taken in the ambulance to emergency... fortunately the Hospital was just down the street along the Hamilton Beach Trail. Mike Lin and I went to the hospital to keep him company and make sure he was okay. He seemed to be in pretty good shape all things considering, but didn't stick around for a full examination by the Doctor which concerned me a bit, but he was able to drive home after filling up on Dim Sum with us out in Missauga. Hopefully it's just scrapes and bruises!

Because of late-night Karaoke at the Rivoli with friends last night, I hit the snooze button a few times and got there late again. I managed to get in two laps, the first one was a pretty tough workout as Coach Eric started some pretty fast sprints a few times, particularly on the up-hills. I struggled to close up The Gap that opened up each time. I was still tired and sore from our run to Port Credit on Saturday, and Kevin claimed he was too, but didn't seem to have any trouble sticking it in there. I have to really learn not to react so strongly to the surges in speed like that, particularly when I'm tired. Over-reacting is just a waste of energy, and I was really losing my form when I panic. Gaps will open up occassionally and it's important for me to be mindful of proper technique rather than just moving the legs faster only to jam up into the person in front when you do close the gap.

The Second Lap was entirely a moderately paced milk-run, and I tried to do some extended pulls just to get the extra workout in. We didn't even really start the final 100 meter sprint before our little mishap.

I ended up doing about 30 km this morning, not bad all things considered. Eric's tip for today was to push the tempo on the uphills and into the wind to keep th average speed up. I'm sure it's also good for training those scenarios as well as I know I'm not the strongest on the uphills or skating into the wind.

I was really glad to go to the TBN Fireworks skate out in Ashbridge Bay. It added an easy 10km to my mileage today (even on my rec skates) and it was just a fantastic fireworks show from the place we skated out to watch the show. They had also closed off lakeshore, and there is nothing like the feeling of having three clear lanes of traffic to yourself to just open up on skates without worrying about cars.

It's nice to do a social skate like that and the TBNers are generally a really nice bunch of folks to hang out with in a casual friendly skate environment. I will really have to do much more of these. You can't be training speed all the time! It's nice to skate and be able to enjoy the scenary and smell the roses as well.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Bowl of Nature's Path Cereal in Soy Milk, Strawberries and Yogurt, Gatorade, Dried Fruit Strip, Frozen Kool Aid, Wheat and Honey Bagel with Light Garden Cream Cheese, Chocolate Chip Muffin, Shanghai noodles, rice shrimp crepes, pork dumplings, egg custard bun, calimari, popcorn. 2 BK French Fries, 2 BK Burgers, Ice tea, Milk, Wendy's Frosty.

WHAT I ATE YESTERDAY
Fresh Orange and Grapefruit Juice, Veggie tomatoe soup, french toast brie and apple, home fries, Eggs charllotine (spinich, salmon and dill sauce), some greens, fried softshell crab, rice, rice noodles in sezchaun sauce, mango salad, hot and sour soup with chicken and shrimp, Kalbi Beef ribs, soft salad spring rolls, cheese filled wantons, a few sweet potato fries.