36

Full Rest Day. Stayed up later than I anticipated, got about four hours sleep.

I indulged myself by getting an hour long massage at the Tokyo Shiatsu Clinic down the street. My shoulder is still bothering me. I tried out a new massage therapist since the girl I used to see about my problem areas went back to Japan last year. The new girl was really good, and worked on my legs, feet and lower back mostly. She told me that I should apply pressure to the bottoms of my feet around the arch and shake out my calf muscles to aid in recovery after my workouts. I wish I had booked a longer session, it feels like I'm a bit of a mess.

Grabbed Lunch at Lick's before Jen and I departed for Ottawa. Got a few hours sleep in the car and picked up some healthy things for breakfast before enjoying a very nice Ethiopian dinner with Lisa and Louise at a place called The Horn of Africa.

Not a bad way to spend a day like today.

Tomorrow the big Ottawa Skate Clinic with Eddy Metzger and Barry Publow begins!

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Bowl of Lucky Charms and Vector and Nature's path Rebound cereal in Soy Milk. 2 Lick's Gobbler's with all the Fixin's. Pickles. Peanut Butter Cup Chocolate Ice cream on a waffle cone. Vegan Chocolate Cake. Booster Juice with Warrior Boost. Ethiopian dinner... flatbread with spicy beef, chicken, lamb, lentils, egg, chickpeas. Pineapple Juice.

36: T-minus 1 day

Managed to make it to Yvonne's Yoga today for the last half an hour. Had trouble with some of the poses involved in putting any weight on my left knee, it's still a bit swollen from when I banged it against the coffee table.

1st time skating in a week and I really felt it. I'm at the tail end of my cold, just some congestion and coughing. Hopefully it will be gone by this weekend!

Practice was okay tonight. We did three sets of 30 laps. First round was 1 easy, 2 medium, 2 fast... managed to keep up with Travis and Kevin's pack on this one for the most part. Second Round was 2 fast, 2 medium, 1 easy and I got lost on the surge right away. Third round was 1 easy, 1 fast, 1 medium, and I held on for one round before losing it. Coach Mike Murray basically told me on the last round that it was more important to take my rest than to try and keep up with the pack. At the beginning he also mentioned to try and keep in with a pack because it's harder to skate alone, but I am guessing that's within the parameters of the drill... so I don't keep skating the extra distance hard to catch up with the pack while they are all taking their rest interval. I just get burned out that way.

At the beginning of practice, Morgan mentioned to me that I should really be focusing on my glide around the corners and thinking about the push. I tried to keep that in mind, although I'm sure it all started to fall apart as soon as I started getting tired (which was pretty early today). Slow it down and work on that crossover technique.

Another night of Falling Rampage. Poor Sarah and Kevin took spills for a second week in a row. Kevin walked away from his with some elbow rash, but Sarah's backside and knee didn't look pretty. There was some discussion around how falls impact your skating on a psychological level, and people's nervousness in packs when it comes to passing and coming around corners. It was nice to see Travis being able to make jokes about his bone-breaking crash last winter.

Looking forward to the Eddy Metzger clinic this weekend. Sounds like the weather is going to be great.

At Mister Sub after practice, I got to listen to Peter, Sarah and Mike planning the Pam Am workshop this weekend. I think it would be a worthwhile experience, and I really wish it didn't fall on the same weekend as the Eddy/Barry Ottawa Inline event. Even Eric G's distance camp out in Rondeau sounds like it will be a blast. I wish there weren't so many cool things going on in the same weekend.

The Philidelphia Freedom Skate is the following weekend, which is the same weekend as Nationals/Canada Day Marathon in Cambridge. That would have been a good benchmark for me to see where I am at comparted to last year (since I didn't have Ottawa NCM as my "tune up" for the season, but going to the home of the original Philly Cheesesteak and skating through the Subway sounds like too much fun to miss. Particularly after hearing how great a time Mike Lin and Richard "The Mayor" A had last year.

On the drive home, Morgan suggested I get on the bike more when I mentioned how I felt I wasn't as strong a solo-skater as I used to be in races and how races really differ for me depending on if I have a good sized pack to skate with.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
apple, banana, whole wheat pasta with spinich and veggie dogs in salsa and ragu, olives, pickle, gazpatcho soup, blueberry strawberry mango banana yogurt orange juice smoothie. chocolate chip cookie, Chicken Noodle Soup. Turkey Mister Sub on whole grain with all the fixin's. ice tea. Strawberries.

kix and a haircut

Taught my kickboxing class out at Victoria Terrace this morning. A little less energy than normal. My shoulder was starting to bother me from Pump the previous day, and my bad knee was acting up from smashing it against the coffee table last night. It appears I can't walk three steps without banging my knee against something.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Apple. Flax Bagel with cream cheese, miso soup. mangos, kiwis, strawberries, pineapples. teppenyaki beef, yaki tori chicken, fried chicken, salmon sushi and white rice, spicy salmon role, spicy tuna role, edi mame soy beans, udon and chicken. Ice tea. 2 bite brownies. Sour gummie berries.

Soul Coughing

Yoga at Mount Pleasant with Frances. I woke up this morning with quite a bit of anxiety. An hour of stretching and breathing did me a world of good. She used a ginger orange smelling oil for the neck and shoulder massages today. I felt like a million bucks afterwards.

It was a thundering downpour this afternoon, so they cancelled practice tonight because it would have been too wet to skate. I was a bit dissappointed. I won't be able to make practice on Thursday night because of a meeting. It will have been almost a week without skating for me. Hopefully I can get out and do some skating before my weekend of skating in Ottawa.

I decided to go do spinning and pump at Mount Pleasant instead. I pushed a bit harder in spinning tonight and it felt good. I've been off weights for a few weeks now, and it appears that my shoulder injury is worse than I thought it was. I couldn't do any of the shoulder work and the clean and press was impossible with any substantial weight on the bar. I didn't have much trouble with the chest, triceps or biceps however. Kept the weights light for squat and didn't use weights for lunges. Decided to skip the shoulder track and took off, missing abs and stretching as well. I thought I should save some for the kickboxing class I'm teaching tomorrow morning.

I'll se how things go for the next week and try not to put any stress on my shoulder with climbing or weights. It's a shame since I just started back climbing again!

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Lucky charms-Vector-Nature's Path Power Cereals in Soy Milk. Gazpatcho and roasted red pepper soup with hot sauce and olives. Pickle. Flax Bagel with Salmon cream cheese. 2 tuna steaks with dill, frozen stir fry veggies, pickle, olives, smoothie with frozen blueberries, strawberries, mangos and soy milk with greens. apple.

Can't stop the world from Spinning (Even after I'm done class)

Dragged myself out of bed today to do Tanya's 9:30 Spinning class at Mt Pleasant. I had her ipod that I loaded up with the new release music, so it was incentive to go. Not sure I'm very good at finding the delicate balance of how hard to push myself when it comes to recovering from my injuries and illness. I really have to give the knee a chance to heal. I also felt nauseous immediately following spinning. I appears the congestion has cleared up a bit but evolved into coughing.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Lucky charms and nature's path zen and vector in soy milk, bananas strawberries and Yogurt. flax bagel with cream cheese, pickle, frozen stir fry vegges, whole wheat pasta, 2 veggie hot dogs, Ragu and salsa, olives. Booster Juice with Warrior Boost.

I'm deathly ill

FRIDAY
Tanya's Combat class at Noon hour St Clair. I tried to push the envelope a bit, not sure it did my body much good. Sometimes I feel like I'm falling apart. Decided to take the night off and took a nap instead of Pump, Yoga or Friday Night Skate. I thought my allergies were acting up, took some allergy medication.

WHAT I ATE ON FRIDAY
2 Lick's Gobbler's with the works, Lucky Charms and Nature's Path Zen and Vector Cereal in Soy Milk, Yogen Fruz, Booster Juice, Montreal Smoke Meat Sandwhich, salad, grape tomatoes.

SATURDAY
Jen and I went back and forth on whether or not my allergies suddently jumped into hyperdrive due to the heat or if I am actually sick. Turns out I'm probably sick. We went to check out the new Parkview club, it's pretty swank. Smaller studio without a stage. I tried to do some cycling, but my head was just too congested.

Went to dinner with a bunch of friends who marvelled that I wasn't able to finish my meal... I must be sick. Went straight home and went to bed.

WHAT I ATE ON SATURDAY
Beef Garlic tempenyaki, salmon sashimi, rice, jello, mango smoothie, beef noodles, olives, salmon grilled, mushroom tempenyaki, hot and sour soup, ice tea, fries, macaroni and cheese, Victory Burger with Onions, mushrooms and bacon.

TODAY
Didn't sleep very well last night. I'm going to see if I can stay in bed today and try and kick this. I think I'm running a slight temperature. No skating out in Hamilton Beach Trail today.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Flax Bagel with light cream cheese. roasted red pepper gazpatcho with hot sauce, apple, garlic bread, yogurt with strawberries and hot sauce.