DIRTY VEGAS

Heading off to Vegas later today for my buddy Jason's stag.

I predict the next four days will be hell on my fitness routine and excercise regimen and I'll be spending a greater part of next week recovering from lack of sleep, food that is bad for me, no excercise, and the consumption of many other things I should not be putting into my body.


WHAT I ATE TODAY
Strawberry Yogurt. Tuna Fish on Flax Bread with olives and pickles. Gazpatcho black bean.

Life on Mars

I didn't get much sleep last night, only 4 hours. Crunching the deadlines again.

I taught Kickboxing class this morning at Victoria Terrace. I had more energy than I expected, but nothing like a roomful of women wanting to kick and scream to get motivated. My timing was a bit off and I missed some cues.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Nature's Path Power and Zen Cereal in soy Milk. Gazpatcho Soup with pickles and olives with hot sauce. white rice. Strawberry Milk shake, veggie orange beef, veggie curry chicken, vegan chocolate cake, hot and sour soup, deep fried veggie spring roll.

Tonight's Practice

Jesse was running the speed group while everyone else is away at PanAms. I enjoyed tonights program.

My technique still sucks. Not sure what I can do about it. Trying my best to follow the people with better technique, like Kevin and Mauricio.

The warm-up was 1 minute on and 1 minute off. I kept in there when it came time to sprint, but I probably worked too hard given the fact that it was only a warm-up. Again, technique goes out the window when you are fighting to stay in. I tried my best to stay relaxed and follow the person in front. By the end I was taking a complete no skating rest during the one minute ons and jumping back on for the one minute offs.

I thought I had already burned myself out too early, but it turned out we had plenty of rest intervals for the full out sprints in our first drill. It was 30 seconds off and 10 seconds on full sprint 3 times, with a 2 minute rest while the faster group did theirs, and then back on. Repeat 8 times. (did that make sense?). I spent most of my time trying to close that gap between Kevin and Mauricio (sp?). I only started to get the idea of "fast legs" starting off, and not so low to begin with when we were closer to the end.

The last drill was 500 meter sprints, three times. Since I don't think I have ever really timed my 500 meters, it was a good indication of what we can do on a 200 meter track. It appears my non drafting time for the 500 meter distance is about 58 seconds. Drafting behind Scott, Travis and Kevin in the final one, I came in at 54 seconds. Now I guess I have to work on beating those times.

In the cooldown I really tried to focus a bit on technique. Getting my food over, and thinking about the undercarve. Getting both edges on the straights.

All in all, I felt very positive about practice tonight.

RESULTS: Montreal 24 Hour Inline Race

Rank (Fitness):
1

Name:
Rabid Lap Dogs

Laps:
157

Length (Km):
706.30

Total Time:
24:03:55.833

Best Time:
08:15.071

Max speed (Km/h):
34.182

In Lap:
1

Avg. Speed (Km/h):
29.448


It looks like they decided that the cap between Elite and Fitness would be 30km/hr, so no one was bumped up. It looks like a pretty even matchup in the rankings. If they went with the 28km/hr average speed, that means that the top five fitness teams would have been bumped up to Elite. I think this would have been a bit hard to put the dividing line there given the fact that the sixth place team actually finished with the same amount of laps as the 5th place team.

It looks like the gaps between all of us at the top of the fitness category was close enough to keep us all together. There was a definite gap between us at the top of the Fitness division and the three Elite Teams. They were all well over 30km/hr and were in the 170's in terms of number of laps. It looks like the Rabid Lap Dogs had a nice comfortable cushion of about a lap and a half on our closest competition at the end of the day. It appears they did not count the lap times on the evening's 4.3 course, or else they were somehow adjusted.

I'm happy that I was able to hold my own among my team-mates. It appears we were mostely pretty even in terms of our abilities. Benoit was obviously the fastest lap time seen above (it was our first lap).

This gives us a nice basis and target to beat next year. I'm going to set a personal goal of being able to hold a 30km/hr speed on my laps for as long as possible in the event next year, which would mean sub 9 minute laps on average (on the full course).

Hopefully as a team we will be able to beat 157 laps total.

Beginning of the week. They Might be Giants.

Yesterday I taught my Kickboxing class at Parkview noon hour. Didn't go too nuts, again it's a fairly beginner class, and only 45 minutes.

I danced quite a bit at the They Might be Giants concert last night, which probably accounts for my continued soreness Today.

I woke up this morning in the exact side-position that I shouldn't be in, and I really felt it on my shoulder. I was trying really hard last night to fall asleep on my back or stomach. At some point in the night I must have rolled over onto that side. I could see why I'm not supposed to sleep in that position.

I really felt the strain today at Yoga with Frances at noon Mount Pleasant. I felt good afterwards though. I should think about taking deep breaths as a way of feeding oxygen to my body to help keep it relaxed when I'm stressed and to aid in the recovery process. Stretching felt really good, but my balance is still way off and my back and shoulders in particular are tight. The massage felt good at the end of class.

I slept close to ten hours last night and still don't feel like I'm rested. Jen suggested that when I'm tired, I might actually be dehydrated. I should try drinking more when I'm feeling like a nap instead of taking a nap and sapping my productivity. I'm not bouncing back from these party weekends the way I used to when I was younger. I remember when I could get by without sleep, now I'm a wreck whenever I don't sleep. Between the 24 Hour in Montreal and this weekend's festivities, my lack of sleep last mid-week, and the upcoming Vegas stag this weekend, I'm not getting very much sleep at all and I'm starting to feel a bit run down. Sleep is one of the most important parts of physical recovery.

Not that I feel like I've been doing that much excercisig lately compared to my normal regimen. I haven't been on skates in over a week (not counting the 2 laps I did on Thursday before the rain came). I haven't been spinning, I haven't been doing weights, I haven't been climbing, I missed my kickboxing class last wednesday. Why am I so sore and tired?

Jen was suggesting I go try out this painful massage thingy out in Oakville. Not fond of pain, but she thinks it will do me some good. It's this thing where they really dig into the muscles to break down stuff, and she says it's going to hurt. I don't like pain, but it's supposedly better than the shiatsu I've been doing.


WHAT I ATE ON MONDAY
Apple, Soy Mango/Peach Smoothie. Nature's Path and Vector Cereal in Soy Milk. Peanut Butter on Flax Bagel. Pickle. Samosas (veggie). Salmon Fish and Chips with Tartar Sauce. Coleslaw. Limonata.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Vector and Nature's Path Recovery and Zen Cereals in Soy Milk. Beef and Shrimp on rice. Organic Green salad and Mango with fig dressing with olives and pickles. Gazpatcho with hot sauce. Chicken Noodle Soup. Peanut Butter on Flax Bagel. 12" Turkey Mr. Sub with all the fixin's on multigrain. 2 cookies. ice tea.

Lost Weekend

This weekend feels like a Lost Weekend. Very Little Sleep. Not Eating Well. No Skating. No Cross Training.

Between the craziness of Jason's Stag on Friday, Tara's birthday on Saturday, and the George F Walker Play/Police Concert on Sunday, it was a pretty eventful weekend. I couldn't wake myself up on Saturday or Sunday morning to go skating. I missed the TBN Marathon Saturday, and couldn't get up in time to head out to Hamilton Beach with Carolyn Sunday.

Oddly enough, it felt like I had run a marathon by the end of it. I was pretty physically drained. Not that I didn't do some physical activity during the weekend. There was a great deal of dancing, which probably accounts for a great deal of the soreness I'm feeling since those are muscles I haven't worked out in quite some time. I also hiked about half and hour between Centre Island and Hanlan's Point.

Managed to get a massage in as part of Jason's stag activities. The girl at the Tokyo Shiatsu Clinic told me that my shoulder problem might be aggrevated by the fact that I'm sleeping funny on my side and it's not allowing it to heal in that position because it's putting a strain on it. I'm not sure how I can prevent myself from sleeping in that position given the fact that I tend to shift about in my sleep a great deal.

WHAT I ATE FRIDAY
Lick's Homeburger, Booster Juice with Energy Boost, Peanut Butter on Flax Bagel, Full Rack of Hooter's Ribs and fries. Ice Tea, Coke, Montreal Smoked Meat Sandwich, Poutine, Strawberry Frozen drink. Potatoe Salad, pickles.

WHAT I ATE ON SATURDAY
Double Cheese Burgers on whole wheat buns, Sausage on a bun, chocolate tart, pineapple, cheese, dip, chocolate cake. Hot and Sour Soup. Green Mango Salad, Beef and Shrimp in Rice. Dr Pepper. Ginger Ale.

WHAT I ATE ON SUNDAY
Bowl of Nature's Path and Vector Cereal in Soy Milk. Cucumbers and Red and Green Peppers. Squash and Pear Soup. Vegan Dosas, Soba Noodles with tofu steaks, grilled zuccini and tomatoe in peanut sauce. pickles. Dr Pepper. Blueberry, Strawberry Mango juice with ginseng.

Ottawa Inline's Eddy Matzger/Barry Publow Weekend Tutorials

Classic Skating


Hill Skating


Double Push Pt 1


Double Push Pt 2


Crossovers