Back and Forth in the Car All Day

Had a really good casual skate with Georg and Carolyn on the MGT today around noon.

My original intent was to get up early and try to catch Jay Brown bright and early at 8:00am. Stayed up too late watching a video.

When you have three skaters with differing abilities together, I generally find it interesting to try and keep the group dynamic together while making sure to find sufficient challenges to the workout. We had agreed to try and do some interval work, so I focused on attacking the hills and occasionally letting Georg or Carolyn zoom ahead a bit and then try to chase them down, which seemed to work.

As we were driving down there Carolyn and I both realized that neither of us had brought our Garmins along. Generally I've been finding it an invaluable training tool, and this proved to be the case when Georg pointed out that as I'm pulling at what I believe is a "cruising" pace, I'm actually gradually speeding up which isn't good for keeping our pack together.

In chatting with Georg, he brought up a good point about using the opportunity when you are out for a skate and not racing, to work on technique. We talked a little about edges, recovery and pushes through the heel, and I tried to skate with more awareness on the second lap of our skate.

Altogether a fun little workout today.

Quick check of the weather and it looks like things are going to be clear for the Hamilton Skate and Brunch early tomorrow. I'll have to set my alarm clock.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Pretzels
Green Goodness Smoothie
apple
Panini with Roast Beef, cheese and horseradish
Crepe with asparagus, onion, cheese and ham.
Pineapple and Lime Smoothie with almond syrup.

Forbidden Kingdom

Spinning @ Eaton's Centre South. Took it easy to spin out the lactic acid buildup.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Ham, sausage and bacon.
3 poached eggs.
2 pieces of buttered brown toast.
4 buttermilk pancakes.
Orange Juice.
Mango Tango Booster Juice with Warrior Boost.
Fish Burrito Boys with all the fixin's.
Dr Pepper.

Run Fatboy Run

Today was one of those days where I did nothing right nutritionally. I woke up and we didn't have soy milk and I dwaddled about without eating, then I rushed off to Yoga after having pickles and a cookie for breakfast.

After Yoga, we ran off to see a movie and I only ate pretzels there and had a C-boost Smoothie.

I saw Run Fatboy Run and enjoyed it a great deal although it really seemed to hit close to home. I've never seen a better cinematic metaphor of what hitting "The Wall" feels like and what it takes to get through that wall mentally.

It seems to be the movie that I needed to see at this particular time when I'm feeling so out of shape and The Wall seems to be something I have tremendous trouble overcoming. The Wall these days can be something as minor as getting up the willpower to actually go to practice, or finishing the race after equipment failure and/or injury.

I managed to conjure up the drive to get out to practice on my own today, although Rush Hour traffic had me stressed out, which probably isn't the state of mind you want to be in when you arrive at practice. Skating is about learning to skate in a relaxed state and not hit the panic button when things change-up. Whether it's someone going on the attack or anything beyond your control like equipment failure. Panic tenses you up and fills you full of lactic acid and seizes up your muscles and joints during the Big Race.

Eric once again went through technique drills and it was pretty obvious my balance is waaaay off (it was obvious in Yoga earlier as well). I tried my best to follow the form of the better skaters like Eric, Jesse, Jade, Morgan and Camilo during the drills.

When it came time to do the drills, it was suggested that I start off with group 1 and hang in for as long as possible and then drop back to group 2. We were supposed to be doing about 26 sec laps, but the pace was higher than that, and I dropped out after 5 and skated in with group 2 (which was going faster than their recommended 28 sec lap).

When Andrew got there, we went to interval drills. My ongoing inability to comprehend the description of the drill before-hand kicked in and luck would have it I was pulling at the front when the whistle blew to start the hard skating... I thought we were doing 1 lap "on" and it turns out we were doing 1 minute "on"! It was a really tough drill. I noticed that the back half of group 1 would stop skating before the second whistle blew and would stand up and coast. At one point as we were standing up and coasting I heard Andrew at the sidelines telling us to keep skating.

I decided to take some inspiration from Dominique of Ottawa Inline. In Mexico, I noticed that no matter how often she would get dropped, she never stopped skating. She would finish the drill. I remember what that used to be like... particularly the first days that I arrived at speed practice a few years ago, I would just keep going until they told us to stop. I guess it's kind of a Wall in it's own way once you get dropped.

There is a fine balance I guess... in pack drills you need the pack so you stand up and let the pack lap you and jump back in. But that is if you can even hang onto the pack for any length of time. It seems like a pointless drill if you can't even hang on for a few seconds before the pack pulls away when you are "on".

So I basically decided to just keep skating and to try and get in a pack with the others that were getting dropped whenever I could. I think Jacky, Jay, Chelsea, and myself only managed to pack up together for a couple of laps before we dissolved into individual skaters again. I just decided to keep going. Skate hard when the whistle blew and then relax and keep on skating when the whistle blew again. Andrew later suggested that since it was a pack drill, to try and hang on during the "on" and let the pack lap me and jump back on after resting briefly (or dropping down to group 2).

Post practice it was interesting to listen to Andrew discuss what he's hoping to accomplish with his coaching program this season. Looking forward to seeing what it can do for us at TISC this year. Hopefully the Hard Skating will kick my ass in gear and get me back into shape again.

I asked Andrew about my crossovers and he mentioned the bobbing up and down that wastes energy. Every outdoor season, I almost feel like I have to relearn how to skate in the beginning.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Pickles
C-Boost Smoothie.
Chocolate Cookie
Apple
pretzels
chips
Chicken Souvlaki Mister Sub with all the fixin's on hearty whole wheat.
Chicken Noodle Soup
Ice Tea
Frozen Fruit Orange Juice Smoothie with Vega Powder and vitamins.

Saw Evil Dead the Musical for the Seventh Time

It just keeps getting better and better!

Yesterday was a two buffet day. One of the drawbacks of seeing friends and family is that so often it revolves around grabbing a meal, and the temptation at a buffet is usually too hard to resist.

A pretty full kickboxing class this morning at Vic Terrace. I could barely get through the workout that I was leading. Cumulative fatigue perhaps? Some new people that seemed to get into it. It probably helped that I was doing all my favourite moves today. My balance has been really off lately.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
apple
Frozen Fruit Smoothie with Vega powder and vitamins
Nature's Path Power Cereal with Choco Krispies cereal in Soy Milk
Sushi, salmon and california rolls
Beef Rice Noodles
Mushrooms, Beef and Garlic tempenyaki
chicken wings
Corn Soup
Pineapple, melon.
Ice Cream
Green Beans and Pork.
Olives

Garlic Naan
Butter Chicken
Tandoori Chicken
Oranges
Mango Lassi
Pakoras
Carrot Pickle.

Mike Garvin's Mexican Skating Video!

Run4Reach 2008 Photos

Switching up my wheels before the race!





















Photos Courtesy Zoom, Georg (TISC), Peter (TISC), and A Leesh (Ottawa Inline).

MEXICAN SOCIAL CLUB!

Here are a bunch of non-skating photos.

As much as inline skating brought us all together on this Epic Journey, there was just so much more that made this such a memorable and unique experience. It was an honour and a great pleasure sharing it with great folks like yourselves.




Big Shout Out to Carolyn, Sarah, Martine, Peter, Corinne, Kim, Claire, Wilby, Ray, Mike, Cor, JF, Stephan, Dominique, Benoit, and in particular to Sergio who made it all happen with a great deal of hard work and good spirits.










Photos above Courtesy of Carolyn of TISC, and Wilby and Cor of Ottawa Inline.


My photos...

Adam is visiting for the week!

Didn't much sleep last night. Jen is still sick and was having trouble sleeping due to her hacking cough.

The left calf is still tight this morning. I imagine the jump kicking and slow kick drills I ran with my class yesterday didn't help in the recovery.

Frances was delayed by the TTC today, so I stepped in to warm up the Yoga class today. Given the fact that I have absolutely no training as a Yoga instructor, I think I improvised quite well by modifying my Kickboxing cooldown routine, and took the class through some Tai Chi and stretching. When Frances arrived, I handed the class back to her and we went through many of the usual stretches and poses. Very tight today from the race on Sunday and my kickboxing class yesterday. My body is obviously very tired as it was harder than usual to hold even some of the easier poses. The massage was heavenly, she used peppermint oil today and I left the class feeling extremely relaxed. I think I need to do more deep breathing excercises on a daily basis.

Took it easy at practice tonight, but the first 25 laps @ 25sec really was a bit of a strain for me. Joined the B-group for the remaining 2-25 laps which were apparently closer to the 26-28 sec/lap range.

We started with some technique drills that Peter and Eric took us through. Something I really appreciate this early in the season given how "off" my off-season was. I had noticed in Yoga earlier that my balance was way off, and it was still off tonight on much of the one foot gliding.

Former Camaleon coaches Leo, Camillo and Andres were out tonight, and it was great to see them again. Had a chance to skate behind Camillo briefly and it was nice to follow that familiar cadence once again. I learned a great deal and developed quite a bit as a inline skater under their tutelage.

Jay Brown took us to this fantastic little Muslim Chinese place right near the track afterwards.

Lost my phone some time during practice tonight.

WHAT I ATE 2DAY
frozen fruit, orange juice, soy milk, yogurt and vitamin smoothie.
nature's path power cereal with choco Krispies in soy milk.
Crepe with asparagus, cheese and ham.
Panini with cheese and proscuitto
Chocolate waffle with maltball ice cream, marshmellows, brownies and whipped cream.
pineapple and lime smoothie
lamb noodles and veggies
Lamb shish kabobs

It's a cloudy day in my head

Woke up this morning with a really sore left calf from pulling it yesterday at the race.

After teaching my kickboxing class today at noon hour, it seems like it's going to be more of an issue than I originally anticipated. Jump kicks were difficult and not advised for the rest of the week is my self diagnosis. Yoga tomorrow will be essential. I'll have to take it easy at TISC practice as well if I go.

Felt a bit more low key in class today.



WHAT I ATE 2DAY
frozen stawberry, orange juice, soy milk, vega powder and vitamin smoothie.
nature's path zen cereal with choco Krispies in soy milk.
Quizno's Turkey Mesquite with tomato, lettice, onion, mayo and bacon.
chicken noodle soup.
pickles
ice tea
mango tango shrimp and chicken(fried)
rice
Tom Yum Chicken Soup
Green Mango salad
Passion Fruit Smoothie
Reese Peanut Butter chocolate bar

Run4 Reach 2008: Spring Tune Up

Back from the Run4Reach 1/2 Marathon in Ottawa. It didn't Rain!!! Although it did snow a tiny bit (but not enough to stick).

All things considered, from a skating standpoint I was pretty much exactly where I expected myself to be. Hung onto the main pack for most of the first half lap out, before falling off and skating solo to the turn around. Once again like every other year, I didn't slow down enough for the 180 turnaround and overshot it losing valuable ground and time.

Into the wind on the way back on the first lap, I decided to try and conserve energy as best I could and went at a cruising pace to fall back to a pack of familiar, comfortable and friendly faces I had spotted behind me on the turnaround. Dominique and Danny D, fellow Rabid Lap Dogs from my 24 Hour team, and my good friend and Chamaleon/TISC teammate Travis, all of whom I've skated with in at least a dozen races and events over the years. No point in fighting a losing solo battle into the wind when I knew how well we skate together in a pack. And that was pretty much the rest of the race, with all of us working together and everyone contributing their relative strengths. Travis in particular was very strong into the wind. At one point we also (suprisingly) picked up Mexican Traveller and Olympic Village bunkmate JF.

The one hitch that occurred after the first turnaround, I started hearing my right frame doing that rattle to let me know it was loose! Miraculously it held on for most of the race, although it was quite nerve-wracking to me at times. In anticipation of the inevitable, Danny D loaned me his tool, which I was praying that I wouldn't have to use (HUGE shout out to Danny D for being so well prepared for this kind of thing). Of course with 500 meters left, the frame finally came loose, and I managed to stay upright only to wrench my left calf doing so. I crouched down to stay stable and rolled to a stop against the curb. Luckily Ottawa Inline Volunteer Nathan (whom I had met the night before at Sergio's party) was on hand and helped me take off my wheels and tighten back up the frame. I stretched out my left calf, and scootched the remaining distance across the finish line.


Highlights of this weekend was getting to spend time with my friends from TISC, Ottawa Inline and the Montreal/Quebec skating clubs.

Sergio and Ursula were gracious enough to host us all at their house for a party the night before, despite one Skater nearly burning down their beautiful and newly renovated house 8). Carolyn, Sarah and I, the three Toronto Inline Skaters who did the recent Mexico Training Camp and Racing Event with Sergio had a wonderful time on Saturday night, making it a bit of a late night with Ursula showing us some highlights from Sergio's very impressive skating and cycling career in Mexico. I'm very much looking forward to next year's skating trip to Mexico!

Big Props to Cor for organizing the group gift for Sergio!

I also had a really great time at that fantastic pizza place once again for the post-race party that Ottawa Inline puts on.

One the way back from Ottawa, I had the pleasure of chatting with TISC teammate Leo about his former quad roller racing career twenty years ago and it was really interesting to hear about how all sports in Italy are so well supported by the national federation.


WHAT I ATE TODAY
Ice tea
2 brio
8 slices of meaty and meditarannean pizza.
pancakes
orange
fresh squeeze orange juice.

WHAT I ATE YESTERDAY
Crepe Cake with apricot and apple.
chicken stuffed with curried lamb
veggies and potatoes
Harvey Burger and Fries
ice tea
sugar snap peas.
carrots.
frozen fruit, orange juice, soy milk, banana, vega powder and vitamin smoothie.
nature's path zen cereal with choco Krispies in soy milk.