Off The Beaten Path...On Two Wheels.

Oh Monday why are you so cruel?  Monday's always seem harder after a long weekend.   It wasn't a holiday here in Canada but it was in the US and since G's team / work is all in the U.S, he had Thursday and Friday off.  So, I opted to take the time off as well so we could have a little staycation.   We packed a whole lot into two days.   There was a little bit of outdoor activity, a little bit of culture and a little bit of shopping and some visiting with friends.  It was lovely.

Thanks to the generosity of one of my girlfriends, I went for my very first real mountain bike ride on Thursday on a borrowed bike.  OMG.  SO MUCH FUN!  I was really nervous but once we got going, I really enjoyed myself.  G was incredibly patient with me.  We spent most of our time on the main trails but he did take me on some single track which I found a bit challenging and a little less enjoyable given my lack of solid bike handling skills.  I wiped out once and had to walk up some of the twistier hills as I wasn't 100% comfortable.  But, I did it.  And I want to do it again.  This type of riding is so different from road riding.  You can't zone out, you need to be 100% present and you have to pay attention.  You also need to be ready to change gears on the fly.  I found climbing to be a challenge as well since I'm so used to getting out of the saddle.  On a mountain bike you want to keep the weight evenly distributed which means sitting down while climbing.  My glutes were BURNING.  But it was SO good.  I got more confident as we went along except for when we were on the single track.  I know I'll have to work up to that.  Just like anything it will take a little bit of practice.  And since G is so freaking amazing....Christmas came early for me.  I now have my my own set of wheels.  So you know we're hitting the trails again next weekend.

Meet "Freewill" 

Friday we went to the Art Gallery of Ontario to go see the Alex Colville exhibit.  He's one of my favourite Canadian painters.  Such a talent.  After the exhibit we wandered around downtown for a while did a little bit of shopping (I went a little nuts at Lush).  Friday night we went to a friends place for dinner.  We had planned on going riding again on Saturday but we got home much later than expected so an early morning ride wasn't going to happen.  Instead, what did happen was a run.  A short, slow but 100% pain free run.  WOOOOHOOOOO!  I can't even begin to describe how happy that made me.  I'm think going to go out again on Tuesday and see how I that goes.  Fingers crossed this wasn't a one off. 

Yesterday I swam and then hopped on the computrainer.  My friend David joined me in the Kennedy Compound pain cave for a 95 minute ride.  That was my longest trainer ride to date.  It was nice to have the company.  He's got a computrainer but no where to really use it so he brought it to our place and set it up with our bikes in the basement.  He's training for Ironman so I suspect there will be plenty of Sunday mornings spent in our basement.  That's what friends are for, right? 

I also closed out November by logging my biggest ever swim total in a month.  I swam 31,950m.  That's almost 32km in the POOL.  Guess that's what happens when you're not running and you're trying to keep the lb's off, ha.

This is what went down last week.  I think I'm going to have to start making some kind of plan so I'm at least training on a schedule rather than doing whatever I feel like.

Monday:  2050m swim + 25 minutes of physio work
Tuesday:  75 minute strength & mobility work
Wednesday:  2400m swim
Thursday:  75 minute strength & mobility work + a mountain bike ride
Friday:  OFF.  But I did spend about 3 hours walking around downtown.
Saturday:  6km PAIN FREE RUN + 15 minutes of physio work
Sunday:  2800m swim + 95 minute computrainer ride + 15 minutes of physio work.

Total time:  9h 19 minutes.  I think this week is going to have to be an easy week. 

 AND.....tomorrow Tri Talk Tuesday is back!  This months theme is Triathlon Race Season Planning.

How was your weekend?  Did you score any good Black Friday Deals?