Winter training 1

OK,

I know its September, but after a mandatory week off (after my race last Monday), granted more of a training light week as there was no swimming but a few good cycles in the sun, I am ready to get going with winter work and the heavy miles speeding towards 2009.

So far this week we're on thursday and currently sitting at 14 hours of work. Three swim sessions, last nights was coached by Canadian Olympian Brian Johns, where I managed to pull out a 2.08 for my 200m Freestyle...however don't think he was particularily impressed. A few nice runs along the beach, Marine Drive and through the trails including an 11km loop on Tuesday with Gordon (Junior Olympic Volleyball Champ) on my floor who keeps a decent pace! And pushing 200km on the bike already with a monsterous 85km today from the UBC campus to the Cypress Mountain Ski resort.

The road stays pretty flat until you arrive 27km later at the base of Cypress Mountain and the Cypress Bowl Road. Here the road takes a sharp right and stays at a 7% gradient for 15km, which takes a while....about 48minutes for me but significantly longer for the two mountain bikers I past attempting the accent. Awesome fun though and I trundled back onto campus for lunch (Grilled chicked burger, fries, chicken and cheese quesadilla and 2 doughnuts) some 3 hours 26 minutes later.

It just seems easier to get yourself out of the door here. Everyone wants to know what your doing, where your going and what your training for. There is no stigma attached to kitting yourself out in spandex head to toe and heading out for 3 hours on your bike, your one of hundreds on the roads at any one time and your only joining the thousands out running, walking and enjoying the lifestyle Vancouver seems to serve up in massive portions. The landscape we are surrounded by here invites you to explore and stay out on the trails waaayy longer than you planned. DO NOT make time constraints in British Columbia as you will break them, come here for a month and stay for a year...

I'm here for a year so who knows when I'll come home!

All the best

Mike