Sunday quick run

Busy weekend with Kids joint B-day partay. This led to Sunday's activities being far from healthy...end result...SUnday run to ward off the demons. 5 k ripper...felt good. Looks like the gym will be calling as the weather is turning.

A perfect day

Dropped kids off at daycare and kept on driving over to the Folk's place...swapped the van with the 1979 Porsche 911 SC and cruised back home, parked errr in the garage, and bared down on some work related necessities. Once this was handled...it was time to soak up the sunshine....brought the red beauty back to it's home...the looooong way that included lots of downshifting into 2nd and accelerating through these apexes. Blow's my mind how well this overengineered rig handles from 1979. It may have something to do with the fact that it spent most of the summer in the hands of a Porsche mechanic...getting it all dialed in. COnsider it DIALED.



Had to get probably the last warm ride of the season in...body wasn't used to this uncharacteristic heat....sweat me b*$$s off. Solid ride. Felt good. A little hockey tonight and an early one tomorrow for work...

Kids B-day party this wknd...all about them this wknd

Early a.m. tour of the local expanding trails

So...the inevitable has happened...as the mountain bikers are raking, blowing, grooming trails on private land that has been accepting hikers, dog walkers, and mountain biking...one of these groups have become "threatened". A note was posted recently about the issue that an idividual has recently identified as a concern of his/hers....should be interesting..

Nonetheless...a quick ride was had today as Shawn had another flat attributed to a tire that had a slice in it from previous ride...he will be replacing his tire now ;)

A righteous brother of mine had sent me a disc of some GOPRO vids while in Whistler...soooo many, decided to post one here for anyone to enjoy :))

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyicD42CkLs&feature=plcp


WHAT A TRIP...

Westbrook open house and some CB novelty

A good fall day to ride with the always fast and "expect a wipe out or two" Shawn Weima. Met up with him to explore the Westbrook golf course trails. Good to see more trail surfacing...definitely a cross bike kinda system so far.

Quickly sold a HR monitor before continuing on with the CB loop. Some new stuff there has really turned this network into proper trail system. Post ride beer...should do THAT more often..and quick shower and head to folks for dinner...speaking of which...I recall some leftovers..

another 15 km RUN!?!?!?! What's gotten into me?!?

Smellin' the metaphysical "roses" at tha Farm by ripnriding at Garmin Connect - Details

Smellin' the metaphysical "roses" at tha Farm by ripnriding at Garmin Connect - Details

Get ready for it.......

We had a pretty major restructuring at work last week.  Demands are getting heavier with some rather significant presentations in the near.  My escape to Whistler has resulted in larger travel commitments to meet the needs of customers (pre-trip and currently) translation....need to reboot the head.  Escaped for a quick ride at the farm.  Temp of 7 degrees with some wind did not curtail my desire to dive into the sunlight for a fall ride with trails confirming the nearing hibernation of mother nature...leaves were now heavily on the trail leading to some initial hesitation to hammer out a quick one.  This is where it got quite interesting...

My head was literally throbbing from a low grade headache that I have been experiencing for the past 2 days...every root was aggravating it but I pressed on..just at a much more mellow pace.  About 30 minutes into this much more mellow pace, I experienced something new...something I haven't felt in quite a while....There is a term for it...yeah yeah..we call it being in the "zone" or sport psych would call this "optimal arousal"...but this was different than that..with the headache disappearing..I felt no urge to ride harder or find better lines...I just felt joy...pure JOY!  No pressure, no concerns about what gear i was pressing..no stressors about this wknds presentation....Just wrapped up in the beauty of the moment.  I warned you at the beginning...get ready for it...

So i decided to capture some pics to help narrate the ride..let's see how they turned out..this one above was nearing the end of the ride and really doesn't capture the moment that occurred right up to it.  Just before crossing this water bridge the leaves went from a variety of orangy reds to a pocket of VIBRANT red.  shoulda coulda captured it..but didn't.  So...here gets the heavy..

Whistler was a trip and a half...experienced a level of fun on a meter that now has a set point "re-adjusted" for bare minimum.  Riding these local trails on my xc bike is now more of a peaceful exercise in mindfullness..I learned today that riding without emphasis on faster..harder is waaaaaay more enjoyable.  This also proves to be pretty beneficial on post ride back symptoms...sitting here typing without discomfort or that wave of fatigue that renders me kinda useless for a while.  Nothing wrong with hitting it hard once in a while..don't get me wrong but i really think it's time for me to pursue the likes of this in the near:

http://www.ktm.com/ca-en/enduro/350excfusa/highlights.html#.UHhRvq7NmHY 

I keep trying to subside this desire but.....all I can think of is opening up the garage, suiting up, and riding to cottage on the cataraqui trail...better yet...exploring Limerick Forest, Ganaraska, Calabogie....need to find a way to make this happen...come on snow....help quiet my mind!!

No Carpal Tunnel here.....

Since returning from one of the most EPIC trips of my life, Whistler, I have literally been on my bike ONCE and run outside TWICE and as of yesterday...punched back into the gym ONCE. It has become quite apparent that due to a pretty jammed work schedule to accomodate folks demands after a week away at play...there was really minimal time to get OUT to play. Also doesn't help the situation that my regular buddy of exercise inspiration is recovering from his injuries compliments of a table top gone wrong while in whistler.

So...it appears my wife...yup...my wife is my new catalyst, effectively motivating me to get my ass back in gear. Also...I have noticed a pretty significant ache in my right shoulder and may be coming to the conclusion that this AC separation from last year is going to remind me when I become too sedentary. I did indicate I was going to stop this blogging but as I sit here on a Sunday early a.m. sipping the newest coffee blend for Tassimo, I realized...this "journalling" helps me get my ass back into the equation.

Since my last entry...15 k run may have had an impact that proved negative to my immune system...perhaps it was my little nephews that decided to share their cold...who knows, however, I have been battling the usual chest cold that seems to rear it's ugly head every once in a while. From the DOMS associated with last monday's run (lasted a solid 3 days) and this cold...this cat really got reaquainted with why I do not watch television the past week. So, when Saturday morning came and my wife indicated she was going to the gym....enough was enough...back to our previous saturday ritual it was. We loaded up the kiddies and treked over to Goodlife.

Plan was straight forward. Punch in for 40 min cardio...keep it super mellow to keep chest and congestion from spiraling outta control. Felt good to be back inside...weird...cross trainer and run on treadmill done. Now over to the freeweights. Picked up the 25 pounders and performed some super slow eccentric reps unilaterally with a good burn occurring at 13 out of the 15 reps per side...good sign..just stuck with one set as it has been a hell of a long time since I punched in here. Moved on to some "skull crushers" with a 60 lb curl bar...felt gooood. Kept eyeing the squat rack but this was heavily tied up by two freaks of nature squatting waaaaaay more than any human being really needs to...always interested to know what profession these dudes are in when I see like 6 plates a side on the bar?!?!?!? This was where it became very real...I picked up 30 lb dumbells and positioned myself for some controlled bench press.....eeeeesh...did not feel good.....with each rep...each very shallow and controlled rep...a grimace....stopped at 10 and took a mental note of this looking forward to a month from now when I am progressing back to bigger pain free reps ;)

With shoulder ache now present and being very cogniscant of this fact I nudged in to the pulley's..2.5 pound reps of horizontal abduction was...tender with the right...focused on quality of movement..moved onto external rotation at neutral and flex/abdution...yup...still tender and then it happened...started some reps internal rotation with same light weight in flex/abduction and shoulder REALLY FELT GOOD. Mobility improved significantly into external rotation with each super slow eccentric. I think I found the cause for discomfort...back to basics I presume...capsular patter tightness...don't need to spend bucks having a therapist facilitate this...found the exercise to make errrr happen. Got cocky and added a bit of weight and started to perform some PNF patterns...back to the same discomfort...but....felt good to punch in regardless.

Behaved at friends of ours last night and refrained from overindulging in food and drink for a full blown thanksgiving dinner. Congestion is back and I am going to do everything I can to eat and drink well for remainder of this weekend to ensure recovery of all things evil occurs. A big week coming up.....gym, I am hoping will be one method to keep my mind and body communicating in a positive way.

Endomondo Running Workout

Endomondo Running Workout: was out running 14.25 km in 1h:33m:43s using Endomondo.

Actually...more like 15K!!!!  Battery on BB ran out at the 14.25 mark..Toes are a tad tender and quads are acknowledging this distance ;)