Such a beautiful thing

There is something surreal about running in a snowstorm.

I was never an avid runner growing up here in Calgary. During my youth I never woke up and thought, "I'm going for a run today"!. It wasn't until I moved to Victoria and attended UVic where I developed the mindset "to run". Even then, I was just a fair weather runner. It was fair skies and a warm temperature all the way.

Now, just as my swimming and cycling, I haven't run in years. This was due in part to some serious health problems that I've had to over come and some other factors. I've only been running again for about 5 weeks and thus far my longest run has only been about 50 min (almost 5 km).

During this period I've ran outside a few times, mostly in the sunny warm "winter" Calgarians have enjoyed during January and early February.

Today was my run day. 30 min I needed to log. I could easily have ran on the treadmill at the Y and called it a day but for some reason I felt compelled to don my layers and run outside in the ice and snow. Not just snow on the ground, but snow flying though the air. We had a pretty intense weather system move though the city this morning.

There was the intense sound of the snow crunching under my feet, offset by the calm serenity of the air around me and the snowflakes falling silently from the sky. I've never ran outside in actual "winter conditions" before and for a first timer I can say it was unlike any run I've ever experienced before.

I can only hope I feel this invigorated after my 5 km race on St. Patty's Day!

Trial by fire

So it's a winter wonderland outside today and I decide to hop on my trainer and watch some Olympic recaps. Yay! I can't wait! I love my new trainer. Now, I'm sure we've all experienced this problem at one point while cycling. Gears skipping. Bloody hell! How fricking annoying is that eh?

So I think to myself, HEY I took the N00B maintenance course, I can fix this! Well, to make a long story short I really FUBARED the rear derailleur settings on my Caliente and spent the better part of the afternoon tinkering with the High/Low gear limits and fine tuning all the settings. It took me awhile but I think I finally got it right!

I did a timed 500m swim first thing this morning. Man, my goggles were giving me some grief though, I kept getting water leaking in so I had to stop a few times to adjust them. I stayed away from doing flip turns too and posted a time of 10 min 15 sec. I guess that's not too bad considering I just started swimming 4 weeks ago. I was just over 4 min after 250 and really faded during the last half. I need to start working on my endurance now. Fun swim though.

"My old man is a television repairman, he's got this ultimate set of tools. I can fix it!"

Last night I attended a bicycle maintenance for n00bs workshop put on by the good folks at Bow Cycle. I have to admit; initially I was a bit disconcerted at the thought of taking my QR Caliente's drive train apart and then learning how to put it all back together. But ya know what? I finally... finally have the knowledge to do the weekly and monthly maintenance on my bikes to keep them in tip top shape!

The biggest thrill had to be learning how to "properly" adjust my rear derailleur. It is so cool to finally know what all those screws and that adjustment barrel actually do! Knowledge is power and I feel much more confident to fiddle around with the components of my bicycles.

I Laugh At The Water

So it's been almost 4 weeks since I started swimming again (after a 9 yr hiatus) and I'm amazed at how much my technique has improved! Small things, simple things like proper head position (keep it in line with your spine, eyes looking down at the bottom of the pool) make such a HUGE difference. I just need to work on my endurance because after continuously swimming for about 250m I'm spent and need to take a short break. My times are ok though, about 4 min 15 sec over 250m. I also need to be a bit more consistent with my flip turns. Some are perfect, others.... well not so much as illustrated by the bruises and scrapes on my elbow! LOL

Just one more reason why women > men

Yay for the women's Olympic hockey team! Now I've ranted on about the men's team and CBC's coverage of them but there is something about watching Cassie Campbell skate circles around the opposition that puts a big smile on my face. GO CANADA, congrats on gold ladies!

Sunrise 10.5km above the Pacific Ocean about 1000km off the Eastern coast of Australia 

Biathlon goodness

Bah! fricking CBC is covering hockey (again) on tele this afternoon /zzzzz God damnit CBC, there are other events in the Olympics besides Hockey!!!

I tuned my set over to NBC and caught the mens Pursuit 12.5k Biathlon race. Wow, what an amazing finish! It was such an inspiration to see the Norwegian Biathlon god Ole Einar Bjoerndalen come from over 90 seconds back to win silver in a dramatic sprint to the finish line.

God I am so sick of Olympic Hockey. Yeah yeah I know it's the "Canadian game", well I am half Australian!

Every journey begins with a first step

Welcome! This is the first time I've ever attempted a blog so it's a brand new experience for me. I'll have to come up with some interesting things to write about to keep folks occupied!

It's bloody cold here today. When I woke up this morning the weatherchannel said it was -30C outside. brrrrrrrr I shouldn't complain we've been so spoiled this winter. 3 weeks ago I went for an aweome ride out to Cochrane. Now I have to wear several layers just to go outside to fetch the mail!