Back to work for another week

Work has been extra busy and a bit stressful lately. This is partly because I have been away alot. I have been quite regular with my fitness regime. I have been swimming and running 3 to 4 times a week. On Friday of last week I went for quite a fast 9 k run after work. I was with a friend and pushed a bit harder than I would have by myself. I did spinning on saturday morning and also had quite an intense workout. I took the rest of the weekend off. I regret not going for a bike ride yesterday as it was warm and it may have been one of the last really nice days before winter. Maybe we will get some nice days in November. Anytime you can go riding this time of year is a bonus. I swam about 1800 metres this morning. It was quiet at the pool from 7am to 8am so I was not as motivated as I could have been. I didn't come to the pool with a planned workout which is always a mistake.

I have been doing some weights and situps and pushups on the days that I am at the gym for spinning. I am enjoying that for a change. I am up to 50 pushups in a row without stopping.

I have not quit blogging.

I have just been busy with work and travelling. I was in Boston and Conn. on the weekend. I did go a couple of runs; once was along the Charles River in Boston which was fun because it is busy. I saw a lot of rowers in the river and there was some sort of running team that flew by me. On the Saturday I went for a nice 45 min run in the backroads of Connecticut. It was snowing there on Sunday which prevented another run. Otherwise, I am trying to get caught up at work; teaching a night course for UPEI and getting ready for winter. I am doing my spin class twice a week and running when I can. I swam about 1800 metres this morning with the main set being 3 sets of 4 -100's getting faster each set. I was thinking if its not raining on the weekend, I may dress warm and go for a road bike ride or a mountain bike ride (on a trail not an obstacle course)
I bought this month's triathlon magazine on the way home yesterday and got a bit motivated just by reading some articles on training in the winter. It mentioned for example with indoor cycling that the key is to set up a pleasant environment- ie a place with a tv, fan or whatever else you want. I have that but i need a dvd player for my old tv that I use. I am going to put that on my list.

Blogging from Ogunquit

I am in Ogunquit, Maine for Thanksgiving weekend with my mom. This past week was busy getting ready to go and busy with work. To update the blog re my workouts: on Tuesday, the 6th, I swam in the morning and taught spinning in the afternoon. My swims have been scaled back to around 1800m which i am enjoying instead of having to swim 3000m. On Wednesday, I ran at lunch with Robert Jenkins who has started running in the past year and is enthusiastic. My running is feeling pretty good. I may actually be a bit faster these days. I left Thursday for this vacation. Today, Saturday, I went for a 40 minute run, part of which was along the ocean and the scenery was spectacular. I was just reading Tdisc's blog where Pye was announcing some of his goals for next year. I haven't had a chance to think about what my fitness goals are. I plan to do the Mooseman Triathlon again in 2010 and maybe do better because I will be able to focus on it. I would like to do a few more multi-sport relays like the Red Island Relay and the Souris relay; I would like to do more 10 k runs to get faster; I would like to go on a cycling vacation this winter instead of going to lie on a beach.

Posting is becoming infrequent

Now that I am not training for an ironman, I don't have as much info to post on here. Last week was a bit hectic with work, teaching and social stuff. I picked up the workouts a bit by the weekend. I swam Friday morning and then ran after work on Friday. I taught spinning Saturday morning and then went for a good 16 k run with tdisc which was fun. Sunday morning I ran about 8 k and then, this morning, Monday, I swam. I am planning on doing a weights workout after work today. I am teaching a course for UPEI in summerside on Wednesday nights until Christmas so that cuts out one night a week for training. I feel like I am eating alot and not training enough but that is probably normal after training for an ironman triathlon. I have been thinking I would like to go somewhere warm this winter for a biking holiday. It is just a thought but it would be fun if you could get some other people to go. That would be the problem.

Back to the grind

Work is busy again and I am getting back to a routine. I swam monday morning and felt pretty good. I did about 1750 metres with some 200s, 100s and drills. I ran after work about 10 k and felt good again. Tuesday morning I swam again about 1700 m and did some drills and backstroke. Today after work I start teaching my spin class. I am not overly enthusiastic about ti because it is still nice outside but it will be a change and is always a good workout. I am thinking of getting back to swimming 4 times per week by adding maybe a swim on Saturday or Sunday. I would like to run 4 times per week with one of those being a long run on the weekend. With a couple of spinning classes and maybe some weights, that would be 10-12 hours a week which I think would be just right for me and my schedule.

A bit lazy

I have been in montreal since wednesday to a legal conference. I planned to go for a long run today in montreal but bailed on that idea this morning. i ran here on thursday afternoon for about about an hour. I swam on Monday and Tuesday mornings before I came here. I think I also ran at home on either Monday or Tuesday. All in all, a pretty light week exercise wise for me. I will get back into my routine on Monday. I want to keep up doing some long runs while the weather is still good and would like to do a longish run (15-20 k) once a week all year.

I suck at road bike racing

As part of my plan to do different things for the fall, I went in a road bike race yesterday and earned the distinction of coming last in my division. (by quite a bit). I am probably not the weakest biker but I lack the skills at the moment to keep up with a pack. I have beaten several of the people who were in the race, in duathlons or triathlons where there is no drafting. But that is neither here nor there. It was good for me and part of the continuing lesson for me that I can't be good at everything.

On a more positive note, I went in a 10 mile running race on Saturday and finished in the middle of the pack with a time that would be normal for me (1hour 15 mins.) It was a fairly active weekend. I declined a couple of social house parties or dinners because I basically didn't feel like being out late drinking and I wanted to do these races. This week I am off to montreal for a legal conference so I will do some running up there. I swam this morning and it was a bit of a struggle. I just didn't really feel like I had much energy and I feel slow in the water. I seem to be having a little difficulty getting back into my swim routime after not being in the pool for the month of August. It is usually one of my favorite things.