Sunday, December 6, 2009

Crappy footing



That's right, wind chill of -30 C (-22F) out there today. Even now, with the sun shining, -30 C. Even for us rufty-tufty Canadians, that's something to think about a bit before going out in it. Especially for a run, when you're certain to be running into the wind, dropping the wind chill even more. However, my objection isn't the temperature. I've run in very cold weather before, and will do so again I'm sure. It's the footing. We've had a bunch of snow lately, the wind has sculpted it into interesting drifts, and I have some lazy neighbours. We had a slight thaw just before all this started so there are icy patches underneath the loose snow. It's not unheard of here for people to have what would normally be a minor fall, banging their head on the ground or a car on the way down, and freeze to death. Not me.

Today is normally the day for my weekly dose of Katie-tude. She is so much fun to take spin class from, she's always up and cheerful, has the most, shall we say, interesting, tunes. She gets her kids to select them and burn them on a disc. There's about 25 kids to pick between, but I don't know how she does it. Some of them have strange thoughts about what people they think of as geezers will like. I've really liked some of their choices. Watching Katie dance on her bike to tetris by dacav 5 was quite the experience.

But I didn't really want to go out in the cold to shovel the driveway, then put the bike in the car, then drive the crappy roads to get to spin class, and then reverse the process. So I found out what the plan for the class was and did that here. Warmup, lots of cadence stuff. Added to a part of the main set, and put in a steady aerobic set of my own to drive the total time to 2.5 hours. I'm very pleased with it.

Then a half hour of core stuff, some of which I made up on the spot. And yes, it included some plank. Just because I have trouble with it, doesn't mean I don't recognize that it's good for me. Mostly ab stuff, some arm stuff too.

Then an early dinner, with Linda making chicken in a red wine sauce with tomatoes, celery, and rosemary all over arborial rice. Yummy!

And yes, we watched ALL the DVD's. So there.

Weekly Summary
Swim 2.0 hrs
Bike 6.0 hrs
Run 1.3 hrs
Walk 1.0 hrs
Core 4.25hrs
Total 14.5 hrs

5 comments:

  1. That weekly summary is intense! We don't have snow quite yet, but I am sure it is coming our way soon ... can't be Christmas without the wind chill and snow! ;)

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  2. -30C, huh? That is COLD!!!! (Thank you, Keef, for including the Fahrenheit equivalent for us ignorant Americans. I am WAAAY too busy watching television to figure out that difficult coversion. ;))

    I hear you about the lazy
    neighbo(u)rs. We had our first substantial snowfall of the year today- VERY late for this area - and of course no one bothered to shovel. Don't they know that we Americans are not just metrically challenged but also litigious as hell?!?! I went back home to get my Yak Trax, but then remembered that I had to ditch them at the end of last winter when they fell to pieces. I ran anyway, but with tentative, poky steps. Did seven miles, though.

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  3. This weather stinks. Seriously.

    Way to go on finding your inner motivation and cranking out a solid bike workout.:)

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  4. holy shit, your core is putting in some good hours there Keith!!

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  5. I can't believe you live in such cold tempatures. I can barely type this as I'm cold in my office just thinking about how cold you are.

    Yummy dinner.....

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