I still can't draft off Susi

But at least I can keep up with her now. Last year when she dropped down onto the aero bars she was gone. Now, I have to pick it up a bit, but she doesn't drop me. However, being behind her doesn't get me anything. A 6'3 guy on 700 wheels without aero bars isn't going to have much luck drafting someone 5'2 on 650 wheels in aero.

Here it hailed and snowed and rained and everything in between yesterday. Highwood would have been a potentially fatal mistake. Today started nice but very cold, and it gradually clouded over. It was about 10 C (50 F) when Susi and I were dressing. And windy. I wore a toque under my helmet for the first time, and just as well. For a while I'd wondered if I'd worn enough. At least the roads were dry.

We scooted out 22X along the Chinook half route, looking for about a 3 hour ride. It's hard to judge when to turn around because the wind can play havoc with your plans. Today was a stiff wind out of the south so we had a cross wind most of the ride. We ended up turning around in the Priddis valley. We started easy, and pushed along at a comfortable pace, since the west bound lanes have a great bike lane till the 22 turn off. We rode and chatted, as best we could between the wind noise and passing traffic. From the 22 turn off we picked up the pace a bit.

After the turn around we picked up the pace more, pushed hard up the hills, and tried to maintain speed on the flats. Susi clung like a burr and actually led for a bit. We got back in 2:44, averaging 25.1 kph overall, which is pretty good given the wind and our easy start.

6:45 transition.
20 minute run for 3 K run nice and easy, chatting most of the way. I just went back through my blog and that run after a bike used to take 30 minutes a year ago, and I remember it damn near killed me. Today I found my legs right away, and maybe could have run it faster if I'd been willing to push hard. I'm never really sure how hard to push these T runs. Less than a half hour after the run, a brief rainstorm swept through. That would have been miserable to still be on the bike, so I think we timed the turnaround pretty well. Snacked and stretched. Showered and ate. Sushi, BBQ chicken, salad, and ice cream with fresh raspberries.

Weekly summary
Swim 2.0 hrs
Bike 6.0 hrs
Run 3.5 hrs
Total 11.5 hrs plus another hour of yoga and stretching if you want to count that.
Not bad for coming off a rest week and not wanting to pile it back on too suddenly. My calves were still a bit achey for most of the week. The yoga workout on Thursday helped a lot, and the bike and run today has them feeling pretty good.

I picked up the book Chi Running by Danny and Katherine Dreyer, and read it through in one go last night. It certainly seems like there is some good stuff in there, and I'll be going over it more carefully. Have any of my faithful blog readers had any experience with it? How did it work out for you? It seems very practical and sensible.