My current employer makes us not work the Friday before summer long weekends. The office is closed. And locked. I was told my card key wouldn't work, so even if I was so foolish as to want to come into work even though nobody else was around, it wasn't going to happen. So other than saying "Book that vacation" my boss also said, "go have fun this weekend." So I did.
Friday I did nothing, except some stuff around the house I don't even remember now, and probably wouldn't interest you. It was nice.
Saturday I saw my buddy Katie off for a ride towards the mountains. It was 4 C. Frigging cold in other words. She was happy to have me come along, but I waved goodbye as she pedaled off, wearing a parka and more layers on her legs than I've ever seen before. She had fun, though I missed her when she came back because I was out doing errands.
We went to Fernie to visit our buddies Cath and Jason and their new dog Austin. He's a Bernese Mountain dog, and is already a good size. He's going to be huge. For instance:
This is a seriously cute dog. However, as with all dogs he has serious problems with dietary choices. I missed him making the choice, being busy shooting shots like this for later playing with.
When I caught up to them Cath was telling him to drop it, drop it! I thought it was a stick pointing out of his mouth. Cath asked me to get it out, so I obliged. I got hold of it, and tugged as I was trying to pry open jaws bigger than mine. It was a tail, and I pulled it off the body of the dead mouse. I had to reach in and pull the dead mouse out. Not sure how long it had been dead, but I'm just glad Austin hadn't chomped down. He had been standing there with a sort of "I've got it, what do I do now?" kind of expression. All this was to a sound track of Cath gagging. Somehow, I didn't think to get a photo. Can't imagine why not.
The next day we were off to a secret location, for a secret not-a-race, with a secret transition tips given by a secret elite uber athlete, for a selected hand picked crowd that had all shown up at random. There is video footage of this athlete doing a jig and making suggestive descriptive hand motions. I will post the link when I get it.
The water was warmer this year. I remember last year we all swam a little long so this year at each turn, me and another girl checked with each and turned together. Maybe we cut it a little short, since I was out of the water in 20 minutes. She took the long way around the dock. I'm a bit puzzled, since I don't think we cut that much off, and I don't think I was swimming that much faster than last year.
I guess the transition tips did me some good, I was out of T1 in 4 minutes. I think that's a new record for me. There was a 38 K course marked on flat ground. I never did figure out the wind. It felt like a headwind both ways, but the coming back leg was a bit faster. My bike computer says 38.65K and I was off the bike in just under 1:18. T2 was really quick, and a 10 K run in just under 1:07.
This all exceeded my expectations, mainly being able to run off the bike at all. Last attempt was pretty brutal. Bike I wanted to be strong and try to maintain 30 Kph and also be really strong accelerating from the turnaround markers, (4 loops out and back on a highway). I was pretty close to that, my bike says 30.1 Kph average and using the stopwatch says 29.9 Kph. The run I just wanted to run it all, no walking. I never felt really strong or smooth on the run, but it wasn't a clump clump T Rex horror show either. Granted it's a hill up out of transition, but it took a long time to get my lungs and heart rate back down to happy making values. I could have gone longer but I'm glad I didn't have to. Total was 2:50 and change. Happy!
Just because, a bike cuddle.
That night there was a party with endless food coming off the new BBQ, and lots of other goodies to eat. A wonderful time was had by all. Except that one of the guests works at Freshies, and was late because they had to clean up in preparation for a 2 week vacation. So much for the breakfast at Freshies on Monday idea. I was devastated.
On the way back we saw lots of cyclists on the road. Most between Turner Valley and Calgary, but there was a small group way south of Longview. Good on them!
Oh, I love those dogs! Seriously beautiful animals.
ReplyDeleteWhen my dog was a pup (she's a rottie/great pyranees mix) she picked up a baby vole (like a mouse), and stood there with the dumbest expression I have ever seen on a dog. I told her to drop it and she spit out this completely alive and completely drool covered animal that I am sure was traumatized for life.
Silly pups.
Your post makes me realize that I need to get training. Going to try to do a "sprint" triathalon a year from July. I figure that's enough time to learn how to swim, right?
It certainly is! Even if you don't know now. A buddy of mine went from flounder to flipper (as in doing IMC) in a year. Ask a lifeguard at your pool where to find lessons suitable for your current skill level. A little bit of someone who knows what they are talking about telling you what you need to fix goes an awful lot further than what you imagine you are doing right. Because you almost certainly aren't. Swimming is hard like that. For serious lessons shell out for underwater video. It is astonishing what that will do for your self image.
ReplyDeleteI'm still recovering from the idea that you pulled a dead mouse from a dog's mouth..... Ewwwww!
ReplyDeletePosting on my iPhone. Let's see this work.
It looks like it works on this end!
DeleteIt seems that Blogger or Disqus doesn't like aka Alice. I get the email notification, but nothing else. No idea why.
ReplyDeleteShe said:
"Aka Alice has left a new comment on your post "The secret not-race and Austin's diet":
I'm still recovering from the idea that you pulled a dead mouse from a dog's mouth..... Ewwwww!
Posting on my iPhone. Let's see this work. "