The groove is in sight again

I am still savouring THAT meal. I hope to remember that evening the rest of my life. The rest of the time out in Banff wasn't too shabby either.

Saturday was another beautiful day here, so I headed out before it got too hot. My feet wanted to run, and I let them go. This is what it looked like

This looks and felt very much like my runs before my legs got cranky. A slow start, then a gradual increase in pace. The hump in the middle is going up a bit of hill, bigger than it looks on the graph, and the next one was dodging some cars at a busy intersection. It felt great! For me, a sub 6 minute K is a strong pace, so I'm pleased to see it happen there. By the 3.5 K mark I could start to feel my hams tighten up, so I called it at 4 K. Lots of stretching after. Even though I suck at gradual builds, I want to be careful building up milage.

Sunday I was on the bike for almost an hour, and I'm pretty pleased there too. There are still a few twinges while standing up, but nothing compared to what it was. After a good warmup I spent some short intervals up above 200 watts. Before all the crankiness, I was just getting to the point of spending regular time up there and feeling strong. After 3 minutes I can feel my hams again, and the tiniest of knee twinges. After a bit of easy spin I'm ready to go again. Again, a good cooldown and lots of stretching after.

I've still got a physio appointment next week, and I hope that's the last one. A couple of my buddies are feet injured now, (hello Deb and Tiffa) and I hope they get better soon. I came very late to running, and I've missed it over the last month. So far I haven't broken anything running (unlike biking) and I hope that stays true.

I thought you would all be amused by this photo.

I should make you guess what it is, but not many would know. Making wine isn't all fun and games and drinking. That's the view of the bottom of a carboy after racking off the good stuff. There's some oak cubes in there and the dead yeast, along with a bit of the dregs of wine. The carboy needs to be rinsed out, cleaned, and santitized. You'll note I don't say sterilized. That's not practically possible in a home environment. I just try to keep things clean. Really clean, but don't get fussed about it.

One has to be careful when cleaning these out. That residue will stain clothing and never come out if you splash too much. Adding hot water and then sloshing about heats up the air, and then it wants to escape. If you have your hand over the mouth to keep the liquid in, you are also keeping the air in too. Which builds pressure to an astonishing degree. I've sprayed water all over me and much of the nearby basement.

The fun part is this. Drinking it. This Barolo was bottled in August 2008 so it's coming up on 5 years. This is what 5 years of dust looks like. Dust and wine bottles go together. When it was only a couple years old it was very much an up in your face wine. There was a big bold taste that went with the spiciest of marinades. So today I paired it up with some barbecued Beef Tenderloin in a marinade with a bunch of Mama Africa spice. It went very well. The wine has mellowed a bit, being merely strong and assertive, with some of the ruffty tuffty corners knocked off. There's a bit of black currants (which I hate) and other dark fruit (blackberries, plums, blueberries, prunes) here, and a hint of raspberry sweetness. This was a Mondial kit, meaning all juice. It takes these a long time to come into their own. If you can't stand seeing a bit of sediment on the side, and don't have the patience to wait years for it to ripen, don't get this kit.