Stuff brewing!

That week went by quickly!

After a weird tough swim on Monday, the Wednesday swim was wonderful! 2K, 38:10 or so, which is a bit off the pace I like, but my flip turns were slow. My knees weren't feeling strong and I didn't want to push off too hard.

Yoga Wednesday started well, but ended crampily quite quickly. Something in my left mid back cramped up on me. I had to be careful what I was doing. Later in the evening I woke myself up with a loud thunk in my back as I rolled over. It felt much better in the morning.

Thursday. Ugh. Home and to bed early to start a 4 day weekend. An article in the paper sparked some outrage and I'm planning to blog about that later this weekend. Plus the taxes post is still being polished. We had several glasses of this wine. Pity it's the last bottle.

There are two reds and a white on the go right now. The white is being very slow to settle. I may end up taking more drastic action. The Chilean Volcanic Red is ready to be degassed, and bottling soon. Can't wait to taste it!

Friday was a bit of a gong show in the pool again, but the dive tank was peaceful. Working on stroke, then into the big pool after a swim team left. Without even really trying I banged out an 88 second 100 m! That felt pretty good.

Then I was off for a bike fit. The last one was well before IMC, and my body has certainly changed since then! We started with a review of my bike goals, and what's been the issue(s) that brought me to a bike fit session. That's simple, I don't want my back to hurt, and I'd like to see if a change in the fit will get more power out of my legs, especially going up hill.

Then he assessed my flexibility and how my body works while doing various things. Then onto the bike. He very quickly realized my seat was too high, leading to my leg straightening out to about a 20 degree angle, and my toes actually pointing down at the bottom of the pedal stroke. This leads to all sorts of nastiness, so I wasn't surprised to find I had dead spots in my stroke, and protesting muscles. Normally saddle adjustments are done a few mm at a time. He dropped my seat by 25 mm! An entire inch! Then shifted it back a bit. That felt better.

He had already tweaked my cleats so my toes were further forward on the pedals, and put some stiffer insoles into my shoes. Then some shims under the insole. I couldn't believe the difference it made. My pedal stroke feels smoother and stronger, and my right knee is certainly more stable, especially at a slower, higher effort rpm pace. My ankles aren't flexing and flopping around anymore. The bike feels more stable in turns.

Trying to spin at much over 100 rpm hasn't been much fun, but during the session I got up to 135 rpm before I started bouncing around a little. That felt stable and strong.

Then I was riding outside a bit to see how it felt. He thought the fit looked much better. Along the way he checked out my shoulders and neck, and where my hands fell on the handlebars. Since he moved the seat down so much he was reluctant to also change the stem. He thinks it could come up a bit more, but it's probably best to settle into the bike and see how it feels.

My plan is to go for a ride on Sunday or Monday down Road to Nepal again, and see how the hills feel with the new bike fit. If it wasn't so cool and overcast, I'd go now, I'm that eager to try it out. Even just the little bit of riding I did during the fit had my quads and knee and low back feeling a little different, in a good way.

Linda has been working diligently in the garden. The lilies are all planted in temporary pots, and the pansies are in their permanent home. Here she is, hard at it the other night. I was out writing in the lodge to escape the cats.

I've been getting a chuckle out of the reactions people have been having in the week since the election. The people within my company are pretty blase about it. Most are willing to wait and see what happens. But some people are still over reacting, saying all sorts of stupid things. In their view the oil and gas companies are going to be taxed out of existence, then every other company because, duh, higher taxes. And the union people are all going to be guaranteed raises and will be doing just fine, though who they will be working for if all the companies have left town, is beyond me.

There is lots of discussion about the mechanisms of changing government, mainly because it hasn't happened in 44 years. I can see them digging out dusty old books about the procedures involved. At least they stopped the wholesale document shredding that was going on. Proof that the Conservatives have something, probably many somethings, to hide.

There's been a bit of comment about the inexperience of the various MLA's in the NDP caucus, but I don't mind that. The PC's were in the same boat when they took power in 1971. The experience of the PC's just made them arrogant and corrupt. Good riddance.

The Conservatives lost another seat today. There had been a tie vote, 7015 votes each between the NDP and Conservative candidates. A recount ended up with a 6 vote difference, and the NDP has been declared elected. So don't tell me your vote doesn't count!

Evidently sales of the "Peoples Republic of Albertastan" T shirts are going briskly, to my great amusement.

How to turn a bad run into a good one.

I'm going to babble a bit about tonight's run, and fitness in general.

My hips and right leg have been cranky for much of the last couple of years, then over the last little while it's been better and I've been running more. I really don't know if swimming more is cause or effect.

Lately it seems I've been pushing too hard on the weekends, and spending the rest of the week recovering. There was one bike ride I pushed way too hard and paid for that for 2 weeks. All the patio slab moving a couple of weeks ago didn't help either.

The last few days have been pretty active for me. Swim Friday, bike Saturday, run Sunday, plus yard work both days, swim Monday, and now run Tuesday. I'd been thinking about running, or maybe not running. Then right at the end of the day I was discussing running with a colleague. She's just started running home from work a couple days a week. It's about 6.5 K depending on the exact route, and she seems to run about the same pace as me. Then she asked when my next run was. I said tonight, maybe, and she gave me that look. Hmmmm.

There's something about a buddy run, even if you aren't running with them, knowing there's a shared promise of a run. I know my running has been much, much more enjoyable since I started running more often with Michelle.

Tonight I started off feeling kind of tired and tight in my thighs. I really wasn't sure about it, but I remembered my usual 'give it 2 K', and chugged along. My legs felt heavy and tired. My cadence felt slow, and my footing wasn't really all that steady. But look at this graph! (Even though I think there are issues with it.)

You can see my pace is unsteady for the first 2 k, then almost suddenly it evens out. I didn't have some magical moment where it all came together, but I did settle into a groove, albeit a bit heavier and clumpier than I'd have liked.

This was completely a conscious run. I had to think about it the whole time, keeping my arms going, thinking about my posture, thinking about my foot strike, thinking, thinking, thinking all the time. It wasn't until the 3 K mark or so that I realized I was having a pretty good run. My legs were relaxing a bit, and my breathing was easy. Contrary to the graph which looks flat, and contrary to the log file which says I climbed and descended 1100 m , it's a bit up hill first K or so, downhill the next two, and gradually back uphill the last two.

I'm not sure if the screwed up altitude affected the pace numbers or not. I was working pretty hard for the first K, breathing very relaxed and easy for the next 3 K, and working again for the last one. Overall I'm pretty pleased. It turned out to be 5 K, 34:45. A minute faster than a few days ago.

What's important here is that I stuck with it. Most people never start their run. Being a couch potato watching TV is more important to them. Then there are a bunch of sometimes runners. It doesn't take much to derail them because they haven't really built the habit. Then there are runners that start, and bail out too soon.

I've now lost count of the number of times I've had workouts start pretty dreadful. This one with tight quads and hams. Lots of other runs with niggles or sore muscles. One particular 100 K bike ride started with a left calf that did not want to be involved, yet it turned into a really good ride. Some swims have come together for me after a rocky start.

I'm certainly not as consistent at working out as I'd like to be. Too often it feels like I'm still recovering from a previous workout when the next starts. Even from a few years ago I can feel that it takes longer for me to recover. Darn that ticking clock! Part of the trick is to stop before you need to stop. Running 2K four times a week and thinking you could have done more, is a world better than an 8K run once a week that wipes you out.

The learning here is your attitude. Even a so called bad run is better than sitting on the couch, unless you push yourself into an injury. I'm not saying push through the run at all costs. Not at all. Develop an awareness of how you feel when you run, what's normal. Pay attention to your heart rate, your breathing, your footfall, any niggles you might get. Back off before you injure yourself.

But other than that, give your body time to come around, give your mind time to come around to the workout. Some people like to, or need to do an elaborate warmup. If that's what it takes, go for it. I'm more a limber up a bit, walk easy then more briskly, start running easy, and settle into a pace.

But your mental preparation is important too. I like to talk to myself about what the run will be. Mostly they are nice and easy. I think about my route and what I might see. I think about how far I'll go, and from necessity I've had to think about ways to bail out of a run and still not have far to get home. Some days I can relax and think of other things while my body runs. I've written entire novel chapters that way. Other days, I have to think about the running, and stay on top of it.

This is great training for when you get tired in a race. There are lots of tricks that keep you going for that last 10% of the race where the going gets tough, and you learn them from tough workouts. Workouts where you are head down into the wind. Where you haven't quite dressed for the weather or it changed more than you thought it would. Where it's raining or snowing, or your neighbours haven't shoveled their sidewalks. Where your bike is making a funny noise you've never heard before. Where you've just short of bonking goofed on nutrition. When the hill seems much steeper than normal, or the water has been replaced with this strange clear molasses. When you're short on sleep, when you're stressed by work, when a "friendly" group ride drops you like a snot rocket, or anything else that plays with your mind.

These things will make you stronger if you hang in there. Keep a journal. Not just the cold numbers, but how you felt. I can guarantee one day you are going to come home unhappy with a workout for some reason. Then you'll look back through your journal, and you'll discover a time when this workout was a personal best, and now you can do better even when feeling crappy. Or maybe you'll find a pattern, that you need an hour after dinner, not 30 minutes when it's a certain dish. Whatever it is, learn from it, and apply it to the future.

Most of all, have fun with it! Run trails, run different routes, run with your electronics turned off, run with a buddy or run alone. You will feel better after the workout. Really.

The Pastafarian resurgence, more garden

Sunday I felt pretty good, even with the yard work. A 5K, 36 min run had me tired out again, with more yard work in the offing. It was an odd run in that my feet felt really light and happy to be running. My quads and hams were less happy.

Monday was Pastafarian worship again, as my arms channeled his noodly appendage. Short and slow. Enough of that.

I'm working on another essay, and hope to have it up by the end of the week.

There are many flowers coming up, prominent among them is the Alberta Rose. This thing is fearsome! It's already trying to take over it's corner. There are some other roses channeling it. For Alberta, this is really early in the year for flowers to be growing. The brief snowstorm this morning was nothing important, nothing to slow down these flowers. Enjoy.

We all know what these are.

Here's the rose.

Look at the thorns on it!

Another rose looking for the big time.

And another in hot pursuit.

No thorns, but the mint is quietly and firmly territorial.

One we cleaned away the debris from last year, the peonies are up and at 'em again.

RtN, almost all of it

Friday the pool was a gong show. Only four 25 m lanes open, and all of them were full. I was watching Katie cope with a guy that hates to let her pass. I think he takes it personal, but Katie can pass many of the swimmers at Talisman. Personally, I think he's being dumb. A better strategy is to let her pass, then try to hang in her draft as long as you can. Great training.

Michelle and I had the dive tank to ourselves and we did stroke improvement. I think I've figured out a better head position, and was tuning some catch and pull stuff. Michelle has made such great improvements that it's time to take more video so she can see for herself. Even when the pool emptied out we stayed, and had lots of fun. The dive tank is nice for this, because it's a bit warmer, and better lit. It's this big blue space that you float in.

Here's the chalkboard this morning.

Katie and I have been trying to arrange a ride Road to Nepal and coffee date for a while, and today was it. For those new to the blog, Katie coached me to Ironman and is a physical dynamo. I can almost keep up to her in the pool, for a little while, but on the bike the only way I can keep up is if it's downhill. Let's not even talk about the run.

It started off cool, with my low back feeling a bit dubious about the whole darned thing. My right quad and knee were a bit unhappy on the hills, and I didn't feel strong at all. Katie was way ahead, and I turned around when we met up again, maybe 5 K before the end of the road. There was no actual pain, but enough of an ache I didn't want to go up any more hills than I had to. Have I mentioned that Road to Nepal is all hills, all the time?

By then it was getting nice out, and there were dozens of cyclists going the other way as I headed back. Coming back is easier, and my knee felt happier. Still, by my standards on this road, it was very slow.  42 K, 2:18. A more normal ride for me is the full 52 K in about that time, and my record is a fraction under 2 hours. Contrast that to my ride last week, almost 45 K in 2:08, or a 50 K ride in 2:28. Average speed was 18.2 Kph, and the max was 75Kph though I'm not sure I believe that. I didn't see anything more than about 65 Kph and the bike computer says 70 Kph. They agree on the average though, and I suppose I should say the minimum speed going up a couple of the hills was (hangs head) 6.1 Kph.

I'm glad we went. I probably wouldn't have gone if we hadn't had a date to do it, but I'm feeling pretty good after. I've got a bike fit scheduled for next week, and I'm hoping that it will change my position and I'll be happier and more comfortable on the bike.

Once Katie got back we hung out in the back, drank coffee, nibbled goodies, and chatted. So wonderful! She was telling me how she couldn't keep up to these two girls she was swimming with after her race in St. George last week. Then she finds out that it was Meredith Kessler and Rachel Joyce. No wonder!

Linda has a ton of stuff on the go with the garden. Lilies have arrived. The trees are in bloom. Lots of stuff to do. Must go...

Quite the week!

There's already been lots of comment on the Alberta election. If you're interested in that, you've probably read your fill done by writers more talented than me, and some of it has been very witty indeed. If you're not interested you're probably saying to yourself, "not more from you too!"

Maybe just a little bit. As far as Canadian history goes this is nearly a once in a lifetime event. Anybody that voted in Peter Lougheed in 1971 is a senior citizen now. The change of government before that was in 1935. Not many now would personally remember that. And to go NDP? That makes it even more remarkable, and explains the twitter traffic that seemed to mostly consist of variations on "holy shit", "flying pigs", and "hell freezing over". I stayed up to watch it all, and loved it!

I'm very pleased with the results. The various people setting their hair on fire will get over it. Or they won't and that's their problem. We still have a PC MLA, but I've never read about him in the paper for either good or bad, and that's an acceptable outcome for me. But if the Lib's hadn't run a paper candidate, and all those votes had gone to the NDP, there'd be one less PC in the Legislature. Last time he won an outright majority of votes, and plurality of nearly 2000 votes. Even that was a squeaker compared to previous years. The NDP got 600 votes last time. This time the PC got a third of the votes, only 429 more votes than a no-name NDP candidate, who got 5466 votes. I'll bet he doesn't run again.

My last comment is that Prentice showed his true colours during his concession/resignation speech. To resign his seat before they finish counting the ballots demonstrates a true lack of class. He has spat in the face of democracy and voting, and especially the people that voted for him. Our MLA made a big deal out of Prentice being the one to clean things up, and the voters that relied on that must be furious. Whoever will they find to run as a PC candidate in the coming by-election?

In other news. I'm still a bit beat up from the big work weekend. Nice swim on Tuesday, a bit on the slow and short side, but I'll take it. Yoga was a washout. I wasn't really there for it, and my core was on vacation. Even corpse pose wasn't relaxing; my hips weren't happy with being stretched out. I was thinking of running tonight, but the BBQ captured me.

Linda got a zillion lily bulbs and will be busy planting them, and the rest of the pansies she got. I'm trying to stay out of her way as she deals with it. Things are just exploding out of the ground. Here's something that looks like it's aspiring to be Jack's beanstalk.

The sidewalk of destroyed safety boots

Last you heard I had a crappy swim last Wednesday. Friday was redemption! Swam CSS 17 x 100 on 2 minutes, at 1:43 or 1:44 for all but the first one, which was 1:40 even. I settled into the groove nice and relaxed. I could have gone on, but moved onto other important things.

Friday my buddy Susi was in town! Such a lovely chat to catch up, then Saturday midafternoon dropped her off at a different set of friends. She has many friends.

Sunday was the big day. About 25 years ago we put down some of those big concrete patio slabs to form a walkway between our driveway and back yard. It wasn't used much because there was rarely a reason to go into the back yard. Over the decades it gradually settled.

Then last year when we put the back yard patio in, I fixed the bit of sidewalk nearest the patio. That was close to the lowest point of the walk, and it became really obvious. Several people tripped because they weren't expecting such a slope.

The task. Move all the bricks out of the way. Rake up as much of the crushed brick between the walk and the house as possible. Remove the slabs. Lay down landscape fabric. Wheel in as much gravel as needed, level, and tamp it down. Replace the sidewalk slabs. Wash and replace crushed brick on neighbor's side to level that out. Most importantly, don't leave any skin or blood on the job. Success!

Here is the working area. It's hard to tell how much that slopes towards our house, but it's lots. Lets not even talk about the volunteer plants.

This is a staged shot to prove I was wearing safety boots. Wearing them paid off, as one time my foot was about an inch closer to where the slab was going than I thought it was.

Slabs and crushed brick removed.

Landscape fabric. The gray stuff is almost like a really tough felt. It took heavy scissors to cut it; a sharp knife wouldn't. The black stuff is leftovers.

The gravel starts. We bought a cubic yard, and worried it would be way too much. I could have used another couple of wheelbarrows full, maybe a bit more.

Mostly done, 8 hours later. No owies, other than my hands being roughed up.

There is still a slight dip just near that window well, but it's less than an inch.

The remaining task is to neatly lay out the bricks on the gravel in a nice pattern. Later. Maybe much later. I was a hurting unit and went to bed early. I didn't even think about swimming and tottered into work, gradually feeling better as I moved. This evening I was out doing a bit of lawn raking, and had my back talking firmly to me. Stretched. My calves are still too tender to be rolled, but everything liked the stretch.

And the boots. I last wore them on the job in the late 90's. They've been sitting in the basement ever since. While working I felt something weird on my feet and thought it was clumps of dirt. Then I realized it was rubber flaking off. I switched back to shoes, and was doubly careful. 

In another example of degrading materials, here's what a brand new bag looks like. The colours are bright and vibrant. This is really good advertising, if you think about it.

We didn't quite finish off this bag last fall, and it's been sitting outside in the sun for 7 months or so. Interesting effect that UV has had.

You'll see this chalkboard more often. I have had ideas. This is Linda's commentary on the election. You ARE voting, if you're an Albertan, right? RIGHT?? Don't make me blog about you.

The divine right of cookie jar ownership

Did you see or hear of the concerned Edmonton "businessmen" that talked about their divine right to the Alberta cookie jar? They didn't quite phrase it like that, but that's what the message is. To threaten to withdraw charitable donations to a children's hospital if their taxes go up is disgusting. They should be spat upon in the street.

Bluntly translated the entire PC message this election is "Fuck you Jack, I've got mine and I'm going to keep it." Oh, and don't forget, "to find fault, look in a mirror." Along with the classic bit of patriarchal condescension in "Math is hard."

Last election the PC's brought out the ooga-booga big scare guns, only it was to head off a surging Wildrose party. It worked. I know people that are still kicking themselves. They can't wait till that ballot is in hand to redeem themselves.

The PC's are doing it again, only this time the target is the NDP. I don't even know where to begin. Somehow it's bad that "Notley is taking direction from Mulcair," yet it's ok for Rona Ambrose (of the federal PC party) to scold Albertans about not voting PC, and Prentice and Harper are buddies.

They are saying anything to scare people from voting NDP in this election. Anything at all. You've probably heard it. Ignore it. Do the right thing. Vote the bums out of office. A majority NDP with a strong Opposition Wildrose will be good for everybody, PC's included. Maybe not the people caught with their hand in the cookie jar, but that's ok. Even if different hands go back in, that's a good thing. The money goes different places. Wildrose with NDP Opposition might not be quite as good, but still an acceptable outcome. Even a (gasp!) minority would make them sing for their supper, and make them think about what they are up to.

The dippers are inexperienced at government, as were the PC's when they took office in 1971. Some of their policies are probably not as well thought out as they could be, just like many PC policies. Some of their people that will gain office this time are not as experienced as we might like. Whatever. Shame on the PC's for pointing the finger there. None of the other parties have a member convicted of soliciting a prostitute (really an undercover cop) while on a taxpayer funded trip.

What's important to remember is this. These things, in no particular order:

• The PC's got us into this mess. If they haven't demonstrated financial competence to date, what makes you think it will happen now?
• There is a civil service that exists to help the government enact it's policies. There is likely to be some inertia there to resist the so called extremist positions. On the other hand, policies that are good for people, instead of oil & gas corporations might get enacted startlingly quickly.
• Remember the last Premier? The one that booked fake passengers on government airplanes so she wouldn't have to share? The one that created a swanky secret apartment for herself? The one that spent $45K of tax money to fly to South Africa because, golly, why should she have to fly commercial? It's the SAME GOVERNMENT! They let her get away with, and they'll let Prentice get away with it too. 
• The people that say "Let's put the past behind us and look forward" are thieves that have been caught, and are still trying to get away with it.
• Once the PC's are voted out of power, their campaign slush fund that would be illegal for every other party, (they grandfathered themselves) can be ended. This would bring in truly fair campaign finance laws, as opposed to the ones that Prentice says are fair.
• Doesn't the prospect of Gordon Dirks claiming credit for the advancement of LBGTQ legislation make you sick? After promoting the homophobic Bill 10, to now take credit for the bill allowing gay straight alliances is disgusting. But typical. Then again, he got his knuckles rapped by the ethics commissioner, and shrugged his shoulders.
• They saw nothing wrong with paying people for committee work, when the committee never met, and when caught on it, saw no reason to pay it back. 

There is much more. Keep it firmly in mind that the policies of a future NDP or Wildrose government are conjecture. Nobody really knows what they will actually be able to do, and they will have to face the electorate with their own record in the next election. One might fear the NDP "wrecking the provincial economy", or you could look at the PC record of doing exactly that. Vote for a change that could be better, or vote for more of the same incompetence? Hmmm, let me think about it.

The PC party has to wear their record. They own the endless boom/bust cycles, the thousands of people laid off in the last few months, all the uncertainty in planning in the oil patch, the botched royalty review, and the endless scandals. If they are somehow voted back in, we will get more of the same corrupt, arrogant, incompetent government, letting the oil & gas companies steal our resources for pennies on the dollar. 

I would far, far rather have a group of well meaning people as elected officials, even if they lack governing experience, as compared to a group of experienced thieves. That's what we've got now.

Vote. Think with the facts.