How to make a little girl happy

I was up and out of the house today at 7:15. Pretty good for a Saturday. Masters swim starts at 7:30 am which is great for us family types as I am able to get home again usually by 9:00. My daughter was in a great mood this morning. Not her usual moody self. She was given a roll of pink ribon yestarday and has spent her time dreamaing up new ways to use the ribbon. Out of the blue she blurted out "I want Daddy to build my Barbie's a boat". Ah,now isn't that creative. "Why do you want a boat" I asked knowingly. "To put ribbon on it!" Instead of weasling my way out I said sure. Yes, in front of my wife. We had a full day ahead of us including a trip to another city to shop for a few hours. When we got home I got the questions, "so, whatcha going to do about this boat thing?". I answered like any upright tri-geek. "I'm off for run. See you in a couple of hours." No, not procrastinating, just time managing. After dinner I took Soph and a card board box and created this little gem. Not a master piece but it did produce one very happy little girl. I'm all warm and fuzz inside.

Let it snow

The snow keeps coming. Wow. We live in the midst of mountains. I know I should expect these things. Usually we have a bit of a melt that reduces the build up. Not his January. My "snow shoveling as cross training" routine has taken on new proportions. My drive-side snow pile is over 8 feet. Pushing champagne powder is easy. Throwing it up and over the pile is.... well, it SUCKS. Fynn is being lazy. The little mouch is 4 months old. At least he's useful providing a perspective for the photog.



I am pooped. Up at five and off to the gym for 40 minutes on the tread mill, rush home and make Rotary by seven. Put in a load of shovelling after work for good measure then off to masters swim. OMG. donig too much shovelling was my own doing. We have a new neighbour moving in tomorrow and their drive-way and front walk needed to be cleared. I know I'd appreciate it if I were in their shoes.



This weekend includes a swim clinic with my coach. I'm really looking forward a few hours of attention on technique. I think if I learned how to site correctly I could ignore technique. Call me Mr. zig-zag.

-17

It was cold and snowy this morning. Daughter Sophie got lucky as Mum decide to keep her at home with her and Fynn. They had a great day doing crafts, baking, and watching a classic Disney movie.

My neighbours were moving today :(. They only moved in last summer and they were gardeners extrodinaire. A great resource to have handy. My neighbour was telling me all the little things that had happened to them in the last few days such as: having a car accident, breaking a tooth, etc. I told him it was an omen not to move. Then a gal comes walking down the street telling us that we need to take the lower road to get out. I live in an area of BIG STEEP hills. My neighbours moving van (semi-trailer) had jack-knifed at the top of the street.

I managed a short trainer ride, 30 minutes of shovelling snow, and masters swim. I can barely keep my eyes open. I start a new training rotation this week. It will be good to have a change.

Of the blogs I follow this one is definetely one of my favourites and she wrote what has become a rare entry.

Swimming

monday & tuesday's are always too busy. i still managed a trainer ride then masters swim. i try to have some semblance of balance in my life. between work, family, training, rotary, friends, you get the idea, i can't believe i have enough time to write this bloody blog.

i did have one very guilty pleasure today. i went and saw my rmt (massage therapist) this morning. g is not a "fluff and fold" type of therapist but rather a "this is going to be good for you" so suck it up princess. followed by a bwa-ha-ha-ha.

if you care, tonight's swim wo is below. it is pretty straight forward and is a good measure of fitness.

400m loosen on 8 min.
24 x 25m im order on 40 sec.
4 x 50m kick (fast) on 1:45
4 x 75m stroke drill on 1:45 1500m

Main set (free or mix stroke)

2 x 50m on 50s
4 x 50m on 60s
6 x 50m on 70s
8 x 50m on 80s
6 x50m on 75s
4 x 50m on 65s
2 x 50m on 55s 1600m

1 x 50m on 80s (fast as possible)
2 x 25m on 40s (recovery)
twice through 200m

total 3300m

Winter Running

i love having four seasons.

coach scott had a nice 1:30 run programed in for today. after being up too late two days in a row i decided to sleep in today. this meant the run would have to wait until 4 p.m. . a mixed blessing. the scenery on the trail was spectacular. the down fall was after 5 p.m. when the temperature plunged and i froze on for the last 30 minutes of the run. i'm doing ok now but that may be the two glasses of cab/merlot talking.

last week was 11.5 hours and this week is a bit more. i'm really enjoying the challenge of trying to invent time to put these wo(work-outs) in.

Bike Porn

not a bumper day for training. i woke early to get an hour in on the trainer and made it to the 40 minute mark. to sum up my day: i feel like poop. shivering all morning long in my office barely able to concentrate on the file at hand. thank gawd it was a no appointment day.


i'm missing masters tonight. i like masters. a lot. coach john is a task master extraordinaire. some might even call our hour and a half of fun grueling. nothing like swimming especially when it is with a group of quality people. hey, if you can't have fun why bother. for a small town we have a good membership. (over 60 active members)


on to the juicy stuff. i bought my giant trinity 2 on advice from the local shop. not exactly tri specialists but i love the ride. the frame is outstanding. i changed out a few minor components (the original seat was horrid). i still want new racing wheels and a power meter.

snow covered trails

what a great run. the program had an endurance run and a gym workout for today. so it was a busy day all round. joined up with doc r and d for a snow covered trail run along the lakefront. nice. the real difference in enjoying this type slippery run of has been the addition of yak trax. i had been out for a run a awhile back with the co-owner of the local running store and she suggested them for a little more confidence in our long, icy winters. boy was she right. after being made fun of a few weeks back, the boys were asking today, "so how much are those things"? ah, victory.

busy day. did it all today. breakfast and cartoons with the family, run, birthday party with my daughters friends at the local indoor play place, call mom & brother, play with baby boy, go to gym, finish wood working project, take family out to dinner (in another town 40 min. away), shop for kids stuff, blog. gimme an f-ing medal already.