First day back...in the cold...

It was a pretty productive day. I'm on a roll.

Started off with a couple hour work phone meeting then I took my bike out of the bike bag and started building it. With all the travel I do I'm a pro at taking it apart and building it. No more than 15 - 20 min max.

Once the bike was built it was off to Wheels of Oakville to get them to tune it all up. I told Les I want it put in show room condition. We'll see how they do. If' I come back and it's not I'm going to leave it there and tell them to do a better job. They are also going to put a new Cateye speedometer with Cadence on it, fix the water bottle cages behind the seat along with some X-lab straps.

When I think about it the timing of doing all this would have been better BEFORE Ironman Cozumel. At any rate I want to make sure  it's all ready to put on my trainer for winter riding indoors. I also found the original clincher tires and I'm going to put those on. The back one already has an indoor trainer tire on it. In hindsight it's was probably better for me to use the clinchers in Arizona. Much cheaper if I get a flat, $10 versus $90 for a tubular.

I did a lot of running around today. I went to the Running Room to get some Glide. That stuff is a lifesaver. There is nothing better for chaffing and I even use it on any sores or scraps. It has something in it that really accelerates the healing process.

Then I stopped at a few nutrition and supplement shops. I ran out of Casein Whey and Beta Alaline and that stuff is dynamite. I'm a total convert to the power of supplements after my awesome training camp in Arizona. It really accelerates the recovery time and increases strength and muscle. I have much more dense muscle in areas I've never had it before.

Last stop before hitting LA fitness to do some weight training and a swim was grocery shopping. I haven't been grocery shopping with Alice in a long time. I'd been doing it myself in Arizona and it was an interesting experience this time. Other than it was crowded and the cart was not easy to handle, not sure if it was a wheel or what, I had a different perspective on the food we were buying. There was fish, cottage cheese and a different type of yogurt. All stuff I was used to during my work-train-cation.

At LA fitness I started with weights. Just before I took the Beta Alaline in powder form. Prior I was using capsules. They say one of the side effects is it will give you a tingly feeling. I never experienced that with the capsules. I did experience it with the powder. The entire time i had this tingly feeling.

I didn't go too heavy on the weights this time. I could feel my body wasn't ready for it. There was stiff joints and on some exercises my right shoulder was hurting a bit. I ratchet down the weight and did it at about 80% of normal. I want to make sure I keep the gains I've gotten.

Next it was the pool and a swim. It was so relaxing. I tried out my new earphones for my swimming iPod. They worked great. I took it easy and had NO pressure on myself I just swam. It was the closest I've had to enjoyable in the water.

Tonight was movie night and we saw the Hunger Games. We showed up and the ticket wicked girl said it was sold out, yet I noticed the sign said running low. Rather than argue I went to one of the kiosks and gave it a try. It worked. Yes, winning. Even though we got the first row it was still better than waiting another hour. The front row was actually pretty good. Dinner tonight was supplements and two small bags of popcorn. I definitely won't be weighing myself tomorrow I'm retaining lots of water from the salt in that popcorn.

All and all I'm really feeling good physically and mentally. It feels like Ironman Cozumel was a month ago not 6 days ago.

Alice and I are looking for a place to go over Christmas break. So far we're looking at Texas. Maybe San Antonio, Houston or Austin. To me the big thing is getting warm weather. Burlington is -2 C and I'm freezing. It was hell doing the running around. I'm so used to warm weather and - 2 C is crazy cold to me which some may think is strange because I grew up and spent the first 39 years of my life in Winnipeg where the weather today was - 28 C. Yes I've become a baby since moving to Toronto and I'm becoming even a bigger baby.

Lastly I opened a package when I got home late last night from San Francisco. It was from Heather and Matty O. It was a Power Bar cycling jersey. I saw them wearing one and asked them if they could get me one. The did which was awesome and very kind. It is a great looking jersey and fits great. This will be my new go to Jersey for sure. Aside from it being a great looking jersey, it's yellow, which is much easier for drivers to see. Thanks Heather and Matty.

Weights - 45 min
Swim - 45:26 / 2011 meters.